I realized recently that I haven't blogged a whole lot about the church campus we are starting. I blogged about our Tuesday night bar service, but I don't think I've said a whole lot about the campus Chuck and I are involved in.
I've been pretty vague about where we live and all, but I'm just gonna spill it and hope that no one comes to stalk me.
We attend Forefront Church in Virginia Beach (yes, that is in Virginia). Well, I should say we used to attend Forefront Church in Virginia Beach. I say that because yesterday we began attending Forefront Church in Chesapeake (also in VA, right next to Virginia Beach)!! Chuck and I are involved in one of the coolest things ever - our church is going to a multi-site model to reach more people, and yesterday we had our practice service for our new Chesapeake Campus. It was awesome. It was not perfect or flawless, but it was indeed awesome. Last summer Chuck accepted the job for the Campus Pastor role at this new campus, but didn't come on staff until May. For over a year, he and the staff of our church have been working diligently to get our Chesapeake Campus started. Our Chesapeake Campus is live everything except for the preaching. We have video of the same message being preached at our Virginia Beach Campus. As our staff worked out the filming for Chesapeake, the bar campus (AKA - Pembroke Campus) evolved.
I was nearly in tears as I looked around yesterday - just in awe of how God brought everything and everyone together. We had a full Children's Ministry, we had a rockin' band leading us in worship, we HAD CHURCH IN CHESAPEAKE!! I'm just so excited that it's finally here and that God has blessed it so much. I can remember last year in November when we had like 3 volunteers signed up for our Chesapeake Campus. We probably easily had 60 people volunteering in some capacity yesterday. It is just incredible to have watched this grow. And I can't wait to see what God has in store for us.
Please join us in praying that this Sunday - our opening Sunday - will be a day that completely honors and blesses God. Please pray that many lost people will come through our doors and find hope.
I'll be sure to let you know how our opening Sunday service goes. Feel free to check out our website in the meantime: www.forefront.org
This blog was created to share information about bringing our boys home from Haiti. Now that they are home and we've had a baby, we share the day to day craziness that we now call life.
About Us
- Juli
- Mom to three fantastic little boys: Noah and Samuel, 6 year old twins, born in Haiti, who've been with our family since 9/08 and Tristan, our 4 year old handful! God's moved us all over the country and continues to move in our hearts.
Not a Surprise...
Chuck and I have noticed that most people make the assumption that Tristan was a surprise. You know, the idea of, "adopt a child and you'll end up pregnant." While that may be true for some, that is not the case for us. Believe it or not, Tristan was planned. At the time of his conception we were unsure our adoption would ever complete and we decided to stop putting our family on hold. God saw fit to bless us with Tristan, Noah and Samuel all at the same time! While the transition into parenthood was not easy for us, we trust that God knew what He was doing!
April 21, 2009
Brothers
Noah and Samuel, 3 years old
Samuel and Noah at 2 years old
Tristan, 5 months
Tristan, 5 weeks old
Noah and Samuel at 21 months.
Noah at 19 months.
Samuel at 19 months.
Samuel and Noah at 11 months old.
Our Timeline
May 2005 - God began speaking to us individually about adoption.
July 2005 - Decided to move forward with adopting from Haiti.
October 2005 - Applied to adopt through an orphanage.
November 8, 2005 - Approved to adopt through chosen orphanage.
January 19, 2006 - Committed to adopt the boys.
May 15, 2006 - Dossier arrived in Haiti.
July 14, 2006 - Dossier submitted to IBESR.
January 23, 2007 - Dossier exited IBESR.
September 21, 2007 - Exited Parquet.
October 2007 - Received Judgment Granted.
December 2007 - 2nd Legalization completed, which means Noah and Samuel's adoptions are complete. They are ours!!
March 2008 - Finally receive all needed documents from Archives.
March 13, 2008 - Birth parent interview completed.
Late March, 2008 - Submitted to MOI.
May 20, 2008 - Confirmed that our updated fingerprints have reached the USCIS office in Port au Prince.
May 20, 2008 - Received word that our MOI long form has been completed.
June 24, 2008 - Received MOI approval.
July 10, 2008 - Received word that Samuel's passport has been printed.
July 16, 2008 - Received word that Noah's passport has been printed.
July 25, 2008- Confirmed that our passports were presented to the USCIS office in Port au Prince and that out I-600 file has been approved.
July 26, 2008 - Emailed our request for the boys' visa appointment.
July 31, 2008 - Emailed 2nd request for boys' visa appointment.
August 4, 2008 - Spoke with the Embassy, awaiting email confirmation of visa appointment.
August 5, 2008 - Email confirmation of visa appointment received. Our appointment is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 12th.
August 12, 2008 - The visa appointment went well! Visas should be ready tomorrow.
August 13, 2008 - The visas are in hand and the boys CAN COME HOME!!
August 15, 2008 - Baby brother Tristan was born.
September 1, 2008 - Flew to Miami and spent the night.
September 2, 2008 - Woke very early only to learn that our flight to Haiti was cancelled due to Hurricane Hanna hitting Haiti. We spent the next few days visiting friends and family in Florida.
September 5, 2008 - The boys are HOME!! However, we are stuck in Miami for the night because Hurricane Hanna hit Virginia, too, and our flight home was cancelled. Hoping to get home tomorrow.
September 6, 2008 - We are FINALLY home. To God be all the glory!
July 2005 - Decided to move forward with adopting from Haiti.
October 2005 - Applied to adopt through an orphanage.
November 8, 2005 - Approved to adopt through chosen orphanage.
January 19, 2006 - Committed to adopt the boys.
May 15, 2006 - Dossier arrived in Haiti.
July 14, 2006 - Dossier submitted to IBESR.
January 23, 2007 - Dossier exited IBESR.
September 21, 2007 - Exited Parquet.
October 2007 - Received Judgment Granted.
December 2007 - 2nd Legalization completed, which means Noah and Samuel's adoptions are complete. They are ours!!
March 2008 - Finally receive all needed documents from Archives.
March 13, 2008 - Birth parent interview completed.
Late March, 2008 - Submitted to MOI.
May 20, 2008 - Confirmed that our updated fingerprints have reached the USCIS office in Port au Prince.
May 20, 2008 - Received word that our MOI long form has been completed.
June 24, 2008 - Received MOI approval.
July 10, 2008 - Received word that Samuel's passport has been printed.
July 16, 2008 - Received word that Noah's passport has been printed.
July 25, 2008- Confirmed that our passports were presented to the USCIS office in Port au Prince and that out I-600 file has been approved.
July 26, 2008 - Emailed our request for the boys' visa appointment.
July 31, 2008 - Emailed 2nd request for boys' visa appointment.
August 4, 2008 - Spoke with the Embassy, awaiting email confirmation of visa appointment.
August 5, 2008 - Email confirmation of visa appointment received. Our appointment is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 12th.
August 12, 2008 - The visa appointment went well! Visas should be ready tomorrow.
August 13, 2008 - The visas are in hand and the boys CAN COME HOME!!
August 15, 2008 - Baby brother Tristan was born.
September 1, 2008 - Flew to Miami and spent the night.
September 2, 2008 - Woke very early only to learn that our flight to Haiti was cancelled due to Hurricane Hanna hitting Haiti. We spent the next few days visiting friends and family in Florida.
September 5, 2008 - The boys are HOME!! However, we are stuck in Miami for the night because Hurricane Hanna hit Virginia, too, and our flight home was cancelled. Hoping to get home tomorrow.
September 6, 2008 - We are FINALLY home. To God be all the glory!
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5 comments:
Glad the practice went well...we are praying for your big launch!!
Give Chuck a hug and tell him how proud I am of him!
Love,
Mom
PS: Being proud of you is a given. :)
I am now going to start stalking you! Insert evil laugh.
Our church does that too in 3 locations. We love it! It seems odd when you think of watching preaching on a big screen, but it turns out to not be as odd as one imagines. :) How super cool for you and Chuck to be a part of this.
-Kim
Kim, you're right. It's not as weird as it sounds to watch the preacher. I almost like it better. I sit in the back row and I can see him better on the big screen than in person.
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