Could this be THE year of a referral?

As we have moved into this new year I've found my heart doing a little pitter patter of anticipation...could this be our year of an actual referral?  This journey has been so long, trying to save and raise some funds just to get to the start of the paperwork trail which finally begun in August of 2014.  Then completion of our home study in 2015 and actually being registered in the country of Bulgaria, logged in to the official wait time for a referral in October of 2015.  Then hitting our first big milestone of being registered in country for ONE YEAR last October 2016.  With that came more paperwork of getting out home study updated.  And now here we are officially in 2017! 

Ahhhhh, I can hardly stand the thought of it....might there be coming a phone call from our agency that they're holding an actual referral of a little girl who has been pulled as a possible match for our family!  This realization literally has me in tears as I sit down to try and put into words all of the emotions flooding through my entire being right now.  It's simply surreal in some ways, when we begun eons ago, it was always, "Oh we're not even close to a referral, so for now we just sit in the waiting phase."  Yet now there is this drastic turn of, "Wow, could 2017 be THE year?  This could be our year!!!"  The anticipation of it truly is one of the most exciting times for us, yet also scary with all the unknowns still before us.  We are excited for this year though, and will not let the fears associated with this journey hold us back from pursuing this crazy adventure called adoption, we will stay steadfast and faithful as it continues to unfold before us. 

Will you continue to join us in prayer as we go into this new year?  As we pray this could be our year we also need to move forward with several substantial fundraisers so that we are prepared and equipped to move forward once that call does indeed come!  We are prayerfully moving forward with a few ideas and more details will come in the coming months, for now please join us in praying for clarity of this and for the right connections to fall into place.  Thank you so much for continuing to pray for us!  Our passion to defend the fatherless continues and we're so grateful for the encouragement and support we've felt from so many of you! 

All our love, The Stimpsons

We are OFFICIALLY in the paperwork!

While we thought we'd be able to start all of the paperwork and home study in January, there were still more obstacles to go through.  All God's Children had many questions for us, I had to seek out additional letters from my doctors before they could approve our application.  But praise God that we have finally cleared all of the necessary pieces of information to officially be accepted by All God's Children and are a part of the Bulgaria program!!  We were also able to send in the first big chunk along with the contract to get it all underway.  We're still learning about this whole process, but to actually be IN the process sends me through all sorts of emotions!  When I think of sweet baby Taina who forever changed my life that hot and sticky August day in Haiti 2012, I can still feel her grip my shirt with her tiny hands as she literally held onto me as I scooped her up.  She's now with our Heavenly Father, never wanting for love and affection now as she is with her Forever Heavenly Father.  Sadly she passed away from an illness less than a year after I had met her.  So when I think of her I'm flooded with tears.  But I'm also so thankful that God used her in my life.  I'm also flooded with happy tears and many many smiles as I know we are finally ON the journey to search and find the little girl God has planned for us!  Watching this journey unfold will be quite beautiful I'm sure!  So for now yes I am so incredibly happy to be in the very daunting paperwork stage!  Our home study is underway, lots to do to stay on track, but hopefully within 4-6 months we'll have all of this complete and once again another huge chunk will be due as we send off our completed Dossier.  From there our waiting will begin as Bulgaria receives all of our information and documents.  We continue to ask for your prayers as we move forward in this crazy process called adoption!  Continue to pray that the funding will continue to be raised and come in, this is a huge leap of faith for us!  We're doing everything we can to save, including putting our house up for sale!!  Please continue to consider how you might be able to help us on our journey!
Much love!
The Stimpsons

Here's a picture of the little girl who forever changed my life, Sweet Baby Taina.  She lives with our Heavenly Father now, where she will never feel pain ever again.  Only true, never ending joy of love and affection.  I love and miss you sweet baby girl!

It's Official!!

Our adoption journey is about to officially begin!  Our application has been submitted to All God's Children International and soon we'll be starting our Home Study.  We couldn't be more excited as we start this journey, it's acutally been on our hearts for years now.  After much research, prayer, and discernment our journey seems to be taking us to Bulgaria where we will search for a little girl, around the age of 2-4.  We have a long 2-3 year journey ahead of us, could be shorter depending on seeking a waiting child.  It'll be quite a while until we see where all the roads lead, but one thing is sure, we desire to adopt a little girl and offer her a forever family full of hope and love!  Be sure to look over the links above to learn more about the road before us and how you might support us along the way!  Blessings, The Stimpson Family