I rented a lens to test drive before I buy and wanted to see if it was wide enough for me to take a self-portrait. It is. Here I am. Hello :)
-Jenn
Our next step is a big one!! We will be submitting our I600-A. Exciting, huh? Oh, you don’t know what an I600-A is? It is our application for advance processing of orphan petition. Basically, we are asking for pre-approval to bring an “immigrant” orphaned child into the United States. With the application, we must send copies of our birth certificates, marriage license, approved adoption homestudy and of course some money ($830 to be exact). Once this has been sent, we wait for it to be processed. After they have processed it, we will be given an appointment to be fingerprinted. Then, after we have been fingerprinted, we wait to receive our very important I-171H form. It is “notice of favorable determination concerning application for advance processing of an orphan petition.” In other words, we would then be officially approved to bring our child to the United States. Here are a few pictures of us signing our I600-A. Yes, we are on the back porch. I already have pictures of us signing papers at the kitchen table :)
-Jenn
by Jenn
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yay Jenn!
Dear Africa,
I haven’t yet set my foot on your soil, but you have changed me. You have opened my eyes to my own selfishness, my self-centeredness. You have refocused my wandering path and given me a purpose. You have taught me that my needs are small, but my wants are great. I have exorbitantly more than I need. You have taught me that less stuff means more joy. Above all, you have shown me that my greatest need is Jesus. All the stuff I have prevents me from truly needing Him. My wealth deceives me and my soul is impoverished. Africa, you are breathing new life into scriptures that I have had memorized since grade school. You have come into my life, removed my blindness, rearranged my priorities, broadened my world, recreated my passion, enriched my marriage, expanded my dreams, overcome my fears, conquered my mediocrity, rejuvenated my faith and awakened my soul. There are many things I am discovering that I do not need, but I need Africa, my soul needs Africa, much more than Africa needs me.
-Jenn
Mark 8:35-36:If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?
To find out more about the Mocha Club, the creators o this video, click here.
by Jenn
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Dear Maya,
Right now, you are growing inside your mother’s tummy in Ethiopia. Daddy and I pray for you both every night, that you would grow safe and strong, that God would protect you from all the struggles soon to come in your little life and that He would comfort your mother in this difficult time. We talk about the day that we will get the call that you are waiting for us. We dream of seeing your face for the very first time. We will call all of our friends and family. Smiling, laughing and rejoicing while we tell them all about you. I know we will spend many hours looking at photos of you until that wonderful day that we get to hold you in our arms. Patiently we wait. Carefully we prepare. You are loved, sweet baby girl. You are wanted. Until then, we dream.
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
John 14:18: I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Here are just a few of the people who cannot wait to hold you :)
Of course, Us. Your Mommy and Daddy.
Your Grandma Lois.
And Grandma and Grandpa Verme
by Jenn
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It is going to be a while still until we know who Maya is. We cannot see her face, but we pray for her and her mother every day. For Chris and I, orphans and children living in poverty have become our passion. Adopting one child is not enough for us. Our hearts break for all the children suffering in this world on our watch. Adoption is not the best scenario. Adoption means that something terrible happened to the adoptee. The best scenario is for children to live with their birth parents. In order for this to happen, their parents cannot be dying of a preventable disease and they cannot be living on so little that they are unable to care for their children.
I’ve quoted this before, but it is worth repeating…In the book “There is No Me Without You” Melissa Faye Green says:
“Adoption is NOT the answer to HIV/AIDS in Africa. Adoptions rescues few. Adoption illuminates by example: these few once-loved children – who lost their parents to preventable diseases – have been offered a second chance at family life in foreign countries; live young ambassadors, they instruct us. From them, we gain impressions about what their age-mates must be like, the ones living and dying by the millions, without parents, in the cities and villages of Africa. For every orphans turning up in a northern-hemisphere household – winning the spelling bee, joining the Boy Scouts, learning to rollerblade, playing the trumpet or the violin – ten thousand African children remain behind alone.” She goes on to quote Haddush Halefom, head of the Children’s Commission under Ethiopia’s Ministry of Labor, “I am deeply respectful of the families who care for our children, but I am so very interested in any help that can be given to us to keep the children’s first parents alive. Adoption is good, but children naturally, would prefer not to see their parents die.”
One thing Chris and I decided to do to help keep children with their birth parents is to sponsor children. Today, we went to www.WorldVision.org and sponsored two children. Both living in Ethiopia. A girl born on my birthday and a boy born on Chris’. It is difficult to choose from all the children that I needed some way to decide. A few weeks ago, my sweet Momma, began sponsoring a little Ethiopian girl born on her birthday, which gave me the idea to sponsor a child born on my birthday! (Thanks Momma!) My Mom’s sponsored child’s picture is on her refrigerator reminding her to pray for her each day.
Last month, we gave up TV by canceling our Dish Network. Although sponsoring children is not why we gave up TV, I do like to think that we gave up one useless meaningless bill and now added a bill with a purpose :) Will you join us? You don’t even have to give up TV. Maybe you just eat out one fewer time each month, skip a pedicure or a family trip to the movies or maybe you already have an extra $35 at the end of each month and you don’t have to give up anything. It is easy and there are many children in need. To learn more about sponsoring a child through World Vision click here.
-Jenn
And now introducing our sponsored children, Deneke and Tigist. We are so excited to be a part of their lives. I cannot wait to write them letters, learn more about them and see what just a little money and lots of love can do.
If you need more visualization, check out this video with testimony of a 24 year old woman from Kenya who was sponsored through Compassion International beginning when she was 7 years old. It makes a difference. A huge difference.
I Timothy 6:18: “Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them.”
by Jenn
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by Jenn
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