Finally! An update....

I realize that I haven't posted in FOREVER. Sorry, guys! There really wasn't anything going on in our adoption world, and to post that nothing has happened is just depressing :(  BUT, we have big news now!!!  We have changed countries, again! Well, we in the process of changing countries.  God has led us to a particular girl, in Uganda, so we are feverishly trying to get our US paperwork changed to reflect Uganda. Once WE are all official, we'll officially be issued our referral, and the process will begin in Uganda.  Please pray with us that everything gets approved quickly, and that the process in Uganda will go smoothly and quickly.  We are super excited, and are actually praying that she will be home in time for Thanksgiving!

Please VOTE for Aspen and Michael Burke!

I've got this friend, Aspen Burke, who has been an inspiration to me.  Her family has been through this AMAZING journey to parenthood.  You seriously will not believe everything they've been through.  Please watch their story...After watching the story, go VOTE FOR THEM!  Click back to "home" on the Sher Institutes site, then click on "vote or submit a video", scroll down to "Vote for Category B".  And vote for Aspen and Michael Burke.  They seriously deserve to win this!  Also, go follow their page..Team Burke Adoption!
http://haveababy.com/sher-believe-2014-burke

Traveling Soon!

Yep!  After a very (emotionally) rough few weeks on the adoption front, our first trip is coming up quickly!  Some of the processes have changed, which is to be expected in a pilot program...but the changes were pretty major.  After a lot of questions, discussion, and prayer, we are moving forward in the Cameroon program. So...Ryan will be traveling to Cameroon for "our" first trip VERY soon...in less than 2 weeks!  He will be in country for about 6 days, learning the Cameroonian culture, working with the ministry that handles "our" orphanage, and loving on the Cameroonian people.  We are super excited!! But, all that to say,

Please, Please, Please pray that Ryan's Cameroonian visa is issued and returned to us in record time!

We are due (according to the embassy timeline) to receive Ryan's visa (which is contained in his passport) just 1-2 days before he travels...so please pray that it comes in time, and we don't have any issues whatsoever.  We know the power of prayer, and have been blown away by God's blessings and provision throughout our entire adoption process (from financial provisions to the blessings of God's family), so we KNOW that God is in this process.  We are trusting him to bring that passport to us in time, with no worries whatsoever.  Please pray with us in this! 

Also...we are drawing the winning tickets for our quilt raffle on the 31st, so please contact us if you would like to be involved in this adoption process, and have the chance to win one of my mom's amazing quilts!  Comment, or email me to purchase tickets!

Thanks so much for your prayers and support.  We love you!!

The RAFFLE is ON!

Our next big fundraiser is up and running! We are raffling off these two BEAUTIFUL quilts!

Jewel Tones, 45.5"x54.5"

Big thanks to the Sandhills Home Educators Co-Op for sponsoring the raffle for us...we couldn't do it without you! Also, huge thanks to my amazing mom for making these gorgeous quilts and donating them to us to raise funds for our adoption! Please comment, or send me an email at sarahtalex (at) yahoo DOT com if you want to purchase some raffle tickets.  And feel free to share with anyone and everyone!! 

Floral Border, 42.5"x52.5"

Our Adoption Crisis

Well, it happened.  A major adoption crisis.  Every adoption story I've read has at least one major crisis.  And we've hit our first.  Our agency has closed the Ghana adoption program, due to ethical concerns.  We had become concerned with rumors of widespread unethical practices among Ghana adoptions, and decided that we would wait it out and trust our agency.  After just a few weeks of waiting, our agency decided to close the program.  We are so glad that we are working with an agency that has the integrity to stand up to these concerns.

So, what now??

We have decided to join a pilot program with our agency, Generations, in the country of Cameroon.  Cameroon is also in West Africa, and has just over 1 million orphans.  Generations is working with Shaping Destiny, and we have already started the process of changing things over to Cameroon.  This does set us back quite a bit in our timeline, however.  It's almost like starting over.  We must complete a home study update, and file a change with USCIS before our dossier will be ready to submit to Cameroon.  Hopefully, neither of these will take very long to complete.  Although the general process seems to go much more smoothly in Cameroon, it is still a pilot program...so there are always unknowns.  Our biggest wait will be for a referral, not because there is a long list, but because the attorney in Cameroon can only work with a certain number of cases at a time.  So now, it's back to paper-chasing for me, and more waiting.  We know that whatever happens, God is in control.  He knows where our daughter is, who she is, and when she will join our family.  Please keep praying for us!

A New Fundraiser...and a LOT of love!

My mom has made us some AMAZING quilts to help raise funds for our adoption! They are high quality fabric and batting. They are machine quilted...with lots of love for our new daughter. We're still deciding how we're going to proceed with them as far as fundraising is concerned (auction, outright sale, etc). Please, offer your advice, and your comments on the quilts. I'd love Mama to see what everyone has to say about them! Also, share them with your quilt loving friends...

More details to come...

 

Our Both Hands Video is Complete!