Its more than a movement, Its a love story.

Gosh, so behind on blogging that I'm just getting the chance to share about an amazing opportunity Adam and I had in May.  On Monday, May 6th, we had the privilege of being a part of the STUCK tour.  As you can see the STUCK tour bus stopped by The Spectrum Movie Theatre in Albany that evening, to show its documentary called, yes "STUCK" about the need for reform for international adoptions and about advocating for the improved care for orphans around the world.  The film discusses how millions of children are stuck in the adoption process for far too long, due to complicated paperwork, varying politics, its high costs, among other things.  The problem: too many children are failed by the system and never join a family, and too many children spend years in institutions due to the overly lengthy process, and too many children and families are waiting far longer than necessary to be allowed to be together.  Why does it about 20 months for children who have been referred to a family to join their families?  What is happening to children while they are waiting?  What can we do to help the children?  Well, I would say, don't give up on them or not consider adoption because it seems too hard, expensive, lengthy or complicated, because I already know its worth the wait for my sweet one, and that there are millions more waiting.  I heard someone say the verse, "Love is patient...(1 Cor. 13:4) in regards to adoption today.  Quite appropriate I think and encouraging to me.

I hesitate to say much about the film, because it speaks so eloquently itself. Its one of those, "You just gotta see it for yourself" type of things.  Let me grab a quote from the Both Ends Burning "Vision & Mission page (https://bothendsburning.org/about-us/vision-mission/) -

". . . the current international adoption trend shows an almost 60% decline in the number of children adopted since 2004. The average international adoption takes 3-5 years to complete leaving innocent children to spend their most formative years languishing in institutional settings. We believe that this is in direct violation of human rights and one of the greatest social injustices of the decade."

 

STUCK follows 3 adoptive families and their journeys to their children in Vietnam, Haiti and Ethiopia. STUCK is worth watching, only about 1 1/2 hours long and moves along quickly. It flew by for me.  Please consider downloading the movie for $6.50 on sale this week (or ordering the DVD) and watching it with someone else, your spouse, a friend, family member, and joining the STUCK movement.  I'm going to get the DVD - if you want to borrow it from me, please comment or fb message me.

 

As the bus says, "Its more than a movie.  Its a movement." 



Adam and I with the other Albany STUCK Volunteers. I'd like to give a shout out to The French's!



"Every child deserves a family" is the mission of the STUCK movement, to help orphans find families ultimately.

So true.  If you saw a child in need of affection, of a bottle, of attention, wouldn't you quickly give that child your hand, some milk, or play a game with him or her?  You would.  In institutions, or orphanages, there are caregivers and many of them do care deeply about the children but are limited in what time, affection, relationship and provision they can give to each child.  They work hard tending to the childrens' needs, but the thing is, children thrive on the one-on-one attention of a caregiver, and they thrive in families.  Children want to play and be played with, to be hugged with love and affection, to be celebrated, to be a part of a family. 

 



The STUCK movement continues, though the current tour of the documentary of 60 cities in 78 days finished in May with a march in Washington D.C., to draw the government's attention to the needs of orphans. As Craig Juntunen said, the "Both Ends Burning Campaign" (which produced STUCK) will work to be the "squeaky wheel" in D.C. - we have to get the attention of politicians.  We need the government's attention to improve international adoption.  There are lives at stake, the lives of little children, and Jesus loves the little children.  This is important work.  There is so much more to say really about the inspiring words of Craig Juntunen (Both End Burning Campaign Founder and Pres., Exec. Producer of STUCK) and his vision, but its enough for an entire blog post, so that's to come!

Both Ends Burning Campaign President and Founder Craig Juntunen, and Executive Producer of STUCK



Prayer Requests:
Praise: I heard a family who was submitted for Emigration Permission in mid-May received Emigration Permission approval 6 weeks later (just this week) - This is a praise because this family is part of Batch 1 for the 2012 referrals and it means the ball is rolling.  After 6 months of the ball kinda sitting still, this is goooood news!  We want all these kiddos to join their families, not just ours!
Request: Gosh, we miss this boy. We love him SOOOOO much! Any piece of news regarding him is comforting to our souls! When we check our email and there is an email about him, we are thrilled.  This happens sometimes once a month, sometimes twice, some months not at all.  Please pray we receive a well-baby check-up or a photo or progress report or news of his Emigration Permission being submitted this week or next.  Something would be so very nice.  Please pray his case moves forward more than anything. Thank you for praying!

There's so much more to say about this evening. I actually jotted down notes on a piece of paper during Craig Juntunen's talk and want to share more and will soon.  Gotta track down that piece of paper........

 

 

And don't forget, if you want to see STUCK, download it now while its $6.50 instead of $12 - then watch it when you get a chance (- Gotta have the "This is a gift" box checked to get the sale price) - go here http://buy.stuckdocumentary.com/buy/gift! On ITunes its $9.99.

 

In honor of my dear cousin

- Kennedy Michael Fitzgerald -

on his 26th birthday (6/30)

(I didn't know these words til I heard them spoken of Ken and now they encourage me).

"Be the change you want to see

in the world."

~ Mahatma Ghandi

(Both inspiring men with a vision for the world).

The world can change. 

We can make a difference and help these children.

 

Click this link to read more about the:

 Both Ends Burning Campaign and STUCK

 

 

Thirty-One Friends - okay there were MORE than Thirty-One actually!

So back in February I received an email from an old friend - Laura Bull.  We grew up together and spent quite a bit of time on the volleyball court together (ah, the good old days, if only for a few hours, we could get back there eh?). We also sang together in Choralaires, did drama club and plays together and often chatted about the Lord.  Well, I was delighted to received the email. Facebook brought us back together - God bless Facebook. Ha! But truly, getting back in touch with Laura has been one of the blessings of facebook! 

One of our first emails on facebook had to do with Laura offering me her prior Avon customers, products, and supplies to help my Avon business, as she had decided to become a Thirty-One Consultant instead of being an Avon Rep.  That's just the kind of person she is - supportive, helpful, positive, thoughtful, and encouraging! And that's when I told her about our adoption and our sweet boy.

Well, as I said, in February I received an email from Laura saying this, "Hi Courtney! I know I've mentioned it before, but id love to help you raise some money, through Thirty-One, to use for all your upcoming expenses with adoption."  Wow, I thought, how thoughtful and generous!  Her email went on to say how blessed her family has been through Thirty-One and that she wanted to support us.  She also said she prays for our family and our son (knowing others pray for our family and our son is AMAZING!).

Well in February, I felt oh no no no, we can't do this. I've never had a party like that and that's just too kind, too generous, I don't want to burden anyone, how can we accept? .... But over the next month or so, I felt a pulling on my heart (ever get those?) like God was saying, "Do it!  I've providing for you through this," and my friend Niki said, "Do a party - its fun!"  So I thought, "okay, why not?"  So finally in April, I contacted Laura to do a party, and on April 23rd, I was blessed by the company of many of the women pictured below (and many who are not pictured unfortunately) who came on out in support of our adoption, out of their love for our family and our son, and well, naturally, I cried that evening, tears of gratitude, feeling abundantly loved and cared for, and wished I had more time to chat with each of you.

Sadly, I didn't pull out my camera til the end of the night, ugh............bummer............so unfortunately not all of the lovely women who came on out are pictured below!  Wish I got pics of all of you.
And know what else?!  Many ladies who couldn't be there joined in the fundraiser by shopping online - SO sweet and SUCH a surprise (Thank you Mary, Megan, Nancy, Brooke, Sue, Kelley, Melissa, ahh who am I forgetting?! Embarrassing......seriously, who?).

So blessed. After the evening, I sat and read notes of encouragement from these women.  Adam was encouraged also, just by how many women came out!

 

Each of you is a blessing - thank you for being there Laura, Grammy, Kate, Chris, Kristin, Mimi, Madison, Anna Grace, Lilly, Kelli, Sallie Grace, Carrie, Holly, Aimee, Stephanie, Tara, Katie, Florie, Shelley, Christina, Niki, and whoever I'm forgetting, eek, aww man, who?).

I know life is busy, with husbands and kiddos, work, and home, and dinner, and homework, and sports and dance lessons and church committments and what not, and how tired we feel by the time evening rolls around.......... thank you for taking the time to come over - it meant so much to me to have you in my home.  And I know there are family and friends who wanted to come and would've if they could've - thank you for your love too!! 

 



Let's just say this day was a really, really busy day and Adam got stuck at work, and at less than 2 hours prior to partytime,
I realized I was NOT going to be ready in time, so who did I call?  My sister-in-law Katie and she came to my rescue -
thank you Aunt Katie!!  And then Florie walked in early to help with the kiddos. And a lovely lady from church helped
me push my shopping cart from the register to my car when my kids were clearly D-O-N-E at Walmart that afternoon
 (thank you Mrs. Bodenstab!)   God provides!



I love how they are trying to NOT have their photo taken by kinda hunching over - heehee..........



Kelli - you as well canNOT hide by turning your back on my photo-taking, heehee, I'll just take a photo of your back!

AND then... Miss Florie had a party as an off-shoot of my fundraiser party, and we were again blessed by Laura Bull with a donation from proceeds from Florie's party. How sweet is that?! And again blessed by Florie's family and friends (Thank you Tara and Deb and Donna and Beth and Florie's family and friends)!

This is how God proves Himself faithful, by surprising us with joy, with friendships, with love, with the support of people we don't even know and those we do know. Adam and I are encouraged by you. Truly, we sit and talk about the beautiful gestures of love and support from all of you daily. Its humbling. We live in awe. So if it takes a village, we have a village here! ;-) At our party, we had family, neighbors, work friends, church friends and friends of friends, and online we had participants in our fundraiser from Mass., Arizona, Maine, NY, and Maryland.

Its evenings like this that have gotten us through these extra unanticipated months of waiting.  They help me go to sleep at night with an encouraged heart, rather than a discouraged heart, and I feel God's love through you. My heart swells and I can't wait to tell Benjamin about you all, about how loved he is, about all the people who helped to bring him home.

Thank you Laura! Thank you so very, very much!  We raised $415!!  This will be a great help with our travel expenses!  Thank you to all who donated through this fundraiser!

Hope all of you lovely ladies love your Thirty-One bags and totes!

 I see you stylin' them all - lookin' good! ;-)

Thank you Florie for having a par-tay! You are a blessing Girl!

Dear Friend and Thirty-One Consultant Laura Bull and myself. 
Thank you Laura and so many family and friends for helping us bring Benjamin HOME!

If you are in need of a Thirty-One product, check out Laura's website or contact her at: http://www.mythirtyone.com/LauraBull/

 

Laura's comment in an email after the party, said so well: "Such an amazing fellowship of women you have in your life. So many blessings of support, friendship, love, and faith are all around you."

 

Blessed. Thank you Lord for these women!

Please bless them for their kindness to our son and our family!

 



Just Guessing at Timeframe and Steps Ahead... and a little something for us to celebrate

Here's a little update: Our paperwork should be going to South Korea now. This is great news. Once its there at the Korean agency, it will be reviewed and translated into Korean.  Once ready, it will be submitted for Emigration Permission approval in Batch 2. Batch 2 is the second group of Korean adoptees being submitted for approval to emigrate.  Please pray the paperwork is translated in a timely manner (as Batch 1 took 3-4 months to be translated for some reason, partially due to figuring out which docs the courts/govt, wanted). We are hoping the translation of our documents takes less than 1 month and get submitted for approval in July. We'll see. We'll pray for that.   This particular step of submission for E.P. approval to actually being "approved" has been taking about 1-2 months at least. Let's pray again that that step is on the short end.  This set of paperwork JUST went to South Korea yesterday.

So here are the steps we are looking at:

June 12th - Paperwork goes to S. Korean Agency
June - Paperwork is reviewed and translated
July-August (hopefully and very optimistically, but possibly unlikely) - Benjamin is submitted for Emigration Permission Approval
August-Octoberish (though more likely September, even October) - Benjamin's Emigration Permission is "approved"
September - Our sweet boy will turn 2 years old
Octoberish - 1st Court Date is scheduled - we will know about 1 month ahead of when we'll need to travel
November - January (My guess and Estimation) -
         -1st Trip: Meet Benjamin (so special), documents submitted to court, sightsee while we wait for court appearance and hopefully have more meetings with Benny, Appear in Family Court
         -Once Court Appearance is done, 14 Day Waiting Period starts the next business day.
         -We will travel home during 14 Day waiting period.
         - 14 Day Waiting Period ends. Korean agency does paperwork, submits it to U.S. Embassy for Travel Visa and Exit Visa Interview for Benjamin will be scheduled.
         - We will travel back to Seoul. Exit Visa Interview takes place. 2-3 days later visa is issued. Get ready to bring our son home!  While we wait for visa, we will have custody of Benjamin and get to know him and bond.
(The whole two trip process will occur over about 5 weeks).

These are just estimations due to current timeframes and I may even have some of the steps wrong (its all new). Judges have expressed in the first few court dates that they are surprised how long the families and children have been waiting for each other, and expressed a desire to move things along faster, so naturally this makes one hopeful.  However, we stay on the cautious side, knowing the desire to expedite a process isn't always possible due to the many parties involved and the assorted desks paperwork must be passed to and from - these things just take time and only move forward on business days.  All this is to say though is please pray that God would open doors for children to be met with their families more quickly.  I'd really LOVE to have my son home for Christmas. Gosh, I'd love that.

Thanks for praying!  Praying for our son, for us, for the process and those involved is the biggest blessing you can give.

In other news - this is a really special day - 10 years ago today was our wedding rehearsal and dinner and 10 years ago tomorrow is our 10th Wedding Anniversary.  (I love you Adam more than could ever be expressed here on a blog but I know you'll stop by here to see this post so Hi Hunner!) I know one day we'll share this blog with Benjamin - so guess what Benjamin?  Mommy and Daddy have been married for 10 years tomorrow Buddy!  Little did we know on that day 10 years ago the blessings God would give us in the next 10 years, not only in each other, but in Annabelle, Oliver, and Benjamin Tae-Ju, and in a deeper understanding of the awesome love of our Saviour.  God has truly blessed us and walked with us through the past 10 years - its so special to reflect on His leading in our family together and reflect on the many chapters and moves, especially as we start a new chapter now! Here's to many more Adam!

You make me so happy. Love you.




A page is turned in this life, he's making her his wife
And there is no secret to the source of this much life
When the grace that falls like rain is washing them again
Just a chance to somehow rise above this land

Our Wedding Song: A Page is Turned by the man himself, Bebo Norman