The Lord Will Provide

Friends,
I write to you today with news that I never expected to be able to share. Something that I thought impossible...something that I still cannot wrap my head around...something that only our glorious Lord could accomplish...

Our Adoption is Fully Funded. The Lord has Provided.

To those who have given to our adoption through their time, prayers and finances, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Your reward is eternal. And if there is anyone who was planning to give to us or help us fundraise, please don't! :) Please give to another cause to support orphans or help another family with their adoption expenses. Our financial needs are met, though we would always gladly accept your prayers for the rest of this journey.

As for where we are in the process, our dossier is in Ethiopia. We are told it is being translated and registered. We were told this would take 2 weeks, though now it has been longer than that. This part of the waiting is hard, because we have no control over it. I find myself becoming easily angered and impatient. I need to remember that it is the Lord who holds all of this in His hands and trust His timing for everything.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21

Update...Finally!

Hi Friends. I have not used this blog in the capacity that I originally intended. Lots has happened with our adoption and I hope in the future to do a better job of updating as things happen. I'm going to do my best to summarize things from the past several months :)

Our homestudy was officially finalized on September 30th. It took MUCH longer than we were told that it would. Some of that was because of us, but a lot of it was because of the agency we selected. We applied to the homestudy agency at the end of March and had our first meeting with them in the beginning of April. I (Sarah) had a difficult time understanding the process and was hesitant to relay the depth and nature of the personal information they were requesting from me. I'll just say that if you have ever seen a therapist for any reason or had any level of anxiety or depression, whether clinically diagnosed or not, be prepared to share that if you are planning to adopt and be prepared to have to prove yourself fit to adopt. I could say a lot more here, but that's another topic for perhaps another day.

So, we were able to work through that, but it took about two weeks. Then we had a list of documents we had to gather before we could be assigned a social worker. This took us another 3-4 weeks. By mid-May we were told that we had been assigned a social worker and should hear from her within the next few days. A week went by and we hadn't heard anything. We contacted the agency and they assured us we should hear something soon. Another week went by and the social worker finally called to tell us that she was traveling for the month of June and wanted to start our interviews when she got back. WHAT?! We did not want to delay an entire month. We contacted the agency and asked to have another social worker, but alas, the other two were both on leave so were stuck with her. So we waited. The interviews were completed tin July. This part was actually much easier than I had expected. I had cleaned my house top to bottom and was so worried about what she would think of me, but she walked in, sat herself down on the couch and didn't get up for the entire 2 hours. She actually asked Pat to fill out and sign the safety checklist! Can you believe that? Honestly I wonder if she was a bit negligent in her duties- I mean, surely, she should have at least looked around a little bit or checked out where the baby would sleep? But anyways, all was well and we passed with flying colors.

We waited for the draft of our report another 3 weeks (thought it was only supposed to take 10 days). Once we got the draft we had to check it for errors, of which there were several. Then nothing happened for several weeks and finally by the end of August we were told that the reason our report was not finalized was because one of our references had neglected to return the social worker's phone calls. This was again very frustrating to us- why had the agency been sitting on this for weeks? All we had to do was contact the reference ourselves and explain to him the importance of returning this phone call. Long story, I know, but we do have an approved homestudy now, which means we CAN adopt :)

In October we completed and submitted an application to Show Hope, an organization founded by Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman to help adoptive families. Their grant program helps thousands of Christian families adopt every year with financial assistance and helps families access resources designed to encourage and support adoptive families. Our application deadline was October 31^st and we were told to not expect to hear anything for at least 90 days, so hopefully we will find out in February whether or not we were awarded a grant. The average size grant awarded is $4,000. We really have no idea what to expect in terms of whether or not we would be selected but we are hopeful and, as always, trusting the Lord.

The next step was to submit our I-600A application to the USCIS (United States Citizenship & Immigration Services...I think...). The first time we submitted this application we got a bright pink letter back saying that there were two pieces of missing information, one being my birth certificate and the second being a section of the homestudy. Wow, this was so discouraging. We had both double and triple checked these documents before mailing and we were so confused, how could this be missing? We went back to the homestudy agency, who then reviewed the file and they didn't understand it either, so they contacted the caseworker at USCIS. We heard back from them that oh, nevermind, everything is there and they don't need any additional information. So this was a relief, but also a concern. How was my birth certificate not in our file the first time it was reviewed but then it was there the second time? And again we had an unnecessary delay in our process (I am beginning to think this is just going to be our reality…). Our trust in this government agency’s competency is hugely diminished which is very discouraging because of how the Ethiopian process is changing, more on that later.

We then had to be fingerprinted at the USCIS agency in Baltimore. They send you an assigned date and time and ours was December 2^nd at 9 AM, the morning of MOPS L I was sad to miss MOPS but happy to be moving forward with the process. Our fingerprints came back clean, of course, and we now have a “Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition.” Hooray!

The next step is to put together our dossier. The dossier is a collection of documents that will be translated and sent to Ethiopia to be reviewed by their government agencies. Every document in our dossier has to be notarized, state certified and authenticated at the Ethiopian embassy and the Department of State. We have many of the documents already and are working on getting them together with the hopes of sending our dossier to Ethiopia in early February. Once our dossier is approved then we will officially be “on the list” so to speak, waiting for a referral!

When we send our dossier we also send a large check with it, and we did not have the funds to do that yet, which is why we had not worked harder to get everything done quicker. We have said from the beginning that we knew we could not afford this but we trust the Lord will provide, and provide he has! In October I did a Pampered Chef vendor event which nobody came to; there was not a single customer. It was a complete waste of my Saturday, or so I thought. I did meet the other vendors there and was able to talk with one woman who showed a particular interest in hearing our adoption story. This woman looked me up and called me before Christmas and told me that she wanted to donate to our adoption. I heard from our agency today that she sent them a check for $5,000. A complete stranger was so moved by God’s call on our family to rescue an orphan that she gave us five THOUSAND dollars. Lord, I hear you loud and clear! HE WILL PROVIDE! “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:19.

I have more to share, but this post is long enough already. Stay tuned for more updates soon J

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and joyful New Year’s celebration! Blessings to you and your families!

Raffle Prize List

1.     $50 Gift Card to Madrones Restaurant

2.   Two rounds of golf with cart at Worthington Manor Golf course

3.   $50 Gift Card to City Magnolia Day Spa

4.   Silpada jewelry

5.    Set of 4 Pink & White Dot Martini Glasses with Strawberry Margarita Drink Mix (Pampered Chef)

6.   Brownie Pan, Mini Nylon Serving Spatula (Pampered Chef) and Ghirardelli Brownie Mix

7.    Snowmen Holiday Dots Platter & Red Snowflake Mini Bamboo Spoon (Pampered Chef)

8.   Free Dance/Fitness classes at To The Pointe Studio of Dance

9.   Fun Bus Party, 50% off

10.   $30 Credit to Peachy Pie Parties

11.   Size 4T peasant dress from Ps 139 Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

Pasta Dinner Fundraiser

We’d like to invite all of our friends, family, and adoption supporters to come out for a fun and yummy evening of pasta, salad and good company at the New Market Grange Hall on Thursday, October 24^th starting at 6:00pm. We would like to encourage ticket purchase prior to the event so we can make sure we have the right amount of food and we don’t go over the capacity of the grange hall. We’ll also be doing a raffle again as we did at the pancake breakfast.

Tickets are now on sale. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 3-10. Children ages 2 and under are free. Family price is capped at $35. We support big families! :) Also, you can purchase raffle ticket(s) for $1 per ticket. We’ll try to post a list of the prizes a week prior to the event if possible.

To purchase tickets online, click the link to the right that says "Donate" and pay with a paypal account or any major credit card. There will be a place to include a message for the recipient - please indicate here how many adult and child tickets you are purchasing. Or, if you simply wish to make a donation, just indicate that on the message.You can also purchase tickets from us in person and pay by cash or check made out to Sarah Hourigan with "pasta dinner" in the memo line.

We are dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s on our home study and hoping to be able to have our dossier put together and sent off before the year is through. In order to accomplish this we’ll be gathering and notarizing lots of paperwork. Fundraising is a huge part of us being able to move forward with our adoption. Please consider investing in the future of an Ethiopian child. We are forever grateful for your love and support!

-Patrick and Sarah Hourigan, Weston, Nellie & Trevor

 

Raffle Prize List

Raffle tickets are $1 each. Winners will be chosen Saturday evening. Enter to win any of these great prizes:

 

*Thirty One Bags, donated by Stacy Delisle

*Premiere Jewelry, donated by Kendra McDonald

*Paparazzi Jewelry, donated by Wendy Sloper

*Ps 139 Fearfully & Wonderfully Made Hand-sewn Children’s Clothing, donated by Stacy Delisle

 

*$50 gift certificate to Powell Craft USA, English Children’s clothing, donated by Jen & Tobin Lehman

*Anastyn’s Bowtique, handmade children’s accessories, donated by Heather Pocius

 

*50% off a Fun Bus party, donated by Robyn Wheat

*$75 gift card to Monocacy Crossing Restaurant

 

*Photo session with professional photographer, Kelly Hahn, valued at $200

*While She Sleeps handmade greeting cards, valued at $21, donated by Annie Kim

 

*Creative Memories scrapbooking album with pages, valued at $72.50, donated by Annie Kim

*Family names crossword design by Cindy Moskowitz

*Mary Kay gift basket, valued at $50, donated by Donna Batchellor



Pancakes!

UPDATE: We have established a $35 maximum ticket price per family for the breakfast. We support big families! :)
Also, if you are able to purchase tickets in advance, this will be extremely helpful to us, as we are fronting costs for the event. Thank you.

Tickets are now on sale for the Pancake Breakfast & Raffle Fundraiser, June 1, 8:30 - 11:00 am, at the New Market Grange. The Grange is located on eight alley, off of Main Street in New Market. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 3-10. Children ages 2 and under are free.

To purchase tickets online, click the link to the right that says "Donate" and pay with a paypal account or any major credit card. There will be a place to include a message for the recipient - please indicate here how many adult and child tickets you are purchasing. Or, if you simply wish to make a donation, just indicate that on the message.

You can also purchase tickets from us in person and pay by cash or check made out to Sarah Hourigan with "pancake breakfast" in the memo line.

Raffle tickets are sold seperately and are $1 each. We will hold the raffle drawing at the end of the breakfast, but you do not need to be present to win. We will post the list of raffle prizes soon.

Frequently Asked Questions

First, I would like to say that Pat and I feel overwhelmingly blessed and grateful for the many positive and encouraging responses we have had to our adoption announcement. It is a privilege to belong to such a loving and supportive community. In talking with people who read our blog post, several questions continue to come up and so we thought it might be helpful to answer those here.

Q: Why are you adopting internationally when there are children in the US who need homes?
Short Answer: Because that is what God has called us to do.
Long Answer: When God first laid on our hearts to begin researching adoption, we looked at many possibilities, including foster care and domestic infant adoption. It was our understanding that in the case of domestic infant adoption, the pregnant mother chooses the family who adopts her child through a profile-viewing system. We felt that most of these mothers would be more likely to pick an infertile couple, or a family with only 1 child, rather than us. We understand this completely. In terms of foster care, we did not decide to pursue this because we felt that God was calling us to add an orphaned child to our family permanently. The goal of foster care is reunification with biological family, and we wholeheartedly support this. Foster care is an amazing way to serve the Lord and serve needy children and families in our community and we have great respect for individuals who choose to do this. It is not, however, what God has called us to do at this time.

Q: Why are you adopting a baby when there are so many more older children who need homes?
Short Answer: Because that is what God has called us to do.
Long Answer: There are two main reasons why we feel that adopting an older child would not be in the best interests of our family. First of all, we felt that it would be wise to keep birth order in our family, and not upset Weston's place as our firstborn. Because Weston is only 3, and adopting an infant through our agency means a child between 0 and 2, we could not move up to the next age range, which would be adopting a child between 3 and 5. Second, Pat and I have no experience parenting a child over the age of 3. We know babies and are fully entrenched in that season of life. It is where I feel most comfortable, having done it 3 times now. Yes, there are many children of all ages, all around the world, who are orphaned and in need of loving, Christian homes. Perhaps one day Pat and I will be able to offer a home to one of those children, but that is not what God has called us to at this time.

Q: So what happened with Trevor's birth?
Short Answer: None of your business!
Long Answer: I was quite surprised that THIS was the detail that nearly every woman I know was curious about and latched onto. Truly I am sorry that I ever wrote that in the first post. I have no intention of divulging any details about what I was referring to. But I will say this....Trevor is 100% healthy and I am grateful to the Lord for that. I am not suffering anything life-threatening, and I can, and do, live my life normally. My midwife was fantastic and is in NO WAY at fault for anything that happened. I cherish her as a dear friend and would never do or say anything to malign her character or reputation. I do not regret having a homebirth; on the contrary, I am even more grateful that I did.

Q: Are you guys planning to have any more biological children?
Short Answer: We hope so, but it depends on the Lord's will for us.
Long Answer: The Lord changed our beliefs about family planning several years ago and so we never claim to know what will happen in the future. We do not have a number of kids that we are hoping to "get to" or "stop after." We desire a large family, and have a heart for that. By the world's standards our family is already large, but we hope that it will be much larger. I think that I would be very sad if I were never to be pregnant or give birth again.  That being said, we do not know what the future holds and we will be faithful to the Lord, as we always have, to seek Him in prayer and counsel after our adoption is finalized and we have all adjusted to see what He would have us do next.

Q: So you will prevent pregnancy while you are adopting? How will you do that?
Answer: At this time, no, we are not planning a pregnancy, but again, we will continue to seek the Lord in this. We specifically chose an adoption agency and program that would not require us to put our adoption on hold in the event of a pregnancy.

Q: Do you have a name for your adopted daughter?
Answer: Yes, we have a name that we love, but are not quite ready to announce it yet. Pat has trouble committing to names so early :)

Q: Where are you now in the process? How long will it take?
Answer: We have applied and been accepted to a child-placing agency. We have applied to, and are waiting on more details from, an agency that is licensed in MD to do our homestudy. Our next step is to complete our homestudy, which will take 2-3 months. Our best estimate is that the entire process will take 18 months - 2 years.

Q: How much will your adoption cost? How are you going to afford it? How can I help?
Answer: Our best estimate is that our adoption will cost approximately $27,000. We honestly do not know how we will afford it...we trust the Lord will provide and equip us for what He has called us to do. I am currently doing a 31 bags fundraiser on Facebook through a friend who is a consultant. Please let me know if you are interested in ordering and I will give you the link. We are also planning a Pancake Breakfast fundraiser to be held at the New Market Grange on Saturday, June 1. We will begin selling tickets for this event sometime in the next few weeks. We are looking for volunteers to help on this day and to help us sell advanced tickets. Please let me know if you are interested in that. We are possibly going to do a raffle or silent auction on the same day as the breakfast, and will be seeking donated prizes for that. Pat and I are also both looking for part time work opportunities on evening and weekends, and for additional fundraising ideas and opportunities. Please contact us if you have anything to share. We would gratefully accept gifts/donations of any kind or amount.

We hope you had a blessed Easter season!