3 months and 11 days

We've been waiting 3 months and 11 days.  3 months out of...??

The first two months were pretty easy.  I mean, we sent our paperwork October 10.  After that we were busy, busy with school and church...then the holidays.  But I have to tell you.  These last few days are driving me a bit crazy!  It isn't that I am impatient to get our kiddo home (although of course we want him/her here as soon as possible).  I totally trust God's timing.  I know that he knows when and who and how.  I don't want to change his timeline.

I just would really really like to KNOW the timeline...ya know?!?!

Anyway, enough complaining...Let me tell you what we are doing to keep busy!

I found this blog a while back written by a lady from Azerbaijan.  She is currently living in California, but recently took a trip back to Azerbaijan to visit family.  I check her blog often because I love to see the authentic recipes from her home country and I am fascinated by the photographs she posts of the place our child is coming from.

Meanwhile, Kyle and I have been discussing our next fundraiser for several months now.  Enough of you know others who have adopted or are adopting, so I'm sure many of you have heard of the puzzle fundraiser.  In case you haven't, let me fill you in.  Basically the adopting family buys a puzzle and then other people sponsor a piece of the puzzle for a certain amount.  As each piece is sponsored, the family writes the sponsor's name on the back and begins to assemble the puzzle.  All money donated goes to help fund the adoption.  When the puzzle is fully funded and assembled, the adopting family frames it in a frame with glass on both sides and hangs it in the child's room or in the home as a reminder of how many people contributed to making the adoption happen.

We really wanted a picture that would be meaningful and fit in our home long after the adoption is complete.  It took a while for the idea to come to us, but one day as I was looking at the pictures on Feride's blog, I thought, "HEY! A picture from Azerbaijan!"  Kyle took some time to look at all of the pictures and found one he really liked.  I emailed Feride and asked for permission to use her picture and she graciously agreed.  Kyle had a friend from work edit and add this verse:

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."  John 14:18

We were able to order the puzzle a couple of weeks ago and it finally arrived!!  Once it is assembled, this is what it will look like:

The puzzle has 1,008 pieces.  After much prayer and discussion with family and friends, we have decided to ask for $3 per piece.  When the puzzle is finished, we will be $3,024 closer to having our adoption fully funded!

So, the question is:  Will you help? You can sponsor as many pieces as you feel led to sponsor.  You can sponsor as a family, as an individual, as a group of people.  We would love your help in this!

If you are interested in sponsoring a piece, there are a few ways to get your money to us.  If you live in Virginia and see us alllll the time, you can just hand it too us...cash or check :)  If you live far away, you can send us an email or Facebook message and we can give you our mailing address.  OR near or far, you can also use the Paypal donation button at the top right hand corner of this page to donate.  Just be sure to leave your name when you "check out" using the Paypal button...otherwise we won't know who donated!!

Oh!  One more thing:  we really wanted those of you who have already donated to know that we don't at all expect you to give more.  We are planning to write names around the frame of people who donated money before the fundraiser...although if you want to sponsor a puzzle piece, too, we won't argue. ;)

AND to the person/people who gave that one anonymous donation...you know who you are, and we wish we did.  You will be remembered, even if we don't know your name!

We will keep everyone posted on the progress of the puzzle!

All Mixed Up

We have been on a little bit of an emotional roller coaster lately.

Stress...tying up loose ends at school and church, Christmas parties, buying gifts, cleaning, Christmas parties, packing, Christmas parties...

Excitement...Christmas with a two year old!  Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

Peace...Understanding the true meaning of Christmas.  Reading about Christ's birth in the Bible.  Attending the Christmas Eve service.

Sadness...looking at the extra stocking hanging above our fireplace...wondering if our little one will be home for next Christmas.

Disgusted...Matthew vomited all over the car and even in Becca's face.  Nope, not exaggerating.  FACE.

Exhausted...A 10 hour trip to Alabama on Christmas Day.

JOY!!!Meeting my newly adopted sister for the first time.  Hugging her, talking to her, playing with her, eating with her, catching up on almost 9 years of lost time.

Happiness...Spending time with family and friends for an entire week.

Exhaustion...A 15 hour trip back to Virginia by way of North Carolina (happiness seeing more family).

Sorrow...hearing of my (Becca) Memaw's death on New Years Day.

Exhaustion...unpack, laundry, dishes, buy a black dress, more laundry, text family, laundry, call family, laundry, move doctor appointment, email bosses, find someone to take nursery duty, fold laundry, haircut (best part of the day...thanks, Brooke!), pick up the munchkin from the fabulous babysitter (that might have been the best part of the day actually...Thanks, Lenora!), pizza, play with trains, fold more laundry, bath time, bed time, pack, pack, pack

I am not looking forward to another 10 hour trip tomorrow, followed by the return trip on Monday.

I am not looking forward to attending my Memaw's funeral.

I am looking forward to more time with my new sister and my sweet niece, who I rarely get to see.

I am looking forward to seeing my cousins...I think the last time we were all together was 12 years ago, at PawPaw's funeral...is that right?

I can't wait to meet my...ummm 1st cousin once removed??  (My cousin's kid)

And I will be totally honest with all of you people...I will miss my Memaw, but I believe that she is finally with PawPaw and in a much better place.  For the first time in...a very long time...she is healthy and whole and worshiping God in His very presence.  I can't help but smile, thinking about that.

Sooo, I'm going to sit here on the couch for a little while, pretend to watch the Sugar Bowl, actually watch the snow fall, and let God deal with my jumble of emotions.

Adoption "Pregnant"

Done.
Finished!

We received the last of our paperwork, got everything apostilled, sent it to our agency, and we are completely done!

Not only that, but our dossier (paperwork) is actually on it's way to Azerbaijan!!

Whew!

We are thrilled, but nervous.  Well...I don't know if Kyle is nervous...might just be me ;)

According to our agency's website, most families can expect to receive a referral within 9 months!!  Who knows what that means?!?!!  We could receive a referral in 3,6,9 months...longer?  You know how good I am at the unknown...right?

What happens now? We wait.  We fill out grant and loan applications.  We wait.  We pray.  We do fundraisers. We wait.

And one day we will receive the referral!  Oh what a day that will be!

Please continue to pray for us!  Pray that God would provide the funds we need.  Pray that God would give us patience as we wait!  Pray that He would begin to prepare Matthew to have a brother or sister!  And pray for our little one!

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!