Monday, March 30, 2015

More to the story...

Over the past few days since we shared our adoption news (Relentless Love Returns), we have been overwhelmed and so moved by the response we have gotten. We have received countless phone calls, texts, emails, and facebook messages with words of encouragement, support, and prayers. We have seen countless people share our story via their facebook accounts to help us get the word out. Within the first hour of posting our blog, $1,000 was donated! We have now raised over $4,000 in just 2 days! What has also astonished us is how much support we have received from people we have never even met! God has already done so many incredible things in our journey and I do NOT say this lightly. So, when we stepped out in faith and trust again as we reached out asking for support with our recent referral and large invoice that came along with it, we have been in awe that he continues to pour out his blessings over our adoption through your prayers, your consistent willingness to share our story with your friends and family, and through your financial donations. We truly can’t say thank you enough!

Last night as Tom and I were re-counting all of the amazing things that have been happening in the past two days, we couldn’t help but be moved by how many people, both those we know and many whom we do not, are joining with us to help us bring home our daughter…and many of you only know the brief story I posted the other day. We felt that because of the love and support you are giving to us, that we wanted to share a bit more with you..so you TRULY know what you are part of and can begin to understand how deeply thankful we are.

Much of what will follow is not easy for me to write.

It is not easy for me to talk about. (In fact, most of the time I talk about it, I can’t do it with dry eyes!)

But it is what happened…it is part of what brought us to where we are today..and for that, we are thankful.

So, here we go.

When we began this journey to adopt our daughter in June of 2012, we were told it would be nearly impossible to ever bring her home. But we didn’t let that stop us. We had NO idea what we were about to embark on, but we knew we were going to fight for her just like we would have if our biological daughter was there and someone told us it was too hard…with the relentless love of a parent. And so it began. We signed with an agency (Agency A) that said they could help us and began the long, tedious, and expensive paperwork process. We realized we were not equipped to pay for the large cost associated with adopting from Ethiopia, which is approximately $30,000, so we began fundraising.

We had t-shirts made (beautifully designed by our dear & very talented friend Ben) to sell (still for sale by the way)






We had Ethiopian coffee and hand-made necklaces brought to us from friend’s who had gone back to Ethiopia so we could sell these items as well (also still have some for sale)




We asked for donations from friends and family so we could have a Yard-Sale Fundraiser which ended up being such a huge success (thanks to the amazing donations from so many people) the first time…




We had a second one the following spring (that was so large we had to ask our neighbors to use their driveways too!)




I spoke and sang at a Women’s Event that donated their proceeds to our adoption



A friend of a friend who is a reporter heard of our story and wanted to help so he wrote an article about us to help get the word out 


And..we simply asked for help and people made tax deductable donations directly to our adoption agency on our behalf.

The outpouring of love, prayers, and financial support were amazing.

Seven months had passed and our adoption agency began sending us letters and notices telling us that things were changing. Eventually they told us that they could not promise that they would give us Hope’s official referral..their policy stated they would refer her to the next family in line who had requested her age and gender. That was not an option for us. The SAME DAY we received this awful news and realized we could no longer move forward with Agency A, a friend told us they knew of another agency (Agency B) that would help us. We called the next day and sent in our application.

When we officially signed with Agency B, we had all of our paperwork transferred along with all of the money people had donated to our adoption fund from Agency A. Then we waited. We called. We sent emails. We trusted that they were really going to help us. We kept being told, “one more week” or “there was a meeting set up but the person didn’t show, we will try again next week” etc…the list goes on. But ultimately, a little under one year after signing with this agency, in February of 2014, we got an email that broke our hearts. The agency was being indicted for fraud & conspiracy against the United States.

This news was incomprehendable. The people we had been working with and trusting…were not trustworthy. They were not working on our behalf or on Hope’s behalf. They had taken our money and done nothing else to help move our adoption forward. Now, because of this lawsuit (and the current guilty pleas of all involved), our money..the money so many people had given out of love, was gone. In addition to this news, about a week later we found out that because of Agency B, the government of Ethiopia had frozen all adoptions in progress and was also holding meetings to potentially end international adoption all together.  After consulting with multiple adoption attorneys, adoption agencies, and speaking to friends from Ethiopia we were told our journey was over. There was no hope for Hope.

We still knew in our hearts that she belonged with us. We were devastated at the idea we could not adopt her, but we realized there was another way we could still support her, still have her living under our roof, and still be a family to her without adoption. We would pursue a Student Visa. Even though she wouldn’t ever share our last name, she would still be our daughter in our hearts and that was enough for us.

The doors for the visa opened WIDE! She was accepted into an amazing school, we had a friend in Ethiopia who was willing to help us with all the work there that had to be done (I’ll have to write a separate blog about this AMAZING friend whom without, we wouldn’t be where we are today), things were FINALLY moving ahead and we had an appointment with the US Embassy in Ethiopia for the purpose of getting Hope a Student Visa on July 16, 2014. WE HAD A DATE!!

We booked our flights, asked everyone we knew for prayers, and flew the 17 hours to Ethiopia, leaving our two daughters behind (the youngest turning one while we were away), and went to see our sweet Hope and BRING HER HOME!

As you might have guessed by now, it didn’t go well. We were denied. Immediately. No discussion. No questions. No answers. Our hearts were CRUSHED. We thought we knew what God wanted us to do..we thought we were on the right path as things had gone so smoothly to get us to this visa appointment..and even worse, we had spent a whole week loving on our precious daughter, having her in our arms once again, only to have her ripped from them for no good reason…BY THE UNITED STATES!!!  We were confused, hurt, angry, desperate, and completely without a plan.

After the visa was denied, we decided to go speak to one more person we had heard of, who could possibly offer some help. For families who had been with Agency B, the Ethiopian government ultimately decided to let them move forward (as long as their cases were cleared by a new process called the Pair process..adding up to 5 months to the time it takes to bring your child home), with one of two agencies. The first agency was Agency A, the one we had left a year prior. So, there was only one option left. We met with the director of Agency C in Ethiopia the day after our Visa was denied…with very little hope in our hearts honestly. I remember on the drive to meet with him, Tom looked at me and said, “I really thought we were here because we were going to bring her home on the Visa” and I replied, “Well, maybe God had an entirely different plan and reason for bringing us here than we know right now…or than we may ever know.” And he did. It was for the meeting we were about to have.

This final agency said yes to us. They said they would try to help us. “Try” being the key word as our situation was pretty dire at the time and they had never had a case like ours before. We left our precious girl once again with tears streaming down our cheeks and an empty seat next to us on the plane reminding us of what we left behind..but it still was not over.



I look at this picture now and can still feel the echos of the pain and emptiness that filled my heart the whole flight home. But there was still a part of me that knew we couldn’t give up. We could NOT be defeated by the enemy. And that God was STILL by our side, fighting for us and for her.

And that leads us to where we are today. THAT is why we are so grateful for each word of encouragement, each hug, each time you share our story with your friends and family, and for each penny donated. Each one is so deeply appreciated because there have been so many hardships, so many defeats, and so many "no"s along the way. Every time we feel your love and support, it tells us one more person is with us, alongside us, joining us in our fight to bring Hope home.

We have learned SO much from these experiences over the past few years, but there is one thing I want to share with you today. You may be reading this post and have never gone through something like I just wrote about, but you may be going through your own pain, loss, emptiness, confusion, desperation, uncertainty, fear, the list goes on..and trust me, I’ve felt it all too! But what I want you to know, and what I never want to forget from my experience, is that even when life wasn’t good and was filled with all of those things listed above…GOD WAS STILL GOOD. He didn’t change when my circumstances did. I have realized that I can’t base my understanding of God’s character on the things that are happening in my life. I am blessed and God is good..EVEN when things around me aren’t! These horrible things that happen in life can draw us closer to Jesus and into a more real, authentic relationship with him than we have EVER known before if we let them! If we just cry out to him…he’s there. He will never leave us as orphans friends, he is our father and loves us with a relentless love that will never end.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
                                                            James 1:17

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.      
                                                            John 14:18



Saturday, March 28, 2015

Relentless Love Returns


It has been about 9 months since we had to remove our blog..but we are back with a VERY EXCITING UPDATE! Let me re-cap our journey and then I will catch everyone up to where we are today!

In June of 2012 my husband, Tom and I decided to go on a mission trip to Ethiopia to commemorate our 5-year wedding anniversary. We spent ten days serving in Ethiopia through various ministry outreach programs.  Most of our time was spent working with the people of Korah, an impoverished leper, HIV and TB community adjacent and dependent upon a local trash dump for survival.  While working in Korah, God allowed us to see, touch, feel, work, and live beside those considered the least of these, living in poverty, despair, brokenness, and desperation.  In our first overseas mission, God graced us with His eyes and broke our hearts for a culture and people half way across the world.  We went there with a mission that was planned, but what we didn’t know was that he had an even greater mission for Tom and I when he sent us half way around the world.  It came in the form of a small girl whose name was ‘Hope.’

‘Hope’ (we cannot use her actual name) was a true divine appointment with an undeniable purpose.  When we first arrived in Korah, we were welcomed with a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Children were running around everywhere and Hope crawled up into my lap. Many of the children had mothers within the village so I began asking where her mother was. No one seemed to know. Finally, one of our interpreters spoke directly to Hope and we found out that she did not have a mother, or a father. I knew then and there God had placed her in my lap for a reason, and my life would never be the same. Day after day, Hope would smile, wave, or hug everyone in our group upon our arrival, but ultimately she would search the crowd and find me. I remember the first morning after we met, she came running toward me, jumped into my arms and held me in an embrace as if she had been apart from me for years, not just one night. In that moment, I realized I was not just holding a child, I was holding MY child.  The rest is history as the Holy Spirit formed a bond that was unbreakable not only between us, but between she and Tom as well.

The first time she climbed into my lap




By the time we were leaving, both Tom and I felt that Hope was part of our family and the love for her we had both developed was indescribable. On our last day in Korah, Hope leaned over and spoke soft words into my ear in her native language, Amharic.  Our interpreter translated the words, which meant, “Are you coming back?”  We so desperately wanted to tell her, “YES! We are coming back to bring you home with us!” As we drove away from Korah that day, she chased our vehicle to the end of the village smiling and waving hoping we would turn around or return again.



We returned for a visit this past July (2014), it only confirmed the bond God had formed over 2 years ago as she leapt into our embrace once again. At that time, although we had been relentlessly pursuing her adoption since we had met her 2 years prior, we were still unsure if she would ever be able to come home with us. To be completely honest, we thought it was over. Saying goodbye again to our precious girl was too painful to even put into words. But there was one thing we did know for sure, and that was that our love for her reached far beyond the borders that continued to separate us..she was our daughter, forever. The relentless love that brought us this far was not going to end…ever. 
Seeing her again brought me to my knees...

In our arms once again
We visited the home where she lived while she waited 








"I Love You"
Saying Goodbye to Daddy

Today (March 26, 2015) is a day that we have been dreaming about, wishing and hoping for, praying and weeping over, and begging on our knees…scratch that, begging with our faces on the ground asking God for this…for over the last two years and nine months. Facing EVERY obstacle possible, with a million “no’s” being shouted at us from every direction, and clinging to the hope we only have in Christ, today we received our OFFICIAL REFERRAL for ‘Hope.’ In the adoption process, this is what the adoptive families wait to receive once all their paperwork has been processed that officially matches them with their child. Ours was a little different in that we have known our sweet daughter since we began this process so long ago. All the while, not knowing, but hoping in faith that this day would come.  And IT’S HERE!!!!

When we began this journey we knew that we were stepping out on a leap of faith and that we would be stretched in many ways that are outside our comfort zone. We are thankful that we have the ability to provide for our children’s daily needs, but there is a significant amount of money needed for the process of international adoption. We began fundraising back in 2012 and were able to raise close to $10,000. However, that money was lost when our previous agency was indicted for fraud in 2014. Because of that, we have now signed with a new agency and have had to start the process again from scratch, paying many fees twice. Tom and I are asking EVERYONE to please consider being a part of this miraculous story as it still is not over and help us bring Hope HOME!!!!! With the news of our referral also came a bill for $16,300 that is due immediately. We still need about $25,000 more to complete the entire adoption process. We know God is faithful, has brought us this far, and we have NO doubt that he will provide through ways we never imagined! Please consider making a donation toward our adoption!

Here is a breakdown of our expenses:

Referral Fee- $16,300.00 (DUE THIS WEEK)
Includes:
Agency Fee: $2,650
Home Study Review: $300
Post Adoption Liability: $300
Dossier Fee: $525
Ethiopia Country Fee: $10,200
In Country Fee: $1,000 (Child’s Medical, Passport, Birth Certificate, Document Translation, etc)
Child Investigation Fee: $850
Pair Letter Authentication: $175
Validation Liability: $300

Airfare- $5,000 (2 round trip tickets and 1 one-way)
Hotel- $800 for 2 trips (court trip and embassy trip)
Food- $500 for 2 trips
Driver- $200 for 2 trips
Tips for Guest House staff- $200
Miscellaneous- $2,000 (federal fingerprinting, in-country care for Hope, baggage, etc)

Total Funds Needed: $25,000

WAYS TO DONATE:
Click on our PayPal button in the right column to donate online. You must view full website, not mobile mode to access this button.


Please click here to make a donation through our gofundme account.

To mail a check, please contact us for the address.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support! We are so excited to continue to share this journey with all of you and can't wait to officially introduce you to our sweet daughter, Hope!