Home Study phase!

We have recently been contacted by our social worker. This will begin the "Home Study" phase. This is were we fill out yet more paper work, get a background check, get interviewed 4 times , i believe, which one will be in our home to make sure its suitable for a child and have to pay over $3,000. This is where you come in! I again thank you so much already for your donations and fundraising! We are in a very financially needy place right now, starting a church, moving, "Christmas" (hehe,) and adopting! we have the $3,000 but that is going to wipe our adoption fund clean! So when the next fee is due we will have none, and things are on a time schedule and if not met we will have to start the process over...no fun! :(
So, if anyone has more fundraising ideas or would just like to donate and pray that would be much appreciated! I love everyone so much and will keep you posted as the steps happen! :)

NEW Fundraiser!

I have found a new way of raising funds that is easy and cheap for everyone!

RECYCLE your used ink cartridges! There is a company that will buy them from me and pay for the shipping! :)

So I ask that you save them and get them to me as you use them! :)

They only accept ink jet cartridges that are original manufacturer's brand such as HP, Lexmark, Dell, Canon and Sharp only. And have a print head.


Also we have turned in the first amount of paper work and the first program fee of $1,125!

Thanks everyone for participating in or fundraisers! Still accepting baby bottles as well! I have tons if you would like one!!!!

Accepted

I'm pleased to report that we have been accepted into the Ethiopia Program!

Joseph and I had plans to celebrate out 5 year Anniversary in Arkansas after visiting his family this past week, but the day we planned to leave Joseph woke up with a high fever. That progressed into me getting a high fever and just got worse from there, we are still overcoming it. Needless to say we stayed home in bed sick for our anniversary. But what made it amazing was the long awaited phone call. Joseph's phone rang and it was the adoption agency, they talked and I saw a HUGE smile on Joseph's face and he gave me the "infamous" thumbs up! Yay! Our application had been accepted! we had a few concerns about it, so it was a load off our shoulders. Thank you Jesus!!!!!

She told us she was going to be sending us a lot of paper work already to sign and fill out. To let you know how much, we got an email today with things to sign and mail in: (purple was copied from the email)

· Ethiopia Adoption Overview Packet – please read to gain a general understanding of the Ethiopia adoption process

· AWAA Agreement – please sign and return (25% Pastor’s discount reflected)

· Ethiopia Disclaimer – please sign and return

· Client Grievance Procedure – please sign and return

· Client’s Rights and Responsibilities – please sign and return

· Privacy Notice – please review

· Social Services Fees – for your reference

The bolded items above must be returned to us along with your initial program fee (amount noted in attached agreement form) before you are assigned a Family Coordinator to begin the Dossier building process. Please keep in mind that due to licensing regulations that America World must comply with, applications do expire, so we ask that families wishing to move forward return these required pieces to us as soon as possible.

Nice right? that's just today..

So as you can see this is a very tedious process, always something to be done, but we are on it! :)

My sister in law threw me a Southern Living at home fundraiser this past weekend that I was unable to attend, sick, and I want to formally thank everyone who attended and ordered from her! :)

This is still going to be a very expensive process and we still need lots of financial support, keep the baby bottles coming! :)

It Has Been Done!

After a long few weeks of starting the missional gatherings, and bootcamp for our new church, we have finally submitted our application to America World Adoption Agency requesting a boy from ages 1-12months from Ethiopia! :)

Praise the Lord, the LONG process begins! All smiles :)

We are very excited that we have completed step one to becoming parents, I feel like I just found out I was pregnant, hehe!

This has been in God's plan for us and it's amazing to finally see it come through. Now through all my excitement I have to keep reminded that we still have to be accepted and there are still MANY stages we have to go through and get accepted by. So this is just step one, but I have Faith that this IS in God's will for us and what he wills comes true! :)

I will keep everyone updated on each step! Love you lots! :)

Next Week!

Ok, I have said in a previous post that we had a few things that we wanted to get through before we applied!
Well I couldn't say before but most of you know now that Joey and I are starting our own church in central Houston, YAY!!! :) anyway we applied for a network that we want to be a part of and this past week we had a bootcamp for all church planting prospects (thats us.) So we went through the long application process and the assessment (interview) and are now ready to focus on the adoption! As of now we have over $6,000 in savings! thank you every one who has given and helped fill baby bottles! :)

So now that we have gone through the bootcamp and assessment, which went very well, we are ready to apply!

We have decided to fill it out one day next week, I say Monday but that is Joey's Sabbath so we wont focus on anything too "business" that day sooooo hopefully Tuesday if it's not too busy for him!

But I will blog after we submit it so be ready!

For more info on the church plant go to Joey's blog...
thevineandthebranch.blogspot.com

Adoption Cost for Ethiopia

For the full Cost sheet go to.....


http://awaa.org/programs/ethiopia/cost.aspx

Monay Monay Monay Monay!.....Monay!!!!

Joey and I have decided it would be best if we had a good amount of money in the babies account before turning in the application, that way when it was time to move to the next step and pay, we wouldn't have to wait for the money to come in we could just move the process right along! No stress!

We have raised over $1,000 just from the bottle fundraiser and were just notified yesterday that a family in our church who has adopted all their 4 kids, has been raising money for us as well and she said around $3,000 will be coming in next week!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! That's crazy! Thank you JESUS!!! :)

Now that we are in good financial state for the adoption, we are going to wait to get through this other phase of our lives which will happen in September! :) So, sometime after September is when we will turn in the application and start the process of getting our baby! :)

Thank you for you help in the bottle fundraiser and for your prayers, that God's will will be done in the new phase of our lives! :)

In Prayer!

There are a lot of changes taking place in our lifes right now and I am asking for prayer. We pray that the Lord will give us strength through the tough times, wisdom to make the right decisions, and peace so we dont freak out, haha!

We have decided to wait for the right time to send in our application, we don't want to be overwhelmed and not be able to enjoy the process! We want to be rested and energized ( a vacation would help) during the lengthy process!

This is a little sad for us because we are so extremely ready to be parents but we don't want to be stressed parents either! That's why we want it to be God's timing and not ours! We want to bring the baby into a peaceful home, active yet peaceful!

We are still raising money and maybe when the time comes for all of our payments we will have the money ready and waiting, instead of us stressing for it to come in!

Thanks for your love and support through this transition in our lives!
We love you all and will keep you updated!

Finally!

Well, we have finally contacted our references and they have all agreed to help!

So, now we just need to make sure our finances are in order and look as best as they can on paper before we fill out our application! Which we plan on doing today!

Hopefully this week we will actually sit down and fill out that application!

Keep the bottles coming :)

I know I know...

Yes I've been lacking in the blog area of my life!

I don't want to put much that doesn't have to do with the adoption and we are still waiting to get our references in order before we apply!

But, with the bottle fundraiser we have raised over $600!

Thank you everyone who has filled a bottle, is filling a bottle, wants to fill a bottle or have just donated money!

It's been a blessing and will help lift the financial burden of getting our baby and starting our little family! :)

I've gotten a little ahead of the game and have pretty much picked out everything i want for his room! I'm not going to register til we get accepted but it wont take long since i know what i want! hehe!

I will prob paint his room soon...1. becasue I'm ready to decorate and 2. because it just looks nasty un painted! hehe!

Fundraisers

As you all know, adopting is very expensive. I have started 2 fundraisers now...

1. Filling baby bottles with change (so far we have received $360 from the bottles)
Thanks to everyone who has participated!

2. NEW!!! My friend Kelli knows a lady who sells Avon and she has started an Avon fundraiser for me! It is a small packet with order forms...reminds me of selling wrapping paper and candy like in elementary! I also need volunteers who would be willing to help me sell it! The more people I have selling, the more we can get to buy! :) YAY!

I am just so excited and can't wait to get my baby boy! :)

We have all the paper work we need to send in the application, we just need to talk to our references and actually take the time to sit down together and fill out the application! we still have so many questions!

Thanks for the love and support in this life changing process! :)

Country chosen...

Well we have prayed and fasted and have decided on adopting from Ethiopia! There was a lot to consider for us personally in this decision and we feel at peace about it!

We still haven't sent in our application yet, apparently we weren't prepared, didn't have all the paperwork we needed ready to be sent in. As soon as we get it we will fill out the application and send it in and the process will FINALLY begin!
We are so excited to go through this process! It feels more real everyday! And we are "One day closer" to receiving our baby boy everyday!

Other than the adoption, God is doing so much in our lives! He is rattling our comfort in so many ways. It's a very good thing, but as American's, it gets a little uneasy. But we are trusting Him to know what He is doing! And that He knows what we need to be most effective so He gets the most Glory!

Family Portrait

Photo Shoot!

YAY! The pictures are in.

Here are a few... So many to choose from but here are our favs! Enjoy!

Photo's by: Charming Photography--Carrie Holliday

Small update!

Nothing much has happened, we are still praying about which country to choose, we think we know but want to make sure!

We have to send a family photo with our application so we had our good friend, Carrie Holliday, take our pictures on friday...it was a lot of fun and I will get them back tonight! I will post some soon just so you can see! :)

We are hoping to turn in our application this week and I will let you know how that goes!

The fundraiser I am doing is...
... I'm asking any one to fill a baby bottle with change! simple and anyone can do it :) I will have baby bottles with a little tag to pass out soon, but if i don't see you and you want to participate, you can always just use an old one or buy a cheap one at walmart :)
Thanks everyone for wanting to help! :)

Preface!

The reason I have decided to start a blog is so that you can be involved in our adoption process...and well just in our lives in general! :)
Some of you don't know, but Joey and I feel that God has put it on our hearts to Adopt a baby boy from an African Nation! We are very excited and know there will be many challenges in the process and in our lives following, but who are we to say "NO" to God?
God has always called Joey and me to do what is out of the ordinary...got married at a young age, no college degrees, planned to go to Africa for 5 months and left 6 months after we were married and 10 days after Joey was in a horrible accident, sold everything we owned to plan to go back to Africa, but instead He called us to a youth Pastor position with no training at all. So here we are, after being married 4.5 years and youth Pastors for going on 3 and God has another big plan for us..."Adopt a baby...oh yeah... and he's gonna be from Africa!" That's huge!
So we have done our part and have found an agency we trust, America World Adoption Agency, AWAA.org. The agency Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife used to adopt their baby girls from china. They are a "True" christian agency :)
We went to a seminar this saturday and got a lot of information, we are still praying about which country specifically to put on our application... please pray with us, it is in between Rwanda and Ethiopia! After we send in the applcation they will contact us and then set up the homestudy process. We will be assigned a social worker who will do extensive interviews with Joey and me and come into our home to make sure it is baby friendly and homey!
Adopting is very expensive, the estimated cost, which depends on which country we choose, is between $17,800 and $33,010...good thing is, we qualify for a minister's discount!
I will be holding a small fundraiser for anyone who wants to help and be involved in the process of bringing home the "Turner Baby!"

I will be posting as our process changes, just be in prayer that the governments like us! And that we make all the right decisions! :)
Love you all!