I watched this documentary recently of John Piper speaking about moving from the racism he grew up in and journeying toward the eventual adoption of his youngest child, Talitha, who is African American. It is a beautiful story and the video is very well done. It is about 19 minutes long and not "normal" Piper:) I appreciate Piper but honestly can't always keep up with him....but this video touched my heart and spirit. I also found it interesting that he grew up in Greenville, SC. I hope you'll take some time to watch.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Transparency...
Wish I had great news but honestly this week I am feeling quite discouraged. Our dossier was turned in and our agency has asked us to redo almost half of it. Much of our paperwork was completed in Jan/Feb/March/April of last year. We did lots of it while we were doing our home study paperwork so we could be ready to mail it in as soon as we received our USCIS approval. When Mark's job changed in June before we received that coveted USCIS approval, everything paused. Then once he was rehired in Sept. we had to amend our home study before we could submit our dossier. And now we are in 2012 and that means much of the paperwork in our dossier is almost a year old. Apparently in Uganda when it comes to this kind of paperwork it isn't wise to have it that old.
So we are reordering birth certificates. Did you know a birth certificate in SC costs $12 each and birth certificates from Michigan cost $50 each and birth certificates from Colorado cost $30? Each person in the household has to have 2 new birth certificates. Although we have 6 marriage certificates issued February of 2010, we have to get 2 newer ones:) Thankfully we have the money because of all our wonderful fundraisers but just hate spending it on redoing paperwork!
Do I sound frustrated? Yeah I am. I realize I shouldn't be and it is just part of this process. I am just ready to feel like we are making progress! Okay enough whining:) I am THANKFUL! For what I am learning in the wait...for the way this pressure is prayerfully causing some refining and in the end some beautiful character.
I am thankful that in the delays and waiting God is surely working and although His ways are indeed not my ways...they are so much better! Do I feel thankful? No, at the moment I FEEL like I want to throw a hissy fit and stomp my foot and pout and whine to Jesus about why in the world I have to REDO all this blasted paperwork that I FINALLY just finished!! And why I have to spend all this money again and why does it all have to take SO stinking long!!!
Big cleansing breath....the Lord sees and knows...His timing is amazingly perfect...He has our best interests in mind....and I can always trust His heart...He knows where our littles are and when they will need us...He is preparing the way before us and none of this journey is wasted...none of the pain, none of the frustration, none of the growth opportunities, none of the new relationships made, none of the angst. Gotta keep my eyes on that! Thanks for journeying with us:) In the end...it is going to be blow-our-minds amazing! I just deep-in-my gut KNOW it!
So we are reordering birth certificates. Did you know a birth certificate in SC costs $12 each and birth certificates from Michigan cost $50 each and birth certificates from Colorado cost $30? Each person in the household has to have 2 new birth certificates. Although we have 6 marriage certificates issued February of 2010, we have to get 2 newer ones:) Thankfully we have the money because of all our wonderful fundraisers but just hate spending it on redoing paperwork!
Do I sound frustrated? Yeah I am. I realize I shouldn't be and it is just part of this process. I am just ready to feel like we are making progress! Okay enough whining:) I am THANKFUL! For what I am learning in the wait...for the way this pressure is prayerfully causing some refining and in the end some beautiful character.
I am thankful that in the delays and waiting God is surely working and although His ways are indeed not my ways...they are so much better! Do I feel thankful? No, at the moment I FEEL like I want to throw a hissy fit and stomp my foot and pout and whine to Jesus about why in the world I have to REDO all this blasted paperwork that I FINALLY just finished!! And why I have to spend all this money again and why does it all have to take SO stinking long!!!
Big cleansing breath....the Lord sees and knows...His timing is amazingly perfect...He has our best interests in mind....and I can always trust His heart...He knows where our littles are and when they will need us...He is preparing the way before us and none of this journey is wasted...none of the pain, none of the frustration, none of the growth opportunities, none of the new relationships made, none of the angst. Gotta keep my eyes on that! Thanks for journeying with us:) In the end...it is going to be blow-our-minds amazing! I just deep-in-my gut KNOW it!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Need an affordable Christmas gift idea???...
I am finally following through and posting pictures of the Ugandan bead necklaces we are selling in the ornament globes.
Aren't they pretty? They have some white tinsel on the bottom of the globe, which is hard to see in this picture. The top of the ornament comes right off so you can simply pull the necklace out after Christmas to wear it! I also have some with the bow smaller, not as a hanger. We are selling these ornaments for $30. They would make a fun teacher gift and also great for an ornament exchange!
We can wrap them up for you like this!
We can wrap them up for you like this!
We also have lots of the necklaces on their own for $25. They all come with a tag that tells the story of the woman that make these beads. These women were making a living through prostitution or picking trash, but Amazima Ministries has helped them form a community and taught them this trade. They now make a sustainable income making the necklaces. 147 Million Orphans purchases the necklaces from the women and helps sell them all over the world. They have a special ministry to adoptive families like ours, helping us use these necklaces to raise funds to help us make our adoption possible. So a portion of your purchase goes back to the women that make the necklaces and the rest goes to our adoption fund.
We have also found another pretty way to display the necklaces like this:
You can purchase these for $28. We also are selling these starfish ornaments for $8.
When we first decided to adopt we remembered the story of the man that was walking on the beach and saw hundreds of starfish washed up on shore and he saw a little boy throwing them back into the ocean one by one. The man told the little boy that he might as well stop because it didn't matter and he wasn't going to save enough of the starfish. But the little boy continued and said, "It matters to this one!"
That seems to sum up the way we feel about James 1:27 and our role as believers in fulfilling the call to help the widows and the orphans. We can't adopt or help ALL the 147 million orphans. But we can do what we ARE ABLE to do. That might be adopt one, or sponsor a Compassion child or send an Operation Christmas Child shoebox or help with an adoption yard sale or cut the grass for a widow or buy a necklace or ornament....but it is still making a difference for one. We are called to do for one what we wish we could do for all.
The starfish ornament also comes with a card attached that shares the story of the little boy and the starfish. They can be hung on a tree or displayed for Christmas.
These really do make fun, unique gifts that have a story, a purpose and an opportunity to give back. Let me know if you are interested in buying one! You can email me at erikachapman74@gmail.com or leave a comment below! Thank you!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Update!! - Finally:)
There has been so much going on that honestly I am a little overwhelmed at where to begin. At the end of this you may actually feel like nothing has really changed but in the world of adoption sometimes you go one step forward and three steps back, yet that is at least movement, which is progress!
Shannon and Lee Burris helped us have another yard sale, which went great! Many of our friends and home group peeps chipped in to donate and work and we made over $800! We are so thankful! I also was blessed to be able to have a booth at the She Event at the Civic Center two weekends ago and sold our Ugandan necklaces from 147 Million Orphans. We sold 40 necklaces but have lots more so please contact me if you are interested in purchasing some for Christmas presents. I will post pictures hopefully tomorrow because we also have put some of the necklaces in pretty clear globes and are selling them for $25 as ornaments with bows on them. You can hang them on the tree and/or take the necklace out to wear them. They would work great for an ornament exchange or just a beautiful way to give the necklaces as a gift in a festive fashion. We will also wrap them up for you. I know you need a picture so I'll post those tomorrow:)
We also have been in the process of resubmitting the financial portion of our home study to be reapproved because of Mark's job change. In the midst of submitting that paperwork in a round about way we became aware of some new children that came into care at the orphanage from which we are adopting. A sibling group of three came into care in mid-October. Mark and I separately could not get them off of our minds and through prayer and conversation decided to inquire about them. We weren't sure if we could be approved to adopt three. Fairly quickly we were approved by our home study agency for three and then submitted our home study with the revisions to the financial forms as well as changing our request from approval for two children to approval for three. That paperwork has gone through DSS hands and is now being processed through USCIS which is Immigration. We are finishing up a few more items that need to be submitted so our dossier will be complete. Once we receive our I71-C, which is Immigration approval, then we will send that on to our agency and they will send our completed dossier to Uganda and we will be considered paper ready, or ready for our referral.
So this is where things become complicated:) We received an email a few days ago explaining that because of the heightened awareness of unethical adoptions the Embassy and the judges are being extremely cautious about awarding legal guardianship to adoptive families. Our agency's desire is to make sure that each adoption is ethical and very thorough in attempting to track down Ugandan family members that might be able to and be willing to adopt the children at the Tender Hearts Babies Home.
So we did make it clear to our agency that we would like to be considered for a referral for this sibling group of three. They can make absolutely no promises or guarantees. They cannot discuss the children in any detail until they are ready to make our referral. We understand that. For all the children that are in their care they have to advertise in newspapers and on radio stations about these children in an attempt to track down family members. They need to do this repeatedly over a six month period. It will also take around six months to make sure the children medically are where they need to be to be considered adoptable.
So the discouraging thing is the reality that even if these little ones are one day called to be Chapmans, it will be at least six months before we are even offered their referral. However, at least we have a little more of a rough and tentative timeline. If we do receive their referral and accept it the lawyer then submits our file for a court date. Then once we receive a court date we go to Uganda with the very real possibility of being over there for at least 4-6 weeks. So we settle back into the pray and wait mode. We do still have some footwork to do in finalizing some paperwork, but for the most part we need to sit back and watch Jesus work all this stuff out.
We are so thankful for the way you all encourage us by asking about the process and praying for us! Thank you for understanding when we seem a little discouraged with the wait. And please forgive us if at times we seem unenthusiastic when we talk about it! It just is hard waiting at times! We know the Lord is working even when we don't see it and we also rest in the fact that He has a plan and His ways are not our ways!
We try not to talk at length about these kinds of details with the boys because the waiting is a hard concept for them too. We still may only receive a referral for one child, or two...or it may end up being three. Until we have more concrete details we simply pray for our little ones together daily and ask for eyes of faith. We have such an amazing community of people that we know are praying for us and watching to see what the Lord will do through this process.
Shannon and Lee Burris helped us have another yard sale, which went great! Many of our friends and home group peeps chipped in to donate and work and we made over $800! We are so thankful! I also was blessed to be able to have a booth at the She Event at the Civic Center two weekends ago and sold our Ugandan necklaces from 147 Million Orphans. We sold 40 necklaces but have lots more so please contact me if you are interested in purchasing some for Christmas presents. I will post pictures hopefully tomorrow because we also have put some of the necklaces in pretty clear globes and are selling them for $25 as ornaments with bows on them. You can hang them on the tree and/or take the necklace out to wear them. They would work great for an ornament exchange or just a beautiful way to give the necklaces as a gift in a festive fashion. We will also wrap them up for you. I know you need a picture so I'll post those tomorrow:)
We also have been in the process of resubmitting the financial portion of our home study to be reapproved because of Mark's job change. In the midst of submitting that paperwork in a round about way we became aware of some new children that came into care at the orphanage from which we are adopting. A sibling group of three came into care in mid-October. Mark and I separately could not get them off of our minds and through prayer and conversation decided to inquire about them. We weren't sure if we could be approved to adopt three. Fairly quickly we were approved by our home study agency for three and then submitted our home study with the revisions to the financial forms as well as changing our request from approval for two children to approval for three. That paperwork has gone through DSS hands and is now being processed through USCIS which is Immigration. We are finishing up a few more items that need to be submitted so our dossier will be complete. Once we receive our I71-C, which is Immigration approval, then we will send that on to our agency and they will send our completed dossier to Uganda and we will be considered paper ready, or ready for our referral.
So this is where things become complicated:) We received an email a few days ago explaining that because of the heightened awareness of unethical adoptions the Embassy and the judges are being extremely cautious about awarding legal guardianship to adoptive families. Our agency's desire is to make sure that each adoption is ethical and very thorough in attempting to track down Ugandan family members that might be able to and be willing to adopt the children at the Tender Hearts Babies Home.
So we did make it clear to our agency that we would like to be considered for a referral for this sibling group of three. They can make absolutely no promises or guarantees. They cannot discuss the children in any detail until they are ready to make our referral. We understand that. For all the children that are in their care they have to advertise in newspapers and on radio stations about these children in an attempt to track down family members. They need to do this repeatedly over a six month period. It will also take around six months to make sure the children medically are where they need to be to be considered adoptable.
So the discouraging thing is the reality that even if these little ones are one day called to be Chapmans, it will be at least six months before we are even offered their referral. However, at least we have a little more of a rough and tentative timeline. If we do receive their referral and accept it the lawyer then submits our file for a court date. Then once we receive a court date we go to Uganda with the very real possibility of being over there for at least 4-6 weeks. So we settle back into the pray and wait mode. We do still have some footwork to do in finalizing some paperwork, but for the most part we need to sit back and watch Jesus work all this stuff out.
We are so thankful for the way you all encourage us by asking about the process and praying for us! Thank you for understanding when we seem a little discouraged with the wait. And please forgive us if at times we seem unenthusiastic when we talk about it! It just is hard waiting at times! We know the Lord is working even when we don't see it and we also rest in the fact that He has a plan and His ways are not our ways!
We try not to talk at length about these kinds of details with the boys because the waiting is a hard concept for them too. We still may only receive a referral for one child, or two...or it may end up being three. Until we have more concrete details we simply pray for our little ones together daily and ask for eyes of faith. We have such an amazing community of people that we know are praying for us and watching to see what the Lord will do through this process.
Monday, October 10, 2011
More on the Big Reveal
Vanessa Brown is our sweet friend that nominated us for our makeover. She recently blogged here about the experience and included some more pictures and a fun video of the big reveal when the boys were shown their new room. I hope you take the time to check it out and leave her some comment love. She is amazing and we are so thankful for all she did to make it happen for us. She is a busy mom of three little ones and a pastor's wife so she sacrificed so much time and energy on our behalf and we are blessed!
Monday, October 3, 2011
The Big Reveal
We are so amazed and blown away about what God did in our home through our incredible friends this week. They so selflessly and tirelessly served us and the result is beautiful:) Lauren Mendenhall is the talented and wonderful designer that gave her time and talents to this project. She posted some of her thoughts and pictures of the before and after on her blog. So check out Amen Life + Style Inspired Design blog.
**I do have to add a slight addendum to Lauren's blog post. We do NOT have our referral yet. We have requested two children with the younger hopefully being a girl. The babies home from which we are adopting normally only takes children up to 3 years of age. So in planning the room Lauren did plan for an infant girl and a toddler boy. We do pray that we will have our referral by the end of the year but the timing is certainly the Lord's! But praise Jesus we are now ready, ready, ready for both of them:)**
I will post a link to Leading and Loving It when Vanessa posts about her perspective as well. And soon I will post more on our thoughts. I am pretty consumed with trying to move back into the two rooms. It is requiring lots of organizing, shifting, dumping and rearranging. It will be a process! I am also packing because while Mark is away in California for training, Mom, Dad and I are headed to Atlanta on Wednesday for Catalyst! I am super excited:) God is heaping some extra special blessings on my plate these days and I am thankful!
**I do have to add a slight addendum to Lauren's blog post. We do NOT have our referral yet. We have requested two children with the younger hopefully being a girl. The babies home from which we are adopting normally only takes children up to 3 years of age. So in planning the room Lauren did plan for an infant girl and a toddler boy. We do pray that we will have our referral by the end of the year but the timing is certainly the Lord's! But praise Jesus we are now ready, ready, ready for both of them:)**
I will post a link to Leading and Loving It when Vanessa posts about her perspective as well. And soon I will post more on our thoughts. I am pretty consumed with trying to move back into the two rooms. It is requiring lots of organizing, shifting, dumping and rearranging. It will be a process! I am also packing because while Mark is away in California for training, Mom, Dad and I are headed to Atlanta on Wednesday for Catalyst! I am super excited:) God is heaping some extra special blessings on my plate these days and I am thankful!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Is it Christmas?
I have SO much to say but I must keep it short...I am afraid I won't be able to sleep tonight because tomorrow may be one of the most exciting nights of my year! The past week has been big for us. Mark traveled to Atlanta for the week for training for his new job, praise the Lord! We are thankful:) Eli and Haig have been battling pneumonia, which meant 7 doctor visits in 12 days and one chest x-ray. McCall was sick too but not as badly. They are all on their second round of antibiotics. but we seem to be on the upswing.
Well, in the midst, of that semi-normal chaos....came an amazing blessing:) On Wed. Sept 21st, Vanessa Brown (our pastor's wife and dear friend) left me a message saying she had some exciting news.
When I finally talked to her she told me that she had nominated us on the website www.leadingandlovingit.com for an extreme home mini-makover...and WE WON!!! You can read the post here that announced we won and her wonderful nomination letter. Can you say oh my goodness?!?
So we were awarded $2,500 to prepare for the arrival of our new little ones. The plan is to make our playroom into a room for Haig and Eli, and make the current upstairs, boys room into a nursery. God has so beautifully orchestrated an amazing team of volunteers and so many little details to make this happen. Vanessa put on her foreman's hat and took the lead. She asked Lauren Mendenhall a designer from Charleston if she would help and we are so thankful she said yes! She came last Saturday and spent some time with us and the boys at the house talking about things we like and dislike and getting a feel for our needs and what we envision.
Vanessa asked if I would be willing to give them my preferences and then just let them go with it. I willingly agreed:) I'm a simple girl. I go naturally for function and comfort. I love pretty, and artistic and design but that doesn't come naturally to me. So decorating and the thought of ME having to make decisions like that makes my blood pressure go WAY up! What an amazing gift to have someone gifted and talented like Lauren come in and hear my heart and decorate based on that!! And then Vanessa with her incredible gifts of organization and leadership come in and organize my space and rally the troops! And as much as we are preparing for the little ones that will eventually come into our home...decorating for them and spending the money needed to truly redecorate or add on to a room...the funds for that just weren't available, honestly, nor the energy or vision. So this makeover is providing a miracle. It is turning what we have, water ....into wine!
Yesterday the heavy duty hard work started and volunteers were at our house from 7:30 a.m. until probably 1 a.m. the next day. They were back again at 7:45 a.m. this morning! We spent the night at our wonderful friends, the Franks house last night and this weekend we are bedding down with Grandma Pat. They want to surprise us as much as possible with the final product:)
Today when I would drive down Edisto Drive there were cars in every spot possible in the driveway and yard. There were anywhere between 15-20 volunteers at the house at any given time. People made lunch and snacks and brought food for the volunteers. I was planning to do that today but before I could finish the plan I was told it was taken care of. What amazes me is how God is preparing the way for Hope and whoever else He brings into our family. He is already writing their story through the sacrificial efforts and love of people...our friends, our church community....and we don't even have a picture of Hope yet! I get to share with our little ones some day that Mommy and Daddy didn't just pray for, work for, sacrifice for and prepare for them...a whole community made the way for them.
We are the recipients of unmerited favor...we are so thankful and overwhelmed at God's grace and goodness. Yesterday we also received the wonderful news that the first two families to apply for adoption from the Tender Hearts Babies Home, which is the home from which we are adopting, received a positive verdict from the judge. That means they are in Uganda now with their children and will be allowed to bring them home to the US next week. This is huge! Our process could not move past the paperwork and referral stage until these families came home. We are SO thankful!
So the mini-makeover plan is to be done sometime tomorrow so they can do the "reveal" to the family. We are truly thrilled. I just can't stop smiling:) Seriously!! So check back here tomorrow night or at the latest hopefully Monday for pics of before and AFTER!!! OH MY GOODNESS I CAN HARDLY WAIT!!! I feel like it is Christmas!!! Thank you Leading and Loving It!! Thank you Vanessa!! Thank you Jesus!!
Well, in the midst, of that semi-normal chaos....came an amazing blessing:) On Wed. Sept 21st, Vanessa Brown (our pastor's wife and dear friend) left me a message saying she had some exciting news.
When I finally talked to her she told me that she had nominated us on the website www.leadingandlovingit.com for an extreme home mini-makover...and WE WON!!! You can read the post here that announced we won and her wonderful nomination letter. Can you say oh my goodness?!?
So we were awarded $2,500 to prepare for the arrival of our new little ones. The plan is to make our playroom into a room for Haig and Eli, and make the current upstairs, boys room into a nursery. God has so beautifully orchestrated an amazing team of volunteers and so many little details to make this happen. Vanessa put on her foreman's hat and took the lead. She asked Lauren Mendenhall a designer from Charleston if she would help and we are so thankful she said yes! She came last Saturday and spent some time with us and the boys at the house talking about things we like and dislike and getting a feel for our needs and what we envision.
Vanessa asked if I would be willing to give them my preferences and then just let them go with it. I willingly agreed:) I'm a simple girl. I go naturally for function and comfort. I love pretty, and artistic and design but that doesn't come naturally to me. So decorating and the thought of ME having to make decisions like that makes my blood pressure go WAY up! What an amazing gift to have someone gifted and talented like Lauren come in and hear my heart and decorate based on that!! And then Vanessa with her incredible gifts of organization and leadership come in and organize my space and rally the troops! And as much as we are preparing for the little ones that will eventually come into our home...decorating for them and spending the money needed to truly redecorate or add on to a room...the funds for that just weren't available, honestly, nor the energy or vision. So this makeover is providing a miracle. It is turning what we have, water ....into wine!
Yesterday the heavy duty hard work started and volunteers were at our house from 7:30 a.m. until probably 1 a.m. the next day. They were back again at 7:45 a.m. this morning! We spent the night at our wonderful friends, the Franks house last night and this weekend we are bedding down with Grandma Pat. They want to surprise us as much as possible with the final product:)
Today when I would drive down Edisto Drive there were cars in every spot possible in the driveway and yard. There were anywhere between 15-20 volunteers at the house at any given time. People made lunch and snacks and brought food for the volunteers. I was planning to do that today but before I could finish the plan I was told it was taken care of. What amazes me is how God is preparing the way for Hope and whoever else He brings into our family. He is already writing their story through the sacrificial efforts and love of people...our friends, our church community....and we don't even have a picture of Hope yet! I get to share with our little ones some day that Mommy and Daddy didn't just pray for, work for, sacrifice for and prepare for them...a whole community made the way for them.
We are the recipients of unmerited favor...we are so thankful and overwhelmed at God's grace and goodness. Yesterday we also received the wonderful news that the first two families to apply for adoption from the Tender Hearts Babies Home, which is the home from which we are adopting, received a positive verdict from the judge. That means they are in Uganda now with their children and will be allowed to bring them home to the US next week. This is huge! Our process could not move past the paperwork and referral stage until these families came home. We are SO thankful!
So the mini-makeover plan is to be done sometime tomorrow so they can do the "reveal" to the family. We are truly thrilled. I just can't stop smiling:) Seriously!! So check back here tomorrow night or at the latest hopefully Monday for pics of before and AFTER!!! OH MY GOODNESS I CAN HARDLY WAIT!!! I feel like it is Christmas!!! Thank you Leading and Loving It!! Thank you Vanessa!! Thank you Jesus!!
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