March 19, 2018

On February 22nd, Jim and I received the phone call that would forever change our lives! We're honored to introduce six year old Dieudonne, our son! 

        *** Please do not share these pictures on any form of social media!***

Dieudonne is a French name meaning "Gift of God." We plan to make Dieudonne his middle name and give him the name Jameson meaning "Son of James." 

We appreciate all the LOVE and SUPPORT you've showed us over the past three years! We have a remaining $10,000 to pull together for our trip to pick this little handsome man up! Be looking for an opportunity to match your support through a tax deductible donation via our church! Details coming soon! 

                        LOVE,
                  Jim and Kelly 

                                                       

October 11, 2017

Wow, the past 48 hours has been a roller coaster of emotions! We knew this was the week we'd find out if God felt it was time for us to receive a referral or not this go around. Families in our agency starting finding out their status on Monday..... Around 9:30pm CST, a friend of mine messaged and stated she just got off the phone with Melissa, our social worker, her family didn't receive a referral. Then another friend messaged because she found out her family's status. We really started to wonder why we hadn't heard anything. We requested a phone call for a yes and an email for a no. We kept thinking....  How hard is it to email us... or call for that matter. Needless to say, our anxiety, especially mine was high Monday evening going into Tuesday, October 10, 2017.

I was pretty busy at work, so the day had gotten away from me. After texting with Jim, we worked up the nerve to email Melissa around 2:45pm CST.

Melissa,

Do you have any information regarding who has received referral and who will be waiting for the next meeting? A few ladies I speak with regularly mentioned they spoke with you last evening. They did not give any details. 

Jim and I are just anxiously waiting, so we can prepare appropriately. 

Jim and Kelly 

As I was leaving work around 4:30pm CST, I received a phone all from Portland, Oregon. I immediately knew it was Melissa. She stated, "You received a referral." followed by a quick BUT....

Melissa continued to explain that the Central Authority placed us with a referral match for a little boy that just recently turned 7. Since 7 is out of the age ranger we were approved for through our home study and immigration, we are not allowed to accept the referral. My fear was instantly that we'd be disrespecting Burundi and the Central Authority by turning down this referral. Melissa reassured us they will simply be transferring the referral to another family within our agency that meets the young boys parameters. She stated both Pierre, our social worker in Burundi, and herself will continue to advocate for our family at the next meeting. The next meeting date is currently unknown.

As you can imagine, I was initially heartbroken by this news. We were prepared for a Yes or a No, our emotions were not certain how to handle Yes, but..... After a lot of processing together, emotional eating (my favorite way to handle bad new! :) ) and prayer we are honestly in a good place.


Today is a new day, and we know God has a bigger plan!



Our Child is and will be.......

LOVE,

Jim and Kelly 

October 2, 2017

We've been putting off this post just simply because we don't have any updated news for everyone. We are simply still waiting. The Central Authority (CA) was gone last week. Melissa, our social worker at AGCI, confirmed he is back in the country today. Pierre, our social worker in Burundi, is hoping to connect with the CA tomorrow to get an updated status on the referrals that are ready. Remember, a referral means we'll prepare to travel in approximately 10 months and no referral means, the wait will simply continue! 

We are continually reminded by family, friends, and social media that this process is in God's hands............. 

We had a little fun while my mother-in-law was recently in Kansas as well.  Check out this amazing shirt my dear friend Rebecca Wise made for me! 

We pray our little man or lady knows how much we LOVE them! Prayers to good news during our next post! 

              Love,

                  Jim and Kelly 

August 20, 2017

Hello everyone!

We can't express to you how humbled we are that you follow our blog and most importantly shower us with prayers as we continue our journey to add a little one to our family! We received word on August 17th that the committee was finally able to meet again to conclude their meeting that started in June! What does that mean..........

• Now Pierre (our social worker in Burundi) and other members of the Burundi community get those children ready to be officially placed with their forever family! This means ensuring those children are truly orphans and no family members are around that could adopt them into their homes. Once this process is completed, our agency gets word regarding who received referrals and who will still be waiting. 
• The process above typically takes 6-8 weeks. We currently have 14 families from our agency including us, waiting. 
• We will receive an email if we do not receive a referral and a phone call if we receive one! This communication comes from our agency All God's Children International. 

We ask that you continue to pray for ALL the families waiting for their precious little ones! We also ask for prayers of acceptance no matter what form of communication we receive from All God's Children International regarding the results of this meeting. Jim is honestly handling the roller coaster of emotions much better than I am, that's just the truth. I trust in God and know this process will workout in his time, but it's a struggle on some days! Well let me just be honest, on most days! 

Today in church the theme was Because We Are Family. Pastor Clint's wife spoke about how God adopted us into his family, he chose us. We have full confidence in the fact that he is choosing the perfect little one to come into our lives! It's just hard keeping that in perspective sometimes! 

Hebrews 10:23 tells us he is faithful with his promises! 

Love and Prayers,

Jim and Kelly 

August 15, 2017

Jim and I adore our adoption agency, All God's Children International. They've created a Facebook community of other families adopting from Burundi. It's honestly a HUGE blessing as we navigate the roller coaster of emotions this process unintentionally causes!

This was posted recently....... We truly appreciate any and all prayers as we "wait" for our little angel!

If you want to learn a little more about Burundi and how you can pray for the country, check out the link below....

Prayercast- Burundi 

                                          Love, 

                                   Jim and Kelly 

August 3, 2017


Update:

The committee was unable to meet yesterday as planned. Pierre told AGCI they are hopeful the meeting will happen soon. AGCI is continuing to advocate for all the waiting families.

Love, 

Jim and Kelly 

August 2, 2017

🙏 Calling all Prayer Warriors! 🙏 We received word the committee is supposed to meet today and finish the meeting they started in June!

🌹 Pray for the committee members and their tough decisions ahead

🌹 Pray for all the families that are anxiously waiting to hear the results of the meeting (including us) 

🌹 Pray for strength and patience and understanding it's in his time!

🌹 Most importantly, pray for the children waiting to be matched with their forever families and the orphanages keeping them safe until then!

This is truly a journey of pray and patience as well as trust in God. 

Love, 

Jim and Kelly