the End of the Beginning

photo credit to the gracious Jenny Omondi

Who could restrain themselves enough to save this for later on in the post!?  Pretty please, let me start with our adoption "end":  At 3pm on December 17, 2015, 6 months and 21 days from our first phone call about a birthmom in Michigan, Asher's adoption finalized! It sounds so fast now (as adoptions go, it finalized in record time) but we are grateful to the Lord for his timing... we were READY for closure!!!

Court room stud

cake smash ;)

Until about 2 weeks ago, we had been realistically anticipating that Asher's adoption would not be finalized until March of 2016.  Asher turned 1 the first week of December and our family had the great pleasure of entertaining 3 members of his birth family (including his beautiful birthmom, Alyana) for about 5 days as we celebrated his birthday and spent some overdue family time together.  A few days after they left town, I received a call from our lawyer, surely another update or form needing to be sent in...

"The judge called me, He wants to squeeze Asher in to finalize before Christmas."  

"...um... what?!!!!" 

photo credit to Jenny Omondi

Our family was shown great favor as we were provided with a last minute court date, a gracious and friendly judge, a volunteer photographer and even complimentary candy canes for Siren- which she is enjoying in most of the courtroom pictures!  Chase was able to leave work without complication. Asher raised his little hand with mama and papa when we were asked to swear in. Sadly, none of our family or friends were able to join us for the day. Happily, like the rest of Asher's adoption, it happened exactly as the Lord had prepared it.  From the night we first met Asher and his birthmom, this day had been planned for us. When our lawyer (and everyone else involved!) warned us of the risk involved with his situation, even when we thought the adoption was over and we had given Asher back to his birthmom and sent him back to Michigan as our child lost, this day had been planned for us.  Since God spoke the world into being, this day had been prepared for the Lord's glory to be magnified and revealed.

It was a beautiful day.

photo credit to Jenny Omondi

 It reminds me that even on my 'normal everyday' days, God is fiercely at work in ways that I will never be able to anticipate.  He has beauty at his fingertips, perfectly placed and timed, and He gives it generously and graciously to us even though we don't have anywhere near the capacity we need to appreciate it.  Our family is grateful and humbled. We have received a perfect gift, the gift of a son- and with him the gift of God's presence in our lives, not that He was absent until now but that we can never receive enough memorial stones of His great love and power.

We look forward to our future with comfort and hope

as we know He has prepared even more for the days to come.

 






Thanks be to Him, and to all of you who have prayed for, supported, encouraged and walked with us.


Our love,

Chase, Ashley, Siren and Asher

P.S. happy new year ;)

Adopting Asher

Our adoption story has been revealed to our family!  We want to give God the glory He is due, for He is working powerfully in our lives and in the lives of those around us... it seems selfish and fruitless NOT to shout this from the mountaintops… our hope and prayer is that this story would bring you great joy and encouragement in whatever circumstances you currently face.

Asher’s Adoption Story:

 

After years of anticipation, our family began the adoption process in October of 2014.  God had put it on our hearts to adopt a child (not necessarily a newborn).  We had already contacted the Department of Human Services and begun to partner with them when God moved ours hearts to immediately stop moving in our current direction and apply  with Crisis Pregnancy Outreach.  At the time, it didn’t make sense to us, because God had put it on our hearts to adopt a child from a hard situation that wasn’t a newborn- and we had no idea how He could ask us to do that while also using CPO (Crisis Pregnancy almost exclusively assists in newborn adoptions)  But we knew that He is the King of Kings, and if He wanted us to use CPO, we needed to become volunteers at CPO, so we obeyed. 

We were approved, our home study finished in December 2014 and the first week of January we turned in our lifebook  and began "waiting" to be chosen by a birthmom. 

 

On May 26th, we were informed that a birthmom in Michigan had viewed our lifebook online and wanted to interview us.  She had a 6 month old boy, Asher.  Everyone was hesitant because an out of state adoption can get 'a little tricky' (and we should be clear that TECHINICALLY  it wasn't even a real adoption, because they were not Oklahoma residents at the time, she needed to live in Tulsa for 6 months before she could actually relinquish her parental rights… But we were all hopeful and excited that an adoption was in the future)  Many doubted she would actually get on a plane to come to Tulsa at all, because “no one does that.”  Low and behold, the next day Alyana arrived in Tulsa.  (We later found out that she looked at many other lifebooks and wasn't even planning to interview anyone except for us.  To this day she will only explain her choice with "I just liked you guys." We know this can only be explained by favor from the Lord)  We met her in the evening to eat pizza.  We ended up having a lot in common and got along surprisingly well.  She "chose" us officially. 

 (Can I just say that when a mother tells you she is choosing you to parent her child there is no sufficient response?  All I could say was “Thank you...” It was so awkward!!)

The next day (May 28, 2015)  we all signed guardianship papers, she gave us her son and we took him home. 

 

On June 2, we all (including Alyana) became aware that Asher's birthfather wasn't comfortable with the adoption.  He was surprised and hurt- he now desired full custody.  Since the jurisdiction for a legal battle belonged to Michigan, it was time for Alyana and Asher to return home.  On June 3, we packed the car and got ready to take him back to Alyana.  I had a painful discussion with our CPO assistant about 'failed adoptions' and counseling available to us as we processed our loss, Chase came home from work to say goodbye to Asher before he left... About an hour later, CPO called  back to  share that Alyana's lawyer felt we should wait until birthdad was 100% sure he was ready to take legal action before calling off the adoption. We unpacked the car, stopped crying, and began to 'wait.' 

5 more weeks went by...

 It was time we were so grateful for because it gave us time to accept God's care for this baby and His power and sovereignty over the situation.  We were able to find and rest in a place of patience, gratefulness and great expectation regardless of the outcome.  We prayed for Asher’s life and future.  (We did not stop asking the Lord  to keep him in our family, but we did confess our desires for His will to be done regardless of our own)

On July 6th, we became aware that Birthdad was ready to reclaim Asher. Powerless, we scheduled the next day to give Asher back to Alyana and send them on a long drive back home to Michigan.  I packed up his belongings, wrote goodbye letters to mom and Asher. It was over.  Gratefully, we felt released by the Lord with confidence that He had planned this and we had obeyed.  We didn't understand,  but we were sure that we were in the middle of His will and He would bring good things to Asher and good things for us, even if it didn't look like the good things we had imagined and begged for.  We were SO grateful that God asks for our OBEDIENCE and NOT RESULTS. (the results are His alone)

 

On July 7th I drove to the CPO office with two children.  About an hour later, I drove home with one. 

 

                                           Alyana and Asher made it home safely to Michigan. 

                                                                           We began to start wondering...

“now what?”                                                                                                                         

 

On July 8th, I got a phone call that I was not expecting.  Birthdad had read the letters I had written as goodbyes.  His heart was changed as he realized that Asher was meant to be a part of our family.  Birthdad consented to the adoption (another miracle from Jesus) and He, Alyana and Asher all flew back to Tulsa to return Asher to us and restart the adoption process.  2 weeks later, (July 24 2015)  both parents had relinquished their rights and our adoption petition had been filed by the State of Oklahoma.  Although it will not finalize for several more months, Asher has joined our family!! 

We are speechless at the ways that God has worked in this situation. We couldn’t even list all of the ways that He prepared me (Ashley) and Alyana for each other, Siren and Asher for each other, the timing of our schedules and location, the emotional and spiritual support we have available… so many of the circumstances with the birth family were beautifully timed.  More than anything, I was in awe of how PREPARED my heart seemed to be for each event that happened (and this is the SHORT version of the events!!!) and we are extremely grateful to the Holy Spirit for faithfully guiding us through this emotional and exhausting trial/opportunity.

Not only has this adoption story become something to rejoice in, but I have also been SO blessed as I was able to join with Alyana in her season of life.  It led me to recall and proclaim the victories God has brought forth in my life after the valleys I had traveled through before coming to know Him face to face.  My gratefulness to Him has been so renewed and magnified for all He has done in the outward circumstances of my life and in the inmost depths of my heart.

 

We know that our current financial needs are not difficult for God- He created the world. He brings life and death.  He rules the heavens. He holds everything in His hand.  Since our story began with much uncertainty, we were unable to fundraise for the first few months.  So far, we have spent about 12,000.00 towards our adoption, mostly out of our savings.  A fair amount of this is for our lawyer, who is working extra hard to smooth out complications between the states of Oklahoma and Michigan.  We will owe at LEAST another 4,000.00 before we finalize.  It is hard to anticipate a final cost at this point, approximately 18,000.00 seems to be a reasonable guess.  Many options are available to help us financially.  Our friend Melissa Watson is setting up a NOONDAY jewelry showing at Asher's shower (this October) which will donate 20% of profits to our adoption costs.  Even those who are unable to attend the shower can support our adoption by making purchases online through our trunk show, so spread the word ;)   Our baby shower will have a raffle and some other fun ways to be supportive.  I am also selling baby/toddler hats and some other handmade items.  We have just received news that we will be supported by Lifesong's Karis Fund  !!!!  We are now able to receive online donations that are tax deductible   AND Lifesong is going to MATCH the first 3,000.00 we raise!!!  I will post information on how to contribute to our Karis Fund soon.
 

We still have some details to work out but are excited to share the beginnings of our plans to permanently bring Asher into our family. Please feel free to contact us with further questions (we MIGHT have answers!).  Thank you!
-Chase, Ashley, Siren and Asher


But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
2 corinthians 2:14

Adoption... the reason our house is extra festive this year :)

Well! If you don't know me, let's start with this:  I am not a tech-savvy lady.  I hate computers.  I have a dumb phone.  I do not have a Facebook. I don't fully understand what twitter or instagram even are... 

I started this blog years ago when I started pursing photography, after about 6 months I completely abandoned it as my passion is not (really not) spending time on computers writing about myself.  Then our adoption started.  If any of you reading this have ever adopted I am confident you can confirm this statement- when you are ready to adopt, you will do whatever it takes to get that baby home.  Our situation is a little tricky because we don't know who "that baby" is, yet. We haven't been chosen by a birth mom to adopt her child, we don't even have a reasonable guess as to whether we will be chosen in 2 months or 3 years.  We don't even have a guarantee that we will EVER be chosen.  However, our adoption pursuit has been laid on our hearts by Jesus.  It is my personal experience that when Jesus tells you to do something, you end up doing it (one of the greatest things about having a faithful and unchanging God)

Initially, I was only going to revive my blog to post photos of items I am selling to raise funds. Recently, I am reconsidering writing a small part of our story at some point.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves.  If you are reading this, it is probably because you want to check out the super beautiful fabric décor I am crafting and selling, so lets get on to that for now.

 I have a few options available at this time. Some may come and go as I use up materials and need to find more, but I am starting with a few things I have already made. 

NOTE: If you are not local (in Tulsa) please remind me to talk with you about shipping or alternative ways to get your stuff to you!

OPTION #1 Vintage Plate Cupcake/tiered Serving Trays 
PRICE: 20.00 each


Leaf Tier- Top

These are made from thrift store plates and candle holders. I love them so much.
(I only have these 3)

Yellow Flower Tier

 

Strawberry Tier

OPTION #2 Fabric Garlands 


floral triangle garland and coordinating fray garlands

PRICES:
5 foot long "fray"- 10.00
8 foot long "fray" - 15.00
5 foot long shape- 20.00
8 foot long shape- 30.00


**NOTE- length describes length of the entire rope- NOT the length of rope containing fabric.  A 5 foot long shape garland will have 5 triangles attached.  An 8 foot shape garlands will have 7 triangles.  (fray garlands will have about 1 foot of bare rope on each end)

These are my favorite things right now.  I made a few for our daughter's first birthday party and they were so sweet and simple.  I have a small variety of fabrics to choose from, mostly floral prints similar to the picture on right, some Christmas themed.  Garlands can be ordered to match what is shown in a picture on this website OR garlands can be ordered with specific requests.   I will make some suggestions below to explain what I mean by this ;)

Floral Shape (triangle) Garland- 8 feet



Vintage Garland- 8 feet, with 2
coordinating 8 foot long fray garlands

These are the garlands I used at Siren's birthday party.  The fabric on the shape garland (triangles) is an order option.  You can hang these things ANYWHERE and they look cute- doorways, porches, front door, furniture- at the party I just threw them around tree branches and it was great.    They also suit a ton of different occasions- holidays, birthdays, wedding showers, baby showers, graduations, half-birthdays, leap year...  or throw them up in a child's room for year round ambiance. 



 


Red and White Square Garland- 5 feet



Red and White Square Garland- 5 feet 



NOTE: Stitching is available for additional cost.  This Red and White Garland has the word "Joy" on the far right corner.  Price may vary depending on your word(s) of choice, additional cost will likely be about 10.00.

 I swear I chose to produce the hardest craft to photograph in the history of ever... these are all photos of the suggested Christmas Fray Garland. After taking the photos I left them all over our house.  Either I will sell them all, or our house will look like the North Pole all year- I figure this is a win-win.

I also have a White and Burlap Fray Garland available.  The burlap in all of these has a gold thread running through it, fancy.

Christmas Feather Garland- 5 feet

So I know what you're thinking- How do I buy a bunch of these?!  Here is a checklist for you-

1. Choose a fabric theme.  Either the name of a garland listed here OR maybe you just want something with lots of flowers...

2. Choose a style.  Fray or Shape?  If you chose shape, Triangle or Square?

3. Choose a length. 5 feet or 8 feet

4. Decide if you want any words stitched anywhere

5. Email me and put your order in! this looks like a link but its not... I don't know how to make it look normal.  (Remember that opening about my technology skills, I know you thought I was exaggerating...)     burmeiam@gmail.com

Option #3 Paper Rose Wreaths
PRICE:
Large (24" diameter)  80.00
Medium (18" diameter) 60.00
             
(I know, this is the pricey option, but these things seriously takes days upon days to make)

There is one remaining detail to address immediately, the payment plan I have in place.  Well, I have no idea what the best way to do this part is...I think I will have the option to use paypal or mail a check.  If you are local or have contact with any of our family members where you live I am happy to pass goods and payment through mutual friends.  If you already know that you want something, go ahead and order it!  I can start making it now and when I set up payment we will make the deal.  If anyone has suggestions I would love it.  I will leave with this:

THANK YOU SO much for taking the time to go through all of this information!  Thank you for even considering supporting us in this endeavor.  We are SO excited at the possibility of adopting a child and humbled by your willingness to join us in this whole process... 

Praise be to God.. He chose us to be adopted as sons... Ephesians 1:5