Decembe 5th, 2008 Happy Birthday Seth!!!

Well, we did not get the best news for Seth's birthday as the government is done working for 2008 which means another delay in getting our son home. One thing we do know is that this will be the last birthday he celebrates without his family. Specifically, we need prayers for Seth's health as Mongolia has brutal winters and his preparation for leaving the orphanage. Most would think this is an easy transition but he is already 6 years old and had probably come to the conclusion that the orphanage is where he would spend the rest of his young life. To him, he is warm and safe and gets a few meals a day. Little does he realize the plan that God has for him. Also, pray for the orphanage director to release a letter that is needed to complete Seths release from the orphanage. This letter has really held things up. Please continue to lift us up as waiting can be weary on one's emotions and we have 3 children anxiously waiting for their brother to come home. We love you all and thank you for your love and support. Hopefully, the next update will be from the airport as we are leaving.....yipee!!!

Coffee for Seth!!

Today, Derek and I were reading and talking about orphans and how much money we still had to raise in order to complete Seth's adoption. $10,000 may seem like a lot but not in comparison to the $66,000 we have been blessed with for both Maiah and Seth's adoptions. So, we were talking about ideas and looking at some statistics and we realized how much money is spent on coffee daily in the US. Here are some mind boggling stats....

Today, 38,493 more children will become ORPHANS.....
30,000 children under age 5 will die of STARVATION....
200 million children are living on the STREETS....
Every 2 seconds another child will age out of an orphanage with NO FAMILY
Americans will spend 5.4 million dollars on chewing gum and 50 million dollars on COFFEE
We spend 50 million dollars a day on coffee. I began to wonder if we could get 2000 people/friends/family to pick a day and sacrifice their Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts/Wawa/or maybe your coffee is really a coke or two:) Anyway, we would have nearly 10,000$. So would you consider giving up a coffee/drink (3-5$)to help us complete our adoption. Adoption is an amazing journey/process and we would love for you to be part of it.

October 20th 2:28 pm

Well, The long wait is over and this is the day our family is again changed forever. We are no longer a family of 5 but 6!!! We are proud and anxious to announce that it is a BOY!!!!! His name is Batbileg (means strongly gifted) and he is 5 years old, living in a Kindergarten Orphanage in Mongolia. He is not from the same orphanage as our daughter, Maiah, but from the government orphanage just a few minutes away. We have been busy reading over 5 years of his history and learning all about his likes and dislikes, his strengths and weaknesses, and from what it sounds like a very strong personality. Medically, he had a rough start with pressure on his brain and Ricketts which he was treated for and is now showing no signs of. Praise God!! We have lots to do: more paperwork, room preparations, shopping for boy stuff as the only thing we have left from Nathan is one box filled with Match Box cars. If anyone has size 4-5 boy clothes they are getting ready to pass on....I am interested:) It sounds like he really enjoys cars, truck and playing soccer. I don't think Maiah's baby dolls and Barbies are going to work!!! God's timing is interesting and amazing at the same time. We just trust His timing and know all the details will come together in a timely fashion including our travel. With much love and thanks for your continued prayers, love and support..... we will keep you all posted.

 

And so we wait........and wait.....and wait........

Sorry for the long stretch between posts as I think in my heart , i just wanted to post a little face. Yes, I think you find the words faith and patience under the word
adoption in the dictionary. We know that God told us to do this again and so
we know what the ending will be.....a sweet child being added to our family.
However, we just dont know when that ending will come. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we wait. It is never easy.....but we know sometimes God calls us to the raod less traveled and in this case, it is Mongolia. We are looking forward to the day that we get to post the next little Petrin's sweet face and rejoice with all of you. Looking ahead to the celebration:)

Somewhere out there.......

Somewhere out there you celebrated Christmas without us....

You don't know us yet.....
but we think about you everyday

You don't know us yet.....
but we pray for you every night

You don't know us yet.....
but we wait for God to reveal your sweet face

You don't know us yet.....
but there is a Mommy, Daddy, brother and 2 sisters
waiting to love and adore you

You don't know us yet.....
but you will know us one day soon and we will
forever be your family.

Merry Christmas!!! We love you and can't wait to meet you.

What God can do in a week..............

Well, back in October, Derek and I were feeling a little run down both physically and emotionally. When that happens, you leave room for doubt. We were not doubting our hearts and our desire to bring another child into our family but we were doubting the timing and the finances. Just finishing one adoption and travel just drained us financially. We knew that we could provide for another child but all the up front adoption expenses were a concern. We knew that we with all of our paperwork being finished that the our dossier fee would be due to our agency and we just didn't see it coming together. God made it all very clear to us in 7 days.....the time is now and it is not about what we do.....

On October 31 at 5:04 pm, we got a phone call from the Department of Homeland Security. I had mailed in our homestudy a week prior to us getting this call and I was anxiously checking the mailbox everyday hoping for our fingerprint appointment letter to arrive. Instead, we got a phone call telling us that they had 2 appointments available for us and could we come in the next morning. I could not believe that we were getting a phone call and was concerned to the legitimacy of the call. I asked the lady on the phone, "well, how will we get in the door without a letter"? She said that she would email us the letters and we could show up in the morning.......friends of ours have waited 3-6 weeks to get an appointment so this was very much an answered prayer considering this was the last document we needed to submit our dossier to Mongolia.

After hanging up with her we went about our plans for the evening. We went to the Holy Ghost Wiener Roast, our annual Halloween tradition with the kids, and was driving home at around 930 when my husband talked with one of his long time friends in the Navy. This friend asked Derek to meet him at the Naval Hospital, he needed a favor and to make a long story short, at the end of their visit, he handed Derek a check and said that he respected what we were doing and that he and his wife wanted to support us....Derek was speechless

The next morning, we showed up to the Department of Homeland Security processing center and we were fingerprinted and done in 10 minutes, nobody there knew anything about a phone call being made for appointments!! That was Thursday.....

On Friday, we were preparing for our adoption fundraiser. I spent most of the day driving around picking up stuff for the yard sale. I showed up to this one families home and as stuff was being loaded, we were so blessed with a set of very nice bunk beds. She didn't know this but I had voiced a need as this child will likely share a room with Maiah and bunk beds were the answer as Maiah's room is not super big....thank you again

On Saturday morning, we woke up to 40 mile an hour winds and clouds that were getting ready to bust....I wanted to cry. The rain held up until we get every last item out of the box and then .....it rained and I cried....and God said "it is not about what you do, I am going to move and the provision will come" I still cried but I did feel better. The sun finally came out and the people did come and we made over 700.00 for our adoption....thank you Jesus!!!

On Sunday morning, yes the next day, we were in church and a family approached us and said that they had been blessed with some unexpected finances and they wanted to sow into our adoption.......before the service was over, they blessed us with a check towards our adoption.....I was standing in awe at this point......awe of my Father and His provision and awe of the obedience of the hearts of the people that He was speaking to on His child's behalf.

OK, it is Monday morning and I am finishing up some quiet time when the phone rings and the caller ID says Regent University......we have several dear friends that work at Regent and so I answer the phone and it a dear friend and mentor to us in many ways.....but he says that He and his wife would like our address so they can mail us a little something as they would like to support our adoption......I fell to my knees and started crying while on the phone.......we chatted for a moment and our friend encouraged me and after hanging up, I just cried out to the Lord....I am so sorry for doubting You and your timing. I may become weak in my flesh but I will not doubt again....

On Tuesday I went to Navy Federal Credit Union and deposited $2810.00 into our adoption fund.

On Wednesday, one week from the start of all this....we received an invoice from Holt International for 2795.00, our dossier fee which is due after they approve your home study....we knew the invoice was coming and we didn't see the money in our acct or coming in until after the New Year but He did!!!

All the Glory goes up.......and thanks to those who took part in this amazing week. We pray that the blessings you gave be returned to you 100 fold.