God is Great!!

We got a call from AGCI today concerning more of the financial side of the adoption. They were concerned that we did not have as much money in savings as they would like to see before we started the process. The initial payment is approximatelly twice what we have in our savings and would be due within two weeks of them accepting us with the official contracts. Although we have several great fund raisers planned, they didn't think we would be able to get the money in the time necessary to get the contracts back to them. After stressing over the "What next" aspcet, and praying about what God would have us do, we got the answer, literally. We were eating dinner at church before quior and youth group started, and got a call from a close friend who has supported us from the start of this process. They wanted to know how things were going with the adoption application and us waiting to get approved. We briefly shared what we had found out today and that we would need to raise $10,000 as soon as humanly possible. They proceeded to tell us that they would get a check in the mail in the morning for the full amount. They want to see us move forward and were able to bless and help us in this way. God is just so awesome!!! He knows what He is doing and just wants us to move forward in faith and trust and He will provide all we need to accomplish what he has called us to. This is a case in point. We were honestly praying and freaking out all afternoon. Now all we can say is "GOD IS SO GOOD!" Thank you to the friend who was able to bless us and our future child(ren). God knows who you are and what a blessing you are to us in our life! We hope to post tomorrow the officail approval with AGCI. We will keep you posted.

Prayer Please!

Please PRAY! Our application goes up for review with the social services department at AGCI again today. Pray that everything goes through and we are able to be officially 'accepted' into the program. It has been a long process already with getting accepted and are nervous and excited to be getting accepted and hopefully moving forward. I will post and let you all know what happens! - Thank you - Dan and tara

So sweet!

I have the greatest family! My niece and nephews are so sweet! They are excited for us to get babies and tonight they boys asked me about the cookbook to see if it was almost done yet. They said they would each buy one with their own money to help us get our baby. Also, Macy (the girl) got ahold of our camera and took a bunch of pictures (like170) and told me I could sell the pictures for money to help us get our baby. Putting this into perspective, these kids are 6, 8, and 10. SO sweet huh!

Babysitting

Tonight we are babysitting my sister's kids and dog. They had to go to a fundraiser event. Here are some fun pictures that my niece and I took.

Uncle Dan looks a little worn out! Just got home from a meeting at work.

Grant was stuck upstairs when the other kids went downstairs to play.

Macy being silly stuffing a whole cracker in her mouth!

Grant getting some loving from Mickey

They start 'em young nowadays! (he's using the mouse on the computer in this picture. And is being ever so helpful as I try and post this, he's got the mouse back and turned it back on - I had turned it off so he wouldn't mess up this post or delete it midway being done. By the way, he's not even 2 yet, only 21 months or so!)

Update!

OK. So, for another update. We got the financial papers filled out and back to AGCI today. They also heard back from their in-country director about the cancer history, who thinks everything will be ok. There is no 100% guarantee that it will be fine, but it looks as though it will be ok. Our application goes up for review again on Monday, we ask that anyone who thinks of it will pray for us. Pray that we get approved Monday and can get the contracts signed soon so we can move forward with our homestudy and dossier. We are excited and nervous all at the same time. We know this is a long process ahead of us and are just ready to get things started. We thank the Lord for the desire to have children and adopt! God is so good to us and His love and mercies are never ending. We know this is going to happen, we just have to wait for His perfect timing! Thank you to all who are checking our blog, we will update whenever there is reason!

Sorry!

Ok, maybe I shouldn't have ranted quite so much! We are fine - still love the agency AGCI. It's just Satan throwing more things in my way. I am an 'in control' type person. I like to have a general idea/timeline how things are going to work, and this is already way off from what I was considering. I know that this whole process is going to be out of my control 99% of the time and I just need to learn to wait and trust in the Lord. Forgive my rant - it's just hard. - T

Staying Strong

Do you ever have one of those days when you feel like asking, what is going to happen next? - Today is that for me. As I started cleaning house this morning, I was just thinking, what next. It has been almost 2 months and we are still working on getting officially accepted with the agency we want to use. They finally got the cancer letter, and think that it shouldn't be a problem. Found out last night that they are going to send our information and the letter to their contacts in Ethiopia to find out if the history of cancer is going to be a problem on their end or not. We obviously are praying not! Also, AGCI is wanting a more detailed financial statement from us. They want to know how with our financial situation, we plan to pay for an adoption. The finances don't worry me at all. We know God has led us down this path, we know He will provide for all our needs. It's just that on paper, it doesn't look like things should work out. It's fine, and doesn't bother me really, but it's just frustrating. We just want to move on to the next step, and it seems like there's 'just one more thing' that keeps popping up. Sorry to use this post to just vent, but, if this is to be a true log of our adoption journey, it is going to have to include the bumps in the road as well. Your prayers would be appreciated - that everything get passed and go smoothly and that we get 'officially' accepted with AGCI.