Embassy Appointments- Take 2

As most of you know, our lawyer missed our Embassy appointment drop off on August 30.  It was a huge bummer.  Like made my cry for days.  I guess because we were so excited and it wasn't expected that he would miss it.  We just knew that we would travel in September to bring our daughter home (in fact we would be there right now), and it was such a HUGE disappointment to find out that that would not be the case.

That first week was rough. I talked about getting on a plane and going to Congo anyway.  Even if I didn't have an embassy appointment for another month at least I would be with my daughter and know that she is ok.  Then I talked myself out of it.  Then back into it.  And the pattern continued a million times until I finally decided that I would just wait patiently.  I just came to grips that God has perfect timing.  (And let me just say- it is super easy to say this, but much different to actually believe it.)

So, our new embassy drop-off date is September 27- just 2 days away.  The actual appointment is October 1. 

Would you all please, please, please pray for this?  Pray for our lawyer to actually make the document drop off.  Then pray that all paperwork that is needed is there and we are approved.  We really NEED this to happen.  Our daughter NEEDS this to happen.

I posted this earlier in the week on facebook:

"Get your "YES" straight at the very beginning. Decide on it. Roll around in it. Put it on the table and shellack it. Because you cannot let every delay and snag derail your certainty about adoption. When you say YES, you are saying YES to enter the suffering of the orphan, and that suffering includes WAITING FOR YOU TO GET TO THEM. I promise you, their suffering is worse than yours. We say YES ...to the tears, YES to the longing, YES to the maddening process, YES to the money, YES to hope, YES to the screaming frustration of it all, YES to going the distance through every unforeseen discouragement and delay. Do not imagine that something outside of "your perfect plan" means you heard God wrong. There is NO perfect adoption. EVERY adoption has snags. We Americans invented the "show me a sign" or "this is a sign" or "this must mean God is closing a door" or "God must not be in this because it is hard," but all that is garbage. You know what's hard? Being an orphan. They need us to be champions and heroes for them, fighting like hell to get them home. So we will. We may cry and rage and scream and wail in the process, but get them home we will." --Jen Hatmaker, Author of Interrupted and Seven and mother of five (two all the way from Ethiopia)

 

I needed to hear/see that this week.  I can relate to everything that Jen Hatmaker says. This past month- the crying, raging, screaming, wailing- has been me.  But so is the fighting and so is the determination to get our daughter home!!  

 

Thank you friends and family for your love, prayers, and support.  This adoption journey would be so much harder without you.  It is true that adoption is not for the faint of heart.  It is HARD. But would I do it all again?  You betcha. 

 

 

 

Because this precious girl is WORTH it!!

 

 

 

 

Brittany

Sad news

This is gonna be short and sweet because I am still trying to process everything.

We were so excited today that we got our visas in the mail. Unfortunately, the news about Embassy is not good.  We just got an update from our agency director.  She said that our lawyer in Congo was in a car accident last week and missed our Embassy appointments.  They have been rescheduled for Sept 27 and Oct 1.  That puts us a month behind where we thought we would be.  Another month without our daughter :( 

My heart hurts.  I feel like it's in a million pieces. 

Thanks for your prayers!


Brittany

Embassy Appointments and Other Things

Thank you so much for your prayers for our adoption process!  We are getting so close!!

I wanted to give you a brief update on where we are.  Since my last post, we got our Embassy appointments.  They were actually last week.  However, we have not heard anything about them yet (i.e. did they go ok?, was all the paperwork there?, etc.).  We are praying and hoping to hear something this week!

We have also sent in all the paperwork to get our visas to travel.  It was a little weird putting our passports and yellow fever vaccination cards in the mail and hoping they didn't get lost somewhere.  They didn't though.  They have arrived at the Embassy in Washington, D.C. (we may have stalked the USPS website with our tracking number) and we hope to get them back at the end of the week.

So once we get our visas and hear that Embassy went ok, what's left?  Emmalyn has to get her visa and then we can travel to Congo!!  It is seriously so close!  Like we are down to just weeks away (at least we hope)!

The question has been asked several times- "What can we do?  What can we send?" 

Well, you can send a couple of things if you so desire. 

1. Small toys- we are going to take these to pass out to the kids at the different orphanages.  They need to be fairly small since they have to fit in one suitcase/dufflebag. 

2. Non-perishable Candy- we are also going to take some candy with us to pass out to the kiddos.  I am thinking like dum dum suckers, smarties, etc.

3. Size 3T clothes- these would be for Emmalyn.  I am just guessing that this is the size that she will wear.  We have several things already, but we don't have many bottome (shorts or pants) or pajamas.  Please don't go out and buy anything.  I am just saying this mostly for people who may be cleaning out their  closets and may have some hand-me-downs that would work.  We know that she will grow quickly so we don't need tons of stuff just yet. 

Most importantly, though, you can just pray.

1. Pray for Emmalyn- that she will remain healthy, that she is being fed, that she is being taken care of, that she will not be moved again (she has been moved to a different place again since my last post), that God is preparing her for our family

2. Pray that we will hear good news about Embassy quickly.

3. Pray that we get our visas back by the end of the week.

4. Pray for our family- that we will trust God in His timing, that God is preparing us for Emmalyn

5. Pray for timing of travel- We need someone (preferably our parents) to take care of our children while we are gone to Congo.  However, my sister and Eric's sister are getting married the 2nd week of October and it doesn't look like our parents can come to AZ if we travel in October.  Also, Eric is the one marrying the two couples so it would be a good idea if we are home by then :)

6. Pray for the other families within our agency's adoption group.  Many of their children have jiggers in their feet that are absolutely awful!  They need surgery as quickly as possible.  If they do not get the surgery, their feet will get infected to the point where they could possibly lose limbs or even worse- death could occur if left untreated. Our agency is trying to raise the funds to pay for the surgery for each child.  They also need about 3 people to travel to Congo to take care of the children after the surgery is over.  If you would like to read more about this go to www.projectfeet.wordpress.com

Oh how I love her and can't wait to hug and kiss her!

Love,
Brittany

Adoption Prayer Requests

Here is another quick adoption update along with a couple of prayer requests:

Since my last post, our I600 has been approved from USCIS!!  So excited about that!  We are now waiting to hear the dates that our Embassy appointments have been scheduled and for Emmalyn to have her passport.  Originally, we were told that she already had her passport done, but then we received word that it wasn't complete because she has been sick. We don't know how sick or even what kind of sick, but when I heard that news I had this immediate urgency that we need to go get her.  Also, we found out last night that she has been moved from the place she was staying to an orphanage. 

The good news in all of this is that our agency director and 3 other families are in Congo this week.  Those families have just met their children for the first time today!!!  So excited for them!!  In fact, I just checked facebook and one of the families had posted pictures which totally brought me to tears.  Our agency director is supposed to be seeing Emmalyn today and checking on her and getting some new pics!  And hopefully she is finding out when our Embassy appointment is scheduled.

So, here are the prayer requests:

1. Pray for the families meeting their children for the first time. Pray that the transition is fairly easy and the kiddos adjust and bond to their parents.

2. Pray for our agency director to see all the children and get updates on all the cases.

3. Pray that Emmalyn's passport is done and Embassy appointments have been scheduled (and that they are soon).

4. Pray for Emmalyn- that her sickness is gone and that she can stay healthy until we go pick her up.  And that she is adjusting at the orphanage with new caregivers, new kids, etc. 

I have decided to show her picture in this post.  I was going to wait until we traveled, but I want you to see the precious face of the little girl you are praying for.

Isn't she sweet?

Praying that our "gotcha" day is soon!!

Thanks for your prayers and support throughout our whole adoption process!!!


Brittany

Quick Adoption Update

I have had several people ask me lately about what the latest is on our adoption.  If you are one of those people, thank you for asking and thank you for your concern. 

The reason I haven't given an update lately is because there is really nothing to update.  We are waiting once again :)

Here is where we are though:  Our paperwork and case have been submitted to USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services).  In adoption lingo, this means filing our I600.  This basically means that someone reviews our case and looks at all the paperwork and approves that it is ok for Emmalyn to immigrate here.  I found out today that the officer assigned to our case has it on her desk, however she has a couple of cases before ours.  Please pray for quick approval!!

After this is approved, we get an Embassy appointment in Congo.  Our lawyer will represent us there.  If everything goes well at the Embassy, then visas can be issued.  Then we can travel!!!  Oh Happy Day that will be!!!

So the next question everyone always asks is, "so how long does all that take?"  And the answer is we don't know.  There are a couple of families working with our agency that just had Embassy appointments last week.  They are preparing to travel in August.  We are thinking we will travel in September, but we just don't know.  And we won't know until we get the phone call. 

We just wait and pray and wait some more and pray and try to get things prepared and then wait some more and pray and then learn a couple of words in Lingala and then wait and pray some more.  It feels like the story of our life.  But God has taught us so much in the wait and I wouldn't trade that. 

You can pray for us and for Emmalyn and our case.  Pray that things go smoothly with USCIS and the Embassy.  Pray that we get to travel soon to bring her home to her family. 

Thanks friends and family for supporting, caring about, and loving our family!!

Brittany

What We've Been Up To

It's been a while, yet again, since I have last posted on this blog.  What can I say?  The craziness of summer is in full swing, and I literally haven't had many minutes to even be on the computer at all, much less complete a blog entry. 

Our third mission team for the summer just left a couple of days ago, and we have spent these last couple of days just spending time together as a family. I am trying to cherish these last couple of weeks because it will be time for Ella to start school again.  Yes, you read that correctly. Ella will start school in TWO weeks!!  It seems that summer has gone by in a blink of an eye!!

Nevertheless, I thought I would give you a quick update of what we've been up to.


1. Swimming/Playing in the water- Since it's been over 100 degrees pretty much everyday since the middle of May, the only way to stay cool is to be in the water.  We've done as much of this as possible.



Playing in the sprinkler is one of their fav things!

Fixing to jump in the pool!

I love Brayden's face in this one!

Ella @ the aquatic center

Brayden @ the aquatic center- what a crazy kid!

2. Trip to KY- We took 6 of our youth girls to Crossings church camp in Kentucky.  Thankfully, both sides of our family are just about a 15 minute drive from the camp so we got to see them as well!

Hanging out at my mom and dad's before going to camp

Look what I can do!

Swinging



Ella and Jace playing in the water again (this time at Memaw's)

Always being goofy :)

This is Eric doing the zipline with some of the kids at camp (He's on the left side.)

Jace and I riding in the boat. (I should mention that Jace is the son of one our youth girls. He didn't just magically appear in our family. Although I would take him in a minute :)

3. VBS- Because of the nature of our "job" (if you would call it that), our kiddos have experienced VBS 6 different times.  Each time has been in a different place with different kids.  They have loved every second of it!

Ella (in the middle) with the mission team teaching the kids the song

Brayden (far right) in one of his classes

Excited to have friends visiting from KY for one of the VBS's!!

Brayden and his buddy

4. Girls Day and Boys Day-  This past Saturday we had a Girls Day and Boys Day.  We started the afternoon with all of us getting some lunch together.  Then we went to the movie theatre.  Ella and I watched the movie "Brave" together while Brayden and Eric watched "The Amazing Spiderman".  It was a great day that both kiddos really enjoyed getting to spend one-on-one time.

Here we are actually watching the movie (which is why the pic is so dark)

5. Our Garden- We planted a garden this year and some fruits and vegetables actually grew!  It is seriously a big deal because we kill everything we plant!!  We have gotten watermelon, okra, and green beans so far.  The corn and peppers didn't turn out :(   But we are excited about the other things though!!  Eric and the kids say that the watermelons are the best they have ever tasted! (I don't care for watermelon so I wouldn't know.  I'm excited about the green beans!)  After picking all the "stuff" from the garden and bringing it into the house to prepare, it brought back so many memories for me.  It felt like just yesterday that I was back at my Granny and Grandaddy's house watching them break beans and preparing the food we were going to have the rest of the year.  I wish I would have paid more attention now :) But so glad that I have those memories and excited that my kids will have the memories of us doing it together this year.  We are definitely gardening again next year (now that we know we didn't kill everything) and hopefully gonna have a bigger garden!

A while back

Our watermelon

Some of the green beans

Well, there is more to say, but I need to go cook supper and spend some time with my babies!  Remember we only have 2 more weeks left of summer. I'm gonna try to make the most of it!!


Love,
Brittany

New Life in Christ

My sweet Ella was baptized by her daddy a couple of weeks ago!!   It was such a precious moment for our family!! 

I've been meaning to post pics since that night, but I am just now getting around to it.  (This is the season for mission teams and the busiest time of year for us.)

She was so excited!!

Buried with Him through baptism

Raised to walk in the newness of life!!

Wow!!  I may have cried a little :)

Thank you Jesus for giving my daughter new life!!  May You receive all glory and praise!!!


Brittany