by Katie Garrett | May 31, 2018 | Praise report, Prayer request, Uncategorized
- It has been a very busy six weeks – we were able to go to Guinea to pick up the boys and have been getting to know each other and connecting as a family since then! We know many of you were following on Facebook and praying with us; we were so busy with the boys we weren’t able to get a real Prayer Log update out til now. We are so thankful for how well Will and Jake are adapting to all the change. Every day they learn so many new things – new foods, new words, new games, new rules, new relationships, new experiences! They are kind and sweet and playful and tough and so small and tenderhearted. Their hunger to love and be loved almost breaks my heart as I know they have been missing this kind of family connection for years now. Thank you for your prayers. Continue to pray for the Lord to knit us together as a family of seven!
- We still have not been granted a visa interview appointment by the US Embassy in Dakar. Online we just saw today that the Embassy has marked our case “Ready” (There’s a tracking number so we can check on the status of our case, just like you check on the status of a package) but it also says to wait to get an email from them with an appointment date and time. Please continue to pray that we will get an appointment soon and that the Embassy will grant our boys’ visas with no problems. We are so ready for this long bureaucratic process to finally be over!
- Continue to pray for our team’s work in the two “new” villages, specifically that the Lord will draw us into relationships with the people He wants to call to Himself and that He will prepare people’s hearts so they will want to read the Bible for the first time.
- As God allowed His disciples to perform miracles and healings to confirm the preaching of the Gospel many times in the New Testament, in the same way, pray for the villagers to see the Lord answer the prayers we pray for them in Jesus’ name to confirm that what we are teaching about Jesus is true. One of the couples who have been the most welcoming just had their 5th miscarriage even though we prayed for them to not lose this baby. Pray for God to show them His power and His love and to give them a healthy child. Pray too for those who are sick, that Jesus will heal.
- On Friday (June 1st) our team is going to a different village where a Senegalese brother from the church here has been doing Kids’ Clubs with games and Bible stories every week. We are helping him and Pasteur give Samaritan’s Purse shoebox gifts to the children and show the new version of the Jesus film in Wolof on an outdoor screen with a projector run by generator. Pray for this village too and for the seeds that have been sown there over the last year-plus to bear much fruit. Pray that there will not be any technical difficulties with our new sound system and that people will come, watch, understand, and be drawn to Jesus.
by Corey Garrett | Apr 14, 2018 | Prayer request
Will (left) and Jake with some gifts we sent them
We are in the midst of our final packing to start our trip tomorrow that will take us to Guinea! Early in the week we will be getting visas from the Guinean embassy in Dakar, taking the girls to orthodontic visits, and then taking Emma and Molly back to school. Then on Thursday we and Wheaton will be heading to Guinea! We will see the boys for the first time on Friday morning.
In the lead-up to this trip, our adoption agency sent us the final tally on our account with them. When we started this process in 2013 we didn’t know how many children we would end up being matched with, nor did we know how long it would take, or what the total cost would be in the end, although we did know it would be expensive. But we believed the Lord was calling us to do this and that He would provide. And we have seen Him do that!
While the financial cost is significant, we believe it is tiny compared to the value of giving Willy and Jacob a family. And, from a financial standpoint, we are past the hardest part! Many of you have already helped us with this adoption. We could not have done this on our own; it has been a group effort and we are so grateful!
We want to let you know what is happening and give you an opportunity to help us get across the finish line if that is on your heart. If you want to help with this last phase, please let us know in the next ten days by emailing or messaging us on Facebook, and we’ll give you the details on how to do that.
This is the only time we will write about this and we don’t want anyone to feel pressured to give. We will be able to cover the remaining costs from our savings even if we don’t get any more help. But we wanted to give you the opportunity to be part of this if you want to!
Here is a brief summary of the large pieces of the financial side of this process. With the help of two large grants and donations from many of you, we have already paid for the three homestudies, US Customs and Immigration fees, lawyer & court fees in Guinea, orphanage costs, and the passport and exit documentation, all totaling just over $48,000.
| Remaining costs: |
|
| Final adoption agency fee: |
$9,454 |
| US Embassy Visa fee: $325 each: |
$650 |
| Medical exam fee: $150 each: |
$300 |
| Plane tickets to Guinea and back: |
$1,610 |
| Lodging for 7 nights in Guinea: |
$539 |
| September trip to US for finalization: |
$4,000 |
| Total remaining: |
$16,553 |
Thanks for your continued prayers for us and for these two precious no-longer-orphan boys! May the Lord knit us together as a family!
by Katie Garrett | Apr 11, 2018 | Praise report, Prayer request
Jacob and Willy
Dear Praying Friends,
After more than four years of paperwork and pursuing adoption, we are finally about to meet our sons! You can imagine that our hearts are full of many emotions — we are relieved, excited, hopeful, and nervous all at the same time!
And we have so many questions: How are William and Jacob feeling about all this? How much do they even understand about what is about to happen as 3- and 4-year olds? What are the boys’ personalities like? What will it be like meeting them for the first time and what will we say? (“Bonjour, je suis Maman,” seems very strange!) How long will it take for us to adjust to one another?
There are also a lot of logistical details that still need to be worked out. We have purchased our tickets but we don’t yet have a confirmed place to stay in Conakry. We plan to be there April 19th – 26th. Then we need to have medical checkups for the boys and schedule our interview at the US Embassy in Dakar before we can bring the boys home. In the midst of all this, our adoption agency’s Hague accreditation just expired and the government accrediting body has quit so our agency is trying to cope with that and we are hoping that this won’t affect us since we are so near the end of the process.
We covet your prayers for us at this time. Pray for all the final pieces of the process to be completed. And most importantly, pray for the Lord to tenderly shepherd Will and Jake through the coming transition, to give us wisdom and grace as we learn to parent them, and to knit us together as a family of seven!
With rejoicing and trepidation,
Katie and Corey
by Corey Garrett | Jan 19, 2018 | Praise report, Prayer request
We had a good meeting on Wednesday afternoon, a very warm and open talk with the chief and his son. We talked over some village happenings and also our plans for helping with diabetes and high blood pressure sufferers. The village chief gave his blessing, so we will now start going out to this village regularly to conduct a village-wide health survey to find out who is suffering from diabetes/high blood pressure, and also gain a sense for what the other widespread health problems might be. Pray for this ongoing work as we move forward that God will bless with good relationships and we would have our eyes open to where God is working in this place.
Kody and I will be going out to continue selling scripture in the village markets this evening in a new village to us. Pray also for this work that we would be aware of the Spirit’s moving as we interact with people.
by Katie Garrett | Jan 16, 2018 | Prayer request
We are excited about what is happening tomorrow and want to ask you all to pray with us!
Tomorrow we plan to visit the village of Kemand (name changed). This will not be our first visit to this village, but we are now planning to start regular visits that will continue for the next couple of years, Lord willing. We have two specific goals for the coming months: 1) to help those with diabetes and high blood pressure better manage their illness through community health groups, and 2) to start several Bible reading groups.
As nurse practitioners, our teammates have a lot of medical knowledge and experience they can share. One of the first things we will do is visit each household in this village (which is quite a large one) and do a health survey to identify those with diabetes and high blood pressure, which are common ailments throughout Senegal. The survey will also enable us to gather the health data that will help us later to see if our intervention has had an impact on the health of those we have worked with. As we visit each household in the coming weeks, we will start to build relationships and ask if we can pray for the needs of each family. Through regular visits and conversations, we will begin to get to know people and see who is interested in reading the Bible. The booklets Corey has worked to produce over the last few years with long excerpts of Scripture printed side by side in Wolof and Wolofal (Arabic-script Wolof) will enable the groups to learn more about what God has done in the past and what He has promised by reading the Bible for themselves. We hope that reading groups will be formed in multiple households, with each head of household gathering his whole family to participate.
But this vision still exists only in our minds – we don’t yet even know the names of more than a handful of the folks in this village. And while we know the chief a little and he has opened the door for us to work there, we don’t yet have any idea what the response will be to the idea of having Bible reading and community health groups. So would you pray for tomorrow’s visit? Pray for a warm welcome and for God’s leading. Pray that His Spirit will open doors so that we can be a blessing in this village where Jesus is not yet known. Pray that He will draw people of peace to us and give us good relationships. And pray that the Lord will lead our hearts “into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:5). We want to know and express God’s love well and we will need patient endurance for this work. Thanks for praying with us!
by Katie Garrett | Sep 22, 2017 | Prayer request
These two little green chairs and the swing Corey and Wheaton hung on our flat roof are just waiting for William and Jacob to come play!
The courts in Guinea, as in many countries around the world, closed for summer break during the month of August, but we have now been told that our file has been submitted to the court system in Guinea, Conakry. Our adoption agency says it usually takes 2 – 3 months for the Article 23 to be issued which indicates that the adoption is legally complete according to Guinean law. Pray that the Lord will intervene to make things go quickly and that we will get the Article 23’s for Will and Jake soon! Even though it is a long shot, we are asking God to let us bring the boys home before Christmas. Thanks for praying with us!
| Step |
Date |
| Discuss, research, and pray about adopting |
1997 to present |
| Homestudy completed |
Oct. 2013 |
| Received I800A (US approval to adopt, valid for 15 months) |
April 2014 |
| Homestudy updated |
May 2015 |
| Received extension for our I800A approval |
Sept 2015 |
| Referral from Guinea! (We were matched with the boys) |
Nov. 2016 |
| Homestudy updated again |
Nov. 2016 |
| Received another extension for our I800A approval |
April 2017 |
| US approved us to adopt the boys (I800) |
May 2017 |
| Visa applications submitted to the US Visa Center |
May 2017 |
| US Embassy in Dakar issued Article 5 letter stating US approval for adoption to proceed |
July 31, 2017 |
| Article 23 issued in Guinea after adoption is finalized in Guinean court |
?? |
| Certificates of Non-Appeal and Non-Opposition issued in Guinea |
?? |
| Affidavits in lieu of birth certificates (with the last name Garrett!) issued in Guinea |
?? |
| Guinean passports issued for the boys allowing them to travel |
?? |
| Corey and Katie travel to Guinea to get custody of the boys!! |
?? |
| US Visas for the boys issued after medical exam and interview at US Embassy in Dakar, Senegal |
Immediately after getting the boys from Guinea |
| Short trip to the US to activate the boys’ US citizenship and get them US passports |
Within 6 months of their visas being issued |
| Post-adoption reports sent to Guinea |
At 6 months and 1 year after adoption |
| The boys are no longer orphans, but Garretts! |
Forever! |
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