The Balance

Sheesh! I feel like I've been juggling a million things over the past several days and I've barely had time to sit down and breathe. I'm totally in one of those places where everywhere I turn and look there is something to get done, whether it be everyday "life" stuff, like laundry, cleaning, and groceries... or adoption mumbo jumbo, like dossier documents to gather, and our required education... or preparing for this mega yard sale, sorting, organizing, and pricing like a crazy lady! Add on top of that, starting a Beth Moore Bible study, A Women's Heart, that I'm super excited about but completely at a loss for when I'm going to have the time to knock it out! (ladies that have done Beth Moore before, you know that the homework load can be a doozey!)  Oh and one minor detail in this mix... I have a 3 year old son that needs his mama!  I'm not sure how the heck to find the balance in it all besides to make "to do" lists and feel a little accomplished when I cross one off... AND Diet Mt. Dew does wonders in keeping me going! (o;  But both those things only go so far, so I pray that God would step into my chaos and be in it with me, providing a healthy balance of it all. 

And YES a blog entry as been on the list and I feel a little better now that I can cross it off the list, at least  for today! (o; Any other of you adopting mama's ever feel like this?!

The "Nudge" of God

Over and over again Joshua and I have been amazed at how people are totally taking initiative and generously thinking outside the box in ways to help fund this crazy expensive adoption of ours! I mean, seriously... they're following through and coming up with ideas I would have never thought of, all in an effort to help bring our little boy home! It's quite possibly the most amazing and humbling experience of our life! And to think, we could be missing all of this if we would have said no to His burden because of our fear!

What really sticks out though is that people are being obedient to the nudge of the Holy Spirit to "do something"! It's like God is whispering in the ears of His people, giving them ideas, and courage, and creativity, and guts to follow through. I know He funds His callings... I'm just simply amazed at how He uses His people to do it! I say that with tears in my eyes because it simply is "God"... He's at work. These blessings have been a HUGE reminder to Joshua and I as well to follow through and be obedient to the whispers of God! I've never seen more clearly God use His people as His hands and feet to accomplish His story!

I went to the mail box today to find a letter from a gal who went to college with my sis, Carla. I'd like to share with you what her note said:

"Joshua and Hilary,

Cool story: I was wearing "your" t-shirt the other day while helping neighbors clear out their garage. I offered to list their dog crate on Craigslist for them. After asking about my shirt they told me to sell the crate and give you the $!!! How cool is that??!! So I got the idea to go to garage sells for cheap stuff and clean it up. I'll sell it in an upcoming resale and what I make goes to your fund! Hope this adds to your fund a little at a time.

Carla"

And she included $35 in cash.... What?! Simply the hands of God at work once again! Carla, you amaze me and I can't thank you enough for being a part of our story!

Other GREAT news that we found out today... The home study agency we want to use finally got approved today and is now officially a cooperating HS with AGCI! Our Dossier Walk-thru is scheduled for Monday evening! Yay!

Want to Help?!

We are super excited to share that three amazing companies, Worthy of the Prize , Cap Creations, and 517 Creations have partnered with us to help fundraise for our adoption! Check out these super fun and trendy items that you could purchase and would help us in the process! 

Cap Creations will give us $10 for every Chosen Necklace sold

Worthy of the Prize will give us 1/2 the proceeds from every Fit Band (key chain) sold

517 Creations will give $5 from every shirt sold towards our adoption

Take the time to check out each of these sites and see how they are opening their hearts and business to "defend the fatherless" and support adoptive families in their journeys! It's truly amazing!







If you are interested in buying one of these items (perfect for a Christmas gift if you ask me!) check out the links on the right hand side of our blog for more information or go directly to their websites to place your order. Be sure to put our name (Helms) in the "Instructions to Merchant" section so that proceeds will get sent to us! Thank you to everyone for your support, encouragement and prayers! 

Tennessee

I know I said this before, but staring at this "Big Hefty" adoption planner day in and day out without really being able to fully tackle this thing is driving me crazy! My fingers are crossed that we'll be able to have our dossier walk-thru call this week and I'll be given the official "go ahead" to start the paper chase! (side note: I got an email today from AGCI letting me know they received the email from the home study agency with all the additional requested documents, and that the social services department had it and they would be in touch with me when they heard more. So we're moving along in the right direction!) That being said, there are several things on the list of documents to order that seem pretty fool proof, and so to fulfill the need of accomplishing something in this binder, I ordered our marriage license and birth certificates today!

When I called good ole' Carter County Court house in East TN to request our marriage license today, the minute the gal answered the phone it made me miss Tennessee! We've been here in the Dallas area now for almost 4 years, but there is something about small town East Tennessee that tugs on my heart strings. Maybe it's because it's where Joshua and I met, fell in love and got married, maybe it's because that time in our lives represents some of our sweetest memories of true fellowship and growth with friends, maybe it's because deep down I'm a country girl at heart, maybe it's because it's where all my "kinfolks" are from, maybe it's simply the fact that I miss the beautiful mountains and the accessibility to outdoor adventure fun. Whatever the reason, calling the 423 area code makes me smile and hearing Patsy (that was the gals name at the courthouse today) at the other end of the line answer the phone with her southern twang brought a feeling of "home" to my inner being. She added yet another reason why I love Tennessee... after I told her I needed two official copies of our marriage license mailed to me because we were adopting internationally she said, "Sure thing, they're on the way sweetie!" to which I replied "Okay, what is that going to cost?" and she said, "Sweetie, don't you worry about it- I've got it covered, they'll be out in the mail to you today!" Fearing that she misunderstood that I just wasn't needing copies of the license but the actual official certified deal I questioned her, but she reassured me that she was sending me the right thing! Wahoo for a free document checked off the list! If I were to have ordered this sucker through Vitalcheck it was going to cost me over $30... Yay for small town TN courthouses with super nice "Patsy's"working there! She made my day! I was sure to tell her that too! Patsy's name is written in RED on the calendar... she's an answered prayer in this journey!

All in All a Productive Weekend!

This weekend the hubby and I spent time focusing on our crafty side... working on some of the details for the Adoption Yard Sale. We made up a poster that we can have set out at the sale, with the hopes that it'll open up doors of conversation about what we're doing and why. We were able to knock out several signs that we'll have posted around the neighborhood too pointing people our way.

We've also been spending much time in our garage organizing, pricing, and cleaning items that we'll have for sale. Each item out there represents a person (and yes, I know who has given each and every item out there!) that donated the item and more importantly ANOTHER individual apart of this story that God is writing to bring home our child! Our full garage is such a representation of God's faithfulness to provide! Our sweet and generous neighbors next door, Liz & Ken, noticed the overflow of items and even offered to let us start stocking up their garage as well! How great is that?! So if this is just the motivation you need to de-clutter around the house- we'll take anything you're willing to donate!

We also hit our required education reading head on this weekend with only two more online courses to complete! We're down a couple more chapters in the daunting, Eyes Wide Open workbook too. I say daunting because I feel like it's going to take us forever to finish this thing! My hand hurts after each chapter from all the short answer questions, so I made an executive decision that Joshua and I are to take turns writing each chapter- I don't think he's thrilled with the idea, but geesh my hand needs a break!

Quick update on the home study agency we're hoping to use... they sent over all the additional documents that AGCI was asking for this weekend- so my fingers are crossed that things will be finalized this week and we can set up our dossier walk though call (a.k.a. "DWC" as I recently learned it's called from some professional adoption mama's!). We've pretty much read and re-read through everything in the Adoption Planner and have already gotten a head start on obtaining the documents that we know we don't have any questions about- so we're moving right along!

All in all a productive weekend!

From Empty To Full!

So in one weeks time of announcing our need for donations for our Adoption Yard Sale coming up the weekend of September 25th, our garage went from looking like this:

To this!: 

How awesome is this?! Seriously, we've been amazed at the generosity of so many! We have a little more room, so if you have things you're still wanting to donate, we'll take 'em! Thanks to all who have given so far! We've been super busy making Adoption Yard Sale signs, ads on the web, pricing, and organizing to prepare for this fun Yard Sale! We designed some cool cards to hand out to buyers the weekend of the sale thanking them and letting them know our blog address and the purpose of the sale.
We're going to have some flyers advertising the Just Love Coffee that supports our adoption as well. Wahoo for success so far!

Dope-Dee-Doe

I love this picture of my boy Jude and his cousin Jake's sweet legs hanging off the bench. It reminds me of a couple things... ONE, how cute little boys are and how this picture captures such a short time of their lives where their feet don't touch the ground when they sit. And TWO, it captures the image of "waiting" to me.

Since getting our Application Planner this past Friday, I've felt this urgency to start marking things off this list. The binder is packed full of important information and instructions on gathering all the required  paperwork we'll need for our dossier and truthfully it's quite overwhelming! Our agency knows that it's overwhelming and that's why they schedule a "dossier run-through call" with you shortly after receiving your packet to answer any questions you'll inevitably have. WELL... this call can't take place until the home study agency we want to use is finalized as a cooperating agency with AGCI... and that is still in the works. Ugh! To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what the hold up is. I have no doubt that I've been "the annoying squeaky wheel" to our agency trying to get my questions answered and figure out what needs to happen in order for this agreement to get finalized which will enable us to move forward. Regardless, it's out of my hands and all I can really do is WAIT until we get the all clear. Waiting stinks! Please pray that the two agencies will be able to sort through whatever the heck they need to sort through  and that, God willing, we're able to use Bright Dreams International for our HS!

I hate having the "Big Hefty" sitting here staring at me, unable to tackle this bad boy. We have however been able to start working on the required educations courses, both the workbook and our online courses. So at least I don't feel like we're being completely useless! None the less there is a feeling of "Dope-dee-Doe" until we can have this dossier run through call.

Ultimately this is in God's hands. I trust His timing. (And yes, I wrote that out so I would re-read it to myself and mean it.)

Thanks for your prayers!