The Source of Adoption

On this blog, we have discussed the details surrounding Hugo's entrance into our lives, the financial facts, our children's reactions to the event, the band that will be performing at the concert, and lots of other things that have been part of this fabulous adventure called adoption. But the whole idea of adoption comes from somewhere and we haven't addressed that directly yet.

Now perhaps some of you know where I am going with this and are perhaps rolling your eyes. Please keep reading even if it's only to humor me. If nothing else, it will help you understand us a little better and how it is we find ourselves in this exciting time of our lives.

We are Christians. I have been for as long as I can remember, really. I got saved when I was young - at an AWANA meeting (are they still around?). We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is the fulfillment of much prophecy from the Old Testament. And we believe the whole Bible, Old Testament and New, is really about adoption.

In the Old Testament, God chose a people - Israel - for Himself. They were his own choosing and He did so for no other reason than He chose to. That's adoption. When the Israelites found themselves captive in Egypt, God spoke about them and called them His "first born son." The rest of the Old Testament considers the times of this chosen people and proclaims the coming of God's only begotten son, Jesus.

When Jesus arrives in the New Testament, adoption again is front and center. The Old Testament prophets said that Jesus would be of the line of David and He is - through His adoptive father Joseph. That adoption was so complete and real that it was enough to fulfill prophecy. That's pretty amazing. And after Jesus death on the cross and resurrection, salvation (adoption!) became available to all who would believe. Check out Ephesians 1:4-6:

⁴ just as ^(A)He chose us in Him before ^(B)the foundation of the world, that we would be^(C)holy and blameless before ^[a]Him. ^(D)In love ^5 [b]He ^(E)predestined us to ^(F)adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, ^(G)according to the ^[c]kind intention of His will, ^6 (H)to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in ^(I)the Beloved.


So are we adopting Hugo simply because we are Christians and we think it is the Christian thing to do? Nope. We find that somehow, inexplicably, we love this little boy that we have never met. We want him to be part of our family and when he is, he will not be a second-class member of our family. He is not an add-on or an afterthought. He is a member of this family completely and due all the rights and responsibilities that come with that. Just like the Israelites were completely God's firstborn. Just like Jesus was really part of Joseph's family. Just like we are now really sons of God the Father. 


Check out this great song about the nature of spiritual adoption by Third Day:

Thanks for reading.

On Air

Today we had the truly great pleasure of helping to spread the word about our story of adoption on our local radio station! It was so much fun and something that none of us had ever done before.

Mr. Varner, the CEO of WMUG was our guide for the day. He was so, so sweet to Stella!

When we originally were invited to come to the station, we thought that we would just be recording an interview with Mr. Varner for the Sunday program. So it was a surprise for us that before we even walked in the door, he told us that there was a program recording live right then and asked if we would like to be a part of it. 

So we walked in the door, got a hearty welcome hug from Ms. Lillian O, and were handed a pair of headphones. 

After our on-air interview, we sat down with Mr. Varner for our interview with him. He asked great questions and was extremely kind and tolerant of our stammering. I thought I'd be nervous, but he made us feel very comfortable. We weren't coached on any of the questions, so I had to do some thinking on my feet - not one of my greatest strengths. 

When we finished the segments for Sunday, we recorded a couple of 30 second "spots", or commercials, for our benefit concert. Jason must have been a radio broadcaster sometime in his past because his spots were perfectly timed, articulate, and covered all the necessary information. Each of us recorded a segment - even Stella! She did a super job!

When we finished with Mr. Varner, our friend Jackie Kuehn came into the studio to prepare for her Tuesday noontime show. We were privileged to be given a few minutes with her, as well. She asked some questions that Mr. Varner hadn't asked, we talked about the concert again with her, and we provided them with some music of the Jonathan Batiste and the Stay Human Band. 

(Please notice Mrs. Kuehn's perfectly coiffed hair. Although I didn't pay any attention at all to how I looked for our radio time, she was busy combing her hair before her segment - to the great delight of Mr. Varner who good-naturedly teased her about the whole thing.) 

You can hear us on:

WDAD - 1450 AM at 8:00 Sunday morning


WMUG -105.1 FM at 9:00 Sunday morning


WMUG - 105.1 FM at 11:00 Tuesday morning

All can be streamed live on wmugradio.org 

Thanks so much to Mr. Varner, Lillian O, and Jackie Kuehn for their kindness and hospitality to us!

Miracles

One of the many miracles that has taken place in our adoption journey is the one to follow.

 In our small church fellowship, the Lord was working in a young woman named Elizabeth to send her on a big adventure way outside anything she had ever done before.

Without knowing that we were adopting, she set out to volunteer for 4 weeks at an orphanage in Africa.

Without knowing that she was traveling to Africa, we made plans to adopt a little boy from Ghana.

 The day or so before she left, we pulled her aside in church and showed her a picture of Hugo, telling her that he was going to be our son. We knew that the chances were a million to one that she would be anywhere near him, and we hadn't really told everyone yet that we were adopting, but, you know, crazier things have happened ....

We told her where (we thought) he was staying, the name of the village as well as the name of the orphanage and asked if she had any choice over where in Africa she was sent. Of course, she was going with her own agenda and we wanted to honor that - but still! If she had any chance to travel to see him, we asked, would she be willing to take some pictures of our family along, just in case?

Elizabeth received her placement - and we were THRILLED beyond words to find out that it was within a day's driving distance from Hugo's orphanage. There was a chance that she just might be able to meet up with him! We sent along some toys, pictures, bubbles, and a stuffed friend - still, just in case.

Shortly after she left for Ghana, we found out that we were mistaken about the location of his orphanage.

It turns out that we were wrong:

It was in the exact same town,

on the exact same street,


a two minute walk away,


as the orphanage where Elizabeth was sent to volunteer.

There are 48.3 MILLION orphans in Africa.

Here is a picture of my friend Liz with our son:


Thank you, Liz, for your sacrifice, your love for orphans, and for taking the time to write your thoughts so soon after you returned from the most amazing trip of your life.

From Liz:

********************************************************************

My time spent in Ghana was the most productive and amazing month of my life.  Life there is very different from what we are accustomed to; it was something I couldn’t imagine up on my own.  Washing clothes in buckets, no internet outside of cafes, no refrigerators, no flushing toilets, and drinking water out of a sachet—those were just some of the major changes I had to get used to.    

Another thing that took me by surprise was that everywhere I went people would yell, “Oburoni, Oburoni,” which means ‘foreigner’ in Twi.  If you want to feel like a celebrity, go to Ghana!   People there do try and overcharge you for taxis and, well, anything else they can because they assume that since you’re white you don’t know what’s going on.  Having natives around to help the first couple days was very helpful; we got accustomed to the prices and were able to negotiate with the Ghanaian people on our own.  I am not the bartering type, so I was very glad that one of my friends at the orphanage would handle all of that for me.  

Yet another thing that took some time to get used to was the weather.  When I first stepped off the plane, a gust of very hot and very humid air came met me.  At 10:45. PM. My first thought was, “If it is this hot at night, how hot will it be during the day?”  Weeks one and two were just a constant heat wave, all day and all night.  There was no breeze, just a still and heavy heat.  June brought on the beginning of the rainy season, and the temperature declined quite a bit.  It rained every two or three days, and usually more than once that day.  This made washing clothes a bit difficult, because they would have to hang outside for a couple of days to actually dry.  And you never know if they will smell damp or not; if they did you would have to rewash them (which I had to do!).

Everyone knows that I like to eat- most of the food was heavy in starch and carbohydrates.  Lots of rice, cassava, yams (but not the orange yams we think of); they were served with a soup.  My favorite food was banku (corn and cassava dough) with groundnut soup. So good!  The second time I visited Hugo, the cook at his orphanage had a huge pot of banku for the kids to eat for dinner!  Meeting this little boy was one of the coolest things I got to do in Ghana, it was amazing how God put us a 2 minute walk away from each other!  Walking down the road to the orphanage I worked at, you could see his orphanage. It was that close.  

Two things struck me about him—how cute and quiet he was!  If you know me, you know just how short I am; he came up a big higher than my knee level.  I asked one of the workers at his orphanage if he spoke and understood English, and she told me that they think he understands it but he doesn’t speak it.  She also said that he doesn’t speak much in general either, so he may be able to I just did not hear his voice!  The third and final time I got to visit him, he showed me a bit of his personality.  When he wanted to show me something, he would pat me and then point in the direction of the object he was looking at.  I would try and guess what he was pointing at and if I guessed wrong he would just keep pointing until I tried everything in that area!  He really seemed to like cars as well, like any 2 year old boy! 

His orphanage was run much differently than the orphanage where I was.  I was so impressed while visiting him, everything about it was nicer.  There was a family atmosphere with the kids and they appeared to value their personal belongings.  In the compound there was a separate building for boys and girls.  Each building was broken down into bedrooms, each bedroom housing ten kids with a care mom/dad in each room.  Also, they separated the kids so that there were younger and older ones in each room, encouraging the older kids to take care of the smaller ones.

Each of the ten kids was given a shelf space, a place where they could put their own personal belongings.  These things may seem very small and insignificant to most people, but I saw what the absence of such things can do.  Lack of adult care and interaction instills an attitude in a child that is centered on them; they need to take care of only their own self—no one else is looking out for them.  Having a space to put their personal belongings encouraged a value for their own possessions, they would take better care of them instead of letting their clothes/shoes get dirty or even simply throwing them somewhere.  A family atmosphere helps children to get along because they are working together and looking out for each other, not simply looking out for their own selves.

So many things were great about his orphanage; but something that was very interesting to me was that they do not cane the children.  Caning, while it seems almost inhumane to most Westerners, is simply a part of the Ghanaian culture (at least it was in the area I was living in).  A thin bamboo shoot is used for caning; the child will hold their hand out to get hit, unless it is a serious punishment which they get hit on the back for. 

I could go on for hours and hours about the smiling people, varying conditions, great fruit, and general atmosphere felt in our little town.  Living in a country like Ghana would be definitely different than visiting it, they don’t know what it is like to put dirty dishes or clothes in a machine, put some soap in it, press a button, and then an hour later have them be clean.  It is just like we don’t know what it is like to have to fetch water from a spigot for washing and drinking, cleaning clothes in a bucket, or using the restroom in a drain on the side of the road.  That lifestyle is normal to them, just as ours is normal to us.  Being there, and then returning to England made me realize just how blessed I am.

While I am even more grateful and appreciative of inside showers, flushing toilets (and toilets that aren’t holes), electricity, internet—even on my phone, great schools, it stretches beyond that.  Knowing that I have a family, one that stretches far beyond simple blood relatives, who loves and takes care of me, holds a greater weight.  Hugo is now is going to be able to have that same feeling that I, and all of you who are reading this know.  A feeling of unconditional love that spreads further than just brothers, sisters, mom, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.  We belong to a family that reaches countries all over the world, where there are people who I call ‘aunt’ and ‘uncle’ and consider many brothers and sisters.  They mean just as much to me as my actual relatives.  It is amazing what a family we belong to in Jesus.  I am so excited to see what other amazing things God has planned for Hugo.  He loves this little boy so much that he is placing him in the Rummel family where he will be surrounded by sisters and a brother, as well as great parents and grandparents!

We all get to be a part of this amazing journey, and I am just blown away that I got to be there at the very start of it all! Finding words for how excited I am about him coming home to Indiana is difficult, but when I get to see him again I’m sure they will be there! 

This One is for My Students

Hello all,

I have been working in my current school district for 8 years. Most of those were spent at the elementary level but this year I was moved to the Junior High. They are two VERY different worlds.

One thing I love about teaching junior high students is their obvious need for social interactions with each other, their teachers, their coaches...you name it. These kids love to talk. At the junior high, I have an office (yes!) and it is rare that students aren't lurking about. They love to hang out and share their lives and I enjoy indulging them when I can. I even had the great pleasure of teaching two cousins of mine and I loved getting to know them better.

As soon as we were matched with Hugo, I put a picture of him on my wall next to the photos of my other children. That generated a lot of conversation, questions, and plenty of oohs and aahs. They wanted to know everything about him and made me promise that I would bring him in to visit when he came home. On the few occasions that my kids have stopped by for a brief visit, the students have made a big fuss over them and treated them with kindness and respect. I know they will do the same for Hugo.

Thank you JH music students. From the FLEX group to the 7th grade e-time buddies to the piano lab students and all the band members - you have been so kind to me. At a time in your lives when you need someone to show genuine interest in your life, you showed interest in my family and made me feel welcome in a new building. I'm glad you were there to share in the adventure and to even offer ideas on names.

I appreciate you.

Sunday School, part 2

In case you missed Jason's week one Sunday School message, you can click here to listen to it.

If you listened to part 1 and want to hear more, click here to listen to part 2. Part two focuses more on our heart readiness for Mission.

Thanks for listening and staying with us. We have some more fun news planned tomorrow (hopefully!).

Saying Yes (A guest post from a new friend)

Saying YES!

I suppose I should introduce myself and let you know why I’m here. Well, posting here in this virtual world! I’m Ashley & me and the hubs (Jeremey) have 4 kiddos, 2 of whom joined our family through this crazy, amazing, curious thing called ADOPTION! 


Brief summary…we have two 6 year olds and two 3 year olds! We adopted our oldest daughter, Rose, from the U.S. when she was 9 months old and our biological son, Grayden was 4 months old. (Instant twins!) and we adopted our son Kwesi in November last year. He is 7 months older than our biological daughter, Aubrey. (Almost instant twins, again!)

If you survived that and are still reading, I would like to let you in a little on our world. We never planned on adopting, but with Rose, the situation was such that when it was presented, we kind of just said yes without thinking. I would like to sound noble and tell you that we had been dreaming of adopting for years, but that just was not the case!

No, actually it was quite the reverse. We had NEVER talked about it, had NO training, read NO adoption books, and we did not know one single family that had adopted at that time. And overnight, we had two babies instead of one. Rose is a joy and was a sweet, easy, baby thank goodness! However we had no clue what we were doing and most days as a new mom of instant twins, I was a justifiable emotional mess.

Fast forward two or three years, and by the time Aubrey was one year old, this conversation about adoption arose again in our home. We had made it through the transition period after adopting Rose, and we began to see what a plan God had for her life for her to be in our family. We marveled at what would have happened had we simply said no and walked away, which we could have easily done. This got us thinking…how many children in this world just need a family to say yes to them?

In March of 2011, we decided it was time to adopt again. We had spent weeks in prayer to make this decision. We sought the counsel of trusted friends and mentors, most of whom thought we were nuts and weren’t exactly encouraging. I remember one’s advice clearly. “You guys, your quiver really is full. Do you know how expensive weddings are?  How will you send all of your children to college?” Yeah, ouch.

We shut out the negative nancys and proceeded knowing that we had God’s blessing. We discovered this precious little face on a photolisting, and called to inquire about him. We just KNEW he was to be our son. Sounds silly to say that, I know, but it’s true.

There is really no way to describe to you what the adoption process is like, but I’ll try. You run around getting fingerprints, notarizing papers coming out your ears, gathering documents you haven’t needed in years, and having a stranger (social worker) invade your life and ask you about everything from how you discipline your kids to how often you and your husband have “relations” (awkward). You write checks for thousands of dollars, and usually you don’t have it to begin with. You empty out your savings. You sell anything you can think of that isn’t glued or nailed down in your home. Sometimes you sell your home. You empty out your retirement account. You come up with crazy ideas for fundraisers and work your butt off to try to get people to see the need. Your friends think you’re nuts. Some people, sometimes your best friends, even start to avoid you because of this crazy idea you have taken on that they just don’t understand. You don’t care.  All this to say YES to a child you have never laid eyes on. You wait and wait and wait some more to hear good news as each milestone comes up in the process. You wait for the beloved day you get to actually meet this person who has already become a part of your family in your souls.

Meanwhile, the kids were praying for Kwesi every night to have enough food and water for the day and to be safe. They prayed for the other children at the orphanages. They prayed for him to get home to us soon. They prayed for God to send enough money to move us forward. They prayed that Kwesi would get a hug from someone that day. It was literally gut-wrenching the stuff our children came up with on their own to pray for over Kwesi. They even set the table with “Kwesi’s spot” for months before he came home.

Saying yes changes you. It changes your family. It changes your children. It is not always easy, but oh my soul is it worth it! Now our Kwesi has been home since March and he has LIT up our lives with joy and laughter! Our home, our family, our church, everywhere that boy goes he just lights up the world. I can’t possibly imagine what it would be like had we said no and walked away. Which we easily could have done.

The Rummels have said YES! Amazingly, their son and ours know each other. They were at the same orphanage and know each other by name.  I hope and pray one day they can meet each other and find solace in knowing that they both came from the same place. They will share something together that is special! Through all the crazy days that are to come, the Rummels will need the support of all of us in a lot of different ways. I would say look at how you can support them in this amazing decision, and do it! If it’s through encouragement, do it! If it’s financially, do it! If it’s through prayer, do it! None of your support will go unnoticed (trust me!) and God rewards those who support others in their pursuit of God’s will for their lives. Every time. Say Yes with them! 

Thank YOU!!

This is a difficult post to write because, inevitably, we will forget someone. Trust me on this: we are overwhelmed with thanks for you, our readers. We are thankful that you care about us and our story. Thank you for sharing our blog on facebook and with friends and co-workers. Thanks for coming back and visiting us!

We don't want to forget those friends who have stepped up for us and encouraged, provided, helped, jumped in, invested, and prayed for us. You are so appreciated!

Thank you to:

- our parents, who love Hugo as a grandchild before they've even met him
- Rich and Barb Croce, who encouraged us and prayed for us
- David and Satin Marshall, who prayed with us and advised us before anyone else (including us) knew what we were doing
- the elders at Word of Grace Fellowship, for standing with us in more ways than we could have asked
- our family at WOGF who love us, even as we take up more and more seats
- Karen Fridg, who went above her call of duty for us
- Kelsey Melvin, who tolerates Jason's daily phone calls the moment she walks in her office door
- Elizabeth Pivetz, who loved on our son and cuddled with him before we could
- everyone who handed out fliers - you didn't have to, but you did and we appreciate it

This is a humbling experience for us, and we are just so very thankful for you.

Financial Matters

Hello again,

So we are having this concert at which donations will be accepted to help cover our adoption expenses. If you are considering donating, and, like us, are new to adoption, we thought you may want to know what adoption expenses are like.

But first you need to hear something very important that a wise person shared with me this week.

We are not adopting this boy for charitable reasons and we don't want you to give money for charity either. We do not feel that we are rescuing this boy and we don't want you to think that either. Yes, his life in Ghana would be more difficult, in many ways, to what he will experience here. But that's not why we are doing this. We are adopting him because we love him and we want him to be in our family. There is no other reason.

There are lots of contributing factors to our decision and they all relate to the effect of Jesus Christ in our lives. If you are interested in knowing more about that, ask us and we will be glad to tell you. The truth is, because of Him, we would adopt this boy even if it cost ten times as much and we were not given a cent. Money is not a concern for us. Not that we have tons of it, but it's just so much less important than our son.

So, the financial update. To date, we have spent:

$350 - Application fee
$750 - Administrative/Homestudy Review/Dossier Prep Fees
$2000 - Agency Fee 1
$890 - Department of Homeland Security (covers immigration application and biometric fingerprinting)
$4000 - In-Country Processing (fees for the Ghana side of things)
$2000 - Agency Fee 2
$96.20 - Various clearances
$960 - Homestudy
$89.51 - Miscellaneous stuff ranging from co-pays for blood work, passport photos for the dossier, original copies of marriage and birth certificates, etc.

So far, that totals $11,135.71.

We have an upcoming bill of $9500 that will cover child documentation and legal fees, post-placement reports, a final agency fee, and other stuff.

The rest of the bills are ambiguous at best. We know that we have to travel to Ghana twice, once to adopt him and then, after his paperwork clears, to go back to get him. I priced flights to Ghana and they are in the neighborhood of $1700 per seat. Multiply times four for two people to make two round trip flights, plus a one way ticket for our son on the final trip home (which is about the same price, go figure), and you come up with $8500 in flights. There will also be in-country costs and a fee for an in-country liaison which hasn't been defined yet. I think $10,000 is a conservative estimate for costs related to travel.

So we are roughly $11,000 in with about $20,000 to go. Please remember, WE DON"T CARE ABOUT THE MONEY. We never have. Think about it - if your child was in Africa and you were separated by an ocean, would you care about the cost? Exactly. We don't either.

We have been wise with our money, we think. Rebekah is a master budgeter which really helps. We are a one salary family and we try to live below our means and save. We had been saving for a couple of projects around the house but set those aside for now. We refinanced our house which was not only long overdo but helped us out a lot. We just had a yard sale which had the combined benefits of a little extra cash and clearing out the basement a bit.

I would love to see you at the concert but if you do, please do not feel obligated to donate. If you do want to donate, our church (Word of Grace Fellowship) has made a way to do that online so that you can donate at anytime. You will have the opportunity to make donations at the concert, but if you want to make a donations from home, you can click here:

Rummel Adoption Fund Donations

Make sure you click on the correct button that is specifically for the adoption fund and is listed as "The Rummel Family."

Thank you so much. For reading the blog, for attending the concert, for considering donation, for being part of this adventure with us. I hope you know how much we appreciate it.

JRR

Sunday School

Recently, Jason has been given the privilege of teaching 2 weeks of adult Sunday School at our church. Since the Lord has been dealing with us concerning adoption (and not in the way you might think!), he spoke for the first week about Adoption, an the second week - What To Do With It.

If you would like to hear the recording of his first lesson, you can hear it here:

http://www.wgfellowship.org/sermons?sermon_id=234

Second one to follow as soon as it is posted to the church's website.

Can we pick your brain?

Admittedly, we are total rookies when it comes to this adoption thing. We are learning as we go, we don't know what to expect around the next corner, and everyone with whom we speak tells their own story a bit differently. More than once, someone has told us how to do something in this process that another has told us we really should not do. 

Perhaps the best advice we've been given is "to expect the unexpected." Okayyyyyyy .... 

As best as we can, we've been learning and reading about adoption. Since there is no "What to Expect When You're Adopting" book, we'd love to have your suggestions. 

What did you read before you adopted that you thought was absolutely spot on? What did you read that proved to be really useless? What books are great? What resources are out there? 

Here's our library so far: 

So, can you help us out? 

What's in a name, anyway?

Sorry to have taken a brief blogging break. It's been a very busy couple of days! Jason is still teaching a couple days a week and in between building an awesome play house for the kids out of recycled barn wood, traveling to Punxsy to acquire said barn wood, and the baseball schedule, we've been going strong.

Oh - and we had a yard sale today! Those things are always a lot of work. We made just under $200 to apply to the Bring Hugo Home fund. Every penny counts! And speaking of Hugo ....

We've been asked about his name a couple of times so I thought I'd share a little bit about how we chose his name:

The name Kwabena means "born on Tuesday".  As much as we like his African name (and we do!), we want him to have a new name that will represent who he will become. His new name was given to us by the Lord and we're so excited for the possibility that it holds. The name Hugo means: "bright in mind and spirit".

The meaning of all of our children's names are so important to us! Interestingly, the meaning behind each name has really proven itself to be true every time!

He currently has a last name that is a name shared by many children in the orphanage. I think it's kind of sweet that they have a family name together. However, that name will be changed to our own family name when he legally becomes our son.

His middle name was harder for us to decide. I know that not everyone has a middle name and that it is in many ways superfluous, but we wanted to give him a middle name to tie his heritage in with his future. We considered African names (do you know how many tribes there are in Ghana? A LOT! - and each one has its own language.), family names on both sides of our family, names from the Bible, names that represent who we think he will become, names that reflect his past, and on and on. We've said it every time we have been given the responsibility of naming one of our children: this naming business is HARD!

But it's so important, so we don't take it lightly. His middle name will be Bandele (Ban Day Lay), a west African tribal name which means, "Follow me home", or, "Given life away from home". We like both the practical and spiritual connotations of that meaning, and, unless the Lord shows us otherwise, that's who he will be.

Please pray that our fingerprinting paperwork would be processed quickly so we can get a court date as soon as possible!

More pictures!

Someone we don't even know traveled to Ghana to bring home their child. While there, the family took some pictures of Kwabena! I don't know how - or if -  they knew he was our son or why they took these pictures. But somehow or another, these pictures made their way back to our case worker who forwarded them to us.

So now, for your dose of cuteness for the day:

What do you think of that beautiful bald head? 

Happy 1st day of summer!

Thank you, Lord!

We got our fingerprints done! It was totally easy peasy and MUCH less stressful than we were anticipating. I had kind of forgotten that our actual appointment date wasn't until July 2 until we were in the car on the way there.

Jason said to me, "You should be mentally prepared that they will say no to us, you know."

So as we walked into this completely nondescript building with nearly nothing posted to indicate that it is a major government building, I was surprised to see a gruff looking government security guard greet us. Looking at us over his glasses, he grunted, "Need to see your appointment card."

Jason grinned, trying to crack a reciprocal smile out of Mr.Grumpy.

"Um, you see, our appointment isn't for another 2 weeks. But we were hoping ... "

Mr. Grumpy stopped shuffling papers and looked at us again. He noticed our daughters, dressed in matching  floral dresses, their hair braided. He looked at the baby riding on my back. She peeked out from around me and waved. Last, he looked at me and seemed to wonder if I was with this guy. I smiled broadly and poked the girls - their cue to smile and look cute. Thankfully, they obeyed.

Mr. Grumpy interrupted Jason by pointing at the roomful of empty chairs. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was playing on a television mounted to the ceiling. As we all followed his point to the empty room, we noticed another set of desks with two men stationed behind them. The men had official looking badges and matching shirts. They easily could have been irritated by our interruption of their game show.

Jason and I looked at each other, both thinking the same thing:

He's going to kick us out. He's going to tell us to come back in two weeks like they told us. He's looking at our paper and he's going to send us an hour and a half back home because we can't follow directions.

But instead, he pointed to the empty chairs, and said, "You'll have to wait in line."

Then he laughed at his very funny joke.

He smiled a big smile, handed each of us a short questionnaire, and told us to go ahead to the front of the  line where those 2 nice government guys would be happy to help us.

We laughed a little bit louder at his joke than maybe we should have, but we were so relieved! We parked the girls in front of the game show and stepped up to the official FBI fingerprinting machines.

After an inspection of our palms, a couple of beeps on a very fancy computer, 10 fingerprint photographs, and no more than 5 minutes, we were done!

We thanked everyone as we nearly skipped out the door. The last bit of legwork before our dossier can get sent to Ghana! Now we wait for the results of our fingerprinting to be mailed to us and we can get our dossier on its way!

Thanks, everyone, for praying for us!

So Excited!

If you've talked to Rebekah or me in the past couple of months, it's likely that we told you about our adoption.  As adoptions go, we're learning that ours is moving along quite rapidly.  We're really excited and there's almost always something new to report.

For our kids, however, the idea of a brother who is currently living in Africa and is going to come here, well, sometime, is a bit abstract. They know all about Hugo, we talk about him everyday, we pray for him daily, and we discuss what it (might) be like for him to come into our family. It's understandable, though, that neither they - nor we - really know what to expect. 

The kids are excited to have a new brother! They love looking at the pictures we have, they come running when we play the video we have, and they talk about him every day. 

We are a homeschooling family, but we've finished our schoolwork for the year. When they saw me opening the school cupboard, where we keep our school supplies and books, they got a little bit nervous. Even so, they were happy to write a letter to Hugo because it helps them to feel like they are actually doing something in this very grown-up process. 

Our oldest son is 7 and he's s-u-p-e-r  excited to finally have a roommate: 

Our daughter, 5, had this to say: 

(Dear Hugo, I'm excited to teach you how to ride a bike. I love you. heart heart heart.) 

And she made this drawing of our family: 

Our 4 year-old was only told to draw a picture, but she asked her big brother to help her write. Here's what she came up with:

(I am excited to get you)

The little one wanted to be a part of the action, too: 

Thanks for sharing our journey with us!

A dad's recommendation

So I already posted a couple of videos about Jonathan Batiste and the Stay Human Band. If you saw that post, you know that the drummer from the band is Indiana-native Joe Saylor. We've known Joe since he was playing on pots and pans and we're so excited that he is playing in Indiana again.

After I posted the last videos, Joe's dad - Indiana High School band director Nevin Saylor - called to tell me that I posted the wrong one. Well, not the wrong one exactly since every video Joe is in is a good one (in his clearly unbiased opinion). His recommendation was that I include the following video as well and I'm happy to oblige. Enjoy!

Yard Sale Score!

Look what we found at a yard sale this past weekend:

How fun is that?




Since we were fortunate enough to have our friend Lizzy there to meet Kwabena (more on that later), we know that he's in size 12-18 month clothes right now. We're hoping that once he comes home and is eating a wider variety of foods, that he'll shoot up a couple of sizes.

Invisible Children

As we were deciding whether adoption was right for us, Rebekah came across a blog post called The invisible Children. The blog is My Life As An Adventure written by our good friend Barb Croce. Barb is a resident of Indiana and is a personal trainer that owns Barbs Fit U.

You can find her post here. Just a word of warning....the post is not graphic but it is straightforward and honest about the plight of many children throughout the world. But it is also hopeful.

Clearly, the Lord was helping Barb in much the same way that He was preparing us. Barb had no idea that we were considering adoption, but when we read her post, we realized we needed to get together and talk. She and her husband, Rich, came to our house and we told them what we were considering. We told them all the things we were afraid of in adoption. What if he doesn't love us? What if taking care of five children is too hard? What if we can't afford it? What if, what if, what if?

Then Barb spoke words that silenced all those what ifs. She said, "Wow, none of those are good reasons to say no."

Just like that. She was so right. We realized that we had so much to give and this little boy had nothing. There was no reason to withhold our love from him. So we didn't. And it was so easy to fall in love with him after that barrier was removed.

Thanks Barb. I invite you all to read Barb's post and to follow her blog as well. She is a wise woman and we are blessed to know her.

Fingerprints!!!

Great news!!! Actually from yesterday but I didn't have time to report it.

One of the major hurdles in international adoption is getting approval through the Department of Homeland Security. We sent in the I-600A form a couple of weeks ago and just got a letter saying that we can get our fingerprints done. That means they have begun processing the form. May seem like small potatoes but it was big news to us. We can now be certain that it wasn't lost in the shuffle.

There's more though. The fingerprinting letter says that we are to report to the fingerprinting location in a couple weeks. We have heard that some families show up before their scheduled time, ask really nicely, and hope to get the prints done earlier. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We are going to try.

As soon as we are able, we're going to show up at the USCIS (US Customs and Immigration Service) office with four kids and hope they take pity on us. Please be praying that we find success. If the fingerprints are done sooner, the I-600A can be approved sooner, our dossier can be sent to Ghana sooner, and we can go see Kwabena (Hugo) sooner.

Happy Father's Day!

Hi there, it's Rebekah, posting as a guest blogger on the occasion of Father's Day. I'm so glad to be here! I'm sure there are women all over the globe right now writing and reminiscing about the importance of fathers. I hope you don't mind if I use our corner of the web to brag for a bit about my husband, the father of our five children.

Jason and I were married just over 14 years ago. We started our life together living in Pittsburgh - we traveled a bit, ate a lot, got a cat, enjoyed shopping, learned to cook, and (swallow your coffee so it doesn't spray out your nose) vowed that we would never have kids. I mean really, kids slow you down, right? Kids are expensive. They're noisy. They're hard work. We would never sleep in again. 

Fast forward about 14 years: God surely had other plans; here we are planning on adopting our 5th child. It was a long, twisty, crazy journey getting here, and I am SO thankful that the Lord didn't allow me to see ahead into my future. Through all of the highs and lows, I am grateful that He allowed Jason to lead our household in such a steady, strong, and Godly way. 

Above all, Jason loves the Lord. He is a worshiper at heart and a true servant.  Proverbs 14:26 says, "In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge." My husband walks this out every day. 

He is wholly devoted to me and our children. He loves his job, he works very hard during the day, and he has spent hundreds of hours after we are all asleep working on schoolwork (he earned his doctorate between 8pm and 4am for several years). But if you walk into our house, you will see this: 

Still in his school clothes, fully engaged with his kids. And within minutes of him walking in the door at the end of his school day, our oldest son is asking him to "play with me, Daddy!" And so he does:

And when there's work to be done, he ALWAYS has a kid (or four) with him: 

He reads to our kids every night before bed. He reads chapter books to the older kids and age-appropriate picture books to the younger ones. Here he is reading to our kids and some dear friends at Easter time: 

Every Saturday morning, whether he was up all night with a kid or not, he makes the biggest breakfast you've ever seen. The kids love to help, and I love that he wouldn't have it any other way. 

With only a handful of exceptions, he has given each of our kids every bath they've ever had. He gets up with them when they cry at night and he regularly paints all 40 girl toenails in the house. He is brilliantly smart, generous to a fault, and I'm so proud to be his wife. 

There is so, so much more that I could write, but I'm sure he'll be plenty horrified with this much. ( : 

Hugo, you are well loved even before you get here, and you will come to know that you have been given an exceptional gift with this Daddy. 

Happy Father's Day, Love.

Today's project

Today we passed out 128 fliers for the Bring Hugo Home concert. We started at Walmart and worked our way north until we got to the Meadows. To our children's chagrin (and mine), Meadows wasn't open yet. We then went to the mall and met with lots of friendly people until a security guard stopped us and informed us that we had to get permission before passing anything out. We visited the mall office, got the OK, and proceeded on our way.

We then walked along Philadelphia Street to the corner of Philly and 5th. Along the way, we stopped in every business and asked them to post a flier. The radio station even offered to put it on as a public service announcement!

I ran out for an errand this evening and as I drove down Philadelphia Street it was a great feeling to see the colorful fliers hanging in the windows of so many businesses. Which brings me to a little game Rebekah invented......

Last year, we bought s couple of Sheetz coupon books from my niece who was selling them for a fundraiser. We never used the doughnut coupons and they don't expire until 2013 (the coupons, not the doughnuts). So here's the game:

The first two people to take a picture of a Bring Hugo Home Concert flier and post it on facebook wins a free Sheetz doughnut. We'll bring you the coupon or mail it, whichever is easier.

Game on!

About Jonathan Batiste and the Stay Human Band

If you are thinking about coming to the concert, I suppose it would be a good idea to know what you are coming to hear. Hear's a bio about Jonathan Batiste from his website:

Jonathan Batiste is an iconic artist, unique in this generation. With his voice on piano and dapper sense of style, he has ignited the NYC music scene. He is from a celebrated lineage of musicians. He has performed in over 40 countries, has appeared in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Concertgebouw, has released several CD’s, among them “Times In New Orleans”, “Live In New York: At The Rubin Museum Of Art”, and “MY N.Y.”, and EP’s “The Amazing Jon Batiste EP” and “In The Night EP”. On T.V. he has been featured in the NBA All-Star Game Half-Time Show 2008, the HBO series “Treme”, and BET. He has collaborated with Wynton Marsalis, Prince, Jimmy Buffett, Harry Connick Jr, Roy Hargrove, Cassandra Wilson, The Gilt Groupe fashion line, and filmmaker Spike Lee among others. He is a “Movado Future Legend” award recipient and a “Steinway Performing Artist”.

Jonathan Batiste is the founder and leader of The Stay Human Band, a modern jazz ensemble noted for their world-class music, high energy and uplifting spirit.

Two members of The Stay Human Band are Joe Saylor and Philip Kuehn - both from Indiana. Joe is the son of Nevin and Paula Saylor. Nevin is the band director at Indiana High School for all you locals. Philip is the son of John and Jackie Kuehn, both of whom teach music at IUP. Joe and Philip have been playing together since they were very small. They started gigging professionally in Pittsburgh when they were still in elementary school. After high school, they moved to Manhattan. Joe attended the Manhattan School of Music and then Juilliard. Philip attended Juilliard twice. They are uncommon musicians.

To hear a little of the Stay Human Band, check out the following links. In the first, they are having fun on the NYC subway. Jonathan is playing something called the melodica since a piano is a bit too large for the train.

On the next one, they are performing at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Anyone who attended this year's Indiana School District Jazz Artist in Residency concert may recognize Mr. Tony Lustig standing in the back right corner of the stage.

Come on out and hear them. You will not be disappointed.

Jason

Problem solved

Good morning. We realized there was a problem that was keeping you from being able to comment on the posts unless you were a member of the blog. We solved that now so comment away. You should be able to leave your name or post anonymously.

JRR

Adoption timeline

It occurred to me that many of you may be interested in learning how the adoption process works. We are new to adoption so don't expect this to be an exhaustive reference for all your adoption planning needs. The one thing I have learned from talking to other families that have adopted (and reading lots of blogs) is that every adoption is different and the unexpected is normal. That being said, here's how it worked for us:

We started getting serious about the possibility of adoption in March. We read a great book called Adopted for Life by Russell Moore. It is NOT a manual on how the adoption process works but it did help us know what questions to ask and what to research. We settled on international adoption and after consideration of different programs, decided to pursue Ghana as the source country. Once we had that down, I started researching agencies.

I'm sure there are lots of ways to identify a great adoption agency. I chose to send emails to several that had existing Ghana programs and see what kind of response I would get. I had so many questions. From most of them, I received auto-responses of the, "thank you for showing interest in our international adoption program" nature. One agency, however, responded with a real message from a person who showed interest in our family and our plans. I started a dialogue with a case worker named Kelsey and eventually decided to work with her. The agency is Faith International Adoptions in Tacoma, Washington. Kelsey, by the way, has been absolutely brilliant as we navigate the adoption waters. She is prompt, kind, and knows the answer to everything. She always has time to talk and answer questions and has a great ability to calm my occasional fears. If you're reading - Thanks Kelsey. You are a gift from God.

We decided to partner with FIA, filled out an application and signed a contract and were matched with Kwabena in a surprisingly short time. There is a lot more to tell about this part of it, but I'll save that for another post.

Next came the paperwork. Tons of it. Contracts to sign, financial statements, marriage certificates, police clearance reports, fingerprinting, passports, copies of our deed, and on and on. And most of it has to be notarized. And lots of bills...an unavoidable fact of the adoptive process. Please don't think I am complaining. It was nice to know that every errand completed and every dollar spent got us a step closer to bringing our son home.

We completed a home study which was not as difficult or time consuming as I expected. Once that was done, we were able to apply to the Department of Homeland Security to get permission to adopt. I'm not completely sure what they are checking but I think it is just a formality for immigration purposes. That is where we are now....waiting to hear from the US Government.

In the meantime, we completed the pile of documents necessary for the adoption dossier. That is the packet of info that gets shipped to the local government in Ghana once the US government gives us permission to move forward. As soon as we're approved, the dossier goes across the pond and we wait again for Ghana to establish a court date for us.

When we are assigned a date, we make travel plans for the first of two trips. On the first trip, we will meet him (finally!!!) and complete the adoption in Ghana. Then - and I can hardly stand to think about this or write this down - we leave him there while his visa/passport/immigration papers are processed. That can take 60 days. When that process is complete, we return to Ghana and bring him home. That will be a happy day. That's one I like to think about.

This is just the black and white, clinical version of the story for the sake of those that may be thinking about adopting and want an idea of what to expect. The whole story is far more personal and miraculous. Hopefully, we can communicate some of that on this blog. Stay tuned.

JRR

226!?!

Wow. 226 visits to our blog since last night! When I went to bed, it was just 153. Thank you all for visiting and I hope you keep coming back. See you at the concert!

Big thank you!

Just wanted to post a quick note to say thank you to.....

1. Everyone who is sharing this blog on facebook. Spread the word. I don't want people to feel obligated to donate but I REALLY want to make sure there is a nice crowd since the Stay Human Band is coming all the way from NYC. Jonathan is even flying in from New Orleans for the event.

and

2. Grace United Methodist Church. It is such a wonderful gift that they opened their facilities for us. We thought we had IUP lined up but they bailed on Monday and we were stuck without a venue. Grace has a great piano, wonderful acoustics, and have been very kind in allowing us to visit. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

How it all began

After much consideration, we decided to take the plunge and enter the world of international adoption. We saw the Lord opening a door for us - a wonderful opportunity - and after some great advice from friends, walked through it. In just eight days we were matched with a little boy from Ghana. 

This is Kwabena. He was taken to an orphanage which has a partnership with the adoption agency we are using, Faith International Adoptions when he was 18 months old. FIA matched his file with ours and we started seeing miraculous stuff happening.

Shortly after we were matched, our case worker, Kelsey, was leaving for Ghana on a trip that had long been planned. The timing was so perfect that shortly after Kwabena came into our lives, we were able to get first hand accounts of what he was like from someone that was closely involved in the process. Plus, we got great pictures.

We found a family that had recently completed an adoption in Ghana. We contacted them, hoping they would be willing to communicate with us and help us navigate the adoption process. We learned that they not only adopted through Ghana, but had also adopted from the very same orphanage. In fact, they remembered our Kwabena, having been there just a few weeks after he arrived at the orphanage. They even had pictures of their son and Kwabena together!

The next miracle was almost too much to imagine and convinced us that we had a divine appointment with this little boy. A young lady from our church that we have known since birth, decided to spend this summer volunteering with an international organization that places workers in orphanages. With no knowledge of our adoption plans, she chose Ghana as her destination country. A few days before she left, we told her that we were adopting Kwabena and hoped that she would be able to somehow meet him. When she received her specific placement, she found that she would be working at an orphanage that is a two-minute walk from our son. She is there now and can see his orphanage from the window of her residence. She has met him and will see him again, hopefully frequently, before she leaves. Only the Lord could orchestrate something like this.

Since the name Kwabena was assigned to him when he arrived at the orphanage and is not likely his birth name, he will receive the name Hugo when he becomes a member of our family. We can't wait until he arrives and we'd love to share our excitement with you. See you at the concert and together we can Bring Hugo Home. 

Come one, come all!

Hello everyone! We are Jason and Rebekah Rummel and we would love to see you at the Bring Hugo Home Concert. The concert is a fundraiser to help us with expenses associated with the adoption of our son Hugo (our fifth child). Jonathan Batiste and the Stay Human Band, featuring Indiana natives Joe Saylor and Philip Kuehn, will be arriving from Manhattan for what we are sure will be a fabulous performance. The concert is free and while donations will be accepted, we hope you do not feel obligated. We would just love to have you join us and together we can Bring Hugo Home.