Merry Christmas to Isaac!

As our family prepares to spend our first (and hopefully last) Christmas without Isaac, we learn more about how Christmas is spent at his "home" in Haiti. One of the other adoptive parents spent last Christmas at Isaac's creche and posted this message on our yahoo blog site:

" First, there are some simple Christmas decorations-- so it does look festive in the creche.  Then, on Christmas day, the nannies spent hours in the morning washing and doing hair and dressing up all the kids in their nicest clothes (and themselves-- I was amazed at the formal dresses the nannies wore!).  A little after noon, all the kids gathered in the big room by the pool, sitting on their little colored chairs, and Dr. Bernard and Claudette came down for the Christmas performance.  Last year, all the little kids were wearing Santa hats made out of construction paper. The kids are out of school for two weeks at the holidays, but the nannies work with them during that time and from about 3-years-old up, all the kids put on the Christmas program-- they sing, recite the Christmas story and do dances to music.  Then, there is a big meal (about 2 p.m. Haitian time).  Finally, Dr. B passes out little gifts to every child by name and they all go up and say Joyeax Noel and he hugs them and gives them their gift.  There are huge smiles and lots of laughing and squealing and checking out each other's presents.  It was so sweet." ...... Lindsay

We are comforted to know that Dr. Bernard and his staff make Christmas so special for our children. Praying that next year he will be home with us to celebrate. Below is Isaac's December update picture.

December 2011

Thank you all for your continued prayers, kind words of encouragement and generous donations during this process. We feel so very blessed to be a part of this wonderful journey!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!
The Mitchells

We received our referral in just ONE day!!!!!!!

We are thrilled to share that we have received our referral only 24 hours after our agency received our Dossier. Especially since we were told it would take four weeks. God is blessing us over and over!!!!

Our little boy's given name is Marvens Romulus and his American name will be ISAAC MARVENS MITCHELL. He was born on August 15, 2009 in Bercy, Cabaret, HAITI. Two years old!!!

He is precious!!!!  The kids are oohing and aahing over his pictures!!!  :-)

"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him."  1 Samuel 1:27

We just can't thank God enough for this beautiful little boy.

Love,
The Mitchells
Keith, Stacey, Elizabeth, Eric and ISAAC!!!

Our paperwork is on it's way....

Today was a very big day for our adoption process!!!!!  After five BUSY months, our paperwork was finally complete.  We shipped 611 pages to Haiti!!!  I can't even count how many times I checked and double checked every single piece of the required paperwork.  Now after filing immigration paperwork, two social worker visits, psychological evaluation, medical exams, lab work, fingerprinting, criminal background checks, letters of references,  three years worth of financial paperwork, etc......it is finally out of our hands and on to our agency.  Please keep Dr. Jacob Bernard and his staff in your prayers as they reveal to us the child who God has chosen for our family.  We anxiously await our referral.......

Mailing our Dossier to Haiti!!!  The kids would have loved to help but they are enjoying time at the grandparents.

Blessings,
Stacey and Keith

Another goal met!!!!

We have been so blessed during this adoption journey. God continues to provide for our needs in His perfect timing!!! In our first fundraiser (yard sale), we raised almost the exact dollar amount needed that week to file immigration paperwork and translate our Dossier. With the matching grant from ABBA fund, we needed to raise $4000 to send our Dossier to Haiti. We just learned that with the matching grant amount provided by our church, we raised EXACTLY $4000!!! We are so thankful for our friends and family who continue to pray for us and assist with our financial needs.

The final papers should return from the Haitian Consulate in Miami this week. We can then send our Dossier to our agency in Port-au-Prince. We are so excited to learn more about our little boy!!!  We know that at the moment he was born, God knew he would be ours. Please pray for Dr. Jacob Bernard and his staff at New Life Link as they reveal our chosen child to us. We pray that we will know immediately that the referral we receive is His choice for our family.

Blessings,
Stacey and Keith 

Orphan Sunday

Today, November 6th is Orphan Sunday

On Orphan Sunday, Christians stand for the orphan. We are a people called to defend the fatherless…to care for the child that has no family…to visit orphans in their distress. We love this video: Orphan Sunday Video .  It reminds us that we love because He first loved us.

HE Defended, Adopted, Rescued, Sought, Found and Loved US
So when we: Seek, Find, Rescue, Adopt, Defend and Love the orphan.....we make God's heart visible and walk in the way of love.

Almost daily someone tells Keith and I what a great thing we are doing....adopting. We sometimes have a hard time responding to this statement, because it's not about us. All of us have been instructed by God to care for the orphan. Some people do this financially, through mission trips, provide foster care but some of us are clearly called to adopt. We give God the praise/recognition and know that this child will be such a blessing to our family.

Adoption Journey update:  Our Dossier (massive stack of adoption paperwork) is ready!!!  We have four documents in Miami at the Haitian Consulate getting legalized. As soon as we receive those back we will mail it to Haiti.  We expect to have our referral (picture and info about our child) by Christmas! 

Our matching grant through ABBA fund ended yesterday. We will receive the final amount from them this week.  We appreciate everyone who gave generously and are praying for us through this journey. The blog will be updated with the amount raised as soon as it is finalized.

Stacey and Keith

We received a MATCHING GRANT!!!

Today we received word that we have been approved for a matching grant!  Long Hollow Baptist Church has partnered with ABBA Fund to match donations given toward our adoption fund.  So that means that if you were to make a $20 donation through ABBA Fund, then it would result in a $40 donation to our adoption fund.  The best part is that gifts made through ABBA Fund are TAX DEDUCTIBLE!!!!

To make a donation simply download Donor Card, include your gift and mail to ABBA Fund at the address provided. We really need to raise at least $3,000 MORE before we can even send our paperwork to Haiti.

DIRECTIONS TO DOWNLOAD DONOR CARD:
Click on this link www.scribd.com , click LOG IN and click "Already have a Scribd account". Username: kasmitchell@hotmail.com and Password: adoption . Then click on ABBA Donor Preference Card-General and the GREEN DOWNLOAD button and print. 

With the help of our matching grant we have the potential to raise a huge chunk of the adoption expenses in just a 30 day window. If you are unable to give financially at this time please join us as we bathe this effort in prayer. We desperately need this funding and we are putting this in God’s hands, asking him to astound us with his provisions. When you pray for us, please pray BIG! And please share on Facebook and Twitter!

Thanks so much for your support!!
The Mitchell Family

Note: If you have questions or need us to mail you a Donor Card, please email us at kasmitchell@hotmail.com.

Great First Fundraiser!!

We are so pleased with our first fundraiser!!!  WE RAISED $1,190.66!!!!  We prayed for beautiful weather, lots of donations, a great turn-out, and lots of sales. God answered all of our prayers and blessed us with a great day! We raised a little over the exact amount needed to complete our Dossier. The INS fee with fingerprinting cost $890 and to have our documents translated into French is $250. So we need $1,140 in order to send our Dossier to Haiti (along with the $4,000 agency down payment) and that's just what we raised! 

We would like to thank all of our friends and family who so generously donated to our cause and those who continue to give us kind words of encouragement. We are planning two more yard sales in the Spring (one in Hendersonville and one in Louisville, KY). Please keep us in mind for future item donations!

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Phillippians 4:19

Our Adoption Cost.....

Recently I was reading about adoption on the internet and I came across this statement: "While becoming a parent is rarely free of expenses (even pregnancy and childbirth can be relatively expensive if there is inadequate insurance), adoptive parents often are faced with initial costs that can seem challenging."  This seems like a bit of an understatement, however we know this is God's will for our family and that He will equip us for the calling.  

We wanted to share the breakdown of our adoption cost. It's amazing how quickly it adds up...

Agency Fees (www.newlifelink.org): $11,000

Home Study (application, 2 initial visits, post-placement visit and background cks):  $1,946 

In-country fees: $100

INS fees: $890

Notarization/Authentication: $10

Translation Fees: $250

Visa/Passport for child: $400

Psychological Evaluation: $150

Marriage/Birth Certificates: $26

Travel First Trip: $2,000

Travel Second Trip: $2,000

Total Estimated Adoption Cost: $18,772

We sincerely appreciate donations toward this large hurdle.  Reminder: we are having a yard sale with all proceeds going toward our adoption on Sat, 9/17 at my sister's house in Hendersonville.  Please let us know if you can donate items or even baked goods.  Please also consider donating by PAYPAL using the DONATE button or email me at kasmitchell@hotmail.com and I'll give you a mailing address.  

"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows what we know and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12

God calls us ALL to help orphans. He does not call us all to adopt; but he DOES command us all to care for the orphans in the world.

Stacey