Gotcha day!

Wow, ok I know I have been horrible and have not posted in forever! WE GOT OUR BOY!!! This wk has been flying by and appts and Peyton have been keeping us busy. I cant really think right now about everything and we are tired and have to be up at like 2:30 in the morning for our flight home. This weeks process went extremely well. We are so blessed, so many things that could have been a problem were not, Praise Jesus! Gotcha day was Sept 14th! Here are some pics from this week. I will write more when I can. I really should be in bed!

Love The Wilsons
Erick, Chrissy, Ethan, Jacey, PEYTON, and Taylor

Last bit!

So we are leaving the country to meet our son in under a week and we are so excited yet VERY busy. We have had a few bumps come out of nowhere recently, things that are big issues and others that are not so big. These have added more stress but we are trying to focus on one thing at a time and just pray pray pray! It is nice to see when an issue gets resolved, Praise Jesus! There is still one major stress hanging in the air we are waiting to be resolved and look fwd to being on the other side of that.

Anyway, we still need just about $2000 more to make our needed funds to finish up the adoption process and get Peyton home!!! If you can put a dent in this, we would be sooooo thankful!!! You can give a donation to us through the chip in on the side of the blog or you can give a tax deductible donation to the Reece's Rainbow Fund link on the side of the blog and they will get that to us. Or you can mail us a check, let us know if you would like to do this and we will get you our info. Another way you can help is buy purchasing AdvoCare products through us. There is a link on the side of the blog as well for info on that. The best way to help in this way is for you to purchase by Tues the 16th. You can also buy a shirt, we still have many left, they are $15. But if you purchase one while we are gone you will not get it till we have a chance to mail it.

We hope to have Peyton home by the end of September (if all goes well) so we will need the funds by then.

Thank you so much for all your love and support.

The Wilsons

We have TICKETS!!!

First off, wow a $500 increase in our Fund! Awesome! PTL! Thank you whoever you are! And many thanks to the other checks that have been coming in the mail! We are so grateful for all the support we are seeing through people, even people we do not know! We are so close to having all the funds needed for the trip. I still need to total it all up (I have been crazy busy this week, and tired) but I will post it soon.

Well, we did it... we booked our flights to go meet our boy! It is sort of surreal. We are extremely excited yet nervous and mind-boggled at the same time. WOOOOHOOOO and AHHHHHHH! We will be getting on a plane and leaving the country to go across the ocean in 2.5 wks!!! The trip will consist of 3 legs, about 18 hrs of travel time. We have never been on the other side of the world! We have never had jet lag. We have never been to an orphanage. We have never had to go to court to prove our ability to parent and be questioned. This will be such a journey. I keep trying to find as many details out as I can about what this experience will be like. I read other blogs and friend others on the same journey. It is so neat to read about what God is doing through adoption in so many people's lives! I have met some great people I hope to stay in touch with. I look fwd to meeting the families we will be in country with and get to hang out a little with too. I know learning from others will help, but I also know every journey is different and we could run into many different things than others did. I hope that our journey is a light to others in many ways. For this is ultimately God's journey that we get to tag along on, and we are sooo blessed to get to be a part! We have seen him moving through this whole process and look fwd to the completion.

We have family watching our other 3 kids while we travel. Please pray for them now and especially during that time. It is a lot for them to take on and our kids have never been away from us for more than a couple days! We have no set idea how long this first trip will be. (In the program details it says like 3 wks. As I have followed others that have just finished the process it seems they have all taken 2-2.5 wks. Then, in our "get ready to go letter", they tell us prepare for 4 wks to have wiggle room just in case. So that is a huge variation in how long this process can take. We have also heard that Peyton's area can be difficult in the adoption process. We have been told to prepare for the long haul in which we would need to recover physically, emotionally, and spiritually between trips. However, we have also talked to someone who was recently there and knows of an adoption from the same orphanage that just took place and it went well; nice and smooth. So again, variation in stories. So we really have no idea what to expect!

I think God is doing this on purpose, so that I just sit back and trust him. Like he is saying it is ok not to know. I am trying too hard to know and prepare for what is coming and he just wants me to just sit back and enjoy the ride whatever it may be and trust that he is in control. At the beginning of the adoption process he told me the same message. I might have written about it in a prior post, can't remember. He spoke to me about just being still and knowing he is God. To relax, have peace, trust, be content with joy, and know his power and love and mission. It was so comforting that day for it came at a time where it was exactly what I needed. Similarly now, the day after we got our travel date (this past Tues), I picked up a devo I had not read in a while and it said similar things; to relax and let God lead me and to know he has everything under control...(ok GOd I get it!) so this I seek to do over these next weeks.

After the first trip we come home and have a 10 day wait. The 10 days is a last option for birth family to come and claim him. Once the 10 days is over, we will be back in country to finish paperwork and pick him up and take him home! That trip has been seen to be 10 days-2 wks. But again, we never know.

Please pray for us!!! Adoption is spiritual warfare and a number of things could happen. We need prayer covering us, Peyton, the orphanage workers, and the courts/govt. Really the whole world and all the orphans in it and any adoptive families to be need to be covered in prayer. Please make them a regular in your prayer times always!

No matter what is in store for us, it is worth it for God's glory! He is the reason we GO, and may our light shine bright every step of the way! May his name be made known in that place!

With love and thanks
The Wilsons

DATE!!!!!

Woot! Got a call at 3:55pm from our stateside helper that our appt is set for Aug 17th!!! We are so excited! Being this late in the day we thought we would not get any news today. Now comes the crazy get ready to travel phase!

Also, our 2.5 yr old went poop on the potty for the first time today!

It is a memorable day for the Wilson household!

Pray with us as we continue this journey! Man, we will be hugging our boy in 3.5 weeks!!!

Love
The Wilsons

Pictures and drums!

Hello everyone... we are still in the waiting to get a date process, but it is right around the corner! We are so excited. Yesterday we actually heard from someone who just got to take a trip to Peyton's orphanage and happened to get a pic of him. This was from June and the most recent pic we have. Getting it was such a blessing and filled me with such life and passion and excitement. I couldn't stop thinking about him, I couldn't focus on other stuff. I just wanted to look at him and be with him. It made my heart smile! Thank you Traci!

Also, my husband has listed his really nice professional drumset on craigslist to help us get the last of our funds to get Peyton! Drums Check it out and pass it around to who you think may want/need to get one. Thanks!

Love
The Wilsons

Open Doors!!!

Praise God for miracles... we just found out yesterday from RR that Peyton's country has decided to continue special needs adoption throughout the time of the closure!!! Can you believe that? We are so excited that the country sees the need for these children and are making a way for them to come home sooner! God is so so good! This means that we should find out our travel date in the coming weeks. Could be this month but most likely will be next month. Please keep praying over this... we know God's timing will be perfect! This news is so surprising and such a blessing! We are giddy!

We still need around $5k to complete the adoption though, so keep praying for that as well and help us get the word out and give if you feel led! Thank you so much for all your love and support!

Love
The Wilsons

Submitted!!!

Sorry forgot to post last week when we found out we were submitted! There was a little miscommunication at first, we did not hear form anyone and we all thought we were not submitted. Then the next day (Friday) we were emailed the correction that we were infact submitted on the 30th!!! So now we just wait on the country to change over and open back up!

hiccup

Ok so our passport copies were all certified and apostilled together... which is not supposed to happen. They need them all separate to send to different places in the country. So we have to have them redone and sent over there ASAP!!! So no submission this week. Must get submitted by next week! Pray!

Chrissy

And It's Off!!!

The dossier is out of our hands and making its way to Eastern Europe! Pray for quick and safe travels! We are so close to meeting our little boy!

Love
The Wilsons

News to pray over

Just found out that the area Peyton is in is hard to adopt from and that the last person they had try was unsuccessful. Also, his orphanage director is not very cooperative with adoptions. So please pray over this starting now. We should be mailing dossier Monday! I am thinking we will be in country around the third week or so of July. Pray we get a good judge and that the director has a soft heart for us and Peyton and that they all let us adopt him! Also pray that we don't have to be there forever trying to get it all worked out because we have three kids staying here in the US with my sis and her 3 kids. I know God can move mountains and prayer is powerful, so let's get on it... there seem to be so many up in the air things in this adoption we are pursuing, but we will keep going no matter what. We are going to fight for Peyton as much as we can. Thank you!

Chrissy

CSP on it's way!

i have not posted in a while so thought I would do that today... We have gotten the ok on all CSP papers and we had them apostilled yesterday along with almost all the rest of the papers. We still have a few we need to do to finish off the dossier but most of it is ready as well. I am going to run to FedEx in a min to mail off the CSP docs!!! Woohoo! The CSP is the petition to adopt a specific child. So this is what they will turn into the country to get Peyton reserved for us on their end.

We also got a letter from immigration that says they have received our stuff will send us fingerprinting info soon. Hopefully in the next month or so we will see our approval come through.

Also, just got word the shirts are done at printer! Will go pick them up and post pics ASAP!

Keep praying everything moves fwd and no major hiccups get in the way. Pray for speedy mailing and speedy immigration process. Pray for the country to stay open for this adoption to take place!

Thanks

a longer wait...

today I was going to write with a smile on my face sharing a wonderful new pic I have of Peyton...

However today I write with frustration and low spirit. Just got our USCIS stuff returned to us in the mail. Somehow I sent them the wrong amt of money so they gave everything back. I have no idea how I managed to do that. It is so upsetting. So later today I will go re-overnight this to them. We are now adding another almost 3wks to the timeline!!! This might mess up everything!

I know God has a plan and he knows what is going on. I know his timing is perfect and his will is best. Yet, it is hard living in the unknown when it comes to rescuing your son and the ability to do so might come to an end because of govt workings.

We also had all our dossier papers notarized over the weekend. I just found out today that half of them need to be redone. We also need to now have 3 copies of something that before only needed 2 copies of. So we will be going through paperwork yet again! They also want some of the papers now ASAP, so we need to get them done and apostilled and shipped ASAP.

I am so tired of all this paperwork, so many legalities, it drives a person bonkers.

Pray that this time the USCIS stuff is right and goes through quickly, pray for favor! We are still unsure of what changes might take place in June in his country. Pray it stays open!!!!! We most likely will no longer be able to submit in June, more like July at the earliest. So instead of the summer, we will prolly not get him till the Fall :(

Anyway, i will go ahead and share the pic...




so ready to hug this precious boy!!!

Chrissy

USCIS here we come!!!

OK so we finally got it in the mail, overnighted to receive by 10am!!! Step 1 complete... here goes step 2!

Step 1: Home study
Step 2: USCIS approval
Step 3: Dossier submission
Step 4: Travel to country to adopt Peyton- Country Approval
Step 5: Bring Peyton Home!

We were hoping this step would only be like 6 wks, but we have heard that USCIS currently has a 2 MONTH BACKLOG!!! Blah!!! So who knows what will happen. Pray that they get us in the system fast to get fingerprints and a case worker ASAP. We have requested an expedited approval due to the country's possible changes which I mentioned previously... More info on that has recently come out as well... The country is still accepting things as normal until mid June. Then at that point it is not clear if they will shut things down for a while or not. Nothing may happen or closing may happen, who knows. Which means if we don't get USCIS approval fast enough to get our dossier finished and shipped, translated, and submitted by mid June, we might not be getting Peyton anytime soon!!! Please pray for a quick approval and for no closure of adoptions in his country!!! I had mapped out our timeline and it looked like we might be able to submit by June 8th, but this is if USCIS does it's thing within 6 wks time.

We have Peyton's orphanage address now and we have been given permission to send him a package. They did not give any rules as to what we could send or not (besides perishables of course). So we are thinking of what to put in there and will try to get that shipped off soon so that he knows we are trying to get there and to give him some hope of that!

Thanks for your continued prayers and support!

Yard Sale #1 done

Hello everyone! This morning we had our first yard sale. We will be needing to do another one. This past week was just really crazy and we didn't have the ability to get everything as ready as we had hoped and did not advertise much. Some friends who were donating items also got caught up this week with different things and we were running out of room in our garage for things, so we still have that stuff to get from all them to sell. My toddler was also sick all week and needing special attn today. Also, the weather yesterday and today was cold and rainy. We still had the sale, since it was only 10-20% chance today, but of course it rained off and on all morning and it was like 40-50 degrees out!!! It hampered the sale a little, but we still had a decent turn out considering everything... and we made $400!

We still have a garage FULL of stuff and will be getting that other stuff from friends soon as well, so we will be having another sale... Maybe in a couple weeks, otherwise sometime in May or June.

Thanks to all who helped us out, donated to us, or bought things. We are very appreciative!

Photo Package Give Away!

Enter a Photo Package Give Away!!!

To Help Raise Funds To Bring Home PEYTON!

Winner will get:
photo session
photo CD
20 photo cards & envelopes
photo candle
one 8x10
two 5x7's
four 4x6's
(this package is a $150 value- courtesy of Christensen Photography)

$5 per entry- Winner will be drawn on April 30th
enter as many times as you want!!!

Please use the RR Grant Fund on the sidebar of the website when you donate. Then, let me know you donated and how much.

(Photographer will not travel out of the area. If you are out of the area and you want to participate, you must come to the Nashville area to have your pics taken.)

Fundraiser options

Hello everyone, here are some of the things we have going now to fundraise. Please share with your friends and family.

1. My Mother in law is giving 10% of her Mary Kay sales from the month of April to our adoption. Contact Lana Wilson Sr. Director, Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc
281-703-2383 cell contact
832-595-1500 home office
www.marykay.com/lwilson4

2. My friend Kathy is giving some of the percentage of sales to our adoption as well from Arbonne International
www.arbonne.com
kathywiehl@gmail.com

3. We still have our Just Love Coffee account- we get $5 for every purchase.
http://www.justlovecoffee.com/WilsonFamilyTN

4. We are always taking donations into our chipin located on the side of the page.

5. We are in the process of making adoption shirts to sell. Info coming soon. Let us know if you would like to order one.

6. We are working on another give-away. Stay tuned!

7. We have a yard sale coming up on April 16th

8. I am going to book a scentsy party in which we will get some profits from, so stay tuned for that too

9. A guy named Jay is raising money for Peyton by his weight loss adventure. Pledge to him and Peyton gets funds! http://jaywalkingwithgod.blogspot.com/

Dropped a ball...

OK, well Erick has not heard back from his company yet regarding writing the letter, so keep praying about that...

on another note, just realized I dropped the ball on something and now we will have to wait longer. I thought we had everything (besides employment letter) done and ready to go. All my references were turning in their letters this week and we were just waiting for the SW to finish up the report. Once we had the letter and the report we could turn everything in to USCIS and get this show moving. We were hoping to do this no later than April 1. I am excited to say that my Social Worker just said she should have her first draft of our HS avail Wed!!! However, this ball dropping will now cause a delay.

The dropped ball involves state background check. Back in mid Feb when we got all our HS stuff, I did not get right on all the things in there. There was so much that was going on with the adoption and life in general that somehow some things got overlooked. Then at the end of Feb I realized I had not done much paperwork stuff in a while and that I needed to make sure to get whatever done that will take a while to process so that we dont end up waiting on something later. Well, at this time I realized we still needed to send in background check stuff and local fingerprint stuff. So I did that March 7th. I faxed in the form and placed it in the done pile. Later that week we had all our physical appts, fingerprints, and notary paperwork stuff going on. Life was so crazy that week that I never gave another thought to if the fax went through.

Well the other day I realized I never got a confirmation when I sent the fax. So I called yesterday to see if they ever got the forms. They did not!!! I refaxed right away but they still did not get them. For some reason our fax was not being picked up there. So today I mailed off the forms.

When I talked to my SW she says it will take like 2 WEEKS for that to come back!!!! ARGH!!! If I would have checked on it that wk I sent it, we would have it back and could turn everything in to USCIS either end of this wk or sometime next wk (as long as we get employment letter).

This now adds 2 wks to our timeline! We were thinking at normal rate we might get to submit dossier to country in mid June, but now it might be more like July. With the possibility of closure, this is not a good thing!

Please pray over this with us. Pray we get the letter we need and pray the background check gets processed quickly. Also pray that no other glitches come up. I know God knows what he is doing, and all timing will come together for his plan to come to pass. We are not freaking out, but are trusting in God. We are learning to let go and just do what we can when we can and leave it in God's hands.

PRAYER NEEDED!!!!

Erick went to get his employment verification form for our dossier filled out yesterday at work and they informed him that their policy is to not sign off on the kind of information needed in the letter. WE HAVE TO HAVE THIS INFORMATION IN THE LETTER FROM THEM TO ADOPT!!! So, this is a major snag in the process... if Erick can not get someone there at work to write what is needed, then we can not continue this journey, we don't think there is a way around this. We will have to end the adoption process for Peyton and pray someone steps in to be his family quickly. We need to pray on whether to push this with his job so we can get it done or not. If they will not budge on this, we need to know ASAP because if there will be no way to get around this then the faster we back out of pursuing Peyton, the sooner he can be found by another family.

PLEASE PLEASE PRAY WITH US, we need to know what to do and when to do it

Chrissy

Process updates & Prayer requests

We need some prayer for the adoption process. We found out this week that Peyton's country is thinking about changing up their adoption procedures and if they decide to do that it means closing down adoptions until everything gets fixed into the new system. This could be months or YEARS of kids not being able to go home!!! We need to get the dossier submitted before anything happens and then we can still be on this journey to get him. There is speculation this might happen this summer. Looking at a timeline I have thrown together for how our journey looks, we should be submitting in June and traveling within July-Sept. I am not sure if that is too late. We are being told to get things done ASAP so that we make sure to get submitted.

Tomorrow is our home visit for the home study. So pray for that as well. Our Social Worker thinks she should have our report finalized by the end of the month. So we should be able to turn in our home study and USCIS papers by April 1 hopefully. Then we have to wait on them to approve us to adopt. This usually takes at least 6 wks (so I have heard). They are allowing expediting of people adoption from this country right now due to all this speculation which is good, but I am not sure what that means for how much faster we can expect that approval to move along. Once we get approval we can mail in our dossier to the country but it has to be translated before submitted. I think this takes a couple weeks. Then they can submit it.

The changes the country wants to make are supposed to be good and better for everyone in the long run, but it just messes things up for the kids that are in certain stages of life for the time of the change. Pray that we are able to be submitted before they make any decisions. I can't imagine Peyton having to be there another few years!!! Pray that everything we need to do moves along quickly and smoothly.

Today was kind of hectic... we had a day of running errands and signing papers (all with 3 kids in tow). We had our local fingerprints done which went perfect but then we had county paper signing which the lady did wrong and we will have to go back another day. We also had some notaries done on some docs but a couple were done wrong so we will have to redo those as well. Right now it is okay for that to happen. But later it can mean time delays we can not afford. Pray we don't run into more problems as we continue. We had our physicals this week and should be picking those forms up early next week. The kids have to get some tests done as well, so they will go for those next wk. By the end of next week we should have everything we need done for this stage of the adoption.

Pray also for the fundraising efforts. We will be doing much more in the coming months so be looking for info on those. If our process gets expedited as needed, that is great but it also means raising funds quicker.

Thanks for your prayers and support

Chrissy

an update

Hello everyone... wow how cool that we have some money donated already! Thank you thank you! So yes, we have the donate box up and available now. We also have the grab button so anyone can help share Peyton on their blog or whatever to try to help us bring him home.

We have finally connected with our social worker and will meet for the first time on Thursday evening. We are also scheduling our medicals, getting our passports, and looking through the mounds of paperwork we have received for our Dossier and home study.

We will be planning a yard sale soon and will take any help or donations for that as well. Details to come. We also still have our Just Love Coffee fundraiser going. So buy some if you want it!

Please keep praying with us and sharing with others!