So when are you bringing those kiddos home?

We hear that a lot these days.  We wish we could say "Oh next week - or even - In three weeks" but we just can't.  Since we can't give you a date, we will give you a list of things we can say to you....
1.  We have a stretch of waiting ahead of us.  Most likely 4-6 or even more months.
2. We can say THANK YOU for your amazing support. Keep up with us - even in the waiting period.  We will try to keep it fun or at least educational. :)
3. We can say help us pray for our kiddos.  There are many moments when we feel weak and worried that we will never get the opportunity to love on them, to hug them, and laugh with them.  In those moments, we are also reminded that there is NO better place than in the arms of Jesus.  We just pray that he keeps them safe from harm.  
4. We can say pray for everyone involved in this process - from our social workers, to our foster family, to the Congolese judge who will rule on our case, to the embassy workers, to the airline pilot who will deliver us to our sweet children.
5. Finally, will you join us in praying for grace and patience?  As much as you want them home, we want them home a million times more.  It's funny.  Someone said to me this week that they felt sorry for us (in regards to our infertility).  Although we will always hold some hope that someday God will bless us with a biological child, we CANNOT imagine doing this any other way.  God has stretched us - so much sometimes that we have felt very much like Gumby - but wow - how we have learned and grown.  He is so good.  He is teaching us lessons on parenting that we would NEVER have known.  He is growing our faith by the mile, and teaching us about his infinite love for us.  So this path - well - its the perfect one.  So don't feel sorry for us.  In fact, you should feel quite the opposite.  God's presence is so obvious on our journey, and he is holding our hand every step of the way.

*BONUS* (Hey... cut us some slack - one of us is a teacher)
Please know that while you are praying for us - we are on our knees praying for each of you. We know God is here with us - because he has worked through SO MANY of you.  We are beyond grateful for your love and support.  We can't wait to share this story with Etta and Kab - the story of how you helped us become the Chalos party of four.  :)

Much love,
The Chalos Party of Four
or as many of our friends call us - The Chali

What's Next...

I haven't slept all night.  I am so so so excited and happy and it seems like a crazy dream.  We are bringing our kids home.  AHHHH!!!!!!!! So for those of you who are wondering what happens next and what exactly to pray for - here ya go.... 

THIS WEEK - We will submit final papers on Odette and Kab.  They will translate these papers and send the to the Congolese court for approval.

TWO MONTHS - is the average time that it takes for the Congolese court to approve the papers and send them to us.

THREE TO EIGHT WEEKS - is how long we expect to wait for US immigration to then approve the adoption of these sweet kiddos and send the approval to the Congo Embassy.

FOUR TO EIGHT WEEKS - is how long we expect to wait for the Congolese embassy to approve a visa for the kids and give us the long awaited call to come and get them.

What will we do while we wait?

As of right now, Kab needs about $500.00 to complete his adoption.  We will also be paying for them to be cared for by a "welcome family" (much like a foster family).  The cost for that is $500.00 a month until we get them.  Finally, we will be raising funds to cover our travel.  On an international flight, you have to purchase tickets for the littles - so we expect travel cost to be somewhere around $6000.00.   But can I tell you what is simply amazing?   All that is left is LESS than the miracle money that came in last night - so I have no doubt that in the next six months, we are going to be finishing our fundraising.  Our prayer is that we raise enough money so that we can start a "Hadiya Fund" for families to help other families in need of a little miracle money.  

I can't get this silly Sandi Patty song out of my head - it was on a kid's cd that I listened to relentlessly as a child.teen - but the words are "Miracles can happen - for those who love the Lord- Blessed are they that believe in  him, his kingdom shall be yours." (ok maybe I am a little fuzzy on the last few words and I am CLASSIC for mixing up words to songs - but you get my drift).  

So there you go.  You are forever a part of this journey and a part of their lives.  I can't wait to share even more good news! Until then....

1 Samuel 1:27 - For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him.

Thank you for your ridiculous love and support!!!! 

Love,

The Chalos Party of Four

Miracles still happen. If you don't believe it, give us a call.

                                                             We just have to say

And to the MANY (50+) who helped make our miracle come to fruition tonight.  

To put it plainly - I posted our latest blog and attached it to facebook around 6:30.  By 11:40, we raised OVER the amount needed.  That means we have $7500.00 to bring sweet Odette home and the leftovers will finish Kab's adoption payments.  How amazing is that? We realize the depths of God's infinite love and grace.  Our journey has been crazy - but all of our twists and turns have led to this place and these beautiful kids.  

From the bottom of our hearts! 

Thank you again for sharing in our journey,

The Chalos Family

We need a miracle.

And you can help.  Or maybe you know someone who can help.  Or maybe you work for a rich millionaire who can help.  I am going to try to condense our story to a shortened version to get to my point.  Please hang in there with me.  I have no clue how to navigate this crazy journey that we are on - so we are just taking steps through prayer prayer and more prayer.  Many of you know that just a month ago, we were referred a little girl, Claira, and a little boy, Kyalakumba (whom we affectionately call Kab).  We were on top of the world - until we realized the gravity of the situation.  The obstacles that we were facing financially in bringing two non biological siblings home was overwhelming. We prayerfully decided that perhaps Kab was supposed to go home with a different forever family.  This was a very difficult decision for us - as we had already gotten attached to him.  However, Claira seemed to be so confirmed to us - from the very fact that she was already given the name that we (did we mention we are thousands of miles away) had given her to the fact that we saw her name EVERYWHERE WE WENT - even Chuys.  (seriously. we have a picture.  it was a license plate hanging beside our booth)  Sadly, our sweet Claira went to be with Jesus on December 22rd.  It has been a tough few weeks.  We have been so incredibly supported and loved, and by the grace of God we survived this sad news. This week, we were contacted by our agency and told that Kab was never referred to another family.  We are so happy to say that we are on the path to bring this adorable six month old boy home.  Here is a picture of our sweet sweet boy...

How incredibly sweet is that face? and don't you want to pinch those cheeks? I can hardly stand just looking at him and I CAN'T WAIT to get my hands on him.  

But wouldn't you know that God didn't just stop there?  

When we received Kab's information, we found out that he had a sister.  We were under the impression that she was not available for adoption - as this is the case in many other foreign adoptions.  Today as I looked over our agency's website, I noticed a VERY cute little girl with a name that was equally as cute - Odette - Odette was the name of Kab's sister on his information form.  I made a quick call to our agency and found out that it is indeed his sister.  Let me just say that through this, God has opened our hearts - really split them WIDE open - and given us such a yearning to give the fatherless love and a home.  

Kab and Odette are the definition of orphans.  Their parents are no longer living.  They are all alone in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  We can't let that happen. So all of that said - There is no possible way that we could travel thousands of miles to meet our sweet boy and leave his sister behind.  She belongs in our family and here is where our miracle comes in.  You guys have been so amazing.  We have been able to submit a total (between our home study fees and adoption fees) of $20,000.00 - between your giving and our savings - that means that we are only 750.00 away from paying for our first adoption (minus travel costs).  In order to bring Odette home, we need another 7500.00 by Tuesday.  So- we are asking if you would consider sharing our story with the people around you.  We know that our God is so much bigger than we could imagine - so we are believing that God will provide.  We have a couple of ways that you can donate to the adoption - You can donate via 

the paypal button on the side of the screen.  

Also, you can send  money to our adoption agency at 

A Love Beyond Borders 4155 E. Jewel Ave, Suite # 1116 Denver, CO 80222 - be sure to designate that it is for the Chalos family adoption.  

We so hope that you will share our story and/or consider being a part of this miracle - but more than that we hope that you will keep us in your prayers.  Oh I almost forgot - here is a picture of sweet Odette.  

                            

Pushing through the loss to see the beauty

That is what we are trying to do.  Every day I wake up and pray that God would help me to see the beauty in Hadi Claira's life, not the grief of our loss.  I know that for many of you - it may be hard to understand why this loss has been so difficult for us so I am going to do my best to explain it.
For four years, our dream and prayer has been to be parents.  We have gone through years of trying unsuccessfully - and until you have experienced THIRTY SIX negative pregnancy tests - you may not understand the heartache and grief that accompanies infertility.  It is a pain unlike any other - an indescribable hurt - a loss - a feeling of failure and sadness.  By the grace of God, and the amazing listening ears of some very fabulous friends and family- we made it through.  Not only did we make it through but God began to grow in us a passion for orphans.  He broke me free of "my plan" and helped me to see something so much bigger.   Since April, we have committed every ounce of free time and money toward this pursuit - and so have many of you.  In fact, it is because of you that we have made great leaps toward our goal.
When we got the call for two babies, we were beyond overjoyed.   When we saw pictures - we fell in love.  Finally after four years, God gave us these beautiful blessing.  But as the story of MANY adoptions goes, things didn't work out with our precious little boy - so we grieved the loss of him.  We were attached to the idea of having two sweet, loud, destructive, precious babies in our home. It was like the wound that began with our infertility was once again opened, and along with that came grief and pain.  Yet even through that loss, we were ecstatic about our sweet little angel - Hadiya Claira.  You see, we had already chosen the name Claira for a sweet girl, if God blessed us in that way, so when we heard that her name was Clara - we felt like it was just confirmation from above.  We have dreamed of her in every room in our house.  I have imagined rocking her to sleep and holding her close - taking in the sweet smell of her baby soft skin and hearing the soft breaths - in and out.  I imagined following her around our back yard as she toddled back and forth - playing with the abundance of toys that she had no access to in the orphanage.  I have dreamed of feeding her, talking with her as she grew - I finally got to by those sweet dresses and make those ridiculous bows that I had only drooled over.  I have dreamed the dream that every potential parent dreams - except my sweet girl was growing in my heart and was halfway across the world.  We never imagined in those wildest of dreams that we would get a call that our sweet little girl passed away.  Although I am saddened beyond belief that I will never get to pursue those dreams with sweet Hadi - I know that God has her in his heaven - that she is wrapped in arms that hold more love and grace than even the most devoted parents here on this Earth could bestow.  Our sweet Hadiya Claira - God's Gift - began to grow in our hearts four years ago, and will always be there.  Our journey is far from over - but she will forever be a part of it.

Resting in HIS promises,
Kristle