The Apparent Project Partnership - Part 2

The Bracelets are here and WOW…they are beautiful!!  These will make perfect Christmas gifts for any female on your list – Teachers, Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Nieces, etc.  They also make great Stocking Stuffers!

 

Most of the 150 bracelets we received from Haiti are multi colored in nature like those pictured above.
 
These bracelets are one of a kind, handmade, up cycled, and not only helping Haitians keep their current families together; you are also supporting our adoption from Ethiopia.  You can read more about this from our previous post.  You might ask…where are you in that process now?  We are currently #17 on a list to receive a referral for our son.  We are hopeful that this wonderful phone call will come before Christmas, but if not, we are very expectant that it will be by the end of January.  So we thank you in advance for helping us bring our son home. J

Each bracelet is $10.  To place your order, you can email Jaclyn.cooper@ymail.com with your name and address where you would like your bracelet(s) shipped.  If you live in the Topeka, KS, area we will deliver  them to you.  If you live outside the Topeka area, please add $2 to the total cost for shipping.  If you have specific requests for bracelets, please let us know in your email. 

We can also accept orders via Facebook if that is easier for you. 

Thank you, God Bless and Merry Christmas!!! 

The Apparent Project Partnership

I am super excited to share our latest fundraiser with you as I think this is the best one yet!  We are partnering with an inspiring organization called The Apparent Project to bring these beautiful, one of a kind bracelets to YOU.  

The Apparent Project, based in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, exists to give parents jobs in order to keep their families together.  

You may be surprised to know that very often a child in an orphanage is not there because his or her parents have both died or abandoned him/her. Too often families are forced by poverty to place their children in the care of an orphanage. Many moms and dads desire to keep their families together but due to extreme poverty and harsh living conditions they are unable to do so. This happens around the world.

The Apparent project is working to change that it Haiti.

"In Haiti, poverty and the legacy of slavery have caused a staggering culture of child abandonment and male neglect of family commitments. 70% of labor aged Haitians are unemployed, while those who are employed earn an average annual wage of $400". - The Apparent Project

Because there are still an estimated 147-153 million orphans worldwide there is a great need for families and individuals to foster, adopt, or provide orphan care.

That brings us to our fundraiser! The parents of The Apparent Project make a variety of beautiful handcrafted goods including jewelry created from handmade paper beads.  The paper is mostly from repurposed cereal boxes.  We will be selling bracelets made by the women and men of The Apparent Project. Each bracelet is unique and comes with a card featuring information about the artist who made your bracelet.

Bracelets are available for $10. The best part? You will be helping TWO ways.  Your purchase provides jobs (and keeps families together) in Haiti AND helps us bring a child OUT of an orphanage to his family! How often does $10 do all that?!

If you would like one (or more!) of these gorgeous bracelets contact us through email (Jaclyn.cooper@ymail.com), Facebook, this blog, call us, etc.  We can ship too! Just add $2 to cover shipping costs please! 

• Spread the word! Let your circle of friends, church, bible study group, work, anyone know about these bracelets. They make great Christmas gifts, teacher gifts, co-worker gifts, etc. 
• Pray! Use the bracelet as a reminder to pray for orphans, our adoption, and the families in The Apparent Project! 

Thank you so much for your support and prayers!!

Prayerfully Waiting

I realize it has been 3 months since our last posting here and I thought I should write something to remember what was happening when we look back at this part of our journey.  Even as I type this though, tears fills my eyes to think that we are able to document everything on “our” side of this journey, but our son won’t have much to remember his side, and that is what is really important…

Has he been born yet?  If so, what is his story?  Is he okay?  Does he have someone to comfort him when he cries?  Does he have someone to feed him when he is hungry?  How is his birth mom doing?  Is she still alive?  If so, how do people in her village treat her?  How is she handling her decision?  Where is our son’s father in this?  How is he handling everything? 

Father God, please protect them all and give them your comfort and peace. 

So I almost have to focus on the paperwork and life here in our current family because the emotions are so overwhelming.  So this is what we have been doing the last 6 weeks or so…

Since we moved to Kansas, we needed to update our home study to reflect this change as well as the job change for Josh and me staying home now.  So we applied with a wonderful Christian Agency called Lifeline Children’s Services to do this update for us.  We got fingerprinted downtown Topeka at the police station and had them sent off to make sure we weren’t felons anywhere. J  Our home study update has been drafted and now we wait on the state to send back the fingerprinting clearances so the home study can be completed. 

Our USCIS approval to adopt an orphan from Ethiopia has also recently expired (since we have been in this process for over 2 years already J).  So, we had to send in an extension request, with a ton of paperwork, for this to be extended and we get to be re-fingerprinted by the government next week.  So, next Thursday, Josh and I travel 90 minutes to Kansas City, MO to the USCIS office to have our fingerprints taken electronically and then sent back to the US gov’t for approval. 

As far as waiting, as of today we are officially number ….

on our agency's wait list for a referral. 

We are still hopeful that in the next 2 months we will receive our referral call, meaning that we will be “matched” with our son.  This is when we receive a picture of him, any medical history and background that is available.  Of course, that background info will be his information to share when he is older if and when he is ready.  But that will be an exciting day for us.  As I was talking this over with a friend yesterday, I guess you could somewhat compare it to the day a child is born, as now we have an actual face to be praying for.  But in actuality, there is really nothing to compare the excitement of this day to.  We are really looking forward to our referral day phone call!!

And… commence the prayerful waiting…  Thanks for praying with us!!

Transitions again

The June update came out yesterday and we moved up 3 spots on the list this month to number….

 

Thirty-one is a good number for us right now.  Honestly, I am glad we didn’t move up any further right now because the Cooper family is in the midst of some pretty big changes – none quite as big a deal as bringing a son home from Ethiopia – but big changes nonetheless.

Last month, Josh and I traveled to Topeka, Kansas to visit with members and staff of Grace Point Church, where Josh was interviewing for a campus pastor position for a soon-to-be launched satellite location in Topeka.  We absolutely fell in love with the people of Grace Point and with the area.  The entire time we were there, we felt God’s presence, peace, guiding and comfort in that this was a perfect fit for Josh and for the church.  After 4 days of interviewing/ meeting lots of really cool people, Josh was offered the position.  The next morning, we accepted and started our short search to find the perfect house.  That afternoon we made an offer and it was accepted a little while later. 

Back in Zeeland, we put our current home on the market and had 5 offers in 48 hours.  So, our house is now “pending” and we are waiting for a closing date to depart Michigan and make the 12 hour journey to Topeka.  Most things are off the wall and numerous boxes are packed.  Josh has completed his time serving as an Associate pastor at Compass, our church home the last 3 years. 

Many have asked…so how does this move effect your adoption?  We are staying with our current placing Agency in Jenison, MI, Adoption Associates. However, since we are moving out of state, we need to complete a new homestudy in Kansas as well as many forms in our dossier.  We have a found a Christian agency in Topeka that has agreed to update our homestudy and I will be extra busy after the move updating forms galore once again. 

But we are so confident that we are following God’s will for our lives.  And there is so much peace in this knowledge and faith.  Thank you, God!

Wait List Update

We received an update from our agency this afternoon and we are number 35 on the list. 

 

We moved 12 spots in 1 months’ time.  YEAH!!!  Fifteen children were referred to families this past month from Ethiopia.  Please pray with us for these families as they prepare to travel in the next 2 months and of course for these children.

The agency also said they expect to have an additional 15 referrals soon.  Our agency is now saying that we should expect another 5-7 months before receiving a referral.  Getting closer....