Feet First

Update on Process

2012-01-31T19:59:00.000-08:00

Many of you have asked Chris and I recently where we are currently in our adoption. We want to give you an update:

We are DEFINITELY adopting two children (siblings!) (We also need to change our profile pic soon to include 2 sets of shoes!!!)

We do not know who these children are as of yet and will probably not know until the Fall or Winter 2012 sometime.

For the past 2 months, we have been working on compiling paperwork that will get submitted with what they call a "Home Study" to the USCIS (Immigration office) for approval to adopt. We had to get fingerprinted at our good ole' local police, fill out child abuse records in VA and PA, get papers notarized, go to the local bank for certified checks, and some other papers as well. The PA Child Abuse check was the most time consuming because we had to list past people we have lived with (middle names included and ages) since we were born and every address we have lived at (I've lived at over 12 addresses- some of which I couldn't even remember!!).

Some of these documents required more time than others, such as our 56 question autobiography (completed individually) that we finally finished a few weeks ago!!! (Ugg!)

Chris working on Home Study and USCIS paperwork

However, even though we were dreading the autobiographies, it definitely helped us to slow down and process some important things such as our marriage, family, and relationships with God. There were insightful questions such as "What is your greatest failure to date?" or "How do you and your spouse handle conflicts?" Although this took some time, we were able to really reflect on some wonderful things that Chris and I have been able to accomplish the last few years and certain aspects of our marriage.

On December 2nd, we had our first home visit, where we met our Home Study caseworker, Dan Petruso. He was wonderful and made us feel so comfortable with this entire process! He interviewed us, and jotted down notes that he will include in our actual official "Home Study" document.

Most recently, we had our 2nd Home Study visit last night!!!! This was where our caseworker had to tour our home to make sure it was fit for children. So I frantically made Chris help me clean the night before (even after Jenn Tucker told me not to stress out and that it was not really a big deal). I discovered how over-paranoid I was. The visit was a breeze and again we realized that our caseworker was not trying to "find" anything. His job is merely to make sure that our home is adequate enough to raise children and that we are fit to be parents. He said we are! ;)

We also met with our financial advisor, Greg Lohr, to go over all of our finances and start preparing for our children!!! (AGHHHHH!!!) It was a great meeting and exciting to plan out how to start saving. If you need an amazing financial adviser, we HIGHLY recommend Greg!

So what's to come:

We will continue with our online Parent training (10 hours) and wait for our Home Study document to be completed in the next 2-3 weeks.

Once that is completed, then we can submit all of our paperwork into USCIS (Immigration) to get approval to adopt overseas. After we get the approval, we go on a WAITLIST for 7-8 months with our Adoption Agency and wait until we receive a match with a sibling group. From there, we would accept the match and then get a court date set in Uganda to travel and officially adopt our children.

WE WANT TO THANK EVERYONE for your encouragement, prayers, and financial support!!! It is hard to believe that we have been able to save and raise so much money already in the process. We are constantly reminded of how much God desires for HIS children to be loved and to have a family. THANK YOU for being that family to our children. It is amazing to see so many people loving on our children without even personally knowing them.

"And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me".

Matthew 18:5

love,

April & Chris

Overjoyed

2011-12-21T22:51:00.000-08:00

Sorry...this is going to be a LONG post! We are in the Home Study process at this time, and will share more on that later, but first...

Tonight my heart is overflowing with emotion, from complete shock and amazement, to joy and anticipation (it is about midnight and I can hardly keep my excitement contained). Chris walked in the door from work and told me that I would probably need to sit down because he had something to share. He said that today, alone, we received over $6,000 in donations from several families. My jaw just dropped! How amazing is our God!

I can't explain the feeling that overwhelms me each and every time someone sends us a check or writes an encouraging note. Over and over, I am reminded of God's promise, "...I am with you always, even to the end of age." Thank you for your uplifting emails and texts. Thank you for supporting us financially. Thank you for believing in our adoption.

God clearly is moving here. I am amazed at His faithfulness! At the beginning of this adoption, I continued to doubt if we would be able to raise the money for even one child, and God has blown my expectations right out of the ballpark!

I feel like God is continually asking and reminding me, "April...do you believe in my promises? Do you trust me enough to know that I know your future? I know the names of your children. I know how many hairs are on their head, and every scratch and scar on their little body. I know the hurt that they have been through and the future hurt they will experience. I know what they need. I know the journey they will take to become your children. I know them! I am with them in the morning when they wake, and I am with them as they lay their head down to sleep. I will not leave them. I will NOT leave you and Chris through this process. I may ask for you to stretch and grow through this journey, but I will be there to give you the strength you need. Do you trust me? Do you believe that I am in control? Are you willing to do as I ask of you?"

God has been speaking to Chris and I through so many different avenues in the past few weeks and He has been answering prayers left and right. Two weeks ago, I told Chris that I felt we needed to get a financial adviser to discuss our future when our kids come home. But it was a passing discussion that we never finished. Today, he met with a friend from church who had it placed on his heart to ask if he could be our financial adviser! God answered our prayer without even a hesitation.

This week God has been using a book, Kisses from Katie, to mold and shape my relationship with Him. I picked up this book and read it cover to cover in four days. Each time I read a chapter, I CRIED (Chris thought I was an emotional wreck)!!! Katie Davis is a girl that has been called by the Lord to live in Uganda, start a child sponsorship ministry called Amazima Ministries that sends orphans and impoverished children to school and provides them with meals and supplies. Incredibly, she has adopted 13 orphan girls. She is ONLY 22!!! I had to think back about what I was doing at 22, and I don't think that I would have been responsible enough to do all she has done for the Lord at that point in my life.

There were several stories throughout her book that ripped at my heart and convicted me. I think that even though I "know" there is a need in Uganda, I don't really know the extreme need that is going on there or around the world until I am to see it firsthand. Until you are to live it out, like she has. Katie explains how she encounters each week, children that are almost at their deathbed from starvation and disease, and how God has been able to use her ministry to serve these children. She explains the lack of medical care in Uganda and how she had to witness a little girl named Happy die because the girl's mom did not have money to pay for medical expenses. How fortunate we are to live in a country that provides some of the best medical care in the world!

And all of this to say, I was convicted of the materialism that I am apart of each Christmas. When I think of what we spend each year on "things" and how, if we were to give that money instead to families in need of life saving necessities such as food, water, mosquito nets, etc., how we could be saving a life!! How much more do I really need? The world and my flesh will tell me I need MORE...more clothes, more technology, more, more, more, but my NEEDS and my WANTS are two very different things. Something that I struggle to keep in check.

More than 16,000 children will die of hunger related causes in the next 24 hours from when I am writing this post. I don't know about you, but this statistic blew me away and I can honestly say that I am not the same person after reading this. When I think about our children, and that they could be one of those statistics, it makes it hard to breath. I know we are only adopting two children, but how many more could we be saving through our financial means? How much can I do as one person? Katie has sacrificed so much and she is changing the lives of nearly 400 children. Yes, it does not come easy or without a price, but because she was willing to listen to God's leading, she is making a difference.

I don't want to give away all of the details of the book (because you NEED to read it), but I will say that one glaring message that was laid upon my heart, was that God wants to use me right where I am. He wants to use Chris! He wants for us "to take up our cross and follow him", no matter where that leads us, no matter how hard and how long the path may be. He wants to "set the solitary in families" and He wants for Chris and I to change the lives of two littles ones that may never be given the opportunity to have parents who will love them. I pray that God continues to give us the strength and grace for each day ahead of us.

And He wants to use YOU too! If you are reading this blog, I want to challenge you to do something BIG this Christmas. Pray for God's leading in your life. Give to an organization instead of purchasing that item that you wanted to buy. Perhaps you have thought about adoption, but are afraid to take that step.

I will leave you with this passage (Matthew 6:19-21) "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth...But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

This Christmas, we are reminded of the sacrifice that our heavenly Father gave for us, to save us... He sacrificed His only son in order that we might live in eternity with Him. We are reminded that He loves us and will NEVER leave us.

We pray that you have a joyous Christmas with your family and friends.

April & Chris

Organizations (here are just a few, but there are many others):
http://www.charlottesvilleabundantlife.org/main/partnersOfCALM (local)
http://amazima.org/
www.worldvision.org
http://www.fh.org/
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/GiftCatalog2011/

UPDATE!!!

2011-11-30T19:21:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone that helped support this fundraising effort on Cyber Monday. It was so successful and our friend Lolly was able to raise some extra money for our adoption! If you didn't get to check it out, look down at our last post. There is a link to her company, which is AMAZING!

Thank you again!

April & Chris

Cyber Monday Fundraiser

2011-11-27T16:54:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let people know about a fundraising / shopping opportunity from one of our Portico friends, Laurel Denise Smith--also known as "Lolly" by most. Lolly owns her own jewelry & products company "Laurel Denise", where she uses her own handwriting to create beautiful, stunning pieces of jewelry & glassware, and much more. She has graciously decided to donate a portion of her proceeds from Cyber Monday to benefit our adoption, and in addition, is offering free shipping on any of her products all day tomorrow, Nov. 28th, until 11:59 pm.

If you haven't yet checked out Lolly's unique & intricate jewelry & products, click here to see her website. She is a master at what she does!! Her necklaces are absolutely beautiful and can be custom made. Lolly's products can also be found on Etsy (click here)

So if you are looking for a very special and unique Christmas gift, consider shopping here tomorrow to help benefit our adoption. Be sure to type in "Happy" for free shipping!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with family!

love,

April & Chris

Double the Blessing

2011-11-24T14:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! We wanted to take this time to let everyone know what a blessing they have been to us! We have been completely floored by the generosity and giving towards our adoption.

We also want to update everyone with where we are in our adoption process. Some of you have noticed that we have changed our fundraising amount from $21,000 to $28,000. This is because we have decided to adopt... 2 children!!! Hence, double the blessing!

For awhile now, we have been praying about whether this would be a possibility, but weren't sure if we would even be able to raise the money needed for one child. After the yard sale and an outpouring from those around us, both Chris and I were reminded that with God anything can happen. We are going to proceed through this adoption in hopes that we can adopt two, but will be leaving it in God's hands. I can't tell you how many times I had to remind myself that God was in control of the yard sale - and He proved Himself over and over. We trust fully that He KNOWS our children and has already handpicked them to be in our family.

Within the past two weeks, we were given two different updates from our agency. We were first told that our orphanage is moving away from allowing 2 unrelated children from being adopted at the same time, and are only allowing people to adopt sibling groups. So this left the question in our minds about what happens if there are no sibling groups in our requested age range to adopt? This also extends the length of the adoption process as we need to wait for sibling groups to become available.

Then, this past Friday, our agency informed us that they will do everything possible to honor what they first told us to expect in this process. They will first look for a sibling group, and if one is not available, then they will work at trying to match us with two unrelated children from a different orphanage. This was hopeful news!!! Just another reason why we feel comfortable with our agency, Generations Adoptions! They have worked hard to communicate thoroughly and promptly with us.

I am reminded daily to not put God in a box. I can already see that He has great things in store for Chris and I, and that He wants us to trust completely in Him. I've learned these past few months, that He is capable of steering us in a direction that we never thought we would go. He changes our heart's desires. He walks alongside of us in the hard places and enters in with us. He pushes, stretches, and grows us. Yet... are we always willing to allow Him to do this with us? Sometimes we allow our fears to hold us back.

He has changed my heart's desire from wanting to give birth to my own child, to adopting one child, to now adopting two!!! I'm excited to see what lies ahead. The uncertainty of the future is scary and unpredictable, but it is also marked with hope and unbounding joy.

Please pray for us. We are about to start our first Home Study meeting which is set for December 2nd. We're really excited to get this process going!!! We'll keep you updated on our progress.

Thanks for your continued support!

love,

April & Chris

Blessing Amidst the Storm

2011-11-05T18:52:00.000-07:00

Matthew 14:31 "Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' He said, 'why did you doubt?'"

I'd have to be the first to admit that there were many times along the past few weeks that I felt "doubt" and worry about this yard sale. This verse comes to mind because Chris and I had multiple conversations in the weeks leading up to this sale about how we thought we couldn't possibly acquire enough items to sell in order to put a dent in our fundraising. Oh, how God showed us how little our faith can be at times!

We started filling up our home 3 weeks before the sale and only had a small pile of donations in the corner. But as word spread that we needed donations, our dining room filled up pretty quickly and it poured out into our living room and front porch. We started to feel like hoarders!

As we began to bring items to Portico Church on Sunday evening, we filled up 1/3 of the auditorium. By Tuesday evening, we arrived to see that the ENTIRE auditorium had been filled with donations. GOD IS GOOD! I would have to compare it to when Jesus fed the 5,000, and often during this week, we felt God's faithfulness in supplying all we needed and then some. If we had to guess the number of families that donated, it would be somewhere around 50+!

Amazing!

Well, I guess a yard sale is what we would have called this adventure a few weeks ago before we amassed enough stuff to clothe an entire army, furnish multiple houses, and compete with Best Buy for the number of TVs and sound systems on display. In five short days, we managed to turn the sanctuary of Portico into a flea market!

I remember the night before the yard sale, as we were finishing up our preparations, we checked outside to find that it was SNOWING!!! I couldn't help, but get worried that this would keep everyone from coming to the sale. BUT God is faithful - again, we had to trust in Him that HE would provide all we needed.

"And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

As we drove in at 5:30am, the morning of the sale, there was snow on the cars, pouring rain, and all of our yard sale posters had been taken down by the city workers. I began to worry about whether people were going to show up. I grabbed the duck tape, a towel and some more posters and began driving around trying to hang them up. BUT, because it was freezing the posters wouldn't stick to the posts! I had to laugh to myself and ask God, "What are you trying to teach me at this moment!?" And...yet, I knew exactly what He was teaching me. He was showing me countless times throughout this process that I needed to surrender everything to Him - that He knew the outcome even before we could dream it up.

God not only touched the hearts of those in our lives to donate more items then we ever could have imagined, He also blessed us with over 100 volunteers!!! We knew that our church family, relatives, and friends were amazing, but to see such an outpouring of love still overwhelms us. We want to thank everyone who spent many countless hours organizing, loading/unloading vehicles, tagging items, baking/cooking food, collecting money, cleaning and setting up the church, providing us meals, and most importantly, praying for us.

The total we raised for the day...$10,058!! We thought we would raise about $3000 if the weather was good, and God surpassed our expectations. We reached over half of our fundraising in one day!!! GOD IS FAITHFUL!

We can not thank you enough - Both Chris and I said that it was amazing that we raised that amount of money in one day, and know that we couldn't have done it without you!! But even more amazing than the money, and something that will forever last in our memories, is the support we received from so many people. Bottom line- we are blessed to have you in our lives and blessed to call Portico Church our home.

Thank you for being such a blessing to Chris and I!!

April & Chris
Here are some pictures and local news video from the day. More to come!

http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Couple_Selling_Personal_Treasures_in_Hopes_to_Bring_Home_a_Treasure_from_Uganda_132835693.html

Shopping during the yard sale

Our friend Alex wheeling and dealing

Christa & Jenn AKA "yard sale coordinators"

Kathryn & Jon selling the best cupcakes in the world!

Our friends Jeremy, Julianne, & Norah surprised us from North Carolina!

Jon, Alex, and Jessica helping out

Adoption Yard Sale This Saturday

2011-10-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

OUR GIANT YARD SALE is almost here!!!! I can hardly believe it. Here's a pic of ALL of the stuff we have collected so far.

Details of the sale:

RAIN or SHINE - (The sale will be in Portico if it rains and yes, it looks like it may rain, but God can do anything!!!)

Date: Sat. Oct. 29th

Time: 8:00 - 2:00

Location: @ Portico Church (201 Monticello Rd, closest to Ridge St.)

We are still in need of anyone willing to come help!!!

Email Chris or I!

Thanks to everyone that has already put in so much time and energy to help us transport all of the donations over to the church, and for those who are going to help us tag and organize the items.

Here's the craigslist ad with more details of items:

http://charlottesville.craigslist.org/gms/2665373230.html

April & Chris

Birthday Surprises

2011-10-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

We want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who surprised me on my birthday yesterday with donating to our adoption through yard sale and financial donations. What an incredible, thoughtful birthday gift!!! (Thanks to Jenn Tucker and Lauren Thompson for scheming this secret surprise!!) Countless times throughout the day, I was brought to tears as I opened card after card, as well as emails, with friends' generosity and their encouraging notes.

I can not tell you enough, how deeply grateful Chris and I are for each one of you!!!

We are about 2 months into this process, and have been blessed by so many! I remember before we even shared our news, I asked Chris, "How are we going to do this financially?" And I remember his words, "If God wants this to happen, He will provide all that we need." If you look over to the right sidebar of this blog, you will see how God has already provided for us thus far.

Please pray that our upcoming Adoption Yard Sale will go smoothly and that we can be a blessing to our community, as they bless us! (see details below)

THANK YOU AGAIN!

April & Chris

Adoption Yard Sale

2011-10-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

So we are gearing up for our Giant "Adoption Yard Sale"!!!

Here are the details....

Date: Sat. Oct. 29th

Time: 8:00 - 1:00

Location: @ Portico Church (201 Monticello Rd, closest to Ridge St.)

RAIN OR SHINE!!!

We are still in need of donations. Please email Chris or I if you have anything you would like to donate.

Thanks,

April & Chris

WE'RE ADOPTING !

2011-09-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

We are thrilled to announce that we're adopting from UGANDA!!!

While this may come as a surprise for some people, most of you have known for quite some time of our desires to start a family. We've been praying, and feel that this is where God is leading us.

We are just at the beginning stages of the process, and don't have too many details at this time, but our hope is that as we walk this journey, you will walk alongside of us.

We have mixed emotions - that of excitement and joy, as well as anticipation, nervousness, and longing!! We know that God is preparing our child in Uganda and we are excited to bring this child into our family - a child that needs a mother and a father to love them, to encourage them, and to comfort them. Parents to kiss them, bathe them, shelter them, and pray for them. Someone to tell them that they have worth, that they belong to a family... that they are loved!!

There are so many orphans in this world and our hearts break at the increasing numbers each day.

It's exciting that God is giving us this opportunity to change the life of 1 child (maybe 2!)

We don't know the name or even the sex of our child - but we will be waiting patiently for him or her to come home to us.

THANKS for sharing in our excitement! Please be praying for us and take the time to read our blog!

April & Chris

PS. Those are our legs (Thanks to Justin Conger for the awesome pic!)