We have some good news to tell.
We are hoping to send off our Dossier papers next week to Ethiopia! We are only waiting on two more forms to come back to us. (hopefully this week.)
Now the difficult news... we have just learned that the waiting time for a referral has increased from 18 to 24 months to 24-30 months.
All in all we know that God's timing is perfect and only His ways are right. We continue to trust Him in this and we are not stopping unless He tells us to.
So please - continue to pray not only for us but for the the children that need to be adopted and that their paperwork would be in the hands of the right people that would process with grace and speed in Ethiopia.
We have heard it said many times by other adopted parents ... adoption is expecting the unexpected.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
What to do with time?
It's been about a year when we sent our adoption application papers to our agency. Even though we have not finished all our paperwork yet - there has not been one day that doesn't pass by that I have not thought about Hannah. I find myself getting anxious and a little annoyed that we are still waiting for our side of the papers to be finished. Over and over I try to tell myself to calm down... everything is fine and everything is in process and I just have to wait for the right timing of things.
You see, I have this crazy problem that I keep thinking I have four children right now. Oh I know when we do the head count there are only three... but I just keep thinking there is one more child to put a jacket on and shoes. One more bowl for breakfast cereal. In fact I was taking out the Christmas decorations and I kept looking for another stocking, not really thinking who's stocking I was looking for but I was getting upset that I couldn't find it. I then read all the names on the stockings and realized they were all counted for. One thing that did help me was that last year I did keep an extra ornament for Hannah and even put her name and date on it. Not knowing or remembering I did that a year around finally made sense in my heart.
These thoughts might be considered crazy or private but this Momma wants her child to know that even if I can't hold her close to me now she is in my thoughts everyday and she is in my heart always just like the rest of my children.
Oh I know I know --- there is still a very long way to go but - honestly with all the birthday celebrations in November and the holidays begging for family times I can't help but yearn for the one that is not here.
Thanksgiving will be held at our house this year and believe me... with our house packed with relatives ~ I will still be thinking of her wondering if she can feel my love and Joy for her.
I'll share some birthday party fun we have been having this month...
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Fingerprinting
We just finished our fingerprinting for another form. This is a very slow process but we at least want our papers ready to send off when we get the "go" from the government. We might have some more signatures and checks that we have to track down for some forms. but all in all - every time we something completed (even though we know we will more likely have to do it again before we see our daughter) we always feel like celebrating. But - today we are just happy that the process is still moving forward and that we have at least one next step done.
Life is still moving fast in our house even while we are waiting. Eli is off at Preschool at the moment at the Fire-station. If anyone knows our boys they know that this is a VERY big deal. Joey is hanging out with me while I try to write this. Sam is thankfully taking her nap right now. Oh and Peter is busy at work and enjoying his new position as a manager. We are also going to be going to Pete's side of the family for Christmas and New Years. We are very excited to see are far away family. Some that we haven't even met yet!
Our apologizes for not keeping this blog up to date like we wanted to - but I'm afraid if we did you would be so sick and tired of hearing about our waiting.
Thanks for checking in on us.
Holding on tighter than ever,
Foleys
Life is still moving fast in our house even while we are waiting. Eli is off at Preschool at the moment at the Fire-station. If anyone knows our boys they know that this is a VERY big deal. Joey is hanging out with me while I try to write this. Sam is thankfully taking her nap right now. Oh and Peter is busy at work and enjoying his new position as a manager. We are also going to be going to Pete's side of the family for Christmas and New Years. We are very excited to see are far away family. Some that we haven't even met yet!
Our apologizes for not keeping this blog up to date like we wanted to - but I'm afraid if we did you would be so sick and tired of hearing about our waiting.
Thanks for checking in on us.
Holding on tighter than ever,
Foleys
The theif of fear
What do you do when things get stressful and out of hand? I know that life can be and is messy at times. I just never thought it was going to be me throwing the idea around of stopping the adoption process at a time or two. yuck - I don't even like to admit that. It always seems to circle around money. Pete and I mailed off our application for a government form that cost around $800 (that was a difficult check to write.) and then within that week we had an unexpected car failure. The cost on the car's "needs" just kept climbing up and up. So we ending with a $800(+) bill on our 1995 Oldsmobile. Our fears know where to hurt us... in our pocket book. The funny thing is - if the car problem happened first we might have chosen to wait even more on the adoption process. But - while we were dealing with our crazy thoughts of mini panic all the while the government is setting up our date for our biometrics. We just found out that November 13th is our appointment for fingerprinting.
Every time I think this is an impossible task in front of us - we are hugely blessed to see that things are still moving forward to bring Hannah home. Our second son, Joey, prays for Hannah every time we eat a meal together. Through his faith that Hannah is coming and his prayer for her saftey, we too are again amazed to see that this process is something larger than our " little money book" and our fears.
Once we get our fingerprints we will waiting for our approval and then the "okay" to send in our dossier to Ethiopia. Then the paper work is out of our hands and we wait for a referral from Ethiopia.
My learning process during this time is how to deal with fear and thoughts that are stealing the Joy in this whole adoption process.
Pete and I took the boys to a concert maybe a month ago, the singer was Jason Gray. The boys have been so excited to see him and sing along. There was a song that has stuck with me for awhile after the concert. It's called "There's no thief like fear". It took me awhile to really understand the concept - well, until I finally saw the effects in my own life. Here is the song to ponder about.
Every time I think this is an impossible task in front of us - we are hugely blessed to see that things are still moving forward to bring Hannah home. Our second son, Joey, prays for Hannah every time we eat a meal together. Through his faith that Hannah is coming and his prayer for her saftey, we too are again amazed to see that this process is something larger than our " little money book" and our fears.
Once we get our fingerprints we will waiting for our approval and then the "okay" to send in our dossier to Ethiopia. Then the paper work is out of our hands and we wait for a referral from Ethiopia.
My learning process during this time is how to deal with fear and thoughts that are stealing the Joy in this whole adoption process.
Pete and I took the boys to a concert maybe a month ago, the singer was Jason Gray. The boys have been so excited to see him and sing along. There was a song that has stuck with me for awhile after the concert. It's called "There's no thief like fear". It took me awhile to really understand the concept - well, until I finally saw the effects in my own life. Here is the song to ponder about.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Catching up
Whoa ... it's been a long time and a lot has been happening.
First off I just want to share that we were not trying to neglect the blog posting we have been debating what to write on it.
June was a very difficult time for us and yet a very purposeful time. I (Kris) ended up with a herniated disc almost right after the last post. We were going on a much needed vacation but ended up with a trip into the ER and staying at home for the week. While we were sad about losing our vacation time we ended up really enjoying our family time together for week without Pete working. Eli went to Vacation Bible School (which he thought was awesome!) and life just became a lot slower around here. Pete took care of the house, meals, kids and me. What a man! We also canceled our last visit with our Social worker during that time.
Now - Let me help you catch up to today.
We rescheduled our last visit with out Social Worker to check out our house in August (5th). We had all our papers ready for her and it went well except for a few more papers that need to be gone over. Those papers are being chased down at this very moment. I even had one lady say to me "It's great that you are still wanting to go through the adoption with all this extra work." I have been thinking about that lately and all I can think about it that it's my daughter waiting for us. I can't stop now. There is a real person in Ethiopia that needs us to come and bring her home. Don't get me wrong ... there have been times that I have questioned if we should continue down this very difficult road because of the stress. Wait - what!? Stress... believe me - I have been through stressful times before (all of my childbirths) this - is stressful but not anywhere near what has happened before. This stress is not so much inward but outward stress. People looking at our family, house and everything in between. If you are a very private person - I'm sure this would set you off a bit. Even through this process Pete and I are learning how we each handle things differently. We are learning that we do things differently ... it's not wrong of the other person, just different. (even if it makes no sense to us).
So - with this very quick update... (I'm sure I forgot somethings) our next step is to "ok" the rest of our Homestudy papers and then ... work out our USCIS fingerprinting and finishing our Dossier. I'm sure you wont miss a thing. We'll try to be better at tracking the process of this journey.
Here is our family at the County Fair this year - the favorite activity for the kids were the big tractors. Here's a little clip of Sam getting her groove on. ;)
Here's a song I heard while working that sums up my heart in this process... no other place I wanna be.
First off I just want to share that we were not trying to neglect the blog posting we have been debating what to write on it.
June was a very difficult time for us and yet a very purposeful time. I (Kris) ended up with a herniated disc almost right after the last post. We were going on a much needed vacation but ended up with a trip into the ER and staying at home for the week. While we were sad about losing our vacation time we ended up really enjoying our family time together for week without Pete working. Eli went to Vacation Bible School (which he thought was awesome!) and life just became a lot slower around here. Pete took care of the house, meals, kids and me. What a man! We also canceled our last visit with our Social worker during that time.
Now - Let me help you catch up to today.
We rescheduled our last visit with out Social Worker to check out our house in August (5th). We had all our papers ready for her and it went well except for a few more papers that need to be gone over. Those papers are being chased down at this very moment. I even had one lady say to me "It's great that you are still wanting to go through the adoption with all this extra work." I have been thinking about that lately and all I can think about it that it's my daughter waiting for us. I can't stop now. There is a real person in Ethiopia that needs us to come and bring her home. Don't get me wrong ... there have been times that I have questioned if we should continue down this very difficult road because of the stress. Wait - what!? Stress... believe me - I have been through stressful times before (all of my childbirths) this - is stressful but not anywhere near what has happened before. This stress is not so much inward but outward stress. People looking at our family, house and everything in between. If you are a very private person - I'm sure this would set you off a bit. Even through this process Pete and I are learning how we each handle things differently. We are learning that we do things differently ... it's not wrong of the other person, just different. (even if it makes no sense to us).
So - with this very quick update... (I'm sure I forgot somethings) our next step is to "ok" the rest of our Homestudy papers and then ... work out our USCIS fingerprinting and finishing our Dossier. I'm sure you wont miss a thing. We'll try to be better at tracking the process of this journey.
Here's a song I heard while working that sums up my heart in this process... no other place I wanna be.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Pain Produces Perseverance?
Now this is ironic!
Peter went away on a 15 mile hiking trip and I end up being laid up with a bum leg.
A little over three weeks I have been fighting a bad back and then now it's moved into my left leg. I enjoy getting things done. I don't care what it is - I like to see something get done. Not being able to move reminds me of my first c-section with Eli. Now that was a shock for me. My mom and Peter were doing everything around the house and I had to be confined to my room. Needless to say I am not a pleasant patient. I really don't feel comfortable with people cleaning up after me or doing things I need to be doing. Now it's happening again and I got to figure out a better attitude.
While yelling out to the Facebook world at how upset I was getting, a friend from church (Tiffany) wrote about how she is memorizing the book of James. I thought I would give it a look over.
Yikes!! Remaining Faithful during trails and counting them as gifts? Seriously, I am/was doing everything wrong and backwards. Here let me write a little down from The Message.
"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides (what?). You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors (oh this doesn't look pretty). So don't try to get out of anything prematurely (feeling the pain?). Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way (so, there's a point to our difficulties).
If you don't know what you are doing (yeah that's me), pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it."
Even though I really don't like to ask for help or how to ask for it, I can't tell you how these words warmed my heart knowing that God wants to help me. When I was in SO much pain last week my mind was not in a good place. I was thinking on things that weren't answers to my problem, but simply would have made it a lot more difficult with our circumstances.
The 28th - was memorial day and we were all wearing the same shirts and our family celebrated my Niece's 3rd birthday. All the cousin's were playing together, I had this welling up feeling coming out of my heart at how special it was to watch the whole family just be together. I stepped closer to Pete and gave him a side hug. (Something that we just were not doing, showing affection for one another) -
On our way home Peter mentioned to me that we didn't need to "get on the same page" with each other, we just needed to all were the same shirt. Funny guy.
Our Memorial Day celebration.
Oh and here is some family fun we had on the holiday weekend, until the slip and slide broke that day. :-) Hope you enjoy it as much as I did at watching it. Hee hee.
Oh man that was funny. Here is a picture to capture the best part!
It feels so good to be able to laugh again and enjoy the faces around me.
(even if they are planted into the ground)
Peter went away on a 15 mile hiking trip and I end up being laid up with a bum leg.
A little over three weeks I have been fighting a bad back and then now it's moved into my left leg. I enjoy getting things done. I don't care what it is - I like to see something get done. Not being able to move reminds me of my first c-section with Eli. Now that was a shock for me. My mom and Peter were doing everything around the house and I had to be confined to my room. Needless to say I am not a pleasant patient. I really don't feel comfortable with people cleaning up after me or doing things I need to be doing. Now it's happening again and I got to figure out a better attitude.
While yelling out to the Facebook world at how upset I was getting, a friend from church (Tiffany) wrote about how she is memorizing the book of James. I thought I would give it a look over.
Yikes!! Remaining Faithful during trails and counting them as gifts? Seriously, I am/was doing everything wrong and backwards. Here let me write a little down from The Message.
"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides (what?). You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors (oh this doesn't look pretty). So don't try to get out of anything prematurely (feeling the pain?). Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way (so, there's a point to our difficulties).
If you don't know what you are doing (yeah that's me), pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it."
Even though I really don't like to ask for help or how to ask for it, I can't tell you how these words warmed my heart knowing that God wants to help me. When I was in SO much pain last week my mind was not in a good place. I was thinking on things that weren't answers to my problem, but simply would have made it a lot more difficult with our circumstances.
The 28th - was memorial day and we were all wearing the same shirts and our family celebrated my Niece's 3rd birthday. All the cousin's were playing together, I had this welling up feeling coming out of my heart at how special it was to watch the whole family just be together. I stepped closer to Pete and gave him a side hug. (Something that we just were not doing, showing affection for one another) -
On our way home Peter mentioned to me that we didn't need to "get on the same page" with each other, we just needed to all were the same shirt. Funny guy.
Oh and here is some family fun we had on the holiday weekend, until the slip and slide broke that day. :-) Hope you enjoy it as much as I did at watching it. Hee hee.
Oh man that was funny. Here is a picture to capture the best part!
It feels so good to be able to laugh again and enjoy the faces around me.
(even if they are planted into the ground)
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Singing Along
So if you have been following along with our journey, you would know there have been some ups and downs already, with the last 2 weeks being a pretty big down, but even through that, there have been some moments when the light just breaks through, and we have been able to bask in the light and enjoy it. That is what I think I want to share with you this week, because, quite frankly, this is just something I need to remember as well.
2 weeks ago on Sunday we were driving home from our meeting with the social worker. A 2 hour meeting had gone for 5 hours, and felt beaten up, worn down, and very very tired. We were wondering were we doing the right thing, were we ready for this? We had grabbed Steven Curtis Chapman's CD recreation to listen to on the ride up and it was still playing in the car as we traveled home, but only in the background. I can't remember if I clicked to the song or if it just happened to come up, but the song "long way home" was playing. The first few lines really some up how we were feeling.
I set out on a great adventure, the day my Father started leading me home
He said there's gonna be some mountains to climb and some valley's were gonna go through.
But I had no way of knowing, just how hard this journey would be
'Cause the mountains are steeper and the Valleys are deeper than I ever would have dreamed.
This song has been so special to us along this journey, and no moment more than as we were heading home, feeling like we were in a valley. The specific moment though I want to share is this, and it's a beautiful example of why I love my wife and why I am so happy to be with her. We were wiped. Emotionally drained, and then as I turned up the music to listen to the song, we both busted out in unison singing the song with everything we had, desperately hoping to believe exactly what we were singing would be true (that we will make it). After the song finished, I hit back and we did it all over again. It was raw (voices weren't exactly hitting all the notes) but it was truly from the heart, and lifted our spirits, even if only for a short time. I wish I could say then it was all fine and dandy after that, but it hasn't been, but we know one thing, we need to keep going on, its just a long way home. It is so true, and we need to keep standing on that.
I have the song below, and if you are going through a tough time right now, I encourage you to listen to the song. "I know we're gonna make it. I know we're gonna get there soon. And I know, sometimes it feels like we're going the wrong way. but it's just a long way home", and home truly is a beautiful place. Belt it out with everything you have. It's freeing.
2 weeks ago on Sunday we were driving home from our meeting with the social worker. A 2 hour meeting had gone for 5 hours, and felt beaten up, worn down, and very very tired. We were wondering were we doing the right thing, were we ready for this? We had grabbed Steven Curtis Chapman's CD recreation to listen to on the ride up and it was still playing in the car as we traveled home, but only in the background. I can't remember if I clicked to the song or if it just happened to come up, but the song "long way home" was playing. The first few lines really some up how we were feeling.
I set out on a great adventure, the day my Father started leading me home
He said there's gonna be some mountains to climb and some valley's were gonna go through.
But I had no way of knowing, just how hard this journey would be
'Cause the mountains are steeper and the Valleys are deeper than I ever would have dreamed.
This song has been so special to us along this journey, and no moment more than as we were heading home, feeling like we were in a valley. The specific moment though I want to share is this, and it's a beautiful example of why I love my wife and why I am so happy to be with her. We were wiped. Emotionally drained, and then as I turned up the music to listen to the song, we both busted out in unison singing the song with everything we had, desperately hoping to believe exactly what we were singing would be true (that we will make it). After the song finished, I hit back and we did it all over again. It was raw (voices weren't exactly hitting all the notes) but it was truly from the heart, and lifted our spirits, even if only for a short time. I wish I could say then it was all fine and dandy after that, but it hasn't been, but we know one thing, we need to keep going on, its just a long way home. It is so true, and we need to keep standing on that.
I have the song below, and if you are going through a tough time right now, I encourage you to listen to the song. "I know we're gonna make it. I know we're gonna get there soon. And I know, sometimes it feels like we're going the wrong way. but it's just a long way home", and home truly is a beautiful place. Belt it out with everything you have. It's freeing.
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