#savingkiara

[kaywhymc-blog]

It’s been awhile... Apparently, I’m not the best blogger. We’ve been so busy lately. It’s hard to keep up with keeping everyone else updated. We’ve been working through our paperwork piles. They actually aren’t so daunting anymore. We’ve finished the majority of them. Our first packet was actually sent out today. It will arrive in Kiara’s home country next week! After that, we have to wait for our home study to be written up and approved. Things are moving again!

[kaywhymc-blog]

Paused

Everything has been on pause for the last couple of days. A space in our last name has caused chaos and wreaked havoc on our paperwork. EVERYTHING has to be redone. Dozens of notarized pages and documents approved to be sent out are all void. Time has been wasted as Kiara unknowingly sits and waits for us to come get her. I think that is what makes me the most upset. We were on a roll. We were ready to finally send in our first dossier packet and had most of the second part finished. Now, Kiara has to wait longer to be part of our family. The chances of her being moved to a different institution are now greater... So, here we are. On pause. We’re going to get rolling again soon. Like today soon so, don’t worry. We’re still in this.

[kaywhymc-blog]

Beards and Pumpkins

Our fundraisers are in full swing right now! We have a Beard-A-Thon happening until February. Six lucky guys have volunteered to grow their manly beards and collect donations from sponsors. We are auctioning off hand-painted fall pumpkins on Facebook. I’m hosting a LuLaRoe party in a couple weeks. The LLR company is going to be matching what is raised!!! We have more fundraisers planned for the future. Wow...so much going on! Be on the lookout for more updates soon!

[kaywhymc-blog]

Repeat after me

Pray. Wait. Trust. On repeat, everyday. That's all we can really do. God has it under control. Take a breath. Let it go.

[kaywhymc-blog]

Adoption is expensive, especially international adoption. Kiara's life is worth way more than the amount it takes to save her. And, I do mean SAVE her. She has no hope without adoption. No normal childhood experiences with being adopted. No family. No Mama or Daddy or sister. She deserves to be home with a family that loves her. Our family. Help us save Kiara's life!

[kaywhymc-blog]

Why Not?

I've been asked "why" a lot lately. Why adopt? Why adopt a child from another country? One with special needs? Why are you doing this to yourselves? I've struggled with answering these questions. I mean, really, why are we doing this? Why are we putting ourselves through the stress, struggles, and sleepless nights? Why are we going to stretch ourselves thin to bring home a child we've never met? Why are we going to deal with the complexities of a medical diagnosis that we've hardly heard of and can barely pronounce? And the only answer I can come up with is, why not? Why not make this child's life 100 times better? Why not help them receive access to services for their needs? Why not give them a home, a mommy and daddy and sister? Someone that will love them unconditionally? Why not turn our lives upside down for a little bit to save hers?

Sure, it will be tough. But, my strength comes from Christ. I just have to remind myself of that a dozen times throughout the day. This chorus from King and Country's song always gives me that reminder:

My help comes from you. You're right here pulling me through. You carry my weakness, my sickness, my brokenness all on Your shoulders.

[kaywhymc-blog]

So far...

We have dozens of prayer warriors praying for us everyday. Seven supports have donated to save Kiara. Our fundraiser page has been shared over three hundred times. Hundreds, maybe even thousand, of people have read our story and know that we are working to adopt Kiara. They know she needs a home. But, they may not know that if she doesn't get adopted, she will be transferred to a male and female ADULT institution. This four year old girl will be moved into a place that no child should go. We have to work fast to make sure this doesn't happen to her. Please continue to pray. Pray that Kiara is kept safe and isn't transferred. Pray that Joe and I can be patient and strong. Pray that those who follow our story are touched. Pray that our community will be generous and full of support.

[kaywhymc-blog]

I’m a Dweller

I’m a dweller. No, not a city dweller. I actually live in a tiny town of about 3,500 people.. I dwell on things, pictures, events, interactions I’ve had with people. Those things sometimes stick with me. They hold onto me and I replay it in my head. For some reason, God made me this way. He made me a dweller; the type of person that gets headaches from mulling over a topic too long or sometimes gets physically sick from overthinking things.

He made me this way so I could see one post on Facebook and not be able to shake it out of my head. It was a post of a little Eastern European girl. She’s locked away in some orphanage because of her disabilities. Her perfect smile, perfect nose, perfect little body sitting there… She may not be able to use her legs but she had mesmerized me. There she dwelled in my head until I sent her sweet picture to Joe. I didn’t ever expect him to say, “okay, let’s adopt her.” But, he did. My sweet husband said yes to this girl he had never met.

So, here we are. We’ve gone public. We ARE going to adopt Kiara. It’s going to happen. I don’t know how. We don’t have the $25,000 it takes to adopt her. We don’t even have enough to “officially” commit to her through the adoption agency yet. Yet, we are committed in our hearts. We don’t have any knowledge of her medical conditions. We don’t even speak the same language of Kiara. We don’t know what’s in store for us. All we know, is that God is calling us to be her Mommy and Daddy and Lilah to be her sissy.. We just can’t wait to have her home with us!