Patiently Waiting

               "For if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." 
                                                                      Romans 8:25

August has been an exciting month for us. We moved up 16 slots on the waiting list making us #80!!! I couldn't believe it when I read the e-mail! We have spent the month of August specifically praying in 2 ways and ask that you would join with us. First, we have felt lead to pray specifically for our child's safety at this time. Second, for God's leading and provision for the remaining financial needs of the adoption. (we estimate that we need $15,000 more)

We have the opportunity to have another garage sale at the same great location we have used before, where God has really blessed us. It will be Thursday, Sept. 26th and Friday, Sept. 27th. Again, all the items at the garage sale are donated and 100% of the proceeds go toward our adoption expenses. If you have any items to donate please contact Nate or I and we will be glad to pick them up. Furniture and children's clothes and toys go really well however, we are very thankful to receive ANY items you might have to donate. Our garage is already half full of donated items to sell this time around so we are eager to see what God will do!!!

#96

We received our July wait list # today. I was pleasantly surprised to see it is #96!!! Last month we were #105 so moving 9 slots in one month is exciting! Our agency placed 10 children with their forever families in June, yet it seems like it will be FOREVER before we are one of those families!

In case you had not heard yet, the garage sale in May was a huge success! We were so blessed and thankful for 16 different families who donated items and by the favor of God we raised $1600!!! And, people are still giving us items to sell so it looks like we may have another sale again in August.

That is all the news we have for now. Please continue to pray for us and our child as we wait to be united.

Calling all spring cleaners!!!

I know it doesn't feel much like spring yet but the fact remains that it is indeed spring time and if your like me this means its time to clean, clean, clean and purge, purge, purge! While this is NOT Nate's favorite thing to do, I usually try to clean out the cupboards, closets and garage once a year and get rid of the stuff we either didn't need or never even touched since the previous years purging extravaganza. This activity is exceedingly enjoyable and rewarding for me! (I can hear some of you groaning right now-heehee) This year I started with Nate's closet........seriously, how many t-shirts does one man need! I think I saw one from his 5th grade band in there!!! :) I wish I had taken a before picture to show you so you could see how he used plastic tubs to store his clothes! Anyways, here is my after shot which still gives me goose bumps when I see it in all its organized glory! Yes, the clothes are organized by color and I got rid of the plastic tubs!


In adoption news, we will be having another fund raising garage sale this year. It will be May 10th and 11th at the Rothe's house again. That's just 3 weeks away so, if this has inspired you to do some cleaning and purging yourself and you find yourself with items you would like to donate somewhere please consider giving us a holler and we will come pick it up! Last year we raised $1000 entirely on donated items! It was such a blessing! Furniture and children's items went really well but we would be grateful for anything anyone would like to donate!

# 111

We are officially on the waiting list with our adoption agency in Ethiopia! We are family #111 this month. Each month we will receive an e-mail with our updated wait number. I don't really know what number I was expecting.....but 111 sounds good, I guess. At least it's not 1111! Our agency matched 5 children in Ethiopia to forever families last month but they say each month is different so there could be only 2 matches one month and then 12 the next. Also, the 110 families in front of us are not all waiting for an infant. Some may be waiting for a sibling group or special needs child so the reality is that we could get matched before some of the other families.

Right now, today, the wait is killing me.....

Our agency recently sent us the information about a new movie on adoption called Stuck. The trailer for the movie was more than I could bear because my heart longs to get these children un-stuck. Everything inside me wants to get on a plane TODAY and go get my child......whoever he/she is. But, instead we wait..................and pray, and hope, and pray, and hope, and pray that God will open doors and move on behalf of these orphans in their distress. Take a minute and watch the trailer.

Stuck Trailer

So little yet so BIG.

I just love God's little reminders to me that He has not forgotten us and our child in Ethiopia. See one little action or word can be a BIG faith builder for us.

This past weekend at church the sweetest little 6 year old girl came up to me while I was talking and I felt her little finger tap me on the leg. I said hello to her and she immediately reached her little hand into her pocket and pulled out a hand full of change. Then she stretched out her hand and said, 

"This is for your baby." 

I was overcome with emotion and reached out to thank her with a big hug. She put the money in my hand and walked away with the biggest smile on her face. It was so precious, I am melting into a puddle right now just thinking about it again.

The next morning while Nate and I were talking about this sweet child and the faith she built in us, Nate said, "I believe that God is going to multiply Ellie's 24 cents into $24,000!"

Beautiful people who do beautiful things.

The Mexican meal fundraiser was a HUGE success! In fact, it went over so well that we ran out of food! Thank you, thank you, thank you Leonard & Tracy Hernandez, Aaron & Rachel Ramirez, Erin Calcara, Jenelle Hernandez, Jackie Castillo, Tina Rothe and Marie Hernandez for all your hard work! This amazing group of people worked tirelessly making homemade salsa, tortillas, meat, beans, rice and over 700 enchiladas!!! What a labor of love!

 We also want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who came out in the cold and snow to purchase food! It was so great to see everyone and your support blesses us greatly!

 Most importantly...thank you God for continuing to meet our needs each step of the way! We were joyfully in shock when they told us the grand total raised that night was $2448.82!!!

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

Let us make you dinner!

Some long time friends of ours, the Hernandez/Ramirez family, are putting on a fund raiser for our adoption costs, this Friday night! They are making authentic Mexican meals with homemade salsa! Oh, it's so delicious!

Here's how it works.
Place your order TODAY from the menu below then come to our church, Crossroads Church on 40th & Superior, this Friday between 3pm-7pm to either pick up your order or stay and eat at the church. You can order by emailing me, rburnett511@gmail.com, or by leaving it in a comment on this post or facebook.

MENU SELECTION

Chicken Enchilada Dinner - $7

2 chicken enchiladas, beans, rice, tortilla, salsa

Beef Enchilada Dinner - $7

2 beef enchiladas, beans, rice, tortilla, salsa

Cheese Enchilada Dinner - $7

2 cheese enchiladas, beans, rice, tortilla, salsa

Burrito Dinner - $7

Beef & Bean burrito w/lettuce, cheese, sour cream, side of beans, rice, tortilla, salsa

10-Pack of frozen Enchiladas - $20

Choose Chicken, beef or cheese. A combination of choices is also available. Just indicate the qty of each so it equals 10.

So, let us make you dinner this Friday night and help us bring baby Burnett home!!!

Paper Pregnant

I am excited to say that I mailed our completed dossier on Monday! I asked the FedEx lady to take this photo of me with the package before she took it from me.....she looked at me like I was crazy...but it was so worth the awkward moment.

For me, this photo of me holding our dossier is like that very first sonogram you get when you first find out your pregnant. You know, the one that looks like a little bean. You don't know if your precious baby is a boy or girl, you can't see their face or really even tell that it is in fact a human being. This is a shot from Moses' baby book. He was only 7 weeks into existence here. Looking at this, I cannot believe he was ever this tiny!

Adoptive moms refer to the process of adopting as being "paper pregnant." I like this! It feels so right. Although I don't have morning sickness or a growing abdomen (I hope it does the opposite actually!) I am excitedly, nervously, happily, anxiously awaiting the day when I finally get to see my baby's face and hold him/her tightly in my arms. Just like I did while pregnant with Moses and Grace, I will purchase a baby book and put this photo in the spot for the first sonogram. We want this baby to know how much we want him/her and how excited we grow each step of the way!

This is so cool!

I didn't even realize it last week when I was writing the blog explaining the I-600 and how long it would take to get it but at that very moment the approval papers were sitting on my kitchen table in a pile of mail! I could not believe it when I called our adoption coordinator later that day and said, "what is this pink paper?" And she said, "That's it! That's the approval!" So, when God told us "by this time tomorrow" he wasn't jokin'! We were told it would take 90 days to get the approval but it only took 43! This is so exciting for us! We will be putting all the final touches on the dossier papers this weekend and mail it on Monday!

By this time tomorrow...

Several people have asked me lately, "so how are things going with the adoption?" I reply by saying that its good and that we are really excited with our progress. I tell them how we submitted our I-600 form at the end of November and will be mailing our Dossier by the end of February! Most people then give me a smile that says "I want to be really excited for you but I have no idea what your talking about." :) It just blesses my heart that they want to be really excited with me but I forget that most people don't know what the heck an I-600 form or a dossier is! I didn't know before this whole process began either.

So, the I-600 form, for which we have applied and are awaiting approval, classifies an orphan who has been or will be adopted by a U.S. citizen as an immediate relative to that citizen therefore, allowing the child to enter the U.S. Oh! My heart just skipped a beat and I am smiling from ear to ear! It says, "immediate relative" and "child to enter the U.S." I CAN'T WAIT FOR THAT DAY!!!

While we wait for the immigration approval (90 days) we are compiling a dossier. This is a collection of very detailed papers about us. Even photos too! They all have to be official and notarized. The dossier is what the agency in Ethiopia will use to match us with our child. It's all very exciting, even with all the detailed papers and long waits. Each form we fill out gets us one step closer to baby Burnett!

We have found that encouragement from the Lord comes when we least expect it. This is a huge blessing while we wait....wait....wait. Our good friend Victor came over for dinner in December right before he moved out of state. He also asked us how the adoption was coming along and got the same answers you all have heard. He began to tell us about a time in his life when he was told that it would take 2 years to receive the papers he needed to work in another country. However, he got them in 6 months!!! He told us that he and his wife had taken hold of an Old Testament story, 2 Kings 6:24-7:20, and prayed that the Lord would move on their behalf...and He did! Victor encouraged us to do the same with our adoption process. 

So, that night we read the passage which tells of a time when Samaria was in a famine and under siege by the Arameans. The famine was so bad that the people were eating their children to stay alive! In distress, the king called for the prophet Elisha to come. Elisha prophesied that "by this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria." In other words, the famine will be over! An officer next to the king could not believe the prophets words and Elisha told the officer that indeed it would happen but he would not partake of it. 

Here's how it went down. In the middle of the night the Lord caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses so that they thought they were under attack. They fled their camp leaving EVERYTHING behind. Some lepers went out to the camp and found all their goods. The next morning they told the king what they had found. As you can imagine the people of Samaria stormed the city gates, desperate for the food and supplies and in the process trampled the kings unbelieving officer to death.

Every time we speak to Victor now, he always says "by this time tomorrow...by this time tomorrow...keep believing the word of the Lord Nate and Rachel! Your child will be here sooner than you think!" And this is what we pray and believe,

BY THIS TIME TOMORROW...