Fundraiser for Kyrygz Orphans!

Please go to this post at my Sugarplum Boutique site for all the details!!! All the items were made by orphans in Kyrgyzstan that John and his team invest in. Please link on your blog--the more people who know, the better! It's all for the kids!

Changes

Here's a brief article about the upheaval in Kyrg.

A Glimpse of the Culture

Watch the short video at the end of this post of John's for a quick glimpse into the Kyrgyz culture. So much like the Uyghur culture I got to experience for several weeks in NW China.

....Music....Dancing...

Oh how I MISS Central Asian music!!! (but mostly the people, of course!)

Two Years Ago Today...

...I was turning 26! Today I'm turning 28, but that's just a sidenote. :) My birthday will always be an extra-special day from now on!

Two years ago today, we officially started our adoption journey! We had prayed for months prior, but October 9 2007 was the fateful day we turned in our first piece of paper. Little did we know that that was COMPLETELY God's timing.

We thought we'd officially get started Dec '07 or Jan '08. I had told Rick it'd be the perfect end to my birthday to just send in the one, little, initial application. We'd chosen our country and agency already, and after months of praying, I REALLY wanted to take just one concrete step. To feel like we were doing something tangible, taking our first exciting step toward our child who was already in our hearts. Rick said OK, and we turned it in about 9 or 10 pm that night. A couple days later we saw an announcement on our agency's homepage that as of OCTOBER TENTH (the day after we submitted the app online!) they are no longer accepting applicants to Kyrgyzstan--any more interested families would be put on a waiting list (because the country is so small but the program was getting REALLY popular, REALLY fast).

Whether or not if they were waiting for just one more family to sign on to the Kyrgyzstan program, or if they had set Oct 10 as the cut-off doesn't matter. It was definitely a God-thing. The waiting list got SO long, SO quickly, so that they had to quit taking families on the VERY LONG waiting list. They shut down the waiting list in very early January!

Something we thought was just random was part of His sovereign, unfolding plan.That was one of the first big ways God showed us that He was very involved

If we had waited, we would have been on the really long waiting list (waiting for families to complete their adoptions so that more families could move into the program)....or we would've had to choose a different agency. We had prayed for a long time about CWA/Kyrg, and they have the best relationship with Kyrgyzstan (which has proved to be EXTRA crucial with these delays). We felt for sure that Kyrgyzstan was our country and CWA was our agency, and God was gracious to provide that confirmation--we got in!--because it was such a BIG decision.

Or...If we had waited till January, we might not have even made it on the waiting list!

If we had waited till December, we probably would've had a LOT of people in front of us and would not have been able to proceed....we would've been practically at the end of the list, and with the current delays with Kyrgyzstan, everything would've been up in the air and we'd have MAJOR decisions to make. Decisions that many people, unfortunately, had to make and our prayers are with them.

I'm SO thankful God's timing was perfectly at work, even when we thought little steps along the way were just happenstance. We'd realize later what a God-thing it was!!! That was the beginning of MANY perfectly-timed steps during this journey.

Now, because of God's perfect timing, we're "stuck" in the delays which is a GOOD thing. Our dossier had made it through the Kyrgyz embassy and had made it to Kyrgyzstan in time before Kyrgyzstan announced that they would accept no more dossiers. There are families who went through the entire process, was gathering every piece of paper, paid every fee up until that point...who had no choice but to either switch countries or stop and try to start once Kyrgyzstan reopened (and lose lots of time and $ with either of those). We're also thankful we did not have a referral yet. There are 65 who do, and my heart aches so much for them. I just don't even know how hard that must be. So while I'm thankful that God "spared" us from that heartache and hardship....I feel SO badly for those families. I'm glad we got stuck where we did (paperwork in country but no referral yet), although the unknowns and what-ifs are a bit unnerving sometimes.

Good thing He's given us these confirmations...it puts our souls at rest amidst these unknowns. We know that He's been involved in the nitty-gritty details of this journey and the timing of everything... and He will continue to be!

Now we keep praying, keep waiting for His perfect timing... He's brought us this far. I don't know if I'll be a mom to more children before I turn 29, but hopefully we don't have too much longer to go!

And now, we go celebrate God's goodness--and my birthday, hehe--and EAT SOME CAKE! ...

...after a conference call from 10-11 am this morning with the U.S. State Dept and such, the kids and I are going to Sugar Sisters so I can get a salted caramel cupcake. A big one! Because I've been pregnant for TWENTY-FOUR MONTHS!

Prime Minister Chudinov Pledges Action on Stalled Adoptions

The latest on the Kyrgyzstan delays below. We heart Sam Brownback!!!

EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Kyrgyzstan: Prime Minister Chudinov Pledges Action on Stalled Adoptions

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You'll Want To Check This Out!

...Especially if you're a Kyrgyz adoptive parent or have a heart for orphans! Get yours while they last! Great for your own kids, or gifts for others! Check out what's going on at my Sugarplum Boutique blog. Kyrgyz felt goods for sale for a good cause! Quantities are limited, so don't put it off too long... The items are made of 100% wool felt and were made in Kyrgyzstan by artisans. Proceeds will benefit some of the orphans in Kyrgyzstan! Feel free to post on your blog if you have readers who might be interested.

If They Had Only Had $5, They Would Still Have a Mom

Lots of great things in John's post today, and lots of sad things, like 3 children losing their mom because they couldn't afford medicine, friends at the dump...

Please consider supporting their work! They find needs amongst the destitute in Kyrgyzstan and they meet them! Unfortunately, they didn't know soon enough about the 3 kids and their mother who were in need of only $5...but that is exactly the kind of thing they do. Change lives forever. Offer hope. Provide a $10 repair so that an elderly lady won't freeze to death this winter.

It takes so little of our American dollars to do huge things for desperate situations! Where are your dollars going??!! If the thought of 3 kids losing their mom over $5, or being able to prevent a death to something like being COLD can't convince you to part with that $5 Starbucks drink today, or part with a few dollars a month (or a LOT of dollars!)... I don't know what can!

Adoption Update!

A couple things are making the Kyrgyz delays seem a bit (or a lot?) more hopeful!!!

~Meeting last week between the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan and some of our nation's congressmen. Just two of them, but seems like the meeting was a big step toward more movement! One of the congressmen present was Sam Brownback (Kansas!)--woot woot! THANK YOU, Sam Brownback, for caring and advocating for these kids!!!

~October 2--a meeting between the Prime Minister and Parliament is scheduled to take place..... pray, pray, pray that it brings good news!

Pray that things start moving SOON and that those 65 children who have been waiting TOO long can come HOME, and that adoptions will continue to proceed for other families who are stuck (like us).

Face Down in the Dirt

There are no words... (HT: Sarah)



These 2 were found just in time. How many will have no help today? Consider these numbers. I'd say, "Try to wrap your head around these numbers," but is that even possible?

Almost 6 million children under the age of 5 will die today of hunger.

That's about 16,000 in 1 day......1 every 5 seconds. And that's only children ages 0-4.

(estimates vary from source to source--some are much higher)

News Article About a Kyrgyz Adoptive Family in Texas

Local Couple Waits as Foreign Government Investigates Adoption Processes