NBC Approved

We were shocked to get our precious NBC approval letter in the mail yesterday, only one week after we had our fingerprints done in Fargo. Thank you U.S. government! This document gives us permission to bring our child back into the U.S.

So this is our final step that is in our control. Will this cause me to be out of control? Probably. Thank the good Lord I have a husband who is not a worrier and grounds me (like not in the grounds-me-and-sends-me-to-my-room sense). We'll send our paperwork to our agency and they'll send it on to meet up with the rest of our paperwork that is already in Bulgaria and translated.

Seems so final. And yet the tough part is still to come. So what will we do while we wait for our daughter(s)? We will, of course, continue to raise two hilarious and amazing boys. We will probably hold our breath every time our social worker calls.  We'll hopefully remember to blog.

We're also excited about an orphan advocacy ministry that we're helping start up at our church. I so desperately want God to take our one or two and turn it into 20...or 50 (but we'll start with 20)...
I want to talk to more people about adoption. I want to be transparent and share our story.

Several people in the last six months have shared with me that they may be feeling the nudge from God to step forward to adopt. I want to talk to you for a second.

I want you to know that this really can be for you. That money is undoubtedly an obstacle, but it is not a deal-breaker. That I know you may already have one child in each room available, but that there is room for more. I want you to know that God has your back in this. He will never leave you (even if you say no to what he asks of you). He has a plan for you. All he asks is that you step out in faith.

I want you to know that I want to help you. I want to walk with you in your process and I want to help you raise the money you need to make this happen. You are not alone. Let's chat or go to coffee.

Orphan Summit - Lessons Learned

So I already rambled incessantly about the feeling of being at the Orphan Summit. 

Here is the meat of it. Well...at least part of the meat...I took 16 pages of notes, people! If you want to hear the rest, take me to coffee. 

Frances Chan

• If 1 out of every 4 churches found ONE family to adopt domestically, there would be no orphan crisis in the U.S.
• Your faith means little if it's not demonstrated. 
• Don't only pray about something - DO something. 
• The U.S. spends more on Black Friday than the gross domestic product (GDP) of both Haiti and Liberia combined for the entire year. 
• Does your life make sense in LIGHT of scripture? If you believe the Gospel, you should do what it says. Plain and simple. 
• We don't have to cram our passion, ideas, cause down people's throat...let the spirit move people. PRAY that he moves people. 
• The largest predictor or incarceration is growing up without a family. 80% of mid-20 males who age out of the foster care program will go to jail.  
• We need to rally around foster and adoptive families. 
• Success is not measured by the $ given, but by family involvement.
• There are 2.4 BILLION Christians and 168 MILLION orphans. The goal is to END the orphan crisis and the only way to end it is through adoption. 
• Saddleback's goal for their church is 500 domestic adoptions and 500 international adoptions. What is Charity's number? 
• If we are anti-abortion we need to be pro-adoption. It's estimated that 93% of couples who find out their child has down syndrome abort. We must prepare for a whole new level of adoption and involvement when Roe vs. Wade is overturned. 
• The churches finest hour is yet to come! 

Rick Warren gave a great talk the second day on eight reasons while global problems can't be solved without the church. I think it's worth sharing.

THE CHURCH HAS...

Rick Warren

1) The largest participation - 1/3 of the world's population attend church. More people attend church in one weekend, than all sporting events for the entire year. 

2) The widest distribution - Africa tribes might not have anything, but they do have a church. Churches in rural and remote areas are used for social gatherings. The church IS the volunteer base of the world. 

3) The longest track record - For 2000 years the church has done global missions. 2,000 years from now Google, Apple and the U.S. won't exist, but the church will. 

4) The fastest growth - 6,000 people come to know Jesus every day.

5) The highest motivation - and that is LOVE. The gospel tells us to love. Love outlasts, love never fails. 

6)The strongest authorization - We are authorized by Jesus himself. When God sponsors something, he doesn't sponsor flops. 

7) The most simple administration - It's the "your it" principle...you see a need and you fill it. 

8) And finally...We know how it ends - WE WIN. 

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.