When our hosting period ended, Jerry and I tried to contact G multiple times every week to no avail. Finally, with the assistance of an angel on earth, and the woman I credit for us even meeting G in the first place, we were able to Skype with him two times this week! Oh how I've missed that gorgeous smile! He was so happy to see us and asked if we were coming to get him tomorrow. I tried to explain how things take time, but hopefully soon. We've started scheduling more Skype dates, but I'm worried that something will happen and he won't be able to get on the computer or his internet will be down. From what I understand his orphanage is in a small town and internet can be spotty. I can not wait for the day we don't need Skype to talk and we can see him face to face and give him all the hugs and kisses he deserves.
http://www.gofundme.com/jerrysarahadoption
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Friday, February 6, 2015
The start of our journey...
Jerry and I have a unique story, especially as to how our relationship began. We met through mutual friends (one being one of my sisters:)) and after we started dating, we quickly knew how much we loved each other. Jerry proposed less than two months after we started dating and ten days later we were married. A full wedding and everything. Jerry and I had both been praying for God to help us find who He wanted us to be with. Well, God answered loud and clear. :) We had decided to wait to have kids a few years after marriage, so we could settle in as being a couple. I like to think of it as most people date for a year or two, then get married, settle in for about a year then start having kids. We just skipped some of the dating part. :) Then we started trying to have kids. Nothing. Then something, then a miscarriage. Nothing would happen again for a while, then something, then a miscarriage. This happened more times than I would like to count. I prayed and asked God why. I have wanted to be a mother as far back as I can remember and it felt like a cruel joke over and over again. Jerry and I had taken tests and all was good according to the doctors. They had no idea why getting and staying pregnant wasn't happening. We moved from state to state a lot in the last six years, which helped a little, having something to distract, but of course being a mother has always been in the back of my mind. When we looked for new homes, I'd always look for what room our child would have and imagine where the Christmas tree would sit so that when they came out of their room on Christmas morning it would be a magical experience for them. I'd think, "Would they come down the stairs and the tree would be right there? Would they run down this hall and through the kitchen to the living room and there the tree would be? Would I be able to see their faces when they saw the tree if it was in this room? This would be an awesome playroom!" Things like that, so motherhood never left my mind. Nor did my hope of becoming a mother. Even with all the loss, I just had faith God would provide.
Provide he did! Just not in the way we had planned, but just the way He planned. In early November, we received an email asking for a host back up family for a child. Hosting is were you welcome a child into your home and family for a set amount of weeks. Sometimes it's five weeks, other times its four. As soon as I saw it, I was overcome with this need to email Jerry right away and say, "Let's do it!" Jerry, being the practical one, said we should find out more information and pray. So we prayed and discussed over and over again. We both just felt so led to host. So, three weeks later, we welcomed an amazing and energetic boy into our home, family, and especially our hearts. He was with us for four weeks. We put a calendar in his room with upcoming events, appointments, play dates and visits from our friends on there so he knew what to expect each day. At the end of each day he would draw what his favorite things about the day had been. Sometimes it would have multiple pictures. He'd draw us sledding, going to church, playing basketball with friends, and almost every day one of his favorite things that he would draw was the three of us sitting at the dinner table all together for dinner. He never took anything for granted and appreciated everything that a family was about. When I asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he didn't know what to say. I asked him if he wanted typical American things, Avengers gear, Legos, and a bunch of toys. He was overwhelmed by the idea that he could ask for something, even something small. When he understood that he could ask for anything, within reason (I had a typical kid in my mind), he asked for shirts and pants. That was all he felt he needed. It broke my heart and filled my heart with even more love because of how sweet this child is. I have even more stories of his sweetness from just his four weeks here, that I'll share along with our journey. When he went back, it was one of the hardest goodbyes we have ever had to say. "G" touched the heart of everyone he met. When I say he is an amazing boy, I mean it, he truly is. Just like God answered my prayers with Jerry, He answered our prayers with this boy. This is why Jerry and I are trying to adopt him! Please join us on our journey and help support us as we make our way through paperwork, travels, court hearings, and (hopefully) ultimately bringing this wonderful child home with us.
Adoption is very expensive, about $30,000. I think it's important that you know where your money is going if you want to help us, which we greatly appreciate. Home study fees are usually around $3,000 and adoption agency fees: they provide home study coordination, dossier assistance, filings for US and international government adoptions, assistance with training and international travel arrangements, and a whole lot more. Then there is also travel: we have to spend 26 days in his country the first trip and then two shorter trips after that and each trip is approximately $1,500 each just for airfare. In addition there are fees that go to both governments (there’s one processing fee that’s $4,000, with a translation fee of around $1,500!), getting a visa for him to enter the US, and bringing him home to us.
Our first $3,000 will go to the home study and filing fees. So once we reach $3,000 we can start the home study!
http://www.gofundme.com/jerrysarahadoption
Provide he did! Just not in the way we had planned, but just the way He planned. In early November, we received an email asking for a host back up family for a child. Hosting is were you welcome a child into your home and family for a set amount of weeks. Sometimes it's five weeks, other times its four. As soon as I saw it, I was overcome with this need to email Jerry right away and say, "Let's do it!" Jerry, being the practical one, said we should find out more information and pray. So we prayed and discussed over and over again. We both just felt so led to host. So, three weeks later, we welcomed an amazing and energetic boy into our home, family, and especially our hearts. He was with us for four weeks. We put a calendar in his room with upcoming events, appointments, play dates and visits from our friends on there so he knew what to expect each day. At the end of each day he would draw what his favorite things about the day had been. Sometimes it would have multiple pictures. He'd draw us sledding, going to church, playing basketball with friends, and almost every day one of his favorite things that he would draw was the three of us sitting at the dinner table all together for dinner. He never took anything for granted and appreciated everything that a family was about. When I asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he didn't know what to say. I asked him if he wanted typical American things, Avengers gear, Legos, and a bunch of toys. He was overwhelmed by the idea that he could ask for something, even something small. When he understood that he could ask for anything, within reason (I had a typical kid in my mind), he asked for shirts and pants. That was all he felt he needed. It broke my heart and filled my heart with even more love because of how sweet this child is. I have even more stories of his sweetness from just his four weeks here, that I'll share along with our journey. When he went back, it was one of the hardest goodbyes we have ever had to say. "G" touched the heart of everyone he met. When I say he is an amazing boy, I mean it, he truly is. Just like God answered my prayers with Jerry, He answered our prayers with this boy. This is why Jerry and I are trying to adopt him! Please join us on our journey and help support us as we make our way through paperwork, travels, court hearings, and (hopefully) ultimately bringing this wonderful child home with us.
Adoption is very expensive, about $30,000. I think it's important that you know where your money is going if you want to help us, which we greatly appreciate. Home study fees are usually around $3,000 and adoption agency fees: they provide home study coordination, dossier assistance, filings for US and international government adoptions, assistance with training and international travel arrangements, and a whole lot more. Then there is also travel: we have to spend 26 days in his country the first trip and then two shorter trips after that and each trip is approximately $1,500 each just for airfare. In addition there are fees that go to both governments (there’s one processing fee that’s $4,000, with a translation fee of around $1,500!), getting a visa for him to enter the US, and bringing him home to us.
Our first $3,000 will go to the home study and filing fees. So once we reach $3,000 we can start the home study!
http://www.gofundme.com/jerrysarahadoption
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