Resounding YES!

I'm SO sorry. I have great intentions with this blog, but woofta... I'm terrible at it! I'm going to try and set reasonable goals of updating this once a month. Do-able, right? Perhaps less daunting? We'll see how it goes!

A lot of people have been asking if we are still adopting our sweet Miles... Y.E.S. Yes we are! Here's a letter we sent to all of our supporters last January...

Dear Miles Support Team,

Hi! We hope this email finds each of you doing well! We wanted to send a little Mercer Family update as far as our sweet Miles is concerned. Many of you know we brought home a precious little boy, Ace Bruin Mercer, home in October of last year. He's now exactly 7 months old [time sure does fly]! Some of you have asked us since having Ace if we're still anticipating Miles, and the answer is a resounding YES! Knowing how deep this love for a child aches only makes us more excited to get Miles home. 

Our dossier was officially received by Ethiopia on September 27, 2013, and our concurrent family building paperwork was sent over this January. Concurrent Family Building is basically the update of our dossier with Ace's information. In sum, we're waiting for a referral. A referral is an email or call with a child's name, picture, and brief (1-2 sentence) summary. We don't expect receiving a referral for at least another year as the current wait time after submitting the dossier is running about 36 months. Sadly, this would mean, we don't expect to hear about our little guy until the fall of 2016. And so, the waiting continues... feels like f.o.r.e.v.e.r.

Some people have asked about Ethiopian adoption in general. There was a scare through winter that Ethiopia might be closing its international borders as it relates to adoption. The reason they were considering to close its borders was due to the terrible state of the drug and sex trade with orphans.

We were praying that God would favor the best interest of those helpless children... and thankfully, the board decided to keep borders open! We're hoping and praying it stays that way, because domestically the country of Ethiopia cannot care for the large amount of orphans. Please pray with us. 

All that to say, our hearts are still with our son (maybe two children) over there, and we won't consider our family today complete until he's home with us, and little/big (?) brother. Please keep praying for our Mr. Miles Mercer. Boy do we love him. 

We love each of you, and are still so humbled and flabbergasted by your overflowing love and support. Please. Keep. Praying. 

Drew and Teagan

And, just because... here's our family anthem as we wait. 

Federal Fingerprinting & Biometric Screening!

Well. To my dismay, rescheduling your federal fingerprinting and biometric screening is QUITE the process. Drew {so kindly} filed the reschedule because I had an enormous commitment with work...that said, to reschedule, you have to go through SEVERAL different people on the phone. And then, submit a letter to Virginia. Once they process that, then 'they' will just send you another date and specific time. And this time, there's no getting around it. We'll drop anything to go. Lesson learned. Had I known that, I would have made it happen to begin with. Golly.

Once we get that finger printing and biometric screening completed we'll receive our immigration certificate. Then...off to Africa goes ALL of our paperwork. Phew. Cannot-wait-to-get-that-out-of-our-hands.

In the meantime, Drew and I have still been plugging along here in PHX. The spring has arrived and boy oh boy has it been lovely. We've been focused on getting all of our finances in gear by way of saving, saving, saving, and attempting at training our weenie dog to stop her awful barking habit. It's no joke folks...it must end! And we're determined!

Love you all. I promise many more updates to come.

Miss you sweet boy.

Christmas & New Years...

Where-ever you are {out there} Merry Christmas & Happy New Year precious son.

We love you, and so deeply missed you in all of the celebrating. We won't be whole 'til your home.

Love, Your Little Family

Updates!

Hello There Everyone!!

Thanks so much for ALL of your patience while waiting for our little updates on the blog! Life has been busy over here in the Mercer household. Drew and I have been spending our time in a TON of different places:

-He runs/I rollerblade alongside him
-Tennis :)
-Dog Walks
-Church
-Small Group
-Friend Outings= Bdays, Movies, Dinners, Coffees
-Document Tracking
-Drew's classes with his MBA
-Menu Planning/Grocery Shopping
-House Cleaning/Reorganizing :)

However, there are a few little updates we'd like to communicate!

Our final home study was sent in for our state certification to adopt! Woot Woot!

(Refresher: After getting our certificate of the home study, we'll submit that certificate as well as our application to the nation/immigration services, then after we receive the immigration certification, we'll submit our home study certification, our nation/immigration certification to Africa along with a booty-load of other notarized docs that we're still in the process of compiling)

Oh, and our final request? Siblings 0-3! Ha! We were not anticipating that...however when our case worker was reviewing our paperwork she was like, "I just want to clarify...you're requesting siblings 0-3, and if siblings are not available, then a 0-3 male" Drew and I just looked at each other and replied quickly, "yup." We didn't know how that extra request for another little person got in there OR the extra ages...however, once she said it we smiled so big we couldn't help but agree...

So, in summary- State certification is almost complete, and, it's likely we'll be taking two little persons home from Africa...

Ohhhh to dream. Still seems SO far away! But, we know our God is in this.

And updates on fundraising? Well, we are SO blessed to say that we hit 160 puzzle pieces= $8,000. Wowzas. We're still sooooooo humbled by this...We've still got 340 puzzle pieces to go! Woop Woop! :)

Thanks for all of your support guys, we sure are appreciative!

XOXO,

Drew & Teagan

Miles' Adoption - Home Study #2

On Tuesday night Teagan and I had our second home study with our case manager for Miles' adoption. Prior to me talking about this exciting and important step, let me first talk about his adoption altogether - as this is my first post!

It was at Boba Loca in La Mirada, CA that Miles' adoption first was discussed. It was Teagan and I's first date, we hit up 'Islands' in Fullerton, then went to the Sunday night service @ Rock Harbor in Costa Mesa - but then to prolong our date we hit up some Boba.

We got to know each other quite a bit over dinner and the drive to and from Rock Harbor - so at Boba Loca we started getting "real". After grabbing our smoothie/boba with giant straws, and some further small talk I asked a BIG QUESTION - I asked Teagan at the end of her life what are 3 things that she wanted to say she did. The first thing she said, and without hesitation I might add, is that she wanted to adopt an orphan.

There were three things that went through my head at that point - all simultaneously 1) What an incredible heart this gal has and 2) Man - if I wanted to marry this girl I better want to adopt and 3) I want to marry this girl.

From this night forward, I have been on an adoption journey.

When I married Teagan, there were many things that I wanted for us and our family - but if I was to summarize all those things in one simple sentence it would be this, "I want for the Mercer family to be a family that lives Jesus' love." I dream at the end of my life, I can say I led a family that was weird - that we were a family that turned the idea of a successful American family upside down - that we lived selflessly.

It is amazing to think that God planted this passion in my heart, and God planted the passion of adoption in Teagan's heart - for they are absolutely/definitely/undeniably the same passion. I praise God for this, and I pray he gives us the strength to sustain this passion for our lifetimes.

I want to briefly just say that God has been breaking me of so many things over the past several months - and I know within my heart the reasons (much of it is preparing me to be a dad). But if you are reading this and you call Jesus your King - I encourage you to truly know what that means and what that should look like on a daily basis. I am in process of this, and it has been painful, but I love it...

_______________________________________________________________________

So Tuesday night was our second home study with our case manager, Trina. The purpose of this home study was to ensure we are on the right track for completing the paper work (dossier) in a time frame that aligns with the submission for the legal paperwork with the County of Maricopa, the State of Arizona, the country of the USA, and the country of Ethiopia. May I just say that there is A LOT of paperwork! (Teags and I don't mind it for the purpose of so much paperwork is to ensure orphans are placed in good situations and are not adopted into the sex trade.) Additionally, the second home study is the time where Trina asks us a lot of questions and lastly- 'investigates' our house to ensure it is a safe place for Miles.

We reviewed where we are on the paperwork and basically just got on the same page with Trina. We were able to ask Trina some questions and get some answers. We are about two to three weeks away from officially submitting the Home Study. After submitting the Home Study, we wait for certification, and then submit our Home Study paperwork along with TONS of other paperwork (see below) to Immigration Services for the US and in Dossier format for Ethiopia. To just give you an idea of what the Dossier includes...

- Application Letter
- Husband Birth Certificate
- Wife Birth Certificate
- Marriage Certificate
- Husband Physical Form (Exam)
- Wife Physical Form (Exam)
- Proof of Medical Insurance
- Proof of Life Insurance
- Proof of Auto Insurance
- Proof of Home Owner's Insurance
- Past Tax Documentation (1040, etc)
- Employment Verification Letter
- Past Residential History
- Past Employment History
- Letter of Guardianship
- Husband Police Report
- Wife Police Report
- Husband Fingerprint Verification
- Wife Fingerprint Verification
- Power of Attorney
- Financial Statements (Investments, Mortgage, Income Verification, Debt Verification, etc).
- County Certification (additional paper work)
- State Certification (additional paper work)
- Reference Letters
....and there are quite a few documents I am missing...but you get the drift!

Once we reviewed our progress of the above documentation - we went onto her questions for us.

Trina asked us quite a few questions. For example:
- Where/How did we meet?
- When did we decide to adopt?
- Why Ethiopia?
- How is our marriage?
- What is our plan, if we had one, for building our family beyond Miles' adoption?
- How we described one another?
- What we feel about Miles' birth parents?
- How we viewed Ethiopian culture?
- What we might expect life to be once Miles is home?
- How we view/handle the loss of loved ones?

I am missing quite a few questions here, but again you get my drift...

Teagan and I were able to articulate pretty good answers for these questions (#BIOLA education) - but one question that stood out to the both of us was our view towards Miles' birth parents. We were so glad to be asked this question, for we were able to have the opportunity to articulate our thoughts about it! We pray for his birth mom and birth dad every day, but how do we feel toward them? This is so tough - for we don't know yet Miles' situation. Was he placed in an orphanage because of his parents' death? or Was he placed in an orphanage because his parent(s) wanted a better life for him? or Was he abandoned? We know nothing at this point - but we pray that Miles' parents care for him - both of them. That he is nurtured through out his development in his birth mom's womb, that his dad provides for him - as best as he can. And at the point where Miles is placed in an orphanage, we pray that God provides his birth parents PEACE - that they are doing the very best thing for him. And that God speaks to them, that He tells them their son is going to have adoptive parents that LOVE him and are going to give him a GREAT life!

After Q&A with Trina was over, she then investigated the house. I believe we passed. She didn't seem to care about the Matt Kemp and Kobe Bryant fat heads on our living room wall, nor Marco Rubio's life size cardboard cut out in our bed room. (KIDDING!!)

So next steps...finish up our Home Study, and our next and final home study is scheduled for October 16th. Then, comprise the rest of our notaries for the Dossier, and from there it will be another year or so (likely more) before we get our little guy home. Thank you for your continued support, if only you are reading this! But we ask that you pray for us! These are the things that you can tangibly pray for:

1) Miles' health
2) Miles' birth parents (what we described above)
3) Teags and I's preparation

Much love...

Drew

About Keeping Our Blog Current...

To say we’ve had a wild summer is an absolute understatement. To keep things short, Drew changed jobs this summer and therefore caused us to have to pause in the adoption process for a couple of months while we get situated. While that pause felt like an eternity, we are moving full force ahead to complete all of the necessary items for our dossier!

So, what have we completed since the first home study?

-The full home study application

-Autobiographies

-Parenting explanations by way of discipline and reward

-Financial Statements

-Scheduling of our Physicals

-Fingerprints and Cashier Checks

What’s next?

-Home Study #2 (Tomorrow)

-More paperwork that needs to be notarized

-Reference Letters

-State papers

-More approvals

-Immigration papers

-Two more home studies (apparently our interrogations-eek!)

How much have we raised?

-We are SO pumped to say that we have raised a good $7,200! Praise the Lord! Seriously, it has been such a faith builder to see the people who care so much for our little guy. We've had reallllly old friends come out and get a piece, to acquaintances, and of course, some precious family. Our goal to raise at least another $12,800! And, we're confident that this can happen! Our hearts are SO full, and incredibly encouraged.

Love to you all...more to come this week! Drew will be updating on Wednesday regarding our home study summary :)

Home Study Uno

Alright, alright...I know- it's been a while. We've been busy! Besides normal life being busier/crazier/more-out-of-whack than normal, we've been working hardcore on our home study & dossier. Last Tuesday we had our first Home Study (trumpet sounds)! It was successful -slash- kind of nerve racking. We met with two other adoptive families and our case worker. It was encouraging to meet with the other adoptive families for a number of reasons. Hearing how the Lord is providing for them through miraculous ways, how He's leading them so clearly, and how His purpose is manifesting in them consistently was ALL such a relief to Drew and I. One couple was adopting their second child internationally, and that was somewhat of a relief to us by way of the Agency and the process. The Home Study itself was incredibly educational. We learned SO much about our little guy. The thing that hit me the most was the psychological state of sweet Miles. Our case worker used great illustrations to show how a functional and dysfunctional need based relationship starts at birth (see below)

I found these diagrams really beneficial. The next thing that I found to be ultra informative is our sweet Miles' state of grief when we bring him home. It's been crazy because I already feel like my heart has become heavier and heavier since going down this road of getting him home. It's as if the Lord is preparing & breaking my heart to understand this sweet soul that He's going to bless us with. Our case worker reminded us that Miles will be in a state of grief when he gets home...whether that be the grief of a caretaker, a blanket, a scent, a sound, even his flavor of formula...ugggg. Right when I heard that I just wanted to run out of the room and weep. I already feel that sense of protection...so, if I get it my way...I'm going to try to bring home e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g (Crazy person coming through). Oh Lord, please protect Mr. Miles. Anyway, all in all, the meeting was informative, and made us fall even more in love with this little guy.

Afterwards we went to Baja Fresh and just chatted about our lives, our future as a family, and our guy. We kept saying over and over again...we're really doing this! We cheers'd to our sweet boy and prayed for him in the middle of baja fresh for quite some time.




So In Love.