Orphan Summit

Geoff Moore: Christian music artist &Summit MC

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Orphan Summit on behalf of our church. The Orphan Summit is sponsored by the Christian Alliance for Orphans and has sessions for church ministries, pastors, social workers, adoptive parents, etc. There's a small-but-mighty group of five at Charity that's working to put together an orphan advocacy group that will not only raise funds to help families overcome the financial obstacles of adopting, but also to help people understand what a beast the issue is. We're looking for people who want and believe they can make a difference. At the Summit, we were gathering information and tools so we can do it up right. 

The conference was blow-your-socks-off good. The kind that leaves you excited to return to the family you miss so much, but also sad because you know that what waits for you at home is life and everyday life is a giant time-suck. Every day life can also lead a person to forget (or ignore) the direction God has laid out.

Kay & Rick Warren

We heard so many great speakers. The conference was hosted by Saddleback so, of course, we got to hear Rick Warren speak. If you remember, Rick is the author of the best-selling book, Purpose Driven Life. Charity went through the series as a church several years back and I'm disappointed to report to you that Rick did not even wear one Hawaiian shirt the whole time we were there. Those Hawaiian shirts were a staple on the videos we watched as part of the series.

Kay Warren, Elizabeth Styffe & Mary Beth Chapman

In addition, we also got to hear best-selling author, Francis Chan,  Kay Warren (Rick's wife) and see Steven Curtis Chapman in concert. It's no secret, that we feel the seed for adoption was first planted at a concert we attended before we were even married. (You can read about it HERE) Although I love his music, I love his humor and his mission...it is really his wife I relate to. If you haven't, check out her book "Choosing to See."

So, you can imagine my thought when I opened the conference book and saw that Mary Beth Chapman was going to participate in a panel discussion before the concert. Up until this point she had been in none of the pre-conference materials. So, Here I am, 20 feet away from a woman I have respected and looked up to for a long time. I was ecstatic.

Steven Curtis Chapman in concert. 

Dawn and I made plans to go up afterward and talk to her, but as we were walking she got whisked away...but before she did...she turned and looked right at us and waved and said "I'm so sorry." That was plenty for me. I have a bad track record for meeting people I view as celebrities anyway. None of my words come out right and I usually can't stop crying. Yes, sometimes it is embarrassing being me. I was so grateful to get to see her.

The first day we were there, I stumbled upon our agency, All God's Children International and had the opportunity to meet with our inquiries coordinator (the person we worked with first question through country selection), Tiffany. She took one look at my name tag and instantly remembered me from our talks eight months ago. I was impressed. She invited Dawn and I to dinner with other adoptive families from AGCI. We had a great time and enjoyed meeting other people who are in the process and who had their adopted children with them. It is good for my heart to see people with their completed families...at this point I see no light at the end of our long tunnel.

The Warrens were presented with this beautiful painting.

 I don't know if I can explain how beautiful it was to be in the presence of people who care so much about adoption. Everywhere, people were whipping out their phones and showing each other cell photos of the children they had just brought home or children they were waiting on travel orders to go and get. People so passionate about giving voice to the smallest who have none. People who believe that every small step will make a huge difference.

That was a mishmash of info, proving my original thought that it would be hard to put the Orphan Summit into words. I had several take-aways from the conference, but I think I'll list them out for you in the next post.

Adoption update: We got our fingerprint appts from the USCIS so we'll be heading to Fargo on May 29. After that, it should be 3-4 more weeks to be approved. 

THANK YOU!

Thank you for what you have done and what you are doing. We feel in the last week like a giant weight has been lifted of our shoulders and we have so many people to thank for it. Your financial support and prayer make us feel like we can take on the world. Honestly, truly and sincerely...thank you for being a blessing.

My thank you list!
Disclaimer: While said party (Nicole) has made every effort to remember and document all the parties her family owes a huge amount of gratitude to, she reserves the right to grovel at the feet of anyone she has inadvertently missed due to missed organization, simple oversight or lack of sleep.

OK...moving on...

FOOD:
"Everything you see I owe to spaghetti." - Sophia Loren 
A HUGE thank you to the Olive Garden for providing the pasta, sauce, bread sticks, salad & dressing.
We also bow to:
Karen Karls and Gin Torkelson for the fabulous cakes.
Charity Lutheran for providing the facility, lemonade & coffee.

Our hospitable HOSTS:
"There is no hospitality like understanding." - Vanna Bonta  
Dawn and Kevin Kindel

Our beautiful WORKERS:
"God bless the good-natured, for they bless everybody else." - Henry Ward Beecher 
Danay Engbrecht
Hilary Hovdenes
Jan Jordan
Karen Karls
Mike Lehmann
Kris Magstadt
Tiffany Milligan
Jen Severson
Donna Thronson
Tara Ullrich
Beth Peske
Pam Peske

The hip MUSICIANS: 

"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing" - Duke Ellington

Mark Herold

Kim Kaul
Bob Peske
Tim Peske

The amazing SILENT AUCTION donors:
"You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give." - Winston Churchill
Kevin & Dawn Kindel
HuHot
Midway Lanes
Kemmesets
Beth Peske
Lauri Desir
Kathy Kinnischtzke
Kathy & Laif Olson
Jamie Schaeffer
Ron & Gin Torkelson
Dakota Zoo
Denny's
Tires Plus
Walrus
Bob & Pam Peske
Papa Murphys
Box Office Video
Jan Jordan
Ramkota
Perkins
Sam & Sarah Coleman
Kristin Barth
Bernie Belzer
Jana & Dave Wisthoff
Wes & Danay Engbrecht
Chelly Bosch
Justin & Tanna Torkelson
Scheels
Tesoro
Sleep Inn, Minot
BHS Multi-media
Cumulus
Vintners
Radisson
Amber Hill
Sarah Herold
Eckroth Music
Brook Spotts, Image Makers
Jen & Jeremy Severson
Michelle Zajac
Hilary Hovdenes
Janet James
Clark & MariJo Van Horne
Heather Austin
Michelle Farnsworth
Paul Noot
Grand Theatres
Carino's
Paula Seeberg
Emily McKay & Ted Cash
Jim & Aleycia Gerlach

A huge THANK YOU to Sarah Herold for calling and collecting and to Dawn Kindel for connecting winners with their new treasurers.

Do you see what we mean?!? BLESSED, I tell ya. Ridiculous. We love each an every one of you and are so grateful you are on this journey with us. Please continue to pray for our little girl(s) and we will continue to pray for you.

Unbelievable!

Oh my! Oh my! I have so few words that convey the gratitude Rob and I are feeling over the benefit on Sunday.

375 of you showed up to eat Olive Garden spaghetti, listen to some great live music and bid on a great selection of silent auction items. We feel so loved, so supported, totally filled with hope and extremely grateful. Everyone should have the opportunity to be part of an event where only their champions show up. No negative people, no people who "just don't get it." Those people just weren't present.

We pray that God will bless your family with more blessings than you know what to do with.


So we completely ran out of sauce. The extra salad and noodles? Well, this is how God is present even in the small details...last night just happened to be pasta night at the church so all the leftovers could be used all quick-like and nothing went to waste. We didn't even make the connection until Sunday night and the timing was perfect.

So, I have a mountain of people to thank, but I think I'll do that in the next post.




ADOPTION UPDATE:
In the beautiful hecticness of Sunday, we had a pretty amazing week in our adoption as well. On Friday we sent off our I800 to the US to get approval to bring our daughter(s) back into the US and this week we were also able to send all our notarized dossier documents to the Secretary of State's office to be authenticated. After that, we send our dossier to our agency to be translated to Bulgarian. The translation and US approval will hopefully take no more than six weeks and then all our paperwork will be heading to Bulgaria.  I hope the Bulgarians like us.

Thank you!

Thank you! I seem to be saying that a lot lately.

A HUGE thank you to Olive Garden for donating all the pasta, sauce and bread sticks for the fundraiser on April 15. You read it...if you come to the fundraiser you will, in essence, be eating Olive Garden. Thank you to Sarah Herold who marched her cute little self straight into Olive Garden and must have gave an amazing sales pitch on our behalf. We love you.

Thank you to Chelly with Elegant Designs for doing the flyer and to Sam and Sarah Coleman for taking this updated photo of our family.


(sigh) My heart is seriously bursting as a result of the love and support we are feeling over our adoption. We have so many people who are excited and willing to do what it takes to help us complete our family.

Accepting donations is so tough for us. You have no idea. It's a nervousness in the bottom of my stomach. We are smart and independent and find it like torture to admit that we need help. After swirling feelings about the fundraiser around and around - caring too much about what people will think of us, thinking too much about how judgmental people can be, a wise friend gave me some advice. She looked me in the face and said, "people want to help you and you should let them." A simple statement that cut right to my heart.

We cannot do this on our own, at least not without going into a lot of debt. Friends, I just want you to know that through the prayers, money, silent auction items,  etc., you are caring for the orphan. Even if you can't adopt, helping someone who is able to is certainly living God's order to care for the fatherless.

We are jumping the hoops to make this child a Peske little child, but trust me...this child is also being adopted into a variety of other extended families. She is adopted into our family of God, adopted into our precious church family, adopted into our crazy circle of friends, adopted by our immediate families who already love her more than she can possibly realize. We are blessed by our surroundings, so thank you.

Update:

We are thrilled to be nearing the end of our home study. Our home study agency and our placement agency are working out the verbiage and should have a final by next week. Once we get our letter of home study approval, we will be able to apply with the United States. Simotaniously, our dossier items will be translated into Bulgarian so that when we get our US approval, our stuff can be sent over to Bulgaria in short order.  I'm still hopeful we will be able to get our paper work over to Bulgaria before the hot part of the summer really begins. Thank you again for your prayers.

Approved!

We got the first draft of our home study yesterday and we were approved for two children. We're so excited to be moving on to the next step.

So now our home study agency will send the draft to our placement agency and they will comb through it making sure all the pieces are there and nothing is missing or worded incorrectly. There will likely be several exchanges between our agencies and each exchange can take two weeks. After our home study is approved, we will be able to apply to the US to adopt.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
* Pray that everything gets checked and corrected quickly in as few transfers as possible.