Friday, December 21, 2007
Anniversary
It was a year ago this week that we signed the contract with Orphans Overseas. At that time the estimated wait time was 12-14 months from the time you signed the contract. The delays and setbacks have been disappointing and but God has been good to us in the midst of it all. We know that God has the right child for us and at the right time he will bring us together. Thank you all for your prayers for us during this process.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Still Waiting
Things are still in flux in the world of Vietnam adoption. There are so many families like us who are waiting for news and hoping good news is coming soon. There are others in our agency with a referral, complete picture in hand and the province is not releasing one more document they need to move forward. My heart so goes out to those in this position.
Our agency right now seems to be at a standstill and seemingly nothing is happening. Tad is over in Vietnam right now working with provinces and and Vietnamese officials. We are praying that God will give him favor with those he is working with and open doors. He is scheduled to return the first week of December and I am hoping he will have good news when he returns. Until then we are just waiting.
Our agency right now seems to be at a standstill and seemingly nothing is happening. Tad is over in Vietnam right now working with provinces and and Vietnamese officials. We are praying that God will give him favor with those he is working with and open doors. He is scheduled to return the first week of December and I am hoping he will have good news when he returns. Until then we are just waiting.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
A Detour
We received an e-mail this afternoon from Orphans Overseas, our agency, and it seems after meeting with quite a few people Tad, the agency director, has decided to withdraw the agency from working with those the provinces Phu Tho and Thai Nguyen.
Currently these are the only two provinces where Orphans Overseas receives referrals. They plan to re-enter when things have settled down. This is not the news that we were hoping for but we know that the Lord is in control. Fortunately, our agency it attempting to build relationships with other provinces to continue the referral process and to continue completing adoptions.
On the bright side I do believe that this doesn't change our timeline much. We were told a few weeks ago that we could estimate receiving a referral 1-3 months from now and while it won't be in one month it will still probably be within that time frame.
Please continue to pray with us in this process.
Currently these are the only two provinces where Orphans Overseas receives referrals. They plan to re-enter when things have settled down. This is not the news that we were hoping for but we know that the Lord is in control. Fortunately, our agency it attempting to build relationships with other provinces to continue the referral process and to continue completing adoptions.
On the bright side I do believe that this doesn't change our timeline much. We were told a few weeks ago that we could estimate receiving a referral 1-3 months from now and while it won't be in one month it will still probably be within that time frame.
Please continue to pray with us in this process.
Prayer Request
The DIA (Department of International Adoption) in Vietnam has stopped processing adoptions for those trying to adopt from the US for two provinces Phu Tho and Thai Nguyen. This is due to pressure from the US Embassy.
Unfortunately, our agency primarily gets it's referrals from those two provinces at this time. This will mean delay in our timeline but we are not sure how much of a delay right now. On a positive note, our agency is working to establish relationships with other provinces to get referrals in the pipeline.
Tad Kincaid, the director of our agency is over in Vietnam for the month of November trying to do what he can to get things moving again. We appreciate his dedication and hard work. Pray that the Lord will give him wisdom, bring truth to light, and give clarity where there is confusion.
Right now, since the DIA has suspended adoptions for US citizens the babies are being referred out to and subsequently adopted to French families.
Thank you for your prayers.
Unfortunately, our agency primarily gets it's referrals from those two provinces at this time. This will mean delay in our timeline but we are not sure how much of a delay right now. On a positive note, our agency is working to establish relationships with other provinces to get referrals in the pipeline.
Tad Kincaid, the director of our agency is over in Vietnam for the month of November trying to do what he can to get things moving again. We appreciate his dedication and hard work. Pray that the Lord will give him wisdom, bring truth to light, and give clarity where there is confusion.
Right now, since the DIA has suspended adoptions for US citizens the babies are being referred out to and subsequently adopted to French families.
Thank you for your prayers.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Painting the Nursery
The adoption process is a frustrating and sometimes difficult one. It is very important to maintain your sense of humor knowing God has a purpose and bring it all together for good even the setbacks.
The following the pitiful story is of my (Ashley) attempt to pain the nursery. Started in July and it was completed in September.
In July I thought I would keep myself busy by painting the nursery. So off I went to the home improvement store, you know the one where they say that they can help you build a small skyscraper. I thought since they can help you do so much, painting should be a snap. So, I went and picked a color, Lettuce, a fine color for a nursery if there ever was one. Just to be sure I consulted my friends at work and the consensus was unanimous. Lettuce it was! Not being a professional painter I did some research on the internet for tips so it would look oh so professional.
The next day I went to home improvement store, you know the one where they can help, and ordered a gallon on semi-gloss Lettuce. Remember I have not done very much painting so this was stepping out on a limb a bit. For those of you who do not know semi-gloss is a paint from the realm of evil and should be shunned and feared. I, however, did not know this so I merrily gave them my money and they happily took it while saying nothing of the sinister nature of this paint. Troubling isn’t it.
To make a very long story medium sized I put several coats on that night and went to bed thinking I was finished. The next morning I awoke to see paint that looked very uneven. I put several more coats on but much to my surprise this did not help at all. I finally went back to home improvement store for my money back because this paint was obviously defective.
It is at that point the kind people at the home improvement store explained to me the great difficulty that comes with working with semi-gloss paint. However, they did refund my money and gave me a new can of paint. Can’t complain about that. I went with eggshell this time, smart huh! After covering the semi gloss with eggshell I was relieved to see a normal looking paint job.
I happily began tearing away the side tape; you know the one that keeps you from going over the edge. Well, as the tape tore so did the paint all the way down to the wallboard!!!
This was not what I wanted! What to do? What to do?
I called the builder and they actually fixed the wallboard since there was some damage to it and in September the nursery was finally painted lettuce. A friend of mine asked me what it was that perhaps God was trying to teach me through all this. My thought..... never pick up a paint brush again.
The following the pitiful story is of my (Ashley) attempt to pain the nursery. Started in July and it was completed in September.
In July I thought I would keep myself busy by painting the nursery. So off I went to the home improvement store, you know the one where they say that they can help you build a small skyscraper. I thought since they can help you do so much, painting should be a snap. So, I went and picked a color, Lettuce, a fine color for a nursery if there ever was one. Just to be sure I consulted my friends at work and the consensus was unanimous. Lettuce it was! Not being a professional painter I did some research on the internet for tips so it would look oh so professional.
The next day I went to home improvement store, you know the one where they can help, and ordered a gallon on semi-gloss Lettuce. Remember I have not done very much painting so this was stepping out on a limb a bit. For those of you who do not know semi-gloss is a paint from the realm of evil and should be shunned and feared. I, however, did not know this so I merrily gave them my money and they happily took it while saying nothing of the sinister nature of this paint. Troubling isn’t it.
To make a very long story medium sized I put several coats on that night and went to bed thinking I was finished. The next morning I awoke to see paint that looked very uneven. I put several more coats on but much to my surprise this did not help at all. I finally went back to home improvement store for my money back because this paint was obviously defective.
It is at that point the kind people at the home improvement store explained to me the great difficulty that comes with working with semi-gloss paint. However, they did refund my money and gave me a new can of paint. Can’t complain about that. I went with eggshell this time, smart huh! After covering the semi gloss with eggshell I was relieved to see a normal looking paint job.
I happily began tearing away the side tape; you know the one that keeps you from going over the edge. Well, as the tape tore so did the paint all the way down to the wallboard!!!
This was not what I wanted! What to do? What to do?
I called the builder and they actually fixed the wallboard since there was some damage to it and in September the nursery was finally painted lettuce. A friend of mine asked me what it was that perhaps God was trying to teach me through all this. My thought..... never pick up a paint brush again.
Friday, October 5, 2007
This is our blog about our journey to grow our family and the amazing hand of God in and through it all.
Our Beginning....
From the time that we were first married we always wanted children and even envisioned perhaps growing our family through adoption in addition to having biological children. I (Ashley) have adopted siblings from Romania so the thought of adopting seemed very natural. As time continued, our desire to grow as a family began to really blossom. Our deep desire is to have children that we can love and raise in the love and admonition of the Lord.
And Then...
As time continued it seemed that the Lord was not blessing us with biological children. We briefly considered adoption and even sent away for information. However, that was quickly shelved due to the sticker shock of the cost of adoption. We were hesitant to move forward with expensive fertility procedures. So, we started praying fervently that if adoption was what the Lord wanted for us, He would make it clear.
Our Answer
Within weeks of fervent, pleading with the Lord for direction, our answer came with astounding clarity and timeliness. The doctor suggested that we should consider adoption. Doctors usually only say this after a lot of money through expensive procedures and/or time has passed. Fortunately, neither was the case, so we felt confident that the Lord was uniquely directing our path. It was almost like a miracle!
It felt that we were leaving the wilderness and the our time of wandering and onto our destined path. We were so thankful for God's clear guidance in this matter. With that we promptly began researching various paths of adoption such as domestic vs. international. We quickly settled on international because even though there are many more hoops to jump through there is a definite process and a light at the end of the tunnel.
But Where...
We looked at El Salvador which really piqued out interest since we met on a mission trip over there. However, the Lord revealed that this was not our path. We also looked at China but were told that the wait was going to increase. I had always wanted to adopt a girl from China in the back of my mind so this was a little disappointing. Then we came across Vietnam and it seemed perfect for us.
But With Who...
We looked at number of different agencies and we finally settled on one. I was about to check their references when I came across Orphans Overseas website. After some investigation we thought we had found the perfect agency. We signed up with them in Dec 2006. Yeah!!!
Our Beginning....
From the time that we were first married we always wanted children and even envisioned perhaps growing our family through adoption in addition to having biological children. I (Ashley) have adopted siblings from Romania so the thought of adopting seemed very natural. As time continued, our desire to grow as a family began to really blossom. Our deep desire is to have children that we can love and raise in the love and admonition of the Lord.
And Then...
As time continued it seemed that the Lord was not blessing us with biological children. We briefly considered adoption and even sent away for information. However, that was quickly shelved due to the sticker shock of the cost of adoption. We were hesitant to move forward with expensive fertility procedures. So, we started praying fervently that if adoption was what the Lord wanted for us, He would make it clear.
Our Answer
Within weeks of fervent, pleading with the Lord for direction, our answer came with astounding clarity and timeliness. The doctor suggested that we should consider adoption. Doctors usually only say this after a lot of money through expensive procedures and/or time has passed. Fortunately, neither was the case, so we felt confident that the Lord was uniquely directing our path. It was almost like a miracle!
It felt that we were leaving the wilderness and the our time of wandering and onto our destined path. We were so thankful for God's clear guidance in this matter. With that we promptly began researching various paths of adoption such as domestic vs. international. We quickly settled on international because even though there are many more hoops to jump through there is a definite process and a light at the end of the tunnel.
But Where...
We looked at El Salvador which really piqued out interest since we met on a mission trip over there. However, the Lord revealed that this was not our path. We also looked at China but were told that the wait was going to increase. I had always wanted to adopt a girl from China in the back of my mind so this was a little disappointing. Then we came across Vietnam and it seemed perfect for us.
But With Who...
We looked at number of different agencies and we finally settled on one. I was about to check their references when I came across Orphans Overseas website. After some investigation we thought we had found the perfect agency. We signed up with them in Dec 2006. Yeah!!!
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