Easter Weekend

Cadet Fritz & trampoline games

Best street ever! Love the Barry Rd Easter Egg hunts!

Confetti eggs & an afro don't mesh so well

Smashing confetti eggs on his own head...cause that's what 2 year-olds do!

Cruisin' in Cadet Brendon's truck

Family pic at church

Rock throwin' & donut eating at Daddy's North Dock hunting spot

Making our pre-Easter morning resurrection rolls

Love getting to see Jessie!

Uncle Kyle & the chaotic Good Friday NYC trip

Central Park Carousel

I can hardly keep up with these rock climbers

NYC with friends!

Julianne, Saedi, & Avery. 5 year-old besties

My super-hero friends rocking WP to NYC via public transportation.  4 Moms & 15 kids. 

Boys 1st choo-choo ride

Egg coloring 

One of the best Easter's I can remember. Thankful for friends, family, & salvation that is our hope!


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Solar Panel Team Effort

 

The reason we went to DRC 2 weeks ago was to install solar panels. That was possible because a group of people came together & made it happen...

Engineers Jess & Chris

Remember 6 months ago in September when we launched our 1st Heart for Congo fundraiser? With an expectation of raising $5,000 to install a solar panel in the orphanage we held the Congo Carnival. We came away with $12,000! That money was enough for solar panels plus launching us well into our 2^nd goal of feeding an entire orphanage for a year. And, this was just the beginning.

Diligent Jess at the box & brave Stori 

Jumping a head to now, it was an honor to be a part of the team getting to install those solar panels in DRC. Meet the team- 2 engineers from Portland- Chris & Jessica- volunteered to do the installation. They did the prep, ordering, drafting, & teaching the rest of us what to do. Along with engineers Chris & Jessica, there was Ryan (an adoptive Father of 2 Congolese children), Stori (an adoptive mother of 2 Congolese children), Jim (Deacon of a church in Portland who’s building & starting up a school in a rural community outside Kinshasa,  Ms. Jacky- originally from DRC, now living in the US- translator & woman extraordinaire, & Jilma & Nathan- founders of Our Family in Africa & the vision & drive behind making a difference.

Getting ready to lift panel onto roof

3 entire days were spent installing 3 solar panels in 2 locations- 1 at an orphanage & 2 at a future school for village school.   The solar panels will charge cell phones, a fridge, & provide roughly 5 hours of light every night in a place where flashlights, the sun & the moon were the only sources of light. Check out the awe-inspiring pictures! 

Stealing the words in an email from one of the engineers, Chris… 

“I wanted to take a moment and give credit to where it is due. As you all know, it took a significant amount of work and a combination of all of your skill sets to make these projects happen. Each person accomplished so much in a short period of time. There is no task in these installs considered glamorous. It was so easy working with everyone since we all had the unified objective of doing our best for those kids. You should each be very proud of your contribution..."

Deacon Jim (blue) & Ry (on roo

Chris on the blazing hot tin roof at 3pm

And my personal message to 

Heart for Congo:

Your perseverance inspires me daily. Thank you for going along with my crazy ideas & for sending words of encouragement my way. So many of you ask me, "What's the next project Michelle? Sign me up to help...I want to help..." Thank you for each of your individual contributions- giving, hugging, writing, selling, sewing, motivating, baking, cheering, talking, painting, pottery-making, laughing, etc. I love each of you & your heart for Congo.

Installed by sunset

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DRC Adoption Update/Process

Gideon (L) & Josiah (R)

 We had a fantastic week in DRC & many more blog posts will be following.  Until then, here is a summary of what we know, where we are in the process of adopting the boys, & what we THINK will happen next.

Adoption in Congo, like most foreign adoptions, can really be broken into three sequential parts: 1) US immigration checks on the parents via a homestudy and background checks, 2) Congolese courts assigning custody of the children to parents via adoption decrees, and 3) the US embassy in Congo granting a visa to the boys that will allow them to enter the United States. 3 days ago (finally!) we received our adoption decrees from the Congolese courts. Although we are still working on getting a few parts of those decrees in hand, we know that we have been named the parents of Josiah and Gideon!

You might think that would be the hard part, but the biggest hurdle in this entire process will be obtaining their visas from the US embassy. Once we have the complete decrees and other supporting documents like their birth certificates, mother's death certificates, etc... either Riley or I will be flying to Kinshasa, the capital, to submit the visa applications. We are praying that we will make that trip in the next 4 weeks. Upon receipt of our application, the consular's office in the embassy will launch an investigation to validate the authenticity of our claim to the boys. Primarily, they want to interview the birth fathers to ensure they willingly gave their sons up for adoption and that they were not coerced or deceived into doing so. This is problematic because the fathers live about 1,000 miles from the embassy and have no means to come to Kinshasa for an interview. We were told that the embassy MAY be sending one of their interviewing personnel to Bukavu, near where the fathers were last known to live, some time in May or June. If we can get the fathers to them, they MIGHT interview them out there and be able to wrap up the investigation. To make this happen, we are considering hiring a man that worked in that area, to find the fathers and arrange for them to link up with the embassy rep in Bukavu. 

If all of the above happens as planned, the interview could be complete by May/June and the investigation wrapped up sometime this summer. Once the embassy is satisfied with our case, they will contact us for a visa appointment in Kinshasa. Either Riley or I (likely not both) will then fly out for the visa meeting. From that meeting, it should take about 3-5 days for them to issue the visas for our boys. Visas in hand, we will then turn to the Congolese Department of Immigration and request a letter of release for the boys. We need these letters for the boys to make it through the airport customs check in Kinshasa. The letters can take from 7-20 days to secure. We will likely stay in the country waiting for those letters. Once we have our visas AND the letters of release, we will be free to bring the boys home. Since we have already met them, they will come home on an IR3 visa which means they will be US citizens as soon as we touch down in NYC. That, my friends, will be a wonderful day!

From our perspective, we see a few critical pieces that should be the focus of your prayers. 

1. We need the remained documents as quickly as possible so that I can get the visa application to Kinshasa PRIOR to their trip to Bukavu. 
2. We need to find those fathers AND they need link up with the embassy interviewers in May/June. If we miss this shot, it could be several months before we can arrange an interview.
3. We need that interview to go properly so that the embassy does not doubt the intentions of the fathers

afternoon/evening meal of water & rice & beans

And finally, I hope having these pictures helps you think of and pray for the boys and the children they live with in the orphanage. They are loved by the orphanage Mommas, but there are 20 children and two workers. Nutritious food is lacking and they get very little emotional stimulation. We know God is gracious and loves those boys, but we also feel a burden to get them out of there as quickly as possible. 

Sorry this update took so long but I hope it helps clarify things.

p.s. We do not have birth certificates but the court documents indicate that Josiah was born in October 2010 (date UNK) and Gideon on 10 Sept 2011. That makes Josiah a couple months younger than we thought and Gideon a couple months older. Once they are home, we will have four boys born within 13 months of each other. Should be fun!

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Oatmeal with Cranberries & Apples

I feel like a miniature me has been set atop a spinning record. I’m looking out at the world in a fast-paced trance but going nowhere. I’m dizzy & tired of the ride but can’t get off. But perception isn’t reality. It’s how I feel right now, but the truth is my life is not spinning out of control. The truth is God’s plans are to prosper me & not harm me (Jeremiah 29:11).

2 months ago in November I found out I was pregnant. Shocked, overwhelmed, & excited would be the 3 most accurate adjectives to describe my emotions. We were now going to be “that freak family” with 7 kids under the age of 7. Yikes! 4 days after finding out I was pregnant I experienced my first panic attack. I went home, sobbed & slept the Sunday away and then I was fine. Then I was excited and convinced that all the glitches and stresses of #7 would work themselves out. Ry and I re-budgeted, we began looking at 12 passenger vans, we debated whether or not to move houses, and then addressed that lurking question of whether or not I could travel to Congo to help Ry bring our boys home. I wouldn’t be able to get the required yellow fever vaccine nor could I take the modern malaria medicine that woudn’t leave me with feverish nightmares. All this to say, we were stressed, but accepted the pregnancy as a joy & exciting test of faith.

Yesterday, however, my 8 week 5 day sonogram showed no heartbeat. In fact it showed that my body had tricked itself into being pregnant. All the right hormones were there in appropriate levels, the sac was there, but no baby had formed in that sac. I now had to decide whether to wait for my body to miscarry on it’s own or pursue medical intervention (medicine to begin contractions or a D&C).

I’m too tired to be angry. I’m sad- at moments, horribly sad. I’m relieved. I’m disappointed. I feel like the last 2 months were pointless. I went from tears of panic that I was pregnant to tears of sadness that I’m not anymore. I am relieved that some difficult decisions have been answered- I can travel to bring my sons home & I no longer have to grieve over that possible loss. I have hope that maybe I do actually want to be pregnant again, and maybe someday that will happen when the timing is right. I have a heart overflowing with gratefulness for friends that immediately stepped in to care for my kids, to cover Ry at work so he could be with me (when I miscarried in 2009 he was away), to bring us meals & send us messages of encouragement. Grateful for friends taking my kids sledding right now so I can sit in a coffee shop with my husband and get my thoughts on paper. Thankful for hugs & tears & understanding. Thankful that I’m not alone.

In God’s perfect timing, at the very moment everything was seemingly crumbling here, our new boys were being delivered from the war-torn East to relative safety in Kinshasa, DRC. They are now in a better orphanage and even had a breakfast of cranberries, apples and oatmeal this morning. We were blessed with three new pictures of our apparently healthy, thriving boys. Despite how I may feel, God is at work. “Do not dwell on the past. I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert & streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43:18-19” Praise God!

I think I’m going to make oatmeal with cranberries & apples for lunch.

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Heart for Congo Update

Just made our 2nd huge deposit today & mailed checks off. In September we raised $11,050. In October & December combined we raised $9,971 & completed the sponsorship for 8 babies & helped to fund the hiring of additional nannies at an orphanage. That is a total of $21,021!!! With that money, we're providing a solar panel so an orphanage can have electricity for lights & a fridge. We fed our soon-to-be-sons orphanage of 30-40 little ones for a year! We helped pay for surgeries & are helping on completing a kitchen & a boys & girls home. God is good. He is faithful. He is taking His vision to us & we are being his hands & feet to these orphans. I'm truly blessed to call you my family & friends. Thanks to each and every one of you! If anyone would like to make a tax-deductible donation you can write a check out to OFA & mail to me.

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Thankful!

One step closer...

Pray & Fast for Goma

Linkhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/congo-m23-rebel-group-demands-demilitarization-of-goma-airport-for-fighting-to-cease/2012/11/19/80b21bfa-3228-11e2-92f0-496af208bf23_story.html

Please pray & fast with us right now. The M23 rebels have now entered Goma (DRC's "capital of the east.") Goma is where "Josiah"- the eldest of our referred children- is from. Goma is also where the airport is located. This is the airport "our boys" would fly out of to get to Kinshasa, the capital city (located in the West & where we would travel). The rebels have claimed they have taken the city of Goma (not confirmed) & the UN claims they still have control of the airport (BBC news). IF Goma is taken international aid will most likely evacuate & rebels will head South to take Bukavu. Bukavu is a 3 hour car ride South of Goma. It is the nearest town to "our sons'" orphanage, which is also the orphanage the 8 newly sponsored children live. While the orphanage is very remote & has never been attacked these are all things to pray about.