The last two weeks have been crazy to say the least! I don't have time to fill you in right now or even the emotional stability to do so, so it will have to wait a while. But I do have something...
Joe and I received our referral last night and our dossier (paperwork) is scheduled to be submitted to the IBESR today which means we will meet the Oct. 31 deadline!!! (Please pray that this will indeed happen.) This is very good news. Things seem to be moving quickly. We were informed that we will need to travel to Haiti for the first of two mandatory trips, within 6-8 weeks of receiving our dossier submission receipt, which should be today. This we were not expecting. God sure has a way with surprises. So....we are asking for your help. If you have frequent flyer miles that you would be willing to donate to us we would most appreciate it. Please let me know if you can help out.
Thanks,
Kopers
I know you are all waiting to hear about our referral but I can't share anything via the internet right now so you'll just have to stay tuned...
Please be in prayer for Haiti as Hurricane Sandy has caused some major issues down there and the Haitian people sure could use our prayers.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Monday, October 22, 2012
Where have you found love lately?
We found it in a bag of potatoes!
Share your love stories with us in the comments section below.
Paperwork, Computer, and a Prayer Request
Well two Tuesday's ago on October 9 we sent our entire dossier (paperwork) minus two bank letters to our family coordinator (Michelle) at our adoption agency. That was a VERY monumental day for us! We've been doing that paper work since February of this year. It was a huge deal and I have no words to explain how that felt. I'm pretty sure I walked in circles a couples of times that day not knowing what to do with myself and I may very well have done a jig!
So let me tell you about our computer. About three months ago the darn thing wouldn't turn on, I about had a heart attack because it wasn't backed up, I mean who backs up their computer right?!?! (I'm pretty sure it's smart people that don't want to lose everything on their hard drive!) Anyway I panicked because all our adoption paperwork was on there. I prayed and prayed and prayed and what do you know I pushed the on button and the silly thing turned on! Enter the happy jig and staring kiddos and you can be sure I backed it up that very minute. Praise God! Well it gets better.....I asked the PSC (Pastoral Search Committee) to pray that our computer would STAY ON (I wasn't about to turn it off again), and it sounds like silly prayer request "Could you please pray that our computer would stay on until our paper work is done?" but we really needed (hmmmmm needed......???) it to stay working so they did and it did. Joe accidentally turned it off a couple of times (I may have too but we'll just say that it was Joe), and many lifted hands to the LORD and happy jigs followed. So Tuesday, October 9 arrived and me the kiddos went to meet Joe for a celebration lunch and to get the paperwork from him as he had picked it up from the Secretary of State where it was all certified. We mailed it, HURRAH! Actually we FedExed it, overnight, because we are now in a time crunch to meet the new deadline of October 31 so that we will fall under the old procedures. An error message popped up on our computer that very day, October 9, 2012, forcing me to do a forced shut down and it's never turned on again........... Thank you LORD for keeping our computer alive for just the right amount of time. This is such an amazing journey, I hate that our computer is dead, I mean how inconvenient, but I love seeing God at work in our lives and answering seemingly silly prayers. Whoop Whoop!
So that leads me into our prayer request. Our family coordinator has a lot of things she needs to do with our dossier. It needs to be translated, certified (again) and who knows what else but she isn't sure if it's going to make it to Haiti before October 31. Once Michelle has everything on her end done she will mail it to Haiti but that can take about four days. We know that God can get it there before the deadline and we are praying that that is what will happen. Please join us in prayer as we wait on the LORD in this situation. Waiting is awful by the way so pray for me too!
Oh and one more thing. Michelle has our referral but is holding it hostage until she is certain that our dossier is going to make that deadline. I understand why she is doing it but I don't like it. If our dossier doesn't make the deadline she may have to turn around and tell us that the referral she gave us is no longer for us and will have to give us a new one. That may not be the case but she doesn't want to risk us falling in love with a child only to have that child taken away. Please pray.
So let me tell you about our computer. About three months ago the darn thing wouldn't turn on, I about had a heart attack because it wasn't backed up, I mean who backs up their computer right?!?! (I'm pretty sure it's smart people that don't want to lose everything on their hard drive!) Anyway I panicked because all our adoption paperwork was on there. I prayed and prayed and prayed and what do you know I pushed the on button and the silly thing turned on! Enter the happy jig and staring kiddos and you can be sure I backed it up that very minute. Praise God! Well it gets better.....I asked the PSC (Pastoral Search Committee) to pray that our computer would STAY ON (I wasn't about to turn it off again), and it sounds like silly prayer request "Could you please pray that our computer would stay on until our paper work is done?" but we really needed (hmmmmm needed......???) it to stay working so they did and it did. Joe accidentally turned it off a couple of times (I may have too but we'll just say that it was Joe), and many lifted hands to the LORD and happy jigs followed. So Tuesday, October 9 arrived and me the kiddos went to meet Joe for a celebration lunch and to get the paperwork from him as he had picked it up from the Secretary of State where it was all certified. We mailed it, HURRAH! Actually we FedExed it, overnight, because we are now in a time crunch to meet the new deadline of October 31 so that we will fall under the old procedures. An error message popped up on our computer that very day, October 9, 2012, forcing me to do a forced shut down and it's never turned on again........... Thank you LORD for keeping our computer alive for just the right amount of time. This is such an amazing journey, I hate that our computer is dead, I mean how inconvenient, but I love seeing God at work in our lives and answering seemingly silly prayers. Whoop Whoop!
So that leads me into our prayer request. Our family coordinator has a lot of things she needs to do with our dossier. It needs to be translated, certified (again) and who knows what else but she isn't sure if it's going to make it to Haiti before October 31. Once Michelle has everything on her end done she will mail it to Haiti but that can take about four days. We know that God can get it there before the deadline and we are praying that that is what will happen. Please join us in prayer as we wait on the LORD in this situation. Waiting is awful by the way so pray for me too!
Oh and one more thing. Michelle has our referral but is holding it hostage until she is certain that our dossier is going to make that deadline. I understand why she is doing it but I don't like it. If our dossier doesn't make the deadline she may have to turn around and tell us that the referral she gave us is no longer for us and will have to give us a new one. That may not be the case but she doesn't want to risk us falling in love with a child only to have that child taken away. Please pray.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Fundraising
In an effort to raise money for our adoption we have come up with several fundraisers. We are asking you to partner with us to help bring our daughter home from Haiti. Below is a list of ways you can help:
- Purchase a tee shirt (see link to the right)
- Purchase Jewelery
- Participate in "Thirty One" bag drawing
- Purchase bottle cap fridge magnets
For further details about each fundraising project click on
the appropriate tab at the top of the page.
Thanks for looking.
Thanks for looking.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Photography Workshop
Click on above photo to view details.
It says to e-mail me but you can leave a
comment here if you are interested.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Follow by e-mail & a prayer request
If you would like to get updates via e-mail please sign up to the right. You will see a "Follow by e-mail" box where you can put your e-mail address to receive updates in your inbox.
Please keep us in your prayers. Pray specifically for the adjustment period will go through when we bring our child/ren home. Imagine being taken from everything your know and are familiar with and then finding yourself in a foreign speaking country with people you don't know, food you've never eaten before, sounds, smells, sights you have never even dreamed of and you will a have a slight glimpse of what it will be like for this precious child/ren. Please pray for her/them.
Please keep us in your prayers. Pray specifically for the adjustment period will go through when we bring our child/ren home. Imagine being taken from everything your know and are familiar with and then finding yourself in a foreign speaking country with people you don't know, food you've never eaten before, sounds, smells, sights you have never even dreamed of and you will a have a slight glimpse of what it will be like for this precious child/ren. Please pray for her/them.
Referral!
So much has been happening in our lives and I have so much to share. God is so good. Our Home Study is finally complete and has been sent to the Orphanage in Haiti for a referral!!! This is only one step in the paperwork stage. The home study is only a part of our "dossier", the dossier being all the paperwork. The home study is only the part completed by the social worker. We are almost completely done with our dossier, we are just waiting on the immigration side of things, which is estimated to take anywhere between six and twelve weeks to get a fingerprinting appointment. Most countries don't give referrals until the last minute and once you get it you go pick up your child. Haiti is unique in the fact that they give the referrals upon completion of the home study, you finish the paperwork send it off and then you do all the waiting while the Haitian government finalizes the dossier (aka paperwork). So we are anxiously awaiting our referral. I can't believe we are doing to meet our child/ren on paper and not be able to hold her/them........emotions will be plenty on that day!
The usual wait time once the dossier is submitted is anywhere from 18-24 months. Agonizing if you ask me, especially knowing who your child is and where they belong! We have now just been informed that Haiti is doing their best to make that wait time 12 months!!!!!! Yes that's right we may have our child/ren home here in Evansville, about this time next year, crazy I know, I can't really believe it yet, I still feel like I'm going through the motions. But I assure you God has been putting His stamp of approval on all the motions in ways that bring me to tears.
Let me share some of the amazing blessings with you.
As you know Haiti is going through the process to become Hague ratified (see older posts for info. on that). They had a cut off date for all those who were currently in the adoption process to be grandfathered in under the old procedures. It was September 15, we missed it, they have now extended that date to November 3, we may make that one! Our immigration paperwork is expected to take six to twelve weeks but we serve an amazing and sovereign God so I don't doubt that we may make that new deadline! That would be good news because we wouldn't then have all the extra steps to have to go through.
You may remember my post about the awesome psychological bill blessing. Well it wasn't quite over. We received the bill and it was only for $150. Joe called to make sure that was right and sure enough it was. So in case you missed it here are the numbers again:
First quote from Madison: $2,000
Second quote from same place: $1,200
Third quote from Janesville: $900
Fourth quote from Milwaukee, yes we shopped around! $500
Fifth quote from same place in Milwaukee: $300
Final bill from same place in Milwaukee: $150!!!!!
Yes God is good! His is most definitely funding this adoption and I feel so privileged to be a part of it.
We have an amazing church family most of whom are already a part of this journey with us, through prayer support and funding. I'll share a couple of really neat stories. We recently went to a birthday party where a donation was asked for in lieu of gifts. We weren't told what the outreach project was that they were asking donations for. I'm sure you can now guess but let me finish. The party was great, the kids had a blast and we were told at the end that the outreach project was us! We were presented the money the next day by the children whose birthday it was. The parents had given the children a bunch of outreach ideas and they chose the Koper's adoption. It was so precious.
There is another family in our church that is helping us with the costs. The Mummy has been finding trash (treasure) on the side of the road and then selling it. All proceeds are then been donated to the Koper's adoption fund! What a wonderful way to turn trash into treasure and what a perfect example of the excess we live amongst, that someone would put something perfectly useable out to curb for rubbish removal.
I also have a friend who God saw fit to use me to disciple. I have already been blessed by our Bible study time together and I am amazed at the passion and fire she has to learn, grow, and draw closer to God. I feel privileged to be a part of her journey and have her as a part of mine. We have gotten together on a couple of different occasions to make jewelery (she has an impressive bead collection) which she has then donated to our adoption funding. Be sure to look out for your opportunity to purchase one of these bracelets or necklaces and in doing so help out with our adoption costs.
Something else for you to look out for is an opportunity to come to a photography workshop. I will post more details soon.
These are just a few of the many ways God is blessing us as we fully surrender to His calling on our lives.
As a side note Joe's mission trip to Guatemala was wonderful on so many levels, another way God has blessed our family. And the funding of a second well is almost complete. To find out more about living water wells go to 414aguaviva.blogspot.com
I am constantly reminded that all this is for God's glory. It is not about our family, not even about a child/ren waiting to be united with her/their family, it is so much more than that and I praise God often for the privilege of being used by Him. I thank Him for allowing me to be a part of His plan. I am so inadequate for the task, a broken vessel but willing and desiring to please my God. May you be blessed as you continue in this journey with us.
The usual wait time once the dossier is submitted is anywhere from 18-24 months. Agonizing if you ask me, especially knowing who your child is and where they belong! We have now just been informed that Haiti is doing their best to make that wait time 12 months!!!!!! Yes that's right we may have our child/ren home here in Evansville, about this time next year, crazy I know, I can't really believe it yet, I still feel like I'm going through the motions. But I assure you God has been putting His stamp of approval on all the motions in ways that bring me to tears.
Let me share some of the amazing blessings with you.
As you know Haiti is going through the process to become Hague ratified (see older posts for info. on that). They had a cut off date for all those who were currently in the adoption process to be grandfathered in under the old procedures. It was September 15, we missed it, they have now extended that date to November 3, we may make that one! Our immigration paperwork is expected to take six to twelve weeks but we serve an amazing and sovereign God so I don't doubt that we may make that new deadline! That would be good news because we wouldn't then have all the extra steps to have to go through.
You may remember my post about the awesome psychological bill blessing. Well it wasn't quite over. We received the bill and it was only for $150. Joe called to make sure that was right and sure enough it was. So in case you missed it here are the numbers again:
First quote from Madison: $2,000
Second quote from same place: $1,200
Third quote from Janesville: $900
Fourth quote from Milwaukee, yes we shopped around! $500
Fifth quote from same place in Milwaukee: $300
Final bill from same place in Milwaukee: $150!!!!!
Yes God is good! His is most definitely funding this adoption and I feel so privileged to be a part of it.
We have an amazing church family most of whom are already a part of this journey with us, through prayer support and funding. I'll share a couple of really neat stories. We recently went to a birthday party where a donation was asked for in lieu of gifts. We weren't told what the outreach project was that they were asking donations for. I'm sure you can now guess but let me finish. The party was great, the kids had a blast and we were told at the end that the outreach project was us! We were presented the money the next day by the children whose birthday it was. The parents had given the children a bunch of outreach ideas and they chose the Koper's adoption. It was so precious.
There is another family in our church that is helping us with the costs. The Mummy has been finding trash (treasure) on the side of the road and then selling it. All proceeds are then been donated to the Koper's adoption fund! What a wonderful way to turn trash into treasure and what a perfect example of the excess we live amongst, that someone would put something perfectly useable out to curb for rubbish removal.
I also have a friend who God saw fit to use me to disciple. I have already been blessed by our Bible study time together and I am amazed at the passion and fire she has to learn, grow, and draw closer to God. I feel privileged to be a part of her journey and have her as a part of mine. We have gotten together on a couple of different occasions to make jewelery (she has an impressive bead collection) which she has then donated to our adoption funding. Be sure to look out for your opportunity to purchase one of these bracelets or necklaces and in doing so help out with our adoption costs.
Something else for you to look out for is an opportunity to come to a photography workshop. I will post more details soon.
These are just a few of the many ways God is blessing us as we fully surrender to His calling on our lives.
As a side note Joe's mission trip to Guatemala was wonderful on so many levels, another way God has blessed our family. And the funding of a second well is almost complete. To find out more about living water wells go to 414aguaviva.blogspot.com
I am constantly reminded that all this is for God's glory. It is not about our family, not even about a child/ren waiting to be united with her/their family, it is so much more than that and I praise God often for the privilege of being used by Him. I thank Him for allowing me to be a part of His plan. I am so inadequate for the task, a broken vessel but willing and desiring to please my God. May you be blessed as you continue in this journey with us.
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