Introducing Josiah Basten

It is with great joy that we annouce we have accepted the referral of Boimah Mambu - 2yrs 9mos. We have chosen the name Josiah which means "Yahweh supports" - and we are going to need all His support and more as we try to raise him to Love and Serve Our Lord. Kim and I are very excited! We liken it to going to the hospital for that first ultrasound, when you count 10 fingers and 10 toes. There is some relief in knowing, but now the real difficult waiting begins. So each time we eat or lay down our head, we will wonder about Josiah, and if his basic needs are being met and if he's doing OK. We have great confidence in our God's provision for Josiah, and are very thankful for AoH and the wonderful care they provide. So thanks for checking and we'll keep you posted as we know more.

Check out our other post from yesterday for more info.

A New Phase of the Journey

We received an updated list of available children yesterday, and though there was no "perfect" sibling group that fit the criteria that we feel is a best fit for our family, we did feel led to inquire on one little boy, and have started the ball rolling to make him our son. There is no official word yet, so I ask for your prayers, but if all goes well, he will be the first half of the puzzle to round out the Liberian part of our family. His name is Boimah Mambu and was born August 7, 2004 (2 yrs 9 months). It looks like he has tears in his eyes in this picture, and breaks my heart to think of what he has and is going through. All we do know is that his father abandoned him and his mother before birth. And though she tried, she was unable to provide for him and felt the orphanage was her best hope for him. That also breaks my heart. Other information we have is that he is healthy (no known health issues) and he weighs 23lbs is 32in tall. So I guess we covet your prayers for him, us, his mother, the orphanage, Acres of Hope, the adoption process to go smoothly, and anything else you feel led. Lastly we'd ask for your prayers for our daughter Olivia and wisdom for us to love and correct her. Her strong-willedness has been shining the last couple weeks, and we love her immensely, but she is testing our patience and authority as often as possible. We pray that we would figure that out before we interject two more children in the mix. As always, we do so very much appreciate that you care and are sharing in our joy through this whole process. It really does mean a lot to us! Thanks again.

Quick Update for Those Still Checking

We still do not have a referral, and are really in the dark as to when we might receive one. But currently there are no children at the AoH Orphanage that meet our criteria (siblings under the age of 4, preferrably a 3 yr old boy and a 1 yr old girl). There are at least 12 children whose adoption is final and have received passports, whose families will be picking them up at the end of May. The orphanage always has more qualified children "in waiting" to be admitted to the orphanage to take their place. Most likely in that group are our children. AoH is doing case work on these children to verify family situations (or the lack thereof). So as soon as we have word, we will be sure to pass it on. We have received some encouraging news, in that Passports used to take 2-6months to receive once the child was legally adopted in Liberia. It is now taking only 1 month. That is encouraging since the referral seems to be taking longer than what we had hoped. But as another adoptive family put it - this is "Liberian Passports 8.0" - meaning the process and time has changed 8 times during their adoptive process. So although it is encouraging now, all that could change by the time we actually need ours. As always, thanks again for your support.

P.S. Check out some of the new links we've added

Still Waiting for a Referral

Well it's been over 3 weeks since our last posting so I just thought I'd give a quick update. Donna, the social worker at our agency responsible for our referral, has just returned from a 3 week trip to Liberia. She will need a week or two to get settled back home and caught up with sleep and her family, plus her 1 year old adopted son is having surgery next week and she will need time to help him recover. So we will continue to be patient as we wait news on our children. Whenever that time is, I'm confident it will be worth the wait, and that it will happen at exactly the perfect time that God has ordained. When we anxiously awaited and longed to be pregnant with Joshua, there were many pregnancy tests that were negative and thrown away. So each time there is a message on our phone, Kim is hoping it will be our little "plus sign" showing that we are "expecting". So we will continue to wait with much anticipation for our "sign".
On other family news, we were hit with really bad colds, in fact we think it was influenza, and so we are glad to say that we are all just about 100% healthy again. Spring is finally on its way as all the snow has melted and it will soon be time to rake and fertilize. Our windows and siding project is coming along nicely. The windows were installed in february, and the siding is about 50% done. But it's starting to really take shape and it's looking very nice. And as much as Kim and I complain about Emma our dog, and jokingly talk about giving her away, we realize this week how much a part of our family she is. I let her out Monday evening around 8 as we were putting the kids to bed, and got busy and forgot about her. She ended up being outside for about and hour and a half before I realized it. I had to call her several times and was about to go looking for her when she came back and so I let her in and she went to bed. Well the whole next day she never ate, and was having a difficult time walking, especially steps. She wouldn't eat a single treat or table food and she groaned when you touched her belly or hind quarters. We think she may have been struck by a car on her evening escapade. We took her to the vet and no broken bones, just pulled muscle they suspect and subscribed some pain medication. But Joshua was sad to the point of tears, and Caleb was extremely concerned too. And so we realized that she truly is a part of this family - for better or worse.
Well we will be sure to let you all know as soon as we know anything, but thanks again for praying and for checking in on us.

I-600A Approved

We are now Kid Tested, Government Approved. So all things are in place and we are officially awaiting our referral from AoH. Donna is the person from AoH responsible for the referral. She works in the Wisconsin office, but is currently on her way to Liberia for 2 weeks. So I don't know if that will delay our referral or not. The children currently available at the orphanage, don't exactly fit the criteria we've requested, and there are other families waiting for children in the same age range as us who have been I-600A approved before us. So as I've stated before, we will wait, wait, and wait some more.... Click on this link to read a list of children currently available from AoH at the bottom of the page titled "Featured Children". We are really seeking God to show us what children He has planned for us.

The Wait Begins

We completed our end of the piles and piles of adoption paperwork yesterday by driving down to Milwaukee to the Department of Homeland Security to get our fingerprints taken which are required for the I600A immigration form. And we thank God that he worked out all the details. I was originally supposed to be in Biloxi, Mississippi since February 10th, but rescheduled my flight to Wednesday so we could make our appointment for 3pm yesterday. Fortunately Kim's sister lives and works in the Milwaukee area so she called us Monday night to let us know they had received 3 inches of snow on Monday and were scheduled to receive 3-5 more inches on Tuesday. So we planned on leaving Bonduel at 11. Of course I was late leaving work, and it seemed the other errands we were running on the trip down were all taking twice as long as we planned. Driving down we hit several patches of heavy snow and so we weren't able to travel as fast as we normally would under dry conditions. But through it all we still arrived to our appointment 1 hour early. And thank God we did. Wisconsin's Homeland Security office is a sub-office of Chicago, and Chicago was experiencing blizzard conditions and so they were closing down both offices for the day. Had we arrived at are scheduled 3 o'clock time, we would have found an empty locked building, but as it was we were the last fingerprinting of the day. Praise God, because I don't think, in fact I know, I would not have been happy to drive 2 1/2 hours, rescheduled flights and plans to be turned away. But we got them and so now we wait. Hopefully in a week or two, Acres of Hope will have our I600A, and then they can give us a referral. I had mentioned in earlier posts, that we might get our referral possibly this month, but in reality, we hope in March to know. But it could take as long as May or June. Again we state our complete trust in God's timing and that He knows the children He has ordained for our family. We ask you to pray not only for our children and Acres of Hope, but pray for stability in Liberia. Just last Friday there was rioting in the capital and so several of the government buildings were closed. All that could spell further delays in getting passports and necessary clearance to go get our children when that time arrives.

We have been so encouraged and humbled by the group of fellow AoH adoptive couples we have gotten to know through an on-line support group. Their faith and testimony in adopting has ministered to both Kim and I. We have had some times of doubting in the past week. Anytime you have difficulty parenting (of which none of us are perfect parents) you begin to question "What are we doing?". More children will just add more more sickness, more expense, more fighting, and more issues to deal with. But we are confident that God has called us to adopt. He hasn't called us to problem-free living or perfect health, or wealth beyond measure. But we do know that if we trust in Him, he will provide for all that we NEED. And so I'm glad to serve a God that takes interest in my meager life, that in his divine plan, he uses ordinary people like Kim and I to do extraordinary things. Things that Kim and I could not possibly do on our own. And so we commit to give God all the glory through this journey, and look forward to trusting him more and more as we face whatever circumstances lie ahead.

Could this be the Month?

Hello again. First an update... Our dossier is at AoH awaiting our I-600A fingerprinting which is scheduled next Tuesday February 13 at 3pm in Milwaukee. We are running into some complications with income verification because I am self-employed and don't have an employer that can sign a document saying I make x dollars. But nothing impossible, and I'm sure I'll get it worked out in the next week. So hopefully once these last couple things get worked out, then AoH will let us know the children God has ordained for us. Our love for these children continues to grow with the anticipation. I've found my self day dreaming and imagining what they might look like and who they might turn out to be someday. If you can believe this, I even imagined walking my beautiful adopted daughter down the aisle someday and what that might be like. In that way it's like pregnancy. Once you get the news that your going to have a baby, you begin dreaming dreams and planning. And I praise God that He knows the plans he has for these children.

At worship today, we were studying Luke 4, where Jesus reads from Isaiah 61 and declares "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your presence". And the verse from Isaiah is about preaching the Gospel to the poor, to release the captives, to set free those who are downtrodden, and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. Our whole goal in this process is to give the gift of Hope to two children. To let them know of a Savior that loves them, and to demonstrate that love in a thousand practical ways each day of their life. I am reminded over and over again how blessed we are, and in our own little way want to share those blessings with them, and to see how God uses us to influence them, so they can in turn influence others for Christ. Its an admirable goal, and by the Grace of God, we'll trust Him to see it fulfilled.

Regarding my trip to Biloxi, I've got a reschedule flight on Valentines Day - Wednesday February 14th. So I'll only be going from Wed - Sun rather than Sat - Sun. Not what I planned, but I'm at peace that i'll still make a little difference the couple of days I'm there. Also our Korean kids flew home on Friday, and Kim and I finally had a night out alone and celebrated. We were glad they came, but also glad to see them go.

Well thanks again for all you're support, and that you continue to care and checkup on our progress. I ask in advance that you pray for patience for us. As I read the posts of other couples who already have referrals, have adoptions complete in Liberia, but are still waiting for passports to get their children home, I know long tough weeks are ahead of us once we have the referral. I trust completely in God's timing, but that doesn't mean it will be easy. I just want us to make the most of our time without our adopted children to reaffirm our biological children and to use that time wisely to do what God needs for us to do to prepare for their arrival. Thanks again!