Dossier--Check!

Drum roll, please . . . The dossier is done.  I'm hoping after our agency receives it that nothing will need corrected but with hundreds of sheets of paper that's a pretty large margin of error. 

It has been signed and notarized and four sets of copies have been mailed to our agency for the last review. That means it should be in Washington by the end of the week and I can finally collapse with a big sigh of relief.

Thank you Jesus!   Now, we are waiting on a court date!

The Orphan Foundation Grant

Back an August, i spent the majority of my free time applying for Adoption grants.  Adoption is expensive. 

Crazy expensive!! 

We had a few friends that wrote reference letter after reference letter for us.  We are incredibly blessed to be walking alongside of some fabulous people in this thing called life.  I know life is busy and they would drop everything and send off a reference letter whenever i called.

One of the grants we applied for was through The Orphan Foundation.

The Orphan Foundation - This a foundation with programs that range from providing financial grants to low and middle-income adopting families, to a host of other volunteer services. They are all volunteers who are trying to make a difference in the life of a child. Their website says they award approximately 10 grants of $500 per child yearly, and they review their incoming grants on a quarterly bases. Their application process was fairly brief and entirely on the web. I received a response for them and hope they will be reviewing my application soon.


Sadly, they only have funding for 3 families this quarter.  By the grace of God, we were one of the three.  We received a $500 grant today.  I am amazed at God's hand on our adoption. 

The reality is that their funding is still very low, and The Orphan Foundation is trying a variety of ways to raise monies.

The have a program at a crowd-funding site, Indiegogo: http://www.Indiegogo.com/100orphans, but you can see that they haven’t yet reached the halfway mark to one $500 grant.

They think they will be able to issue 1-2 grants next quarter, but unfortunately, their push to raise additional donations has been more than offset by many new applications for grants.

I will Praise Him in this Storm

Yesterday morning, i was in a drive thru flu shot line and my phone started to ring.  It was "home" and i figured it was my oldest asking me something about crocheting.  I went through the line.  I received my shot.  OUCH!

I called home and got THAT call.  Micah told me that he was on his way to Tampa General because his aunt and uncle were in a motorcycle accident.  

His uncle has bleeding on the brain and is in a coma.  Praise God, his aunt just needed a few stitches.

We are close.  My heart is breaking, but all i can do is pray.

In this thing called life we are either going into a storm, smack in the middle of a storm or coming out of a storm.  

Life is hard.  It's not fair.  Life as we know it can change from one minute to the next.  We are not promised tomorrow.

But, God is on the throne.  He is sovereign.  He is in control.  

I choose to praise Him in this storm.  I choose to trust Him with whatever may happen. 

I look around and see the laundry that needs to be folded and the dishes that need to be put away.  None of that stuff really matters.  

It's the people that we love that truly matter and so often we put the stuff that really doesn't matter before the people we love.

Hand in Hand Matching Grant

Hello Everyone,


Oh my goodness!! We have been awarded a dollar for dollar matching grant for up to $5000!!!

What does that mean? That means for every dollar that we receive Hand in Hand will match dollar for dollar up to $2500 for a total grant of $5000.

Below is our letter with the information about our matching grant. Please feel free to share our blog address and/or this info with anyone who may have a heart for adoption. THANK YOU!!!

Dear Family, Friends and Supporters of Adoption,
As many of you may have already heard we feel that God has called us on a new journey to provide a “forever” family to a child through the process of adoption.

We have started down this path of adoption and will be excited to bring a child into our home within the next two to four months.

We have felt led to pursue a little girl from Africa. She is 6 years old. We officially accepted the referral last month.

This road to adoption is full of many joys and challenges, the greatest joy being the inclusion of a child into our family and the greatest challenge being finances.

The costs of adoption include the expense of a home study, adoption agency, lawyers, travel expenses, etc., with the total cost ending up somewhere around $25,000.

We were recently awarded a matching funds grant to help with the expenses of our adoption through Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. a non-profit private operating foundation.

Hand in Hand will match any funds that are donated through our friends and family for the expenses of our adoption.
All funds received through our friends and family will be matched dollar for dollar by Hand in Hand up to our awarded grant amount. All donations are tax-deductible.

Please find enclosed a grant award letter that will explain more about the matching grant program from Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.

You can find out more about Hand in Hand through their website at www.handinhandadopt.org. If you have further questions about the Hand in Hand matching grant program please feel free to give us a call at 941-429-1224 or email us at poulinsj@hotmail.com.

You may also contact Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. with any questions you may have.
They can be reached at 913-248-5015 or by e-mail at handinhandadopt@gmail.com.

Please send all donations made payable to “Hand in Hand Christian Adoption” postmarked by Nov 26 to:

(for tax purposes please include our name on the outside of the envelope ONLY…do not put our name on the check itself)

Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.
Micah & Sheila Smith
18318 Mimosa Court
Gardner, KS 66030

Thank you for your prayerful consideration in helping Brenda find a “forever” family.


Walking Hand in Hand,



Micah & Sheila Smith
941-429-1224
poulinsj@hotmail.com

Waiting...

So, do you want to know what's new on the adoption front???

NOTHING!!!  But....

This statement is so easy to quote unless you have to live it out.

Please lift us up in prayer as we come to mind.

We are hoping to have our family complete before Christmas, however it feels like we're on an endless journey without a map.

It costs how much???

I have a lot of people asking me how much does it cost to adopt in Africa.  It's crazy expensive.  In general, families spend around $20,000-30,000 in fees when they use an agency. You may be wondering why international adoption is so expensive.  Me too!  There are lots of costs associated with adopting.

Our fees came in 3 categories. 

1.  First we had the Homestudy, Fingerprinting and Initial agency application.

2.  Next came the Agency and African Program fees (attorney).

3.  Lastly, we have travel and accommodations to pick our little girl up.

Here is a breakdown of our fees:


Agency Application Fee $300

Homestudy Fee $1300

Immigration fee
I-600A, Family pre-approval $720
CIS Fingerprinting (2 adults) $170

AGENCY FEE $4500

FOREIGN COSTS

First portion $3000

Second portion $2000

Program Fee $3000 (subject to change since she's older/special needs)

Child’s US Visa $230

Child’s Medical Visa $400


TRAVEL COSTS

These costs vary (average $7100 includes airfare for 2 adults and 1 child, accommodation, food, transportation in Africa for 5 weeks).  We plan to take all 3 of our bio kids (God willing) so this bumps up our travel cost another $4500.

TOTAL: ~ $27,220

So where are we in this process?  We still have to pay for our little girl's last portion of the program fees ($1500ish) and our travel fees.  Isn't God just amazing?  I could go on and on about God's hand on our adoption.

We have been on the fence on whether we should take our kids and we feel that it would be best to introduce our entire family to her and vice versa.

Goodness gracious, this is a family affair!!

We all want to meet her and show her love!  I also want the peace knowing that my family is completely intact.  We have went round and round with this decision, but this is the one that we are at peace with.  We are planning for all 5 of us to travel unless God shuts the door. 

We have already seen God faithfully provide financially in such big ways in this process and we are continuing to trust His timing!

My prayer is that God is glorified through this entire process and He opens the doors that need to be opened and slam shut the doors that need closed.  

Giving Up.

Throw in the towel.  That's what i wanted to do today.  I really think I'm the only homeschooling mama that doesn't enjoy homeschooling.

Sure, i absolutely love hanging out with my daughter all day.  I love shopping with her.  I love talking to her. I love the closeness that i have with her, but the sitting at the table TEACHING her--NOT SO MUCH! 

God's been dealing with my heart on this.  I am committed to this for one year, but i do not feel that i NEED to be a homeschooling Mom to be a "good christian mom".

In fact, i think as women we get caught up in what "the church" thinks we should do versus what God calls us to do.  Satan is alive and well in our churches and he loves to keep us busy doing things we think we should be doing for Jesus.

Sure, God calls some of us to homeschool, but i am a firm believer that it's not a cookie cutter, one size fits all decision.  I know some awesome Christian mamas that send their little ones to school.  School is a fertile mission field.  If we take all of the Christian kids out of the school, who is going to tell the other kids about Jesus?

I CAN trust Jesus with my children in a public school setting.. 

It says in Proverbs 16:9 that We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.


So what am i going to do? 

Stand still.  Watch God work.  Keep quiet and let Him take over.  I'm going to lay low and listen to God speak to me on what He wants us to do.