God's Grace In Our Short Adoption Journey

by  Evie

Well, I thought I would write one last post and give some closure to this blog. -Reflecting over the past year...

~ ~ ~

We had begun (officially) our adoption journey in February 2012.
We started the home study process to adopt a boy toddler in the Ethiopia program in April.
On Mother’s day weekend, we were asked to pray and consider adopting a local baby to be born around Thanksgiving.
As the months passed, our home study kept d.r.a.g.g.i.n.g.
On Sept. 27^th, we received the devastating news that our journey had ended.
Due to the past and a medical issue we were deemed unsuitable to parent adopted children. Though our hearts are crushed, we are not without hope. We will not adopt, but God has not left us. He has held us close with his love and comforted us with the grace of his omniscience. He knows best. Though his plans do not make complete sense to us, we accept his plan. This journey has not been in vain, for it has kept us clinging to the Gospel, for that is the only True source of peace that we can find.

We want to thank you for joining us on our short adoption journey. We want to thank each one of you who prayed for us, encouraged us, and supported us.We really do praise God for placing you in our lives! We appreciate you sharing in our joys and sorrows. God has been so mercifully-gracious and good to us. We look forward to the coming New Year in anticipation of what God will do next. We are holding on to his Promises and feel a peace that can only be supernatural.

As we went through this journey, we came a away with a greater understanding of what God through Christ has done for us. We are amazed. We hope and pray that you too will experience this.
We pray God’s richest blessing on you and yours in the coming New Year and hope that you remembered Jesus in your celebrations this past month. -like we celebrated this joyful season as we remembered God’s greatest gift to us, Jesus! For Jesus has come to save his people from their sins. 

Adopted,

Steve & Evie

“to redeem those who were under the law, 

so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Gal. 4:5

Adopted for Life

...and that is what we are!



See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are... Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 1 John 31-3

We want to share a link with you: Rejoice with our friends!
http://vimeo.com/66912458#

“to redeem those who were under the law, 

so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Gal. 4:5

Blessed be the Name of the Lord

Perfect Peace.

Out of the Depths...

God Provides...

"God provides for us physically, our needs this day, so that we can be generous and give to meet the needs of others. But He provides for us spiritually so that our souls can be enriched, full, fed, and we can become a source of blessing and nourishment to others."

-Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Orphan Sunday 2012

Orphan Sunday is November 4, only a few weeks away, and we hope all of you are planning to get involved in some way. Check out the official Orphan Sunday website for many resources.  America World can also provide Materials if you fill out this form. We are praying that this year's Orphan Sunday is a wonderful celebration of God's heart for the fatherless.

This blog post was taken from America World's blog

Bless the Lord, o my Soul!

It is Well With My Soul

when sorrows like sea billows roll...

This is a hard post to write, but we need to tell you how everything has developed. Without going into detail, but for a number of reasons, it has been made very clear that we are not going to be able to continue to pursue adoption any longer. Although this is very hard, we are trusting in the Lord's goodness and grace.  
If it were not for the gospel, we would be completely devastated. We are thankful for the Spirit who comforts us, the Father who loves us, and Jesus who intercedes for us.

Thank you for all your prayers and support throughout this journey. You have all been such an encouragement to us. It has been a joy to see the family of God working out His love in the spirit of adoption. We pray that God will continue to stir up His church to care for orphans.

Please continue to pray for us as we grieve this real loss, but accept this closed door from our loving Father. God has overwhelmed us with His love. Adoption was to be a response to that love. Pray for us as we are seeking other ways to express God's love in our lives.

The money that was raised from the garage sales will be donated to Christian Compassion Ministry, a ministry that works with orphans and the poor in Manila, Philippines. November is Orphan awareness month. We would like to challenge you to give to this or other ministries.

Thank you for joining us in the journey of Faith the past few months. This journey has kept us clinging to Jesus, so it has not been in vain! We do not know what the future holds, but we know who holds our future. May the Lord be glorified in and through us.

Rough Going

by Steve

It has been a hard few weeks as we have hammered away at our homestudy. The coordinator at our homestudy agency has continued to ask for more and more follow-up documentation. We have been doing our best to provide what she asked for, but she never seemed to be satisfied.
Last week she emailed and told us that we needed to meet to talk through what needed to be done. She asked us to come to the office in Indianapolis. We were concerned about what this meeting was about. At the initial homestudy meeting, we were told that we would not need to make a second trip to Indy.
This past Tuesday we made our way to Indy for the meeting. She laid out for us a more extended list of things she needed from us. In conclusion, she said that we may not be able to get everything done in time for the birth (around Thanksgiving). She made it very clear that she could not guarantee completing the homestudy on time, then she asked if we would like to discontinue our homestudy with her agency.

This is something of a shock to us. After thinking, processing, and praying, we have decided to move on to another homestudy agency. Our adoption agency is fine with our moving. We are looking around right now and have a few options. One agency we found has an expedite option that guarantees to have the homestudy complete in less than 30 days!

Please pray for us as we continue to push forward in the process.  We do not understand everything God is doing as he leads us through these twists and turns. We are confident that He has it all well in hand and nothing can separate us from His love.


Romans 8:38-39  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  (39)  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Well said:

‎"Through adoption God graciously brings us to participate in the reciprocal love 

that ever flows between the Father and his Son. Not only is this the very heart of adoption; it is also the very heart of the gospel." {Reclaiming Adoption}

We know it's been a while since we publicly talked about our adoption. We'll be updating in the next week or so. Please continue to pray for us. Thank you, Love, The Wesners

3rd Garage Sale

By Evie

The Lord sure has been strengthening and building our faith lately. Adoption costs a lot of money. And other than Steve working lots of over time, God has been blessing us through others. The picture above shows one of the ways that God has been proving funds to do what he has called us to.

This Garage sale took place one week ago. And through the hard work and donations from the members and friends of Grace Covenant Church  of Fox Valley (Steve's Parent's church in Chicago) they raised $1000 Dollars.We are so grateful and humbled by what they did. We did not ask them to  do a fundraiser for us, but they have a great heart for Adoption and took it upon themselves to do this for us. We were blessed by their love for us and pray the Lord's blessing on them.

Dear Brothers & Sisters of GCC,

THANK YOU TO EACH OF YOU who contributed in any way! Thank you so much! This is an incredible blessing! We are humbled, and blown away by your love through your support! We are in awe at the Lord's provision! Words do not adequately express our gratitude. But may the Lord be glorified through this. Thank you!

What's Happening?

by Evie

We have been asked how things are going and so we thought it would be good to blog and post to let you know what we're up to.

Steve and I are in the thick of Home study homework. We are working hard on it and plan to submit it soon.  Steve has been working overtime, so that has limited his time.

Well, with a baby coming home sometime between Thanksgiving and the 2nd or so of Dec, we decided that since we are homeschooling, we would start the year right away so that we can have more time to take off when Baby arrives. So, we started on Monday! This school year, we have one 1st Grader and one in Kindergarten!

This week, Steve and I both had physicals for our Adoption Paperwork. The boys have one in a couple of weeks. And this coming Fri, Steve and I have a fingerprint appointment! Things are moving along with the new Agency. And I have been talking with Birth-Mama weekly.

In short, this is what we've been up to! Trust you all have a good weekend.

It's True

by Evie

You know when you're driving down the road and a church has a goofy quote on their sign? Sometimes they're true, most often they're out of context or completely wrong theologically.
Anyhow, yesterday we were driving past one that was true and made me praise the Lord again in all He is doing! The sign said; "Where God Guides, He Provides"
Now, the reason why that sign led me to worship was because last week we were contemplating about how to pay the first installment to the new agency we are working with. We pulled all the money together that we could and we were still a bit short. As long as we don't get this payment in soon, the longer Mama J will go without the care that she needs.
Well, Just the day before, God supplied this need!! I am in Awe!
May we bless the Lord in good and hard days of our lives.
To God be the Glory!

God's Providence and when I said, "Yes"

By Evie

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6

We attended the wedding of a special friend on Saturday and we got to meet (in flesh and blood) a family who has been in my thoughts and prayers for a long time...

So, I thought it was time I share a little about how I came to say, "Yes" to this call that God has placed on our lives. About two 1/2 years ago during prayer meeting a gal (who has become a good friend the past two years and who got married on Sat.) asked for prayer for her Pastor and his wife back home in OH as they were adopting from Rwanda and were anxiously awaiting the referral for their two youngest children. So we prayed that night for them. And we continued to pray and praised the Lord when they got the referral.

Then, something happened. You see, I never foresaw myself or us adopting. Adoption was not an option or even a desire. Even when we miscarried, we decided if we never had biological children, we wouldn't have children at all. God in his graciousness, did indeed allow us to bare children. Two precious boys! And then we thought we were done! We were perfectly content and happy with the sons that the Lord entrusted to our care. And we were in a new season of life and a new and sweeter season in our marriage. As the Ladies prayed for the Woodmans and their adoption on Wednesday nights, the Lord started to soften my heart towards adoption. No, I didn't have a desire to adopt, but the Lord was giving me a new heart and outlook on Adoption. It was deep. And then the Father of the Fatherless would bring the Woodmans to my mind at random moments during night or day, even though we didn't pray for them every Wednesday night during women's prayer time. As they came to mind, I would pray for them. Then, while they were in Rwanda picking up their two precious Kiddos, I got curious as to how they were doing and I stalked them on facebook. It was January 2010. Then, the Lord brought this thought to my mind, "If God called me to adopt, would I obey?" To me, it would be a matter of obedience, because I am very selfish! And I didn't even have a desire to adopt or have any more children. But I knew that question in my mind was prompted by the Holy Spirit. And I had to answer Him. I talked with Him and wrestled. But I knew deep down in my heart, that I needed to say yes. I surrendered and I said, "yes." The emotions and thoughts going through me were crazy. And I knew I would need to tell Steve. He was on his way home from a Ski Retreat with the youth group...

As is a habit of mine before I get up from the computer, I checked email. And I received one from my very good friend Steph. You know what she wrote me about? She told me that I would think that she was crazy, but they had decided to adopt! And do you know what? Had it been a few weeks or months earlier, I would have. But God was preparing me all along (and Steve too). I thank the Lord for that! With the obedience, God has given me this passion and desire. I am really excited about adoption, adopting, and this journey we are on! To be honest, at times I have fears or wonder what what in the world we are doing. But when I am close to Jesus, I have peace and I know we are right where He wants us. I don't know what the future holds, but I certainly do know who holds the future!

So, back to Saturday. Humanly speaking, all this adoption stuff wouldn't be happening if our friend hadn't asked prayer for the Woodmans. And had the Woodmans not been at her wedding, we wouldn't have yet met them personally. I am so glad that my God is in Control of every detail of my life!

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1Corinthians 13:12

Prayer on Her Behalf

By Evie



               This is not my wall, neither are these my plaques. So, credit where credit is due -got them off pinterest:-)

Have you even encountered someone who's situation was so broken, helpless, and hopeless? The verse above has become quite important to me over the last 2 months. It is one that I think of often and pray to the Lord on Birth-Mama; J's behalf. I pray with everything that is within me that God Almighty will save her, not only from the life she lives, but to give her Life In Christ! Won't you pray this along with me? 

Adoption was always in God's plan for us.

by Steve

This is a short video by John Piper on why "Adoption Is Greater Than The Universe."
It is a very good summery of the vastness in the concept of adoption. So often we get bogged down in all the details of it. Sometimes we need to step back and see its vast expanse and let it take our breath away once again.

Boost in Faith

by Steve

There are many temptations to worry and fret with this new direction in our adoption journey. The biggest temptation for me personally is the more intense financial situation. My mind seems to run on numbers and when I get worried it starts crunching the numbers over and over:
"How much do we need? How much do we have? How long do we have to come up with it? Break that down per month - per paycheck. How much overtime do I need to work? Wow! This is impossible!! because if I make x... and we need y and we only have z amount of time... Let me run those numbers again."  ...as if doing the same equations multiple times will make the problem smaller.

Today, the Lord reminded me of His resources and how He loves to work. Tonight when we walked into church a special little girl ran up to us saying, "This is for you!" She handed us an envelope marked "Money four your ADOPTION." Inside was some bills and coins -$5.92! Her parents later told us that it was her idea and completely voluntary.

God is sovereign over all things! All the earth is at His call. Today, He moved a little girl to give all her spending money and remind us to trust in Him.

Answered Prayer

by Steve

The first meeting with the birth mom (I'll call her J) went well overall. It was you would expect with complete strangers meeting over such a intimate subject -a little awkward, but at the same time laid back. There was nothing earth shattering. Though we did talk about a couple things like "What are your expectations for this open adoption," mostly it was get-to-know-you stuff. Her favorite color is red, she likes mushrooms, and she has the same birthday as Scott.

J is a very sweet, but she has had a hard life. Right now she is in a hard living situation too. She really needs our prayers.

J did mention that she really wants to keep in touch with us as the child grows. This will be good.

As we get the adoption agency involved, the details will get ironed out. For now, today was a good first step on a journey that will last the rest of our lives. Thank you for your prayer support! We appreciate it!

Prayers Appreciated

by Evie

Well, today is the day that we'll be meeting with Birth-Mom!! I am filled with so many different emotions. Please be in prayer for her and us. That the Lord would help us as we meet. That we would each be at ease as we meet and get to know each other over lunch. And for the boys that they would be calm as they sit through this all. Thank you!

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,

 plans that are for your good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 

Jeremiah 29:11 paraphrased. 

God Blesses us through Others

by Evie

Last Friday, we received a card in the Mail from a Special Couple, stating that since the total of our Garage Sale was so close to $1,000 that they had to help push it over the top! 

We had planned on going to Chicago for the day to go to Steve's brother's 8th grade graduation last Sunday. Then, we realized that the garage sale his parents were going to have would be the same weekend. So, Steve got off from work a couple hours early last Friday and we headed to Chicago. We were there Friday evening through Sunday evening. We enjoyed our time with the family and lil' brother's grad.

It was neat being there. There was a woman who saw the signs (which said; "Adoption Fundraising Garage Sale"). So, she came. She talked with my mother in-law and me and shared her story. She too was adopted! It was neat to talk to her and hear her story. She was so excited for us and the child God has for us. She was very encouraging and supportive. She said she didn't really "do" yard sales, but the sign caught her eye and she just needed to stop by and see what it was all about. She asked if she could hug me as she was about to leave. I'm very tactile, so I obliged. Then she pressed some $ into my hand, turned and left with a teary eyes and smile on her face.

There were a couple of others with similar stories that stopped by before we arrived.

Mom and Dad's Garage sale was all day Friday and Saturday. And they gave the proceeds to us! The Total was: $135!
No. After coming home and doing laundry I found $5 in my pocket from that Saturday + a check that we forgot to count! GRAND TOTAL: $145!!! NEAT! God sure does provide!

Another blessing...

At their church prayer meeting, Steve's mom asked for prayer for their garage sale. The ladies of the church said they thought they should have one too.

I thought that was a nice thought... Then, while attending their service Sunday morning, I read it in their bulletin. Like, they're serious! I was blown away and felt incredibly blessed! They really are going to have one to donate towards our Adoption!! Isn't that wonderfully crazy!?

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul,and forget not all his benefits,..." Ps.103:1-2

Plans -Call to Prayer

Proverbs 16:9  The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

When we were led to pursue adoption we were immediately confronted with  many questions that needed to be answered. We needed to make some choices before we could take another step. We chose more from a necessity to make a choice than from deep conviction.

Open or Closed adoption? Closed! ...open adoption sounds a little scary.
Domestic or International adoption? International.
What country? Ethiopia is the most straight forward for the price at this time.
Baby? boy ages 0-2. Seemed more practical with already having two boys and living in a two bedroom home.

But we have been given an opportunity that is quite different than the plans we made. We have been made aware of a local young lady who wants to give up her baby when he is born late this year. After much prayer, we have decided to put Ethiopia on hold and pursue this local adoption.

We will give more details in future posts, but we really want to call on all of you to pray for this young lady and child. We do want to bring this child into a loving home and change his life forever! But we also want to be a light to the birth mother. She desperately needs the hope of the gospel. We will be meeting her at the end of this month. Please pray for all of us in these exciting, life changing circumstance that the Lord has placed each of us in. Pray that the Lord will provide the finances for the adoption. The cost is less than an international adoption, but the time to come up with the money is much less.
Thank you!

Steve & Evie

Garage Sale Total!

The amazing total of this weekend's garage sale was $996.85! God is so amazing!

Thank you all who donated stuff, time, and for all your prayers!

Showers of Blessings

by Steve

God's has blessed us so much during this garage sale! We are still tallying up the total money that was raised, but I do want to praise God for all the grace He has poured out on us...

First we were amazed by all the donations people gave us! They started piling up as soon as we let everyone know about the garage sale. By the day of the sale, our garage was bursting with quality merchandise. Almost 20 families donated items for the sale before we had to stop taking donations and start organizing the store. Thank you all for your things. God blessed us greatly through them.

God blessed us with lots of help to bring this to pass. Some people loaned us vehicles, others helped price items. From setup to clean up, people helped with getting small bills to make change and baking cookies to sell. This was our first time doing a garage sale, and all of your help made it much easier.

Speaking of people, we want to publicly praise God for the Bala family! God's grace to them is evident and we where blessed by His grace flowing through them. They didn't simply allow us to use their home for the sale, they trained us in the art of doing a garage-sale! I cannot list all the ways they helped us. More than all of it, we deeply appreciated the genuine fellowship around Christ and His grace.  Praise God! and thank you, Colin and Dana, from the bottom of our hearts.

We were blown away by all the sales! On Friday the weather was drizzly, chilly, and damp, but God brought people who wanted our stuff! We sold quite a bit that first day.
Saturday, opening time (8:00) found us at the breakfast table relaxing around our coffee. A punctual customer rang the doorbell and asked when we were going to start! The people came steadily the rest of the morning.
We did not sell every single item, but all the big things did sell so that we did not have too much to clean up at the end of the day. God showed his blessings again, bringing the right people at the right time to sell the right item for the right price. He is at peace who serves a sovereign God who is his Father.

It was a blessing to see the familiar faces that came to visit. We thank God for the support of our church family, and we thank each of you that came to show your support.

We were also blessed to meet several new families that were very supportive of our adoption. There were some 8 strangers who shared their personal adoption story. Finally, at the end of today, a friend of the Bala's stopped by who have just finished adopting. Eager to help us, we exchanged contact information and will be building a relationship with some new friends. I was not expecting this level of support from the community, and God blessed us by bringing the greater Body of Christ around us at this time.

So, the money we raised, while it was our main purpose, it was only the beginning of all the blessings God showered on us.  We are exhausted from the work, but we have been built up and greatly encouraged! God used many different means to funnel His grace into our lives, and our hearts are full of praise and gratitude.

Garage Sale Day 1

by Evie

God is good! And I am so grateful for all He is doing!! He hasn't taken the drizzle or light rain away, but He has been bringing LOTS of People! What a blessing!!

And it's been chilly! So that Coffee sure is hitting the spot and warming our hands when they're not busy making change. And the cookies taste great!

May God be glorified today!

Yard Sale INFO

by Evie

Thank you Everyone, for your prayers! Please continue to pray and ask the Lord's blessings and for favorable weather this coming fri/sat.

We just posted our ad on craigslist! We praise the Lord for all He has provided for our Adoption Fundraising  Yard Sale. Now, we are trusting Him to bring people who will purchase the items that were generously donated. We would love for you to stop by or spread the word to your family and friends who like to yard sale. I'm wishing my Grammy A. could come! Back in her glory days as the Yard-Sale-Queen, she would have loved the one we are about to have!
           
Hope you can come!

1075 Elm Street Plymouth, IN 46563

Fundraising Yard Sale Prep.

by Evie

Wow! We have received so many donations! From about 15 families or individuals! We are no longer excepting donations. We are trying to finish up pricing things today and tomorrow. Then, we will need to take everything to where we will hold the sale. This looks like a busy week! We are looking forward to seeing what the Lord will do this week!

God Places the Lonely in Families

Here is a video made by our agency:

Home Study Orientation and Family Time

by Evie

A week ago today, we went to Indy for the Day! We left our home bright and early, armed with veggies and granola bars. I drove on the way there and Steve did homework. The boys came along! They did really well the whole time! But we were all very happy when we got home that night!

Our first stop was our Home Study Agency. The people there were so kind and friendly. The Social Worker who did orientation with us seemed very genuine and very passionate about what she does. It was a helpful meeting. She also interacted with the boys. She gave us a list of papers to chase down and went through the list with us so that we understand what needs to be done. The papers are very similar (or exactly the same) as the dossier papers. But overall, the Homestudy papers are not as strict in that they can often be photocopies and do not have to be notarized. Once we get all these documents, we will send them to our social worker. Then the next step after we get that done will be the home visits.

When we were done with our meeting, we headed to the Children's museum. I was hoping for relaxing family time. Talk about Exhausting! But it was so much fun! And we didn't even see or do all there was to experience! That place is way to big for only 4 or 5 hours. We feel like we should go back or at least make it to the Museum of Science and Industry someday. The boys' favorite exhibit was the Lego Exhibit (current/non-permanent exhibit). They also enjoyed the simulated airplane ride and the Dinosaurs. It was funny, the next day the boys were playing "museum."

Thur night, Steve finished his homework for the semester! What a relief! We are so grateful for his opportunity to go back to school, but we sure are glad for a break! Then we enjoyed the weekend with our company and Monday evening I took the boys out while Steve took his first Final. Then last night, he took his last Final! *sigh* (a happy one:-)

We're still taking donations for the yard sale. Anyone have any big items, like furniture that you'd like to contribute? If you're local, we would be willing to pick it up. 

Yard Sale Fundraiser

by Evie

We are pleased to announce that our Adoption Fundraising Yard Sale will take place on Friday, June 1st from 8 a.m.--6 p.m.; and Saturday June 2nd from 8 a.m.--5 p. m. at 1075 Elm Street Plymouth, IN 46563

Our good friends will be hosting for us! They live in a more populated area then we do. And their children will have a lemonade stand:-)

We are grateful to all of you have have been donating items for the Yard Sale! That is a huge blessing! We have a van's worth of things to sell in order to raise money towards our adoption!

My sister is sponsoring coffee (that was purchased and mailed to us today) to be sold both mornings. And my sister in-law will be baking cookies for us to sell.

We'll be taking donations up until Memorial Day weekend. And as June draws closer, we will advertise our Yard Sale Fundraiser on Craig's List. We are asking the Lord for a great turn out and are eager to see how He will answer our prayers.

I've never had a yard sale before. It's kind of exciting, but in some ways, all of this seems very overwhelming. My flesh thinks this (adopting and all that it entails) is completely crazy! But the Holy Spirit keeps reminding me that God is big and that He will work out all the details. I need to trust HIM.

Verses that I read this afternoon (Very timely):
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:31-32

What's on His Mind

Seth's art during church....

(top left hand side: c3po and r2d2

bottom middle: Ethiopia, Africa)

We Finished Kindergarten...

by Evie

Ok, that wasn't loud enough.

On Friday, WE FINISHED KINDERGARTEN!!! 
WOO WHOOOO!!!!

The boys and I are taking 3 weeks off, then we will begin Summer School (ie. working on math, reading, and handwriting. We don't want to lose what we learned or Scott's fabulous handwriting). And Mama will be PAPER-CHASING with a vengeance! I'm not a tech-savvy kind of gal, but I even learned how to scan in documents, so that I can email them to our Family Coordinator, so that she can approve them, so we can in turn get them notarized.



Now, the boys can spend more time doing things like this (house for Eeyore),

spending time finding toads and playing w/ solar powered frogs...

and this (pirate ship)...

taking nature walks and riding bikes...

making Lego creations...

and this...

Using Mom's Kindle Fire? Um, probably not! Mom will finally have more time to listen to audio books and podcasts:-)

On Wednesday, we will be headed down to Indy for our first Home Study!
The next two weeks are crunch time for Steve as he finishes his semester at Ivy Tech (on top of working overtime at work).
We really do appreciate your prayers, your questions, and generous donations for the up-coming yard sale.

YAY!!! First official year of Home-schooling, COMPLETED!!!

God's Plan from the Beginning!

by Evie

As you can imagine, anything having to do with Adoption catches my attention. Here's a good Piper quote.‎

"Adoption in God’s mind was not Plan B. He predestined us for adoption before the creation of the world. Plan A was not lots of children who never sin and never need to be redeemed. Plan A was creation, fall, redemption, adoption so that the full range of God’s glory and mercy and grace could be known by his adopted children. Adoption was not second best. It was planned from the beginning." John Piper.

Upcoming Home Study and Yard Sale

by Evie

Wow, we've been busy. There seems to be more things to get done than there are hours in which to do them.

We are excited that on Wednesday, the 25th, we will be in Indianapolis for our first Home Study appointment! It will sort of be like a mini orientation. We'll be taking the boys with us. And perhaps we will go do something fun as a family, like going to the Children's Museum:-)

As I was sitting down to write this post, I noticed there was an unread post in our google reader. Our Agency posted a blog post that is very timely as it had to do with Home Studies.

Paper work is coming along. Although I haven't been updating here much, we are accomplishing some things. We already have a pile of papers that could be notarized. I'm finding that as we work down the tracking sheet, the things we need to gather seem more complicated. We suspect that our paper-chasing stage will take longer than the average. In part, because we have been so busy and also because it feels like the home study is going slowly! But we are chipping away at it and already have half a dozen documents crossed off the list! 

We will miss our agency's monthly Conference call while we are in Indy. Thankfully, they record those and email them out. 

We are really looking forward to Steve being done w/ school for the semester, that will REALLY help us in regards to the adoption and our family life. He also has been working lots of over time. And I will be done teaching Scott Kindergarten in a few days!

I'll soon have finalized info on our garage sale. It seems like it will be the first weekend of June instead of in May. Thanks to all of you who have been donating for our Adoption Fundraiser sale!

Thank you also for all of you who have been purchasing coffee and shopping Amazon through our button.

Thank you most of all for your prayers!

Adoption: The Highest Gospel Blessing

Our pastor, Jason Webb, is teaching about Adoption -physical adoption and spiritual adoption! Today he laid the foundation of our spiritual adoption. Here is the audio.

I. Adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel. 

         1John 3:1a  See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children  of God; and so we are. 

II. Adoption is meant to be the basis of the rest of the Christian life.

1. Adoption teaches us to Control our Conduct 

       a. We are to act like our Heavenly Father.

        Matthew 5:44-48  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  (45)  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  (46)  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  (47)  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  (48)  You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

        b. We are to act in a way that brings honor and glory to our Father

        Matthew 5:16  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

         c. We are to live to please our Father (not other people) 

         Matthew 6:1  "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

2. Adoption teaches us to Pray

            Matthew 6:8-9  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  (9)  Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

3. Adoption teaches us to Trust

             Mat 6:31-32  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  (32)  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

Amazon.com Commission!

by Steve

I am really excited about this one! We are always buying things from Amazon.com. You can get virtually anything there and it will be delivered right to your house. Now we have signed up to become Amazon Associates.
This means that if you shop from our Amazon.com link, we will get a commission for anything you buy! It does not cost you anything extra and all the proceeds go toward our adoption.
So click here or look for our "Amazon.com" button on our blog. Go ahead and bookmark that page for your future shopping needs. Then you can search and shop as you normally would.
Thank you for your support!

Papers Everywhere!

by Steve



We have sent in the application for our Home Study and are beginning to collect documents for our Dossier!

The Home Study is done by a third-party, non-profit organization that assigns us a social worker. These are the people that we actually meet with and talk to face to face.  The purpose of the Home Study is to verify that we are qualified to adopt. This will include background checks, several meetings, and checking our references. They say the more places we have lived and moved in our lives, the longer the background check will take. With Evie's international residences, we anticipate that this will take extra long.
The average time for the Home Study to be completed is 4-6 weeks. It costs about $1700.

The Dossier is the official document that is sent to the Ethiopian government. It includes everything from Birth Certificates to our Home Study and lots of official papers.
All these papers take time to collect and make sure everything is perfect. AWAA (our adoption agency) has assigned us a Family Coordinator. Her main job at this stage is to make sure our Dossier is all in order so that nothing is rejected once we send it to Ethiopia.
The average time for this process is 4-6 months. The cost widely varies because each document is different. For example, my passport needs to be renewed ($110), but Evie's is up to date.

You know how you feel when you go to get your drivers licence for the first time? Before they can give you that licence you need to get all those different documents. Then you can't find one or another of them so you need to get that first before you can even go get your licence. That is where we all begin to develop a dislike for governmental paperwork.
Emotionally, that is where we are at and will be for the next few months. AWAA has done their best to lay it out clearly and make things easy to understand, but it is quite overwhelming when we see the long list of things that need to be done.
Please continue to pray for us as we plod our way through this -that we will remember what great effort God went through to adopt us into His family.

Big Brothers

by Evie

What do Scott and Seth think about us adopting? They are thrilled! Seth even has him named! And for as young as they are, they seem to understand more than I would have thought they would.

About two years ago, I was watching a video online about orphans, and I was crying. Scott came over to the computer very concerned and asked me what was wrong. I pointed to the screen and told him, "see all those kids and babies, they don't have mommies and daddies."  He answered, "Well, we have to go get them then." He has been mentioning that we need to adopt ever since.

In our family worship time, we've prayed for Baby Webb during the past two years, and I guess our boys have always assumed that we would be adopting. Right before the Webbs went to Ethiopia in January to meet their son, we went to the store to buy some things to donate to his orphanage. So, as we were approaching the Baby department, I explained to our boys what we were doing. Seth asked; "can we buy something for our baby?" To that I replied; "what Baby?" He said; "Matthew." Me: "what?" Seth: "you know, our Baby in Ethiopia."

What will we be naming him? To be honest, we don't know yet. And we're not even sure if we will be announcing that until the very end. IF it were up to Seth, his name would be Matthew:-)

Why not a girl? Well, why not another boy? Before we verbalized our thoughts, each of us (including the boys) already wanted another boy. If we're going to choose, we might as well choose. And for many reasons, a boy just seems more practical for our family at this time.

We often have conversations about adoption. And we pray that the Lord would help them to one day understand spiritual adoption.

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Gal.4:4-7

We are so in awe of how God redeemed us and made us his Son and Daughter! And we praise HIM that HE adopted us!

           Happy Good Friday. 

Family Coordinator & Conference Call

by Evie

YAY! We finally have a family coordinator!!! We missed her phone call yesterday afternoon:-( But we will return her phone call on Monday. We are excited and have so much to do between normal life and 10 hour long (thankfully, not all at once) Hague Online Training. It is a course for parents who are on their inter-country adoption journey.
Also, we will be experiencing our first conference call for paper-chasing families on Wednesday!  So, paper-chasing, here we come!!!

Yard Sale Fundraiser

by Evie

Well, for a week or so, I thought we had skipped spring! But the weather this week reminds me that it is still March. So, there is still time (and cool enough weather) to do some spring cleaning! We will have some company in the next month and an ADOPTION HOME-STUDY soon! So, I will be thoroughly cleaning our home soon--not that they will be investigating every nook and crany. But, you know, it gives me motivation to get things clean and organised! Will you be doing some spring cleaning in the next few weeks?

As Steve mentioned in a previous post, we plan on a having a yard sale as another means of fundraising. And we would like you to help! If you are local, and would be willing to donate clothes, furniture, nicknacks or other things (all in good condition), that would be great! All proceeds will go towards our adoption. We would really be appreciative of any "treasures" you could send our way. Or, if you have a larger item and a smaller vehicle, we would be willing to pick it up. Please let us know and we can arrange that.

We're thinking we will have the yard sale in mid May. We will nail that down soon and let you know!

How to make the perfect cup of Just Love Coffee

by Bev (Nana) Wesner

 A step by step tutorial!

Order from Just Love Coffee and support
Steve and Evie's adoption of a sweet baby from Ethiopia!
 Our delivery of Just Love Coffee came with a giant burlap bag! 

Under the burlap were our treasures
! 
Inside the little box was not a little burlap bag,
but a really cool handmade mug!

Now quickly pour the beans into the grinder.

Inhale the wonderful smell of the fresh ground coffee!

Quickly add the ground coffee into the coffee maker.

Now here's the hard part. Wait until the pot is finished brewing. If this is too hard, inhaling the aroma of the coffee beans helps pass the time.

Quickly pour fresh brewed coffee into your really cool homemade mug from Just Love Coffee.

Ooops! I didn't wait until it was finished brewing. I should have smelled the beans a little longer! 

Add cream and sweetner, quickly.

Yeah, you know what to do next!

Very, very slowly enjoy each sip, thinking and praying about Steve & Evie and their little baby in Ethiopia! 

Now that's good!

Well, Let the Celebration begin!

As we enjoy the coffee, we will be praying for you and Baby Wesner!

On Your Mark! Get Set...

by Steve

So where exactly are we in the adoption process?

Whenever I take a road trip to anywhere new I like to look at a road map. I like to see the big picture as well as zoom in to see the tricky parts. Knowing how to get somewhere makes me feel less stressed out when I don't recognize where I am.

At the moment, in this adoption journey, I am in information overload. America World Adoption Agency (AWAA)  has been very helpful. The first introductory packet of papers to sign has the process all laid out in 2 or 3 different formats. But it still feels less like a simple road map and more like a thousand page flight plan for a shuttle launch. So we will be doing a bunch of reading, trying to figure out the right questions to ask and what exactly we are supposed to do when.
God has set our feet upon this road and He will direct our every step while orchestrating the billions of other variables that we will never know, much less control.

So where are we?
It seems that we are waiting for the gun to go off to signal the start of the race.
We applied and were accepted into the Ethiopian program. Then AW sent us about 8 things to read and sign. We signed them and sent them back with our first of three installments for the AW program fee.
Once they get those papers and verify everything is right, we will be assigned a Family Coordinator. Then he/she will help us with what is next -the Homestudy, and the great paper storm. This part of the process takes a few months (maybe 6).
We are expecting to hear from AW no sooner than 3/30, but it could be a few days after that.

Thank you for your prayers!

Common Questions

by Steve

Why do we want to adopt?

We want to adopt for several reasons, but the main reason is simple: we want to adopt because God has adopted us. We want to love because God has loved us. We want to reach out to the needy because God has reached out to us when we were most destitute in sin and pulled us to Himself.

God’s love and joy is a boundless and overflowing wonder. Before time began, in His perfect Triune self, each Person had abounding, overflowing love and joy toward the other persons within the Trinity: the Father loving the Son and the Spirit; the Son overflowing with love for the Father and Spirit; and the Spirit overflowing in love for the Father and the Son. This love and joy overflowed into time and space as God poured it out into creation. It flowed through history and into our very hearts and lives. Our desire to adopt is a continuation of that overflowing of God’s love -flowing out from us to a needy orphan.

Why there?

Why international?

When we look at orphans in general, there is such a disparity between the standard of living of domestic orphans and those of 3rd world countries. They are all in desperate need of love and care! How can we see this and do nothing?

Why Ethiopia?

There is no super-spiritual reason for Ethiopia really. Right now it just seems to be the most straight forward for the price. Russia is easier and much quicker, but it is also very expensive. We do not have the finances to do that (...at least this time).

Why now?

Evie has had a burden for some time. I have been more hesitant. I struggled to try to come to grips with the massive problem of the millions of children who need parental care. I still do not know how to process this problem that has no solution. We live in a fallen world that groans, longing to be set right.

I have been dragging my feet. At the start I said that we need to get other things in order before we move forward in adoption. I came to see that my “being responsible” was actually motivated by desires to advance my own little kingdom. It was a lack of faith because in my heart I was depending upon myself and my ability to get my life in my own perception of orderly. My hesitance was hard on Evie, who is very burdened for orphans. She was never a nag, but she did pray much.

Another reason for adopting now, is that we want to bring our child home before our boys get too old so that they can be closer in age. This adoption will take a very long time (2 plus years). So we want to get going on it so that the boys will still be children when we bring our new son home.

How are we going to pay for this?

This is really the area that I wanted to have all our ducks in a row before we started on the journey. You know, not that I wanted all the money in the bank -I know God can provide, but I wanted to make it as easy as I could for God. But God does not want my help, He wants my humble worship. God will provide.

We plan to:
Cash-flow: I will be working more overtime at work as I am able. Side jobs often come up as well. All these moneys will go toward the adoption.
Fundraisers: We have some links to some fundraising organizations. Also, I’m sure we will be having Garage sales and the like!
Grants: There are many grants available for adoption. We will apply to as many as we can.

As we start this journey, we really just want the adoption process to be over already so that we can bring our little one home.
We are deeply grateful to our pastor/friends Jason and Steph Webb for going before us and sharing their journey with us.