We received the official referrals of our children yesterday.  Praise God.  
For the protection of the children, and safety of the adoption process we'll need to be a bit private for now.  Once our children are home safe we can share more of them with you.  You can request to be added to our closed private facebook page "Eight is Not Enough".  
If you feel led to help us finish the funding you can find our fundraiser page on facebook "The Hilleslands Children Envelope fundraiser".  
If you would like to offer a tax deductible donation you can go to www.give27.org and find us there!  God bless you and we'll update the progress of the adoption as we go.  Hoping to get a court date set in the next few weeks and praying that we can start court end of January beginning of February.  We'll leave that in God's hands. Blessings to you!!!

Oh forgive me please for the horrible job I'm doing on our blog page.  We are half way through our Hillesland Childrens Envelope Adoption Fundraiser. ( Say that five times fast).   It's a full time job, and I have a real full time job, and a family to take care of so I kinda lost track. Duh!   ;0)

We did just make a video with an update and a little sharing of our hearts. It's file's too large to attach here so we put a the video on youtube. Hilleslandadoptionvideo   
We are so excited to let you know that we are within a month or two of travel to start court!!!  This next week we will have the funds to send in for the referral which is our agency telling us which children we get to make our own.  They will be Orphans no longer!  Amen!!  Also the Dossier which is all our paper work that goes to Uganda so that their government/courts can give the ok for us to adopt from their country.  Next we will have to submit 11,000.00 to cover all the court and child investigation cost.  Then the final stage is about 7,000.00 for a bunch of legal work and visas.  We could very probably be traveling to Uganda in December to start court.  So time is of the essence in finishing the funding.  Please visit our fundraiser on facebook if you would like.  If you would like to contribute/donate to help us finish the money barrier you can visit give27.org  or purecharity.com.   Also here is the video, sorry it is a bit long.  Next update will be short, lovely, and sweet. hee hee
We are so thankful for everyone God is bringing into our lives.  You've given so much love, support, prayer, and we will forever thank Him and pray for you all!!!!  More updates to come and God willing we will all see who our children are next week!!!  God Bless!!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1547537228813173/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

AWE!!!!!  Our children are ready for us to brake down the stinkin money barrier and bring them home!  Please see our facebook page for our awesome "Hillesland children's Envelope" Fundraiser.  Go Go Go!!!  

Today!!!!

Happy Blessed Monday.  Happy, exciting news to come in just a little bit.  Stay tuned! 

Happy Beautiful, Blessed Saturday morning. It's been a while since our last update so here ya go. Our 1600A is being approved and should be complete within about a week or so. It is the form needed by a U.S citizen who plans to adopt a foreign-born child. This is approved by the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services department to adjudicate our application qualifying us as the adoptive parents. A child cannot immigrate to the U.S as an orphan until an I600 form has been approved.
We are also almost finished getting our Dossier together. Should have it all finished in the next three weeks. A Dossier is a TON of notarized paper work all about us that is put together and in our case we have 8 items in which we need six notarized copies of EVERYTHING. GEEZZZZ!!! A lot of running around, phone calls, and super duper expensive of course! The Dossier will go to Uganda to the attorney and courts, they go over everything to approve us to adopt children from their country. So guess what???? When we are I600A approved in about a week or two we can officially accept referrals from our adoption agency, meaning we will know what children will be joining our Family.    I'm sure when we see their faces and learn their stories, it will make our lesson of patience even more difficult. We will share as much as it is safe to share when we know who they are. The biggest obstacle today is funding. We will need to do this pretty quickly now so stay tuned for our next fundraiser.....We will continue to use give27.org for all fundraising. (visit that site anytime) :0) Please continue to pray for this process, for our children to be, and for our whole family.

Update and Funding

 You probably know that our 2 yr adoption journey has taken us to three different Countries in Africa. 
We have been involved supporting and working with different orphanages there.   We are happy to update that we are officially settled in a small town in Uganda.
We are adopting two children from a wonderful children's home that takes children that are over looked because they are a little older (past the toddler age) and have special medical needs. 
For these reasons our adoption is moving along very quickly. We need to raise funds fast so we can get our children home and healthy!!!  
We still need about $35,000.00.  I know not everyone can give much but every dollar helps even just $27.00.  
Our church set up www.give27.org so you'll have a site that makes your donation tax deductible.
We will continue to work  hard fundraising through the summer and ask that you pray for us, for our children while they wait, and for open hearts to help us bring them home. 

Please share our story and video.... Blessings, Brian Deb and our Eight Is Not Enough Crew.  Click on this link to watch our video and again, please share.



http://vimeo.com/album/125888/video/101310120

LONG WAITED UPDATE! 

Again we apologize for the delay but the world of adoption is a daily roller coaster ride. It's a huge hurry up and then wait game. Good news and then bad news. Changes weekly and so we've waited for more certainty before filling you in.

We are officially moving forward, full speed ahead in Uganda!! I've been sobbing all morning. Some tough deep conversations of children and their unthinkable situations. Gob bless them and keep them safe. Oh how my heart wants to save them all as you can understand. I just pray and hope the Lord opens lot's and lot's of hearts through our adoptions and more precious ones can have safe homes and families. 
SO we have to fundraise like mad people!!!!!!!!!!!!! We will have a huge community garage sale on Saturday the 26th at South Middle school in Nampa ID. (not poured in concrete, but in the works so we'll update that too). We are planning an online auction, and will update you on the details of these two fundraisers and the others we are in the process of planning. We are also applying for a matching grant. 

It's crazy how God works his timing and gives us his whisper.... I had just finished a phone call with a dear friend this morning telling her I have this gut feeling that the quiet is soon to pass, it's going to get wild and crazy and we'll have to move really fast. I came down to my office, checked our adoption email and the emails came flooding in from Carol at the childrens home we are working with, our agency, and their contact and progress with the attorney in Uganda. It was crazy and emotional like nothing else...... We know God holds this whole process in his hands so the money and everything else will go as he desires and plans. Prayers would be so appreciated. We will be able to share a bit more details in the next few weeks on our children. Meanwhile we have a video to share with you next week and will update you on the fundraisers asap as well. Thank you for being in our lives and on our mission!!  Blessings~~Deb.

Marching On!!!!!

We need your prayer, we ask for your support!

I spent three hours Friday on conference calls with the The US Depart of State Bureau of Consular Affairs, and the consulate in the DRC.  The DRC (congo) officials as some of you know stopped allowing their “already” adopted children to leave their country and come home with their new families.  They are afraid their children are being mistreated, or “re-homed”.  ( put through another adoption once here if the adoptive family decides they can’t “handle” the children)    Now because of other issues during US families visiting their children in the DRC, the DRC will scrutinize and in some cases refuse parents from the U.S. to visit their children who are waiting for their exit visas (which have been put on hold).  September 2013, they asked for one year to revamp their adoption program. They want to stop corruption in the adoption program in their country.  They want other countries adopting their children to conform to their laws and regulations (that was not always happening).   This has caused tragedies for some of the waiting children and much heart break for many waiting families, but in the grand scheme of things this is good.   If they are prepared and stick to that time line, they will start reissuing the children’s exit visas in September.

What does this mean for us?   It means going forward with our adoption in the DRC is risky but honestly no more risky than usual.  The September time line (if they stick to it) does not affect us on how we move forward.  We are just finished with our home study, we are applying for matching grants, going through fundraising ideas (any suggestions are welcome), and getting ready to create our story on video for you (coming soon).

During my (Deborah) prayer time this morning I was given a strong message saying “be ready”.  Tears again of course.

 We march forward and we “be ready”.  What does that look like at this point?  It means we fundraise like crazy!!!   We’ll need approx.  $8000.00 to sign up with our Adoption (placement) agency, and have a Dossier prepared.  The Dossier a collection of papers containing very detailed information about us.  Compiling a dossier involves gathering documents, having the documents notarized, adding various seals from our county, state, and the U.S. government, then translated into that countries language. 

Ok?  Ok. (Inhale, exhale)    So let’s do this!   If we have enough of us together, helping, we can get this part funded quickly.  God told us to “Be Ready” so let’s Be Ready.   John 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”         GO!!!!!   www.give27.thepursuit.org

Be Careful What You Pray For!

Well where to start......So you've probably read at least a little about the issues with the DRC closing it's exit visas, not allowing adopted children to leave their country.  This was do to information true or false that there was abuse and re-homing (adoptive parents giving their adopted children, up for adoption to another family) of the Congolese children in the U.S.   This has been a very sad time for the families that are through the full adoption process and not able to bring their children home.  It's also very sad and scary for families that are still in the process of adopting from DRC not knowing if you'll get to the end and not be able to bring your children home, or get derailed in the process and have to choose a different country.  It's been a very insecure, unsettling, feeling.  (not of God)

Last night at our Bible study we were asked for an update on our adoption.  We explained the above and the worry and frustration, the heartache.  There was a lot of discussion on how God knows how this will play out.  Nothing happens with out it filtering through His hands.  How this is teaching us what true faith looks and feels like.  That I can not and do not have control of everything in my life. I told our friends, "I do have faith that His will, will be done".  I know he will lead us where he needs us.  He knows what children he is bringing into our lives and family.  He will open the right doors, and close the wrong doors.  So even though we feel like we are wondering through the desert, we hold on to Him, to His word, and we march on!  We prayed about this at the end of our group time and Brian and prayed about it again before bed.

This morning when I got to my work desk, signed on to my emails I had two emails in our hilleslandadoption@gmail.com account.  One from our Pastor saying that the tax deductible giving site was up and running so that we could start the fundraising phase.  Instant joy, followed by, fear.  The next email was from our case worker sharing an article from the U.S. Dept of State with an update that the DRC authorities of adoption where on their way to the U.S next week for 10 days.  "The visit is designed to address the Congolese authorities’ concerns regarding the welfare of children adopted from the Democratic Republic of Congo by U.S. citizen parents.  Addressing these concerns could have a significant impact on Congolese authorities’ perspectives on intercountry adoptions to the United States, and on the future of intercountry adoptions from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the United States."  That means HOPE.  If the DRC authorities are shown that the children adopted and living in the U.S. are being raised in good, healthy environments, and are adjusting well to being in the U.S. then we have hope that they will start issuing exit visas for their children already adopted and orphans waiting for families.    Phew!  What a morning!!!   I cried and cried on and off most of today.  Just rocked by God answering our questions, calming our doubt, loving on us, being there, everything that he promises.  

So, with my head bowed, tears running down my cheeks, "OK" was my response to Him.  

I wanted to share this all with you........

We have a personal letter we will mail to anyone who would like a little more of our story.  Feel free to email us with your physical address if you would like one.  We will post it in a week or two as well.    We were going to wait to tell everyone where they can go to donate to bringing our children home after our letters where mailed out, BUT my beautiful little sister Lori didn't know that, and being excited that our giving site was up, posted it on facebook! Ha!  Well there you go again with me Having to let go of control!!  
So thankful for all of you, your time, interest, care, love, everything you offer.  We will update again next week.  Updates should be a little more often now.......
Oh, here is the giving website if you want to check it out..  http://give27.thepursuit.org/families/the-
hilleslands/
Love and Blessings,
Bri and Deb

Why Africa?

I’m trying to blog about different question we are asked because I’m sure more than a few people may have the same thoughts or questions for us.

Why Africa?  We became emotionally attached to few different countries in Africa.  One of the countries I've been connected to for several years as I’ve financially supported a child there through Compassion International.  Two other African countries, Philippines, and India are other countries that have tugged on our hearts.  We've had friends share their knowledge, experience, videos, pictures, and stories of mission trips, and even their own adoption journey’s from these countries.  I know there are many other places where the children are in life threatening situations.  It’s horrible.   All children everywhere deserve and need a forever family.  Some people with open hearts for adoption will feel called to adopt locally, in their own country, and some internationally.  It’s a personal choice and calling.  I pray and hope that any family open to bringing children into their already family will receive love, support, understanding, and a great big community around them.  It’s not easy for any involved but it’s a need that we cannot ignore any longer, so we won’t.     

p.s.  I out of my own concern and curiosity asked our adoption agency, Why don't the people of Congo adopt their own children so they can stay in their own country?   She said there is still war, and poverty so bad that the people can't afford to adopt their own.  They can't even afford to properly support the children they have. Even if they did there isn't much chance of the children having any decent future (no education, medical help, proper nutrition) or even hope of one.  Sad......                                                                                                                                                                               

Why?  Why are there orphans?  Why are there hungry people? Why are there widows living alone and afraid?  Why are people dying from diseases that are preventable and that there are cures for?  Why are there homeless people that are alone and lost?   Because We sit back in our comfortable lives and do nothing about it. Because we don’t want to change our lives and comfort zones.  Because we are selfish or afraid.  Because it is so much easier to turn a blind eye.  We think, Oh they’ll be ok, Someone will take care of them.  They’ll get help somewhere.  How will that happen if we all think and say the same thing?  Do we only really care about the closest people in our lives. We feel and think our own families and children are more important than others.  Does God?  Does HE look at the three beautiful boys I gave birth to that HE created and think that they are more precious, more important, and more loved by Him than all the other children in the world that HE created? Not the God of the Holy Bible, not the one and only true God that I believe in.  No he does not.  Could God snap a finger, or just say a word from his mouth and make it all better?  Sure, of course he can.  But he called us to take care of each other. What kind of character would we have if he did everything for us?  How would our kids turn out if we did everything for them, gave them no choices, no responsibility, no consequence.  He’s our father and gives us the same freedom of choice, responsibility, and consequence because He loves us and wants to grow us through all our experiences.  I am so very thankful that he doesn’t just take over.  I would feel like a total failure.   That he had to give up on me and my selfishness and do it himself.   He told us to go out and preach the gospel, to save the orphans, take care of the widows and homeless, feed the poor and hungry, help heal the sick.  God is a God of equality.  God is a God of Love.  He gave us Love, he taught us Love, we were created to Love.  Giving love and being Love is the most important command that He gave us.  I love my God with all my heart.   When I learn about what breaks His heart, my instant instinct is to do something about it.  My heart cannot turn a blind eye.  Believe me I’ve tried to and it doesn’t work for me.  That’s not my heart.  Seeing these horrible realities in this world breaks my heart too.    I choose to repent from my selfish ways.  I choose to get out of my comfort zone.  To face fear and doubt with the truth I have in God’s promise to always walk along side of me.   I’ll write more about the challenges of stepping out of my box in another blog soon.  But for now I want you to know how very filled we are in our hearts as we journey through saving two children from Africa.  We are at total peace with our desire, we feel loved and comforted by God through this.  We feel blessed that he would entrust us with such a huge job.  We are so so so excited to watch all that God will do through this time in our lives and so many others.  I know he’s going to rock the hearts of many.  We can’t wait for the day we get to look into the eyes of our two new children and bring them back to a Forever home.  We love you all and are so thankful that you are in our lives, both old and new!    In His Name, and for His Kingdom.  ~~ Bri and Deb.  xxxxxxx

Ok, Today is Feb 14th, 2014.  My first day playing on a Blog.  I have seriously failed this test big time!  Please give me a couple day's to play and figure this Blog thing out!  Promise I'll have it better understood by the end of the weekend!  Hang in there with me.  xxxxxxxxxx  ~~Deb.