Adopting William

Happy Will

2008-07-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

Will LOVES his thumb

William is doing awesome! He put on a pound this past week!! He has a temper and HATES being put down for more than 5 minutes at a time. He is very smiley as well :)

Love,

Jen

William comes home!

2008-06-29T08:30:00.001-07:00

Hi,
Sorry it has taken me SO long to update everyone. I was so tired these past few days I just not have had time or energy to hop on here. So here is a little of our adventure of William's homecoming and a few pictures :)

We left to get Will on Wed the 25th. My mother, kid 2,3,4 and I drove to Minn, Minnesota to get him. We drove 6 hours the first night, after leaving at 5:30 EST. We spent the night in Rockford IL. We then got up the next morning and drove the rest of the way arriving at the Airport at 3:30pm CST. We got in the airport and waited by the baggage claim for our Escort Patty to arrive with my son. The flight was due to be at the gate at 4:42pm. At 4:50pm Patty arrive to let me know she was in the airport and looking for me. Apparently she did not get off where the airport guy told us she would. At 4:55pm I saw her walking my way with my son in a front carrier. I walked over to her(fast) and got the first look at my son. He was smaller than I expected....even though I knew he would be. She took out of the front carrier and handed him to me. He looked right at me, then continued chewing his fist. Patty said she was sorry he had pink pants on! I did not care. It was just an amazing moment. My heart was beating a thousand miles a minute. I just could not believe he was here!!
After talking for a while Patty left and went home to be with her family. She did let me know that Will had a fever and might have Malaria(yikes). She had him on a anti malaria medication, and anti biotic and infant acetamorphin(sp). We then went back to the hotel to try and get a good night sleep. William took a few onces of Formula. He slept most of the evening, until later that is. He was up ALL night...fun fun. I did not care. I enjoyed the time with my son. The people in the next hotel room probably wanted to kill us though :)
Next day we drove the ten hours home. Will did great and stayed awake a lot of the time playing with toys I hung from the clothes hanging thingee. We got home at 9pm on Friday the 27th. Will went to bed at 10pm and slept till 4am. Saturday we relaxed as a family at home. Will went to bed at 9pm ans slept to 8 AM!!!!! I went to bed at 9:30pm :)
He is doing great and eating 6 oz every 4-5 hours. He was obviously taken wonderful care off by his foster Mama. He loves being held and screams loke the dickens if you put him down. Anyway I will write more tonight. I am 29 today....what a great birthday gift!!!!!!!!!!!Here are some pics.

Love u all,

Jen

waiting in the airport

Flight 1655 from Newyark NJ

Mom where is he?

My Mom!

Here they come!!

first close up!

Patty!

Hi Mom!!

Checking each other out!

Sleeping

Sleeping #2

Daddy and co

Say cheese!

Kid 2 and 5

Daddy and son!

What happened??

2008-06-24T10:31:00.000-07:00

Ok here is what happened this afternoon. So at about 11am I got a call from my adoption agency telling me William was NOT coming home because the Embassy was missing our "affidavit of support" or I864. They CANNOT process a visa if there are ANY missing forms. Argh...sucky :( I was told I could DHL it to them over there, but Will would NOT make his flight tomorrow. My agency(Super Rae)decided to investigate things further and found out that the Embassy was willing to take a faxed copy of the form(10 pages long).

Well the closest place with a fax to me is a half hour away(small town). How was I going to make this. It had to be there by 4:30pm there time and is 4 hours ahead of me...Eastern Standard Time. Anyway I got there with a half hour to do this stuff. Filled out the evil form and faxed it($49.50 for an international fax...ouch). It got there EXACTLY at 4:30pm Liberian time. I prayed that they got everything they needed and would somehow process his visa in time. Anyway I came home to this email:

We are in receipt of the fax sent and we do have everything now to issue
the visa to your son. Please ask your escort and AOH to come in sometime
in the morning to pick up the visa.

Regards

-----Original Message-----
From: iggytheelf@aol.com [mailto:iggytheelf@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 4:26 PM
To: ConsularMonrovia
Subject: RE: Amuchin Zogar DHL package

I am sending it as we speak...it is exactly 4:30 your time I believe. @
pray the visa can be issued in time.

Blessings,

Jennifer Weathers

so pending any further problems WILLIAM IS COMING
HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He will arrive on Thursday afternoon!! I am just so excited. I need to get completely unpacked and how can I when I am SO EXCITED I CAN HARDLY BREATH!!

I don't even have any shoes minus my croc mary janes. I HATE shoes...I like to be barefoot from March to October. Shoes and me do not mesh well. So I guess I will have to wear my dirty crocs!

Did you know a lot of people hate crocs? Why? They are the closest thing to NOT wearing any shoes, and since you must have shoes in stores etc(again why?) I prefer them. There is even a blog that a croc hater created:

http://ihatecrocsblog.blogspot.com/

Anyway yeah yeah yeah. Please continue to pray for us and that nothing else stops my baby from coming home.

Much Love to you all(and crocs...well not much love, just some!)

From the Consular in Monrovia Liberia....US Embassy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

Check it out:

Zogar is coming in this afternoon and it is likely he will be issued a
visa today.

-----Original Message-----
From: iggytheelf@aol.com [mailto:iggytheelf@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 12:25 PM
To: ConsularMonrovia
Subject: Re: RE: Amuchin Zogar DHL package

Wonderful! My son's escort leaves Liberia tomorrow...does this mean he
will have his visa in time to come home to us?

Blessings,

Jennifer Weathers

Please pray everything goes OK. If it does I will be leaving tomorrow to get my at his escort's layover in Minn, MN. This is a 10+ hour drive for me...but WHO CARES :)

Much Love,

Jen

Kid 3's face describes the "on the edge of my seat, gritting my teeth, please Lord please" feelings

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH the waiting the waiting :)

I have internet again!!

2008-06-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

Hi,
I have not had internet for almost a week...ick! So no news really. My agency thinks William will make it on the 26th. The embassy in Liberia was waiting for the DHL package that contains William's official passport etc, National Visa Center sent it to them. Even though the Embassy did get cabled approval of William's visa they obviously cannot issue a Visa without a passport....you have to have a passport to leave a country :) So I am hoping and praying they get the packet in time to issue my baby's visa so he can come home on the 26th. Please Pray!

Much Love,

Jen

Grand Haven

2008-06-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

A while back we found out that my husband's job was going to change, he was going to move to the west side of the state(Michigan) and we lived on the east side. This was hard to take because in September of 07 we moved from Helena, Alabama to Canton, Michigan. The east side of the state of Michigan is where all our family is so this was a good things. Then we found out we had to move again...to the west side of the state. This would have not been so bad if the last 3 years had not looked like this for us:

Wyandotte Mich to Livonia Michigan

6 months later....

Livonia, Mich to Jax(Mandarin area) Fl

3 months later....

Mandarin FL, to Jax suburbs

4 months later.......

Jax Fl to Helena, Alabama

1 year later.......

Helena, Alabama to Canton, Michigan

9 months later........

Canton, Michigan to Grand Haven, Michigan

FUN!!!!!!!!!!!! Not!!!!!!!!! I am so sick of moving, but God must have a plan for us right?? :) So the last few months have been spent back and forth between the East and west side of the state 3 hours each way.....looking for a new place to live. So after looking at about 30 houses over the course of 3 months we found one. A farm house with the potential of 6 bedrooms. The house is in Grand Haven, a touristy(I know that is not a word!)beach town. The house is on over a half and acre and we love it. I am just sick of change and moving. It is so hard. I hope this is our last stop for like say...the rest of my life here on earth. So if there have been big gaps in my posting this is partially why. Packing and me are not friends, and laundry and I down right despise each other and try to keep a clear distance :)

So anyway here are some pics of my family last weekend in the "Haven". Right now we are between houses and packing things up and back and forth. The "real" movers move us this weekend!

Love Jen

House

Daddy daughter feet

The Hubs

Kid #1

Kid#2

Kid#3

Kid#4

Kid#5

You will have to imagine Kid #5 in this photo. But I thought he deserved a spot at the beach too!

Pray for June 26th

2008-06-16T21:03:00.001-07:00

Hi,
So everything seems to be moving along. We got the I600 approval and then USCIS sent that to the NVC(National Visa Center) who in turn cabled it over to the US Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia(from what I was told). So if all goes well and God wills it, we have an escort who will be leaving Liberia June 25th with William. This means we will go pick our son up in Chicago on JUNE 26TH!! Please please pray that this is God's will and that all goes smooth. This seems like it has been such a long road, well maybe not compared to other people's adoptions but to me it has been a LONG TIME :) I just want to hold my son and am really hoping June 26th is the Lord's chosen day for me to do so!

With much Love,

Jen

My daughter home for 6 months!

2008-06-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

The other day marked my Liberian daughter's sixth month with us. So much has changed. She had a massive surgery, got to eat and swallow the first time in 1.5 years,gained 10 lbs and grew 3 inches, lost 3 teeth, and got a hair cut. She has transitioned into our family so well. We have really had no problems with this wonderful child. I really can't think of much, besides occasional crying about bed time or quiet time, and even this has not happened in at least a month. She is easier to parent than my bios. She is an all around great kid. Here are a few pictures. She just lost her upper tooth yesterday. And today her hair was finally long enough to put in small puffs. We cut it because it had quite a bit of damage from malnutrition, it is growing in beautifully!

Love,

Jen

Post # 2 of the day............

2008-06-10T13:03:00.001-07:00

WE GOT I600 APPROVAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LAST STEP=DONE (well last step before they pick up his visa in Liberia, but at least it is approved!!) :) I just got this email:

"We would like to inform you that the adjudication officer has reviewed your case, and it has been approved. You will receive an I-171H approval notice within the next week or two. In addition, the National Visa Center (NVC) will be also notified that the case has been approved by our office. If you should have any questions, please feel free to contact the NVC.

Michigan Orphan Unit

From: Jennifer A. Weathers [mailto:iggytheelf@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 2:36 PM
To: Michigan, Adoption
Cc: senator@stabenow.senate.gov; john.conyers@mail.house.gov
Subject: Re: Urgent Request"

God works wonders huh? Just when I was starting to go crazy "BAM" HE gets it done. What a day.......such a happy day. I hope you all are having a wonderful day with sugar on top!

With Love,

Jen

Long time no pics........................

2008-06-10T08:22:00.001-07:00

Here are some taken THIS week......... USCIS is still not throwing me a bone :(

My little sweet guy!

Love ya all,

Jen

USCIS......argh.

2008-06-02T15:18:00.000-07:00

Well last week I got a copy of William's adoption paperwork. This contained an original birth certificate, adoption decree and some social history etc. I then had to fill out an I600 form aka Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, an I864 and I84A also know as stupid financial forms! I also sent a copy of our tax returns, a cover letter explaining the extreme need for them to process this quickly, and some pictures of William, so they could visually see WHY he needs to come home NOW! I then sent this Fed Ex. It got there last week. I started to stalk them to get it done on Friday. I stalked again today, they got back with me with an answer to a question that I did not ask, and did not pertain to our case. I called a few of the hotlines and I called the National Visa Center. I did all of the above with my daughters adoptiona and they really moved. The USCIS officer in Atlanta was awesome! She moved so quick and really cared. Now we are in Michigan and not to be to hasty, but I am not getting the response I want. Maybe I am being hasty...o well my baby needs to come home, sooner not later.
So now I will just continue to stalk every other day or so until they get sick of me and approve the I600. I mean I still have to wait to find an escort to bring him home, so getting this step done would be good. I sadly have not been blessed with extreme patience with people who ignore me. I have asked God to help me with this, but being annoying(nice but annoying) has its advantages when dealing with offcials. I am sugar sweet nice, but I want it done. I sent more than enough info, I went overboard with what I sent....PLEASE APPROVE MY I600!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok so I am done complaing for now. Please pray for my best friend Nicole, she had her Colon removed on Tuesday after a LONG battle with illiness. She is touch and go and in more pain than I want to imagine, if you could please say a prayer for her...she has been in the hospital for months now. I just want her to get better.

Love ya all!

Jen

Home Stretch

2008-05-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Sorry long time no write. Well we are in the home stretch. William's final paperwork that I have to submit to USCIS for I600 Visa approval(the final approval) arrives tomorrow or the next day! Yeah!!!!!! He is SO close to coning home. I remember very well when I sent in this paperwork for my daughter, she came home about a week after I sent it in. So this is where I ask for you abundant prayers on a few things:

1. Please pray that we have zero issues with USCIS when we get the paperwork. We had a homestudy update done in late January, but the original homestudy done last year for my daughters adoption expires in the end of May. I have no idea if this will cause us any problems as we do have I600A approval and they were fine with our update. I am nervous anyway....sometimes you get a nice merciful USCIS person...sometimes not :(

2. Please pray for William's continued good health. From what I know he is doing well and developing just as he should!

3. Please pray for William's adjustment. We are not "Mom and Dad" in his eyes and he will have some sad times and greiving adjusting to us.

4. Please pray that we can somehow come up with the remaining funds. We are not too far away. I have not heard from any grant agencies as of yet.

Thank you SO much for everything guys. I love you all, and SO appreciate you being on this journey with me.

XOXOXOXO

Jen

This is my lame attempt at blowing everyone a kiss. Courtesy of my camera phone :)

p.s. Nikki how can you like laundry???? Do you like the washing part? That is ok...but folding it and putting it away..........Ick :( hugs :)

Tagged by Mrs. Wibbs :)

2008-05-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Rachel(Mrs Wibbs). Here ya go :) P.S. Your little guys blue mouth made my day :)

What I was doing 10 yrs ago: Wow May of 98. Hmm I was in my first year of college. My son just turned a year old.I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life other than be a mother. I changed my major three times the first year of school. 10 years later I still have no idea what I want to be besides a Mommy(and wife) so I guess this is my calling :)

Five things on my to do list for today: 1. wash laundry 2. fold laundry(I HATE laundry) 3. clean the bathroom 4. Get the kids outside for a good portion of the day. 5. ignore the laundry.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire: 1 .Pay off my house and give to it a family in need. 2. Move to a 200 acre farm near Lake Michigan. I want chickens! 3. Spend 3 months of every year volunteering somewhere in Africa. 4.Start a non for profit to help people in Africa building them homes,creating jobs, and creating ways they can sustain themselves in all areas. 5.Send a bunch of in need kids to college. 6.Get and emu!

Three of my bad habits: 1.second guessing myself 2.Caring what other people think a little to much 3.Being terribly slow when it comes to laundry

Five places I have lived: 1. Wyandotte, Michigan 2. Livonia,Michigan 3. Jacksonville FL 4.Helena,Alabama 5.Canton, Michigan now moving to Grand Haven, Michigan. All this in the past 2.5years...fun :)

Five jobs I have had: 1.Assistant manager of a bagel shop 2.Medical assistant to a dermatolgist 3.Condo Sales Rep. 4.Crisis worker for a mental health agency 5.Lead Teacher at a childcare center.

I tag: 1.Nate 2.Tricia(I know like you guys have time...but if you for some reason do I and would love to hear more about you guys)

Passport and Finalization

2008-05-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

I got a call today that we have PASSPORT and FINALIZATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And because William already got his Visa pre approval with the US Embassy in Liberia we don't have anything left to wait on!!!!!!!
Well we do...we have to wait for Acres of Hope(my agency) in Liberia to DHL me the paperwork to submit to USCIS Detroit for William's I600. Normally this can take a couple weeks but with my Liberian daughter I found that calling them and emailing them daily(aka stalking)really moved things along. I got approval for her in 2 days. I intend to do the same with William :) Wish me luck ;)

So we are now SO close. I am so excited and a little scared. But God is GOOD! Yee hee I am so happy!!!

Love ya all,

Jen

p.s. Please pray for me that I can get USCIS to move along...they can be VERY stubborn and set in their ways....that is putting it very nicely. Also please pray that we can raise the remainder of the funds. I have quite a few grant applications out there and am working on a few things. I wish I was cool and could sew or bake.....o well lucky for me I have endless patience for grant applications!!

Nothing to report :(

2008-04-28T13:58:00.001-07:00

Hi guys,

I have nothing to report :( I heard we are in court, and suposed to be out soon. Boy it seems to be taking forever :( In God's time I supose.

Love you All!

Thank you so much for the continued support....it means SO much to be and my family :)

With much Love and a tad of frustration ( a tad is putting is very very mildly),

Jen

Alive but sick

2008-04-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

It has been a week or so since I last wrote. My kids got sick and then I got sick and it went into my lungs and so on and so on. I have no news. I emailed begging for news. I called my weekly email to my agency my "weekly stalk"! I know they would call or email me if anything had happened or moved along, but I stalk because it makes me feel better :)
One of my latest concerns is my little guys eye. When we first got Will's info back in Dec the doctor listed his eye condition as the most urgent of his issues. The doc said if he did not get surgery on it soon, he would go blind in that eye. So I worry that the longer it takes for him to come home, the greater the chance for his little eye to weaken. Once again I know this is all up to the Lord and his plans and will for William may not be what I have planned. But I hope he can come home in time for surgery to be of some positive. Little man has a lot on his plate, but with God on our side we will over come them. I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for my little guy!

Love,

Jen

p.s. Thank you to those who posted about us our their blog or word of mouth(?) We have gotten five donations so far today and I am reminded again and again of all the blessings in my life. ALL of YOU being a BIG one!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks :)

2008-04-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say "Thank you" to my sweet friends. Thank you for your supportive comments...they helped me so much!

Love,

Jen

Days go by......without you.

2008-04-07T10:40:00.001-07:00

Today is one of those days for me. One of those "pity party for one" days. All my kids are sick. The kids and the hubby have been sick for a week. We went to a kids play place for a birthday party. I do not usually take my kids to these places because five million kids are there and you cannot possible NOT get sick. Everyone but me and my Liberian daughter...fun. I wish it was just me and everyone else was spared by it. I would gladly take ALL the leaking at both ends, fevers, sweating, freezing to end this for them. It pains me to end to see my kids like this. My Liberian daughter was also spared and is bored and sad she cannot hang out with her sisters. I am just so tired and at my wits end emotionally.

I miss my son. I have never met him, seen him only in pictures. Another side to my pity party. I feel SO guilty because there are so many other people who have lost their children. I cannot imagine that pain...and here I am aching so over my child who is doing ok...just not with me. I am so sorry that I am complaining about this, Some of you who read my blog have experienced pain beyond any feeling I have ever had. While my pain feels real I pray that God makes me "suck it up".....for I have NO reason to be like this. I am so blessed beyond imagination it seems sometimes. "Stop it Jen, get over yourself, pain is nothing you have ever even felt". This is what I feel like HE is saying to me. "Get over it...it is MY time not yours". It is his time and I have no right to want to rush HIM or change things...for this is pointless. I am guilty and weak today and embarassed that I wrote it all out here. But I feel like confessing my sinful nature. I feel like I should be penalized for it. I feel like I should beable to just praise HIM and not be so preoccupied to the point where my stomach hurts and I am almost in tears. My emotions are so mixed up. Part of this is pain for my son not being with me and part of this is guilt that I am not being who I should be for the Lord. Is guilt the devil creeping in because I am weak? Have I become weakened so much emotionally that I am open to this sin?

There is a song that is in my head right now. From a car comercial a few years ago. The acoustic version is saved on my computer. It sticks in my head a lot. It was kind of catchy. Anyway here is a video of it.

The basic lyrics are as follows:

You are still a whisper on my lips
A feeling at my fingertips
That's pulling at my skin

You leave me when I'm at my worst
Feeling as if I've been cursed
Bitter cold within

Days go by and still I think of you
Days when I couldn't live my life without you
Days go by and still I think of you
Days when I couldn't live my life without you
Without you
Without you

Normally my music genre is only christian music, but sometimes car and insurance comercial songs get stuck in my head and I look up the lyrics and the song on youtube.com. I am a real nerd.

Any way sorry for my rant. Pure honesty in cyper space. Not yet sure if this is something I should be doing.

Love,

Jen

Check out this blog!!!!!!

2008-03-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

Check this blog out.....I PROMISE it is SO worth it.

Love,

Jen

http://mercyinafrica.blogspot.com/

Telling the Fam...........

2008-03-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

If you go to the start of this blog, one of my posts talks about my fear in telling my family about William. It caused me a good deal of grief. Well I did tell them and to my sheer delight they took it well. In fact it was not to suprising to them. Thank you to all who prayed for me on this issue. I really felt very strong in this area and was able to tell them with confidently. Yeah!

And to all who read this blog, have donated or prayed for us and William again a BIG thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love reading your kind words and looking over your awesome blogs. Through the Lord connecting us you have provided me with increased faith, hope and love. GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

With much Love,

Jen

p.s. Check out sweet Jacob: http://www.fahmer.blogspot.com/ This amazing little guy has Trismony 18 and was 10 weeks old yesterday. Way to go sweet boy!!

Eva goes home

2008-03-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

Baby Eva went home to be with our Lord on Easter morning. Please send love and prayers her family's way.....they are amazing people!

http://evajanette.blogspot.com/

Weak

2008-03-24T18:04:00.000-07:00

I feel weak and weary today. I prayed for a change in my heart and mind. I have felt very positive through out this whole process, but today I just feel weak, tired and sad. I have no reason to feel this way....things are progressing fine from what I know. I just long to hold my son, to look into his little face and to weep with joy that he is home. I am just longing for him and needing my son today. I need to give these feelings to Jesus and NEED him right NOW!! Ugh :(

Holland, Michigan

2008-03-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMm Fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby Eva

2008-03-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

Please pray for baby Eva and her family. Little Eva was born with trisomy 18. She is just beautiful! Please check out her story here:

http://evajanette.blogspot.com/

Special thanks today Charlotte and to Ohilda at http://www.deliveredfromheaven.blogspot.com/ Thank you so much for thinking of our little guy and helping with fundraising!!

And of course continued thanks to Nikki at "Blogs for a Cause", for making William the charity of the month. Nikki's blogs are amazing. Please check her out at:
http://www.madebynikki.blogspot.com/

Back soon

2008-03-14T12:36:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I am out of town. If you have sent William a donation or left us a comment I will post them as soon as I can. I have not been able to update the donation thingy or put your names in or send you "Thank yous" beacause I am updating this from the internet on my cell phone. I hope this post goes through, this thing gets a very bad connection. Anyway just wanted to let you know, I am on top of updating things just do not have computer access to do this.

Love you all!

Blessings,

Jen