Twins?

So... we've been asked by our adoption agency if we'd consider adopting twins! A boy and a girl age one (don't know the exact months). They are caucasian. The girl may have some medical issues or at least did in the past. We told our agency to submit our homestudy. We're approaching this as an open door and any door God opens, we'll walk through it until we know it's closed. The next step is to wait and see if their social worker thinks our family is a good match. If so, I don't exactly know the next step but they'd probably be placed with us within a month. We'll update when we know more.

In additon, we are attending a training for the Haitian refugee foster program on Saturday. We're kind of thinking that if we go in that direction that we'd ask for two children as well. A girl and a boy around 1 year. We really want to have our adopted kids look similar since Tori and Siah are carbon copies.

Please pray for us. It's a bit mind=blowing and overwhelming to think about but we're willing to go where God leads and we know He will provide all we need. If these kids aren't for us, please pray that they get placed in a wonderful and loving home.

Family Fun

We had a lot of fun riding dirt bikes with our friends. The kids loved it. Tori took a while to warm up to the idea but she finally hoped on the quad. Oh no, now Jeff wants one... OK, I kind of do too.






These pictures are for the few people (our parents) that don't check Facebook.

New Church & Haitian Orphans

Wow! When people ask what's been going on in our lives I can't stop talking. God is doing some BIG stuff. First of all we are helping to start a new church called Collide. We're having our first meeting this Saturday, Jan. 30th at 6:30pm at the Scotts Valley Community Center. Anyone and everyone is welcome to check it out. This new church wants to focus on what it means to operate as "the body of Christ" and to authentically worship the Lord. We won't have a lot of programs and we want to keep it very simple and fluid. We desire to see God move in His Power. I'll write more about this soon. It's been a year long journey and a really neat story.

In addition, we just got back from a meeting on how we can long-term foster (as in forever care for) a Haitian orphan. IF all goes as this agency thinks it will we could even have a child within 30 days. I say IF because there are still a lot of details to be determined by the US Gov, Haiti, and the UN. However, this agency is contracted by the US Government to place refugees and has been told to be prepared. Since we are already fost/adopt licensed the process can be sped up although we will have to go through some additional training and paperwork. I'll update again once I have more info but to say we are excited would be an understatement.

The way God has been leading us in this direction has been amazing. We started this adoption process back in August 2008. Our hearts have always been with the Haitian people after spending 3 months in the Dominican Republic and working with the Haitian villagers. It's the first time we saw extreme poverty and it changed our lives. When the earthquake happened and we saw the hurting and orphaned Haitian children our hearts were broken. I immediately called our adoption agency and it seemed impossible that any orphans would ever be adoptable but after talking with a friend she told me about this agency that works with refugees available for long-term foster care. The child will not be adoptable for their own safety in case a relative is located and because the humanitarian agencies are against letting the children be taken but they are not against fostering. We're really excited to see where God leads and how the details are worked out. When we started this adoption process many months ago God laid it on my heart that something would happen and that there would be many orphans. Of course I hoped this wasn't true and I kind of thought that must mean in the US since we were pursuing local adoption but now I'm thinking that He was getting us ready for this exact purpose. We shall see. Please be praying for our child. Whoever and wherever he or she might be. We are excited to welcome them into our family.

Fancy Helper

They're so cute when they get along! Lately they've taken to dancing for us...

Christmas Letter

2009 has been a busy year!
BUSY is not our style… but we like what’s been keeping us busy:

Tori- She turned four in June and in the Fall officially started preschool.
Siah- He turned two in October and never stops unless he is asleep.
Adoption- We are officially licensed through the California foster/adoption system and just waiting for a placement. We’ve requested a boy or girl younger than Josiah. However, if you ask Tori- it depends on how the day is going with her very loud and active little brother. She’s known to say, “I’ve had enough BOY time today,” and follow-up that statement with, “I’d like a baby sister, NOT another baby brother.”
Infrastructure- To prepare for our 3rd child, we bought a minivan (something we never thought we would do!) We are also in the process of adding another bedroom and bathroom to our home (adoption rules). Jeff has done almost all the work himself. It’s been a very tedious process but he has done an amazing job.
Fun - We vacationed with friends and family at Hume Lake, San Diego, Bass Lake, and Yosemite. On September 4, 2009 we celebrated our 10 year anniversary and enjoyed some time away from the kiddos in beautiful Santa Barbara.

Hope you enjoyed the Yosemite photo this year. We (oh, let’s be honest here… it was Bethany’s plan, not Jeff’s ) wanted to take our family Christmas card photo in front of our newly painted yellow home but as time went quickly by I decided to eliminate some of the unnecessary things on my to-do list. I realized that I needed to refocus and truly enjoy this Christmas season. Dropping the picture idea was only one of the many things dropped from my list. I’ve realized that when I get too busy I lose sight of what is really important… the gifts do not make Christmas, the food only adds unnecessary pounds, the traditions are fun, but what is this really all about? It’s about a baby born over 2000 years ago who came to change this world. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart & with all your soul & with all your strength & with all your mind; and love others as yourself.” Luke 10:27

This question has been on our minds a lot lately… “Do we love others as ourselves?” Sure, our friends and family, but what about those “others” we don’t know. What about those in difficult situations that we don’t understand or relate too. We live in such a wealthy nation that it’s hard to fathom that life is not like this for a majority of those living in this world. When faced with the reality… we get overwhelmed and honestly just want the problem to go away. However, if we turn off the TV, turn the page, or simply stop listening… the problem doesn’t go away. Lately Jeff and I have been asking ourselves, “What more can we do?” We’re trying to refocus our priorities and instead spend minimally and give generously but more importantly share with others what it means to, “love God and love others as yourself.” We hope that our lives are a testament to the love God has shown us. Our prayer is that when you interact with us you see Jesus as He intended to be known. That we inspire you not to “be religious” or to “go to church” but to instead seek or deepen your personal relationship with Jesus. Hopefully our lives prompt you to ask, “Why do you do what you do?” “What inspires you to love others?” In reply we want to truly answer, “Jesus!”

Happy Birthday Jesus! Our blogsite: cofferclan.blogspot.com

Love the Coffer Family

Tori's Excited

I was so pleased today that when Tori said she was excited about Christmas there was no mention of presents. I asked her why she was excited and she said because, "Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Shelley are coming and we're all going to Mimi & Papa's". I was actually expecting an answer like... PRESENTS! Thankfully that wasn't what was on her mind.

I have plenty of updates to write but not enough time. Thankfully, our cards have been mailed so expect yours soon. If you don't get one... I'll post it here on Christmas Eve. However, I think most of the people that read this blog get our Christmas cards.

We're off to get hot cocoa, view Christmas lights and try to spot the Christmas train. Should be a fun evening.

Home Group Gone Wild

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast with our Home Group and as the night wore on the kids all took off their shirts and started dancing around and shouting. It was soooooo funny and very LOUD. Look at TJ's diaper sag- CLASSIC!