Content in All Things.

I can see a park from our kitchen table. It has a yellow slide, yellow monkey bar swings and a little cubby house at the top. There is so much space between where our house ends and the park starts that at times my mind wanders, it wanders to a place where I can see little children leaving our back door and running to the park and returning all hot and sweaty clamoring for something to quench their thirst.

Today I see that park and I know there are no children running out to play or who will come back asking for water. It is days like this that I learn all over again what it means to be content in all situations.

In God’s providence Cam and I are where we are. We do not have children and we desire a family. We have never been told that we can’t have children. This is real. We have started the adoption process. This is real. How God builds families is still a mystery to us. This is real. Currently, the means to our family is different to many others. We may never have the surprising news of a positive test. I may never know what it feels like to have my children grow inside my womb and I may never know the emotion of giving birth and having a child lay on my chest hours after birth. In these things, we grieve a loss but we do not grieve without hope.

We will know what adoption looks like. We will know something about our own adoption by God. We will know what it is like to be parents. We will know what it is like to have our own children. What a mystery!

To date, we have raised $15,244 with only $32,700 to go. I know it sounds a lot but we can hardly believe that we have already raised as much as we have. We know that many of  you have given to us, given to our agency, bought t-shirts and coffee and we are truly grateful for every penny that has come our way.

Where are we in the process? Our dossier is still with our agency. We have been told that it should be sent to Lesotho in the next week or so. Once it arrives in Lesotho it is then submitted to a ‘Matching Meeting’ where we are matched with our children and then we get a referral. It is at this referral when we have to pay our next payment of $24,000. This is what we are working toward now.

On June 14^th we will be completing a Both Hands project (http://www.bothhandsfoundation.org) in Franklin, Tennessee. The short of it is that we get a core team together that get sponsors for them to work on a widow’s house for the day. We will be working on Mrs Gumm’s home; painting, washing windows, organizing, landscaping etc etc. We love Mrs Gumm, she and her family is so special to us. We are super excited to be able to help her out like this. If you are local, would you be willing to be a part of our core team? If you are unable to be a part of the core team, please consider still coming out for the day. For those of you are not local, there is still an opportunity to sponsor us as we work this day. Click on http://www.bothhandsfoundation.org/cam-and-taryn-clausing to find more info about our project day.

Here is a video from a previous Both Hands project so you can get some idea what it is all about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98PD-O97N3I

We would love all our friends, near or far, to get behind this project.

For some, children will never come in to the home. We know that there is One working in ways that none of us can fully fathom so that we all may know His sufficiency in all things. We do not trust in ourselves but trust in God who works in all things.

Thank you for coming along this journey with us.

Taryn (&Cam)

So Many Things.

We really have had an incredible few weeks. Since our last post we had the remaining $2,835 gifted to our adoption fund at Small World. This means that as of last Thursday when I posted the Dossier to our agency we are now waiting on a referral from Lesotho. In adoption this is known as the ‘waiting game’ because you really have no idea how long this will take. The ‘referral’ is the actual file of a child/ren available to be adopted. This will be the first photo we will get to see. We have been encouraged by the news from our agency. Mid February we received an email from the director of the Lesotho program who said:

“This has been an exciting week for Small World’s Lesotho program.  This week we received our first referral from Lesotho! There are a few things we learned from this referral process.  First, this family received their referral just over 4 months after their dossier was submitted to Lesotho.  That is a good referral time and encouraging.  We must remember though that the more families that are in a program and the further back in line a family is, the more chance there is for families to wait longer for a referral.  Second, we learned that this match was made by the Lesotho Central Authority in December.  It took almost exactly 2 months to receive the referral documents.  Of course holidays were mixed in that time and could account for some of it.

This has been wonderful news and encouraging about this pioneer program.  We recognize that this is one case and not all cases are the same, but we remain optimistic about this program”.

As you could imagine that email was super encouraging for us. We are so thankful for our wonderful agency and their care for the process.

Many of you are aware that our FB page has been blasted with another shirt/hoodie fundraiser. We did not intend to do another one of these but we had so many people asking for them that we decided to give it a bash. I have even had strangers within our Spring Hill community purchase them. We have been blown away with how much these shirts have helped us. If you have not got yours yet, there is still time. The fund closes on March 4^th. Click on the t-shirt on my (or Cam’s) FB page and you should be directed to the online store. Thank you to all of you who have supported us! We love the idea that people in the United States, Australia, Singapore, England and Colombia will be wearing our shirts. We would love you to take a photo of you in your shirt and post it on our FB page and tell us where you are!

This Friday, we meet with the director of Both Hands to discuss a fundraiser. I love the idea. In short it is an Orphan Care project that raises funds for orphans while serving a widow through home improvement projects. All of the materials are donated and our team of volunteers request sponsorship for their day of work. All the money raised goes toward our adoption. We are hoping to do this in the spring before it gets crazy hot here. Stay tuned…

I have also recently decided that we will do a MEGA-you-won’t-believe-your-eyes Garage Sale. It dawned on me the other week when I was talking with a friend who is trying to sell her house and has loads of stuff that she wanted to give away. I thought ‘hey – I’ll take it off your hands and do a garage sale’. Cam did enjoy the news as I was driving to fill our van up with stuff J. So – if you have things lying around your house and ready for a spring clean-out, let me know and I will be more than happy to take them off your hands for our MEGA-you-won’t-believe-your-eyes Garage Sale. I know you want to be there!

While all this has been happening I have completed seven grant applications. Some grants have a number of deadlines throughout the year so we won’t expect to hear from some for quite a few months. Others wait until you have a ‘referral’ before they make a decision and others are matching grants, which means that they approve to match any gift that someone gives.

It really has been quite a busy period and now that the large amount of paperwork period has passed we keep looking forward to what is before us. We still need to remain focused on raising the remaining $36,000. Please join us in prayer about this. Though we do not know how this will be provided we know the One who does and in this we rest.

                   

Again, thank you to so many of you who are sharing the journey with us. We are so thankful that we are not alone. If you would like to support our adoption, please contact us. We soon may have matching grants available which would be a quicker way to get to the finish line.

Until next time,

Taryn (& Cam)

Nearly Over the First Hurdle

Amazing! Things have been moving since my last post, 11 days ago. At that point we had $6,180 to gather before we could jump the next hurdle and keep moving in the process. Since that day we have had $3,344 come into our Adoption Fund at Small World. We have paid for our application to adopt and sent the $890 fee to the U.S government. We only have $1,435 left to pay off our Agency fee ($5,400) and we still need the $1,400 for the Dossier. 

So, all that means in order for us to have our two feet planted on the other side of this hurdle we need $2,835. That sure sounds better than $6,180.

Many of you may be asking, just what is a dossier? The dossier is a set of documents that goes to the Lesotho Central Authority. A Lesotho dossier is made up of 11 documents, pictures, and copies. Each document is certified and authenticated before being sent to the Lesotho Central Authority except for photos. Basically, this is the official document that introduces Cam and myself to the Lesotho government. Quite an important document, I would think :-)

It is amazing that we have already raised $10,099 - isn't that amazing? Thank you to all of you have contributed to our fund. It sure has got us this far.

We received a document from our agency during the week that outlined all the expenses and the total at the bottom was $48,290. Yup! $48,290. For some people this is their yearly wage! Adoption is expensive. With the $10,099 that has already been received we only have $38,191 to go.

This past week I have also been completing a number of grant applications. I have put three in the post and another three sit on my desk ready to be completed. This is such a tedious task but such an important part of the process that I have vowed to sing to myself while I complete the applications. We cannot complete the adoption without the kindness and generosity of others. I will give thanks.

If you would like to make a contribution to our adoption fund, copy and paste into your browser:
http://smallworldadoption.com/faq-2/payment-2/
In the Description line, write: 'For the children to be adopted by the Clausing family'.

Thank you for sharing this journey with us. Please continue to pray for us and if you able, please consider supporting us. We are much further down the road than we anticipated and for that we give thanks!

Until next time,

Taryn (& Cam)

Is This Our First Hurdle?

G'day, G'day,

Even though my post title is 'Is This Our First Hurdle?' I realize that we have already jumped over many hurdles - and for that I am so thankful, the difference with this hurdle is that we are not really sure how we are going to jump this one. Allow me to explain:

Now that we have finished the Home Study, next on the to-do list is apply to the U.S government to adopt internationally, complete paperwork for the Dossier and send it in to our agency and pay an Agency fee. Too easy lemon squeezy? Well, aside from the mountain of paperwork each step involves a payment. The application to the U.S government - $890. The Dossier - $1,400 and the Agency fee - $8,400. Bam! Oh yeah, which is a total of $10,690. Now the reality of the $40,000 cost of the adoption is starting to hit home.

The amazing news is that from the t-shirt fundraiser, our JustLove coffee fundraiser, a couple of local markets that I sold things at and some very generous people we already have $4,510 of that. So, all we need is $6,180 to jump over our first real hurdle on this journey. We are not able to move ahead with anything without this money.Will you help us? No donation is too small. Believe me, every little bit counts and slowly chips away the $40,000.

I am also in the middle of writing a number of grant applications, so as soon as I get the Home Study document in my little hand I will be off out of the gate in this area.

You are all so kind to read this and share the journey with us. We are so thankful for the many words of encouragement and excitement that come our way. We are thankful to our God who is able to do more than we could ever imagine.

If you would like to make a contribution to our adoption fund, copy and paste into your browser:
http://smallworldadoption.com/faq-2/payment-2/
In the Description line, write: 'For the children to be adopted by the Clausing family'.

Till next time,

Taryn (& Cam)

It's a New Year!

This little South Australian loves snow, so the sight of it out our window this week just adds that little bit of excitement in my life (it’s the small things). You need to understand that I grew up with the view of the ocean – never snow! We were beach kids, not snow kids. I had never even touched snow until a Christmas in Wisconsin two years ago. That little ball of excitement I have when I see snow is a very similar feeling to what we now have with the Home Study behind us. On December 12^th we had our Social Worker come and spend around four hours in our home to complete the Home Study. This was four hours filled with questions and more information about what we can expect. Now we are just waiting on the Home Study document to be sent to us. Once we receive this we can apply to the U.S government to adopt and also begin getting our Lesotho Dossier together. We have been advised that the total time or Dossier preparation could take 5-7 months. So…we keep putting one foot in front of the other.

We were given the book ‘Adopted for Life’ by Russell D. Moore for Christmas. This is the third adoption book I have read since beginning the process. There is an ‘education and training’ component to our Home Study which has been super helpful in thinking through some areas that we had not really thought about before. Moore discusses the need for family relationships and quotes one of my favourite authors, Wendell Berry. Berry notes:

A family necessarily begins to come apart if it gives its children entirely to the care of the school or the police, and its old people entirely to the care of the health industry. Nobody can deny the value of good care even away from home to people who have become helplessly ill or crippled or, in our present circumstances, the value of good daytime care for the children of single parents who have to work. Nevertheless, it is the purpose of the family to stay together, And like a community, a family doesn’t just stay together out of sentiment. It is certainly more apt to stay together if the various members need one another or are in some practical way dependent on one another. It’s probably worth the risk to say that families need to have useful work for their children and old people, little jobs that the other members are glad to have done.

Families are valuable to the individual, to the orphan and to society. We all have our own family culture and no matter how much we can say how crazy our family is we all know that protective feeling that arises when someone speaks ill of our family. Everyone needs protecting. Everyone needs a family. Thank God that his desire is to put everyone in a family.

So, I think about our adoption a lot. I think about how our household will change. I think about how my car rides will change. I think about how our family will change. But, sometimes it really hits me. In order for this to happen we need $40,000. Now that comes like a smack in the face sometimes – it is the reality. I know once I have the Home Study document I can start testing my grant writing skills, but I am also reminded that this is going to have to be a community effort. We need you to seriously consider helping us. Even if it is small or maybe you can stretch a little and give a lot. We humble ourselves and ask for you to support our family.

Anyone (no matter what country you live in :-)) can go directly to http://smallworldadoption.com/faq-2/payment-2/ and in the description write ‘for the children to be adopted by the Clausing family’.

For the many ways that so many have helped already, we are thankful. And for the many ways that we will be supported going forward, we are thankful.

Thank you for traveling this road with us.

Until next time…

Taryn (& Cam)

Thankful Hearts

With Thanksgiving just behind us and much food consumed, friends and family around the table, laughter and stories told, we press forward.  I love Thanksgiving. I love family that flies down from New York to be with us, I love friends; new and old who come and share food and stories with us. What a great time! As I recently read on an Aussie friend’s FB, “How come we Aussies have embraced your Halloween and not your Thanksgiving?”.  Good question, a very good question. I know, I know, it goes back to the founding of this country, but surely we can hijack it – there is plenty of other ‘American-ness’ that we steal. Maybe one day.

The adoption process continues to move forward. We are still in the process of getting ready for the Homestudy. With plenty of paperwork already submitted, plenty more still needs to be gathered and provided. As part of the process we also need to complete Hague Adoption Training which requires us to read three books and interview a couple who have already adopted. One of the books I read is called ‘Are Those Kids Yours?’.  A very interesting read that helped me think through how our family will be changed with adopted children from another country. I actually love the thought of an American-Australian- Besothian family…and a Colombian-born dog! Who knows how it is all going to work.  Cam and I are still working out the whole American-Australian thing. J

Our hope is to have all the paperwork in by the first couple weeks in December and then hoping that we can get our first Homestudy appointment completed before the end of the year.

We have been super encouraged with all the t-shirts purchased. I am really excited to start wearing mine and the thought that people in the United States, Australia, Colombia and Singapore (and we are still working on South Africa) wearing them definitely makes me smile. Thank you for all of you who have purchased or made a donation through Bonfire, we are so grateful to each of you. There are still 6 days left before the t-shirts are printed and sent out, so if you want one there is still time. Just click on the t-shirt on our home page and you will be directed to the purchase page. Thank you! Thank you!

Our coffee fundraiser is also going off! Many of you have purchased coffee through our online store front via Just Love Coffee Roasters. Thank you!

In my last post I mentioned that the total adoption will cost approximately $40,000. In the short time we have started our blog we already have had $5,000 come in. Amazing, right? We are pretty excited and encouraged.   

Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
    extol him who rides on the clouds;
    rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
    is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families,
    he leads out the prisoners with singing;
    but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

                                                                       Psalm 68:4-6

Want to donate directly to Small World? Small World is a qualified 501c3 organization, donors will receive a tax deduction for these gifts so long as the memo states "for the child to be adopted by ‘Clausing’ family". Click on http://smallworldadoption.com/faq-2/payment-2/

Want to buy a t-shirt? Click on https://www.bonfirefunds.com/clausingadoption/?r=17312

Want to buy some coffee? Click on https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/clausingadoption/

Thanks for sharing this journey with us. Until next time…

Taryn (& Cam)

Crunch Time

Thank you for all the love that filtered through different channels in response to the ‘breaking’ news of the beginning of our adoption process. We are so thankful for so many friends and family scattered all over the globe. Thankful – yes indeed!

Some of you are more familiar with the adoption process than others so for those who are not really sure about the process allow me to fill you in. Once you have been accepted with an adoption agency you can move forward to arrange and pay for a Homestudy. The Homestudy with Small World Adoption agency is priced at $2,800 and consists of four appointments with the first one being in your home. As the director of Small World told us they just need to make sure that you live where you say you live J.  Over the course of the four appointments we anticipate being asked many questions about who we are, our marriage, reasons for adopting and a myriad of others. Once we receive our Homestudy we will then begin the real ‘paperwork’ party (a.k.a the Dossier). This is the major packet of documents that is prepared for the Lesotho government. After the Dossier has been sent to Lesotho it really is a waiting game until we receive a referral which is the actual names and photos of the two children being referred to us. If we accept the referral, more paperwork comes and at some point the adoption becomes finalized. Once we hear that it is finalized we are free to travel to Lesotho to meet our two little ones and are free to return home with them. We are required to stay in Lesotho for 14 days with our children to ensure we familiarize ourselves with Lesotho culture. Easy right? Well this process could take up to 2 years so we are in for a wait.

The final cost of adopting two infants from Lesotho is approximately $40,000 (gulp). The encouraging thing is that we don’t need $40,000 all at once so we can gather the funds little by little. Once we have a completed Homestudy we should be eligible for a number of grants so we are hoping these will be a major part of our cost but we will also be conducting a variety of fundraisers that we are hoping will help us with the cost. We have already been blown away with the generosity of others. Our newly established fund at Small World already has $4,000 in it which means that we were able to pay for the Homestudy and really get the ball rolling. WOW!  Thank you for those who were so quick off the mark to help us – we are humbled and grateful.

Personally, I think the most overwhelming aspect thus far is trying to figure out what fundraising we should do and when. I have so many ideas, but thinking about what we should do and when really starts to do my head in. I have a few large fundraisers in mind (watch this space) and some smaller ones already on the go. Not many people actually enjoy asking for financial support, myself included, but I have had to come to the realization that in order for us to reach the $40,000 that we need our community of friends and family to help us – big or small.

Here are two of our newest and smallest fundraising campaigns that are all go:

1.       JUST LOVE ROASTERS. Some of you have seen recent FB posts of ours that include that beautiful aroma of coffee. If you haven’t watched the video about this company can I urge you to spend a couple of minutes to watch it and see just how they have designed their company. The short of it is that you get great coffee (Cam approved) and part of the proceeds goes toward our adoption fund. Check out the video here https://justlovecoffee.com/ and then head to our storefront at https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/clausingadoption/ to buy some coffee. They also have some other great stuff all things related to coffee that you can purchase. How about thinking who you could buy some of these things for Christmas?

2.      

      Our newest Fundraiser are personalized t-shirts that you can purchase and again, part of the proceeds go toward our adoption fund. We absolutely love the t-shirt and think it certainly captures the heart of adoption. We need to sell 50 t-shirts before any of them are sent out so again, share the word and buy a t-shirt. If any Australians want a t-shirt, email or FB message me and we can arrange a bulk shipment. Go to https://www.bonfirefunds.com/clausingadoption/?r=17312 today to buy your shirts.

Thank you for walking with us. Thank you for supporting us. I will keep you updated once we have the Homestudy booked in. Until we meet again…

With gratitude,

Taryn (& Cam)