Dossier is almost on its way!

At 11:00 last night we pulled into our driveway in Indiana after a 6 hour drive back from visiting family and friends in Michigan. As soon as the car stopped I got out and went to look on our front porch. We were expecting a Fed-ex package with the last piece of paper we had to have authenticated before we could send our whole dossier to our agency for review (and then it goes to China!). I was a little disappointed to see that it wasn't there, but I figured it would be here in a few days. We got the kids settled in bed and unpacked the car, then went to well-welcomed sleep ourselves.


This morning as I was walking by the front door I happened to glance outside. There was a newspaper on the front porch so I figured I would bring it inside. I opened the door and something caught my eye between the main door and the storm door - it was our Fed-ex package! Yeah! It must have been there the night before, but I didn't see it in the dark - and Fed-ex doesn't normally put it between the doors - but I'm glad they did this time! Now we just have a few more items to put together, and we can send our dossier on its way to our agency. We have to get a family picture, a picture of Kevin and myself, a picture of two more rooms in our house, one photo of the front of our house, and two passport photos of myself (Kevin already has his). Our plan is to have the complete package sent out on Wednesday!

Below is an updated picture of the puzzle. Thank you to those who have recently donated from Washington, West Virginia, and Iraq!


In His name,

The Burgess Family

364 pieces left to go -
many thanks to an old classmate living in
Ann Arbor, Michigan!

367 pieces left to go!

Thank you to those who recently donated from Indiana, New York, Kentucky, and our good old home state of Michigan!

366 valuable puzzle pieces left to purchase at a great price! On sale now - only $5.00 each - get them now before they are all sold out!

:) I just wanted to get in early on all of the sales that are coming up for Christmas. A few weeks ago I had thought that maybe I could sell cracked-corn bedwarmers and stick horses at a local craft show but when I called to see if we could get a table the lady had just signed out the last one. Plus, the cost of the table was $50.00... Wow! So, I decided to do a mass marketing campaign for the puzzle pieces instead.

We aren't really selling the puzzle pieces in case you didn't guess that already. We are asking for a donation of $5.00 for each puzzle piece. In return, we will write the name you give us on the back of each piece for as many pieces as you would like to donate for. You can even donate in memory of a friend or family member. When the puzzle is complete we will glue it together and hang it up for our new daughter in her room - and we will have raised $2,750! Thank you!

You can donate through the chipin button on the left - it uses paypal and is not tax-deductible. Or you can make a tax deductible donation through Kingdom Kids. Their website is http://www.kingdomkidsadoption.org/. You can donate through their website by going to the "donations" button on the top right and then clicking on "Family Grant Donation" or you can mail a donation to:

Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministries
1417 N. Lincoln St.
Spokane, WA 99201

All donors will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Checks must be made out to:
Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministries and please, do NOT write our name anywhere on the check, but include a note saying where you would like the money to go. If you have any questions you can call them at 509-465-3520 or their email is ministry@kingdomkidsadoption.org. Just let them know you would like to make a donation for Kevin and Karen Burgess.

Finally, if you prefer you can just drop it in the mail and send it to us at:
Kevin and Karen Burgess
P.O. Box 456
Plainfield, IN 46168

The updated picture of the puzzle is at the bottom of the page -
have fun!

The Burgess Family

P.S. If you aren't able to make a donation, prayers are always priceless and we can use all of those that we can get!

Fingerprints are done!

What a surprise it was to the children (and me) that when we went to get our fingerprints taken we had to stand with our arms out so that the police could search us before we went into the waiting room. The guards just used a small hand-held metal detector but it was still interesting to watch each child's face as they had to put their arms out - they were so serious :) Afterwards a guard came over with little coloring books for each of them - I think it made the kids not so nervous of them! Everything went well and now we are waiting on (that word "waiting" comes up quite a bit, doesn't it?) another piece of paper to get mailed to us. After we get that paper in the mail we can send in to the Chinese consulate in Chicago to get authenticated THEN we will have everything we need to submit our dossier (great big bundle of paperwork) to China.

Over the past few months Kevin and I have found at least 10 children on the waiting child list that we wanted to adopt. Unfortunately, every time we ask about putting a child on hold for us to review her file she is already on hold with another agency. That's wonderful for the child but... it can get a little emotionally draining at times. We know that God is in control and that His timing is perfect. We have no doubt of that. Still, with each child we think may be ours, well, the best way that I can explain it is to compare it to wanting to become pregnant. Each month you think you are pregnant, you are hoping and praying that you are, and so you take a pregnancy test, but it comes back negative. You aren't pregnant. No baby. No child. Every time I ask our agency if a child is available it is like taking that pregnany test. Well, one day it will come back positive and when it does, that child will be the perfect one for our family.

In His name,

The Burgess Family

We have our fingerprint appointments!

Woohoo! I feel a little weird being so excited over fingerprint appointments, but it means that we are one step closer to getting our little girl! We are scheduled to go in on November 2nd at 10:00 in the morning.

The fundraising sale was better than I ever imagined it could be even with Friday being really cold and rainy! $500 was raised for the adoption through the sale and from generous donations. One lady said she saw our signs and that she couldn't stay but just wanted to give us a donation. She said she had 6 adopted children from Indiana and gave me a $20.00 bill. Then she left. Wow. The generosity of friends and strangers is amazing. I actually really enjoy having yard sales because of all the interesting people we get to meet and talk with. God certainly had His hand in our sale again. I had hoped to make $500, but really didn't ask God for it. I just prayed that it would be as successful as He wanted it to be and that we would get to meet others who we could talk to about adoption and about Him - and we did. We wouldn't have met the $500 mark either except our very last customers bought a stove from us for $75.00, which put us over the five hundred dollars that I had silently hoped for. Later, Kevin told me that he had hoped for that much as well. God is amazing, isn't He?

The puzzle is coming along as another 8 pieces were added to it with two separate donations - Thank you! We tried to match up pieces to make it a little more interesting to look at. I'm excited to get it finished and put up in the girl's room as it really is a cute puzzle.

I want to say a special thank you to my good friend, Sarah. I never could have gotten everything ready for the sale without your help. I really appreciate it.

In His name,

The Burgess family

One last yard sale in 2009!

Despite the cold temperatures and chance of rain on Friday, we are going ahead and having one last yard sale in 2009. There are a couple of large items that we will be selling including a stove, a table, and an entertainment center. I was too late to get the ad in the paper for the sale so I have been advertising it everywhere else that I can think of that is free - and we will be sure to put out a ton of signs to bring people in that way. Please pray for us on Friday and Saturday that the sale goes well and that we will be able to sell the bigger "ticket" items that we have. Time to get off this computer and out into that garage!

In His name,

The Burgess Family

Paperwork is moving along!

We just received in the mail a letter saying that the CIS office in Chicago received our check and application. (In adoption language - Our I-800A was received at the Chicago consulate on Sept 30th and we received back our I-797C- Notice of Action today on October 8). They are reviewing the application and will send us our fingerprint appointment date in the mail. The fingerprint appointment is officially called "biometrics appointment". "Biometrics" seems so much more official, and I am excited to go get them done. Now I will be anxiously waiting for the appointment date to come in the mail - maybe within another week! I'll let all of you know when we get to go.

In the mean while, I will spend my time teaching the kids, cleaning the house, and avidly reading the blogs of other families who are in the process of going to get their child or have already gone. I am learning so much from reading them. For instance, did you know that little children in China often wear what is called "split pants"? It is so that when they have to go - they can just go! Certainly saves money on diapers and pull-ups!

In His name,

The Burgess Family

Not once have I thought...

how lucky the little girl will be who we adopt. I have had a few people tell me this. Not once has it crossed my mind that she is the lucky one. Instead, this is what comes to my mind quite often:

Thank you, God, for opening our eyes to adoption. There are so many children who need a family to call their own. We are incredibly blessed to be able to add another daughter to our family. I can't wait to see who she is, Lord, and to go get her. Imagine, another little girl to cuddle with, to tuck-in under the covers at night, and eyes that light up with excitment at little things that we may take for granted... and hugs - they are one of my favorite things in the world, and I can hardly wait until the day I get one from our new daughter.

We are the "lucky" ones.

In His name,

The Burgess Family

Officially done with home study!

We are officially done with our home study and have 4 copies to prove it! One is for our records, one for our agency, one for our dossier, and one for CIS.

CIS stands for Citizenship and Immigration Services and is a part of Homeland Security. Every U.S. citizen who adopts must get approval from CIS - so that is what comes next. To get that approval we fill out an application and send in supporting documents, like birth and marriage certificates, along with $680 for the application to be processed and $80 for Kevin to get his fingerprints taken for a FBI criminal background check and $80 for mine. That total comes to $840 - and we have it thanks to all of the generous donations! When the CIS processes our application we will get approval in the mail along with when we can get our fingerprints taken in Indianapolis. At that time we will also be able to send a ton of paperwork to Chicago where the Chinese Consulate for the People's Republic of China is located for Indiana. All the documents that have already been authenticated by the United States (they have a gold seal on them) will now be authenticated by China. After we get that paperwork back, we can finally send our complete dossier to our adoption agency so that it can be sent to China. If by this time we still haven't been referred a child off from the waiting child list, we will be put on another list - but this time with China.

While all this is going on we can, at any time, get a referral for our daughter. Each month China sends out to each of the agencies that China works with a list of children that are available for adoption. Our agency reviews the list to see if any of the children will match with what our family has described as the best match for us - like a girl who is up to 3 years old with a minor heart condition. If she is on the list and no one is ahead of us with the same requirements, we will get the referral. Our agency, Families Thru International Adoption, also receives their own private listing of children that they can find families for. Our daughter may also come from this private listing.

Special thanks - our puzzle now has the complete border on it and a few more pieces added to the inside! We want to say thank you to those who have recently donated. They live in Maysville, Georgia and Indianapolis, Indiana!

Thank you!

The Burgess Family

Thank you's - and some updates

I want to say a special thank you to my parents. Two weekends ago they let us have a yard sale at their house in Michigan. We were able to pack in a few items to sell from our home in Indiana, but the rest of the items were all theirs! They had gone through their house for the sale and donated all of the proceeds to our adoption. Thanks to their kindness and to all of those who stopped by to shop and those who made donations, we were able to raise $500! If any of you are on here reading this who stopped by the sale, I want to let you know that I enjoyed talking with you - and I did learn something important - from now on our signs will say "Child Adoption Fundraising Sale", instead of just "Adoption Fundraising Sale". We had a lot of people stop in who thought we were raising money to adopt an animal :)

I'm really excited about the new donations made to the puzzle fundraiser. With the ChipIn button we can't include donations that were given to us by hand or mailed in so we added a thermometer tracker to show the right total. It is at the bottom of the page. Thank you to those who recently donated - we really appreciate it and you can see that the border of the puzzle is almost completely connected thanks to your generosity.

Sadly (and a bit frustratingly if that's a word), we are not "officially" done with our homestudy yet. We are waiting on our criminal history background checks from when we lived in Georgia. Our adoption agency has reviewed the homestudy though and all the corrections have been made. As soon as we get that last piece of information we can package up all our paperwork and get it authenticated. I believe we have to send it to Chicago. I have a call in to our homestudy agency to see if they can let me know when we might have it back. It could be this week or even three weeks from now...

Oh! We were approved to work with a not-for-profit called Kingdom Kids. What it means is that if you donate to our adoption through them you will be able to write it off on your taxes. I'll try to get more information about Kingdom Kids and how to donate through them later in the week.

In His name,

The Burgess Family

Woo hoo! The puzzle is looking good!

Thanks to two more donations on Friday we were able to add 24 more pieces to the puzzle! It really is fun. I haven't put together a whole puzzle since the kids were smaller - and a 25 piece puzzle is a lot easier than one that is 550 pieces :) I think our new daughter will enjoy looking at the pictures of the progression of this puzzle when she is older!

Thank you for the donations - from our wonderful piano teacher and from one of my cousins, which sent the kids scrambling to add the pieces. I'm not sure we like the face on the second picture - just doesn't look happy, like it was having a bad hair day :)

In His name,

The Burgess family

The kind of sisters our new daughter will have

And then there were 14!

What a great day! The children woke up this morning to find that a kind old friend of mine had donated some money late the night before - and how excited the kids were to put together some of the pieces of the puzzle! Their fingers had been just itching to do it since we got it in the mail. The kids even offered to take the puzzle apart once they had it all put together :)

Carissa is the one responsible for putting the heart shape around the pieces in the picture - and Tyler is the one that originally suggested using 6 sets of chopsticks in the very first puzzle picture - he said it was because soon there will be six of us. I thought that was so sweet.

We decided to include chopsticks in each picture that we take of the puzzle. We'll see how creative we can get - it could prove to be challenging!

My folks added in a donation for some of our family members who have passed away. I know all of them would have enjoyed our future daughter, and I thought it was a very kind gesture to make. We will definitely make sure their names are on the back of the puzzle pieces and tell our new daughter all about them.

In His name,

The Burgess Family

The Puzzle Fundraiser Has Begun!

Thank you for following along with us during our puzzle fundraiser! We just received the puzzles in the mail a little while ago and are so excited to get started online!

How does it work?
You can make a donation for the adoption through our chipin button on the left - it uses paypal - or you can mail a donation (our address is below). Any amount is greatly appreciated. We decided to make each puzzle piece "worth" $5.00. When both puzzles are complete we will have raised $5,500 towards the expenses. As donations come in, we will write the individual's or family's name on the back of the puzzle piece(s), take a picture, and put it on our blog. When a puzzle is done, we will hang it in our future daughter's room and tell her of the wonderful support we had in helping to bring her into our family.

Thank you!

Kevin and Karen
Carissa, Tyler and Laurel Burgess

P.S. We received an email today letting us know that we have been added to our agency's list for a waiting child! This means that at any time we can receive information on a little girl from our agency who could be our new daughter!

Puzzle Fundraiser coming soon!

Our next fundraiser is coming soon! We are just waiting for it to arrive in the mail. I'm pretty excited about it, which is why I'm posting now instead of later...

We have ordered two puzzles - one that has 500 pieces and one that has 550. I really like both puzzles, so I'm not sure which one we will start with - maybe we will let the children vote. The purpose of this fundraiser is to raise money by "selling" the puzzle pieces. Each piece of the puzzle will be worth $5.00. When someone "purchases" a piece of the puzzle we will write their name on the back of the puzzle piece and connect the pieces together. As pieces of the puzzle are connected, we will update the blog with pictures so that everyone can see the puzzle being put together. When the puzzle is complete, we are going to glue it together and hang it in the girl's room for their new sister. When she is older, she will be able to take the puzzle down and look at the back. She will see how important she is to the many, many people who helped bring her home.

Rather not donate over the internet?

If anyone would like to donate towards the adoption, but would rather not do it over the internet, you can send your donation to:

Kevin or Karen Burgess
P.O. Box 456
Plainfield, IN 46168.

We will be sure to send you a thank you letter letting you know that we received it.

Would you like to donate towards the adoption and write it off on your taxes?

When our home study is complete we will be able to apply to a not-for-profit program where any money donated towards our adoption will be tax deductible for the person who donated. We will let everyone know about it as soon as it is set up.

Thank you to everyone for helping us bring a new daughter into our family and especially for helping a little girl find a family to call her own.


Sincerely,

The Burgess Family

Who's timing is perfect?

God is amazing, isn't He? Two weekends ago when we went to Michigan for our annual Minthorn family camping reunion, I kept saying to Kevin that we were going to get an offer on a house that he had listed. I was sure we would get an offer over the weekend - I told Kevin that many times! Well, the weekend ended and we didn't get an offer... but, on Monday we went to our doctors to get our medical paperwork completed. Kevin had to get bloodwork done (mine was still good from a previous appointment), and three of us had to get tested for TB (me, Kevin and Tyler - the girls had been tested before). In the middle of the appointment, Kevin received an offer on the house! So who's timing is perfect? Gods! By allowing the offer to come through while we were at the appointment for our adoption, He was reaffirming to us that we were in His will by adopting a little girl from China.

One of our next steps is to get all of the documents that we had to get notorized, certified. Because we were born in Michigan, we have to send the documents that originated from there to the "Office of the Great Seal" in Lansing. It may take two weeks for us to get them back. All of our other documents can be certified here in Indiana - in Indianapolis. Tomorrow we will get the Michigan ones sent out and try to get to downtown Indy to get the rest certified.

We are hoping that our social worker will be able to get our home study finished this week so we can get it to our adoption agency for review. Then, hopefully, we will be finished with any and all revisions by the end of next week.

Until next time,

The Burgess family

Homestudy visits are done - onto the medicals

We finished our homestudy visits with a wonderful social worker about a week ago. She is just waiting on a couple more items from us in order to finish putting it all together. As a family, we need to get to the doctors and get our medicals completed as well as decide on what types of special need(s) would best fit into our family lifestlye - and which we would be able to care for in the best manner. For example, a family that is active in sports and outdoor activities may find that adopting a child who has brittle bone disease may not be the best option for them or the child.

Having to decide on what type of special need(s) we would accept is not an easy decision. It is also a difficult decision because there are so many, many children who are available for adoption and the majority of them will Never have a mom and dad to call their own. All of these children deserve and need a real home where they can be shown the love and affection that every child deserves to have.

Please continue to pray for us as we continue down this road toward our new daughter. Please also pray for her, for she is alive. She has already been born - and as you read this she is likely fast asleep - somewhere in China. As a family, we pray that someone gives her a hug today and shows her love.

Looking towards Him,

The Burgess Family

Home study is scheduled and a free way to raise money for orphans!

Our first home study visit is scheduled for Saturday, July 11th! Although we would like it sooner to move the process along, the timing seems perfect. It gives us time to get some business things taken care of, 4H projects put together and our house cleaned up a little more.

The 10 hours of dvds that we have to watch were just sent out today - so by the middle of next week we get to become a little more educated about adoption. I'm looking forward to it.

I was just emailed a great way to earn money for children who need to be adopted - and it's free! If you go to www.goodsearch.com and put in "Madison Adoption Associates" then 1 cent for every search you do will be given to Madison Adoption to be put towards helping orphans. It doesn't cost you anything. You can even add it as a toolbar so you always remeber to use it - oh, and it is a yahoo product so your search results will be the same as if you were just using yahoo to search. Please take the time to sign up for this as well as take the time to spread the word to others. We are using it even though Madison is not our adoption agency. It is the children that are important.

In His name,

The Burgess Family

One step closer!

We dropped off all the paperwork to the home study agency that we needed to in order to get assigned our social worker. We may get to meet with her next week! Looks like now I have to get busy straightening up our house!

We also sent in a check to our adoption agency to receive some DVD's that are a part of the "Because They Waited Education System". It is part of the educational requirements we need to fulfill. We will have to watch the DVD's and then go online to answer questions. We could have went to a local class for the training but because of the slow-down in adoptions most places aren't offering the class right now. I am looking forward to watching the DVD's with Kevin - all 10 hours of them!

In His name,

The Burgess Family

Great evening at Chik-fil-A

We had a wonderful, memorable time at Chik-fil-A the other night. Thank you to all who stopped in to eat - and to those who made a donation!

The kids did so well at cleaning up tables, wiping down trays, asking if anyone needed anything, and talking to other children's parents to see if they would like a balloon. We will remember the evening as a family for a long time to come. The kids really impressed me!

Paperwork update: We are working on getting a bunch of papers submitted to our home study agency. After that, we will be able to get assigned a social worker. Our plan is to have the papers to our agency this week.

In His name,

The Burgess Family

Come join us at Chik-fil-A in Plainfield this Thursday, June 4th from 5 to 8 pm!

We are so excited to be able to have a fundraiser at one of our favorite places to eat! Chik-fil-A in Plainfield is donating a portion of all sales this Thursday, June 4th from 5 pm to 8 pm towards our adoption of a little girl from China. We welcome everyone to come and enjoy an evening out at Chik-fil-A with us. There will be free coloring for the children (adults to if you want!) and free balloons as well!

Thank you Chik-fil-A for giving us this opportunity and for showing your support of adoption! As a Christian family, we our always thrilled to see how much, as a Christian business, you are involved in the community.

Hope to see you there,

The Burgess Family

Blessed to reach first fundraising goal – the same day the bill arrived in the mail!

We had a fundraising goal of $1,350, which is the first big payment due for our adoption. The very day we raised just over that amount, was the day the bill came in the mail. Coincidence? We don’t think so. We believe it was God showing us that His hand is a part of this process, and that He will be a part of it all the way!

I know I already commented on it – but our first yard sale was amazing financially – bringing in over $1,000 towards the adoption. That was on a Friday and Saturday. That next Thursday, we sold food at a Home School Used Book and Curriculum Sale. Thanks to the generous donations and food purchases of many, we were blessed with over $200.00 in just 4 hours of time! Then, the next day on Friday and then Saturday, we had decided to go ahead and set out the items left over from the first yard sale at our own home. We live off from US 40 where every year at this time there are hundreds of miles of yard sales through multiple states. We put out a few signs directing people to our sale and were blessed with another $200.00!

I know I write a lot about the fundraising part of this adoption, but I want to make it clear that it isn't only the financial aspects of the fundraising that we have been blessed. We have been able to speak with so many people that are adopting, have done foster care, are thinking about adopting, have had siblings who were adopted, and so on. We had so many people stop at our sales - just because the signs said "Adoption Fundraising Sale".

As a family, our eyes are being opened to something so big that words can't even describe it. Growing up, I would watch the television commercials saying that for just the price of a cup of coffee you can feed a child for a week. Those children are real! There are children that are starving not only for food, but for family - for someone to wrap their arms around them and say they love them - to stick by them and encourage them. To teach them of Jesus and give them a home filled with love. We are so thankful to God for bringing us down this road. We are thankful that we are able to provide a home to a little girl who needs one, we are thankful as a mom and dad who are looking forward to having another daughter, for two sisters who would like another to call "sissy", and for one brother who is already thinking about what he will do with THREE sisters instead of just two.

In His name,

The Burgess Family

Food fundraiser and used book sale - Plainfield Christian Church this Thursday, May 28th from 10 - 2

This Thursday, May 28th there is going to be a homeschool used book and curriculum sale at Plainfield Christian Church from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. There will be 50 tables full of used books, curriculum, games, some videos and DVD's, and many other fun, educational products - all at great prices! There is no charge to come and shop and you don't even have to homeschool! Be sure to bring lots of small bills and change with you.

Plainfield Christian Church is located at 800 N Dan Jones Rd, Plainfield, IN - Church phone number: (317) 839-2384 Dan Jones is between Rockville Rd in Avon and 40 in Plainfield. It's real easy to get to but we will have signs up just in case!

Every year there is a fundraising food booth at the sale. This year our family will be selling the food to raise money for the adoption expenses. Yummy marshmallowy rice krispy treats lightly drizzled with a fine milk chocolate will be on the menu! (Did I make that sound good enough to get you to the sale?)

Hope to see you there,

The Burgess family

Blessed by an amazing yard sale!

We weren't blessed just financially by the fundraising yard sale this past weekend, we were also blessed by the wonderful people we were able to talk to during the sale. Many stopped in just because we had advertised that the sale was for an adoption. We had others that donated money even though they didn't buy anything and still others who said to "keep the change - put it towards the adoption".

Our girls had made crosses out of popcycle sticks, painted them, and then wrote "Jesus died for our sins" on the backs of them. They wanted us to hand them out to people at the sale. This opened the way for some great conversations. Handing out flyers with this adoption blog address on it and our Chik-fil-a fundraiser coming up, allowed even more doors for good conversation to open. It was great to hear all the stories from those who had already adopted, who had once had foster children, and who knew family members or friends who had adopted or were thinking about it.

Thank you to all who helped make this sale a success - those who donated items, those who helped set it up, and those who stopped by to shop. A special thanks to those who helped during the sale and for the family who let us have it at their place. Because of all of you, we were able to raise over $1,000 towards bringing our daughter home.

With heartfelt thanks,

The Burgess family

Fundraiser Yard Sale - This Friday and Saturday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm rain or shine!

Friday, May 22 and Saturday, May 23 from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm rain or shine!

All proceeds will go towards adoption expenses.



From Moorseville or 465 take 67 to W. Camby Rd and head west - it is only about 1 mile from 67 - there will be signs.

From Plainfield take E. C.R. 700 S. (first road south of 70 off from 267) and head east. It is only a few miles from 267 and 700 S. turns into Camby Rd.



Some of the items we will be selling include:
.25 kid/baby clothes
.50 adult clothes,
100's of books,
home school items,
fishing items,
DVD's,
toys,
household items,
home gym,
Hostas - $5.00 each or 5 for $20.00 and include some verrigated ones,
Home gym,
75-gallon salt water fish tank,
Large lizard cage with stand,
Fun, healthy lizard with cage and stand,
Solid oak entertainment center

Many more items - too much to name

Thank again - and hope to see you there!

The Burgess family

Thank you for all the yard sale donations!

We want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who has donated items for the fundraiser yard sale this weekend. Complete strangers (and friends!) have donated many, many items. One kind gentleman and his sons even followed me home with their donations in the back of their truck because my Rendevous was already full of donated items!

The weekend forecast for Friday and Saturday is sunny and warm at about 80 degrees. There is supposed to be rain on Sunday though - let's hope it doesn't move on into Saturday until after the sale is over! Prayers that the rain holds off and for God to be softening the hearts and generosity of those who attend the sale would be greatly appreciated.

I'll post some of the items we will have available for sale as well as the location in my next post.

Thanks again!

The Burgess Family

First big fundraiser is a yard sale - Friday and Sat May 22 and 23

We are cleaning out our house and our garage - doing our best to come up with items to sell next weekend. Multiple emails to friends and acquaintances asking if they have anything to donate towards the sale may by clogging up their inboxes! (Many thanks to those who have already donated!) We are still in need of many items to sell in order to meet the goal that we have set for ourselves on the 22nd and 23rd.

All of the money collected at the sale next weekend will go towards the costs of adopting a little girl out of an orphanage (or foster home) in China. Our new daughter will be what is called a "waiting child". A waiting child is a child who has been identified as having a special need. She could of been born with a cleft lip and palate, a heart condition, limb differences, a club foot... she could have been put on the list because she is older and considered harder to place... whatever her need is, God is already preparing a place for her here in our hearts and in our home.

Thank you for being a part of bringing a little girl without a family into one where she will be welcomed with open, waiting arms.

Karen

God answers the little children!

What a glorious God we have! As a family, we have been selling some hostas out at the road for a little extra cash to pay for some of the expenses we have for the adoption. Laurel, Tyler and I were on our way back from putting out some hostas this last Tuesday when Laurel said she wanted to pray. She said she wanted to pray for there to be $40 in the coffee can when we got back from our home study. We walked up the driveway praying for God to work it so that there was EXACTLY $40 in that coffee can when we got back.

We went to the home study and came home to check the coffee can. Guess what? There was EXACTLY $40 in the can! I am so thankful to Him for answering her prayer! Not b/c of the money, but for showing Himself in so clear of a way.

And if that wasn't enough... we had to head out again later that same day. I went out to replace those hostas that were sold and met a lady at the end of the driveway. She said she had already paid for one hosta and was going to get another. I thanked her and told her that all the money would go towards our adoption expenses. She found a hosta she liked, put money in the can and drove away. I looked in the can. There were five one dollar bills and on FIFTY dollar bill! Did she make a mistake and mean that fifty to be a five? I thought so at first, BUT I soon found out that while I was talking to the lady, the kids had been up at the house eating ice cream and talking... and they prayed! The kids told me that they had prayed before I talked to the lady that we would have over fifty dollars in the can! That wasn't a mistake - that was God.

In His name,

Karen

First visit with home study agency on Tuesday.

We got a call yesterday to schedule our first visit with our home study agency. We get to meet with them next Tuesday. This first visit will be at their office and will last about 1 1/2 hours. We will be going over all of the paperwork that will need to be put together over the next couple of weeks. I am really looking forward to this first meeting and receiving more information about the process. Fortunately, we also have a call scheduled on Monday with FTIA, our adopton agency, to go over the process with them as well. Next week will be one informationally-packed week!

Another bit of exciting news is about a fundraiser. Kevin and a couple of other guys from our home church meet every Thursday morning at about 6:15 for a Bible study. Most often they find themselves at Chik-fil-a, a Christian-run fast food chain/restaurant. They said that we could do a fundraiser there one Thursday night where a portion of all the food purchased will go towards our adoption! Yeah! That will be exciting. We will have to do some good planning and figure-out some ways to draw in customers as we will be responsible for all of the advertising. We will keep you posted on when that is going to happen. Most likely it won't be until June or after.

Until next time,

Karen

A hunting we will go - for turkeys, a marriage license and birth certificates!

We were looking into getting copies of our marriage certificate and birth certificates online when we realized that we could just go in person to get them - that way we won't have to wait about 6 weeks to get them in the mail. We had been planning a trip to Michigan for the tulip festival on the west side and turkey hunting on the east side and since Lansing is right in the middle we can just stop in to get our state sealed and authenticated copies of our birth certificates. Then we can get the copies of our marriage certificate in between when Kevin and Tyler are out turkey hunting :)

Speaking of turkey hunting, at about 4:30 this morning Kevin and Tyler got up to go do a little turkey hunting here in Indiana. Kevin had requested eggs so I got myself up and made a couple for each of them. Tyler was surprised that I was up and cooking them the eggs - my usual routine for when they are going hunting is to pack them a breakfast and lunch the night before so that I can stay in bed when they leave before it is light outside.

After they left I got back in bed with my adoption folder and started writing a letter to China. Everyone who adopts from China has to write a letter to them saying why they want to adopt, promising to take care of the child just like you take care of your own children, that you would never harm him/her and so on. The letter was on my heart the night before and I am so glad that I was able to get down my first draft of it. I ended up finishing it after 5:00, turned off the lights and fell back to sleep happy that I had started on one more step to bringing our daughter home.

In His name,

Karen

We have been accepted!

Yeah! What a blessing! We have been accepted into FTIA's China Waiting Child program!

For China, most agencies have two programs that you can choose to adopt from. The first is what I look at as the healthy and typically as young as possible program. The other program, for a waiting child, has children on it because they have a special need. Many have cleft lips or heart problems. There are children with spina bifada, club feet, blindness, deafness... some of the children have been blessed already with an operation to correct their special need, but China doesn't remove them from the list - they keep them on it. Other children may be on the list simply because of their age. If a healthy child is getting older and still hasn't found a family of their own, China may put them on the waiting child list.

Kevin and I have given a lot of thought to what age range of child would fit best into our family. We decided that we didn't want to go out of birth order and that we want our children to feel like they can really help in taking care of their new little sister. We are interested in adding another lovely, little girl to our family who is up to 3 years old. We are one or two steps into the process of adding her to bringing her home already.

This last Friday Kevin mailed out our application to our home study agency so we are waiting to hear back from them. And just a little while ago we all went to the courthouse to pay for everyone's passports. Mine is still good from when we went to Ukraine, Kevin has to renew his, and we had to get the children their own.

We are taking the children with us when we go - for a few reasons. One is that we have family in China. Kevin's brother Brad lives there with his wife, Jieying, who is Chinese. Two, is that we have spoken with many, many parents who have already adopted from China. They said that if there was any way at all that we could bring our children with us then we should bring them. It helps the child you are adopting to see how your children interact with you and it helps with the attachment and bonding process. And third, we love our kids! We have have a blast with them, and are totally excited about this opportunity to travel to another country with them!

So how long will it take for us to be able to go to China to pick up our new daughter? About a year for a waiting child. Of course, we are aiming for a 9 month "labor" :) It's on God's timing though, which is a lot better than ours could ever be!

In His name,

Karen

No longer will we first remember April 15th as tax day!

We did it. Kevin and I sat down together two nights ago and finished filling out our adoption application to FTIA - Families Thru International Adoption. April 15th will no longer be remembered first in our minds as tax day, but rather as the day that we made our adoption official by mailing in our application to our agency.

Once FTIA receives our application we should hear back from them within about 48 hours as to whether or not we meet the requirements for China's adoption program. As soon as we hear back that we are accepted (expecting that to be early next week) into the program we will call and schedule what is called a home study. The entire process of the home study and gathering the necessary paperwork for it could take about 2 months so we are just itching to get started!

I want to say thank you to all of you who are joining us - either in person or in spirit - on our journey to add another child to our family. We thank God that He has opened up our eyes to this amazing opportunity and the blessings that we will experience because He has provided us with the ability to bring another one into our family.

Our family photo for the application

Shh... don't tell Kevin... It's a surprise!

I finally did it. I have my own blog. (Shh... don't tell Kevin... He doesn't know that I am doing this, and I am going to surprise him!) I have wanted to have a blog for so long now, but I was always a bit scared about writing something that could cause offense. I finally talked myself out of worrying about that though - if/when it happens, well, I'll deal with it then. Until then... I'm going to enjoy this!

A little about our family: Kevin and I have been married for 12 years and we have 3 biological children. Now I know it is a little out of the ordinary to put that word "biological" in front of "children", but there is a reason for that. We have been led down the path to adopt a child (and hopefully more) internationally. We have a lot of love in our hearts for more children - and a lot of empty chairs at our dining room table! When we sit down as a family for a meal together, it often seems like there are children missing because of the empty seats.

Carissa, who will be 11 on Wednesday, and Laurel, who is 7, are very excited to add another member to our family. They don't really have a preference for a new brother or sister, they would just like one that is as little as possible! Tyler, who is 9, well, he would love to have a brother, but he said it would be okay if he got another sister - as long as she liked doing things like playing marbles. He really wants a brother to share his room with and one that he can play rough with. Either way, I think he will do great.

Just a disclaimer on my part: I have a habit of writing "books" on my emails so I can only imagine how long my blog posts might be in the future. (smile!) I cannot be held responsible for loss of eyesight or for the dishes not getting done because my posts are so long...

In His name,

Karen