The Turner Story

Longer wait

2012-02-07T13:52:00.001-08:00

Just got word from our agency that the referral wait for an infant boy has moved from 10-16 months to 14-18 months. We knew this was a possibility and probably going to happen, but of coarse hoping it wouldn't.
We are both ok and are really trusting in the Lords timing! He knows when we will be ready and the exact baby for us! We can't wait to see how God will use this time!
Continue to pray that we put our faith and trust in Jesus!!!

6 months Celebration

2012-01-23T09:33:00.000-08:00

On January 22, 2012 we celebrated 6 months of waiting for a referral. This was also my grandfathers 85th birthday! :)

We had church that morning and then afterwards Joseph and I toasted with mimosas. (warm day out)

Later that day I had time to sew the 6th link in our "Wait Chain."

Time is going by pretty quickly, which I am grateful for. Hopefully this month I will be motivated to clean out that guestroom!

Love to all,
Emily

Grant Approval

2012-01-17T11:05:00.001-08:00

Wow, just as I was filling out my paperwork, I remembered I saw the mail man walk up. So I went to check it and saw a letter from a grant organization we applied for a few months back!
By the grace of God we were approved for an unimaginable amount! I cannot be more grateful right now! Thank you show HOPE for your help!!
Praise Jesus!!!

A Little More Paperwork

2012-01-17T10:38:00.000-08:00

Thinking I was done with all that crazy paper work just to receive a reminder that my finger prints expire in March. Meaning, I have to fill out another tiny packet of request for renewal. When I first saw that there was a renewal guideline packet, I freaked, "Not more paper work!" But once I got into it I knocked it out in about 20 mins. Now all I need are the hubs signatures then we can mail it off. Just a little reminder of what its taking to get our little man home! SOOO worth it! I can not wait, and of coarse I will do anything to get him home! :)

5 months celebration

2012-01-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

**This is way over due**

As of December 22nd 2011 we have waited 5 months for a referral.
We took a mini vacation to Boston a few days before Christmas. Love that city! Since we were there on the 22nd we decided to Celebrate by buying Julani some Celtics gear. We had already purchased ourselves plenty of Celtics gear and were lucky enough to attend a pre season game at the TD Garden! *Huge Celtics fans!!!

CoCo is modeling Julani's new Celtics hat.

I didn't get around to sewing the wait chain link until after the Holidays but here it is. #5, the pattern starts to repeat. I re worded the "count up," still a little awkward but I think better. :)

**wish I had better handwriting :(**

I am loving that the chain is growing but I hope it doesn't get too big, I am ready to have my son!
The current wait time for a referral is 10-16months, that mean we could be half way through. Not getting our hopes up and completely leaving it in God's hands. :)

One of my goals for 2012 is to see my boys face. I pray that happens.
And to start putting his room together, I have a lot of stuff that I have purchased but it's just piled and randomly placed in the "Guestroom," that I am ready to turn into the "babies room."

Continually praying for patience and Faith!

I will post a little peak into our Boston trip and Holidays in the next few days!

Love & Blessings to All,
-Emily

MIA from the Holidays!

2012-01-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

Wow, sorry it's a been a while and I totally didn't post our 5 month DTE! I am not doing that quit yet because I haven't taken any pictures, but that will be coming soon.
Just wanted to post a little bit so you didn't think I abandoned this blog!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Welcome 2012!

Much Love,

Emily

4 months Celebration!

2011-11-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

This month is perfect to celebrate, Thanksgiving is in 2 days and what more to be thankful for than being another month closer to being a family of 3.
We are also thankful that all but 8 of the cookbooks have sold, and we have been blessed with far more than we expected to raise with them!

Added a little blue to the "Wait Chain."

I had a little fun with the 4 months "Wait Chain" link pictures this month. :)

This past weekend I had a few girls from my church come over and help make and decorate cinnamon ornaments (another fundraiser.) We had a great time giggling and letting our creative juices flow! :)Here are a few of the ornaments that we made, there are a lot more, but I just chose one of each shape for the picture!

Lots and lots of glitter!

Have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We have a lot to be thankful for!

Cookbook Fundraiser! (SOLD OUT!!!)

2011-11-05T12:30:00.000-07:00

The long awaited cookbooks are here! I absolutely LOVE them! They couldn't have turned out any better!

They are ready for purchase, if you are interested in buying one I am selling them for $20. You may order by using my paypal button, just be sure to put cookbook and your name and address in the message!

Since this Sunday, Nov 6th, is Orphan Sunday my husband said we could sell them at church! So all my Sojourn Family can see them tomorrow! :) There are approximately 95 recipes.
Happy cooking! :)

3 months celebration

2011-10-25T15:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is...3 days late. We celebrated 3 months of waiting on the 22, like every month. This month on the 23rd was our 7 year anniversary! YAY for marriage! :)
We weren't able to celebrate either one on the actual day because Saturday the 22nd we had a leaders get away day and then church on the 23rd. ( Joseph now preaches 2 services and it wears him out...so proud though!) So here was our agenda. Monday we celebrated our Anniversary by having a delicious (spaghetti) picnic in the park and walking around the zoo, (one of Joseph's favorite places.)
Here are a few pictures of the picnic with our cheap champagne! hehe :)

That was a fun day! :) Then today (Tuesday) Joseph took off again! YAY!
So we decided to do our DTE monthly celebration. I had already started re-painting his changing table, which my dad built for me when I was a baby, so I decided to complete it today and sew the next link in the "Wait Chain."
No pictures of the changing table because it is still in the garage drying, but as soon as I get the nursery set up you will def see it. (that will still be a while, don't want to get ahead of myself.)
But here are a few pics of the new link! :)

Til next time! :)

7 years

2011-10-23T12:02:00.000-07:00

I have yet to post our 3 month waiting celebration post, because Today is our 7th Anniversary and we are focusing on that this weekend. :) I will be back mid week with how we celebrated the 3month waiting. Thanks for being patient! :)

Another Adoption Blog

2011-10-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

I just read this blog post from another Adoption Blog that I follow, i thought it a great example of the emotions that come with Adoption! I find it to be pretty true in my case...for the most part. Hope you enjoy

http://www.pureandlasting.com/not-easy-but-so-worth-it/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PureLasting+%28Pure+%26+Lasting%29

Ordered the Cookbooks

2011-10-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally ordered my cookbooks! They are going to be super cute! I had a graphic designer friend, Amanda, design the cover and it is exactly what I wanted. I am so excited! :)
Here is a peek at the cover.

Amazon Affiliate

2011-10-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

As I am reading "Adopt Without Debt", she gives many fund raising ideas. I clearly love fund raising!

One of the suggestions was to become an Amazon Affiliate. This means that I promote Amazon on my web site and any purchase made using the link on my page to Amazon.com, I get around 4-6% of the purchase starting off. So I thought, i know a lot of people who use Amazon, why not try it.
So I am asking if you are an amazon user if you wouldn't mind getting to amazon by clicking the banner on the bottom on my blog. That is all you have to do. The only down fall is that I don't get credit if you use the 1- click order option. I don't know why but that's the rule!

Of coarse this will go towards our adoption fund! :)

Love,
Emily

Raffles Coming Soon!

2011-10-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

Please be watching this blog for some upcoming Raffles! I will be raffling off amazing one of a kind homemade items, at $5 an entry! You will be able to purchase more entries or gain extra entries by sharing the raffle on either your blog, facebook, or twitter! Winner will be selected at Random!
All proceeds go towards our adoption!

Coming soon! :)

Recommended Books for Parents & Adoptive Parents

2011-10-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a few books that either, I am reading or was highly suggested that I read...
I will start with the ones I am currently reading and recommend:

-"There is no me without you" One woman's Odyssey to Rescue Her Country's Children by Melissa Fay Greene- so far this book has had amazing history of Ethiopia. A personal story of a woman's life in Ethiopia and shares the things that people struggle with and see on a regular basis, that we in America can't even fathom.

-"Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp- this book helps you to remember to care for your child's heart in the way you raise them. Don't forget that they have souls and everything you do or neglect to do effects who they become. Reminds you to always point to truth and explain your choices.

-"Adopting without Debt" Creative ways to cover the cost of adoption by Julie Gumm- Very encouraging, she uses a lot of Dave Ramsey method's and influence, also personal fund raising success stories and ideas.

-"The Connected Child" For parents who have welcomed children: From other countries and cultures, From troubled backgrounds, With Special behavioral or emotional needs by Karyn B. Purvis, David R. Cross and Wendy Lyons Sunshine- This book helps you through the tougher parts of parenting your children. It walks through the unique challenges adopted children face using compassion, care and consideration. AMAZING!

And some that were highly recommended:

-" Give Them Grace" Dazzling your kids with the love of Jesus by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick & Jessica Thompson- This book was recommended to my husband by an amazing friend and Mentor/Pastor Daniel Montgomery of Sojourn Church in Loiusville, Kentucky . He is an amazing Dad and said that this book helps you to teach your children Grace. I can not wait to read it.

-"I'm chocolate you're Vanilla" Raising healthy black and biracial children in a race-conscious world by Marguerite A. Wright- I have seen other adoptive parents say on their blogs that this is a great book, the back reads: Teaches parents and educators of black and biracial children how to reduce racism's impact on a child's development- from preschool through adolescence- and in doing so to raise emotionally healthy children.

-"Instructing a Child's Heart" by Tedd & Margy Tripp- This book helps you to raise your child in biblical truths to point them to the greatest joy and happiness that they can experience- delighting in God and the goodness of his ways.

I realized I have yet to complete any books because as you can see I have started a few at one time and this is only the adoption/ parent category! :) I'm reading more often now so hopefully I will finish and move on to the others! :)
I have more books I have purchased and look forward to reading. Here is a list:

-" Parenting with Love & Logic" by Foster Cline & Jim Fay
-" Bringing up Boys" by James Dobson
-" The Whole Life Adoption Book" by Jayne E. Schooler & Thomas C. Atwood
-" Adopted For Life" by Russell D. Moore
-" Big Truths for Young Hearts" by Bruce A. Ware
-" Orphanology" By Tony Merida & Rick Morton
-" Raising Adopted Children" by Lois Ruskai Melina
-" Boundaries with Kids" by Henry Cloud & John Townsend

Better start reading :)

2 Months Celebration

2011-09-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

As I stated earlier, we planned to do our monthly celebration tonight! Joseph wanted to have a date lunch then head to Lowe's to get paint and flowers! :) (this makes me extremely happy.) He told me he wanted to paint one of Julani's waiting projects in the garage. We had both a highchair and changing table that needed to be painted. We chose the highchair because we could use spray paint for this one. So here are a few pictures of the "Celebration."
FYI, My Dad built the tray and foot rest, b/c I bought this highchair for $5 and it didn't have them.

That is CoCo testing it out, he was Joseph's "Buddy" growing up. CoCo has been stitched in several places, I LOVE him! :)

I also made the next link in our "Wait Chain!"
I moved the count down in our living room so we could see it more! :)

2 months

2011-09-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

We have now been waiting for 2 months! I'm very thankful this time is going by quickly for us!

The official 2 month mark was Thursday the 22, but this weekend has been super busy, we have yet to celebrate together. I plan on making the next link in the "Wait Chain" this evening/afternoon. I will post a picture as soon as I finish and we have our "Celebration."
I bought an old fashioned wooden high chair a few years ago and have yet to paint it. Maybe I will paint it as my 2 month Celebration! :) Will let you know soon! Have a GREAT rest of the weekend!
Fundraisers still in the making! :)

Upcoming Fundraisers!

2011-09-09T13:24:00.001-07:00

We have a few fundraisers in the making for Fall and Winter!!

Cookbook
Christmas Ornaments
Hand knitted scarves
T shirts

The only one that is ready is: one scarf for sell on my friends and my etsy shop!
I will be making more in different colors as well! Feel free to look!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/81322115/hand-knit-chunky-warm-winter-scarf-in

Stay tuned for the others!

1 month

2011-08-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

We have made it through the first month of waiting! :)

To honor and remember I am making a "wait chain". I will sew a fabric ring and attach them together every month. The fabric will match his room so he will be able to have it forever! :)
Here is the first one in the top left corner of the chalk board. Brown hounds tooth fabric!

Tonight we are going to eat at a local Ethiopian restaurant "The Blue Nile!" We have been a few times and really enjoy the food, Ethiopian people and the decor! :)

DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia)

2011-08-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

Dossier ready to be mailed (Paper Belly)

Our DTE date was July 22, 2011. This was the day the agency mailed it to Ethiopia. They told us that it might take a few weeks before it arrived at the Ethiopian AWAA do to stopping in other countries on the way. They sent me a tracking number to follow.. I waited a few days to see if it had even left America yet, on July 27th it had already been picked up by the AWAA staff in Ethiopia! WHAT? That was only 5 days! I'm feeling God's timing is quickly moving! :) So HAPPY!

Now our Official "wait" begins. The current wait time for a referral for an infant boy from Ethiopia is 10-16 months... This stretch was expected, but hoped against of coarse.
We are so ready to be parents. We will be celebrating every month of waiting that passes. We plan to do something related to Ethiopia, adoption, or something specifically for Julani (ie, go eat at an Ethiopian restaurant, do something in Julani's room, starting a new adoption book, etc...) I will be sharing how we celebrate each month on this blog! :)

While we were on our Sabbatical I was able to finish knitting Julani's baby blanket. It was my first attempt at knitting a blanket, its a little scrappy but, his mommy made it just for him! :) (Pictured)

Dossier in transit!

2011-07-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well we have officially mailed our Dossier! :) :) :)

It has been a very emotional day in the Turner household! The day started very happy, having plans to mail our Dossier at lunch time. Before heading to mail it I was double checking everything and (not going into details) we discovered a HUGE obstacle, which would mean we could not mail it. Then the tears came and anxiety (first time for me to really feel it, not a fan.) Any ways, due to my wonderful husband and my amazing Father everything was solved and off we went... HAPPY tears at this point!
But I can OFFICIALLY say we are waiting! It is on its way to our agency to be checked and approved then hopefully by next Friday it will be heading to Ethiopia! :) (If everything is approved)
We are heading out early in the morning for our Sabbatical for 4 weeks. so no posts til we return, but please keep PRAYING! Love you all and thanks for caring about our Story!
Love,
Emily

The Evening Was Spent...

2011-07-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

COMPILING ALL MY DOSSIER PAPERS AND MAKING THEM PERFECT!

We will be mailing it TOMORROW! I can not believe the time has come for us to mail off the "Paper Belly." We have 2 pictures to take and print tomorrow then we will be headed to Kinko's, making 3 copies and putting it in the mail!:) We are all smiles over here! :)
Pray that everything I do tomorrow is precisely the way it needs to be and that we don't miss anything! If something is missing or incorrect it will just take that much longer for me to fix. :( Sad! So no mistakes tomorrow! :)
I'm sure I will be posting again tomorrow just to confirm that we have mailed it off before our 4 week sabbatical!! :)

One step at a time!

2011-05-19T10:37:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I have posted and I apologize for that. Things have been a little hectic this past month or so. As some of you know Joseph's health has not been great, we spent 3 days in the hospital trying to figure out what is wrong! He is wearing a heart monitor now to see if it is his heart, I honestly think it is stress, anxiety and lack of rest. We shall see though!

We hadn't made much progress on the adoption since we were focused on Joseph and our home life right now. But we did manage to send away a few papers that needed "State Certifying." Well, I received them back in the mail today! YAY! I get excited with every step checked off the list! Sooo...This means all we have left to do it print pictures, and scan all our papers to our Family Coordinator and once she approves we make 3 copies of the final "Dossier" and mail it in! YAY! And that is all we can do until Ethiopia finds us a baby! :) We leave for an A29 Pastors retreat June 19th and we are hoping to have the Dossier mailed off before we leave! :)
If we get is mailed off then, I will be working on the nursery this fall! OMG so exciting! :)

We pray for our Julani everyday! We pray that God will have him selected for us, that his heart and emotions will be ready to be our son, That he is healthy and happy, that his heart will be ready to hear the Gospel. And that we will raise him in a home that lives and preaches the Gospel! Please pray with us! :)

An Update from Joseph

2011-03-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone this is Joseph. I just wanted to give a quick update on the Turner adoption process. We apologize for disappearing off the radar for a while. However, we basically had to take a brief "timeout" in our paperwork process due to some major changes taking place in the Ethiopian adoption system.

To make a long story short, there was a temporary scare that indicated Ethiopia could be cutting back the number of adoptions by 90% due to a fear of children being placed in orphanages illegally. The result of cutting back the number of adoptions processed each day would mean that a family awaiting a child referral could end up waiting for 3 to 5 years before their paperwork was cleared by Ethiopian adoption officials.

Since Emily and I only have a few more documents to prepare before we submit our Dossier, we felt led to wait and see where everything in Ethiopia was headed. We chose to wait because once we have written the massive check to pay for our Dossier - we are locked into the Ethiopian program - for better or for worse. While we intended to adopt from Ethiopia no matter what, we wanted to keep our options and finances open until we heard the official word from Ethiopian officials... Possibly even for a domestic adoption in the mean time.

However, the Ethiopian government has appointed new personnel to oversee the Ministry of Women Affairs (MOWA) and it appears that they will be able to continue processing a high number of referrals every day. In light of this, we have prayed and feel led to continue our journey with Ethiopia and will be submitting the final papers needed for our dossier soon.

Please continue to pray with us. In specific, please pray that the doors to adopt from Ethiopia will remain open. Also pray that Ethiopian officials will keep the interest of the children at the top of their priorities.

Adoption process

2011-01-25T09:18:00.000-08:00

I found this nice step explanation on our Agency's website. I hope this help's you understand a little bit more! I like for as many people as possible to understand why it takes so long and what exactly you have to do to adopt! :)
Hope it helps!

The Dossier

Each adoption process begins with assembling a collection of 13-15 documents called a dossier. The dossier mainly consists of a financial statement, employment verification, medical and health information, background checks, and a homestudy. The homestudy is a report submitted by a social worker, after meeting at the family’s home, outlining the family’s background and details of the household. All of these documents must go through several levels of certification so that they can ultimately be used as the legal framework for your adoption process. This stage is often referred to as the “paper chase,” and should take, on average, 3-6 months to complete. The finished dossier is forwarded to America World where our staff carefully reviews it to ensure accuracy. Once approved, your dossier is forwarded to the country which you have chosen to adopt from, and is then translated and processed.

Waiting Period

This stage can often be the hardest for many adoptive families. Much like a physical pregnancy, there will be much waiting involved with your adoption process. Although sometimes documents need renewal and homestudies need to be updated, the majority of the time is spent waiting during this stage of the process. To help families use this time constructively, we provide specific materials and resources to you to further educate yourself on your child’s cultural heritage, transcultural parenting and other prevalent topics for a family through adoption. We also encourage you to further your education process by joining the America World chat group dedicated to your country program, as well as build community by speaking with other families whom have gone through the same adoption process you’re currently in.

Referral & Travel

After you submit your dossier and the waiting period is over, you will receive your child’s referral. The referral is your child’s basic profile, medical information, and will also include your first picture of your son or daughter. Once you complete some additional work online and the acceptance paperwork, our staff will make all travel arrangements for the trip to bring your child home. Once in-country, the moment you have anticipated will finally be a reality – you will meet the child that the Lord has purposefully chosen for you! After being united with your child, there is time in-country for the bonding process to begin while you apply for his or her U.S. visa.

Post Adoption

When you return home with your son or daughter, the adoption process is still not quite over – there are still steps that need to be taken and ones that we encourage families to pursue. Upon your return, we will provide you with a “Welcome Back” packet, which will outline all remaining steps, including post-placement reports. These reports are designed to be a checkup on your child to see how he or she is adjusting to his or her new home environment and how the family bonding is progressing. We also strongly encourage families to re-adopt even when a specific country program does not require that this occurs.

Immigration Approved!

2010-12-30T10:08:00.000-08:00

Today we received our Immigration Clearance in the mail! YAY!
I can not believe it took less than 2 weeks to process. We have been praying for God's timing and preparing for the longest, but wow apparently He is ready. LOL

Currently we are waiting for our references that should be ready this week or next, and I still need to pick up our police reports, take pictures and have everything notarized. I will be running around like crazy next week hoping to get it all done. We are also waiting on a few fundraisers to happen so we will be able to send the money in when we are ready.

This is so exciting, I am still in shock at how fast it went.
Please continue to pray for us and Julani!

As I've said before I am not a writer so forgive the scatter brain-ness of this post!:)

Tis the Season

2010-12-18T17:37:00.000-08:00

This Holiday Season has turned out to be a very busy one for Joseph and me. From making most of my Christmas presents, to attending lights in the Heights, shopping, planning a tacky Christmas sweater party, getting fingerprinted for immigration (worth it,) and finding out we are being sent to NYC on a vacation, TOTALLY PAID FOR! Praise the Lord! This was a complete blessing for us. We haven't been on a vacation that hasn't included a conference, retreat, mission trip or 100 youth in over 4 yrs. :) We will leave the morning of the 20th and be back on the 23rd.

We have also been blessed with a nice Christmas bonus and were able to buy warmer clothes for our NYC trip and put a good chunk in our "Adoption Fund" account! :)

We have had our last required appointment. All we have left is a small amount of paperwork to get done. As soon as the fingerprints are processed we will be ready to send off our Dossier! :)

I am so excited to become a parent! I think this will be our last Christmas without a child. I sometimes picture Julani in our house or rocking him in his rocking chair! I just can't wait to have him in my arms!
Please continue to pray for God's will in our lives. Love you all and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS! :)

Outside decorated for Christmas

2010-11-29T15:15:00.000-08:00

Outside picture of our house decorated for Christmas...I absolutely love it!

Tree topiary on the front porch
(looks like a post card to me) hehe :)

Metal present stakes my mom bought this year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! :)

Christmas house pictures

2010-11-28T12:11:00.000-08:00

As I described in the previous post, here are some pictures of the inside of our house this Christmas! :)

Our little tree, smaller house so we opted for a small tree! :)

TV stand and front door.

My sleeping Christmas puppies! I knitted their "scarfs"

End table, top shelf has our "Delafuente" Christmas poem on it!

Hutch in the dinning room.

Outside to come...

Hello Christmas...

2010-11-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

It's that time again! The most wonderful time of the year!

We had a wonderful thanksgiving with my side of the family, both my mom's side and my dad's side come to my parents for Thanksgiving, we had around 25 people this year! We enjoyed turkey, ham and all the trimmings, a plethora of desserts and good company.
IT was good to see my cousin from England and the newest additions to the family, Emma Kate and baby Ben. Cousins only months apart.
The day after thanksgiving the men went quail hunting. Every time they go on a hunt they always have fun and exciting stories to tell, and pictures from Mike, (shoots more with the camera than the gun. hehe ) I was able to re-teach my sister how to knit, after many holes I think she's got it! :)
That night we have our "Sumrall"(Dad's side) family Christmas gift exchange (Don't get to see that side for Christmas) this was very fun this year. Everyone was shocked to see that I stole from my Grandmother and Joseph stole from my Grandfather, hehe...all in good fun! :)

The Saturday after Thanksgiving is the day Joseph and I decorate for Christmas. We keep most of my families traditions. A neighbor helped Joseph do the outside lights while I decorated the inside, then we headed to get the Christmas tree. While decoarting the tree we played Christmas music and drank eggnog (Bordens of coarse.) I wore my brothers old sweatshirt (not hoody) that is bright red and says "Fa la la la la." Classy!
I'm proud to say I absolutely love this house decorated for Christmas. It is by far the best looking we have had since we have been married.
We do not have a fireplace in this house, which is disappointing but we are managing and being inventive with our stockings.
Picture of the house to come!

We are thinking and hoping this will be our last Christmas with out our son! I cannot wait for next year! We have received our fingerprinting appointment, it will be Friday morning Dec 17th! :)

Do's & Don'ts

2010-11-16T10:19:00.000-08:00

While going through my required Hague training. One of my required reading is entitled "Cross-Cultural Adoption: The Do's and Don'ts for Grown Ups" I absolutely loved it! I want to post the link for any of my friends so you can be a little more educated along with me!

http://www.adoptvietnam.org/parenting/cross-cultural.htm

Hope you feel a little more equipped! hehe! :)

I600A in the mail

2010-11-09T10:23:00.000-08:00

We finally received our notarized "official" Home Study packet in the mail on Friday the 5th. There are 4 copies, 1 for our records, 1 to submit in our Dossier, 1 for America World, and 1 to submit with our I600A.
The I600A is a form you submit to the immigration office to set an appointment to get fingerprinted and to be approved to bring a non US citizen into the country to become a citizen.

Joseph dropped it off at the post office today! Another step done! :)
Once they process our paper work they will set an appointment for us to come get fingerprinted. After that is finished we wait for them to process the fingerprints and approve! This process takes around 6 to 12 weeks. Hoping for 6...
This is where we are now and I will keep you posted!

While I'm waiting...

2010-10-16T22:17:00.001-07:00

While I'm waiting to gather everything i need for our Dossier to be complete, I have been searching for things for Julani's nursery.
I found this fun, funky, retro, modern crib set that my heart is set on. by Litto kids
After showing this to a few friends and family, my sister just presented me with this lovely owl painting and owl pillow that she made.

She is so talented!

She also bought these wonderful gifts for him...owls for Mommy and dinosaurs for Daddy!

I have also begun to knit a patchwork afghan for the room...here are the colors and the start of my knitting...That's a brown(chocolate) not purple..sorry for the crazy camera quality.

Also a good friend painted this for his room ... ...and I found this little pony in my parents garage!
I am going with a retro theme obviously focusing on owls, but I just love the colors and I'm looking for retro pieces to go as well! :)

Interviews Complete

2010-09-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

I can not believe we have made it through our interviews! That was the scariest part of this whole process for me and it wasn't even that bad!
The experience was great, love our Social Worker!
In our first Home interview she did both of our individual interviews, getting our background and history. She also checked the house to make sure it was accommodating and up to codes.
The second interview was by far the toughest and most nerve racking for me. This is where she asked what our philosophy on parenting was and our ideas on discipline. She really helped us out by coaching our answers, but in a way that it was what we believed! :)
The Last interview was yesterday and was a joy. In this interview she was warning us of all the different struggles we might face after we bring him home and raising an adopted child. We were able to ask questions and she gave us fun ideas to try. The thing I brought home was how important bonding is. Of coarse I knew it was important but she made me see just how difficult it might be since I didn't carry him for 9 months and haven't known him for his entire life. Bonding may be instant (rare) or may take up to a year! She also gave us different scenarios of issues that might arise in him as an adopted child IE...loneliness, wanting to know who his birth mother was, why mommy and daddy are a different color. etc... It was very helpful and she says she will always be available for questions.

Now that we are finished with the Home Study process all together. The majority of the paper work is complete and now its will be a lot of waiting. We must wait for the Home Study to be reviewed and compiled into a report. Then we apply for an appointment to get fingerprinted, then wait for that to be processed and approved, all while gathering the last of the Dossier paper work. Once we get our fingerprints approved ( usually take 4-8wks) and all the paper work has been approved it is time to mail in our complete Dossier!

In the mean time I have been searching frantically for baby stuff! Things I want to register for to have him ready at our house!
Here is a list of the things I already have picked out:

Crib
Crib bedding
Stroller
Car seat
High Chair (already purchased)
and little everyday supplies!

This has been so much fun...once our Dossier is DTE ( Dossier to Ethiopia) we will register and hopefully have a baby shower! :) YAY I'm so excited!

"Thank you Jesus for everything!"

Home Study Interview (in Home)

2010-09-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Got an email from our Social Worker today! We have scheduled our home study visit for this Saturday the 11th! I am soooo excited and nervous at the same time! I know the Lord is in control but I still feel nervous!
Please be praying that Joe and I will be confidant and calm. and that I don't miss an inch of dust or dirt in my house! :)

It's in the mail!

2010-08-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

WOW what a day!!! We have sent in our Home Study packet! I am soooooo HAPPY right now! I can feel my heart doing somersaults. AHHHH I just can't believe I actually accomplished something hehe! I don;t even know how to explain the excitement. I guess you just have to go through it yourself! Huge weight is off my shoulders (sooo much paper work.)

Next, we wait to schedule our interviews. When we get our interviews scheduled, they will come into our home and make sure it is suitable for a child and that we are capable of raising a child. There will be 3 interviews with in 4 days possibly fewer days. This will be very nerve racking. So pray for our patience and my ability to clean this old house. :) Here are a few pictures of today!

Not when we planned

2010-08-03T10:23:00.001-07:00

Well, we were hoping to get to send our Home Study packet originally last week, then this week, now its looking like next week. Sad, first we had to get our results for our blood work and i didnt know Joseph had to be there to sign for his, and he couldn't go until today. Then we were waiting on our employment verification letter which we were supposed to get last Monday but we did get it this Monday! Now we are waiting on when we can rewrite or i guess fix, our auto biographies. Apparently we weren't clear enough on a few things so I have to elaborate on it! Ahhhhh! I am hoping that I will get it done this week (need Joe's help to write and he's so busy) so i can send it off as soon as possible! Craziness! But again in God's timing and He knows whats best! So we are still all smiles! :)

Progress update!

2010-07-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

I have been posting a "Photo blog" on facebook, but wanted to share them with you as well! So here you can physically see our process!

Putting the binder together

Joey measuring the house for the floor plan.

Flowers Joey bought me to celebrate our "Paper Pregnancy!"

Dad signing the guardianship agreement!

Mom signing the guardianship agreement!

Putting the house photo's together and writing descriptions!

Tomorrow we have our physical exams and are receiving out employment verification letter, then all we need to do is write our autobiographies and it is ready to be sent in the mail!

First clothing items!

2010-07-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

I have just been so excited about being a mommy! I ordered Julani's first item of clothing!! They are dinosaurs because Joseph has always loved dinosaurs! So that was his "Daddy to be" present!

And the Official Journey Begins!

2010-07-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

Today started with a nice cup of Joe! (hehe)
Then came 11 O'clock!! Bam, I started filling out papers like a mad woman, things were being signed, things were being copied, printed, filed! 6 hrs later I am almost ready to send in my home study packet! YAY!!!!! :) I got more done today than I have since our application was accepted in October! :)

A BIG thanks to my new best "Adoption" friend Angel Weir! You were on it today and kept me motivated! Thank you!

I have a list of things that i need to accomplish this week so I will be staying up late tonight to finish what I can then making phone calls and picking up picture tomorrow! :) Should have a next step by the end of next week! :)

I have made an adoption time line so you can watch my progress! its to the right of my blog! :)

Adoption Binder!

2010-07-14T16:14:00.001-07:00

Pictures of my new Adoption Binder! Here we go!!! :) Bring that boy home!

And we have help!

2010-07-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

After posting that last post I suddenly got motivated and asked someone that I have only met once, who has adopted 2 beautiful girls and is currently adopting a boy from Ethiopia as well, if she would help me since she's been through this before. And she said YES!! YAY!
We are meeting before church on Sunday afternoon and she is going to help me get organized! I cried when I read her email, because now I feel like this is going to happen and I am going to be a mommy! YAY! :)
Joseph had to calm me down and tell me that obviously we weren't quite ready before but God's timing is always perfect and he knows when to put a fire under my bottom! So, Here we go...It's time to bring home Julani and I wont stop til he's in my arms! :)
Thank you Angel for helping me! here is her blog... thevoiceofadventure.blogspot.com

Not much to report...

2010-07-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I hate to say it , but we haven't gotten very far with our process. Totally my fault.
As I stated in my previous post I am scattered brained and get over whelmed with just having a list of things i need to do. So I am praying that I can find a "friend" who is also in the process or has gone through it before that can guide me and possibly help me a little. I am so ready for my son that its making me mad that i don't have him yet. LOL!

On the other hand we are continually being blessed financially, the money just keeps coming in! Thank you Jesus! :) I am really hoping to get the move on this process, so please keep praying that i get motivated and "JUST DO IT!"
My husbands office has been in our spare bedroom (baby's room) since we moved in and now this week he got an out of the home office so I'm hoping that now that the baby's room is open it will be a motivation to get him here to fill it! :)
I will post when we get through our next step! :)

Update

2010-02-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

Well, we have now moved into our new home in the Houston Heights, we are loving it!

This means that it is time for me to buckle down and finish this Home study process. I have looked into all the requirements and the papers i need to gather and needless to say I will be running around, making copies, being inspected and interviewed, and filling out papers for a good while. Fun Fun!

Joseph returned from a conference in Austin on Saturday a changed man. He said the whole of the conference was great, but the last day was the most emotional and personally life changing for him. The people who played the worship for the conference was a man named Aaron Ivey and his band. Their whole life and ministry is to raise awareness and money for adoption and the importance of the church's role in adoption. Each band member had adopted at least one child from Haiti, and Aaron himself has adopted 3. He told his story of each adoption process and even wrote a song about 1 of the adoptions. It's called "Amos Story", those are the names of 2 of his children, Amos and Story. The passion of the song is he is speaking to Amos before they actually received him, telling him to believe and singing "I'll find a way to get you here, if it takes my fleeting breath," " I hope you know there is someone searching for a way to get you here, I'll get you here!" wow that got Joseph so hard. Just imagine knowing your child is in third world country feeling that no one wants him. This Child Amos was also just found on the streets, malnurished and injured. Aaron saw a pic of him and felt God told him that was his son, he is 5 yrs old I believe.

I just wanted to share that with you and I hope everyone will look up that song, it's amazing!

So... we have a huge passion to get our baby home, and soon! We will do whatever it takes.

Please Please Please keep me in your prayers, as many of you know I'm a little scatter brained and I want to make sure I do everything the proper way and understand all the legal requirements properly! So pray for understanding and discipline!

Thanks for your support, Julani will be here soon we pray! :)

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

2010-01-07T20:56:00.000-08:00

I want to give God Praises!!!!

as you can tell we were a little worried about our finances to pay for the next steps that will be coming soon!

Last week we received a large check from people who have been giving to us through our church, my good friend Robin and her husband gave us a full bottle with extra cash in it and my life long friend Dani gave me money for the adoption for Christmas, and my sister in law just gave me money from a friend at church! CRAZY!!!

People really love us!

Thank you Jesus for blessing us through your people!!!!!

Home Study phase!

2009-12-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

2009-08-12T07:32:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-14T11:03:00.001-07:00

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...

2009-07-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-17T21:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-05T21:24:00.001-07:00

Photo Shoot!

2009-05-05T20:56:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-04-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

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!