Home and SO Busy

Well, Matthew, Johnathan, and Charity have been home for a full month.  Things have been SO BUSY.  Matthew and Charity were use to being given something to sleep, so sleep is not common here right now.  They all have medical stuff going on that requires appointments.  Thankfully, Brent had two weeks off when they got home!  That was especially good since Matthew had to be admitted to the hospital on Thanksgiving evening and spend a few nights. 

They are all making HUGE progress.  Matthew has been gaining about a pound a week!  Charity was so constipated that she literally lost 4 INCHES around her stomach when her bowels were dealt with and we are still trying to finish cleaning her out.  Johnathan had some type of head injury (it looks like someone hit him in the back of the head and broke his skull) between our first trip and 2nd, so we are still trying to get all the different visits for that and his hydro taken care of. . . you know the kind where one visit leads to the next. . .

Christmas is so exciting!  So many great things to see, hear, smell, and taste!  If the doctor's appointments ease up then I will try to get a real update on each individual kid done.  They are AMAZING kids who have been through so much and are changing SO fast.  We are so blessed to be their family!!  

WINNERS: Have A Heart Giveaway!

Aleshia's open heart surgery went very well.  She came home the Thursday after the procedure and has been recovering well.  They might have kept her a few more days, but she really does not do well in the hospital setting and was doing well enough that they thought she would recover better at home.  She really is an amazing child.  I'll do a whole update post on that later! 

For now here is a picture of her glowing smile to hold you over!

I needed to end this giveaway and post that we are FULLY FUNDED for the adoption as long as everything goes as planned and tickets don't end up being outrageous!!!!  That feels AMAZING!!  Now pray we get our court date and can go get them soon!!!

Here is the list of Gifts and WINNERS!

Gift #1 goes to Alex Anderson!

Gift #2 goes to Theresa Revilak

Gift #3 goes to Amanda Sutton

Gift #4 goes to the Bowden Family

Gift #5 goes to Darla Messenger

Gift #6 goes to Chelsea Claus

Gift #7 goes to Jennifer McCall

Gift #8 goes to Alex Anderson

Gift #9 goes to "birdiebabe522"

Gift #10 goes to Julia Nalle

Gift #11 goes to Jennifer McCall

Gift #12 goes to Chelsea Claus

Gift #13 goes to Lindsay Park

Gift #14 goes to Chelsea Claus

Gift #15 goes to Chelsea Claus

Gift #16 goes to Alex Anderson

Gift #17 goes Brook Kirk

Gift #18 goes to Amanda Sutton

Gift #19 goes to Darla Messenger

Gift #20 goes to Darla Messenger

Gift #21 goes to Lindsay Park

You can go see what you won by matching up your gift #to the pictures and descriptions on the first post about the giveaway at THIS LINK!  If you are one of the winner, please email me your address to abcunroe@yahoo.com so that I can get your Thank You Gift out to you soon!

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL WHO GAVE TO HELP US REACH THE POINT OF FULLY FUNDED!  I know there are some who didn't get "Thank You Gifts", but truly we are beyond thankful for the help of each one of you who have given, shared, and prayed.  Keep watching for updates as we get closer to bringing them home!!! 

Article 5! and GIVEAWAY UPDATE

Our Article 5 Interview occurred and our attorney is getting everything ready to submit.  We are praying that they will honor Matthew's medical expedite and process the paperwork quickly for a signature at the government level to get it ready for submission to court.  We need to get him home and get him some much needed medical care.  We are praying hard and we ask that you would too!

We have the Have a Heart Giveaway going on right now to thank everyone who is helping us so wonderfully with raising the last of the funds to get the kids home.  We appreciate the help so very much!  Aleshia's heart surgery is really at the worst possible time, because it is just before we will need to travel to pick them up.  It is still much better than it needing to be done after they get home though!  God has provided wonderfully for us all along and we know that everything will fall into place.  This is just a wonderful opportunity for others to get to be a part of their homecoming story!

You can click here to see all the wonderful "Thank You" Gifts that are awaiting at the end! 

Not listed on that post is $5 donations!  Every $5 donation will also receive one entry, so please email me your receipt to abcunroe@yahoo.com  Every amount is bringing us so much closer to bringing them home!!  THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!!


Every dollar brings us closer to the goal amount of bringing them home!  I'm sure this post will make the "troll roll".  lol  Yes, there are the wonderful trolls who go around talking about how much better off kids are in orphanages.  I've even heard that our family is large and that the caregiver ratio might be better in an orphanage. See, the thing is that "caregivers" don't "care" the same as a Mommy.  I go to bed each night begging God to keep them safe till I can get there and knowing that Matthew is in misery without medical care.  I'm a Mommy.  I hurt for my kids.  I don't leave them lay ever.  I don't have apathy or think that any of them are not worth my time.  I feel what they feel.  I hurt when they hurt, even if they are on the other side of the ocean.  I sit up all night if they are awake.  I stay up too late and get too little sleep just because a little one decides that they aren't sleepy and I know that they spent too many years in a crib and I'm VERY glad for the opportunity to give them those extra kisses.  So I'm going to leave those trolls he may link back to my "fundraising" post with a little picture. 

This is what the love of a "Mommy" does:

 

We are working hard to bring Matthew, Johnathan, and Charity home so that they can have a "Mommy" instead of a "caregiver" too.  Every child deserves a "FAMILY", not just a caregiver.  We just happen to have more people here to do the loving.  Yes, the sites that like to bash large families can bash away.  The fact is that the picture above shows the truth.  The child on the left was Keith the night I brought him home at age 5 and the picture on the left was Keith one year later at age 6.  He went from couldn't hold his head up, to didn't want to be laid back!  He grew when he was loved and cared for by a FAMILY!  He came from the same place that my three children are now and they need to come home.  The place they are in now is trying hard, but orphanages cannot replace families.  They suffered severe neglect in that facility for years and the only way they are going to heal and thrive is to come home.  So the trolls can troll away.  There is the proof that what we do is making a HUGE difference and will continue to do so. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOW WHO WANTS TO BE A PART!?!  

Aleshia Heart Surgery Update

Well Aleshia's open heart surgery did not go as planned. . . .

The day started out early and calm.  We left the house with her still sleepy, in her pajamas, and doing well.  We had to be there the day before the surgery to be admitted.  The trip to the hospital was great.  She was happy and pleasant.  I can't say that things stayed that way though. . .

 I can't type it all again, because I am SO drained.  I'm adapting a post from her heart page as far as the explanation, but then adding some more details of other things too.  

 

 Our time in the hospital was SO HARD. Aleshia was all the way to the holding area for surgery before it was cancelled. The hospital itself was VERY traumatic for her. She threw up at shift changes, had to have knots in the sleeves of her pajamas, and was sticking her fingers waaaaayy back in her eye sockets. SO HARD TO SEE HER THAT WAY!!! (We requested meds, but ...were told not until later, but they have been informed that this will NOT be the case next time and a plan WILL be in place.) Four adults were required to get labs. After she kept making herself sicker they finally ran other labs bc she began to run a fever. We made it all the way to the holding are for the surgery before they got the results of an elevated white count. That ended the surgery! They started to talk about checking for lung infections, but I insisted on a strep test since we had a child with a positive test that they knew about the week prior. Our primary care had wanted to treat Aleshia then, but the first person I had to talk to at Cardiology had said "no" and not relayed the information fully and told me he worked for a different hospital. The second person said it would be up to the primary care, but it was too late at that point since our primary office is small and was closed. The rest of our day didn't go any better as the nurse didn't do the strep test right the first time and then still the 2nd time didn't use a tongue depressor and wasn't going to swab the tonsils. . . I insisted and Aleshia did test positive for Strep. She is rescheduled for September 16th for her open heart surgery. This is pushing WAY TOO CLOSE to adoption pickup time for our newest three kids. We really do need prayer for that.

 Aleshia needs lots of prayers!!!  The whole things was very traumatizing. It reminded her very much of her time in the orphanage and institution. IT IS SAD THAT THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY HAS SO LITTLE KNOWLEDGE OF CHILDREN FROM TRAUMA BACKGROUNDS!!!  We are seeing regression and she doesn't want to get in the van. We had to go to our primary care provider today and she was terrified to get in the van and SO upset. Please please pray for her to be ok soon. Please pray that we can work with the people there to come up with a plan for her care for the next surgery that will reduce anxiety levels for her. Healing will be very hard if she is that upset. She cannot be so upset she is puking after open heart surgery. There is a special team there specifically for kids that have had previous issues in the hospital that I will be working with and I will be making SURE that we come up with a plan that seems to meet her needs in the best possible way.  We now know what her reaction is and we have to make sure we do everything we can to make sure we are doing everything possible to keep her calm.  I'll be calling them to start the planning next week.  Please pray for all of us as we try to come up with solutions!

 

Please also pray for our adoption of the three children we are in process for right now.  All three need to come home soon, but Matthew is in very severe condition and needs to come home extremely badly.  He has a medical expedite that says if we don't get there quickly then he may not make it home at all.  We did get good news today stating that our Article 5 interview is going to be Wednesday.  Unfortunately many people are on vacation there right now, so the signature we need for the next step could be much delayed. . . .

 

Please consider helping get them home and us get funded for their adoption by sharing or donating.  We have great gifts to offer in our GIVEAWAY SO CLICK HERE!    Our trip for them won't be that long after her surgery now with this delay, so I need to find some way to get funded and I'm trusting God to help us do that. 

 

 

Trip to Meet the Three Part 4: Meeting Matthew

Well, meeting Matthew was very different than I expected.  Matthew had grown since he had been given a Baba (Again this is "grandmother" in their language and is provided by a ministry there.  He received one because they found out he had a family coming.).  He had gained weight and instead of 18 pounds at almost 10 years old, he was now between 20 and 22 pounds.  I was THRILLED to see that he had gained weight!!  My immediate thoughts were that he was doing SO much better than I expected.  He was very drawn up of course, but to know that this Baba was taking the time to feed him and in such a short time he had gained so much was both thrilling and sad.  If he could gain so much so quickly, then how sad that it took knowing a family was coming for him to get a Baba.  Yet resources are limited.  They never imagined that HE would be chosen. . . this broke my heart into a million pieces. . .



This first picture was me working with him on our first visit,

because I needed to start learning for travel how stiff he is.

I needed to know for dressing purposes how much movement there is.

I needed to know for carseat purposes what his legs could comfortably do.

So I just slowly talked to him and began to move his legs while rubbing them softly.

Just a little at a time. . .

 

This picture is a very content and comfortable little boy.

It feels good to not be so tight. . .

It feels good to have your legs release.

It feels good to SMILE!

(No one there knew he could smile)

It feels really good to know you are loved!

 

This is from our 2nd visit on the first day.

This picture is how Matthew lives every day, except that most of his life is spent flat. 

He lives this drawn up.

His hands, arms, and legs are all drawn up and tight.

 

This next picture shows you the difference that 90 minutes of love and soft touch

made to my very love starved boy.

When I saw this comparison that night I could barely sleep.

His face changed.

His arms relaxed.

His legs relaxed

 This day we finally got permission for him to go outside.

You can see that even though his legs are long

(and somewhat distorted in the picture above because of the angle),

he is a very small boy for almost 10 at the time.

 

Before he went for his Visa pictures, his Baba gave him a haircut.

Since the pictures had to be taken on a white background

and he is unable to sit up

he went on this and had his picture take laying on it.

 

I'm not going to talk about my last day with him.  Aleshia has heart surgery in just a couple days and talking about having to leave him is too much to bear.  Let's just say that my little boy is laying right now in the position that he laid in for all the years before.  No one is giving him kisses or helping him relax.  No one knows everything that I learned about him during that week.

 

While I was there I learned a lot about my little boy.  His teeth have all rotted out till they are below the gum line for the most part.  Most of the cause is reflux, but no one thinks he has reflux.  See in an orphanage no one is noticing what happens after you eat. . . they don't have time.  Mommy notices when you are throwing up and swallowing it.  He also lays flat in a bed all the time, which makes the reflux worse. . . My little boy is also suffering from silent seizures.  Once he is home we will be headed straight for a neurologist.  They will deal with many issues, but the silent seizures will be addressed very quickly. 

 

The thought of how my little guy is living is heartbreaking.  I can barely breathe when I think of it.  It kills me to think that it was caused by a traumatic brain injury when his birthfather beat him into a coma.  I pray that he doesn't even remember that!  I pray he doesn't even remember when he use to be able to run around, play, and talk.  I do KNOW that he understands much more than people think. 

 

HE VERY CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE! 

 

*There are links on the right side bar if you would like to help bring Matthew, Johnathan, and Charity home.  There will be a big giveaway starting here in the next day or two as well!

 

Please please pray that this process moves quickly.  Pray for him as he endures the wait.

 

 

 

 

VERBAL REFERRAL!!!!! PRAISE GOD!!!

Ok, the VERBAL REFERRAL was given yesterday.  The meeting ran until after business hours there so we didn't get word until today.  We had expected that meeting last week, but it was postponed until yesterday.  I must say that sleep didn't happen so much last night.  The seven hour time difference meant that I stayed up much of the night (more than normal if you know me!) looking "just in case" word came. 

For those not familiar with the adoption process or how it works in our specific country, that means that our children's country has received our dossier and reviewed it in the formal meeting. They have determined that it is completed and acceptable. They have determined that we can travel to meet the children! Now we need the main person who was in that meeting to "sign" the paper which could come at any time. That is called a "written referral". Once that happens then our attorney will give us an official travel date to leave!!! Praising God for one more step in that direction!!

Now, I need to get the drawing done for the giveaway.  There are lots of entries and I don't want to mess it up.  I will get the winners names up very soon.  It may be late tomorrow night before they get up though.  If I did them right now in my sleep deprived state I fear I would do something wrong.  Check back late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.  I often do things after the kids are in bed! 

Thank all of you for your prayers!!  Please continue to pray that the signature comes soon.  There is a letter stating that Matthew's medical situation is very urgent and we are praying that the signature is expedited as a result! 

If you'd like to help us continue to work toward being funded you can go to the ipad fundraiser our friend is hosting on her blog HERE

Keep praying for Matthew, Johnathan, and Charity! 

16th July is Aleshia & Keith's Gotcha Day

Catherine here, yet another interloper, sorry, guest blogger!

Its already 16th July here in the UK and in Bulgaria and that means its Aleshia & Keith's Gotcha Day

This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!

Time to spring them out Amanda!

First Aleshia........

and then Keith...........

No longer orphans but Unroes - can't wait to see you both in the arms of your Mommy & Daddy!

Amanda, give those sweet babes a kiss from me, Vince & Nathan

hugs & prayers

Catherine x

The Final Piece!

Yes, one week from today I will pick up Nicholas!!!  He is the last one to be picked up of our 5 Bulgarian Blessings.  I can't wait to finally have him in my arms!  He is such a cutie and though we expect he will be quite the handful, I am so crazy about my little man!!

I will get to pick him up on Wednesday, July 18th!!!!

Yes, he is in constant motion so much that he is a blur in many pictures! 

Look at that smile though!!

He's spent years in an institution!!

Yet, he still has that smile!

I'm coming Nicholas!  

One more week and you will start what forever always should have been like for you!

One Week from Today!?!

You ask, "What are you doing this time next week?".


Well since you asked!


It will be Gotcha Day for Anita and Ahnja!!!!!!!


Yes, I will be picking up Anita and Ahnja and they will never go back!!


They'll be adding lots of motion and noise to my hotel room about this time.  Ahnja will probably be telling me off in Bulgarian and I won't even know what she is saying.  :)  She'll probably be trying to take over the care of the other children and I'll be gently redirecting that I am in charge and have it under control.  :)  I bet she'll be looking through her new clothes and trying on shoes to make sure they fit.  I bet Anita will be too!  Anita will be trying to figure out this new world  and life.  I'll be figuring out what they will eat, but I think those two are going to be EASY on that accord.


Yes, in two weeks I will already have 4 of my Bulgarian Blessings in my arms!

Almost Court Time!!!!!!!

If you are on my Facebook, then you know the countdown for how many hours left until court has been going for a few days.  As of 9pm Eastern Time, we only have 7 more hours until court!!!!!!!


YES, YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY -  7 HOURS!!!!

In 7 hours
Keith Isaac
Aleshia Noelle
Anita Faith
Nicholas Cole
and
Ahnja Joy

will be

ORPHANS NO MORE!!!!

Please pray for court to go smoothly, but we are fully expecting God to pull this off without a hitch.

He is AWESOME like that!

Mother's Day Gift This Morning

I got an email this morning to let us know that our paperwork will be headed to court either today or tomorrow!  That is such an answer to prayer!  God is amazing!

Please pray that we get an adoption friendly/large family friendly judge and pray that we get a very fast court date!

Destiny (if you haven't read the previous post then go do so) said ""Well Praise God. I knew He would give us this miracle"!

A Busy Mom's take on Digiscrapping.....

First off I need to declare that I am an imposter, sorry, that should read a guest blogger.

I've hijacked Amanda's blog to give you a busy Mom's take on digital scrapbooking.

My name is Catherine and some of you will know me maybe from the Reece's Rainbow FB page or perhaps from Amanda's own FB page.  My alter ego is CatDesignz which is my digital baby - the Child of My Heart if you will.  That's the name of the kit that Celeste Lombas and I used to give Amanda's blog a new look ready for the children coming home - a little digital nesting if you will!

Amanda asked if I would make some layouts of the children which I was delighted to do - you can see them in the left hand side bar.  You can even pretty your own adoption blog up in the same way.

Who, me?  I hear you ask?

Yes, You - you too can digiscrap.

And here's the gorgeous proof

This is Amanda's very first digital layout - and I promise it won't be your last Amanda.  Before you know what's happening you will be teaching the children to make their own layouts!

 ' But I'm too busy to figure it out......'

If you want something done give it to a busy person!!

Before I met Amanda I thought that I was a busy Mum (thats British for Mom BTW!).  I work full time managing a Shopping Mall, volounteer as a School Governor, care for my hubby who is disabled by PTSD, raise our 11 year old son and work a second job as CatDesignz, mainly selling my product at My Memories. Oh, and then I blog, tweet, have a Facebook page, an Etsy store and generally try and stay digitally active

Yes, I seriously thought I was busy until I met this amazing lady and her equally amazing hubby Brent who parent their rainbow family of 13 and are making room for another 5.  Now I really understand what a busy Mom is!!  You are fantabulous Amanda and I am so blessed that our paths have crossed.

When you said you had no time to figure out how to digiscrap I knew that I had already thrown down the gauntlet without saying a word.......and, yes, I am right and you are wrong on this one - he he!   'Cos you figured it all out yourself!!

And if time challenged Amanda can produce a stunning layout so can you and I'm here to show you how  to get started - mainly in response to comments on FB and in emails to Amanda about how you wish you could do it too.

As I mentioned, in my spare time I work for this amazing company called MyMemories - thats where I sell my digital creations.  And though I declare an interest they really are a great starting point for would be digi scrappers and particulary busy Moms.This is not a hard sell because you can actually get started for free

As well as selling digital kits for folks to use they also have THE most popular and easiest to use software.  Its called My Memories Suite V3 and there is even a free trial version available. 

You do need some kind of graphics software to be able to use graphics files - thats your pictures, backgrounds and cliparts

Oh, and heck, I am bursting to tell you this, My Memories giving away a free photobook at the moment and you could use the offer without even having to buy the software - just use the free download version!!!

If you click on this link it will take you to the My Memories home page where you will find the link to the free photobook - there is also a little snippet of footage from the Lifestyle programme which shows you how fast you could fill an album.  This is where it gets really interesting for busy peeps because you can use a pretty pre designed template and just plop your pictures in - simples!

Have a look at these gorgeous photobook  templates - literally one for every occasion.

There are also album templates that you can use if you don't want a full photobook - wherever the grey spaces are you can add your pictures by dragging and dropping them in

Like I said you can use the free version of the software to order your free photobook - there are even free templates with the trial version too so you don't have to spend a cent except for postage.  (look for the free trial button on the right hand side of the page)

 Here is a short video which explains a little about how to get your free photobook  - its the first of 3 video clips but Lisa, the presenter is a great tutor who is really easy to follow



Once you download the software you will want to use it for all your pictures, I promise you!  The programme opens up on your computer - you don't have to be on line to use it - you can use it any time.

To help you with using the software there are a bunch of video tutorials and written tutorial  files that you can download and print out.  I found these priceless for teaching me how to use the software one easy step at a time.  Have a look at this one and you'll see what I mean


There is also an amazing and supportive community on Facebook where you can show off your creations, look at other peoples for inspiration and even ask for digi help and advice

I do need to warn you though.......

IT'S ADDICTIVE!!!!!!

and just to prove how quickly you can become proficient with this software here is Amanda's second layout

Of course the layout is not quite perfect - there are not enough children in the picture - I should say another 5 would just about do the trick! And Amanda will soon fix that please God!

And should you like what you see and decide you want to buy the My Memories software please, please  don't pay full price.  I have a discount coupon for $10 that you can use.  I also have a little surprise for Amanda who doesn't know about this......if any of you buy a copy of the My Memories version 3 software before the end of April using my code  I will donate $20 to the Littlest Unroe fund for each copy of the software sold.  The code to use is STMMMS26788.  Just type it into the coupon space ( or better still copy and paste) before you pay.  This will discount the software down to $29.97 for you.  I will get an email telling me you bought a copy and then I'll donate $20 to little Keith's funds.  Does that sound like a good deal? Oh, and you also get a coupon code for $10 worth of free kits too!

Of course there are lots of other programmes that you could use, like Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop Elements most of which also have free trial versions but they all have a mighty steep learning curve too.  My Memories V3 is far and away the most user friendly that I have found.

Feel free to pop over to my CatDesignz Facebook page and say hello - thats where I showcase all my kits and templates - you never know - you might just catch the bug!!

Happy Scrapping & don't forget to leave Amanda some love for her lovely layouts

Catherine x

ps, be kind to me, this is my first ever guest blog spot - thanks Amanda

PRAY       ADVOCATE       DONATE       ADOPT

Another Little Update

Well, we got another little update on Keith today.  The clothes that I sent with the other Mama visiting there did fit him.  That is good news.  They were the smaller of the 6 to 9 months clothes and were footed.  For things not one piece I will likely still need the 3 to 6 months in order for them to not fall off of my tiny little guy, but the other stuff in 6 to 9 months should fit wonderfully for summer.  I have 12 months here in clothes already as well.  I will probably need those in footed things soon, except for in some of the brands that are made bigger than those I sent.  lol 

They have done something new to blogger and I'm not sure how this post will go or how to add photos, links, or text changes yet, so bear with me while I figure it out.  :) 

Keep praying for our little tiny guy, as well as for Aleshia, Anita, Nicholas, and Ahnja!!  Pray for a fast court date and a judge who is adoption/large family friendly!

Got a Nice Little Update

Another mother is visiting her little one where Keith is this week.  She got to see him today, because he was out being pushed through the halls with his Baba!  I'm so happy that she got to see him.  Any "Keith sighting" is a big deal for me, plus knowing that he was out of that isolation room for a little while today was great too!

No pictures because she wasn't allowed to take pictures of other kids, but just glad to have had him get out and know he is ok at the moment.  Praying hard that I get to be there very soon and hold him!

Yes, I will be holding him soon and I will make sure that he is never alone again!  Pray that things move quickly!!  Praising God today that He allowed us a small update to know he is ok and waiting. 

Coming for you soon sweet boy!



Small Update

Our paperwork from the meeting that went well on Tuesday has been translated and is at authentication.  It will be submitted to the MOJ next week. 

Please pray that the paperwork continies to fly through and that our babies are in our arms soon.

We are continuing to prepare for their arrival here at home.  :)  Nesting times 5 is hard work!!  lol  I've not had a baby swing in our home since Dayton outgrew his in 2002, but I do now!  Pictures will come soon!

Thanks for your prayers and keep them coming!  God is so good!

BINGO

That is the title of the email that I just received!!  Our attorney said that everything at the interview this morning went great.  They had thoroughly read our file before the meeting.  They said everything was straight forward and honest.  They said they believed we were totally prepared and ready to raise all 5 children (I knew that!). 

The paper that is needed should be ready in the next couple days for our attorney to pick up!

Another little "God Thing" along the way too!  We will have $870 back, because the cost of the Visa's has went down from $404 each to $230 each!  That money will come in very handy!  This trip #2 will be very expensive and as of yet we don't even know exactly how much things will cost and how housing will work.

Praise God for all the good news today!!!  Thank you so much for your prayers!!! 
One step closer to bringing all 5 of my babies home!!!

GOD IS AMAZING!!!!



God Gave Us A Miracle to Start Us off

I got an email today from our attorney in Bulgaria.  Our paperwork was at the US Embassy there, but there weren't an appointments available in April.  Today she got notified that they had a cancellation and put us in a spot for Tuesday!!!  That is a miracle straight from God!

It is at 2pm their time on Tuesday. 

That means that at 8 am on Tuesday I need everyone to pray that it goes very smoothly!

Our attorney will be there to answer questions on our behalf and try to get things done quickly.  If that gets done on Tuesday, then the next step will be for it to be translated and sent to the MOJ for a signature.  Please begin to pray now that it goes quickly!  From there it will be assigned to court and once a court date is scheduled we will have a better idea of when we are travelling.  Please please please PRAY!!! 

Don't forget to go check out THIS post for a way to help the children at that horrible place and to see more about our new blog design!

Like the New Look? and NEWS

I'm sure you have noticed the new look of the blog if you are reading this!  I'm so excited about it.  It not only looks better, but it is set to transition even for when the kids get home.  We are a step closer to them being home since our paperwork is back to Bulgaria now and should be at the embassy there!!  :)

A lady that I met through the Hidden Treasures Auction and have gotten the pleasure of getting to know asked if she could use our photos to develop a "Child of My Heart" computer scrapbooking kit.  I of course was thrilled to be a part in any way.  All of you adoptive moms out there know how hard it is to find things that are adoption appropriate!  This kit is wonderful and has so many useful things.  Some of those things were used on this blog!!  See the cute pictures down the side and the Forever Family word art with the kids pictures, those are all from that kit.  I tried to get them looking nice on here and realized that I was doing them a huge injustice.  I asked for help and one of the ladies who works with her volunteered to design the blog for me and even jumped over and did our family blog as well!!  I feel so blessed by both of their work!

 

Child of My Heart Printable Digital Scrapbooking Adoption Kit

The items you can see in the preview can be used to make cards, print out, or do numerous other things as well as digi scrapbooking.  It would be great for making things to fundraise for your adoptions!!!  There are so many uses for it as explained in this quote from their page:  "Like all my kits its scrap 4 hire friendly which means you can use it in your finished ETSY projects like cards, transfers, embroidery.
All the files are high res 300 dpi and suitable for printing onto paper, card, fabric and lazertrans."

CatDesignz has a shop on Etsy and one on Facebook.  They have lots of neat things that make scrapbooking easy as well as things to make Facebook Timeline pictures easy to set up nicely.  Best of all if you go there and buy the "Child of My Heart" kit for $6.99 the proceeds all go to help pay for nurses that will go to the place where a certain tiny child of ours and so many others that are in dire need live.  The kit is really great and you can do so very much with it! 

You can go read this blog post by a good friend to better understand the needs where he lives and what a huge need there is for nurses there.  The conditions that he lives in are also discussed and there is a chipin there to donate if you want to help in that way.   Just click the underlines section and it will take you to that very important post.


So THIS is the link to take you to purchase that "Child of my Heart" kit on Etsy.

This link will take you to the Facebook Store so you can purchase the "Child of my Heart" kit there. 

Here is a link to her blog store where there is even more great stuff and the kit will be on there a little later.  :)

There is so much in the kit that not only would it be great for adoptive families, but also for anyone else!

Please go take a look and get something great while helping the orphans in that really bad place where my little boy lives.  Send lots of prayers up for them too.

Here some examples of the wonderful things you can make! 


Here's a closer look at some of the kit's contents for you

 

20 beautiful papers

 

39 wordarts 

 

Hearts & Swirls 

This is just a selection of the contents - the kit has 125 seperate elements, all at 300pdi high resolution and suitable for printing out for hybrid and paper crafts as well as digiscrapping.   You could even use them on your own blog! All the layouts on this page, as well as the new look for my blog were made using the kit so that you can see just how versatile it is.

My Kids and I Were So Blessed Today

First, if you notice some changes in the look of the blog, I will tell you more about it once I get it all finished.  There is a wonderful lady who has done some beautiful stuff for us to put up here and has a wonderful way that you can have some too and help some orphans!! She donated some of her work to The Hidden Treasures Auction as well.  Hopefully I can get it all fixed up tomorrow and give you the links once you can get the full effect! 

I thought I'd tell you about what happened tonight that blessed us beyond belief.  As many of you know, the Hidden Treasures Auction that was done for our family just ended.  We were so blessed with all of the donations and people who dropped in to bid and buy things!!  So many people worked so hard.  You also probably remember that my kids made some artwork that they were so tickled to be able to put into the auction and help bring their siblings home.  When the first bids of $5 and $7 came in - they were thrilled to be a part. 

Tonight I got an email from the lady that bought all 4 of their pieces of art.  I got to share the contents of that email with my children.  Their excitement made my day!!!  The lady who bought them paid $200 for those 4 pieces of art!!  She plans to hang them at her home and pray for Keith, our other children, and the many other children in Keith's orphanage.  The $200 is of course very helpful with the costs of the adoption, but what was even better was the look on my kids' faces when they realized that the effort they put into making those out of love for their siblings had helped with $200 of the cost of bringing home their siblings that they so adore already!!!!  Seriously, I had to get a moment to myself so they wouldn't think I was sad from the tears. 

What a wonderful "God thing" to bring someone who was so willing to be used by Him!  What a blessing it was to my kids and to us!  That will be something that my kids always remember.  They will probably carry that feeling of making such a difference with them forever and I pray that they grow up to always try to make a difference.  I pray they always remember that God will use our best (no matter what it is) if we are willing to give it.  I also pray that they always remember that God uses willing people in BIG ways! 

Good News

The day started our rough (again).  The Hague Adoption Unit said their computer didn't show anything at all after the I800A.  I asked to speak to a supervisor and left a message.  The supervisor that called back was saying there wasn't anything they could do until the lockbox processed it.  I explained that they had processed it because we had SIM numbers.  She insisted that it wasn't at their building.  :(  I thought I might lose my mind.

I talked to her while driving to my appointment.  I arrived at the appointment and cried like a baby in the doctor's office.  (I hate it when that happens but these doggone paper pregnancy hormones are killing me!) I had prayed the whole time I waited.  This whole thing has me on the verge of tears all the time because I know Keith is laying there hungry, alone, and in need of love and medical care.  When my wonderful CNP started to talk and I explained that the devil has been hitting us from all sides for nearly a month, I just couldn't stop the flow of tears. 

Wonderful as she is Anita (yes that is who our beautiful little Anita on the way is named after) hugged me and prayed.  God sure does bless with wonderful Christian friends!

As I was checking out my phone rung and they had found the paperwork!!!  God is amazing!  I even could go back and let Anita know that prayers had been answered.  Hopefully it will clear through USCIS now.  Our Senator's representative said that the Visa center usually only takes 24 hours to clear through their part!

We should finally be moving!

Please continue to pray that God will make nothing end up being an issue with that paperwork now that they have it.  Pray that it is a hot potato in their hands!

Go check out the Hidden Treasures Auction while we are waiting this week.  It only runs this week.  :)  There are over 100 items to bid on and the proceeds all go to help with plane tickets for the trip home!