Keep Moving Forward

We were notified by Lifeline, our agency, that our Dossier packet arrived at their Birmingham office and made it to the state level (Alabama) on Wednesday! It will be there about a week and then it will be sent overnight to the Chinese consult in Texas. Again, it will be there another week and then it will be sent to China. Our Dossier is almost there!!

*** To review, our Dossier is a large packet of 13 or so official documents, pictures of our family, our home-study, etc. ***

We are prepping for our Adoption Fundraiser Yard Sale that will be in 2 weeks. Thank you to those who have donated. We are needing to borrow long/folding tables, portable hangers/closets, empty boxes and hands to help on June 12-13th. If you would still like to donate your unwanted items to this Yard Sale/Fundraiser please let us know. We have room to house it in our garage.

In other news, we have had a couple of set backs. Jesse was laid off and will not be redistributed to a new position as we had originally thought. We have spent a lot of time considering our options and praying about this. We are choosing to see this as a blessing in disguise. Jesse and I have decided he will stay at home this school year. Which will be great for ALL of us but also having him help Kameron get used to the routine of life in America, adjusting to his new forever family, learn English and potentially home-school him his first year,

Also, the surgery we were going to put off has become more pressing to be done as Sarah's symptoms have been worsening. She will undergo a hysterectomy on July 15th and she will be recovering for 3-4 weeks.

We've had a lot of recent unexpected twists and turns. But we remain committed to the calling to bring Kameron home.

This will require some readjustments financially and an amendment to our homestudy and I-800 A application. We know that God will provide.

We continue to appreciate the prayers, warm thoughts and encouragement that have helped keep us going. We feel OVERWHELMED by the generosity of friends, family, and even strangers. We are so blessed with a wonderful and loving community who has come along side us and helped us walk this journey. It's a much easier walk, despite the difficulties, with friends along the way.

I-797 Approval!!!

We received our I-797 approval today!! Basically, it's permission from the US government Immigration Services to adopt Kameron. We will be sending out our Dossier to our agency and soon we will have our Dossier to China! How exciting!

We have had a lot of news and information this week, and are grateful for a long weekend together to process and work through it all. We have been in the grips of fear, uncertainty and feeling overwhelmed.  Truthfully, its been a trying week and there have been moments of tears and definitely frustration.

Needless to say, the arrival of this document could NOT have come at a better time.

Please pray for us as we navigate even more life changes, as we prepare our hearts and home to bring Kameron home, and for our boys as they do the same. Please pray for Kameron's heart. Soon he will be doing a very brave thing by joining a family from a land far away, learning a new language, learning about his new forever family and adjusting.

We continue to prepare for our June 12th & 13th Yard Sale Adoption Fundraiser. As a reminder, if you are doing some Spring Cleaning and have some items you wouldn't mind donating, we will gladly take them off your hands!! The boys will be doing a cookie and lemonade stand as well. We have had a couple family's generously offer to bake/donate cookies for the boys to sell. We also have found a few tables we can use for their little fundraiser.

Lastly, the Adopt Together Site is our direct funding page if you wish to make a tax deductible donation. Click here if you wish to go directly there.

Thank you for your support, your interest, your prayers and encouragement. Thank you for all of those of you who have been loving on our family!

-- The Maddux Family

Plateau's and Speed Bumps

It's difficult to write when you feel like you don't have much to share. We are feeling frustrated by the process suddenly coming to a stand still. Everyone who has adopted before and has offered us advice has cautioned us that we would hit a time of plateau and speed bumps. We are definitely there. We still have not received the much anticipated paperwork we have been sifting through the mail each day, for a month. We are still awaiting government approval on our adoption.

Jesse got the final word this week, that instead of a transfer and because of how his position is funded, he is being laid off. It wasn't the news we were expecting. Jesse is considering applying for other similar positions in nearby districts but if he doesn't get the job, he is most likely spending a year at home.

We see a lot of benefits to this. It will save us a lot on daycare costs and allow Jesse to develop closer bonds with our boys. Also, Kameron speaks very little English-- so it would certainly be helpful to home school him the first year he is here. But, it's an adjustment for all of us. We will have to amend our home study. It sounds like it's a minor thing, but it just feels like one more speed bump.  (I'm actively reminding myself that these are JUST speed bumps and not the mountains they sometimes feel like). 

Sarah received an immense amount of affirmation at her new job. This was such a blessing in what was an otherwise hard to digest second week in a row.

Our oldest has high functioning autism. Change is hard for him. I know change is difficult for most people, but for him it's an extreme. Usually with any change, we see regression for 6-8 weeks and an increase in negative behaviors. The blessing here has been that while he has moments of uncertainty he has largely embraced getting a new brother with confidence and open arms. He knows mom and dad will go to China for 2 weeks without him. We try to keep him informed about what is going on. I read the updates we get about Kameron to the boys and show them the new pictures. We continue to borrow any kids books and movies we can about China. We are all absorbing what we can about Kameron's culture.

Despite all these barriers and speed bumps, we are so loved and cared for. Our friends, family and church community have really wrapped themselves around us. We are being prayed for often. And that has meant so much to us. While this road is bumpy and at times the travel grows weary, we are certainly not alone.

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In regards to our fundraisers, here is the list of current and upcoming events:

1. Adopt Together is our online donation page. Click here if you wish to visit this page. You can donate directly there, if that is where you feel led.

2. We have a beautiful quilt we will be raffling off soon. Thank you to Jesse's cousin for generously being willing to donate this so we can raise funds to bring Kameron home. Stay tuned for details. We will announce more once this is set up and ready to launch.

3. Our adoption Yard Sale Fundraiser. This is scheduled for June 12th-13th (Friday and Saturday). We are currently talking donations. If you have some Spring cleaning to do and want to unload your discard/sell stuff towards this we will gladly take them. 

--The boys still really want to do a lemonade and cookie stand at the yard sale. I am still looking for a kids table/stand we can borrow for this.

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Isaiah 40:31New International Version (NIV)

31 

but those who hope in the Lord

    will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

    they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint.

Challenges and Pressing Forward

This week was difficult. It's been a more challenging week for us to say the least.

Jesse received the final word that his current position will not be extended next year due to budgetary reasons. Now we wait to see where he is placed elsewhere in the school district and see if it's a good fit. We are contemplating the possibility of him staying home. It makes a lot of sense with us adopting a 13 year old who will be new to this country, this language, and to our family. But it's a scary thought, to cut back and only have one of us working right now. An adoption is expensive. We feel absolutely called to Kameron. And so we press forward....

I (Sarah) also received some unexpected news in regards to my health. I don't wish to unnecessarily alarm anyone. I have a condition that is not life threatening, but causes a lot of pain that is to the point that it is no longer tolerable. It has been recommended to me to have a major surgery to remove the problem. I didn't expect this news and I am currently sorting through the emotions of all of it. Because an elective surgery would delay our adoption, we have chosen to postpone anything that would interfere or cause more hurdles in our efforts to bring Kameron home, for now. It appears that soon after bringing Kameron home I will be undergoing surgery.

And in terms of the adoption process, we have had our first week where literally nothing has happened. We are waiting on paperwork from Oregon and I-797 (our I-800 A approval). I focused on my Continuing Medical Education hours I needed for work. We still have a couple courses to finish for our adoption education hours and grants to complete and hopefully get selected/approved for.

Thank God its been beautiful out. These boys love to stretch their legs, play in the dirt, and be active. Jesse has been busy prepping the garden for planting. Sarah has been pulling weeds from the garden beds.

Right now, we wait. We try to do so patiently. We try to do so knowing that time is ticking and we must have Kameron home before Decembers end, otherwise he age's out. While this is certainly a concern and in the back of our minds, it's not to the point where it's an emergency and the process up to this point has gone quickly and quite well.

We could certainly use your prayers. Prayers that the needed documents would come through soon. Please pray for Kameron's heart as he is preparing to do a very brave thing, leaving all he has known to live in a foreign land, who speaks a foreign language, with strangers he doesn't know. Pray for our hearts as we prepare to take on this adventure. Pray for Jesse as he makes decisions that could effect his career and our family. Pray for Sarah as she copes with pain and prepares for surgery in the coming months. Pray for our boys and their hearts, They seem so excited to bring on a new big brother and embrace this adventure with open hearts and minds.

We will be continuing our fundraising and announcing more fundraisers as they develop:

1. Adopt Together has been our more direct fundraising site. Click here if you are looking for a tax deductible donation option.

2. We are planning an Adoption Fundraiser Yard Sale on June 12th-13th. If you are spring cleaning and have some stuff you want to get rid of and donate for the sale, we would gladly accept. Also, if you have any additional thoughts/ideas on how to make this more successful-- we are open to them. The older boys want to sell cookies and lemonade. It's too adorable (and so sweet of them) NOT to let them help out. I'm looking for someone who has a stand or a kids table they could borrow. So please let me know if you have one that will work.

3. Soon we will be selling raffle tickets for a quilt Jesse's cousin has generously agreed to make for the adoption so we could raise funds. I do not have an exact date yet, but stay tuned for additional details on this as they develop.

4. We are open to any additional fundraising options others might have. Send me a message if you have any additional ideas' or thoughts.


Thank you!


--The Maddux Family

I 800-A, Dossier, Oh My.....

This week, Jesse and I had an appointment with the Department of Homeland Security for fingerprinting to proceed with our adoption. It was so nice to travel together and talk uninterrupted for an hour as we were waiting for our appointment time and to have the opportunity to reconnect. It was a rather painless process and the people there were very nice. Now, we await our I-797 (basically our approval from the government on our I 800-A application). Once we receive that, we send our Dossier to China!

Meanwhile, we are completing the last few documents and printing the pictures that are needed to send with our Dossier! (**A Dossier is a GIANT packet of official documents that have been collected over this process-- birth certificates, marriage license, financial info, home-study, references, etc).We will be mailing this off once we receive the last official document needed, which should be sometime this week. Then, we mail our Dossier to Lifeline (our agency) where they authenticate our documents and prep it to be sent out. All the meanwhile, we are waiting on pins and needles for that I-797 to arrive-- the very last thing needed to send off our Dossier to China!

Then, it's another long wait. A few months, has been the average we have been quoted. Maybe sooner. Then we get issued a letter of approval (if they agree) and we plan our trip to China from that point! How exciting is all of this?!?

In the waiting period, Jesse and I are completing grant paperwork for the adoption and our last adoption education hours. (All the meanwhile, I am feverishly completing the last 20 hrs of my professional education hours due by the end of June).

We are working hard to try and proceed with this adoption without going into more debt. Our fundraisers have gone well. We appreciate everything you all have done to help us in this process. Whether it is financial, prayers, helping with the kids so we could have time to get things done for the adoption, etc. It's been awesome, humbling, and amazing. I previously posted that a paper pregnancy seems to carry its own set of wild emotions. It has continued to do just that! We have been so touched by the generosity of people. To see how supportive people have been. We have been so fortunate not to encounter a lot of negativity. Mostly support and lots of encouragement!


I read this blog post recently and found it to be full of helpful information on how to minister to adoptive families: http://www.lifeway.com/kidsministry/2014/07/03/5-ways-to-minister-to-adoptive-families/


**Here is the link to our direct funding site:

https://www.adopttogether.org/bringkameronhome


--- Thank you for your support on this journey!

The Maddux Family