ENCOURAGING VISA NEWS!!!!

Below is the e-mail that Patty Anglin sent out after meeting with the Consulate in Liberia yesterday. The meeting was a success and I believe that things will progress in regards to the visa situation. At this time I do not know what this means for us and Kenneth. I hope to find out more specifics this week. But I am relieved to know that things will be improving for all of the children of Liberia. Patty and the AOH staff are amazing. They give it all for the kids. I can honestly say that of all of the orphanages in the world, I'm so glad that Kenneth is at Acres Of Hope.

I'm honored to serve such a big God!! Thank you to all of you who have been praying and fasting for this.

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"I know you all have been anxiously awaiting news about my meeting with the Embassy today. I am happy to report that our discussions were positive and the Consulate took several suggestions I made about making the process perhaps a little less stressful. She acknowledged the unfortunate families who have been caught in this new transition and express that she hoped not too many more families would be in this position. One of the concerns shared was the increase in adoptions and why that was happening. My explanation was simply...... ...20 years ago before the war Liberia was a peaceful and relatively prosperous nation and with the African culture that supports extended families caring for each other, adoption was a rare occurrence. Then with the many years of war the nation was left with thousands of orphans. NGO's and Organization like our saw the need to respond. Now while the orphans may be for the most part semi orphaned or children with single mothers, the need for these children to find loving forever families is just as great. The war left poverty at such a all time high, that extended families in many cases are no longer able to care for the vulnerable children. I had the opportunity to share what Acres of Hope was all about and the many programs we have that are serving the children of Liberia. That we are committed to serving all the children of Liberia. In the big scene of things only a few will be lucky enough to find the loving arms of adoptive parents, but because of those few......... . thousands of others will be served in Liberia. They were impressed with the humanitarian outreach Acres of Hope and that was a real plus. The Consulate was quite socked to see the 22 page album that we put together just showing our special needs miracles. She assured me she would consider the needs of some of the most fragile children and applauded Acres of Hope in meeting the needs of this special group of children. After discussions of the latest venture my staff had to make driving 200 miles on terrible roads with life-threatening conditions, crossing bridges washed out by the rains and needing to be re-built, I informed the Consulate I would not ever put my staff in that position again and that her request certainly appeared as if she was trying to put blockades in the process. Again she assured me her intentions were not to stop adoptions. At that point I suggested we pre-approve the children for visa at the beginning of the adoption process at the time the parent signs the relinquishment. That way the investigation should not be so involved as the part of verifying the orphan status would already be complete. She agreed to this. So what does this all mean?There will be a new order to adoptions that would include a pre-approve of the orphan for adoption by the Embassy much like the I 600A is for the adoptive parent. This should eliminate the fear that at the end something could go wrong. Time wise........ .well that is still yet to be known, but I truly believe that this will improve what has already been in place and probably cut the process down in the end. We also discussed that it was necessary to allow processing to be 2 days per week with Thursdays being the day to drop off papers and schedule appointment. The result will be much more order, still the same amount of time, but with some strick guidelines. In conclusion, our new Consulate is very willing to work with us to improve the system. She encouraged me to meet with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to discuss all these issues and concerns I have in educating others in the country on adoption including NGO not in favor of adoption. I gave her a stack of information on articles you all were so good to research and I know she will have lots of reading materials and hopefully learn alot.All in all it was a positive and productive meeting and I went away with good feeling realizing that changes are always hard and take time to get use to, but in this case I am convinced it is for the better. Too many agencies have done short cuts or been dishonest and this is what has caused the issues we are dealing with now. Acres of Hope is committed to setting the standards for how adoptions should be and with all of your help I believe the Lord will bless our efforts.Thanks you all for your many prayers and patience through this growing experience. I want all of you to know I personally along with our wonderful staff are here to do everything in our power to remain a voice for the children and support to you as adoptive families. THREE CHEERS FOR YOU ALL!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! *Note: I will give each of your children a big hug and kiss !"

Blessings, Patty Anglin, Exective Director

SUMMER FUN!!

Wow, what a week we had. My sister, Staci and her 5 kiddos were visiting us from Virginia. We went to the water park, swam at our neighborhood pool, watched movies, rode bikes, played at the park, ate until we hurt and laughed a lot. I love it when we are all together. When we are together there are 8 cousins ages 11 to 12 months!! I only get to see my sister 2 to 3 times a year, so when we are together we make the most of it. We probably won't see them again until Christmastime. Hopefully by then Kenneth will be here to meet them.

In regards to our adoption, Alan and I have set up a web site called the $1 adoption. The link is http://thekettelkamps.onedollaradoption.com/. It works like this...if each person who reads the link donates $1 toward our adoption fees, when 9,000 people have donated, we will have Kenneth's fees completely paid off! The key is to keep it in circulation... meaning that when you see the site forward it on to all of the people on your e-mail list and ask them to forward it on to all of the people in their e-mail list and so on. Our prayer is that this can reach all the way around the world with your help! We are excited to see what God does with this.

In the near future I will post a donation thermometer so you can track our progress. We thank you in advance for your generosity and your prayers. It means the world to us.

Discouraging Visa News

Here is the newest information concerning the issuing of visas in Liberia:

The consular is requiring adoption agencies to make an appointment for a pre-visa interview. That can only be done on a certain day and only for a couple of hours that day. After the petition has been filed, the consular requires 3 weeks to conduct a mandatory I-604-Determination on Child for Adoption. Due to security concerns, the consular staff is requiring that agencies bring in the relinquishing birth parent for an interview with the consular. This can be very difficult due to the fact that some birth parents live many hours away. DNA testing will be required for all cases which consular staff cannot determine parentage by interview. Adoption providers can drop off documents pertaining to adoptions on Thursdays from 2-4:00 p.m.. Parents cannot meet with the consular unless they have a visa interview which can only be Thursdays from 2-4:00p.m.

Here is the part that gets me...the embassy gets its directions from the state department in Washington. The same government that approved our adoption is now trying to slow it down. Go figure! They don't want to stop adoptions, they just want to slow them down to such a point that parents will be discouraged and not adopt from this country. They are now considering requiring parents to stay in country for a month. If the agency cannot locate the parent to a child, then no visa will be issued.

Patty Anglin (AOH) is making plans to go to the embassy early next. Please, please continue to pray for this situation and the many children who will be affected by this. Also, if you would consider writing to your senator, representative, and the state department concerning this issue and reminding them about the Geneva convention and a child's right to be adopted. Lives are at risk.

At this point I do not know what this means for us and Kenneth. The last time I spoke with Donna at Acres of Hope (two days ago) she said that Kenneth should have his pre-visa interview scheduled in September. As soon as I know anything I will post it.

I-171H Arrives Today!!!

It is with great excitement and thanksgiving that I announce that our I-171H arrived in the mail today!!! I am ecstatic beyond belief. It is so wonderful when major steps are made toward Kenneth. Thank you all for lifting this up in prayer. We are getting closer to Africa and our child!!!

We now have to get I-171H approval from the state of Illinois. This will take about two weeks after they have received our copy of the approval which is submitted by our social worker. She called me on Friday to let us know that she will be out of town for two weeks and that there is no one familiar with her cases to handle anything that may happen while she is gone. She did elude to the fact that she may be in and out during those two weeks, so I am going to try to contact her to see if she can give this some attention even though she is "gone". We are also still waiting on our foster care license to arrive. We have no idea when this will come. Please pray that it is soon.

I know that all of this is in God's timing and that he sees the big picture. I am doing my best and continually asking him to help me to trust him with it all.

In addition, I would like to request your immediate prayers for some changes that have occurred with the Liberian end of this. There is a new person in the position of issuing visas at the U.S. embassy in Liberia. This person has recently made the decision to only allow 3-4 visas to be issued only on Thursdays for the entire country. This will greatly slow up the process for children waiting to be adopted. Please consider fasting and praying for positive changes to take place in regards to the visa process and also pray for the person (I don't know her name) in charge of this process to have a change of heart in order for orphaned children to be united with their forever families sooner. Also pray for a meeting that is going to take place between Patty Anglin (AOH founder) and this person in the near future. I know without a doubt that prayers can move even the biggest mountain.

There's not much new to report from the Kettelkamp household. The kids and I spent every evening last week at vacation bible school. The theme this year was "Avalanche Ranch". The kids learned that God is real, God is strong, God is with us, God is Awesome and that God is in charge. WooHoo!!! Close to 500 kiddos attended. It was a fun and tiring week. You could feel the excitement in the air. To add to all of that fun over $4,ooo was collected throughout the week for World Vision!! The final night we celebrated with a petting zoo, a hay maze, pony rides, a hay ride, and hot dogs! You can't beat that and the kids had a blast.

We are still waiting on our I-171H. We've heard nothing. UGH! I did e-mail Senator Obama's office again about expediting our paperwork last Friday. I'm still waiting to hear back from his office. Please keep praying for speedy paperwork processing.

We took the kids to the drive-in this weekend and saw Evan Almighty. There is a scene in the move that I loved. God (Morgan Freeman) is talking to Evan's wife about something that she had previously asked God for. She had asked God to help her family become closer. God asks her if someone asks for patience, does God give them patience or does he give them opportunities to be patient? If someone asks for courage, does God give them courage or does he give them opportunities to be courageous? If someone wants their family to be closer, does God make them closer or does he give them opportunities to be closer? I think that God is giving me the opportunity to be patient. I am waiting and I know that God is going to do something bigger than I could have ever imagined!

Let The Blessings Rain Down...

So many times it is easy to get caught up in the things of life that don't seem to be going our way. I know that this happens to me way too many times. It always helps me to pause and remember all that God has blessed me with. So today I sat down and made my "top 10 blessings for the day" list. Here it is in no particular order:

1. I woke up this morning to a cute little 5 year old girl snuggling with me saying, "Good morning, mommy!"

2. God gave me another day to make the difference in a life.

3. I have a husband who loves God, loves me, and is crazy about our children.

4. I have the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

5. God has saturated my life with many amazing friends. I've got to say, these women are the best! How lucky am I!?!

6. God has blessed my children with good health and many Christ-like friends.

7. I understand that the "wealthiest" people aren't necessarily the ones who have the most, but simply those who need the least.

8. I have a job (as wife and mom) that I love and it allows me the opportunity to be home with my kiddos. (Thanks, Alan!)

9. I have my mom in my life. That is something that I don't take for granted. I know many who don't have their parents in their lives or wish that they could have them back, if just for a moment.

10. My sister is one of my best friends. Even though there are a couple of hundred miles between us, she is the one I can call to laugh with, gripe to, or get advice from. I treasure the moments that we get to be together. She makes me laugh until I hurt. God has blessed me greatly with her.

So how about you? Do you feel blessed today? What would your list include? I encourage you to take a few moments and pause to see what God has been up to in your life. You may be surprised. I know that I was.

Kenneth Has A Passport!!

We got the call today!! Donna from AOH called today to let us know that Kenneth has a passport! Yeah God! I'm dancing! Here are the details: 1. He has his passport; 2. His visa appointment should be scheduled for next week; 3. If all goes extremely well, we could be traveling 3 weeks after that! That would be the end of August! Hard to believe!

Okay, so here is where it all gets a little complicated. We are still waiting on our 171H approval. This is what we know: 1. Immigration has all of our information needed to process our paperwork. (They had everything in their hands last week. This was due to the fact that our social worker was lagging behind. We had completed our part of this process in January 2007!). 2. According to our social worker after we receive our 171H approval, the state needs to approve us which takes about 2 more weeks. 3. We also do not have our state foster care licensing (something that you need if you live in the state of Illinois and are adopting). 4. Our God is bigger than any of this and with our mighty prayer warriors out there, I believe that God can do amazing things through our state and federal governments. Please join us in praying for a paperwork miracle.

*NOTE: I did ask our social worker about contacting Senator Obama's office again for expedition and she said that in her experience doing so would only slow things down. I definitely don't want to do that, but I feel like I need to do something. We'll see.