2012- TOP 10!

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!

Blessings,

Derek and Whitney

Going downtown

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!

Blessed-

The Next Step-

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.