Our Story...

Our story began nearly 12 years ago when Ben and I met in Pascagoula, MS. Ben was a Pastor, and I was on an internship with Youth For Christ completing part of my internship requirements for post graduate school. Ben and I married at the end of that summer. Ben has worked in a Pastor/Leadership Role for over 16 years. He has worked with many churches and the community helping and encouraging others while assisting them in meeting their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. In the past year and a half, Ben has resigned and returned back to school to complete his degree at this time pursuing a degree in Family & Marriage Therapy. I have been a Counselor for over ten years and am currently working at our local hospital as a Licensed Professional Counselor. We both believe God is using our lives on a daily basis to encounter others and give them hope.

Adoption has been part of my heart since a young age when my cousin brought home his daughter from Romania. I remember my Aunt and Uncle doting over their new grandchild. It was something beautiful. I hold that memory in my heart today. After dealing with infertility for over 5 years and being moved by God's Word, Ben and I made a life altering decision to adopt in 2006. We brought home a sibling group of three beautiful children from Colombia, South America in June 2007. Our life has been forever changed.

It's been nearly three years that we've been on this second journey to adopt a fourth child. Please join us on this adventure... Dios te Bendiga!

Goals

Our attempt of taking a family portrait using the self timer! Andrew bent down and fell into his Father's shadow, and that's interesting, because he usually is in Ben's shadow! =)

It's rare to get all THREE to look the same direction and smile! Close. 2/3. 

My goal this weekend is to launch our next fundraiser. I needed a place to add photos. So uploading to the blog to attempt to be able to utilize on the site. Check back tomorrow, because WE NEED YOU! Thanks for following us along the journey. I am hoping soon we will have more news to share! 

another day.

emailed children's hope. program person out this week. will start initiating contact with local adoption agency to begin a home study update to reapply for the uscis approval. im thinking i have to do our fbi fingerprints also. the word on the street is colombia is moving slow everywhere and with all age groups.

we are planning on doing another fundraiser soon. we will need the help of your social networks, and it may be an idea for those of you who are reading who are adopting. i will post soon. my weekend goal is to complete that project. thanks for your continued support for those who are reading and lurking about.

thank you also for the kind words in the previous post. many people dont understand that with adoption it is much like a pregnancy in the emotional realm. there are emotional highs and lows, and the unpredictability of what could trigger it! thx to wes. those scriptures were so right on! ive got them posted at my workplace and highlighted in my bible! and ange... girl, i think of you often. so often. u have a powerful story. thank u for sharing it.

so, this friday has began slow and im drudging going to work, but i will choose to put on my rose-colored spectacles and my smile to try to uplift the depressed and confused placed before me. right? its about seeing god's mission in each day... his agenda, not mine... or finding the something beautifuls he places before us along our daily journey. please help me remember that lord, when im sitting in that 4 hour computer training class at the end of the workday today.

peace.

bummed. disappointed. depressed.

=( i know i need to update the blog, but i have nothing to say. still waiting. still wishing. still hoping. still need money. still praying.

no word yet, and soon we will have to update our paperwork again. that's nearly 2 grande! that get's depressing... it was supposed to be quick. real quick. what happened?

on top of that... my uncle's cancer has come back. he's not doing well. i so wanted him to get to see our second daughter... so he could rejoice with us, even if it were just on a paper... the referral picture! he really loves our kids.

i hate death. i hate pain. i hate suffering... though, i know you must feel these things to experience the life, the joys and excitement of life... doesn't make it easier.

oh. god. when. will this dark journey end? where is the light at the end of the tunnel? who am i to whine about a referral, betrayal of friends/family, death and sickness, when i have it so good? when i see a growing epidemic of starving children on tv... who am i? are my cries so petty? am i so spoiled? is it wrong to desire such things when you know there are people in a much more desperate situation?

where does this desire and pain come from? help me, father. make way with our paperwork... with our daughter... and don't take his spirit... just yet. i know that is selfish of me. don't let him be in pain, either. make haste, father. for your daughter. send me child... "the child" "the one you have set aside for this family" --send me that picture, that information so that i can share with my uncle and we can make preparations to bring this daughter of ours home...

help me to reframe these negative thoughts and set my heart on you. you are the prize. you are the one in whom i should seek. restore me father. take away my pains, my tears, and heartbreak. heal me. show me how to forgive those who've pained me. forgive me for the pain ive caused you and others. help me to be slow to speak. help me to be the best wife and mother i can be. show me how.

for so long, i was one who stood beside others and cheered them along their adoptions. send me girls, wives, moms that will inspire and encourage me in this hour. i am shamed to say my light has grown dim with this long wait. there are two people i've yet to call that have inquired about adoption. what happened to the passion? the excitement? how crazy how depression and despair set in, take root...

help me lord.

It's been a while...

It's been awhile since we talked... what are you up too? Comment below!

Please VOTE for my photo! #21

Please take a minute... just ONE minute to go to this link: http://theprospercommunity.com/contest.html and scroll to bottom of page, and vote for my picture! #21 Wendi Wood. I need YOUR vote! Contest ends Wednesday. Help me win the contest! Thanks in advance for your time and vote! Please pass to friends. You can vote from computer or phone!

AND-- I do believe you are beautiful!

-Wendi

Work & PTO time

Ok, so, as I wait, I ask are we ready? I'm at work and I look through my PTO time. I only have about 60 hours. If we are gone only a month, I will need 160 hours to cover my time away from work. Because my salary basically covers our bills while Ben has been in school and since he resigned. So, how long will it take to earn 100 hours? SEVEN MONTHS!!!! Can you believe that???? I'm really hoping we can travel by this summer so the kids can go and Ben won't have to take off work. And if we left in July that's FIVE months... I'm gonna be short about a week's worth of paid time off. I need to find away to now work extra in addition to what I'm doing now, or we need to do more fundraising! UGH.... this seems MUCH harder this time around!

Does anyone else feel that way? Those who have gone a second time around in adoptions? I mean the paperwork didn't seem hard this time. I was much more familiar. The wait and the saving money/raising money parts seem to be the hardest for me this time around.

After looking at the details, I'm okay with waiting for now, but I think I will probably get a little anxious if we don't receive a referral by early April...

Grandparents visit!

Grandparents from Minnesota came to visit. The kids had a blast! Diego just looks at the picture and whines! =( It kindof stinks to live so far away from family. It makes times like this even more special. We are very grateful to have Ben's mother and Stepdad local and supportive to us and the family. My family is about 7 hours away, and I miss them terribly. We are very fortunate that God has placed other people in our lives to support and encourage us along the way, and we appreciate them! Be sure to enjoy your family and friends today!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Picture from Gorgeous Baby from Louisiana Photo Shoot.

Fundraising Update

Still selling cookbooks! Still collecting from the auction. We have about 17 cookbooks left to sell, while we've commissioned my grandmother with 20 and a friend from the hospital to sell 10. Thanks to those of you who participated in the Auction and the Cookbook Sale.

Not sure what kind of fundraiser is next. I have been taking more and more pics, but that isn't really profiting us much due to the time and energy it takes to find location, edit pics and deliver, and if props are involved, usually there's some expense. I would like to do that more often, but the $50 Mini Session Fundraiser is over unless I find a location where I can set up all day and do multiple sessions, it's not beneficial.

So, suggestions? We do not belong to a church at this time so no spaghetti dinners. (Someone mentioned that in one of the previous posts.) I saw where another family went to a festival and sold cokes and bags of potato chips in a booth with info about Colombia Adoption. Not sure how well they did, but it looked cool.