It's hard to believe, but our butterfly puzzle is almost done! We realized that there are six remaining butterflies that are mostly whole. Aside from these, there are a variety of random pieces that will fill in the smaller gaps. So, we thought it would be fun to focus on one butterfly at a time to break down the remainder of the puzzle piece fundraiser. Today begins the targeting of butterfly #1! There are 32 pieces in the green, blue, and yellow butterfly. Every puzzle piece sponsored will go toward completing this butterfly until it is finished and added to the puzzle. Remember that all donations made through Lifesong are doubled until we have $4,000 in donations (at which point, they will become $8,000).
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Our Lifesong for Orphans account is officially active! Check it out here: Heart for Haiti: Gebhardt Adoption This is now our primary means of accepting donations - and they are tax deductible! Remember that we also have a matching $4,000 grant through our church, North Way Christian Community. So, the first $4,000 raised through Lifesong will be doubled to become $8,000!
Weeks ago, we applied for a grant through Lifesong for Orphans and supported by our church, North Way Christian Community. At the end of last week, we were notified that we were awarded a matching grant!
Once we have everything set up, all donations up to $4,000 that are processed through Lifesong will be doubled! So, if we receive $4,000, Lifesong will match that to make it $8,000! In addition, Lifesong is setting up an account through which we can receive donations up to and beyond the $4,000 mark. And donations made through Lifesong are tax deductable! All of this is being finalized and set up and more information on how to donate through Lifesong will be posted soon! Thank you for your continued prayers and support! As you may know, some time ago, we sent all of our documents to Haiti, but we haven’t heard much since then. We found out today that our application was submitted and accepted to IBESR (Haitian Social Services) on October 18! That means that we have been officially placed on the waiting list and we could potentially get a referral at any moment! This excitement is tempered a little bit by their estimated wait time, but we remain hopeful and excited that we are moving forward in the process. At this point, there is literally nothing to do but wait and keep gathering the necessary funds so that we can go meet our girl when they give us the referral! And then there is the hurricane…
Not long ago, Hurricane Matthew made landfall with Haiti as a category 4 storm causing massive flooding and damage to weakly constructed buildings primarily in the south-western region of the country. We are thankful that the storm was not worse than it was, but it still presents a difficulty related to our adoption process. IBESR has simultaneously proclaimed that they remain committed to continuing the international adoption program, but that their focus is currently being placed on those who are in immediate need of assistance. Due to Hurricane Matthew, there were many families who lost their homes and there were also many orphanages destroyed. These families and the children are now profoundly “at risk” because of the disaster that has occurred. For that reason, the government is attempting to come to their aid before any further tragedy should befall them and add to the humanitarian or orphan-care problem that already exists. What we are taking from all of this is the message that, “we are still going to move forward on adoptions, but it is not our primary area of concern right now.” This was hard news to take as we continue to be hopeful that things will move faster than expected. Strangely, despite the apparently bad news, Jenni and I seem even more filled with anticipation. In fact, we actually feel like things are closer now than ever – we are so excited! God has all of this in his hands and he will accomplish his plan in his timing! Jenni holds in her hands the completed, translated, verified, notarized, sealed, and copied dossier for our adoption outside of the Wexford post office! We had to make a trip to Office Max to buy more paper and our printer is now completely dry of toner! Weighing in at 9 lbs 9 oz, this little bundle of frustration is a big weight off of our shoulders!
We sent our documents to Bethany Global on Friday, July 29th where they arrived safely and were reviewed for errors. Thankfully, everything looked great and our dossier was then passed on to the Haitian consulate in the U.S. for one more round of certification! We are currently waiting for the documents to be sent back to Bethany Global who will then send them directly to IBESR in Haiti! Once IBESR receives our dossier we will officially be put on the waiting list for a referral. Completing and sending our dossier was a HUGE milestone in this process and one that we are very glad to have behind us! At this point, we are down to waiting and continuing to raise funds to cover the upcoming expenses. Yesterday, we had a pleasant surprise...our dossier documents were finished being translated into French! Let me back up a minute. In the process of completing our adoption, we have to put together a large stack of documents that are signed, notarized, state sealed, etc. All of this information about us gets put together into a dossier that will be sent to Haiti so that they can match us with a child and approve us for adoption. Haiti has two official languages, French and Haitian Creole. Although Haitian Creole is spoken by the entire population, French, which is only spoken by about 42% of Haitians, is used for government and administrative purposes. So, we had to send our big stack of papers to be translated into French. This went a little faster than we had expected - which is why it was such a nice surprise! This is the final piece of our dossier that we needed before we could compile everything and send it on to Bethany Global. So, what now? Here is the timeline for the next few months: - Completed dossier gets sent to Bethany Global in Michigan. - Dossier is reviewed by Bethany and sent to the Haitian consulate in the U.S. - Haitian consulate approves the dossier (1 - 2 weeks) - Dossier gets sent to Haiti and goes through government approval (2 - 4 weeks) - Dossier is submitted to IBESR (Institut du Bien-Etre Social et de Recherches) which is basically Haitian Social Services At the point that our dossier is in the hands of IBESR we are officially put on the waiting list to get matched with a child! The estimated timeframe until we are paired with a child is currently 1 to 2 years, but we are praying and believing that it is going to go faster! Once we get a referral for a child we will travel to Haiti for our first trip! With the submission of our dossier (next week), we need to come up with the remainder of the fee that covers the events listed in the timeline above. If you look at our Fundraising page, you will see that we are currently $1,462 away from our goal! 146 puzzle pieces and our goal would be met! Thank you all for your continued support and prayers! We are continuing to progress through the process of compiling documents for our dossier that will be sent to Haiti. Most documents are currently being translated into French (more on this later) and we are finalizing a few remaining items to complete the dossier. Once this is finished, we will need to submit our next fee of $4,350 - of which, we only need to raise $1597! You can help support our adoption and save yourself time and money by purchasing one or more of these amazing boxes of greeting cards!
We are so impressed by the quality and cost of these cards that we plan to get one of each box for ourselves! Feel free to share this information with your friends or family as well! Everyone can benefit from saving money on greeting cards! For more information and to order cards, please visit the Fundraising page of our website. Until now, our blog posts have been mostly positive. Even when things were uncertain, everything seemed to keep moving forward, but right now we find ourselves in frustration and despair.
Since it's been awhile since our last post, let me catch you up on recent events. The good news is that we have officially completed our home study! This is a major milestone and we are happy to have it finished and be moving on to the next step. We just sent paperwork out to the U.S. immigration department and paid fees to begin setting everything up to bring our child home. This is also another great step forward! However, we are now beginning to work on our dossier that gets sent to Haiti. The dossier is basically a legal, financial, medical, and personal profile all about us and our family. This is the next big step that we can take before the long waiting game begins. This is also the cause of our current emotional state. After completing the home study with all of the necessary paperwork, our completion of the dossier requires an even greater amount of paperwork to be compiled! Many of the documents that were part of the home study have to be completed all over again for the dossier as well so we are basically starting from scratch! In addition, we have now found out that the schedule of fees is a bit different than we had previously understood. Before we can really begin completing the dossier preparation, we have to pay a program fee to Bethany to cover all of the legal documentation for this step. This totals about $5,950. Once this is paid, we can keep moving on the dossier. But, before the dossier is submitted to Haiti, we have to pay the first country fee, shipping, and translation services at a total of $4,850. These expenses, combined with the many comparatively smaller fees and costs associated with the documents we must obtain for the dossier, make for a difficult financial demand. In the end, we can relate to Gideon. We have so little to take with us into the battle, but somehow, we know that God will provide and he will accomplish what he has called us to. Please pray for us as we are exasperated and overwhelmed! This is a difficult step in our journey and we certainly need your continued prayer and support! Track 3: The River - Jordan Feliz There are many Biblical references to water. Many times, water, in the form of rivers and streams, is representative of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is God's presence on earth and it is he who teaches us and guides us. For us, coming to the river as in this song, means embracing God's guidance and direction and following his will for our lives. In John 14, Jesus tells his disciples that, when he is gone, he will send another in his place to be with them, and us (verses 15 - 17). Interestingly, in the next verse, John 14:18, Jesus promises not to leave us, "as orphans," and he accomplishes this by sending the Spirit. If there is such a pressing need for adoptive families and many children come from severely impoverished countries, why does it cost tens of thousands of dollars to complete an adoption? Is someone getting rich on this?
Honestly, I had the same questions when we first started looking into international adoption...it's a shock to see the cost when you understand the dire need! It has taken some time to gain an understanding of the complex situation that necessitates this expense. Now that I have a better grasp on the reasons, I want to share that with all of you as best as I can. Here goes... The cost of international adoption covers a wide range of fees and services. First of all, it covers our home study, meetings with our case worker, and paperwork such as the dossier that is compiled by the agency and prepared for the adopting country. In general, this first expense goes to assure that we are people who are able to support another child and that we are people who should be caring for a child. Even though there are so many children without families, nobody wants to see these already vulnerable children placed into homes where they may be further neglected or harmed. The home study also includes 30 hours of training to prepare us for the difficulties and process of adoption. Adoption costs cover all of the legal and governmental fees. We have to have lawyers in both countries who will complete all of the necessary paperwork and documentation to bring a child that is a citizen in one country into the United States where they become a U.S. citizen and legal dependent. This is no small task. Next, the adoption fees pay for safeguards and background checks in the adopting country. Just like there is a lot of research that goes into who we are, there is a lot of investigation about the child as well. This means getting as much background information regarding their medical history, their biological relatives, biological medical history, experiential history, etc. We need to know as much as we can about our child so that we can best support their needs. Sadly, there are people who try to make money on adoption through human trafficking. I'll save you some reading for now and will expand upon this idea in another post. Long story short, adoption fees go to support background checks and security so that this does not happen. Our expenses cover travel costs as well. In our case, we have to make two separate trips to Haiti for roughly two weeks each trip. We pay Bethany to provide for our flights, hotels, in-country travel, etc. for both of those trips. Aside from all of this, the cost also provides for the operating expenses of the orphanage for all of the care and support they have given the adopted child. In some cases, children have spent years in an orphanage. This means years of food, medical care, clothing, shelter, security, etc. So, the adoption fees support the orphanage and allow them to continue their mission. Finally, we are also provided support after the adoption is completed. Bethany provides us with continued support as we welcome a child into our home and acclimate them to a very different environment in every way. There are an assortment of other, more minor expenses, but I hope this helps you to understand the primary expenses related to international adoption. It is a very complex process with a lot of steps and many people involved. I wish it wasn't so expensive, but I now understand why it is. Either way, through adoption, you have to begin evaluating the value of a life. Is a child worth $45,000? Is my son or daughter worth $45,000? I think you know my answer! |
AuthorsAdam and Jennifer Gebhardt Archives
January 2017
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