Christmas is officially over. Today the decorations and the tree came down :( This always makes me a bit sad, as the Christmas season is definitely my most favorite time of the year. We were so blessed again this Christmas and I'm so thankful and full of praise to my God for the gift of His son. Even though we hear the same story and sing the same songs every year, I always find myself in awe of the Jesus story. I love that about God, how He can reveal simple truths in a whole new way and leave us once again amazed at His plan of salvation.
We have had a wonderfully busy, but relaxing Christmas season. Cassidy, as usual, was spoiled with gifts. She gets double the presents, as we have Christmas with her birth family and our families as well. I think though, that even with all the toys and gadgets, we are getting the true meaning of Christmas across to her. She has come to obsess over nativity sets. My aunt collects them and has 16 set up in her house and when we went for a visit Cassidy had to find each one. She knows the characters and can even tell some of the story. Not bad for a 2 year old! Although, when I asked her who Christmas was about she shouted "Me!" So we still have some work to do! She has learned quite a few Christmas songs and loves to walk around the house singing her little heart out. Each Christmas with her just gets better and better!
My sister came home from Belize for Christmas and has been staying at our house for the past couple days. Cassidy loves having "Auntie Weesa" around and so do I! We've had lots of family gatherings with lots of food, games, presents and laughter. I can't help thinking about next Christmas and when I do, I see a little baby joining in on all the fun!
Speaking of baby, we just heard from our agency that we are officially on the waiting list! I am over the moon excited and I can't wait to get that phone call!! This past week we have recieved $850 towards our adoption from family and friends, and we are so thankful for all the support and generous hearts! One big prayer request we have is this:
When we got the phone call about Cassidy, we both immediately felt God saying "Yes! She is the one for you!" It was unmistakable and the biggest confirmation I've ever felt in my life. We would appreciate prayer that we would feel the same confirmation with this baby, that God would make it clear who He has for us.
I hope that you were blessed this Christmas, that you took time to thank God for His wonderful gift, and that you'll lean on His love and grace in the coming year. Be blessed!!
Saturday 28 December 2013
Monday 16 December 2013
Big Update!
Since we sent in our paperwork over 4 weeks ago, we've been waiting for it to make it to our agency. We were able to send our photo book directly to our agency, so that got there quickly and was approved. Our home study had to go though the adoption coordinator in Regina, and he was backlogged with alot of home studies to go through, so we were just waiting on that. Last week I heard that it was finally sent down to our agency and this morning I received an email from our agency saying that they have our home study and are in the process of reviewing it! BIG YAY!!! If everything is a go, we will send our first payment down and then we should be ready to be placed on the waiting list!
A few prayer requests:
-that all the documents they need will be there and everything will be approved.
-we have a good chunk of our money raised, but we aren't quite there yet. Pray that God will move mountains and help us raise the rest of our money!
-for us to have patience as we wait for a referral, and that the first referral will be "the one." We have to pay $2000 per referral and we're really hoping we only have to pay it once!
-for the birth mother. We don't know her yet, but God does and he knows her situation. Pray for grace and strength for her.
We really covet your prayers and are so thankful for the body of Christ. Blessings to you all as you prepare to celebrate this Christmas season with your loved ones. We are certainly looking forward to Christmas with our precious Cassidy and are hoping this is our last Christmas as a family of 3!!
A few prayer requests:
-that all the documents they need will be there and everything will be approved.
-we have a good chunk of our money raised, but we aren't quite there yet. Pray that God will move mountains and help us raise the rest of our money!
-for us to have patience as we wait for a referral, and that the first referral will be "the one." We have to pay $2000 per referral and we're really hoping we only have to pay it once!
-for the birth mother. We don't know her yet, but God does and he knows her situation. Pray for grace and strength for her.
We really covet your prayers and are so thankful for the body of Christ. Blessings to you all as you prepare to celebrate this Christmas season with your loved ones. We are certainly looking forward to Christmas with our precious Cassidy and are hoping this is our last Christmas as a family of 3!!
Thursday 12 December 2013
Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You
A few months ago Cassidy received a book from her Grandma Boone. This was the grandma who raised Cassidy for her first 9 months of life (I'm very thankful for her!) She obviously misses Cassidy very much, after going from being her mother basically to seeing her once or twice a month. She found this book and the words were exactly what she wanted to say to Cassidy, to remind her that even though she's not around as much, her love is always there.
I read this book to Cassidy often and the words never fail to make me tear up, but as I was reading this to her just this morning, the words struck me in a different way. I thought of our baby, who is not here yet, and the many friends I know right now that are either also waiting to bring their baby home, or are waiting to hear that they are pregnant. These women have been heavy on my mind and in my prayers lately and as I was reading this book to Cassidy I thought it was so fitting for us who right now are waiting. I want to share this book with you on my blog and dedicate it to all of us who are waiting for our babies. You know who you are.
I read this book to Cassidy often and the words never fail to make me tear up, but as I was reading this to her just this morning, the words struck me in a different way. I thought of our baby, who is not here yet, and the many friends I know right now that are either also waiting to bring their baby home, or are waiting to hear that they are pregnant. These women have been heavy on my mind and in my prayers lately and as I was reading this book to Cassidy I thought it was so fitting for us who right now are waiting. I want to share this book with you on my blog and dedicate it to all of us who are waiting for our babies. You know who you are.
"Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You"
By Nancy Tillman
I wanted you more then you ever will know,
so I sent love to follow wherever you go.
It's high as you wish it, it's quick as an elf.
You'll never outgrow it...it stretches itself!
So climb any mountain...climb up to the sky!
My love will find you. My love can fly!
Make a big splash! Go out on a limb!
My love will find you. My love can swim!
It never gets lost, never fades, never ends...
If you're working...or playing...or sitting with friends.
You can dance 'till you're dizzy...paint 'till you're blue...
There's not place, not one, that my love can't find you.
And if someday you're lonely, or someday you're sad
Or you strike out at baseball, or think you've been bad...
Just lift up your face, feel the wind in your hair.
That's me, my sweet baby, my love is right there.
In the green of the grass, in the smell of the sea...
In the clouds floating by at the top of a tree...
In the sound crickets make at the end of the day...
"You are loved. You are loved. You are loved," they all say.
My love is so high and so wide and so deep,
it's always right there even when you're asleep.
So hold your head high and don't be afraid
to march to the front of your own parade.
If you're still my small babe or you're all the way grown,
my promise to you is you're never alone.
You are my angel, my darling, my star...
And my love will find you, wherever you are.
Tuesday 26 November 2013
Waiting...Will It Ever Get Easier?
I dreamt about my baby last night. This is happening more and more frequently. This time, though, it was a girl. In every other baby dream it's been a boy. I'm thinking it has something to do with the fact that I was at a baby shower for my friend and her baby girl last night.
I am so ready for this baby. The house isn't ready, the money's not all here and we're not even "officially" waiting yet, but I'm ready. Every time I snuggle a tiny baby (which has actually been often lately, apparently everyone else is having babies too), I can't help but wonder when it will be my turn.
I received some free newborn clothing from a lady a couple weeks ago and the other day I was sorting through it. I couldn't believe how tiny some of the things were, and it almost brought me to tears. I could just see a baby filling out those clothes. I often daydream of different scenarios with our baby, like bringing him to church for the first time, watching Cassidy lay on the floor next to him and chatter away, rocking him back to sleep in the middle of the night. It hurts, I want it so bad. Tears are filling my eyes as I write these words. Why is waiting so hard?
I've never been good at waiting and I don't think I ever will be. And then I think of something someone told me when I was on a missions trip in Paraguay back in 2007. He was engaged and was eagerly anticipating his wedding. Someone said to him "That's great that you're so excited and looking forward to this next step in your life, but what are you doing now?" He said this made him stop and think that in that moment, when he was so focused on looking ahead, he might have been missing something great that was happening in his life right now.
I am one of those people that is always looking ahead. Looking forward to Christmas, to Cassidy's birthday, to winter being over (amen?) and I often have to remind myself that every day, every moment is precious and to stop and just be. Just be where God has me right now. It's not wrong to look forward to things and to plan, but at the same time I need to be content with where I am now.
So, in this waiting season of life, I'm trying to seize the here and now. I'll enjoy Cassidy as my baby and invest in her as much as I can because they really do grow up to fast. I'll stop and play with her even when I want to do other things, because one day she won't need or want me to play with her anymore. I'll enjoy sleeping through the night. I'll enjoy spending the quiet evenings with my husband once Cassidy's in bed. And most of all, I'll continue to draw close to God and let Him speak to me and mold me during this waiting season. His timing is perfect, and I know that this baby will come when He decides it's time, and that will be the best time of all.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher then the earth, so are my ways higher then your ways and my thoughts higher then your thoughts."
Isaiah 55:8-9
Monday 18 November 2013
Bake Sale Re-cap (and Go Riders!)
Well friends, we were blessed with another successful fundraiser this past weekend!
We were part of the Warman Craft and Bake Sale on Saturday. It was a great day! This was the first year they held it at the Legends Centre, which is a new facility in Warman and it was huge! There were over 50 vendors. John's mom walked around and said there were more baking tables then she'd ever seen at a sale, and she goes to lots! This had me a bit worried, but once again, God showed me that He's bigger. We ended up with just over $1000 in profits! We still have a few boxes of baking left over but we got rid of most of it, which is no small feat considering we ended up with LOTS of baking to sell. People were so generous in donating AND buying.
I'm thankful that it went well and that it's over. And if I can be quite honest right now, my thoughts are somewhat dominated with the fact that THE SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS ARE IN THE GREY CUP IN THEIR HOMETOWN NEXT WEEKEND!
(Yes, I love football. I'm wearing green all week to show my pride!)
To all who donated, bought, prayed and wished us well....thank you.
We were part of the Warman Craft and Bake Sale on Saturday. It was a great day! This was the first year they held it at the Legends Centre, which is a new facility in Warman and it was huge! There were over 50 vendors. John's mom walked around and said there were more baking tables then she'd ever seen at a sale, and she goes to lots! This had me a bit worried, but once again, God showed me that He's bigger. We ended up with just over $1000 in profits! We still have a few boxes of baking left over but we got rid of most of it, which is no small feat considering we ended up with LOTS of baking to sell. People were so generous in donating AND buying.
I'm thankful that it went well and that it's over. And if I can be quite honest right now, my thoughts are somewhat dominated with the fact that THE SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS ARE IN THE GREY CUP IN THEIR HOMETOWN NEXT WEEKEND!
(Yes, I love football. I'm wearing green all week to show my pride!)
To all who donated, bought, prayed and wished us well....thank you.
Tuesday 12 November 2013
Bake Sale
Our bake sale fundraiser is this Saturday!
If you are in the Saskatoon area, come check it out! It runs from 9:00-4:30 at the Legends Centre in Warman. I have been blessed to have a number of people help out with baking! We've got some yummy treats to sell.
Here's a sampling of what we have at our table (yes, it's all home-made!)
-fudge
-turtle chocolates
-squares
-a variety of tarts
-cupcakes
-loaves
-almond bark
-a variety of cookies, including Oreo, shortbread and more!
There will be other baking items as well as what's listed above. We will be selling things in small and large quantities, including trays of assorted baking. We will also be putting together a large basket of assorted baking and raffling it off at $5 a ticket.
Come check it out, and if you can't come, then pray for a successful day!
If you are in the Saskatoon area, come check it out! It runs from 9:00-4:30 at the Legends Centre in Warman. I have been blessed to have a number of people help out with baking! We've got some yummy treats to sell.
Here's a sampling of what we have at our table (yes, it's all home-made!)
-fudge
-turtle chocolates
-squares
-a variety of tarts
-cupcakes
-loaves
-almond bark
-a variety of cookies, including Oreo, shortbread and more!
There will be other baking items as well as what's listed above. We will be selling things in small and large quantities, including trays of assorted baking. We will also be putting together a large basket of assorted baking and raffling it off at $5 a ticket.
Come check it out, and if you can't come, then pray for a successful day!
Wednesday 6 November 2013
New Option to Donate
I just added a Donate button to my blog. If you want to donate to us financially, just click the button and choose the amount you want to give and it will go straight to our PayPal account. You don't need to have a PayPal account to donate, anyone can do it. Please prayerfully consider whether you'd like to support our adoption in this way. We'd really appreciate it!
Friday 1 November 2013
Oh Happy Day!!
Hallelujah!
The paperwork part of this adoption process is DONE! FINISHED! FINITO!
(insert happy dance here)
We received the final piece of documentation we needed for our home study the other day so this morning Cassidy and I walked to the post office to mail off our home study! Now it gets sent to Regina for notarizing and then off it goes to our agency in Nevada. The big guy in charge in Regina just got back from a month of holidays today, so I'm sure he'll have a bunch of paperwork to sift through so I'm not expecting it to get to our agency anytime soon, but at least it's out of our hands!! It's all up to them now!
AND while I was mailing it off I checked our mail and our adoption book I ordered from Shutterfly came today! We rushed home to look at it and...wow...it's perfect! Now we have to send that book down to our agency as well. It may have to go through Regina first, I need to find that out, but again, once we send it off, it's out of our hands!
So now...we wait! I was always not looking forward to the waiting process but now that we're just about at that point, I'm excited about it. Obviously it's one giant step closer to baby, and there's nothing we can do about it on our end. We've done our part, now we just need to trust and pray until the right lady is brought to us. I can do that!!
(We actually won't be officially on the waiting list until all this paperwork gets sent to our agency, so it may not be for another month or so)
Actually...ok I lied...we're not totally done with paperwork yet. Now that all this is done, we have to get a jump start on the immigration process. I downloaded the form online and it doesn't look that hard, but we've been told that they are very slow on their end (government. What else is new?) and so we need to start it now. Part 1 needs to be completed before we can bring our baby back across the border.
Today I'm not bothering with that though. Today I'm praising Jesus for another step completed in the process! Thank you Lord!!
The paperwork part of this adoption process is DONE! FINISHED! FINITO!
(insert happy dance here)
We received the final piece of documentation we needed for our home study the other day so this morning Cassidy and I walked to the post office to mail off our home study! Now it gets sent to Regina for notarizing and then off it goes to our agency in Nevada. The big guy in charge in Regina just got back from a month of holidays today, so I'm sure he'll have a bunch of paperwork to sift through so I'm not expecting it to get to our agency anytime soon, but at least it's out of our hands!! It's all up to them now!
AND while I was mailing it off I checked our mail and our adoption book I ordered from Shutterfly came today! We rushed home to look at it and...wow...it's perfect! Now we have to send that book down to our agency as well. It may have to go through Regina first, I need to find that out, but again, once we send it off, it's out of our hands!
So now...we wait! I was always not looking forward to the waiting process but now that we're just about at that point, I'm excited about it. Obviously it's one giant step closer to baby, and there's nothing we can do about it on our end. We've done our part, now we just need to trust and pray until the right lady is brought to us. I can do that!!
(We actually won't be officially on the waiting list until all this paperwork gets sent to our agency, so it may not be for another month or so)
Actually...ok I lied...we're not totally done with paperwork yet. Now that all this is done, we have to get a jump start on the immigration process. I downloaded the form online and it doesn't look that hard, but we've been told that they are very slow on their end (government. What else is new?) and so we need to start it now. Part 1 needs to be completed before we can bring our baby back across the border.
Today I'm not bothering with that though. Today I'm praising Jesus for another step completed in the process! Thank you Lord!!
Wednesday 30 October 2013
Being Honest
***Disclaimer*** This post is more for my sake then anyone else's. I love writing. Writing is healing for me. It helps me see things more clearly. That's why I'm writing this. But if you find you can relate to what I'm saying, please let me know! It's a good feeling to know that I'm not alone!
God's been doing some crazy things to my heart lately.
I think He's been doing this for a while now, but I only started recognizing it a couple of weeks ago. During Thanksgiving weekend our church had it's annual missions conference. We went Friday night, missed Saturday night and went again Sunday morning. I'm still trying to process that weekend. The words the speaker shared were powerful, convicting, and hard to here. They were straight from the mouth of God,
We were challenged to love our neighbors better, to be seeking out the lost and to be seeking out God.
I struggle with the seeking out God part. God and I have been on a crazy journey together and I love Him with all of my being but I really struggle with picking up my Bible. It's always been hard for me. I never seem to know what I should read and most of the time I feel like I'm just reading it because I know I should and if I make it through my daily reading, I'll be good to go for the rest of the day. I know it's not supposed to be like this. And it's not always like that, but 90% of the time it is. I feel like a failure. I feel like I let God down most days.
I also struggle with the loving my neighbor part. I'm a stay at home mom and I don't get a lot of interaction with people over 3 feet tall. It's mostly just me and Cassidy, all day long. I miss being out in the workforce where I can live out my faith in a tangible way and maybe even strike up a conversation with someone about it. I feel like I'm failing at loving my neighbor. Yet lately God's been showing me that right now, in this moment, my job is to be showing His love to Cassidy. So I'm pouring my everything into that right now, praying with all that I am that one day she'll make the decision to accept Christ as her Savior.
I used to be pretty content in my walk with God. I knew I wasn't perfect, but I went to church and I didn't swear and I was nice to people and I prayed. I knew what God did for me and I was thankful. I still do all these things but I don't feel content, per say. I've been feeling a great burden in my heart for those that don't know Jesus. I've been downright saddened by comments on Facebook that people have made, such as "I'm going to hell anyway, may as well enjoy the ride," or just other bitter comments that make it very obvious they are hurting and angry at God, or that they just want nothing to do with Him whatsoever. This has been literally breaking my heart lately and since Thanksgiving weekend I've realized that God is changing something in me. I always pray to me more like Jesus, and I think He's been answering my prayers without me being fully aware of it. He's helping me see how He sees the world. He's breaking my heart for what breaks His.
So I'm going to keep on reading my Bible, even when I don't want to. I'm going to keep on praying to be more like Jesus, because I'm an unfinished work. I'm going to keep looking for opportunities to love others and share the gospel with them. And I'm going to keep on keeping on, loving Jesus and looking like Him as best I can. Because even though it's hard sometimes, and even though I feel like I fail on the daily, His grace lifts me up again and sets me back on my feet and says "Keep going. Look to the cross. I am with you. I love you."
So thankful for that marvelous, infinite, matchless grace.
God's been doing some crazy things to my heart lately.
I think He's been doing this for a while now, but I only started recognizing it a couple of weeks ago. During Thanksgiving weekend our church had it's annual missions conference. We went Friday night, missed Saturday night and went again Sunday morning. I'm still trying to process that weekend. The words the speaker shared were powerful, convicting, and hard to here. They were straight from the mouth of God,
We were challenged to love our neighbors better, to be seeking out the lost and to be seeking out God.
I struggle with the seeking out God part. God and I have been on a crazy journey together and I love Him with all of my being but I really struggle with picking up my Bible. It's always been hard for me. I never seem to know what I should read and most of the time I feel like I'm just reading it because I know I should and if I make it through my daily reading, I'll be good to go for the rest of the day. I know it's not supposed to be like this. And it's not always like that, but 90% of the time it is. I feel like a failure. I feel like I let God down most days.
I also struggle with the loving my neighbor part. I'm a stay at home mom and I don't get a lot of interaction with people over 3 feet tall. It's mostly just me and Cassidy, all day long. I miss being out in the workforce where I can live out my faith in a tangible way and maybe even strike up a conversation with someone about it. I feel like I'm failing at loving my neighbor. Yet lately God's been showing me that right now, in this moment, my job is to be showing His love to Cassidy. So I'm pouring my everything into that right now, praying with all that I am that one day she'll make the decision to accept Christ as her Savior.
I used to be pretty content in my walk with God. I knew I wasn't perfect, but I went to church and I didn't swear and I was nice to people and I prayed. I knew what God did for me and I was thankful. I still do all these things but I don't feel content, per say. I've been feeling a great burden in my heart for those that don't know Jesus. I've been downright saddened by comments on Facebook that people have made, such as "I'm going to hell anyway, may as well enjoy the ride," or just other bitter comments that make it very obvious they are hurting and angry at God, or that they just want nothing to do with Him whatsoever. This has been literally breaking my heart lately and since Thanksgiving weekend I've realized that God is changing something in me. I always pray to me more like Jesus, and I think He's been answering my prayers without me being fully aware of it. He's helping me see how He sees the world. He's breaking my heart for what breaks His.
So I'm going to keep on reading my Bible, even when I don't want to. I'm going to keep on praying to be more like Jesus, because I'm an unfinished work. I'm going to keep looking for opportunities to love others and share the gospel with them. And I'm going to keep on keeping on, loving Jesus and looking like Him as best I can. Because even though it's hard sometimes, and even though I feel like I fail on the daily, His grace lifts me up again and sets me back on my feet and says "Keep going. Look to the cross. I am with you. I love you."
So thankful for that marvelous, infinite, matchless grace.
Friday 18 October 2013
Pressing On
Hello friends,
Just logged in here to share a quick update with you. Our final meeting with our social worker is on Monday. I was feeling discouraged the other day. I received an email from her that for some reason didn't get to me the first time, so not hearing back from me, she sent it again. We found out that we need to complete 10 hours of adoption education that we had previously thought did not apply to us. This was frustrating as I thought it would be a sit down course that we'd have to take over the next few weeks. Our lives are already so busy, I did not know how we were going to find the time to do that. Thankfully, after some digging and asking around (the adoption group on Facebook has been the hugest blessing!) I found out that you can buy the online course and do it all online. What a relief! We bought the course and are hoping to start it tomorrow and get a good chunk of it done. I always get immediately discouraged when little setbacks happen and I wastalking complaining about it to John and he said "Maybe these delays happen because God has a specific baby in mind for us and it's not that time yet." Oh, he always knows what to say to encourage me! I have been reminding myself of this over the past few days.
I also finished the profile book that we need to make for our agency. This was a lot of work and even though I enjoyed putting it together, it was also hard. And humbling. Our agency said to make sure that everything sounds really positive and not to include anything about struggles, hard times, etc. Even though these things are a very real part of our lives, the mothers looking at these books don't want to see that. They want to see the happy, shiny side of our lives. This makes sense to me, but I still felt almost egotistical as I purposely left out the hard parts of marriage, parenting, etc and just showed the good. I think it turned out really good and we should be receiving it by early November!
That's where we're at right now! I have been so encouraged by people's prayers as of late. They are not going un-noticed, by God or by us! So thank you! My Mary Kay party is tonight and I've had quite a few people volunteer to do baking for us in November, so that's been great! I'm so excited that the paperwork part is almost done!! I can't wait until the day we find out we're on the waiting list! God is so good and we are so blessed.
Thanks friends!
Just logged in here to share a quick update with you. Our final meeting with our social worker is on Monday. I was feeling discouraged the other day. I received an email from her that for some reason didn't get to me the first time, so not hearing back from me, she sent it again. We found out that we need to complete 10 hours of adoption education that we had previously thought did not apply to us. This was frustrating as I thought it would be a sit down course that we'd have to take over the next few weeks. Our lives are already so busy, I did not know how we were going to find the time to do that. Thankfully, after some digging and asking around (the adoption group on Facebook has been the hugest blessing!) I found out that you can buy the online course and do it all online. What a relief! We bought the course and are hoping to start it tomorrow and get a good chunk of it done. I always get immediately discouraged when little setbacks happen and I was
I also finished the profile book that we need to make for our agency. This was a lot of work and even though I enjoyed putting it together, it was also hard. And humbling. Our agency said to make sure that everything sounds really positive and not to include anything about struggles, hard times, etc. Even though these things are a very real part of our lives, the mothers looking at these books don't want to see that. They want to see the happy, shiny side of our lives. This makes sense to me, but I still felt almost egotistical as I purposely left out the hard parts of marriage, parenting, etc and just showed the good. I think it turned out really good and we should be receiving it by early November!
That's where we're at right now! I have been so encouraged by people's prayers as of late. They are not going un-noticed, by God or by us! So thank you! My Mary Kay party is tonight and I've had quite a few people volunteer to do baking for us in November, so that's been great! I'm so excited that the paperwork part is almost done!! I can't wait until the day we find out we're on the waiting list! God is so good and we are so blessed.
Thanks friends!
Thursday 10 October 2013
Perfect is Over-Rated
I couldn't sleep last night so I was perusing the Internet and decided to check out our adoption agency's website again. I stumbled across some testimonials from people that have used their agency (which are always helpful and encouraging) and I was reading through some of them and in one of the stories a couple shared that from the time their initial paperwork was completed until the time they held their newborn in their arms was 6 months!
6 months!
If this wasn't enough to make my jaw drop, they continued to say that they thought it was so neat how while they were still in the paperwork process, the birth mom was already pregnant with their baby.
Hold the phone.
Our baby could be alive. Forming, growing. Right. Now.
This was something I never considered. I figured we'd get the paperwork in, wait a few months, hear about a lady who just found out she was pregnant, yada yada yada. It never dawned on me that when we get a referral she could only be months or even weeks away from giving birth!
(As you can imagine, this didn't help my not-sleeping issue!)
But seriously. This is all I can think about today. Productivity is out the window (good thing my house is clean!)
Speaking of paperwork, we are almost done (can I get a Hallelujah?) We have our final meeting on the 21st then our home study gets sent to Regina, and I've just begun to work on our profile book to send to our agency. This is stressing me out a bit. I want so badly for it to be perfect, after all this book is the means by which someone picks us! My loving, ever calm and rational husband reminded me last night that people don't want to see perfect. They want to see real. I need to keep remembering that. It seems that people only post the "perfect" parts of their life on all these social media outlets, but the reality is no one's life is perfect. My child is not perfect. My marriage is not perfect. God knows this, and he takes our inadequacies and uses them to show us HIS glory, HIS perfection. I love this passage in 2 Cor-
I'm having a Mary Kay party next Friday and the money from the sales is going towards our adoption. I've had a good response and even some that can't make it are still ordering so I'm excited for that! Also on Nov. 16 we're having a baking table at the Warman Craft and Bake Sale. I've had a number of people that are going to do baking for us, and I'm still looking for more. If you would like to help out in that way, please talk to me!
I'm praying even harder for the wonderful lady that could be, at this moment, carrying our child. Please if you think about us, pray for her as well. I can't imagine what she's going through so I'm lifting her up to the One who does. Thanks for reading my random thoughts and for the continued prayers. We are definitely feeling them! I love the body of Christ!
6 months!
If this wasn't enough to make my jaw drop, they continued to say that they thought it was so neat how while they were still in the paperwork process, the birth mom was already pregnant with their baby.
Hold the phone.
Our baby could be alive. Forming, growing. Right. Now.
This was something I never considered. I figured we'd get the paperwork in, wait a few months, hear about a lady who just found out she was pregnant, yada yada yada. It never dawned on me that when we get a referral she could only be months or even weeks away from giving birth!
(As you can imagine, this didn't help my not-sleeping issue!)
But seriously. This is all I can think about today. Productivity is out the window (good thing my house is clean!)
Speaking of paperwork, we are almost done (can I get a Hallelujah?) We have our final meeting on the 21st then our home study gets sent to Regina, and I've just begun to work on our profile book to send to our agency. This is stressing me out a bit. I want so badly for it to be perfect, after all this book is the means by which someone picks us! My loving, ever calm and rational husband reminded me last night that people don't want to see perfect. They want to see real. I need to keep remembering that. It seems that people only post the "perfect" parts of their life on all these social media outlets, but the reality is no one's life is perfect. My child is not perfect. My marriage is not perfect. God knows this, and he takes our inadequacies and uses them to show us HIS glory, HIS perfection. I love this passage in 2 Cor-
"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
I'm praying even harder for the wonderful lady that could be, at this moment, carrying our child. Please if you think about us, pray for her as well. I can't imagine what she's going through so I'm lifting her up to the One who does. Thanks for reading my random thoughts and for the continued prayers. We are definitely feeling them! I love the body of Christ!
Thursday 3 October 2013
Blessings
What a day...
You ever have those days where you feel like you are just getting showered with little blessings- blessings that God knew you needed but that you weren't even asking for on that particular day, or thinking about, or praying about...yeah....it was one of those days.
I'm a woman...and being a woman, my mind is often racing with multiple thoughts at once, most of them completely random and changing by the second (it's exhausting). Of course, there's been one thing that's dominated most of my thoughts over the past few months and that's our adoption. Some days I'll be doing normal, everyday things and I'll think about a baby, and what I would be doing if I had a baby at that moment, and butterflies will fill my stomach and I might even get a bit teary eyed....of course, these thoughts often lead to prayers. Prayers for our baby, for her birth mother, for the paperwork that still needs to get done, for the money...mostly for the money.
Today I wasn't really thinking about our adoption much. Cassidy was in a mood and I had errands to run and we went to Mom and Tot time at the gym and I was just too busy to think- or pray- about it. I think God enjoys showing off to me when I least expect it. I checked my Facebook in the morning, like Isometimes always do, and I got an unexpected message from a friend. Her and her husband are also in the midst of the adoption process, have been for awhile. They were working with an agency in the States, but for many reasons had to switch to a Canadian agency. She told me that while they were still with their previous agency they had been fundraising through a group called Ordinary Hero. They had raised $800 with them. She had contacted them to let them know of their agency switch, and because they are not with an agency in the States any more, they were no longer eligible to receive the money.
So she gave them our names and told them to send the money to our agency instead!
This blew me away!! Completely! I didn't even know what to say. $800 that they worked hard to raise, that they can't use for their adoption, that we get to use for ours. It doesn't seem fair to me, and yet I know this couple. They have huge, generous hearts and it doesn't surprise me in the least that they did this for us. What an incredible blessing!
THEN (if that wasn't enough) tonight I taught piano and one of my piano students came in the door and handed me an envelope. She said it was from her and her mom (who I used to work with at Warman Elementary). I read the note and it was a bunch of change they had collected for our adoption. After lessons were over I counted it up. It was all loonies and toonies and it amounted to $70! So to recap, today alone we received $870 for our adoption- and we didn't do anything!
So yeah...it's been one of those days...and I am thankful. Thankful for good friends with generous hearts and for a God who knows what the future holds and who enjoys showing off to me :)
You ever have those days where you feel like you are just getting showered with little blessings- blessings that God knew you needed but that you weren't even asking for on that particular day, or thinking about, or praying about...yeah....it was one of those days.
I'm a woman...and being a woman, my mind is often racing with multiple thoughts at once, most of them completely random and changing by the second (it's exhausting). Of course, there's been one thing that's dominated most of my thoughts over the past few months and that's our adoption. Some days I'll be doing normal, everyday things and I'll think about a baby, and what I would be doing if I had a baby at that moment, and butterflies will fill my stomach and I might even get a bit teary eyed....of course, these thoughts often lead to prayers. Prayers for our baby, for her birth mother, for the paperwork that still needs to get done, for the money...mostly for the money.
Today I wasn't really thinking about our adoption much. Cassidy was in a mood and I had errands to run and we went to Mom and Tot time at the gym and I was just too busy to think- or pray- about it. I think God enjoys showing off to me when I least expect it. I checked my Facebook in the morning, like I
So she gave them our names and told them to send the money to our agency instead!
This blew me away!! Completely! I didn't even know what to say. $800 that they worked hard to raise, that they can't use for their adoption, that we get to use for ours. It doesn't seem fair to me, and yet I know this couple. They have huge, generous hearts and it doesn't surprise me in the least that they did this for us. What an incredible blessing!
THEN (if that wasn't enough) tonight I taught piano and one of my piano students came in the door and handed me an envelope. She said it was from her and her mom (who I used to work with at Warman Elementary). I read the note and it was a bunch of change they had collected for our adoption. After lessons were over I counted it up. It was all loonies and toonies and it amounted to $70! So to recap, today alone we received $870 for our adoption- and we didn't do anything!
So yeah...it's been one of those days...and I am thankful. Thankful for good friends with generous hearts and for a God who knows what the future holds and who enjoys showing off to me :)
Wednesday 2 October 2013
Fundraising Thermometer
Hey friends!
Just writing a short post about the new feature I put on my blog. It took me FOREVER to figure this out (I'm not very computer-literate), but I added a thermometer to the blog to document our funds as they come in. Nothing too exciting, but it's a tangible way to see how much support we have and how much more is needed!
As always, thanks for the prayers. Keep it up!
Just writing a short post about the new feature I put on my blog. It took me FOREVER to figure this out (I'm not very computer-literate), but I added a thermometer to the blog to document our funds as they come in. Nothing too exciting, but it's a tangible way to see how much support we have and how much more is needed!
As always, thanks for the prayers. Keep it up!
Thursday 26 September 2013
Why International Adoption?
So I know this blog is all about our current adoption journey, but I'm going to backtrack for this post and take you back to where it all began...
Since we've announced we're adopting again, and about the staggering amount of money we need to raise, we've had a few people wonder why we're choosing to go this route if it's so expensive. This is a good question! Cassidy's adoption cost us just over $5000 and we didn't need to fundraise. So why this way? To explain, I need to back to the start.
John and I started looking into adoption as soon as we were married, since we knew the process was lengthy and likely wouldn't happen right away. This was about ALL I knew on adoption, so the first place we went to for information was the Adoption Support Centre in Saskatoon. We met with a lady who explained to us all about adoption and it's different facets. We learned about 3 different kinds of adoption: private, domestic and international. Here's a rough definition of each of them.
Private: adopting through a private agency or having someone approach you and give you their baby.
Domestic: adopting through the government of the province you live in.
International: adopting from another country.
Saskatchewan is the only province (sadly) that has no private adoption agency. All other private agencies in Canada require you to be a resident of their province to adopt with them, meaning we would have to move. We seriously considered this for a time. We had friends that moved to Alberta to adopt but found out they were pregnant so moved back home. We prayed about this but really felt this wasn't where God was leading us. We had just bought a house that we loved and didn't want to leave our family and church behind. We were told the chances of meeting someone that wanted to give us their baby was slim. It happened, but not often (and as you already know, that's exactly how we found Cassidy! God's plan is perfect!)
We decided to fill out the application to be put on the list for domestic adoption in SK. Because this is all done through the government, there are absolutely no costs. Also because of this, the list is LONG. We specified we wanted a child from 0-1 year of age. This is what most people want and we were told we could be waiting for 10+ years or it could never happen. We've been on the list for over 2 years now. We decided to be more proactive and pursue an adoption that could happen in the next few years.
This left us with international adoption. We researched lots of different countries and found that although each country had different rules and regulations, the costs seemed to be the same all across the board, ranging from $30,000-close to $60,000! We decided to look into adopting from the United States. We knew flights wouldn't be as much as to other countries and we wanted a newborn. The States was the only country that adopted out babies this young. We had the form and had begun to fill it out when Cassidy popped into the picture!
So that brings us to now. We waited until Cassidy's adoption was finalized (which took a lot longer then expected) and picked up where we left off with pursuing an adoption from the States. We are still on the list with domestic adoption in SK and of course, another private adoption like Cassidy's is always a possibility, but it's not something we can actively seek out. I hope this explains why we're choosing this route, even though it's so expensive. I've asked our central authority why agencies charge so much and the sad news is, they don't need to but they know people will pay for it. It's all a money grab scheme.
We've been saving since we've been married and that, along with what we've been given and have raised so far, puts us at $15,700 right now. We still need another $20,000 to reach our goal, but we are off to a good start. We aren't able to take out a loan since we're maxed out on our mortgage so we are relying on friends and family and of course, our great big God, to help us raise the rest! It's a big amount of money, but God is bigger and He's teaching me to trust Him!
Please, if you have any other questions about our adoption or adoption in general, don't hesitate to ask. I am by no means an expert on all things adoption but I would love to share more of what I've learned!
Thursday 12 September 2013
More Fundraising...
I feel like I can breathe again...
The 2 weeks previous to this one were absolute madness. We had event after event. Praise in the Park was first on a Saturday, then that Monday started the week of DVBS that I directed, then the next week I started teaching piano again so I had prep to do for that, then that weekend was our massive garage sale. Whew! All very good things, and I was super SUPER blessed by all of them, but still. Busy. And now I'm fighting what I am scared may be strep throat. But at least life has slowed down a bit.
A bit..but not a lot. All our adoption paperwork got put on hold due to the madness and this week I have started at that again. We are THIS close to being done our homestudy! We have our medicals booked for next week (yay?) and after we get those forms signed, we can have our second and final meeting to hand in all the documents, then our wonderful home study practitioner does her thing and off it goes to Regina, then Nevada! Yahoo!! I have also started looking at how to make our picture book. I am super excited about this part, but also very nervous. Because some lady is going to look at our book and what is written and pictured in that book will help her decide if she wants us to raise her baby. That is no small decision! Prayers would be appreciated as we put the book together that we will say and show the right things. Most of all, I want this book to reflect how much we love Jesus. I want the woman giving us her baby to know that it will be raised in a home where Jesus is taught, loved and worshipped.
Now that the garage sale is finished, it's time to start thinking about our next fundraiser. Thinking about it? I've already got details for you! Every year Warman puts on a Craft and Bake Sale. I bought a spot and we are going to be selling Christmas baking at the sale this year. It is on Nov. 16 at the Legends Centre (new location). Here's where you can help! I am looking for people wiling to do some baking for us for this event. It can be whatever you want to make, but preferably something Christmassy! If you would like to do some baking for us, please contact me by Facebook, email (john.mandiletkeman@hotmail.com) or phone (306-292-9427). I am aiming for LOTS of goodies to sell, so the more the merrier! And of course, all proceeds made will go to our adoption!
Thanks again for all your support and just for reading my blog! I have really enjoyed blogging and I may have to keep it up once baby is here!
The 2 weeks previous to this one were absolute madness. We had event after event. Praise in the Park was first on a Saturday, then that Monday started the week of DVBS that I directed, then the next week I started teaching piano again so I had prep to do for that, then that weekend was our massive garage sale. Whew! All very good things, and I was super SUPER blessed by all of them, but still. Busy. And now I'm fighting what I am scared may be strep throat. But at least life has slowed down a bit.
A bit..but not a lot. All our adoption paperwork got put on hold due to the madness and this week I have started at that again. We are THIS close to being done our homestudy! We have our medicals booked for next week (yay?) and after we get those forms signed, we can have our second and final meeting to hand in all the documents, then our wonderful home study practitioner does her thing and off it goes to Regina, then Nevada! Yahoo!! I have also started looking at how to make our picture book. I am super excited about this part, but also very nervous. Because some lady is going to look at our book and what is written and pictured in that book will help her decide if she wants us to raise her baby. That is no small decision! Prayers would be appreciated as we put the book together that we will say and show the right things. Most of all, I want this book to reflect how much we love Jesus. I want the woman giving us her baby to know that it will be raised in a home where Jesus is taught, loved and worshipped.
Now that the garage sale is finished, it's time to start thinking about our next fundraiser. Thinking about it? I've already got details for you! Every year Warman puts on a Craft and Bake Sale. I bought a spot and we are going to be selling Christmas baking at the sale this year. It is on Nov. 16 at the Legends Centre (new location). Here's where you can help! I am looking for people wiling to do some baking for us for this event. It can be whatever you want to make, but preferably something Christmassy! If you would like to do some baking for us, please contact me by Facebook, email (john.mandiletkeman@hotmail.com) or phone (306-292-9427). I am aiming for LOTS of goodies to sell, so the more the merrier! And of course, all proceeds made will go to our adoption!
Thanks again for all your support and just for reading my blog! I have really enjoyed blogging and I may have to keep it up once baby is here!
Sunday 8 September 2013
Count Your Many Blessings, Name Them One by One!
We sang the song "Count Your Blessings" in church this morning, and the words really struck me. We really are truly blessed. We live in a beautiful country where we have the freedom to worship without fear of persecution, we have a roof over our heads, food in abundance, clean drinking water, I could go on and on. It's so easy for us to look at what someone else has and feel envious and I admit it happens to me a lot, so this song was a good reminder that I am truly, richly blessed and I need not take it for granted. One way I am feeling especially blessed today is with the success of our garage sale!
I never realized how much work a garage sale is! I suppose this is because I've never put one on myself, but just "helped" my parents when they had them (Helped being used very loosely!) We asked for donations and boy did people respond! We had more then we knew what to do with (a very good problem!) We spent a lot of prep time in the garage sorting, organizing and pricing before the big day. Then of course there was the work of hauling all the tables and boxes out Friday afternoon, back in for the night, back out Saturday morning and then taking all the stuff away once it was over.
Before you think "Wow, I can't believe they did all that themselves!", we didn't!! There is a multitude of people I need to thank for their time and help to us! Thanks to my friends Kirsten and Amanda who came to hang out with me and help price stuff ahead of time, thanks to Janie who came over Friday after lunch and helped me haul out the tables (the book table was HEAVY!) Thanks to my sister in law Alicia and her wonderful boys who made cookies and iced tea to sell. The boys were so generous and gave all the money they made to help us get a new cousin for them :) And a big thanks to both our sets of parents and my grandparents. Both our moms and my grandma did a lot of baking, which sold extremely well and fast, and they all came to help us set up, John's parents helped us put everything away Friday night and my parents and grandma came and helped us clean up everything on Saturday. Your help did not go unappreciated! You were a huge blessing to us!
Of course, the sale would not have been successful without stuff to sell and people to buy it! Thank you to EVERYONE who donated to us! We were overwhelmed with how generous people gave (although I'm sure they didn't mind us helping them get rid of their stuff!) And thank thank thank you to everyone who came and bought something (shout out especially to Lynnette Klassen!) Something happened again and again during the sale and it never failed to amaze me. People who we didn't know, but who saw our sign and what we were fundraising for, stopped to talk to us about our adoption. I of course do not get tired of telling people all about it, but what amazed me was their excitement for us. Complete strangers who did not know us were genuinely excited for us and wished us well. This blew me away! With all the evil and depravity in this world, it was wonderful to see the kindness shown to us by strangers. I hope we were able to be a little piece of Jesus to them.
So, when all was said and done, we made just over $1200!!! My goal was to reach $1000 so I was super pleased with what we raised. God is good and gave us great weather and a great turnout of people. A good fundraising kick start! A few people have messaged me wanting to support us financially and asked me for our address. If you feel led to give to us and would like to do that, our address is Box 1801
Warman, SK S0K 4S0
Also, if you would like to send us an email money transfer (I just discovered this, it is so cool!), our email is john.mandiletkeman@hotmail.com.
I always get uncomfortable asking for money, but we really do need financial help with this adoption. Please pray about it and if you feel led, we really do appreciate your support! You are leaving a wonderful legacy for our child!
I'm going to end this long post (I know, I ramble) and leave you with some pictures from our sale! Thanks for reading!
I never realized how much work a garage sale is! I suppose this is because I've never put one on myself, but just "helped" my parents when they had them (Helped being used very loosely!) We asked for donations and boy did people respond! We had more then we knew what to do with (a very good problem!) We spent a lot of prep time in the garage sorting, organizing and pricing before the big day. Then of course there was the work of hauling all the tables and boxes out Friday afternoon, back in for the night, back out Saturday morning and then taking all the stuff away once it was over.
Before you think "Wow, I can't believe they did all that themselves!", we didn't!! There is a multitude of people I need to thank for their time and help to us! Thanks to my friends Kirsten and Amanda who came to hang out with me and help price stuff ahead of time, thanks to Janie who came over Friday after lunch and helped me haul out the tables (the book table was HEAVY!) Thanks to my sister in law Alicia and her wonderful boys who made cookies and iced tea to sell. The boys were so generous and gave all the money they made to help us get a new cousin for them :) And a big thanks to both our sets of parents and my grandparents. Both our moms and my grandma did a lot of baking, which sold extremely well and fast, and they all came to help us set up, John's parents helped us put everything away Friday night and my parents and grandma came and helped us clean up everything on Saturday. Your help did not go unappreciated! You were a huge blessing to us!
Of course, the sale would not have been successful without stuff to sell and people to buy it! Thank you to EVERYONE who donated to us! We were overwhelmed with how generous people gave (although I'm sure they didn't mind us helping them get rid of their stuff!) And thank thank thank you to everyone who came and bought something (shout out especially to Lynnette Klassen!) Something happened again and again during the sale and it never failed to amaze me. People who we didn't know, but who saw our sign and what we were fundraising for, stopped to talk to us about our adoption. I of course do not get tired of telling people all about it, but what amazed me was their excitement for us. Complete strangers who did not know us were genuinely excited for us and wished us well. This blew me away! With all the evil and depravity in this world, it was wonderful to see the kindness shown to us by strangers. I hope we were able to be a little piece of Jesus to them.
So, when all was said and done, we made just over $1200!!! My goal was to reach $1000 so I was super pleased with what we raised. God is good and gave us great weather and a great turnout of people. A good fundraising kick start! A few people have messaged me wanting to support us financially and asked me for our address. If you feel led to give to us and would like to do that, our address is Box 1801
Warman, SK S0K 4S0
Also, if you would like to send us an email money transfer (I just discovered this, it is so cool!), our email is john.mandiletkeman@hotmail.com.
I always get uncomfortable asking for money, but we really do need financial help with this adoption. Please pray about it and if you feel led, we really do appreciate your support! You are leaving a wonderful legacy for our child!
I'm going to end this long post (I know, I ramble) and leave you with some pictures from our sale! Thanks for reading!
 |
| Everything set up and ready to sell sell sell! |
 |
| Two of my handy helpers |
 |
| Cousins at their iced tea/cookie stand! |
Tuesday 3 September 2013
GARAGE SALE!!!
ADOPTION FUNDRAISER GARAGE & BAKE SALE!
Friday September 6 from 3:00-8:00
Saturday September 7 from 9:00-3:00
401 7th Ave N
***Toys, Games, Books, DVD/VHS, Puzzles, Kitchen Items, Craft Supplies, Sports Items, Home Decor, Clothes for all ages, Shoes, Purses, Stuffed Animals, Bicycles, Office Chair, Mirror, Bookshelves, Scooters, Sandbox, Wagon, Accordian, Filing Cabinet, Lawn Decor and plenty of fresh baking!***
ALL PROCEEDS GO TOWARDS OUR ADOPTION!
*We will also be accepting donations*
Well friends, we are ready for our first big fundraiser! John and I spent our Labour Day labouring in the garage and now everything is priced, organized and set out on tables! Our garage is still stuffed to the brim but at least it's an organized mess now! The coolest thing is we've already made $140 and it hasn't even started yet! That's thanks to some friends who stopped by and "pre-ordered" :) We are very excited about this weekend and hope you can stop by and check it out! We would appreciate prayer for nice weather and for a successful sale!
Friday 23 August 2013
It's All Good!
Hi everyone! Sorry I've been so silent on here, but we've had a busy August! Can it really be almost over? I think I'm in denial that my front lawn is already covered in leaves. So many people are saying they love fall, but for me fall is just a glaring reminder that winter is right around the corner. Ugh.
So like I said, we've been busy! We took a family trip to Alberta near the beginning of August for a good friend's wedding, and the week after Cassidy and I left with my parents to spend 6 days in Vernon, BC for my cousin's wedding, for which she was a flower girl!
So like I said, we've been busy! We took a family trip to Alberta near the beginning of August for a good friend's wedding, and the week after Cassidy and I left with my parents to spend 6 days in Vernon, BC for my cousin's wedding, for which she was a flower girl!
*BRAG ALERT*
I have to say I was a little nervous about parenting solo, although my parents were of course a huge help, but Cassidy did AWESOME! Seriously, she completely blew me away. We were go go go the whole time, squeezing in naps when we could, and staying up late and spending MANY long hours in the car, and she was a champ! She didn't complain once, I hardly had to discipline her, she was happy and even though she had a couple of very traumatizing experiences with porta potties, it did not set back her potty training thank goodness! Traveling with her was an absolute breeze. Plus she really rocked the whole flower girl gig! She's a natural!
Here's a few pictures from our trip!
Ready to go!
I was actually freaking out as I took this picture and as soon as I snapped the shot, she was off of that thing!
She loved being a "fower girl" :)
Her new friend Timmy so graciously sharing his goldfish with her!
Loving the water!
What a fun holiday, but does it ever feel good to be home! Cassidy was up at 5:30 or 6 every morning in BC but thankfully has fallen right back into her old routine and is sleeping till 8:30 again. Now that I'm home, I'm super busy putting the final details together for VBS at our church next week. Please pray that we will get lots of kids and that God will work in a mighty way for his glory!
Wait a second, the real reason I came on here was to give you an adoption update! I had last heard from our agency about 3 weeks ago. They were still waiting to hear from our Central Authority in Regina. The agency that we are working with has never worked with anyone in SK before, so there were some things they needed to discuss. In the busyness of holidays, I kept forgetting to email to ask where things were at. Well! Today I got an email saying they had touched base with our guy in Regina and we are good to go to start officially working with them! This means we can start putting together our profile for the birth mother, as we continue to work on our home study as well. I know this is not huge huge news but to me every small step is one step closer to holding my baby in my arms, so I am rejoicing today! God is good! Our garage sale is in 2 weeks and our garage is a MESS! There is just enough space for us to park our car and the rest is full of stuff! This is a very very good thing, although it is driving my husband a bit crazy, as he likes his garage neat and orderly. People have been so generous in giving for this! The dates are September 6 in the evening and September 7 all day, so come check it out! There will also be baking for sale and I think there may be two cute boys with a lemonade stand :)
Thanks for your prayers! I know I sound like a broken record, but we really do appreciate them and you!
Thursday 1 August 2013
Quick Update
Hello all! So things are moving along nicely! I got an email from our agency the other day saying that they have received our application (YAY!) and we just had our first home study visit tonight, which was wonderful! The same lady who did our home study with Cassidy is doing this one as well and it was wonderful to visit with her again. She was quite happy to see Cassidy again and to see how well she's doing.
I am so thankful that we already have one adoption under our belt going into this one. I am so relaxed about this and just excited, and yet I know I would be completely overwhelmed if this was our first. It's a different kind of adoption and their are different unknowns, but at the stage we're at it's nothing we haven't done before, which makes it so much easier.
Our garage is slowly piling up with stuff to sell at our sale in September! People have been so generous in donating items and I have a lot more stuff that I know is coming yet! The tentative date for our sale is Friday Sept 6 in the evening and all day Sat, the 7th. I'm super excited about it!
Summer feels like it's flying by, can it really be August already?? We have a busy month planned with two weddings in different provinces, Praise in the Park and DVBS at our church that I'm directing. Yikes! I like being busy though, and it'll keep my mind off of BABY because that's all I can think about most of the time. I wish we were further along in the process already, but I know that with every step we're getting there and it will all happen in God's time. Patience has never been my strong suit!
We appreciate the prayers and support! Keep it up!
Love the Letkemans
I am so thankful that we already have one adoption under our belt going into this one. I am so relaxed about this and just excited, and yet I know I would be completely overwhelmed if this was our first. It's a different kind of adoption and their are different unknowns, but at the stage we're at it's nothing we haven't done before, which makes it so much easier.
Our garage is slowly piling up with stuff to sell at our sale in September! People have been so generous in donating items and I have a lot more stuff that I know is coming yet! The tentative date for our sale is Friday Sept 6 in the evening and all day Sat, the 7th. I'm super excited about it!
Summer feels like it's flying by, can it really be August already?? We have a busy month planned with two weddings in different provinces, Praise in the Park and DVBS at our church that I'm directing. Yikes! I like being busy though, and it'll keep my mind off of BABY because that's all I can think about most of the time. I wish we were further along in the process already, but I know that with every step we're getting there and it will all happen in God's time. Patience has never been my strong suit!
We appreciate the prayers and support! Keep it up!
Love the Letkemans
Monday 29 July 2013
Praise in the Park!
Hello friends! I started this blog with the intention to write mainly about our adoption journey, but every now and then I want to write about other things I'm passionate about too. Hence, this post!
I am passionate about Jesus. I've been walking with Him since I turned 5 and it's been the most incredible journey. I can't imagine going through this life without Jesus by my side. I am thankful every single day that I was raised in a home where His name was preached and loved. I shudder to think what my life would've been like without Him. He truly is my best friend, my truest love and the ultimate Savior, and one of my most favorite things to do in the whole wide world is worship Him through music. I've been playing piano since I was 7 and I have been blessed to be a part of some amazing music opportunities. Praise in the Park tops the list!
Praise in the Park was started by my brother-in-law Mark Janzen, who wanted to do some sort of outreach to the (then town) of Warman. He came up with the idea of a giant outdoor concert in one of the parks. He put together a band (We That Breathe) and Praise in the Park was born. Both John and I are part of We That Breathe and this will be our 3rd summer playing with them. It's been such a blast! We came together from a few different churches, some of us not knowing others and having never played together before, but we just clicked and now we have such a great time every time we get together to play. It's truly a blessing.
God works in mysterious ways. In my life I find that the more I seek Him, the more He shows Himself to me, but sometimes there's those moments where you He shows you a glimpse of Himself in a BIG, HUGE way! I don't get those moments very often, but when I do I am always completely humbled and astounded. God did that with Cassidy's adoption. Throughout the whole process I felt complete peace, and while everything around me screamed "Worry! Freak out!", I didn't. I had a peace that passes all understanding. That was God. God has also done that with Praise in the Park.
The first year, we met to practice the Saturday afternoon before the concert that evening. It was windy and despite the clips to hold down our music, they were still blowing around quite wildly. So we prayed. We prayed for God to calm the wind and for everything to be still. I admit that I doubted. I doubted that the wind would entirely go away. After all, this is Saskatchewan. That night, it was calm. Calmer then I can ever remember. There was not a single tiny breeze to be found. God did that.
The second year, on the day of Praise in the Park, thunderstorms were in the forecast. We practised that afternoon and scary looking clouds loomed above us. Again, we prayed. People asked if it was cancelled and we said no. And we kept praying. The evening began and though the clouds never left, we never felt a single drop of rain the whole time. John and I stayed to help pack up the instruments after and then we walked home. As soon as we got in the house, the sky let loose with the most incredible light-show I have every seen in my life. The thunder crashed and lightning lit up the sky and the rain poured down. I remember sitting and watching with wide eyes, completely entranced at the wonder unfolding in the sky. I truly believe God held back the storm and then let loose, showing us that He really is all that we just sang about. That was one of the most incredible God moments of my life!
This summer Praise in the Park is on August 24 at 7:30 at the Lion's Park in Warman, same place it's always been for those of you who have been before. Last year we had more people then the year before and we are hoping for even more this year, especially those that don't know Jesus, or are wanting to know Him. I am SO excited! God has blessed us big time already and I can't wait to see what He's going to do this year! So please, tell your friends, especially if they don't know Jesus, and let's fill the park and get loud for Jesus. He is worthy of all our praise!
Psalm 150
"Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power; prasie Him for His surpassing greatness. Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet; praise Him with the harp and lyre, praise Him with tambourine and dancing, praise Him with the strings and flute, praise Him with the clash of cymbals, praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!"
I am passionate about Jesus. I've been walking with Him since I turned 5 and it's been the most incredible journey. I can't imagine going through this life without Jesus by my side. I am thankful every single day that I was raised in a home where His name was preached and loved. I shudder to think what my life would've been like without Him. He truly is my best friend, my truest love and the ultimate Savior, and one of my most favorite things to do in the whole wide world is worship Him through music. I've been playing piano since I was 7 and I have been blessed to be a part of some amazing music opportunities. Praise in the Park tops the list!
Praise in the Park was started by my brother-in-law Mark Janzen, who wanted to do some sort of outreach to the (then town) of Warman. He came up with the idea of a giant outdoor concert in one of the parks. He put together a band (We That Breathe) and Praise in the Park was born. Both John and I are part of We That Breathe and this will be our 3rd summer playing with them. It's been such a blast! We came together from a few different churches, some of us not knowing others and having never played together before, but we just clicked and now we have such a great time every time we get together to play. It's truly a blessing.
God works in mysterious ways. In my life I find that the more I seek Him, the more He shows Himself to me, but sometimes there's those moments where you He shows you a glimpse of Himself in a BIG, HUGE way! I don't get those moments very often, but when I do I am always completely humbled and astounded. God did that with Cassidy's adoption. Throughout the whole process I felt complete peace, and while everything around me screamed "Worry! Freak out!", I didn't. I had a peace that passes all understanding. That was God. God has also done that with Praise in the Park.
The first year, we met to practice the Saturday afternoon before the concert that evening. It was windy and despite the clips to hold down our music, they were still blowing around quite wildly. So we prayed. We prayed for God to calm the wind and for everything to be still. I admit that I doubted. I doubted that the wind would entirely go away. After all, this is Saskatchewan. That night, it was calm. Calmer then I can ever remember. There was not a single tiny breeze to be found. God did that.
The second year, on the day of Praise in the Park, thunderstorms were in the forecast. We practised that afternoon and scary looking clouds loomed above us. Again, we prayed. People asked if it was cancelled and we said no. And we kept praying. The evening began and though the clouds never left, we never felt a single drop of rain the whole time. John and I stayed to help pack up the instruments after and then we walked home. As soon as we got in the house, the sky let loose with the most incredible light-show I have every seen in my life. The thunder crashed and lightning lit up the sky and the rain poured down. I remember sitting and watching with wide eyes, completely entranced at the wonder unfolding in the sky. I truly believe God held back the storm and then let loose, showing us that He really is all that we just sang about. That was one of the most incredible God moments of my life!
This summer Praise in the Park is on August 24 at 7:30 at the Lion's Park in Warman, same place it's always been for those of you who have been before. Last year we had more people then the year before and we are hoping for even more this year, especially those that don't know Jesus, or are wanting to know Him. I am SO excited! God has blessed us big time already and I can't wait to see what He's going to do this year! So please, tell your friends, especially if they don't know Jesus, and let's fill the park and get loud for Jesus. He is worthy of all our praise!
Psalm 150
"Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power; prasie Him for His surpassing greatness. Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet; praise Him with the harp and lyre, praise Him with tambourine and dancing, praise Him with the strings and flute, praise Him with the clash of cymbals, praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!"
Wednesday 17 July 2013
Once Was Lost
Hello friends! I'd like to introduce you to a fantastic couple and tell you a little about an organization they have started to help adoptive families. Meet Jared and Chantel Klassen. Here's a little of their story:
"Once Was Lost was created as Jared and Chantel were trying to raise money for their own adoption and noticed there was a lack of opportunities for fundraising for Canadian couples. They really wanted to help others trying to adopt to raise support and after some brainstorming, Once Was Lost was born!"
We are extremely excited to be affiliates with Once Was Lost. How it works is when you buy anything from their store, 50% of the proceeds go to affiliates. They sell jewelry, t-shirts, accessories, toys and items for the home. To make sure the money goes to us, when you check out put our names (John and Mandi) in the Notes to Seller box.
Another great thing about Once Was Lost is that every $25 you spend you will feed a hungry child for a week! One whole week! Isn't that fantastic?
This is our first official start to fundraising and I couldn't be more pumped! If you want to support us and make a purchase, the web address is www.oncewaslost.storenvy.com. If you want to read more about our story, click the affiliates tab and you'll find us there! Any questions, please let me know!
Thanks again for your prayers. I've had many people already talk to me in person and through email and let me know they are praying. It always overwhelms me to think that people are praying for us. We are more grateful then words can say. God is so good!!
"Once Was Lost was created as Jared and Chantel were trying to raise money for their own adoption and noticed there was a lack of opportunities for fundraising for Canadian couples. They really wanted to help others trying to adopt to raise support and after some brainstorming, Once Was Lost was born!"
We are extremely excited to be affiliates with Once Was Lost. How it works is when you buy anything from their store, 50% of the proceeds go to affiliates. They sell jewelry, t-shirts, accessories, toys and items for the home. To make sure the money goes to us, when you check out put our names (John and Mandi) in the Notes to Seller box.
Another great thing about Once Was Lost is that every $25 you spend you will feed a hungry child for a week! One whole week! Isn't that fantastic?
This is our first official start to fundraising and I couldn't be more pumped! If you want to support us and make a purchase, the web address is www.oncewaslost.storenvy.com. If you want to read more about our story, click the affiliates tab and you'll find us there! Any questions, please let me know!
Thanks again for your prayers. I've had many people already talk to me in person and through email and let me know they are praying. It always overwhelms me to think that people are praying for us. We are more grateful then words can say. God is so good!!
Saturday 13 July 2013
Ah Summer...
Hello friends! Now that I have a blog I want to write on it everyday. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) my everyday happens are not usually something I consider "blog-worthy" :p
Adoption wise, things are slowly rolling along. We have our first home study appointment scheduled for early August so until then we're busy doing paperwork. We have a list of things that need to be completed for our home study, such as criminal checks, child abuse checks, medicals, passports, etc. so we've been chipping away at those. Criminal checks are done (and clean, whew!) and passports are on their way! For anyone who says every passport picture is bad, you obviously haven't seen this one:
I know right?? On a sidenote, she looks like she's 5 here! Stop growing up child!
We also filled out the application for our agency and I'm going to send it off on Monday! Woohoo! Then we can start working on our picture book as well as the home study! Lots of people have offered to donate things to our garage sale in September, which is awesome! I'm getting really excited about it! I am also seriously considering having Cassidy stand at the end of our driveway with a sign around her neck saying "Help make me a big sister". No? Yeah, like she'd stand still for that long anyway, but I'd challenge anyone to try and walk away from that!
In other news, we are loving the hot summer weather. I just love the heat. I love having an air conditioned house to escape from it when need be, but I try to soak up as much as I can. We have been to the spray park almost daily and we BBQ as much as we can. Our weekends have and will be packed with family time. I love it!! Today we shipped Cassidy off to Grandma and Grandpa's and John and I spent the day cleaning up our yard. We're both beat now, but it looks much better! Ah summer, please never leave.
Thanks for reading and thanks even more for the prayers! Keep it up!
Adoption wise, things are slowly rolling along. We have our first home study appointment scheduled for early August so until then we're busy doing paperwork. We have a list of things that need to be completed for our home study, such as criminal checks, child abuse checks, medicals, passports, etc. so we've been chipping away at those. Criminal checks are done (and clean, whew!) and passports are on their way! For anyone who says every passport picture is bad, you obviously haven't seen this one:
We also filled out the application for our agency and I'm going to send it off on Monday! Woohoo! Then we can start working on our picture book as well as the home study! Lots of people have offered to donate things to our garage sale in September, which is awesome! I'm getting really excited about it! I am also seriously considering having Cassidy stand at the end of our driveway with a sign around her neck saying "Help make me a big sister". No? Yeah, like she'd stand still for that long anyway, but I'd challenge anyone to try and walk away from that!
In other news, we are loving the hot summer weather. I just love the heat. I love having an air conditioned house to escape from it when need be, but I try to soak up as much as I can. We have been to the spray park almost daily and we BBQ as much as we can. Our weekends have and will be packed with family time. I love it!! Today we shipped Cassidy off to Grandma and Grandpa's and John and I spent the day cleaning up our yard. We're both beat now, but it looks much better! Ah summer, please never leave.
Thanks for reading and thanks even more for the prayers! Keep it up!
Tuesday 9 July 2013
Let's Do This Thing!
Woohoo! I've always thought it would be neat to have a blog but I had no good reason too and I didn't want to bore people with my everyday goings on. Now I have a reason! As most of you probably saw, I just posted on Facebook about our news that we're beginning the adoption process again. A few of you emailed me different questions about the process so I thought blogging would be a way to answer all of your questions all at once!
For those of you who are just finding this blog for the first time and don't know me at all, here's a quick introduction. My name is Mandi Letkeman. I am (almost) 26 and I live in the booming city of Warman, SK with my handsome hubby John and my ridiculously cute 2 year old, Cassidy. We adopted Cassidy privately from a woman in Saskatoon when she was 9 months old. After her adoption was finalized in March of this year, we immediately started looking into where to adopt from next.
After some research into different countries, and much advice from friends, we decided to go with the States. Many people have asked us how we came to this choice. Basically the biggest reason is that we (mostly me!) want a newborn this time. I am unable to have my own children, so I really want to experience the whole fresh-out-of-the-oven phase. Later, for our third adoption, we would like to try adopting an older child or a sibling group from Africa, China, or somewhere overseas.
This adoption will be very different from Cassidy's. Here is an overview of how the process will work. First we had to get approved by our central authority in SK, which we have. Next was the grueling process of picking an agency. There are many different agencies in the States and it was hard to decided which one to go with. After much prayer and searching around, we have found one that we hope will be a good fit for us. Please pray that as we start to work with this agency that things will go well and we will have a good experience with them. Now we are working on getting our home study done. This is not new to us, as we had to do the same thing with Cassidy. We have gotten the same lady who did our study with Cassidy to work with us on this one and that is a big answer to prayer as she is simply fantastic! We are very excited to work with her again. As we do our home study, we also can start getting our profile package ready. This is the fun part! This will be what the birth mother looks at when she comes in and picks a family for her baby. In other words, it will be her way of "meeting" us. We have to make a book full of pictures of our family, our house, our town, our church, extended family and friends, etc. Basically, everything that makes us look good, as this will be her first impression of us! Then once all that is done, it gets approved by our central authority and is sent off to our agency. Then we wait!!
I am so thankful going into this that we have one adoption under our belt. It makes this seem much less overwhelming, although it is very different.
So if you're wondering "how can I help?" this next part is for you! We need to raise $35,000. I know that is a crazy big number but God has given me complete peace that this is His plan for us right now and I am more then confident that He will provide. Unfortunately, there are not many grants that are open to Canadians, so to raise this money we need your help! It feels very awkward for me to ask for money, but we really don't have a choice. Please consider this in prayer and if you feel led to help bring our baby home, please contact me either through this blog or by phone or Facebook to hear how you can help! Right now I'm busy planning fundraisers. The first one we are planning is to have a big garage/bake sale. We are planning this for September, once summer winds down. If you have any items sitting around that you need to get rid of let me know! Also, I need help with fundraising ideas, so if you have any good ideas or know of fundraisers that have been successful in the past, please write me in the comments area or contact me and share! I would appreciate it! Someone has asked me if they could share our story on their blog and the answer is YES! Please, if you feel led, share our story and spread the word!
Mostly, I'm asking for your prayers. Prayer is always our most powerful tool. Please pray that God will continue to guide us along this path and help everything to come together. Pray that he will already be working in the heart of the woman who is going to choose to give us her baby. Pray that His will would be done in all of this. It was (and is!) completely humbling to see how the Lord led in Cassidy's adoption. From the very first phone call, it was evident that this was His plan. We are praying for the same evidence with this adoption, and that through it all He will be glorified and lifted HIGH!
Thanks friends. Love you all!!!
For those of you who are just finding this blog for the first time and don't know me at all, here's a quick introduction. My name is Mandi Letkeman. I am (almost) 26 and I live in the booming city of Warman, SK with my handsome hubby John and my ridiculously cute 2 year old, Cassidy. We adopted Cassidy privately from a woman in Saskatoon when she was 9 months old. After her adoption was finalized in March of this year, we immediately started looking into where to adopt from next.
After some research into different countries, and much advice from friends, we decided to go with the States. Many people have asked us how we came to this choice. Basically the biggest reason is that we (mostly me!) want a newborn this time. I am unable to have my own children, so I really want to experience the whole fresh-out-of-the-oven phase. Later, for our third adoption, we would like to try adopting an older child or a sibling group from Africa, China, or somewhere overseas.
This adoption will be very different from Cassidy's. Here is an overview of how the process will work. First we had to get approved by our central authority in SK, which we have. Next was the grueling process of picking an agency. There are many different agencies in the States and it was hard to decided which one to go with. After much prayer and searching around, we have found one that we hope will be a good fit for us. Please pray that as we start to work with this agency that things will go well and we will have a good experience with them. Now we are working on getting our home study done. This is not new to us, as we had to do the same thing with Cassidy. We have gotten the same lady who did our study with Cassidy to work with us on this one and that is a big answer to prayer as she is simply fantastic! We are very excited to work with her again. As we do our home study, we also can start getting our profile package ready. This is the fun part! This will be what the birth mother looks at when she comes in and picks a family for her baby. In other words, it will be her way of "meeting" us. We have to make a book full of pictures of our family, our house, our town, our church, extended family and friends, etc. Basically, everything that makes us look good, as this will be her first impression of us! Then once all that is done, it gets approved by our central authority and is sent off to our agency. Then we wait!!
I am so thankful going into this that we have one adoption under our belt. It makes this seem much less overwhelming, although it is very different.
So if you're wondering "how can I help?" this next part is for you! We need to raise $35,000. I know that is a crazy big number but God has given me complete peace that this is His plan for us right now and I am more then confident that He will provide. Unfortunately, there are not many grants that are open to Canadians, so to raise this money we need your help! It feels very awkward for me to ask for money, but we really don't have a choice. Please consider this in prayer and if you feel led to help bring our baby home, please contact me either through this blog or by phone or Facebook to hear how you can help! Right now I'm busy planning fundraisers. The first one we are planning is to have a big garage/bake sale. We are planning this for September, once summer winds down. If you have any items sitting around that you need to get rid of let me know! Also, I need help with fundraising ideas, so if you have any good ideas or know of fundraisers that have been successful in the past, please write me in the comments area or contact me and share! I would appreciate it! Someone has asked me if they could share our story on their blog and the answer is YES! Please, if you feel led, share our story and spread the word!
Mostly, I'm asking for your prayers. Prayer is always our most powerful tool. Please pray that God will continue to guide us along this path and help everything to come together. Pray that he will already be working in the heart of the woman who is going to choose to give us her baby. Pray that His will would be done in all of this. It was (and is!) completely humbling to see how the Lord led in Cassidy's adoption. From the very first phone call, it was evident that this was His plan. We are praying for the same evidence with this adoption, and that through it all He will be glorified and lifted HIGH!
Thanks friends. Love you all!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)