Thursday, June 4, 2009
From the Depths of the Earth
We are expecting Aaron’s CD within the month. This CD has 10 original worship songs on it written by Aaron. He plays guitar as well as sings and is accompanied by our church’s worship team. Please let us know if you are interested in purchasing this by sending a check to ensure that a copy gets to you as quickly as possible. We need to be ready to put the order in within the next 2 weeks. We are asking for $15 a CD and all but some change will go directly to our adoption. You can make a check out to Aaron Santor or click on the "Add To Cart" button here on our blog to pay with credit.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Bulgaria? . . .
On Friday, May 17th we called Hope for the World to see if anything further could be done in Albania. The director told us that, due to the fact that there would be no telling how long everything would take to get up and running, we should not wait for them.
We decided beforehand that whatever his recommendation was, that it would be our final answer. We would not be angry with God nor would we question Him. He is in control and He knows what He is doing. So now we would move on and pick another country.
We looked through all of Bethany's options yet nothing touched our hearts like Albania. Besides we found we were ineligible for many countries. We were not in a huge hurry because we were still waiting for Jen's CPS check from Mass to return. So we were just left with asking God where to go from here.
On Monday, May 20th Jen got a call from our case worker. We told her Hope For the World would not be an option. Jen asked questions about all the other countries Bethany offered. She told Jen what we already figured and what deterred us from the other countries they offered. She then told Jen that they were just informed a few days prior that Bulgaria was opening up and we could think about it. As soon as she mentioned Bulgaria Jen felt peace. When Jen called me at work with the news of Bulgaria, I felt at peace as well.
We weren't sure how we'd be able to give our hearts to another country after falling in love with Albania. But we feel that our willingness to trust God and not question him has released a genuine work of grace in us. Our love for Albania has been supernaturally transferred to Bulgaria.
Part of the peace I felt initially with the news that Bethany was closing the Albania program was that at every point before this when we didn't know what to do we prayed and God answered powerfully. So we were trusting that He would be the same yesterday, today and forever. At the beginning, we didn't know what country or agency and He brought Bethany and then Albania to us. This time we didn't know which country, and He brought Bulgaria to us.
According to one article we read, Bulgaria is the poorest country in Europe. It was finally freed from Communism in 1990. It appears that it would only require 2 separate trips, maybe 7 days each.
So for now we wait to hear back from the case worker as to how we are to proceed with Bulgaria. We pray that there will be no restrictions due to our family size or our income.
We decided beforehand that whatever his recommendation was, that it would be our final answer. We would not be angry with God nor would we question Him. He is in control and He knows what He is doing. So now we would move on and pick another country.
We looked through all of Bethany's options yet nothing touched our hearts like Albania. Besides we found we were ineligible for many countries. We were not in a huge hurry because we were still waiting for Jen's CPS check from Mass to return. So we were just left with asking God where to go from here.
On Monday, May 20th Jen got a call from our case worker. We told her Hope For the World would not be an option. Jen asked questions about all the other countries Bethany offered. She told Jen what we already figured and what deterred us from the other countries they offered. She then told Jen that they were just informed a few days prior that Bulgaria was opening up and we could think about it. As soon as she mentioned Bulgaria Jen felt peace. When Jen called me at work with the news of Bulgaria, I felt at peace as well.
We weren't sure how we'd be able to give our hearts to another country after falling in love with Albania. But we feel that our willingness to trust God and not question him has released a genuine work of grace in us. Our love for Albania has been supernaturally transferred to Bulgaria.
Part of the peace I felt initially with the news that Bethany was closing the Albania program was that at every point before this when we didn't know what to do we prayed and God answered powerfully. So we were trusting that He would be the same yesterday, today and forever. At the beginning, we didn't know what country or agency and He brought Bethany and then Albania to us. This time we didn't know which country, and He brought Bulgaria to us.
According to one article we read, Bulgaria is the poorest country in Europe. It was finally freed from Communism in 1990. It appears that it would only require 2 separate trips, maybe 7 days each.
So for now we wait to hear back from the case worker as to how we are to proceed with Bulgaria. We pray that there will be no restrictions due to our family size or our income.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Change in Country?
Last Friday the 8th, we received a call from our case worker at Bethany. She informed us that Bethany would be closing their Albania adoption program. We knew that Bethany was one of only two agencies in the U.S. authorized to offer adoption from Albania. Our case worker said we had the option to either switch countries or agencies with a completed homestudy.
We immediately called International Childrens Alliance (the other agency) only to find out that they were not taking applications at this time due to the fact that they are not Hague certified.
We found all this out literally minutes before Jen was to leave for the weekend on a ladies retreat with our church. So with no time to talk with each other or process anything she was off for two days and I was left with the kids.
When she returned Sunday afternoon, we had resolved not to question God or be angry. It's amazing the work that God has done in our hearts throughout this adventure that he has led us on. Jen has been all over the world with different missions organizations. I have not had the opportunity, but would love to travel as she has. However, we both were pretty content to live out our lives here and serve God in Toccoa, GA. So you can imagine how surprised we were to discover during these two days that God had been working on our hearts, connecting us with the country of Albania. I never in a million years thought I would feel any type of burden for a country. I could understand feeling this way if we had fallen in love with a child there, but a country?
Although our hearts were wrapped up in Albania, the country and not just our son, we would be willing to choose another country. But which one? We were at the beginning all over again. As far as we were concerned God had led us to Albania, so at this point one country was as good as another if it wasn't Albania.
We decided to check into one connection we had come across along the way, Hope For The World. We knew they ran at least 5 orphanages in Albania, so we would see if they had any other information. Although, we already knew there were no other options. You cannot adopt independently from Albania and the 2 agencies that were approved by Albanian government were now not an option. But we sent an email anyway asking for help.
I sent the email Saturday night and by Monday morning we had received an email from the director's daughter stating that her parents were off fundraising, but that she had contacted them and they would get back to us soon. Before Jen could contact me, the director had called my cell to ask questions and find out from us what was going on. He was very passionate about his kids in Albania and told us to give him a week and he would see what he could do or find out.
Well, it was a week yesterday, so I called him today. He confirmed that Bethany and ICA were closed doors to adopt from Albania. However, he said that Hope for the World was working on becoming an adoption agency for Albania in the U.S., but will still not be ready for some time.
We are considering waiting until Hope for the World is ready but have some questions for them about how things will work. Their answers will determine the next step for us, either choosing another country with Bethany or continuing to pursue Albania with a small delay.
We will keep you updated as soon as we know. In the meantime we are continuing to raise funds and God is continuing to show himself faithful. Over the past several weeks we have received over $700 randomly from friends, family and the mailman. Although we have not received many online orders through the Etsy shop, Jen has been baking nonstop for orders placed offline.
Jennifer's sister Jessica has begun an Etsy store of her own. Jessica is an amazing artist and has begun making her own greeting cards for different occasions. She has decided to sell these to help bring in money for the adoption. She will not be making any money for herself. Her site is CardsToConsider.etsy.com
We immediately called International Childrens Alliance (the other agency) only to find out that they were not taking applications at this time due to the fact that they are not Hague certified.
We found all this out literally minutes before Jen was to leave for the weekend on a ladies retreat with our church. So with no time to talk with each other or process anything she was off for two days and I was left with the kids.
When she returned Sunday afternoon, we had resolved not to question God or be angry. It's amazing the work that God has done in our hearts throughout this adventure that he has led us on. Jen has been all over the world with different missions organizations. I have not had the opportunity, but would love to travel as she has. However, we both were pretty content to live out our lives here and serve God in Toccoa, GA. So you can imagine how surprised we were to discover during these two days that God had been working on our hearts, connecting us with the country of Albania. I never in a million years thought I would feel any type of burden for a country. I could understand feeling this way if we had fallen in love with a child there, but a country?
Although our hearts were wrapped up in Albania, the country and not just our son, we would be willing to choose another country. But which one? We were at the beginning all over again. As far as we were concerned God had led us to Albania, so at this point one country was as good as another if it wasn't Albania.
We decided to check into one connection we had come across along the way, Hope For The World. We knew they ran at least 5 orphanages in Albania, so we would see if they had any other information. Although, we already knew there were no other options. You cannot adopt independently from Albania and the 2 agencies that were approved by Albanian government were now not an option. But we sent an email anyway asking for help.
I sent the email Saturday night and by Monday morning we had received an email from the director's daughter stating that her parents were off fundraising, but that she had contacted them and they would get back to us soon. Before Jen could contact me, the director had called my cell to ask questions and find out from us what was going on. He was very passionate about his kids in Albania and told us to give him a week and he would see what he could do or find out.
Well, it was a week yesterday, so I called him today. He confirmed that Bethany and ICA were closed doors to adopt from Albania. However, he said that Hope for the World was working on becoming an adoption agency for Albania in the U.S., but will still not be ready for some time.
We are considering waiting until Hope for the World is ready but have some questions for them about how things will work. Their answers will determine the next step for us, either choosing another country with Bethany or continuing to pursue Albania with a small delay.
We will keep you updated as soon as we know. In the meantime we are continuing to raise funds and God is continuing to show himself faithful. Over the past several weeks we have received over $700 randomly from friends, family and the mailman. Although we have not received many online orders through the Etsy shop, Jen has been baking nonstop for orders placed offline.
Jennifer's sister Jessica has begun an Etsy store of her own. Jessica is an amazing artist and has begun making her own greeting cards for different occasions. She has decided to sell these to help bring in money for the adoption. She will not be making any money for herself. Her site is CardsToConsider.etsy.com
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Update on fundraisers, the boys and more...
Our story on the local radio station came off great! It was actually played nearly every hour throughout the day. I'm sure that we've yet to see what God has in store for us through this opportunity.
Orders continue to come in from our Etsy store. Most Mondays, Jen is baking and shipping. We have had many orders from local friends which are not counted on the site. Our friends http://www.redpajamas.etsy.com has sold quite a few raffle tickets for a Sweet Tunic to help raise funds for us. We will also get 20% of her sales and so far she has sold several items. Soon, Jen's sister Jessie will be opening an etsy shop selling handmade greeting cards and all proceeds will go to our adoption. Etsy is definitely working for us.
There is a local market here in town open on the second Saturday of every month. Starting in May we plan on selling some of our baked goods and homemade gifts made by Jen and other family members. We'll see what comes of this Sage Street Market for us this summer.
The Pampered Chef show closed last week and the product is already coming in. We had a $1447 show, which is completely amazing for around here. An average show that we've done here is about $200-$300. Thank You, Jesus! We get 15%, plus Jackie Turk, our Pampered Chef consultant donates 2.5% out of her own pocket after the show reaches $1,000. So, we now have $256 more towards our adoption fund.
Aaron is in the final stages of recording his CD. We can see the finish line. At this point all the work is out of our hands and so we're spending our time working out the details of copyright and duplicating for distribution.
We heard back from our case worker stating that the little boy on the waiting child list is actually matched up with another family. We then did some research on the other little boy, who looked like Tobin and in the process got in touch with 3 other families who have adopted, or are in the process, or have been to the orphanages over in Albania. We also have been somewhat introduced to an organization called Hope for the World based close by in McDonough, GA. They actually run several orphanages over in Albania and help with sponsoring children there. Anyway, through some of our contacts and this organization we were able to find out that the little boy is not adoptable. We are happy to hear that he is healthy and has a single mom who plans on getting him back hopefully soon. One of our contacts showed us a picture of another boy who turned 3 while she was there in February. He is also dark headed with brown eyes like our oldest and youngest. She wasn't sure if he is adoptable or not, so she is having her contacts look into his status also. Who knows. I just think it is so neat how God has connected us with all these different people. It's just wonderful support. We figured that if none of these boys are adoptable then God had other reasons for us connecting with so many new people. We'll see what that is all about.
Orders continue to come in from our Etsy store. Most Mondays, Jen is baking and shipping. We have had many orders from local friends which are not counted on the site. Our friends http://www.redpajamas.etsy.com has sold quite a few raffle tickets for a Sweet Tunic to help raise funds for us. We will also get 20% of her sales and so far she has sold several items. Soon, Jen's sister Jessie will be opening an etsy shop selling handmade greeting cards and all proceeds will go to our adoption. Etsy is definitely working for us.
There is a local market here in town open on the second Saturday of every month. Starting in May we plan on selling some of our baked goods and homemade gifts made by Jen and other family members. We'll see what comes of this Sage Street Market for us this summer.
The Pampered Chef show closed last week and the product is already coming in. We had a $1447 show, which is completely amazing for around here. An average show that we've done here is about $200-$300. Thank You, Jesus! We get 15%, plus Jackie Turk, our Pampered Chef consultant donates 2.5% out of her own pocket after the show reaches $1,000. So, we now have $256 more towards our adoption fund.
Aaron is in the final stages of recording his CD. We can see the finish line. At this point all the work is out of our hands and so we're spending our time working out the details of copyright and duplicating for distribution.
We heard back from our case worker stating that the little boy on the waiting child list is actually matched up with another family. We then did some research on the other little boy, who looked like Tobin and in the process got in touch with 3 other families who have adopted, or are in the process, or have been to the orphanages over in Albania. We also have been somewhat introduced to an organization called Hope for the World based close by in McDonough, GA. They actually run several orphanages over in Albania and help with sponsoring children there. Anyway, through some of our contacts and this organization we were able to find out that the little boy is not adoptable. We are happy to hear that he is healthy and has a single mom who plans on getting him back hopefully soon. One of our contacts showed us a picture of another boy who turned 3 while she was there in February. He is also dark headed with brown eyes like our oldest and youngest. She wasn't sure if he is adoptable or not, so she is having her contacts look into his status also. Who knows. I just think it is so neat how God has connected us with all these different people. It's just wonderful support. We figured that if none of these boys are adoptable then God had other reasons for us connecting with so many new people. We'll see what that is all about.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
WNEG 630 AM
We sent cookies out to 3 radio stations. One of which is WNEG 630 AM, our local station here in Stephens and Franklin County. I did not recognize an email last Tuesday that had in the subject box, "interview request". With all the hustle and bustle of getting word out and baking cookies, I totally forgot to ask Aaron about the email. After posting the last blog entry this past Saturday night we cleaned out our inbox. Aaron came across the mystery email and opened it, only to discover it was a request to interview us about the adoption from the news director at WNEG. So, this morning Aaron went in and they recorded an interview. Charlie Bauder, the news director, told us it will be on air tomorrow at 8 A.M. and 12 P.M. and possibly other times throughout the day. We are so excited how God is making our story known. We are so encouraged by all the support we are getting. God is good. He is our Provider.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)