One Step Closer

Yesterday was a GLORIOUS day! After almost two months of daily paper chasing, I signed, sealed and delivered our Home Study packet to America World-Texas! Well, mailed it so USPS can deliver it. No, we’re not finished, we still have our dossier to compile but this was HUGE for the Krause Family.

My impatience begged me to overnight it but it was only going to Dallas AND $44 vs. $8 is a big difference! Plus, I didn’t want to give my man a heart attack. He had already granted me the permission to go in Mail & More by myself while he waited in the car with the kiddos. This was exercising major trust so I couldn’t let him down. I skipped all the way to the car both Ryan and I grinning from ear to ear. We took the chitlins for ice cream to celebrate. And, yes, there might have been some praise dancin’ on the way!

After the paperwork arrives in Dallas, Adela (don’t you just love her name!), our social worker, will review and then America World will schedule our home study visit. We are anxious to get our home study completed so we can apply for grants and financial assistance. It will also make us eligible to file our I600A, Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition, with US Citizens and Immigration Services. This part stresses me out as the Dept. of Homeland Security will forever have my fingerprints…don’t lie, would you too!

Last night, Ryan and I looked over our dossier checklist and were thrilled to discover we’ve just got a few items to go! People, this has me floating on air today! Hopefully, we’ll be able to go for passports next week. Other than filing with USCIS and receiving our completed home study, we’ve pretty much got everything else! I will refrain from celebrating until the completed dossier is DTE-Dossier to Ethiopia. But, for real, I am so super excited that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Check back in a few weeks though, will I be singing the same tune? Only time will tell!

So other than adoption stuff, what are the crazy Krauses up to? Well, spring is in the air and for these McArthur-Krauses that means BASEBALL!! I have been waiting impatiently since October and the time has finally come! You will be so sad to know that we don’t have cable which means no spring training games for this gal. I have been staring, and yelling, at the “coming soon” message on the MLB channel on my Roku for weeks. It’s about to drive me insane. However, both of my kids are playing this year so practices and games are starting to fill up our weeks! I will definitely be posting pics of their cute baseball tushies! Interesting fact: first time I “noticed” Ryan Krause, he was in his baseball uniform…yup, I was a goner.

Friday and Saturday, I had the honor of leading worship at HHBC women’s retreat with my girl Kelli and, wait for it…my BROTHER!! It was our very first time to sing together, something I have waited years to do. When we finished Friday night, I found my dad standing in the back of the worship chapel. He crashed the “all girls” event to hear his children sing to Jesus together. Now that I’m typing this, I don’t know why I was surprised, nothing could have kept him away. Made my heart melt a little. I will tell you this, my brother can sang…now that it’s in my bones, I will be jonesing for an encore. Hey! Maybe my dad will join us next time, how fun would that be!!?

I’ve heard so many of you tell me you haven’t been able to keep up since the first few posts. With that being said, I hope you understand that this forces me to BEG…Please, please don’t quit stopping by, keep us somewhere on your radar. We need your prayers and support more now and tomorrow than ever. I am so grateful for each of you and knowing that you are traveling this journey with us makes all the difference! So, if you haven’t yet, follow through “Networked Blogs” at the bottom of the page. Stay on this crazy train with us, it’s sure to be a ride you won’t forget!

xoxo,

Brit

Getting ready to mail all our hard work!

Ice Cream!!!!

Paper Pregnant

I don’t know about you, but I’m liking this year’s Spring forward! It is dark and quiet in my house and I have just finished my Bible study…UNINTERRUPTED!(and without yelling at one of my children to “LEAVE MOMMY ALONE! I’M TRYING TO SPEND TIME WITH JESUS!”) While I had the rare opportunity, I thought I’d sip my coffee with you guys. We’ve got a little catching up to do!

When I first dove into the world of adoption, I began to see and hear the term, “Paper Pregnancy”. Until this last month, I had no idea what everyone in Adoption World was talking about. Now. I. Do. OMAGOSH, now I do! The beginning weeks/months of pregnancy are not always easy. You are EXHAUSTED like someone is sucking the life out of you. You feel as if you’re losing every single brain cell, one by one. You, most often times, feel as if you are going to toss your cookies or lose all of those Doritos you just binged on. I totally get it now, I am 100% paper preggers!

When I received my checklists for the home study and dossier documents, I couldn’t understand why it would take us 4-6 months to complete. They looked totally doable at first glance, but then you begin to paper chase. People, EVERY SINGLE STEP has been complicated. The problem tends to be that the world could care less that you are trying to save an orphan. You are just another person in a long line of people needing something from them. This has just about left me fit to be tied every day. COULD YOU PLEASE JUST WRITE THE DARNED LETTER OF EMPLOYMENT THE WAY THE ETHIOPIAN GOVERMENT WANTS YOU TOOOO!!!!???? “No, Ma’am, I’m sorry, we cannot.”

I read to Ryan while we drive. How else are we going to fit 9 books in? We have the 10 hour, online course up on our computers, at all times. We never know when we’ll have a spare minute to stop by and read a few lines, answer a few questions. We have t-shirts to design (and no idea how to do it, which makes it impossible), phone calls to make and fundraisers to plan. Oh yeah, and this thing we call life…it doesn’t stop. How rude is that!? It just keeps on spinning, at light speed, around you.

If there is ever a moment I’m not working on the adoption, it’s an intentional moment. I have to make myself stop and plug in to my family, friends, and the world around me. My brain is in overdrive and I have no idea how to slow it down. The urgency is really unexplainable. There is just so much to do in a specific amount of time and you end up wondering how you’re ever going to do it all.

Wisdom? Words of advice? Tips to make this process easier? DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DESIGN A MEASLEY T-SHIRT!? Bring it, people! Just in case you don’t have it: mckrause@hotmail.com …I’m only an email away!

Hopefully, I’ll have time in the VERY near future to tell you all about the exciting news on the benefit horizon! I’ve been teasing y’all for weeks. I’ve got to have some leverage to keep you coming back…I love you too much to lose you now ;)

xoxo,

Brit

No victory here for you

I hate satan. I hate that he is a liar. I hate that he seeks to steal, kill and destroy. I hate his every scheme and his every attempt to ruin the testimony of the followers of Jesus Christ.

Every single step I have attempted to take towards bringing Little Krause home this morning has been thwarted by that stinky serpent. My girlfriend who is adopting a precious little boy with special needs (and who, without her, will most likely suffer and die at a young age in an orphanage)is jumping what seem like impossible bureaucratic hurdles with the TX government for ONE FORM!  Yes, I am aware that that was a run-on sentence with poor punctuation. http://four-more.blogspot.com/

Another girlfriend, is FINALLY getting closer to bringing home 2 adorable boys home from the Ukraine. Both boys have down syndrome and have lived their lives in an orphanage. They were about to be transferred to an ADULT mental/psychiatric facility to live out the remainder of their lives when Lorraine and her husband began to fight to make them theirs.

These little boys are 6 years old but are the size of TODDLERS. When I opened her blog this morning, this is what I read: Conner (age 6 years 7 months) is in pretty sad shape(see photo). He is so tiny, skin and bones. He is refusing all food and liquids. He won't drink from a straw, cup, sippy, or bottle. We're using a syringe to force water down his throat. Please pray that he'll hang in there and we can get home Saturday to get him medical help. He's happy, just won't eat or drink. :-( http://allarepreciousinhissight.blogspot.com/

These stories coupled with all the road blocks I have come up against, have left me frustrated and exhausted this morning. Those who had the misfortune of being in my presence today have most likely written me off as a lunatic. (Please, do NOT repeat this to any known social worker or government employee!) To say I have been discouraged is an understatement.

Here is what REALLY gets me. I know how the enemy works. I’m hip to his game. I hate how he works but what I hate most of all is when I buy into the lies he whispers in my ear. I hate when I am too weak in my flesh and I give him any ground at all. (like when I rant on FB and spread my ugly everywhere) I hate it when I allow him to discourage me and I am not discerning enough to recognize these attacks and CALL HIM OUT. Shame on me.

Um, who is my God? Who has all the glory, power and honor, forever and ever? “I AM” is my God! YAHWEH is my God. GREATER IS HE WHO IS IN ME THAT HE WHO IS IN THE WORLD!! I will NOT allow satan to have the victory because my God has already won.

Here is where you come in. The most powerful and the only offensive weapon given to us is the Word of God, it is our sword. I am asking for your prayer on behalf of my friends and on behalf of those answering God’s call to adopt. I am asking that you pray specific scripture OUT LOUD over all those on this journey of adoption. The devil cannot read your thoughts, say them out loud.  He wants nothing more than to see us all fail. He loves that there are 147 million children desperate for a family, for love. Please, join me in prayer today, please, add this to your prayer list.

I so often feel powerless when made aware of difficulties, illness, loss, indescribable pain. I so often want to “do” something, help in some way. It is in these times I forget that I can do something. I can get on my knees and pray.

What could possibly be more powerful than taking it all to the mercy seat of our very able God?