Now THAT'S what I call a YARD SALE!

In our last post we asked you to bring us stuff...and to say that you came through is an understatement! 

I mean, the pile above is a tiny FRACTION of what you donated to our family!  By the night before the yard sale our dining room, living room, and garage were completely full of allllll your stuff!  I won't lie...I was a little overwhelmed.  I mean, let's all be honest for a minute...Kyle and I aren't the cleanest people in the world, but that much clutter was almost my undoing!  Fortunately, I have many people in my life who were quick to remind me the purpose behind the piles and piles of donations.  A child.

So we set to work.  Many people came by to help sort and price items.  The night before the sale we put clothes on hangers and set up the clothing racks we borrowed from our church.  We hung signs around town and picked up last minute donations.  And we slept...a little.

The day of the sale we started SUPER early.  Kyle and I set our alarm for 4:15am.  Friends joined us as early as 5:15.  We pulled everything out of the house and set up in the darkness.  "Yard Salers"started showing up at 5:45 WITH FLASHLIGHTS to go shopping.  By about 7:30 we had a constant stream of about 30 people in the yard at a time!  9:30 rolled around, and there were still 30 people in the yard at a time!  The sail boat sold.  The rugs sold.  Books.  Clothes.  Kitchen items.  Decor.  Furniture.

There were even baked goods for sale!

And middle schoolers, too!

Just kidding...they were there to help ;)

Matthew's best buddy came over to play while his parents worked alongside us.  Our fantastic babysitter worked for free and kept the boys *mostly* out of trouble!

At the end of the first day, we still had tons of stuff, although our total had already surpassed our dream goal.  The flow on Sunday was significantly slower, but still worth the time.  We did about $400 worth of sales on the second day.   And the grand total??

$4,555.73

I can't even.  I don't know what to say.  Except thank you.

Thank you to the people who donated.  No matter how big or small, it made a huge difference.

Thank you to the people who encouraged me when I was overwhelmed.

Thank you to the people who helped to sort and price.  I never would have finished without you.

Thank you to the people who made signs and posted ads.

Thank you to the people who lifted furniture and let us use their trucks.

Thank you to the people who woke up well before the sun and helped set up before the caffeine had fully entered your blood stream...

Thank you to the people who showed up to barter and bargain on our behalf.

Thank you to the people who cooked goodies for us to sale.

Thank you to the middle schoolers who woke up WAY before you usually do, knowing you wouldn't get anything in return.

Thank you to those who donated way more money than what you purchased.

Thank you to those who stuck it out till the end and helped us clean up after it was all over.

Thank you to those who prayed.  All across the country you prayed for success in our sale.  And God answered.

I want to be clear on this.  Every single one of you has taken a part of giving a child a family.  No matter how big or small you feel your part was, it makes all the difference in the world to us and to a child.  Thank you so very much.

Update and Yard Sale Fundraiser

Hello everyone!

We are in the midst of putting together our dossier...the final step in the paperwork for adoption.  Since people are always asking, here's what we have to gather:

New original copies of Marriage Certificate and Birth Certificates
Home Study
Child Abuse Clearances
Autobiography
FBI Criminal Check
Medical Letter (From Family Doctor)
Employment Verification Letters
Photos of Home
Copy of Lease/Deed
Copy of Passports
Approval from USCIS (This is immigration...it involves setting an appointment to be fingerprinted and then waiting for the approval)
Letter of Intent (literally writing a letter to Azerbaijan stating why we want to adopt and gender/age requests)
Photo Collage of our family with labels
Power of Attorney (giving our representative in Azerbaijan permission to act on our behalf)
Agency Hague License (proof that our agency is legit)

Everything has to be notarized.  We have everything so far except for the letter from the doctor and the Child Abuse and FBI clearances...and the USCIS approval.  Once we have everything, we have to send them back to the state they originated in (Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Virginia-depending on the document) to be Apostilled by the Secretary of State...basically double checking the notary.

Once we receive the paperwork back from being Apostilled we will send it to Azerbaijan!!!

...and then we wait.

We will be paying quite a large sum of money as we send off the paperwork.  This money mostly goes for "translation and documentation" fees in Azerbaijan.  We are thrilled that God has provided that money already through our own savings as well as generous donations from many people.

Once we pay everything for this first half of the process, our savings will be quite empty, so we are preparing to do a few fundraisers over the next several months.  The first one is a YARD SALE!!!  A dear friend and her sweet mom approached me with the idea in the spring.  The plan is to get all of you wonderful people to donate whatever you want to get rid of, sell it at the yard sale, and put all of the proceeds toward our adoption.  My dining room is already filling up with rugs and dishes, stuffed animals and clothes.  The yard sale is planned for the weekend of August 24th.  If you are interested in donating, just comment here on the blog, on facebook, or send me an email...or stop me at church...or call me...Just let me know :)  The more stuff, the better!!!

Spread the word and come shopping on the 24th (and maybe the 25th as well).  I will keep you posted! Please pray for us!

Approved

"It is recommended that the international adoption home study for Kyle Dean Kelley and Rebecca Faye Piedra Kelley be approved."

Doesn't that sound FABULOUS?!?  Now don't get too excited.  It isn't official yet.  We still have to finish some paperwork for our placing agency and the home study agency and placing agency have to pass the home study back and forth to make sure everything is perfect.  But I must say, it feels fantastic to be one step closer to our little one!

What next?  Once the home study is officially approved and complete, we will have another mountain of paperwork to complete.  It will involve things such as ordering original copies of our birth certificates and marriage license.  We will also have to fill our immigration paperwork.  Once all of that is complete, we send all of the paperwork, along with our home study (this is called the dossier) and thousands of dollars, to Azerbaijan.

And then we wait.

And wait...

And (you guessed it) wait.

In the meantime, we are keeping busy as usual with work and family.  While coming back from Matthew's birthday fun with Thomas the train last weekend, we stopped at the Azerbaijani Embassy in DC.  They were having an open house as a part of the Tour of Embassies on Saturday.  We were able to taste traditional Azeri food, see and learn about their clothing, and hear music from Azerbaijan.  It was a great experience!

And of course on the financial front:  We are so thankful to people who continue to surprise us with incredibly generous gifts.  Each time we receive a donation for our adoption we are amazed and humbled by God's goodness.  People who have real needs of their own are choosing to help us bring our little one home.  It's amazing.  And when we say thank you, they remind us that it was God's money to do with as He pleases.

Please continue to pray for us as we move day by day through this process.  We will keep you updated as we finish the dossier and begin to plan fundraisers for the second half of this adoption!

Update: Home Study in Progress!

Hellooo,

We have had an exciting few months on the adoption front.  In January we filled out all of our paper work to get the Home Study Started.  In the midst of that, we realized that a document was missing from our placement agency (the one that facilitates the entire adoption).  So I sent an email to our contact at the placement agency...no answer.  And again....no answer.  So I called them.  No answer.  No return call.

Then I received an email from the agency with some shocking news.  Remember how Russia closed its doors to American adoption? (You are thinking, "But you guys are adopting from Azerbaijan!")  Well, the majority of our placement agency's clients were adopting from Russia.  When Russia closed it's doors, our agency lost most of it's income.  The email we received announced that they were closing...as in, no more agency...no more adoption?!!

We didn't panic...but we were certainly concerned.  We prayed and waited on the Lord.

Of course He came through right away.  Within a few days we were in touch with Children's House International.  They have a fairly new Azerbaijan program and were willing to take us on.  Here's the best part:  Our original agency was unable to refund any of our money.  We figured we would have to pay another $3,000 to our new agency to get the process started.  Nope!  Children's House is not getting any money from our old agency, but they are not asking us to pay any of the fees from the beginning of the process!!  We are picking up with them exactly where we left off with the other agency!

We are now preparing our house for the 4 home study interviews which will take place during the month of April.  We will be doing one interview each week.  Three take place in our home and one will be in our Social Worker's office.  After that is over, it will take another month for our social worker to write up the home study and get it approved by our new placement agency.

In the meantime, we are beginning to think about more fundraisers.  A friend of mine and her mom want to do a yard sale at the end of the summer...around August.  Lots of people could chip in stuff you don't need anymore, and all proceeds would go to the adoption fund.

What other fundraisers have you heard of in the past?  Do you have any words of wisdom for us?!

Thanks for the prayers!

This one might be hard to write...

Let's start with a little miracle!

Through the incredibly generous gifts from friends, family, and those contributing to the half marathon fundraiser led by Claire and Liz, combined with the money Kyle and I have saved and will save from my teaching paycheck each month, we are actually going to have enough money for the first part of the adoption journey!!  When it comes time to pay the roughly $13,000 that will be due upon completion of the home study and dossier, we will actually have the money!!  God is so generous and when we crunched the numbers and discovered that he had blessed us in this way, we couldn't believe it!!   

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!!  We feel so humbled by your gifts.  I wish I had a more creative way to say it!!  Thank you, so very much.

Now we are trembling in our boots as we consider the mountain that lies ahead.  During the second half of our journey, we will need at least twice as much money as we need during this first stretch.  We do not doubt that God will provide what we need, just as he has always provided.  We wait on the Lord with a feeling of expectancy, knowing that He will provide in the way He chooses.  I am a control freak, though, and it is difficult for me to look at our bank account and know that there is an impossible task ahead.  I also KNOW God will provide.  But HOW???  My controlling side just wants to know!!  Anytime I begin to feel that the God of the universe, creator of ALL THINGS owes me an explanation, the Holy Spirit directs my heart to these verses in Isaiah 55:8-9


⁸ 

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, 
neither are my ways your ways,"
declares the LORD
As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts..."

And so we wait on Him, trembling, to see how He will provide.

In other news, we are in Virginia for Christmas this year.  We went to Birmingham last weekend to watch my youngest sis-in-law get married to a fabulous guy and celebrated Christmas with both sides of the family that same weekend.  

We have the house decorated and the stockings hung.  The Christmas gifts are beneath the tree.  This has been such a wonderful Christmas Eve.  A sweet family from our church took Matthew for a few hours to play.  Kyle is finishing wrapping all of Matthew's gifts.  Earlier today I finally made it to the Post Office to apply for a passport (yay!!).  A friendly lady helped me though the process.  She was wearing a santa hat that said "nice."  I was very excited to see some snow flurries as I left the Post Office to head home.  In a few minutes we will load up and head to Spotswood to enjoy the Christmas Eve service and to focus in on the miracle of Christmas.  But for now I am sitting at the kitchen table, sipping my hot cocoa (Thanks Kourtney!) and looking at this sweet sight:

Did you notice?  We have four stockings this year.  We know that our family is a family of four.  One of my dear friends from high school is pregnant right now...I'm sure she understands this feeling, along with many of you.   As surely as Sarah knows she has a child in her womb growing each day, I know that I have a child somewhere...even though he or she is not here to open gifts.  We will celebrate Christ's first coming as a child tomorrow as we open gifts with sweet Matthew.  We will laugh as he see's allll of the fun Thomas things he will receive.  We will enjoy food with friends.  We will have fun watching movies.  We will eat hot chili and snuggle under blankets.  We will read the Christmas story and explain the gospel to little Matthew.  It will be a fantastic day.  However, underneath it all, in the hidden places in our hearts, we will be thinking of another sweet child.  We will be wondering who is holding our little one.  We will be wondering how long it will be before we can hold both of our babies at once.


Will you say a prayer for our little one tomorrow?  And while you are at it, will your pray for my little sister, too?  My parents are in the process of adopting an older child from Russia.  We don't know her name or face yet either.  And, if I can be bold enough to ask for one more, pray for my brother, Jason, in Afghanistan and his wife, Rachel, in Alabama as well.  This is their first Christmas together...or rather, apart...as a married couple.

As you go, listen to this song by Third Day.  It speaks our hearts this Christmas.

Thankful...

for a Father who gave His son,

for the Son who lived perfectly to save me,

for the Spirit who helps me daily.

for a husband who loves me and gets me water at night so I don’t have to get out of bed.

for a son who lights up my life and makes me laugh,

for the humbling experience that parenthood is each day.

for parents who love me enough to drive 12 hours just to spend a few days with me, and  who love the Lord enough to rescue a child from an orphanage in Russia and make her part of the family someday soon.

for my big brother who is serving us all as he works long days in Afghanistan.

for my niece who is so sweet despite it all.

for my 4 sisters-in-law, I always wanted a sister, and with these I hit the jackpot!

for my in-laws...I couldn’t ask for a better second set of parents.

for my Church and its pastors,

for the way they follow the Lord with diligence and humility.

for friends across the miles who never forget and know the whole story of my life.

for friends across town who hold me accountable and make me laugh until my sides hurt.

for my job where I get to work with committed teachers and administrators, students who are eager to learn, and for the money it brings.

for the provision and blessings the Lord has given us,

for a home,

a yard,

cars,

clothes,

food,

for meeting our needs and wants in such a way that we can be a part of meeting the needs of others.

for the holy mission he has given us: to adopt a child from Azerbaijan,

for the blessing of another child to love and raise,

for those who have already come alongside us to provide emotional and financial support as we adopt.

But please understand.  I am not simply thankful to the universe.  I am not only thankful in my heart.  I KNOW who gave me these blessings.  I know that there is a person who holds my life in his hands.  He holds the good, the bad, the ugly.  He is the giver of all good gifts.  He is the one who sustains us though the difficult times.  He is the Lord, yesterday, today, and forever.

Father in heaven, please hug our little one today, wherever he or she is, whatever he/she is doing.  Since I can’t hold my sweet one, please do it for me.  As we play with Matthew and enjoy the holiday with him, comfort my sweet child.  And tell my little one that Mommy and Daddy are coming.

Slowly but Surely

It has been a while since we have updated everyone, so sorry!

We signed 60 pages worth of an Adoption Agreement with our agency and mailed a nice big check to officially begin the process about a month ago.  The next big step is to find a home study agency and begin the home study process.  I have been playing phone and email tag with a couple of agencies, and I think we have settled on the one we will use.  We will have to fill out more paper work with this agency and send them money to begin that process as well.

God has been so faithful to us!  About a month ago we were beginning to feel the pressure of life and bills and thinking about alllll the money we want to save/spend in the next year.  Just as we were starting to feel overwhelmed, God sent us a reminder through the mail that HE is in control and HE called us to this journey.  In fact, over the course of about 2 weeks, we received money 3 separate times that was totally unexpected!  Claire and Liz have also been working hard to raise money for our adoption through their upcoming half marathon in Thailand.  The last numbers I heard brought our total for the fundraiser to around $300!  Isn't God fabulous?!  If you are interested in contributing to the fundraiser, check out Claire's blog and Liz's blog.  The half marathon is on November 18th.

If I could describe our current state of mind when it comes to this adoption, I think I would simply say "peace."  I know there will be moments in the upcoming months where we will feel things like doubt and panic, but right now we are comfortably relying on God to provide what we need to adopt our sweet child...whomever he or she is!  Now...if only I had patience!  Kyle is better at that one that I am!  I want to rush and run and race to get through everything...but God has given us more plates to balance than only this adoption.  We spend our days and weekends working and doing ministry, and of course loving our silly Matthew.  We try to spend a little time in the evenings taking care of various projects around the house that will help us prepare for the home study.  We are getting there slowly but surely!

We pray each day for our little one.  We don't know anything about our child...boy, girl, infant, toddler, not yet conceived...but we know that one day we will be able to claim this child as a part of our family forever...the same way Christ's sacrifice allows us to become a part of God's family forever.  And the same way God knows each of us, even when we don't acknowledge Him, he knows this child, even if he or she is completely unaware that we are coming to bring him/her home!  Our prayer each morning and night is that God will protect our little one and guide us along His path as we take this journey.  We beg Him that all of our children (however many that will be) will come to understand their need of a relationship with Jesus.  And we ask Him to show us how to bring glory to His name through all that we do.

Thank you for your prayers and support!