Wednesday...

Today is Wednesday December 15 2010...not very different from any other day. Though we have made it extra exciting. We picked up our notarized documents from the police station and my dr. office, and Ryans drs forms came today! I am so excited to see what God's timing is going to be on bringing her/them home! This week we also received my birth certificate in the mail...but it was not me...lol. After a nice talk with a very apologetic woman mine is now in the mail. Thank you Jesus for nice people! We are still waiting on my social security statement, once that has arrived we are ready for the HOMESTUDY!!!!! My Grandmother is graciously loaning us the $1500 for the fist payment of the homestudy so that we do not put it on a credit card. We are expecting a nice refund at tax time and she is willing to wait until then for her money back!

Thank you to everyone for you prayers. I cannot believe that we have been able to pay for everything so far, with no debt, plus continue to pay off the debt of Israels adoption expenses.

Also a huge PRAISE to God for allowing more work to come my way in this time of financial need! Last night I made $85 and tonight I made another $20ish...and have another $40 I can make tomorrow!!! KEEP IT COMING JESUS...I want my children home!

Love to all...

Faster then a...not sure :)

I cannot believe how fast things are happening!! I received my dossier instructions yesterday...and today I can check off a couple things already!! I had to ask out local police department to write a letter verifying that we are not criminals, lol, I call and talked to a wonderful secretary who had then ready for me BY NOON!! I dropped of my physical forms for the homestudy and adoption agencies, and did not need a new physical because of just having one for Israels adoption!! They called an hour later to let me know that THEY WERE READY!!! I also called the Maine department of Vital records to see how long the turn around on a birth certificate request is (online it says between 6 and 10 weeks). The awesome woman on the phone said "oh honey we would have that back to you in 5-7 business days, if that!" so the kids and I trotted off to the post office and the request has been sent! I called the Lancaster County Court House to request a certified copy of our marriage licence...thinking that this one would have to be the one to snag me on my all to productive day...the woman on the phone said she was processing it as we spoke and I could come pick it up at my earliest convenience!! I am not done yet!!! When Ryan got home he brought in the mail and in the mail was his SS statement, which was due to arrive in 3 weeks!!!!!!!!! I just cannot say enough HOW BIG IS MY GOD!!! I can feel the mountains moving and see the work of his hand! No one can stand in His way!!Oh and I deposited $168.00 into the adoption account today :) that just always makes me happy.

Thank you to everyone who is contnuing to pray for my WHOLE family! Another praise to through out there is that Everett just lost another TSS and we found out his BSC was also leaving so I called another agency and they are able to staff the BSC as of the 13th of Dec...that is amazing!

AGENCY NEWS!!!!

I received an e-mail today from WACAP stating that as long as we pass our homestudy we have their approval!! I am very excited that be now have a foot in the door that God directed us to. The agency did say that they would prefer to place a healthy child with us instead of a child with needs. I am just praying that their preference cannot interfere with God's plan ;). I am asking for continued prayers for our daughter and also for the financing for the adoption. The timeline for funds needed right now looks like this:

in about 4 weeks: $1,500 to homestudy agency
about 4-6 weeks after that $1,500 to homestudy agency
about 1 week after that about $1,000 to the government
at the approval of our homstudy $6,000 to WACAP

SO PLEASE PRAY FOR MONEY TO RAIN DOWN!!!!

I am confident in God's plan and will not rest until Truth is here with us!!!!

Moving on...

I still have not heard back from WACAP, though I have turned in all needed paperwork. I receive a list of things needed for our homestudy and have been working on getting everything in that I can. I would like to point out again how evident it is that this is Gods path that he has laid out for us...Our passports were to take anywhere between six and eight weeks to receive the passports in the mail. We received a notice through e-mail that they had received our application and the six to eight week process time had began AND THE PASSPORTS ARRIVED THE NEXT DAY!!!!!!. Wow I think that God is amazing and is even in control of government offices. We are now waiting on our social security statements for the last 10 years...we are having trouble with mine, please pray for Gods timing through this process as well. We are confident that our Daughter(s) is out there waiting on us and I will not rest until she is asleep in her room with Aurora!

I am asking for prayers for our home front as well as the adoption. I feel as if our children are under attack and I need Gods intervention to stop this evil grasp. We had Everett in the ER Friday night due to being uncontrollable. I will be taking him to see another Dr in the am and I am really praying for the correct medicines to be prescribed, that he will be able to respond to them in a positive manor being able to sleep all night long and function during the day with a lower anxiety level.

Thank you to everyone who has been helping with the phone drive! If anyone else has old cell phones or ink jet cartridges I would be more then happy to take them off your hands :)

First Speed Bump :)

So we recieved an e-mail from the agency that we applied to saying that our income does not meet the us poverty guidlines for a household or 7...well I have looked up these guidlines (before we applied) and we miss is by $300 per year if you only look at Ryans primary employment. Now Ryan works a 2nd part time job, I work a part time job, and we recieve monthy money towards our boys care...so add that all up and we are enough above that number. We just need to submit more paperwork, gotta love the paperwork!! I am confident that as long as we are following Gods plan for our life we will be sucessful!!

The Slow Down

Ok to start off I LIED...which I do not do often! I stated that I would not be traveling to the homestudy agency on Monday, well I did. I call them and they said "Please being everything in then we can get STARTED!!" YEAH!! So the 4 tots and I took off and dropped off our app.

Now that the craziness has slowed down I think that I am finding myself nesting...haha. I wonder if God is being silly. With each of my boys before the came to live with us I "nested" for about 9 MONTHS grrrr and then...WOW HERE IS A BABY. So maybe It will be late next year, which would be AWESOME!

I have been slowly dropping some of the therapy that my boys receive...which is adding to the slowness and I am LOVING IT! I left all of my kids in their pjs this am and they are wearing those same pjs as I write this, in their beds sleeping. Or at least I hope they are asleep! I am trying to choose some really exciting things to do over the next year with 4 kids that will be tougher to do when we add more. Not sure what that will look like yet but I am sure I will find something to do!

I am gearing up to go to Maine in Dec or Jan...OVERLY EXCITED...I miss my family and my town! My children seem to relax up there and grow! This visit will be extra exciting because we will be blessed to visit with multiple childhood friends! That's the good stuff right there...not talking with someone for say like 15 years and being able to feel comfortable. Or at least I do...my kids might scare them a little..lol

I received an e-mail from WACAP today telling me that they are excited to work with us and we should be hearing more soon! Also Ryan brought home $13.00 from work from candy sales :)

A wonderful weekend.

This weekend was full of wonderful things! We had the honor of dedicating our three youngest children at LCBC...Family dedication is when we stand before the church and basically say that we are going to raise our children in a God following home, and that we will be teaching them Gods word. The kids did well, Everett was very anxious so he was trying to get away the whole time but Daddy was on top of that! Lots of friends and family were there to watch and pray for us...thanks to all!! Church was also very exciting because I was able to witness someone truly showing God's love through who she brought to church with her...sis you know who you are and I LOVE YOU and I am soooo proud of you!!!

So far with the candy fundraising I have been amazed with one box being sold already...by Larissa and family...it brought in $90.50 (when it should bring in $78.00) so we made $51.00 profit from one box!!! If anyone else is interested in helping with selling a box of candy please let me know and I will be MORE then happy to get a box to you!!!!

We collected some cell phones and ink cartridges and I believe that I am up to $11.25 from collecting unused items...our God it to good to us!!!

I was intending to travel to our homestudy office today to turn in everything but I believe that I am going to wait until I receive copies of our clearances in the mail (which should be tues or wed this week) bc I do not think that the agency can do anything before they are in.

Ryan and I have decided to go on a "spending freeze" for the next 2 weeks...I am a tad bit nervous bc we usually have to run around alot. And talk about something awesome, God has already helped in the running department...one of my appointments canceled on me today! so we are at home all day!!!!! I love the lazy days at home...looks like laundry!!!

oh and the cute pic at the top has nothing to do with the weekend I just thought that it was cute!!!

Chug a chug a CHOO CHOO!!!!

We we are SOOO on the train now!! The train to Africa that is...ok a special train that can swim :). Ryan and I stayed up late last night and completed 80% of the homestudy paperwork!! Today we will be writing our autobiography's and that will complete all the things that we can complete with out waiting to things to come in the mail. I will be making a trip out to Common Sense Adoption on Monday to turn in everything that we have so far along with our first payment of $500, which my Husband has so graciously said can sit on a CC and then the adoption account can pay him back when the money comes in. When I posted that we had $258 in the account I was forgetting that I mailed a check for $250 for the application fee and so we have $8.00 :) but I have total and complete faith the The Lord MY GOD will provide and bring my baby(s) home!!!

Truth and Charis your family is so in LOVE with you already! I cannot believe in what seems like a few short months you will be still here with us and I can just tell you how much you are loved. My prayer today is still that you have someone, your mother, a worker at an orphanage, or just a stranger showing you the love that your Father from Heaven has for you!!!

After our meeting...

Meeting was awesome!! We were in a comfy room with great company. I feel like the homestudy agency is a extention of my home. The entire time we were talking I felt as if the Holy Spirit came and filled the room...and I could hear "let us love" by NEEDTOBREATH playing in the bak of my head. Ryan and I still feel that we are walking in the light of Gods flashlight and it feels wonderful!

Now the human side of me is having a slight panic attack bc of all of the "little" extras on the $$ side of things...like the close to $1,000 for the I600A and fingerprinting...yippy more room to watch God work!!!!

I am going to sit in His peace and know that this is in His timing NOT MINE!!!

Gods Peace

This week feels amazingly FULL of adoption details. I am savoring every moment because I know the wait is in the future and patience is something that I am working on. In about an hour Ryan and I will be leaving for our first meeting with the homestuday agency (common sense adoptions). I feel completely at peace with our decision to go with them! I feel that God confirmed in my soul last night that we have the right adoption agency and homestudy agency. Ryan and I attended a meeting held by Bethany Christian, though they sounded great...they are just not working where I believe my children are. So with the pending meeting I am needing to remind myself that God will provide the financing Ryan and I just need to walk in faith...the current balance in the adoption account is around $250.00 and the first payment is due to the homestudy agency SOON and is $500.00 BUT I am CONFIDENT that my GOD is THAT BIG that HE can double the money in the account in time for that first payment!!!! Bring on the candy money ;)

I will post after the meeting to confirm that they are amazing!!!

Life according to Everett...

So beginging this blog is a total step in faith...I really want others to know and believe that raising children with special needs is doable and totally WORTH IT. So I just needed to say that before telling the tale of last night :)

Last night was a very exciting night! Ryan had his appointment to get his passport!!!! We all loaded into the car and headed to the Mount Joy public library, did you know they do passports? We arrived all excited and joyful that we are taking another step towards traveling to Africa...and then it happens...Everett decided that he did not like the joyful feelings and that he did not want to go into the library. It took a good a good 5 mins to talk him down and then proceed to walk into the library...a bit frazzled but still excited. While our attention is other wise occupied by the paperwork and pictures and signatures Everett and Aurora get into a brother sister battle, completely normal right? Well not for a child with PTSD that type of "fight" in an unfamiliar environment completely sets him off. Ryan ended up needing to take him out through a rear entrance to calm him down while I finished up and took the other three out to the car. When Ryan finally got Everett into his car seat, he is STILL SCREAMING and spitting and trying to get unbuckled. My amazing Husband turns to me and says "isn't it amazing how the devil is trying to take root in our children to keep us from bringing our daughters home"...what good in site he has into the amazing calling God has given us. I think a couple years ago we both would have been thinking "why are we going to add more to this chaos" but God is making beauty from ashes and asking for great things from us.

To end this know that Ryan had to spend almost 45 minutes when we arrived home getting Everett dress and ready for bed...praying over him...and them settling him enough to get into his bed. I am glad that God is making Ryan into such a strong man.

We are VERY EXCITED also to announce that we sent in our application TODAY!!!!!!! NOVEMBER 11 2010...I believe that things will move in His timing and I cannot wait to see what that looks like!

Lia Sophia Fund Raiser

We are trying to be creative when it comes to raising the funds to bring our child(ren) home! I posted on Facabook, about a month ago, our calling to adopt again and wanting fundraising ideas. The response from loving friends was AWESOME!! A friend I met in high school offered to have a Lia Sophia show for me and donate all of her profit, 30% of the shows sales!! Also, as if that was not generous enough, she has committed to donating 10% from any show booked from my show. Well the night for the show was last night November 9 2010 and we had about 7 women show up and do about $350 in sales (which means about $100 for the adoption woohoo). The show was great, getting to shop for jewelry is always fun, and having women to talk with was amazing! I am aware of some orders that will be placed online soon so I will have to give the final amount raised at a later date. My family is very grateful for the giving spirit that God has given Alisha and the desire to support families!

We are currently selling candy bars, yum. We set a box at Ryan's place of employment, and friends took 3 others to sell. We spent $156.00 up front and we will make $156.00 profit after all the candy has sold. I am totally relying on God for the funding of this adoption and trusting that through my small acts they will help with the big picture! You never know who you will meet and how you can impact them in a positive way. Through raising funds for our adoption I have been able to tell many people about God and his desire for our eternal adoption through the payment of Jesus on the cross...what an amazing journey God has asked me to take!!

I "stumbled" upon another funding idea last night while searching on google, gotta love google. All I have to do is collect old cell phones and ink cartridges, and mail them into a recycling company who will pay for the shipping...and 10 days later I will receive a check. Now even if I receive $10.00 it is enough to pay for passport photos or for shipping to send documents! The company will refurbish the phones and provide them to lower income households as a means of communication. I am also excited about properly disposing these items so they do not pollute our environment.

Who is the Fasnacht Gang?

The Fasnacht Gang is a crazy family with a passion for following Gods lead. Ryan and I were high school sweethearts who stuck it out and ended up walking down the isle May 2005. The past five years have not been all sunshine and fairy dust but with a common desire to love Jesus and love others it is all worth it. We currently have four children:

Graham who is our super smart little man. He is 4 going on 20! He loves to play with cars and annoy his little brothers and sister. Graham came to our family when her was 6 months old and was adopted at 21 months old. We are in an open adoption with his family and enjoy the relationships that have been made through his adoption.

Everett is our tough guy. He is 3 years old and doing so well in preschool that I may just send him to college. He is all boy all the time...until his feelings get hurt. He also entered our family through adoption. We had the privilege of picking him up from the hospital and getting to meet him mom. His adoption was official May 2010.

Israel is our muscle man! He may come in a smaller package but don't let that fool you. He is my snuggle bug lovey boy. Our journey to his adoption was full of bumps and turns!! We are please though to announce that he is an official Fasnacht as of September 23 2010!!!!!

Aurora is the baby of the bunch. She came from my womb, which was a surprise! She is full of joy and life, and can always make us smile. Though she is not adopted her birth was just as awesome!! Ryan was able to deliver her at the hospital.

We love out children!! and we are pleased to announce that God has asked us to travel to AFRICA to bring home our daughter(s). Follow us here are we tackle the day to day living with 4 adding a couple more :)