Chick Chick Chick

This year, we planned to fence off more of our land in order to have meat chickens.  With the news of our poultry being shipped to China for processing and then sent back to the U.S., we thought it prudent to try to raise the majority of our poultry ourselves.  We currently have 23 hens laying eggs, but they are about a year from being to old, and.......

 (caution: do not keep reading if you have a sensitivity to farm life!!!!!)

Well, our old hens are about ready for the freezer, and I have ordered 22 new hens.  We've been raising laying hens for four years now, and thankfully we've been quite successful.  This will be the first time raising Cornish Rock birds, apparently they mature in about 12 weeks, and are really good for meat. 

This is going to be awful hard though, these little chicks are absolutely adorable! 

After this order I feel very confident to review the hatchery we have ordered from three times.  I am not receiving anything from them, they probably do not even know I'm reviewing them, but our chicks have all been shipped well and have been in impeccable health.

Chicks in the mail?

I know!  It's a funny thought to imagine getting chickens in the mail.

We order our chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery.  I'm sure there are local people to buy from, but when we moved here, we didn't know all of these wonderful local people.  Now, it's just my thing to go bird shopping online =)

We ended up with forty birds, they threw in two for free!  Last time we got a free bird, it was quite hilarious looking, it had a wild Mohawk.  Sadly, it was one of only four chickens we've ever lost, it choked to death on a corn cob.  Those fluffy, cute yellow ones are our easter eggers, they are supposed to lay a beautiful array of colored eggs.  We shall see how they do, I also have a handful of Rhode Island Reds in there as well.  Our RIR's have always been the best at laying, weathering the temps, and overall health. 

This is the first year that Zeke has been part of the baby chick arrivals.  He is a fan, he calls them dogs though.  Grace has spent a majority of her time telling them not to grow up and lay eggs, stay small and be cute. 

I hate to break it to her, but they turn into ugly teenager birds in just a few weeks....and then some of them will be dinner.  We have been trying to build a more self reliant existence for over four years, the eating of our animals is the hardest, but I will tell you that our kids truly value life.  In a world where people are shooting up malls, and it is nothing to bully people into suicide, our kids have learned the precious fragility and beauty of life and purpose in living.  We respect all living things, care for our animals well, and although they serve the purpose to nourish our family, we teach that you waste nothing...........ugh, even if it's making broth from big ugly chicken feet.....

General Adoption Process and Appointments!

      For some people the adoption process is a bit (or a lot) confusing.  If you are going through it, there are a lot of hoops to jump through, and if you are observing someone go through it, you will think they are speaking a different language.  There is a general pattern to things, although different countries have different processes.  I'm going to attempt to give a general breakdown of our process in order to help ya'll see where we are.

1.Apply for and receive a home study.
            
     All adoptions, whether domestic or international, must have a home study.  This is a process by a social worker/agency to investigate the potential adoptive parents and deem them fit to adopt.  This process involves background checks, financial checks, reference checks, doctor appointments for the whole family, and a home inspection.  There must be copies of birth certificates for each member of the family, reference letters written, letters from employers, lots of forms by the parents, and interviews between the social worker and the family. 

2. Decide on a country and agency.
      
     If one did not already have a country in mind, and the adoption agency isn't doing the home study, this is the time to find one.  The home study will need to include specific information for different countries, so deciding on a country will help to not need it updated.  The initial application to an agency is fairly standard, and once accepted and a country decided upon, the contracts will be completed.  These will detail the agency's fees, what they are used for, their liability, the process, the country's process, the commitment of the adoptive parents to complete necessary regulations for adoption, and an agreement for post adoption follow up.  Most of these will need to be notarized.

3. Compile Dossier
     In order to adopt from a foreign country, the adoptive parents must compile a dossier to send to the government in the country they are attempting to adopt from.  This is the "paper baby" that you may have heard about.  Our adoption had 21 papers that needed to be completed and notarized.  These were certified copies of birth certificates for the entire family (hello money), notarized copies of our passports (if you don't have a passport, apply for it while working on your home study), letters from employers, letters from the realtor about the home value, a detailed workup of the finances, reference letters, letters from the doctor (and a detailed physical), letters to the country of intent, contracts, and whatever else the country requires.  For our Ukraine adoption, we had to have our house appraised since our county didn't have an office to provide the form needed.  This is usually a tedious but necessary process.  Once all of the papers are compiled, they must be authenticated according to the country.  Our state requires that all papers be authenticated at the county level and then at the state level.  I didn't have the same notary from the same counties for all papers, so I drove all day to different counties for the county level certificates. 

4. Apply to USCIS
     Immigration must approve the adoption, this requires fingerprinting and application.  Once the home study is approved and complete, it should be sent along with the application and fee to the immigration office.  They will schedule an appointment for biometric fingerprinting.  This appointment is the "big" one, once it is complete, they will send approval for adoption of an orphan.  This is the last piece of the dossier.

5. Referrals
    
      In our case we identified the child we wanted to adopt before even beginning the adoption.  We did the same with the adoption of Anna and Tanner.  So, once our home study was complete, we were able to formally accept the referral for Glory.  This allowed us to see her complete file with medical records, although currently hers are incorrect due to a change in diagnosis.  Some countries will do a referral after the dossier is received, for Anna and Tanner, we had to wait until we were in country in order to get the official referral.  If the child has not been identified, the country will review the dossier, and the desires of the potential adoptive parents.  They will then match the family to a child.  This can take some time, and this is often why there are such long waits listed for different countries.  The more selective a family is, the longer the wait will be.

6.  Dossier Submission
    
     Once approved by immigration, the adoptive parents will submit their dossier.  The agency will translate it, and then they will submit it to the government in the child's country.  This process can be a bit lengthy, or in our case with the first adoption, within a month's time.  Some countries will also require the adoptive parents to submit other forms and letters of intent, this is a very country specific process.

7. Wait
     Yes, this is the waiting process of waiting, waiting, and waiting some more.  Some parents will be waiting for an official referral, and in our case, we will be waiting for travel dates.  Once our dossier and PAIR letter are sent to country, it is all submitted, we will be waiting for our travel dates to go meet her. 

8. Travel to Country
     When given the date to travel, the parents will often arrive and either meet with the government or the orphanage.  Our country this time requires two trips, so the first one, we will get to meet Glory.  John will be travelling on the second trip by himself.  With A&T, we met with the facilitator, then accepted their referral, and then we traveled to their region.  We were able to meet them, talk with the orphanage, and proceed through the in country paper chase and court.  We spent a little over a week in their region visiting them each day after the first week we had spent in Kiev.  We then travelled home, the courts took ten days okay the adoption, we went back to country for a few weeks in order to get the kids, get their passports, go to visa appointments, catch scarlet fever ;) and finally bring them home.

9. Wait
     Some countries require one short trip, some require lengthy stays, and some will have the parents to come back.  John will have to go back to get Glory.  So we will come home and wait.  The process and wait is fairly standard in Ukraine, but for some countries the wait can be months.....I know....how am I going to meet my baby girl knowing her medical needs, and then leave her for who knows how long?!

10.  Bringing the child home.
     In country to bring the child home, the parents meet with immigration to secure a visa.  This usually entails a medical physical by immigration.  Our appointment for Anna and Tanner was quite interesting, they had scarlet fever, they had the rash that goes with it, and so we were sent to a hospital in order to make sure they didn't have some crazy awful contagious disease.  It rained so hard, in a span of 10 minutes sitting in traffic,  that I was certain our car would be carried away in a flood.  Eventually we were able to secure visas and paperwork, and get on a plane to the states.  Once arriving on American soil, the paper work must be handed over to immigration officers at the airport.  This will give the child a certificate of citizenship, it will be mailed to the adoptive parents.

11.  Post adoption visits.
        
     This is a big part of the adoption completion.  Some countries will require the parents to re-adopt the child in the U.S.  We will do this for Glory.  The child will also have follow up by the social worker from the home study.  Different states and countries have different requirements for this one.  DO THESE VISITS!  I need to impress this fact upon all readers who may adopt, do not skip out on these.  The country seeing that parents are caring for the child is important, the post adoption information is why adoption get to continue.  If they are not done, it is very possible that a country would shut it's doors to adoptions by citizens of our country. 


This is again, a very general outline of the process for international adoption.  We just received our USCIS appointment for next week!  We have accepted Glory's referral, and our dossier will be state certified next week as well.  Once we receive our immigration approval (hopefully mid July), we will send our dossier off! I don't know how long it's going to take in order to translate it and get travel dates, but as it stands, it feels like and eternity.  I don't think we will get such luck like we did with A&T, their whole adoption process from start to finish (although we already had a home study) took less than six months.

Listen Up Christians

      There are a lot of articles circulating the web these days about people leaving the Christian faith in America.  I am left asking myself, are these written by people hoping to persuade others from joining?  Perhaps.  However, I believe there is something worse happening.
     
I believe there are to many pseudo Christians, to many churches failing on two accounts. 

    On one hand you have "feel good" Christianity.  You know these kinds of people.  They go to a building to hear about how much God is going to bless them with only good things, all things are permissible as long as they do not harm others, there is no hell.  As long as you mind your own business, give us money, and feel good about yourself, all is well in the world. 
   
    This kind of church is insincere.  It isn't based on the word, and it lacks a necessary strength, it is basically a feel good social club to hell.  This is the kind of church that doesn't really care about saving souls, and helping new Christians build a foundation in Christ that will sustain them through the hard times.  This church cares about popularity and people choosing them.  How can this church really reach out to a world that is falling away and suffering?

     The other side of the coin, the church of self-righteousness.  My goodness this is a major problem for Christianity.  You know this place and these people.  This church shuts out the sinners and hides their children away from anyone they deem unworthy of the gospel. 

     If you are part of this church, you need to know that people hate you.  They see you as a hypocrite, you make them feel dirty and unworthy, and you are leaving a legacy of prejudice and hate with your children.  You turn the most people away from Christ, and sometimes for life.  The people of this kind of church distance themselves so far from sinners, they begin to excuse their own sin, and are blind to Christ's true teachings.  They say they do not want to be around the foul mouth drug addict, because "those" people are going to hell.

YES!

    They are going to hell if no one reaches out to them, if no one is genuine, if no one can see past the exterior to a soul that is beloved by our Creator.

    Listen up Christians, we need a reformation.  You don't have to be permissible about sin in order to be a light to the sinner.  Jesus didn't stand for the defiling of the synagogues, but he still died for the defilers. 

    I can say that I don't agree with your lifestyle.  It's not right to smoke crack all day and have sex with a bunch of different men at night.  BUT that doesn't make you any less loveable by God, and I have no place to make you feel like I'm worthy of salvation but you are not. 

   We are all sinner and equal in sin. 

  We can teach out children morals, and that stealing, lying, cheating is wrong.  We do not have to accept the immoral in order to show people Christ's love.  We have to build our children with a strong foundation, and show them how to have the same love and compassion as Jesus. 

   Idly standing by and watching the world crumble morally while you "mind your own business" is not the salt you, Christian, were called to be.

   Hiding away from the falling world and shaming everyone from your self righteous platform is not the being the light to the world.  They don't see your morally awesome life, because they are to busy looking at your dark judge filled soul.

   Live a moral, Bible following life.  Live it as a loving light and an example IN the world.  Don't agree with everyone for peace's sake, but don't pass on judgment from a "better than thou" spirit either. 

  A whore washed Jesus' feet.  I think if Jesus could mingle with whores, tell them their sins, and die for them....you can be a true Christian amongst them as well. 

   Don't be afraid to look past the foul language, drugged out gaze, worn clothing, and love the marred soul. 

   They need you.

   Your children, all children, need to see you caring for those who are lost.  To know that their sins will never be more than God can forgive, and that there is a path to righteousness. 

   If we don't reform, Christians, if we don't live amongst the loss and help them find redemption, who will?  And how will we answer for ourselves in Heaven?

Heart of an almost adoptive parent.

Photo Credit

 

 

It is a strange thing to be an almost parent to a child.  When you are in the adoption process, you fall in love with a child you have never met.  Even those who have not identified a child, fall in love with the child who is out there, and then a strange thing happens.  You become a parent...but not. 

 

I wrote this yesterday:

 

 

As I am sitting I am feeling and thinking deep thoughts.  Somewhere out there, my little girl is being put to bed.  She is being guided to the tiny little cot lined side by side to those of other children.  Her head is swollen and distinctly different from the children around her.  The pressure of the fluid and swelling from her hematoma are constantly jumbling her thoughts and cognition, slowly stealing tiny pieces of her brain, precious cells that contribute to her personality.  It must be so confusing to be put to bed in confusion.  She doesn't talk, she can't yet walk, but she is alive and full of light.  Does anyone see her light?

 

Who is putting her to bed?

 

Are they snuggling her as they change her diaper, does she get smothered in kisses and prayed over?

 

Is she hungry?

 

Does she hurt?

 

My heart is aching, a piece of it is across the world.  Perhaps another woman's heart is also aching.  Does she wonder the same things as I do?  Are we two women belonging to the same little heart?

 

I feel as though time cannot pass quickly enough for me to finally get to hold my girl.  I am in agony willing the seconds to pass by quickly, but also fighting for them to stay still just a moment longer.

 

I am fighting the clock to savor as much time as I can.  My babies HERE are growing before my eyes...to fast.  How can I ache to see her, to hold her, but also feel the pains of the clock racing at lightening speed, when I stare into the eyes of my three year old.

 

Wasn't she just a baby cradled in a milk slumber within my arms?  My mind can't call an image of that to my thoughts as quickly anymore.  Life has taken over and the moments have been whisked away from my easily retrieved memories.  Life has taken up each minute of the day with the never ending task of mothering.

 

I don't want it to end.

 

Will it be like this when Glory is here?  Will I remember to stop and soak in the joy of the chaos and stress that comes with mothering?

 

Mothering is a verb.  It is the constant act of loving a child, physically, mentally, and emotionally. 

 

She has two mothers, but neither is tucking her into her little bed tonight.  I cannot wait to hold her tiny hand in mine, and watch her drift off to sleep.  Finally being mothered to the fullest action of the verb.  I cannot wait for her to feel loved. 

 

Adoption is tough.  My heart is most definitely in two different places.  While I cannot hold her yet, I can hold these little ones a little longer, and pray that they all feel mothered.