Money, Money, Money

Money.

Right?!  I know.  It makes me sick to think about it too.

Adoption Ark sent me this fabulous document that explained all of the expenses we will have to cover to bring home our little boy or girl.  Some of the items are set in stone (like the $10,000 translation fee).  Other expenses they gave an estimate (for things like travel for three trips to Azerbaijan, hotel stays, etc.)

I made a fancy spreadsheet with all of the numbers.

It was alot of fun until I finished and had the fancy spreadsheet do the math for me to tell me how much money we could expect to spend.

Feeling sick yet?

Over $60,000.

Now, before you panic (oh, is that just me??), we need to remember a few VERY important details.
1. God sent me back to work so that I could contribute to the adoption fund with my paycheck.
2. We don't have to pay all of that money at once.
3. This was GOD'S idea, so He has to provide.

Phew.  I feel better now.

(Can you tell I worked 12 hours today?  I am a little fried.  Today was Back to School Night at school.)

ANYWAY...

I was freaking out about this several weeks back and prayed about it with a group of friends, and gave it up to the Lord.  So the next morning He responded through two sweet college students we know from Church!

Claire and Liz are serving as foreign missionaries in Thailand for a year, living among, working with, and ministering to Thai people.  You can read more about them on their blogs, which are linked to their names above. :)  Claire came to me via skype to talk about an idea they had come up with.  They wanted to do something to help us raise money for the adoption, even though they are half a world away!  There is a half marathon coming up on November 18th in Thailand.  Claire and Liz have decided to run this half marathon and raise money for each kilometer they run!

That's where you come in.

Claire and Liz will be running 21km on November 18th.  We have set up a page on YouCaring to accept donations.  However, right now we are just asking you to pledge.  You can pledge a flat rate donation or a certain amount per kilometer (21km in a half marathon).  If you are interested in being a part of our adoption in this way, please send me a personal email (rebeccafkelley@gmail.com) with your pledge!  I will forward your email to Claire and Liz so you can receive their pre and post race updates.  When the time comes, you can go to our YouCaring website to contribute.

We are trying to raise $13,000 by the end of 2012 to cover the initial costs to begin the adoption process.  This will include our contract fee, home study costs, medical exams, dossier preparation, and adoption education.

We truly appreciate any and all help we will receive.

Two weeks ago I was sitting in church listening to my pastor talk to us about the importance of sharing the good news about Christ with my neighbors.  To be perfectly honest, I don't remember his exact points...and I'm not even sure I could tell you what passage he was using from the Bible...and yet God changed my life.

I was a little distracted that morning...thinking about how little I had seen my little boy that week.  School started Tuesday, Wednesday was another school day plus church that night (I saw him for 1.5 hours the whole day), and after school Thursday Kyle and I had to leave town for a trip that had been planned for quite some time, so I didn't get to see Matthew at all after I left for work that morning.  We didn't get back until Saturday afternoon...and here it was Sunday and I had my precious boy in the nursery!

So there I sat...thinking about what a terrible mother I must be and how I couldn't believe I thought going back to work was a good idea.

When I expressed that thought to my friend Mistie the week before she said "Bec, you have been a Christian for many years and you know your Lord's voice.  He told you to do this."

I knew she was right.  I know that I heard His voice...but that's not what I was thinking about that Sunday morning.  I was only thinking about missing my boy...and generally feeling sorry for myself.

But as I sat there, listening to WHY I should share the good news...it suddenly occurred to me!

There is a child out there somewhere.

I don't know if it is a boy or girl.

I don't know if he/she is still in his/her birth mother's womb or in an orphanage.

But that child is out there.

And that child doesn't know the good news.

And it is incredibly unlikely that anyone is going to tell that sweet child that there is good news!

And that child...is mine!

I am the mommy...Kyle is the daddy, Matthew is the brother!

My child.

And I want that child to find Christ just as much as I want Matthew to find Christ!

Those of you who are parents will understand this, I think:  you know how even after you find out you are pregnant, you don't feel like it is true?  Even when your pants get tight and you eat everything in sight and throw up everyday...you don't really feel like it is true.  And then!!  That day comes when you FEEL that baby MOVE!  And you know that child is there!  You realize that child is REAL, and you are the mommy!

That's what happened to me.  God moved in my heart, and now I can see that I'm making these sacrifices so that our child can have life!  Life that is filled with GOOD NEWS!!

Becca

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PS
I don't want to let this post get any longer than it is right now, but I know you guys are curious about where we are in the adoption process.  I am working on another post which will hopefully go up later this week.  It will give you the full update along with an exciting announcement (no, I'm not pregnant, so don't go there :P)!!

The Journey Begins

Well, here we go!

When it comes to international adoption, one of the hardest things is figuring out where to adopt from.  This part has been hard for us.  When you look out at the world and realize just how many orphans there are in the world that need to be rescued, it breaks your heart.  And it breaks your heart even more that you can't rescue every single one of them.

 So we have spent the past few weeks praying and seeking God's Will about where we will find our future child.  We have spent time over the last few months reading through Operation World to learn more about countries around the world.  Kyle's primary passions in selecting a country to adopt from are:
1. A country where the child has little or no hope of hearing the gospel.
2. A country where orphans experience a lot of hardship if not adopted (for example, girls who are taken into sex trafficking).

We have had to take other factors into consideration, such as:
1. Whether the country allows foreign adoption.
2. Whether the country allows Christian parents to adopt.
3. What the parent requirements are (for example, some countries don't want you to have any children other than the one you are adopting, some require both parents to be 30).

So!  We have narrowed the list down to 2 countries!

Our top choice after all this research and prayer is Azerbaijan (yes, we did have to youtube it to figure out how to say the word properly...you should too!).

Azerbaijan borders Russia and Georgia on the north, Armenia to the west, Iran to the south, and the Caspian Sea to the east.  The primary religion is Islam, making up almost 88% of the population.  A little less than 10% of the population are "non-religious," and a mere 2.74% are Christian.

Azerbaijan has recently moved in the direction of religious freedom, which is why we are even allowed to adopt from there.  Many predominantly Muslim countries don't allow you to adopt their orphans unless you proclaim yourself to be Muslim.

Our second choice (we've been told it is always good to have two choices) is Kazakhstan.  Kazakhstan is across the Caspian Sea from Azerbaijan.  It borders Russia on the north and China and Uzbekistan on the south.  About 54% of the population is Muslim, 34% claim no religion, and 12% are Christian.

We found one adoption agency that has programs in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.  I have been talking with a consultant from Adoption ARK, and today we submitted the pre-qualification form.  Once the agency has reviewed our pre-qualification, we will be able to talk more about their different country programs.

That's all the news we have right now.  Not terribly exciting...but we are one step closer!

Becca and Kyle

The Newlyweds are back...except we aren't really newlyweds anymore, and we aren't in New Orleans anymore, either...

Remember when we were newlyweds?  Remember when we were living in a hotel in New Orleans?  Remember when I (Becca) got my first job?  Remember when the hurricane came?  Remember when I had 32 students?  Remember when Kyle was diagnosed with diabetes?

A lot has happened since then!  We moved to Fredericksburg, Va. in July 2010.  Kyle got a job as a Middle School Pastor at Spotswood Baptist Church.  I wish we had kept up the blog in those days, cause once again, God proved sovereign in our lives.

For example, He got me a job against all odds.  I taught a year at Riverview Elementary School.  I was hired to teach 4th grade, but it changed to KINDERGARTEN at the last minute :P  It was a blast, though!

I found out I was pregnant on the 3rd day of school that year...oops!  Matthew Dean Kelley was born May 3, 2011.  He is now 1 year old, walking, and saying a few words.  Time sure does fly...

We bought a house!  Yikes!

We have made some wonderful friends in Virginia.  God provided them, too.

And now, God has taken us back to the beginning.  Back to that place where we have to rely on him.  It's kind of funny, actually.  I went back to the very first post, $40, and laughed when I saw that the verse at the end is the same verse God is using in our lives right now!  James 4:13-15.  Look it up!

Anyway...the reason I am starting to blog again is because God is taking us on another journey, and we want you, our family and friends, to come along.  We want to praise His name through it, and we want to bring Glory to Him...and we want YOU to see how awesome our God is.  So here goes nothing...

Kyle and I have said since before we were married that we wanted to adopt "someday."  You know...someday?  When we are rich.  Or at least have a little extra.  AND we figured someday we would know how to keep the whole house clean all the time?!  And...SOMEDAY when we had some extra time on our hands?

"Someday" seemed like a safe time to adopt.  But, as usual, God has other plans for our lives.

See, we were reading through Crazy Love (by Francis Chan) with some friends, and God started putting these crazy thoughts in our heads.  Thoughts about adopting.  Thoughts about loving God in a radical way right now.  Not someday.

He kept asking me the same question, week after week.  "What are you waiting for?"

"Well that's pretty obvious, isn't it?  Money."

"I will supply what you need."

Yeah.

"We need more time...we are so busy."

"I will supply what you need."

Um.

"So...what did you have in mind?"

"What are you waiting for?"

Sigh.

And He is right, as usual.  So, I tried to "pray" about how he wanted us to find all this time and money. Have you ever used prayer as a way to put off what you already know God is calling you to?

It didn't work.  The first time I sat down to ask Him the question, he answered before I finished asking!

"I made you a teacher, remember?"

"Yeah, but, what about Matthew?"

"I made you a teacher."

"Sure, but, my baby!"

"You have another baby out there who needs to be rescued."

Are you getting the idea of where this is headed?  So, I called Kyle.  That conversation was fun, too.

"Hey, Honey...Umm, I think God wants us to adopt."

"Yeah, I know"

"No, I mean, right now.  And he wants me to go back to work."

"Uh, I'll have to pray about that."

I'm not sure exactly what happened between Kyle and his Savior, but I know that it took less than a day.

So, here we go.

The funny thing is, when I left my teaching position last year, I was planning to officially quit--you know, the whole letter of resignation thing?  But my principal convinced me to do a leave of absence instead.  To simply take the year off and decide later whether I would come back or not.  I did the leave of absence, thinking all along that I would never go back.

I had to let them know by April 15th that I was returning, otherwise I would have to interview all over again.

God got a hold of us the first week of April.  He has good timing, right??

We have barely begun the process.  We need to decide where we are adopting from, what age the child will be, and whether we want a boy or a girl.  Or more than one...?

So, thank you for joining us.  Pray for us whenever you think of us!  And we will keep you posted :)

Becca

So, instead of updating in two or three weeks, we waited about a month and a half...cool.

Unfortunately this post is not a joyful post. We need your prayers. I know alot of you have heard bits and pieces of the story, so here's the whole scoop.

Kyle had the flu at the beginning of March. Since then Kyle has lost about 30 lbs, has been thirsty constantly, and has had regular leg cramps. I didn't think anything was wrong at first...(I know...the thing the nurses keep asking is "How can he lose 30lbs and you don't suspect a problem?! Hindsight is 20-20). But by the beginning of June we were beginning to worry. So we made an appointment for him on Monday (July 6th) with a family doctor. At that appointment we requested that Kyle be tested for diabetes. I had done some research and realized that the symptoms he was having lined up with diabetes, and I knew he had a family history of both types of diabetes.

The doctor sent us to have blood work in another part of the building. After that, Kyle went home and I went to work. That afternoon I received a phone call from the doctor saying that the initial blood test indicated diabetes. He had me contact his nurse to set up an appointment with an Endocrinologist. That appointment is August 10 (long time). In the meantime, we were sent to the diabetes center, which is a branch of a major hospital down here. At the diabetes center we met with a nurse who told us every bad thing that could happen. She also tested kyle's blood glucose level and found it to be 324. 80-110 is normal. She taught us about eating correctly and how to check blood glucose daily. By the time we left, we were discouraged and concerned...

This morning we met with the dietitian at the diabetes center. She taught us more about nutrition and helped us understand meal planning, etc. We definitely felt better after the meeting with her.

Next we dropped by the church. You see, Kyle was supposed to leave for Jamaica tomorrow (Friday) morning. He has over 60 Bibles and arts and crafts that are supposed to go to Jamaica. Every doctor and nurse we have spoken with said that the trip is a bad idea. So we are trying to figure out how to get the stuff there, and how to cancel his plane ticket, and possibly get the money back.

Ok...then we went to the family doctor again to get a prescription. We were told it would be a prescription for a pill which treats type II diabetes. However, when we arrived, the doctor called us back to a room and told us that after receiving more blood test results, he was convinced that Kyle has type I diabetes. THEREFORE, Kyle is now taking insulin shots once daily. This could increase, but right now we are on a trial and error basis to find out how high of a dosage he needs.

Sooooo then we went back to the diabetes center to learn how to give the shot.

After that crazy day, we went back to church, where the incredible office staff had sorted out the mission trip fiasco, then home to eat and make a shopping list, then to Wal-Mart to completely restock our pantry and fridge. Kyle took his first insulin shot a little while ago. We checked his glucose level right before the shot, and it was the highest we've seen...434. That was discouraging, because we followed allll the rules in planning supper. However, the blood sugar is going to go up and down and cycle for a while...so we are trying to keep our chins up.

Praises:

Kyle is not in the hospital!!

We got the plane tickets credited for future use!!

Our insurance company is ALOT better than we thought!

The diabetes center is allowing Kyle to participate in $300 classes for FREE!!

We have each other!

WE SERVE A POWERFUL GOD WHO HAS PERFECT TIMING!!

Prayer:

That Kyle will manage his diabetes successfully and live a LONG healthy life.

That Becca will learn nutrition facts quickly and be able to feed Kyle correctly.

That we will continually feel God's comfort through this process.

That God's name would be glorified through our lives.

We love all of you and appreciate prayers and encouragement!

Summer is here!

Wow, it has been a VERY long time since we updated the blog!  Life definitely got in the way.  Hopefully things will slow down for a while, now that summer is here.  Kyle is finished with his third year of Seminary.  He has one assignment that is due on Tuesday for a workshop he took in March.  I will be finished with my first year of teaching tomorrow.  Isn't that strange that the last day of school is Memorial Day?  

I can't believe I survived my first year.  I got another new student in April, so I ended the year with 32 children in my class.  What a ride it has been.  I have seen things I thought I'd never see, said things I thought I'd never say.  It is incredible how pressure from testing can affect teaching style and student learning.  Speaking of testing, it looks like I will have a small class next year.  Many of the 4th grade students failed the big test, which means they also fail 4th grade.  As of now, I'll have between 15 and 20 students in my class next year!  I'm trying to keep a level head and not get too excited, haha.

You know, if I had it all to do over again, I would still take this same job at this same school.  Even knowing what a huge class I would have, even knowing the crazy number of fights I would break up, even knowing the disrespect I would endure from time to time.  I can't help but love my job.

I love my job because one of my students came to me hating reading.  After I read the book Hatchet with the class??  HE LOVES TO READ!  He is constantly looking for another book to read!  I love my job because one of my students came to me and she could barely multiply.  In two minutes, she could only answer about 5 multiplication facts.  But now?  After about 2 weeks of math intervention and timed tests where she tracks her own score, she can do over 50 problems in two minutes! 

It is amazing what these kids have accomplished.  I wish I had more time with them...there's so much more I want to say.

Don't get me wrong, though.  I need a vacation!

Kyle and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary next weekend!!!  This year has flown!  We are driving to Dallas to stay in a cabin bed and breakfast for a few days.  While we are there we are going to a Rangers baseball game.  Then we will head up to Keyes, Oklahoma to visit Kyle's Granny and Gramps!  I'm quite excited.  I've never been to Oklahoma!  We are hoping to visit Kyle's Grandma and Grandpa on the way home later in the week. 

Then in June we are headed to Jacksonville for a small "family reunion" with my mom's family.  We have rented a house on the beach.  Kyle and I can only go for a weekend, but we are looking forward to seeing everyone!

At the very end of June we will drive to Birmingham to spend a couple of days, and then (hopefully) stop in Hopkinsville, Kentucky to visit Mistie and Randy Shoemaker!  After that we head up to the Washington DC area to visit friends and tour the capitol!!!  

Immediately after we arrive back home in New Orleans, Kyle will repack his bags and drive to a camp in Mississippi to hang out with the kids from our church.  He will be home for one night after camp before flying to Jamaica for a mission trip with the church.

Our last trip of the summer will be at the end of July or beginning of August.  We are hoping to visit Kayla, Kyle's youngest sister, at Crier Creek!  I spent three summers working at Crier Creek while I was in college.  The camp is beautiful, and I miss it so very much!  I can't wait to see it and to visit Kayla for a couple of days!

It is going to be a whirlwind summer, but hopefully restful as well.  I will attend Montessori training daily for 6 weeks.  Don't worry, I'm thankful for the extra paycheck and the reason to stay busy!  

I will try to update again in a week or so!!

School has been out for a couple of days now, and I have finally caught up on my sleep! The three weeks between Thanksgiving Break and Christmas Break were wild.The first week after Turkey day was supposed to be our first class field trip. I spent quite a bit of time and energy planning the trip, only to find out THE DAY BEFORE that the trip had to be canceled because it was "too far away." I was a little frustrated. However, I knew that we had another field trip the following week that would soften the blow a bit. The kids were disappointed, but they didn't tie me up and gag me like I was afraid...hahha:)

The rest of that week passed without too much madness. Week two between the breaks was totally crazy. We took a field trip on Wednesday to a Cabildo (it's like an art history museum) in the French Quarter. If you have ever been to the French Quarter, the Cabildo is directly to the left of St. Louis Cathedral. This part of the trip was interesting, but most of my students enjoyed the unplanned part of the field trip more. After a quick lunch, we ventured into the cathedral. It was incredible! The ceiling is painted, there are candles everywhere....It was like nothing I had seen before...and it was definitely nothing my students had seen before. They were totally silent, completely in awe of the beauty of the place. We found someone to give us some information about the cathedral. After that, it was time to head for the bus. On our way there, a couple of street musicians called out to us and taught the kids a song. We sang and sang and then sang some more. We were standing in freezing rain, but every one of the students wore a huge smile the rest of the day.

Thursday of that week, I left for school around 6:45am. The streets were dry, but low clouds filled the sky. I remember looking at the sky and thinking, "If I didn't know better, I would think those looked like snow clouds....but not in New Orleans." I pulled up to the school and got busy preparing for the day. At about 7:20 it started to sprinkle. Then at 7:30 the rain turned to snow. Snow! In New Orleans!!! Snow!! Nan (a friend who teaches next door) and I ran outside to play in the snow. The kids started arriving at the school an hour later, and it was STILL snowing! My students were so excited that they practically tackled me to give me a hug. One of my students walked in with a look of wonder and said, "Mrs. Kelley, it's a miracle." Out of my 32 students (oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I have 32 now) only 16 showed up that day, and one student went home early! It was a fun, very laid back, wonderful day.

Finally, only one week to Christmas break!! Monday started off well with the discovery of a dead mouse IN MY PRINTER. The whole day I couldn't figure out why the printer kept getting jammed...turns out my classroom mouse finally ate the poisen and found a quiet place to die...hahha. The week that followed had many moments that were difficult for me. These stories aren't appropriate for the internet, but what I will say is that God reminded me that there are hurting people in the world, all around us. He has me at this school, in this overflowing classroom, to serve his purposes.

Thursday night was our Christmas Program. I was like a proud parent watching my student on stage. They were soooo great! They sang a few songs and gave a presentation on Kwanzaa (an African tradition that begins right after Christmas). My favorite part was when my students wanted to meet "Mr. Kelley." A couple of the boys even came over to shake his hand. It was cute! Friday was the craziest day of the year so far. I got several gifts from students, which I am very thankful for. We ended the day with a Christmas party, and then it was over!

I survived my first semester of teaching! It was nothing like what I expected...but when is life ever what I expected??

Merry Christmas!!!