one year later...

On July 5, 2011, we started the initial process of adopting our “Baby Boy Cooper”.

Over a year has passed.… and we still have no word of a specific child, of a specific boy to pray for and dream about joining our family.  However, we will continue to praise God and trust in Him.  I have faith that He will work the details out “for the good of those who love Him”.  So….while we wait…

We will continue to pray for all the fatherless children in the world, if not individually, then as a mass.  A huge mass… 147+ million orphans.  

We do have some wonderful news with regards to fundraising.  We received a grant from Katelyn’s Fund.  We also were awarded an interest free adoption loan from Lifesong for Orphans and Elmbrook Church in Wisconsin.  We are now only about $10,000 away from reaching our need.  We are overwhelmed and humbled at God’s provision.

We also received an extremely heartfelt gift from a friend of Naomi’s.  She sent Naomi a letter via snail mail last month.  Within the envelope, she included a small gift for Naomi, Elijah and Abigail AND money she had earned to help bring Baby Boy Cooper home.  May God bless you, Madison!!   

first matching meeting

Well, the matching meeting has come and gone and we found out that we were not matched with a son.  Only one orphanage came to the meeting with all the correct paperwork on their children.  So there were not enough “eligible” orphans to be matched to those in front of us in the process. 

I have to be honest here; the first 24 or so hours after we found out, I was an emotional wreck.  I was frustrated in the process, the lack of preparation, etc.  I was heartbroken, similar to thinking with all your heart you are pregnant and then having a pregnancy test come back negative…again.  Although I know with my head that God’s timing is perfect and that He has the most perfect child for our family, my heart just ached that we have to wait for another meeting to have a chance to find out. 

With all of the above said, there are some positives as well.  Around 10 children have been “matched” with forever families.  Praise God for this!!  There is also talk of another matching meeting as early as “sometime in June”.  This would be wonderful as typically it would be another 3-4 months later.

Please continue to pray for all of the fatherless children in Lesotho.  There are so many issues that these children have to overcome…so many that we cannot fully understand.  Please pray that God would provide these children his comfort, peace and protection from physical and emotional harm.

Jaclyn

     

matching meeting - may 22

It is official!  There is a “matching meeting” scheduled for tomorrow in Lesotho.  We are praying that as a result of this meeting, we will receive a referral for our son.  The following is what we have been told takes place at a matching meeting… 

The meeting is held by the Department of Social Welfare in Lesotho.  Representatives from the orphanages are invited to attend bringing paperwork for each child they have that is ready to be adopted (meaning on paper … Anyone living in an orphanage is ready to be adopted if you ask me. J).

Also attending this meeting are the representatives from each country that is licensed to adopt from Lesotho.  Currently, there are 4 countries (USA, Canada, Australia, and Sweden) that have adoption agencies adopting children from Lesotho.

The matching part of the meeting takes place somewhat like what we in the US would call a draft – like fantasy football.  Each child is brought to the table and then Adoption Agency country representatives are asked one by one if they have a match for the child. These representatives look through their pile of dossiers, giving preference to the order they are in the pile. 

We have received confirmation that our dossier is the 5^th one in the pile for our adoption agency!!  At a typical matching meeting, each agency/country is allowed only 4 dossiers to be brought to each meeting.  For this meeting, since they haven’t had a matching meeting since October, the Lesotho gov’t is allowing more than 4 dossiers.  Our agency has submitted 6 for consideration. 

What this means to us is that our dossier will most likely be brought up and viewed, but not necessarily be matched this time around.  We are praying that God will work wonders for us and all the children of Lesotho that need forever families and that He will provide us a match, in His perfect time of course.  However, we would love this to be at tomorrow’s meeting. J 

Please keep the people involved with this meeting in your prayers. 

God bless!!          

garage sale this friday

We are having a multi-family adoption fundraising garage sale 2.0!

When: Friday & Saturday, May 18 & 19, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. 
Where: Our house - 43 S. Jefferson St., Zeeland.
What's Here: Desks, Stereo, Speakers, Bunk Bed, Freezer, Household & Kitchen Items, Nice Adult & Children’s Clothing, Baby Items, Toys & Games, Shoes! Plus more!

Making Adoption Affordable

GREAT NEWS!!!  On April 17, Iowa Representative Braley introduced a bill to renew and expand the adoption tax credit.  Now the bill needs more representatives to sponsor the bill and vote yes.  This is where we need your help.  It only takes a few minutes to send your US House Representative an email.  This could help give more orphans chances to become part of a forever family. 

Click here https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml to find your rep by entering your zip code and then type a quick email to him or her.  I have provided a short sample email here.

Good afternoon Representative __________,

I am contacting you today to request your support of the "Making Adoption Affordable Act of 2012" bill.  Please join me in advocating on behalf of orphaned and vulnerable children by co-sponsoring and supporting this bill. 

Sincerely,

For the full text of the proposed bill, see here http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr4373/text.

Here is a short summary:

The Making Adoption Affordable Act expands and maintains the tax credits for families who choose to adopt children.  These credits help defray the high administrative costs sometimes associated with adoptions and ensure that families who choose to open their homes to children and are otherwise able to raise a child as their own are not turned away because of the high cost of the process.  Preserving and expanding these tax credits has been a bipartisan policy of both the Bush and Obama administrations.

The Making Adoption Affordable Act:

1.     Permanently expands the Adoption Tax Credit

a.     Provides up to $13,360 for covered adoption expenses, adjusted for inflation

b.     Without extension, credit will fall to $6,000 for special-needs adoptions only

2.     Maintains the higher income tax exclusion of employer provided adoption assistance

3.     Preserves the policy of excluding up to $13,360 in employer provided adoption assistance from tax considerations. Annually adjusts the threshold for inflation

4.     Income Tax exclusion of adoption benefits have been expanded and supported by the Bush and Obama administrations.

5.     Makes permanent the higher-income phase-out of the credit, adjusted for inflation

a.     Families with income in excess of $185,210 receive a reduced credit

b.     Credit reduced by the ratio of income in excess of $185,210 to $40,000

c.     Income phase out thresholds set by the 2001 Bush tax cuts, and extended by the Obama tax cuts

d.     Without extension, the credit will begin phasing out for families with incomes over $75,000, and will not provide any benefit to families making over $115,000.

6.     Permanently makes the credit refundable

a.     Allows families to receive a tax refund on the credit in excess of their tax liability

b.     Without extension, credit can reduce a family’s tax liability to nothing but any excess credit cannot be taken as a tax refund.

Reading While Waiting

So it has now been over a month since we last posted anything on this blog.  Not much has changed since then as far as timing is concerned.  Our dossier is in Lesotho…

waiting…for the next matching meeting...

waiting…to be on top of the dossier pile at said matching meeting….

waiting…to “match us” with our forever son.

What we know: 

·       Our dossier is in Lesotho. 

·       At this next matching meeting there will be 8 allowed matches with families from the USA.

What we don’t know:

·       When will the next matching meeting be?

·       Where is our dossier in the pile of dossiers from USA families?

So for now, we continue to wait and continue on praying for our unknown son and all the other 360,000 orphans in this oh-so-small country.  We pray for the mother who gave up her son. 

We also Praise God for the wonderful people who have reached out to support us in our adoption process.  Last week, Grace Lutheran Church in Coopersville hosted a Lenten Mid-week meal where all the donations went directly to our adoption fund.  From the bottom of our hearts – THANK YOU!!  Thank you, Aunt Marilyn, for organizing such a blessing.  Thank you to the people of this church who don’t know us at all, but we willing to bless us financially and in prayer.  We pray that God will bless you in return.

I have recently been reading Jen Hatmaker’s book “7” (highly recommend reading this one).  I have been feeling very convicted by something.  The birth-mother of our future son most like had no other choice but to abandon him and therefore give him up for adoption.  She was most likely struggling so much that she couldn’t support either the other children or her husband or both.  Maybe this mother had HIV and chose not to nurse her baby for fear of transmitting it to him and then couldn’t afford the formula to feed him.   For whatever reason, she made an extremely difficult choice.  I will never be able to fully relate to this woman.

In my home, we each have a bed with an adequate amount of blankets.  We have a pantry that is mostly filled with food.  We drive two cars and have 2 cell phones.  Over the last 8 years, we have also taken three very healthy babies home from the hospital and laid them to sleep in their own cribs, never wondering if and when I would be able to feed my child.  We also have wonderful health insurance where I would never question whether or not we could afford to take our child in to be checked out by one of the numerous doctors available within a 10 mile radius.  As I said early, I will never fully know her reasons or what her life what like the day she made her difficult choice. 

So getting back to my conviction….I have too much.  If 100% of what we earn is actually God’s, why am I spending it on things that aren’t needed?  Why am I not using more of this income to further His kingdom?  I also waste too much.  Yeah for recycling, but come on…I could be so much better at this in the first place.  Why are we not buying more things in bulk with less packaging and why do I think I am entitled to “serving sized” portions for lunch boxes?  Just a few of the many convictions I have been feeling from reading Jen’s book.  Watch out – it is a good one.  

Jaclyn

t-shirts & coffee

Check out our latest fundraisers.

Please click here http://www.adoptionbug.com/cooperadoptionfundraiser/ to go to our personalized webpage where you can buy a t-shirt to support our adoption.  Approximately 35-45% of the retail cost of the t-shirts go directly into an account to help support our adoption and bring our son home.  And when you wear one of the t-shirts, it helps increase the awareness of adoption to those around you.

For those who love to try new coffee, check out Just Love Coffee.  Click on the logo on the right hand side of the webpage and it will take you to Just Love's site.

Please share these links with friends, co-workers, and relatives.  The t-shirts and coffee make for great gifts.  Thanks for sharing our story with people you know.

unexpected blessing

We love good news.  I mean who doesn't like getting good news?  Today, we received word that a donation of $1,000 was made to His Kids, Too! on our behalf to fund an adoption grant.  That's good news!

Unfortunately, we are not given donor names until we have received word that we can fly to Lesotho (which we estimate to be about a year from now - give or take).  From the depths of our hearts, we want to say thank you Anonymous Donor.  Days like this are such an encouragement as we wait… 

and wait… 

and wait. 

It's incredibly humbling to know that others are thinking about us and are getting involved in this adventure as we wait expectantly for our son.  

We know many of you pray for us on a consistent basis as well.  Just as a family expecting a baby biologically, we have many things to do to prepare our hearts for another child.  And our son-to-be needs your prayers too.  Please pray with us that he will be safe and healthy and feel loved by his caregiver and his heavenly Father.  I (Jaclyn) think back to the first day I left Naomi at Preschool and the tears I had leaving her with a “stranger” for the first time.  Even though we have not met our little boy, we are starting to feel this same connection and it makes it hard entrusting him to another. 

As an update, our dossier is complete and will be sent to the Lesotho agency representative by the end of this month.  Then we wait for the next matching meeting and pray that we are matched with a child God has planned for us.

Thanks so much for joining with us on this journey.    God bless!