The Unexpected!

This post is way overdue and for that I appologize! I have neglected this blog for far too long!

As many of you know, our adoption has been put on hold. Why?? Because God has an amazing sense of humor! We found out in early September, 4 days before we were supposed to be DTE, that I was pregnant!

Obviously this was completely unexpected and unplanned. Not just now, but ever! We truly never expected or "tried" to have biological children. In fact, and this may sound strange to many of you, I have never really had a desire to be pregnant. Adoption has always been Plan A from the beginning. From the beginning of our relationship, Matt and I knew our family would be built through adoption.

In some way, part of me thought part of the reason God placed adoption so strongly in my heart because I was unable to concieve, and I was totally fine with that. Although we never "tried," we really didn't do much to prevent it from happening either. And honestly, after 10 years, we thought we were in the clear! Boy, were we wrong!!

Being so close to being DTE, my first reaction was not completely positive. It sounds silly now, but at the time, I felt like I was grieving the loss of our Ethiopian son. I have come to realize that I was really, very selfishly, grieving the loss of "my plan." Getting pregnant through a big wrench in what I thought the plan for our family should be! I am so grateful that God's plan far exceeds our own!!

We are still going to be adopting. We have no doubt that God laid our adoption on our hearts, though our little boy is not quite ready for us yet! Our agency's policy is that we withdraw from the process until the baby is 6 months old. We have been told we may be able to get an exception and continue earlier than that, but we will wait and see.

So far, the pregnancy is going well! I am at 22 weeks and not feeling too bad! We had our sonogram just a few days ago and our little Ethiopian boy is going to blessed with 3 sisters when he joins our family!! Yep, it's a girl! Matt is so excited about being even more outnumbered!

Thank you all for your prayers and support. Hopefully it won't be another 3 months before I post again!

Rubeinna

What a mighty God we serve!!

Psalm 29
A psalm of David.



Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic.
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the LORD strikes with flashes of lightning.
The voice of the LORD shakes the desert; the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare.

And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"
The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever.

The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.



This was the psalm Matt & I read on Sunday morning before beginning our dinner/auction fundraiser. It was such an encouragement to be reminded of God's power. It energized us to face the day, no matter the outcome. Little did we know how much of his glory, power, strength and mightiness that we would witness in the coming hours!


God knocked our socks off!! We raised $6,486!! It was so absolutely amazing and it was humbling to be a part of it all. Our hope was to raise enough to send in our dossier. Not only did we raise enough for that, but we are now almost halfway to our next goal--the payment due when we accept our referral!!


So many people helped with the dinner and donated items. Thanks to all who contributed in any way. We love you all and appreciate you so much!! We could not have done it without you!

What happens now? Well, we officially sent our dossier to America World. We hoped to send it Monday, but we didn't get to the post office on time. So, we sent it on Tuesday. It is now in Dulles, VA and will be delivered to America World in the morning!! Unless we have overlooked something or a document in incorrect, we should (hopefully) be DTE(Dossier to Ethiopia) on September 10. Being DTE means we are officially on the waiting list for our precious little boy!

When we received our I-171h a few weeks ago, we struggled with not getting discouraged. Having our paperwork done, but not having the funds to send it was hard. But the Lord worked it all out in His time. He has provided above and beyond what we even imagined! We are now about 4-6 months away from seeing the face of our baby boy for the first time. What a day that will be!! I was a bawling mess on Sunday afternoon when we witnessed what God has provided--I know I'm going to be an even bigger mess on our referral day!!

Rubeinna

New Auction Items!!

We have had so many people donate and offer to donate items for our auction items in the past week and a half! A few of the things donated are:

A catered dinner for 4

Pizza Hut Pizza

Spring Rolls made by Maggie Beachy!!

Betty Thomas' famous chocolate chip cookies

A handmade oak clock made by Matt's Grandpa!

Handmade wooden items made by Matt's Dad!

Cinnamon Rolls and lots of other baked goods!

Jalapeno Jelly-Sounds awesome, right!?

Baby Quilts

These are all items above and beyond what I mentioned in the last post! We have close to 35 different items and almost 50 total items for the auction!

I want to bid on so many things. . .but that would defeat the purpose of this fundraiser, wouldn't it!?!

Please come out and support us if you can! This Sunday, August 29th at Emmanuel Mennonite Church. We will begin serving lunch at noon(it is going to be tasty!) and the auction will start at 1:00 or soon after!

Going once. . . Going twice. . .Sold to the highest bidder!

Don't you just love auctions?? The thrill of bidding for your desired item!!


We will be having a dinner/auction on Sunday, August 29th! All proceeds will go towards sending in our dossier!!

Here are the details:

Where: Emmanuel Mennonite Church(basement) in Meade, Kansas

When: Sunday, August 29th. We will serve lunch starting at noon. The auction will begin between 1:30-2:00 p.m.

Menu: BBQ chicken, potato salad, baked beans, fruit salad, bread and dessert. Sounds yummy right??!!

Auction Items: blankets(Chiefs, KU, K-State, etc.), aprons, house plants, framed art & photography,lots of baked goods(cheesecakes, cookies,pies, pastries, etc.), gift baskets, babysitting services(Violet & Maggie) and HOPEFULLY many, many other things!!

***If you have ideas or items we could include in our auction, please contact us by comment, phone or email!

Please come! We would love to have a huge crowd! Great food and Great fun. . .what's better than that!??

Rubeinna

AND THE WINNER IS. . .

Our hat full of entries!!Maggie did the drawing honors. . .

And the Winner is. . .

CarmenDruckenmiller!!

Congrats Carmen! Thanks so much to all who entered! We wish we could have drawn all of your names!

14 hours left!!

We will be taking entries for our giveaway until Noon on Saturday(tommorrow)! We will draw for a winner sometime in the afternoon and let you all know as soon as possible.

There is still time to enter!! Go to our July 31st blog post or click on the link to find out all the details!

It Has Arrived!!

The post office was a happy place today! Our I-171h arrived this morning!! Our dossier is basically complete now! We have to get everything in order, make our copies and it will be ready to put in the mail.

ALMOST!

The Problem--we still don't have the amount we need to send our dossier to our agency.

Seeing our I-171h in the mail today was a little bittersweet. Yes, we were excited, but knowing we can't send in our dossier is just a little heartbreaking. It wasn't unexpected, though. We have had a feeling that our paperwork would be finished before our funding was in (I think the Lord was preparing us). We have been praying that we would have patience and wait on the Lord's timing. Boy, is that hard to do sometimes!

Also, there are families that have been waiting for their I-171h for much longer than us--and they have the funds to send in their dossier as soon as- they get it. I feel guilty for getting ours before theirs came. It seems a little silly for us to have ours when we really aren't quite ready for it. But, the Lord knows what He's doing, even when we just don't understand it!

I told Matt that as soon as the I-171h was in my hands, I would be going crazy and be a complete mess! Surprisingly, although I feel that little tug at my heart, I am actually doing OK. I'm sure that has something to do with the Lord providing us with so many wonderful people who are encouraged and prayed for us! I know that the Lord will provide-I KNOW He will! Our commitment to finishing our paperwork without going into debt has not, and will not change. We truly believe God is telling us to let Him provide at this point.

Does that mean we are going to sit and twiddle our thumbs-not at all. We are fundraising and will continue to do so. We are still selling our cookbooks and coffee. We have a big fundraiser planned and we will let you all know the details as soon as it is all worked out.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!

Rubeinna

Puzzle Update

July 9, 2010-158 pieces

August 10, 2010-267 pieces!!!

Looks great doesn't it?? In the past month, we have added 109 puzzle pieces in one month! Our cookbook sales have been nice & steady. We still have plenty more-so if you haven't ordered one, you can still get one!! We've also had a few people order coffee. Every little bit helps and we appreciate it so much!!

Only 733 pieces to go!!

We would love to add your name to one piece or several pieces. Here's how:
1. Buy a cookbook-1 puzzle piece for each cookbook sold (details are on the side of the blog)
2. Buy coffee-1 puzzle piece for each bag purchased (link is on the side of our blog, under the cookbook stuff)
3. Give any monetary donation-1 puzzle piece for every $10

We are working on a couple of fundraisers coming up in September. We're hoping those will bring in enough to send in our dossier!! Oh, what a day that will be!


Also. . .our BIG giveaway is happening this Saturday!! You only have a few more days to enter. Go to our July 31st blog post or this link to find out all the details!

Rubeinna

This Journey is SO much bigger than us!!

One of the most amazing things about this adoption journey has been connecting with adoptive families and those who are passionate about orphans around the world! It has been enlightening, to say the least! I can't tell you how blessed I have been by hearing other adoption stories, mission trips to visit and care for orphans and those who have dedicated their entire lives for the least of these. God's heart is so evident in the lives of these wonderful people! There is a movement to care for the orphans that, up until a few months ago, I had no idea existed. It has hit me so many times recently that I have fallen SO incredibly short in God's command in James 1:27 to "care for the orphans and widows in their distress." Both Matt & I have a renewed commitment to be broken for the things that break God's heart. What that means for the future, we have no idea, but we are so excited that God has chosen us to be a part of all of this. Does that mean we are going to be packing up and moving to Africa-probably not. But I know that the journey we are on is bigger than we ever expected it to be. It's not just a journey to our son in Ethiopia- it is so much more!
As I stated before, we have connected with some amazing people and families and I wanted to share some of those with you. This blog lately has been all about OUR Fundraising efforts, etc. I want today to be about some others who are changing the world with their vision.



Samantha is an amazing 11 year old girl whose family is adopting four year old little boy from Ethiopia. After learning more about Ethiopia and the orphan crisis, she decided she had to help. She is making these beautiful bottle cap necklaces and donating 100% of the proceeds to provide shoes for children in Ethiopia because "I don't need things, and others do." Isn't that AMAZING! Please go to her blog and order 1,2 5, or 10 of these beautiful necklaces. They are only $6! Click on the picture or go to http://littlegoody2-shoes.blogspot.com/

The McKinney Family is an awesome family we have connected with through our agency's Yahoo Group. They are in the paperchasing phase just like us!! They have a great blog and have come up with a very creative fundraiser to help with their adoption costs. 5000 for 5 is an effort to get $5 donations from 5000 people/family, etc. Plus, when you donate, they will put a push pin on your location on a large map they have made to track where donations are coming from--I would love to see KANSAS or WISCONSIN completely full!! Go to http://lifeabitsweeter.blogspot.com/ or click on the picture to go to their blog, read all about them and donate!

The Druckenmiller Family are also in the same place where are, adoption wise. In fact, their fingerprinting appointment was right after ours! They live in Nebraska, which is also exciting for us, as there are not many adoptive families that we know here in Kansas. We are hoping to meet them some day! They are selling some super cute magnets for only $5. They are great to have on your fridge to remind you to pray for adoptive families and the orphans in Africa. Click on the picture or go to http://www.druckenmillerfamily.blogspot.com/ to order!

That's all for now! I want to make posts like this a regular part of this blog. I want all of you who are following our journey to be aware of and support others who are doing wonderful things! Please take time to go to each of these blogs and, if you can, donate. Your support, however big or small, will have an eternal impact.

Have a great weekend!

Rubeinna

BIG GIVEAWAY!!

We are still almost $5,000 away from the $7,700 we need to send off our dossier, as soon as it is completed! We will not be put on the waiting list for our little boy until our dossier is sent to Ethiopia, so the sooner that happens, the better!!

So. . .we have decided to do a BIG BLOG GIVEAWAY! This is an idea we have seen on several blogs and we thought it would be a great way get spread the work about our cookbooks and our coffee sale.

What are we giving away??? There are going to be several options, depending on your specific needs or desires!! Check it out:

Aprons!!

My wonderful sister and mother make these amazing aprons. They make four sizes-adult, young girl (or boy), toddler, and doll size. Aren't they adorable?? (Doesn't my nephew look so excited to be a part of this photo?!)

Our cookbook!!

A bag of coffee!!

2 dozen cookies of your choice!!

If you win, you will be able to choose from these options:

1. A Complete set of aprons (your choice of color/design) and 2 dozen cookies.
2. 1 apron (your choice of color/design and size), a cookbook and 2 dozen cookies.
3. A cookbook, a bag of coffee and 2 dozen cookies.
4. 2 aprons (your choice of color/design and size), a bag of coffee and 2 dozen cookies

So. . .how do you enter, you ask?? Here's how:

• Become a follower of our blog (if you already are, that counts too! Just post a comment that you would like to be a part of the giveaway)-1 entry per day
• Post about our giveaway on your blog-1 entry per day (comment, message or email me to let me know)
• Add a link about the giveaway on facebook-1 entry per day (comment, message or email me to let me know)
• Buy a cookbook-2 entries for each book purchased!
• Buy coffee-1 entry per bag

AND THE BEST WAY TO ENTER:

• If anyone buys a cookbook and coffee and mentions your name, you will receive 3 Entries!!!

Enter as many times as you like! There will be 1 winner for every 50 entries!! Just be sure to let us know each time you post/link, etc. Also, be sure to have anyone who is purchasing cookbooks and coffee to mention your name.

We will end the giveaway on Friday, August 13th and the winner(s) will be announced on Saturday, August 14th!! (changed from previous dates!)

Good Luck to all of you and we hope you have fun!!!

Rubeinna

Update

Sorry about not posting much lately. Our paperchase journey is nearing the 5 month mark (average is 4-6 months). So far, it has been fairly smooth and for that we are so thankful. We are still waiting on our beloved I171h immigration form to arrive. It's been a little over 2 weeks since our biometrics(fingerprinting) appointment. Each day when I head to the post office to check the mail, I try not to think about it too much. I do search each little piece of mail, even the junk, just to make sure!! It would be a huge shock for it to come this soon though. Other families have been waiting quite a while for theirs. The Wages Family has been waiting over 80 days for theirs! They have been paperchasing for almost a year. They have had several delays with various things, including the home study, and now to be waiting so long for their I171h is so hard. Say a quick prayer for them-they are resting in God's timing, but it can be so frustrating at times.

We are still busy fundraising. As you can see from our thermometer, we have been blessed greatly in the past month. We are barely a month into fundraising and have raised close to $2,500!! We are really praying that we'll get to the $7,700 mark BEFORE our I171h arrives. At this point, that is my biggest fear: having our paperwork completely finished and not being able to send it because we don't have the money raised.

Cookbook sales have been going well. We have been overwhelmed at the support from the people here in Meade, especially the at the hospital where Matt works. They have been absolutely amazing and have even "advertised" the cookbook in their weekly newsletter. We haven't had the sales we expected online, though, so we are working on a GREAT giveaway to get the word out on the web and hopefully more traffic on our blog.

We will post all the details tomorrow so be sure to come back and check it out!!

Rubeinna

Enter to win a Fun T-shirt!!

A fellow adoption family is selling T-shirts to help bring their little one home. They are doing a T-shirt giveaway to help promote the shirts. Please go to their blog and check them out.
http://marquezfamilyjourney.blogspot.com/2010/07/t-shirt-giveaway.html
You can enter to win or buy a shirt!

We have been papercasing with this family for a while now, but just today they recieved their I171h and will be DTE soon!!!!! The I171h is the form we are currently waiting on now that our fingerprinting is done!

Rubeinna

Puzzle Progress

As many of you know, as a part of our fundraising efforts, we are putting together a puzzle to hang in our son's nursery. Each piece of the 1000 piece puzzle will have the name of a person or family that helped bring him home to his forever family.

This is what it looks like so far: 158 pieces!!!

The back side-with names!!

A close up shot!

This shows a picture of what the puzzle will look like when completed

Looks good so far, doesn't it?? Only 842 pieces to go! If you are new to our blog or have forgotten how to "sponsor" pieces, there are three ways to do it.

1. Buy a cookbook-1 puzzle piece for each cookbook sold (details are on the side of the blog)

2. Buy coffee-1 puzzle piece for each bag purchased (link is on the side of our blog, under the cookbook stuff)

3. Give any monetary donation-1 puzzle piece for every $10

Can you help us finish it?? As you can see, we are making great progress but have a long way to go. Anything you can do to help is so much appreciated!

Thank you all for your prayers and support during this journey! Things have been pretty smooth so far, but emotionally we have had our ups and downs. We know that God has called us to this and we are so excited, but there are times when it becomes overwhelming, especially when thinking about the financial aspect of it all. Yesterday was one of those days for me, and this morning God blessed our socks off with an amazing donation in the mail from a wonderful, wonderful lady! It's days like these that we feel your prayers and know that God is able to do more than we can ask or imagine!

Rubeinna

We're getting fingerprinted!!

Today was a wonderful day at the post office!! Our USCIS fingerprinting appointment came in the mail! July 13th at 9:00 a.m. can't come soon enough! I almost decided against checking the mail. . .I'm so glad I didn't! I was the perfect beginning to a holiday weekend! Have a wonderful 4th of July!!

Rubeinna

Another plug for our cookbook!

Just a reminder that we still have lots of cookbooks in stock to sell! We are getting extremely close to the $1000 mark. This includes donations, cookbook sales and proceeds from our food booth at Dalton Days last weekend. Only $6700 to go! Here are a few pictures from the finished product:

If you have considered getting one for yourself or as a gift, don't hesitate--they really are great! As a little "testimonial," one of Matt's co-workers made a recipe from the book the other night and her husband, who never takes leftovers for his lunch, liked it so much he took the leftovers to work the next day!



Remember, for each cookbook you purchase or bag of coffee you buy, you will "sponsor" a puzzle piece. I am hoping to update on the progress of the puzzle soon so that you can see the progress we have already made!




These are some verses I read during my quiet time this morning:

But I trust in you, O Lord; I say "You are my God. My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me. Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.
Psalm 30:14-16


This fundraising thing can be scary at times. I have had to remind myself too many times to trust. It is such a hard thing when those big numbers are looming in front of us. We know this is God's plan for us and we know it will happen in his time.

Rubeinna

Gearing up!

Tomorrow is a big day for us. We are doing a food booth at Dalton Days, our local yearly festival. We are selling burritos, nachos, drinks and cookies. If you can come out, we have lots of food for you! If you can't, please pray for success.

Also, we are picking our cookbooks up from the printers today! It looks awesome! Please purchase one if you can. If you know people who enjoy cooking or baking, send them to our blog to buy a book. It really does have some awesome recipes!

We are getting so close to being done with our paperwork! The only downside of that is the fact that we have to have $7,700 to send in with our Dossier. Having already paid over $6,000, our savings is about as low as we are comfortable with. We have prayed about it and we really feel that God will provide through fundraising and donations. It's scary to think that we may have to wait a little while to send in our dossier, but we also know that God's timing is perfect. Although we may have to break down and get a loan for the final cost of the adoption, we feel strongly that we are not going to get a loan just to send our paperwork in faster.

We have placed a "fundraising thermometer" on our blog so that you can track our progress. The money we make tomorrow, all coffee sales and the sales of our cookbook will go toward that ominous $7,700 that we need! Wouldn't it be amazing if God provided the entire amount before our paperwork is completed!? Please pray and ask the Lord if He wants you to be a part of our journey. We are so grateful for your prayers and support.

Rubeinna

I600a-On the Way to Dallas!

I can't believe it! Our home study came in the mail yesterday. We have been so blessed to have the home study process be only about 8 weeks long, from start to finish. Our agency has been amazing and so efficient!

As soon as the home study was in our hands we finished our I600a form and got all the necessary documents together to send to USCIS. Sending it out this morning was such an awesome feeling!

So, now what? Well, we wait for USCIS to contact us about fingerprinting. Hopefully that will happen soon. From what I understand, we should be getting a call or a card in the mail with an appointment time. After the fingerprinting, we wait for the I-171h form that indicates the INS has approved our petition to adopt. We really have no time frame as to how long this could take. It all depends on the state, really, and we don't know how long it has taken other families in here in Kansas. So, we'll wait. . .as patiently as possible!

Rubeinna

Sharing Our Story

This is a video we created to share with our church family. Thank you to all of the wonderful AWAA families who gave us permision to use their photos of Ethiopia and their beautiful children!

They're Almost Here!! Get 'em while they're Hot!!

Our big Fundraiser has officially begun!! Be one of the first to help our little guy come home!

Our cookbooks are officially at the printers! It has been a long couple of weeks, with many late nights of typing, proofreading, editing, and picture taking! We are so excited about it! The name of our book is "A Taste of Love" and will feature the Ethiopian flag with an outline of the country on the Cover.

Here's a little preview:

Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake

Chicken n' Biscuits

Bacon Wrapped Smokies

7 Layer Bars

These recipes and many, many more will be a part of this yummy cookbook! All the recipes are fun, simple and easy to follow. There are recipes that have been a part of our family for years and others that we have collected through the last decade of married life. We, as a family, can attest to the goodness of each recipe because we use and have tried them all!

Each section divider will highlight some recipes with full color photos, like the ones you see above!

We have also included some facts about Ethiopia throughout the book. We thought this would be a fun way to incorporate the reason for creating this book in the first place! Unfortunately, we did not include any Ethiopian recipes in the book. I have never attempted Ethiopian cuisine, and I really wanted this to be a book of recipes I know and have made myself.

So--Did we wet your appetite?? Is your mouth watering for that cheesecake? Great! All you have to do is order a book and you'll be cooking in no time! We are asking for a $20 donation for each book. You can use the secure Paypal link on the left side of our blog. Please make sure you send us an email (mrbobo@swko.net) with your address so that we can mail it to you. You can also mail us a check at: Box 993 Meade, KS 67864.

The cookbooks will be ready by the end of next week, but feel free to go ahead and order one now! We will get it to you as soon as they are printed!

Thanks so much for all of your support!

Rubeinna

Home Study Complete!

Oh, what a wonderful morning! We received the email for our home study agency that we were praying would come this week. Our home study is complete and they are mailing us the copies! Hopefully we will have them in our hands early next week! This is an enormous step in our process! Once we have the home study in our hands, we can send one copy along with the I600A form to USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration The I171h is the form that gives us permission to bring our little boy into the United States, or something like that. This is the form is usually the last thing every adoptive family is waiting for to finish their paperwork. It could take a couple of weeks or is take a couple of months. Let's pray that it's only a couple of weeks!!

Rubeinna