Fun Fundraiser - Essential Oils!

My family and I use essential oils-- every. single. day.  I discovered these powerful plant essences back in May.  Once I learned and understood the myriad of benefits for my family, we started on that road and never looked back.  Honestly, they have changed our lives.

There are several brands I love and purchase from regularly.  One particular brand that I use frequently is Barefut Essential Oils.  And the BONUS?  They have an Affiliate Program which I joined in September.  This means that when my family members, friends and complete strangers purchase oils and products on the Barefut website using my unique Affiliate Link, 25% of your purchase goes towards our Adoption Fund!  Isn't that just Awesome Sauce?!  Aaaaaaand, my code never expires!  So if you always shop Barefut using my unique link, 25% always goes into our adoption fund.  Always!

This program means I get to promote a small but wonderful, family owned essential oil company, you get to reap the benefits of these great products, and our adoption fund to bring W home from Haiti grows a little bit with each purchase!

If you are an essential oil user and have never experienced Barefut oils, I would challenge you to do so.  You will love them!

~This company is known for having frequent, incredible sales...including free oils!
~Each item you purchase earns you points which translates into dollars towards your future purchases.
~And their oils are 100% pure, potent and top notch.

My unique affiliate link:  http://barefut.com/shop/?a=53

By the way, if you do make purchases using my affiliate link, please let me know so I can say thank you.  Unfortunately the affiliate website only tells me when a purchase has been made using my link.  It does not, however, tell me who purchased the item(s).  Thanks!

A Little Distraction

I was introduced to essential oils earlier this year ( oh.my.word.LOVE ) and butters and carrier oils and so much more...  I discovered that I LOVE making skin care products.  And guess what else?

It's a **FABULOUS** distraction when I'm feeling sad about W being so far away from us.  Hey, you do whatcha gotta do, right?

These are "Sweet Spearmint" lip balms.  A friend is purchasing them from me to add to her Christmas gifts.  I still have to design and print labels -- which is stressful since I'm not very computer savvy -- but it will be fun to see the finished product.

I must shamelessly admit, they ARE super luscious and delicious on your lips! ;-)

Wellsprings (part one)

The past couple of weeks are marked by sweet times with my Savior.  It began with several days of dedicated fasting and prayer for W, for our adoption process, for C4C, for all the folks at IBESR, and so forth, yet it turned into so much more.

It turned into a cup of spiritual water spilling over into my parched soul. 

Waiting is hard.  Adoption waiting is Excruciating.

For those of you that have followed our adoption journey from the very start--from China, to Taiwan, to Ethiopia, to Taiwan and now to Haiti--my waiting has been accompanied by many spiritual lessons along the way, which ultimately led to spiritual blessings.  Yet if there is one experience that could be found in each leg of our journey, I guess it would have to be "desert walking".  Like the Israelites of old who needlessly wandered in the desert for 40 long years, I find myself taking a sojourn into the scorching desert.

I don't plan to go there.  I don't want to go there.  Yet somehow in the mental confusion from a broken heart and cracked soul, I fall face first in the sand.

I'm not proud of it. 

I wish I could say that each time I've waited and dreamed and prayed for the day our next child would join our family, that I never faltered.  That my trust in God's perfect plan and timing never failed.  That I wore His strength like a garment and smiled and experienced joy at every turn.

I would be lying to myself.  I would also be lying to the novice adoptive parents who believe adoption is like the perfect fairy tale or inspiring Hallmark film.  Folks, adoption is HARD.  It is the hardest thing by far that Eric and I have ever chosen, but still we choose it.  Adopting a child will rip your heart out, crush it into a million pieces, but when God puts your heart back together -- and He will -- your heart is suddenly ten times larger.  That's what adoption does.

That's when the Wellsprings come.

(to be continued)

Giving Thanks...

...is meant for 365 days of the year!

God is Good, ALL the time!

Adoption Updates galore! (July-November)

This is a catch-up post, so yes, it is long, but I hope you read through to the end.  Enjoy!

JULY UPDATE from the crèche (highlights)

W is getting bigger, stronger and faster by the day! He lost another tooth recently and is so excited about getting his grown up teeth. He is becoming very curious about the world around him and loves asking lots of questions. He wants to know anything about everything and will make sure he is persistent and patient until all of his questions are answered. W's soccer skills are getting better and better with each match played at the crèche. He is competitive and energetic, a great combination for a boy who loves sports. But really, W likes all kinds of play. He loves any game, activity or subject in school that teaches him something new and provides a challenge. W is so silly and loves to laugh, but loves making others laugh even more!

Adoption Process -- IBESR continues to be backlogged with the new referral and matching process.  C4C staff visits IBESR at least a couple of times per week.

SEPTEMBER UPDATE from the crèche (highlights)

W is in 1st grade in primary school. He is very clever. He loves soccer and he is great in it.  He has a loud voice and is a great eater. 

Adoption Process -- IBESR spent the month of September trying to catch up on the files of children who were abandoned.  Referrals for a few other crèches have begun to trickle out, but none for C4C yet.  Many of our abandoned children’s files have been delivered to the Judge for Children as of the end of September.

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER…an unofficial update from me

Ok, so we are still waiting for our Referral.  That means we are still waiting for IBESR to issue the official documents to us, via the crèche, via our adoption agency, that say we have been *MATCHED* officially to W to be his parents.  Now this doesn’t mean that he will legally be our son yet.  Our case still has to go through the Haitian courts for that to happen.  BUT it does mean that we will be invited (required) by IBESR to come to Haiti for 2 weeks for our *supervised* socialization visit.  During the trip to W’s crèche (Chances for Children, C4C) we will be observed twice by an IBESR social worker who will also interview us before we leave the country.  After that trip, the social worker submits her report to IBESR, the director of IBESR signs off on our adoption file and we exit the IBESR stage of the process.  At that point, our adoption case moves into the court phase of the process.

Can I just say that I AM DYING TO GO TO HAITI TO BE WITH MY BOY!!??

I’ll let you in on a little secret, but only if you promise to pray… ;-)

This past week, Eric and I felt led to spend time fasting and praying specifically for W’s file (and the other adoption files from his crèche that have been stuck in IBESR) to be signed and completed…to be released for our long anticipated referral.  As far as we know, his file needs (needed??) 2 signatures to be finished—the mayor of the town of Kenscoff (where W resides at the crèche) AND the Children’s Judge in IBESR.  When this happens (Lord, has this happened already but we just haven’t heard yet??!!…), we will be given his referral!  Eric and I continue to humbly yet boldly make our requests in prayer…that God will open (or knock down) doors and move mountains (and Haitian officials) for W’s file to be finished and released right away!!  Who will cry out to the Lord with us?  Will you? J

 

 

So after the Referral, what happens next? you ask.  Great question!

When our adoption agency contacts us that they have received the referral documents from C4C, we will get them signed and notarized.  We will also write a letter to IBESR accepting W’s referral.  This paperwork will be sent back to our agency to be translated into French.  During these paperwork preps we also coordinate with C4C and IBESR to select dates for our travel to meet W!

Of course, our hope, dream and prayer is to travel in December.  We do not know if that will happen, but God knows the desire of our hearts.  We trust Him and His timing, but we do believe the bible tells His children to ask of Him.  So we will wait, patiently (ummm, working on that) and see what unfolds.  Ultimately, God loves W so much more that we ever could.  So that is a great comfort to us, knowing our Heavenly Father is caring for our future son far away in Haiti.

Allow me to leave you with one thing.

A friend who is also adopting a child from C4C asked a friend of hers, who was recently at the crèche on a missions trip, to visit with W.  She was able to get a 1 minute video of our little guy!!  I’ve watched it dozens of times and bawled most of those times.  He is ADORABLE, y'all.  He’s got the biggest, loveliest brown eyes and a killer smile.  And that deep little voice of his…oh my, I am smitten.

In the video, W says, “When are you coming, please?”  and “I love you.  I miss you, mom.  I miss you so much, mom.”

Oh my heart!  Please pray, pray hard, friends!

Much love,

Jennifer

 

Oh the Projects

I'm immersed in 2 or 3 projects right now that have kept me away from the blog, but I am excited to be able to share updates soon.  There are "hopeful" things occurring in our adoption process (thank you, Lord!)-- in the Haiti adoption process overall.  I want to lay those all out for you.

I also need to share the most recent updates about our cutie patootie, W.  He is growing so big and is so handsome!  I wish I could share photos online of his wonderful smiling face!  Soon, hopefully, we will be making significant movement and then I will be able to post those.

I also have something personally exciting I would like to share with my family and friends.  I am trying something new and want to share my excitement and plans with all of you.

So check back frequently for more!

~TTFN

I am STARTing SOMEthing NEW!!!

Time seems to stand still in this time of waiting for our family to increase by one via Haiti adoption...

Some days I handle it well; other days, not so much.
One thing is for sure-- life keeps moving forward, with or without me.

In The Waiting:

__I am SO grateful for the times of spiritual growth and reflection and learning (trying to) the lessons God is teaching me.
__I am thankful for the time to read parenting books on adoption and trauma and the realities of older child adoption and discuss topics with other adoptive parents.
__I appreciate the special supportive friends I am making in the cyber adoption world, and drawing closer to the friends I have right here.
__I also am glad for the time we have to "get our house in order".  For our family, this means preparing W's room (oh which color scheme and decor?), getting our house better organized (oh my!), working towards our goal of debt free living (help us, Jesus!), getting a handle on our schedule (um, remind me to put that on the calendar...), etc. etc. etc.

This time of waiting is also a FABULOUS TIME for our family to turn our crazy days and hectic eat-on-the-run and exercise?-what's-that? life around.  I am tired of being a 40 (something) mom who sleeps poorly, lacks energy and has headaches triggered by lazy nutrition.  I have been feeling convicted for months to make improvements in my health and my family's...and slowly but surely God is convincing me.

To be completely honest, organization doesn't come naturally for me, I don't really much like cooking, I'm a major sweet tooth, and going to the gym is low on my list of enjoyable things,,,THEREFORE I need accountability to have success in these areas.  Putting this out here in Blog Land does offer me some level of accountability, and to make it stick...I am starting a New Blog.
I have a title and a new blog site but no content yet.  But I will.  I've got several posts swirling around in my head.  I have great hopes that this "Accountability Blog" will inspire and challenge me and our family to continue the baby steps we've been making towards living a more natural and healthy lifestyle.

Some of the topics I'll be writing about:

1)  Essential Oils -- This is a huge topic and super fun!  I've been using essential oils on myself and my family for several months for preventative and alternative health, and I am loving the positive results.  Buh-bye, OTC's!  Hello, natural healing!  I will definitely be sharing our experiences and offering tips on how you can add essential oils into your daily life.  I want every family to reap the benefits we are, and more!

2)  DIY Natural body products and cleaning products for the home -- I've been creating products for myself and my girls (my hubby, uh, he's kind of against lotion - ha!) and the results have amazed me!  I've also love the cleaning products I'm making with all natural ingredients.  They are safe for my kids and pets, and they make my house smell great (of course! cuz they've got essentials oils in 'em too!).

3)  Quick & Easy Healthy Meals (did I mention *easy*?) --  The fewer the ingredients, the better!  I want to cook and bake meals my family will love, that are wholesome (and not that frozen, processed, stuff (uh, don't look in our freezer)), that will be fun for me to prepare...because that would make me want to do it more often, see? ;-)  Noelle, our oldest daughter would dearly love to have a garden.  I'm not so sure we have the time in our lives to manage a garden, but who knows what the future holds.  We did grow strawberries and tomatoes this summer.  The tomatoes were quite yummy, however, the strawberries kind of fizzled out early in the season.  Soooo the gardening idea is on the back burner for now.

4)  Reading labels -- This was probably my first step towards improving our family's diet.  I've been doing this for a couple of years now.  I read labels every time I grocery shop.  I am looking to avoid artificial colors (wooo do these ever mess with Noelle!), artificial flavors, artificial preservatives, high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils.  I am also becoming wise to dough conditioners, hormones, GMO's, and many other chemicals that the food industry is adding to the items on grocery store shelves.

5)  Exercise for the Whole Family --  I have been participating in an Aqua Pilates class for several months and really enjoy it.  However, I have to get up at 5:30 am 3 times a week to participate.  I started out strong but have been less consistent in recent weeks.  I have plenty of excuses I could share--some of them are quite good--but I won't bore you with my whine.  I am currently looking for alternative exercise routines since, as a chronic poor sleeper, exercising that early sometimes makes me feel worse.  I may have found a workout routine one that my hubby, the girls and I can actually do together every morning.  And it's only 4 minutes long.  Seriously!!  More on that later.

The other thing I could and should do is to get back into my martial arts workouts.  My husband and I earned our black belts in the Lung Fu Do system several years ago, but I've really gotten away from keeping up my skills.  Maybe writing a get-me-and-my-family-healthy-Accountability-blog will inspire me?  I can sure hope!

5)  Probiotics -- I am a big believer in supporting and improving gut health by taking potent daily probiotics.  I've tried different ones over the years, but only this year have found a couple of quality brands that have really helped my digestive issues.  Studies have shown that there is a strong connection between how healthy our gut is (the amount of healthy bacteria vs. the bacteria that makes you sick) and how we feel throughout our entire body.  Of course, if we eat crud all day, popping probiotics ain't gonna make much difference at all.  I know that as I improve what I eat, my (expensive, gulp) probiotics I take every night will work even better.

6) Margin & Balance --  This is not a health topic, per se, but having a life that lacks Spiritual, Physical, Emotional and Relational balance is an unhealthy life.  Eric and I serve in full time ministry and are the kind of people who love to dream big dreams with God.  We love to partner with other passionate ministry minded individuals.  Being involved with, and serving the people in our local community, as well as supporting ministries in other countries is a priority for us.  Historically we have tended to take on more than we can "effectively" balance.  We've said "yes" to things that were good but maybe not best.

We want to grow and improve in this area of our life.  It is important for us to be healthy, balanced individuals who can effectively lead the people of our church into fulfiling service in God's kingdom.  We desire to have margin in our life so we can plan times of intentional outreach to the most needy and hurting people in our community.  But most of all, we want to be healthy and balanced parents who are able to provide the safe, loving and nurturing environment our adopted children need to grow and heal and become the best people they can be in Christ! :)

7)  Etc.

You probably noticed I did not even mention Organic vs. Conventional foods.  I definitely agree that organic is the best way to go, but for our family it is not financially feasible to go strictly organic.  I purchase organic produce as often as I can, but sometimes I have to be satisfied with conventionally grown because I want my family to eat fruits and veggies.  I do suspect that as we see organically grown and produced foods becoming more mainstream, the price point will go down.  That will be a great day! :)

So friends, I hope that you will join me over on my new blog!  I would love for you to read and post your comments so we can have helpful discussions about having healthier families.  When I have things up and running, I will post the link here.

See you soon!

Jennifer

A Call to Fast & Pray!

The month of SEPTEMBER is BIG. For many months, there have been no new matches between Haiti's orphaned children and Waiting Families. This has been heart-wrenching for us, as we pray and seem to endlessly wait for news that W will finally be our son. As of September 1st, IBESR (Haitian social services) is now CLOSED to NEW adoption applicants for the month of September...to catch up with the dossiers they already have. Our family is one of the dossiers they already have in their system....Woohoooooo!!!!

Many of the Waiting Families are each taking ONE DAY in the month of September to FAST & PRAY:
__For IBESR to process and approve ALL of the ***current waiting families dossiers***
__For IBESR to approve the families to be matched to the children that they've already been matched to! (by the orphanage director where their child is living)
__For God to whisper The Names of our children into the precious ears of the people who hold our dossiers
__For God to set the orphans into families and bring those children home!!!

Sunday SEPTEMBER 21 is OUR family’s day to fast and pray,,,and we are asking our friends and family to join us. Will you please join with Eric and me on September 21 (and throughout the month of September)? Please let us know if you will be partnering with us, on behalf of our future son, W, and the hundreds of waiting children and families! 

There are many families who have been waiting longer than we have--some have waited much, much longer (Lord, lift them up and strengthen them!), and we have no idea if we will receive our official match to W this month. However, it would be such a joy to see ANY movement forward in Haitian adoptions, to see any children find families!!! But let us pray BIG, for mountains to be MOVED!!! We are putting our hopes and trust in God, knowing that He is working all this for the good of His children who are called according to HIS purposes. We cannot see and we may not understand, but He is at work. Who will join us??!! 

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families…” Psalm 68:5-6

**Please Note:  As is the case with all international adoption programs, rumors and misinformation abound and accurate information often comes in slow trickles.  The above statements about ibesr closing to new applicants in September has only been confirmed by a few adoption agencies, but not all.  Most (?) of us adoptive parents feel this info is fairly accurate.  IF it is, then the need for prayer is GREAT.  If it is not accurate, then the need for prayer is even GREATER. :)  K, just putting that out there.  Love ya guys.  Thanks for supporting us! :)

A Whole Lot of Nothin' (sigh)

I will just be honest.  I am discouraged.  Have been for awhile.  So discouraged, in fact, that I have been completely uninspired to post on the blog.

Thinking too much and too often about W and his sweet, sweet face is downright depressing.  Thinking that he is wondering..."Why on earth have these people from American who I am told will be my parents have never come to Haiti to meet me?"

Me thinking, "Oh sweet boy, I would come to you in  HEARTBEAT, if only...if only the adoption process allowed us to do so...if only IBESR had informed our agency that they have approved our dossier...if only IBESR had given us the official match to W so we could officially adopt HIM...if only we had been invited to travel to Haiti for the official 2 week socialization visit so the IBESR social worker could observe and interview us and recommend we receive official IBESR approval to adopt this particular child...if only...if only...

I could/should share the most recent updates we have received about W from the creche.
I could/should post some (highly edited) photos to show his response to his last care package.
I could/should show you photos of the most recent care package that is on its way to Haiti--via a sweet family that is finally going to pick up their girls after such a long wait (woohoo!).

I could also post about all the continuing changes in Haiti adoptions.

But honestly, its a Whole Lot of Nothin'.

Rumors and misinformation, along with some accurate information trickling out slowly, but only to some.  Who the heck knows what is happening over there?  Only God knows, truly.  IBESR (Haitian social services, in charge of processing all the adoptive parents' dossiers and matching them with children)...well, they keep changing how they do things and so much is unconfirmed and different creche (orphanage) directors get conflicting information.  Sigh.

We think IBESR now has their  brand new Children's Court set up to process adoption cases.
We think they have processed a few "test cases", meaning they approved a few  families and gave them official referrals (matched to children) and have had gone before the new judge.
We think IBESR is (or has) hiring additional staff for Children's Court because they have so many hundreds of cases they probably need more help.
We think IBESR's fees will be increasing, but don't know how much or when or how that will affect our case.
We think that any day now IBESR will no longer take "match suggestions" from creche directors; that they (ibesr) will exclusively make matches of a child to a family.  (In other words, instead of the creche director who knows the children that live at her creche and knows the families she is working with (well, as much as you can know a family through a home study, questionnaires, emails, etc.) matching kids to families, IBESR will look at the files of all the available children in Haiti and look at the files of all the approved families in the Haiti program and then make a match.)

Pray, friends, pray.  Eric and I are in this for the long haul.  But it is hard...oh so hard.
And pray especially for W.  We fear he could be discouraged, doubtful, hopeless.  Pray for God to be the lifter of his head and give him everlasting peace and hope!

A Birthday Care Package!

W is turning 7 this week!!  The painful reality is we can't be there with him to help him celebrate his special day.  But the next best thing is sending a birthday card and a bag full of good stuff!

One of my adoptive mama friends is at W's creche THIS WEEK picking up her son, D, for his Home-going trip.  (Yay for K and D!!)  D and W also happen to be good buddies.  And...D's mama is delivering our birthday package!  We are SO excited to find out how our sweetie responds.  Maybe there will even be a few smiley pics!

The last time (the only time) we & he "connected" was back in December when he received his Introduction to your Future Family care package.  He had such pride, joy and anticipation!  But that was such a loooooong time ago, especially for a 6 year old.  I often think, Does he wonder if we are still out there, thinking of him and working hard to bring him home?  Does he wonder if we have changed our minds about the adoption or forgotten all about him?  What goes through his mind each time one of his friends leaves the creche, and he is left behind.  Does he wonder, When will it be my turn?

We would ask you pray with us specifically for him to be encouraged about his future with his Forever Family--our family.  We ask that God gives him peace and enduring hope that we are here and we are praying hard and working hard to bring him home.


When I saw this blue t-shirt at the store, I immediately thought of my boy.  He loves Spiderman!  And, Spidey glows in the dark--cool!  Besides, I think the red and blue will look super handsome on him. :)

There is one more thing inside W's birthday package I did not mention...  Love,,,lots and lots of LOVE.





(Some of you are curious to know the specific items we included with W's birthday gift.  They are:  a birthday card, a t-shirt and shorts outfit, sunglasses, new family photos (laminated), a paint with water book, super hero stickers, a giant hot wheels coloring book, as well as--> construction paper and lots of crayons and tootsie rolls for all the kiddos at the creche to enjoy.)