It is Gonna Happen!

So, I am not gonna lie.  These last few months have been difficult.  Every month I think THIS IS THE MONTH!  This month will be the month we will finally get to find out who our future son is, where he comes from, what his story is, what he looks like.... but each month comes and passes and it turns out that month was NOT the month after all.

About a week ago we received an update and it seems that it could be 3-6 more months until that day arrives.  I broke down.   Why do we have to keep waiting?  Why Why Why?!?!?!  Then while searching for the answer to WHY?  I saw this scripture:

Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.  ~Luke 1:45

So there is my answer.  Plain and simple.  God has laid it on our hearts that our adoption WILL happen.  I cannot make it happen, I cannot set a timeline for when it will happen.. but I can rest in the simple truth that IT IS GONNA HAPPEN.

Thank you Jesus.

Catching Up!

OK, so the other day I was talking with my darling Sister Roo and she mentioned that my blog still mentioned that the quilt raffle, which ended June 25th, was still going on for a few days only!  I had posted the winners on my facebook page, but it hit me that many of the people who donated towards the raffle could not see said page!  So... drum roll please!

The winner was Sue Supulver!  And the runner up, who received a beautifully hand-painted sign by my talented step mom, was Handmade Quilt Shop!

Mike and I are so very thankful for the outpouring of love and support by so many people, many of whom we have never even met!

So, now that we cleared that mystery up, here is our adoption update!

Right now, we have been officially waiting for 24 months and 18 days (but who is really counting?).  I had a nice little chat with our adoption caseworker who informed me that we were in the list of top ten families waiting for a referral, and we could be getting a referral soon!!!  Yeah yeah yeah!!  We cannot wait, and are trying to not get our hopes up (but who are we kidding, they are way up there).

Anyway, I have had so many people ask me what happens after our referral, so I am going to try and explain it (it is really confusing, trust me).

After our referral, our case will be submitted to US embassy; however, this is very different than the way Ethiopian adoptions have happened in the past.  They JUST implemented a new change to the process and we will be some of the first referrals to navigate these changes.  My caseworker did inform me that we will NOT be the VERY first families (or guinea pigs as she put it, yes.. she said  guinea pigs!) so, thank goodness for that!

After submission to US Embassy they will review our file, do any investigations into our case that they deem necessary and then pass our file to MOWA (Ministry of Womens Affairs) in Ethiopia.  MOWA will then schedule a Guardian Court Date.  The Guardian Court Date (GCD) is where the birth parents, guardians, or individuals who found the child (if it is an abandonment case) will go to court to relinquish rights.  After the GCD they will schedule an Adoptive Parent Court Date, and we will then travel to Ethiopia for our first time to meet our little guy and to attend court.  On this trip, we will actually legally adopt our baby in Ethiopia; however, we will have to travel back to the US (without him) and wait for US embassy to approve us to bring him back so he can be a legal citizen of the US and a legal Fleener!  During this time Ethiopia will be changing birth certificates, obtaining passports, etc for our little one.  After all of that is done, we get to travel once again and go get our son!!

Clear as mud right?  So all in all, from referral we are looking at another potential 6 months before we get to bring our baby home!

I just want to thank everyone once again for their continued prayers, support, encouragement, and generosity!   I hope to have good news sometime in the near future!

The Quilt Raffle is still on... but only for a few more days!

Whew!  It is official... fireworks season has begun!  Because of that, I have been super busy getting Pyro City's fireworks store ready so that we can open on June 25th to the public!  Woohoo! 

 I gotta say, going to work with this guy everyday really helps me get through the long hours!  (No, he is not squinting, that is a wink!)

But June 25th is not only the day we open to the public at Pyro City, it is also the day we hold the drawing for our quilt raffle!!!  Yeah!!

For those of you are just joining us, our wonderful family friend, Barbara Gaddy at bejeweledquilt.blogspot.com, stitched together this BEAUTIFUL quilt so that we could raffle it off for our adoption fund! She is amazing at what she does, and could easily have sold this quilt for hundreds of dollars; instead, she chose to donate it to our growing family!  Tickets for the raffle are $5 for one or $10 for three!!  We will pull the winning ticket on June 25th and will mail the quilt directly to the winner!  Yeah!  

But... there is a bonus now!!!

My VERY talented step mom has donated this beauty to the runner up!  So that means your ticket not only gives you the opportunity to win Barbara's beautiful quilt, but also this adorable sign painted by Mrs. Carma Patterson. I mean... isn't she so talented?  You can check out more of her beautiful artwork on her etsy page:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/carmascrafts

So... how do you purchase a ticket you say?  Email me at kami.fleener@yahoo.com with the amount you would like to purchase and I will send you directions from there!  It is really very simple!  And...

WAIT!  THERE IS ANOTHER BONUS TOO!!!

I have waited soo long to post about this puzzle... like WAY. TOO. LONG.  It hurt my heart too much to work on it, but I am ready....

Every single person that has helped our adoption process, no matter how small, has their name written on the back of one of these puzzle pieces that I will put together and hang on my little ones wall.  I want him to see how loved, cared for, thought about, and wanted he was before he even joined our little family.  So... that means if you participate in the raffle, you too will get to be a piece of our adoption puzzle!!

I am a little behind on thank you cards, but I will also be sending you a card with the outline of your puzzle piece :)

We are so unbelievably grateful for all of the people who have been supporting us through this journey... we hope to have some news in the next few months about our little guy, but until then I just pray that I continue to just enjoy this journey!  Thank you again :)

More than just a Quilt Raffle

I don't know why I am still surprised by the awesomeness of our God.  I mean sometimes it just hits me like a 2x4 in the head...  How can the God of the universe use EVERY aspect of my being to work together for MY good?  I mean it says that in the bible!  

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  ~Romans 8:28

How can He care so much about ME to work within EVERY detail of my life?  Who am I?  What have I done?

But then I am hit by that pesky proverbial 2x4 (is proverbial right here?  I am not sure)... It doesn't matter what I have done or who I am... God's goodness, love, faithfulness, holiness, righteousness (I could keep going on here) is because of who HE is and what HE has done.  I fall flat on my face in awe of this awesome awesome God who continues to use so many things in our adoption journey to show Mike and I all of these things about Him.  He continually draws us closer to Him and I praise Him for the many things he is, and continues, to do in our lives.

With that being said, I would like to bring up this little quilt raffle that I posted about last week. (You can read more about it in my previous blog post)

So, as many of you know, a wonderful, dear friend, Mrs. Barbara Gaddy, donated a quilt for Mike and I to use in an adoption fundraiser.  Seems simple, right?  I post it on my blog, people buy tickets to help us with our adoption expenses, and then we go on our happy way!  But, God took things a whole different direction for us.  Yes, we are raising money and, yes, people are purchasing tickets, but this quilt raffle has created quite a stir!  How you say?  I have had strangers emailing me with sweet words of encouragement, people I don't know are sharing my blog to encourage their followers to purchase tickets, my friends are sharing my blog in their status updates on Facebook, and I have even had people offer to donate other gifts for runner ups in the raffle!

I mean, seriously God?  I fall flat on my face in awe of Your goodness.  The funny thing is I didn't want to do any adoption fundraisers.  Honestly I was scared.  Scared no one would want to donate, or purchase raffle tickets, or... I could go on.  Why?  Why do I short change myself when I know WITHOUT A DOUBT that God has lead us to this place, this moment and has blessed our adoption journey over and abundantly?  All I can do is sing praises to the Lord God Almighty!

Encouragement & Quilt Raffles!!!

Yesterday I saw that a family received a referral (ie were matched with their future son/daughter and finally got to see their baby's sweet sweet face through video and photos).  The amazing thing is that their "log in" date (ie date that all of their information was sent to Ethiopia and they were officially "waiting" for a referral) was only 1 1/2 months before ours!!  We will most likely not receive a referral anytime quicker than what I had posted previously (probably 4-5 more months) but it is still encouraging to see that referrals are coming!

During the past few months I have also been astonished by the outpouring of love and generosity by so many in our adoption journey.  Just this past month some AMAZING friends hosted a garage sale with "All Proceeds Go To The Fleener's Adoption".  

The Urruchis, Rawls, and Mays have no idea the love I have for their families.  We met years ago in a "Married with No Kids" Sunday School group at Temple Baptist Church and I haven't been able to shake them since!  The Lord has blessed me so much with their friendship and I couldn't pick better people to share life with!  

I give God all the glory for what He did at our garage sale adoption fundraiser.  That day there was a high percentage of rain forecasted, yet the downpour did not begin until AFTER the garage sale ended.  Not only that, but we were able to bring in OVER $800!!!  The last garage sale I had at my house only brought in $26!  God is always confirming that our adoption journey is ultimately in His will, in His timing, and to His purpose.  To God be the glory!

While posting information on Facebook about the garage sale, I was encouraged by friends who sent messages wanting to simply donate towards our adoption expenses!  Wow!  Not only were they monetary, but a dear dear friend of the family, offered to donated this GORGEOUS 45 x 52" Kona Bay Fabrics Quilt.  So, I am happy to announce that...

We are having a QUILT RAFFLE!!

I mean, seriously?  How beautiful is this quilt!  I just love the colors and the design so much!  This quilt was stitched together by Barbara Gaddy, you can visit her blog at http://www.bejeweledquilts.blogspot.com/.  She is amazing at what she does, and could easily have sold this quilt for hundreds of dollars; instead, she chose to donate it to our growing family!  To God be the Glory!

We will be selling raffle tickets online from now until June 24th!!  We will have our drawing on Wednesday, June 25th and will ship the quilt to you!  So this is perfect for EVERYONE!  Tickets are $5 for one tickets, or $10 for three tickets!  All proceeds will go towards our adoption and will be set aside in a separate savings account specifically for adoption expenses.

So how do I participate?

Email me at kami.fleener@yahoo.com with the amount of tickets you would like to purchase!  I will email you back with information on how to purchase!  Thanks so much again!

 On June 25th I will draw the winning ticket, and if you're the winner, the quilt will be shipped directly to you!  It's that easy!

I just want to thank all of the wonderful people in my life who have supported our family and our adoption journey since we began back in 2010.  Hopefully our family will be growing from 2 to 3 in 2013!

Update.. Finally!

Ok.. ok… so it has been quite awhile since I have updated my blog, so here it is!  We began our journey almost three years ago… yes you heard me right… THREE. YEARS. AGO.  After a year of homestudies, background checks, physicals and paper work we sent off our dossier (ie humongous packet of paperwork) to Ethiopia.  From that point we were told that we had about 6-12 months to wait for a referral.    Due to many many changes in Ethiopia (read more here if you are interested in why: http://www.pureandlasting.com/change-is-gonna-come/) the wait time is now 26 to 27 months and we hope to receive our referral by September (please please please!!!). 

Mike and I will wait as long as we have to, because we know without a doubt, that our son is in Ethiopia right now.  There is a song by Christina Perri that I believe sums up exactly how we feel

I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I love you for a thousand more 
One step closer
And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years
I love you for a thousand more

Has this been easy?  No.  Absolutely not.  But through it all, I am so in awe of God’s faithfulness in spite of the tantrums and periods of doubt that I have had during our adoption process so far.  I have been waiting for three years to finally hold my son against my chest and whisper in his ear that he is now a Fleener and that nothing he can do will ever change that.  I can only pray that I give God the glory He deserves for being ever present in every step of this process.  He knew when we began how long, and difficult, this would be for us and He has used every moment of it to draw us closer to Him.  Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty.  With my lips I will praise Him forevermore.