Opened Eyes

Some time ago we came to the conclusion that the "American Dream" is lie. We want to live above having nice things, a big house, new car, etc. We want to live through experiences and not be owned by our possessions. I don't want to go to work daily simply because I have a mortgage and car payment. I want to go to work because I like what I do and I can help people. As a adolescent and young adult, I was encouraged to do well in school, go to college, get a well paying job, buy a nice house, have a new car...etc. All of these things exhibit success, but only by the world's standards.

So last week Trevor and I had a conversation about how we came out of this mentality. Best answer...Jesus. I don't feel my convictions would allow me to return to that way of thinking.

"Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows we know and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12

I now know too much and I can't look back. I can't not do something.

Sometimes people tell us how great they think we are for doing this. I am usually cringing on the inside trying to figure out the best way to dash this "compliment" without making the person feel bad. We aren't great. We aren't special. We are simply responding...

Responding to a situation that has been thrust in front of our faces. It would be easy just to say how sad this is and move on living our daily lives in blessed ignorance. Oh how part of me wishes I could go back to those days of unknowing, not feeling, not obsessing. It was soooo much easier. There was no inner conflict when I spent money on frivolous things. Don't get me wrong, we are not the most perfect stewards by any means. One of the most important things we want to teach our boys about is where their true rewards and treasures lie. But also about being obedient and stepping out in faith and willing to live what we call "uncomfortable" for the sake of being part of something bigger than ourselves. The reason I say "uncomfortable" is because Trevor and I have no idea...absolutely none. And...guess what...neither do you if you are reading this post on any sort of electronic device. We are in the elite class prosperity wise. You may think your aren't rich but when you consider that most Haitians live on $480/year...seriously...I spend more than that on food...in one month. And I still have a pantry and 2 refrigerators full, you know...first world problems.

There is a deep rumbling in my soul that refuses to allow me comfort. This can't possibly sit well with God. And on the day that I meet Him face to face and he asks me "So all that information you obtained, all those statistics you read, everything you learned about orphans and world poverty...what did you do with that, how did you respond". If the only answer I had was to look down at the ground and regretfully mumble "I didn't, I didn't respond". Well, that would be a travesty.

This is a great message by Eric Ludy about "depraved indifference". You know that nagging feeling, that thing you can't stop thinking about...don't look away, don't close your eyes and pretend that you didn't know. Maybe all it takes is for you to simply...respond.



On Fundraising and How I Don't Know How to Say Thank You

I don't know how to say "thank you". I mean, yeah, I know how to say the words "thank you" and when to use them appropriately but I really don't know how to mean it. Don't get me wrong, I sincerely mean it when I tell people thank you for buying a water bottle, thank you for running alongside with me, thank you for sponsoring miles, thank you for praying for us...

It just seems so inadequate...
Like, not enough...
The words come out of my mouth or are typed out of Facebook but don't seem to convey our gratitude enough.

What I really want to do is have a blubbery shoulder cry and hug everyone that has donated, shared our posts, running, etc. But the PNW has this some sort of unspoken need for personal space that I don't want to accept or get used to...I like hugging. Don't worry, we will make up for the hugging when we go back to TN in a few weeks.

Ya'll...it is hard asking for help. It is a huge pride thing and not to mention embarrassing. We are putting it out there, bluntly, and saying we don't have it all together. We don't have the answers. We don't know how this is going to work out.

But, ohmygosh, we have been seriously blown away by the response of people. We decided to go into this whole idea of fundraising with no expectations. Ideas may flop...items may not sell...and we have to be ok with that.

But really...these are the coolest water bottles...and I'm not just saying that because they are mine...well, maybe I am.

I can't move people's hearts. I can only write things, post running selfies, pray that someone is inspired. I can't compel anyone to respond...only God can do that.

So when we say "thank you", although it may come across awkward, please, please know it is out of the most humbling gratitude knowing we can't do this alone...we can't do this without you.

"Thank you" for joining us on this journey!


“In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.” - Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Drink Water...Bring Babies Home From Haiti

We are really pretty pumped about this fundraiser. Let me first say, the team at Liberty Bottle Works is AHHHHMAZING! They were super nice, incredibly fast turn around and made a beautiful product. I can't sing their praises enough. Liberty Bottle Works is a great local company that manufactures all of their bottles here in Yakima, WA, which we really liked. They are environmentally sound and family oriented, another bonus. We gave the art team our vision they came up with some pretty incredible designs that made it really hard to choose from but this is the one we went with.

 

We chose the Haitian proverb "Lespwa Fe` Viv" which means "Hope Gives Life" in Haitian Creole. It is a 24 oz aluminum bottle with black matte finish. We only ordered 72 so quantities are limited.

We are selling them for $20 (please add $5 for shipping). You can pay through paypal/cash/check. We will be in TN in April and bringing them with us, so if you are in the Franklin or Huntingdon area please do not pay for shipping. You can comment here on the blog, FB, email or text if you would like one.

Drink water...bring babies home from Haiti!
Thanks for your support.


Home Study

Currently we are in the "home study" process. This means I am pretty much drowning in paperwork. I have become best friends with the girl from Mail n More. Saturday we talked about how her dad is from a small town in Kentucky and has an accent like me and how she would love to adopt someday. I spent all weekend gathering and copying documents like birth certificates, marriage license, drivers licenses, etc.

This is a two...not peace.

Kelsey from Faith International Adoptions in Tacoma came for our home visit on Sunday. OMG...she could not have been more adorable. Super sweet, cute, total cheerleader (not an annoying one though, and honestly we are going to need "cheerleaders" during this endeavor) and best part...a hunter. I really wanted to frind request her on FB but Trev said it would be too creepy. It was so laid back and I felt silly for the hours I spent stressing about deep cleaning and every outlet plug being covered. She basically just hung out at our kitchen table and we talked about adoption. Then she took a quick tour of the house and that was all. TThe children slept through the whole thing
We still have a few more pieces of paperwork to return to her, reports from our physicals and waiting on our background clearances from every state we have lived in since age 18. Once all that is complete she will write her home study report and we will be ready to file the I800A. I am really hoping all this is done by the end of April.

Check back for another post this week. It is something we are super pumped to share with you!

A Bold Challenge

Ok...I am officially putting this out there, for everyone to see, to challenge me and hopefully be challenged. Big faith happening here...

Deep breath...here we go.

I am going to go 3,000 miles. One more time...3,000 miles.

According to Google, Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, is 3,334 miles from Yakima, Washington, where we live. Initially this idea was birthed when Trevor and I were brainstorming about fundraising opportunities. Let's just be honest, 3,000 sounded better than 3,334 Miles From My Heart. Anyway, we were talking about organizing a 5k run/walk and then I probably Trevor proposed the idea of running the distance from Yakima to Haiti. Hence, 3,000 Miles From My Heart was born.

We liked the idea because physically the children are 3,000 miles away from us. The flip side is that I am commiting to run 3,000 miles to bring kiddos home. So every mile, every step is coming from my heart to have a crazy impact on two little boys. The idea is to get every single one of those miles sponsored for $10/mile.

Let me preface this by saying I am not a runner. Hear me on this people, I am not a runner. I make pitiful attempts at running. I've had an ever elusive half marathon that I have trained for 3 different times. The first two times we moved and the third time Luke was in the hospital. Hopefully this year I can cross that finish line.

So here is the deal. We are totally being humbled by this whole process. Financially we don't know how this is going to work. Eugene Cho says "God has a long and proven history of using foolish and broken people for His glory". This is totally us. We are broken, humbled, and inadequate. But...we are willing. This is most likely the hardest thing we will ever do physically, emotionally and spiritually.

I need help. I need help, plain and simple.  No other way to say it. I need help.

I need people to sponsor miles. I need people to be moved in a way that is beyond what I perceive as the realm of possibility. I need people to push me through every mile. I need people to motivate me, to say "Every mile you run is one mile closer to bringing your kids home".

I need people to go the distance. I need people to stand in the gap. I need people to realize it really does take a village.  For real, I don't know how physically possible it will be for me to run that far. If I were to do it in a year that would mean over 8 miles/day. This doesn't count for rain days, sick days or injury.

So you can't afford to sponsor any miles...can you walk? Can you bike, swim, paddle, basically do anything physically possible to go a mile? Could you cover some of my miles? Do you know friends, family, coworkers, small groups, fellow runners that would be willing to sponsor YOU to help bring two boys home from Haiti?

So it's not just Trev and I but YOU can make a difference.  You can save a life. You can give hope. You can raise two babes out of despair and give them a future. You can be a part of this ragtag outfit of brokenness and join us on this epic journey.

I start running on March 1. Will you help me?  Will you accept my challenge? Will you go 3,000 miles with me?

If you would like to sponsor miles there is a Paypal donate button on the right hand side of the blog. You will have to go to the web version to see it. It isn't available on the mobile version of the blog. You can do this by scrolling down to the very bottom and clicking on "view web version". If you would like to run/walk/bike/etc any of my miles please contact me. You can text, email, FB, or leave a comment and I will get with you. We have already had a huge outpouring of support and encouragement. We would love for you to share this page to help us get the word out.

Our journey is just beginning.

"The hardest part of starting a new journey is taking a leap of faith right at the beginning"
- unknown

The Process

So, I have been getting a lot of questions about our next step, do we know what children we will be getting, timeline, etc.

International Adoption takes a long time. Like, a really long time. 

We are in the beginning. I am trying to organize all the paperwork, figuring out what has to be notarized, how many copies we need of each document, scheduling appointments, all those fun things.
When we decided to adopt, we had to figure out if we wanted to go domestic or  international. When we decided international, we had to pick a country and find an agency that worked in that country.
We applied to our agency's program. Once accepted, because our agency is located in Ohio, we had to find an agency in Washington to conduct our home study.

The Home Study
This is the phase we are in currently. We are collecting documents. We have physicals and psychological evaluations scheduled in a few weeks. Our home visit is set for March 9. This is where a social worker will come to our house, interview us and tour our home. Once the home study report is ready and finalized we will apply for I800A.

I800A
This is an application to determine suitably to adopt a child from a Hague Convention country with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. This again is a lot more paperwork. Once our application is approved then we will be ready to submit our dossier.

The Dossier (pronounced doss-e-A)
This is the compilation of paperwork including our home study that we have been collecting. Most of these have to be notarized. Once everything is completed we will send our dossier to Haiti where it will be authenticated and translated. Then we will be "referral ready".

Referral
Once all of our paperwork has been sent and approved in Haiti we will wait for a referral. Currently our agency is seeing this process take about 8 months. If everything goes well we will hopefully have a referral by the end of the year. The referral includes pictures of the children, health history, and social history, including why they are eligible for adoption, either abandonment or death of parent(s).  Once we receive a referral we will have a certain amount of time to determine if we want to accept the referral and proceed with adopting the children or decline. We are requesting two boys ages 0-4. I recently heard a rumor that Haiti will no longer be giving referrals for unrelated children.  So if this is really the case, our children will be siblings. After we accept a referral then we will travel to Haiti for 2 weeks.

Bonding Period
This is a required mandatory bonding period. Part of the time will include a social worker observing us interacting with the children.  We will be there for 2 weeks and we are not planning on bringing Luke and Abram at this point. So hopefully we can work childcare out with the grandparents.

Waiting
Once we finish the bonding period and return home, we will have a waiting time of 7-12 months before the children can come home. This has also proven in the past to last longer for some families. I am sure this will be the hardest part. We potentially could visit the children during this time but that would depend on finances and logistics of childcare for Luke and Abram. When we are completely finished and can bring the children home it will only be a 3-5 day trip.

So, theoretically, if all goes well we will be bringing kids home in about 2 years. Because of the type of visa the children will enter the into the country with they will only be considered permanent residents. We will have to readopt them in the state of Washington for them to become "real" Shaptons.

"If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey,  most of us would never start out at all"  - Dan Rather

We are adopting!

Hi! Welcome! I am assuming you are here because you read my big Facebook announcement.

Yes...it is true. We have started the process of international adoption.  We are planning on adopting two boys 0-4 years old. This might sound crazy given the fact that we already have two boys age 3 and almost 2. Yes...I understand that by the time the children come home I will most likely have four boys ages 5 and under. What can I say...we like rough and tumble, dirt, dinosaurs and if I don't step on a Thomas the Train at least once then my day just isn't complete.
So yeah...we are super excited and kind of freaking out. This is a life altering decision and not something that we have entered into lightly. I will be posting more about the process and how we reached this decision in the future.
We wanted to start a blog so friends and family could keep up with our progress. I am going to try to keep this blog 90% adoption related but some of our daily lives might leak through. We welcome any questions, advice, or support. We would love for you to follow and be apart of our journey.