Some new info!

Happy Thanksgiving (tomorrow)!!!
Hope you all don't gorge yourselves on that yummy turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing (mine's the best!), pumpkin pie (the best - again!), and other fixins! Enjoy your families and friends and be thankful for all God has blessed you with this year!

I am thankful that I heard from Donie (the orphanage director) today! :) That just made my day! Evidentally they are still waiting on the certificate for the abandonment - but hopefully that will come soon. Katie (Wendy) has been at the orphanage since last summer (end of July - around the time got started stirring my heart towards adoption again!) after a previous adoption process was canceled (a relinquishment) because the mother disappeared and the court couldn't do DNA testing. I don't know if this will hinder things in the process or speed it up. I guess time will tell. There's alot of uncertainty going into this and it continues to be "steps of faith" all along the way. The enemy would want to use fear (and other things) to keep us from pursuing this adoption - but we feel so strongly that this is our daughter - that we are willing to depend on God to bring her home!

I keep thinking about the picture God had given me awhile ago about floating down the river. We could do nothing but float and let the current take us downstream. We came upon a narrowing between 2 large flat rockbeds. It didn't look like we would fit (no one thought we would) - but we DID (just barely). Then, at the edge of the rocks was a waterfall that we went down - scary yet exciting - and then a calm pool at the bottom where we floated over to the edge and got out. In a prayer time at our Mei Ming meeting a couple months ago, a man in our group said "I see a waterfall. You are going to get to the waterfall with a calm body of water at the bottom" . . . .hmmm . . . .where have I heard that before? :) Not 100% sure what the "waterfall" is - but I know we are going in the right direction! Downstream! Along with this, many other confirmations, and of course - my friend's picture she drew - I have alot to "fall back on" if I ever start to doubt that we are doing the right thing! God is so cool how He orchestrates things! :) Of course - I don't always see it very clearly when I'm going through it.

We ask for your prayers as we continue to move forward.
Please pray for Lucy, our agency director, this next week (Nov 26th - 31st) as she travels down to Guatemala to get some more info on our case and others.
Pray for a speedy and miraculous process for Katie (Wendy)!
Pray for strength and patience on our part during the waiting game ahead of us. It's all out of our hands - and that's hard for me. :) I like to be in control. :)
Pray for the remaining finances to come in (I know they will). We should hopefully hear from Life International soon about being able to accept tax-deductible donations (and possibly a matching grant). Hopefully before the end of the year for those of you that were wanting to donate and get a deduction.

God bless you all today! Be Thankful! God is Good! He bestows blessings on His children! If you don't think you've received any latetly - open your eyes . . . there are probably little blessings you have overlooked! Be thankful in all situations and circumstances! God is always there.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lori :)

ps - For those that haven't seen it - here's a picture of Wendy from the Casa Bernabe website.

She's actually smiling! :)

Prophetic picture of Wendy?

Check this out! My friend Bree gave us a card a month or two ago - sometime late Sept or early Oct (sorry - can't remember). She drew a picture of a little girl. She recently told me - "I just drew it, I kind of felt like it was more than just drawing it, but I didn't know if that was me just me being hopeful and excited. Anyway, my point being was that I drew that wisp of hair from her bangs, which I don't think I usually would've done, then the pig tails but that could've been any little girl....just thought it was interesting, I prayed that God would have me draw the right picture. I didn't know if that would mean just a sweet little girl or your future daughter. . ."

Check out Wendy's pic that was on the orphanage website -

We wondered if this is what our little girl would look like. Well, after seeing the picture of Wendy - check this out . . .

For those that haven't seen the other pics of Wendy - I'll try to post them here too. For some reason it is letting me upload pictures today. :)

September 2005

September 2005

September 2005March 2006

October 2006

Hopefully in the future I can get more "happy" pics from this shy girl. :)

Have a great day!

Lori :)

ps - Thanks Bree for the beautiful card!

Kathryn (Katie) Wendy Elizabeth

Well folks . . . I spoke with Lucy (my adoption agency director) and our referral of Wendy IS a "real" referral!! Why is that so exciting to me??? Read all our previous posts and you will find out! :) Lucy was shocked that she was able to get ahold of the orphanage last week (on the first phone call) and was doubly shocked that they were in fact offering little Wendy to us to adopt so soon(as she just became available recently). It's all God!! That's all I can say! I am praying that the rest of the process is also a "shock" to Lucy and everyone - as far as the speed of it, how smoothly things go, etc. Now - I'm not being stupid or blind, as I'm sure there will be bumps along the way - but I can still pray for the impossible!! :)
We are still waiting on all the "details" about Wendy (who I think we have finally decided to call Katie - short for Kathryn). The orphanage director, Donie, has bee quite busy (I can only imagine!! I thought caring for 4 kids was busy - imagine 150+!!). I am praying that I hear from her (or Lucy) very soooooon! Otherwise this week will drag on . . . .slowly! :) Once we get all the info, then I think we will be able to "officially" accept the referral (sending our Power of Attorney down there and paying half of our lawyer and agency fees). Yeah! That will be a great day!! :)
On the positive note . . . we did find out that the lawyer fees will only be $10,000 instead of the ridiculous $20,000 that some of the other lawyers charge. Hallelujah! Praise God! We get the girl of our dreams AND we end up paying less for the fees! Of course - I may end up spending that other 10k on travel if the case takes a long time. :) We'll see.
We have some friends who are going down to Guatemala around Christmas, and they have offered to go visit Katie (Wendy) for us. Man do I want to just go with them!! We'll see. I don't think it's a realistic financial opportunity for us right now. Instead we will be heading to Missouri for Christmas to spend time with Jeremy's family. Two loooooooong days (there AND back) in the car with 4 kids! Yuck! To fly it would cost us over $2000. :( Oh well. One day.

Here are some pics of Katie that a friend of mine was able to send me. She does some missions work at Casa Bernabe twice a year. I am sooooo thankful for these pics. She said she even has a little video she will send me! Yeah!

Lori :)
ps - For some reason I can't get the pics to post - so I will have to try again later. I'll try to post them on our other website too - www.freewebs.com/bestofthewests.

The Guatemalan Adoption process

I know that in one of my posts I may have listed the basic process for adopting from Guatemala. I found a better site that lists all the steps for relinquishments as well as abandonments. You can check it out at http://www.guatefam.org/process.htm. It may help some of you that are confused (like me). :)

Still no news from the orphanage. Maybe tomorrow. :) I hope.

Lori :)

Our Last Referral??

Well folks . . . . I hope it is . . . our last referral (at least for this adoption! hee, hee. Jeremy says "Hunh? Do we have another one?"). Here's the story . . .

We got a referral of a little girl on Friday around noon!! Yeah!!! I had asked God all this last month if I could PLEASE know who my daughter was before our fundraiser yard sale last Saturday (so I could show people who we were really adopting!) . . . . even Friday morning I said - "OK God - you only have today. I know you can do it!". And He did (I hope)! But what a cool story it is!! :)

I don't know if you knew or remembered me talking about an orphanage called Casa Bernabe (House of Barnabas - or House of Comfort)? We had applied to it back in the spring when we were with A Helping Hand as they thought they would be able to find a little girl there for us. I had gone online and couldn't pull up the pics of the kids for some reason, but found a PDF file that listed some of the kids that needed sponsorship. One name stood out from the rest - Wendy Elizabeth - B-day: 4-20-2004. It probably stood out because she was 2, and her name is very American sounding - PLUS - Elizabeth is mine and Meghan's middle names (OR - it could be that God was drawing my heart to her). Anyways - about a month later the pics finally came up. I fell in love with this one little girl in the pics - and found out her name was . . . . Wendy Elizabeth. I printed her picture and even took it to MOPS to show some friends the "kind of kids" that the orphanage had and told them I would LOVE to adopt a little girl just like this! :) Wendy was never listed as available for adoption and I never even heard back from Casa Bernabe. We (along with AHH) gave up on getting a child from CB. As most of you know - in July we switched to another agency all together - Kentucky Adoption Services.

I knew that KAS worked with an orphanage - but I never knew which one. I found out that another client did some missions work at C.B. and had seen a picture recently of her with one of the kids. That made me want to go and check out the C.B. website last week - just to see who was available for adoption. Wendy wasn't listed as adoptable, so I checked to see if her picture was even still on the website. It was! :) What a cutie!

WELLL . . . On Friday - Lucy, the director of my agency, called to say that she had called C.B. (the agency they work with!!!) and was telling the director all about "this family" (us) that felt led to adopt an orphan girl (versus a recent relinquishment). When she told her our name, the director said - "I know them." Hunh? Lucy couldn't understand how she would know us or have our info (she didn't know we had applied last spring). She was then shocked to find out that the director had been praying over our info recently and whether to place a certain little girl with us . . . . . . yep! . . . you guessed it . . . . .Wendy Elizabeth! :) How cool is that?!

So - the director of C.B. called me on Friday, but didn't really have any more info for us as she didn't have Wendy's file in front of her at the time. She was going to get it on Sunday and give me a call/contact me early this week (but haven't heard from her yet). She did say that they thought that Wendy was going to originally be placed with a Guatemalan family, but that didn't work out, and that she just recently became available to be adopted.

There are pros and cons to adopting from the orphanage - one good thing is - it may actually be a bit cheaper. Haven't confirmed that yet though, but that would be a blessing.
The bad thing is - it could take a lot longer . . . 7 months to 3 years (vs 4-7 months for a relinquishment)! There can be some hang-ups with an abandoned child because the parents are not around to sign her away. The courts can sometimes get really picky and may want to double decree that she's abandoned (long story to explain) - and that can take 18months or more (ie -looking for any possible long-lost relative anywhere in the world who might want her, etc!). We are praying (and would like you to pray as well) that her paperwork gets in the right hands!! That she will be able to go through the process in a quick and timely manner - and not have it dragged out so long. Plus, there's the chance that Guatemalan adoptions to the U.S. might shut down next year sometime, so we really want to see her case move fast just in case.

So - will you please pray with us as we are hoping to be able to accept this referral this time! :) I don't even know all her info - but J and I have such a peace about her (and all the "coincidences")! Pray that things move quickly and without problems. Pray also for the lawyer who will be handling the case. We may be using a lawyer that is newer to adoptions - but is a sharp Christian man. We are also praying about whether God would want us to change her name at all. I like Kathryn (but call her Katie probably), but the kids like Kaitlyn or Wendy Woo! :) I don't know about that last one! :) (It's a character on the Disney channel - or so I've been told). Though, Meggy-Poo and Wendy-Woo kind of go together! :) hee, hee.

To see little Wendy (and all the beautiful children at Casa Bernabe) - you can go to their website at www.foce.org/gallery.html. Click on "Angelitos" in the top left - scroll the numbers over and click on #17. That's Wendy! I'll post other pics after we get some more info. Maybe God will lead you to even sponsor one of the kids there! Who knows! :) You don't have to adopt the kids to support orphans!

Thanks for all your prayers! Keep praying . . . the battle is just beginning (believe it or not)! I'll let you know when we actually sign a Power of Attorney for this little girl (and make our referral acceptance official!). I just couldn't keep in the news any longer!! :) I love this little girl!

God bless you all!

Lori :)

Yard Sale Results

OK now! This is the THIRD time I am trying to post this!! The first time (sunday) the site went down for maintenance 2 minutes before I logged on, then earlier today I spent awhile typing it all up and published it . . . but only the title showed up! Man! Bum deal! Anyways - here goes again . . .

The results are in . . . . the West Adoption Fundraiser Yard Sale was . . . .

FREEEEEEEEZZZZING!!!!!!!

I do believe it was the first frost of the year even! It was 78 degrees last wed (and nice and warm today!), but on Saturday - it was barely able to reach 50 as a high! Despite the frigid temps - there was a decent turnout of addicted, die-hard garage sale shoppers!! We had a little space heater out there to warm up our calves now and then, and you would be surprised at how many people inquired as to if it was for sale! :) I did put an ad in the paper even though I knew our community was putting on in too - and mine ended up listed as the first one! :) I hope that helped draw some people. We probably would have sold more if the weather had been warmer, but I was quite impressed by the turnout we had! Most people seemed touched to learn what we were doing (and how much it cost), but we still had the few hard-core negotiators who still didn't want to give us anything near a fair price. :) Oh well. God bless them too! I was a bit bummed that I didn't take a picture of the massive amounts of stuff spreading across my lawn and driveway. :( You know how I am about my pictures and documenting everything! :) Oh well.

Before I go on - I need to thank everyone who helped us out with this sale!! I could NOT have survived without you!!!
Thank you Taits and my parents for rescuing me on friday and helping with last minute tagging, etc!
Thank you Ryan (our wonderful neighbor) & Jana for coming at the ungodly hour of 6:30am - and for those that wandered in thereafter - Meg, Juli, Sandi, Stephanie, Terri & Bo (and anyone else I forgot to mention) . . . . I felt so nauseous and faint about mid-day (probably due to stress, not eating well, freezing, etc) that I was so thankful to know the sale was in GREAT hands!
Thank you to eveyone who donated such wonderful junk . . . I mean - Treasures! Without it - there wouldn't have been much of a yard sale! Thank you so much! I do have to say though, that I am glad all that stuff is finally out of my house! My dust allergies were making me miserable for the last month!! And to let you know what happened to your leftover items we didn't sell - we chose a ministry in Chesapeake called Victory Home. It is run by a local church and ministers to men and women in crisis (due to addictions, abuse, etc). The 2 men who came out to pick up all the leftovers were amazed and blessed by your generosity! Your donations just became a double (if not triple or more) blessing!! Thank you so much and God bless you for your generosity!

As for the grand total . . . all that sold, donataions and a generous donation from my awesome MOPS Secret Sister (which was hand-delivered early in the a.m. by a young man) - all totalled around $1600!! Quite impressive considering how cold it was! PTL! God is good!! We are getting closer, little by little, to our goal!

I have alot more news to tell you - but for now I need to go help my kids with their homework (as they are not doing on their own for some reason????? Imagine that). Thanks for checking in with us! Please check in soon as I really do have some more exciting news to tell you! I've just run out of time right now! :)

Blessings today!
Lori :)

Yard Sale!

First of all - Thank you so much - all who have contributed to this sale and to our adoption already! We appreciate it more than you know! Even just the prayer support means a ton!! We always need it!

Just a reminder to everyone that we ARE still having our adoption fundraising Yard sale THIS Sat. Nov. 4th from 8am - 2pm.

We currently have 1 person coming to help on friday for last minute pricing/signs,etc and then coming bright and early on Sat to help with setup. She will have to leave by 9:30am. That leaves just me and J (and our 4 rugrats - hopefully behaving in the house) to man the garage sale. We would LOVE some company & help (to keep our minds off the cold weather I'm sure! Why does it have to get cold just on the weekends I plan things? Our camping trip was freezing as well! Oh well.).

If you can help out for a couple hours on Saturday - we would love the help! Set up will go alot faster with more people, and I would love some "talkers" or salespeople to help "run" the sale and talk with people about adoption. I will have Mei Ming and KAS flyers to pass out, and would really like to get the word out about adoption! So - if you are friendly and like talking . . . I need you! :) If you are not friendly - but great at setting up and organizing . . . I need you too! If you can change the weather on Sat to a warm, non-windy day . . . I REALLY need you! :)

As for what we have for sale:

ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS (I really need to get rid of the rest of these!!) - $25 each - but end up being FREE after you register your book and get your $25 restaraunt coupon!!

Kids & Adult clothes (quite a few larger men's pants - around sz 42)
Women's and kids shoes
Baby swing, door jumper, and playpens
2 changing tables
2 Microwaves
wooden Rocking horse
Strollers/carseat
household/kitchen items
Cat/pet carrier, dog food dishes
games, toys, puzzles
videos - kids and adult
books - novels and instructional
CD's - few music, PC, etc.
Bread maker
Computer equipment
Back massager - that sits in a chair
Beach items - chairs, boogie boards, floaties, etc
Furniture - dresser/hutch, side table, daybed, chairs, (possibly a computer chair)
Queen size mattress and boxspring (if we can get it to our house)
Bikes - boy's and men's
Power wheels riding dumptruck
Linens (comforter, sheets, curtains, etc)
And more . . . . .

I will have info on our Mary Kay fundraiser as well, for those that are interested.

Please pass on this e-mail/info to those you know. Thanks so much!
If anyone has any last minute things you would love to get rid of - let us know! You can drop it off through friday evening (the sooner the better)!

Thanks everyone! God bless you guys!

Lori & Jeremy West :)
loriwestrn@yahoo.com - any questions, let us know.