Caleb's Birth Family

Yesterday, we drove 3.5 hours north to spend the day visiting Caleb's birth family. We were there for just over 4.5 hours and then headed back home. We spent the day relaxing, catching up, and watching the kids play or drive cars, even Caleb :) Very quick, but an enjoyable trip.
Special thank you to Ray, Rande, Mariah, Monica and Malachi for having us over and your hospitality. We had a great time and appreciated everything.

Birth Family

This past weekend, Caleb's birth family made the trip down to see us. We spent much of Saturday catching up and Sunday at the Mall of America. The time went by really fast and was really enjoyable. We are already looking forward to seeing them all again this fall when we head north.

In order (L~R): Monica, Rande, Malachi, Ray, Mariah and Caleb
A special thank you to Mariah and her family for coming to visit.

Verdict in...Sentenced to Life

This morning Caleb was sentenced to life as a Klauser! That's right, Caleb had his court session today; everything went great and really fast. The judge asked us if the information on our documents were accurate and if we were going to be good parents to that special boy. We lifted our right hands, gave him nothing but the truth, and promised to try everyday to be the best parents in the world to him. We have always believed and trusted God that Caleb is our son, today just provided the documentation showing that. We couldn't have had a better morning.

We want to give a special thank you to God and Caleb's birthmother for making today happen. We are forever grateful.
Another special thank you goes out to some of our best friends, Kris and Kristi Brown. Thank you for getting up early on your day off to share in our day. We love you guys.

Reminder

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow, Friday, April 29th from 5:30-7:30 PM is Caleb's open house. Please stop by even for a minute to grab a piece of cake and let us say "Thank you" for praying and supporting us.

Flood of Prayers...Time of Celebration

Caleb's adoption is finalized! We are filled with so many emotions that I don't know if I will be able to express them all in this post. I know many have asked for updates, but due to respect of Caleb's birth family we wanted to wait until this all was done. I want to start off with a quick recap of the last few months for us. It all began on December 16th when the crying of a beautiful and perfect baby boy brought tears to my eyes and weakening of my legs. Caleb was placed in my arms and instantly I praised God and thanked his birthmother. Caleb turned four months on Sunday, and even though the months have been full of joy seeing him everyday, it’s also been full of trust, patience, and hope in our Father above. See we received a phone call on Valentine’s stating Caleb’s birthmother wanted him back in 48 hours. Instantly, as many of you know we sent out prayer requests and within 24 hours our story spread around the world. People were e-mailing and commenting from Turkey, Russia, NY to CA. With each day we waited for his birthmother to decide what she wanted to do we relied on God and how faithful He is to get us through another day. Then on March 2nd we received the phone call that one of the two most amazing women we know had decided to sacrificially forever give us Caleb to parent. With the support and love of her mother and her family, Caleb's rights were signed over to us on March 7th. We then faced another time of waiting when we needed the signature of Caleb's birthmother's father (she's a minor). Holding onto the belief that God is all good and does do miraculous things, the birthmother's birth father finally signed.

The thing that brings us such joy besides Caleb's adoption being finalized is that Caleb's birthmother will now be adopted by her stepfather, who is an amazing man of God. A story that only God could ordain.

I want to take a moment and also express our gratitude towards Caleb's birth mother and family. We have so much love and compassion for them and thankful that they are now apart of our extended family. Never once did Nate and I feel anger, resentment, frustration towards them; especially the birthmom, and how could we ever, she blessed us with a beautiful son?!? Forever we are grateful for Caleb's birthmother!!!!!

Now that our mountain is in the sea, we can look back and see that it was all for His will. Adoption isn't always going to be easy, but as Nate and I know from personal experience God’s picture is way beyond what we can fathom. Therefore, please be encouraged and not threatened on the struggles, uncertainty, love and relationships that comes with adoption.

As a special thank you for all your prayers and support, you are all welcome over next Friday, April 29th anytime between 5:30-7:30 PM for cake and celebration. Please e-mail, text or call if you plan on stopping over so we can have a count for cake. Thanks and hope to see you all!

Special Company

Last week, Nate, Elyse, Caleb and I had someone very special come visit us, Rande, Caleb's birth grandmother. Rande was in town all week for business and made the hall up to our house to share the evening with us. It was very short but wonderful. We LOVED having her here and catching up. A special thanks to Rande for coming to see us.

Extra Prayer

We are in need of extra prayer tonight as Caleb's birth mother may make her decision by tomorrow. Please also pray for her to have wisdom, confidence and strength in making her decision.

We are holding onto His faithfulness.

Still Trusting

First off, thank you all for your prayers today. It really was what helped me get through the day with such peace. Just to give you a little update, no decision was made today, meeting went well, and Caleb did great like usual. We are hopeful that a decision will be made soon. Therefore, we continue to ask for prayer.

Prayer for Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Thursday, February 24th at 12:30, Caleb's birth parents are seeing him in hopes that it will clarify whether or not they want to parent. Therefore, will you please pray at 12:30 tomorrow for:
-peace, comfort and strength for all involved
-decision made would be in the best interest for Caleb
-selfishly we do pray that birth parents can receive closure and confidence in the adoption like they have had in the beginning

I know tomorrow is not going to be easy, but Nate and I have faith that God will prevail and that His plan is perfect. We are holding onto His words that He does love us and knows what's best for us. Hopefully birth parents will be able to make a decision within the next week or so.

Thanks again for your prayers and we do hope that Caleb will forever be a Klauser.

village127 Launch

I posted awhile back the introduction for a ministry that Nate and I are super excited about and have such a passion for, village127. Today, we had the privilege to launch the ministry in front of our entire congregation. It was so beautiful to see the video we made, to see the support from the staff and see the interest of God's people when it comes to adoption and orphan care. Below are a few pictures of the amazing people Nate and I worked with in order to make this ministry come alive.

In photo above: Michelle Peterson, Patti Bertsch, Dan & Angie Leverence, Dave & Tiffany Bobendrier with boys, Silas, Titus, & Judah

Going Home

So here's the tentative plan, we are to be dismissed around noon tomorrow. We can't wait to get Caleb home to meet Elyse! Please pray that everything goes smoothly for both him and Mariah during their checkups and dismissal tomorrow.

With that being said, we are asking that you please give us the night to get adjusted to being a family of four. We do plan on attending service on Sunday, but if you would like more time with us and Caleb please feel free to come over anytime between 3:30-6:00 on Sunday. We would also love to see you anytime Monday-Wednesday, we just ask that you call ahead during those days to double check that it works. Look forward to seeing you all and introducing you to Caleb in person.

One more picture of our precious Caleb, and yes, he is a paci guy and has his Dada's hair :)

More Pictures of Caleb

Nate and I have been so blessed to be surrounded by these amazing people! We can feel the presence of God the entire time.
Heidi (birth counselor), Rande (Mariah's mom), Nate (BF), Mariah (BM), Judy (Mariah's grandmother) and us
Caleb's birth family: Mariah, Rande, Monica, Ray and Malachi

Boy or Girl?

The 3-D ultrasound of our SON, looking strong and healthy.

Baby #2 Update

Tonight Nate and I met with baby #2's birth mother, birth grandmother, and social workers. The meeting went perfectly. God was with us the entire time and we felt so much peace and joy throughout the night. So much in fact that before we left, Mariah told us that her and her mother officially, 100% chose us to parent her baby due in December. We are so overjoyed and now look forward to meeting again soon with Elyse and her extended family.

Other exciting news is that we may find out the gender since Mariah didn't want to find out in case she would have slipped it out while talking to us if we originally didn't want to know. Super thoughtful of her, right!?! So who knows, I maybe posting a post soon saying, it's a ....

Oh yeah, computer is still broken, but did make some posts using Nate's work computer this weekend I can publish throughout the week of Elyse :)

God's Plan Really is PERFECT

I may have already posted this picture before, but this time it's going to be for real. That's right, Nate and I were chosen by a birthmother three hours north of the cities tonight. Here's the reason why I posted the title the way I did. God led us through the adoption process with Lily to prepare us to be okay with having an open adoption, which is what this birthmother prefers. She is young and therefore knows she can not support this child. Her family is 100% supportive and involved with this adoption. The baby is completely healthy and due on Nate's mother's birthday in December. Although one of the most remarkable reasons to us is that the baby is 3/4 Caucasian and 1/4 Hispanic, the exact same ratio as Elyse. They are going to have something in common that we can celebrate and embrace as a family. I can't get over how much He blesses us. When I think about all these beautiful things about this adoption I have so much hope, faith and joy I can't describe it in words. Oh yeah, this adoption also shows God's sense of humor, we don't know the gender and may not find out. The reason it's funny is because I swore I could never go without knowing and give my brother and sister-in-law the hardest time for not finding out theirs. Never say you can't do something, because God will show you that you can.

We also want to thank you all for your prayers! Even though everything is perfect and decided, we still ask for more prayer on a few things. We pray that everything continues to go smoothly, baby continues to be healthy and most importantly, we plan on meeting the birthmother in a few weeks and need everything to go smoothly so she won't change her mind. We feel that God has gotten us this far and He will for sure be with us at the meeting and take us to the end. I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and boy is it beautiful!!!

Grateful!

I just wanted to send out a post thanking everyone who has been so supportive the last 24 hours. We appreciate all the phone calls, visits, cards, e-mails and most importantly, your prayers. I will admit all the love and support we have got has really helped Nate and I cope, morn and trust God more than we did before. God has always taken us through something which leads to pain and soon enough turns to joy. We have so much confidence, faith and hope right now that God will provide us the perfect child in His timing. We have seen His beauty with the adoption of Elyse, and are encouraged to see what He will do with this adoption. We do ask that you still continue to pray for the following three things from the previous post. We also ask that you keep us in mind if you ever hear of a child being considered for adoption. We love you all and are so blessed to have you as family and friends! Thanks again.

"I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Full of Sorrow, But Still Trusting

So we just found out this morning that Lily has decided to parent. Nate and my heart dropped as we heard the news. Not only are we confused by this outcome, but so is Elyse. Trying to tell a little girl that God wants us to wait a little longer for a brother and that Lily will not be around anymore, is a odd thing for her to comprehend right now. But as for us, we are trusting God, but we hurt so much inside. We have been praying and building a relationship with Lily and baby boy since FEBRUARY and with a blink of an eye, it's over. I did tell Lily today that Nate and I forgive her and that we are not mad at her, just need closure and then said our last goodbyes.

I guess I'm asking for prayer for a few things...
1. Strength, wisdom and encouragement from God for us
2. Lily as she becomes a mother of two at 19.
3. God would provide us a child soon(preferable a son since Elyse only knows of having a baby brother).

Feel free to call or stop by; we are in a need for support and prayer from you all right now. Words just can't express how we are feeling. We know God will provide, but since we can't see that light at the end of the tunnel, we feel like we're sitting still in the dark.

Trusting in Him

So this morning Nate and I found out that Lily delivered baby boy. He is doing wonderful supposedly. The thing is that this is suppose to be a joyous event for Nate and I and right now my heart aches. The reason is because due to some events we are unable to make it to the hospital until birth counselor goes first. She is unable to make it till at least after 2. That's also not a guarantee that we will still be invited. I know God's plan will be perfect and beautiful, but as I sit here and type this I cry at the unknown. Therefore, please pray for us. Pray that Lily follows the spirit's guidance. Pray that we can see him today and pray that he becomes our son. I know these are selfish prayers because I desire to parent this little boy, but at the same time I know they are not because we can give him so much. I desire contentment and strength from Him today and for the next 12 days (in hospital and 10 days Lily gets to make up her mind). Hopefully in the end, the Klausers of three become the Klausers of four.

PRAISE, TERMINATED

That's right, I just found out, the birthfather did not proceed in getting a lawyer. Therefore, his rights are forever terminated! What a beautiful and blessed day in the Klauser household.

A big thank you for all your prayers and support. It really meant a lot to Nate and I for all the phone calls, messages, e-mails, and comments. We are so thankful to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Now we ask that you please pray that the rest of the adoption goes well, and that the birthmother stays as confident as she is right now. As of this second, we have no doubts that this little boy will be here in three weeks, oh my! :)

"For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100:5

Update and Prayer Request

Adoption Update: We are three weeks away from having our baby boy in our arms and we couldn't be more thrilled. We have hung out with the birthmom and her son just under a handful of times and love it. We feel very blessed to know them and treasure our new relationship. It's evident God is always with us when we are all together. Baby boy is looking great and feeling him change and move in the womb is an amazing thing. We are so thankful right now.

Prayer Request: Here's where we need you! Nate and I are strong advocates of prayer. It may not always be answered when we want or how we want, but it's always answered. We understand God is in control and His plan is perfect, but He commands us to ask for our wants through prayer. Therefore, the prayer request is that the birthfather doesn't fight custody. He has threatened to do so and his personality involves being in control. He has until 11:59 P.M. on Wednesday to get a lawyer. If he does so, our rights are gone and Bethany Christian Services will turn down this adoption. If he does not, then ALL his rights are TERMINATED FOREVER. I know it's going to be a long three days, but God is in control. We love Him so much and trust that He will provide. Please pray. Hopefully the next adoption post will be on Thursday with the title... "PRAISE, TERMINATED". Thank you for taking time to read this and praying for us. We appreciate and love you all.

"If you believe, you will recieve whatever you ask for in prayer." Matthew 21:22