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.  

Making it Our Own

So.. when we bought our cute little house back in May, we were actually purchasing a foreclosure.    Looking back at the before pictures, I now think... "What were we thinking?!?" But we are slowly getting our house in order, and I wanted to show a few of the before and after photos for my friends and family to see!

Upstairs Bedrooms, ie Psycho Room Before
No we did not buy a house in the ghetto.. this was the children's room upstairs.  Apprarently some parents are ok with letting their children do this?

Psycho Room- In Progress

Psycho Room transformed to Tranquility Room!  :)

Master Bedroom Before

Master Bedroom- In Progress

Master Bedroom- After

 

Kitchen- Before

Kitchen- Before

Kitchen- Still in Progress but Almost There!

Still in Progress (Disregard the hanging light, Mike is installing a new one today!)

We are still working hard on the kitchen, we have to install new tile, a new back door, take the brick off from over the cabinets, and install a new light.  We just began working on our living room and have much to do, but we are excited to get started!  So... I will have lots more photos to show soon!

Feeling the Love in Paperwork!

So, we have been as busier as ever updating adoption paperwork because of our move, and also because our dossier (or huge packet of paperwork) has expired.  Once a document is two years old, it is no longer considered valid in Ethiopia.  That means birth certificates, marriage licenses... EVERYTHING... must be reordered, notarized again, and state sealed.  Imagine doing this for say... 22 different documents.  And that is just for the international side!

 

I really don't mind doing it, in fact I really like it in the beginning.  I feel as if I am doing SOMETHING to help the adoption process along.  Usually I am just sitting around waiting, so it helps a lot.  That is, until we have a paperwork issue that causing us to pay, repay, and redo a document several times.  I was  little perturbed, to say the least, about a few documents we had to redo for the fourth time!  But then it hit me.  Mike and I are not the only ones working diligently to help bring our baby home.  The nurses for our wonderful doctor, Dr. Caulfield, who have been so kind and so patient with me.  They have returned, I would estimate, 10 phone calls and have redid 5 medical letters without so much as a sigh of annoyance.  Rose Cooper, a new friend I have made at our new church, will be going with me to the medical clinic AGAIN to notarize a letter from my doctor.  Robbie Roberson, our accountant/notary/friend/past coworker, has notarized more than 35 documents for us FOR NO FEE!  Mike's coworkers at Winco Fireworks have overnighted documents to us that we have asked for and have went backwards and forwards to help with his employment letters... and the list goes on and on. 

 

I have never felt so loved and so cared for by so many people.   I hope to one day show my son the long list of names of friends, family, and strangers who helped to bring him home.

Update- Still Waiting!

Ok... so it has been over a year since I have posted on our blog, so here are a few bullet points to sum up our lives since then:

• We moved to Louisiana! 
• We bought a house!
• I changed jobs!
• Mike got a promotion!

There is a lot more that could be said in each of those bullet points, but if I tried to expand this post would be about 20 pages long!

I can say, however, that we are really enjoying our new lives in Lousiana.  Do I miss Hattiesburg?  Yes, yes I do.  The person who left Hattiesburg this past year is not the same one who moved there back in 2007.  I made some wonderful friendships there that I hope last a lifetime and met some people who dramatically changed my life.   I miss them all terribly and try to go back there as often as I can!

The move to Louisiana, however, has been a great one.  Within a few weeks of moving here we met a couple who is also adopting from Ethiopia and have become quick friends.  We have had to do quite a bit of adoption paperwork recently (because of the change of address and also because we have been waiting so long for a referral!) and the pain of waiting has become more raw.  Through this time I have realized that I have been neglecting my relationship with God because I was not wanting to acknowledge the painful feelings I had about the abscence of our baby, but He has been showing me that, even though I was ignoring His presence, He was always there.  We have such a wonderfully constant God who is so good and it humbles me to know that He too was waiting many many years to adopt me as His child, but I was not ready or willing to come to him.  Yet He was patient and ever ready to pull me close to Him when the timing was perfect.  Our baby is out there.  He is the son that God has chosen for our family.  If I tried to rush the timing, or make the timeline fit mine instead of God's, I may lose the opportunity to adopt the perfect son who was created for our family.  I am trying to reflect on this during my times of impatience and pain... that as my Savior waited to adopt me as his own, I will wait for my child as well... for as long as it takes.

Pitter Patter Art

One of the blogs I frequent (ie stalk) is Pitter Patter Art.  This wonderful family is currently waiting for their adoption referral as well.  Every month they have a art giveaway, check it ou by going to the link below:

http://pitterpatterart.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/10-months-waiting-art-giveaway/#comment-6156

Learning the Joy in Patience

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. ~Psalm 28:7

So, this happens everytime.  I try to go to our blog and instead of typing in thefleenerfamily.blogspot.com, I leave the the off.  Out there is another adorable couple that is also a "Fleener family" with the same blog address as us, without that pesky the.  No big deal, I give them a Fleener nod and go about my way.  Well today their post caught my eye....


28 Weeks and counting!  Only 12 more weeks to go:)

Oh the mixture of emotions I felt while looking at that title.  A few minutes before attempting to go to our blog, I was just sitting at my trusty ole computer looking at adoption blogs and forums and longing to be able to put a date on when we will get to meet our little one.  I admire families in the adoption process who post vacation photos of their family with signs that say "Waiting for YOU", but honestly, I am not strong enough to have the constant reminder that our baby is not here yet.  I praise God that through this time He has been by my side and given me the strength I need and the patience to endure.


I wish we could just skip all the uncomfortable trials, and tears, and waiting waiting waiting that has to occur between today and the day when I finally get to hold my sweet darling in my arms for the first time.  My heart breaks for the family that will go through heartache and loss for my gain and I pray that God will be given all the glory for whatever happens from this moment to "gotcha day." 

Until we meet, my son, know your mommy is praying for you and "Waiting for YOU"  from now until that unknown date that will be in God's perfect timing.