PAPERWORK...

Sorry it has been so long since our last post.... busy busy busy!!  We have been slowly chipping away at your paperwork.  It seems so easy but yet so time consuming.  We are waiting to hear from AGCI about our financial worksheet and then we will be able to get started on our Home Study process.  Step by step we are slowly moving. Our goal is to have all our paperwork and travel done in less than a year.  That is a big hope but we are going to try to stay optimistic.  Post again soon... :)

Latah Fair...

I am here at the latah county fair.  I am selling Premier Designs Jewelry and what is left of my Tupperware Inventory.  Most everything is marked down 75%... all the proceeds will go to help finance our adoption! Thank you all for your support. We truly appreciate it!! I have TONS of information about NO LONGER ORPHANS here as well.  Please come down.  We are at the Fair Grounds in Moscow, ID.  See you all soon!

Palouse Empire Fair...

So... I sold my Tupperware Inventory at the Palouse Empire Fair with all proceeds going to help us finance our adoption.  I ended up with a total of $615 in sales!!! So very exciting!! Thank you all for coming out and showing your unbelievable support.  I can not even begin to explain how very blessed we are.  I am constantly amazed at what wonderful people can be! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

We will be at the Latah County Fair in Moscow on Thursday-Sunday this week with the rest of my Tupperware inventory and all my Premier Designs jewelry.  I will also have information about No Longer Orphans so PLEASE come out and see us!  LOTS OF LOVE!! :)

Also, THANK YOU so much for all the wonderful FUNDRAISING ideas.  We appreciate them so much!

Come out and See us...

Hey everyone- just wanted to let everyone know that I will be at the Whitman County Fair in Colfax WA on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday ALL DAY!  I will be there selling ALL my Tupperware inventory at super low prices with ALL proceeds going to finance the adoption.  Also, No Longer Orphans will be there so please come out and support us, if nothing else PLEASE come and learn more about the amazing nonprofit organization No Longer Orphans!  Hope to see you all there!! LOVE!!!

A New Beginning...

We received our paperwork from our Home Study agency. They are located in Boise but have a rep in Lewiston that will be working with us. It was another set of paperwork to fill out but we are so excited to get the home study process started. The agency we are using is A New Beginning. They say that it normally takes about 2 to 4 months to complete the process, let’s hope we can get it done as soon as possible!!!

Take a look...

We sent this picture as well...
I couldn't decide! :)

This is my family!!! Sent this picture
to AGCI!

This is a picture of our home...
we had to send a picture with our
application!

Picture time...

Our Formal Applications is completed, we have our $300 and I was putting all the paperwork into an envelope when i decided to double check everything to make sure it was complete.  I found that we need to send a picture of our family and our home in with the application.  READ THRU ALL PAPERWORK COMPLETELY- rule to live by with an adoptions.  I was just so excited to get everything going that I totally missed that little detail.  Took the pictures and i will get it developed and in the mail tomorrow. 

“But the needy will not be ignored forever; the hopes of the poor will not always be crushed.” Psalm 9:18

God has a great sense of humor...

We heard back from Boise today and they have a social worker in Lewiston that will take care of our home study process.  That was GREAT news!! The funny part is that the social worker and I share a first name.  I had to giggle when I heard that, Gods way of constantly hinting we are on the right path. The minute we heard the new we filled out our paperwork.  It took some time and some phone calls.  One call was to our insurance company, luckily we found out that once our son was in our custody he would be covered.  We also found out that our insurance will cover any pre-existing conditions.  All in all a FANTASTIC day!! The last piece of the puzzle is the $300, once we have that the Formal Application portion will be done and we can move onto the next step! 

"But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."  romans 8:25

Approved...

We got approved!! Tiffany from AGCI called us on Thursday and told us the good news!! We have to begin filling out our Formal Application and will send it along with $300 to be OFFICIAL! So very very very EXCITED!!!

First off, I wanted to apologize for being behind on my posts. All we were doing was waiting and not a whole lot had been happening, until NOW! Thursday- we got the phone call saying we were accepted. Friday- I called a cooperating AGCI agency in Boise, Idaho to see if they had anyone local that would perform our home study or if we were going to be paying a massive travel expense for a Boise employee to come all the way to Moscow to do the home study. We are still waiting for an answer on that one which is why the Formal Application has not been sent yet. I left Friday morning for a Leadership Retreat for Premier in Loon Lake. My Premier Sisters and I spent a wonderful weekend up there.

I cannot even begin to explain what an amazing group of people I spent the weekend with. One training exercise we did… changed my life. We were given 20 minutes and we had to write down 100 dreams. We were not allowed to limit ourselves… for example anything from “I want to be on a game show” to “I want to work in an orphanage” to “I want to visit all 50 states” to “I want to pray every day” to “I want to be debt FREE” appeared on my sheet. I was amazed at all the thing I want to do and accomplish in my life. As I was writing my dreams I found out a lot about myself and was surprised by many of them. When I returned home I asked my husband to do the 100 dream exercise. I thought it would be interesting to see how similar or how very different our lists turned out to be. We have shared the first 25 with each out and many have appeared on both list. Tomorrow we will reveal the next set of 25. However, I continue to add to my list hourly. I would not be surprised if I caught my husband adding to his list in the near future. It made me smile to see how much he enjoyed the exercise especially since he was very apprehensive at first. I challenge you to write down your dreams and refer to them daily for they will help guide your life and not allow you to lose your way.

Until next time here are some words of wisdom that I heard over the weekend for a Premier Sister that will remain close to my heart forever because she taught me so much is

“God didn’t make no junk!”

Hurry Up and Wait...

It has been four days since we sent in our Pre-Application. We have anxiously been waiting to hear back from AGCI, an answer is coming soon but we are not the most patient people when we are excited. This journey will definitely teach us patience. :)


We went to Jason’s Grandparents last night. They were very excited about our decision and filled with lots of questions. It has been very neat listening and answering all the many questions that come our way. The most popular question is “Why Ethiopia?”

Answer: It seems like our path has lead us to Ethiopia. We considered a lot of different options but our hearts kept taking us back to Ethiopia. 1 in 10 children die before their 1st birthday, 28% of Ethiopia population has safe drinking water, and disease and starvation devastates the people of Ethiopia. We can save one little boy from that life. Why wouldn’t we??? We are talking about someone’s life!!

I can’t wait to meet our son and Kolby’s little brother!!

Pre-Application...

Day 3: We sent in our Pre-Application to AGCI today. Excitedly awaiting the response from the agency that states we are good candidates for our little boy! Baby step, baby steps…


I had a Premier Home Show this evening with some gals I attended high school with. It was very heartwarming to know that they support my family’s decision and have been following our blog. It means a lot to me that we have people for all areas of our lives cheering us on!!

First Taste of Ethiopia...

Day 2: One Changed Life…

Tonight my husband and I attended a traditional Ethiopian dinner that a nonprofit organization called “One Changed Life” put on. Jill and Matt Ross invited us to accompany them, along with my friend Caylene Knox. “One Changed Life” is a Christian sponsorship for the children of Ethiopia, to learn more please visit www.onechangedlife.org.

We received our PACKET!! We have vowed to celebrate every baby step because we know that is one step closer to our son! Our information indicates that the process will take anywhere from 12months to 21 months. Today, we started the process. We have filled out and sent in our ‘Adoption Pre-Applications’ to All God’s Children International. We will have to wait to see if ACGI accepts us as adoptive parents and then we will send in our Formal Application. This is truly the beginning. Please keep us in your prayers, as we pray that AGCI finds us suitable parents for a child from Ethiopia.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” JOHN 14:18

Showers of Love and Support…


I cannot even begin to describe how much amazing support and encouragement we have received in only ONE DAY!! I woke up this morning with text messages that had come in at 3am from a friend up feeding her new baby. I received a phone call shortly after waking up from my sister! I checked my blog and we already have followers (thank you). I received 6 emails and I checked my facebook to find 44 comments about our decision!!! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!

I cannot wait to progress down this road, I know it will be long and painful but oh my goodness…SO REWARDING!! I truly appreciate all the support and hope each of you will follow our journey. I am going to try to post everyday and keep everyone up to date on the day to day progress of our adoption.

Day 1: Told our Friends and Family

God is so good to us!! Our families are INCREDIBLE!!! Each of them showered us with so much support and love. They are so excited to be Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles. We know we have a huge support system cheering us on! Thank you so much!!! I think some of them seemed very relieved to hear we have chosen to adopt and not risk another pregnancy.

Friends- oh wow, how blessed are we to have such amazing friends. We were blessed to have loving families but to have people in our lives that made a CHOICE to have us in their lives. The lord is so sweet!! My husband was especially touched to read a post from his best friend. Tyler Kipp and my husband have been friends for years, they are more like brothers. Tyler was the best man at our wedding, our roommate for many years, Kolby’s honorary uncle and our very best friend!!! He wrote…

"This is the best news I have gotten in a long time. The birth of Kolby was a blessing in itself and i can't wait to be an uncle to both of them. Congrats to the four of you! I love you guys so much and you truely deserve this! "

This is just one of the many examples of how amazingly blessed we are and how loved our new addition will be!!!
THANK YOU ALL!!

Our Journey Begins...

Our Decision to Adopt…

We first began to discuss adoption after the birth of our beautiful son, Kolby. He was born on June 13th, 2009. We had some uncommon complications during our pregnancy and more complications followed after the delivery process. Kolby was transported to Spokane WA to the NICU. After 14 painful, exhausting and extremely terrifying days our little blessing was released to come home. However, we were not out of the woods. Little did we know that we would need to return to Spokane for another blood transfusion. Diligent prayers from friends and family carried us through a very rocky start to parenthood. We spend the next several months worrying about the health of you first child. We are so happy to report that Kolby is a thieving, completely healthy 14month old who keeps us on our toes. He is our miracle baby and a very special gift from above.

Since Kolby has been born we have discovered that we are not the best candidates for a natural pregnancy. Because of issues that occurred during and directly following my pregnancy we told that another pregnancy would be considered VERY high risk and could result in the death of the fetus (multiple times) and potentially end my life as well. We prayed, A LOT. The lord is so great. As we asked for guidance and answers he started to put things in motion.

Shortly after my son was born I was introduced to a direct sale business call Premier Design Jewelry. I was a brand new mom, owning/working/operating a coffee shop my husband and I purchase years earlier, and coaching a high school volleyball team. Needless to say, I didn’t need another thing on my plate. At a Premier Designs Jewelry party I met a woman named Jill Ross. Long story short, I joined Premier and began my journey as a Jewelry Lady.

To be quite frank, I was great at it. I did a lot of shows, sold gobs of jewelry, made great money but most importantly made lifelong friends. Premier introduced me to my great friend Caylene Knox and I continued to build a relationship with Jill. Through jewelry, I watched Jill go through the adoption process and cried uncontrollably as I blog-stalked her and watched her journey that lead her family to Elli!

Meanwhile, my husband and I had discussed adoption. We had attended Foster Care Workshops, founds a domestic adoption agency we liked, and researched foreign adoption agencies as well. We were constantly disappointed. As soon as we thought we knew what our calling was we ran into an “Age Requirement” snag. My husband and I are not 25 yet and that is was the typical age requirement. Feeling lost and frustrated we began to think more about risking another pregnancy. We prayed, and decided to meet with another specialist.

The specialist helped us to feel optimistic but the cloud soon parted and we knew the risks were still very real. The weeks after our appointment were very difficult for me. I felt I was put on this earth to be a mother, why was it so hard??? I didn’t understand why our journey was so difficult. At the very depths of my soul I knew I was suppose to be a mom and more importantly that Kolby deserved a sibling. That’s when my focus truly changed. How could I be so selfish to think that another child is what I wanted? Another child is what Kolby needed!!! He deserves to have a brother but I knew I could not provide that for him. The lord began to make things much more clear.

We prayed, and the lord showed us the way. Over the next few months, we met Jill and Matt’s little girl Elli. We heard of Caylene’s family’s decision to adopt. Watch my own mother bring 3 African American boys into her home. Then Jill told us about a Non-Profit Organization they started called No Longer Orphans. It was an organization that was going to help provide some financial support to families wanting to adopt.

I knew then and there that we were meant to adopt. My mind was made up. If someone I respected, cared for and admired has enough courage and love in her heart to help other families bring home the missing pieces to their lives then what were we doing “waiting and thinking” about it. I found out later that No Longer Orphans had chosen my wonderful friend Caylene to sponsor. There was no one more deserving!! Not soon after…Jill, Caylene and I stayed after a Premier Jewelry training event and Jill says, “You know, we are looking for our second family already.” She gave me a look that I will never forget. I had a feeling in my heart that my prayers had just been answered. I held back tears until I was driving home! I cried all the way home, praising the Lord. This was it. We were going to have another baby.

I sent away for my information packet the next day and wrote a letter to my husband. The Letter reads:

Jason-


Please know that I love you with all my heart. I am constantly amazed at how great of a father you are to Kolby and now it’s time for you to love our son who is waiting for us in Ethiopia. I truly feel that the lord wants and needs for us to do this. He has provided us the support, opportunity and I honestly don’t think I would be able to live with myself if we walked away from this. You have to believe that the lord will provide and all well work out. Please think about it and just say a little prayer, ask for guidance! I love you and need you to jump on board. Please help me save ONE LIFE! I love you!


With love-


Heidi


OUR SON IS WAITING FOR US!!

The following evening he said YES!! We were going to adopt a little boy from Ethiopia! Thank you to Jill Ross, Caylene Knox, my Mom and No Longer Orphans. I can’t help but think WHY US? How could we be so lucky, so blessed, so happy??? Kolby will get to have a brother!!

This is where our journey begins…