Derek and I decided that at the end of every year we are going to do a top 10 recap of the year. Today as we sat and thought back over 2012, there were so many good memories, events and ways we've seen the Lord provide this year. After reminiscing we decided on our top 10 of 2012.
HOPPERTON TOP 10 of 2012
10. Completed a great first year with our ABF class at Church
9. Derek completed his first year at Christian Academy of Louisville.
8. Whitney and her best friend (Kelly) went to see WICKED on Broadway
7. Derek's 7th grade basketball team won their conference basketball championship.
6. Whitney's brother got married!! We love Dustin and Allie! :)
5. University of Kentucky won the National Championship! (We went to the NCAA tournament and saw UK play Iowa State @ Yum Center)
4. Derek was a camp pastor for Crossings Camps - I AM JONAH.
3. Whitney went to Guatemala on a mission trip with Highview Baptist Church.
2. We bought our first car!! 2010 Toyota Corolla- aka "CoCo"
1. We started the adoption journey to bring home our little man from Ethiopia.
We are looking forward to all the Lord has in store for the Hopperton family in 2013! Thanks for everyone's prayers and support and we hope you have a Happy New Year!
We will be headed downtown to get our fingerprints to ring in the new year!!! We received our letter today for our biometric fingerprint appointment downtown on January 2nd! What a great way to start a new year!?!
Tonight we also were able to attend a concert by FFH and Lifesong raising money for Lifesong For Orphans. We have applied for grants through this organization and tonight were so encouraged by this ministry. The concert was more of a worship service and reflection as Derek and I prepare our hearts for an addition to our family. Tonight a sweet Zambian Children's Choir sang and I couldn't help by look at their faces and hear their sweet voices. I was reminded of my love for the people of Africa.
As I sat and watched them, I prayed for our sweet little one in Ethiopia (or maybe not even born yet). I prayed that just like some of these kids, he would grow up to love the Lord and praise him with all of his heart. Tonight was an amazing concert and an amazing encouragement in our adoption journey!
Our homestudy was officially completed on Friday, November 30th, 2012!! I had the completed, signed copy in my hands on that day, and we HIT THE GROUND RUNNING! That night, Derek and I scrambled to get everything together to mail off the next day.
The next step was filing for Immigration. We completed our I-600 A application and got that ready to be mailed. In addition, we applied for three different grants. So we finished all applications and had them ready to be mailed out!
The next morning, I went to the post office and mailed the documents!
Now we wait to hear back on an appointment to get our biometric fingerprints done in Downtown Louisville. After that, we will wait for our immigration approval to come back. This week we will be delivering all of our Dossier documents to our agency for review. Our hope is that they will be able to review the documents so if something needs to be changed, we have time to do that prior to receiving our immigration paper work!
As of today- this is where we are! We are still fundraising like crazy! We still have some Chick-fil-a Calendars available for sale ($8.00 each) as well as homemade Christmas Ornaments ($5.00 each). We are accepting donations as well. If you are interested in helping us out in any way, please let us know! We will have a $3,000 payment due as soon as the dossier is ready to be sent. We are trusting the Lord is going to provide! And we appreciate your support and prayers.
It always strikes me when I stop to think that Proverbs is essentially a letter from a father to a son. Proverbs 1:8 says, “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”
Just thinking about becoming a father is kind of scary. There are so many responsibilities along with countless unknowns. The weightiest thoughts I have, though, are about my role as my child’s spiritual leader. I firmly believe that God has called me, as the husband and father, to be the spiritual leader of my family. This is no small responsibility!
I’m already faced daily with my shortcomings as a husband—what about when I’m a father as well? How will I teach my son the truth of the Gospel? Will he accept it? How will I show him how to be a godly man? These are weighty questions.
As I read the Proverbs, I see so many character qualities a godly man must have. As a teacher by profession, I know that the greatest way to teach character qualities to a young person is to embody them myself.
Here’s the big question I therefore ask myself: If my own character is the only lesson I teach my son, what will he learn from it? If he copied me exactly, would that be a good thing (spiritually, I mean)?
I’m immediately confronted with my own shortcomings and weaknesses. I can think of about a thousand things I would not want him to learn from me (pride and selfishness to name a few).
Now I’m confronted with an even bigger question: If I don’t want my son to learn these sinful things from me in the future, why do I overlook them in my life right now? We’ve all heard the saying “Do as I say, not as I do.” If I don’t want this saying to be true of me when I become a father, why wait to start then? Shouldn’t I start now by seeking to grow in the areas I know I’m weak?
I don’t want to read the Proverbs to my son and have him thinking, “Why does dad read these to me when he doesn’t do them himself?” I know I cannot be perfect and I know nobody is, but when I say, “Listen, my son, to your father’s teaching,” I want those teachings to be something he sees in me on a consistent basis, not just empty words.
So today, along with my prayers for my son to know Christ and walk in wisdom, I’m praying for myself to do the same thing. And it can’t just start once I’ve become a father—it has to start right now.
It was 12:35pm... ON MONDAY. I called the FBI. Jerome answered! (YES! I'm so glad I got him!) When he answered, I said "This is Whitney Hopperton" - he proceeded to not ask me why I was calling, but looked up the status of my fingerprints.
He delievered the news I've been waiting for. HE SAID THEY WERE PROCESSED!! And they would arrive in Louisville to our agency by Friday of this week!!! (now I'll be honest, I'm excited, but I'm also hoping that means they were actually read this time. And not deemed "unreadable". Surely he would have told me that right?) But in the meanwhile, I'm celebrating!!!!
I let out an excited YEAH! And Jerome laughed. I told him that if I were there in person I'd give him a hug. He said, "Ma'am, I've had people get excited before, but you are the most excited I've ever had!" And I proceeded to tell him that we were adopting a baby from Ethiopia and was able to share the Gospel to him quickly over the phone. I thanked him for his time and then hung up for the phone!
I JUMPED UP AND DOWN!! Then called my husband (who is a teacher, by the way) and he snuck away to answer. He was so excited too! Then I called/told my best friends. Then I called our agency. Then I announced it to my co-workers and then my Small Group of Prayer of Warriors. And now, my blog friends!
THANK YOU for your prayers. The Lord's timing is always better than my timing! Even though I know the Lord's in control, I still try to take things into my own hands. The Lord is really teaching me a lesson on Trust and Faith in Him.
This is one more hurdle in the journey! I'm excited to move on to officially completing the homestudy and then applying for Grants!
Well... we are still waiting- on my fingerprints from the FBI. Some of you may have seen in our previous posts, that we are officially on stand still, unable to "complete" our homestudy without my fingerprints from the FBI. My husband, Derek's, were approved and sent back, by mine were sent back unreadable and had to be resubmitted. So, here we are! 6 weeks since then, still waiting. Each Wednesday, I have a standing appointment with Jerome from the FBI (well not really, but it my mind I do). I call each Wednesday at 12:30pm and talk to Jerome, every time! He's always really nice (and now he know why I'm calling before I can even saying anything after "this is Whitney Hopperton." HAHA! I dont know if that's a good thing or a bad thing!) Each week, he says the same thing- the fingerprints still have not be processed. Tomorrow, I'm going to be calling to check in after a long weekend. I know it's not my typical Wednesday call, but I am praying that tomorrow the fingerprints will be ready! We have needed $3,000 to move on after our homestudy, and I have been praying specifically that once we receive the $3,000 we will receive my fingerprints back and be able to move on with the process.... GOOD NEWS!!! Today we raised the next $3,000!!! Not only did we raise it, but we exceeded it with our Chick fil a calendar sales and our Christmas Ornaments!!! I'm REALLY excited and hope that when I call tomorrow, they will have good news for me at the FBI! Please pray that our fingerprints come back this week. I know many of you may be wondering, why the hurry? Well, we have some paperwork that will expire around January 2013 for our next step (Dossier). And if those papers expire, that means more money and more time to collect them again. :( Plus, we are so ready to have our Dossier in Ethiopia!!! Thanks for all of the prayer and support. As of now, the wait continues for the fingerprints. We will keep you posted!
The ornament factory has been in production for the past few weeks! We have homemade wooden Christmas Ornaments with Africa stamps on them. These ornaments are made with love and can be yours for only $5.00 each.
Adoption Christmas Ornaments
These would make great gifts for teachers or gift exchanges, stocking stuffers, or you could even attach them to the top of a gift as a gift tag.
We have many different designs and colors. All ornaments are $5.00 each with ALL proceeds go to help fund our adoption! If you are out of the area, we can ship them to you for a small additional cost.
Our blog has a new look! Do you like it? A special thanks goes out to
our sweet friend Kristin Holt, who is a great graphic design artist for helping
us update our blog!
FUNDRAISER:
Are you needing a new look for the holiday season?
Help us raise funds for our adoption by getting a hair cut, color, or style with Chelley Morgan, owner of Willow Salon of Louisville, KY, on NOVEMBER 15-17th.
Appointments are from 9am-8pm all 3 days!! Chelley is being so sweet to donate
50% of all services for those 3 days as well as 25% of all product sold!
If you are interested in helping us in this way, please contact Chelley today
for an appointment 502.689.2427 or willow.hairstyle@gmail.com
What's better than getting a new hair "do" and also helping bring
home a sweet baby!?
JOURNEY UPDATE:
With a new look comes a sense of refreshment! Over the past few weeks, many
of you are aware of our troubles and bumps in the road. My fingerprints
were declined and sent back by the FBI as "unreadable." This
meant I had to redo my fingerprint process. Now, 4 weeks later, we still do
not have fingerprints back and we are waiting! The bad news came when our
social worker informed us that we could not officially complete our home study
without these fingerprints. That meant we could not apply for grants,
submit the I-600 form to the government or submit our Dossier to Ethiopia for
review. This could mean that some of our paper work from the KY state
government would expire prior to our Dossier's submission for review.
You
see.... all the bad things were piling up. And I began to worry. I
was prepared for bumps along the way. HONESTLY, I was! However, I was not
prepared to be waiting 4 months into our process on our homestudy papers. We had heard this was the quickest part of the whole process.
I was prepared to wait once our name was placed on a waiting list and we
received a number. I was prepared to wait after we received the referral
picture of our sweet boy til the time we would go see our son face-to-face for the first time. I was prepared
to wait on paperwork being reviewed by Ethiopia and the multiple travel dates for court. But I wasn't prepared to wait
this early.
However, I've been praying for a new look -- a new OUTLOOK-- and the Lord
has shown me that in more ways than one. I have been reminded that longing is part of the wait.
It would only be a passing of time if there was no longing involved. And longing we
are... longing for the day when my fingerprints return ACCEPTED! Longing for
the day when we mail our Dossier to Ethiopia... Longing for the day we receive
our wait list number... Longing for the Referral Picture... Longing to meet our
son face to face... Longing to bring him home to his FOREVER HOME.... Longing
to share the love of Jesus Christ with him... and the list could go on and on.
The
beauty of waiting is that never in our wait is God INACTIVE!
Isaiah 40:31 says: "but they who
wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like
eagles; they shall
run and not be weary;they shall walk and not
faint."
My new outlook is coming through a check-up on my perspective. Oh how many times do I sit and think that as I wait, God is inactive? Sadly, more times than I'd like to admit. HOWEVER: Perspective is everything. And we are told in Scripture to take captive our thoughts and think upon things that are true, honorable, just and pure (Phil 4:8). So, as we run
this race, we are not to go weary. We pray the end result of this process is a beautiful
child; however, throughout the wait, God is teaching this soon to be momma a
little bit about His work in her own life.
The Hopperton's LOVE Chick-fil-a for many reasons! And now we have been able to partner with Chick-fil-a for an adoption fundraiser. We are selling Chick-fil-a Coupon Calendars for $8.00 each. These calendars include coupons for free items throughout each month of the year.
Some of the free items include:
Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich
Large Soft Drinks
Chicken Salad Sandwich
Milk Shakes
Waffle Fries
Spicey Chicken Biscuit
Cookie Sundae/Brownie Sundae
Chick-n-strips
And MANY MORE!
If you are interested in purchasing calendars from us, please email us at whitneyhopperton@yahoo.com or contact Derek or Whitney on facebook.
We are so excited about all of the many opportunities to fundraise to bring our little boy home! It's amazing to see so many people coming together to help us! It really is a community and we are so thankful for the support and love that we have been shown by you.
The LORD is good and we are thankful to share in this journey with you.
I have recently gone on a mission trip to Guatemala with my church. It was an amazing time and the Lord really did great things on this trip.
Since I've been gone, many things have happened in our adoption journey.
1. Our last home study appointment was Monday, October 15th. WE PASSED! We are officially finished with our home study! YAY!
2. We have completed our I-600A (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) We are waiting for our completed write up of our homestudy to send it off.
3. Derek's fingerprints came back from the FBI Good to go. PRAISE THE LORD
4. MY FINGERPRINTS DID NOT COME BACK ACCEPTED :( So another trip to UPS for me to do fingerprints. They told me it would take another 12 weeks. I'm trust the Lord that it wont take that long unless he sees it fit. Will you pray with me on this? Pray for me to be patient and pray that they will return quickly.
5. We ordered out T-Shrits for our fundraiser! We raised over $1,020 so far!! And the orders are still coming in. We will be making another order before Christmas. WE ARE SO EXCITED ABOUT THESE!
6. We had a sweet lady, Christy, offer to have a Premiere Jewlery Party for us at the end of October. (OCTOBER 30th)
7. We received a check from our Thirty One Fundraiser for $145.81! Thanks so much to Lindsay Whitfill for being such a great host and supporting us in this way!
8. We have begun to apply for Grants through Lifesong for Orphans and Show Hope.
The Lord has been good to us. We are excited to see His continual power and provision for us during this time.
We are praying for our little one in Ethiopia. He may not even be born yet, but the Lord knows the perfect plan. We cannot wait to continue this journey. We know the Lord is in control and his timing is perfect. We trust that he has placed this burden and desire upon our hearts to grow our family and to aid in the orphan crisis.
May we run this race with endurance, keeping our eyes on Christ the AUTHOR and PERFECTOR of our FAITH!....
I know it's been a while since I've posted, but lots have been going on that have delayed me from updating you all. So, it's official- I had my first adoption breakdown.
After our one-on-one interviews, we schedule our next interview with our social worker. This meeting was over education/parenting/etc and went really well; however, we received the news that our fingerprints still have not come back approved to complete the home study. Derek and I are finished with all of our paper work for the home study weeks ago and will have to meet one more time with our agency before they write it up; however, it's just frustrating that our fingerprints are taking so long to come back. They have already been at the FBI department for 6 weeks and when I called, they said it could take up to 14 more weeks. PLEASE PRAY WITH US that they will come back sooner than that. After hearing this, I had the breakdown.
For the first time in the adoption process, I realized something. Something big- I WAS NOT IN CONTROL. Yep... that's right. I know you probably already knew that. But it hit me over the head like a ton of bricks. My heart sank, the tears fell- I have no control over how fast the government works... I have no control over if my baby is born yet or not... I have no control over how fast the process will go.... Even when I had filled out all the forms I could fill out months early- I HAVE NO CONTROL! The Lord is... The Lord is. How comforting that is. By me "being" in control, I was telling the Lord that my strength and power was greater than his... WOW--
For me, the root of control is worry. Scripture speaks alot about worry.
Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Even when I thought no one was there, when the Lord had turned his back, and I WAS IN CONTROL, not for a moment did the Lord forsake me. My best friend, Kelly, recently introduced me to a song that has become our "adoption song." As most adoptive families know, this process is tough. And there have already been times when I asked the Lord if he was there. Of course he is, but how quickly I doubt. How my faith has already been tested and strengthened through this process already. This song by Meredith Andrews "Not for a Moment (After All)" reminds me of God's faithfulness to his children. And it convicts me that even in the darkest time of my life, the LORD never leaves. Thankful for his promises and his unending love!
"And every step, every breath You are there. Every tear, every cry, every breath. In my hurt, at my worst, when my world falls down. Not for a moment, will You forsake me."
Not For a Moment (After All)- Meredith Andrews
Lyrics: You were reaching through the storm, walking on the water, Even when I could not see. In the middle of it all, when I thought you were a thousand miles away. Not for a moment, did You forsake me. Not for a moment, did You forsake me. After all, You are constant. After all, You are only good. After all, You are sovereign. Not for a moment, will You forsake me.
You were singing in the dark, whispering Your promise. Even when I could not hear. I was held in Your arms, carried for a thousand miles to show, Not for a moment did You forsake me.
After all, You are constant. After all, You are only good. After all, You are sovereign. Not for a moment, will You forsake me. Not for a moment, will You forsake me.
And every step, every breath You are there. Every tear, every cry, every breath. In my hurt, at my worst, when my world falls down. Not for a moment, will You forsake me. Even in the dark, even when it's hard You will never leave me After all
The next step of the home study was to have one-on-one interviews with our social worker. Monday, Derek met with Lyndsey, our social worker, and was asked a series of questions. I met with Lyndsey on Tuesday and answered the same questions. Sometimes these things can be nerve racking. But honestly, these meetings have been so helpful in mine and Derek's marriage as well as preparing us for our future family member!
Lyndsey asked us a series of questions concering our families (mom, dad, siblings, family traditions) and then she asked a series of questions about our marriage. It was really fun to think about the ways that I feel most appreciated and loved by Derek! What a fun conversation starter when I got home yesterday! :)
So- many of you have asked "Where are you in the process?"
We are in the HOME STUDY stage. Our agency has a few steps to the home study: 1. Orientation Interview- COMPLETED 2. Home Visit - COMPLETED 3. One-on-One Interview - COMPLETED 4. Education Interview - Scheduled for Sept 27th. 5. Education Interview (part 2) 6. Home study written and approved
So we are getting there! Every night we come home from our full time jobs, we sit down and we have laughed about starting our second job, the adoption process. However, all joking aside... this is the best decision we've made in a long time. We can see the Lord's hand at work in our life. We can see him providing for us in many ways. We can see the process developing in a short amount of time.
It's never too early to start Christmas Shopping!! And what a great time to buy some of your favorite people some of the best gifts from Thirty One!?!
While you are shopping for Christmas you also have the opportunity to support our adoption. Our sweet friend, Lindsay Whitfill, is hosting an adoption fundraiser through her Thirty One business.
With the recent reveal of the fall catalog, there is something for everyone at Thirty One! ESPECIALLY WITH THEIR NEW COLLEGIATE BAGS (go big blue- UK).
If you are interested in ordering something with some proceeds going to our adoption, please let me know!
We are nearing the middle to end of our homestudy and we are trying to raise all of the funds to pay for our end of home study and to start our Dossier (the next step) Please pray about how you can support us and maybe join in on this Thirty One fundraiser.
Thanks so much for your support and consideration! We are excited to see how the Lord provides through our different fundraisers to bring our little boy home from Ethiopia!
Our adoption agency is WONDERFUL! Lifeline Children's Services is full of helpful staff who are interested in OUR adoption process. We are not just another family to them. We are part of an even BIGGER FAMILY! If you are pursuing adoption, we'd love for your look into Lifeline. They are have been an amazing resource, encouragement and have been on top of our process. They not only have information about international adoption, but also domestic adoption, foster care and orphan care support. Check out their website here: http://lifelinechild.org Also, ever since announcing our adopting, we've had many different people ask: "Where do we start? I want to adopt a little while down the road, but would love to know the process." Well Lifeline has a FREE opportunity for you come and hear more. Friends in the Louisville Area, if you have been considering adoption and want more information, join Lifeline Children's Services for an upcoming information meeting on Tuesday, September 18th at 7:00pm at The Avenue in Louisville, KY. You'll have the opportunity to ask questions and meet the Lifeline Kentucky Staff. For more information or registration - http://lifelinechild.org/information-meetings/ We are just so thankful for such an amazing agency to walk along side of us through this process!
Derek and I have started the ADOPTION process! We are so excited to announce that we are adopting from Ethiopia! As we are excited about this process, we know there will be many challenges and obstacles along way. However, this is SO WORTH IT!
We cannot wait to meet baby Hopperton and are praying now for our little one that will be in Ethiopia. Please join us in this exciting journey!
