Wow!  It is a real relief to finally be able to say that!  Karrie and I have been praying and learning for over a year about the adoption process, and one thing that we have never been 100% certain on is the country from which we should adopt.

It seems like it is the first question that people ask us, but it was the last question we’ve been able to answer.  We first had to learn about which countries would work for us due to their requirements (age, wealth, kids in the home/no kids in the home, etc), and we’ve felt a great burden to be open to whatever country God is leading us to.  This has lead us to be so unsure of what country we should commit to (not to mention questioning all along our financial ability to adopt from certain countries due to their fees).

Thankfully we have had many prayers from all of you and much communication back and forth with our casework at Bethany.  They have been very helpful in answering all of our questions and scenarios.  We feel confident that the Philippines is the country we should be adopting from.

The road ahead is still long.  We will have to finish our home study, wait for our home study to be written up by our caseworker, and then begin our dossier.  There will be visits for fingerprinting, visas, more paperwork, psychological evaluations, and more fees.  Once we submit our paperwork to the Philippines we then have to wait (it could take 24-48 months for a referral).

Not only do we have all of that paperwork, but we still need to raise money to cover the costs of finalizing the adoption.  Your prayers and support through the rest of the process are appreciated.  In so many ways we are just beginning.

-Joel

Monday was our 2nd of 3 homestudy visits. Our caseworker Ann interviewed Joel for about 1 1/2 hrs and then me for 1 1/2 hrs. We talked about basically every detail of our life: our marriage, our childhood, siblings, parents, church, schools, neighborhood, health, faith, etc. Ann is sweet so it didn’t seem like an interrogation, more like a long counseling session! We did a walk through the house, just to make sure there are no red flags I guess. We will now schedule our 3rd visit and final visit some time this month. She will then talk more with us and also talk to Audrey and Leland..that ought to be interesting LOL. Which reminds me: I was cleaning the house on Monday before Ann arrived and was explaining to Audrey why Ann was coming. Later, while Ann was at our house, Leland began to empty the toy box onto the floor. Audrey panicked and yelled “No, Leland! You can’t make a mess or we can’t adopt a child!!”. That gave everyone a good laugh! Anyway, after the last visit it will take her 4-6 weeks to write up the official home study document. After that our first MAJOR bill will be due ($8,000 to Bethany + $1000 misc). If you feel that you are able to help us with this, please find us at helpinghands.com or you can give directly to the “Phillips Adoption” fund at Chemical Bank in Fremont. ANY help we receive is greatly appreciate. We simply can’t do this on our own, but we are trusting God to provide.

Also, we are very excited about a Valentine’s Banquet Fundraising that is being planned. It is going to be a very nice banquet with great food (catered by Moon Dance) and beautiful entertainment (not sure if I can say who yet..better make sure it’s official). It is for FEBRUARY 11 so please save the date. We’ll be sure to give more details as they come.

Excited to have our second home study meeting on Monday. We will be interviewed separately for 1 and a half hours each. Should be interesting. Continue to pray for us as we seek out a country. We are having ups and downs in the process of selecting a country.

Also very excited about our upcoming fundraiser. We have more information coming, but for now I’ll let you know the date – Feb 11th! A night of good food, music, and hope for a child!

On Monday we met with our case worker. She was very nice and easy to talk to. I am glad that we have chosen to go with Bethany Christian Services. I trust them, which is huge because we don’t know what we’re doing! We discussed our options for countries. This is something that we need to decide soon (before our homestudy is complete).

The fact that we will go to another country and bring home our 3rd child continues to become more and more real to me. I wish I knew a bit more about who we will take in as our son or daughter. It’s a weird feeling knowing that a little person is somewhere out there that I know nothing about, yet someday he or she wil be just as much a part of our family and of our hearts as Audrey and Leland.

Now we begin 10 hours of online training. This needs to be completed before the home study is finished as well. Our 2nd meeting will be Nov. 28. That will be the long one with lots and lots and lots of questions. After that visit there will be only one more. Then we will need to pay Bethany the $8,000 in fees. Right after that is about $2,000 in other fees (finger printing, etc). This week we will be sending out letters to family and friends to let them know what we’re doing (believe it or not, not everyone is on facebook and therefore won’t know about our plans). We listed ways that people can help in the letter. I will include them in this post as well. We are trusting that God will provide the money for home study when it’s due!

How You Can Help:

1. Give or send money to Bethany Christian Services, specifically for the Phillips’ adoption expenses.  Money should be directed to the Phillips’ adoption caseworker (Ann Trombly).  Attach a “sticky-note” to the check indicating it is for Joel and Karrie Phillips’ adoption expenses and mail to: Bethany Christian Services, % Ann Trombly, 12048 James St., Holland, MI 49424-9556.  (No tax-deductible receipt given as it is fee for services rendered.)

2. Bring in a deposit to Chemical Bank in Fremont.  An account has been set up in the name of Patti Summerfield/Phillips’ Adoption Fund.  The amount and the donor will remain anonymous.  Patti will be given copies of the deposit slips so that she can keep an accurate record.  (No tax-deductible receipt given.)

3. If you would like a tax-deductible receipt, a project fund has been set up with Helping Hands Ministries, Inc.  This is a Christian Organization that helps a variety of people with a large array of approved projects.  Our adoption project was approved in late August.  The donor will be given a tax-deductible receipt for 100% of the contribution.  We will receive 92% of the contribution, and the Helping Hand Ministries will keep 8% for administering the projects.  If you would like to mail a check, make it out to Helping Hands Ministries, Inc. and send it to: 125 Main Street, Suite #1, PO Box 337, Tallulah Falls, GA, 30573.  On a separate piece of paper, indicate it is for “Joel and Karrie Phillips Adoption Project.”  If you would like a receipt immediately, indicate that.  The organization routinely sends out receipts by January of the following year of the contribution. If you would like to donate online, go to www.hhmin.org.  Under “Make a Donation”, click on “approved projects.”  Under “project category”, select “Adoption” in the drop down menu.  Under “project,” select “Joel and Karrie Phillips” on the drop down menu.  (Note that there is another Phillips family, so be sure that you select Joel and Karrie!).

4..Give money to Julie Norris, indicating it is for the Phillips’ adoption project.  (No tax-deductable receipt given.)  Julie will then deposit the money in the Chemical Bank account or give the money directly to Joel and Karrie, with a list of the names who have contributed (only), and with the amounts of monetary gifts combined.  In this way, your contribution amount can remain anonymous.  Julie’s address:  912 Valley, Fremont, MI 49412.

Exciting update!  Karrie and I are totally amazed at how God has used so many people to yield tremendous results!  If you have been following us you know that we posted a note about a yard sale at our church to help raise money for the adoption.  After the yard sale and several of the additional sales that came from the original sale–we are amazed to say almost $4000 dollars was raised!  Very humbling to see so many people helping us out in such a big way.  Not only that, but we have learned that additional funds were donated to the Phillips Adoption fund at Helping Hands.  The total money raised in just over one week is about $5,300 dollars!

I think it’s time that I let everyone in on what’s been going on our hearts and minds for the past 8 months. The short of it: The Phillips family is growing…through adoption. Now I’ll tell you the full story of what brought us to this point:

A shift in the way I view the people of this world began when I read the book “Radical” by David Platt. This was a book our Sunday School class went through in the beginning of January 2011. Having received the book the month prior, I thought I’d get a little jump start on the book knowing how hard it is to find time to read. I finished the book before our class even began. The funny thing is this book is not about adoption. Most of the book is spent comparing the “Christian American Dream” to the way God calls us to live. It brought to light the urgency and priority we ought to give to the spiritually lost and the poor of this world.

I had been feeling a conviction about taking care of the poor (specifically for child sponsorship) for several years. Even though it felt like I could never afford to, I knew that there were millions of children hungry, sick, and without hope of education. Each time I said “yes” to the Lord’s leading me to sponsor a child it seemed some unexpected financial challenge would come our way. And so I put it off. In reading “Radical” I knew I just couldn’t put it off any more…I didn’t want to anymore. So, after talking it over with Joel (who was on the same page), we signed up to sponsor a 5 year old girl in Haiti. I cannot begin to explain the feeling that washed over me the moment I committed to it. I literally got on my knees, in tears, and felt a tremendous amount of peace and happiness that I know came from simply being obedient to what God had been asking me to do for several years! That next day, it felt like God was telling me that I wasn’t “done” giving. I couldn’t just send a small amount of money overseas and take the rest of the year off. I wasn’t sure yet what he was calling me to, but I just had a strong sense that God was asking more of me.

A couple days later, I found myself on the Bethany Christian Services website. Bethany has a branch right in my hometown and I was thinking that maybe they would have a need for volunteers to do…something. I went to their website to learn a bit more about them and possible needs. There was a large banner across the top of their homepage that read “Looking to Adopt?” My mind immediately said “no.” Then it was as if my mind (or the Holy Spirit) asked “why not?”  I sat staring at that banner for a minute or two asking myself why not. Of course, I could think of several reasons “why not” but suddenly they seemed kind of silly in relation to the vast need. So, I clicked the banner and began reading more.  Later that evening, when Joel was home, I sat down next to him and said “Don’t freak out. I know this sounds crazy and it’s just probably a random thought that will just go away but I feel like I ought to tell you anyway. Today I began reading about adoption and wondering if that is something our family ought to consider. So, don’t say anything. Just pray about it and we’ll talk later.” That was the end of that conversation. The thought just wouldn’t go away. The next day or two, we began to talk about it and it was amazing the way we were both being brought to the same conclusion, which was “This is financially IMPOSSIBLE, but we feel God is leading us in this direction anyway!”

Because of the HUGE financial hurdles, we thought maybe fostering or domestic adoption would be a better avenue for us. As we looked into that, we learned that the greatest need isn’t to foster or domestically adopt children under the age of 5. We knew we wanted to stick to a 0-5 age range because our oldest is 5 (and she definitely needs to remain “the big sister”.) We knew that we wanted to adopt to become parents to a child that otherwise would have none. We came back to international adoption. We felt, and still feel, that adoption is without a doubt, something GOD is asking us to do- and we are so excited and scared about it! It seems to be crazy in light of our lack of financial resources or space (small home), but as I look at the stories of the Bible, God has called many people to act in faith and do something “crazy” for him.

-Karrie