Flokstra Adoption fundraiser

As spring went by we wanted to do this fundraiser! we did a pig roast. With help from our family and friends things got rolling. I remember calling all around town to book a room somewhere. We really wanted it at our church. Dates where not working out anywhere! with graduation open houses it was just a little busy here in the town of Zeeland. I was getting nervous. We then got the perfect date set. Held at our church. I did a facebook invite and we sent out invites. We where not so sure how many people would be able to attend and got a count going. It was all coming together as we thought it would. The love that had been shown to get this fundraiser going was off the charts. Again you know who you are :) on June 5, 2015 we had our fundraiser with family and friends. We where so amazed of how many people came out to show there love and support for our adoption. And here I thought what if no one can come or show up....um boy was I wrong! it was so great! the pig and the dessert table....dessertssss was the BOMB! we will always remember that day.I will close with this. Our letter we had in a frame at our fundraiser which still sits in the frame in our kitchen today..... To our family and friends, A loving note can barely express how you have added to our happiness. We would like to send our sincerest thanks for all your thoughts, your prayers, and all your support towards our adoption. We are so thankful to have each and everyone of you in our life. THANK YOU! love, Justin and Kendra

adoption families lead into friendships

Last winter we had the pleasure of meeting with adoption families to talk about there stories. Everyone's  was very different. We loved meeting with the families and sharing all of our stories. Remember the couple I shared about going to the Bethany meeting last fall? the ones I wanted to talk to but Justin darted for the door to head for home. Well being in a small town everyone knows everyone. :) on a cold winter night my parents came over for dinner and we told them we where going to adopt. They where so thrilled for us!!!!! lots of happy tears. Anyway, they where going to tell us that night that they had friends ask what we where going to do next? and if we have ever thought about adoption that they know a couple from there church who adopted and did a fundraiser for them and put on a pig roast. My mom said well just let me know if you want me to get there info sometime. I didn't put much time into it. I was taking one step at a time. I then did some face book stalking (hehe) and the couple who I thought we would never talk to at the Bethany meeting who spoke on stage....It was them! crazy how God works! We met with them and they where great! they mention doing the fundraiser was a great idea! We slowly began to think about it. I thought this would be alot of work! and didn't even know where to start. As time went by our home studies where finally starting! FINALLY!!! whoooo hooo things went very fast once that started. Ill never forget when the case worker came a day early....I was in sweat pants, no make up, radio jamming as I was cleaning the house like a CRAZY person. I thought is this a test lol. I guess the days got mixed up and I could feel my face bright red. She said pretend you never saw me! and was so sorry and came the next day which was much more prepared for. Phew! We would like to thank the families who we spoke with. It really means so much to us and the friendships we have made. you know who you are! We also want to thank my sister in law and brother in law. I should be a shutterfly expert by now haha thank you for all your time and effort you put into helping us with out adoption profile books. If i would say wait I want to change that picture again to my sister in law not sure what she would say!!!! thanks for putting up with me as I fell to the ground one night and was getting a little emotional.

infertility and God leads us to adoption part 2

part 2. There was a  lot I of course  I left out in Part 1.  Last summer after our stillborn we went to meet with Bethany Christian Services. We got information on domestic infant adoption. We put all our folders away in our closet of all places with the teddy bear we got from the hospital in memory from our baby girl last June.  It sat there for the next couple months. We went to one meeting last October and parents shared there stories of there adoption. I remember one couple. Sweet, funny, and I wanted to talk to them afterwards. They talked about there handsome little boy and  did a pig roast fundraiser for there adoption. I thought how neat....  we never talked to them that night. Justin darted right to the door. The next day I found out we where pregnant again! same drill, hcg   levels, blood work, waiting, and then numbers went down AGAIN Lost the precious baby at 6wks. that's when we finally got referred to the infertility doctor. (part 1)time went by, months went by. January of 2015 is when we both said YES TO ADOPTION!!!!!!! We emailed  Bethany Christian Services our info and did paper after paper work, background checks,etc. They where so busy with families wanting to adopt that it took a couple of months to get things rolling. In the mean time we still had our genetic apt. in March. We went to that. Number 1, scared, number 2, driving downtown Grand Rapids isn't at all fun! So I will sum our appointment  up. I wasn't fun. But percent wise of having our own child is a  lot better than we thought. A 54%. But with that is a long process. chances of having more miscarriages, in vitro, being stitched up at 12wks, being on bed rest after that through my whole pregnancy until 36wks. There you have it  just like that we where scared with adoption as well but feel it was best for us! Once again I'm forgetting way to many things out. lots being the ups and downs of infertility. One of the bravest thing we can ever do is trust HIM with our greatest disappointments. It is brave to give HIM your heart when all the pieces have been shattered, but I have learned you have to touch the broken pieces to be made whole again.

infertility and God leads us to adoption part 1

Hello everyone! I am back! The last post I wrote was last winter! I have been thinking over and over to begin the next chapter in our lives. I thought about writing in a journal.....but then this sounded like a better idea. I am going to take you back to last winter for a bit. The first visit to the infertility doctor was a bit scary. I heart every couple who walks through that door. Its not easy. When we left, we began doing blood testing. I had 47 tubes!!!! drawn which took forever because I have such small veins. And the hubs 1!! after a few weeks and having the dye test to check my tubes. (results normal) we got back into the office to discuss what was causing all these misscarriage's. I (Kendra) was told I had incompetent cervix last June, which caused me to go in early labor at 18wks and delivered a stillborn. I was told at the infertility doc that I had a blood clot,  would just take shots or pills when pregnant. My hubby (justin) has a chromosome abnormalities. The whole time the doc was talking to us in the little room my mind was going right towards adoption! we had talked about it for a while but really didn't know what to do. I don't even know what he was saying....we had tears. I almost felt like walking out. But in the end our next step was to get referred to a genetic counselor in Grand Rapids. Or to discuss to set up another appt. to discuss in vitro fertilization. The rest of the day was a kick in the butt :( we both sat in our living room all night. No T.V. on. We had to really think what we wanted to do. We both want to have a family so bad! as the snowy winter went on...right before Christmas we got info in the mail to set up the genetic appt. Little did we know it would take three months to get in there!!!!!! we where so frustrated! We began to pray. Pray for what seemed like forever just to see another doctor....prayed about adoption. What does God want us to do?