He he he - No, we aren't actually "moving", I'm just switching over to a new blog :)
The itch to write has been bugging me for some time now, and things have actually begun to "settle down" some for us as a fairly new family of eleven - it's been 1 year since we brought home our five from Colombia!
Our new blog site is Eleven Bees in a Hive. I honestly can't tell you how regular I'll be at posting as a lot of things tend to grab my attention during the day and the evening hours, but I do know that I have the desire to be pretty consistent! So if you are interested, click on over and join me!
In Christ,
Karen
Thank you for visiting! This blog is a hodgepodge of things that interest me such as writing about our family and our new adventure into soap making, advocating for orphans & adoption, providing links for freezer meals we like etc. etc. We are a Christian, homeschooling family with 9 children: 1 was born in China, 5 in Colombia 3 are biological. Welcome! I hope you find something that interests you :)
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Happy Birthday, Kevin!
I wanted to send a special "Happy Birthday" today to my husband. This past year I have seen you become an amazing, caring, supporting father - not that you already weren't, but it was to 9 children in the midst of working out all the attachment issues, bonding and all that other stuff we have been experiencing. Thank you for loving us and caring for us - for opening your heart to where God wants to take you. You are "one of a kind", and we are so glad you belong to us!
Friday, July 26, 2013
Why the name "Global Soaps"?
Thank you for asking! :) It took us a long time to come up with just the right name to represent our family and our business. If you are visiting for the first time and getting to know us, then you may not know that we have been blessed with 9 children: 3 are biological and born right here in the US (2 in Georgia and 1 in Michigan), 1 we adopted from China back in 2010, and the other 5 we added to our family from Colombia in February! So... we like to think of our family as rather "global".
One other reason for the name Global Soaps is that we have big plans for our biz - we would like to go global! But for now, we are taking baby steps by building a website, creating a logo, learning how to charge tax and ship our product out (that is really confusing to me!), testing other products to determine if we would like to offer them to all of you (this is the FUN part!) and so on... In a later post, I'll let you know what products we are testing. We want to make sure that everything we offer will be used on our own family, on our children, before we offer it you and your family.
Thanks for visiting, and please don't forget to take a look at the inventory sale we have going on until the end of July. We have had a great response from the sale and from our local farmer's market so we have run out of a few items (temporarily!), but there are still a lot of great quality good-for-your skin bars being offered. Take a look here!
Karen
One other reason for the name Global Soaps is that we have big plans for our biz - we would like to go global! But for now, we are taking baby steps by building a website, creating a logo, learning how to charge tax and ship our product out (that is really confusing to me!), testing other products to determine if we would like to offer them to all of you (this is the FUN part!) and so on... In a later post, I'll let you know what products we are testing. We want to make sure that everything we offer will be used on our own family, on our children, before we offer it you and your family.
Thanks for visiting, and please don't forget to take a look at the inventory sale we have going on until the end of July. We have had a great response from the sale and from our local farmer's market so we have run out of a few items (temporarily!), but there are still a lot of great quality good-for-your skin bars being offered. Take a look here!
Karen
Monday, July 22, 2013
Introducing Global Soaps!
It's official! We have the name, the tax id number and are in the process of creating the website at www.globalsoaps.com! It's amazing how much we can actually get done around here when we aren't cracking open the books for homeschooling :) For now, the best way to order our soaps, lotions or lip balms is right here on this blog. Just click here. Plus, we added a facebook link to our Global Soaps page on the top right-hand side. If you are on facebook, please "like" us. When we reach 100 likes we are having a give-away!
Last Wednesday we participated in our towns weekly farmer's market. A customer there said her son had eczema and asked which type of our goat's milk soap I would recommend. I told her that all goat's milk soap was good for dry skin, but the one I would recommend the most was the shea butter. We know our soap is good, but I was so happy to hear how it had helped her 2 year old son with his severe eczema. She said it made a difference! She didn't know it, but that's exactly what we want to do with Global Soaps - we want to make a difference, to enrich lives. I know that sounds a little silly, enriching lives with a soap company, but with God's help and with us keeping our focus on Him, we can do it.
One of the major aspects of Global Soaps will be orphan awareness/education and adoption. Our family has a desire to help those who are adopting by offering fundraisers. The details are still in the works, but I know it will happen. So if you are in the process of adopting and may be interested in a fundraiser with goat's milk soap, keep an eye on us for when we work out the details.
Tomorrow we are going to visit a company who produces soap-making equipment. They don't have a physical store, but they are letting us in to see what they have - very grateful to them for that! I'm sure we will walk away with something to help us handcraft bars more effectively than what we are already doing (which will help in the adoption fundraisers).
They have equipment that will allow a person to make 100's of bars at one time. (Excuse me while I drool a little over just thinking about that! Hey - it's good to like what you do!). As much as my mind wanders to 100's of bars curing on soap racks at a time, we are going to take it pretty slow by praying, making a game-plan and learning how we can work up to the BIG equipment. It's baby steps with a balancing act. Enough about that. On to goat-talk.
This is Velvet and DD. DD is Velvet's mom. They are mini-alpines, and the first goats we owned. Velvet loves to chew on shirts. When you think about goats who eat anything, she is the perfect representative of that image! DD is cool, calm and collected.
Oh, this shot was taken by our oldest daughter, CJ. She won two Champion ribbons for her photography at our county fair last week and is going to state with her black and white shots - very excited for her! We added a page above about the rabbits she raises, sells and shows. Be sure to check out her site, as she built it herself.
Please continue in your prayers for our family. The children are all doing really well, and I know it is because of the prayers!
Karen
Last Wednesday we participated in our towns weekly farmer's market. A customer there said her son had eczema and asked which type of our goat's milk soap I would recommend. I told her that all goat's milk soap was good for dry skin, but the one I would recommend the most was the shea butter. We know our soap is good, but I was so happy to hear how it had helped her 2 year old son with his severe eczema. She said it made a difference! She didn't know it, but that's exactly what we want to do with Global Soaps - we want to make a difference, to enrich lives. I know that sounds a little silly, enriching lives with a soap company, but with God's help and with us keeping our focus on Him, we can do it.
One of the major aspects of Global Soaps will be orphan awareness/education and adoption. Our family has a desire to help those who are adopting by offering fundraisers. The details are still in the works, but I know it will happen. So if you are in the process of adopting and may be interested in a fundraiser with goat's milk soap, keep an eye on us for when we work out the details.
Tomorrow we are going to visit a company who produces soap-making equipment. They don't have a physical store, but they are letting us in to see what they have - very grateful to them for that! I'm sure we will walk away with something to help us handcraft bars more effectively than what we are already doing (which will help in the adoption fundraisers).
They have equipment that will allow a person to make 100's of bars at one time. (Excuse me while I drool a little over just thinking about that! Hey - it's good to like what you do!). As much as my mind wanders to 100's of bars curing on soap racks at a time, we are going to take it pretty slow by praying, making a game-plan and learning how we can work up to the BIG equipment. It's baby steps with a balancing act. Enough about that. On to goat-talk.
Oh, this shot was taken by our oldest daughter, CJ. She won two Champion ribbons for her photography at our county fair last week and is going to state with her black and white shots - very excited for her! We added a page above about the rabbits she raises, sells and shows. Be sure to check out her site, as she built it herself.
Please continue in your prayers for our family. The children are all doing really well, and I know it is because of the prayers!
Karen
Sunday, July 7, 2013
It's About Time for Some Pics!
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| Tyler just hanging around! |
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| Diego, Jaime and Briyic playing with BIG balloons! |
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| That a boy, Jaime! |
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| Hang on, David! |
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| Beautiful. |
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| This is when we first met the children! |
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| Um... swings are fun... aren't they??? This is Diego and Brayan. |
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Hello!
Well, I know I said I would get some pictures on here. And I will. Soon. I just have to copy them over from my husband's computer onto this one, and then we will get some posted. Sorry! It is on my to-do list!
I am extremely busy during the day cleaning, cooking, cleaning, cooking, cleaning... did I mention cooking? We eat often! I was completely spoiled in Colombia by being blessed with Rosario cooking for us. Then we get home and for 3 weeks we get dinner brought to our door. I am way out of practice. Can you believe I have not made a grocery list since we have been home? (That's on my to-do list also!) I just keep pulling things out of the freezer that we froze from our garden two years ago - carrots, zucchini and such. Plus, we have lots of rice and beans stored.
The thought has actually crossed my mind that we could just skip a meal. I mentioned this the other day to our Colombian kids. The one that understood me, Jaime, just grinned and shook his head no at me. So I fed them :)
Right now, I'm protesting. There are a bunch of dishes calling to me from the kitchen, but I'm drowning all the yelling out (from the dishes) with the aching of my legs and arms and with how nice it is to be typing on this blog again!
My arms and legs ache because Kevin and I were outside, with Tyler, for many hours today hauling wood and clearing an area for our buck, a Nigerian Dwarf goat who has yet to be named, and who is about 7 months old. I am very excited to breed him to our two Mini-alpines, Velvet and DD. We also have a full size Alpine, Alana, who is in milk, and her 1 month old buckling. The buckling we will sell. I REALLY like getting fresh milk from Alana.
Which reminds me, I need to get myself out of this chair to go feed Alana... I'll go ahead and post this now because I have no idea when I will sit myself down in this chair again :) Hopefully, soon!
Oh, we are going to start making our goat milk soap again tomorrow. We are going to be making it and selling it as a family business. If you have any favorite scents, be sure to let me know! In addition to the soap, we will soon be trying our hand at goat-milk lotion. I just need to get a couple more ingredients.
Talk to you later!
Karen
I am extremely busy during the day cleaning, cooking, cleaning, cooking, cleaning... did I mention cooking? We eat often! I was completely spoiled in Colombia by being blessed with Rosario cooking for us. Then we get home and for 3 weeks we get dinner brought to our door. I am way out of practice. Can you believe I have not made a grocery list since we have been home? (That's on my to-do list also!) I just keep pulling things out of the freezer that we froze from our garden two years ago - carrots, zucchini and such. Plus, we have lots of rice and beans stored.
The thought has actually crossed my mind that we could just skip a meal. I mentioned this the other day to our Colombian kids. The one that understood me, Jaime, just grinned and shook his head no at me. So I fed them :)
Right now, I'm protesting. There are a bunch of dishes calling to me from the kitchen, but I'm drowning all the yelling out (from the dishes) with the aching of my legs and arms and with how nice it is to be typing on this blog again!
My arms and legs ache because Kevin and I were outside, with Tyler, for many hours today hauling wood and clearing an area for our buck, a Nigerian Dwarf goat who has yet to be named, and who is about 7 months old. I am very excited to breed him to our two Mini-alpines, Velvet and DD. We also have a full size Alpine, Alana, who is in milk, and her 1 month old buckling. The buckling we will sell. I REALLY like getting fresh milk from Alana.
Which reminds me, I need to get myself out of this chair to go feed Alana... I'll go ahead and post this now because I have no idea when I will sit myself down in this chair again :) Hopefully, soon!
Oh, we are going to start making our goat milk soap again tomorrow. We are going to be making it and selling it as a family business. If you have any favorite scents, be sure to let me know! In addition to the soap, we will soon be trying our hand at goat-milk lotion. I just need to get a couple more ingredients.
Talk to you later!
Karen
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
To Colombia and Back Again!
Hello!
I know it has been a REALLY long time since I last posted, but our lives have been turned upside down and we are just now finding our way right-side up again :) As the time drew near for us to leave for Colombia, my time on the computer continued to dwindle. I had every intention of (and REALLY wanted to!) posting while we were in Colombia and adjusting as a new family, but those first few weeks were hard and we were exhausted. I praise God that things are now going well. Yes, we have trials and adjustments every day still (we have been home just over 2 weeks), but compared to what it was like in the beginning, it is very good.
One of the major changes in my own life from adding 5 more children to the family is that my time is no longer my own. That sounds really selfish on my part. Before we brought home the 5 we had 4 other children, but because of their ages, they were beginning to do more on their own and care for themselves.
The three oldest (11, 13 and 15) were pretty independent as far as chores, schoolwork, picking out their clothes, cleaning their rooms, etc. I was only really helping Lyric, our daughter from China, who is now 5, so I had that spare time to read, blog, search the internet, facebook... But now, because the youngest just turned 2, the ages of our younger children are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7! My time is no longer my own, and about 95% of the time that feels really good. (The other 5% is my selfishness when I want to do things only for myself. Like stay in bed all day long or watch movies at night until I can no longer keep my eyes open!)
Maybe saying "my time is no longer my own" isn't exactly what I want to get across. "I'm doing more for others (our 9 children) and less for myself" may be more along the lines of what I'm trying to say. Doing for others just feels right. I am so glad that God put adoption on our hearts.
In Christ,
Karen
P.S. I'll try my best to post again really soon - with pictures! For now, I need to go milk our goat, do the laundry, clean up, etc etc...
I know it has been a REALLY long time since I last posted, but our lives have been turned upside down and we are just now finding our way right-side up again :) As the time drew near for us to leave for Colombia, my time on the computer continued to dwindle. I had every intention of (and REALLY wanted to!) posting while we were in Colombia and adjusting as a new family, but those first few weeks were hard and we were exhausted. I praise God that things are now going well. Yes, we have trials and adjustments every day still (we have been home just over 2 weeks), but compared to what it was like in the beginning, it is very good.
One of the major changes in my own life from adding 5 more children to the family is that my time is no longer my own. That sounds really selfish on my part. Before we brought home the 5 we had 4 other children, but because of their ages, they were beginning to do more on their own and care for themselves.
The three oldest (11, 13 and 15) were pretty independent as far as chores, schoolwork, picking out their clothes, cleaning their rooms, etc. I was only really helping Lyric, our daughter from China, who is now 5, so I had that spare time to read, blog, search the internet, facebook... But now, because the youngest just turned 2, the ages of our younger children are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7! My time is no longer my own, and about 95% of the time that feels really good. (The other 5% is my selfishness when I want to do things only for myself. Like stay in bed all day long or watch movies at night until I can no longer keep my eyes open!)
Maybe saying "my time is no longer my own" isn't exactly what I want to get across. "I'm doing more for others (our 9 children) and less for myself" may be more along the lines of what I'm trying to say. Doing for others just feels right. I am so glad that God put adoption on our hearts.
In Christ,
Karen
P.S. I'll try my best to post again really soon - with pictures! For now, I need to go milk our goat, do the laundry, clean up, etc etc...
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Welcoming in 2013
Last night was wonderful and an awesome start to the new year! Our family welcomed in 2013 with some dear friends of ours, the Elliotts. It wasn't the plan originally for them to stay, but God orchestrated it so they could. We talked, laughed, ate and prayed. We watched the movie La Montana, which I'll talk about in a later post, and discussed our plans for 2013 and what God had on our hearts.
The Elliotts are going to begin their fundraising efforts to help with adoption costs of a special needs child, possibly from Ukraine, along with opening their home to special needs children through foster care. We are going to be welcoming home our children and adjusting as a family of 11. Big changes for both our families in 2013.
Kevin and I talked about volunteering more, especially with our older children. We want to do more for God as He has given us so much. We are excited to see what He has in store for us beyond adding our new children to our family.
Happy New Year, friends! I pray that you have big hopes for 2013 and you are looking to God for how He wants to be such a big, big part of your year.
In Christ,
Karen
The Elliotts are going to begin their fundraising efforts to help with adoption costs of a special needs child, possibly from Ukraine, along with opening their home to special needs children through foster care. We are going to be welcoming home our children and adjusting as a family of 11. Big changes for both our families in 2013.
Kevin and I talked about volunteering more, especially with our older children. We want to do more for God as He has given us so much. We are excited to see what He has in store for us beyond adding our new children to our family.
Happy New Year, friends! I pray that you have big hopes for 2013 and you are looking to God for how He wants to be such a big, big part of your year.
In Christ,
Karen
Thursday, December 27, 2012
God Has A Plan For Us...
and I can't wait to see what His plan is! We have been searching and searching for a place to stay while we are in Colombia that is in a good area and is affordable to us. We have been quoted anywhere from $5,000 to $12,000! That's a lot of money. Many friends and even strangers are looking on our behalf, and we just wanted to say thank you for that! The less we have to pay while we are there, the less we have to pay back when we are home and the more we can concentrate on our children instead of finances.
Wherever God has us, I pray that He uses our time in Colombia in a way that is honoring to Him. Maybe in some way He will use us to show someone in Colombia who He is. Maybe He will use someone to draw us closer. Maybe both.
Whatever His plans are, I can't wait to experience them!
In Christ,
Karen
Wherever God has us, I pray that He uses our time in Colombia in a way that is honoring to Him. Maybe in some way He will use us to show someone in Colombia who He is. Maybe He will use someone to draw us closer. Maybe both.
Whatever His plans are, I can't wait to experience them!
In Christ,
Karen
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Um... did you recently order 10 bars of soap?
Hi - if you ordered 10 bars of soap within the last couple of days could you email me again? I have lots of soap still and would be happy to get that to you, but I must have accidentally deleted your email! I looked at it once when we were in Michigan and think your name is Joann??? I hope you get this :) kevkarb@yahoo.com
To everyone else reading this, please disregard my absentmindedness for the next, oh, 10 years or so...
Thanks!
Karen
Update just after I posted this: I found her!
To everyone else reading this, please disregard my absentmindedness for the next, oh, 10 years or so...
Thanks!
Karen
Update just after I posted this: I found her!
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, everyone! May God bless you and your family during this winter season!
This has been a Christmas like no other for my own family. In the rush to prepare for the all the snow that we keep hearing is coming we went outside and chopped and stacked wood today! Never would have guessed I would have been doing that on Christmas Day, but I have to admit that the exercise and fresh air felt really good :)
We visited family/friends in Michigan over the weekend and had a wonderful time. It was our plan to get back by about 5:00 pm on Christmas Eve to eat pizza and have a quiet evening, but the time with our friends/family was well worth the late night drive back home. We pulled in our drive-way at about 11:45 pm! No gifts had been wrapped and no tree had been lit (or even chopped down!) because of all the running around we have been doing getting prepared for Colombia.
After the children were tucked in their beds with visions of sugar plums Kevin and I brought out three small fake trees we had in our attic. I decorated them with lights and tinsel and made a funky star for the top of the tree that resembled more of a shiny turtle than a beautiful, guiding light for the wise men! Still, at 2:00 in the morning, just before we headed to bed, I took a second glance at all of our work and thought it quite a beautiful site. The three trees standing together reminded me of our Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit.
Kevin, the kids and I had our drawing just a little bit ago for the free soap give-away. I'm sorry that all of you who commented, emailed or helped spread the word about our blog couldn't win, but we did get to have 5 winners and I'm pretty excited about having that many. If your name is below please email me at kevkarb@yahoo.com and let me know your address! I also emailed or messaged you if your name was drawn.
Ami B.(you commented below about posting on Homeschool Share) your name was drawn first so you get 7 free bars of soap!
Alix - thank you for commenting below! Your name was drawn second, which means we will be sending you 5 free bars of our all-natural goat milk soap!
Bonita T. - thank you for emailing! Your name was drawn third. I'll be sending you 4 bars of our soap because the third child we are adopting is 4 years old!
Jennifer S. - thanks for sharing on facebook! Your name was drawn 4th! The fourth child we are adopting soon is 3 years old so you will get 3 bars of our all-natural goat milk soap!
Tina H. - your name was drawn 5th so you will get one free bar of our soap! Congratulations!
I would also like to say a special thank you to those who have bought soap or made a donation to help us bring our children home! Our chip-in button fundraising goal to raise the five kids one-way airfare from Bogota to Fort Lauderdale has been met! Thank you so much for blessing our family. Words alone are not enough to express our gratefulness at your generosity.
And... when we arrived home late last night on Christmas Eve a big box awaited us on our front porch. Someone whom we have never met in person and who is in the middle of an adoption from Colombia herself said they would be happy to send us some clothing for our Colombian children. I thought she was so kind and, honestly, expected some nice, used clothing to be shipped. (Which we would have been completely happy with!) But when I opened the box and saw very nice, new clothes for the children I was overwhelmed. Thank you. I pray that God blesses you and your family this season and with your adoption! Maybe we will see one another in Colombia in the new year.
Merry Christmas,
Karen and family
This has been a Christmas like no other for my own family. In the rush to prepare for the all the snow that we keep hearing is coming we went outside and chopped and stacked wood today! Never would have guessed I would have been doing that on Christmas Day, but I have to admit that the exercise and fresh air felt really good :)
We visited family/friends in Michigan over the weekend and had a wonderful time. It was our plan to get back by about 5:00 pm on Christmas Eve to eat pizza and have a quiet evening, but the time with our friends/family was well worth the late night drive back home. We pulled in our drive-way at about 11:45 pm! No gifts had been wrapped and no tree had been lit (or even chopped down!) because of all the running around we have been doing getting prepared for Colombia.
After the children were tucked in their beds with visions of sugar plums Kevin and I brought out three small fake trees we had in our attic. I decorated them with lights and tinsel and made a funky star for the top of the tree that resembled more of a shiny turtle than a beautiful, guiding light for the wise men! Still, at 2:00 in the morning, just before we headed to bed, I took a second glance at all of our work and thought it quite a beautiful site. The three trees standing together reminded me of our Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit.
Kevin, the kids and I had our drawing just a little bit ago for the free soap give-away. I'm sorry that all of you who commented, emailed or helped spread the word about our blog couldn't win, but we did get to have 5 winners and I'm pretty excited about having that many. If your name is below please email me at kevkarb@yahoo.com and let me know your address! I also emailed or messaged you if your name was drawn.
Ami B.(you commented below about posting on Homeschool Share) your name was drawn first so you get 7 free bars of soap!
Alix - thank you for commenting below! Your name was drawn second, which means we will be sending you 5 free bars of our all-natural goat milk soap!
Bonita T. - thank you for emailing! Your name was drawn third. I'll be sending you 4 bars of our soap because the third child we are adopting is 4 years old!
Jennifer S. - thanks for sharing on facebook! Your name was drawn 4th! The fourth child we are adopting soon is 3 years old so you will get 3 bars of our all-natural goat milk soap!
Tina H. - your name was drawn 5th so you will get one free bar of our soap! Congratulations!
I would also like to say a special thank you to those who have bought soap or made a donation to help us bring our children home! Our chip-in button fundraising goal to raise the five kids one-way airfare from Bogota to Fort Lauderdale has been met! Thank you so much for blessing our family. Words alone are not enough to express our gratefulness at your generosity.
And... when we arrived home late last night on Christmas Eve a big box awaited us on our front porch. Someone whom we have never met in person and who is in the middle of an adoption from Colombia herself said they would be happy to send us some clothing for our Colombian children. I thought she was so kind and, honestly, expected some nice, used clothing to be shipped. (Which we would have been completely happy with!) But when I opened the box and saw very nice, new clothes for the children I was overwhelmed. Thank you. I pray that God blesses you and your family this season and with your adoption! Maybe we will see one another in Colombia in the new year.
Merry Christmas,
Karen and family
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
New Sale On Our Goat Milk Soap! Help Us Reach Our Chipin Goal!
We would really like to reach our chip-in goal (only about $360.00 to go!) for the children's airfare by December 26th. I started thinking the other day that it might just be too hard to decide on which type of soap to order, so how about a sampler pack?
The kids and I are in the process of putting together only 16 sampler packs that will contain 12 individual sample size bars of soap! Each sample bar weighs anywhere from 1 to 2 oz. They are about the size of the hand soaps you get in a hotel, but ours are home-made, all-natural and go to a really great cause! We are still working out the best way to ship the sampler pack to give you the lowest shipping price, but we do know that we would like to offer the sampler pack for $20.00. ($20.00 plus shipping for 12 sample size bars).
Here are the types included in every sampler pack:
Colombian Coffee
Frankincense
Grapefruit
Lavender
Lemongrass
Oat N' Honey
Orange-Cinnamon
Patchouli-Lime
Peppermint
Peppermint Patty
Spruce
Sweet Orange
Individually, each whole bar is offered at $6.00 each. Or, you can order 5 whole bars for $25.00. We do have a couple of other types of bars for sale here (along with the types listed above), but didn't have enough made of each one to add it to the sampler pack.
If you would like to order, just email me at kevkarb@yahoo.com.
And don't forget to enter the free give-away for some of our goat milk soap if you haven't already! The details are just a couple of posts below on Thursday, December 6th! The drawing will be held and results posted on Christmas Day!
Thank you!
Karen and family
The kids and I are in the process of putting together only 16 sampler packs that will contain 12 individual sample size bars of soap! Each sample bar weighs anywhere from 1 to 2 oz. They are about the size of the hand soaps you get in a hotel, but ours are home-made, all-natural and go to a really great cause! We are still working out the best way to ship the sampler pack to give you the lowest shipping price, but we do know that we would like to offer the sampler pack for $20.00. ($20.00 plus shipping for 12 sample size bars).
Here are the types included in every sampler pack:
Colombian Coffee
Frankincense
Grapefruit
Lavender
Lemongrass
Oat N' Honey
Orange-Cinnamon
Patchouli-Lime
Peppermint
Peppermint Patty
Spruce
Sweet Orange
Individually, each whole bar is offered at $6.00 each. Or, you can order 5 whole bars for $25.00. We do have a couple of other types of bars for sale here (along with the types listed above), but didn't have enough made of each one to add it to the sampler pack.
If you would like to order, just email me at kevkarb@yahoo.com.
And don't forget to enter the free give-away for some of our goat milk soap if you haven't already! The details are just a couple of posts below on Thursday, December 6th! The drawing will be held and results posted on Christmas Day!
Thank you!
Karen and family
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Busy Busy Burgess Family!
Phew. I know that we will be super busy after we bring home our 5 children, but I can honestly say this has been the busiest time in my life, ever. From sunup to waaayyy past sundown Kevin and I are working on getting things done. I am busy teaching/helping the kids with their school work, decluttering/organizing, making soap, cooking/cleaning, researching this and that for the adoption and so on. It doesn't look like too much on "paper", but it sure does keep me busy! Kevin is actively working on his business and on providing the best service for his clients, making a triple bunk bed, chopping wood, researching adoption related things with me (like apartments and airfare), and reading to the children when he can. He is not in one spot for long!
We have a big white board in our kitchen, and this morning I decided I had better put a to-do list on it because my brain was starting to get a little frazzled. I made the list for only the things I need to accomplish before the end of the week, but it sure is long! It does feel good to get all that out of my head though.
One of the things on my list is for our family to get a Christmas tree! We have tossed around not having a tree this year but decided it was a bad idea not to because the children we have in our home now are really looking forward to it. It would feel too much like we weren't doing it just because we are adopting, and we don't want to give our kids that impression.
As a family, God and Jesus are a part of our lives every day, but I read somewhere online once about how a family stopped giving gifts to one another during the Christmas season. They were blessed so much already. Instead, they gathered up multiple gift-giving catalogs from various not-for-profit groups. Each member of their family would pick a gift out that would be sent to someone who was truly in need. It may have been Bibles, chickens, goats, blankets, or numerous other items. I think what they did was wrap up the picture of their gift and put it under the tree. Christmas morning they opened the "gifts" as a family. I think this is beautiful and am looking forward to implementing a form of it within our own family.
Speaking of gifts, we have been given a couple of great ones since I last posted! We were able to get to Chicago in good time this last Thursday to get our Visas from the Colombian Consulate! I was expecting to have to leave while they processed our paperwork, but they said to just stay in the waiting room. We were in and out of there within an hour!
Then, yesterday I received a phone call from the FBI (that sounds so official!). Some of the adoption paperwork we have had to complete needs to be updated every 6 months. Our background checks were due up this month. Admittedly, I got a little nervous about getting the results back by the time we traveled because it can take 5 to 6 weeks and sometimes even longer. Officially, the FBI doesn't expedite paperwork but unofficially they will do what they can to help you. We were told to send our prints through track-able mail and when we got the tracking number to call them. I called the day they received it. A very considerate guy tracked our package through his computer and said he would work on getting it processed faster for us. A week later, yesterday, we received the call that our background checks were done and our paperwork was being sent on to be apostatized! That was a very, very nice gift to receive!
The kids and I have been busy working with our goat milk soap. We have been figuring out the details to a new fundraising sale and hope to get the word out about it soon! Don't forget to enter our goat milk soap giveaway! The details are just two posts below!
May God bless you and your family this holiday season.
Karen
We have a big white board in our kitchen, and this morning I decided I had better put a to-do list on it because my brain was starting to get a little frazzled. I made the list for only the things I need to accomplish before the end of the week, but it sure is long! It does feel good to get all that out of my head though.
One of the things on my list is for our family to get a Christmas tree! We have tossed around not having a tree this year but decided it was a bad idea not to because the children we have in our home now are really looking forward to it. It would feel too much like we weren't doing it just because we are adopting, and we don't want to give our kids that impression.
As a family, God and Jesus are a part of our lives every day, but I read somewhere online once about how a family stopped giving gifts to one another during the Christmas season. They were blessed so much already. Instead, they gathered up multiple gift-giving catalogs from various not-for-profit groups. Each member of their family would pick a gift out that would be sent to someone who was truly in need. It may have been Bibles, chickens, goats, blankets, or numerous other items. I think what they did was wrap up the picture of their gift and put it under the tree. Christmas morning they opened the "gifts" as a family. I think this is beautiful and am looking forward to implementing a form of it within our own family.
Speaking of gifts, we have been given a couple of great ones since I last posted! We were able to get to Chicago in good time this last Thursday to get our Visas from the Colombian Consulate! I was expecting to have to leave while they processed our paperwork, but they said to just stay in the waiting room. We were in and out of there within an hour!
Then, yesterday I received a phone call from the FBI (that sounds so official!). Some of the adoption paperwork we have had to complete needs to be updated every 6 months. Our background checks were due up this month. Admittedly, I got a little nervous about getting the results back by the time we traveled because it can take 5 to 6 weeks and sometimes even longer. Officially, the FBI doesn't expedite paperwork but unofficially they will do what they can to help you. We were told to send our prints through track-able mail and when we got the tracking number to call them. I called the day they received it. A very considerate guy tracked our package through his computer and said he would work on getting it processed faster for us. A week later, yesterday, we received the call that our background checks were done and our paperwork was being sent on to be apostatized! That was a very, very nice gift to receive!
The kids and I have been busy working with our goat milk soap. We have been figuring out the details to a new fundraising sale and hope to get the word out about it soon! Don't forget to enter our goat milk soap giveaway! The details are just two posts below!
May God bless you and your family this holiday season.
Karen
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
I'm really looking forward to the drawing on Christmas Day! Thank you to all of you who have emailed, left a comment, became a follower, or reposted our blog! Keep it up! Please let your friends know about the drawing!
We do have a lot of soap left to sell (there are many bars curing!), so if you would like to help support us by purchasing a few just send me an email (kevkarb@yahoo.com). The bars make great unique Christmas gifts for friends, family and coworkers. And if you know someone who has dry skin or even eczema, they should give this soap a try. We have had many people tell us how much it has improved their skin, plus each bar is really soft and silky on your skin. No need for shaving cream either! And the best part, I think, is that all the proceeds go to help give five children a home and family.
A couple of nights ago we spent hours researching online and talking on the phone to figure out the best way to purchase our plane tickets. We ended up getting them through Spirit Airlines, and we are flying out from Fort Lauderdale. We still need to get to Ft. Lauderdale from Indy and back home again from Ft. Lauderdale after we have our children, but for the price we knew we could figure something out.
We have not flown with Spirit before, so I can't comment about their service, but if you do decide to look into them (for those who are also adopting from Colombia), watch their extra fees. Their prices are low, but then you need to add in any luggage you are bringing, seat changes... Still, we were able to get all 6 of us from Ft. Lauderdale to Bogota, and all 11 of from Bogota to Ft Lauderdale for $4,500 plus luggage (probably end up being around $5,000). We were quoted around $10,000 round trip for all of us from Indy to Bogota from multiple travel agencies and from watching airfares like Skywatch and Cheapoair.
We figure for that $5,000 we haven't spent yet we will get one-way tickets to Ft. Lauderdale and then rent a van and drive all 11 of us home from Ft. Lauderdale. Crazy? Maybe. But we like a little craziness :)
Pretty soon I'm going to start a private blog for our travel to Colombia. We don't want the world to know exactly when we will be gone, so if you would like to follow along with us please email me at kevkarb@yahoo.com, and let me know how you know me or what your link is to adoption so I can approve you. After we are home, I'll add all the posts from the private blog to this one, like I did when we brought our daughter home from China. I am still keeping this blog open because of the soap sales. I'm hoping to find someone willing to ship any soap orders we get while we are in Colombia.
We are getting our passport-size pics for our Visas today and tomorrow we get to apply for the Visas themselves! Everything is starting to look a lot more "official", and on occasion when I think to closely about what we are doing little butterflies start fluttering around in my stomach!
The picture to the right is of the paper-chains we put up for our official "Countdown to Colombia"! Each day one of us gets to rip off one of the links. It has been great watching it grow shorter!
Thank you so much for all the support and prayers we have been receiving! May God bless you and your family this Christmas season.
Karen
We do have a lot of soap left to sell (there are many bars curing!), so if you would like to help support us by purchasing a few just send me an email (kevkarb@yahoo.com). The bars make great unique Christmas gifts for friends, family and coworkers. And if you know someone who has dry skin or even eczema, they should give this soap a try. We have had many people tell us how much it has improved their skin, plus each bar is really soft and silky on your skin. No need for shaving cream either! And the best part, I think, is that all the proceeds go to help give five children a home and family.
A couple of nights ago we spent hours researching online and talking on the phone to figure out the best way to purchase our plane tickets. We ended up getting them through Spirit Airlines, and we are flying out from Fort Lauderdale. We still need to get to Ft. Lauderdale from Indy and back home again from Ft. Lauderdale after we have our children, but for the price we knew we could figure something out.
We have not flown with Spirit before, so I can't comment about their service, but if you do decide to look into them (for those who are also adopting from Colombia), watch their extra fees. Their prices are low, but then you need to add in any luggage you are bringing, seat changes... Still, we were able to get all 6 of us from Ft. Lauderdale to Bogota, and all 11 of from Bogota to Ft Lauderdale for $4,500 plus luggage (probably end up being around $5,000). We were quoted around $10,000 round trip for all of us from Indy to Bogota from multiple travel agencies and from watching airfares like Skywatch and Cheapoair.
We figure for that $5,000 we haven't spent yet we will get one-way tickets to Ft. Lauderdale and then rent a van and drive all 11 of us home from Ft. Lauderdale. Crazy? Maybe. But we like a little craziness :)
Pretty soon I'm going to start a private blog for our travel to Colombia. We don't want the world to know exactly when we will be gone, so if you would like to follow along with us please email me at kevkarb@yahoo.com, and let me know how you know me or what your link is to adoption so I can approve you. After we are home, I'll add all the posts from the private blog to this one, like I did when we brought our daughter home from China. I am still keeping this blog open because of the soap sales. I'm hoping to find someone willing to ship any soap orders we get while we are in Colombia.
We are getting our passport-size pics for our Visas today and tomorrow we get to apply for the Visas themselves! Everything is starting to look a lot more "official", and on occasion when I think to closely about what we are doing little butterflies start fluttering around in my stomach!The picture to the right is of the paper-chains we put up for our official "Countdown to Colombia"! Each day one of us gets to rip off one of the links. It has been great watching it grow shorter!
Thank you so much for all the support and prayers we have been receiving! May God bless you and your family this Christmas season.
Karen
Thursday, December 6, 2012
WE ARE GIVING AWAY 20 BARS OF ALL-NATURAL GOAT MILK SOAP!!!!
AND because I personally like it when there are multiple prizes being given away, we are going to break down those 20 bars of soap into 5 separate giveaways! That means we will draw 5 names (because we are adopting 5 children). The first name drawn will win 7 bars (the age of David, our oldest in Colombia). The second name drawn will win 5 bars (the age of Jaime, our second oldest in Colombia). The third name drawn will win 4 bars (the age of our daughter, Briyic, in Colombia). The fourth name drawn will win 3 bars (the age of Diego, our second youngest in Colombia). And the fifth name drawn will win 1 bar of our all natural goat milk soap! (Brayan is our youngest in Colombia, and he is one year old!).
If you would like to learn more about our all natural goat milk soap, please click here or on our fundraising page listed above. THERE IS NO PURCHASE/DONATION required in order to have your name entered into the drawing! However, you can have your name entered multiple times. Here is how:
For 1 entry, you can either email me (kevkarb@yahoo.com) and put "soap drawing" in the subject line, become a new follower (at the time of this writing there are 54), or leave a comment. If adoption has been a part of your life in any way, we would really enjoy hearing about how God has been a part of that!
For 1 entry, share our giveaway on your facebook page with a link back to our blog.
And for 1 more entry, share our giveaway with a link on your own blog!
Be sure I have a way to contact you if your name is drawn, and let me know what you have done to get your name entered!
Sunday, December 2, 2012
WE HAVE TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!!!!
I only have a second to post this, but wanted everyone to know that we have travel approval! We will become a family of 11 in 2013! Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and supporting us!
I'll post again really soon!
I'll post again really soon!
 |
| A picture we sent to our children - we will see you soon! |
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
5 More Heights Added To Our Wall!
We have a wall in our kitchen where we measure the height of everyone in our family. Carissa, our 14 year old, has passed up my 5 foot 5 inches by inches and is now at a standstill. Our 13 year old son is gaining quickly on me. We are ALMOST nose-to-nose. I believe our 11 year old daughter will end up being about the same height as I am, and as for Lyric (our 5 year old), we are very happy that her head now reaches above the kitchen counter! But more importantly, today we were able to add to the wall the heights of our children in Colombia!
When I told Lyric that Briyic, her 4 year old sister, was going to be taller than she is she got a bit upset. But then I said, "She may be taller, but you will always be older!" and she got a huge grin on her face. Then I told her that Diego, who is 3, would be about her height, and she made a face and said, "But he's a boy!". I couldn't help but crack up with laughter!
We also received some other news that we have been waiting for about the Visa photos of the children. Apparently, when we received the last update ICBF decided to wait to hear our response so they put everything on hold. Maybe they thought we were going to say no to the children based on what was in the report? No way! Anyway, that is one reason why we are still waiting for the photos. All is good now though because they are starting the process back up again to get the photos and, hopefully, we will soon have them. The sooner we get them, the sooner we get the children's Visa's, the sooner we get our entrega date (the date we meet our children), the sooner we can get our airplane tickets, the sooner we get to our children!
On a final note, I would like to thank everyone who made a purchase today and yesterday with our "Cyber Monday (and Tuesday) Fundraising Sale". I had a lot of fun putting it together! Right now, we are selling the soap as a fundraiser for our own adoption expenses, but it is my intention and hope that after we are done fundraising we will be able to turn it into a business - a business that will help educate and raise awareness of orphans and adoption, as well as one that will help others who are adopting with their fundraising efforts.
This is the new message that will be placed on the wrapping of each bar of soap:
Learn to
do good; seek justice,
reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan,
plead for the widow. Isaiah 1:17
reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan,
plead for the widow. Isaiah 1:17
In closing, I would like to thank our Father for His goodness. We are blessed beyond measure.
Karen
Monday, November 26, 2012
Cyber Monday (and Tuesday!) Fundraising Sale Special!
We decided to get in on all the fun of Cyber Monday (and Tuesday!) and put together our own special deal! For today and Tuesday only, place your order for our already discounted special of 5 bars for $25.00 and get your CHOICE of either a FREE bar of soap (you pick!) OR a fun, home-made CRACKED-CORN BEDWARMER made by our two oldest girls! We will offer this special only until midnight (November 27th) so don't delay, and be sure to order today! All proceeds go towards our adoption of a sibling group of 5 children. Their names are David, Jamie, Briyic, Diego and Brayan.
To view our fundraiser and our available bars of soap please click here and email your order to Karen at kevkarb@yahoo.com. Thanks for looking!
To view our fundraiser and our available bars of soap please click here and email your order to Karen at kevkarb@yahoo.com. Thanks for looking!
Monday, November 19, 2012
Missing Our Children, When We Haven't Even Met Them
Sigh. It has been pretty hard switching gears from "expecting to travel to meet our children soon" to "we won't be traveling until AT LEAST mid-January".
The strike is almost over in Colombia, but in some areas I have heard that it is still going strong. One of these areas is where our children are: Bogota. I have read that the strike has pushed everything back at least 4 weeks. At this point, I will be really surprised if we even get to travel mid-January. The judges aren't back to work. When they do go back, they are behind at least 4 weeks. There is a break from mid-December to about mid-January so adoptions are not processed during that time. So... will we even travel in January? I have no idea :(
In the meantime...
We know for sure now that our little Colombians are in three different foster homes. Juan David is in one, Briyic in another, and the youngest three boys are together in yet another foster home. Not only will they have to adjust to being with us as a new family, but they will need to adjust to being with one another as well. I pray that ICBF is doing everything they can to prepare them for being together again and for us being their new family.
It wasn't good news that we received from ICBF about our daughter, Briyic. Because of the sensitive nature of it, I would rather not share the details here. She is getting, as well as Juan David, some counseling sessions. I suppose that may be good for them, but I can't help but think that if we only had them here with us...
I am anxious to hold each one in my arms. I want to cook for them and bathe them. I want to make them giggle and laugh. I'm excited to teach them, and to show them the love of Christ.
One of the things that was holding up our travel, despite the strike, was the Visa photos of our children in Colombia. Our agency's contact there has been trying for over a month to get their Visa photos. We still don't know if she has them. Hopefully tomorrow we will find out more. It seems so wrong that a strike, a vacation in the, well, I don't know who all gets the vacation but it stops adoptions from being processed, and a few Visa pictures, are the only things that are stopping us from wrapping our arms around our children. I know, it's only a couple more months, but it seems like sooo much longer than that.
One benefit of not traveling right away is that we have a bit more time to get our house in order before it becomes totally disorganized again while we adjust to being a family of 11! We were able to clean out the house a little and have a yard sale. I really didn't expect to do too well having a sale in mid-November, but the weather was great, and we were blessed to put a couple hundred dollars towards the adoption expenses! Way better then I ever thought we would do.
Disappointingly, we were turned down for another grant we had applied for. This one was a matching-grant, and I was pretty sure we would qualify for it, but were told instead that there were a lot of applicants and not enough funds...
The good news is that our all-natural goat milk soap fundraiser is going well! Not only do we get to raise money for the adoption expenses, but we get to provide those who order with an excellent product! We have had many people tell us how wonderful our soap is and how good it is on their skin. Even individuals with eczema say how great it is! If you would like to order just click on our fundraising page listed above to see what we have available and email me with your order - simple! Oh, and they are great to give as a Christmas gift to friends, family, as a secret-Santa, co-workers, or even for yourself!
Thanks for reading!
Karen
The strike is almost over in Colombia, but in some areas I have heard that it is still going strong. One of these areas is where our children are: Bogota. I have read that the strike has pushed everything back at least 4 weeks. At this point, I will be really surprised if we even get to travel mid-January. The judges aren't back to work. When they do go back, they are behind at least 4 weeks. There is a break from mid-December to about mid-January so adoptions are not processed during that time. So... will we even travel in January? I have no idea :(
In the meantime...
We know for sure now that our little Colombians are in three different foster homes. Juan David is in one, Briyic in another, and the youngest three boys are together in yet another foster home. Not only will they have to adjust to being with us as a new family, but they will need to adjust to being with one another as well. I pray that ICBF is doing everything they can to prepare them for being together again and for us being their new family.
It wasn't good news that we received from ICBF about our daughter, Briyic. Because of the sensitive nature of it, I would rather not share the details here. She is getting, as well as Juan David, some counseling sessions. I suppose that may be good for them, but I can't help but think that if we only had them here with us...
I am anxious to hold each one in my arms. I want to cook for them and bathe them. I want to make them giggle and laugh. I'm excited to teach them, and to show them the love of Christ.
One of the things that was holding up our travel, despite the strike, was the Visa photos of our children in Colombia. Our agency's contact there has been trying for over a month to get their Visa photos. We still don't know if she has them. Hopefully tomorrow we will find out more. It seems so wrong that a strike, a vacation in the, well, I don't know who all gets the vacation but it stops adoptions from being processed, and a few Visa pictures, are the only things that are stopping us from wrapping our arms around our children. I know, it's only a couple more months, but it seems like sooo much longer than that.
One benefit of not traveling right away is that we have a bit more time to get our house in order before it becomes totally disorganized again while we adjust to being a family of 11! We were able to clean out the house a little and have a yard sale. I really didn't expect to do too well having a sale in mid-November, but the weather was great, and we were blessed to put a couple hundred dollars towards the adoption expenses! Way better then I ever thought we would do.
Disappointingly, we were turned down for another grant we had applied for. This one was a matching-grant, and I was pretty sure we would qualify for it, but were told instead that there were a lot of applicants and not enough funds...
The good news is that our all-natural goat milk soap fundraiser is going well! Not only do we get to raise money for the adoption expenses, but we get to provide those who order with an excellent product! We have had many people tell us how wonderful our soap is and how good it is on their skin. Even individuals with eczema say how great it is! If you would like to order just click on our fundraising page listed above to see what we have available and email me with your order - simple! Oh, and they are great to give as a Christmas gift to friends, family, as a secret-Santa, co-workers, or even for yourself!
Thanks for reading!
Karen
Friday, November 2, 2012
In God We Trust
The adoption process is often described as a roller coaster. It is one crazy ride filled with highs and lows, twists and turns, emotional ups and downs. As a Christian, I know that God's timing is best but that doesn't mean it's always easy. Today we had to make the decision not to travel to our children until after the new year. So many outside obstacles/events added up to this.
One obstacle was the passport-sized photos needed to go with the Visa application for our children. Our agency requested them over a month ago, and they have yet to receive them. I find this conflicting to me emotionally because if we did have them we would likely be traveling to Colombia now and be taking care of our children. On the other hand, we would be in Colombia in the midst of a judicial strike that has been going on for about 3 weeks now. We keep hearing that negotiations have been made and the strike is ending... and then it doesn't.
The strike is a big part of our decision not to travel even if the children's visas were processed. We have heard that only about 10% of judges are still working in Colombia. That means 90% aren't. Families who traveled already to receive their children are in limbo there. They have no idea when they can come home. Adoption is expensive to begin with, but add on the extra weeks in Colombia and it's even more so. Families are also divided by it. Many husbands/wives have had to travel back home to work while their wives/husbands and child/ren stay in Colombia. Even when the strike ends, there will be a backlog of cases. Adoption cases aren't usually the priority.
Then there is the break that occurs for some governmental workers in Colombia at the end of December/beginning of January. If your adoption isn't completed by the end of the year, then you get to add at least 3 weeks to your stay in Colombia. That's a long time for us, especially since Kevin works for himself. His income will already be greatly effected for the period of time we will need to be there without adding extra weeks.
The worse part of knowing we can't travel is the children. By this time, they know who we are. They know we are their new parents. They won't know why we aren't there for them yet or why it is taking so long for us to get there. They aren't even living in the same place. The best I can figure out from the paperwork is that they are in 4 different foster homes.
I comfort myself with the peace that God is in control. His timing is perfect and not mine. I pray that He uses our trials for His glory and that others may come to know Him through us.
Please continue to pray for our children in Colombia. We were told today to expect a letter soon from ICBF concerning our four year old daughter, Briyic. ICBF doesn't usually send letters out of the blue that have good news in them. The last time we received one it was about one of our sons, and it had sad/bad news in it.
In God I trust,
Karen
One obstacle was the passport-sized photos needed to go with the Visa application for our children. Our agency requested them over a month ago, and they have yet to receive them. I find this conflicting to me emotionally because if we did have them we would likely be traveling to Colombia now and be taking care of our children. On the other hand, we would be in Colombia in the midst of a judicial strike that has been going on for about 3 weeks now. We keep hearing that negotiations have been made and the strike is ending... and then it doesn't.
The strike is a big part of our decision not to travel even if the children's visas were processed. We have heard that only about 10% of judges are still working in Colombia. That means 90% aren't. Families who traveled already to receive their children are in limbo there. They have no idea when they can come home. Adoption is expensive to begin with, but add on the extra weeks in Colombia and it's even more so. Families are also divided by it. Many husbands/wives have had to travel back home to work while their wives/husbands and child/ren stay in Colombia. Even when the strike ends, there will be a backlog of cases. Adoption cases aren't usually the priority.
Then there is the break that occurs for some governmental workers in Colombia at the end of December/beginning of January. If your adoption isn't completed by the end of the year, then you get to add at least 3 weeks to your stay in Colombia. That's a long time for us, especially since Kevin works for himself. His income will already be greatly effected for the period of time we will need to be there without adding extra weeks.
The worse part of knowing we can't travel is the children. By this time, they know who we are. They know we are their new parents. They won't know why we aren't there for them yet or why it is taking so long for us to get there. They aren't even living in the same place. The best I can figure out from the paperwork is that they are in 4 different foster homes.
I comfort myself with the peace that God is in control. His timing is perfect and not mine. I pray that He uses our trials for His glory and that others may come to know Him through us.
Please continue to pray for our children in Colombia. We were told today to expect a letter soon from ICBF concerning our four year old daughter, Briyic. ICBF doesn't usually send letters out of the blue that have good news in them. The last time we received one it was about one of our sons, and it had sad/bad news in it.
In God I trust,
Karen
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