Enjoy,
Hope
Our Whole Family at the Kids' first Christmas Pageant
With the judge on December 22!
Beau and Maylee made a fabulous snowman
Jhon loves to go sledding!
Christmas Morning after we opened presents
Monday, January 11, 2010
More Christmas Pictures!
Here are more pictures of our various Christmas Activities! :)
Enjoy,
Hope
Our Whole Family at the Kids' first Christmas Pageant
With the judge on December 22!
Beau and Maylee made a fabulous snowman
Jhon loves to go sledding!
Christmas Morning after we opened presents
Enjoy,
Hope
Our Whole Family at the Kids' first Christmas Pageant
With the judge on December 22!
Beau and Maylee made a fabulous snowman
Jhon loves to go sledding!
Christmas Morning after we opened presents
Sunday, January 10, 2010
God is Faithful
Hey Everyone!
So it has been quite sometime since I last blogged. A lot has happened. The kids started their second school year here. Erika is now in 3rd grade so she moved up to the new elementary school for 3-6 graders. Maylee is in 2nd and Jhon is in 1st. They are all doing well in school. Beau decided to homeschool for the 1st semester of 7th grade. She still was involved in cheerleading, piano and gymnastics. I am a senior and so excited to be done! I take some pretty challenging classes and it will be nice to get to college...finally! :) I graduate in 122 days and turn 18 in 105 days. I have been counting since the first day of school. haha.
Well Mandy graduated in May and Zac is finishing online. They both moved up here in August and lived with us for about a month before they found and apartment in Anchorage. They are expecting a baby on July 9. We are so excited for them :). I can't wait to become an aunt! My cousin, George, my mom's nephew, moved up here from Louisiana in August as well. He is 16 so he attended Palmer High School with me and got to play football. He went home after the 1st semester.
And here comes the fun part! haha. A couple of weeks before Halloween my mom woke up with crick in her neck. After going to the chiropractor and doctor a few times and worse results she went to a spinal specialists. She ruptured a disk in her neck and it was jabbing her spinal cord and pinching a nerve. She is a nurse at the hospital so she has good insurance. They scheduled a surgery to replace the disk which is a newer procedure. The common one is the fusion but it is much more intense. Well she is getting ready for surgery and the insurance company refused to pay for that type of procedure. That was extremely stressful because by this time it was the week before Thanksgiving and my mom couldn't do anything except lay on the couch. My Grandma, Grammy Jo, my mom's mom came up to help us out while my mom was sick. I was really glad because i had been missing school to help out with my siblings and getting them to school and such. Plus she cooks way better then me :). Well they finally go the insurance company to agree and my mom was able to have the surgery a week later, the Monday before Thanksgiving. She was the first person to get that type of surgery under this insurance company. She stayed in the hospital a few days and got out the night before Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, we celebrated our first Gotcha Day, November 20, and the kid's first Family Anniversary, November 7. Every year we go out to eat and celebrate being a family. Mom and Dad look all year for ornaments for each of us. We write the kid's name and the year so every year when we decorate the tree we get to see them all. Well this year we went to Applebees' thanks to some unexpected gift cards, which were such a blessing, and all got an ornament. It was very sweet when we explained it the kids. Maylee cried when she got her first ornament. Poor Mom was still hurt and in a sling. We still had fun as a family. To be completely honest i hardly remember Gotcha Day. Things were quite crazy! But we did go to Sears and take pictures of the kids. One of each of us individually and one of all of us kids. It didn't matter what we did. We were just happy to be a family.
Mandy's younger sister, Holly, came up for Thanksgiving. We went snowboarding with her which was fun despite my miner concussion, haha. Our house was certainly full for Thanksgiving with us, Zac and Mandy, Grammy Jo, George, Holly and Zac's friend Steven. And poor mom was just out of the hospital with a lot of pain. The recovery has been very slow. It took a while before my mom was able to drive or move really. Physically and emotionally it was hard on our whole family. She was not able to work during this time but her co workers have been pulling together to give her their paid time off so that she can keep her insurance. And her boss has let her keep her job but she has not had to go back to work yet. A local church where a lot of my friends go as well as the Spanish teacher and nurse at the kids' school came together to volunteer to make us meals every night. For 2 weeks! And they brought us a hot meal, a salad, a bread product and a dessert. These people didn't even know who we were and they helped us out so much. They were such a huge blessing. City Church in Anchorage also cooked us some meals and Wasilla Assembly helped us gets tons of food and groceries from the food bank. One of the biggest blessings was from the hospital. Every year they adopt one family for Christmas gifts. So they chose us. We all turned in Christmas gifts! Christmas was huge! Absolutely huge! They did an amazing job for our family. We are so truly blessed. I cried and cried on Christmas morning!
A few more things that happened during this time. haha a lot happened. Dad and his team did a really good job at work and as a reward type of thing they gave my parents a gift card to Bailey's Furniture to buy new furniture. They were able to get furniture for both of the living rooms and a new flat screen! God was blessing us so much during this difficult time. And on December 22 we went to court before the judge and got officially approved in the United States. The kids were nervous at first that they might have to go back but they were very reassured. They also got their Alaskan birth certificates. That was a fun day.
Well Christmas was such a a huge blessing on our family and we all had an amazing time! Over break we got to take the kids sledding and swimming a lot and build snowman. Everything was easier this year having been a family for a year. We also went to the Colony Christmas. It is a local mini fair put on by Palmer. It has free kids games and horse rides as well as craft shops, a parade and fireworks. The kids enjoyed it despite it being FREEZING! George went home the last day of the semester but Grammy Jo was able to stay with us. Mom was very happy to have her around and the kids had never met her before so we all enjoyed her being with us. Mom was going to physical therapy and doing much better. She kept getting sick and in fact had a flare up of a reaction to the parasite she got in Colombia and has been sick for about 5 weeks now on top of recovery from a big injury and a pretty big surgery.
Things were finally starting to get better until about 3 days after Christmas. My dad lost his job and is currently unemployed. That was a huge blow on our family, especially my mom. Neither of them are working right now and money was tight before so things are stressful but God has been so faithful to us. He has provided for us and I have complete peace that everything will be just fine. We have had to cut back, including texting which I was not to thrilled about but i totally understand. The whole thing has been difficult for us but God will certainly get us through. I figured I should apply to college now because I will qualify for all sorts of financial aid hahaha.
Dad has really enjoyed the time off and has a strong lead at a job much closer to home which we all wanted. Mom has still not returned to work but is doing much. much better and feels she will be able to in about 3-4 weeks. God's faithfulness and peace have certainly been shown in this situation. Just a few days before he lost his job my parents got prophesied over at church that they were like Joseph and God's promise would be coming true. I feel closer to God now then I have in months. The kids are healthy and strong. Beau returned to school and I am still in it. Grammy Jo is leaving tomorrow, January 12 but we have had a wonderful time with her here. We have continued to get groceries from the food bank and now qualify for free lunches at school, which will also pay for my IB (international version of AP- Advanced Placement) test fees which is a huge blessing. God is certainly going to see us through. Please keep our family in your prayers. I'll add more Christmas pictures on another one :)
Hope
Jhon's Christmas Concert at School!
Mandy and Grammy Jo at Colony Christmas
Maylee was a camel in their First Christmas Pageant
Erika and Beau were angels
Jhon is the cutest sheep ever! :)
So it has been quite sometime since I last blogged. A lot has happened. The kids started their second school year here. Erika is now in 3rd grade so she moved up to the new elementary school for 3-6 graders. Maylee is in 2nd and Jhon is in 1st. They are all doing well in school. Beau decided to homeschool for the 1st semester of 7th grade. She still was involved in cheerleading, piano and gymnastics. I am a senior and so excited to be done! I take some pretty challenging classes and it will be nice to get to college...finally! :) I graduate in 122 days and turn 18 in 105 days. I have been counting since the first day of school. haha.
Well Mandy graduated in May and Zac is finishing online. They both moved up here in August and lived with us for about a month before they found and apartment in Anchorage. They are expecting a baby on July 9. We are so excited for them :). I can't wait to become an aunt! My cousin, George, my mom's nephew, moved up here from Louisiana in August as well. He is 16 so he attended Palmer High School with me and got to play football. He went home after the 1st semester.
And here comes the fun part! haha. A couple of weeks before Halloween my mom woke up with crick in her neck. After going to the chiropractor and doctor a few times and worse results she went to a spinal specialists. She ruptured a disk in her neck and it was jabbing her spinal cord and pinching a nerve. She is a nurse at the hospital so she has good insurance. They scheduled a surgery to replace the disk which is a newer procedure. The common one is the fusion but it is much more intense. Well she is getting ready for surgery and the insurance company refused to pay for that type of procedure. That was extremely stressful because by this time it was the week before Thanksgiving and my mom couldn't do anything except lay on the couch. My Grandma, Grammy Jo, my mom's mom came up to help us out while my mom was sick. I was really glad because i had been missing school to help out with my siblings and getting them to school and such. Plus she cooks way better then me :). Well they finally go the insurance company to agree and my mom was able to have the surgery a week later, the Monday before Thanksgiving. She was the first person to get that type of surgery under this insurance company. She stayed in the hospital a few days and got out the night before Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, we celebrated our first Gotcha Day, November 20, and the kid's first Family Anniversary, November 7. Every year we go out to eat and celebrate being a family. Mom and Dad look all year for ornaments for each of us. We write the kid's name and the year so every year when we decorate the tree we get to see them all. Well this year we went to Applebees' thanks to some unexpected gift cards, which were such a blessing, and all got an ornament. It was very sweet when we explained it the kids. Maylee cried when she got her first ornament. Poor Mom was still hurt and in a sling. We still had fun as a family. To be completely honest i hardly remember Gotcha Day. Things were quite crazy! But we did go to Sears and take pictures of the kids. One of each of us individually and one of all of us kids. It didn't matter what we did. We were just happy to be a family.
Mandy's younger sister, Holly, came up for Thanksgiving. We went snowboarding with her which was fun despite my miner concussion, haha. Our house was certainly full for Thanksgiving with us, Zac and Mandy, Grammy Jo, George, Holly and Zac's friend Steven. And poor mom was just out of the hospital with a lot of pain. The recovery has been very slow. It took a while before my mom was able to drive or move really. Physically and emotionally it was hard on our whole family. She was not able to work during this time but her co workers have been pulling together to give her their paid time off so that she can keep her insurance. And her boss has let her keep her job but she has not had to go back to work yet. A local church where a lot of my friends go as well as the Spanish teacher and nurse at the kids' school came together to volunteer to make us meals every night. For 2 weeks! And they brought us a hot meal, a salad, a bread product and a dessert. These people didn't even know who we were and they helped us out so much. They were such a huge blessing. City Church in Anchorage also cooked us some meals and Wasilla Assembly helped us gets tons of food and groceries from the food bank. One of the biggest blessings was from the hospital. Every year they adopt one family for Christmas gifts. So they chose us. We all turned in Christmas gifts! Christmas was huge! Absolutely huge! They did an amazing job for our family. We are so truly blessed. I cried and cried on Christmas morning!
A few more things that happened during this time. haha a lot happened. Dad and his team did a really good job at work and as a reward type of thing they gave my parents a gift card to Bailey's Furniture to buy new furniture. They were able to get furniture for both of the living rooms and a new flat screen! God was blessing us so much during this difficult time. And on December 22 we went to court before the judge and got officially approved in the United States. The kids were nervous at first that they might have to go back but they were very reassured. They also got their Alaskan birth certificates. That was a fun day.
Well Christmas was such a a huge blessing on our family and we all had an amazing time! Over break we got to take the kids sledding and swimming a lot and build snowman. Everything was easier this year having been a family for a year. We also went to the Colony Christmas. It is a local mini fair put on by Palmer. It has free kids games and horse rides as well as craft shops, a parade and fireworks. The kids enjoyed it despite it being FREEZING! George went home the last day of the semester but Grammy Jo was able to stay with us. Mom was very happy to have her around and the kids had never met her before so we all enjoyed her being with us. Mom was going to physical therapy and doing much better. She kept getting sick and in fact had a flare up of a reaction to the parasite she got in Colombia and has been sick for about 5 weeks now on top of recovery from a big injury and a pretty big surgery.
Things were finally starting to get better until about 3 days after Christmas. My dad lost his job and is currently unemployed. That was a huge blow on our family, especially my mom. Neither of them are working right now and money was tight before so things are stressful but God has been so faithful to us. He has provided for us and I have complete peace that everything will be just fine. We have had to cut back, including texting which I was not to thrilled about but i totally understand. The whole thing has been difficult for us but God will certainly get us through. I figured I should apply to college now because I will qualify for all sorts of financial aid hahaha.
Dad has really enjoyed the time off and has a strong lead at a job much closer to home which we all wanted. Mom has still not returned to work but is doing much. much better and feels she will be able to in about 3-4 weeks. God's faithfulness and peace have certainly been shown in this situation. Just a few days before he lost his job my parents got prophesied over at church that they were like Joseph and God's promise would be coming true. I feel closer to God now then I have in months. The kids are healthy and strong. Beau returned to school and I am still in it. Grammy Jo is leaving tomorrow, January 12 but we have had a wonderful time with her here. We have continued to get groceries from the food bank and now qualify for free lunches at school, which will also pay for my IB (international version of AP- Advanced Placement) test fees which is a huge blessing. God is certainly going to see us through. Please keep our family in your prayers. I'll add more Christmas pictures on another one :)
Hope
Jhon's Christmas Concert at School!
Mandy and Grammy Jo at Colony Christmas
Maylee was a camel in their First Christmas Pageant
Erika and Beau were angels
Jhon is the cutest sheep ever! :)
Sunday, November 8, 2009
It's been a while...
Beau and I with friends in Petersberg, Alaska
We climbed the Butte by our house. It's kinda like a big hill
Our whole family visited the wildlife reserve where they have moose and bears and such.
The kids all ready for church
He's my buddy
Jhon and I at Jr. and Sr. HIgh Camp in Big Lake, Alaska
Maylee and our Cousin John ELijah. We went hiking in Hatcher's Pass
Erika on the dock at camp.
Dressed up for 4th of July
Hey everybody!
SO it whas been an incredibly long time since our last blog! things are crazy busy. SO i guess I'll just do a brief overview of the whole summer. First of all the kids got to go to summer camp which was really fun for them. MOm was the nurse at the Junior High and High School camp for me and Beau so the kids got to go with her and she was also the nurse for the kids camp! They all had a great time :). Beau and I went on a missions trip for two weeks to Southeast Alaska. We drove for 15 hours through Canada and from there traveled to Haines, Juneau, Petersberg, Angoon, which is a village and Tok. It was so fun and incredible! Mom's oldest brother my UNcle Jake and his wife, Aunt Donna and my cousin John came and stayed with us for a week. It was great to have them here. Dad build the most incredible treehouse! The LaBeans, our good friends, came down from Fairbanks for 4th of July and Jessi LaBean, my best friend since 1st grade, spent a week with us which was of course a blast! My cousin George on my mom's side moved up here to stay with us from Lousiana and Zac and Mandy moved back as well. They lived with us for about a month so things were pretty crowded but now are living in Anchorage. I don't know how to make captions on the pictures but I will try my best :) And i will start keeping up with the blogs from now on hahaha
THanks
Hope
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Update
Well I haven't posedt in so very long. Hope started this new blog but never got everything switched over. Tonight I was trying to find out more about blogspot and up popped this blog. Ugh....we could not find it after she started it ect....I think I know why. On to the good stuff. I think I will try to back up a little at a time. Update for now school has started! Erika has started 3rd grade. She is in a new school right next door to her old one. She continues to be the sweetest little girl ever. We are all so proud of our Erika. She talks a lot about her adoption and how good God has been to her. Little Miss Maylee is in second grade. She was so "with the program" all summer and now I am seeing some behavior issues. I wondered all summer if it was timing or if school is a little stressful for her. I am trying to help her address things in a positive manner and she is trying so hard. I am so very proud of how far Maylee has come. She is a spunky little girl with a heart longing to be loved. And Jhon is in first grade! Way to go Jhon. He is working hard. He can almost tie his shoes and is doing well. We read lots of books together each day. He loves his family and is very quick to show it! Jhon is doing a great job. Hope is a senior and loving it. I am so happy and proud for her. I hope this year is a lot of fun for her. Beau is in 7th grade. She is homeschooling this year and I am gonna love having her around. Her books are on the way and we should get them tomorrow or Friday. For now we are talking, reading, doing hair and having a good time. Hopefully I can update this more often now that I know where it is.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Good News
With a little encouragement from Wendi who adopted three of the most beautiful children ever I am going to try and share a few of the amazing things God has done for us as it relates to our adoption. Hope it serves as encouragement. To her amazing boys thank you for singing the alphabet to me!
I love Hope and her venting blogs. She is amazing. She is helping me work on my Spanish. It is not going well. I don't know why I can't seem to remember anything.
We recieved a picture and information on the children Julie told us about. After a wonderful week of thinking things over we are faxing an official request tomorrow. Of course I will not post much until it is official. I am very excited and can't wait to have them home. The first night we had the picture Barry was so weepy. Hope said "these are my kids no matter what two governments say" and Beau was so smiley. Barry definitely had the "those are my kids" moment. I did not. I wish I had but I opened the email and closed it and thought, "AM I CRAZY?". Then I went ouside and was so ansy. I kept going back to look again and again. Now I am in love! I will share more later when things are official.....
Also our contractor is going ahead with the addition on our home anyway. He is just going to absorb the cost. I hope you can all be blessed with how big and amazing this is. He is literally donating thousands of dollars of skill and labor. We are paying for materials. He is a Godly man who knows why we where adopting and why we wanted to add some space to our home. When our financing options looked undesireable due to the housing market we decided to wait a year and bring the kids home ASAP anyway. But God knows the desires of my heart as I am a very organized person and would function better with a little room. Anyway.....the contractor told us "some things are bigger than financial profit and I know God is in this and I want to help". We have been BLOWN away by his determination. Our pastor has offered wonderful counsel to all of us on how to go about things. It is so neat to see the body of Christ come together and say let us together do what we can for these kids. We can be the parents and our church body is helping to provide us with the resources we need to care for our family. We had totally set our minds to make our house work so this is just like icing on the cake! I know some of you can understand..... WE WANT these children. WE LOVE them but we also feel we are just walking out what God has called US to be.
I am following the blogs of the wonderful families in Colombia. Yeah for the Boyachecks and the Hollis family and those beautiful little babies! It is so fun to follow along and I am gathering so many tips from these families.
Pictures next time. And I just promised Hope that she could post the on the big announcement day.
Jan
I love Hope and her venting blogs. She is amazing. She is helping me work on my Spanish. It is not going well. I don't know why I can't seem to remember anything.
We recieved a picture and information on the children Julie told us about. After a wonderful week of thinking things over we are faxing an official request tomorrow. Of course I will not post much until it is official. I am very excited and can't wait to have them home. The first night we had the picture Barry was so weepy. Hope said "these are my kids no matter what two governments say" and Beau was so smiley. Barry definitely had the "those are my kids" moment. I did not. I wish I had but I opened the email and closed it and thought, "AM I CRAZY?". Then I went ouside and was so ansy. I kept going back to look again and again. Now I am in love! I will share more later when things are official.....
Also our contractor is going ahead with the addition on our home anyway. He is just going to absorb the cost. I hope you can all be blessed with how big and amazing this is. He is literally donating thousands of dollars of skill and labor. We are paying for materials. He is a Godly man who knows why we where adopting and why we wanted to add some space to our home. When our financing options looked undesireable due to the housing market we decided to wait a year and bring the kids home ASAP anyway. But God knows the desires of my heart as I am a very organized person and would function better with a little room. Anyway.....the contractor told us "some things are bigger than financial profit and I know God is in this and I want to help". We have been BLOWN away by his determination. Our pastor has offered wonderful counsel to all of us on how to go about things. It is so neat to see the body of Christ come together and say let us together do what we can for these kids. We can be the parents and our church body is helping to provide us with the resources we need to care for our family. We had totally set our minds to make our house work so this is just like icing on the cake! I know some of you can understand..... WE WANT these children. WE LOVE them but we also feel we are just walking out what God has called US to be.
I am following the blogs of the wonderful families in Colombia. Yeah for the Boyachecks and the Hollis family and those beautiful little babies! It is so fun to follow along and I am gathering so many tips from these families.
Pictures next time. And I just promised Hope that she could post the on the big announcement day.
Jan
nothing
nothing is really going on but again i am bored in my computer class. i'm trying to study because i have my chemistry final on Thursday! AHHH!! anyway i am so frustrated because we were already supposed to have played 6 soccer games but we've only been able to play 1 because the weather has been bad. stupid snow!! and we were supposed to have a game today but it got postponed to Monday so now we have 8 games in 10 days. we have one this thursday. then monday, then wednesday , then one thursday, friday, and saturday. then tuesday and i don't know past that. well anyway that's about all. sorry this has abosolutely nothing to with the adoption just me venting about soccer. oh well sorry for those who read this!!
hope
ps. i'll let you know if anything new happens
hope
ps. i'll let you know if anything new happens
We're Still Waiting!!
We're still waiting but things are looking bright. Today is my 16th birthday and that is always exciting but unfortunately it is SNOWING!!!! in April. i love the snow but think this might be a little ridiculous. I'm actually in my computer class at school with nothing to do. there is not much else to say i just thought that i would just update you all that things are going great and we're still waiting but we are getting soooooooo close!!!!! So hopefully it won't be much longer. well i have to go before the teacher chatches me. hehehe!!
hope
hope
In the Same Timezone
I just had a chance to read Hope's last blog. This blog has been her project but now I must add something. Barry and I are in the Beautiful Country of Aruba on a trip he earned through work. For those of you who may not know it is 15 miles off the coast of South America. Last night we were sitting on the beach. I commented that we have 6 children (three not yet home from Colombia). Four are in the same time zone with us-our son in college in Florida and the three we are to adopt. And two are 4 time zones behind us-our daughters Hope and Beau. We have had a wonderful time here and it has given us time to talk about what is ahead. We have had a LOT going on and it has been a winding road as all of you adopting understand. We had a set back with a home addition we had planned just hours before getting on the plane for this trip. We had to undo plans we had made in our mind and rethink a few things. At first we were disappointed, then relieved that God is watching out for us. And in the end we stuck with our favorite motto: ATTITUDE is EVERYTHING. Our kids have heard this a million times. We now feel we have a plan to make our home stretch a little until we can revisit the addition idea next spring. We are even quite excited about it.
Now we are waiting for our psych eval. to be finished and our I171 to arrive (hopefully with no snags or hold ups). Julie emailed us three weeks ago about a group of three. The oldest is a girl who is 8, the next is a girl who is 6 1/2 and the youngest is a boy who is 4 1/2. She only knows they are from the Florencia area. CHI has not heard anything else in three weeks, only that more information is coming. I can't help but wonder if that is because we are still finishing our last bit of paperwork. God is in control of the timing of our adoption. I feel so confident in that. So things are moving well and we can't wait to meet our new babies. I have been praying daily for these children. If they are meant to be ours the we say YES and if not then I ask God to please bring them their forever family quickly. I feel so honored to partner with Barry and parent more children. I love them so much already. As a couple WE feel honored that the Lord would allow us to bring more children into our home. God knows their names and He has more invested in these young lives than we do. He is watching over them.
It has been so nice to see all the Colombian referrals and to follow along with the families that are traveling. I am also standing in faith for those families that are on the Vietnam waiting list. I have a dear friend I met through CHI who has been waiting for over 600 days. She has amazing grace and maturity. Meeting her is a highlight of my adoption process. Please pray for this CHI program and these families as these are unsure times for all of them.
One more thing. Aruba is the nicest tropical place I have ever been. The people are amazing and it is so lovely everywhere you look. Many tropical places are nice in the tourist areas but just beyond the native people are suffering. I have a very hard time tuning this out when I travel. (Maybe that is a good thing.) It is not the case here. The economy seems to be good for everyone. It helps a compassionate person like me to "check out" and relax.
Jan
Now we are waiting for our psych eval. to be finished and our I171 to arrive (hopefully with no snags or hold ups). Julie emailed us three weeks ago about a group of three. The oldest is a girl who is 8, the next is a girl who is 6 1/2 and the youngest is a boy who is 4 1/2. She only knows they are from the Florencia area. CHI has not heard anything else in three weeks, only that more information is coming. I can't help but wonder if that is because we are still finishing our last bit of paperwork. God is in control of the timing of our adoption. I feel so confident in that. So things are moving well and we can't wait to meet our new babies. I have been praying daily for these children. If they are meant to be ours the we say YES and if not then I ask God to please bring them their forever family quickly. I feel so honored to partner with Barry and parent more children. I love them so much already. As a couple WE feel honored that the Lord would allow us to bring more children into our home. God knows their names and He has more invested in these young lives than we do. He is watching over them.
It has been so nice to see all the Colombian referrals and to follow along with the families that are traveling. I am also standing in faith for those families that are on the Vietnam waiting list. I have a dear friend I met through CHI who has been waiting for over 600 days. She has amazing grace and maturity. Meeting her is a highlight of my adoption process. Please pray for this CHI program and these families as these are unsure times for all of them.
One more thing. Aruba is the nicest tropical place I have ever been. The people are amazing and it is so lovely everywhere you look. Many tropical places are nice in the tourist areas but just beyond the native people are suffering. I have a very hard time tuning this out when I travel. (Maybe that is a good thing.) It is not the case here. The economy seems to be good for everyone. It helps a compassionate person like me to "check out" and relax.
Jan
Soon!!
We are still waiting but things are going great! we recieved news that there a few kids in Florencia, Columbia. There are two girls and one boy. We don't know the details, or if they are even our kids but it's still exciting to realize how close we are! That's about all that's going on but i thought i'd update you on it. I also just had high school qualifying exams at school but that's really not that exciting and it really has nothing to do with the adoption. But i still thought it was ridiculous that they expected me to explain the digestive system of a fish!! Ridiculous!! well that's all
Hope
Hope
More Waiting
More Waiting
I don't have to tell anyone who has also walked the way of adoption paperwork about waiting. It is long and out of our control sometimes. But it is OK. We have much to do to prepare so the waiting isn't so bad. Our homestudy is due any day. Barry's birth certificate is out there somewhere--we hope. Our psych eval is in the works and then we need to put our photo pages together. It is really warm here. Well 30ish feels really warm! Our yard looks like slushy has been spilled everywhere. Last Saturday we went to the Iditorad. It was so much fun and now we are tracking how the mushers and dogs are doing. I will post a picture or two soon. Hope has had trouble with a migraine all week. Doing better but behind with her work. Positng a picture of my best pal Gunthar. He is waiting too-can't you tell.
Jan
I don't have to tell anyone who has also walked the way of adoption paperwork about waiting. It is long and out of our control sometimes. But it is OK. We have much to do to prepare so the waiting isn't so bad. Our homestudy is due any day. Barry's birth certificate is out there somewhere--we hope. Our psych eval is in the works and then we need to put our photo pages together. It is really warm here. Well 30ish feels really warm! Our yard looks like slushy has been spilled everywhere. Last Saturday we went to the Iditorad. It was so much fun and now we are tracking how the mushers and dogs are doing. I will post a picture or two soon. Hope has had trouble with a migraine all week. Doing better but behind with her work. Positng a picture of my best pal Gunthar. He is waiting too-can't you tell.
Jan
Colombian Friends
Hello! On Wednesday we had a great opportunity!! We got to meet Mom's friend Genace (they met through the Colombia prayer group) who recently adopted 3 kids from Columbia ( i mean like in December, that's how recent she adopted them). Anyway we met at Dairyqueen and had so much fun. First was Genace's biological daughter Marissa, she's 10 and then there's Fabien, 10, Karen,7, and Luis, 1. They were so cute and we had so much fun. We played in the play house(which i'm way to big for but that's ok :) ) It was fun to talk in Spanish to them ( not very much, i'm only in Spanish 2) but anyway we had a great time. I can't wait!! I want a little brother so bad.
hope
hope
More Paperwork
Today we got a rough draft of our updated homestudy! And I ordered new "pen in hand" birth certificates for Barry and I since the ones we submited a month ago got eaten by some monster at a very official office in Georgia. Just need to get our psych report done, and request a change in our I171 H and then we are about done. The turn around at the Alaska USCIS office is quite fast and as soon as we submit everything it should come back in about a week. Yes! I just really don't like that dossier list. Hate is a strong word so I won't use that one.
We got a BIG dump of snow today. I welcomed it as we have not had a lot of snow and it has been too cold to enjoy what we had. It is warmer now and fun to play in. Beau and I and 4 of her friends went swimming. And Barry took them all out in the snow to play on the 4 wheeler. Hope went to Fairbanks. Ended up getting to fly first class. Told us she prefers coach as it is just a bunch of old people drinking too much alcohol. Amazing insight. And Zac and Mandy are plugging along with the semester. They are working hard on shcool, planning a wedding, working parttime jobs. I pray God gives them strength for the journey. I have enjoyed reading blogs of a few families I like to follow today. Nice to see things move along.
Jan
We got a BIG dump of snow today. I welcomed it as we have not had a lot of snow and it has been too cold to enjoy what we had. It is warmer now and fun to play in. Beau and I and 4 of her friends went swimming. And Barry took them all out in the snow to play on the 4 wheeler. Hope went to Fairbanks. Ended up getting to fly first class. Told us she prefers coach as it is just a bunch of old people drinking too much alcohol. Amazing insight. And Zac and Mandy are plugging along with the semester. They are working hard on shcool, planning a wedding, working parttime jobs. I pray God gives them strength for the journey. I have enjoyed reading blogs of a few families I like to follow today. Nice to see things move along.
Jan
Paper Chase
Each day that I am not working and after I get everyone out the door I look over the dossier list and see what I might get done. Today I tried to track down the birth certificates that I sent to Georgia a month ago. I needed to get them exchanged for a "pen in hand" copy as the first ones where returned to me by the apostille office and rejected. The office that issued them had instructed me to send them back and they would send me new ones. Thinking I would save time I included an envelope and all necessary items to the office that would handle the apostille. After a very long phone call they finally decided that they are lost. So I will start all over. Now I know I am not the first one to go through this type of paper chase. I didn't even bother getting worked up about it. I do envy those of you that can drive over to the capital and get all your paper work handled. Even if it was all going to Alaska I would still be dependent on mail. Juneau is like 1000 miles away (really) and only accessible by plane! We are almost done though. I also went to Beau's school and took pictures for the kids photo pages as this will be their school when we bring them home. Of course everthing is snowy--but beautiful. The stafff there is very supportive. Tomorrow I will order new birth certificates and try again.
Jan
Jan
God is Amazing
This is Hope's mom, Jan. And she is correct that she has tried to get us to consider adopting for years. Amazing how God works. We never really thought about it much until a little over a year ago. We admit now we can look back and see that God has been preparing us for this for many years. Now I can hardly wait to wrap my arms around my new children. My husband has turned into a sap as he tears up nearly everytime we talk about them.
The most amazing thing is the neat people I have met. The staff at CHI have been so warm and helpful. I have found a great friend in Melanie from Tennessee who is waitng, waiting, waiting for a referral from Vietnam. We are from Tennessee and her neck of the woods. Small world! I really needed a southern girl hook up. Our family originally was on the list for Vietnam but realized rather quickly that one child would never due ,so after seeking God and good counsel, we switched to the Columbia program. Now we are reaching the end of our dossier work. Just a few more things to go and it will be off to Julie and the staff at the Oregon office.
And recenlty I started peeking in the Monday night prayer group for Columbia only to find a family that just came home in December with three children that live very near us here in Alaska. It was so encouraging. I am blessed as all God has already done.
I am so proud of my family so this blog will include a lot if pictures of them.
The most amazing thing is the neat people I have met. The staff at CHI have been so warm and helpful. I have found a great friend in Melanie from Tennessee who is waitng, waiting, waiting for a referral from Vietnam. We are from Tennessee and her neck of the woods. Small world! I really needed a southern girl hook up. Our family originally was on the list for Vietnam but realized rather quickly that one child would never due ,so after seeking God and good counsel, we switched to the Columbia program. Now we are reaching the end of our dossier work. Just a few more things to go and it will be off to Julie and the staff at the Oregon office.
And recenlty I started peeking in the Monday night prayer group for Columbia only to find a family that just came home in December with three children that live very near us here in Alaska. It was so encouraging. I am blessed as all God has already done.
I am so proud of my family so this blog will include a lot if pictures of them.
Waiting...
Hello again! We're still waiting! like most people but it's okay. My parents are slowly but surely working on the checklist, it has gotten a lot smaller since we first started and they both got their passports which is good. And one of our friends from church is a notary so every Sunday we get more done. The people who did my parents finger prints were very excited, they even pulled up the website. Everyone is so excited for us. I've told all my friends and they couldn't be happier. Zac and Mandy are back at school but we're still here. i'm not sure what i'm supposed to talk about on here. We have one dog, a golden retriever named Gunthar and two cats, Mr. Darci ( I was 13 and loved Pride and Prejudice) and Lily. My sister has a bird, Cocoa and i have a fish, Avagadro (yes, named after the Italian Chemist, Avagadro's Number). So our house is always busy and full but we love it. Well I have chemistry test tomorrow. :) Goodnight!
Hope
Hope
Hello
Hello, we are the Hagertys. We are adopting three siblings from Columbia! We are very excited! I'm Hope, and I've been trying to convince my parents to adopt since forever and now they finally are!! We live in Alaska. My brother, Zac is going to college in Floridia and he is engaged to a lovely girl named Mandy. I live with my parents and my little sister, Beau. We cannot wait to bring home the kids to love them!! Well thank you for reading this blog.
Hope
Hope
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