Riggalicious Reflections

Friday, March 30, 2012

Court Date!

I am so excited to announce that this Wednesday we found out we have a court date for April 25th! We are both over-joyed as this came much sooner than anticipated. Praise God!

Thanks for being part of our "court date" celebration Jon and Amy!

FYI: We are planning on taking some donations over to Ethiopia. If you are interested in giving let me know

**Reminder- We have tickets for those of you who are interested in attending the Comedy Night hosted by FAM April 22nd.**

A few other recent pictures...

Meeting my niece Emily Michelle for the first time!

Maria and I having a celebratory lunch at Brew-Ha

Grant and Kara were overnight for a wedding

Celebrating our referral with James and Vanessa!

Rachael's surprise 30th birthday in Taylor

Jon and Mark the day we surprised him with our referral. So bummed you weren't there Angie!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Adoption Timeline

It's hard to believe how much time has passed since we started our "adoption journey." While the wait was/has been a roller coaster ride, with the time-line doubling since we started the process, God has faithfully provided re-assurance and increased our faith during this time. We've been strengthened by those who have been praying along side of us through-out this process, while making new friends and getting a chance to be involved in serving others in new ways.

2010

May 2010: Jon and I prayerfully decided that we will start building our family through adoption. It's something we had talked about since our engagement, but we felt like God was telling us to "go for it." With the help of Loving Shepherd, an organization which helps you get started in the adoption process, we chose to adopt internationally to Ethiopia

June 2010: We decide to use Holt International as our adoption agency and found an agency in Notre Dame to do our Home Study. We got started on our home-study right before we left for Outer Banks with the Ringger family. I'll never forget sharing the news as one our "prayer requests" during morning devotions with our Ringger family:~)

(enjoying the pool at Outer Banks)

July 3: Went home to Ohio for the weekend and we were able to tell our Dotterer family and Grandpa and Grandma Stoller the exciting news!

Summer 2010: Tried to enjoy the summer as much as possible while trying to get the Home-study and Dossier completed

My summer reading...

(unrelated to our adoption...but such a cute picture. August 24th my twin nephews Jack and Quinn were born)

Early September: Completed Home-Study!

September 17: Received I-600A from Immigration!

October 25: Biometrics in Indianapolis and then off to Phoenix.

We went with Mike and Angie to try our first taste of Ethiopian food!

November 12: We received our I-171H! Our dossier is complete and ready to send to Holt!

November 18: After some revisions, we are #54 on Holt's waiting list!!!

December 2010: Enjoyed Christmas with the thought in mind that "next year at this time" our baby will be home

Our first "baby" gifts- beautiful blanket and some animals for our baby room

2011

January 5: We find out that the wait for referral is expected to continue lengthening

Feburary 6: Despite being warned of the extended wait, we moved up significnatly on our wait list.

March 16: MOWA released a statement that they are going to cut their case-load down by 90%, slowing down things furthur in Ethiopia.

We took a road trip to the Biltmore for our "last" trip together (so we thought)

July 5: Two Mussie orphanages that Holt partners with are shut down

Summer/Fall/Winter 2011: Waiting, waiting, and more waiting.

2012

February 17: REFERRAL!

March 20: Submitted to court!

...to be continued

***I wanted to update those who have been praying for Jeff and Sarah's baby Joah. Click here to read some good news!***

Monday, February 27, 2012

A New Perspective

I'm going to take a break from adoption posts to post a few things I'm passionate about...

Starting January 9th, I've been spending every Monday night attending a class called Perspectives. It's been an opportunity for me to learn about God's heart for all peoples and discover more about the World Christian Movement. I wish I could share all that I've learned in class...articles that are challenging me to grow, statistics that make my heart cry, and some of the mind-blowing stories I've heard, but that would take forever. Instead, I'm going to allow to you click here so you can go directly to the Perspectives site. If you do have a chance to take the course, do it!

Every once in awhile I find myself learning something that makes my heart explode with love for God. One of these things is meditating on the idea that of how global and big our God is. Instead of using words to share what I mean...I thought I would share a few links and videos to help explain:

Operation World

Learn how you can better pray for the world

http://prayercast.com/uniquepcast/shine

I love this video!

http://harvestmediaministry.com/State_Gospel_Full.htm

A presentation that explains the shift of Christianity from the western world to the majority world (60% of Christians today are non-western). Very interesting.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, (Rev 7:9)

Lifesong Update

For those of you who have generously given and been involved in Lifesong Ethiopia, I thought I would share a video of Gary and Peggy Ifft. For those of you who don't know, Lifesong is using their leadership in Misgana Ministries to do amazing work in Ethiopia.

http://petermakesthings.com/moving-things/gary-peggy/

FAM (Foster, Adoption, Mentoring)

FAM is hosting a "Comedy for a Cause" night at Kingdom Academy on April 22nd from 6:30-8:30. Tickets are $25 and 100% of proceeds will got to FAM. I have lots of tickets to sell, so please let me know if you are interested!

Lastly, I have a prayer request from my cousin Sarah Stoller. They (Jeff and Sarah) received a baby boy referral last Monday. This beautiful little guy needs our prayers regarding his inability to gain weight. Here is the link to her blog to learn more: http://jsstoller04.blogspot.com/

Friday, February 24, 2012

Adoption video #2

Jon was able to surprise his good friend Jon Gerst with our referral news when they met for breakfast last Saturday morning. Jon had hid Josiah's picture in the menu and apparently Jon Gerst thought it was part of the menu at first:~) It's a bit cut off, but I love the surprise factor.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Adoption video

Being able to share this incredible news with family and friends has been an unforgettable experience. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank each and every one of you for the prayers and support you have given us. It means the world to see and hear the excitement as well as the tears of joy from you all as you join us in celebrating this miracle.

I plan on posting more of our weekend later on, but I want to share a video that makes me tear up every time I watch it.

A little background. It was early Saturday morning and Jon stopped by his grandparent's house to surprise them with the news. In case you are wondering why grandpa is intrigued by the card, you must know that it was a gothic looking biblical scene that was on the front. It was the only card we owned that was long enough to hide the picture. Seeing the look of surprise on both of their faces, followed by grandma's tears, is unforgettable.

REFERRAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(it's a boy!)

2/18/12 (Early Saturday)

I can't sleep. The excitement of the last 24 hours has been surreal, amazing,... and perfect. Last night as I was praying, I was overwhelmed of how much my prayers had changed overnight. Isn't life such an adventure? I've been up since 3:30 this morning just to look at his picture again. His gorgeous skin, dark eyes, and long lashes. Not to mention his tight, curly hair. I'm giddy about the day...I can't wait to tell more family and friends. Tomorrow I plan on going home to surprise my mom, sister, and some extended family. With all this in mind, my mind is going a mile a minute. Anyway, I was trying to to think of a task that would induce at least a little sleepiness, so I thought of blogging. I plan on making our referral/adoption more than one post, so bear with me.

Backtracking a bit...

2/17/12 (Friday)

Referral Day! (1 day short of waiting 15 months)

It was a typical Friday. I was a bit discouraged heading into work. Holt (our agency) had been telling us for a few weeks now, that it could be anytime that we get our referral. But we still hadn't heard anything, so I expected Friday to be the same.

12:30- Holt calls Jon to tell him she has GOOD news! She tells him that they have a referral for an eight month old boy.

12:40- Jon calls me at work. The conversation goes like this:

(I'm extremely busy at work as this point, and annoyed that I have yet another phone call to answer)

Beth-I answer in my typical nurse intro. I don't hear anything. I try again...HELLO?

Jon-muffled...it's Jon

Beth- Who?

Jon- It's Jon. How's it going today?

Beth- (my heart literally starts pounding...is it really THE CALL?) Busy. What's up?

Jon- Well, your going to be a mother

Beth- (flustered). Umm...hold on. (I run to bathroom)

Inside the employee bathroom I hear the amazing news that Jon and I have a son! It felt like I was in a dream. I remember saying "Tell me everything!" Right at that moment, Jon received the first pictures and was able to describe to me how breathtaking he is. Wow. How do you process all of this? Jon and I both couldn't talk long. A few hours later I was finally able to sneak out to "eat." As I engulfed my food, I opened one picture after another. Over and over. I wish I could accurately describe what that moment felt like. So many emotions and amazement all at once. I didn't want to tell anyone at work, until I had shared it with my manager and supervisor. So I walked around with this amazing secret all day:~) When I got home that night, the energy and and excitement were palpable. As we poured over his pictures and paperwork- we started plotting our "revealing of the referral plan" for the weekend. An unforgettable night!

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior"

Monday, January 30, 2012

Welcome!

I've just spent the last hour figuring out how to set up a blog and searching the internet for templates that are free AND that I like. A lot of them seem crafty or really creative- none of which describe myself, so I will use this loud pink background until I find another. If anyone actually reads this (that blogs) do you have any tips?

So now that it's time to post something, I'm having a really hard time trying to figure out what to say. I planned on starting this blog in the summer of 2010 in order that family and friends could share in our adoption journey. But as the wait for our referral got longer, my motivation for starting it diminished. I'll share more about our adoption in another post, but for now I figured I would just post a few pictures from Christmas and recent happenings. (Doesn't it seem like that was so long ago?)

Mom got me a beautiful mother/baby sculpture. Hoping this is the year!