ONE:27 Summer Run

On Saturday, July 28th we co-hosted a fundraising 5k event with our friends, Eric and Christen Bean (www.thebeanadoptionblogspot.com) at Longleaf Trace in Hattiesburg, MS. After over a month of planning, the day had finally arrived! Although the hour was early, we were full of excitement for a fun-filled morning with our family and friends. The Lord blessed us with a beautiful summer day for this event.

Over 130 runners came to show their support of international adoption! It warmed our hearts to see friends & family members who traveled from all over to particpate in this run on the behalf of our children!

                                              We had runners of all ages... 

  

runners from Louisiana...

2 of my tweenhood friends from West Monroe... still the same silly girls I remember! :)

2 of my tweenhood friends from West Monroe... still the same silly girls I remember! :)

a family of runners...

Kelly & Richard Jackson with their baby girl, Mariella

even runners from Colombia! 

Nicolas and his sister, Diana, were adopted from Colombia 5 years ago

 Along with the 5k, we hosted a 1 mile fun run for the young, but determined runners. This was one lion-hearted group of kids who were, in my opinion, the highlight of the day!

 

Of course, I am partial to this little champion!

Batman, a.k.a. Carter: my (almost) 3 year old nephew

Overall the day was a great success! We had a wonderful time with our friends and family as we celebrated the joy of adoption. After our expenses we raised $4371.16 for the Minyard and Bean adoptions!

We give all the praise and glory to our Lord who made it all possible! He provided our every need! We are especially grateful for God leading us to Tim Irvine - we could not have done this without Tim Irvine Race Timing Services

I'd also like to thank:
the Beans for teaming up with us on this event,
 my sister-in-law, Bridgette for her help in planning,
my brother, Chris (photography),
Alicia Holifield (photography),
and ALL of our volunteers for giving up their Saturday morning to help us make ONE:27 a success!

A special thanks to our friends Marshall McKellar and Kristie Reddoch who made our day more enjoyable with their musical talent! :)  

Last, but certainly not least, we'd like to thank our sponsors! We are so grateful for your support!

Runner's High

Courtesy Ford

Pepsi

McAlister's Deli

ServPro

Bethlehem Baptist Church

Petal Harvey Baptist Church

Carroll Jewelry

Scentsy

Bright Arrows Farm

Curves

Todd Schwebel State Farm

Egg Traders, Inc.

Wells Pharmacy

Lord willing, we hope to host ONE:27 Summer Run annually to benefit families adopting internationally. We look forward to what God has in store for this adoption ministry!

The Latest News

Our dossier was finalized 3 ½ weeks ago, on July 6^th.  In God’s providence our agency had a service team leaving for Colombia on July 8^th, so our dossier was hand delivered 2 days after it was finalized.  Not only did it save us the expense of shipping everything, but it also saved us the time it would’ve taken to arrive by mail.  We were/are extremely grateful for the Lord’s provision in this!

Upon our caseworker’s return from Colombia, our agency held a conference call for all Colombia families.  Although this call is done on a monthly basis and often contains routine information and updates, we were all urged to listen in.  During the conference call we learned that because of some unfortunate circumstances in recent days, the Constitutional Court in Colombia released a mandate declaring that on behalf of all children presently available for adoption (and those becoming available for adoption in the future) family members to the 6^th degree must be contacted before the child can be considered relinquished and adoptable.  Because of this mandate, a thorough investigation must be done on ALL cases presently being presented for adoption.  Naturally, this will cause adoption processes to slow down.  We feared the worst and called our caseworker as soon as the conference call ended.  Much to our surprise, she informed us that the mandate wouldn’t affect our process.  She explained that in cases like ours (special circumstances, multiple children, older children, etc.) a thorough investigation has already taken place.  We were so relieved! She went on to tell us more good news.  While she was in Colombia, an orphanage requested to work with us!  They asked that our dossier be sent over as soon as it was translated.  I am happy to report that we will be working with Casa de la Madre y el Niño (www.la-casa.org) in Bogotá!  I’m even happier to report that our dossier has been fully translated and was hand delivered to Casa de la Madre yesterday!

What’s next?

We are awaiting official approval Colombia, which should take 2-3 weeks.  This approval basically means that Colombia has examined our information, it has met their criteria, and no revisions need to be made.  Once they determine they have sufficient/accurate information from us/about us, they give us an official approval.  Once we receive Colombia approval, we will be able to formally accept an official referral (match).  Technically, they could find a match for us any day, but because of the recent mandate, it is likely they will wait until everything is official before they approach us with a match.  Once we receive the referral (match) we will have some time to review the information and have it reviewed by a physician.  Once we make a final decision to accept the referral, we will travel 8 weeks later.

In a world full of “IFs”:

IF we received Colombia approval 3 weeks from now, it would be August 22^nd

IF we received a referral and accepted 2 days later, it would be August 24^th

IF we traveled exactly 8 weeks from that day, it would be October 19^th

Obviously there is no real way to predict how this will all play out.  The only one who needs to know, is the only one who does know, and HE’s the one who is in control!  We are thrilled to reach this point in our journey; a referral can literally come any day!  We absolutely CANNOT WAIT to see their faces and look forward to the day when we can announce to the world…. BOY or GIRL… or BOTH!

(Our recent fundraiser, ONE:27 Summer Run was a great success. More about that soon….)