What I was missing

I decided to fast from the computer Tuesday and Wednesday.  During this time I prayed for movement in Ethiopia...any kind of movement.  God did answer prayers and there is already one family that passed embassy today.  That means they can go pick up their son! 

 

This break from the computer was amazing for me.  It was amazing to spend some much needed time in prayer and in the Word.  It was amazing not checking my e-mail for a couple days.  It actually made the time go faster! 

 

During the past two days, I realized how much life I was missing spending time on the computer.  I get a little obsessed with looking at adoption yahoo and facebook groups.  The info about Ethiopia is always fun but I also try to get a hint on when we may get a referral(impossible to know).  I start comparing our timeline to others and I start to get discouraged. 

 

I saw how many special moments I miss with Irelyn.  When I am not on the computer it gives her a chance to come to me with her favorite book. To climb on my back and play horse.  My favorite moment with her these past few days was last night when she brought me her boots to put on her, grabbed my hand, and led me to the middle of the kitchen to dance with her.  We danced for about 20 minutes and she was so precious!  What a joy it is to have her in my life!

 

 

I am so thankful that God showed me what I was doing wrong.  I am so thankful that I see how the "waiting" is causing me to put my life on hold.  Why would I want to put such a beautiful life on hold?!?!

 

So I am limiting myself on how much time I spend on the computer.  I am going to continue to pray for patience and I would love it if you all would pray with me.

 

Give1Save1 Grand Total

First of all, I want to thank all of you who helped us raise money this week. This fundraiser was a TON of fun for us!  We really enjoyed making all the videos and hope it gave all of you who don't know us personally a chance to get to know us. 

 

You all raised $484 for our adoption!

 

And we really appreciate you so much!  I know that God will use this money in a powerful way!

Day 6

Sorry for the late update.  This morning I woke up with no electricity...then when it got turned on,  our internet was down.  So long story short...I was not able to post this video or what we have raised so far until now.  Our current totaly is....

$478.00!

Now Sunday is our last day as the Give1Save1 family...so it is your last day to donate. 

Thank you all for doing what you can to help us bring our kids home.  We know God will bless this money and we can't wait to see what he does with it!

 

 

Give1Save1Day4

We are at $298.00 today! 

Lets keep that number moving up!

Give1Save1 Day 3

Give1Save1 day 2

Day 1 total money raised.

We had a great day today!  It was busy and full of activity and I hardly thought about how much we were raising.  If you have adopted you know what a blessing it is to have a day where you don't think about the adoption.  When I looked tonight I was very happy to see a very awsome number there. 

 

We LOVE you all for your support!  We still have six more days to reach our goal!  Enjoy this little video we made!

 

 

Give1Save1 - SUPRISE!

So hear it is!  What you all have been waiting for!  We worked hard on this video and we are very exited to share it with you.  We are very blessed by the opportunity to be showcased on Give1Save1  and can't wait to see what the Lord does with it!

 We are so touched that so many people would go out of their way to help us bring our children home.  We LOVE every single one of you and can not wait for you to be a part of our children's lives.  You are not just helping us get babies, you are helping children get families.  That just has to make God smile!

Our week starts Monday January 21st and ends Sunday January 27th.  This means that anytime during this next week if you click on this link(at the bottom) and then push the donate button, you will be able to help us bring our children home. 

 

We are making a goal amount for this fundraiser.  You all know that we still need about $13,000 to be fully funded which is no big deal!  For our Give1Save1 week, we would really like to raise

$5,000! 

This will roughly cover the cost of the first trip...which should be coming up  pretty quick here.

 

Keep in mind that if you go to the link after Monday, you may have to scroll down to watch our video.

 

Fun Fact!

We will be posting a video every night during this special week letting you all know how much we are making each day.  The video will also have some fun bloopers at the end so make sure you tune in to watch!

 

Please Support Us!

There are so many ways you can help us during this fundraising week.  You can donate of course:)  You can pray that God makes this thing a huge success.  You can share this link with everyone you know!  Put it on your blog, facebook, forward it to everyone in your e-mail.  Get the word out!

 

Give $1(or more) Save 1 Life!

http://give1save1africa.blogspot.com/

Where we are financially.

I know that the financial aspect of adoption can get confusing.  I have people ask me all the time how much adoption costs and why it is so expensive.  The answer is sin...the love of money.

Sad, but true.

 

Then I start to explain the details of the payment plan and people get really lost!  What cracks me up is when Gavin tries to explain it...I don't think he has gotten it right once:)

 

I figured since we have this really exiting fundraiser coming up I would give you a little update.

 

Well basically this is where we are at...

In our lifesong account $12,881

Amount needed to accept referral $9,595

Amount needed to travel $11,600

Amount needed for post placement $2,000

Agency fees left to pay $2,700

This was after the second yard sale....that a lot of cash!

 

  This means to complete the adoption we will need a little more money.

$13,014

to be exact.
Almost there!

 

You know what really get me?  I do not even feel the least bit concerned about the amount of money we still need to raise to bring our kids home.  God has supplied everything so far and I will never doubt him again.  Praise the God who provides!

Irelyn helped count the coins:)

Don't forget...our big fundraiser surprise will be announced on Monday!  We are going to set a goal of $5,000 to pay for the first trip:)

HINT!!

So in case you havn't  noticed....I am exited about this!  I cant wait to tell you guys exactly what we will be doing on Monday the 21st, for a whole week.

 

I can tell you that someone has blessed us with an amazing opportunity to help bring our babies home.  Lets see if you can figure out what it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeuZrpU2srw&feature=youtu.be

 

The desire of MY heart.

I  have a hard time understanding why God would ever give me the desires of my heart.  I mean he is so gracious and loving and all of His gifts are perfect.  I am sinful and deserve death.  It does not make sense that God would care so much about the little details of our lives that he would give us the desires of our hearts.  Yet he does! 

Over and over again, God has given something that I have wanted...not needed....wanted.  Why?  Because he loves us that much!

 Why would I even bother to ask for what I want?  God has His plan laid out in front of Him.  He knows exactly what we are going to do in our lives. 

I ask myself all of these questions when it comes to this adoption.  We have chosen to not specify the gender of the kids or to specify if they are blood related.  Of course I have desires, I know what I want...but I also know that I want what God wants.  What God wants will ultimately be what comes up on our referral.  We don't want to limit God in any way during this adoption process.  We want Him to surprise us, challenge us, and direct us.

Here are a couple scriptures:
Psalm 37:4   Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.

So here you go!  Straight from God's Word.  It is okay to have desires...as long as your attitude when the your desires are different from God's desires is Christ honoring.  God wants us to tell Him what we want.  He wants us to pray about everything.  But we need to have faith that God is God and that He know far more than we know and that He is always right!  So if he doesn't give us what we pray for that is okay.

Someone asked me today if we heard anything about our referral.  You know what I said?  I said not yet but I don't mind waiting for the right kids,  God doesn't have our kids ready yet.  What?!?!  I actually meant it that too.  It surprised me to hear those words coming out of my mouth.  Honestly I have been so impatient with this process.  Patient Rachel is a new thing...God has changed my heart once again...and I am loving it!

P.S. Watch for the "hint" to our surprise tomorrow!

Referral is closer!

Just a little update....

we just found out that a couple of families waiting for their referrals from Ethiopia got them.

 

This means that we are 1 of 3 families waiting for our referrals!

 

Shouldn't be too long now!

44

Since we have actually been DTE for longer than we originally thought, I though I would show you a new pic of our paper chain.  It has 44 chains on it which means we have been waiting for 44 days.

 

That is roughly six weeks.  We have seen pictures of an orphanage that our agency works with who have tons of babies that have not yet found families!  All we can pray is soon!

 

In the meantime I have felt an incredible sense of peace about the whole thing.

 

2 Corinthians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.

 

 

There is not really any specific things that has made waiting easier all of the sudden but it is:)  Guess God answered my prayers.

Something is happening....

Something is happening....in our hearts, in our heads, in this adoption process, in our marriage, in our FAMILY!

 

Things have been just happening lately that makes me feel like God is putting something together.  I am starting to be able to connect the dots.  I can definately see God moving.  I see him making things happen in our adoption process that only HE could have made happen. 

 

Now with all this "happening"  I have no idea what is going on!  God is doing all of these amazing things but I have no idea why.  Well...I might have an idea but I am not saying yet.  All I can say is things are getting EXITING....

FAST!!!

 

Please pray that God will open and close doors in such an obvious supernatural way that it gives us chills!

 

And thank God everyday for being so amazing, powerful, and loving!

Pregnancy vs adoption

If any of you know me personally you know that I did not have the easiest pregnancy.  It was a blessed pregnancy,,,don't get me wrong but I was VERY uncomfortable.  I had contractions from 20 weeks on that I could not seem to tame and had to be put on medication that made me feel shaky and weak.  I was so sick in my first trimester and had a cough that made me dislocate ribs.  I also developed an issue where my throat would close up all of the sudden and I could not breath, causing me to pass out.  When I got close to the end I would have painful false labor every night that would keep me up but not produce a baby.  I wanted to experience birth as God intended it and I had our daughter at home with no pain meds. 

I can honestly say after all of that...adoption is harder!  The way I am so emotionally exhausted has to be the most difficult thing I have ever been through.  It is still a very blessed process and God has His hand on it, but it is so difficult!  My heart break every day I do not get a referral call.  My heart yearns everyday I do not have them home.  I must check my e-mail 100 times a day(not exaggerating)

Eating....
Ok yes I gained  more weight when I was pregnant.  But my weight is all over the place with this adoption. During the more intense parts of this this process I lose weight, then when it slows down I gain weight.  Eating when you pregnant is guilt free...eating when your adopting not so much.

Physical Discomfort...
You would think being pregnancy would be a lot more uncomfortable physically but it is amazing what emotional difficulty can do to you body.  There have been times in this adoption process where I have been physically ill because of emotional stress.  Now I completely believe that is the enemy and I prayed against it and it went away.  But it is still very uncomfortable that the devil can have have that much power even if just for a few minutes.  Adoption is something close to God's heart and that means the devil will try that much harder to sabotage it.

Sleeping...
Sleeping as difficult as a pregnant woman.  The morning I found out I was pregnant, I had been up all night because I just could not sleep.  Those hormones were really messing me up!  Then as I got more uncomfortable I just had a difficult time sleeping because my back wouldn't stop hurting and my hubby would not stop snoring:)  Sleeping has been difficult throughout this adoption but especially lately.  God has changed my heart towards orphans.  I am burdened by the injustice done to them so much I can not sleep at night.  My heart hurts for them so bad I can not get my mind to go blank.  Now this is not an annoying kind of insomnia.  This is the kind that gives me time to pray to God in the middle of the night on the behalf of the orphan. 

Last night was the first time I prayed for a referral for a specific day...today.  I also prayed that God would give me an attitude that pleases Him if he wants us to wait.

DTE HOW LONG?

I got a little info today that made me really happy.  Well I thought we have been waiting for our dossier one month today but we have been waiting almost 6 weeks!  This means we are even closer than I thought!  Any time now!

In the meantime I have found another thing to take up some time!   I have always wanted to learn to play the piano but never have.  I know how busy I will be once those kids get home so I figure I better start now. Plus I love doing things to keep myself busy.  I am super busy!  Always running around doing something.  The problem is that most of the things that I do don't require ALL of my thought.  If I have any extra brain power doing the day it goes towards thinking about the adoption.  I have even started dreaming about the adoption!  I just can't get it off my mind. 

Learning piano should be challenging enough that I won't be able to think about anything else.  My first piano lesson is today so wish me luck!

Exited!

This last week I have felt encouraged and exited.  I had been feeling a little lonely in this journey and down because I want my kids home.  I know that I have not been waiting that long but it does not make it any easier.  Our pastor spoke about having pitty parties when our plans don't match up with God's plans.  Well that was totally me. 

God did mutiple things this week as I was crying out to Him for something.  Some kind of supernatural comfort...although I was not sure what I exactly wanted.

First he brought me to this verse from Psalms 9:
The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.
What a comfort in a time of frustration to know the God not only has heard me but he accepts what I have to say.  He is one awesome God.

Next I met a sweet girl who just got back from meeting her daughter in Ethipia.  Her and her family are adopting through the same agency as us and hooked me up with a talk group.  This may seem like a simple thing but it makes such a big difference.  I have gotten to see the foster home where my kids will live in pictures.  I have talked with families that will probably be traveling around the same time as us.  I am loving it!

Finally God gave me a new kind of exitement for our referral and what is to come.  It is an exitement that does not come with anxiety and an exitement that assures me it is going to happen soon!

***There is something else but it is a secret for now!  I will be giving out a little clue via my blog sometime next week so stay tuned!

MY waiting game.

So this whole waiting thing is not my favorite.  It is crazy difficult waiting everyday to get a call or an e-mail that tells you about your kids only to be told that you have to wait a few more months for a court appointment.  Its exhausting!  I cry out to God on a regular basis to make our process go supernaturally fast because I just don't know how else to handle it.

When I was pregnant with Irelyn and we were counting down to the day that we would find out if she was a boy or girl, I made one of those paper chains that we used to make as kids.  You know the ones where you tear off one of the chains every day until you get down to one.  A little silly I know but it helped me wait.

So for this adoption I am doing the same thing just backwards.  I am adding a chain every day until we get our kids home.  I made it miniature size because this could take awhile and I don't want a massive colorful chain hanging around in the house.  So far I have 25 chains on it and am hoping I won't have to add too many more.  How many do you think will be on the chain by the time we get the referral?

My Word

This is the first time I have heard of picking a word for the new year.  I have been reading others blogs and have seen all of their words and I just love the idea!  In case you are not familiar, a word is just something to help remind me who I want to be and what I want to do in 2013.  It will help keep me on track and making a difference for God's kingdom.

Yesterday I was reading Fields of the Fatherless for the 3rd time and I came across James 2:17.

Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

What a beautiful picture of who God wants us to be.  He wants us to perform works!  Faith without deeds is dead!  What good is it to say to someone who is starving "depart in peace, be warm and filled" but do nothing.

Luke 3:11
The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.

How many of us have two coats?  Two cars?  Two of almost everything?  I know that I have more than I need and God has blessed us enormously and we are very thankful.  He did not bless us so that we can sit in comfort while more than half of the worlds population lives on less than $1 a day.

My word is WORKS.  I know that for my entire life I have been someone of faith.  Someone who knew Christ as my personal savior and prayed for the least of these once in a while.  This year I am going to SHOW them Jesus.  I am going to act on the behalf of the widows, orphans, and strangers.

I hope you all had a wonderful new year!

2012 was CRAZY

This year has been an AMAZING year for us.  We have had the opportunity to watch our daughter grow and entire year older.  She had a lot of firsts this year.  Her first tooth, first steps, first word!  O my heart she is growing so fast and so beautiful!  We are of course on this crazy journey called adoption this year and God has grown us to be more like Him every step of the way.  Here is a recap for you!

January-March
-begin our homestudy.
-Do our first yard sale fundraiser
-Irelyn starts crawling.

April-June
-We have our second yard sale fundraiser
-We get approved by the court to adopt!
-Started Cloth diapering
-Started serving on the worship team

July-September
-Irelyn starts walking!
-We do our third yard sale
-We go to pioneer park to watch fireworks
-We go to California with my family for some beach fun!

October-December
-Gavin's Brother and sister both get married
-We spend a ton of time with family enjoying the Christmas season
-Our dossier finally makes it to Ethiopia!

We are starting the new year off with a very difficult fundraiser.  Well....we might do the fundraiser.  Have you ever heard of Give1Save1?  If not check out the site  Give1Save1africa.com.  It is a blog that a woman made to help adopting families fund-raise for their journey.  She requires that everyone makes a video to apply for being on her blog.  We are currently putting together a video for this fundraiser and let me tell you it has not been easy!  I am not great with the computer to begin with.  Just as soon as we got our video done and were about to send it off, something happened with the computer and we lost the whole thing!  So I am currently doing it over again.  O Well!  Story of my life when it comes to this adoption:)
Here is a recap of all the families Give1Save1 has helped in 2012.  Pretty amazing how this women is using her computer gifts to serve the Lord!


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fCnsOgikKak" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>