Home Study update

Good Afternoon friends!

   We had our home study update this weekend and it went really well, once our finger prints are back we will be all ready for baby (again).  I wish I could say we had one on the way, but as of now we are still waiting.  There are a couple of promising leads we are pursuing, but only God knows when my baby girl will be here!  

Pastor Keith told us Sunday to remember that God can see the entire picture while we only see a little piece.  I am trusting my God in the big picture.

  To Do:

Please pray for us while we await our baby girls arrival!

Please pray we are able to save and get the rest of the funds (About $7000 short).

Know that we could not have waited this long without the love and support from our friends and especially our Families!

TZ

9 Months

         When you find out you are pregnant, you expect that in 9 months or so (just about 40 weeks) you will bring home your little bundle of joy.  You follow every online board you can detailing each week what you should be feeling and the size of your little one. You research the best car seat, high chair, toys etc. You prepare the room, you prepare your other children and you prepare for life to be changed.

        Well July 9^th makes officially 9 months active with our home study.  We have tried to prepare Quintin and Kai as much as we can for this journey, but they don’t understand. They know that when their sister arrives they will be big brothers. Kai has told me before he turned 4 “when I am 4, Zoie will be here”. Cute as that is, he is now 4 and he asks often about his sister.  A home study is only current for 1 year, we were hoping to have our daughter before having to renew our home study. That doesn’t look like it will happen.  So in October we will fill out all the paperwork again, get the doctor to sign the papers again and have a home visit with our social worker again.

       I know in my heart it is all in God’s hands and He has the perfect child for us, and I know in my heart His timing is way better than my timing. But it is hard. We are human of course. I know my God is a God who answers our prayers, whether that be with a Yes, No, or Not now, our family will be complete.

So as we pass the 9 month mark I ask for prayers that instead of worrying about when Zoie will be here, we worry more about showing others the love of Christ through our wait. I pray we become better parents to Q and K and they learn to love Christ and follow him in everything that they do. 

Until Next time friends!

Tarrah with Nick's edits:-)

Hurt

              People tell you when you are going through this process that it hurts when you are not chosen.  The first time we were presented I was not upset when we were not chosen because the birthmother chose a family member.  Well today, it happened again.  We have been presented to a mom due in July. Only 3 couples applied, 1 engaged couple, 1 married couple with no children and us.  The birthmother chose the couple with no children.  While I am thrilled for this couple, nothing could prepare me for the hurt and devastation in my heart when I read the words "she chose someone else."  I was sitting in a staff meeting shaking while watching my computer screen refresh and waiting for my phone to ring (I had told my Principal so she knew I was not being disrespectful).  I was told you get a phone call if it is a match and an email if not; I saw the lawyers name pop up on the screen and I knew.  I held it together for a few minutes and then had to walk out and take some time by myself.  My co-workers were awesome and could tell something was wrong, but no one questioned.  We did not tell many people this time that we were even being looked at mainly because if you have not gone through this you cannot even fathom the process.

Now, I know my God is faithful and I know he has the perfect plan and baby girl for our family, but today I just needed to cry and be upset.  It is kind of like the stages of grief. I was very sad, angry and then numb.  It did not help my partner was not at school today as he is at a conference, so when I calmed down enough where I could talk I called him and we cried together.

   Are we giving up?  NO WAY!  Will we apply to be presented knowingly soon, probably not.  I know remember why we chose the agency we did.  They do not tell you when you are being presented, the don't tell you until you get that yes.  I will trust God's timing for that yes!


(if this rambled or was not clear I am sorry, I am hurting bad right now)

Wow that was a lot! I told you all we would be an open book on how the adoption process works so that is what this entry is about!

Tarrah

Are you ready for a Challange?

 

FRIENDS AND FAMILY! Are you ready for a challenge???

 

Nick and I are challenging our friends and family to see who can be the first to get 100 friends to donate $10 to our adoption fund. I know we have a lot of the same friends, but we also have a large group of friends that are not shared. Just on Facebook we have 259 friends in common , but I have 918 and he has 350 that we do not share. I think my friends will prevail and I will reach the 100 friends mark first!

 

 

We will run this throughValentine’s Day,or February 14th. The loser will be forced to meet a demand of the winner. But lets be honest, with 100% of the proceeds going to our adoption fund, aren't we all winners?

 

 

Donations may be given by using out AdoptTogether link.   Want another win?  By using this link your donation is Tax Deductible!

 

https://adopttogether.org/00741

 

Our God is so big, so strong and so Mighty!

    The past few nights Kai has gone to bed and stayed awake singing this song "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do!"  I love his innocence, because this song popped in my head this morning after reading our update!


  When I woke up today I had an email saying that this birthmother had chosen to place her baby with a family member.  I surprisingly was not sad at all!  The whole time we have been waiting I have been in constant prayer that she would make the best choice for her and her unborn baby, and if that choice was not us I would be at peace.  Well God knows what he is doing (big surprise I know) and I woke up and read my message and had an overwhelming amount of Peace.  I was not sad for us, I was not heartbroken, I was ok!

    Thankfully, I know that my God has our Zoie already chosen and that his timing is perfect. 

So friends and family I reiterate to you

 " Our GOD is so BIG, so STRONG and so MIGHTY, there is NOTHING my GOD cannot do!"


I hope each of you have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the time with your families!


Love,

 Tarrah

Our first time being presented

Well it has happened!  This week we were presented to a birthmother through a private lawyer in south GA.  I promised Nick I wouldn't get too excited, but it has happened.  We (ok I) have wanted to make sure that you as our family and friends were in the loop during this whole process, even if it was the not so fun part!  So, because of that I have been telling everyone that we might here today whether or not the birthmother chooses us. 

 I ask for your prayers that if this baby girl is our Zoie that it will happen, and if this is not our girl I (Tarrah) will be able to process the idea of not being chosen.  This is the reality of domestic adoption.  You get shown to birthmothers and some do not choose you.  I know that God has our daughter chosen and I am ok with that. 

I will update you all on the outcome as soon as we know something, it may be a yes, it may be a no!

Love to all!!!!

 Tarrah

Some BIG news!

     When we got home from school today we were greeted with an amazing email. Our homestudy is now approved and we are officially on the wait list! Our family profile books have been sent out and we can be shown to birth mothers.  This part of the process is the true test of endurance, so to speak, and the next leg of our journey could take as little as 2 days or it could take as many as 2 years or more.  We know that God has our precious Zoie chosen already and we pray daily for her and her birth family. 

  This amazing news does come with a new set of challenges. One of the biggest is the financial needs that come with this phase of the process. While we know this whole experience is not only about money, we also understand that there are needs that must be met in order to make our dream a reality. When it comes to the funds, we are diligently paying off credit cards and trying to save as much as we can.  We fully trust that God will provide through our work in saving, grants and fundraising.   Two amazing friends have stepped up to offer family photo sessions all over the Cherokee and Forsyth County areas with a portion of the proceeds benefitting our needs. We will have a big garage sale in the spring and also hold a painting party at Picasso's Corner.   We still have an active Pure Charity link for anyone who feels compelled to donate.  This is tax deductible:-)

A little note from each of us......

Tarrah-
     Next thing up for me is to fill out as many grant applications as I can get my hands on.  I have printed a few already and need to finish filling them out.  If you have any grants that you know of please send me an email. 

Nick-
This is really awesome, exciting, scary, uplifting, frightening, and so much more all rolled into one. It's another major hurdle that we've passed just when we think that it will never happen. We had been figuring that the process would have gotten to this point back in early September at the latest. It's another reminder to us that God's timing isn't ours and that we simply need to sit back and trust in Him. Looks like I'm going to need to dust off my diapering skills and get ready for those all-hours-of-the-night feedings again :-) But like everyone tells me, I need a little girl wrapped around my finger :-)

Waiting.....

Wel,l I notice that it has been a while since we have updated our friends and family on our process. Sorry about the delay but things have been the usual form of crazy around here lately.

All I can say is we are still waiting......

It has been almost 11 weeks since we finished all of our requirements for our home study.  Now we wait until our agency approves us before we can be shown to any birth mothers.  I am frustrated that it is taking this long, but I know that this process is a wait. God's timing is perfect and I know He has our Zoie girl already chosen for us. 

We are still fundraising with mini photo sessions and thank each of you that are having your family photos taken to support us. Let us know if you are interested in a session. We have 2 family friends who have graciously given of their time and talents to offer these for us. Once these are done we will not be doing any other fundraising until the spring.  At that point we will probably have a painting night at Picasso's Corner in Woodstock. More information to come as that time gets closer.

Thank you all for checking in on us and I pray each of your families are well!

TZ

Pure Charity Link

Good Morning Family and Friends!
  
   I am so excited to have found this fabulous site for you to be able to donate if you choose.  The Pure Charity site allows you to make a tax deductible donation that goes directly to our adoption agency.   Click on the icon on the right of the blog to access our site. We are going to continue to do some more fundraisers in the coming weeks or months, but some of you had asked how you can give now to our cause. This link allows you to do just that, and it's tax deductible! Every single penny that we raise from this goes directly to our adoption accounty which is spent solely on the fees charged from our agency.

   We have heard from our social worker that she is almost done writing our home study, the next step is to go before the director to be approved.  Once approved, we are on the waiting list!  I cannot wait to be on the waiting list! We have begun to gather items that will be needed for Zoie to arrive.  We found a set of bunk beds for the boys, which they are so excited about. We also found a crib for Zoie.  We won't move the boys into a room together until closer to bringing her home, but it is nice to know we have what we need.

I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and support during this time. I promise money is not the only thing needed, that will come as we are trusting in God's timing. Prayers are the most important thing we need. We will happily take any prayers and positive thoughts you want to give! We are so thankful that you are all along with us on this journey. Expanding our family is a team effort and we are so honored that you have chosen to go through this with us!

TZ

August Update

Greetings everyone,

Back to school time is here again for us. Gone are the days of sleeping until 7:15am, at least Monday through Friday.

We wanted to take a quick minute and let you know where everything stands in the adoption process. Right now our social worker is hard at work on our official home study paperwork. It could be another month or so before that is ready. Once that's done, we are approved to begin getting our name out there for mothers to look at. Tarrah spent the last few weeks of vacation working very hard on the book that will be shown to potential birth mothers, and in my honest opinion it looks amazing! 7 copies of it have been sent to Macon to begin to be distributed, once we're home study approved.

While the process is moving right along, so is the need for donations and fundraising. In the coming weeks we will be sharing information with you about some family photo sittings that a good friend of ours is going to sponsor for us. We would love to have you come out and help us during this project. Stay tuned for details.

If you feel so compelled, please feel free to donate to our fund now by clicking on the PayPal link on the blog. All the proceeds that we get, either through donation or through fundraising, are going straight into our Zoie fund so that we can pay the various expenses that come our way. Our next major deadline is coming soon when our home study is finalized. At that point we will need to provide the agency $1500 in order for our profile books to be shared. We can't do this without your help!

As always, we want to be an open book about this. Feel free to drop us a line, ask whatever questions you have, or lend your support. All of you who are reading this are our family and we want you to be a part of this life-changing process!

Peace,

NZ & TZ

Nick's Email                             Tarrah's Email:
nickzomer2003@gmail.com     tb2123@hotmail.com

Final Home Study

Greetings adoption fans!

Last week was a crazy week for us. Lots of cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning. Pressure washing, vacuuming and cleaning carpets, organizing closets and rooms, etc. Basically if it was dirty before, it's not now. All of that was done in preparation for our final home study visit with our awesome case worker Tricia.

Our visit started at around 11:15, and the boys stole the show. They were so excited to see her and show her around that they didn't even wait for her to get out of the car. Once we corralled them back until she rang the doorbell, it was green light for center stage. They showed her all over the house and then proceeded to have a "war" with their umbrellas (which had been uncovered during the big cleanup exercises earlier in the week).

From the adult perspective, the visit was a piece of cake. Everyone kept telling Tarrah on the message boards and things that this was nothing to stress out over and just to relax. However, when someone is coming in to your home to tell you if you're worthy or not to adopt a child, it's a really stressful feeling! In retrospect, we should have listened to them a little, but at the same time it's nice to have done a much needed deep cleaning on the house. I mean, who knows when the last time was that this house was pressure washed! We showed her around the house, addressed a few key points (Zoie's room, fire extinguisher, where the safe is located, etc), and then had our final pre-adoption chat. The whole visit lasted maybe 45 minutes. I felt bad that she had to travel up all this way for such a short visit, but then again it was awesome that it wasn't too taxing or difficult.

Now, we wait. We have to wait about 6-8 weeks for her to write up our home study. Once that's done we have to wait to be shown to potential mothers. Then we wait to be selected. This waiting also gives us time to come up with some much needed funds. When the home study is written, we have to pay $1500 to the agency. I (Nick) will be working a part time job at a local tutoring company to start chipping away at it. Donations are gladly accepted via our PayPal account!

Be on the lookout for our next fundraiser: a family photo shoot! We will have a couple of locations for you to choose from. More information in the coming weeks on this one!

Well, that's about all. We are plugging along nicely in the process. It's all in God's hands and His timing now. This process has definitely been a reminder that our timing is not His!

Peace,

NZ & TZ

AND THE WINNER IS......

The Names......

    The Winner!

 MARGARET McCARTY!  CONGRATULATIONS MARGARET!

Please email me at tb2123@hotmail.com with which doll you would like (you can find them here http://store.americangirl.com/agshop/static/character.jsp).  Also please let me know what address to send the doll too.

Thank you so much for all who participated in our American Girl Doll Raffle!  We made $220 towards our adoption fees!  We are so blessed to have each of you in our lives!

Next up for fundraising: Family photo sessions with Marianne Nash Photography at a local park. Details to come.  In the mean time you can checkout Marianne's photos at https://www.facebook.com/#!/mariannenashphotographyanddesign



Love you all!

Nick, Tarrah, Quintin, Kai and Zoie!

Home Study, Macon Visit #2

Greetings blog fans and followers,

Nick has the controls for this post, so watch out! 

Today Tarrah and I made the always exciting drive down to Macon for another meeting with our case worker. This was a monumental trip as the next time we make an adoption trip south will be to bring Zoie back home. We have made it through the 2 required classes regarding the agency and the 2 required meetings with our case worker. Now she just has to come and see us one more time; this time in our neck of the woods with the final home inspection. So we will be busy preparing the house for her July 19th visit. Lots to do! If you are dying to get out of the house and help someone out, we've got plenty of jobs to be crossed off our list. Don't be shy!

The meeting went really well. Some logistical items to start with and then the individual interviews. Who would have guessed that Tarrah and I would give almost identical responses to questions that we didn't know about ahead of time? Yeah, we're that good. Or that alike. One or the other. There's a reason why we're together! And we didn't throw the other one under the bus, so the drive home was tolerable and we actually spoke to one another. We had to ask at the end just to make sure that everything was on the level for us, and it is. She doesn't seem to have any questions or concerns for us as of right now. Woo hoo!! 

One final reminder: You have exactly one week to purchase your tickets for the American Girl doll raffle. The winner gets to choose the doll of his/her choice, a $110 value! The winner will be selected on July 4th, so you still have time to enter. Tickets are $10 for 1, $20 for 2, $25 for 3. If you want more of that, just let us know and we'll hook you up!

Thank you all for joining us on this journey to bring Zoie home. Each of you plays a vital role in this process and we can't do it without you!

-Nick & Tarrah

Quiet time

Good Afternoon!

  I just noticed I have been quiet for a few weeks.  Life has been busy as usual. We went to Hilton Head with the boys and had a great time on "bacation," as Kai calls it. We are now working on things around the house for when Tricia comes here on July 19. 

On the adoption front nothing big is happening right now, we will meet with Tricia this Thursday for our 2nd interview with her.  I will get to start working on the profile book after this meeting. I cannot wait to have that part done. 

On the fundraising part, we are doing well, we have 37 entries in our American Girl Doll raffle. After that is done we will not do much for a while. Nick has gotten a second job to help us get out of our debt sooner and start saving more. In the fall a good friend of ours will be having family photoshoots for us. We will have a day or 2 we will have sign ups for you to have your family photos done here in Cherokee County. I do not know all the details yet, but will let you know as soon as I do. 

Thank you everyone for the prayer and support, I pray that you are able to see the good, bad and wonderful aspects of Adoption. I pray some of you decide to grow your family in this way as well.


9 MORE DAYS UNTIL THE DRAWING!!!!!!!

TZ

Home study interview #1

       Yesterday we were able to meet with our Social Worker, Tricia, for our first home study interview.  We got up at 6:15 am and left the house by 7:15 to make sure we arrived in Macon in plenty of time.  Our appointment was for 10:30 and if you know Atlanta traffic one day that can take an hour and a half the next the same trip can take 3 hours.  We were blessed and highly favored and it took us less than 2 hours.  Since we had so much time to kill we were able to get some shopping for Malakai's birthday party done.
      We made it to the agency in plenty of time and were quickly greeted with a very pleasant lady. Since we were early Tricia was not quite ready for us but we didn't wait too long. We sat with her and went over the paperwork we had already submitted and she made us very comfortable.  I really had no idea what to expect so it was nice how relaxing it was. We were able to get answers to some of the questions we had and left feeling very confident!

We now have our next 2 appointments set up with Tricia, one more in Macon on June 29th and then she comes for our home visit on July 19th. From then we wait about 6-8 weeks for her to write up our homestudy.  That means by middle of September we will be waiting to be chosen from a birthmother.  I am really looking forward to that point, but nervous at the same time since I do not wait very well:-)


Don't forget about our American Girl Doll raffle!  We don't have many entries right now, so your chances are very good!  Winner will be chosen July4th!

Love to you all!
Tarrah

AMERICAN GIRl DOLL RAFFLE TIME!

The time is here to have our second fundraiser to bring home baby Zoie. We will be holding an American Doll Raffle from now until July 4th. The winner will be able to pick any of the dolls ($110 Value!). Tickets will be 1 for $10, 2 for $20 or 3 for $25. Obviously you can purchase more than just those amounts, those are just the price increments! See the “Add to Cart” button on the right of the blog to purchase your tickets. If you have any questions please email me or comment here on the blog.

 

Our t-shirt sales God provided more than our initial goal, which Nick thought was hefty! This time our goal is $1500! I know we serve an amazing God and He will provide!

 

Thank you in advance for being a part of our raffle!

Tarrah & Nick

T-Shirts, Round 2

Back by popular demand, we are currently accepting orders for our adoption t-shirt. Shirts are $20 and the window for ordering is open through 4/30. We need at least 12 shirts total to place the order, so don't be afraid! You can either pay us directly or by clicking on the Paypal link. Either way, all proceeds go directly to our Zoie fund!

We serve and AMAZING God!

    I want to thank each and every one of our friends and family members for helping us with our first fundraiser!  The shirts are in and look awesome!!!  The ones being mailed will go in the mail tomorrow (Saturday April 6, 2013).  The rest will be delivered throughout next week to those near by.  When you get your shirts please send us a photo of you and your family wearing them so we can include it in our book we make our precious child.

We have been blessed to have raised over $900 with this first round of t-shirt sales! This is almost all of our first payment due!

If you are still interested in shirts we do have a few extra (5 Small, 1 Medium, 3 Large and 2 XL).  Email me if you are interested in these.  We will also do a second round of orders in the future. 

T-Shirts, Part 2

Thank you all for ordering a t-shirt! We have placed our first order and are currently awaiting them to be printed and shipped to us.

What? You missed out on the first order but really want one? Don't fear...we are going to order more! Stay tuned to when you can get in on the action! We will be ordering a second shipment of shirts in the coming weeks, so you are not too late. Let us know if you want one and we will make sure to make it happen for you!

-NZ

Baby Fever

           Yesterday was one of the most amazing days of my life!  I have been a mentor to a teenager since I had her in class when she was a 7th grader.  This past August she became pregnant.  I have been answering pregnancy questions for 9 months, praying all involved stayed healthy and safe.  Saturday night she went into real labor (after 2 false alarms).  We made it to the hospital and she was 6cm. 
         This teenager allowed me to be a part of the whole birth process!  I have to say God's design of childbirth is the most amazing this to watch!  I was unable to have my children without a C-section and their births were amazing, but watching from the other side was so amazing!

      The whole time I was thinking about our baby girl, I know it is highly unlikely I will be able to be there when she is born and that makes me sad, but I know God has her already planned and chosen for us to parent and I have baby fever even more after watching baby Autumn be born yesterday.  I am thankful God allowed me to be in this girls life and that I was able to experience this!


Paperwork update:
    I have sent off for Malakai's birth certificate and have started gathering what we need.  We meet with CCS on April 12th for our next informational meeting.


T-Shirt update:
   THANK YOU to all who have purchased shirts already!  I am so excited!  We will be ordering the shirts next Monday so there is still time to pass along our address to your friends to order!  Our goal is 100 shirts and we are at 30 or so!


Love you all and we are blessed to have you in our lives!