When your two youngest start preschool.....whats a mom to do?? Well..ADOPT of course :)

So many people have asked what are you going to do when the boys start school in the fall?  They will go to Wee Can from 9am-2pm.  Well, I could answer do laundry, clean the bathroom, get dinner prepared...CRY???  But my common answer with a chuckle is "adopt another child of course" :)  We were contacted today about an adoption situation for a little boy being born in September/October.  He has a heart condition ( Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome) that will require heart surgery when he is born and quite possible several months or years later. He may even at some point need a transplant.  We do however serve a God of miracles and healing!!  We are praying for him to be completely healed!!  Will you pray that with us?

We were asked to consider submitting our profile to the attorney that is working with the birth mom, quickly as if she didn't find a family she was going to go with an agency. I said I was at urgent care and I would send it as soon as I got home..(after talking to my shocked husband and really feeling God nudge us forward ).  Within an hour we got another email saying the birth mom decided to switch attorneys and they didn't know who that attorney was.  The adoption consultant said "hey we just pray and if this little boy is meant to be your son, he will be" .  A short time went by and I got an email that said "you are never going to believe this, can I call you"?  Seeing I was a little preoccupied she called David and said well, we called several attorneys and found the attorney that is working with this sweet birth mom.  What?  Wow?  No...God.  See His ways and timing are not ours!!!  But the story is just beginning....

The attorney working with our birth mom is a beautiful Christen woman who lost a son 14 years ago to the same condition this sweet baby boy has.  She has agreed to take on the case pro-bono.  This takes our fees from 21,000 to about 10,000!!  Huge blessing.  We have seen Gods hand move in mighty ways today. 

We will be having auctions, garage sales and other fundraisers along the way.  Our first hurtle is to raise $1400 by Friday.  We have to have our home study amended, as well as pay some fees.  

We are so stinkin'  excited on this road God is taking us down.  Will you join us?  Mostly in prayer but also if you feel led financially?  We are still paying some fees to the boys attorney but we know this is of God.  Our paypal link is in the upper left hand corner if you feel led to just give.  If you want to donate something to an auction that would be awesome too. We are also holding a 50/50 raffle so if you decide to go that route it is $5 ticket and just put that in the paypal message :)  We know that God has great plans for our family and for this sweet little boy!! WAHOOOOOOOO  my heart is soaring!!!!  

So in September instead of sitting around and eating bon bons and napping...err...i mean cleaning and doing laundry, I will have sweet lips to kiss and more diapers to change and songs to sing to this sweet little boy...Our newest son!!!!  Thank you to all of those of you who have blessed and continue to bless our family.  We couldn't do this without all of you.  Adoption takes a village.  We aren't all called to adopt but we are called to help those that are.  We are BLESSED!!!!

Being Real....in the Pink...

Ever been called someplace you weren't sure you wanted to go?  David and I were presented with the opportunity to adopt a sweet little girl "T" over 6 months ago.  I was led to her from a post on no other than Facebook, where we found our sweet Eli.  I started speaking with her foster mom and very quickly fell in love with this sweet girl.  The questions swirled, are we crazy? Three special needs kiddos under 3 years of age.  As I got to "know T" better we saw even more evidence that DS has so many levels of ability.  She can walk, talk, feed herself.  All things our boys don't do.  Bringing her into our family can be so beneficial for our boys as an example.  Among the questions, the what ifs I have spoken with and prayed with first and foremost my husband, but women of God that I admire and respect that have reminded me that we do this for God, when we feel called, we GO.  But what will others think?  Will they think we want her because we are a house filled with testosterone?  Will they think we are crazy?  So many more questions of what will people think.  Well, so many have said..Kristen "What does God think"?

We have said, yes, we have said no, we have said maybe.  We have said maybe we will foster her first, help her find her forever family here.  We have thrown out every scenario  you can think of.  In fact, David knew before I that this is where we would be today....knowing she is to come home and be a part of our family.  Just yesterday in Bible Study a sweet friend prayed for wisdom and discernment. God spoke very clearly last night during prayer time with my sweet husband.

So....this is where we are at.  We need to move.  Being a child almost three and a different gender (have i mentioned tights and bows and PINK??) she has to have her own room.  There is also the possibility that we will adopt "T" biological sister that is six years old and "typically developing".  More on that later.  Right now we need to raise approx $1500 by Sunday to secure new housing.  That is a lot of money friends, but not to God.

We truly believe that we are not all called to adopt but we are all called to to help orphans and widows. Just because "t" doesn't live in another country makes her no less of an orphan (Thought let me tell you, we are beyond blessed with the house she has been raised in up to the point she comes home)  Will you help?  Our donate button is at the top left.  I know this is our third adoption that we have asked for help with.  The reality is that we can afford to have her in our house, we can't afford the upfront costs to get her here.

We love each of you and ask that you pray for our family as we make this transition.  Thank you for walking this journey with us!!

Finalization...

To update all of you....wow, what a journey!!  We continue to be amazed by our boys and the fact that God loved us enough to choose us to be their mommy and daddy!!  They are army crawling now and sitting up for the most part :)

Eli says mama and dada ..okay, okay...mostly dada but every once in a while that mmmm slips out :)  He is still working hard at learning to eat and is trying new things all the time.

Gabe says mama and dada and babbles a lot!!  He is such a happy baby and has the most contagious laugh!!!  He brings us so much joy....even at 3 am!!

We were able to finish paying for Elijahs adoption in November which allowed us to finalize him December 10.  He is "officially" a Coffee...though he always has been to us.

We are working hard at getting Gabe finalized  :)  We have said we were going to keep fundraising for the last few months but put it off knowing we were supposed to get a subsidy from California that the payment would allow us to pay the adoption agency and attorney.  This has dragged on when the money from that is coming so we are going to fundraise again :)  I know so many question helping others fund an adoption so I am going to add this hear...it was posted by a friend of a friend and is so well said....

Well said!! Helping to fund an adoption..

FAR to often I hear from clueless and pitifully ignorant people (Christian people, I might add)...." If people can't afford what it costs to adopt, they shouldn't adopt." We were crushed one time by a person that was very close to us..."How come when YOU hear from God it costs ME money?" Usually I am too upset to respond with adequate words..... I
When a family seeks help in raising funds for an adoption, it's not like asking people to pitch in toward a new boat, or help pay for a vacation. What they are doing is committing to heal, with God's help, a child who has suffered the profound damage of being unwanted and unloved. They are obediently living out the command given in James 1:27 to care for the orphan, clothing the gospel of Christ's redemption in flesh and blood and now. When they ask for the body of Christ to come alongside them financially and prayerfully, they are giving us the opportunity to be a part of the miracles God works through obedience.

We need to raise a little over $6000.00 by the mid to end of Feb at the latest to keep from having to start our homestudy process over.  That would be a whole another expense.  We know God called us to adopt these precious boys and we know that He too will provide the needed funds to complete what He started.  We have a donate button at the top of our page where you can donate to help us finalize our precious Gabe.  Every little bit helps, even if you just give up a coffee for a day!!!

Last, we were asked to do a story with our local news...HOW FUN!!!  Here is the link for you to see our interview :)

http://www.wgrz.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=2009270173001

Thank you all and God Bless....we will update this every few days so people know where were are with our fundraising :)

David, Kristen, Caleb, Elijah and Gabriel :)

Where we have been and where we are now :)

Wow!!  It has been such a long time since I updated this page.  All our boys are doing amazing.  Caleb is enjoying his summer and is the most amazing big brother!! Elijah is close to TWENTY pounds!! He is thriving and doing well with therapy, though he cries the whole time :(  He is able to sit up by himself for a very short period of time.  He continues to have that most amazing smile that lights up a room and also continues to inspire people everywhere.  Gabriel is such a happy baby.  Smiles and laughs all the time.  Gabe seems to be meeting milestones on time and is doing great.  Our life is amazing and we wouldn't change a thing.

We have been amazed at how God continues to use our boys.  We met a woman working at Target and were able to talk with her about our adoption and not only a month later she was holding her beautiful daughter Sofia (who has been blessed with ds) in her arms.  Thank you Jesus for letting us be a vessel to that adoption.

We got word this week that we are going to be able to finalize in August.  Exciting right???  Yes, very but yet so very scary.  We were also told that our attorney fees will be more than double what we thought.  So now we are still almost 11,000 yes you read that right away from finalizing both boys.

Unfortunately Elijahs dad "denied" him and we had to get a private investigator , a person to serve him with papers and then ultimately the court to terminate his rights as Elijahs birth dad.

If we don't finalize in August we have to start over with post placement home visits which we have at this point finished. This would obviously cost us a lot more money.

Of one thing we are confident...God started this and He will complete it.  We are going to have a garage sale the last weekend in July.  If you have anything that you would be willing to donate we would greatly appreciate it.  We can pick things up if you need to .  If you feel led to donate our paypal button is located on the side of the blog.

Most of all, we ask you to pray, pray, pray that God will work in this in ways we have watched Him all along!! He has blessed us with this amazing family and we would love to give the boys the COFFEE name by August.  Lots of Love from all of us!!!

Elijah update....

Hi :)  Eli is doing ok, but it was a rough couple of weeks.  For those who don't know how it all started I noticed that Eli was having some labored breathing and that his color was a bit off.  I took him to the pediatrician and she said his retractions were okay since he sounded clear and he was to see his cardiologist the next day.  I think i layed awake next to him all night watching him breath, it was scary!!  The next day we took Eli to Dr . Orie who also said he sounded clear and that in some babies with ds their esphagus can be a bit "crushed" causing the retractions.  Thursday was still breathing hard and by Friday I thought enough was enough.  David called the ped and came home early to go with us to see her.  Glad he did, she sent us to the hospital via ambulance.  I rode with Eli while David took Caleb home to my mom who was watching Gabriel.  His sats were only 82....should be 94 at the lowest...talk about a scared mom!! 

We got to the ER and they hooked him from the ambulance O2 to theirs and did all the testing again.  With O2 on he would sat at 97 which was ok.  Unfortunately, he was going to have blood drawn and an IV placed.  This is SO hard for Eli.  With ds they usually have flat veins.  It took 9 yes NINE sticks to get the blood and IV.  Eli was crying hysterically as was I :(

We were admitted to the eighth floor and there we stayed until Sunday afternoon when they thought Eli was stable enough to send us home on O2.  In the elevator he scared me, but he was okay, then the ride home too...he seemed short of breath even on the O2. (The reason would be revealed at a later date)  We went home and brought his crib mattress on the living room floor so I could sleep on the couch and be next to him.  We all took a much needed nap.  Eli woke and seemed hungry so we tried to feed, but he wasn't interested so we put his feed through his tube.  A few short hours later David and I both thought he looked blue and then he was really retracting...we called 911 and they wisked him away (with Daddy this time as Caleb was really upset so I stayed a bit with him....talk about gut wrenching on all accounts)  David called and said that he was stable and on O2.  I got Caleb to sleep and headed off to the ER.  We were there for a bit and they decided he needed high flow oxygen.  :(  He did not like this!!  And guess what??  Yep another blood draw and IV...SIX sticks this time...

We were taken up to the 10th floor and David spent the night.  We were informed that he had humanmetanoma virus (a very bad strain of RSV) and CMV (mono).  He stayed on high flow for days and was unable to be weaned off it.  We were sent to the PICU and then sent back to the floor..( I won't even go into my frustration with that!!)  While back on the floor we had an amazing resident who FINALLY listened to my PLEA FROM A MOMS HEART!!!  Please call his cardiologist, I really think he has an issue.  When his cardio finally came (5 hours later...mind you he is AMAZING and in high demand so this time did not bother us too much) he said "everyone wants to blame the heart guy, people he is repaired, this isn't a heart issue".  They sent him for an echo and when we came back to the PICU the cardio hung his head and said "its a heart issue".  Eli had an efusion around his heart.  Not sure if you all know what this is or means, but for us it meant this time in the hospital being sick was nothing short of a blessing!!  Something called tampinad can happen when too much fluid surrounds your heart it squeezes it and can eventually kill you.  In a baby his age we would not have seen any other symptoms.  Crazy thing is as soon as we found the efusion, his wheezing and breathing got so much better!!  God totally used the RSV for us to find the efusion.  GO GOD!!! 

We tried treating the efusion with steroids and motrin around the clock with no changes.  So Monday Elijahs cardiologist in Buffalo and his surgeon in Rochester decided it was time to make the trek to Rochester to have the efusion drained.  Had it been towards the front of his heart they could have done a ultrasound guided needle to asperate, but it was at the back which meant opening him up again.  Finally on Wednesday we took the long ambulance ride to Strong Memorial hospital where lots of familiar nurses and doctors awaited our arrival (well, not ours they were all excited to see Eli again)

Surgery was scheduled for Thursday but we got bumped (had that experience twice before) so we went at 7:30 Friday morning.  The surgeon was able to make about a 2 inch incision connected to his original incision and put the drain in about the same place it was before.  This drain is quite painful and it is hard to watch him try to move being so uncomfortable.   He spiked a fever but got over that quickly and it took a bit to get him to eat for anyone but mommy. 

We are at 4 days post op and are hoping they will pull the drain tomorrow and do the echo and let us go home!! 

We have been SO very blessed by the Ronald McDonald house, I would encourage each and everyone of you to donate time or supplies to one close to you.  We are planning to do something for our local RMH maybe over the summer. 

To those of you who are new to the blog ( I know there are several of you, welcome :)  Feel free to scroll down and read our story as it unfolds.  I will soon finish our story.  Thank you all for your prayers and for blessing us!!  We love all of you.

Tired....

But thankful that God cares for us the way He does and only He can!!  I will endure the sleepies to be with Elijah and walk this journey with him.  It is so hard because I miss my boys at home.   I can't wait to post pictures of Gabe on here, but I need to upload to this computer, but let me tell you he is STUNNING just like his brothers!!

So many have asked me to update, so here I am.  Eli is at Strong Memorial awaitng another heart surgery.  We are tired, overwhelmed and feeling blessed all in the same breath. 

Also, so many have asked how they could help.  We have had to pay out of pocket for meds and are going to have to stay in a hotel here as the RMH is not available at this time.  If you want to give up your coffee for a day to help, every bit adds up.  Our paypal link is on the side of this post.
More than ANYTHING we covet your prayers.  That this can be minimally invasive for Eli and that our stay would not exceed 5 days as they say...I want to be home with all my boys under one roof!!!

Thank you for blessing our family!!  We love each one of you!!

Who knew a walk could feel so good!!

We took Eli on a walk through the hospital tonight. He is free of all lines!! No IVs, no PICC line, only his drainage tube. We still have a few days here though.

Please be praying...

Eli's...

Lungs would clear, he sounds pretty yucky..
That he can keep his feeds down, most likely acresult of the yuckies in his lungs ;(
That his drainage will slow down..
That we can go home!!! I miss my other two babies!!

Praising God for ALL He has done!!

Eli has really changed me in many ways! He has "shown" me Jesus! I am going to wrote about that soon...but today, tomorrow, anytime when it feels like there is nothing left to say, just say HIS name...JESUS!! Blessings today sweet friends ;)

Faith....All That is Required of Us....

We need $1800 more to be able to travel and get Joshua....having a real hard time asking people to help us knowing many of you have and it is also Christmas time.  If you feel led to help please use our paypal link to the left as that will get us the funds to the agency the quickest.  The reality is that if we don't raise at least 1000 more by Sat evening, we won't be traveling to meet our sweet baby boy....can you help?

God Bless each and everyone of you!!

Mom of three boys...

We were able to talk to the babies birth mom today, how emotional.  She loves her little boy SO much but it isn't culturally acceptable to have a baby with a disability.  We will be bringing him into our home, and loving on him :)  We do need to raise 2500 to travel to bring him home to us...we are working on getting some items to auction off, do you have anything to offer?  A service, a homemade good?  We can't believe Elijah will have a little brother and Caleb two little brothers in a matter of months!!  We are so excited and can't believe we will be visiting CA two times in one year!!!  If you feel led to donate to us, our paypal button is at the upper left.  Thank you for blessing our family, that is growing by two feet again!!!!

Following the Call....

We received a call for another little baby boy that needs a home...he was born premature as he is a premie and was born on 9/6/2011....he is a twin.  For many days mom and dad visited him and his sister in the NICU in LA....until OCT 26...yes many days after he was born, and they found out he has down syndrome.  He has no visible traits so nobody tested him, why would they?  Mom is in her early 20s.  Then he began to have a hard time eating and they realized he had a hole in his heart, leading them to eventually test for ds.  As soon as mom and dad found out, they stopped visiting :(.  Mom is very attached, but they have filed for adoption as they do not want to parent him, only his sister.  We are willing to bring this precious little boy into our home, but we need to go to LA.  He will be having heart surgery probably the same day as Eli, crazy huh???  We would not need to be to LA until before Christmas as we need to be here with Elijah boo.  Sooo, we need to raise close to 2000 to bring this munchkin home (we do have a grant, but his fee goes a bit above this) ....do you have a heart for adoption for special needs kids?  So many of you have helped with Eli, we hesitate to ask again....but this baby boy needs a family!!  Our paypal is located at the top left corner, would you consider helping us?  Thank you!!!

Update From the Heart of Caleb....

Please if you are reading the blog right now, please pray that Eli's heart will be healed before his surgery. It would mean so much to me and my family and Eli has been progressing very well.  He has been smiling, breathing normally, and much more amazing things that he shouldn't be able to do until his heart is healed.   So, this is the update from my heart, Caleb.

P.S. Eli has grown into our family very well.  Now he is the cutest little baby we all know and we love him very much and that is it.  By the way from now on, there will be a weekly update from Caleb's heart.  Goodbye....

Update from Mommy....Gosh I love that Caleb!!!!  What a heart for his family and God :)  Brings such smiles and warming to this mamas heart!!!

Eli's surgery has been rescheduled for Dec 1st...we go for a cardio appt tomorrow, will update with any new news.

Getting Ready to Come Home....Or At Least We Thought.....

We were able to go back up to the NICU after our huge fiasco with Elis BM changing her mind....what a joy it was to look into his little face and bright eyes and know he was mine.  Yet, my heart ached, so badly for his birth mom.  I can't imagine the pain she was feeling!! I held and rocked Eli for a few hours and found it very hard to leave him there in the NICU but knew all the nurses would love on him in our absence.

Nick and Leslie were awesome and offered to keep Caleb on Saturday so David and I could go up together to be with Eli alone.  Caleb wasn't allowed in the NICU accept for scheduled visits so he was having a really hard time, he wanted to meet his brother!!!

David and I went and stayed the day with Eli and were given "lessons" on all of his care, which really was just his g tube.  But on this day, I got him to take an entire bottle!!  They nurses were amazed.  The plan at this point was for him to come back with us to Nick and Leslies on Monday and we would probably be released to come back to NY around Wed or Thursday.

That weekend we stayed at the Ronald McDonald house for two nights so I could go to the hospital through the night and feed Eli.  (We were staying about 30-40 min from the hospital).  The RM house is great!!  It is $10 a night and you have chores to help with the daily upkeep of the house.  There is always food and often people volunteer their time to come cook for the families there.  This is on my list of volunteer opportunities when Eli is a bit older.

When we went back to Nick and Leslie's on Sun night we were excited to think that Eli would be coming home with us in the morning.

David called morning and night to talk to Eli's nurses to get an update on his care, however, this mornings update was not what we wanted to hear.  Eli had blood in his stool and they were thinking he had an infection.  After much testing, it was confirmed and he was going to have to be off food for 10 days and then slowly reintroduced....our stay just got extended by at least 12-14 days......


ELI UPDATE.....Surgery is on Nov 16th at Strong Memorial Hospital.  We are trying to raise funds to get stay near the hospital and for David to be able to get back and forth everyday for the 7-14 days he will be in there.  If you feel led to help us we have an auction on Facebook under A Place in Your Heart for Eli.  OR you can use our paypal button, but please specify what you are donating for as our paypal goes directly to our adoption fund, but they will release the $ to us if you specify it is for surgery!  Thanks and I will update this blog daily during our hospital stay....

Been a while...

After we landed in LAX we started to look for rental car places and were told that you just pick a bus outside with a company that says they have available cars and they take you to their counter several miles away from the airport.  We chose hertz.  I had coupons, but of course they weren't valid there and the lady behind the counter told me that it would be 689.42 for the week.....ummmmm.....how about a night?  119.81 because we wanted to drop the car off closer to where we were staying so there was a drop of fee.  Ok, well we need to get where we are going, so we paid the money, walked out to find our teeny tiny Prius and went on our way.  GPS in hand we were off to find the Patapoff household!!  When we finally got to their street, there was no house with the house number we wrote down, i was getting ready to start knocking on doors when out came this sweet lady, Leslie waving us down.  Only God could let her know we were there!!!

Oh Nick and Leslie, they made us feel so welcome and we talked with them for a while, then headed to bed so that we could visit the hospital first thing in the morning to meet our new son!!!

The agency told us to go ahead and go up to the hospital as a social worker was meeting the birth mom at her house to sign papers.  So off we went in our 120.00 rental and drove the 30 minutes to the hospital.  Took us a bit to get to go back to see our little man who we thought for sure we were naming Landyn.....but when i got back there, a nurse was holding him, he was so tiny, so stinkin' cute!!!  I held him for a while and fed him through his g-tube....and in walked a woman that looked at me so harsh I couldn't imagine what was going on.  It was Elijahs birth mom......she came in with her cousin and was asking all kinds of questions about his feeding and such.  She then left and shortly after her I did as well, I knew David was chomping at the bit to meet his new son.

After David got clearance to go back, Caleb and I went into the waiting room and called our agency to tell them that I saw the baby and how precious he was!!  They asked if I was as shocked as they were?!?!?!  Why?  I asked.  Oh you have not heard, mom has changed her mind and wants her cousin to parent.  I immediately felt my heart sink and went to get David out of the NICU.  When he walked into the waiting room, he knew something was up.  I had to tell him but I almost couldn't get the words out.  "She changed her mind".  The next few hours felt like days as the social worker told us to go get some lunch off campus and she would call us after she talked with the BM and her cousin.  Get lunch?? Eat?? We went for a ride to the road where they told us everything was and just kinda sat in the car for a bit, poor Caleb....he wasn't sure what to say...or do.

Finally, after SIX hours the social worker called us and told us that the cousin (who was 22 and had three young kids of her own) realized that she couldn't handle to care that Elijah as going to need.  BM had decided to sign.....phew....but my heart just ached for her.  Her mom, though not supportive of helping to raise Eli, told her she was going to hell for giving him up, left her at the hospital and told her to take a taxi home (over an hour away for her).

When we returned to the hospital to cuddle our little boy again, we saw BM in the court yards, crying...she was signing all the necessary papers....she had 10 days to change her mind....and we thought  six hours was a lot........


UPDATE ON ELIJAH.......(who by the way got his name after David and I both saw him and said "He really looks like an Elijah....God is cool like that :)

He will be having heart surgery either the end of October or beginning of November....we are now raising money for a hotel in Rochester so that I can stay with him those 7-10 days....the hospital does have a Ronald McDonald house but we have been warned that it is near to impossible to get in as the hospital we are going to is very well known and provides a lot of services.  If you feel led to donate to our stay in Rochester, you can use the paypal button to your right....in the message section please put either hotel or surgery so the person that is handling our adoption account knows where said money should be applied.  Thanks all for your love and prayers.......we are LOVING our life as a family of FOUR!!!

The What Ifs...

We made our way to the airport totally on cloud nine and a ton of excitement in all three of us.  The next morning I would be holding our baby boy!!  What would we name him....Landyn, Liam, Levi, Joshua??  (Notice Elijah was not even a choice in there)

Parking....$26.00 a day.....yikes, but that is okay we should only be there a week at most.  We took the tram to get to our proper terminal and started the process of getting our tickets.  Once we had tickets in hand we went to our gate to put our names on the stand by list.....would we make it out??  We sat in a corner and took some time as a family to pray that God would bless our travels and the people we would meet along the way.  Right before we were ready to board I called Stacey and let her know we were on our way and to let Nick and Leslie know that we would spend the night in a hotel since we were coming on such short notice....said by to her and our names were called....here we go!!!!

Now, we only had one little problem.  Our seats were not together and Caleb is way to shy to sit by a stranger for 5 hours!!!  One woman who thought that I had a window seat willingly switched, but when the woman came to that row and realized it was here seat.....well yeah words got heated (not with us!!)  The stewardess quickly came and said that they would work everything out.  With moving some people to first class we were all able to sit together!!  See God cares even about the small things!!  We had a direct flight so the next time we touched ground we would be in our babies home state!!


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So you all know the drill by now, the part of my blog that I really struggle with addressing!!  We need funding and kinda fast, in the next two weeks we need 500.00 for the attorney and 250.00 for our first post adoption home visit. (I know you know, but the paypal button to the right goes right to an adoption account, if you don't feel comfortable using paypal and want to be part of Elijahs story feel free to email me at dfkmcoffee@aol.com and I can give you our address)   We feel so blessed by all of you!! Would you consider not getting coffee today or not taking your family out to dinner to help support us?  If you can't support us financially will you support us in prayer?  That God would continue to work in the lives of those around us?  That we would continue to adjust to a family of four?  That my fainting episode was nothing to be concerned about...except for the huge gash in my chin!!  And yes, it hurt!!!  But you know what even in that God was watching!!  I set Elijah down before it happened, I fell forward not backward....friends, it could have been so much worse and I praise God that I don't even have to go there!!!

On Our Way....

Before we could leave we would have to have a new home study done as ours was not by a certified Social worker (set up by the same attorney we gave much of our money to.. :(  )  so yes we had ONE day to get a new home study....how does one do that???  Through the power of God!!!  We were able to have a social worker come Wednesday morning and for only $1350.00 we got our new home study!!



We went to NYC on Wednesday because I was supposed to have an appt for my knee for a final review.  We figured we needed to still go because if the mom changed her mind for any reason we could go to the appointment but even if we were still going to go to CA we would fly out of Newark anyhow (for those of you that don't know, my brother lives in Long Island so we were headed for a visit as well) The entire trip there was consumed with phone calls from the adoption agency and our attorney.  They were trying to figure out how much it would be for us to adopt Eli as NY and CA have such different laws.  Now remember, we are headed to CA on FAITH alone, knowing that Elijah is meant to be our son as we were not fully funded.

The agency called at about 1:00 pm our time and said we could go ahead and book our flights for the same day.... yeah ok.....3 people, across the country.....same day tickets......how does $4000.00 sound??  Well the good news....Davids cousin works for Continental Airlines and got us what are called Buddy Passes.  This means we go on standby but that one way only cost $317.00 for all three of us!!!

So, with bags in hand, a suit case with all our things, one with all Calebs things, of course one for Elijah and an empty car seat we headed for Newark airport......


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Eli is doing GREAT!!!  His breathing seems to really be slowing down (think God is doing some healing???)  He is much more alert and is moving is head, arms and legs everywhere!!!  These things that they told us would be months before he may even attempt these things because of his low muscle tone!!  God is doing great things!!!  I posted a great link by the ZOE foundation on my facebook wall, if you have a chance, listen :)  If you feel led to financially support us on this journey there is a paypal button to the right that goes directly to an adoption account.  If you don't feel led to support us in that way, please continue to support us in prayer...we feel them everyday and know that God is doing great things!!!!

Chosen....

The mom was given our profile with several others and the next morning I read on facebook that the little boy with down syndrome found a family, since we weren't contacted my heart sank.  I did however feel a little nudging to call Michele from Adoption Answer (amazing, amazing agency) and said "I am assuming since you posted this baby found a family we weren't chosen", she said no, that family is you!!!!  My heart was overflowing with joy!!  Over the next few days we waited and waited, had many phone calls and unfortunately they never heard from the mom again, she was't returning calls, emails and wasn't going to the hospital to visit her baby boy.  At this point we were told to assume she decided to parent.  We were crushed but continued to pray for him because we weren't sure what kind of a situation he would be in knowing the dad didn't want to raise this precious little boy :(  Somewhere deep in my heart I still knew he was meant to be ours, but I didn't share that (except with David) as I was guarding my heart.

A few weeks went by and we were getting ready to go to Caleb's soccer game and my cell phone rang with a blocked call.  Figuring it was my mom telling me she was going to meet us at the field I answered really goofy....maybe not such a good idea!!!  The woman on the other end said "ummmmm, is this Kristen Coffee"?  I said yes....."this is Jamie from Adopt International, do you remember me"?  Remember her???  How I longed to hear her voice again because I knew it meant Eli was again going to be placed with a family.  She told us mom decided to place him with our family how soon could we get to California.....How is Thursday???  Thursday is great, see you then!!!!  And so the journey began!!


We are working hard on getting fully funded for Eli's adoption.  If you feel led to donate there is a paypal button to the right that you can use.  Also, we are in the process of doing an online auction and a pancake breakfast, if you would like to donate something for us to auction off that would be amazing as well!!  Thank you for investing in our family.  We continue to covet your prayers as we are on this journey ( and we are loving every minute of it, God is amazing us everyday!!)

More Donations...

Enter to win either a kindle 3g...black....or an ipod nano.....when using the paypal button to the right please specify which you wish to enter....

$10.00 One entry or $25 for three....if you do the 25 let me know if you want it all in one item or split between the two.

Thank you for your dedication to helping us fund Elis adoption!!

This will run until August 22nd......

Being called...

I knew that God was trying to talk to me for a long time, but I was so unsure of what He was calling us to. It felt as though we would never be chosen so I told David I wanted to stop the process.  A few weeks later we were in church and in the middle of worship.  For those of you who go to our church know that Bryan can really help draw you to worshipping our King.  I abruptly got a feeling in my heart and leaned over to David and said "what do you think about adopting a baby that has down syndrome"...his response..."whatever God has for us I am open to".....  This is where the story gets good!!!

The next night (ok, the middle of the night, was God preparing me or what!!!)   I was online and saw a post from a woman I had never met, but totally respected and prayed for as she and her husband went to Ethiopia to adopt their beautiful daughter.  Her post read, baby boy with down syndrome needs a family.  I tried my hardest to wake up David and tell him, but that my friends is next to impossible once he is asleep!!
I emailed my friend Stephanie and asked if she thought they would accept a family from NY.  She said "I don't know, but email this person, Tracey.  I emailed her and she was unsure but had me call Michelle....Michelle had us send over our profile and she sent us on to the agency that was handling the adoption.  This all happened in the matter of a day.....So if you are following me (kinda hard to follow myself... :)  I heard God on a Sunday and Elijah was born that Monday!!!  How good is our God???

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We are still not fully funded, should you feel led you can use the button to the right to donate, if you can't, we get that :)  but please pray for us that God would provide the funds we need.  We have given up coffee out, eating out and me getting my nails done......because that is what God called us to.....is He calling you to give up something today to help bless someone?

Looking forward to sharing more of our story with you....it only gets better from here!!!!

Much Love,

The Coffee Clan :)

THE NOOK WINNER!!!!

Thank you everyone who participated to help raise more funds for Elijah!!

We used Random.org to select the winner and it is.....

Mark Hager!!!

Congrats and thank you!!!  Please email me your address to DFKMCOFFEE@AOL.COM


Thank you again everyone!!!