A little house progress

We got an awesome deal on a foreclosed home last spring.  The only problem was that the previous owners were apparently not happy to leave and they took their frustration out on the walls. 

Brett has been working hard on patching everything up and even completely redid a couple of walls with new sheetrock.  We also don't care for the lovely strips they put on the walls in manufactured homes, so Brett has been taping and mudding those too.  There is a lot of work to do still, but the dining room is finally done!

Here is the before picture:

And here it is now:

It feels so nice to have fresh paint on the walls!

Boy, n.: a noise with dirt on it.

Being surrounded with all of these little girls around here, can I just say one thing?

BOYS

ARE

DIFFERENT!

And it's kinda fun!

Oh, and mud is soooo much easier to wash of than peanut butter.

Maybe they're not all that different after all?

Girls are just a little more creative.

Adoption Agreement Between US and Russia

The US and Russia signed an agreement to do with adoptions between the two countries yesterday.  We still have no idea if or how this will affect us bringing home Graham.  Please pray for everything to continue forward smoothly!

More information here.

Russia

July 13, 2011

Notice: Secretary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov Sign Adoption Agreement

The Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security announced today, July 13, 2011, that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov signed a bilateral adoptions agreement that will strengthen procedural safeguards in adoptions between our countries.
This Agreement will provide additional safeguards to better protect the welfare and interests of children and all parties involved in intercountry adoptions. Under the Agreement, only adoption agencies authorized by the Russian government will be able to operate in Russia and provide services in adoptions covered by the Agreement, except in the case of an adoption of a child by his or her relatives. This will largely eliminate independent adoptions from Russia and create a better defined framework for intercountry adoptions between the United States and Russia. The Agreement also includes provisions designed to improve post-adoption reporting and monitoring and to ensure that prospective adoptive parents receive more complete information about adoptive children’s social and medical histories and anticipated needs.
The United States is committed to working with the Russian Federation on implementing the provisions laid forth in this Agreement as soon as it enters into force.
The Department of State will publish criteria, procedures, and clear guidance related to the Agreement on adoption.state.gov prior to the Agreement's entry into force.
To find out more: Please visit the Department of State's FAQs on the Agreement and the Department of Homeland Security's FAQs on procedural implications.

Our adoption journey so far....

Many already know what has led up to this adoption, but I thought I would share this here for those that would like to hear our story.

We first approached adoption about three years ago when we found out about a sibling group of three little girls that were going to be removed from their mom (kind of a friend of a friend of a family member kind of situation). We knew that they were with a relative and that the relative was going to decide to not keep them. We contacted a social worker and she was very optimistic about us being able to adopt them. Apparently it happens a lot that groups like this never even make it into the system because people find out about the situation first. Our social worker was rushing us quickly through all of the training, but unfortunately the girls' social worker did not want to wait a couple more weeks and put the girls' info out there and they were chosen that day by another couple. We were heartbroken.  We really felt that God was calling us to adoption and didn't understand why it hadn't worked out. A couple of weeks later I found out I was pregnant with my son.

Over the last couple of years we have had a lot of conversations about why God called us to that adoption. Maybe someday we would look into it again. But, we had 4 little ones and then 5 little ones 5 and under! We would be crazy to adopt. Life is so busy. We have a house that really could use some cosmetic work. We always said once the kids were a little older and could help more around the house maybe it would be a good time then to look into it.

Then I read Susanna's "Unsearchable Understanding" blog post last September and it hit me hard! (Thank you so much Susanna for always showing your heart in your posts.) That was us, always saying, "someday we will do it, but the timing isn't right." I was really convicted about how many times God has placed things on our hearts and we would sit and make excuses as to why it wouldn't work or why it wasn't the right time.

I opened up the Reece's Rainbow page one day and started looking around. The children there just melted my heart. I kept getting drawn back to those photos over and over again and Graham would jump out at me every time. After weeks of staring at his photo every day my husband finally said to go ahead and contact them and get more information. We really felt God telling us that this is where he wanted us, but we were hesitant after the last time when we felt he was saying the same thing. Around that time I read something to the effect that God is the rudder on your ship, but a rudder can not steer a ship if it isn't moving forward. So forward we went!

We have really seen God's hand in this whole thing. There are so many doors that have been opened already that we thought might stop everything. We have a wonderful social worker that is working on writing our homestudy right now so we can get that sent out to our agency and they can send it to USCIS for approval. Please pray for this if you can, there is a mountain to move here! This is one of the biggest steps of faith we have taken and we know that God can do it if he wants Graham home with us.

We are not able to work with Reece's Rainbow for raising funds for the adoption right now, but we have some other fundraising ideas in the works!

Quote

"Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine and injustice in the world when He could do something about it...but I'm afraid He might ask me the same question."

Anonymous

Why Rescue Orphans?

What does the Bible say...

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, "Give them up!" and to the south, "Do not hold them back." Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth"  Isaiah 43:5-6


"A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.  God sets the lonely in families.  (Psalms 68:5-6)


"He defends the cause of the fatherless"  (Deuteronomy 10:18)


"In you the fatherless find mercy." (Hosea 14:4)


"You are the helpers of the fatherless." (Psalm 10:14)


"It is not the will of your Father that one of these little ones should perish." (Matthew 18:14)


"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress." (James 1:27)


"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." (Luke 18:16)


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


"Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." (Matthew 18:5)


"And Jesus took the children in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them." (Mark 10:16)


"Remember those…who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." (Hebrews 13:3)


"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us…let us not love with word or tongue, but with action and in truth." (I John 3:16-18)


"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in." (Matthew 25:35)


"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…defend the rights of the needy." (Proverbs 31:8,9)
 "He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me, declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 22:16)


http://reecesrainbow.org/new-family/why-rescue-orphans

Chickens and Guineas oh my!

We got our baby chicks yesterday.  They are so cute and fuzzy! 

Here are the nameless Guinea Hens:

And our chickens (Gold Sex Links, Barred Rocks, and Americanas):

So, from left to right, umm, just pretend you know which is which...

Lemon Drop

Yellow Head

Zig Zag

Sawdust

Blackie

Stripes

Tiger

Goldie

Sunny

and Skunk.

This is Tiger the Americana:

She should give us blue/green eggs, fun!