Hi all!
As many of you know, we have been matched with a baby girl due Sept 4th. The due date is quickly approaching and we couldn't be more anxious and excited! Please see below for our donation information if you are interested in helping.
Here is our support letter:
Dear church, family, and friends,
God desires orphans of all nations to be adopted into Christ-honoring families so they can hear the
Word of God and ultimately be adopted into God’s eternal family through faith in Jesus Christ. While God calls us to fulfill James 1:27 and “visit the fatherless” not all are called to adopt. Some are called to pray, some to give financially, some to go on mission trips, and some to adopt.
We have partnered with Lifesong for Orphans to help us as we fulfill our call to adoption. They are a non-profit Christian ministry dedicated to help meet the needs of orphan children around the world, and to obey God’s call to “visit the fatherless...in their affliction” (James 1:27). With over 147 million orphans worldwide, Lifesong seeks to mobilize the Body of Christ to love and care for orphans. Lifesong serves families, churches and orphans through adoption funding. Additionally, Lifesong brings joy and purpose to orphans globally in seven countries and domestically through foster care initiatives. Please visit their website (www.lifesongfororphans.org) for more information.
As mentioned above, we have sensed God’s call to care for the fatherless and have joyfully stepped out in faith and obedience to adopt a child from the United States. As you may already know, adoption can cost $25,000-$40,000, and this financial burden prevents many godly families from adopting. Once finalization has happened we will have spent close to $40,000. These expenses include travel costs, agency fees, birth mother expenses and legal and medical costs. We have been fortunate and blessed that God has allowed us to get loans in the amounts we have needed so far but we are currently in need of travel funds. It is going to cost about $3,000 for the trip to meet and bring home our baby girl.
Funds donated to Lifesong for Orphans will be given to help cover our adoption expenses. Thank you so much for all you have done to support us so far. We are so blessed to have the body of Christ stand behind us in this journey towards bringing home out baby!
Here's how to donate:
Checks should be payable to “Lifesong for Orphans". In the memo, note “family name” and “family account number” (for us that is Suppe/#5559) to assure it goes to the correct account. Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744. Lifesong has been blessed with a partner that underwrites all U.S. administrative and fund-raising costs (TMG Foundation and other partners). That means 100% of your donation will go directly to the adoption.
To pay online go to www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate. Select “Give to an Adoptive Family.” Complete the online form and fill in “Family Account Number” and “Family Name” fields (for us that is Suppe/#5559). Please note that PayPal charges an administrative fee (2.9% + $.30 USD per transaction). Your donation will be decreased by the amount of this fee.
In following legal IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.
Individual donations $50 or more and yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Receipts discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.
Receipts for donations under $50 will gladly be sent upon request. Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization.
Trusting in Him to continue to provide,
Zach and Sarah
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Off They Go!!
It feels surreal to say that our applications have been mailed!! Applications were sent to 3 different agencies. We have worked so hard to get to this point! The "waiting" stage is finally upon us. This is not a fun stage to be in but we actually feel like we can kind of take a breather now.
At this point we will be hearing about different expectant mom situations and decide if we want to "present" to them. "Presenting" involves allowing the birth mom to view our profile and see if we are the family she wants to raise her baby. As you can imagine, this is heart wrenching with each new presentation. However, we know God is good and He has the perfect situation for us. All we need to do is wait on Him.
Our next big step is fundraising. We have already begun with a shirt sale. Please let me know if you are interested. Email (tribbibly@gmail.com) or facebook with what size and design you want and let me know if you will send the $30 via paypal or a check (we can provide our address through private message).
At this point we will be hearing about different expectant mom situations and decide if we want to "present" to them. "Presenting" involves allowing the birth mom to view our profile and see if we are the family she wants to raise her baby. As you can imagine, this is heart wrenching with each new presentation. However, we know God is good and He has the perfect situation for us. All we need to do is wait on Him.
Our next big step is fundraising. We have already begun with a shirt sale. Please let me know if you are interested. Email (tribbibly@gmail.com) or facebook with what size and design you want and let me know if you will send the $30 via paypal or a check (we can provide our address through private message).
We also plan to do a garage sale on August 15th. My sister gave us a bunch of stuff to sell and we have some furniture as well as small kitchen appliances.
In August we will have the big auction! We can't wait to see how it turns out. My amazing childhood friend, Sarah, is putting it ALL together! What a blessing she is!!!!
Anyways, that is the happenings as of late. Thank you all for supporting us as we journey towards Baby Suppe!
Friday, July 10, 2015
Home Study and Profile Books
Hey everyone!!
We are super excited to update you all and let you know that the home study was approved and finalized at the beginning of the month!! We now have those in hand. Our awesome consultant, Casey, finished our profile books and we will be getting those printed this coming week. Things are really moving along.
The next step includes sending our information to the agencies we have selected and waiting to receive cases from them. They will let us know of potential matches and we will reply and let them know if we want to be presented as a perspective family. The mother then looks through the profile books of us and several other families and picks one.
This is the part of the process that we have no control over. However, We truly feel like we are where God wants us to be so we are pretty calm and patiently waiting.
Thanks for all the support you guys have given!!! If you want to support us financially, we have set up a gofundme account. You can also email, text or Facebook message us if you would rather just have our address.
http://de.gofund.me/yvjjkg
We love you all!
We are super excited to update you all and let you know that the home study was approved and finalized at the beginning of the month!! We now have those in hand. Our awesome consultant, Casey, finished our profile books and we will be getting those printed this coming week. Things are really moving along.
The next step includes sending our information to the agencies we have selected and waiting to receive cases from them. They will let us know of potential matches and we will reply and let them know if we want to be presented as a perspective family. The mother then looks through the profile books of us and several other families and picks one.
This is the part of the process that we have no control over. However, We truly feel like we are where God wants us to be so we are pretty calm and patiently waiting.
Thanks for all the support you guys have given!!! If you want to support us financially, we have set up a gofundme account. You can also email, text or Facebook message us if you would rather just have our address.
http://de.gofund.me/yvjjkg
We love you all!
Saturday, June 20, 2015
God Guided Journey
Finally....the silence is over. We have decided to let the world know, WE ARE ADOPTING!!! Now, let's get you are caught up on the happenings thus far.
Sometime back in January Zach and I started to feel drawn away from infertility. We didn't really know what that meant but we knew we wanted to be done. Our opinions of what the future should hold were very different. This caused us to take a step back and leave the subject alone for awhile. In March, Zach approached me and said he felt like God was calling us to adopt. He knew that my heart had been ready to do this for as long as I could remember. After the shock wore off, I was able to ask some questions about what he meant. I said, "You know me. You know that I don't do things half way. Are we really going to do this now or are you thinking sometimes in the future?" He assured me that he was ready to get started on this crazy, exciting, exhausting journey. So, the journey began indeed.
I had been following this girl on Instagram that I found through a friend about six months earlier. She and her husband were adopting and they were having a fundraiser that led me to her. Their story intrigued me so I decided to follow along. Through the months of following her, I kept noticing posts she would make about her job. She worked for an organization called Christian Adoption Consultants. I told Zach about her when he mentioned the desire to adopt so I emailed her. Within a few days Casey and I had a phone conversation and we hired her to help us along our journey.
The next step was the home study. After a few emails to local social workers and asking someone from my bible study who she would suggest to hire, we found someone to hire. She and her partner have been working with us to complete the home study process since the end of March. It took us about 6 weeks to get all of our paperwork together and find a time to meet with them. Our scheduled meeting ended up being the DAY AFTER I got home from California in May. Delayed flights due to weather, 1am landing, VERY little sleep and last minute cleaning later, the social workers arrived at our door. The visit went really well and our house passed with no changes needed. The next week we had our individual interviews with them and last week we had our last meeting. Our report is written so now we are just waiting on CRAZY California to get their act together and get us the information we need from them in order for us to be home study approved. (They rejected our forms three times for such stupid reasons...ugh...don't even get me started.)
Where are we now you ask? We are waiting for our home study to be approved while Casey finishes up preparing our profile books and agency applications. Once all of that is done, we can apply to agencies and begin fundraising (for those that have already asked, keep an eye out for this information soon). We finally feel like we are getting somewhere!
The guest room has officially been deemed the future nursery. There's even a brand new crib (thanks to the soon to be Suppe grandparents), a car seat (thanks to the soon to be Walker grandparents. ;)) and some new and handy me down clothes (thanks to auntie Jacquelyn and Uncle Joey) sitting in there waiting for baby Suppe!!!!
It's a long process and there's still a long road ahead but we couldn't be more excited! Thank you all so much for supporting us in prayer and encouragement. We will try to keep you updated as often as possible.
Mommy-to-be signing out.
Sometime back in January Zach and I started to feel drawn away from infertility. We didn't really know what that meant but we knew we wanted to be done. Our opinions of what the future should hold were very different. This caused us to take a step back and leave the subject alone for awhile. In March, Zach approached me and said he felt like God was calling us to adopt. He knew that my heart had been ready to do this for as long as I could remember. After the shock wore off, I was able to ask some questions about what he meant. I said, "You know me. You know that I don't do things half way. Are we really going to do this now or are you thinking sometimes in the future?" He assured me that he was ready to get started on this crazy, exciting, exhausting journey. So, the journey began indeed.
I had been following this girl on Instagram that I found through a friend about six months earlier. She and her husband were adopting and they were having a fundraiser that led me to her. Their story intrigued me so I decided to follow along. Through the months of following her, I kept noticing posts she would make about her job. She worked for an organization called Christian Adoption Consultants. I told Zach about her when he mentioned the desire to adopt so I emailed her. Within a few days Casey and I had a phone conversation and we hired her to help us along our journey.
The next step was the home study. After a few emails to local social workers and asking someone from my bible study who she would suggest to hire, we found someone to hire. She and her partner have been working with us to complete the home study process since the end of March. It took us about 6 weeks to get all of our paperwork together and find a time to meet with them. Our scheduled meeting ended up being the DAY AFTER I got home from California in May. Delayed flights due to weather, 1am landing, VERY little sleep and last minute cleaning later, the social workers arrived at our door. The visit went really well and our house passed with no changes needed. The next week we had our individual interviews with them and last week we had our last meeting. Our report is written so now we are just waiting on CRAZY California to get their act together and get us the information we need from them in order for us to be home study approved. (They rejected our forms three times for such stupid reasons...ugh...don't even get me started.)
Where are we now you ask? We are waiting for our home study to be approved while Casey finishes up preparing our profile books and agency applications. Once all of that is done, we can apply to agencies and begin fundraising (for those that have already asked, keep an eye out for this information soon). We finally feel like we are getting somewhere!
The guest room has officially been deemed the future nursery. There's even a brand new crib (thanks to the soon to be Suppe grandparents), a car seat (thanks to the soon to be Walker grandparents. ;)) and some new and handy me down clothes (thanks to auntie Jacquelyn and Uncle Joey) sitting in there waiting for baby Suppe!!!!
It's a long process and there's still a long road ahead but we couldn't be more excited! Thank you all so much for supporting us in prayer and encouragement. We will try to keep you updated as often as possible.
Mommy-to-be signing out.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Answers
For the past several months we have been searching for answers. It's exhausting. I have been poked and proded more times than I would like. After all that, we still have nothing to show for it. My whole life has gone like this. I know when there is something wrong with me and Dr's never have answers. Frankly, most of them tell me I'm crazy. This time around we are blessed with an amazing Dr who will not give up short of every test out there. But......we still have no answers. The blessing is that the initial diagnosis of PCOS was wrong. However, that is a double edged sword. With knowing that it's not PCOS comes relief but it also leaves us at square one, where we have been for months......
we can't create a solution without a problem. We are coming to the end of this Dr's rope where he will have to pass us off to the infertility clinic with the label of "unexplained infertility." At that point....well.....we will have to reevaluate the whole thing all over again. My heart hurts. That's what I am feeling right now. We have prayed so desperately for a child and we don't know God's plan. Thankfully He has one......
we can't create a solution without a problem. We are coming to the end of this Dr's rope where he will have to pass us off to the infertility clinic with the label of "unexplained infertility." At that point....well.....we will have to reevaluate the whole thing all over again. My heart hurts. That's what I am feeling right now. We have prayed so desperately for a child and we don't know God's plan. Thankfully He has one......
Monday, October 27, 2014
It hurts and that's ok
This is really fresh so I'm not sure how it will come out or if I'll even post this.
You know that fear that we all have (or several fears) that we think are totally unreasonable for you to be fearful of because it will probably never happen to you? Then, one dreadful day that fear becomes a reality. A very unwelcome, unwanted reality making itself at home in your life.
For me, that fear is infertility. Even with all the relationship bumps I've had in my life, I KNEW that one day, when God blessed me with the man of my dreams, He was calling me to be a mom. I was never one to want to wait after marriage to have kids. It takes at least 9 months for the baby to cook so that's long enough for just the two of us, right? Zach and I talked about it and agreed on the matter because we wanted a good size family and we aren't getting any younger. No, I don't think we are old but we aren't 21 either.
First came love, then came marriage, where is the baby in the baby carriage? At our age statistics state that it should take 6 months or less to achieve pregnancy. Well, 10 months in we decided to go to the Dr. I was given a very high likelihood of having PCOS and that is causing my body not to work properly. I'll spare you the female details. Then came the dreaded word that was used one (or ten) too many times during our appointment, infertility. Crashing down goes the dreams. We talked about a lot of stuff and my mind almost exploded. It basically comes down to this, due to the likelihood of PCOS (hard to diagnose so knowing for sure might not happen for a while or ever), there could be a long road ahead that might end in invetro (which we probably wouldn't do). Or there could be a short road that achieves pregnancy quickly. There is no way to know how long or short it will take until we start somewhere. We aren't looking for advice on how to "solve" our infertility problems because we have a great doctor and a plan. We have a starting point. A starting point that frankly gives me hope and scares me all at the same time.
The thing is, I KNOW we serve a big God and He truly does have it all in control. I am not questioning that. But, God created us to be emotional beings. To feel the highs and the lows, the happies and the sads, the goods and the bads. Right now, I feel like crap. These feelings are not new to me because on the crap scale, I've been dealt a lot. I know where to turn when crap is the only word I can use to describe my shattered dreams. My heavenly father is meeting me in the muck and walking me through step by step all while holding me in his arms. He is ok with my pain. He wants me to feel it. So, for now, I will feel it. The pain of letting go of my dreams. My dreams of achieving pregnancy easily like most other woman. The dream of having kids back to back with ease. The dream of being a mommy right out of the gate and starting our happy little family when we wanted to. It hurts. and that's ok.
You know that fear that we all have (or several fears) that we think are totally unreasonable for you to be fearful of because it will probably never happen to you? Then, one dreadful day that fear becomes a reality. A very unwelcome, unwanted reality making itself at home in your life.
For me, that fear is infertility. Even with all the relationship bumps I've had in my life, I KNEW that one day, when God blessed me with the man of my dreams, He was calling me to be a mom. I was never one to want to wait after marriage to have kids. It takes at least 9 months for the baby to cook so that's long enough for just the two of us, right? Zach and I talked about it and agreed on the matter because we wanted a good size family and we aren't getting any younger. No, I don't think we are old but we aren't 21 either.
First came love, then came marriage, where is the baby in the baby carriage? At our age statistics state that it should take 6 months or less to achieve pregnancy. Well, 10 months in we decided to go to the Dr. I was given a very high likelihood of having PCOS and that is causing my body not to work properly. I'll spare you the female details. Then came the dreaded word that was used one (or ten) too many times during our appointment, infertility. Crashing down goes the dreams. We talked about a lot of stuff and my mind almost exploded. It basically comes down to this, due to the likelihood of PCOS (hard to diagnose so knowing for sure might not happen for a while or ever), there could be a long road ahead that might end in invetro (which we probably wouldn't do). Or there could be a short road that achieves pregnancy quickly. There is no way to know how long or short it will take until we start somewhere. We aren't looking for advice on how to "solve" our infertility problems because we have a great doctor and a plan. We have a starting point. A starting point that frankly gives me hope and scares me all at the same time.
The thing is, I KNOW we serve a big God and He truly does have it all in control. I am not questioning that. But, God created us to be emotional beings. To feel the highs and the lows, the happies and the sads, the goods and the bads. Right now, I feel like crap. These feelings are not new to me because on the crap scale, I've been dealt a lot. I know where to turn when crap is the only word I can use to describe my shattered dreams. My heavenly father is meeting me in the muck and walking me through step by step all while holding me in his arms. He is ok with my pain. He wants me to feel it. So, for now, I will feel it. The pain of letting go of my dreams. My dreams of achieving pregnancy easily like most other woman. The dream of having kids back to back with ease. The dream of being a mommy right out of the gate and starting our happy little family when we wanted to. It hurts. and that's ok.
Monday, October 20, 2014
My God is....
My God is a comforter, a healer, a friend. He is a giver of justice and peace. My God is a promise keeper and a protector. My God saves. My God parted the red sea. He brings us through the impossible. My God gives LIFE. My God LOVES. My God REDEEMS. My God is a warrior. He fights on my behalf. My God is a giver. He is the sacrificial lamb. He died for YOU and for ME! My God IS LOVE! He knows my every thought, my every dream, desire and plan. He keeps His promises. To these truths I will cling.
Desert Song
By Hillsong United
[Verse 1:]
Desert Song
By Hillsong United
[Verse 1:]
This is my prayer in the desert
When all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in my hunger and need
My God is the God who provides
[Verse 2:]
And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved
Of more worth than gold
So refine me, Lord, through the flame
[Chorus:]
And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here
[Verse 3:]
And this is my prayer in the battle
When triumph is still on its way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I'll stand
[Chorus:]
And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here
[Bridge 4x:]
All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship
[Chorus 2x:]
And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here
[Verse 4:]
This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be emptied again
The seed I've received I will sow
When all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in my hunger and need
My God is the God who provides
[Verse 2:]
And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved
Of more worth than gold
So refine me, Lord, through the flame
[Chorus:]
And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here
[Verse 3:]
And this is my prayer in the battle
When triumph is still on its way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I'll stand
[Chorus:]
And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here
[Bridge 4x:]
All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship
[Chorus 2x:]
And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here
[Verse 4:]
This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be emptied again
The seed I've received I will sow
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