Thank you to everyone who has purchased a blanket to help support our adoption. Praise God, we have raised every penny needed to complete our adoption--largely due to blanket sales! We appreciate you all so much. We have run out of fabric, so we've decided it's a good time to close up the Auntie Em's shop. If a blanket is ordered from this point on, money will be returned to you within 2-3 days.
If you would like us to do a custom order for you, please email me at rachelsetliffe@aol.com and we'll see what we can do. Thanks again for your support!
We are hoping to have our Jane home in the next couple of months--we will definitely post pictures when she's home! Thanks for stopping by!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!!!!!!
We are so happy to announce that on May 13 we got the call about a tiny little 3 month old baby girl! Our agency called us b/c we were open to children with special needs. They called and asked us if we would be interested in reviewing “L’s” file and pray about accepting her referral. Umm….yes!!!!!!!!!! They went on to tell us that L has a very very sick and in need of immediate surgery. We spent several days reviewing her file, praying (and praying & praying & praying!!!!), talking to 3 different doctors/surgeons and talking through everything. By Friday morning we KNEW that L was our daughter. That afternoon we fedexed our referral acceptance to our agency We are still floating in the clouds–we’re just SO EXCITED! We were completey not expecting this, although looking back, I see how God was preparing my heart.
So where do we go from here? Well, I’m glad you asked! Our agency is working diligently to expedite our case b/c of L’s medical situation. We are hoping to hear this week or next when our court date will be. We’re hoping & praying to travel to get her in the next 2 months. Please be praying for sweet L. We have been lead over & over again to pray for God to sustain her. That is the word that God keeps laying on our hearts during our prayer times for her. 2 days before we got our referral I was reading Psalm 146 and I underlined this verse & wrote the date & Jane’s name next to it. Who would have ever imagined how closely I would cling to this verse just 2 days later!
“Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them–the Lord, who remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed, and gives food to the hungry…The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless…” (Psalm 146: 5-6, 9)
Unfortunately we can’t share her picture with you quite yet…we have to pass court in Ethiopia first But trust me, as soon as we do I will be posting pictures like a mad woman!! I’m really going to work hard to update my blog more regularly over the coming weeks. I really want to document all of this. So you guys hold me accountable, ok??? I have the slowest computer in the world & I pretty much hate wordpress, so all of that coupled with a severe lack of time tends to lend itself to blogging breaks. But I’m going to try to update more frequently!!
Thank you for praying for sweet L baby!! We cannot walk through this without you praying for us! We have a long road ahead of us, filled with tons of unknowns, but praise God, we have a God who sustains the fatherless!! Rejoicing today!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Check Out Our Blogs
Hey! Just in case you're interested, Matt & I also have blogs that we keep a little more up to date than this one. Check them out!
www.lifeunabridged.wordpress.com --Rachel's blog (most of our adoption updates & family updates)
www.mattsetliffe.wordpress.com --Matt's blog
www.lifeunabridged.wordpress.com --Rachel's blog (most of our adoption updates & family updates)
www.mattsetliffe.wordpress.com --Matt's blog
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Ethiopia Stats
I have been reading everything I can get my hands on about Ethiopia lately. I found this on another adoptive family’s blog. It really struck a chord with me. What do you think?
- One in ten children die before their first birthday
- One in six children die before their fifth birthday
- 44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old
- 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition
- The median age in Ethiopia is 18 years
- 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world)
- 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone
- Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa
- In the 90s the population (3%) grew faster than food production (2.2%)
- Drought struck the country from 2000-2002 (first year no crops, second year no seeds, third year no animals)
- Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88% will never attend secondary school.
- Coffee prices (Ethiopia’s only major export) fell 40-60% from 1998-2002.
- Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000.
- In 1993, after 30 long years of war, Eritrea broke from Ethiopia and became an independent nation leaving Ethiopia landlocked without any major seafaring ports.
- Ethiopia has approx. 4.3 million orphans and the country is twice the size of Texas.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Ethiopia!!
Hey friends! I have been wanting to write for several days now, but things have been crazy around here! As most of you know, we moved back to Florida a couple of weeks ago. Matt was offered a position with Innovative Mission Opportunities (www.imoi.org), which is a ministry that sends teams of people into the “10-40 window” on short term mission trips. The 10-40 window is a “strip” of the world that stretches across Northern Africa, the Middle East and most of Asia. Matt is developing a student arm of the ministry and is working to lead high school & college students into this area on trips. His main focus is Northern Africa (especially Ethiopia) and China. In January Matt traveled to Ethiopia for the first time and completely fell in love with the people there. Through all of his stories and pictures I have too. I am hoping to join him on a trip in June–I’m praying it all works out! I have always had a heart for Africa–since childhood. I’ve wanted to go there my entire life and have always wanted to adopt kids from there. My heart beats for Africa–I really can’t explain it, but I feel like a piece of me is in this place that I’ve never even been before.
Last January we began the process to adopt a little girl from El Salvador. It took us a very long time to finish all of our paperwork and raise the necessary money, but in December we submitted our paperwork finally. Throughout this whole process, we’ve known that international adoption in difficult and not without risk. We knew that going in and have prepared our hearts for whatever might come. The El Salvador program has had several problems in the last several months. Almost the entire government staff in El Sal that works on adoptions quit, leaving only 1 person to sort through about 300 dossiers (family’s packets of paperwork). About 3 weeks ago we received news that the El Salvador program is closing to all new applicants. There is such a backlog of families & things just aren’t moving. El Sal also just decided to adopt out all of their older kids in orphanages (ages 5+) and they have 2 orphanages of HIV+ kids that they also want to get adopted out. So that means that the wait for a healthy young child jumped from 12-18 months like we originally thought to 2-3 years, with that estimated to increase. Families already in process were given several options. We could wait it out and hope that things pick up. We could leave our agency, but we would lose most of the money we have put in, or we could switch countries and all of our program fees that we’ve already paid in would transfer. We got this news 3 days before our move, so we had to just put everything on hold & focus on our move. This week we’ve had more time to pray and to process all of this. After tons of prayer, we feel so at peace about switching to Ethiopia. There is so much movement in the group, with lots of kids already home. They have also just built a transitional home for kids to live in after they have been referred. This is a safe place where kids will begin receiving loving care, proper nutrition and medical attention. Things are just really moving forward in Ethiopia and that really comforts us and excites us. Plus with all the work that we will be doing in Ethiopia, it just makes a lot of sense. We will know and understand the culture of our kids–and hopefully we will get to travel there a lot in the future–taking them back with us as they get older. How exciting!!
With our move and new job we knew that we would have to update all of our paperwork anyway, so we were prepared for that. We just found out Monday though that we are going to have to completely redo all of our paperwork to switch. This was quite a blow to us, but we found out the paperwork is much easier and not as thorough as El Sal, and it is taking most families about 2 months to complete. So we are hoping to begin all of that next week–and are hoping to finish and submit everything by the end of April. We need some major prayer with all of this. Pray for the finances that we will need to redo everything (about $2000), pray that everything is accomplished correctly the first time, and very quickly. We just need a lot of favor from a lot of people right now. This is going to be very hard, but we are so committed to this and are willing to do anything to bring home our child. We have also decided to put on our application that we are open to 2 children. We may or may not receive 2, but this way we will be approved for 2 if 2 are available at that time. I would love for this to happen, but am not going to get my hopes up!! Pray for God’s will to be made so clear to everyone involved on this matter. We’re just trusting God to bring home the kid(s) that He has already chosen for us! Thanks for praying for all of this–it means a lot to us. We don’t know an estimated time frame for bringing home our children yet, but will know more in the coming weeks.
WHEW!! I think that’s it. Sorry about the length of this post…hope I didn’t scare you away! I just wanted to let all of you know what’s happening with us and didn’t know a better way. Please continue to pray for us!
Last January we began the process to adopt a little girl from El Salvador. It took us a very long time to finish all of our paperwork and raise the necessary money, but in December we submitted our paperwork finally. Throughout this whole process, we’ve known that international adoption in difficult and not without risk. We knew that going in and have prepared our hearts for whatever might come. The El Salvador program has had several problems in the last several months. Almost the entire government staff in El Sal that works on adoptions quit, leaving only 1 person to sort through about 300 dossiers (family’s packets of paperwork). About 3 weeks ago we received news that the El Salvador program is closing to all new applicants. There is such a backlog of families & things just aren’t moving. El Sal also just decided to adopt out all of their older kids in orphanages (ages 5+) and they have 2 orphanages of HIV+ kids that they also want to get adopted out. So that means that the wait for a healthy young child jumped from 12-18 months like we originally thought to 2-3 years, with that estimated to increase. Families already in process were given several options. We could wait it out and hope that things pick up. We could leave our agency, but we would lose most of the money we have put in, or we could switch countries and all of our program fees that we’ve already paid in would transfer. We got this news 3 days before our move, so we had to just put everything on hold & focus on our move. This week we’ve had more time to pray and to process all of this. After tons of prayer, we feel so at peace about switching to Ethiopia. There is so much movement in the group, with lots of kids already home. They have also just built a transitional home for kids to live in after they have been referred. This is a safe place where kids will begin receiving loving care, proper nutrition and medical attention. Things are just really moving forward in Ethiopia and that really comforts us and excites us. Plus with all the work that we will be doing in Ethiopia, it just makes a lot of sense. We will know and understand the culture of our kids–and hopefully we will get to travel there a lot in the future–taking them back with us as they get older. How exciting!!
With our move and new job we knew that we would have to update all of our paperwork anyway, so we were prepared for that. We just found out Monday though that we are going to have to completely redo all of our paperwork to switch. This was quite a blow to us, but we found out the paperwork is much easier and not as thorough as El Sal, and it is taking most families about 2 months to complete. So we are hoping to begin all of that next week–and are hoping to finish and submit everything by the end of April. We need some major prayer with all of this. Pray for the finances that we will need to redo everything (about $2000), pray that everything is accomplished correctly the first time, and very quickly. We just need a lot of favor from a lot of people right now. This is going to be very hard, but we are so committed to this and are willing to do anything to bring home our child. We have also decided to put on our application that we are open to 2 children. We may or may not receive 2, but this way we will be approved for 2 if 2 are available at that time. I would love for this to happen, but am not going to get my hopes up!! Pray for God’s will to be made so clear to everyone involved on this matter. We’re just trusting God to bring home the kid(s) that He has already chosen for us! Thanks for praying for all of this–it means a lot to us. We don’t know an estimated time frame for bringing home our children yet, but will know more in the coming weeks.
WHEW!! I think that’s it. Sorry about the length of this post…hope I didn’t scare you away! I just wanted to let all of you know what’s happening with us and didn’t know a better way. Please continue to pray for us!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Dear Bella,
I just wanted to let you know that I think about you all the time. I love you more every day with this love that is just unexplainable, except to say that it comes straight from God. You are mine in every way already. You have occupied our hearts. You have occupied our home with all the little reminders we have out about you. You are in our dialogues. You are in my dreams. That's where I see you the most. You are still faceless, but I know that it's you because when I see you my heart does flips! Sometimes I lay awake thinking about you and I almost feel like you're haunting me. I know that's not the right word, but I can't think of a better way to put it. I wonder if you're born yet. I wonder if you're still in your birthmommy's tummy. Is she a teenage girl? I read yesterday that almost 30% of pregnancies in El Salvador are with girls under 19. I wish I could just hug your birthmom & tell her that everything is going to be ok. I wonder if you have not even been conceived yet. If you've entered our world, where are you living? Are you lonely? Are you cold? Hungry? Does anyone kiss you goodnight? I wish that I could meet all of your needs. It kills me to not be with you right now. Every night, Daddy and I pray for you with Ava. We pray that God puts 10,000 angels around you. We pray that God holds you so close in the palm of His hand. We pray that He sings over you, wherever you are, as you sleep. We pray that He is building HOPE into your tiny little heart. Hope for a Savior who will love you above all else. Hope for a family that you can call your own. Hope for a future. You grow more in my heart every day--just like a baby would grow in my belly. I am so proud to be your Mom! Ava is learning to say your name, although it usually comes out more like "Bubba". But that's ok--we know what she means. Everytime she sees a heart she says "Bubba" because we're teaching her that that's where you are--in our hearts. She has a shirt with hearts all over it & she always wears it so proudly--it's like she knows it's Bella's shirt. We're on our way, baby girl, so hold on, ok? We will be done with our paperwork tomorrow. What joy I have in my heart as I write those words. It's taken us so much longer than we had hoped, but tomorrow, we will be done. We're driving to Austin to get our final document and to begin our apostilling process. In the next 2 weeks we will hopefully be submitting our dossier. And then we will just have to wait, to hope, to work and prepare for your homecoming. And as soon as God sees fit--when you're ready, and we're ready--we'll be coming for you. So don't lose hope. We're on our way as fast as we can! But for now, just know that we love you completely. You are ours. You belong, my dear, sweet, Bella!
I just wanted to let you know that I think about you all the time. I love you more every day with this love that is just unexplainable, except to say that it comes straight from God. You are mine in every way already. You have occupied our hearts. You have occupied our home with all the little reminders we have out about you. You are in our dialogues. You are in my dreams. That's where I see you the most. You are still faceless, but I know that it's you because when I see you my heart does flips! Sometimes I lay awake thinking about you and I almost feel like you're haunting me. I know that's not the right word, but I can't think of a better way to put it. I wonder if you're born yet. I wonder if you're still in your birthmommy's tummy. Is she a teenage girl? I read yesterday that almost 30% of pregnancies in El Salvador are with girls under 19. I wish I could just hug your birthmom & tell her that everything is going to be ok. I wonder if you have not even been conceived yet. If you've entered our world, where are you living? Are you lonely? Are you cold? Hungry? Does anyone kiss you goodnight? I wish that I could meet all of your needs. It kills me to not be with you right now. Every night, Daddy and I pray for you with Ava. We pray that God puts 10,000 angels around you. We pray that God holds you so close in the palm of His hand. We pray that He sings over you, wherever you are, as you sleep. We pray that He is building HOPE into your tiny little heart. Hope for a Savior who will love you above all else. Hope for a family that you can call your own. Hope for a future. You grow more in my heart every day--just like a baby would grow in my belly. I am so proud to be your Mom! Ava is learning to say your name, although it usually comes out more like "Bubba". But that's ok--we know what she means. Everytime she sees a heart she says "Bubba" because we're teaching her that that's where you are--in our hearts. She has a shirt with hearts all over it & she always wears it so proudly--it's like she knows it's Bella's shirt. We're on our way, baby girl, so hold on, ok? We will be done with our paperwork tomorrow. What joy I have in my heart as I write those words. It's taken us so much longer than we had hoped, but tomorrow, we will be done. We're driving to Austin to get our final document and to begin our apostilling process. In the next 2 weeks we will hopefully be submitting our dossier. And then we will just have to wait, to hope, to work and prepare for your homecoming. And as soon as God sees fit--when you're ready, and we're ready--we'll be coming for you. So don't lose hope. We're on our way as fast as we can! But for now, just know that we love you completely. You are ours. You belong, my dear, sweet, Bella!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Check Out Our New Blankets!!
Hey friends! Emmy & I are so excited to show you our new blankets! I have been in Florida for the past 2 weeks while my husband is on a mission trip in China. While I've been here Emmy and I have been working like crazy making blankets. We watched the whole first season of Gilmore Girls while we cut, pinned and sewed. It's been a lot of fun! You can see all the blankets on the slideshow above, or on the sidebar. We also still have the pink & blue blankets that we have sold in the past. However, due to low demand, we have discontinued the blue polka-dot/fish blanket. But we think you will like the new ones a lot! So take a look around & tell your friends about us! Remember, 100% of profits made from the blankets go into our El Salvador adoption fund! You can also make a donation if you don't have a need for a baby blanket but still want to help out. Thanks for helping us bring baby Bella home, and thanks for stopping by!
Hey friends! Emmy & I are so excited to show you our new blankets! I have been in Florida for the past 2 weeks while my husband is on a mission trip in China. While I've been here Emmy and I have been working like crazy making blankets. We watched the whole first season of Gilmore Girls while we cut, pinned and sewed. It's been a lot of fun! You can see all the blankets on the slideshow above, or on the sidebar. We also still have the pink & blue blankets that we have sold in the past. However, due to low demand, we have discontinued the blue polka-dot/fish blanket. But we think you will like the new ones a lot! So take a look around & tell your friends about us! Remember, 100% of profits made from the blankets go into our El Salvador adoption fund! You can also make a donation if you don't have a need for a baby blanket but still want to help out. Thanks for helping us bring baby Bella home, and thanks for stopping by!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Overwhelmed!
We have been overwhelmed by your response to our blankets. God has used you in such a sweet way to provide for our adoption. Thank you so much to those of you who have purchased blankets & told your friends about us! God is so good to us! Please continue to tell your friends about us!! Also, check out the article below. Matt & I feel that it really puts into words why we are adopting. Happy Friday!
We have been overwhelmed by your response to our blankets. God has used you in such a sweet way to provide for our adoption. Thank you so much to those of you who have purchased blankets & told your friends about us! God is so good to us! Please continue to tell your friends about us!! Also, check out the article below. Matt & I feel that it really puts into words why we are adopting. Happy Friday!
Great Article About Adoption
Adoption Provides Striking Picture of the Gospel
Garrett E. Wishall
Baptist Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Reflection on how people become a part of God’s family and God’s command to care for orphans reveals the value and importance of adoption, Randy Stinson said recently at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.The dean of the School of Leadership and Church Ministry and executive director of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood said the nature of the Gospel shows that adoption is important to God and thus it should be important to the church.“Outside of Christ, we are all orphans,” he said, speaking in January at the Pendergraph women’s ministry event. “All people are born outside of the family of God and the only way to get into the family of God is through Christ. The doctrine of adoption is at the heart of the Gospel and if we are going to be a Gospel-centered people we should take seriously this thing (adoption) that is in front of all of us. Actually adopting someone is a stark picture of the Gospel.”
Randy and his wife, Danna, along with Russell D. Moore and his wife, Maria, recounted their respective adoption experiences and fielded questions at the event. Moore is senior vice president of academic administration and dean of the School of Theology.The Stinsons adopted two girls -- Eden, now 7, and Payton, now 5 -- from Taiwan in November 2004. Stinson pointed to the book of James’ teaching about orphans in Scripture as a key reason behind their interest in adoption.“The first reason why Danna and I thought adoption was important is because in the book of James the Bible says it is,” he said. “It says this is true religion, ‘Taking care of widows and orphans.’ Adoption is highlighted by the fact that James talks about orphans and later in the same passage God talks about being a Father to the fatherless.”
In addition, Stinson said, he and his wife were active in pro-life causes and began to think they should adopt some of the children they consistently urged women to have. Stinson also said adoption is fundamentally connected to the husband’s role to lead, protect and provide.“When I talk to other men, I try to get across to them that the roles of leading, providing and protecting are not just to be applied in the home,” he said. “Those roles are also supposed to spill out into the streets, and take form in caring for the weak, the helpless and for orphans. My challenge to men is to not be so self-preoccupied and self-absorbed and to think about the sacrificial act of adoption.”
Moore said people often ask him if the two boys he and Maria adopted from Russia were brothers. “I usually say, ‘Well, they are now,’” Moore said to laughter.The Moores adopted Benjamin and Timothy -- both now 5, but from different biological parents -- from a Russian orphanage in July 2002 after years of infertility and three miscarriages.
Moore said the infertility and miscarriages, though difficult, matured him and Maria spiritually and has allowed them to minister to other couples in similar circumstances.“Seeing the way that God moved in this (the infertility and adoption process) has helped us understand providence more and trust God more,” he said. “Infertility and miscarriage were horrible, but at the same time we are able to step back and say, ‘If it weren’t for infertility and miscarriage we wouldn’t have Benjamin and Timothy.’ We wouldn’t understand the grace of God the way that we understand it, we wouldn’t understand what it means to love each other the way that we understand it and we wouldn’t understand how to teach the Gospel.”
Adoption Provides Striking Picture of the Gospel
Garrett E. Wishall
Baptist Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Reflection on how people become a part of God’s family and God’s command to care for orphans reveals the value and importance of adoption, Randy Stinson said recently at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.The dean of the School of Leadership and Church Ministry and executive director of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood said the nature of the Gospel shows that adoption is important to God and thus it should be important to the church.“Outside of Christ, we are all orphans,” he said, speaking in January at the Pendergraph women’s ministry event. “All people are born outside of the family of God and the only way to get into the family of God is through Christ. The doctrine of adoption is at the heart of the Gospel and if we are going to be a Gospel-centered people we should take seriously this thing (adoption) that is in front of all of us. Actually adopting someone is a stark picture of the Gospel.”
Randy and his wife, Danna, along with Russell D. Moore and his wife, Maria, recounted their respective adoption experiences and fielded questions at the event. Moore is senior vice president of academic administration and dean of the School of Theology.The Stinsons adopted two girls -- Eden, now 7, and Payton, now 5 -- from Taiwan in November 2004. Stinson pointed to the book of James’ teaching about orphans in Scripture as a key reason behind their interest in adoption.“The first reason why Danna and I thought adoption was important is because in the book of James the Bible says it is,” he said. “It says this is true religion, ‘Taking care of widows and orphans.’ Adoption is highlighted by the fact that James talks about orphans and later in the same passage God talks about being a Father to the fatherless.”
In addition, Stinson said, he and his wife were active in pro-life causes and began to think they should adopt some of the children they consistently urged women to have. Stinson also said adoption is fundamentally connected to the husband’s role to lead, protect and provide.“When I talk to other men, I try to get across to them that the roles of leading, providing and protecting are not just to be applied in the home,” he said. “Those roles are also supposed to spill out into the streets, and take form in caring for the weak, the helpless and for orphans. My challenge to men is to not be so self-preoccupied and self-absorbed and to think about the sacrificial act of adoption.”
Moore said people often ask him if the two boys he and Maria adopted from Russia were brothers. “I usually say, ‘Well, they are now,’” Moore said to laughter.The Moores adopted Benjamin and Timothy -- both now 5, but from different biological parents -- from a Russian orphanage in July 2002 after years of infertility and three miscarriages.
Moore said the infertility and miscarriages, though difficult, matured him and Maria spiritually and has allowed them to minister to other couples in similar circumstances.“Seeing the way that God moved in this (the infertility and adoption process) has helped us understand providence more and trust God more,” he said. “Infertility and miscarriage were horrible, but at the same time we are able to step back and say, ‘If it weren’t for infertility and miscarriage we wouldn’t have Benjamin and Timothy.’ We wouldn’t understand the grace of God the way that we understand it, we wouldn’t understand what it means to love each other the way that we understand it and we wouldn’t understand how to teach the Gospel.”
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Thanks For Stopping By!
Hi friends! Thanks for stopping by our new website to check out Emily's beautiful blankets. She has been such a sweet sister & has worked so hard to help us bring Baby Setliffe home from El Salvador. Continue to check back with us as we post updates about our adoption & information about adoption in general. If you don't have a need for a blanket, but would still like to donate to our adoption fund, there is a link titled "donate" above where you can give any amount. Please tell your friends about our new website! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! You will never know the way that your contribution has forever changed our family! God bless!
Hi friends! Thanks for stopping by our new website to check out Emily's beautiful blankets. She has been such a sweet sister & has worked so hard to help us bring Baby Setliffe home from El Salvador. Continue to check back with us as we post updates about our adoption & information about adoption in general. If you don't have a need for a blanket, but would still like to donate to our adoption fund, there is a link titled "donate" above where you can give any amount. Please tell your friends about our new website! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! You will never know the way that your contribution has forever changed our family! God bless!
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