Every step in this process is a big deal, but this step is like a giant leap! There is no exact address for Good Samaritan, so it has been difficult to find individuals to help us check on Ooley without being able to send them to the right place. Today we got a very good description of the exact location of Good Samaritan. This has been a vital piece for us in our process of having someone check on Ooley for us soon!
The even more amazing part is that we got word today that Ooley is definitely legally adoptable! We have been told that Madam Lucine who runs the Good Samaritan where Ooley lives has all the needed documents to allow Ooley to be adopted. The next important step is for Madam Lucine to release her rights and allow us to have Ooley's documents and move him to another orphanage. This convincing will require face to face meetings where deals and money or compensation will be necessary as well. Again, we will do whatever it takes to bring our son home!
Contacts are being made at Mission of Hope and we are hoping to hear more good news soon! JR, the children's pastor at MOH, knows Madam Lucine very well and is being contacted to see if he will be able to help us in dealing with her. His help would be great! Daniel will be returning to Haiti as soon as arrangements can be made to get some things moving and meet with Madam Lucine. Although we would both like to return, it would require twice as much funding for two people and we would like to use our funds wisely in this adoption process. We are so appreciative of our contacts with Mission of Hope, and are confident that Daniel will be in the best company and safe while traveling and in Haiti. Daniel's trip will hopefully be able to be coordinated with Otis from Mission of Hope who has been an amazing help in our process. If you know Otis, please tell him that you are a part of our support in bringing Ooley home, and take time to show him your apprecitation for helping us. :)
We will keep you posted with every bit of info we get. Please believe with us for all the details to be worked out in God's perfect way and timing. We are believing that Madem Lucine's heart is being softened and that she will be very easy to deal with. We are believing that Ooley is and will remain safe and healthy through the cholera outbreak and any other illness that may be a threat. We are believing for favor with contacts, organizations, and government officials needed to help this process. And we are believing for peace in our lives as we have an eager longing to bring Ooley home from Haiti!
Celebrate with us in every step! Now is a great time for a happy dance, a belly laugh, and absolutely a big THANK YOU GOD!
Each of you who are following our process are a huge part too. Thanks for your prayers and support! Keep it going, things are happening and God is Good!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Cholera Panic Overshadowed by God's Peace
The cholera outbreak in Haiti sent us into a little panic. The thought that your child is in a place where they could be exposed to a life threatening illness is horrifying. The thought that you can't do anything to help them is even worse. These moments of panic have been foreshadowed by the knowledge that God holds Ooley in His hands and a lot of people are praying for him.
With cholera claiming lives rapidly, it is vital to pray for Ooley's safety as well as all the Haitian people. Please continue to pray for lives to be saved and this outbreak to come to an end. This could have been prevented with clean water. We have got to do something to get Haiti clean water! It's so upsetting to know that people are losing their lives by drinking water and trying to survive. The very thing they think is hydrating them is killing them.... this is not ok. Aid is there and more is on the way to help the Haitian people with this illness. More manpower is needed to get the treatments to those who need it. If you could help with medical aid, I suggest that you contact an organization such as Mission of Hope and travel to help as soon as possible. You will not regret helping the Haitian people.
With the initial panic of the cholera outbreak came a begging for contacts to check on Ooley. We were given the info for Bobby, a friend of our contact through Mission of Hope who could help us check on Ooley on a regular basis. We have also been told that our contact is waiting to here from someone about helping us gather documents. Yes, more waiting and waiting and waiting...
We will be purchasing an international calling card asap and contacting Bobby to work out the details of Ooley's welfare checks. We would like him to be able to take pictures of Ooley and send us updates at least once a week. This will require a monthly wired payment for Bobby and Internet access which can be hard to find. I'm sure God has all those details already worked out, and we are excited to see something being done!
Knowing Ooley is safe will be a great relief, but it is still important to get him moved to another facility as quick as we can. Slow steps, but steps none the less. We are grateful for every bit of info we acquire and will not take for granted the little things that get us an inch closer to getting Ooley home!
Daniel is planning to try to return to Haiti in December or January to have some meetings and get some things done that require leg work. Please pray for the resources needed and all the right doors to be opened to allow this trip to be successful and safe.
So begins the travel and financial requirements. We are expecting things to move at a speed only God can make happen! We are expecting this process to be so smooth that it will be obvious that it's God! Please join us in believing for God to open doors and supply resources. We appreciate each of you for your prayers and support. Donations can be made to the "Amber & Daniel Johnson adoption fund" at any Communication Federal Credit Union location.
With the initial panic of the cholera outbreak came a begging for contacts to check on Ooley. We were given the info for Bobby, a friend of our contact through Mission of Hope who could help us check on Ooley on a regular basis. We have also been told that our contact is waiting to here from someone about helping us gather documents. Yes, more waiting and waiting and waiting...
We will be purchasing an international calling card asap and contacting Bobby to work out the details of Ooley's welfare checks. We would like him to be able to take pictures of Ooley and send us updates at least once a week. This will require a monthly wired payment for Bobby and Internet access which can be hard to find. I'm sure God has all those details already worked out, and we are excited to see something being done!
Knowing Ooley is safe will be a great relief, but it is still important to get him moved to another facility as quick as we can. Slow steps, but steps none the less. We are grateful for every bit of info we acquire and will not take for granted the little things that get us an inch closer to getting Ooley home!
Daniel is planning to try to return to Haiti in December or January to have some meetings and get some things done that require leg work. Please pray for the resources needed and all the right doors to be opened to allow this trip to be successful and safe.
So begins the travel and financial requirements. We are expecting things to move at a speed only God can make happen! We are expecting this process to be so smooth that it will be obvious that it's God! Please join us in believing for God to open doors and supply resources. We appreciate each of you for your prayers and support. Donations can be made to the "Amber & Daniel Johnson adoption fund" at any Communication Federal Credit Union location.
If you haven't already confirmed your attendance for the
Bring Ooley Home From Haiti Dinner & Live Auction
you can do so via Facebook or
email amber@salonendeavor.com .
We look forward to seeing you there!
Monday, October 18, 2010
At a turtle pace and wanting to run!
(Amber's thoughts)
Sometimes I have to remind myself that slow and steady wins the race. But this is not one of those times that I feel slow and steady will benefit anything at all. I would prefer the be the rabbit in this case instead of the turtle, but if the turtle and the hare story is really life applicable that would only set us up for losing. And we aren't going to lose in this situation!
Waiting on other people to see the urgency in our situation and help us isn't easy. I guess we can't expect someone else to really have the same passion as we do when it's not their child they are helping. Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of people really do care. It's just that no one has that same longing in them for this child. Even our connections have begun to tell me that it just may not be possible, but again it's not the same passion driving them.
Do I really have to keep reminding people how big our God is? I mean come on, the governments do have a say so, but our God is much bigger than even them. I am sticking to my guns that nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING is impossible for God. No paperwork, no age limitations, no government, no language barrier, NOTHING is greater than my God! And it's this faith that keeps us driving forward without doubt.
When God opens doors, no man can close them. So, bring it negative opinions, you don't stand a chance!
Our situation isn't nearly as simple as just going through an agency and letting them place a child with us. Ooley is not in the normal "easy" situation here, but that doesn't mean that this can't become easy. Things can change in any minute. All it takes is the right person to say yes and really be able to help us get the documents needed. With 1 yes, the 99 no's will mean absolutely nothing!
So, we'll hold tight to God's promise and the longing in our hearts. Tears are more frequent with the slow pace at which things are moving. But just like those 99 no's won't matter later, these tears will hold no relevance when we are able to hold Ooley in our arms. It's a journey that is intense and we are still moving forward. Slow as the turtle we seem to be traveling along, waiting for the right people at the right places to move this along to where we can actually see results. And slow as a turtle we will continue to move until God speeds things up. Because we aren't going to grow weary and quit, Ooley is waiting on us too!
If anyone has any ideas that could help our situation, please contact us at amber@salonendeavor.com and we'll explore our options. If anyone has any connections with government officials that could have a voice, that would be great as well.
Sometimes I have to remind myself that slow and steady wins the race. But this is not one of those times that I feel slow and steady will benefit anything at all. I would prefer the be the rabbit in this case instead of the turtle, but if the turtle and the hare story is really life applicable that would only set us up for losing. And we aren't going to lose in this situation!
Waiting on other people to see the urgency in our situation and help us isn't easy. I guess we can't expect someone else to really have the same passion as we do when it's not their child they are helping. Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of people really do care. It's just that no one has that same longing in them for this child. Even our connections have begun to tell me that it just may not be possible, but again it's not the same passion driving them.
Do I really have to keep reminding people how big our God is? I mean come on, the governments do have a say so, but our God is much bigger than even them. I am sticking to my guns that nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING is impossible for God. No paperwork, no age limitations, no government, no language barrier, NOTHING is greater than my God! And it's this faith that keeps us driving forward without doubt.
When God opens doors, no man can close them. So, bring it negative opinions, you don't stand a chance!
Our situation isn't nearly as simple as just going through an agency and letting them place a child with us. Ooley is not in the normal "easy" situation here, but that doesn't mean that this can't become easy. Things can change in any minute. All it takes is the right person to say yes and really be able to help us get the documents needed. With 1 yes, the 99 no's will mean absolutely nothing!
So, we'll hold tight to God's promise and the longing in our hearts. Tears are more frequent with the slow pace at which things are moving. But just like those 99 no's won't matter later, these tears will hold no relevance when we are able to hold Ooley in our arms. It's a journey that is intense and we are still moving forward. Slow as the turtle we seem to be traveling along, waiting for the right people at the right places to move this along to where we can actually see results. And slow as a turtle we will continue to move until God speeds things up. Because we aren't going to grow weary and quit, Ooley is waiting on us too!
If anyone has any ideas that could help our situation, please contact us at amber@salonendeavor.com and we'll explore our options. If anyone has any connections with government officials that could have a voice, that would be great as well.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Bring Ooley Home Fundraiser is in the works!
Gathering things for our live auction and gathering people to help out with the event. Asking people for donations definitely tops the list of the least favorite things to do. But it's gotta be done to be able to raise the funds to continue the process to bring Ooley home, so we are still doing it.
We've gotten a few vendors to set up that night and some really great items for the auction so far! We'll have homemade pies, home decor, specialty gifts, sports memorabilia, and SO much more! Another important part of this whole process is YOU! We want YOU to come to our event and enjoy a fun night of fellowship and empty your pockets....I mean, buy some great items just in time for Christmas ;)
Please mark your calenders for the evening of Saturday, November 20th.
If you are interested in helping in any way or know of some great auction item ideas, please contact Amber asap at amber@salonendeavor.com .
Look forward to having you be a part!
We've gotten a few vendors to set up that night and some really great items for the auction so far! We'll have homemade pies, home decor, specialty gifts, sports memorabilia, and SO much more! Another important part of this whole process is YOU! We want YOU to come to our event and enjoy a fun night of fellowship and empty your pockets....I mean, buy some great items just in time for Christmas ;)
Please mark your calenders for the evening of Saturday, November 20th.
If you are interested in helping in any way or know of some great auction item ideas, please contact Amber asap at amber@salonendeavor.com .
Look forward to having you be a part!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
A crack in the closed door!
I spoke with a lady named Chareyl from Wasatch International Adoptions (www.wiaa.org) on the phone today about our situation. There is no way around it, paperwork is necessary. Legal documents may not always be easy to acquire, but we must acquire them somehow. Once we have gotten the necessary legal documents we will be able to contact Chareyl again. She can't "promise" that an orphanage would take Ooley in, but she is pretty confident that she can find an honest reputable place to care for him.
We also just got contacted by our contact with Mission of Hope saying he has sent an email to ask for names of organizations that they recommend to work with. We hope to hear something soon.
First things first is finding a source to help us get the paperwork. We have put our needs in the ears of our contact from Mission of Hope and are hoping to get in contact with the right person to be able to get these papers for us...... and believing that they won't take our arm and leg in the process.
So, it may not seem like more information, but it is! It's a crack in the closed door and we are excited about any movement in the process. We believe that once the door is opening more that things will move quickly and with ease.
Please pray for the director of the orphanage Ooley is in to begin to have a soft heart and open to releasing Ooley. And please pray that we can get the documents needed quickly so we can move forward in getting him to a new place!
We'll let you know more info as soon as we get it!
Don't forget to mark your calenders for the evening of November 20th for our dinner and live auction. And if you are interested in donating items, helping us gather items, helping that day, or helping in any way, please contact amber@salonendeavor.com .
We also just got contacted by our contact with Mission of Hope saying he has sent an email to ask for names of organizations that they recommend to work with. We hope to hear something soon.
First things first is finding a source to help us get the paperwork. We have put our needs in the ears of our contact from Mission of Hope and are hoping to get in contact with the right person to be able to get these papers for us...... and believing that they won't take our arm and leg in the process.
So, it may not seem like more information, but it is! It's a crack in the closed door and we are excited about any movement in the process. We believe that once the door is opening more that things will move quickly and with ease.
Please pray for the director of the orphanage Ooley is in to begin to have a soft heart and open to releasing Ooley. And please pray that we can get the documents needed quickly so we can move forward in getting him to a new place!
We'll let you know more info as soon as we get it!
Don't forget to mark your calenders for the evening of November 20th for our dinner and live auction. And if you are interested in donating items, helping us gather items, helping that day, or helping in any way, please contact amber@salonendeavor.com .
Monday, September 27, 2010
New Blog- Bring Ooley Home
Welcome to the our new blog designed specifically to keep you informed about our adoption process with Ooley! If you haven't been keeping up, you can check out Amber's blog at http://www.skepticaltrust.blogspot.com/ for all the previous blogs. Since we can't copy and paste them from there to here. But here's a little mini run down of what brought us to where we are today.
We went to Haiti and worked with Mission of Hope which is a great organization that you should look into! While there we visited another local orphanage and encountered a little boy approximately 18months old named Ooley. He wasn't in good health and we helped get him to a clinic for treatment. In our short time with this child, we discovered that he is our son. There's no explaining that feeling, it's a knowing more than just a feeling. With little to no interaction with him since he slept most of the time, we didn't and still don't know many details about him. But when God bonds hearts together, we know that He has does so for a reason.
We are now in the process of adopting Ooley. It has not been a fast or easy process, we've had little help gathering information and been told by many organizations that they can't help us. So here we are, knowing our son is in Haiti and trying to figure out how to get him here. We are still contacting numerous organizations and believing that one will help us soon. Ooley is in a place that cannot adopt so the first step is getting the lady who runs that place to release her rights and let us move him elsewhere. Along with that, we must find his parents or a relative to sign over their rights as well. Then we will be able to move to the next step in the adoption process.
Haiti has some requirements in their adoption laws that we don't meet. One of them being that at least one of the adopting parents must be 35 years or older. We are both about to turn 3o. Another is that we must be married a minimum of 10 years, but we will hit our 10 year in March of 2011 so that shouldn't be too hard to get cleared. For us to be able to adopt being under 35, we must get a Presidential waiver from the President of Haiti. There is a new president coming into office in October and we are believing for him to make choices that will give us favor in our adoption!
We must travel back to Haiti to be able to meet with the right people to get Ooley moved to another place. Flights are not cheap, running about $800 round trip for one person. So we have opened the "Amber and Daniel Johnson Adoption Fund" and donations can be made at all Communication Federal Credit Union locations. We have been putting money into that fund as we can afford and have been blessed to have some friends and family make some contributions as well.
We are planning a dinner and live auction fundraiser event to be held the evening of November 11th, 2010 at Crossroads Church. We are looking for items for our auction as well as local or individual business vendors to set up that night and donate a portion of their sales. We will be needing help to prepare for the event and clean up after it as well and will be putting together groups of people who are interested.
If you are interested in helping in any way or have some contacts for donations, or contacts that could help our adoption process, please email Amber at amber@salonendeavor.com and we'll be in touch soon!
Thanks for your support through our process! Please continue to pray that God will open doors and grant us favor with all right people. And please pray for Ooley to be healthy and safe!
We love you all so much!
We went to Haiti and worked with Mission of Hope which is a great organization that you should look into! While there we visited another local orphanage and encountered a little boy approximately 18months old named Ooley. He wasn't in good health and we helped get him to a clinic for treatment. In our short time with this child, we discovered that he is our son. There's no explaining that feeling, it's a knowing more than just a feeling. With little to no interaction with him since he slept most of the time, we didn't and still don't know many details about him. But when God bonds hearts together, we know that He has does so for a reason.
We are now in the process of adopting Ooley. It has not been a fast or easy process, we've had little help gathering information and been told by many organizations that they can't help us. So here we are, knowing our son is in Haiti and trying to figure out how to get him here. We are still contacting numerous organizations and believing that one will help us soon. Ooley is in a place that cannot adopt so the first step is getting the lady who runs that place to release her rights and let us move him elsewhere. Along with that, we must find his parents or a relative to sign over their rights as well. Then we will be able to move to the next step in the adoption process.
Haiti has some requirements in their adoption laws that we don't meet. One of them being that at least one of the adopting parents must be 35 years or older. We are both about to turn 3o. Another is that we must be married a minimum of 10 years, but we will hit our 10 year in March of 2011 so that shouldn't be too hard to get cleared. For us to be able to adopt being under 35, we must get a Presidential waiver from the President of Haiti. There is a new president coming into office in October and we are believing for him to make choices that will give us favor in our adoption!
We must travel back to Haiti to be able to meet with the right people to get Ooley moved to another place. Flights are not cheap, running about $800 round trip for one person. So we have opened the "Amber and Daniel Johnson Adoption Fund" and donations can be made at all Communication Federal Credit Union locations. We have been putting money into that fund as we can afford and have been blessed to have some friends and family make some contributions as well.
We are planning a dinner and live auction fundraiser event to be held the evening of November 11th, 2010 at Crossroads Church. We are looking for items for our auction as well as local or individual business vendors to set up that night and donate a portion of their sales. We will be needing help to prepare for the event and clean up after it as well and will be putting together groups of people who are interested.
If you are interested in helping in any way or have some contacts for donations, or contacts that could help our adoption process, please email Amber at amber@salonendeavor.com and we'll be in touch soon!
Thanks for your support through our process! Please continue to pray that God will open doors and grant us favor with all right people. And please pray for Ooley to be healthy and safe!
We love you all so much!
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