When Love Takes You In

Listen to the words......

He knows.

I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you what is best for you,
who directs you in the way you should go.

Isaiah 48:17

Domestic vs. International? And the winner is...

...The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised. Job 1:21

Today has been interesting...

From the beginning of this adventure, we have pursued international adoption and all along the way, we have had different people ask, "Are you interested in domestic adoption?". Our answer has always been the same, that we just felt that God was leading us towards international adoption. An explanation of sorts, if I may, international adoption is almost an extension of the passion and desire that we have for the mission field.

We had an opportunity presented to us earlier today by our adoption agency to be matched with a child from South Carolina that hadn't even been born yet. I'll be honest, we were totally caught off guard and not really sure what to think. After the initial shock, lots of questions...Is this God's way of changing our path? Can we do this with only 2 months notice? We have NOTHING for a baby! What? How? When? Ahhhhhh..........This was a loop we definitely hadn't planned for. But two facts I had to keep reminding myself: We have prayed for a child to be added to our family for some time...and God doesn't always answer our prayers the way we expect Him to. (Shouldn't I know this by now...?)

Long story short, I received an email late this evening and God has found a match for this little girl and totally shut the door for us on this opportunity. That was our prayer, to make this decision very clear to us...shut and open the right doors! I'm not sure exactly what the lesson learned is going to be yet...possibly to TOTALLY and COMPLETELY trust God with all even when it catches us off guard, or is He preparing us for another domestic adoption opportunity and all the talk and conversations and prayers over this are just a taste of what's to come? Only God knows...

I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. Job 42:2


On a side note, I shared coffee and a time of fellowship at Starbucks this evening with several ladies from our church who are in the process of adopting or have already completed adoptions. It was awesome to see how God is working in each family's life to make adoption happen for them. Thanks to each of you for your encouraging words as we talked through this opportunity tonight...And who let me order the caramel frappacino? I'm wired. And up for at least 2-3 more hours!!

CSI: Louisville

Good news...Kenny & I are not criminals! As if there was actually any concern........ We had a totally and completely uneventful trip to the Gene Snyder U.S. Courthouse in downtown Louisville yesterday morning. We were the first people in the office...handed over our completed I-600a paperwork, sent downstairs to be fingerprinted...had to wait in line behind a nice fellow from the Ukraine...they fingerprinted each of us using their super-cool CSI-like digital fingerprint scanner and we were on our way. Whole process took less than 45 minutes! Our biggest problem was that neither of us thought to bring change for the parking meter, but the nice security guard gave me change for a dollar and took care of that problem pretty fast! And I was really pumped and hoped that this would be like my own little CSI adventure getting fingerprinted and all, but it was surprisingly boring. God was watching out for us... : )

And props to Tera, who heads up the adoption ministry at our church, for coming to the rescue Monday night and helping me fill out our I-600a! They ask these crazy questions and apparently whatever your gut tells you to answer, you should just go the opposite way! That's the government for ya!

Next...our second visit with our adoption social worker next Tuesday, July 22nd.

Alabama...and my dad...ROCKS!!

So really, God ROCKS...I'll fill you in. If you remember a couple of days ago , I asked you guys to pray that we would receive a copy of our Alabama state tax papers in a timely manner... We were told that it would be 8-10 weeks, but today when I checked the mail, to my most giddy surprise, there sat a certified copy of our 2005 Alabama state tax return!! I think I cried a little...I really wasn't expecting to see these papers for quite a while! "O ye of little faith", God reminded me...I'm sure he was smiling down on me as I opened that mailbox!

And on to my dad rocking, turns out our home study agency wanted me to have an additional background check run, by the state instead of by an independent agency, which is how it was done the first time around. So, I called the Alabama Department of Public Safety (fancy name for the police) and they directed me to an online form that needed to be submitted by mail and would take 4-6 weeks to process! 4-6 weeks?!? Dad to the rescue! The form can be submitted in person, which takes all of about 15 minutes (so why does it take 4-6 weeks to mail it to me?!?) in the lovely state capital of Montgomery, Alabama. And since Dad is a world traveler of sorts and he passes through Montgomery about once a week, he is going to take the form down there for me!! Thanks Dad!! Next hurdle...the form needs to notarized. After a quick call to Nicole (who obviously knew I was going to need a notary), she informed me that she had already set up a notary to be at church on Sunday to sign kid's camp forms! Problem solved! How lucky are we?!?

I'm not gonna attribute it to luck, but that God is really a step ahead of us all through out this process. These may be little things, but it's the little things that grow our faith BIG! We serve an awesome God and He never fails us! I can't stop smiling! Doesn't take much to make me happy...wonder how I'll respond when we actually get to the point of receiving a referral... :)

The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Deuturonomy 31:8 (NIV)

God ROCKS. 'Nuf said.

I will call him Wonka!

(...not to be confused with Willie Wonka from The Chocolate Factory, because he was a little creepy...)

I know it's been quite a while since y'all have experienced Jana's Nature Segment, so I'll indulge you. We have a new friend "living" with us. I have named him Willie Wonka (yes, I'm silly!) and he is brown with a little white fluffy tail and floppy ears! We often see Willie Wonka in the morning or afternoon nibbling on our grass in the yard or hopping around in the field behind our house. He likes to hop around the rocks in the backyard. He usually visits us daily, but has yet to let us get too close...believe me, I tried to pet him! My plan is to offer him a carrot and see what happens...(Katie, he looks like Spencer!)





And to add some excitement and spice to the Nature Segment, we were chased...yes, chased...by a possum on Friday night. Before you fall over laughing, let me explain. So, we are hanging out with our good friends, the Jolly's, on the 4th and we are sitting outside on their porch watching fireworks. It was raining, so we were sitting on the steps. Nicole mentioned she smelled "wet animal"...still not sure what that smells like, Nicole...about the time we see this fat possum run across the bottom stair. In the next few seconds, there is a clap of thunder or a firework or something that spooked the little critter and it headed straight up the steps after us!! I don't think we've moved that fast in long time and I'm pretty sure I knocked somebody over trying to get inside! And unlike the cute bunny, the possum didn't get a name...I'm hoping not to see him again!

He proceeded to wander around the outside of the house the rest of the evening, but we managed to avoid any other direct contact! Yuck...makes me shudder just think about it!

"That does NOT look good!" said Dr. Gaba...

So, on Tuesday, we started with our physicals, which ended up really being more of just a little chat with the doctor, because the forms that we needed to have filled out required very little input from the doctor. Good news...he declared us healthy and happily signed our forms. And now we have a doctor should we get sick because we both really liked the guy. (Thanks for the referral, Dwayne!) Bad news...My finger is infected from a freak laundry accident. I'm probably about the only person in the world to have an accident doing laundry and end up on antibiotics with an infected finger! (I slammed my finger in the dryer door.....don't ask!)

Then we met our adoption social worker at a local pizza place where she proceeded to ask us every possible question about our childhood all the way up to the present. We described how we grew up, our families, where we went to school, what we did for fun, our jobs, our house, how we met, etc. We feel like it went really well and we are excited to finish up the actual home study process. We will do the 2nd half of our home study on July 22nd, where she will actually come to our house. In the mean time, we will basically be "kid-proofing" the house before she comes, per her request. My friend Dara did home studies as part of her internship for her Master's and she told me people always had just made cookies or baked a cake right before she showed up to make the house smell great and seem homely and kid- friendly...I'm already trying to decide...chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin? Any suggestions, Dara?

We also have our appointment scheduled with USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) to submit our I-600a and get fingerprinted on July 15th. The I-600a is the "Application for Advanced Processing of Orphan Petition" and "is how the government identifies prospective parents as qualified to continue in the adoption process". In a nutshell...more paperwork. :)

Two specifics you can pray for: This may seem trivial, but could potentially cause us some delays...First, we have had to apply for a copy of our 2005 Alabama State tax refund. Somehow, we have either misplaced it or didn't make a copy of it way back when. It could potentially take 8-10 weeks for them to get it to us. It's been about 4 weeks, so I'm hoping to see it sooner, rather than later! And second, when my background check was run for the state of Alabama, another chap's name showed up on MY background check. Which means, this guy is using my social security number, either on purpose or by accident. Regardless, the government may not be too keen on this and may think it is an alias of mine or something weird like that. And it concerns me just because of all the identity theft that goes on these days and I have reported it to the social security office. We aren't sure right now how this will be handled or if it will cause a problem, but I'm praying that it is remedied easily!!

We march on, filling out this and that, praying for our little one(s), who is out there somewhere...

Ethiopia

In case you didn't catch the 'o so subtle hint from last Thursday's post, we have made a decision about which country and agency to use. We are going to be adopting from Ethiopia, which is north of Kenya, on the Eastern coast of Africa. We talked about several different countries, but kept coming back to Ethiopia... I am going to mail off our application tomorrow to Carolina Hope, which is a Christian adoption agency that handles both domestic and international adoptions. We have done TONS of research on different agencies and prayed lots, but finally decided that we are totally comfortable with and confident in Carolina Hope.

And just so you can see where the desire to adopt internationally started, enjoy the picture of Kenny below...(This is one of my all-time favorites!) Those of you that know Kenny now, don't find this picture the least bit surprising. Kenny was off playing with the kids, while the rest of his group was on the roof! :)



Kenny in Nairobi, Kenya. Summer 2002.

After seeing this picture, can you possible question our decision to adopt a child from Africa? There are over 4 million orphans in Ethiopia, 1 in 10 newborns will die before reaching 1, and 1 in 6 children will die before age 5...the main cause of childhood deaths: diarrhea and pneumonia, conditions we as Americans usually don't even consider a threat. 1 in 16 children will die from AIDS. The life expectancy is 42. There are only 3 physicians for every 100,000 people. Per capita income is less than $100. These statistics are stunning and even worse is that most of them are from 2005 and 2006, meaning these numbers are terribly outdated and are most likely even more devestating in 2008!

We have the first of our two home study visits tomorrow afternoon. I thought I would be nervous about it, but actually I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. I'm a little less pumped about the physicals that are also tomorrow. I'll let you guys know how that goes later in the week...

Don't Waste Your Life

"The wasted life is the life without a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of ALL peoples."

This is a short video from Carolina Hope's website. The children in this video are from some of the orphanges that work with the adoption agency, Carolina Hope. This orphange is located in Ethiopia in a village with 20,000+ known cases of AIDS and is a very needy area. The quotes throughout the video are from one of our favorite authors, John Piper and his book Don't Waste Your Life.

Watch for the smiles...

Ty-bo...show some nephew love!!

Relay: COMPLETE!

On Friday night, we participated in the Spencer County Relay for Life with our church's team!! We had a blast and the weather was great...Enjoy the pics!!




Nicole and I made an authentic "redneck" truck (it's camo, if you can't tell) to represent our Highview team in the box-car race. While we were proud of our creation, we didn't stick around to watch the race...I don't think that was scheduled until 12:30 am!! Kenny was going to "drive" it, but I had to send him home early with an upset tummy! :(





These are my two favorite little girls in the world!! I just LOVE Grace & Emma Jolly!! (That's their sweet mommy above...Nicole!) They were troopers and I think they walked (or rode) more laps than we did!! Check out their blog, which is sure to have more pictures from the relay as well.

Thanks to everybody who helped us support the cause!!

UPDATE: The Spencer County Relay for Life ended up raising $51,400 and our team raised $2051. YEA!!

One of Two...JULY 1st

We are winding up the paper-collecting marathon, although something in the back of my mind tells me the paperwork is just beginning...We both have physicals scheduled for July 1st and this will be the last little bit of information that we need to gather to complete our home study. (With the exception of that pesky 2005 Alabama State tax refund copy that is MIA...) The home study agency we are using requires two visits and I am happy to report that after a wonderful afternoon of being examined by a doctor, we are going to meet with our adoption worker for the first of our two visits!! So, on July 1st we will complete the first half of our home study. Scheduling that visit today was just one more step in making this whole process seem VERY, VERY real!

He did good!

Thanks for the prayers. Ty is home. His surgery went well, although I believe he ended up having hernias on both sides that had to be repaired. The doctors said the hernias are common in babies who have gastroschisis. I would post some new pictures for those of you in other states, but I can't seem to get anyone to send me any new pictures. Seems they don't want me to know what my own nephew looks like as he grows up...(sniff, sniff)...

Ty-shaped Prayers Please!

Pray for baby Ty! He has to have a minor hernia surgery on Monday morning at 7:15 am and as long as everything goes well, he will go home tomorrow as well.

Since you asked...

I've had several requests for an adoption update...Currently, we are gathering the million and one pieces of paperwork [enter sarcasm] that will be needed for us to complete our home study. Birth certificates, marriage certificates, letters galore from banks, employers, friends, financial information, background checks, physicals, etc...all needed for us to complete our actual home study.

How you can pray for us...We still need to make a decision about a specific agency and country. Pray that God gives us guidance, wisdom and peace as we chose the right agency (& country) to work with.

VBS is over...or is it just beginning?!?

Our campus just completed our first ever Spencer County Vacation Bible School and we had a blast! We had a great crowd each night, many new families, no major medical emergencies (I stress major because we went through some band aids!), many island themed crafts, lots of kids presented with the gospel, bouncies and ice cream and lots of kool-aid!!

...But things are just beginning for 3 of our other campuses as Highview continues VBS for the whole month of June in various locations around Louisville! This should seriously be some kind of record for the longest VBS ever...


A double-headed VBS director in her "dork shirt" or just a picture of Nicole and Jana?

Kenny supervising as our 1st graders play a game...Kenny would probably argue this, but I think he had more fun than the kids...you should have seen him doing the motions to all the Worship Rally songs!!

And everyones favorite part of VBS...SNACK TIME!!

We are "expecting"!!

Adoption has always been something Kenny and I have talked about, even before we married. We always knew that international adoption would be a part of our future, although if asked, we both probably would have said it would be after having biological children. And God, with His funny little way of doing things His way, instead of ours, probably would laugh. ("For He knows the plans He has for you...") We often have plans of our own for our lives, not taking into consideration the paths that God has already planned for us. One would think that we would know better than to expect things to not always go exactly as we have planned..........

A couple of Sunday nights ago (May 18th, to be exact), while at our church's combined worship service, we had one of those eye opening experiences where God finally gets your attention. They showed a video on adoption, complete with statistics about all these children up for adoption in the United States, as well as overseas. Although I don't think Kenny actually got to see the whole video, I sat in the pew in a crazy state of half scared, half excited and just cried. We knew this was something that we were being led to do, but it was as if God was asking, "Hey! What are you guys waiting on?" And when we couldn't answer that question, which took us a couple of days, we made the decision to embark on the wonderful path of adoption.

I don't think that I can put into words some of the emotions that we have felt over the last several days as we have shared this with those around us...excitement, awe, shock, peace, scared, sadness, lack of control, disbelief... We don't have a lot of details yet. We haven't narrowed down an agency or country yet, although we are looking into several Asian (Taiwan & Korea) countries. The first step is a home study. I sent in an application on Wednesday, 5/28, to an agency called Adoption Assistance,and as of 5/29, have already been assigned an adoption social worker. We received a packet on Saturday outlining the home study process and all the different paperwork that we need to gather for the home study and we will schedule our home study as we get closer to collecting all the needed paper work.

We have been greatly encouraged (and educated) by reading and following the blogs of friends and other church members who have been through the adoption process, so my hope is to not only update our friends and family along the way of how things are going, but that this may also be a help to another couple down the road who is adopting. Stay tuned...

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. Psalm 40:5

We have a child. Out there. Somewhere. Waiting. For us.

Babies, Beaches & Weddings, & ...........

Hey guys! Sorry to be MIA for so long, but our laptop was giving us fits for quite a while...after a "hospital stay" and a hard-drive"ectomy", I think we are fixed!!

We took a trip home earlier in the month to see new baby Ty, go to the beach with Kenny's family and for Kenny to be in a college friend's wedding. We had a blast, but it completely exhausted us!! We are recovered now and we are gearing up the the first ever HVBC Spencer County Campus VBS next week!

For your viewing pleasure, a few pics. For the whole beach album, (which includes Kenny's great amateur sunset pictures from Cape San Blas) click here!





On a totally different topic, we will be revealing something SUPER and EXCITING in the next couple of days...stay tuned...

Baby Tristan is at HOME!!

Nephew Tristan got to come home on Tuesday, May 13 after 24 days in the NICU. Kenny and I got to see the little guy while we were at home earlier in the month. He is doing great!!





Click here for lots 'o pics!

Relay for Life

Kenny & I will be participating in Spencer County's Relay for Life event with our church's team in June. The purpose of these events are to raise money for the American Cancer Association. I know most of you don't have to think very hard to think of someone you know who has cancer or whose life has been affected by cancer.....

This is the second year that we have participated in Relay for Life!! You guys showed up BIG the first time and helped us raise money, so let's do it again!! You can visit our team page below, as well as each of our individual pages. Feel free to donate your little hearts out...We appreciate each dollar donated, as well as your thoughts and prayers for those around us affected daily by cancer.

(The site will allow you to donate online or print a page to mail in a donation.)

Kenny's Page

Jana's Page

Highview's Team Page