We had our first homestudy tonight-all went well and the kids actually were great-what a relief it is to have one done. Thank you to our dear friends Kris Thomas for helping me decorate my house and finally get it to look like people live here and to Adam's mom Tami for helping us with all the final details, hanging pictures, etc.-and my mom for helping with the kids the last few days and Tyra our babysitter for taking them swimming today-and Kristy for picking up the Pizza for us and having Jacob over to play today-We love you guys!
We had a crazy morning today with us riping out our carpet last night in Cassidy's room. I guess the puppy had wet on it several times, and when I cleaned it this week, it brought out all the odors. It was through the pad in a lot of places and into the wood. It was destroyed-It was more than horrible and smelling up the whole house, so, we took it out, bleached it, painted on Kiltz to seal it and called the people that put in the carpet ONLY 2 years ago, had them bring the cheapest carpet they could and install it all this morning, then we moved her stuff back in her room and no one knew the better! What we do sometimes! Oh, so if anyone wants to visit us, NOW would be the time-our house is so clean and picked up, it will never be so again. :)
So one more home study meeting on Wednesday and we should be done. Then she writes up her report which takes a couple weeks I think, then another lady reviews it, then we review it, and then it is noterized. Whew-then we apply for citizenship for our adopted child with the US and wait a couple more weeks-then we can get on the wait list for a referal of a baby girl. Wow, can't believe we are at this point.
We are The Stutzman Family-Join us as we travel this road of our second adoption of a brother & sister from Ethiopia, and beyond! Adam & Amber- Jacob 17 years, Haile from Ethiopia 15 years, Twins-Cassidy and Zachary 13 years Noah 12 years, Logan 10 years, Bethlehem from Ethiopia 9 years, and Seble from Ethiopia 5 years
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
We are going to have our HOMESTUDY!!!
SO, we got the e-mail yesterday morning that ALL of our documents were in for our homestudy paperwork and that they assigned us a social worker who would call us.Well she called us a couple hours later- We have our first homestudy visit (3-4 hours) a week from today! Thurs. the 27th-and then our second and last one the Wed. after that!
We can't believe it and have so much to do to get our house ready!Things are moving a long-after that, we will get on the waiting list to get a referal of a baby girl!
We can't believe it and have so much to do to get our house ready!Things are moving a long-after that, we will get on the waiting list to get a referal of a baby girl!
Monday, August 17, 2009
GARAGE SALE DONE, CAN DRIVE STARTING
Well, our 2 weekends of garage sales are over and we made a grand total of $1,200!!!! We are thrilled and thankful to everyone that came by and bought things and everyone that donated items-thank you again so much! This money will help to pay for bringing baby "A" home. (Found out this week we can't post her real name until we pass court in Ethiopia-it is a government rule, same reason we won't be able to post her picture anywhere on-line until we pass court).
So, next thing is we are starting "ZACHARY'S CAN/WATER BOTTLE DRIVE" for all of September.....any of you that I work with, you could just bring them to work and I can get them from the parking lot after work, anyone can leave them on our front porch, or we would be so willing to pick them up, SO SAVE THOSE CANS!!!! Zachary is so excited and we think this will really give him a chance to get involved and feel a part of it.
Many people have asked us, "Why Ethiopia" and so we figured we would just post our answer on here so that it can get answered to a lot of people at once. Here are some facts:
There are 4.6 Million orphans in Ethiopia
One in 10 children will die before their 1st birthday, in the USA, 7 out of 1,000 will die in a their first year!
Ethiopia only has 1 doctor per 24,000 children!
Ethiopia's average life expectancy women: 50 years, Men: 48 years In America an average person will live to be 78!
These are just a few, you can find more on the side of our blog page. We know there are so many kids in need of homes here in the US, but for the most part, they will go on living and at least have a foster home. We had in fact signed up to adopt a bi-racial infant from a company in Alabama when we were unable to get pregnant, but then we got pregnant with the twins, so we had to pull our application. So we do think that the US adoptions are very needed and can be very wonderful too, so don't get us wrong.
That being said, the Ethiopian kids will either starve on the streets, die of malnutrition or disease, there are not lots of foster families like there are here, and they don't just get medical care and food like we have access to here, even their drinking water is bad!
After thinking through this, we know that by choosing to adopt from Ethiopia, we are not just adopting, but actually saving her life, because of all of the poverty. Yes, there is lots of poverty in America, but it is on a different level with different circumstances. Also, after seeing what woman and young girls do to their bodies and their unborn here in America, we actually feel safer going with Ethiopia! This sounds funny, but it is true for us as we consider the risks verses the benefits.
Our US system can be very messed up with how they often keep kids in foster care for way too long while waiting for the mom to get back on track, and then the kids are dealing with so many issues by the time they are finally adopted. On top of this, they can then have to deal with the issues that they may have due to the behaviors of the mom during pregnancy. This isn't to say we don't believe in US adoptions, we do and we are so thankful that their are families that adopt from the US-these are wonderful families too, with many wonderful things to offer children. We just chose to go with Ethiopia after much thought and consideration.
The Ethiopian culture is very different than here in America. The Ethiopian people HIGHLY value children and they don't want to give them up, in fact, one of the things that you have to realize during your time in Ethiopia is that people will come and just take your baby from you just to see and talk to it and show them off to others...they say do not be alarmed by this-this is their culture, kids are one of the most important things there! Also, they are typically not doing the things that we do to our bodies, they are just in poverty. It kills me to think of a mother having to give up her child just so that the child will be fed!
Anyway, these are some of the things that drew us to the country. The poverty, the value for children, the generosity of the people and the wonderful cultrue they have. We hear they are some of the most generous people! They all help each other, and share what they do have-we could all learn a lot of lessons from them and their values. On top of this, we are just drawn to the beauty of the people-we think they are very beautiful and we are really begining to have a love for the country as we learn more and more about it.
Some have also asked if we are worried due to the AIDS crisis in africa (720,000 kids have been orphaned due to AIDS). Yes, of course we thought this through, but after much research and talking to other families that have adopted from our agency, we are at peace with this. The orphanage and US government tests the kids a total of 3 times before they can come into America. The US doesn't allow them to come if they are positive for HIV-unless this is a HIV adoption and then I don't know what the rules are. If a test is positive in a baby, it is nearly almost always a false positive because it has picked up the mother's anti-bodies, and the baby is really negative. So, if they are negative, they are almost always really negative. Our testing system is pretty accurate now. We are leaving this in God's hands and just have to trust in Him and in the system to give us a healty baby girl!
That being said-SAVE THOSE CANS!
So, next thing is we are starting "ZACHARY'S CAN/WATER BOTTLE DRIVE" for all of September.....any of you that I work with, you could just bring them to work and I can get them from the parking lot after work, anyone can leave them on our front porch, or we would be so willing to pick them up, SO SAVE THOSE CANS!!!! Zachary is so excited and we think this will really give him a chance to get involved and feel a part of it.
Many people have asked us, "Why Ethiopia" and so we figured we would just post our answer on here so that it can get answered to a lot of people at once. Here are some facts:
There are 4.6 Million orphans in Ethiopia
One in 10 children will die before their 1st birthday, in the USA, 7 out of 1,000 will die in a their first year!
Ethiopia only has 1 doctor per 24,000 children!
Ethiopia's average life expectancy women: 50 years, Men: 48 years In America an average person will live to be 78!
These are just a few, you can find more on the side of our blog page. We know there are so many kids in need of homes here in the US, but for the most part, they will go on living and at least have a foster home. We had in fact signed up to adopt a bi-racial infant from a company in Alabama when we were unable to get pregnant, but then we got pregnant with the twins, so we had to pull our application. So we do think that the US adoptions are very needed and can be very wonderful too, so don't get us wrong.
That being said, the Ethiopian kids will either starve on the streets, die of malnutrition or disease, there are not lots of foster families like there are here, and they don't just get medical care and food like we have access to here, even their drinking water is bad!
After thinking through this, we know that by choosing to adopt from Ethiopia, we are not just adopting, but actually saving her life, because of all of the poverty. Yes, there is lots of poverty in America, but it is on a different level with different circumstances. Also, after seeing what woman and young girls do to their bodies and their unborn here in America, we actually feel safer going with Ethiopia! This sounds funny, but it is true for us as we consider the risks verses the benefits.
Our US system can be very messed up with how they often keep kids in foster care for way too long while waiting for the mom to get back on track, and then the kids are dealing with so many issues by the time they are finally adopted. On top of this, they can then have to deal with the issues that they may have due to the behaviors of the mom during pregnancy. This isn't to say we don't believe in US adoptions, we do and we are so thankful that their are families that adopt from the US-these are wonderful families too, with many wonderful things to offer children. We just chose to go with Ethiopia after much thought and consideration.
The Ethiopian culture is very different than here in America. The Ethiopian people HIGHLY value children and they don't want to give them up, in fact, one of the things that you have to realize during your time in Ethiopia is that people will come and just take your baby from you just to see and talk to it and show them off to others...they say do not be alarmed by this-this is their culture, kids are one of the most important things there! Also, they are typically not doing the things that we do to our bodies, they are just in poverty. It kills me to think of a mother having to give up her child just so that the child will be fed!
Anyway, these are some of the things that drew us to the country. The poverty, the value for children, the generosity of the people and the wonderful cultrue they have. We hear they are some of the most generous people! They all help each other, and share what they do have-we could all learn a lot of lessons from them and their values. On top of this, we are just drawn to the beauty of the people-we think they are very beautiful and we are really begining to have a love for the country as we learn more and more about it.
Some have also asked if we are worried due to the AIDS crisis in africa (720,000 kids have been orphaned due to AIDS). Yes, of course we thought this through, but after much research and talking to other families that have adopted from our agency, we are at peace with this. The orphanage and US government tests the kids a total of 3 times before they can come into America. The US doesn't allow them to come if they are positive for HIV-unless this is a HIV adoption and then I don't know what the rules are. If a test is positive in a baby, it is nearly almost always a false positive because it has picked up the mother's anti-bodies, and the baby is really negative. So, if they are negative, they are almost always really negative. Our testing system is pretty accurate now. We are leaving this in God's hands and just have to trust in Him and in the system to give us a healty baby girl!
That being said-SAVE THOSE CANS!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Garage Sale and more ideas....
So, a couple of things to say tonight-first THANK YOU to each and everyone of you that donated in one way or another to our garage sale last weekend! We made a whopping $825!! We are excited and the good news is, that even though I work this weekend, Adam is going to hold another sale due to Silverton having their Art Festival at the park across from our house, so lots more people! Thank you too to Mary G. for making the delicious pastries for Cassidy to sell-she had a blast! Jacob was able to give $100 out of his car parking business too! If anyone wants to drop off anything-just bring it by anytime, and if we are not here, leave it on the porch :) I work Friday, so if there is anyone from work, I can get it then.
Secondly, we came up with a new idea this week too. Zach our 7 year old LOVES to take cans in with his grandma to get spending money. We talked with him and he wants to hold a "SEPTEMBER CAN DRIVE" for ALL of September. So, if you can save your cans, and now plastic water bottles too, we will get them to him and he can take them all in at once on Oct. 1st and see how much he can get for the adoption. This will be his way of "helping". :) Bring them to our house, call and we can get them, or get them to me at work-thanks!
Thirdly, some people have asked about donating a cash amount. We set up a link on our blog on the bottom that is called "CHIP IN" and it has a button on there that you can click on to donate to our adoption securely through PayPal. We figure if everyone we knew gave like $10-25 it would all add up quickly! Don't feel obligated, but we have it there for those that would like to help.
DON'T FORGET TO "FOLLOW" OUR BLOG FOR AUTOMATIC UPDATES!
This week should be it-we should have all of our homestudy paperwork in by Tuesday-YA, then we will schedule the 3 homestudy visits. We will let you know....thanks again to everyone for your support and help! We love ya all-
Secondly, we came up with a new idea this week too. Zach our 7 year old LOVES to take cans in with his grandma to get spending money. We talked with him and he wants to hold a "SEPTEMBER CAN DRIVE" for ALL of September. So, if you can save your cans, and now plastic water bottles too, we will get them to him and he can take them all in at once on Oct. 1st and see how much he can get for the adoption. This will be his way of "helping". :) Bring them to our house, call and we can get them, or get them to me at work-thanks!
Thirdly, some people have asked about donating a cash amount. We set up a link on our blog on the bottom that is called "CHIP IN" and it has a button on there that you can click on to donate to our adoption securely through PayPal. We figure if everyone we knew gave like $10-25 it would all add up quickly! Don't feel obligated, but we have it there for those that would like to help.
DON'T FORGET TO "FOLLOW" OUR BLOG FOR AUTOMATIC UPDATES!
This week should be it-we should have all of our homestudy paperwork in by Tuesday-YA, then we will schedule the 3 homestudy visits. We will let you know....thanks again to everyone for your support and help! We love ya all-
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
We Keep Rolling Along
Well, we have made lots of progress in the last week or so. We only have 3 kids physicals left which will happen on Friday, then we have my last cardiology apt next week (don't ask)-just another hurdle in this adventure-and on the 17th we hope to mail off our last homestudy documents as all these apts. will be done. We then have to schedule our homestudy which will not take long. I am hoping that our first visit (we have to do about 4 visits -or 6 hours total) will be the last week of Aug. or 1st week in Sept. We have our big garage sale this weekend to fund the adoption-so if anyone still has stuff-give us a call. After our homestudy is complete-we will send a copy of it with the rest of our Dossier (more paperwork-which is already put together).
On another note-I have been told that as of the last week of Aug. I will get to go down to part-time (2-12hr shifts a week) day shift-this will be much better for our family and I am so glad to be able to do this! It will give us much more time and flexibility as a family.
After this weekend's garage sale, our biggest thing will be to somehow get this house in order, finish small projects and clean like crazy before our homestudy-but we will just get through this weekend first-amber
On another note-I have been told that as of the last week of Aug. I will get to go down to part-time (2-12hr shifts a week) day shift-this will be much better for our family and I am so glad to be able to do this! It will give us much more time and flexibility as a family.
After this weekend's garage sale, our biggest thing will be to somehow get this house in order, finish small projects and clean like crazy before our homestudy-but we will just get through this weekend first-amber
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Our Airport Homecoming for our 2nd Adoption~
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FATHER, BREAK OUR HEARTS FOR WHAT BREAKS YOURS~
