MADLY TRYING TO FINISH ALL OUR PAPERWORK FOR THE HOME STUDY!!!
{pat is taking today off to do all of this...after the crazy day yesterday it's making today even that much crazier...}
this is insane.
you don't have to read it.
it's more for me...
5:15 Courtney up - run and read
5:45 Pat up - to church for men's morning thing
6:30 C make lunch for Rebekah and get breakfast set up
7:00 Kids up, dressed and fed
7:30 C and 4 kids take Rebekah to school
7:35 C home - take shower {while Sawyer takes everything out of the bathroom cabinets and drags it all over the upstairs}
8:00 P home from church
C leave for dr - have TB test read from Monday and get bloodwork drawn for physical
8:30 C at dr {they open at 8:30}
P leave home with 3 kids and meet C at dr.
9:00 P get physical including bloodwork {you have to fast...they didn't tell me that...}
C head home with 3 kids
9:30 Home - Sawyer nap
10:00 Mom arrives {!} and stays with 3 kids at home for the rest of this madness...
P gets home {hopefully}
C and P leave together for post office
10:30 and 10:45 Passport appointments {praying for no "hey, you needed to fast" surprises here...form printed off and filled out but not signed...}
11:15ish leave post office and head to sheriff's office
by 12? C and P at sheriff's office getting fingerprinted
1ish C and P grab lunch somewhere and run by grocery store to get a couple things for meal C is making for someone tomorrow...
2 C and P get home
2:15 C go up to school to pick Joshua and Rebekah up from school
P wade through emails from work
2:50 C (and Rebekah and Joshua) get home
2:50 C and P leave to go back up to school for parent-teacher conferences
3:05 Conference with Joshua's teacher ("he's very quiet"...)
3:30 Conference with Rebekah's teacher ("she's a little too talkative"...) :-)
4 C and P home
Mom gets to leave! {THANKS SO MUCH, MOM!!!!!!!!!!!}
Homework
Kiss sweet kids
Hear about their days
Make dinner
Eat dinner
5:45 Leave for Joshua's soccer practice
7:15 Home from Joshua's soccer practice
Baths
Bed!!!
and at the end of this day all our paperwork should be done for the homestudy!
hoping we will be moving quickly through the rest of the homestudy.
trying to be patient.
trying not to think about who's kissing their faces when they are sick.
who's losing sleep about them when they don't seem "right?"
this will be a crazy day.
but i would do it again in a second if i had to...for them.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Why Wouldn't I?
as we have been talking about our adoption we get asked a number of questions over and over.
"Why Rwanda?" is a hard question to answer...
but the hardest question to answer is:
"Why are you adopting?"
i hope to talk about this some over the next few days...some thoughts i have from some of the conversations about that question.
but, for now, why wouldn't i?
"Why Rwanda?" is a hard question to answer...
but the hardest question to answer is:
"Why are you adopting?"
i hope to talk about this some over the next few days...some thoughts i have from some of the conversations about that question.
but, for now, why wouldn't i?
Thursday, October 8, 2009
the bottom line
this picture has nothing to do with this post.
i just love every part of him...even his back-fat rolls :-)
i'm talking money.
and i think this is the only time i'm going to address it.
adoption is expensive.
talking about money/finances/etc. is always a little dicey.
i'm an open person.
i enjoy sharing my life because it's not my own and i love to share His goodness and mercy.
the best way i know to do that is to share how it plays out in my everyday moments.
but i'm not sure sharing the minute details of the financial aspect of our adoption is the wisest thing.
i always (naively) assume that people understand my intentions behind saying things.
i would share specific amounts out of a desire to educate and inform.
i would never want to come across either flaunting ("look at this huge check we wrote!") or woe is me ("feel so sad for us that we just wrote a huge check.")
God has called us to this.
we are confident in that.
and we trust that He will provide.
we can't wait to see how He will do that!
adoption is expensive.
it will probably be close to $30,000 once we have these precious kids home.
but we will pay it in (large!) bits at a time as we go in the process.
some have mentioned that the cost is ridiculous.
but we just come back to the fact that all this paperwork and money is done mostly to make sure our home is a safe, loving home for these children that deserve nothing less.
our government has rules.
the Rwandan government has rules.
and we'll jump through all the hoops to get to our children.
(even if we think some of the hoops are a bit ridiculous or exorbitant)
we are careful with our money.
but we don't have that kind of money sitting in a box ready for this.
we are trusting and trying our best not to stress about it.
God has provided for us in so many ways over the years that it's hard to doubt Him in this.
anyone can request more details from any adoption agency if you are interested.
each country is a bit different.
the financial part of adoption is a HUGE thing for people...but i want to encourage people that if God is calling you to adopt...don't let money be the thing that holds you back.
and i am glad to share with anyone any details that you'd like to ask me in person (or email).
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
the homestudy is starting!
we had our first homestudy meeting last night.
we have to have 4 meetings with our social worker as part of our homestudy.
then our social worker will put together the homestudy that will be submitted to our government to give us permission to adopt.
it's basically a description of us...pat and i, our kids, our home, and nothing is off-limits.
i'm not nervous.
i know that God has us where we are...so i'm not scared about this part of the process.
i'm going to back up a bit.
for those that are interested in the details.
and tell you what, exactly, we've done so far in this process.
once we decided to adopt, we chose an agency.
this wasn't easy.
my only criteria as i began looking was one that worked in the continent of Africa.
i searched blogs, google, websites.
emailed strangers asking them their experiences.
and we were led to America World Adoption Association.
{did you know that i found out this past weekend at the seminar we went to that the CEO of America World goes to our church?? God...you are so funny! here i think I am doing all this stuff...and You are SO in control :-)}
we met with them in person.
and loved them.
we were given an application to fill out.
it wasn't long.
8 pages.
but we had to put a LOT of important info in that application:
the country we wanted to adopt from, how many kids, the age range, all our financial info, give names of references for them to contact, health info.
it wasn't just "we want to adopt"...you really had to be serious.
and you had to submit $250 with the application.
once that was approved we were sent TONS of attachments in an email.
the majority of it was the "Rwanda Overview Packet"...but there were also some agreements we had to sign and return...with $1500 (our first of 3 payments to our agency for what all that they do).
we had to do this in order for a Family Coordinator to be assigned to us so that we could begin our Home Study.
we weren't doubting anything at this point.
but it was feeling very REAL.
and, remember, God sent a $1500 check in the mail that week.
just a little confirmation to push us along.
we also had to complete an online course that took 8 hours.
{just basic stuff about adoption...the process...the terms...all the transitions...}
we somehow managed to finish it in 1 weekend...during naptimes and after the kids went to bed.
after that we received another phone call {LOVE those phone calls!}
and were officially accepted into the Rwanda program and assigned a sweet girl to help us along.
after the phone call, we were emailed TONS of attachments...about the homestudy, about the dossier, articles we had to read, forms to fill out, agreements to sign...it was VERY overwhelming to me.
but i printed it all out and started organizing.
and filling out.
and it slowly became manageable.
none of it is HARD...it's just tedious.
we have 22 items that we need to gather to be a part of our homestudy.
things like:
*a form of every place we've lived
*marriage license
*birth certificates
*medical forms for Pat and I (we have to go get physicals) and medical forms for each kid (they each have to get new TB tests!)
*FBI clearance...with fingerprints
*State police clearance
*Child Protective Services clearance
*Employment letter
*and we have to each write an autobiography (can i just give them my blog address?? :-))
we've submitted maybe half of the paperwork so far.
and another big check.
and i feel like i've been working so HARD!
we need to get fingerprinted and physicals done.
once we get ALL our paperwork in, they will move on to Visits #2, #3 and #4 of the homestudy.
Visit #2 is with our whole family. at our house.
Visit #3 is with Pat and I. individually. at our house.
and Visit #4 is basically the social worker presenting us with our completed homestudy and us signing it.
so...we have lots of work ahead of us.
the ball is in our court right now...finish the paperwork for the homestudy.
but we're ready to take it on.
there were 3 other couples at the homestudy last night.
each of us were adopting from different countries.
it was so neat to hear how God works so clearly in such different ways in each person's life!
this journey is amazing.
i'm in awe of Him.
we have to have 4 meetings with our social worker as part of our homestudy.
then our social worker will put together the homestudy that will be submitted to our government to give us permission to adopt.
it's basically a description of us...pat and i, our kids, our home, and nothing is off-limits.
i'm not nervous.
i know that God has us where we are...so i'm not scared about this part of the process.
i'm going to back up a bit.
for those that are interested in the details.
and tell you what, exactly, we've done so far in this process.
once we decided to adopt, we chose an agency.
this wasn't easy.
my only criteria as i began looking was one that worked in the continent of Africa.
i searched blogs, google, websites.
emailed strangers asking them their experiences.
and we were led to America World Adoption Association.
{did you know that i found out this past weekend at the seminar we went to that the CEO of America World goes to our church?? God...you are so funny! here i think I am doing all this stuff...and You are SO in control :-)}
we met with them in person.
and loved them.
we were given an application to fill out.
it wasn't long.
8 pages.
but we had to put a LOT of important info in that application:
the country we wanted to adopt from, how many kids, the age range, all our financial info, give names of references for them to contact, health info.
it wasn't just "we want to adopt"...you really had to be serious.
and you had to submit $250 with the application.
once that was approved we were sent TONS of attachments in an email.
the majority of it was the "Rwanda Overview Packet"...but there were also some agreements we had to sign and return...with $1500 (our first of 3 payments to our agency for what all that they do).
we had to do this in order for a Family Coordinator to be assigned to us so that we could begin our Home Study.
we weren't doubting anything at this point.
but it was feeling very REAL.
and, remember, God sent a $1500 check in the mail that week.
just a little confirmation to push us along.
we also had to complete an online course that took 8 hours.
{just basic stuff about adoption...the process...the terms...all the transitions...}
we somehow managed to finish it in 1 weekend...during naptimes and after the kids went to bed.
after that we received another phone call {LOVE those phone calls!}
and were officially accepted into the Rwanda program and assigned a sweet girl to help us along.
after the phone call, we were emailed TONS of attachments...about the homestudy, about the dossier, articles we had to read, forms to fill out, agreements to sign...it was VERY overwhelming to me.
but i printed it all out and started organizing.
and filling out.
and it slowly became manageable.
none of it is HARD...it's just tedious.
we have 22 items that we need to gather to be a part of our homestudy.
things like:
*a form of every place we've lived
*marriage license
*birth certificates
*medical forms for Pat and I (we have to go get physicals) and medical forms for each kid (they each have to get new TB tests!)
*FBI clearance...with fingerprints
*State police clearance
*Child Protective Services clearance
*Employment letter
*and we have to each write an autobiography (can i just give them my blog address?? :-))
we've submitted maybe half of the paperwork so far.
and another big check.
and i feel like i've been working so HARD!
we need to get fingerprinted and physicals done.
once we get ALL our paperwork in, they will move on to Visits #2, #3 and #4 of the homestudy.
Visit #2 is with our whole family. at our house.
Visit #3 is with Pat and I. individually. at our house.
and Visit #4 is basically the social worker presenting us with our completed homestudy and us signing it.
so...we have lots of work ahead of us.
the ball is in our court right now...finish the paperwork for the homestudy.
but we're ready to take it on.
there were 3 other couples at the homestudy last night.
each of us were adopting from different countries.
it was so neat to hear how God works so clearly in such different ways in each person's life!
this journey is amazing.
i'm in awe of Him.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
the kids
man.
as soon as i feel like i figure something out about parenting or one of my kids in particular...it changes.
i guess that's just part of the job description as a parent.
but it's exhausting!
and never-ending.
i'm just going to go through them one-by-one.
rebekah:
i already mentioned that i bought some books to read for/with her about...you know..."stuff".
can't believe that we are getting to that point in her life.
i want to be in denial.
but even more than that.
i want to continue our desire with our kids to have open communication about things...especially those things...so that requires me NOT being in denial and taking the bull by the horns.
that's all i'm going to say or think about that right now.
{see...still struggling with the "denial" thing}
we are in a really good spot with her right now.
ahhh! {that's a sign of relief!}
seriously. i thought it would never come.
but the JOY that it is was worth all those minutes...days...hours of crying/discipline/praying/reading/talking...
she has been SO excited to share "our" news :-)
on the day that i told her she was free to tell anyone...she went to school, walked up to her teacher and said, "i need to tell the class something."
her teacher said, "what?"
she said, "my parents are adopting 2 kids from Africa."
so her teacher let her announce it.
she stood up and proudly announced that we were adopting.
she came home that day and told me. with a smile on her face.
she is genuinely excited.
but a couple hours later...at dinner...she said, "mom. what if people make fun of our new brothers/sisters because their skin is a different color?"
took me a second to collect my thoughts.
because, you know, up until that point the dinner conversation was about if we had to take a bath tonight and what we were having for breakfast tomorrow...
i tried to keep it short.
and very matter-of-fact.
and had the first of {i'm sure} many conversations.
it went something like,
"well. does joshua have any less feelings than you because he has brown eyes and you have green eyes?"
no.
"our new brothers or sisters have all the same feelings you do. they just have a different skin color. if people make fun of them you just need to react the same way you would if someone made fun of joshua for having brown eyes. it's silly. and not ok."
and we moved on.
rebekah is entering that place...where i never know what i'm going to get...a "little girl"...or a "girl trying to grow up"
i love what i see in the future...she is so beautiful inside and out.
the other night she left this on our bed.
what a blessing she is to us.
"night mom and dad. love you. see you in the morning. love, rebekah"
joshua:
he's the big surprise.
this child has been disciplined more in the last month than all the months of his life combined.
i know it's the transition to school.
and he loves school.
there don't seem to be any real issues at school.
it's just the whole transition.
he's difficult. and lazy. and complains. and instigates fights with his sisters.
it's unreal! {for him}
the first week i let a lot of stuff go.
but the other 2 1/2 weeks i've been very consistent (at least with pointing out his disobedience/attitudes) and we're not seeing much improvement.
i have his big sister's track record to go off of.
so he's not cracking me yet.
i will remain strong and firm.
he is worth me fighting for his sweet heart.
i will not allow him to give into this ugliness that i'm seeing take hold of him.
i just hope this doesn't last til 8 years old like it did for her.
my crew.
at the fountain nearby.
they are all in this picture.
can you find them??
bailey:
she is a joy lately!
really!
she still suffocates sawyer.
but not always.
sometimes he smiles when she comes towards him.
that's progress!
and i say her name more than anyone else...she just needs constant little reminders of...everything...
i've enjoyed the comments lately from her "teachers" at ballet and AWANA.
"she's so FUN!"
"she's ALWAYS smiling!"
"she likes to be in charge" :-)
i see her just thriving in the little time we have together after joshua gets on the bus.
i enjoy her so much.
sawyer:
he walks more than he crawls.
he can throw, roll and kick a ball.
seriously.
i think his first word is "ball".
very appropriate!
i love the sound his little pudgy feet make on the wood floor when he walks.
he would choose to only eat fruit.
but i choose to make him eat other things too.
he is so happy {most of the time...except when i'm making dinner...}
and cute
and pudgy
and i don't want him to grow anyMORE!
as soon as i feel like i figure something out about parenting or one of my kids in particular...it changes.
i guess that's just part of the job description as a parent.
but it's exhausting!
and never-ending.
i'm just going to go through them one-by-one.
rebekah:
i already mentioned that i bought some books to read for/with her about...you know..."stuff".
can't believe that we are getting to that point in her life.
i want to be in denial.
but even more than that.
i want to continue our desire with our kids to have open communication about things...especially those things...so that requires me NOT being in denial and taking the bull by the horns.
that's all i'm going to say or think about that right now.
{see...still struggling with the "denial" thing}
we are in a really good spot with her right now.
ahhh! {that's a sign of relief!}
seriously. i thought it would never come.
but the JOY that it is was worth all those minutes...days...hours of crying/discipline/praying/reading/talking...
she has been SO excited to share "our" news :-)
on the day that i told her she was free to tell anyone...she went to school, walked up to her teacher and said, "i need to tell the class something."
her teacher said, "what?"
she said, "my parents are adopting 2 kids from Africa."
so her teacher let her announce it.
she stood up and proudly announced that we were adopting.
she came home that day and told me. with a smile on her face.
she is genuinely excited.
but a couple hours later...at dinner...she said, "mom. what if people make fun of our new brothers/sisters because their skin is a different color?"
took me a second to collect my thoughts.
because, you know, up until that point the dinner conversation was about if we had to take a bath tonight and what we were having for breakfast tomorrow...
i tried to keep it short.
and very matter-of-fact.
and had the first of {i'm sure} many conversations.
it went something like,
"well. does joshua have any less feelings than you because he has brown eyes and you have green eyes?"
no.
"our new brothers or sisters have all the same feelings you do. they just have a different skin color. if people make fun of them you just need to react the same way you would if someone made fun of joshua for having brown eyes. it's silly. and not ok."
and we moved on.
rebekah is entering that place...where i never know what i'm going to get...a "little girl"...or a "girl trying to grow up"
i love what i see in the future...she is so beautiful inside and out.
the other night she left this on our bed.
what a blessing she is to us.
"night mom and dad. love you. see you in the morning. love, rebekah"
joshua:
he's the big surprise.
this child has been disciplined more in the last month than all the months of his life combined.
i know it's the transition to school.
and he loves school.
there don't seem to be any real issues at school.
it's just the whole transition.
he's difficult. and lazy. and complains. and instigates fights with his sisters.
it's unreal! {for him}
the first week i let a lot of stuff go.
but the other 2 1/2 weeks i've been very consistent (at least with pointing out his disobedience/attitudes) and we're not seeing much improvement.
i have his big sister's track record to go off of.
so he's not cracking me yet.
i will remain strong and firm.
he is worth me fighting for his sweet heart.
i will not allow him to give into this ugliness that i'm seeing take hold of him.
i just hope this doesn't last til 8 years old like it did for her.
my crew.
at the fountain nearby.
they are all in this picture.
can you find them??
bailey:
she is a joy lately!
really!
she still suffocates sawyer.
but not always.
sometimes he smiles when she comes towards him.
that's progress!
and i say her name more than anyone else...she just needs constant little reminders of...everything...
i've enjoyed the comments lately from her "teachers" at ballet and AWANA.
"she's so FUN!"
"she's ALWAYS smiling!"
"she likes to be in charge" :-)
i see her just thriving in the little time we have together after joshua gets on the bus.
i enjoy her so much.
sawyer:
he walks more than he crawls.
he can throw, roll and kick a ball.
seriously.
i think his first word is "ball".
very appropriate!
i love the sound his little pudgy feet make on the wood floor when he walks.
he would choose to only eat fruit.
but i choose to make him eat other things too.
he is so happy {most of the time...except when i'm making dinner...}
and cute
and pudgy
and i don't want him to grow anyMORE!
the excitement
the phase of the "adoption process" right now is excitement.
it was fun to have "our little {BIG!} secret for a couple months.
and it was scary to start telling people.
but now that we are it is just exciting.
i feel my heart {and mind} wanting to jump forward...to be worried about details...and anxious for deadlines...and scared of the unknown...but that's unnecessary right now.
right now, i'm excited.
to be walking right where God wants us is EXCITING.
and i'm going to enjoy the peace of that for now.
it was fun to have "our little {BIG!} secret for a couple months.
and it was scary to start telling people.
but now that we are it is just exciting.
i feel my heart {and mind} wanting to jump forward...to be worried about details...and anxious for deadlines...and scared of the unknown...but that's unnecessary right now.
right now, i'm excited.
to be walking right where God wants us is EXCITING.
and i'm going to enjoy the peace of that for now.
Friday, September 25, 2009
news!!!
"Once our eyes are opened we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know and holds us responsible to act."
Proverbs 24:12
Proverbs 24:12
we have some news!
the Cassada's have some news.
i'm not going to beat around the bush and make you guess {although that would be kinda fun!}
we are adopting.
2 children.
from Rwanda.
{!!!!!}
i know!
if you've read this blog for any amount of time i don't think that will come as a complete surprise to you. maybe you weren't expecting it today. but my heart has been "here" for awhile.
here's part of an email i sent to my closest friends "announcing our news" a couple weeks ago:
Pat and I have been blessed with so much…our health, and 4 healthy children, a job for Pat that allows me to stay at home with our kids AND that more than provides for our needs! Over the last couple years we’ve been talking/reading/praying/searching to see what God would have us do with all the blessings He’s bestowed on us. We’ve learned over the years, that if we keep pursuing His heart, He will guide us and bless us in ways we couldn’t have even HOPED for! And we want to be a PART of Him working. As part of that searching, Africa has become very close to my heart. I’ve never set foot in it, but I hurt for the people, and love them in ways that can only be His love. And the orphans…the millions of orphans…it’s not ok. And I LOVE being a mom. Is my life already full? YES. And crazy? YES. But does that mean I can’t open my arms and heart to more? My answer is NO (that doesn’t mean I think it should be everyone’s answer!) Adopting children from Africa has just seemed like “it”…what God wants from us at this point in our lives…where He’s been leading us the last couple years. It is clear to both of us. We’re both on the same page. We don’t expect it to be easy…the process, or the initial adjustment, or even down the road. There will be MANY issues/setbacks. But God is with us. And I just have to cling to that.
i hope to do a number of posts over the next week or so answering some of the questions we are getting. i can't answer it all here in one post.
but here are just a few answers.
why are you adopting?
the short answer: because we can.
that is not meant to sound "flip" or "sarcastic." our eyes have been opened to the suffering out there. and God has blessed us immensely. we've been seeking Him...asking Him what He wants us to do with what He's given us. and this is where we've been led. out of obedience we are stepping forward.
do you know who the children are?
no. we won't be referred the specific children for 6 months or more.
why 2 children?
i can give some reasons for this. but the biggest reason is because that's what we felt called to do. the "practical" reasons are: if we are willing to adopt 1, why not 2?, and they will at least have 1 other person in their family that "looks like them"
why Rwanda?
i have a heart for Africa. so we knew that's where we were headed. we decided on an agency that we felt comfortable with (this was very important to us!) and they are Ethiopia and Rwanda. the Rwanda program is much newer, riskier, not as smooth. so that's what we picked :-)
plus: 1 in 5 children in Rwanda won't live until they are 5 years old.
do you need much more reason??
this is not about giving them a "better" life...it's about giving them LIFE.
where are you in the process?
we started the process about 2 months ago.
we are just starting our home study.
the process should take 12-18 months.
i've had an adoption blog that i've been journaling through for the last 14 months or so.
feel free to check it out. {click on "check it out"}
i will be transferring those posts to this blog {in the dates they belong...for the blog book :-)}
and i won't be posting on that blog anymore.
i will be posting about adoption stuff here now {in addition to all the normal, everyday "Cassada stuff"!}
if you aren't interested...sorry!
i don't want to keep up 2 blogs!
let me know if you have any questions!
i'll try to answer them all here!
i'd love to encourage a "spirit of adoption"...whether you might adopt one day...or help support someone that wants to...or help orphans in need around the world in other tangible ways...and i'd like to be open to any questions or concerns people have about it.
we are excited for what God is going to do.
we count it a blessing to be used by Him.
we covet your prayers and appreciate your support!
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