A Few Steps Forward

Last Tuesday May 10th we were able to send our Dossier to China!!!  For us this is a huge step!  Everything so far has led to being able to send everything to China.  Now we are waiting to be "logged In" in China's system.  Then we have more waiting, but it is so nice to know we are now waiting on China and not immigration!!  I feel like we made it through the first hurdle!

We have a really busy week coming up!  We have two big fundraisers this week.  Monday night we are partnering with a local pizza place called Vitale's Pizza!  Everyone who comes in between 4-8pm and gives them our coupon will help us to receive 15% of the sales for the night!  This is such a huge blessing.  First their pizza is amazing, our family favorite, plus just allowing our community to support us simply by having pizza for dinner is huge.  We are so grateful to Vitale's!  They are also donating the prize for our other fundraiser.  Saturday we are hosting a 5k at Pigeon Creek Park, which is right around the corner from our house.  We so wanted to plan a fundraiser that allowed the whole family to come out and enjoy something together.  We love Pigeon Creek Park and I love running so this was a perfect match.  This winter I spent several months going back and forth between the insurance company and the park to figure out what we needed for insurance.  What a headache, but we finally got what we needed for a minimal charge.  So thankful it was minimal!   We have awesome sponsors for the race, sweet goodie bags for the participants, and some amazing prizes!!  We are so excited to have family and friends join us for this fundraiser.  So far we have 45 participants!!!

We have been applying to grants, but haven't heard anything from them yet.  We have our final agency fee's due very soon which is just over $3,000.  Then to complete the adoption and travel we need about $20,000.  YIKES!  We are doing whatever we can to save and fundraise!  We have zero doubt that God has called us to this adoption and we are praying He will make his way clear on the financial side of it all.  We have add so many "crazy" things happen since we started this adoption and every time God has also showed up!

We got updated measurements on Oliver and he is pretty close to the same size Carson was at 3!  He seems so much bigger in the pictures then Carson did at 3, but it is really hard to judge size from a picture.  We also learned a few more medical challenges that Oliver is facing and we are praying God will allow us to see fully what is going on with our son.  It is so hard to have him there and we are here and we can't do squat about anything we learn.  I am so ready to bring him home and get answers here that we can actually use to move forward.  Please be praying that God would give us patience and strength as we wait.

We have been swapping kids rooms.  We painted the boy's rooms and Lillian is still waiting!  Maybe once school is out!  We have gotten lots of updated pictures and video's and we are so thankful for each of them.  We have also gotten to know Oliver's buddies family!  I am so amazed at how God has already woven our lives with another family.  Would you please pray for this family?  They have hit some major hurdles and they need God to show up in a mighty way.  We are praying God will get all the glory for the adoption of these boys!

We'll we survived four soccer games this weekend in the cold weather.  Yes it is May, but in Michigan so we had snow this morning and frigid temps this weekend.  We hauled back out the hats, gloves, scarves, and winter jackets.  Piled on the blankets and held tight to the umbrella's during the hail, but we loved every minute of it!  I am so thankful to have boys running around who love sports and don't care what the weather is doing.

If you can't participate in either of the fundraiser's we have this week we are still selling puzzle pieces.  We have this puzzle hung in a double glass frame and for $20 you can buy a piece.  We will put your name on the back and it will serve as a reminder of all the people who loved our son before he was even home.

Or we still are accepting tax deductible donations through our adopt together site:  https://www.adopttogether.org/oliver

Hopefully we will here from China this week that we are logged in!!!

A Week Full of Blessings

This week has been so full of blessings!!!!

First on Sunday night we received the draft of our home study!!  We quickly read through it and made the needed changes.  Monday morning I got that sent back to our agency.  Tuesday night we heard back from the agency that technology worked against us and she couldn't open the comments we had sent.  So I typed up all the changes again and she was able to make the changes needed. Late Thursday night the official draft was sent off to the adoption agency for their review.  So now we wait to see if they see anything that needs to be different!  Having the home study in the approval stage is an accomplishment!

We had a sweet friend give us a ton of 3t and 4t boys clothes!!  This is such a blessing.  We have long been done and gotten rid of all little boys clothes that size! We are so thankful to have this gift.

I have met so many new friends through Facebook who are on the adoption journey.  One friend ordered one to many of the learn Chinese flash cards, so she offered to mail them to me!!  Well she did mail them and a bunch of other goodies!  She sent some drums from Hong Kong, some Japanese dolls, and some Japanese candy.  We love all of it!

We sent a care package with a family that was picking up their daughter last week.  We sent a small stuffed animal blanket, a car, some stickers, and a photo book to Oliver!  The got home this week and she was able to send me some photos and videos!  I have only watched the videos a few thousand times!  Just to be able to talk to another person who has been with him is such a blessing.  He loved the car!!  He lights up when they tell him that the gifts are from his mama!  What a honey!

We finally got the event insurance figured out so we can host a 5k fundraiser!  So we kicked off that and we already have a couple of businesses who have come alongside us to support us!

You can join us to!  Register at https://runsignup.com/Race/MI/WestOlive/OliversTravels

I found this verse this week and it has spoke to me!  I just need to keep my focus on God.  He called us on this journey and he has every detail figured out.  He won't leave out anything that we need.  He has cared for Oliver for over 2 years and won't quit now!  He will give us the patience, strength, stamina, guidance, love, and everything else that we need for this process if we keep our eyes on him.

An Emotional Week

This week has been so full of seeing God's hand in the middle of our adoption.  I continue to be amazed at just how connected I feel to Oliver even though we have never met.  Without  a shadow of a doubt he is our boy and I love him immensely.  As I am sure every adoptive parent can relate I am an emotional mess most of the time.  I am reading scripture and trying to be patient and rest in God's timing, but my heart is broken for this little boy.  I pray that he is warm enough, that he has enough food, that someone will choose to pick him up today and give him some love.  I pray that somehow God will let him know that he is loved.

So many exciting things this week:

Monday we had our last home study meeting!!!!  So now we are just waiting on the Social Worker to get it all typed up.  This will take a couple of weeks.

I was cleared medically so now we should be able to get all the notarized paperwork from the doctor next week!  Also our certified birth and marriage certificates arrived this week!! One step closer!

I finished a few of the rice bags and officially started our first fundraiser.  I am planning and working hard to figure out some other fundraisers!

One of the most exiting things is we got new pictures and video!!!!!!  These pictures and video mean the WORLD to us!  The pictures showed him signing "I Love You" and another was of him eating!  I felt so comforted that God was answering a few of my prayers through these pictures.  The video's we got were from a Christmas celebration and one of him singing with his teacher and class!  Can I just say our boy has rhythm!!  The boys were so excited to see how much he seems to love music!  He was laughing and so enjoying the song!

Perhaps the most evidence that I have seen God's hand this week was in Oliver and his buddy.  In every video and picture we have we see the same little boy.  From the few people we have connected with at the orphanage they are best buds!  I love knowing that he has a little buddy with him each day.  Well I was able to connect with his buddies mom!!!  So many wonderful things have already come from the connection.  She and her family spent about 15 days in Oliver's room last January.  I know in a years time a child changes a lot, but she was able to share her personal experiences with Oliver. Gold absolute gold.  Thank you Lord for such a gift.  It is what I needed this week.  He LOVES to be cuddled, has a sweet personality, and is "robust" as she put it!!!  Her family is in the same step, just finishing up the home study, that we are!  So while I realize it is a remote chance that we would travel at the same time, God could make that happen!!  Once we learned that his buddy was adopted as well I have prayed that the timing would be close for both boys.  They are obviously close and I imagine it will be hard for whichever boy is left at the orphanage without their friend.  So we will continue to pray that God will work out the timing to be close!!  While talking with his buddy's mom they will be in the states for a while after the adoption and guess where she will be staying.  Out of all 50 states she will be in Grand Rapids!  Praise the Lord.  I have no doubt that God is working in these two boys lives and that our families will be connected for a long time!  God is so amazing!!!

Not so exciting is that our home study agency mailed us the only copy of the notarized reference letters and they have not come.  They mailed them before Christmas and now seem to be missing.  I am still praying she made a mistake and they are at the office and will be found or that they will show up in our mailbox.

All in all this week was wonderful!!!!  Many weeks go by that we don't get pictures/video or see many steps forward in the process.  So thankful that we were able to have those moments this week.  In a couple of weeks we hope to have more pictures as we put together a photo album of our family and a few small things for Oliver and sent it with a family that is traveling to his orphanage in a couple of weeks.  Then Oliver will see the family that God picked for him!!!

So if you want to pray here are a few things we would love prayer for:

• Our Social Worker as she writes the home study.  Accuracy, speediness, stamina!  It is a lengthy document!
• Our fundraisers!
• Close timing in the adoption of Oliver and his friend.
• Our reference letters to be found.
• Peace and patience in the process
• For Oliver and our family

Saying "Yes" to God's Plans

Over 17 years ago I started my journey of saying "yes" to what God had planned for my life.  It has been an interesting 17 years with a constant development of learning to give more and more of myself over to what God's plan is and relinquish my own plans.  I love looking back and seeing how he put certain people in my life to teach me and help me develop into the daughter of the King he created me to be.  Even the really hard things have been used to develop me and make me stronger, more confident, and a better version of me!!

I still work to give complete control of everything over to Him.  I have come a long way, but I am far from perfect.  He has given me a huge gift through my marriage and kids.  Each of these relationships has helped me to grow.  Learning to manage my health, learning how to be a wife, and learning how to parent three individuals has kept me close to Him.  I don't have much figured out, but I know that I don't know what is coming next so I might as well do what I can today and trust Him for tomorrow.

He has shown up in the last 17 years in ways I would of never imagined.  Even when I had my doubts that He had everything under control it has all worked out for His glory.  Before we got married we talked a lot about our future and not knowing if I could have children it was important to me that my future husband was open to adopting.  So we spent time dreaming of what our family would look like someday.  I always pictured having many kids, but after the last two births it became clear that I wouldn't be having anymore kids.  While the last few years have not been boring I felt like something was missing.  God was working in my heart and prompting me toward adoption.  I didn't really talk to Mr. Hauch about it because I knew he was content with our family the way that it was.  So I finally told God "Leave me alone about adoption.  Mr. Hauch isn't on the same page, so you need to either get him on board or leave me alone.  You can't put this on my heart and not get him on board."  I realize it might seem crazy to tell God this, but it was where I was at.  So I went on with life thinking this was a done deal.  After all I did tell God my feelings on it right?!  I should know better than this by now!

Our church had a local adoption agency at church on orphan Sunday, with information tables set up.  So imagine my surprise when Mr. Hauch says "Hey, think we should go stop by the tables and get some info?"  Ummmmmm why?  My reaction must of been something because it drew the attention of all the kids.  So to the tables we went.  This same Sunday we had been challenged in church to write something down that we felt like we needed to give over to God.  So I went and wrote "Control" in the sand.  I know I have given a lot of control over, but I also know that I cling to control as if I can make things better on my own?!  At lunch the kids had a million questions about adoption and we answered most of them with "We have no idea what God is thinking, so we just need to pray!"  So pray we did.  A lot!!!!

Both Mr. Hauch and I are very analytical.  We like facts, figures, data, spreadsheets, you know things that are conclusive.  Well, we don't have any of that for this adventure.  We only have broken hearts and a feeling that God isn't finished with our family.  Each of our children has opened themselves to God's plan with such freedom and abandonment.  The Faith of a Child!!!  So we did what most people do who love facts, we gathered data and prayed.  Then God kept bringing this one child in front of us.  We requested more info and we got a full glimpse into this little child's life and we were broken for him.  We continued to pray and then we came to this realization that God had done something I still don't understand.  He created a love for this child that we have yet to meet.  A love that we can't walk away from.  A love that tells us that this is our boy.

So we sent a letter to China telling them of our intent to adopt this boy and asking them for permission.  They gave us permission!  We now race to get all the legal paperwork and government hoops jumped through to bring our boy home.  Our hearts break that our little boy is half way around the world and we can't get to him just yet.  God has carried this little guy before we even knew about him, so we trust that He will continue to care for him until we can get there.  So our little family just grew!!  We have plenty of love to give and plenty of fun to share, so why wouldn't we?

Here is our new little guy!!! We will call him "H" for now!

The Boy's Room

Corban got his own room.  Last summer all the kids begged to share the big bedroom.  We moved them all into it and they have loved being together.  Corban just turned 10 and loves to read.  Now he can stay up a little later and read!

 

Our Big Man is 10

Our big man has turned 10! 

Where or where did the last 10 years go?  We have such a wonderful boy who brings so much adventure into our lives every day!  Corban LOVES to read!  He reads so fast and can't wait to get to another book or another topic.  It seems no matter where we go he has read information on a that topic and has questions for the professional.  We were just at the vet and he was quizzing the vet with his questions.  I love the way this boy's brain works!  He has found a love for soccer and is becoming quite good at it!  He loves school and loves his family! 

We celebrated his birthday up north at grandma & grandpa's house!  Grandma made him this awesome soccer cake!    He is going to participate in a trap league this spring so he got a gun and some protection for the trap league.

 

Snow Fun

The kids LOVE to play outside.  The weather doesn't seem to really matter to them.  We got a great day where we had quite a bit of snow and the temps were a little warmer.  I had to drag them back inside.  The boys made walls and were doing whatever they could to knock them down.  Right after I took these pictures they ran through the walls.  I love how much fun they have playing together and outside!

 

Our Baby Girl is 5!

Little Miss Lillian has turned five!  She had a great party with family and friends.  Grandma made her an awesome Hello Kitty cake.  Lillian is a party.  Each day is an adventure and most of the time I feel like I am along for the ride.  We meet more people in a day because of how outgoing Lillian is!  She is fun and loves people.  She loves to cuddle with her favorite blankies and read.  As long as you are playing together she will play just about anything.  She LOVES to make things.  Any kind of art project and she is in!1'

 

Everyday when we get to school the kids shout "Yea Lillian's here!"  She is so much fun!

 

 

 she was scraping off the lettering and eating it!

 Lillian and her buddies!

 grandma made her a new blankie!