Just want to thank everyone for the excitement for our fundraiser tomorrow night! Wanted to give some directions for those who have never been to my dads house.
You will want to be on highway 126 heading East.
Turn Left on Main Street/McKenzie HWY
Turn right onto Mountaingate Drive
Turn Right onto Graystone Loop
House will be on the Left: 6089 Graystone Loop
All decorated for Christmas!
Looking forward to seeing you all!!!
love,
Emily
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Thankful
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
This verse sets the tone of my heart. This time of year I know can be difficult for many, but we are called in life to be Thankful in all circumstances. Matt and I had a disagreement recently over something over the adoption fundraiser were having. (this week!) I will be real with you all, I became a little emotional--- no we did not choose this path for our lives, but the Lord allowed it to happen. It would have been much more easier if we could just conceive naturally, our God however has greater plans for our lives then we could ever imagine. This is something I have to remind myself, to be thankful, trusting the journey in life God has Matt and I on. Yes, we are so excited to adopt, adding to our family and continue to grow, seeing where life takes us.
Today I went with a great friend to find fabric for the fundraiser on Thursday, my friend Mica will be making a quilt for the babies room. We will be selling Quilt Squares to help raise funds.
Hope to see you at our fundraiser! Thank you again for your prayers & encouragement.
Blessings to you,
Emily
Monday, November 12, 2012
Bringing Home Baby Imlach
Bringing Home Baby Imlach----
This is a fundraiser event my husband and I have been blessed by our families wanting to come together and support us in the needs of raising the money we need to adopt. Many people are unaware of the different fees, and tasks you are asked to do through the process....thats why its a process.
Our families have planned a night to Inform others, Connect and get people Involved in our Adoption.
Matt is making a wooden puzzle map of the United States (since our Adoption is Domestic) so people who come to the even have the opportunity to "buy" a puzzle piece and on the back write their name and a little message for our baby to be. When all the pieces are sold, we will put it together and have it hanging in the little ones room. When baby Imlach is old enough he/she will be able to look at the back of the puzzle and see who "helped bring them home".
We will also have quilt squares that can be bought and you can write on the square your name, etc. It however will be sewn on the inside, still such a sweet thing, for this will be the babies blanket.
There will also be a timeline that is created with photos and information of what the process looks like. We are going to have photos from our Profile Book on the television so all can see what we used for that.
We will have computers for guests to look at our Blog, for those who are unaware of it, and can get caught up!
There will be plenty of appetizers, desserts and drinks for all around to share, a night of community and fellowship! We would love for anyone who feels able to join in and be apart of the night.
Blessings to you all!
Emily
This is a fundraiser event my husband and I have been blessed by our families wanting to come together and support us in the needs of raising the money we need to adopt. Many people are unaware of the different fees, and tasks you are asked to do through the process....thats why its a process.
Our families have planned a night to Inform others, Connect and get people Involved in our Adoption.
Matt is making a wooden puzzle map of the United States (since our Adoption is Domestic) so people who come to the even have the opportunity to "buy" a puzzle piece and on the back write their name and a little message for our baby to be. When all the pieces are sold, we will put it together and have it hanging in the little ones room. When baby Imlach is old enough he/she will be able to look at the back of the puzzle and see who "helped bring them home".
There will also be a timeline that is created with photos and information of what the process looks like. We are going to have photos from our Profile Book on the television so all can see what we used for that.
We will have computers for guests to look at our Blog, for those who are unaware of it, and can get caught up!
There will be plenty of appetizers, desserts and drinks for all around to share, a night of community and fellowship! We would love for anyone who feels able to join in and be apart of the night.
Blessings to you all!
Emily
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Home Studies 3 & 4
Well, we have made it- our Home Study process is over! Wee! I couldn't be more excited. We now wait for the approval of the twenty page document that our social worker has to write involving everything from our visits.
Home Study #3 dealt a lot with who we are; what are Matthew & Emily Imlach like? Our personalities, activities we individually enjoy doing, etc. Just explaining ourselves as clearly as we could, that it would really paint a picture of who we are. Its kind of weird trying to explain yourself, you want yourself to sound like a good, well rounded person, but you also have to be honest and share your downfalls... yes I am stubborn. ;)
Home Study #4 was the actual "home tour", she had a few random questions about our heat working well, our washer and dryer, the dishwasher, do we have a proper way to store food. The only improvements we have to do are get our fire extinguisher up to date, and add another fire alarm.
Our case worker also had questions in regards to how will we handle conflict? What is that going to look like for our family, is it just Matt the punishes, or the both of us? Schooling: will we home school, private schools, or public? Its interesting to be answering these questions, to think...what will we do? What will be the best/right for the child? Thankfully the Lord has grace on us, that no matter how many times we will fail, our hope is in the Lord and he will guide us.
Once the Home Study is approved we then have to come up with $10,000 for our profile books to be seen. We will be making seven books that will be sent throughout the U.S to be seen by potential biological mothers.
So what do we do now? We wait. Wait for our Home Study to be approved, the goal is that we are approved by Thanksgiving. We also pray, pray for what is ahead, the biological parents, our baby and what God has in the future.
Home Study #3 dealt a lot with who we are; what are Matthew & Emily Imlach like? Our personalities, activities we individually enjoy doing, etc. Just explaining ourselves as clearly as we could, that it would really paint a picture of who we are. Its kind of weird trying to explain yourself, you want yourself to sound like a good, well rounded person, but you also have to be honest and share your downfalls... yes I am stubborn. ;)
Home Study #4 was the actual "home tour", she had a few random questions about our heat working well, our washer and dryer, the dishwasher, do we have a proper way to store food. The only improvements we have to do are get our fire extinguisher up to date, and add another fire alarm.
Our case worker also had questions in regards to how will we handle conflict? What is that going to look like for our family, is it just Matt the punishes, or the both of us? Schooling: will we home school, private schools, or public? Its interesting to be answering these questions, to think...what will we do? What will be the best/right for the child? Thankfully the Lord has grace on us, that no matter how many times we will fail, our hope is in the Lord and he will guide us.
Once the Home Study is approved we then have to come up with $10,000 for our profile books to be seen. We will be making seven books that will be sent throughout the U.S to be seen by potential biological mothers.
So what do we do now? We wait. Wait for our Home Study to be approved, the goal is that we are approved by Thanksgiving. We also pray, pray for what is ahead, the biological parents, our baby and what God has in the future.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Lately.
Lately it seems there has been a lot going on, I have honestly been a basket of full of all emotions. We have been really busy with a variety of things, thankfully some will be ending shortly.
We had our first Home Study, it went to great! It answered those questions of what actually happens in a Home Study. For the first visit, our case worker didn't even do a "tour" of our home, I was surprised-she said that is for the final visit. Thank goodness I didn't go out of my way to really do some elbow greased cleaning, I figured she should see our home in the real way we live in it. Matt and I each had to fill out a question air filled with questions regarding ourselves, and our family. An example would be "Has been on Sleep Medications", you would then check the boxes with those you know of in your family-self included that have been on sleeping medications, etc. We were to fill them out ourselves and only the caseworker would see them. From then on, it was all about our families and our individual lives growing up. From what was our family life like, relationships with each of our parents, our parents relationship, the relationships with each of our siblings, major life events- how we all responded to it, etc. It was a very in-depth perspective of our lives and the major relationships we have. Learning that through the Home Study process they are really digging into every area of your life to get to know you more.
The Second Home Study started with going over some questions our case worker had in regards to the question air we did the first visit, to answer any questions that maybe we checked "yes" to. An example to the question I shared from the first Home Study would be "Emily why were you on sleeping pills, and for how long? How did you do with coming off of them?" Questions would continue from there. It didn't feel uncomfortable at all, we trust our case worker, and the ability she has to match us well. Knowing that if we just be ourselves it will give her the best palate to work from.
Then she wanted us to each individually share what a "typical" day looks like in our week, from when we get up, to when we go to bed. Next we shared about a "typical" weekend. Its quite interesting to go through a day in the life of Emily/Matt....thinking about all the things you do, or don't and how you spend your time.
So we have 2 of 4 Home Studies done! Our next one is in a week and a half, they are actually really fun, something we look forward to.
One of the things that had kept us extremely busy this September was the preparations for an Estate Sale. We spent many hours at my parents house going through everything, deciding on what to keep--who gets what, items to sell, what was trash, and what we were donating. I was thankful to have many helping hands along my side to do this. Not only was it a big portion of where our time went this month, but as well as emotions. There were the highs and lows of it, and the joys of walking down memory lane. We were blessed that my father told us any money that is made at the Estate Sale, would go towards the Adoption! Thank you to all of you who came and shopped, supported and donated to help bring baby home! Now that the sale is done, in a way its closing a chapter of my childhood home, but looking ahead, for we're using the funds that will help us create a future childhood of memories for a family of our own.
We had our first Home Study, it went to great! It answered those questions of what actually happens in a Home Study. For the first visit, our case worker didn't even do a "tour" of our home, I was surprised-she said that is for the final visit. Thank goodness I didn't go out of my way to really do some elbow greased cleaning, I figured she should see our home in the real way we live in it. Matt and I each had to fill out a question air filled with questions regarding ourselves, and our family. An example would be "Has been on Sleep Medications", you would then check the boxes with those you know of in your family-self included that have been on sleeping medications, etc. We were to fill them out ourselves and only the caseworker would see them. From then on, it was all about our families and our individual lives growing up. From what was our family life like, relationships with each of our parents, our parents relationship, the relationships with each of our siblings, major life events- how we all responded to it, etc. It was a very in-depth perspective of our lives and the major relationships we have. Learning that through the Home Study process they are really digging into every area of your life to get to know you more.
The Second Home Study started with going over some questions our case worker had in regards to the question air we did the first visit, to answer any questions that maybe we checked "yes" to. An example to the question I shared from the first Home Study would be "Emily why were you on sleeping pills, and for how long? How did you do with coming off of them?" Questions would continue from there. It didn't feel uncomfortable at all, we trust our case worker, and the ability she has to match us well. Knowing that if we just be ourselves it will give her the best palate to work from.
Then she wanted us to each individually share what a "typical" day looks like in our week, from when we get up, to when we go to bed. Next we shared about a "typical" weekend. Its quite interesting to go through a day in the life of Emily/Matt....thinking about all the things you do, or don't and how you spend your time.
So we have 2 of 4 Home Studies done! Our next one is in a week and a half, they are actually really fun, something we look forward to.
One of the things that had kept us extremely busy this September was the preparations for an Estate Sale. We spent many hours at my parents house going through everything, deciding on what to keep--who gets what, items to sell, what was trash, and what we were donating. I was thankful to have many helping hands along my side to do this. Not only was it a big portion of where our time went this month, but as well as emotions. There were the highs and lows of it, and the joys of walking down memory lane. We were blessed that my father told us any money that is made at the Estate Sale, would go towards the Adoption! Thank you to all of you who came and shopped, supported and donated to help bring baby home! Now that the sale is done, in a way its closing a chapter of my childhood home, but looking ahead, for we're using the funds that will help us create a future childhood of memories for a family of our own.
Our sandwhich board
Little welcome area.
Some items for sale.
Laura & Marsha, great helpers!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Australia
This was a poem that was shared from this weekend at our seminar, hope you enjoy!
Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia. You've heard it's a wonderful place. You've read many guidebooks and feel certain you're ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip.
So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you, excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there is no seat for you: You'll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait - and wait - and wait.
Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, "Relax, you'll get on a flight soon." Other people actually get on a plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, "It's not fair!"
After a long time the ticket agent tells you, "I'm sorry, we're not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat."
By boat!" you say, "going by boat will take a very long time and it costs a great deal of money, I really had my heart set on going by plane." So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place, and finally you decide to travel by boat.
It's a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three more times, marveling about each trip.
Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite than you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many fiends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with others who also traveled by sea rather than air.
People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are able to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, "Oh, be glad you didn't fly. My flight was horrible: traveling by sea is so easy."
You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know God blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not in the way you got there, but in the place itself.
It's a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three more times, marveling about each trip.
Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite than you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many fiends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with others who also traveled by sea rather than air.
People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are able to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, "Oh, be glad you didn't fly. My flight was horrible: traveling by sea is so easy."
You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know God blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not in the way you got there, but in the place itself.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Your Lamaze Class = Our Adoption Training Seminars
Before we went to Saturday's Seminar.
We had a weekend full of training's, involving us going up to Portland on Friday for a 2 hour session and Saturday we spent the day in Seattle for an all day Training Seminar.
I will elaborate on Saturdays sessions for Friday was more of an Introduction.
We walked excited yet nervously into a room that had about sixteen other couples, it was quite and all seemed eager to see what we'd be learning. The morning started with meeting one of Bethany Christian Services Lawyers, he was a charming guy with a gentle spirit. He shared many stories of when he was young in his Law days, and how he developed the heart to work with Adoption cases only. He told us you can imagine the abundance of joy that fills the room the day that he is present with a family in court to finalize the Adoption, one of the few times you see Judges come out of retirement to see it happen. He also discussed how each state is different in the process and timing that is allowed for a biological parent to relinquish their rights as parents. The process of finalizing an adoption, how it varies from state to state. He was a wealth full of knowledge, very helpful with all the questions we had.
Home Studies are required, we will have 4 visits with our Case Worker. We don't fully know all what will take place, yes she will look at our home, but its so much more then that. There will be a series of "interviewing"-a process in which she can get to know "us" and therefore hopefully match us as best as she can. We have our first one next week! Please be praying!
Our favorite part, yet also heart wrenching was the Birth Mother Panel. There were five different women who came and shared with us their story, each one different, but in the end all were grateful for the decision of giving their baby up for adoption. My heart broke at moments, but was also so encouraged and excited at many times. The moms said some of the things that bless them are being open and honest upon meeting the birth mother. Once you are chosen to have good communication, that they want to know that they are making the right choice in choosing you, they shared that them as the birth mothers have the same fears we are facing. It was so eye-opening in a sense, to really sit there and realize that they are giving you the baby growing inside of them, because they know that in the end what is "best for the baby'.
They discussed Transracial Adoption, the issues that can arise and how we in America still face racism. How when you adopt a baby that is not of your race that you have to really embrace that culture and make it apart of your lives, for you are now a multi-cultural family. The examples of the color of skin of the dolls, action figures, books, magazines you have in your home, not just be the color of your skin. It was really good to hear those facts of information, the advice we were given and how to make it apart of your lives.
Another highlight was when the Adopted Family Panel came to share their stories. There were three different families and each had a wonderful story of their adoption process. Each stated that "openness" is different for each family and can change overtime, all had positive experience with it. They shared about their first visits with the birth mothers, how to be yourself and sensitive to them and their family members. It was encouraged to start "nesting" when you are in the "waiting" portion of the adoption, this is when your home study is completed and approved! This was exciting for me, and good to hear. I didn't know when/if you set up a nursery prior to having your baby. They said to have a registry prepared, so that once you have the baby you are already set with that portion and not have to worry about it. Meaning its encouraged to have a baby shower after you have the baby home.
We were reminded in the end no matter how long it takes to be placed with a child, God is writing our story, that he has the perfect baby out there for us. To not get discouraged remaining faithful in prayer for the future birth mother and our future baby.
Thank you again for all the prayer and support!
Emily