Pathways

Pathways is a 2-day training that Gladney requires parents to take part in prior to placement of children in the home.  One might consider this training unnecessary, but it proved to be very valuable.  We attended this training at the beginning of January, in Fort Worth, Texas.  There were about 16 couples in attendance, each adopting from various places.  There were several couples adopting through the state of Texas, one of those couples (in their 60s) were adopting 5 siblings ranging from toddler to teenager!  Quite the inspiration, huh?  Other couples were adopting from China, Russia, and of course Colombia.  We were able to get to know most everyone, which was an encouragement to us.  It's always nice to talk with someone who is walking (or has already walked) the same path you're walking.

We were also able to meet our caseworkers, who have been at our side since October, as well as other Gladney staff.  Being able to finally put a face with all of the names and voices we've been hearing made the process seem more real.  I feel as though it gave us a boost of confidence in our Gladney team and helped us feel more comfortable.  Whether you realize it or not, adoption can feel like (for lack of a better word) an invasion of your life.  I guess now it just feels more like our friends are invading our lives! Ha!

These 2 days felt like a wild ride on an emotional roller coaster.  The subjects talked about ranged from wonderfully touching to incredibly painful.  At times our excitement for our future was at it's peak and other times we felt the intense gravity of the reality of adoption, and what it really looks like.  I would say the message (as a whole) was that we often get caught up in a fairy tale.  We fashion adoption (and the meeting of our children) as a perfectly blissful experience, when in reality NOTHING in our lives mirrors anything remotely close to a fairy tale.  So why do we imagine adoption to be this way?  The truth is, these children are in orphanages for a reason.  They've either lost one, or both, of their parents, or they've been given up as a result of extreme poverty, or they've been removed from a home of neglect and/or abuse.  All of these circumstances are reasons for intense grief, sadness, anger, frustration, fear, and mistrust, among many other unpleasant emotions.  The point being that these children will come with a past, and it is wrong of us to expect these children to brush off that past and embrace the new/ "better" life we believe we're giving them.  To put it bluntly, adoption ain't always pretty.  Adoption is a commitment.  It's a commitment to love and embrace these children AND their past.  It's a resolve to do whatever it takes to help them overcome their fear, anger, and grief.  It's a surrender of your life for theirs.  Even as I write this, my eyes are filled with tears.  What a beautiful image of what Christ has done for us!  What Christ accomplished on the cross has never been so real to me.  God has used the adoption of these children to open my eyes to the beauty and wonder of my own adoption into His family! Have you stopped to consider how marvelous it is that, as a believer, you are now a CHILD of the ALMIGHTY GOD? What an unlovely past we had, yet God, in HIS VAST MERCY, clothed us in the raiment of HIS DEAR SON, JESUS, and remembered our sin NO MORE!!! HOW CAN THIS BE??? What a GLORIOUS love that has been poured out on us. I am no longer what I was. I don't bear the shame and guilt of my past. I am free from that bondage and now bear the name of JESUS! I AM IN THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE KING! So, how could I EVER forsake these children because of their unlovely past? I know all too well what it feels like to be cast out. The difference is that Christ took me in, and He surrendered His life for mine. So, I will be the one who stands in the stead of these little ones.  I will say, whatever it looks like, however long it takes, I will love you through this pain and I will depend upon my FATHER for strength to accomplish it.  We would also ask all of you to pray. Begin to pray for these children, that God would keep them from further harm, and that He would prepare them to be a part of our family. Pray that it would not be many days until they know the perfect love of THE FATHER and the joy of His salvation. Pray for us, that God would make us wise, and that He would equip us to parent these children.

To close, I'd like to share a story that was shared with us at Pathways. It speaks of the persevering love of a mother. (If you haven't already, go and retrieve the tissues!) The story is about a young girl, I'll refer to her as Hope for the sake of privacy. Hope and her two younger brothers lived in Ethiopia. Before being placed in a orphanage, they endured physical abuse from family members as well as others in the community. Hope and her brothers were often beaten with metal pipes and other blunt objects as a means of "discipline." They were removed from their childhood home and placed in orphanages. Hope went to an all girls orphanage and the two younger boys went to a different orphanage for boys. Years went by, but all three children were finally adopted by a family from the United States. By this time Hope was in her early teen years (11 or 12) and very violent. It wasn't until Hope arrived in the U.S. that they discovered she was legally blind. This partially explained why she fought everyone she came in contact with, because she couldn't determine if they were friend or foe. Hope became so violent that her brothers were afraid of her. The family reached a breaking point when she began hurting not only her biological brothers, but other members of her adopted family as well. Eventually Hope was removed from the home, but her brothers remained with the adopted family. Another family stepped forward and agreed to adopt Hope, they were committed to helping this young girl, now 13 years old. Despite their efforts, the violence continued. She became so violent that this new family sought help. They didn't want her to leave permanently, but they knew she needed more help than they could give her. Hope was taken to a type of rehabilitation program, where she worked one-on-one with a therapist. Her adopted mother would call her every day to tell her these words "you are precious and you are my daughter." Every day Hope would hang up on her. Many days Hope would cuss her mother out before she hung up, but her mother continued to call her every day telling her "you are precious and you are my daughter." It was the last day of the program and her mother called her once more to say "you are precious and you are my daughter," this time Hope paused, and then hung up. It was time for her to leave, though Hope was unsure of where she would be going. She began to cry and when asked why she was crying, she said "I want to go home." She was then asked, "where is home?" and Hope replied "where my mother is." Hope returned to her family and remains with them to this day. We were told that they still have their struggles, but Hope continues to overcome her past and embrace her new family. Hope's story is just that, a story of hope. It reminds me to trust God for His sustaining strength and to lovingly pursue my children, just as He pursued me.

I will not take my love away
When praises cease and seasons change
While the whole world turns the other way
I will not take my love away
I will not leave you all alone
When striving leads you far from home
And there's no yield for what you've sown
I will not leave you all alone
I will give you what you need
In plenty or in poverty
Forever, always, look to me
And I will give you what you need

-Matt Wertz

"Relentless Hope"

I have to start out by saying that I intended to write this post upon our return from Pathways training at the beginning of the month, but we have been going nonstop since we returned (hence the blogpost 2 weeks past due). Now, where to begin?

As I shared with you in the last post, I had been experiencing a real low point (emotionally) in our journey.  The weight of our adoption expenses had taken its toll on me.  Fear had begun to cripple my once lion-hearted zeal to take this adoption by the horns, and overcome every obstacle that stood in our way.  I started to believe it just wasn't financially possible.  I began to wrestle with inward doubt, accompanied by outward shame.  I was ashamed to admit to my family and friends that I no longer embodied mountain moving faith, but rather I found myself in the low valley, where doubt and fear were my closest friends.  Beth Guckenberger references a situation like my own in her book entitled "Relentless Hope."  When referencing how hard it can be to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus amidst our greatest difficulty, she writes these words:

"How do we live in the midst of this broken world, getting our feet tripped up on all sorts of places, and not look down more than we look up? When we find our story has taken on a dark chapter, either by our own wanderings, or someone else's, do we close our eyes and muddle through? Do we just stay there, now that the consequential scar might stand out, obvious to all? Do we keep our mouths shut until our story has a bow on the end of it and now can be properly considered a 'testimony'? Romans 8:28 is a promise that whatever we might be experiencing today is just one chapter in a story He is writing and the story isn't over yet."

That just says it all.  As raw and uncomfortable as some of the chapters in my life's story may be, the author is God Himself, who ordains all things according to His purposes and my good, as His child.  How can I not trust Him?  He has called me and Blaine to adopt these children, and HE WILL PROVIDE.  I hope, with all the HOPE that is in me, that God shocks the socks off of everyone who hears our story and provides the finances in the biggest way imaginable... not that we would receive any benefit, but that HE might receive ALL THE GLORY for HIS MIGHTY POWER that is able to accomplish the most IMPOSSIBLE of impossibilities.

I have so much to share about what we learned at Pathways, but it deserves a post all it's own. :) Unfortunately, I will have to postpone writing it until later this week, but that will give you time to have your Kleenex ready....

Spirit Come

Long Overdue for an Update

It's been a while since our last blog post, which means we have a lot to catch up on.  For starters, I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Our home was full of family on both occasions, which served as a reminder that we have much to be thankful for, as well as much to look forward to.

The sale of "Noel, A Collection of Christmas Melodies" is complete.  Thanks to all who supported us in this endeavor.  We sold 196 copies and raised $1,488.43!!!  We thoroughly enjoyed creating this album and we pray that it will be a blessing to all who purchased it.

In the midst of the holidays and our Noel fundraiser, we managed to reach a milestone in our adoption journey.  We are proud to say that we have completed all of the (American) paperwork for our Gladney file!!!  This was a process that took about 3 months to complete.  I'm sure the first question entering your mind at this moment is, "why did it take so long?" followed by the second question, "what does this mean?"  To answer your first question, the process was time consuming because it involved information from many different people.  Some of the documents we had to acquire were: a physicians report, stating that we were in good health; employment and salary verification, entailing a notarized letter from our employer; insurance verification, entailing a letter from our insurance provider stating the amount/time of coverage for our children; fingerprinting and background checks for all states of residence since the age of 18; 5 reference letters; photos of our family and home; copies of our birth certificates and marriage license; and a detailed description of our finances, just to name a few!  Needless to say, it took some time to collect all of this information.  

So, what does this mean?  Well, it means we're about 1/3 of the way the through the paperwork!  Next on the agenda is the homestudy.  A caseworker from the Gladeny agency will come to our home and spend the day interviewing us (separately and together) and ensuring that our home is suitable for the age and amount of children we'd like to adopt.  While the homestudy is being "ordered" (arranged) we will be working on our I-800 A (application to the U.S. government for determination of suitability to adopt a child from a foreign country) and pysch. evaluation.  Once these items and the homestudy are completed, we will begin our foreign dossier (all documents required by Colombia to complete the adoption).  We expect that it will take about 3 months to complete the foreign dossier.  Once the dossier is complete, it must be approved by Colombia.  Upon our Colombia approval, we will then await our referral (this will contain all of the information available on the children: age, name, place of birth, etc.)  There is no exact timeline for the arrival of the referral, it could be 2 weeks after our Colombia approval, or it could be 6 months.  However, because we are willing to adopt siblings as well as older children, it is very likely that we will be matched quickly.  Although there is no exact science to adoption, and the estimated wait time is never accurate, the earliest we expect to travel to bring our children home is mid-late summer.  We will have a better feel for this timeline as we proceed with the paperwork.

Next week, we will be traveling to Fort Worth, TX for Gladney's Pathway's Training.  This training is for parents adopting older children.  We are looking forward to this time as we will be able to meet our Gladney caseworkers as well as other families adopting from Colombia.  Pray for us as we travel, that God would keep us safe and continue to encourage us in our journey.

Blaine and I would especially ask that you pray for our encouragement.  Unfortunately, I am presently in a season of doubt and discouragement.  I am beginning to feel very overwhelmed by the finances required to complete this adoption.  Several nights in a row, I have awakened full of worry and convinced of the impossibility of this feat.  Although my heart knows all of God's promises, my mind begins to convince me otherwise.  I struggled with whether or not I should share this with you.  But, rather than paint a pretty picture, I would rather you know the truth.  The truth being that it is often HARD to follow the Lord.  I believe, at times, He intends for it to be so.  Otherwise, we would never experience the POWER of His unfailing arms.  Pray for THAT POWER to envelope us.  Pray that He would REMIND us of HIS PURPOSE.  Pray that He would ENERGIZE us for HIS CAUSE and impart to us HIS STRENGTH to continue.  We covet your prayers. 

We look forward to the day when we will look into our children's eyes and in that moment KNOW, without a shadow of doubt, that it was all WORTH IT.... that THEY were WORTH it.

for more information about our financial need, click here

Download "Noel: A Collection of Christmas Melodies"

1. Click "Buy This Album for $5.00" (all the tracks will then be checked off)

2. Click "Click Here To Order" (you will then be brought to the Website Music Player's order page)

3. Click "Click Here To Process Order" (you will then be brought to a page to confirm your order)

4. Click "Click Here To Confirm Your Order" (you will then be brought to Paypal.com where you can enter your credit/debit card information or you can sign into your Paypal account)

* A PAYPAL ACCOUNT IS NOT REQUIRED TO PURCHASE THIS ALBUM*

5. Click "Pay Now" (you will then recieve a receipt for your order)

6. Click the button "Click here to download songs" in order to download the album. (you will then be brought to the download page after everything is verified and processed)

* Please read all instructions before downloads, as it includes important information about downloading the album. *

Thank you for your support in the sale of Noel!

196 copies sold!!!

A special thanks to Dino Pagliardi at www.WebsiteMusicPlayer.com for his generosity and the donation of his services.

Click here to download the artwork and album insert for Noel

We'd like to say a BIG thank you to Chris Kimbrell for designing all of the artwork for the album.  

Coming Soon

We have another fundraiser underway!  Blaine and I recently finished recording a Christmas album with some of our friends and family called, Noel: A Collection of Christmas Melodies.  We are so grateful to everyone who pitched in to make this album possible.  Everyone's willingness to participate has really meant a lot to the both of us.  We are really proud of the finished product and can't wait to share it with all of you! In order to make this fundraiser a success, we need YOUR HELP!  We'd like you to spread the word to all of your friends and family.... the more people you tell, the better.  If we can sell 7,000 copies, our adoption will be paid for!  The album will be released for download on December 1st and can be purchased through December 25th.  It will be available right here on our blog and on Facebook, as well.  This is a very simple way that you can contribute to such an important cause. GET THE WORD OUT!

  1. Our Story (The Minyards)

  2. Come Thou Long Expected Jesus (Blaine Minyard)

  3. Creator of the Stars of Night (Kevin Price)

  4. Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (Stephanie Minyard)

  5. In the Bleak Midwinter (Blaine Minyard)

  6. Silver Bells (Brandon Edwards)

  7. Holly Jolly Christmas (Flight From Below)

  8. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Ruby Pruitt)

  9. O Holy Night (Aaron & Brooke Cousino - feat. Lily Kimbrell)

10. O Come Let Us Adore Him (Paula Kimbrell and The Minyards)

DOWNLOAD FOR $5.00

AVAILABLE DEC. 1ST - DEC. 25TH

God's Sweet Mercies

     We had a wonderful time at Praise in the Park (PITP), 2 weeks ago. We were overwhelmed with the kind responses we received from the people we met.  Upon opening our booth, we met a young lady.  She didn't tell us her name, in fact she didn't say very much at all.  We began telling her the purpose for our booth at PITP and a little information about our adoption.  We invited her to enter the t-shirt give-away and gave her a card with our blog information on it.  She said she wanted to make a donation, handed me (what I thought was) a few dollars folded up, and walked away. As I put it in our donation box, I realized that it was more than a few dollars, it was actually $7.  This was our very first donation!  You may be thinking to yourself that $7 is not a lot of money, but to me it was.  At most, I expected that people would give a dollar here and there.  Well, little did I know of what God had in store for us.  We began greeting those who walked by, inviting them to enter the t-shirt give-away (this was THE #1 THING that drew people to our booth), when a few minutes later the young lady came back.  She spoke with Blaine and explained to him that she just felt like she needed to give more.... AND SHE HANDED HIM $20!  I was amazed, not simply because of the amount, but because of her attitude toward giving.  It spoke volumes to me that a person, a perfect stranger to us, would GIVE without intent to receive.  When there were so many options for her to spend that $27 (food, jewelry, clothing, Tupperware, etc.) she chose to GIVE IT AWAY.  What a blessing!

     The blessings kept coming.  A man and his wife stopped in and prayed with us.  This is what I love about being a child of God, when you meet other children of God there is an instant bond between you.  We felt that with this couple, and so many others that day.  We met a man and his family who are adopting from Ukraine.  He began to tell us about an organization, with which he and his family are affiliated, called Promise 139, out of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. (For all of you Louisiana readers who may not know, Hattiesburg is a city about 30 miles outside of Laurel, where I lived for 10 years and where my dad currently pastors.)  Promise 139 is an orphan hosting program, comprised of individuals in the Hattiesburg area who share a burden for the orphan crisis worldwide.  This year they will be hosting a Christmas camp for orphans from Eastern Europe.  Blaine and I were more than excited to hear about this program.  We are making plans to be involved in this organization, and encourage our readers to do the same.  For more information about Promise 139, visit http://promise139.posterous.com. We met another couple and their twin toddlers that they had adopted from Russia.  They shared with us that they were at PITP last year selling t-shirts to raise money for their adoption.  We were so encouraged as we began talking about their experience and sharing our own.  We were also able to spend most of the day with dear friends of ours, who we don't get to see very often.  We felt blessed just to have their company all day.  As PITP was ending, and we said our goodbyes, they handed Blaine a gift to add to the donation box.  It wasn't until they were gone that we realized it was $100.  There are no words for the gratitude in our hearts.  It means so much when strangers give, but all the more when those we know and love support us.  All we can say is GOD IS SO GOOD!

 

     We were able to share our story with countless people who walked by.  There were so many people that we barely got a chance to sit down.  God showed us that His people are EVERYWHERE and His purposes are being accomplished throughout the earth.  We are not alone in our endeavors, rather we are CO-LABORERS with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We collected $368.05 in donations, gave away 3 t-shirts and 170 wristbands, and received immeasurable amounts of love and encouragement.  We thank God for every person that stopped by, for every cent that was given, for every prayer that was prayed, and every relationship that began.  God's mercies are sweet, indeed. 

Preparing for Praise in the Park

We are looking forward to Praise in the Park, in Blaine's hometown of Lucedale, Mississippi, this weekend where we'll be sharing our adoption story with fellow believers. Praise in the Park is a Christian festival that is hosted every fall in Lucedale's city park. We will be among approximately 40 vendors and 12,000 people who are gathering together to enjoy a day of food, fun, and Christian fellowship. Jeremy Camp, Building 429, Leeland, and Royal Tailor will be performing this year.

I spent the day getting ready for PITP. Here are a few photos of my preparations! :)

 Instead of a coke sign, I used an old piece of wood to create the sign for our booth.

 First, I used a dry brush technique to give the board a white wash.

Then, I added a few other colors, sanded it, and wiped on a light stain.

The finished product!

 These 2 pieces will be used as our "billboards" to advertise our wristbands and t-shirt give away.

 I gave them the same treatment as the "Adopt Colombia" sign. I didn't have time to paint the ads on them, that will be tomorrow's work! 

We will be giving away glow-in-the-dark wristbands as a "Thank You" for donations we receive.

We hope to meet a lot of people and raise awareness of the orphan crisis around the world. We are excited to see what God is going to do this weekend!!!

Finances

We wanted to give you a quick update on where we stand financially.

Through the generous gifts of friends, the profit we made from the Loblolly Festival, our savings, and a personal loan we are up to $10,601! We are a quarter of the way there. :) We appreciate your prayers concerning our fundraising efforts. We will be at Praise in the Park in Lucedale, MS on October 22. This is where about 12,000 people gather each year for a day of worship in Lucedale's city park. Pray that God will multiply our efforts to spread our story and that He would do a mighty work to help us reach our goal.

For a more detailed description and checklist of our expenses, visit our support blog! Financial Outline for the Colombia Program

PAPERWORK

I'm beginning to realize how hard it's going to be to keep the blog updated now that the PAPERWORK has started!  We started working on what Gladney calls "Group 1" of the documents to be submitted as part of our formal application.   This includes a description of each of us, our marital history, members of our household, our education, religion, criminal records, our finances, our home, employment history, mental and physical health, and five references.  A "child preference profile" was also a part of the "Group 1" documents.  This is where we were able to give a detailed description of the children we would like to adopt such as, their ages, gender, and overall health.  We agreed to accept a sibling group of up to 3 children, of either gender, 8 years old and under.  We also stated that we would be willing to discuss accepting a referral of a child with correctable medical issues.  We were encouraged to consider doing so because, what is often considered correctable medical issues are things like developmental delays and the results of malnutrition.  

Next on the agenda is completing the "Group 2" documents.  This will include employment verification, a physician's report on the both of us, verification of health insurance, and a few other miscellaneous documents, most of which have to be notarized.  We anticipate that it will take a few weeks to have everything completed.  Although this paperwork is anything but exciting, we know that with each document completed, we are one step closer to our little ones. :)