Waitlist, BABY!!!!!!

Well, folks, 6 months of paper-chasing, document preparing, online education completing, workbook doing, and, of course, praying has paid off!!!!! We are officially on the waitlist for a referral for a beautiful Ethiopian baby!! Our official numbers are.....(drumroll, please!) #143 for a baby girl, #122 for a baby boy, and #61 for siblings(twins) under 12 months of age. I am......ELATED!!! So much that I am wondering, if I am this excited just to be on the waitlist, I am going to be CRAZY when we actually get our referral! We have been told to expect 24 months from this point, and we are praying like crazy for a referral sooner than this. But, God knows our child.....and we will wait for him/her. God gave Kevin this verse this morning, which he shared with me.....

"Wait Patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD." Psalm 27:14.

I love how God gives you exactly what you need at the right time. He is just amazing.

So, to say the least, right now.....I am completely FREAKING OUT!! I think it hit me today that we are going to be parents again, we have to start getting out travel vaccines completed, and we have SO MUCH MORE money to earn!!! YIKES!!! Better get to work!

We recieved notice for our fingerprinting appts, which is on a day that completely doesnt work for us, and it is difficult to change the appt, so tomorrow we are going up to Tukwilla to beg and plead to do our fingerprints tomorrow(which I understand sometimes they will). Gonna do a little window shopping too, maybe a little IKEA!!

We were disappointed to cancel the carwash, but weatherman still calling for rain, so kinda glad we did. We are now rescheduled for the last Saturday in July, same place and time. If anyone can come help wash, even for a couple hours, can you let me know in advance please? I'd love to be able to plan who will be there at what time. We are also planning a Bunco night the end of September, get your team together!!! Thank you all so much!!!

THANK YOU, all for your continued prayers for us and our little one. We continually feel supported, and are grateful for you all. I cannot wait for all you to meet our little one, the one we have all been praying for! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend! I know ours just got off to a great beginning!!

Carwash cancelled.

We have decided to cancel the carwash that was scheduled Saturday June 30th. It is supposed to rain, and we need more helpers!! We are rescheduling it for the last Saturday of July. Family and friends, please consider giving a few hours of your time. Know that by doing this it will help a precious child know the love of 2 parents, a brother, and most of all.....God!! Thanks!!

Dossier mailed!

Just a quick update tonight....We received great news last week that AGCI(agency) has changed their policy and are now allowing families to submit their dossier for review BEFORE they are fingerprinted for USCIS. YEAH!! It's a small victory, but I'll take it.....what this means is that we basically will shave off about a month of waiting for paperwork. I mailed the dossier to AGCI friday, they will review it this week, we are PRAYING for NO mistakes or glitches!!! If it is ok(it has to be PERFECT-ONE tiny detail off and we have to re-do whatever is wrong!) then it will be submitted to Ethiopia for approval. Then FINALLY we will be on the waitlist!!

We are having a carwash this Saturday June 30th at AutoZone on Yelm HWY from 10-4. I am still enlisting washers, dirty cars, and would anyone be willing to donate some car wash soap to us? Let me know ASAP, so I can get it before Saturday! THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

Upcoming fundraisers!

All is well in casa de la Nichols....Jaden is out of school for the summer, and this momma is SAD that I no longer have a kindergartener! Where in the world did this little BOY come from? Cuz I could have sworn that I had a bouncing baby boy last time I checked!! We are planning lots of stay-at-home or stay-near-to-home activities for the summer. Can't wait!!

Things are sort of at a stand-still on the adoption homefront....waiting to recieve our fingerprinting appointment notifications from the USCIS. Going to be working on getting our Dossier copied in the meantime(we have to have 3 complete copies of ALL the paperwork!!) That waiting list is getting SOOOO close ;-)

We have a few fundraisers going on at this time, something for EVERYONE to be involved in ! :-) We are collecting used cell phones to send in for recycling, this one is easy. Let me know if you have any laying around, I will come get them!! Ask around your place of work, friends, family if you would, you would be surprised how many have some just laying around! I made a flyer for my work, I can email it to you if you wish, to put in breakrooms, etc.

Also, the T-shirt fundraiser is ongoing, please see the link at the top right of our blog page, it will take you to our t-shirt site. We got some for ourselves, of course, and they ROCK!!! they are super cute, great quality, and a wonderful company to do business with!! LOVE THEM!! A great way to SHOW your support!!!.

And finally, We will be having a car wash on Saturday June 30th 10-4 at AutoZone 4840 Yelm Highway Lacey. If anyone is able to come wash cars, we would appreciate it, or just bring your dirty car to us for a washin!! Also does anyone work for a company/store that would be willing to donate the soap and maybe a couple of wash mitts for us?? Send me an email if you are able to help, jknichols@localaccess.com. Thanks all....hope to see you LINED UP that day!! ;-)

OH, and we are planning a BUNCO fundraiser event for the end of september....right now looking for a venue that is free or CHEAP, has a kitchen, and is clean. Shooting for our church, but just in case that doesn.t work out....shoot me an email if you would like to help with this event.

SO>>>>There are just a few things for us and others to be praying about! Please let me know if you have any questions about these fundraisers, we SOOOOO appreciate all your help!! It takes a villiage to raise a child.....well, it also takes one to ADOPT one!!

I want your phones!!

Starting a new fundraiser! Turns out you can turn in old cell phones for cash. They don't pay much, on average, but if I get enough of them, could be profitable!! SOOO, do YOU have old phones collecting dust??? If so, kindly collect them, and I will come get them! Also, could you spread the word at your work, family, friends, etc.....? The more, the better!!

I have 6 of them total(yes, 6!!), if every family has a few the $$ will add up!!

Thanks again for your support!!

Wait. Be Still.

2 years. Two YEARS!! 730 days. That is such a long time. That is the current wait time for placement of a child. Breath in, Breath out. God is in control.

I am feeling anxious today, so I thought I'd come here to vent, and sort through all my many emotions. Bear with me while I work through it ;-)

When we started this process, we put ALL our faith in God. It still is, dont get me wrong. We were told the wait was long, and was longer than it was a year ago because of some newer policies set forth in Ethiopia. "We tell our families to expect a wait of up to 36 months.....Blah, blah." I heard it, but I guess I didn't really believe it, or maybe it didn't really sink in because we were SOOOO overwhelmed by all the paperwork we were to be busy with. But now, the paperwork is nearly done. And the wait is still there. Maybe I thought that the wait wouldn't REALLY be that long. I mean, there are roughly 147 MILLION orphans, right? How COULD it possible take that long to find us just one child? One child who needs us, our home, our love, GOD'S love. I feel like a child, impatient for Christmas to come. I am impatient for our child to come. Jaden so wants a brother (or even a sister!).

Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God...."

 I'm sad, quite frankly. There is a reason why we can't have children like most others, the "conventional" way. I am certain of the path God has set forth for us......aren't I? Yes, of course....of course I am. I feel it. I feel it in the depths of my soul. Why else would I commit to adopting an orphan, whose little life has been rocked, who could potentially change our entire world as we know it? Why else would I commit to the incredible cost of adoption, asking our friends, families, and perfect strangers to GIVE......GIVE their hard-earned money so that we....one little family....could make a difference for ONE? Yes, I am certain.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight."

I love my son. I would do anything in the world for him. I would go to the ends of the earth for him. I love our future child, and WILL go to the ends of the earth for him/her as well. So, I guess the answer is, Yes. It IS worth it.

"But I trust in you, Lord: I say, you are my God. My times are in your hands" Psalm 31:14-15.

Thanks for listening, and especially thank you for your prayers and support!!

5 months paper preggo!

5 months ago we begain this crazy process. Seems like we have been working on our paperwork for SO LONG.....We are so close to being able to submit our Dossier, I cannot wait!! Thats the good thing.....the bad thing is that compared to the wait we have up next, 5 months is nothing. This makes me so sad. We baby-sat for our dear friends the other day, who have a beautiful 11 month old baby girl, and taking care of her made me want ours home SO BAD!!!

On positive note, we recieved our notarized home study in the mail today. So, tomorrow I will be going to bank to get a cashiers check for $870, and heading to the post office to send away our USCIS application to get fingerprinting appt. Also, we can now start applying for grants, although since we are not adopting special needs or "waiting children," there are very few that we qualify for. every little bit helps, though.

Also, don't forget to check out our T-shirt website! The company is called adoption bug, they are a company that helps families with raising funds for adoption. Our family website is www.adoptionbug.com/nichols. Check it out, I am super excited to recieve our shirts in the mail(any day now) and will be wearing them PROUDLY!!!

Not much else to update today.....i am asking for 2 things specifically tonight, though, from our faithful supporters. We would so appreciate if you all would share our blog with your friends and family, spread the word about our endeavors. We are going to be continuing to have fundraisers, and would like to give as many people as possible the opportunity to support us and our call to serve our Lord. Keep checking in with us, watch for updates!! Also, would you pray specifically for our (my!!) patience.....I find myself getting anxious when I think about how much longer we will have to wait, please pray for peace within my heart through the next 1-2 years. Thank you so much!!!!

Notice anything new?

Does anyone notice anything different about our page??? (hint-look to your right!!) We are now selling adoption T-shirts through a company called adoption bug, which helps fundraise for adoptive families! The link will take you directly to our T-Shirt site, and you have your choice of 6 T-shirts that I think are pretty awesome! SO, if you support adoption and are PROUD of it, grab one or ALL of these T's!! I think your WHOLE FAMILY will need one ;-) We get 40% of the sales toward our funds, and we sure could use it SOON!! Read on.....

Our home study is DONE and APPROVED by our agency, and in the mail to us as we speak! WHEW, that feels great!!! The next step will be to get I-600(department of homeland security) fingerprinting done ($875!!). That will take a few weeks to get back, and when it does our Dossier will be en route to Ethiopia!! ($6500-gulp!) Then we wait......Our official parameters we have decided on are boy OR girl, under 12 months at time of referral, twins OK(yes TWINS!), minor/correctable special needs OK. If we end up waiting for quite a while, we may end up changing the age parameters(lets face it-we're not getting any younger!!)

We are about $7500 funded for our total fees, with the fundraisers we've had thus far, $$ we have put into it, and the $2500 provided by my employer(although this actually wont come until we are finalized).  We have about $22,500 more to cover to meet our goal of $30,000 or more that we expect to pay. We have many more fundraisers planned, and the T-shirt fundraiser will be ongoing. We pray for a great turnout at each of our fundraisers, this is such a worthy cause in our eyes. I wish we could bring all of them home!!

We get quite a few questions about why we chose International adoption, why not adopt from the US. Most people intent well, then there are the few who are just rude about it. I dont think that I have really explained what led us to Ethiopia, and why not the US. I will save that for another post, I feel so passionately about it that it may be a long post ;-)

All else is great on the homefront! Kevin and I are well, Jaden is finishing up baseball, and only has a week and a half left of Kindergarten. Man, I am sad about that! We have enjoyed this year SO much, I really hate to see it come to an end. We just love his school, and He has the BEST teacher, hate to see it end!! Hopefully next year will be just as wonderful!!

Stay tuned, our WONDERFUL supporters!!! God Bless you ALL!