Another Glimpse

About a week and a half ago, Mary and I were getting ready for bed and I got an email on my phone. I opened it up and it was from our social worker at our agency. She is in Uganda and she had spent the day at the orphanage. She sent us about 10 more pictures of our little Gideon. It was good to see a picture of someone holding him because it helps us picture ourselves holding that little guy. There was a picture of him smiling and looking cute! We picture the day (hopefully very soon) when he is in our home with his family. Pray that day comes quickly!
Here I am getting Abram's "big boy" bed ready to move into his and Gideon's room. It's time for him to move on up--now it's time to fill that empty CRIB!!

Referral Received. Referral Accepted.

Monday was a great day! That's the day we received our referral for Gideon and found out much more information about him. We have already accepted the referral and are continuing to move through the process. Also, we finally got to see what he looks like!

One big surprise is that he is currently only 3 months old! We were expecting him to be closer to 18 months and no younger than 6 months. We are thrilled! He's a cutie with big, bright eyes and little sprigs of curly hair on top. It was a lot of fun showing the boys their new brother--can't wait to throw one more boy in the mix.

The next step is to finish pulling together the final few documents for our dossier, send them to Uganda, and wait for a court date. It's possible that we could travel as early as March--though could be as late as early summer. It can't happen soon enough.

I'm sorry we won't be able to post or distribute a picture of him at this time--we want to protect him and our process. We were able to send a picture of our family to the orphanage so they could put it near him. We can also expect to get regular updates on him. I'm sure these updates will be highlights each month and we will be sure to share any new info with you.

As always, thanks for the support--prayer and financial--that so many of you have offered. This continues to be a humbling journey. We still have about 20 shirts if anyone would still like one. Also, we are waiting to hear back regarding a couple of grant applications. God continues to provide!

Stay tuned.

Blog Access

Friends, thanks for keeping up with us. We continue to be busy with all the activities of life, all the while eagerly awaiting our little Gideon. Our referral date is only a couple of weeks away. We can't wait to "meet" our little guy. We pray that God would bring him to us quickly.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: In order to safeguard our adoption process, we feel the need to restrict access to our blog. We simply want to insure that we do not inadvertantly share any sensitive information about our orphanage, our agency, our child, etc. If you would like to continue to access our blog, send an e-mail to Mary--marydroddy(at)hotmail(dot)com or me--jdroddy(at)hotmail(dot)com. We will be able to put you on the approved-to-view list.

We will make this change on November 1. We look forward to hearing from you.

God Provides!

We have focused (admittedly, not a laser-like focus) our efforts in September upon getting the last of our T-shirts sold. We had GREAT response from our circle of friends and family. We began the month of September with about 80 shirts remaining and we finished the month with 36 left--not too bad!

This is still 36 more shirts than we need to have. If you would still like one, respond ASAP. Here are the sizes we have left:

Adult Small--12
Adult Med--11
Adult XL--12
Youth M--1

Here's a neat way that God provided for us through our t-shirt sales. In September, we received an invoice for our third installment to be paid to our agency. The amount we received from t-shirts and donations was almost EXACTLY what we needed to make the payment. This is just one of the encouragements on the journey.

We are anxiously awaiting Nov 13, the date we are supposed to receive our referral. This will be the first time we lay eyes on Gideon's face and get information about who he is. We can't wait! We have been busy with the beginning of the school year and with "normal" life, but the waiting can get old. Pray that we would be patient and that we will learn from waiting!

Let's finish this!

We are still in a holding pattern...no new news to report.

However, we have decided to devote the month of September to getting the last of our Empty Chair t-shirts SOLD. So many people have supported us by making a donation for a T-shirt--some for $20, some for more. We could not be more thankful. We have currently sold about 175 shirts BUT we still have about 80 left.

SO, if you've been thinking of getting a shirt but haven't, NOW IS THE TIME. We have every size still available. Just contact us by e-mail (jdroddy[at]hotmail.com OR marydroddy[at]hotmail.com) to let us know your size and mailing address (if you are out-of-town) and we will respond with how you can send us your donation.

FYI: To date, we have collected $12,742 toward our goal. We are praying that Gideon will be in our home QUICKLY--pray with us!

JOURNEY UPDATE--Immigration Approval!

It's been awhile since we've updated everyone on exactly where we are in the adoption process. Now is as good a time as any--mainly because we have NEWS!

One of the steps in our process is submitting the required applications and documentation to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). A while back we submitted USCIS Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition (sounds very official, right?). We also submitted to USCIS a copy of our home study as supporting documentation for our I-600A. This was followed by a trip to Dallas (our nearest USCIS Support Center) to be biometrically fingerprinted. Check. Check. Check.

Well, after accomplishing these tasks, we recently received our approval from USCIS. This is GREAT news because it happened sooner than we expected. After communicating with our agency, we were able to get a projected date for receiving our referral--NOVEMBER 13.

Let me interpret--this means that around mid-November we will have a picture to go with the name we lift up to the Father each night in prayer as a family. We will have in our hands the info that will help us prepare our home for little Gideon. We will have the tangible documentation that is evidence of a real child that belongs in our home. This gives us a timetable to guide our wait!

ALSO, the date we were provided tells us that our Gideon is out there...somewhere...on the other side of the world. He has been born and he's waiting. He's OURS and his place is with us. He is meant to be in our family. Yes, his bottom belongs in our Empty Chair. We pray every night that God would bring him to us quickly--join us in that prayer!

Cookout Benefit Results: A month later!

We mentioned this on the family blog but we have traveled a LOT this summer. We have been through and to 9 states since the beginning of June. This has been detrimental to having an up-to-date adoption blog. It has NOT, however, been a hindrance to moving forward with the adoption process. We will provide an update on the process VERY soon. That is a promise; but first, some old business...

On July 12, some friends of ours in Shreveport hosted a Benefit Cookout/Pool Party/Silent Auction. This event was truly a blessing to our family. First, it was just REALLY fun. It was laid back and everyone was having a great time eating hot dogs and swimming (not at the same time)! Second, we were reminded (as we have been throughout this process) of the generosity of others. So many people donated items for the silent auction, bought T-shirts, and came out for the event. Also, it provided us a venue to talk to people about our adoption--one of the reasons that we don't have more pictures from that night is because we were talking to everyone and answering questions about little Gideon. Finally, we added $1,986 to the "Empty Chair" fund. We were and are excited. Thanks to everyone who helped to make this night meaningful for our family! Here are some pics:

Mary strung up some of our t-shirts and postcards with verses from Scripture that speak about adoption...such as......
The Welcome Wagon!Mary and Kristen Carothers

In the clubhouse where the silent auction items were displayed.

Empty Chair Benefit--TOMORROW!

Tomorrow Night is the night! Monday, July 12 is the cookout benefit that some friends of ours are hosting to help with our adoption expenses.

Everyone is invited to the Pool at Twelve Oaks in south Shreveport beginning at 6pm (ends at 8pm). Drop by for swimming, hotdogs ($5/person, max $20/family) and a silent auction. We'll also have Empty Chair t-shirts available for $20 each (Wear them if you have them!).

This event is a HUGE blessing for our family. We're excited about it and hope that you can make it there to help us bring Gideon home!

The next phase!

Like many of you, I'm sure, the summer has been a blur. It's funny trying to create a new summer routine even while said "routine" gets interrupted every 1-2 weeks with a trip of some sort. Toss in some of life's little surprises and you get some sporadic blog posting. All that being said, we would like to provide an update on where we are in the adoption process.

The main BIG piece of news is that our home study is FINISHED!! We received a notarized copy in the mail last week. This is really big news. Having our home study finished is the culmination of a months-long process. It feels as though we have cleared a big hurdle even though we have others to come. Now we will be able to apply for some grants and progress with our immigration paperwork. We have already moved onto finishing some of our educational requirements for our agency, filling out grant applications, and pulling together documents for our dossier.

The fundraising is moving along steadily. People continue to buy t-shirts here and there and we receive the occasional donation. Each time, we are blown away by the generosity of friends and even acquaintances. As mentioned in our last post, we have some friends who are hosting a benefit cookout for us next Monday. The word has been spreading and we are excited to see how God uses this event.

We pray often as a family for Gideon. We ask that you do the same.

Save the Date

On Monday, July 12 from 6-8pm, some friends of ours are hosting a benefit cookout for us. It will be held at the Clubhouse in the Twelve Oaks Neighborhood in Shreveport. There will be swimming, a hot dog supper and a silent auction.

This might not be so convenient for our out-of-town friends but it is VERY convenient for all of you here in Shreveport. We are so grateful! Hope you can make it!

An Update from our Agency re: Uganda

For the past few months, there has been a delay in getting new visas to adoptive families who are in Uganda waiting to bring their children home. We have commented about this a little bit on FB and on the blog. Here's an update from our agency's blog--it's great news!

Home Study Update

We are nearing the end of our home study process. We will have an additional visit from our social worker tomorrow (Tues) morning. I'm not exactly sure what this visit will entail but I know that I am excited about nearing the end of this portion of our journey.

Over the past couple of weeks, Mary has spent some time getting us organized. Basically, this helped up realize just how much that we need to be doing. It seems as if there are a hundred little details to attend to. Pray that we may be diligent in this task that God has called us to. Every little thing we do brings us a step closer to Gideon!

Goal Update

The past couple of weeks have been chock full of end-of-the-school-year activities for our family. In the next couple of days, the boys will both be out of school and our summer will "officially" begin. The summer holds the completion of our home study (soon) and us devoting some extra energy to the adoption process. Please pray for us as we kick our preparation into high gear!

We thought this would also be a great chance to update everyone on our fundraising effort. To date, we have raised and saved $7089.44 including sales of 119 t-shirts. For those keeping track, that is about 28% of our goal of $25,000. We continue to be so thankful for all the support we are receiving and we are confident that God will provide the remaining funds to bring Gideon home!

What's in a name?

From the beginning, we never intended to name all our kids after Old Testament Bible figures. However, it has been amazing how God has guided us as we have named each of our boys. The Bible is filled with the people that God has used to accomplish his mighty purposes, often in their weaknesses. What an incredible testament to us as believers!! God uses us when we feel the weakest!! We want to "go public" with the name for our new Droddy for a couple of reasons. First, it gives a specific name for our prayers, as we patiently await the time we will meet. Second, it helps us to embrace the reality and blessing of our future son.

So here it is: GIDEON RAY

When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." --Judges 6:12

Whether our little Gideon is in his birth mother's womb, in an orphanage somewhere in Uganda, or not yet conceived, we pray and know God's hand is on him, and over his circumstances. He is to be a "mighty warrior" for God.


Please pray with us for baby Gideon!!

"Father to the Fatherless"

We just returned from a weekend trip to Birmingham. We brought some students to an event called Secret Church at Church of Brook Hills. On the return trip I was catching up on some of David Platt's sermons-he is the pastor at Brook Hills. Here's a link to a sermon about orphan care that inspired and challenged me. Listen at your own risk!

Send us your Empty Chair pics!

It has been really awesome to see how so many of you, our friends and family, have jumped on our Empty Chair bandwagon! We have sold about 75 shirts so far and have been distributing and shipping out the first batches this past week.

Why not ask one more thing of you? Once you get your shirt(s), send us a picture of you sporting it. Be as creative as you want. Our first submission is from the Stouts. Thanks also to John Wesley for posing for the picture as well. If only he had a shirt, too!Here are the young Droddy lads sporting their shirts while bouncing on a rocking horse, complete with coordinating gaping mouths.
Seth randomly struck a pose and I was fortunate to capture this look of....um, surprise? fear? madness? Who knows? Sure is funny though!

T-SHIRTS ARE IN!

We received our first batch of T-shirts today. We already have 40+ spoken for but there are plenty left. (Here I am modeling one of the first ones out of the box.) Please let us know if you would like one. Remember, each t-shirt we sell brings us one step closer to making our adoption happen.

Decision made regarding visas.

Good news. The State Dept issued a clarification regarding legal guardianships in Uganda. This clears up the uncertainty--moving forward, legal guardianships will contain the correct wording to insure issuance of a IR-4 visa for a child to travel to the US for the purpose of adoption. BOTTOM LINE is that the clarity is good for all future adoptions from Uganda...including ours!!

Check out the State Dept notice issued today.

Prayer Request

Our social worker at the adoption agency has let us know about an issue that is prohibiting adoptions from progressing in Uganda. While we are still early in the process, the situation in Uganda can ultimately have an effect on our adoption--potentially delaying our adoption.

I'll try to summarize: The adoption process for Uganda requires prospective adoptive parents to petition the court in Uganda for legal guardianship. Once legal guardianship is granted, a visa for the child must be granted by the US Embassy for travel back to the US. Legal adoption then takes place in the US. Currently, the US Embassy in Kampala, Uganda has not been granting visas (since Feb 3). According to our agency, this backlog in the process could affect all future adoptions.

Tomorrow morning, April 14, 2010 at 11:30am to 12:30 pm in Senate Russell 453 in Washington DC, there will be a briefing advocating for a resolution in Uganda regarding IR4 visa issuance. Simply pray that this issue will be resolved speedily and favorably!


(Look at how much we're learning!!)

The time is now...for T-shirts!

One thing we have known from the beginning of this adoption process is that we cannot do it alone. First, we know that we will make it through this journey only by God's power. Not meaning to be trite, but this is truly a God-sized task in our lives. Second, we are depending on our friends and family to walk beside us through this process. We have already received encouraging words, wise counsel, and diligent prayers from those who know us best. With that support in mind, we knew that at some point we would have to make a request of you all to help us reach the financial goal to make this adoption happen--that time is now!!

Switching to international adoption means that our agency payments come sooner--we wrote the 1st check yesterday!! Our agency has provided us with a pretty good estimate of what this adoption will cost us--so, our goal is $25,000. Fortunately, we have already received a couple of donations to get the fund started. Also, we are personally saving and adjusting our famly budget to reach our goal quicker.

So, here's how YOU can help us. You can donate to the cause and/or purchase one (or more) of our new Empty Chair T-shirts:The suggested donation for each shirt is $20. You can go to our Empty Chair T-shirt page to get more details. We will be placing our first order on April 12. We are excited to see how God will provide. Please pray for us through this entire process and check back often.

2 New Editions + a preview

Much like the adoption process itself, we are learning as we go with the adoption BLOGGING process. We added two components to this blog. First, you will find "Our Story...so far" in the Pages section of our blog--this just brings you up-to-speed with what brought us to this point.

Additionally, there is a button to the right by which you can donate to our adoption cause. Like many adoptions, financing is our main hurdle. However, we are confident that God will provide because we cannot do this on our own. We will be counting on donations from friends and family to help us make this adoption happen.

This week, we will be introducing our only planned fundraiser for this adoption--selling T-shirts. We will be posting our design and explaining how you can place your order. Check back later this week for more info!

No (april) Foolin'

Welcome to our adoption blog! For those of you did not know that we are moving toward adoption, welcome to the party!

This blog represents another huge step in a lengthy process--one in which we are still in the early(ish) stages. Up until now, we have just talked about our call to adopt with the people we are around most and only usually when people ask us about it. This step (blogging) is a move to proactively tell our story to people who are a part of our circle of friends and family--our community (past, present, and even future?).

This post will only serve as our "hello" to everyone and as an invitation to come back often to check our progress.