Looking ahead to 2018...

Looking back at 2017

This year has been a challenging one for many reasons.  We started the year with our two new children (still in foster care) having just moved in our house in late 2016.  We had numerous social worker visits for seven months until finalization proceedings could begin. The adoption of Br@yden and K@celynn was finalized on August 1st.

Br@yden had a total of five hospitalizations mainly for breathing complications due to his mitochondrial DNA disorder.  One hospitalization was an adenectomy.  He also had his G-tube replaced with a GJ-tube.  Because of Br@yden's disorder, we have gotten to know his numerous pediatric specialists (neorologist, gastroenterologist, pulmonogist, ENT specialist, physiatrist, cardiologist, opthomologist).

Getting used to these two additions has been extremely challenging for our family, and has stretched us in ways that were unimaginable.  Here we are at the end of the year, and we still have a long ways to go.

As a result of this adoption, we lost friends that just didn't understand why we were doing what we were doing.  We also gained new friends that are supportive of our situation.  We switched churches as well late in the year.  Unfortunately, the church that we had been attending for many years was not supportive of our adoption.  It was not equipped to minister to a child like Br@yden.  Numerous folks that we had regularly interacted with there for years stopped talking to us.  Luckily, we have found a new church that is equipped to minister to our entire family, including Br@yden.

In late August, we traveled with all six kids down to South Florida to our favorite Gulf Coast destination. This was a much-needed time away for all of us.

We spent the entire year debt-free and didn't make a single debt payment to anyone (with the exception of Seth's $1.50 library fine).  It's been a great feeling to track our progress as we head towards financial independence.

Our major home project consisted of pulling out all of our flooring (carpets and hardwoods) and installed all new flooring upstairs and downstairs.  It took nearly five months, but it's finally complete.

Looking ahead to 2018

Here are my goals for our family this year:

1.  Step up savings and investments significantly.

2.  Focus on my family and continue to acclimate our two new children into our family.

3.  Read thirty books and track them at Goodreads.com

4.  Get back in the Bible and read it again cover-to-cover (archaeological Bible that Kristie gave me a long time ago).

5.  Increase passive income streams.

6.  (Carryover from 2017 Goals) Take steps towards writing our adoption journey.

Goodbye 2016!!

As the sun sets on 2016, I reflect back on this eventful year.  We lost Kristie's Dad in November, but  it seems like most of the year was put on hold as we cared for him after his stroke in August.  While he was struggling, we were having visits with our new kids on the weekends.  

As usual, here are the results of my 2016 goals:

1.  Travel.  Kristie and I traveled to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in February.  This was an amazing, beautiful part of the world.  Also, we took a long-needed vacation with the kids in September to Captiva Island, FL.  

2.  Read thirty-five books and track them at Malachi-Books.  I didn't quite get there, only reading 22.

3.  Complete our domestic adoption.  We were officially matched in August with two children in foster care.  They moved in on December 17th.  We will finalize hopefully in June, 2017.

4.  Pay off our house.  Done!  on December 23rd.  Debt free!  Goodbye Chase Bank forever...!

5.  Begin steps to writing our adoption experience.  Not done.

2017 Goals:

1.  Read twenty-five books and track them at Goodreads. 

2.  Begin steps to writing our adoption experience.  

3.  Now that we are completely debt-free, I plan on really stepping up saving and giving.  Increase net worth by 20%.

4.  Others...

Matched

It's been a while since I have blogged.  To say "we have been busy" is an understatement...!  I wanted to give an update on our adoption.

After meeting our case worker at FF for the first time in April, we proactively searched for potential adoptive children.  We were particularly seeking special needs children and sibling groups.  On several occasions, we read biographies of children that we wanted to inquire about.  Inquiring did not lead to any matches.  We felt that our agency wasn't doing very much in the way of seeking out potential adoptive children on our behalf.  That is until, we were asked by them about our interest in a certain special-needs sibling set in metro-Atlanta that needed a new home.

After much prayer and discussion, we said 'yes' to learning more about these two children...a three year old girl and a four year old boy.  The boy is non-verbal and has severe medical challenges.  Saying 'yes' kicked off a flurry of activity...

• July 26th - Presentation.  Meeting with our agency to learn about the children.
• August 24th - Staffing meeting. We met the foster mom, (5) people from DFCS and (3) social workers from our agency to learn more about the children.
• August 29th - We were officially 'matched' with the children.
• September 22nd - First visit with children in the foster home.
• October 22nd - Visitation officially began.

We found out this week that a tentative placement date in our home is December 5th.  We will have weekend visits with the children up until the time they move into our home in December.

Kristie and I are thankful that the Lord has opened up many doors along the way.  We will continue to walk through them one at a time.  We know that the road ahead will be extremely challenging, and will stretch us in ways that we haven't ever been before.  We are thankful for the support that we have from friends and family.

Please be in prayer for us and this adoption.  Additionally, Kristie's dad has been in the hospital for over two months, so we are dealing with all that goes in to helping a sick parent.

We do need help as we get ready for these children to move in, so I am simply putting it out there on this blog.  We have not had a toddler in the house for many years, we will need supplies, diapers, sippy cups, etc.   Also, we will be making numerous trips to see these children for visitation over the next 6 weeks.  This will require tons of gas and patience with Atlanta traffic.  Also scheduling will be extremely challenging.  I am praying that GOD will take care of our schedules and work out all of the details.  I have no doubt that He will make it happen.

Thanks again for everyone's support and prayers during these next few months.

BVI and Books...

I don't believe I ever posted my blog for our trip to Tortola last February.  I'll try to add more pictures soon.  So here it is for all to see...

http://2016bvi.blogspot.com/

Also, here is my updated book list...

http://malachi-books.blogspot.com/

Alongsiders

Kristie received a blog post written by Craig Greenfield, founder of Alongsiders International.  It couldn't have come at a better time.  Here are some highlights:

"But some of God’s children suffer greater pain, poverty, and oppression than others on this earth. Through no fault of their own, by the simple fate of birth, some were born into broken families, dysfunctional communities, or war-torn nations. They struggle with abuse, addiction, mental illness, lack of opportunity, or awful living conditions."

"The Israelites faced this same question of allegiance when they used the safety of their children as an excuse not to obey God and enter the Promised Land (Numbers 14:3)."

"God called them out on their wrong priorities, and because of their disobedience they had to spend forty years in the wrong place. The desert may have been safer, and maybe it had better schools, but it was clearly not where God had called them to go."

"The children of the Israelites finally entered the Promised Land, but without their parents."

"For Jesus subverts the status quo.  He turns things and people upside-down."

"He uses the most unlikely among us. The overlooked. The weak. The vulnerable."

"He even uses you and your children."

Update on our Current Process:

March 31st, 2016 - Homestudy was approved by F.F. and submitted to the state of GA.

April 22nd, 2016 - Met our case worker for the first time.

Our Current Process...

Many people followed us on this blog and in other places during our first adoption  We are (and were) extremely thankful for all of the support then.  Since 2013, I have kept this blog open to the public, but have not written very much.  Few people know about our current process, why we chose to start it again.  Some that are aware have been asking questions about the timeline.  So here it is

• July 18-19, 2015 - IMPACT Training #1 in Atlanta, GA
• Aug. 8-9, 2015 - IMPACT Training #2 in Atlanta, GA
• August, 2015 - Very large packet of paperwork submitted to our agency
• Dec., 2015 - Matt - CPR/First Aid Class (Kristie keeps her's current!)
• Jan. 25, 2016 - Homestudy Visit #1
• Feb. 3, 2016 - Homestudy Visit #2

What kind of adoption is it?  Domestic (open to all 50) states, "special needs" children, foster-to-adopt.

How many kids?  As many as we can get.

What is considered "special needs"?  Sibling groups in the foster care system, a child with medical challenges, a child that has been in the foster system for a long time.

Why are you going through this again?  Why not?  James 1:27

What does it cost?  $Zero in the state of GA (if we end up adopting out of state, there could be some legal fees).


Where are you going to put more kids?  The Lord has provided us with a nice house with some room for a few more.  We can put a boy on Seth's top bunk, and we can fit a couple of girls in the bonus room with Daughters #2 and #3.

For more information, visit http://dfcs.dhs.georgia.gov/adoption-process.

Home Study

We received word today that our home study will begin on Monday, 1/25.  We have waited for so long, and now it looks like things are starting to move.  According to the Program Manager, our "adoption specialist"  (case worker) is new with our agency, but has a ton of experience writing home studies.  So, it looks like a weekend full of cleaning, organizing and making sure our house is child-proof...

Our agency...http://www.familiesfirst.org/

2016 Goals

Last night was fun.  We let the kids stay up and see the Atlanta Peach Drop.  This was a first for them.  Rather than sending them to bed only for them to get woken up at midnight when the fireworks went off, we let them experience it first hand.  Needless to say, they were still up at 8 AM the next morning.

So here are my goals for this New Year...

1.  Travel.  I know that some business travel will be inevitable, however, I will set a goal to limit it as much as possible.  But I still have the dream to see more of the world - starting with Tortola in February.  Kristie and I will get a belated anniversary getaway for a few days.  Snorkeling, swimming - I can't wait.

2.  Read thirty-five books and track them at Malachi-Books.

3.  Complete our domestic adoption.  We still need to complete our home-study.  Currently, it's completely out of our hands - waiting on our agency.

4.  Pay off our house.  Currently at 23.2% Loan-to-Value.  We are going to see that drop to Zero, and own our home outright by January, 2017!

5.  Begin steps to writing our adoption experience.  I have dreamed for a long time of writing a book. Also, I've been wanting to get our Latvian adoption experience out there.

2015 Goal Results

It's been a while since I have written here, so I wanted to write an entry as 2015 closes out.  A year ago, I listed my five goals for 2015.  Here are the results...


Goal #1.  Increase my family's personal net worth by 15%.  Accomplish this through mortgage reduction, retirement assets and personal savings.

Result:  16.0%!

Goal #2.  Reduce our only debt (mortgage) to 25%  loan-to-value ratio (currently at 37.6% at the end of 2014).

Result:    Reduced to 23.2%!

Goal #3.  Focus on GOD by spending time daily in the Bible.

Result:  Used my mornings most days for my daily quiet time.  Needless to say, some times it didn't work out that way.

Goal #4.  Prayerfully consider and take steps towards fostering or adopting a child.  I think it's time we get back on the horse...

Result:  We took a significant step towards a domestic adoption.  We applied to First Families, took Ga-required IMPACT training, got fingerprinted, all medicals done including TB tests and drug screens, pets vaccinated, two terrible rounds of paperwork, and finally got approved for our home-study to start...!

Goal #5.  Read twenty books and track them at malachi-books.blogspot.com.

Result:   I completed thirty-two books and tracked them on the blog.

Goodbye 2014, Hello 2015...!

Last night we said goodbye to 2014 and said hello to 2015.  The kids were all in bed by 9, and Kristie and I stayed up to watch Kirk Cameron's "Monumental".  I stayed up to watch the last few minutes of the Orange Bowl and the Fox New's coverage of the New Year's festivities.  Lots of loud fireworks within earshot frightened Pepper to where he hid under our covers for a while...

So as we dive full-speed into 2015, I thought I would take some time to list out my goals for 2015 (in no particular order)...

1.  Increase my family's personal net worth by 15%.  Accomplish this through mortgage reduction, retirement assets and personal savings.

2.  Reduce our only debt (mortgage) to 25%  loan-to-value ratio (currently at 37.6% at the end of 2014).

3.  Focus on GOD by spending time daily in the Bible.

4.  Prayerfully consider and take steps towards fostering or adopting a child.  I think it's time we get back on the horse...

5.  Read twenty books and track them at malachi-books.blogspot.com.

All Thanks Be To GOD...

"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."   ~ 1 Cor. 15:57-58

Overwhelmed.

Incredible song and message by Big Daddy Weave...

New Books

I've been wanting to blog about books that I have read for a long time.  It seems that as time goes by, I have a harder time remembering the details of the books that I read, let alone the actual titles!  Hopefully with this blog, I can encourage others to read books.

Please follow me (and the kids) as we blog about our reading experiences...

malachi-books.blogspot.com/

My Family

I am thankful this evening for my family.  God has blessed me beyond measure.  

Tonight is the last night of my girls' mission trip to the wonderful country of Jamaica.  I've been with Seth at home now for seven days while the girls have been away.  We've had fun together for this past week.  

Tomorrow the girls come home, and I get to hear first-hand about all of their experiences while in Jamaica.  

One Chapter Closes...

I have sat at my computer many times and tried to write this blog post only to either delete my words or just walk away. There are just some things in life that are not easy to put into words.  Many of our readers have been asking how things are going with Warrior now that we've been home almost two months. In short, beyond HARD!!! We didn't go into this adoption expecting a cake walk, and we knew the journey would be hard.  But we never could have imagined how this story would end and end so quickly.

A lot of people knew we were having struggles, but many did not.  We chose not to let everyone know all of the details.  After much prayer and seeking Godly counsel, it was abundantly clear that our family was not the family that Warrior needed to grow up in.  He needed to be in a home without children, or with children that are mostly grown. Even through our physical and emotional pain, we only wanted what was best for our Warrior in the end.  Matt and I don't want to go into the details at this time because some are just too painful to talk about. I will tell you that Matt and I have complete peace about this decision.  The "peace that passes all understanding" which can only come from God above.

"Bringing Our Warrior Home" - Warrior leaving court

On September 17th, we gave notice to our adoption agency that we were ending the adoption.  Within 12 hours, we were given a court date and time (September 25th) in which Matt had to appear with Warrior to turn him over to the orphan court in his region.  Needless to say, we frantically pieced together airfare, hotel and transportation.  Matt and Warrior traveled this past Sunday and Monday.  They arrived in L@tvia on Monday afternoon.  After two days of walking around the streets of Rig@, they appeared in court.  Matt prepared a two page statement that he read to the court.  The entire statement (with translation) took about fifteen minutes.  The statement contained recommendations for the type of family Warrior is suited for.  We know that the court accepted these recommendations and will add them to future hosting and adoptive descriptions to potential families.  Warrior was in the room the whole time.  The court did not ask any further questions of Matt as they had been made aware of our struggles previously.  At court, they were very appreciative and were sad that we had gone through what we had.  They were glad that Warrior was happy to be "home".  At the end of the court proceedings, Matt was able to say goodbye to Warrior.  This goodbye wasn't reciprocated, however, as Warrior was eager to see his friends and his home.

Prior to the trip, for the past two weeks, Warrior had been saying repeatedly that he wanted to go "home", "L@tvia", "Rig@" - not only during rough moments, but also during the good moments.  We took this as additional confirmation that we were making the right decision.  Our Warrior was telling us that this house was not his home.  On the night before the flights, Matt told Warrior he would be travelling to L@tvia with Papa in the morning, and  Papa would be returning to America.  He understood he was leaving America and returning to his orphanage.

Even though we were only a short chapter in Warrior's life, our prayer is that it will be one which will have a huge impact on the rest of his life.  Before Matt took Warrior to court on Wednesday, he prayed with him and told him to keep Jesus in his heart and to be a light to others.  Matt and I may never know what seeds were planted and how they will grow, but we know our God loves Warrior so much more than we ever can.  He will protect him and watch over him.  When Matt and I started this blog, we never realized the impact our blog title would have until recently. Warrior is finally "home" with his caretakers and his friends.  Our family will advocate for this child in hopes that he will find a home that will be the environment he can grow and thrive.

We are thankful to all of you who have prayed for us along this incredibly difficult journey. We are also very grateful for the meals and words of encouragement. Matt and I never saw this day coming, but God did. Even through our mourning, God has made his presence known. He is ALWAYS faithful and ALWAYS on time!!!

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." -Romans 8:28

As we close this chapter for our family and take the time to heal, we know only good will come out of this situation.  Our kids have seen a part of the world that very few people will ever see in their lifetimes.  Our kids have seen the scars decades of Communist rule has left on this small Baltic country.  Our kids have seen homeless children play instruments on the street to make money for food.  Our kids have given clothes and money to homeless L@tvian children and adults.  Our family has answered the call to host an orphan child.  Our family has answered the call to adopt, even though the ending is far from what we expected.  Our family has experienced an emotional roller coaster, but through it all, I hope that our kids will see the faithfulness that our whole family exhibited.  It has been amazing to watch the hand of God work through all of this; from the beginning to the end for our family. Our family was only a part of one chapter in Warrior's life, but I can say I know God is not finished with our Warrior. There will be many more chapters to come. Warrior, we love you and we will pray for you as long as we are alive! You will always hold a special place in our hearts and family.

Rainbow Matt saw when leaving court in Latvi@. Warrior was happy to finally be going "home"

Please continue to pray for us as we grieve and process all that has happened recently.   Please also pray for us as we become a family of six again and begin to heal.  We know many may not understand why this happened, and why we decided to do what we did, but please respect our privacy and know that we did just what God asked us to do.  We know that this was in the best interest of our family and Warrior.  Sometimes obeying God doesn't always make sense to others. As we have found out first hand, the hardest things to do in life are to trust that God knows what He is doing. Let me tell you He does...ALL the time! We may never know why this happened, but we do know God will be glorified through all of this!

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven..." -Ecclesiastes 3:1

Tweens and Cell Phones

This week will be bittersweet.  This Wednesday, our nation will remember the lives lost on September 11th, 2001.  I will never forget coming home from work early that terrible day twelve years ago to find my 9-month-pregnant wife standing in front of the television watching the news coverage having labor pains.  Two days later, on September 13th, 2001, 2:07 PM, we had our first child, Rebekah Faith.  So, this Friday, we'll celebrate our twelve year-old's birthday!

Last night Rebekah was so proud to show me her new cell phone:  a very small toy phone made out of Legos!  She had made this as a joke.  She said that many of the girls on her soccer team (Rebekah is the oldest player!) have a cell phone, but she's one of the ones that do not.  I asked her how that made her feel, and she said she doesn't care, and that it doesn't bother her at all.

This week, as we celebrate her birthday,  I am one proud "Papa".  I have a tween who doesn't care that she's the only girl her age without a cell phone.  She is an excellent homeschool student.  She is a fantastic soccer player, and she's been a great sport through this adoption journey so far.  She has been a tremendous help to her mom and me with her new L@tvian brother.  Happy Birthday Rebekah!  I love you!

Words That Sum Up How I Feel

This article, written by Elliott on his blog, sums up how I feel.  I'm glad he was able to put this into words.  I do not think that it is by accident that he wrote it on August 29th, 2013, which happened to be our darkest, most fearful day of this entire process so far.  I read this blog post on Saturday the 31st, and I shared it with Kristie later that day.  If you have the time, please read it in its entirety.

http://snapshotsfromourjourney.blogspot.com/2013/08/superheroes-not-needed.html

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart."  ~ Prov. 3:3a ~

"I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations."  ~ Psalm 89:1 ~

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness."  ~ Jeremiah 31:3b ~

"Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,  for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."  ~ Lamentations 3:22-23 ~

The Henrys and the Puzzle

The Henrys are a great family in Illinois that are also in the process of adopting an orphan boy from Latvi@.  Like us, they hosted their child last winter, the same time we hosted Warrior.  They were able to host their child a second time this summer.  They are raising money to fund their airfare for their Trip 1 to bring home their child.  Please consider donating to their "puzzle" fundraiser...

http://thehenryswish.blogspot.com/

On another note, we have been home one month now - which is so hard to believe.  We've had our Warrior almost seven weeks!