Baby steps......literally

Last week we submitted our first round of paper work.

And waited for the call to set up our first Homestudy.  Of course I had to accidentally get to the post office on President's day (insert forehead hit DOH!) so it took a few more days than usual.

Well this morning we had our first homestudy via phone interview and it went great!  It lasted over 2 hours and was filled with tons of information (4 pages of notes) and we got asked tons of questions.  It was great because it also gave us the opportunity to return with all of our questions that we had.  We were given a basic timeline and it is amazing to think that by next summer, if not sooner, we will have another little one running through our house:)  I would like to say we passed with flying colors and hope our social worker feels that same too!

Here is our basic timeline for those of you not familiar with the process.

We will begin the official Homestudy process on March 17th with an in-home interview.  They will tour our house to make sure it is a safe environment and that we are ready!  This will be followed by 3 more homestudies (one on one and some education training on adoption).  All the while we will be completing a TON of paperwork, getting our fingerprints (multiple times), writing autobiographies, getting physical & mental checkups, etc.  This entire process take about 3-4 months.

Once our homestudy is complete our SW (social worker) will take about a month to write her report.  This is when we will apply for our I800A application which is basically us applying to adopt.  This acceptance takes a few weeks and will go in our Dossier along with all of our other paperwork that is submitted to China for approval. (Dossier = fancy word for paperwork packet)

Once our Dossier is submitted we wait for China to send our LID- Log In Date and wait for our LOA- Letter of Acceptance.

side note......I was especially grateful for this phone call to figure out what all of these acronyms were that I had seen over and over...now I know...anyway....

Then the real "patience game" comes into play as at the end of every month the shared list is published and that is when matches are made.  There are various ways that matches are made but this shared list is the most common. Once you receive a referral, you will have 48 hours to make your decision. Brett and I have decided to adopt what they call a "special needs" child with a minor/correctable need (there is much more detail about this that I may write about at another time) This could be anywhere from a heart defect to an orthopedic need or even a cleft palette. This will be a crucial crunch time as we will have 2 days to review their medical file and consult our doctors to ask any questions.  Luckily, because of Brax, we have great relationships with all sorts of specialists and most of them know that we are adopting and have been more than willing to be on standby for an file review needed.

If a match is made we then submit an LOI- Letter of Intent and then proceed with applying for our I800 which is our application to adopt a specific child, or OUR CHILD!!!  At this point we will have to have a name picked out as well....whooo hoo!  Once this is approved we will then get TA- travel approval and will plan to travel to China within a few weeks to get her.


And then when we enter a restaurant from this point on we say....

  "Munkel, party of FIVE!"

There are many more detailed steps in between but this is the basics!!!
So, thank you all for your prayers thus far and thank you in advance all for the future prayers over the next months/years as we go on this journey!

I will keep you all posted:)

Bless you all!  God is good!!
Kelli

All you need is love.....

It's Valentine's Day......

...love is all you need.

Oh how I love and hate this day at the same time!

To me it's a fun day to get all mushy and celebrate your love for one another but at the same time is is so "expected".  Expected that we celebrate and give the typical gifts of chocolate and flowers. Expected that we might not really love each other unless we search for the perfect cheesy card and dine out with everyone in the city.

Expected by who?

I don't know, some crazies that made this up years ago.  Anyway....We don't really celebrate it around here. I will probably just stick with our normal Friday night fun of Pizza/Movie night in the living room with ALL of my boys:)  Maybe throw in some red and pink m&m's in the popcorn just to say, there....we did it!

But what I do have fun in is getting all crafty with what my kiddos are going to give.  I have BIG ideas and get really excited to have this cute little package for ready for their friends.

Well this year is a bit different......scaling the aisles of Target last week we came across the Valentine's boxes....Batman, Captain America, Spider-man, Princesses, Pirates,etc.
And then we saw it.....Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and they were so excited! How could I say NO???

So I thought about it for a hot second and said, "YES!"

Why was I going to get all worked up about creating the "perfect" valentine when this is what they really wanted.

So I present to you my not so creative idea:

I mean, watch our Martha!!!

But to tell you the truth, I was struggling with allowing this to happen....allowing my kids bring in some off the shelf cartoon character piece of cardstock with a matching eraser that my kids kept asking if they could eat....GASP, am I really doing this?????

So I pledged to myself that I would not let myself down on their Teacher Gifts.
It would come from me.....the CRAFTY ME!

And then CLUSTERFLAKE 2014 happened (again) and we were locked in for a few days........by the time I got out yesterday it was too late to be too "Kelli" crafty and to be honest my mind was a bit foggy from the cabin fever chaos that had been happening for the past 48 hours.

So I was half creative and basically used the same idea I did last year.......I mean, all of these teachers are new to us how would they know?
Oh wait, Brax had Hannah last year (sorry Hannah for not meeting the creative expectations that I set for myself....please forgive me)

So I present to you Brownie Points:

I basically bought some brownie bites (you could make these yourself if you are a better baker than me)

 and conversation hearts (which I secretly love....I know, I am a candy fanatic) 

picked some cute tissue paper, made cute tags and VOILA!

So celebrate as you wish, give as you can and love like you do because all you need is love!

xoxo- Kelli

Country Selected

Last week we submitted a formal application with

 an agency to adopt a little girl from China. 

 Today we received what I am going to call our "acceptance" email along with 

the 130+ page China Adoption Manual...so, let the paper work begin!

I am very happy with our decision and how thorough we have been thus far in the process to make this decision.  We have carefully looked at this in all aspects of adoption and have researched each country and their processes in addition to travel times.  We felt that this was the best country for our family.

I can't help but think about our girl....Has she already been born?  What does she look like?  Could she even imagine how excited we are to meet her?  Does she know that we are praying for her? My stomach fills with butterflies just thinking about this journey and how God will bring her to us.

There is also sadness when I think of her.  Sadness for her birth mother.  Sadness that "she" could be making a gut wrenching decision at this very moment.  A decision that on one hand I can't fathom ever having to make and then on the other hand, a decision I will be forever grateful for.

Although adoption is a beautiful thing, it comes out of a very dark place.
A very tragic moment.
A moment filled with desperation & sadness.

So today I am asking you to pray for her.  Pray for peace in her heart. Pray that she feels God as she makes her decision and that He shows her that we will take care of her little girl and love her will all our hearts.

Kelli

Why I pray?

So many life changing events (or life challenging as I some times call them) have happened over the past years. It has been full of good, bad, heartache & joy.  We have cried, screamed, laughed & praised!

As we approach the 6th birthday tomorrow of Avery & Grace I got to thinking, 

"Why do I pray?"

That was such a devastating time for me and to be honest, I turned from God at that point in my life. I was so full of resentment & anger that I had no room for anything else and in the same breath I needed God so badly in my life.  It truly was a love/hate relationship that I had no idea how to navigate.

I feel that some people may think of prayer as either "working or not working" and that is the furthest from the truth.

I pray because that is what I need in my life.

I pray because I want something.

I pray because I need something.

I don't pray expecting to get my way.

I pray knowing that it may go unanswered, for now anyway.....

I pray because it calms my soul.

I pray because it makes me smile.

I pray because I want to be a good mom, wife, friend & daughter.

I pray for my husband.

I pray for my children.

I pray for my friends.

I pray for my family.

I pray for my enemy.

I pray because it works.

(I know, contradicting my thought above but believe me, I have seen some miracles)

Some people may ask, 

Why pray?  
Shouldn't God already know what you want?  

and

What if you don't get what  you want?

The answer is yes, God knows everything about us.....

But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

Matthew 10:30

But that should not stop us from having a relationship with Him. Prayer is one of the ways to nurture that relationship.  It is a constant conversation that I am always having with Him.....driving in my car, taking a shower, eating, sleeping, running, playing with my kids, etc.  He needs that from us....He expects that from us.  It forms a bond, a relationship that is needed to sustain hope, keep faith and live whole.

And what if you don't get what you want.......

When our girls died in 2008 my first thought was that His answer to my prayer was "no," until my husband spoke.  He said that God actually has 3 answers to your prayers....yes, no & wait.   I had never heard that before and it was profound to hear and now to understand.  You see the "wait" part of it was true.  My girls were born as children of God and they were born straight to heaven.  It is comforting to know that we will one day meet them again.....

But for now, I just have to wait.

Our Family is Growing!

Years ago we traveled to a beautiful place called Kenya.....

I have to admit, I was SUPER anxious about this trip.  For one, I had never been to a foreign country besides Mexico.  For two, this wasn't going to be a luxury vacation.  We were going for purpose...for God's purpose.....we we going on a mission trip.  I had heard about these so called "trips" and I have heard that they change you forever, which is probably where most of my anxiety was coming from.  It called me to really take into account who I was as a person and challenge me to pull out these inner thoughts and feelings and make them raw.....make them real.

One of our first days there we traveled to an orphanage called Merciful Redeemer.  I will never forget what I saw there......let me repeat, never forget.

Images instilled on my heart forever and there was a reason. A reason I wasn't yet able to understand......

So here we are years later.

Last summer Brett and I started the discussion on if we wanted to expand our family.  I couldn't help this fear I had of being pregnant again.  (for those of you who are new to this blog can read about our journey here.)  Having children was not an easy thing for me and being pregnant again brings major anxiety to me with all that is unexpected.  I prayed and prayed about it and could not shake this feeling that being pregnant again was not the plan for me.  It was at this moment that I realized that adoption was the answer.  It wasn't that I didn't trust God to get me through another pregnancy. It was that God was keeping this fear in my heart for another reason......that maybe my child was already born.....that maybe I needed to turn my trust in God in another direction.

So, again, here we are years later and happy to announce that we are expanding our family by international adoption.  Much research has been had over the past months over international vs. domestic. We have had the privilege to speak to many people who have done both in addition to speaking with an adoption lawyer.  I have attended meetings, gone through and read a ton of blogs and have even watched a few documentaries on adoption. We submitted our preliminary application yesterday and should know what countries we are approved for in the next few days.

We are excited to be on this journey and can't help to think about our future child....if they are already born and just waiting for us! We are a bit nervous too as there is much involved and the keyword over the next few years will be PATIENCE......I have heard this waiting game can push you over the edge sometimes.  So we are asking you to pray....pray for patience, pray for our future child, pray for Braxton & Wyatt that this is a smooth transition for them and pray for us as we go on this journey.

Stay tuned........
Kelli

Closing out 2013

2103 was a great year for us! 

A little bit of sad and a whole lotta happy..... Here are some of our highlights!

I started this blog:)

Thank you all for following!  I have been amazed so far at the great feedback:)

Celebrated 9 Years of Marriage

July 24th @ Rosemary Beach

Our boys became best friends this year...

or "best brothers" as they call themselves!

I accomplished some big physical goals this year!

BEST shape I have ever been in!

13.1......done!

Read about my Couch to Triathlon here

Brax turned 4!

Lost a great part of our family...said goodbye to our Rufus

Had a GREAT annual checkup for Braxton! (get the full story here)

Enjoyed some awesome trips to the beach...my dream summer!

I did my first ever "modeling gig" for a Women Over 30 campaign

www.ddkportraits.com

Braxton started Pre-K!

Gained a new family member....Miss Ellie Munkel

Wyatt turned 3!

Cut Wyatt's hair (I am sure I will get some hate mail over this one!)

And had a VERY Merry Christmas!

Isn't this what it is all about??

No big resolutions here.....just get back to it, you know, gettin fit and stuff:)  Making more time for God and my family and really trying to do some positive things in my life that I have been talking about doing.
I have decided to put down the urge to be on social media so much and focus more on blogging so there will be many more posts than there were last year.

We have a very exciting year ahead of us filled with new physical goals, big anniversaries and a few surprises up our sleeves so make sure you enter your email to follow (upper right corner) because you won't want to miss it!

Happy New Year!
Kelli

Super Wyatt!

A party fit for a Superhero......

CAPTAIN AMERICA, that is!

Wyatt turned 3 in November and requested a Captain America party! 

 Luckily between Pinterest, Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree, 

I was able to pull this off since Captain America is not the most popular character.

Fruit Shield!

My Wy LOVES popcorn so we had a popcorn bar with his
favorite flavors:  Kettle Corn, Buttered & Cheese:)

a dollar tree bank cut to make a fork cup

Super Cupcakes!

some great helpers adding the finishing touches

His cake- a mix of homemade with store bought cupcakes

We are a SUPER FAMILY!
(with our super city backdrop made from a blue sheet,
pillow stuffing, foam core & yellow paper)

It rained so we turned the garage into a playground

my birthday guy

I even had a twinsie!

Pop made a great Captain America!

Happy Birthday Wyatt!

Wolverine Brax & Captain America (Pop)

Fart Gun = best.birthday.gift.ever.

My Wyatt is growing into such a loving boy!  He is still so snuggly and always showering me with hugs and kisses. 

 He loves to aggravate his brother as I am sure any sibling does, therefore we call him the Nudge:)

He is SO funny but not an "on purpose funny"...just his disposition and overall personality 

keeps us laughing all the time!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WYATT!!!!