Rejoicing!!

Our hearts are full to overflowing with the joyous news that our dossier has been submitted to social services in Haiti and........

WE'VE BEEN MATCHED!!

He is a gorgeous little four year old with enormous brown eyes and an infectious smile.  We are already in love and so enamored with him and cannot wait to bring him home someday.  He is just so precious.  His siblings are giddy with joy to have a new little brother.  Unfortunately we cannot post his picture (of his face anyway) until we go to court in Haiti and make him officially a Warner.  

This is a huge hurdle that we've gotten over but there is still a long and probably agonizing wait ahead with new hurdles to jump over but we are so thankful for movement.  We will most likely be traveling to Haiti sometime this summer to meet him and go to court so keep those prayers coming and we will continue to keep you posted.  

Celebrate and thank God with us for this new little blessing He's entrusting to us!

Psalm 37:4

Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

The Weight of the Wait

Hey there.  It's been a while, I know.  As you can probably guess, nothing happened for us in March.  *sigh*  That's okay, I really mean it.  About six months into this whole adoption process I was an expert "fit thrower" when things didn't happen as smoothly or fast as I felt it should go.  Ask Nate.  It wasn't pretty.  However, God in His grace and mercy in my life has changed me and I have grown by leaps and bounds.  I used to say things to God like, 

"Look, I'm not getting any younger here."  or
"This wasn't supposed to take this long, there's been a mistake."  or
"Um, God, maybe you didn't see my timeline.....I had the perfect plan!"  or
"Thanks a lot, I thought you cared about this child, what in the world are You doing?"  (Whew, I seriously hate admitting that last one.)

I'm not proud of those things but it's real and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only momma who has felt those things during the wait.  The Lord, in His goodness, has been carefully and lovingly working in me, especially when I've been the most resistant to give everything over to Him.  

I am one of those people that when I want something, I want it. Period.  I will become obsessive over it.  I think that once I have what I'm wanting, then I will be happy.  God has been showing me that He is my only source of Joy.  Yes, I knew it in my head and all the churchy stuff I've been taught all my life, but to really apply it and to really be experiencing true joy I had to see who I am in Him. I didn't just want to know it anymore, I wanted to live it and experience how He sees me.  During the Summit 9 conference at every breakout session and general session I heard how much the Lord delights in me.  Sounds simple, but God used those words to do something deep within me.  I can let go of my timeline for this adoption because my true, pure and lasting joy is the Lord.....and nothing will completely satisfy like God can.  Sure I still want this adoption to happen quickly, but if it had happened when I wanted it to, I'm not sure I could be the mother this little Haitian will need.  

God has done some serious cleaning house inside this momma.  It hurts, it's humbling and most importantly it's freeing.  My heart still aches for this little guy and sometimes the weight of the wait feels unbearable, but then I ask my Father to sustain me and nurture my soul and He always comes through.  

This little boy will walk through our front door at just the right moment, and not a moment too soon.  It will be scary, beautiful and adventurous and I'm thankful I'm not in charge!  

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.  He will take great delight in you; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
Zeph. 3:17

Please Pray

Hey, just blogging to ask everyone to please join us in prayer for the month of March.  Like I said in my last post, I can't give lots of information, we've been asked not to for the time being.  However, there is potential that March could be a very significant month for our family.  As we have learned over this last year, it could very well be nothing and the wait continues, however, based on what our coordinator told us we need to be praying.  Of course we will be sure to keep you posted as things unfold.  Thank you everyone!!

Progress

There's not much I can tell you because I'm not allowed to give details.  However, I can tell you that progress is being made.  We had a conference call with our coordinator and all the families adopting from Haiti or at least considering it.  The call was very informative and answered a lot of questions for us.  One thing I have learned is that these changes IBESR (social services in Haiti) are making in the adoption process is designed to protect children from human trafficking, which we support whole heartedly.  This delay in our journey is worth it if it means protection of these innocent children. Adoptions will continue and all I can say is that we received some very positive news in regards to our process.  We are very encouraged and excited and continue to wait on Gods perfect timing.

1 Sam. 1:27

For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to Him.

Please continue to pray this very special little child home to us.  Thank you!

A Mountain Crumbles!

I almost can't believe I'm writing this for the waiting seems to never end.  We received word today that our agency has been chosen by IBESR (Haiti's Social Services)!!  We are so thrilled and so thankful to the Lord for crumbling this mountain!  I have been holding this in since 3:30 this afternoon because I wanted to tell Nate first.  I felt it necessary because I cannot imagine walking this journey with any one else.....he has been so amazing, so supportive of my roller coaster feelings, my rock. My absolute best friend and has shepherded my heart when I waiver spiritually by always pointing me to my Saviour.  God has richly blessed me with this man. 

There is still a long road ahead.   Now we wait for a referral.  Once we get one and accept it we will travel probably within the month of the referral (not exactly sure on this one but it sounds right).  Then we come home, without our child :(, and wait for him to move out of IBESR.  This process could take months and months, it just depends on his situation and paperwork and such.  Every case is different so it is so hard to predict the outcome.  For tonight, however, we celebrate this victory and dance on top of the mountain's remains and thank our Heavenly Father.

Keep those prayers coming!  Thank you.

Yep, We're Still Here

I know things have been quiet here on this blog, but believe me stuff is happening.  Haiti is changing some things about how they handle adoptions, which is good in the long run because it will basically prevent children from being trafficked.  I'm not going to go through exactly what these changes are, I barely understand them myself so I will spare you the details.  I will share that Haiti is in the process of choosing which American adoption agencies they will continue to use, only about 4 or 5.  We are waiting to see, hopefully sometime this week, if All Blessings is chosen.

What this means is, if ABI is chosen we can proceed with our adoption.....super exciting!  If they are not chosen, our paperwork will then be transferred to an agency that has been chosen and we can move forward with them, also exciting but I really love our agency and our coordinator....she's amazing and I'll be so sad if she can't do the referral for us.  

Some good news is that we have enough money to move forward with one child (YAY!!! Thank you God!!) and since things are a little on the rocky side with Haitian adoptions we feel we better make a move now rather than wait indefinitely.  Hey, you never know, there could be another little one somewhere out there in this great big world needing us!  Buuuut, we have a long way to go before we even entertain that thought some more! :)  

Prayer requests:

1. That we hear sometime this week (we were told we should know at the beginning of Nov.) if ABI has been chosen.

2. That we can get our referral before the end of the year.  I think my heart may break over this waiting, it's getting harder and harder.  :/  My kids are fed up too!  They've been praying him home for Christmas, which at this point will require a miracle! 

Thanks everyone! 

Gourmet Italian Dinner Fundraiser

There is going to be an Italian Dinner Fundraiser at our church, Hillside Chapel in Beavercreek, Ohio on October 7, 2012.  While we have successfully raised close to $10,000 ($4000 of which is from a Show Hope grant, which we cannot use for the international fee, it's to be used for travel time) we still need so much more.  Remember, we feel that God is leading us to adopt a sibling group......sibling groups do not move out of the orphanage as quickly as one child.  They also, almost always include an older child....who also does not move out as quickly.  I know from past experiences that we could be wrong on what God wants for us, but this is a desire that has been put into our hearts so we will continue to work our butts off for two precious ones.  

Simply put, we need a miracle.  Getting the additional $22,000 seems impossible to our human minds, but NOTHING is impossible with God, Luke 1:37.  I know we have asked so much of you, like donating, sharing links on Facebook and getting the word out to people in your circles, but please remember that you are not giving the Warners money.  You are helping the orphan, and our Heavenly Father loves the orphan, so please consider joining us for dinner, Oct. 7th. and being a part of God's call to help the orphan.

Psalm 68:5-6a
A father to the fatherless, a defender of the widows, is God in his holy dwelling.  God sets the lonely in families,

Will you help us, in any way you can, bring home two children who desperately need a family?  We are on a mission, but we cannot do this alone.  Pray with us for a miracle.  Our goal is to be matched with two children before Christmas, since having all the money and being matched prior to Oct 1st is obviously not going to work out now.  Just a reminder, we cannot be matched until we are ready to submit the international fee of $14000/child.  This is NOT an adoption agency fee, this is required by the country of Haiti.  We have spent $10,000 of our own money (with the exception of about $2000 in donations) and have raised $9800.....we are exhausting all options, humanly speaking, so pray.  

Also, be in prayer for social services in Haiti (IBESR) as they are still implementing some changes in how they handle adoption cases.  Our family coordinator is traveling to Haiti in a couple of days to be able to attend a meeting.  Pray that we don't have any hang ups in our process because of the changes and we can still meet our goal to have the money and be matched by Christmas.

I know it's a lot to take in, but this is serious business and we need your help.  Thank you.

http://www.hillsidecma.org/#/events/gourmet-italian-dinner