Let's Go Boerne!

So here is some pretty exciting news... We have 18 pieces to add to our puzzle. (Thanks Rachel and Jordan for your donation this morning!) It should be easy adding them in since I have nearly half of the puzzle together and sitting aside just waiting to join the rest! (Impatience kind of got the best of me these last few days.) I'll post pictures of the new additions soon.

Here is even more exciting news: Together with the Fickey family, we are getting geared up for an event that is going to shake Boerne. Our hope is that it helps in a big way to bring our babies home sooner and that it leads more families to adoption than ever thought possible. If you haven't already heard about it on Katie's blog, here is a little information to get your started.

Now for all of you non-runners out there... Let me tell you a little bit about myself. My husband is an Ironman. When he was training he ran 30 miles, swam 5 miles and cycled 120 miles per week. My idea of a workout was 2 loads of laundry and a dirty skillet. I mean, who wants to come back from a jog and proudly tell their Iron-husband that they ran a whole mile! (Which I would have been so proud of by the way.) But I've started... With Iron-husband's help, I am wogging 3.5 miles, 3 times a week and I'm so proud :-) Josh is too... Although he may be snickering at me behind closed doors, he seems pretty sincere. We're even talking about doing a 5K in the spring which is just crazy talk for me... I'm not the 'organized fitness' kind of gal. But I've realized that it's not about where you get yourself moving or how many people are in it with you, it's just about getting out there and doing it! So throw caution to the wind and come join us on May 14Th! There is still plenty of time to prepare if you are bound and determined to run the whole thing. I promise, if I can do it so can you. Click here and you can see the plan I'm on right now. And if you need even more motivation to come join us, here's the word that keeps me running through a cramp..."bikini."

So please, spread the word about One Less and come join us in the fun this May. We really need your help. God has shown Himself in some amazing ways regarding this event. We've received some extremely generous donations to help us get it going. We just know He is in charge of this race and we're eager to see what He does with it. We have a feeling it's going to lead to more than just 2 babies making their way home.

Coming Together

Along with donations, we have been getting some seriously cute cards & letters. I thought I'd gather them all up and take a quick picture. Some of them are funny (Ahem... Jessica Scott.) and some have made me cry. I am definitely getting baby P. a scrapbook soon- pending the coveted 'half off all scrap booking' sale at Hobby Lobby. These cards are going in it for sure.



Here is the progress with our puzzle this week. To all of you who have donated to our adoption, thank you so much! writing your names down was so fun and exciting! If we can get it finished by the summer, we will be starting our home study in August or September!! I've never been more eager to start anything in my life.

That's 84 pieces down and 416 pieces to go! If you want to help us finish our puzzle and bring our baby boy home, you can donate with the nifty button on the right or email me and I will send you our address.

Finding Baby P

We are in search of the perfect agency to carry us through the most important day of our life... Adoption day! It's been hard- there are so many! Cost is a big factor; but I think you probably get what you pay for so I'm not sure I'll be depending on my usual thrifty tactics with this one. So far, it looks like it will cost us about $25,000 in agency fees to complete our adoption and probably another $5,000 in airfare and other adoption expenses that come up. We have some news regarding where this sweet baby will be coming from. In the beginning, our hearts were set on Ukraine. But it seems that Ukraine is undergoing some big changes in the way they process adoptions and will soon be closing their doors to foreign countries until their changes are complete. Then we had our sights on Kazakhstan. News came from Kazakhstan that they were also in the midst of changing their procedures. They plan to open back up in the spring/summer... but after a lot of research we learned that with their track record, this could be more like next year or later. I was a little disheartened. How could finding a baby who needs loving parents be so difficult!? And then we looked towards Russia. Here are some staggering statistics about Russia you might not have known.

Abortion is the main means of birth control in Russia. The Average woman has had 8 abortions by the time she is 40.

Roughly 230,000 children reside in orphanages with over 650,000 children in some form of state care.

Russia now has less than half the population of the US.

There are more orphans on the streets of St. Petersburg today than in the aftermath of WWII.

Children in Russian orphanages "graduate" by age 16. Every year, about 15,000 children are released from orphanage care. Over half of them are unemployed and homeless resorting to a life of prostitution, crime and suicide.

Most of these children are social orphans. They were orphaned due to alcoholism, drug use, severe abuse or poverty.

We're keeping our eyes, ears and hearts open to whatever God has for us. We're staying alert and sensitive to what He's saying to us. And we're pretty positive that we will be adopting from Russia early next year. The wait times for adopting a Russian boy is currently 3-6 months from the time our paperwork is submitted. The wait is 6-9 months for a girl. We will not specify boy, girl or race. So we're pretty sure we will be getting a beautiful boy given those statistics. We know God has this child chosen for us... He's preparing our way to him as I type.

We are continuing our research on agencies and ask that ya'll send up some prayers that we find the right one! Thank you for your continuing support with our puzzle fundraiser. We are slowly filling the financial gap. What a blessing ya'll are being to our little family!

Thank You!

It's Friday and what a week it has been! I feel compelled to write a little post this evening about how amazing you all are. Everyone who is reading this and everyone who has been prayerfully and financially supporting us and our decision to adopt. Without question, you're showering your love on us and I've never felt so supported in my life. I know that our child is going to receive so much love from this town! When our court date rolls around and the judge asks us why we want to adopt I will tell him that Boerne is eagerly awaiting his arrival! I'll tell the judge that he isn't just getting parents, that baby is getting a whole town that loves him. Ya'll have a wonderful weekend and thank you for all you are doing! I'm hoping to have some updates on agency information next week!

A Joint Effort

Hi Friends! Josh and I have been talking with our good friends, the Fickeys about putting on a fundraiser to raise money for both of our upcoming adoptions. The Fickeys plan to adopt from Africa sometime this year. We are so excited to be putting on a 5k/3k race geared towards families in Boerne. So if winter has you down and you are feeling a bit 'fluffy' from all of the turkey and candy you've been eating, this may be the perfect chance to get movin' and help two children make their way to Boerne! Katie has more information on her blog at www.oureyesareopened.blogspot.com . Check it out!

The Fun Begins!

I loved last night. It was freezing cold and Josh and I were so excited to get cozy with our pup and hunker down for the night. We decided to bear the weather and go out for a frozen pizza and a RedBox... The best date! Jonah Hex was not all that inspiring of a movie and I was bored after 10 minutes so I decided I'd start working on the puzzle. We had 28 people give donations so I had 28 precious names to write onto 28 beautiful puzzle pieces! I forgot how addicting puzzles were and while it was fun just putting it together, I was all smiles at the thought of it gracing our baby's room one day. I seriously cannot wait to frame it and hang it on the wall! As I was writing names... Bear with me for a second ;-) I couldn't help but tear up. Some of these names were new to me. Some of these people I have never met. It touches me so deeply that they would be moved to help us with our adoption. Other names I have a known for a long time... 4Th grade or younger. Who would have known back then that they would become a piece to our adoption puzzle. Whether I've known you for a long time or a short time, I am so incredibly thankful for what you are doing. You're helping us get to the child that God has chosen for us. You are a part of His hand, His work and His provision for our adoption. I can't thank you enough! Here are some photos of the progress! 28 DOWN, 472 TO GO!

Updates

Good Morning Ya'll! This post is short and sweet. Our adoption Paypal account is finally up and running! For those of you who were waiting to be able to make a contribution online you can now do so with the 'donate' button to the right. If you donate with paypal please also drop me an email so that I can be sure your name gets on a puzzle piece.

nikkipetersonphoto@yahoo.com

Many friends have been asking what the process will be for our adoption. I will tell you our plan... Although we all know who laughs at those ;-) It may change and that's why we are staying open to whatever comes our way. We are interested in an international adoption from Kazakhstan. Why Kazakhstan? There are thousands of places in the world where children are in need. Kazakhstan is just a dot on that map. We can't explain why we feel drawn to the children there, but we do. I think that God works on our hearts and gives us a passion for a specific area of the world for a reason. We strongly believe that our child has already been chosen for us and we are going to follow our hearts to find him! Back to the plan ;-) When we reach half of our savings goal of $30,000, we will begin our home study. During a home study, a social worker interviews us and our family and checks our house for safety. We anticipate that our home study will take about 3 months but of course we are hoping for less time! At this time we will also sign on with an agency. I have been researching agencies up and down so that when it's time to choose, we will be with a good one! Once with an agency, we will prepare our dossier which I hope to complete in 3 months or less. A dossier is a whole lot of paperwork! We have to gather important documents such as marriage certificates, birth certificates and FBI background checks and have them translated by our agency and sent to Kazakhstan for review. When Kazakhstan approves us, they will send us a referral and an invitation to travel to their country to pick up our child! We will not specify boy or girl, but we are hoping for a child under 1 year of age. The period of time between the submission of our dossier and our referral will be approximately 3-6 months. Once it's started, our adventure will take about 9 months to a year to complete. We're hoping to have $15,000 by the summer so that we can begin. It's going to be exciting and scary and crazy but we know we'll get there!