We had our psychological evaluation on Monday.  I'm so glad it's over.  It's not very nice being psycho analyzed, we had to take an intelligence test too.  Anyway it's over and we're one step closer to bringing our child/ren home!  But that's just the facts let me share with you what God has done in all this.

We first started looking for a psychologist in the Madison area.  Our insurance company would not cover the cost of the evaluation because it was a third party request and we don't actually require the care.  The first quote I got over the phone was for $2,000 yes that's right two thousand dollars!!!  I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor.  I even exclaimed over the phone two thousand dollars!!!!!  Which prompted the man I was talking to to explain why it was that much.  He'd already lost me at 2,000 so I didn't really care what it entailed.  I politely ended the conversion and moved on.  I called many more psychologists and got many different responses, sorry we don't do that, I'm not really comfortable doing that, and a few more outrageous quotes.  A few days after I spoke to the first guy he called back to let me know that he could get the cost down to $1,200 for us.  That's a pretty significant change and it raised a bit of a red flag for Joe and I.  So we continued looking.  I found a lady in Janesville who was going to be able to it for us for $900.  That was better but still a lot for a letter and report.  I finally gave up and prayed, yeah I know, I should have done that in the first place right? but I have a tendency to charge ahead and do things on my own in the name of "Let's get it done!!!"  Oh when will I learn!  Way too many cooks in the kitchen.

Anyway at our next home study appointment it made sense to ask our social worker if she knew of any psychologists in the area and low and behold she did. It was a while before we heard back from her and I thought she'd forgotten so I said to Joe let's just go with $900 and be done (there goes me again!).  That same day I received an e-mail from Jill (social worker) saying that she's sorry she didn't get back to me sooner and that she spoke to her guy and that he was willing to do it for $500.  Well there goes my jaw again.......I picked it up off the floor called the number in the e-mail and got things rolling. 

So back to Monday July 9 in a Christian psychologists' office in Milwaukee.  We finished up the exam and the Dr. started to act like a normal person instead of being all business like.  He relaxed a little and so did we, it was over.  We actually had a nice conversation with him.  What a nice guy he was.  Joe asked how he would like payment and he said oh we'll take care of that when everything is done and by the way, I quoted you $500 but it's only going to be about $300.  What?!?!?!?  Really?????  I can just imagine God looking down on us and having a wee chuckle to Himself.  What a mighty God we serve!!!!!!!!

Let's just take a look at the numbers again:

$2,000
$1,200
$900
$500
$300

It's God who will get all the glory.  This journey is not about me, it's not about Joe, it's not even about a child in need.  It's about God, the creator of the universe and I stand in awe at His mighty works and proclaim to all that will hear me that Jesus is LORD of LORDS and KING of KINGS.  Praise the LORD all that has breath, praise His Holy Name!

This is God's work, not mine, I'm just privileged to be a part of it.  Thank you God for choosing to use broken, inadequate, vessels like me to show your Glory.  I love You!

Our family coordinator passed along a really encouraging e-mail today and I thought I'd share it with you all.

Rest with Me a while. You have journeyed up a steep, rugged path in recent days. The way ahead is shrouded in uncertainty. Look neither behind you nor before you. Instead, focus your attention on Me, your constant Companion.
Trust that I will equip you fully for whatever awaits you on your journey.

I designed time to be a protection for you. You couldn’t bear to see all your life at once. Though I am unlimited by time, it is in the present moment that I meet you. Refresh yourself in My company, breathing deep draughts of My Presence.
The highest level of trust is to enjoy Me moment by moment. 

I am with you, watching over you wherever you go.

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
—Psalm 143:8

 It's been so crazy and all consuming trying to get all this paper work complete.  We've had surprises, bumps, and more surprises.  I've wanted to pull my hair out many times.  I've had to return things to have typos corrected on a number of occasions, it's embarrassing and uncomfortable but God hasn't called us to a life of comfort has He?  So we press on, knowing that His will in our lives will ultimately bring Him the glory and that's why we are here and that's why we chose to serve Him with our lives in the good times and in the bad.  May our God be praised!

P.S.  Please feel free to leave us a comment we welcome your encouragement and support.

Our home study interview went very well and we are very pleased with our social worker, Jill.  She is a very nice lady and we believe she is doing a great job.  We got some surprising news that day, although we know God wasn't at all surprised!  Jill informed us that we have to get egress window installed in the basement before she can approve our Home Study.  We were a little discouraged with the news and were wondering how in the world we would be able to come up with the money to put one of those windows in (they're not cheap!) on top of our already high adoption fees. 

So we started brainstorming and thinking of ways to raise the money to take care of this seemingly large obstacle.  There we were trying to take control of things again........there were tears, prayers, and lengthy conversations with close friends.  I felt God saying to me "Trust me child, and watch what I will do."  I took that to mean I'd come up with the ideas to raise the funds (which isn't a bad thing) and that God would do the rest.  But as we talked and I talked with friends and prayed about the issue it would seem that God is saying, stop trying to do this on your own, I asked you to do this and I'm going to see it through to completion.  This is about Me, not you and I will receive the glory.  He doesn't need our help and I'm learning that I have to let go and stop trying to control everything.  We aren't doing this alone, if God has called us to do this and we know He has then He'll take care of the details.  That doesn't mean that we sit back do nothing but we believe at this time that God wants us to trust Him for the funds we need to complete this adoption. 

Already we are seeing God provide for us.  Joe has been getting a lot of overtime lately which isn't typical during the summer, unless there is something going on, which there isn't right now.  We have sold a few things on Craigs List which has gone very well.  Joe had two things for sale on there, he sold one to guy who asked why Joe was selling and Joe told him we're raising funds for our adoption, the guy said oh cool, I'm adopted, good for you and they struck up a conversation.  We thought that was really neat, then the second thing Joe had for sale the guy wondered if he could pay us by paypal.  I said no I don't how to do that and then I remembered that we had a donate button on this blog so Joe sent him over to here pay.  Lo and behold the guy came to our site payed through the donate button and then wrote to Joe about how cool it was that we were adopting and that his wife was adopted!  Then he sent Joe some scripture verses.  How amazing is the GOD we serve?!?!?  God has assured us that we are doing what He wants our family to do.  The next thing Joe posted he thought for sure he wasn't going to sell.  The day after he posted it he had three people wanting to come take a look.  The first guy came by and tried to talk Joe down but Joe told him he had two other people coming to look so the guy said okay, paid him the money and that was that!  We now have the exact amount of money in our adoption fund for our psych. evaluation, yes that's right we have to have a psychological evaluation!  So......thanks for your prayers and support during this time in our lives, we appreciate you.

Time for a wee update.  Things are moving along pretty well as far as paperwork goes.  We have a few more documents to gather for our dossier, some of which are time sensitive and we have to wait to get them done, like the immigration paperwork.

Our home study is well under way and we have our second meeting in Milwaukee tomorrow with our social worker.  This time without the kiddos.  What fun that was last week when we had the kids with us.......They say that the home study is not as scary as you think, but someone is still looking at you and your family and making judgements based on what they see.  So......we went in not really concerned and pretty well prepared (or so I thought) with things for the kids to do quietly while we talked with the social worker.  The first question she asked (and remember we've not met before) was are your kids going to be able to sit for an hour and half while we go over all this?  Ummmm........sure they are, I've got things for them to do as I hold up my bag of tricks to show her.  All the while I'm thinking "we've got pretty good kids, she just doesn't know us yet".

So the interview (well it seemed like an interview) started and things were going well.  I had set out all the colouring activities I had brought along and decided to keep the secret weapon for later.  The room we were in had toys in it so that was an added bonus and the kids made a beeline for the "new" toys as soon as we walked in.  Great, this will be a cinch, I thought to myself.  About fifty minutes in Coen starts to get a bit antsy, I've got this covered I thought to myself, we're almost done, they've been great and I've still got the secret weapon.  So I bust it out thinking I can sit Coen between Joe and I and the other two wouldn't notice.  Who was I kidding as soon as Coen starts playing the Kindle, yes that's right I let them play games on the kindle, Caide and Jordis just seem to smell it or something.  Okay I've still got it I think, and I tell them they can each have a turn.  Jordis's turn comes round and things are still moving along pretty well, then Caide's turn and then all of a sudden just out of nowhere I hear this screaming and crying and my kids have turned into beasts and I'm thinking, what the heck happened here, where are my kids, these aren't mine.  I look at Jill (the social worker) and smile then turn to my kids and pretend to be all sweet and loving but I'm shooting them "the look" you know the look, right?  It's not working, Joe looks at me, looks at the kids then takes the kindle, that's right, he takes the kindle, right there in the midst of utter chaos, and all the while Jill is sitting there taking this all in.  Okay I've gotta do something I think to myself so while I rock Coen in my lap and cuddle Jordis next to me I start looking around the room completely avoiding eye contact with Jill and see I bunch of teddy bears lined up on an old church pew, I've got, come on guys let's have a teddy bears picnic.  Coen takes the bait, Jordis is reluctant but follows along and the sinners are appeased.  Phew....not too much longer now.  Jill decides to wrap things up and keeps us only about 15-20 minutes longer.  She seems okay with the whole ordeal and we leave feeling exhausted.  I'm not sure if I'll even bring it up tomorrow, think I'll just try to sweep it under the rug.  After all kids will be kids, right!?!?

On a more serious note, the Haitian government is not accepting any new dossiers until August 1.  The meeting to discuss this in May was postponed until June.  They want to catch up on the back log of dossiers they already have.  I'm good with that as it may speed up the dossier process when it comes time for us to to submit ours.  Also any delays or setbacks as seen from our perspective, are all part of the LORD's plan to lead us to the child He would have join the Koper clan.  Please keep us in your prayers, especially keep our wee Haitian Koper in your prayers.

Good News! & More News!

I received an e-mail on Monday morning from Michelle letting me know that the orphanage we applied to has accepted our application!!!  Praise the LORD.  I really didn't even think about what we would do should we get denied. 
We are slowly getting all our required paper work together.  They ask for so much and they have many crazy rules that we have to follow.  I know it will all be worth in it in the end.

We have received some news with regards to the Institut du Bien Etre Social st di Recherches (IBESR), which is the agency that oversees the adoption process in Haiti.  They have said that they are not going to be accepting any new Dossiers (which is the entire paperwork process and all that goes along with it, including a home study) until June or July.  There is nothing set in stone as of now apart from the fact that they aren't accepting any new Dossiers.  Michelle has encouraged us to continue with the paper chase and not to let this discourage us.  Whatever the case, a longer delay or new adoption procedures and expectations, we will wait upon the LORD knowing that this is all in His timing.  Please continue to pray for us and also for the IBESR as they hold a meeting on May 20, 2012 for the Crèche Directors Association.

I'm all over the place, in my mind at least, I'm mostly stationed right here at the computer and on the phone.  Joe told me when we began that I wasn't to let this consume me, (I can be a wee bit obsessive) I told him I wouldn't.......how was I to know this would be all-consuming.  I can't stop thinking about the part of our family that is currently missing but is living in Haiti right now (a Koper in a another part of the world!), as I type, and as I go crazy trying to get this paperwork done.  So on top of all the paperwork that we are working on now for AWAA and all the paperwork to come from the Home Study Agency I get an application form AWAA for the orphanage we are going to request a child from.

AWAA has three orphanages (creches) in Haiti that they work with.  Only one met our child requests.  God made that easy for us.  We are requesting a girl in the age range of 0 - 5 years and we are open to a sibling set, with the sibling being in the same age range, boy or girl.  One orphanage has only boys, one has children only 6 years and older, and the other has girls and sibling sets!  Needless to say I filled out the application and e-mailed it to Michelle (our family coordinator at AWAA) right away.  She has e-mailed it to Haiti already and we now await an approval from them.  Please pray that they would accept our family and that God would prepare the heart/hearts of the Koper/Kopers that He would have join our family.

Our journey into the adoption process really started a couple of years ago.  We have been discussing adoption, specifically from Haiti, after we learned of the destruction from the earthquake.  We are not sure why this was laid on our hearts so suddenly but we knew something was happening as the talks started.  The discussions soon dissipated as life continued to roll on.  There were still discussions of adoption over the years but it didn't seem serious as our family continued to grow.  

This all changed on February 25, 2012, as we decided to finally listen to God's calling for our family to start the adoption process.  So we started the adoption research and felt extremely overwhelmed but with help from friends and the web we were able to find a fit with our adoption agency-America World Adoption Agency (AWAA).  We knew from our initial contacts with this agency that it was the right choice for our family.  

After we were accepted by AWAA we began our search for a home study agency.  This process was a bit more difficult as we wanted to partner with an agency with strong Christian beliefs and values that was close to our home.  Through AWAA resources we partnered with Evangelical Child and Family Agency.  Praise God for His guidance through this process as it did feel overwhelming initially but now we have a peace about our decisions.

The next step is to complete ALL of our paperwork for the home study and dossier (let the fun begin!!).  Please keep us in your prayers through this process.  Specifically pray that the heart of the child in Haiti will be prepared for this journey.  Pray for our children that their hearts would be welcoming of their new sibling.  And praise God for His goodness in our lives.