Gold Arrived in the mail today...

So many of you have asked about our adoption and how it has been going, thank you so much! I have been horrible at keeping our blog updated and hope to keep it up (even little posts) to let you know where we are in the process. 

So November 4th, Voting Day, Tony and I went to the police station and got our fingerprints done..again.., this time for the FBI background check for our Immigration paper work 800A papers. 

We mailed them off and felt accomplisind that we could mark off another item on our 'adoption to do list'. While we were in Missouri for Thankgiving we received a phone call from our social worker telling us that our country changed some requirements and we needed to redo a medical document and add two other documents. Fustrating... but doable. We got home and set to work. In the middle of holiday season it becomes very difficut to get the right papers from the right people in a timly manner and we finally received the last of the papers after the new year. DONE! We were so excited to hand over the last document for our Dossier, knowing that in about three months we could be seeing our son's picure for the first time! We attended a wonderful adoption training put on by Lifeline Childrens Services buildng us up to become better adoptive parents. We arrive home hopefull and ready to utilize all the we have learned. 

A week later Tony received an email from our SW. As she is putting together our Dossier to send she realizes that our FBI finger prints have never been received. So ensues our attempt to track them down. Feb 2 we finally got a number to call we are told that they are just now opening mail from Nov 13th and until our application is opened it wont show up in the system. We then called back each week until we got the news we were waiting to here! You should be receiving your results in 7 days!!! TODAY was the DAY, even sooner than the 7 days!!! Praise God!

I smile about it now but I wasn't earlier. Our immigration paper came back in weeks (we were told months) and our FBI came back in months (we were expecting weeks). God is in our plan and as I have told Austin, I keep reminding myself, God has our child picked out already it is already written! Leaning on him is the only way to get through this process. 

In the meantime many of you have been sooooooooo generous with your prayers, donations, orders and watching Austin. THANK YOU is just not enough! 

As our last post indicated we received a matching grant from Promise 686. Promise686 is a non-profit ministry dedicated to serving the needs of “the fatherless” both here and abroad. They are committed to inspiring and equipping families in the Atlanta area to foster and adopt with the goal of placing children in loving, permanent, Christian homes. Many of you have prayed and donated to our grant. Thank you! Your generousity has been overwelming and humbling. 

I have been crocheting and making 'canvas art' like a crazy nut too! Thank you for all of your requests. I have had a steady flow of business and love the requests to try new patterns! I also love the smiles when kids and adults receive their crocheted item. Each one has been prayed over and I wish you much joy :) 

Today I am happy. Happy I serve an awesome God. Happy to have a family of two awesome guys.  Happy for my extended family. Happy for my friends that have supported us every step of the way. Thank is not enough. xoxo

Promise 686 Grant

As this year comes to a close we have so much to be thankful for. God has kept us healthy and our family busy. Austin is enjoying karate, reading, computer science club and Cub Scouts. Tony has been busy assisting with Scouts, working with 12Stone to open five new campuses and volunteering at Austin’s school. Jennifer has been crocheting like mad, crafting, and enjoying running. But our biggest excitement of the year has been Gods call to adopt.

Last November we felt called by God to adopt an orphaned child into our family. We then began the process of trying to adopt a little boy from Bulgaria. We have now completed our home study as well as our first round of immigration paperwork and are currently compiling our paperwork for a dossier to be sent to Bulgaria. We then will be waiting on Bulgaria to send back information on little boys (ages 3-6) that are a match for us. It is our prayer that God will reveal to us the boy that he has picked for our family. Afterwards we will be making two separate trips to Bulgaria (hopefully taking Austin with us on the second trip) and would bring our new son home with us on that second trip. Unfortunately right now we don’t have a definite time line but our hope is that we would have our son by the end of this next summer.

The biggest challenge for us is not bringing this little boy into our hearts and home, but it is in finding the finances to make this happen. We estimate our total cost for adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, attorney fees, etc. to be $32,000. That’s certainly money we don’t have right now, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. By God’s grace we’ve been able to raise a little over half of this amount so far.

Honestly, it’s a little difficult, to ask for financial assistance. We do trust that God will provide and know that he doesn’t need our help at all to do so. But we also know that most of the time it does require of us to step out in faith. We appreciate our family and friends very much and would like you to pray & consider helping us in our adoption.  There are two ways you can help:

1. Prayer – Please pray God would tenderly care for our son in Bulgaria until we are able to bring him home, that God will direct the matching of our child in a way that it is clear, prepare all of us for the upcoming changes to our family, and that God will give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we raise both of our children to know Jesus Christ. 

2.  Financial support - Will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $14,000 in adoption expenses, to bring our son home?

Promise686 has graciously given us a Matching Grant of $4,000 to help us bring our son home. If you would like to be a part of our journey, you can send your tax-deductible gift to the address below. Another option is to go to this link- https://connect.clickandpledge.com/organization/promise686/campaign/195Mimms  and make your donation there. Your donations will be matched by promise686 on a $1-for-$1 basis up to $4000.  Promise686 will pay adoption expenses out of funds received.  Promise686 is a non-profit adoption and foster care ministry dedicated to expanding God’s Kingdom by helping to bring the fatherless into Christian homes. 

Please make checks payable to:  Promise686, Inc. You may preference how the donation might be used by writing “Mimms Adoption” in the memo section of your check. 
(*Note:  per IRS guidelines, promise686 maintains complete discretion and control over the use of all donated funds, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.)

Mail checks to:
Promise686
4729 Peachtree Industrial Blvd
Suite 100
Berkeley Lake, GA. 30092

Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and finances – it will be an investment with an eternal return!  (Matt 6:20)   We’ll give you all updates and details via Facebook and our blog,  http://tjmimms.blogspot.com as we receive them.  Please pray this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His purposes!

In Christ,

Tony, Jennifer, and Austin

“A father of the fatherless…God setteth the solitary in families…” - Psalms 68:5,6

Worship in the Waiting

Last post in March (I know, I know) I think about posting often but it never happens. So here I am!!!

Over the last couple months God has put us in a waiting period, a drawing closer to Him period and I have been drawn to the song While I'm Waiting by John Waller.

Since our last post:
We met with our social worker to discuss a book we read in April. Then we hit a CRAZY time at work with extended days and lots of end of the year work. Next, we had to watch a bunch of educational videos and complete some Hague Convention training. Hague Convention was established to create safeguards that ensure intercountry adoptions take place in the best interests of the child and with respect for his or her fundamental rights as recognised in international law. This was quite overwhelming along with my work obligations, so we had to postpone final meeting to June.

June we completed our final phone interview.

August we were able to complete our paperwork requirements.

Last week we received communication to review our application and confirm.

Today we received our OFFICIAL document! We are excited but know this is the first of many waiting periods. 

Yesterday we started our documents for immigration for the child. Each part of this process requires each part before and it builds together to create our dossier- a file containing detailed information about us, our home study, and info about the type of child we are looking for. The dossier will be sent to our adoption country for matching to the child God has chosen for us.

As I've been doing a bible study, Experiencing God, I read this- 'God wants to involve you in His Purposes. God has been working in the world all along (see John 5:17). He was accomplishing His purposes for your life prior to your birth, and He has been active in your life since your were born. God said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations"(Jer. 1:5). When God is ready for you to take a new step or direction in His activity, it will always be in sequence with what He has already been doing in your life. He does not go off on tangents or take meaningless detours. He builds your character in an orderly fashion with a divine purpose in mind. So amazing and somewhat imaginable!!

Many of you have been asking about our process and have been praying for us. Thank you!

Continue praying for:

The workers at the orphanage taking care of our son
Gods protection over our son
Continued success in completing tasks and requests
Focus on receiving our son

Fingerprints, Background Checks, Autobiograhies- Oh My!

Sorry for the delay- life got busy!

By nature Tony and I are 'get things done by the deadline' kind of people. So when one of our major homework assignments for our second meeting was our individual autobiographies we under anticipated the depth of thought and typing this would take!  So one week before our meeting we are going through a list of questions that we can either answer or write in story form. We both chose to  just answer the questions. This resulted in an 11 page document each! It was interesting to look back on my life and reflect on how it shaped my now and how it could shape my future. 

The other task was to get our finger prints done twice (apparently and GBI and FBI don't like to share, which means 2x the cost) If you haven't gotten your finger prints in a while (and I hope you haven't for bad reasons) its pretty cool. There is no more ink and they run your finger print card through the printer! I know cool huh!?! When you place your finger on the glass it takes a perfect picture of the finger.  I had some problems rolling my fingers so we wouldn't get smudges but eventually we got each finger detected.

We also had to fill out the paperwork for our background checks. Each state is different but we were required to recall all the states/addresses we lived. Have you ever tried this?!? I couldn't remember my 3 college addresses and Tony was never going to recall his California address from 21 years ago. (No cool Pinterest ideas back then). So we headed to the good-old internet. Sure enough for $7 Tony was able to get every address he had ever had in his life. Then received a coupon code for a free second person look-up, which he used to get all my addresses. So my puzzling question is it cost us $7 to get just about everything we put on the forms why did we still have to send $34 for the background checks to be processed?  

February 27th we met with our SW for our second at home interview. Each of us had a long individual interview and our SW was here for 4+ hrs. 

She gave us our new assignment- online learning and to finish reading The Connected Child. Then our last face to face meeting will be held on March 21st for another joint meeting.

Please continue to pray for:
The workers at the orphanage taking care of our son
Gods protection over our son
Continued success in completing tasks and requests
Focus on receiving our son

First Steps towards a family of Four

After collecting and collecting lots of yellowed papers, we were able to complete the first of 4 steps toward completing our home study! Our scavenger hunt included many personal documents but also signing forms. The fun part was finger prints. Its kind-of cool (new to me) the GBI fingerprinting is done inkless. They have this 'box' that they press your fingers on to capture each of your finger prints and no black finger prints! FBI is a different story :)

We met with our assigned social worker (further refereed as SW) on Feb 3rd, and talked about our families, dating life, married life, parenting, etc...
Note: NO privacy when going through an adoption. :)

SW was very pleasant to work with and really stressed that her goal is not to eliminate applicants but to help in areas of need. Marriage problems before an adoption = MORE marriage problems after.

SW got to meet Austin, observe our interactions with him, and tour our home. I have really enjoyed working with an organization that focuses on education, family unity and God.

February 28th we will be meeting with SW to have individual interviews and again to observe our interactions with Austin. This is also when our autobiography's are due.

In the meantime we are reading our required text: The Connected Child: Bringing hope and healing to our adoptive family by Karyn B. Purvis, David R. Cross, and Wendy Lyons Sunshine.

Please pray for:
The workers at the orphanage taking care of our son
Gods protection over our son
Continued success in completing tasks and requests
Focus on receiving our son 

It's the little things

  

Listening is one of those things we just take for granted.  Really have you ever thought about the sound of things that just make noise and are tuned out because you always hear it? 

When Austin was little he could tell us a plane or helicopter was up in the sky WAY before we could see it. He was learning to listen and could hear EVERYTHING! 

Looking back I remember always being told to lower my voice or I was too loud. But not until I had my son that I was concerned I wouldn't hear my baby in the monitor if he cried. Being responsible for someone truly makes me take care of myself better, knowing someone is depending on me. 

The first time time I put a pair of hearing aids in I thought something was wrong with the hearing aides. All the sounds I had never heard before. Florisent lights, carpet, paper (yes paper!)

I had a headache for a week trying to adjust to my new improved sense. I wish I had gotten them sooner, it has opended up my world. I am not just nodding n' smiling. I can actually have a conversion and know what is going on! 

Now after 7 years I am on to my second VERY pricey pair and these are AMAZING!! Technology has come a long way just since my first pair in 2006. 

If you know some one who could benefit from hearing aides even at the young age  PLEASE encourage them, allow them to be part of the conversation, laughs, TV shows. Help their spouse not have to repeat every punch line and quick comment. Enjoy life and all the sounds of our life. 

Hearing my world also makes me ponder how my spirit is listening to Gods call on my life. Everyday I need to reset and focus on Him. To start listening to His call for me to join Him when our world has made me immune to looking for where He is working. 

Onward and forward!

Well our first phone interview is complete and now we beginning the process of the home study- We have been told that this could take 3-4 months to complete and that there will be a couple more face to face interviews along with a home visit to our house. If you don't hear about the adoption for a while we are knee deep in looking for long lost certificates and proof that we exist :)

If you pray we specifically ask that you pray:
1- First and foremost for our child's safety, protection, and well-being as he will already be born.
2- For those taking care of him.
3- For strength and endurance in this long process.
4- Make financially good decisions now as it is easy to think of today and not next year.
5- Parenting growth for Tony and I as we prepare to bring home an orphan.

Adoption

I know it might sound silly but it is always been awkward announcing big news. Like getting married, having a child, getting my masters. Its not that I feel like I'm being prideful but that it is scary to just put big things 'out there' where others are going to ask about it, your progress, and look at you to see what your reaction is. When all I am trying to do is take it one-day-at-a-time. I have never been great with words and this blog does stretch  me quite a bit. (I'll give it a go AGAIN this year!)

All that to say...

We are adopting! I know this might come as a shock to you because it really isn't something we have openly discussed (see first paragraph) and to be honest I really didn't want others opinions to weigh in on our decision. So let me start from the beginning...

Austin was conceived quite quickly and to be honest with you, when we decided to try for a second we both agreed that we had to be ready since we thought it would be just as quick. When that didn't happen it became overtaking. It overtook my every thought and daily activity wondering if I was pregnant or not and should I do this or not. It is really hard to understand until you have been there. I never truthfully understood how mentally overwhelming it would be until it happened to us. We were advised to just keep trying and after a while I felt I needed to get a second opinion. This time I was told that at our age we really should seek fertility assistance.  Both Tony and I agreed that going beyond diagnosing the problem and minimal assistance neither of us we wanting to go through infertility options. So be both got checked out and were given a clean bill of heath. The only issue was age. I took Clomid with no success. This is when we decided we were done trying. Soon God removed the desire to bare another child but not to raise and nurture another child. 

[This is a great article on the pain of infertility. I really felt peace knowing my emotions and feelings of trying to have another child weren't just me going 'crazy'. A good article if you or someone you know is challenged by infertility. God is good and "all things work together for the good” (Rom. 8:28)]

After much praying and seeking others who have gone this route we started attending informational meetings for some adoption organizations. 

After one meeting about foster-to-adopt we realized we didn't feel God leading us into the labyrinth of the U.S. foster care system.  

Then after attending a meeting with Lifeline Children's Services we both felt God lead us to this group. We felt their goals and ours were aligned and we would be well taken care of through the entire process of this journey. 

So let me bring you up to speed-

September 22, 2013 we submitted our application- we then needed to decide what country to adopt from, we didn't feel God was leading us to a specific country so until he did we started the most rational approach. We literally started black lining countries from the spreadsheet that wouldn't work for us. 
1- The length of stay in the country. Since both of us work it would be difficult to be out of the country for more than a month. 
2- Cost- lets be honest it's not cheap.
3- Length of time for adoption to be complete. 

In the end we have chosen to adopt a little boy age 2-5 from Southeastern Europe. (per request we are not identifying specific country on this blog until adoption as complete.)

November 2, 2013 we signed our papers to begin our home study  but had some complications getting some bonds that we earmarked for the home study cashed so it was frustrating to have to wait so long to begin. 

December 18, 2013 January 3rd, 2014-Finally able to make a date for our first interview! 

One question you might have is- What does Austin think? He is very excited and at the beginning wanted a blow by blow for everything we have to do. As time moves on he will forget about it for a week or so then say as he did about a week ago, 'I wish my brother would get here soon'. BOY so do I!!

Well now you are in the loop! I hope you follow our journey and I will share as much as I can.
 

New Old Couch

Here is a tired old couch...

I would LOVE a new set! But it is not in the budget ANYTIME soon. 

So how do you make lemonade out of lemons?

1- Take all the stuffing out of couch pillows. Great time since I haven't deep cleaned since Annie died and I have been running and then sitting on the couch = smelling my stink long after a shower. :(

2- Wash all covers. I washed the throw pillows without taking stuffing out but later realized they were damp and had more potential than I was giving them. Hence the drying pile- (it was spread all over floor)

3- Pull all filler apart and allow air to infiltrate. This is great to do while watching TV :)

4- As it is fluffed, fill pillow casings. Long and tedious process. Stick with it, it's worth it!

5- Sew back seam. I used heavy coat thread. 

6- Cut batting to cover bottom cushions. This can be a puzzle if you want to get the most out of your money.

7- Spray adhesive according to the directions. I put new batting right on top of old batting for a more full look and feel.

8. Wrestle the foam/batting back into the casing. 

9- Put couch back together and be amazed!!! 

The total love seat revival cost $16.00!!

Now I have to do the bigger  couch...another day :)

Have a great day!!!

Running..me?

I have never been a huge fan of running, but for some reason lately I have really been interested in doing 5k's' so I signed up for the Run or Dye in Atlanta on Aug 3rd. Then Tiffany approached me about running the Grayson Road Race at the end of April. So here I go...running... not sure how I got here but I am going to enjoy it!

Light at the end of the school year

This has been a week to be at my desk, it doesn't happen very often so I am going to take advantage of it! Working at my desk can have its pitfalls and advantages. One pitfall is that everyone knows where to find me. The advantage is that everything I need is in my office. I will enjoy the time I have to get what little I can done each day between kindergarten, lunch duty, and 4th grade specials.

This next week Austin and I get to visit Baby Braden and his wonderful family!
Hoping to be a little more frequent in my posts now that school is coming to an end.

Is spring here yet?

A beautiful day to play outside the cherry blossoms are all in bloom and I love seeing all the flowers on the trees! I am ready for spring!

We enjoyed a relaxing Easter, Tony had to work 9 services so his weekend was pretty busy. We feel so blessed to attend a church that shares the truth in a non condemning manner.

Austin and I enjoyed dyeing eggs in Koolaide with Levi and Emily. Along with an egg hunt, basket hunt ( while FaceTiming Tony) and a delicious brunch.

March Madness :}

Austin earned two trophies for his pinewood derby car! He earned third place for design and first for speed! Soo happy with all Tony and Austin accomplished!














Mom made this and sent it to us for Easter!

I got to enjoy a weekend away with girlfriends scrapbooking in March.

Playing cards with Austin can be so much fun when he is happy using his new card holder :) gifts from my Nags head trip.
















Happy Saint Patrick's day! Special green pancakes in shapes of clovers, top hats and coins. Adding green milk and its a perfect breakfast!


















Library trips are always fun! I have almost given up on buying books he reads them so fast! Austin's craving right now is Geronimo Stilton books on CD

Posting Blog Entries To Facebook

So, when Tony started this blog for us he also set up a service so that people could sign up to be notified via email when we would put a new blog post up. This was back before he and I, or many of our family were on Facebook. Now that we are on Facebook, many of the people that keep track of us are not signed up with that service so they aren't aware when we put something new up. Tony found a new service that we are testing out for the first time with this post. Hopefully if it works, anytime I post a new entry, this service will automatically put a brief post on my Facebook timeline letting people know that there is a new blog entry and should give a link for it as well.

The service he is using for this is called IFTTT. It stands for If This Then That. So he's set it up that essentially IF there is a new blog post THEN post a brief message and link on Facebook. Well, enough typing....here it goes! Cross your fingers!

Time for Family

Austin and I took our 4 day weekend to surprise Aroa for her birthday and also to visit the Mimms/Strange Clans.

I sure miss being close to them and the kids ALWAYS have fun together!

We arrived in STL around 3pm and surprised Aroa, when we walked in she was not very surprised. I think it was more shock than anything. Anna seemed a little confused too :)

We soon headed off to get Build-a-Bear birthday presents (Aroa-Feb and Anna- Apr)and Austin's Build-a-Bear Valentine.

 It was a cold weekend (to Georgia standards) but playing outside was a must for the Strange girls and Austin loved playing with his cousins. I enjoyed relaxing, watching and listening to the kids, and spending time with Kim. I also enjoyed some yummy cooking by Jeff and delicious cake by Carol.

Of course Kim and I HAD to go to Target :) Where Austin got to pick his birthday present from Aunt Kim and Uncle Jeff. (Always acting silly!)

  and when we got back the Legos got built. 

On Sunday Aroa had her family birthday party and Aunt Katie had the winning present of a mini build-a-stuffed animal kit. All three kids love it. It was fun watching them build their animals and then get the sewing supplies Carol gave her and proceed to make clothes for them. 

 

(yes, Aroa is younger then Austin but she is taller) 

 

 Carol made a BEAUTIFUL cake for Aroa and it was yummy too!

The night before we left Kim and I could hear the the two big kids talking in the bedroom about being grown up, driver licenses, girl/boyfriends, and college. It was soo cute to hear them be best buds and hang out together. That is time they will always cherish!

I really enjoyed my weekend with my family, I couldn't have prayed for better family-in-law's and I am looking forward to seeing them all again this summer!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you enjoy Valentines Day as much as I do. Really any holiday that I can celebrate, I like :)

 Tony was soo sweet to surprise me with flower on Wednesday at work. I had no clue but they couldn't have come at a better time. Stressed by my work load, meetings and deadlines along with an approaching trip. It was just what I needed. He is the best!

Austin and I looked at Valentine ideas on Pinterest this year and he really loved these. I Photoshopped hearts and text on the pictures before I sent it to Walgreens for printing. So much fun!

 Austin woke up to his Valentine friend waiting with a VERY special present. This Love Bug is sooo cute! He has a backpack on so any presents can go in the backpack and his hand has a clip so he can even hold things too. The bug was from last years Valentines Day, great time to recycle!
Since we were going to see Aroa and Anna. I knew that we would be going to Build-a-Bear as our gift to them for their birthdays, sooo for Austins valenine present I also gave him a gift card to Build-a-Bear. It was a little more expensive of a gift than I would normally give him but this year was special. Hopefully he will forget about it for next year :)

 For school I made Austin a cute shirt, originally the heart was 'scarlet' which I always thought meant 'red' but apparently it is a hue of pink. Eventually the heart became green and the alien blue, it turned out super cute and he loves it- which is what matters!

Austin and Sarah showing off their loot bags, Austin sure had a lot of fun decorating his.

For Valentine's evening we all went to Panera. It was my last day of work for the week and I was not leaving until the yearbook was finally submitted, so around 5pm Austin and I finally left school and headed to meet Tony for dinner.  Austin took this pictures of us. :)

Austin wanted to have a 'dinner-party of one' night so he sat down the bench from us. :)

I hope you had a wonderful day full of love, surprises and joy.

The yearbook is finally done!

My days have been consumed by the school yearbook. Busy days and busy nights! I am soo glad that it is done! I have never been happier to have completed a project!
I kept thinking about how I wanted to post to the blog but the yearbook had a deadline and this didn't :(

In the mean time we have enjoyed some fun around our house.
I am finished crocheting Emily a beret and made some cute winter hats for two newborn babies. I can't wait to see them on them!

We watched the Superbowl over Tom and Gretchen's the kids watched most of the game with the help of the Viggle App we all had fun answering trivia and watching the commercials.

We went and saw my dad and his wife Darcie at an SCA Arts and Science Event. My Dad has been participating in SCA since as long as I can remember.

We also had a fun date at the Studio Movie Grill and had dinner in front of  the movie. Fun, not for every date night but fun.

 Made a trip to the library to get more books, this boy can read so many books so quickly. He finished the Heroes in Training in 3 days!

Don't forget about Valentines day (more pictures to come)! Austin and Tony did a great job assembling them!

Austin is doing may jobs/chores to earn money these days one of them this week is to fill the dish washer. 

Other posts to come but soo happy to not be exaused by this yearbook projects, a least for a year :)