Frustrated....

Hey Friends,

I'm not here to report good news today.  In fact, I'm pretty frustrated....

We've been approved to foster/adopt since November... almost 6 full months... and... NOTHING.  I'm trying to be patient, but at this point we're probably too close to the baby coming to bring in an adopted kid.  That pushes things back even further.

"Why is this so frustrating?" you might ask.  Well, if we had been placed with a kid back in November, December, January, February, we would have had plenty of time with our adopted child before the baby... but that's really only part of why I'm frustrated.

The whopper is this:  Supposedly there are THOUSANDS of kids that need homes.  THOUSANDS!  The average age for these THOUSANDS of kids is 8 years old.  That's exactly what what we want - a girl just a little bit younger than Vaughn.  And it's not like the boys hugely outnumber the girls. It's pretty close to 50/50.  So what gives?

Honestly, I can't help but think we're being discriminated against.  Maybe because of the baby... maybe because of other reasons.  I hate to have that attitude, but at this point that's how I feel.  Why else have we heard NOTHING after 6 months and there are THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of kids... and it's not like I haven't been emailing and annoying our caseworker and other people in charge of this... I can be obnoxious when I need to be.

I'm trying to keep in mind that it's all about God's timing. (Easier said than done) And I'm trying to remember that He has a plan, but frustration has really set in.  Our foster/adoption license is good for 2 years... we've already wasted 6 months of that. 

Chris says if we're not placed with a child before our license expires, it's time to give up and realize this is not what God wants us to do.  I think he's right.  This journey has brought us nothing but frustration, heartache, and (for me) a bit of shame.

Maybe God's plan has yet to really unfold, but if our license expires... we're done.

Sorry to go on this little rant.  Hopefully things are better for you today!

~Jenn

KIDS!!!

Hey friends,

I received an email the other day from the wonderful people at Children's Home Society of North Carolina.  Here's the most important part:

"It's time to start looking at kiddos."

😍

FINALLY!  After years and years and tears and tears we're finally in the home stretch.  Now we will begin to receive referrals of children hoping to be adopted.

I'm not sure how long this process will take, but it feels amazing to be in the final stretch.

A HUGE thank you to everyone out there who has supported us so far on this insane adoption journey.  It has been the craziest roller-coaster ride I have ever been on.  I can't believe it's finally time to "start looking at kiddos."

LOVE (((HUGS))) BLESSINGS!

Jenn

Trekking to the finnish line!

Hey friends!

We had our last meeting with our social worker yesterday. Yay!  Soon our file will be submitted to the state and hopefully we'll be approved as an adoption family!  The state could take anywhere from a week to 50+ days... hopefully we'll be on the shorter end of that time frame.

After the state approves us, our social worker will begin to send us referrals for children.  Oh my goodness!!!  It could be very soon that we meet our little girl! After all this time, it seems unfathomable... but we're nearing the finish line!

Thank you so much to everyone who has been on this journey with us.  We love and appreciate you all!  And, of course, I'll keep you updated here with any news.

LOVE (((HUGS))) BLESSINGS

Jenn

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-CHANGES....

Hey Friends!

I know I haven't shared any adoption information in a while, but things have actually been pretty crazy on the adoption front.  We had to make some major changes.  The biggest change is that we have switched from International Adoption to Domestic Adoption.  

This change did not come easy and there were many contributing factors.  If you'd like to know the crux of the reason, feel free to contact me.  I certainly don't mind sharing, but it would be lengthy to type it all out in this post.  As tough as the decision was, we know the International door was closed for a reason --- God has other plans.

I was pretty heartbroken about the switch, but I will say since making the change we have really seen God's hand moving extremely fast.  Doors are flying open and everything is moving along 1000x smoother than it ever has in the past 2+ years that we've been on this adoption journey.  In fact, it is a possibility that we could have our little girl here by the end of summer!!!  Please continue to pray!

Thanks so much for supporting us through this adoption journey!  Speaking candidly, I do not think our adoption story will end with this little girl.  My heart is to continue and adopt more children in need of a loving home!  But we'll see what God's plan is.  We know His heart is for every orphan to have a loving home and it is our job to be the hands and feet, doing what we can for the ones who need it the most.

Love (((HUGS))) Blessings!

Jenn

Rocked the Home Study!

Hey friends,

We had our home study just a few weeks ago and we totally rocked it!  Actually, it was a lot easier than we anticipated... even easier than friends who had adopted told us it would be. 

In the meantime, I have been researching different adoption grants that we can apply for.  I have a nice long list and as soon as we have our home study write up completed, we can begin applying for them.  The grants range from around $500 to as much as several thousand dollars in some cases.  Please be praying that we receive as many of these grants as possible!

We have been busy fundraising since the last letter we sent.  Currently we are at $13,000.  We're almost half way there; can you believe it?!?!  We feel so blessed to have reached this amount, but we still have a long way to go and we can certainly use your help!!!

Right now we are having another t-shirt fundraiser.  We have two different t-shirt designs for sale.  They are made from that super soft t-shirt material so I know you'll love them!  Adult sizes S-XL $20.00.  (XXL $22.00)  Please contact me to order your shirts and I'll ship them to you ASAP! (jenniferhartz@live.com)

This process has been very long and grueling so far, but we want to thank each and every one of you for coming on this journey with us.  Along with your prayers for grants, please be praying that the rest of the process will go smoothly and as quickly as possible!

Thanks so much to each and every one of you!!!

LOVE (((HUGS))) BLESSINGS

Jenn

Thanks! And waiting.... waiting...

Hey friends!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU so much to everyone who participated in our Spaghetti Oneg yesterday at Beth Messiah Synagogue!  We are truly bless to call BMS home and to call all of you family.  The event helped raise a significant amount of money and it also really helped boost our moral as we wait... and wait... and wait... to hear back from the Bulgarian Ministry.  Please let us hear something this week... PLEASE!!!

I've got to say a special thanks to Theresa Januska, Jimmy Januska, Dee Brown, Sue Hodgeson, Mary Taylor, and Lacey Taylor for helping us yesterday.  And another big thank you to everyone who contributed something for the bake sale or for the spaghetti lunch itself.  You all are wonderful!
 

So... yeah... now we wait...

And wait...

And wait...

UGH!!!! AND WAIT!!!

I really hope we hear something this week.  In the mean time, we'll be ordering the new t-shirts soon.  I'll let you know when they're ready for purchase.

Please keep us in your prayers!  Thanks  :)

LOVE (((HUGS))) and BLESSINGS

Jenn

T-shirts: The Sequel!!! (and a teaser of exciting news!)

Hey friends!

Last week we submitted the mountain of paperwork for our home study.  Exciting!!!

It felt like it took forever to get everything compiled.  I must admit, when I saw the laundry list of things we needed to get together, I became a little discouraged.  Motivation plummeted.  From fingerprints, to physicals, to tax returns, to background checks, I felt overwhelmed.

Oddly enough, God was in our procrastination.  There was a VERY significant reason why gathering all our home study information took longer than it probably should have.  God needed to put some more pieces into place.  And He did so in an AMAZING fashion!!!

I can't tell you yet... although several of you already know.  I don't want to share until we're 100% certain and we get confirmation from the Bulgarian government, but our adoption journey has taken an incredible twist.  With any luck we'll know for sure in the next week or so and then we'll have UNBELIEVABLE news to share!  So stay tuned!!!

In the meantime, we have another fundraiser coming up.  T-shirts: The Sequel  We're doing another t-shirt fundraiser since many of you liked the first shirts.  This time we're going to have TWO different designs to choose from....

Prices might be a little different for these shirts than they were for the first t-shirt run we did.  We're thinking about getting both regular shirts and the super soft material ones.  I'll let you know more in a few days.

Also, don't forget that you can always donate to us online!  Just click the computer icon on the right-hand side of your screen.  This will take you to our YouCaring online donation site.  

Please be in prayer for us as we get ready to schedule our home study, but also for news from Bulgaria.  Of course, the waiting is driving me crazy... but on the bright side, I get to drive Chris nuts with my relentless badgering of, "I wonder when we'll hear something?"  "Do you think they've gotten our letters yet?"  "I wonder what they think?"

Ugh!  Chris tells me that no news is good news.  Maybe he's right.  I'm just hoping to hear something soon!

LOVE (((HUGS))) and BLESSINGS!

Jenn