Surprise!

If I have learned one thing about God's character over the past couple of years it is that he has no desire to let me live out my plan for my life and not his. A close second would be that I generally have no idea what his plan for my life actually is. 

My plan for my life = adopt a son from the DRC.

God's plan for my life = have another biological child and then adopt a son from somewhere (place unknown to us).

If you are surprised by this news, you're tracking with us correctly. We are surprised by this news. Immensely blessed but wholeheartedly surprised!

Here's how it all went down: We made a choice as a family to take a step that would, in essence, ensure that we had no more biological children. Exactly one day after Ryan had that fateful procedure, we got some rather unexpected news. We're expecting child #3 in May. Child #3 will not be adopted. Surprise!

That does not mean we are not adopting. As of now, Ryan and I have decided that we will adopt a son from somewhere. We aren't terribly sure where that place is, and we aren't sure of our new time frame. We are sure of a couple of things, though; any money that you've donated or have helped us raise is sitting safely in an adoption only fund, and if we for some reason decide that we cannot complete our adoption, we will donate all of that money to some dear friends who are working hard to bring their kiddos home or finish their adoptions.

We are excited for all God has for our family and we're learning to laugh with him when he throws us a bit of a curveball.  

Confusion

We got some not so great news via email today: the DRC has decided to continue its suspension of exit visas until they create and vote into law new adoption requirements. They are looking at this possibly happening in July. 

I wish that I was lying.

Many of you may not be religiously following the adoption drama in the DRC like we do. What this means is the 300 + children that have been adopted by US families since last September and are unable to leave the country will be stuck there until at least July. I can't even imagine how hard this is for those families and their little ones. 

What this means for our family is that we need to start praying hard about whether or not we are to continue pursuing an adoption from the DRC or if God has something else for us. As difficult as this is for us, we need to be open to a change if that is what God would have us do. 

Please join us in praying for wisdom in our decision as to what country God has called us to. We are confused and pleading with God to show us a glimpse of his plan, and feel overwhelmed with all that is transpiring.

Yard Sale

We have our first major fundraiser coming up in 2 weeks. Ryan and I have been running all over town picking up donations from people who have selflessly decided to give us their stuff to sell. 

What's been really weird about all of the donation collecting, is that half of the people who have donated stuff are complete strangers. I'm serious. People that live around the corner and that I have never met in my life have given us a ton of stuff. What's been even better is the fact that we've gotten to share God's passion for orphans and the fatherless with each of these people. 

God doesn't make mistakes when it comes to who our neighbors are. He doesn't make mistakes when He tells your family to adopt a kid on the other side of the world when they have practically nothing to give but their love. He chose us to go get Levi. He chose  specific people to donate items and hear our story. 

There are no accidents.

What's in a Name?

Let me start by saying that we never meant to be that family that gives all their kids names that start with the same letter. To be honest, I always thought that was kinda weird.... 

We chose the name Layla for our first adopted daughter because it means "dark beauty." Her birthmother loved the name and added Marie as he middle name to honor her own mother. 

We were a bit stumped with our second little surprise. We fell in love with the name London, for no particular reason other than it was beautiful. Ryan had always had a longing in his heart for a biological child, so we thought it appropriate to give her the name Ryan as a middle name.

We suddenly became the family with two kids with names that started with an L.  Two isn't enough to really put you in that parenting category, but three is.

A couple of months ago, David Sons was preaching about being a people who is generous and who know that God has provided them with everything. He spoke of the Levites, the tribe that owned no land, but who were given the job of working in God's temple. 

God was their only inheritance.

This struck me hard; not just as an incredible lesson for myself, but as a prayer for my son. A boy who has most likely known more hurt, fear, hunger, and heartache than we could ever imagine. A boy who owns nothing and has nothing. A boy who will give up all he does know to join our family half way across the globe. 

God is and will be his inheritance. 

And his name will be Levi.

We Aren't Good People

I'm going to be honest in this post. Adoption is incredibly difficult, but probably not for the reasons that you're thinking. Yes, we need to raise a ton of money. Yes, we will be traveling half way around the world to go to our little guy. No, those aren't the reasons that this adoption is hard. 

Making the decision to adopt is so very different than making the decision to try and become pregnant or to have a baby biologically. Once you get pregnant, you typically don't have the choice to just stop being pregnant. When you make the decision to adopt, you always have a terrible voice in the depths of your mind that loves to remind you that you can quit anytime on the journey to finalization. When times get tough, that voice gets a whole lot louder. 

As adoptive parents who are on the journey, we need people checking in on us and reminding us that God gave us a command and that He will help us complete it. We need friends and leaders and family to push us forward. 

We don't need people telling us what a great thing we are doing. Many days we struggle to even stay the course and not throw in the towel. We aren't doing a good thing because we are good people. We're just saying yes to God, day after day and pleading that He'd lighten the load and give us courage to take another tiny step.

So, if you're reading this, and you think we chose this path and we've got it all together; we didn't and we don't. God chose it for us, and we need your encouragement to keep saying yes everyday.

The Village Love Notes

Remember when I talked about how important the Village is in helping our little guy fully grasp how much this community loves him?  It's here if you missed that one:

This is your chance to speak to his heart.  He isn't going to fully understand what true love and acceptance is when he gets here.  Just because we tell him aloud that he is part of our family and our "village," doesn't mean that he will accept those kind words for a while.  He needs to see them.  He need a daily reminder that we've prayed for him and will not leave him.

Isn't this the same thing that we need from God?  He gave us his word so that we can always look back and remember that His promises are true and His love is real.

So, I present to you The Village Love Notes.

There is 100 cards labeled 1-100.  Each card represents a $ amount (ex. #4 card = $4 donation). When you choose a card # and donate that $ amount, we will take whatever verse, encouraging word, or prayer that you have for our little guy and place it on the back of your card.  When he gets home, we'll give him 1 card per day to read.  100 days worth of Love Notes can do wonders for a child's wounded heart.  

If you'd like to buy a card, please go to our GoFundMe page here: http://www.gofundme.com/cmv998  and donate your selected amount of money.  Please comment on the page that you are buying ___ card and you want to tell our little guy _____.  

I will post a running list of cards that have been bought, so you know which cards are still available.  

#15 and #30 card is unavailable!

Again, thank you for standing in the gap for us!

The Village

I figure its about time that we talk about the Village part of "A Vision & A Village."

Raising kids is hard work.  Raising kids from hard places is REALLY hard work.

The road to our little guy is long and will be incredibly trying.  As soon as we announced that we were adopting, Satan immediately started digging around in our hearts and heads.  He told us lie after lie about how adopting from the D.R. Congo is a terrible idea.  He pushed us to question God's calling and even question the vision itself.

Friends, this is where you come in.  When talking to each other couldn't lift the cloud of doubt, we called on some friends who had walked this path before us.  They went to bat for us and spoke truth when all we were hearing was lies.  They were our village.

When little man finally comes home, this is the village that we are going to desperately need: prayer warriors, encouragers, prophets, teachers, and friends. Our family will be rocked, and we will need you.  Little man will need people who understand where he has come from in order that he can learn what it means to be a dearly loved SON.

Yes, it will take a village of people to help us raise the funds to bring him home, but what you speak into his life and into ours is far more important than the money you donate.

"It takes a village to raise a child."  - African Proverb

Timelines and Such

A super smart friend of mine just brought to my attention that you guys don't have a ton of info. Oops....

Sometimes I get ahead of myself when it comes to blogging and what not. So for those of you that we haven't discussed this in length with, here's a little FAQ section!

Q: How long until you get to bring him home?

A: Hopefully between 1 1/2 to 2 years. D.R. Congo has some exit letter stuff going on right now that may push this date back if it isn't cleared up soon. We're hoping for the best though!

Q: How old will he be?

A: Anywhere between the ages of 2 and 6.

Q: What agency are you using?

A: We'll be working with WACAP, a well-known non-profit that has been doing international adoptions for decades. They are a Haque accredited agency and we have heard nothing but great things about them from families we know and trust. We did a lot of digging before we chose them to make sure there was no funny business going on.

Q: What does the process look like?

A: It is pretty similar to our adoption of Layla, with a few key changes:

Apply. 

Complete a home study. 

Complete a ton of paperwork (Dossier.) Send said Dossier to be translated into French and then send to the Congolese government. 

Agency sends us a referral of a boy that they have matched us with.

We accept referral.

We wait months for a court hearing date.

We travel and stay in the DR Congo for 14 days.

We come home!

(There are tons if other smaller pieces to this puzzle, but these are the big ones of all goes well.)

Q: What does my donation go to?

A: international adoptions aren't cheap. All of the money we need to raise and save from our own paychecks goes toward paying agency fees, US govt fees, DR Congo govt fees, keeping our child alive and healthy in an orphanage or foster care situation until we can get them, travel, and new documents for him to become a US citizen, etc. There is a LOT that goes into this. 

Q: What are you doing to share the fundraising burden?

A: Every extra penny we have is going toward this adoption. We've cut out all kinds of unnecessary bills and are selling anything that we've collected over the years that we don't need or use. 

Q: Is now a good time?

A: I know it looks like we've lost our minds. We've wrestled long and hard with this choice. Life is hectic, just like it always is. If you've spent any significant time with us, you know that we like it this way. There is always something going on, and that won't change in the next 10 years. We could sit on this for a couple of years in order to be more comfortable before we begin, but I find it impossible to justify letting our child  eat out of a garbage can, sleep on the streets, and possibly be recruited as a child soldier for the next couple of years just because we are busy. We are busy simply because we like being busy. No job, volunteer work, or hobby should or will ever come before family.

I think that's it for now! If you have other questions, let us know and we'll be happy to grab some coffee or just shoot you an email if that's easier. :)

"Where He leads, I'll follow."

Anna

Let's Talk Money!

I really don't like writing this post, but I know it's needed. We've been hand-making and selling cute little jewelry and paintings to start helping us raise funds so we can push through this process. After looking at material cost and time it takes to make this stuff, I've realized that we aren't banking much. You guys have been awesome in buying stuff, but it's going to take us 10 years to bring our little man home at this rate.

How much is this going to cost us in the long run? We're currently singing the tune of around $32k... Yikes! We know that God is faithful though and He will provide for what he's called us to.

So obviously we don't have 32 grande sitting around. We can't bring him home without your generosity.  Please remember that this is t some anonymous child. He will be your neighbor, cousin, nephew, grandson, or friend. He may even end up being your son's best friend or your daughter's future husband.

With that in mind, I hope you'll welcome the price increase and support our future yard sale, t shirt sale, and other fundraisers!

-In Him,

Anna

The Congo and My Heart

Have you ever felt like you've been on a crazy, long journey and you stop to look around simply to find that God has brought you back to the same place you started from?  That's where we are: The Democratic Republic of Congo.

I suppose I should backtrack a bit for those of you that are wondering where on earth the idea of adopting a son from the DRC has come from.  When I was in high school, I was "forced" to read "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver.  To say it changed my life would be an understatement.  I had never looked outside of my little southern box until I lost myself in that book.  The Gospel was there, but in a weirdly distorted form.  Behind the words and the bizarre story stood a people that called out to my very soul.  I can't describe it in any other way than to say that God made me love this country.  I never really had a choice in the matter.

Fast forward through college, marriage, miscarriages, a domestic adoption, a biological baby, and my work with the foster care community and you can find me staring at a map and praying for a little boy in the Congo.

Sometimes, God whispers silently so that we have to strain to hear Him.  Sometimes.He sends us messengers.  Sometimes, circumstances simply lead us toward His will.  On March 24, 2014, He gave me a Vision.  

A little boy, not more than 4 or 5 years old, standing in the streets of Kinshasa.  He's alone and he's waiting for me.  

Friends, that's the only thing that we have to go on.  My heart has been shattered every moment since I saw him. I have no other explanation than that I simply KNOW in my heart that he is ours.  Now, we move forward despite all of the issues with DRC adoptions and pray that God will pave a way for us.  The road to our son is long and will certainly have many setbacks, but we must fight to bring him home.

Anna