One thing that throws me off my game every single time it happens is how no one wants to talk to us about our decision to adopt our first child. This baffled me and, quite honestly, offended me for the first six or so months we were sharing the news. After conversations with one close friend and one old friend's mom it hit me that the reason (I think) that people clam up and act awkward and then don't continue the conversation is that they think we're adopting because we can't have children. Then that has the potential to lead to conversations about sex and reproductive systems and for as open about sex as our culture is, we're secretly really closed off about it.
The Pensyls chose to adopt our first child because we wanted to, because we could. We are blessed to have the time and finances to handle an adoption at this point in our lives. We didn't want to have biological children first and then always "What if..." ourselves about adoption.
Can we have biological children? Who the heck knows! We've never tried. We certainly plan to try once our first child is here and settled into our family. And if we can't? Who the heck cares! We'll adopt again (and again and again!)!
So please talk to us about our adoption. This is one of the most exciting moments in our lives and we want to talk to you about it. And yes, things move incredibly slow for a long period of time, so there might be months were we have no new news to share with you, but please keep asking and act interested when we tell you the same sliver of news that we told you last time. And both of us hate talking and sharing personal details of our lives so if we act awkward that's just us, so please push past it and show us that you care about us.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Dossier Approved!
We received a note in the mail that the Intercountry Adoption Board (ICAB) approved our dossier on April 20! They approved it just shy of six weeks after receiving it and we were told it would take about 6 weeks so we're right on schedule (not that that means anything, but it's still exciting!).
In a nutshell this means the Philippines government has approved us as parents and now they are looking for our child!! He or she may not even be born yet! It blows my mind when I think about it.
This means our "average wait of 36 months" can official begin (as of April 20 - hey look at that! We're already three weeks in!). Remember though - we're praying big prayers and we'd appreciate it if you joined us. We trust fully in God's timing, but are asking Him for a much shorter wait time!
In a nutshell this means the Philippines government has approved us as parents and now they are looking for our child!! He or she may not even be born yet! It blows my mind when I think about it.
This means our "average wait of 36 months" can official begin (as of April 20 - hey look at that! We're already three weeks in!). Remember though - we're praying big prayers and we'd appreciate it if you joined us. We trust fully in God's timing, but are asking Him for a much shorter wait time!
Friday, May 11, 2012
Teaching
Someone whom I greatly respect said something that stopped me in my tracks and really got me thinking. We were talking yesterday about something completely unrelated and he said, "You're always teaching something..."
I about fell off my chair.
I've always been aware that I have been in positions in life where people are watching me, my words, my actions. I babysat kids spread across locations, genders, and ages throughout my teenage years. Over the past eleven years hundreds of Jr. Week campers and many a counselor has watched me, listened to me, and trusted my leadership. All through school and college peers examined my life because I was a Christian - some to critique it, some to observe it. Now, and maybe most importantly, I lead HSM[highschoolministry] and I am under the microscope with about 40 sets of eyes watching me.
I consider the fact that I am "always teaching something' one of the greatest honors in my life. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that that it also frightens me to the core of my being. As long as I remember to lean into God and ask Him to ensure that my words are His words, my actions are His actions, and the wisdom I use is from Him then I can go forward confidently into the life God planned for me - and THAT isn't frightening at all!
I about fell off my chair.
I've always been aware that I have been in positions in life where people are watching me, my words, my actions. I babysat kids spread across locations, genders, and ages throughout my teenage years. Over the past eleven years hundreds of Jr. Week campers and many a counselor has watched me, listened to me, and trusted my leadership. All through school and college peers examined my life because I was a Christian - some to critique it, some to observe it. Now, and maybe most importantly, I lead HSM[highschoolministry] and I am under the microscope with about 40 sets of eyes watching me.
I consider the fact that I am "always teaching something' one of the greatest honors in my life. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that that it also frightens me to the core of my being. As long as I remember to lean into God and ask Him to ensure that my words are His words, my actions are His actions, and the wisdom I use is from Him then I can go forward confidently into the life God planned for me - and THAT isn't frightening at all!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
$2,000
It costs $2,000 to go to college for four years in the Dominican Republic.
For comparison - it currently costs a Pennsylvania resident, on average, just over $68,000 to obtain a four year undergraduate degree from the University Park campus of Penn State University.
The Pensyls are raising funds to send (at least!) one of the young men at the Rose of Sharon orphanage where we serve each year to college. This past year for Christmas we asked our families not to get us presents, but to donate toward the college fund. We've put our birthday money toward this as well and currently need only $685 more dollars to send one of the boys to college.
We would LOVE to be able to tell them when I (Sara) go down in 30 days that they have the chance to go to college. Would you be willing to make a donation to help us reach our goal? And heck, since I'm into praying "big" prayers lately, maybe, due to your generosity we will be able to tell two, three, or even four boys that they will be able to enroll in University!
If you'd like to make a donation please make checks payable to "Calvary Baptist Church" and write "DR college fund" on the memo line. You can mail them to our house: 21 James Hill Road, Port Matilda, PA 16870 - we will track the donations and then send them to the church for processing.
I am SO EXCITED to see what is going to happen in the next 30 days!
Below are some pictures of the boys who have graduated high school or will in the next year or two and are able to go to college if given the chance - click on the link to learn more about each of them!
For comparison - it currently costs a Pennsylvania resident, on average, just over $68,000 to obtain a four year undergraduate degree from the University Park campus of Penn State University.
The Pensyls are raising funds to send (at least!) one of the young men at the Rose of Sharon orphanage where we serve each year to college. This past year for Christmas we asked our families not to get us presents, but to donate toward the college fund. We've put our birthday money toward this as well and currently need only $685 more dollars to send one of the boys to college.
We would LOVE to be able to tell them when I (Sara) go down in 30 days that they have the chance to go to college. Would you be willing to make a donation to help us reach our goal? And heck, since I'm into praying "big" prayers lately, maybe, due to your generosity we will be able to tell two, three, or even four boys that they will be able to enroll in University!
If you'd like to make a donation please make checks payable to "Calvary Baptist Church" and write "DR college fund" on the memo line. You can mail them to our house: 21 James Hill Road, Port Matilda, PA 16870 - we will track the donations and then send them to the church for processing.
I am SO EXCITED to see what is going to happen in the next 30 days!
Below are some pictures of the boys who have graduated high school or will in the next year or two and are able to go to college if given the chance - click on the link to learn more about each of them!
(Bernardo will actually be 17 in a month, his age is listed incorrectly on his page)
(Jr. Week friends, please notice the shirt Ronny is wearing!)
Monday, March 12, 2012
Application Received!
The InterCountry Adoption Board has received our application for adoption! Now we wait for their approval! Also, I like the word "Secretariat", I might try to use it more. Isn't that the name of some famous horse that won some horse race? I should Google this...
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Dossier Mailed!
What the heck is a dossier anyway? Definition below, but regardless of what it is, it's a fun word to toss into conversation and feel important while saying it. It makes me feel hoity toity everytime I say it.
But then...we got an email informing us that the Philippines had altered the requirements and they now wanted the raw test scores for these tests we had to take along with the psychologist's reports. Arg. Seriously? Ok. No biggie. I called the office, informed them of the need and they dropped them in the mail right away and we had them a few days later. Crisis averted.
Oh but wait...I as I was going through making photocopies of everything in the dossier and checking and double checking that we had everything and it was in the correct order (yay for compulsive behavior!) I realized it said that not only did we did the psychologist's report but that we also needed a copy of his license. For the love of Pete. I have read the checklist approximately 3,982 times since last September and never saw those words. Another call to the receptionist at the psychologist's office (thankfully she's a kind woman). They couldn't give it to me, but our case worker could call and request it and they'd fax it to her. A few emails later and our case worker, Kim, in Wisconsin had the license!
With this news it meant we were ready to mail! Seven months of preparing:
The finished product!
I thought the angle in the previous photo didn't do the stack of papers justice!
It's hard to tell, but the stack is right at the 1 inch mark!
I went the Boalsburg Post Office the morning of February 28 and paid extra to overnight it to the agency in Wisconsin. I did this partly because I was excited and partly because I thought it would be cool knowing it arrived on Leap Day!
Kim emailed me on March 1 to say that they had reviewed everything and it looked good and she had put it in the mail to the Philippines! We'll hear acknowledgement of receipt and then we wait...waity wait wait wait until we get a referral for our little boy or girl. Right now the average wait time for a child under 4 years of age is 36 months. That's a long time. Please be praying with us that the time we'll need to wait is less. We fully trust in God's timing, but are not afraid to pray big prayers for our future child!
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Finger Prints
On February 9 Marc and I woke up super early and hopped in the car to drive down to York, PA to get fingerprinted for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
We got there a few minutes before our appointment at 9:00am and are signing in, etc. It's important to note that we were the only people there besides the two ladies working there. It's also important to note that this room was one big rectangle - you could see everything from anywhere in the room. Lady #1 gives us our paperwork back and a number and tells us to go take a seat in the waiting area. The waiting area was about five feet to the left. Then Lady #2 who had been there the whole time walks over to the finger printing station and yells out, "Four? Four!". I looked down at my number. Four. That was me. Then I swiveled my head around to ensure I wasn't on some Candid Camera show before getting up. I wanted to bust up laughing so badly and the only reason why I didn't is because I couldn't figure out why it was necessary to call out our numbers! She did the same thing to Marc. Good thing. I may have tried to go twice.
This was the last set of finger prints we needed. After they took our finger prints they sent them off and we waited to hear back from USCIS for approval. That was the last puzzle piece to our dossier, once we received this we were all set!
On Thursday, February 16 we received a letter in the mail saying we were approved! Wahoo!
Now to put the finishing touches on the dossier and put it in the mail...more to come on that tomorrow!
We got there a few minutes before our appointment at 9:00am and are signing in, etc. It's important to note that we were the only people there besides the two ladies working there. It's also important to note that this room was one big rectangle - you could see everything from anywhere in the room. Lady #1 gives us our paperwork back and a number and tells us to go take a seat in the waiting area. The waiting area was about five feet to the left. Then Lady #2 who had been there the whole time walks over to the finger printing station and yells out, "Four? Four!". I looked down at my number. Four. That was me. Then I swiveled my head around to ensure I wasn't on some Candid Camera show before getting up. I wanted to bust up laughing so badly and the only reason why I didn't is because I couldn't figure out why it was necessary to call out our numbers! She did the same thing to Marc. Good thing. I may have tried to go twice.
This is us in the car after we had been finger printed...showing our finger prints.
We're taking pictures of the adoption journey to show our little boy/girl what went on before they joined our family physically!
I just like this picture because Marc makes me laugh so much all. of. the. time.
I don't even remember what he did or said, but I like the pure, naturalness of it. This, friends, is the Pensyls!
This was the last set of finger prints we needed. After they took our finger prints they sent them off and we waited to hear back from USCIS for approval. That was the last puzzle piece to our dossier, once we received this we were all set!
On Thursday, February 16 we received a letter in the mail saying we were approved! Wahoo!
Now to put the finishing touches on the dossier and put it in the mail...more to come on that tomorrow!
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