Made from the Heart

Does anyone have a little girl or know a little girl with cold ears or loves head bands? So many many thanks to my friend Keturah Hochmuth! Keturah is willing to make an amazing donation through her talents. She really enjoys crafting girl hats and head bands by requests and is donating 50% of the proceeds to our adoption!!!Also, they are adorable! What an awesome and generous gesture!  She is a huge blessing and we are eternally grateful! Keturah has a facebook page and she takes requests on that facbook page if you are interested in requesting something for her to make.  The link is below!!! Check it out!

Made from the Heart

With so much love,
Rachel and Luke

Home Visit/ Timeline

So this last Tuesday morning our social worker came over to our house to call us "worthy" parents. We had spent soooooo much time cleaning out the garage, the basement, and the rest of the house. We put in smoke detectors in every room, two fire extinguishers, and a couple carbon monoxide detectors....you know, the normal things expecting parents all buy for their homes! She came on in, asked us a few questions, and did a 2 minute tour! She didn't go in the garage or the basement and barely looked at anything.  She most likely saw most things without us even noticing. We love her! Hope you're ready this Emilee! We asked a few questions ourselves which were mostly about the upcoming events for us. She is hoping to complete our home study by the end of December. She also gave us what we need for our Kyrgyzstan dossier (paperwork that the officials over there need). We will be set to START waiting hopefully in January! Yahoo! Just giving you guys as much of a timeline that we have so far. We are also still taking fundraising ideas! Until next time! Brick can't wait....

Fundraising?

So...the uncomfortable part of adopting comes into view right about now.  We need ideas for fundraising!! If you have any creative, fun, or easy ways for us to fund raise for all of our recent expenses our ears are wide open! Please feel free to contact us with your ideas because we need all the help we can get.

Above is a button that says "Donate." That button allows people to donate money directly to my PayPal account. Do NOT feel like you have to give anything! We appreciate any kind of support, and it doesn't have to be financial.  Thank you so much!

Also, I have been getting the question "What do Kyrgyzstan children look like?" so here's a link to google images:)

Kyrgyzstan Children

Chosen Country!

One quick update! Luke and I have officially decided on a country after many discussions and deciding what would be best for us.  The country we are adopting from is Kyrgyzstan! It recently opened it's gates again for people to adopt from there so the wait it shorter than normal (hopefully!). If you're wondering where Kyrgyzstan is, it's just south of Kazakhstan, west of China, north of Tajikistan, and east of Uzbekistan.  The children there usually appear to have some Asian features with a mixture of some lighter hair and skin tone.  Their first language is Kyrg but their second is Russian.  Just wanted to update you a little. Also, I really wanted to share this song because I keep hearing it on the radio and thinking how wonderfully true it is! It's such a wonderful reminder for me that I am not in control and what a blessing that it.  The link is below and the song is called Glorious Unfolding.

Glorious Unfolding

Welcome!

Welcome to our adoption blog! We are so grateful to share this joyous news and experience with everyone! This way we can tell you our story and share our updates. I am very new to the blogisphere so if anyone has any suggestions on how to make this website more efficient or pleasing to the eye please let me know:) 
A little bit about ourselves:  Luke and I married almost four years ago after meeting in college.  Luke is a 6th grade teacher at St. Marcus Lutheran School in Milwaukee and I just started teaching ESL at Christ-St. Peter Lutheran School in Milwaukee.
As some of you know, Luke and I have been trying to grow our family for a few years now.  It had been one of the more frustrating and saddening experiences we've had together.  About one year ago we looked into the adoption option.  We weren't quite ready to pull the trigger but it had always been in the back of our minds.  After inquiring about adoption we tried one year of constant doctor's appointments and months of tests and we realized that it was harder on us than we thought.  I think I left that doctor's office crying almost every time.  
A few months ago we went back to meet with the same adoption agency we checked out a year ago (Lutheran Social Services). We received all the paperwork we are supposed to fill out.  We hadn't started on it until about one month ago when one of the requirements was to attend an 18 hour parenting class. This was when everything clicked for us.  We knew we had wanted to be apart of the International Program. After seeing so much poverty in our first year of marriage living abroad in Colombia we thought this was just the program for us.  Unfortunately we are not able to adopt from Colombia because of their restrictions. Our number one choice as of right now is Kyrgyzstan.  They recently opened their doors for other countries to adopt.  The wait for a match is about 4-8 months.  Right now we have most of our paperwork done except our physicals at the end of October.  The social worker will come to our house to see if we have a fit environment for a child, then we receive the paperwork from the country we've chosen, next....we wait! After we are matched we would travel a few times months apart to make sure all paperwork has been processed.  Then we come home with a baby! We can be matched with a baby 11 weeks or older but our age limit is about 3.  That's where we are right about now and wanted to give you the story! Updates to follow in a couple weeks or so!!!