THE NEWS - REFERRAL!!!!

We have had some big things happen over the past couple of weeks.  We are super surprised by how this adoption is turning out...I am sure you will be too.

 

Last week we felt God speaking to us that where we were in this adoption process just may not be the right thing for us. We wanted to ignore Him!  We are already so far in the process...why would it not be right.

 

We were confused to say the least but there were a lot of events that lead up to these feelings of concern.  God was opening our eyes and giving us sign after sign that we were not supposed to adopt two babies from Ethiopia.

 

Here is the crazy part!

We chose to leave our Ethiopian agency.

We were not sure what we were going to do next and had no "plan."

 

 

I think God likes when we give up on OUR "plans."

It allows Him to take over and do what he wants with our lives.

We stopped thinking and stopped pretending like we knew what to do.

We just asked God to lead us.....

 

He did!

He led us straight to D.R.C.

We had no doubt about it...our children were somewhere in The Congo!

We started searching...agencies, private adoptions, Congo in general.

The Lord pointed us to All Blessings International. Man they have been a blessing to us like we never could have imagined!

 

We made a decision that we wanted to pursue a waiting child.  This means that the child has been in the system for some time but for some reason, no one has come forward for him or her. 

So instead of the agency finding us a child that fits our preference, we would choose one out of the children who were already waiting.

 

We decided to not specify that we wanted two children.  Congo adoptions are much more expensive than Ethiopian adoptions so we figured adopting one would be expensive enough. 

We asked to agency to send us info on the waiting child they thought matched our family.  We prayed God would direct us and we would know who our child was.

 

 

We have decided to grow our family with a precious, shy, handsome 2 year old BOY. 

We could not be more exited! 

I have been watching this child on the waiting children's list for months now...trying to find him a home.

I was so surprised that he is going to be ours.

He has the cutest little hands!  He was not smiling in any of the pictures but just looks like he is ready for us to love all over him!

We can't show his whole face until he is legally ours. 

 

 

Those lips!

 

 

Then God blessed us again

 

A 3ish year old little GIRL!  She is beautiful and healthy.  She has the sweetest little smile.  When she is not smiling her little eyes look full of knowledge.  There was one picture where they must have asked her to smile and her little "cheese"  face just about made my heart melt!  

 

 

Those chocolate feet I have been waiting for!

 

I will share more about how these two little ones became ours on my next  post:)

Crazy T-Shirts

For some reason when we sell a shirt, we are not getting an e-mail from paypal. 

I assume I set something up wrong...I struggle with the computer.

Just so I don't miss anything... 

 

If you order a shirt, please e-mail me and let me know your size and address.

 

All my contact info is on the "contact" page of this blog.

 

I am going to Disney Land tomorrow!!!!!

(just had to tell you guys again....I am so exited)

Life Lately

Life lately has been exiting! 

Our little girl is growing up before our eyes and we are so blessed to be her parents.

We have had a very busy week full of changes...I can not yet tell you all about these changes but I can tell you that God is blessing our lives! 

He has us right where he wants us.

 

This weekend, we are leaving for Disney Land!  Whoo Hooo we are so exited!

My grandparents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and taking the whole family!

Talk about spoiled!

We just can not wait to spend some time relaxing as a family.

 

I can't help but think about the fact that this will most likely be our last vacation as a family of three.

sigh........



Movie Monday - STUCK

This looks like a great movie!  I haven't seen it yet but I am exited too. 

 

Why is adoption so hard?!?!

 

Spiritual Warfare!

 

Satan doe NOT want God's children in homes....so we have to step up and CLAIM victory over satan's even schemes!

 

We have to obey God's command to care for HIS orphans!

 

 

We are heading to Phoenix to watch this documentary on March 22...we can't wait!

 

My Valentines Day

We don't really celebrate Valentines Day.  We did when we were engaged and it was fun but now days we just have more important things to spend money on. 

 

This Valentines Day was actually very busy and almost a little stressful.  The days leading up to Valentines Day were wonderful.  Twice this last week Gavin has run out late at night to get a movie and dessert for me just because I felt like it.  That is a pretty awesome husband.  One night he went to three different redbox locations to search for a movie...and not because I asked him.  I would have never asked him to run around like that...he just knew  I wanted to see that movie. 

 

I spend this week just relaxing.  I was sick so I cancelled everything I had going on and just got stuff done around the house.  It was so relaxing to not be running around a million miles an hour for the first time in a long time.

 

This year Gavin did get me a special present.  It was something I needed because he knows how practical I am(I am not a flowers and chocolate kind of girl).  He got me a metronome for my piano.  I had mentioned a while back that I liked the old ones...like I remember my grandma having.  So this is what he came up with:)

This picture is not the greatest but you get the point.  It is an antique...the year was on a piece of paper on the inside is half worn off so I can not tell when it was made.  It was made in the U.S. which I LOVE!

Isn't it cool!

 

Now I also got Gavin a little something special.  I came across this organization called Embracing Hope Ethiopia.  It is all about keeping families together so that new orphans aren't made.  The family that runs it has an amazing story and I love their cause.  So for V-Day this year I decided to sponsor a little family.  It costs too much a month for us to sponsor a whole family while we are adopting so we are taking on a "share."  One share is only $34.00 a month so if you are looking for somewhere to use the money that God has provided you please consider praying about this organization.

 

http://www.embracinghopeethiopia.com/

 

On another fun note, I got a sewing machine for Christmas from my wonderful parents.  So I broke that bad boy out last night and figured out how to use it while trying to hem some of Gavin's pants.  I figured out how it works but my stitches are a mess!  I am exited to master it and make some clothes for the kiddos. 

 

 

 

I am waiting on you Jesus....

I know you all have probably heard the song "While I'm Waiting" by John Waller.  I know I have heard it about a million times and LOVE it every time.  It always gives me a sense of security in who my Jesus is!  It makes me feel like with Him at my side I can do anything.

 

I know that I already have victory of the sin of complaining and waiting impatiently.  I know that I have victory over the sin of having my own little pity party because things have not always gone how I think is best.  This song always reminds me to claim those victories!

 

"I will move ahead bold and confident, taking every step in obedience."

"While I'm waiting, I will serve you."

 

Those are powerful words of a warrior for Christ!

 

Another reason I love this song so much is that it completely describes how I am feeling about this wait in the first verse.  Sometimes I don't even know how to tell you how I feel.  There are so many emotions and I am just too human to process them all accurately.  This song reminds me that God knows exactly how I feel and he has felt the same things.  He is the keeper of my tears and the reason for my joy!

 

 

"I am waiting on you Lord, and I am hopeful

I'm waiting on you Lord, though it is painful

but patiently, I will wait"

 

Nothing about that phrase is natural....it is all about the supernatural!

 

 



Movie Monday!

Every Monday I am going to share a video that is related to adoption.  I have found some really amazing videos out there and I think everyone should see them! 

This video is one of my favorites and really shares my heart for adoption.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

64 Days

Its getting longer!  Here is our waiting chain that now has 64 links on it.  That is a little over nine weeks waiting for our referral.  This time has been difficult but I have grown so close to God through all the struggles,  it is worth it. 

 

I have focused on fixing my eyes upon Jesus when the wait starts to feel completely overwhelming.  I have realized how much I enjoy my family and how much I want to soak up every little bit of Irelyn before the kiddos get here and life gets a little crazy! 

 

Sometimes this adoption process is hard to understand.  I don't fully understand why for most families with our agency, there whole adoption process only takes about nine months and we have been at this for over a year.  I don't understand why God has sent us so many curve balls to slow us down when we so badly want our family to expand. 

 

I KNOW that He loves us fully with a steadfast love that only he can produce.  I know that I have grown holier through this process which is ultimately my goal in life.  I know that our process is unique to us and I LOVE how God hand crafted it to fit our family perfectly.

 

I know we will see those little faces so soon and it will become so obvious why God wanted us to wait for them!

Jehovah Jireh-The Lord Who Provides!

I thought I would do a little recap on how God has provided through this adoption process.  If you don't know me very well...or more accurately who I USED to be, I was always stressed about money.  I was always concerned that there would not be enough.  So then I married a small business owner and got a little taste of what Faith really was. 

 

Nothing has grown my faith like this adoption process.  In the beginning I was so scarred that we would not have enough money to finish the adoption.  I mean its A LOT of money and we were struggling as it was.  I kept saying how is this possible?  Gavin was faithful through all my doubt telling me that through GOD ALL things are possible.

 

So when we decided to take that leap of faith and adopt, we were behind on our mortgage.  We had just paid off our last little bit of debt which put us a little behind on our mortgage(the credit card companies were not as nice as our mortgage company).  We do not believe that God wants us to be in debt to anyone so we made a decision that no money would go into the adoption until we got caught up on our mortgage.  So we hunkered down and in a matter of weeks Gavin got some good jobs that got us caught up.  About a week later we had dinner with some friends that gave us our first

$1,000

towards our adoption!  This was enough(with what we had saved, about $1000 more) to begin our home study.  Now like I mention we had just gotten out of debt and were not going to go back in it for any reason.  We new that God did not need us to borrow from someone to pay for His kids to be put in families.  Just as a side not we do not feel negatively about anyone who chooses to get loans to pay for their adoptions.  This is a personal conviction for us as a family. 

 

Next we needed to come up with close to

$3,000

for contract fees.  God provided jobs and Gavin worked hard and we were able to pay the fees out of our own pocket...praise God!

 

We then held three yard sale fundraisers which brought in about $6,000!  Thanks to all of you who donated stuff, helped set up and tear down, and prayed for us. 

 

We also sent our letters for family and friends explaining what we were doing and that we are selling T-shirt, cookies, and coffee to help us get our kiddos home.  This brought in about

$5,000 more. 

 

We then did a really fun fundraiser called Give1Save1 which brought in about $500.

 

God also blessed us with a $4000 matching grant through lifesong blessed us with about

$12,000! 

That is huge!

 

God then blessed our business with a HUGE job in which we were able to put about

$8,000

into the adoption!

 

On top of that we have had many generous people donate money just cuz.  Anywhere from $20.00 to $1,000.  Every single penny that you people have given towards our adoption has blessed us so much and we are so happy to call each and every one of you family!

 

As you can see God has in fact provided like crazy!  He has made this all possible and we thank each and every one of you for letting Him use you to fulfill His perfect plan.  We still need about $10,000-$12,000 for travel but we know without a doubt that God will provide this as well.  The fun part is seeing how he does it!

 

 

 

Micheal Oher

A friend sent me a short video about Micheal Oher today.  I don't watch football...but I do watch Sandra Bullak so when the movie "The Blind Side" came out I saw it.  I loved it!  Who wouldn't...the acting was wonderful and the story line was beautiful!  I always love a good adoption story. 

 

I watched this little clip from the news and something that Leigh Ann Touhy said really made me think.  She said she believes "there are not unwanted children, just unfound famlies."  AMEN to that.  I can not think of one precious fatherless child who could not find someone who desperately wants them.  So come on Christians...lets me those "found" families!

Check out the video here:
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/leigh-ann-touhy-michael-oher-celebrate-super-bowl-18405304

Another Generous Donation.

We have been so blessed and amazed by all of you who have helped us financially so far.  Each and every one of you have been so important to our journey.  You not only help us with the huge financial burden that comes along with adoption...but you help us feel encouraged and loved.  There is nothing like having someone slip me a $20 at church and say they are praying for us.  We feel renewed and refreshed when someone shows us their support in ANY way.

 

We honestly don't think about the money when it comes to this adoption anymore.  God has showed us over and over again that he will provide.  We really feel like we have done everything that we can.  We have had numerous fundraisers, Gavin has worked every job that God brought our way, and we have filled out tons of grant application.  God has to do the rest and there is such a peace in that truth.

 

Last night we spent some time with some friends and were wonderfully surprised by a $1,000 check that they felt led to give us!  Wow what a blessing.  We are now that much closer to having our children home and were once again reminded that we are not alone.  We have the body of Christ supporting us the entire way and it is such a huge comfort for us!

 

After our time of fasting and prayer last week, many people were cleared through embassy which means they are heading to Ethiopia to pick up there kids.  What an answer to prayer!  This means that some referrals should be going out in the next few weeks.  I really have no idea if it will be us or not...one can only hope.

 

You guys could really be praying for me in this season of waiting.  I really do want God's timing and I want to be patient.  Every day that we do not get "the call"  my heart breaks a little bit.  I don't want to wait on the edge of my seat every day for a referral.  It is exhausting!  I just don't know how to not think about it!

 

Everyone tells me that this is the easy part of the wait....ugh!  I feel like this season is SO hard.  I guess it is supposed to be.  God promises that we will be blessed, not that it will be easy.