Transformation

Today is a big day because the appraiser is coming to evaluate the home for the bank!  We have busted our buns the past 14 months, and I hope and pray all the sweat, sore muscles, tears, and busyness end up paying off in a big way!!  When we purchased the home over a year ago we did owner finance because no bank would have given us a home loan in the state it was.  It was nice because our monthly house payment was a little over $300/month.  We were able to use the extra cash to go towards A's foster family.  We had equity in our old home to use towards fixing this one up.  Plus we ended up borrowing some from Zac's retirement because, of course, the reno cost more than we thought.  I don't know how Chip and Jo can flip a house so cheap!  :) Once we refinance through the bank we will be able to pay back the retirement money, pay off our van, and pay for the last of the adoption when we go to pick her up.  We are hoping that we get enough equity to get a new fireplace insert, re-gravel the treacherous driveway, and possibly buy a couple more acres from the neighbor who bought up the rest of the property.  (The house originally had 11 acres with it but we only bought about 4 acres and the neighbor bought the rest).

I've got to say this house was a true labor of love from our church family!  We would still be living in chaos if it weren't for the MANY people who helped us!  I thought I'd share some of the pictures I took yesterday and today of the house.  I included a before picture as well.  The old pictures were when we first looked at the house last April.  We didn't actually close on the house till July, but thankfully the owner let us start working on it during the two months before we closed.  We still have some small stuff to finish up like closet doors, painting baseboards (why won't that job ever end!), and a new basement door, but for the most part we are done.  Hallelujah we survived a reno!!

I bought some used picket fence from two different people on craigslist.  We still need to strip and repaint them.  I will post more outside pictures in our next post.

 Coming into the front door

Oops still haven't done the touch up paint on the screen door from when we switched the henges.

 

2nd bedroom which will be A's room

 

Living Room

Formal Dining room



Kitchen

This room had a lot of rot and water damage so it had to be completely gutted.  We were able to keep the upper cabinets though.

We were able to get our stove for free and our microwave used.  Then we got laminate counter tops for wholesale price. 

We couldn't remove the table legs because they were built into the floor so we added a new top.

Main Floor Bathroom

This was a total gut.  The floor had completely rotted out and all the walls had water damage.

Mudroom/Laundry Room

This room was just nasty and mildew with  mouse poop everywhere.  Yuck!

This is seriously one of my favorite rooms in the house!

 

Master Bedroom

We had to downsize quite a bit to fit into this small master, but really we hardly notice how small it is.

 

The window room recently broke so we have it taped for now.  :/

 

 

Basement (Boy's room, toy room, and bathroom)

Another nasty area complete with a dead squirrel along with his nest and poop. 

 

 

 

 

Basement Bathroom

The sink used to be out in the main room so we built a little wall around it to enclose it.

Toilet is around the corner behind the door.

 

 



We tried to do everything as cheaply as possible and still look nice.  I scoured craigslist, closeouts, sales etc. for stuff we could use.  All our tile was from craigslist and my sister; carpet in the master was given to us; most of the light fixtures were given to us.  I did a majority of the mudding drywall (don't look close) and painting as well as other random jobs.  Zac worked nonstop.  He would come home from his day job and work most evenings on the house.  Thankfully we have a lot of knowledgeable friends that helped him out - engineer, restoration owner, electrician, HVAC guy, and carpenter.  Not to mention all the people who helped demo, clear out crap, clean up, paint, and volunteer to watch our kiddos.  We love and appreciate you all soo much!!  I honestly don't know how people afford a general contractor to renovate a house.  It would have cost us a fortune to do that.  As it is we are flat broke (come on appraisal!), but once our adoption is done I can't wait to go to some of the neat antique stores and buy some finishing touches.  I am literally worn out from the past year, but thankfully we have a beautiful home on 4 acres.  We are ready to enjoy it now!

Time with our Congolese cutie!

I started this blog post about our trip several weeks ago, and just haven't gotten around to finishing it.  Who knew living through a complete reno would make life insane (still not finished but its comfortable).  I have to tell myself it's just a season...or in our case 4 seasons.  Anyway with today's great news I vowed to finally finish it!  Which if you haven't heard their was an announcement on the tv in Kinshasa that they would let all the children who have completed court finally go home.

The events leading up to my trip to Africa and the trip itself where frustrating in so many ways.  It is a LONG story that I won't go into here, but we found out right before the trip I wouldn't be able to file her immigration papers in country again.  This time the issues were with US immigration.  EVERY fluke thing that could happen with our case has happened.  I will give one example.  We needed to renew our fingerprints before I could file over there.  So we went to the immigration office in fort smith where everyone does this-1.5 hrs away.  We walked in early - everyone has previously been able to without any problems for several years- because our actual appointment would be while I was in Africa.  We go and it turns out that they are swamped that day.  They said come back tomorrow afternoon, and we should be able to fit you in.  So we go again the next day.  When we get there they pulled us aside to talk to us.  Turns out they had just received an official notice from the headquarters that they (all offices around the country) are no longer able to do walk-ins.  They felt horrible for us...especially when I burst into tears.  I can't even tell you how many freak things like this have happened!!

I have asked myself why is it that we have had so many setbacks?  Is God trying to tell us something?  What I have decided is that maybe God is allowing these setbacks to happen to protect us from ourselves.  There have been several families (as in supposedly hundreds) that have snuck their children out.  It has been over a year and a half since the suspension started and families are desperate to get their kids home.  Some of these kids have had a US visa for 2 years now and all that stands in the way is an exit letter (permission from government to leave the country).  I had no intention of doing that (can't speak for Zac ;o) ), but I wonder if God knows that the temptation may have been too great to try and sneak her home therefore, we are hitting every road block imaginable to get her US visa.  (Once she has that US will accept her even though she has been snuck out of the DRC).
Despite our frustrations God has made it very clear that he is still working.  Some pretty cool things happened.  Turns out there was a different purpose for my trip.  When I got there A was only 17 lbs (at 22 months).  She was very sick and underweight.  It can only be described as divine intervention that we got her set up with a new family that has been wonderful.  I'll explain...

This swim suit is 12 months and we couldn't keep the bottoms from falling off her!

Before the trip I texted an adoptive parent friend whose child is still over there if she would like me to take some things to her daughter.  She said yes and also asked if I could take a couple things over to the missionaries her daughter is staying with.  The day after A is dropped off to stay with us the missionary lady, we will call her Jan, came by to pick up the items.  She saw how sickly A was and said we should take her to the doctor.  She checked on us the next day.  When I told her what the doctor said -one being that she was very malnourished- Jan said that she knew another family that could take her in if we wanted.  Needless to say we did move her, and it was the best decision!  We have been able to Skype, talk on the phone, and more importantly A is getting the care she needs.  Plus the monthly foster care fee is quite a bit less because I'm paying the family direct (instead of my paying our lawyer and having him take his cut before paying the family).  She gained about 10 lbs in about 2 months.  All this came about because God put it in my heart to ask this family to take some items to their daughter.  Not to mention what a blessing Jan has been to help us and so many other families get set up with good foster care families.  I will say that I do believe A was loved by her old foster family, and on my last trip she was healthy and a decent weight.  But some things had changed over the past year with that family that caused a decline in A's health, and we couldn't keep her there.  I was thankful that I was able to visit with her in depth my last day there.
I am so thankful though because she got strongly attached to me again on this trip.  She knew I was mama and was content to have me hold her all day long if I could!  You would think she would prefer to go to women who speak and look like her, but she didn't!  We spent much of our time either bonding ourselves or acclimating A to her new foster family...since she does not like new people.  I pray that she will remember our bond until we go back and pick her up.

Here we are with the missionary and the new family she will be staying with.  The mama is on the floor and then her youngest of 4 children is sitting in the chair.  A's expression cracks me up!  She's saying with her eyes...don't make me play with them!  She eventually warmed up to them and is now currently being spoiled rotten.  ;) 

I did get to meet with the private investigator who was investigating our case.  It gave us peace to know that A's birth story has been verified and that she truly needs a forever family.  They found even more information to share with her than we previously knew. 
We have heard word from the US embassy in Kinshasa that the government has decided he will start letting these kids come home.  Right now they are having meetings to look over all the cases and come up with some kind of order and system to get them home.  There are 15 countries who have adopted from the DRC and about 1300 children who are waiting to go to their new families.  We are hopeful that kids will start coming home this summer, but no specific timeline has been given.  There is a big cultural difference in time here vs African time.  Update from today: the suspension hasn't officially ended because they are not allowing new adoptions to begin.  They are just going to let those who are through court come home.  Rumor has it that the first wave of kids will come home in the next week or two.
I am missing that girl something fierce but it is reassuring to know she is in good care!  We got to Skype with A for 30 minutes early this morning, and they told us some funny stories about her.  She is a big talker!  You can tell they love having her around.  One thing that cracked me up was every time Mama Charlotte leaves the house A will call out to her "When you come back bring me bananas, candies, and mangos!"  Also every single day when she wakes up she will walk into each person's room and bid them good morning (Bonjour Mama, Bonjour Papa, etc).  We sent her a recordable photo album with pictures of all of us and each of us saying different things on each page.  Apparently she has listened to it so much that she has it memorized!  She will quote the whole book by herself from memory.  Right now we anxiously await for the first wave of kids that get to come home because then I will know it is finally really going to happen! 

Congolese breakfast of champs.  Most hotels just give you toast but here they give the adults eggs and 3 or 4 pieces of white bread every morning.  I did not expect the abundance of white bread in Africa!!  Pretty sure I came back heavier.

They did not provide a complementary breakfast for A so she shared with us plus I had brought a lot of food from home.  Well she would throw quite a fit when she got finished with her half of the eggs, and I wouldn't give her mine!  She wanted all mine and Britt's!  :)  We learned to scarf our eggs down before she got done with hers.  I had heard and read that a lot of adoptive children experience food issues because they have grown up food deprived.  It was true for us.  Just about the only fits she had were over food or because she wanted me to carry her instead of walk.  Thankfully the new foster family is able to work through a lot of the food issues since obviously there is no language barrier for them. 

 

Sweet girl is so full of life, spirit, and joy!

 

 

Painting our nails together!