Chapter Twenty: YARD SALE The Sequel

Last Week's Yard Sale was such a hit, and we had so much left over, we decided to do another Yard Sale. Several people contacted us to let us know they still wanted to donate more items. During the week we continued to recieve these items and prepare for the next sale. This time we changed locations. Friends of our friends volunteered to host the sale in their front yard. In fact, we want to send out a special thanks to Kay and Kay Long for loaning us their yard! I also want to thank June and Kristin for helping us again with our yard sale.

The morning started out quite chilly. But gradually warmed up.
It ended up being quite a nice day.

The amount of clothing donated was phenomonal!

We hope to send some of the leftovers straight to the orphanage for the children.

More large pieces of furniture were donated later in the day.
These are just a few of the pieces we started with.

It was still quite early when these pictures were taken. But we had hardly started laying out things (at 7:30 am) when we had people already showing up to shop!

This is June (left) and Kay (right). This is my dear friend Kristin.
You may be wondering what we are doing. The glove that Kristin is trying to shove her hand in was donated; the lining of the glove had been pulled out seperately than the outer shell. We were trying to line the fingers of both pieces together. All in all we were able to raise another $595.36.
Again we want to thank everyone who was able to donate items and those who were able to come and purchase items.
We feel truly blessed by the Lord through the hands and hearts of others!

***Insert***: Just a Reminder

Just wanted to post a reminder about our Yard Sale ...Tommorrow!!!!

* We will continue accepting donated items at 652 West 800 North, Provo - until 9 pm tonite. (We need to have time to mark and transport these items for tommorrow)

* The actual Yard Sale info:
Date: 25 Oct. 2008
Time: 9:00 am
Place: 337 North 800 East, Orem

We hope to see you there!

Chapter Nineteen: Homestudy Approval & The I-600A Run Around

We have been pulling our I-600A together for a while now. We had just to wait for our homestudy approval. We finally recieved that on Friday the 17th. Pabbi and I were so thrilled! It came the day before our Yard Sale. By the end of the weekend we felt so elated from our success and from having the homestudy done!

We could now set up an appointment for the I-600A and our fingerprinting.

Our appointment was for 7:40 am Tuesday. We stayed up the night before reviewing all the paperwork and requirments over and over. (Here one can see our neuroticism and perfectionism especially when dealing with Immigration Offices -we have had to in the past and we get such mixed results...we don't leave anything for chance). We felt prepared! We had our paperwork fully done and we set our checkbook with the paper so as to not forget it.

We pulled ourselves out of bed, bright and early to make the 40 minute trek north. We arrived about 30 minutes early (again - neurotic). We waited patiently and we were promptly called to the window at our time. The man who helped seemed like he too had been pulled out of bed early and did not seem to happy about that. He barely glanced at our paperwork and then asked for the money order. In the paperwork it says we could use a moneyorder or a check - we had chosen to go with the check. He looked at us and said "Money Order only." We were dumbfounded. He stamps our appointment paper, hands us back our paperwork, and said "Come back when you have the money order."

We left a bit shocked. It was not even 8:00am and where were we supposed to find a money order that early!?!

Not far was a grocery store...their counter did not open until 10:00am. We looked in the phone book for a Western Union. We found one about 10 minutes away. We drove all the way over there only to be told they don't make money orders from personal checks or Visa's. Only Cash. But there was an ATM across the street we could try.

We ran to the ATM across the street and started pulling money out. It soon denies us from withdrawing (We now know that our bank protection against stolen cards and large ATM cash withdrawels work). We were unsure what to do. We aren't too familiar with the area and unsure where to go. We go back to Western Union ask if they would cash a check. They will cash a personal check - for 5% of it! That was out of the question.

Then an idea! Where is the nearest Wal-mart? Not too far actually. So we ran over there and with no trouble or questions, they use our Visa and make us a money order! (I know some of you readers are anti-Wal-Mart but sometimes they can be quite the lifesaver)!

So we run back to the Office and we wait a few minutes before we are summoned back to the window, and to the same man.

He takes the check and paperwork while we stand silently. Then my eye catches something. Right there on his desk is paperwork with personal checks attached.
WHAT?!?! Others can use personal checks but we had to take over an hour to hunt down a money order. I try to keep a smile on my face...don't want to upset the man who stands between us and our future!

We wait while he keeps typing away at the computer in silence. After a what seemed like forever, he talks to a co-worker about how he can't find Pabbi in the computer. I try not to get to nervous. Finally, he finishes and hands us the paperwork for the fingerprinting...I look at the time and date...November 5th!!
Ugghhh!!!

But before I can say anything he says, "Go to the [fingerprinting office] and tell [so-&-so] that I sent you, and that you should get printed today. Otherwise you would have to wait until November 5th." Such relief flooded through me - I didn't want to have to push too hard for early fingerprinting. I was worried about poking the snake...who turned out to be quite nice..most likely just tired.

We drive over to the office and are fingerprinted in no time at all. I thought it was weird that they set up appointments etc. because they are busy...yet there was NO-ONE there to be printed except us!

After we were printed and climbed into the car, Pabbi looks to me and says, "Do you realize that filing the paperwork and getting printed took less than an hour and yet we spent over an hour just tracking down a money order?"

The irony of that one!

All in all...we are done with this step and are now ready to put together our dossier! I wonder what new adventures this next set of paperwork will present. We will be sure to keep you posted!

Chapter Eighteen: YARD SALE SUCCESS!!!!

We had had the idea to have a yard sale to raise money for our adoption process a couple months ago. But I have to say I thought we were being overly ambitious...as neither one of us have ever held a yard sale...nor did we have that much to sell. We kept mulling the idea over with friends and family who rooted us on. We planned to have it on the 11th of Oct. but were snowed out of that idea. Then we planned for the 18th and we were blessed with incredible weather.

Because we had never done a yard sale we asked a good friend of ours to help. We want to give our thanks to Kristin, and her parents June and Henry, as well as Stacy their grandaughter, for helping pull this together for us. Not only did they collect donations from their area, but they spent all day Friday bringing donated items they collected to our place, and then they sat and helped us price everything! It was tiresome work, and seemed never-ending because the donations kept coming in all day long - which we are ever so grateful for. Then despite a late night of working they showed up super early the next morning to help run the sale!

Without them we would have never been able to manage.

In addition, we would be negligent if we did not add another dear friend who came and ran a refreshment table as well as stayed late to help clean up. Thank you Katie!

We also want to thank two families who volunteered their front yards to us to host this sale.

This is a picture of the carport early Saturday morning.

But the donations did NOT stop coming in.
They kept pouring in all day. I felt that just as we sold things, more things came in and filled up their spot.
If I wasn't so busy I think I might have broken down and wept tears of joy and gratitude.
But donations did not just come in the form of items to sell. I was shocked when we recieved monetary donations on top of items being bought. I want to thank each and everyone of you who not only donated items, but those of you who came and bought items, and those who donated money in addition.
Your generosity has truly been a miracle for us.
At the end of the day (7:30 pm...people just kept coming and coming) we raised twice what I thought would be possible. We were able to raise $2,326.56. I still can't believe such a large amount!!! The Lord has truly blessed us through the hands and generosity of others!

And... IT IS NOT OVER.
The pictures below are items we have left to sell. Not only that, so many have contacted us and told us they still have things they would like to donate.

So in all humility, and with much gratitude, we will be doing an other Yard Sale this coming Saturday (October 25th). A wonderful couple has volunteered their yard in the Orem area where we will be having our next Yard Sale.
YARD SALE

October 25, 2008
@
337 North 800 East
Orem, Utah
starting at 9:00 am.

For those who still have things they would like to donate, we will be receiving items until 9:00pm Friday, the 24th at our place:
652 West 800 North
We thank you for your generosity.

Again, THANK YOU Everyone!!!

Chapter Seventeen: Big Brother

Many of you already know we are adopting another child - a boy.

His name is Kofi and he is 6 years old.

He is such a beautiful and sweet child (according to those who know him.)
We have had the blessing of being able to talk to him on the phone (I of course wept most of that conversation). Just hearing him talk...melted my heart.

Look at this picture..doesn't he melt your heart too? We are both ecstatic to have the option to adopt more than one. We have always wanted a large family..and we hope this is only the beginning. The story of him joining our story is a miracle in and of itself. Much like with Sufi, we just knew that he was suppossed to join our family when we heard about him.
Here are the two brothers together!

Chapter Sixteen: Pictures of Baby Sufi

As was mentioned in a previous post, L.M. went to Ghana in September. While she was there, she was able to meet and play with the children at the orphanage. Of course she was able to spend time with our baby boy Sufi. Here are a few of the pictures she sent us.

Such concentration...
You can't hardly see, but he has two baby teeth on the bottom.

I wonder what he is looking at.
Isn't he so adorable?!?!!!
We were also able to learn when he was born for certain...he is a Scorpio.
With every picture and every step closer to bringing him home, our hearts fill with such an immense joy.
We love you Sufi!

Chapter Fifteen: Yard Sale

After a few weeks hiatus, we are back and ready to begin blogging again about our adoption process. Some wonderful blessings happened during this time that we would be remiss if we did not acknowledge them. We have been recieving more donations from some of the most unlikely places. We are truly truly blessed. Many who have donated are truly giving of the widow's mite (St. Mark 14:41-44). We are so grateful for their sacrifice. Thank you everyone who has been so kind and willing to help us!!! We have been blessed to raise over half of what we need to bring Sufi home. We are more and more amazed as we see the Lord work through others to bring about such a beautiful miracle.

We are continuing raising money by having a yard sale.
We were going to have it this weekend, but due to a potential 'snow' we are going to postpone it to the 18th. This will also give us more time to gather materials and recuperate from being gone. We have already had so many donate to this sale, and again we are ever so grateful. Many have even dropped things on our porch anonymously, while we were out. I don't know who you were, but we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!!!!

For those of you who live in the area, we will be having our yard sale at:

640 West 800 North
Provo,

We will be starting at 9:00 am and going until everything is sold... or at least until late afternoon.

We will continue to recieve donated items until the end of the sale. You are welcome to drop items off whenever you can or schedule a time when we can pick them up from you.

Again THANK YOU for your support and love!

Chapter Fourteen: Homestudy...Check! The Next Step Is...

It is done!!!!!

We had our homestudy visit this past Thursday. We are so glad to be done with that. It was quite stressful leading up to it, but then before we knew it...it was over!

After Pabbi came home from his internship this summer we wanted to do a huge 'Fall Cleaning' before he went back to school. So we started uprooting every room in our place, cleaning it thoroughly and putting things back. Of course, it didn't get done before school started again; as did his new internship. I tried to do things as best as I could, but did not get too much done. So our apartment looked in total disarray creating a bit of panic to settle in. Lucky for us, a dear friend came to help clean the day before the homestudy; but even after she left we still had the dreaded room: office/storage room upstairs - the room that would become ours, so Sufi could have our room. Thursday morning, I woke up so so sick! I had had a cold the week before that I thought I kicked (and had passed onto Pabbi) but Thursday morning I woke so ill! Sneezing, coughing, body aches, headache, and fever. I persevered and with Pabbi's help we cleaned that office so it at least could show that it had potential to be a bedroom.

By the time the Social Worker came, I was exhausted, yet strangely calm! She came in and we talked for almost two hours. We laughed, joked, informed, and discussed all that needed to be talked over. She was an incredible woman. In fact, she has 12 children herself, from all over the world. She really knew what she was doing. Before she left, she said she just needed to see our kitchen, and that she would not need to go upstairs through the rest of the rooms (we were dumbfounded and somewhat disappointed). We know she could tell the size of the upstairs by the downstairs layout (our apartment is not that complex). Later Pabbi told me he wanted to herd her upstairs to show off our hard work!

All in all everything seemed to go real well. She said that all she needed was to await a final confirmation from Iceland on his background check and then she could write up the final report. We kind of got the feeling we would be approved, but we will keep praying that this feeling is indeed accurate.

THE NEXT STEP

We were told to start focusing on the I-600a and the Dossier for Ghana. So that is what we are doing. But once we get our homestudy report things are going to be going fast. So not only do we need to get this paperwork done, but our attention now needs to focus on doing some serious FUNDRAISING. If things go well, and as fast as Jessica's pace went, we have about a month and a half to two months tops to raise all the money we need. We have about $3,050 and need to raise another $7,000 so that all this can really actually happen!!!!!

It brings tears to my eyes and my heart swells thinking that in just 3 months I will FINALLY be a mother, that Pabbi will FINALLY be a father.

We Love you Sufi!

Chapter Thirteen: Homestudy Panic

This post is merely a way to document my fear (with a hope that in reality I can look back and laugh at being so afraid). But I am terrified! Our homestudy is on Thursday and I am terrified we will be rejected/not approved to adopt! Plus, there is still so much to do before we have this appointment and the hours are ticking away faster than we can move.

I think our greatest fear is that we are still poor students. Yes, we know here in Happy Valley, that most parents are poor and that they have two or three children on a budget that only one person should be able to survive on. But the reality is that the Government requires much more before giving permission to become an adoptive parent. I think it is sad because we do well, and don't need much, but we fear our documents may say otherwise. So our fear stands and will probably stand until both our homestudy and the USCIS (INS) clears us. It is interesting we haven't yet feared our ability to fundraise what we need for the 'process' itself; we have full confidence in God that we will be able to. But we lack that faith when it comes to proving we have enough to care in the long run. We do have to do our part. At this point it is all on pure faith!

We are not too concerned about our Social Worker coming to talk to us. We are actually excited to meet her, and ask our billion questions.
We are concerned, because she will come into our apartment and well, we had started an in-depth 'Fall Clean" before school started for Pabbi, and well, did not quite make the deadline of getting finished before he started. So I have been trying to patch up and put things back together before Thursday! Yikes! Will she come and think we are filthy or that we are too clean?

I know, I know we just need to

It is just soooo hard, when something so important is riding on us and our fear of failing will rip the one most beautiful thing going in our life right now.

Please pray for us, and that all will go right; that we will be approved in our homestudy and that the USCIS will also say we are good enough!

Chapter Twelve: Gifts for Samuel

Because L.M. is going to Ghana, we couldn't resist sending some things for Sufi. We wish it were us being sent to go be with him; but we will settle sending these few things.

This first idea was taken from another adoptive parent, who created and sent a book to their little girl.

A few sample pages:

He will have a home...
He will have a mamma and a Pabbi
That Love him.

He will have a Grandma Kay and a Grandpa Lynn
who love him very much.
He will have an Afi and an Amma in Iceland
that love him very much. We will be a happy family.
This is a dog and a baby cougar (BYU).

An adoptive mother gave us a great idea to get stuffed animals and sleep with them in our bed for a week or so, to pick up 'our scent' and then when Sufi plays with these, he can become familiar with how we smell. We had alot of fun sleeping with these two in our bed.

This is an outfit we hope that will fit.
We chose colors that we hoped would not look to dirty
after wearing and washing.Notice, the shorts are the same?
We only sent one pair of shorts and three shirts.
We do hope that the clothes fit, and when we pick Sufi up,
we will leave these outfits behind to be used by any other children who can fit into them.

We also sent a book. Isn't it so cute.
We hope L.M. and other children will be able to read this to Sufi.
We also sent a Poof ball for Sufi to play with.
We hope Sufi will love these and that he will enjoy sharing them with the other little children.

We can't wait for him to come home!

We Love You Sufi!

Chapter Eleven: Another Miracle

Friday we talked with L.M., who tells us she was talking with the orphanage director, who told her that he felt strongly impressed we needed to pick up the pace in our adoption process. I too, had been feeling this way, but discounted it, thinking that I was just being overly-anxious to bring Sufi home. We have been trying to pace ourselves in this process, because we are still students, and have so much already going on. But this was like a fire being lit under us. We decided to call the director ourselves to talk with him about what he would like us to do; plus we had questions of our own about our little boy.

 So we make the call. Our questions about Sufi could not be answered because the director was not near the files on the children (he does deal with over 300 children). So we asked what it was he would like us to do to pick up the pace. He of course said to get our homestudy completed. Then he did say, if we sent part of our fees, he could get a jump start on tracking down the birth certificates and all the documents needed for his side of the work. He wasn't sure what the costs might be, but said to call back and he could give more specific details.

The next morning we call, our hearts anxious. We had been discussing how it was we would be able to come up with the fees right away. We also were anxious to find out more information about Sufi. The first part of our conversation, we discussed where Sufi had been born. What he did know was that Sufi had been born in the Central Region of Ghana. He gave some specific names we couldn't quite catch (we will be reciveing this information written down for out benefit). We found out that Sufi speaks a language similar to Fante (we think he said it was Gomoa...our brains still can't wrap around all of it, especially by phone). This may not seem like alot of information, but every little ounce we recieve feels like such a blessing. More could not be said until the director is able to track down the documents.

Our conversation soon turned to fees. Due to happenings in the adoption realm of Ghana, it is now very important to hire an attorney in addition to a social worker over in Ghana. Certain countries were becoming unhappy with Ghana for not demanding interim adoptions, as the law states a judge might require. Judges in Accra are now expected to be making most adoptions interim adoptions (meaning we would have to return in two years before the adoption was final). This has scared many prospective adoptive families.

So to be on the safe side of things, the director and L.M. decided we better have an attorney helping, and that we should start going to the judge in the Central Region (where the orphanage is located) instead of going into Accra. This caused some of the fees to increase (though I was surprised at how little it was...but it was still a moderate increase). We don't mind, it was jsut an unexpected amount to have so suddenly and on such short notice.

Side note: L.M. decided to go to Ghana. She is leaving on the 9th of September. We will be sending our fees with her.

We figured we would find a way to come up with the money. We hoped and prayed the Lord knew what was needed. We had raised some money, but we also have the homestudy, and documents required on the 11th. We decided to take out a short term small loan and hope we could pay it off later when we had done some serious fundraising.

After our phone call, we headed out to run some errands, and dropped by our mailbox. In the mailbox, was a letter from a dear dear friend. In this letter was a check with a large donation. I was shocked and so grateful. This friend, has a large family of her own, and I was surprised they could make such a wonderful and blessed sacrifice to help us out. This donation definately will help keep us from having to borrow so much money at one shot.

We want to give public thanks to her, her husband, and family; they had mentioned they wished to be anonymous - in fact, she did not even want to let us know they had donated the money, but did not know a 'safe' way to ensure we recieved the money (we now have Paypal up and running to aid those who wish to stay anonymous).

So Thank You so much for being a miracle in the Lord's hand!!!!
We are so grateful to you and your generosity. We feel so blessed and so grateful, words can not express how we feel.

Chapter Ten: L.M. is going to Ghana

I am so excited:
L.M. is going to Ghana.

While she is there, L.M. is going to take our dear baby Sufi, strap him on her back (as the Ghanaian women do) and go around doing all that she needs to do.

She is going to find out what the orphanage needs, and how we can all help to improve the conditions for the children!!!!

She is also going to meet the team (Orphanage Director, the Social Worker,and now a Lawyer) who helps families adopt. Due to some changes in adoption proceedures on that end, interim adoptions seem to be more likely in the future. This means that we will need to use a lawyer after all to ensure we can get final adoptions there.

Also, it has been decided to take our adoption cases before the judge in the Central Region (where the orphanage is), instead of into Accra.

L.M. has felt that to better help us families to adopt, and to know what the school/orphanage needs, she should go and see for herself. It has been ten years since she has been in Ghana; although she has often wanted to go, the time didn't seem right. Now is the right time!!!

I am just mostly glad that she is going to be with our boy; she is a relative after all!!! We just found out that she and Fridrik are related. We felt from first meeting L.M. she was family. Now we know she is, albeit somewhat distant.
It brings tears to my eyes, knowing that "family" will be over there with our baby boy, taking care of him, playing with him, loving him, kissing him, and hugging him.

We send our love baby boy:
We love you with all our hearts!!

Chapter Nine: A PLEA FOR HELP.

Help us bring Sufi Home!

Dear Everyone,

We are writing to ask for your help. To make a long story short, we are adopting a little boy from Ghana. His name is Sufi and he is about 8 months old. He is currently living at an orphanage near Accra, the capitol of Ghana. We are currently working with the owner of the orphanage, who is taking care of the adoption process on that end. Because this is a private adoption the majority of the money for the adoption process will do direclty towards the orphanage and its 300 occupants.

For more information on the orphsnage, please visit ??? .
Also for the whole story of Sufi & more information, visit http://www.thebookofsamuel.blogspot.com/ .
We would also be happy to explain this spirit led journey we have been called to embark upon. Please email us at lovingacrossborders@gmail.com with questions and/or concerns.

Your help would be greatly appreciated. No, we do not excpect you to baby sit, change dirty diapers, or take Sufi to the doctors. But a donation through our blog or by mailing us a check would be a great blessing. Fundraising help would also be greatly appreciated. PLEASE pass this on to anyone who might be interested and feel free to call or write us any time.

So far, this amazing journey has been led by the hand of the Lord. It will be exciting to keep you informed of the progress and miracles that will unfold as we proceed. Thank you so much for your support and prayers!

Yours truly,
Mamma and Pabbi

Chapter Eight: Homestudy Appointment

We finally have a homestudy appointment set up for September 11th.
I can hardly believe it: and I am scared.

We orginally going to go through another agency and social worker; but things did not work out with her. The final straw was when she said she would not approve us for more than one child and absolutely would not for a non-related child. We had hoped to keep our options open to adopt more than one, and since Sufi is an only child that meant we would have to adopt a non-related child. I have to admit though, that everytime Pabbi would talk with this particular person, I would get sick to my stomach and just felt very uncomfortable.

So we counseled with L.M. and she recommended a social worker who worked with them 10 years ago, and also worked with Shelley. We decided to give her a try. We called this woman and immediately felt she was the one we should work with. although, she did say she would caution against adopting more than one, she would talk with us and check out our situation. That is all we ask, is a a bit of openess.

So she sent us the paperwork back in the end of July, & boy was I shocked: it was an eighth of the paperwork, & her cost was half the price. But this does not mean she is any less thorough (I have read reviews, & talked with others about it). She is very effecient & prompt. We sent in most of our paperwork & documents, the only thing we have to wait on is our final check in Iceland. I was amazed that she even recieved background checks on me from RUSSIA so quickly!!!

I think L.M. is right, that you really have to shop around for a social worker, because not everyone is going to click with the same person. These social workers are here to help and they are going through our lives with a fine tooth comb. It isn't easy to let a stranger into your home to inverstigate you, and so you have to find someone you are comfortable with. I think we found that in this woman!

I do worry that we won't be "good enough" to adopt, or that as 'poor students' we won't qualify. I often ponder why it is at this time the Lord has directed us to adopt; why not wait another year when we might be more settled (well, Pabbi will have graduated) and stable. But I won't question, and we WILL act, but it is taking alot of faith to hold on and hope we are going to be approved to bring our son home to us. So I worry and then pray I have enough faith.

After our homestudy, we wait to be approved and then we take on the next big task of battling with the USCIS (used to be called INS).

So until then we are...to become parents.

***Insert ***: I Saw What I Saw...

This is a beautiful video, that L.M. shared with us, and I had to post it here as well.