All immigration fees raised – and more!

I wasn’t sure if (or how long) it would take to raise the $2000 for Caleb’s immigration fees.  Since I’m not in regular contact anymore with all of you who so faithfully supported us in in Romania, I wasn’t sure if it would be hit or miss to raise the funds for the fees.  Turned out it was HIT and I was blown away by the response – not just financial, but encouragement and prayer.  Such a reminder of how God so clearly has His hand over Caleb’s life.

As you all knew, I already had $550 towards the fees.  This came from an insurance settlement on my car in Romania.  Those that bought my car from me split the settlement.  I only needed an additional $1450.  But, amazing!, you all gave an additional $1915.00!  I spoke with those who split the settlement with me and asked them to take the majority of it back since God provided more than I could have asked for through all of you.  So filled with praise!

Have I ever shared a story of what someone saw when they were praying for Caleb and I back in 2005?  It was a friend who was also living in Romania.  She was praying, along with many of us, on a day that was pretty emotional for me.  Caleb’s social worker had to track down his birth Mom to have her resign his abandonment papers (a process that had to be redone every 3-6 months).  She called me up and said that while she had been praying she saw a chess board.  Each piece on the chess board was someone involved with Caleb and the adoption process: Me, him, his birth Mom, the social workers etc…  Then she saw God’s hand moving every piece exactly into place where He wanted them to be.  

This vision is something that I have desperately held onto over these past 9 years.  This adoption was very much like chess – extremely long, with many different pieces.  Oftentimes what happened was not what I would have chosen or not what I would have expected.  But, the Lord knew what He was doing – He knew.

Thank you, again, for supporting us in this journey.  

Only $160 remains!

(Photo I attached to my September 05 Update.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you for praying and journeying alongside Caleb and I all of these years.  Only $160 remains to be raised of the $2000.  Full of joy!

I found these e-mail snipits from way back when.  Oh how ignorant I was to both the length of the process and the process itself!  Ha!

January 05

Now we’re to January and January holds quite a bit of news!  Following God’s leading I spoke with my boss, Lars, about my time here in Romania and the future.  We both agree that May is too short of a time for me to leave and so I will be staying an additional 2 years starting in May!  God has burdened me for this team’s spiritual unity and communal pursual of Him and so I will be staying, for one,  to continue leading worship and Bible study on Monday nights as well as building team during the week.  AND, Attila is going to become my son!  I know without a doubt that this is God’s calling for my life and I am JOYFULLY accepting!  I will first become his foster mom and then when an adoption window comes I will take it.  (He turned 8 months old on January 10th).  In addition to these two things I would like to start doing craft and music with the children at Casa Alba a few times a week as well as, after discussion with Lars, hopefully participating in the building of worship and Bible study with the young people of Marghita.  They have built a hang out club for our teens and for the “Marghita teens” to converge and it’s our foundation’s heart to cross over racial and spiritual barriers with this place.  That is more just in the works right now but hopefully by next year will come to be.

 

September 05

Attila is growing and so is our relationship and love between each other.  I love him….just love him so much.  I know it’s hard for people to understand how this came about sometimes but I figure if God decided to use a donkey for his glory, allowed Philip to run as fast as a chariot and then disappear in mid air, and created the beauty of a flower….that He could do this too.

There is no possible way for me to foster care him “officially” or adopt him at this point so we are just going to keep going everyday and wait….okay with me! 

$1040 Raised! Only $410 left to go!

Whew.  Can you believe it?  Oh so grateful.

If you haven’t had a chance to partner with my son’s immigration process, and would like to, you may give online here: http://www.mercy-ministries.com/

In the “message” section please specify “Caleb’s Immigration”

On another note, Caleb & I spent Labor Day weekend checking out a very remote area of Colorado.  We tented it and hit up a hidden hot spring, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Zapata Falls/South Zapata Falls Lake.  Or rather, I should note that we were about 3 miles up to the lake when a massive storm forced us to come down off the mountain.  It ended up pouring all night long and I am thankful for the high tech tent we had that only allowed about 2 drops in all night long.  It was Caleb’s first camping experience (outside of the summer Popesti camps) and neither of us showered, or changed clothes for 3 days straight.  Is it okay for me to say that we didn’t even notice?  Loved being with my son out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of such great beauty!

$210 Raised for Caleb’s Immigration Overnight! Amin!

Thank you everyone who has given $10 (or more) to help with Caleb’s Immigration fees!
Would you consider giving $10 to help us raise the $1240 still needed?
Give online here: http://www.mercy-ministries.com/
and designate the gift “Caleb.” Thank you!

Immigration, here we come!

Hello, everyone!

It has been awhile since I’ve used this blog.  When I do it kind of feels like “coming home.”  So many years of stories holding joys & sorrows, and desperate prayer requests sent to all of you.  Bringing those to you became my familiar.  God built all of you into such an incredible foundation that securely kept Caleb and I during our 8 years in Romania.

Thank you for being a part of that…

 

August 10th marked the 2 year anniversary of Caleb’s adoption.  Can you believe it?  I dug through my e-mails and found the very first e-mail in which I made mention of Caleb (Attila) to all of you.  Close friends and family had been hearing of him for months, as I hesitantly shared how I felt God directing that relationship.  I remember being very nervous to even type the little I wrote to all of you, below – back in 2004.

 

And, finally one pretty big issue for you all to pray about!  I have not mentioned a little boy at Casa Alba in my updates, named Attila, because it seemed that the situation with Hope was “more desperate.”  But, since August this little baby of 5 months has been a part of my heart.  And recently, it seems that God is expanding and deepening that love to the point where I feel He is leading me to pray about adoption. I have been praying about this for about a month and only have 1 more week to make a decision(November 1st).  The process is that I would become his legal guardian and then from that point on I would have the opportunity to adopt.  But, all of this must be done before January 1st as there is a new law going into effect on that date that there are no international adoptions of any kind.  If my paper work is in order before hand then there is opportunity for me to do so.  Doing so would mean a longer time here in Marghita – perhaps even three more years as well as a life time commitment by having a child! : )

So, please pray….

 

7 years later I wrote the following blog post: https://kelscaleb.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/adoption-part-1/

 

Sigh. Hallelujah!

 

And now, we come to the final stage of the adoption process.  Since 2 official years have passed since the adoption was finalized he can now move forward to becoming an American citizen.  (We will also keep his Romanian citizenship.)

 

I have spent the summer gathering necessary documents and now I need to work on gathering the support to file the request.  We have a wonderful lawyer who is doing the process for free (normally her fee, if she charged us “nothing”, would be $3000).  With that blessing we only need to raise an additional $2000 to cover the application fees and the official doctor’s visit (required to turn in your application for citizenship.)

$550 of this is already raised so we are only needing $1450 more.  Would you consider making a donation of $10 to help us with Caleb’s citizenship fees?

 

You can give online http://www.mercy-ministries.com/ and please designate it for “Caleb.”  All gifts will be receipted for tax purposes.

 

My goal is to have all the money raised by September 18th.

 

Thank you for your hearts that have held Caleb and I so closely for so many years.

 

PS 1. We’re still in Denver.  I’m full time at Mile HIgh Ministries as their Development Officer. Love MHM!!

PS 2. We moved in with another family on staff at MHM on  July 1 to both be able to enjoy living in a house, with a yard, while sharing expenses to help save some $.  Only thing is we’re seeing that God had a much higher plan for us in moving our families together…we all feel this will be (and has been for 2 months now) an incredible experience of understanding God’s heart for community.

 PS 3. You can read some about the move and the beautiful people Caleb and I share a home with now here: http://www.theedwardshype.blogspot.com/2013/06/were-moving-and-getting-roommates.html

PS 4. Caleb started 3rd grade on Monday.  Their room is on the top floor of the elementary school.  His comment “Mom, the swamp cooler in our room smells like a dead skunk.”  Love my son!

 

 

surprise!

Difficult days yesterday & today. Working with some of these special ones, in their 20s, can take more patience than the 2s & 3s stage. Being torn to pieces with every swear word & insult in the Romanian language yesterday & today being met with hard eyes & spirit while discussing tiny incidents, from months back, that led to destructive, explosive behaviors. Both of these persons saying the same…I want to be loved & have unorthodox ways of showing that need & the fear of not getting that need fulfilled. Sigh. During these times you feel the ache so much stronger to just love with a God given love. You come to realize, quickly, that your own emotional strength and mental processing can do so very little for them. They need the unchanging, grace-filled, compassionate, never ending, hope giving, chosen, leading, patient love of the Father…and nothing else.

But tonight. What an incredible surprise. My dear friend from Scotland made a surprise visit, with her husband. Just spent some hours with her tonight once Caleb was in bed. They are such a part of me & Caleb’s story. Couldn’t have imagined a better evening.

Will head off to Debrecen in the morning & do some swimming with our friends before catching the train to Budapest. Our flight leaves at 6am on Wednesday & we will arrive back 6:30pm in Denver on Wednesday as well.

So ready to be back home. So thankful for this time we have had but I’m so missing Denver. I think Caleb, though, would be more than happy with “another 6 weeks” as he put it the other day. 🙂

6:30pm Sunday

The rain, for today at least, is done. Clouds rolled back enough for the sun to set in all its glory. And, it was warm. Couldn’t get enough of it while standing out on the balcony tonight.
Joyous Easter to you all…

There were 3 in the bed….

Alex, what was your favorite part of today? ( We always used to do this before praying each night, the three of us.). He points to the book we just read. Reading together was your favorite part of today?
DA!, was his answer with a huge grin.
Caleb read a whole book to us as well.
I am so proud of him. Loved every minute of our 3 in the bed time tonight.

MUD Take 2

Guessing Game

Chocolate bar of choice to whoever can figure out what Caleb is eating in this picture. We think he ate 16 in all. Leave a comment with your guess.

Started off with the Friday, outdoor market bright & early today. It’s Hungarian Easter this weekend so it was packed. Streets were a mess of horse drawn carts & cars, the market a mess of vegetables & assorted Easter animals ready to be sold for Easter Monday dinner. Lambs, goats, chickens etc… Oh I love the market. Picked up a few things to take back to Denver.

Headed over to the team house after the market for my cooking day. We are so few…only 13 to cook for? Decided to do tacos/burritos. Made beans overnight. Turned out amazing.
Left to translate for someone & left the cake in the oven. Yikes! Turned out more crispy than cake. Still though, my proudest moment of my cooking day was around the dishes. Those of you who are familiar with my cooking at Herculane will understand the significance of this photo. Yes, that’s right. ONE drying rack only. AND I washed them all myself!

(Happy Burrito eater = More than willing to make cappuccinos for whoever wanted after lunch = Happy Kelsey.)

Spent the evening with the Bjork family & their BBQ.

His poses by the grill almost outdo the food. Court, I understand if you’d like this photo printed & framed. Ha! He set the bar high tonight. Jonte has now mastered smoking his own pork belly to make bacon. We ate it tonight in the beans. I think I’ll just stick to being your arch enemy in the kitchen when it comes to Twinkie bake offs. :). Nicely done sir!