Prayer Request...Something New.

We are so blessed!

That is the first thing that popped into my mind when I started writing this post.

We have three beautiful kids and could not be happier.

 

We have had a few issues with our business lately.  As most of you know, we are self employed.  My husband is a contractor.  I have to admit that we have been starving the business a little throughout this adoption process.  We have been putting everything we have into the adoption and not putting any money back into the business.  Things are starting to break down and need to be replaced...so it is time for us to put some money into the business.

 

This decision was difficult for me but necessary.  We are so close to being fully funded!  We only need $10,000 more for the agency expenses and then about $8,000 for travel.  We need prayer for provision yet again.  God provides every time and we LOVE watching ours and your prayers be answered.  We still have a few grant applications out there.  We are still selling sheets.  We are going to do another yard sale.  We need prayer over all of these things.

 

We have also been praying about hosting a child from Ethiopia while we wait for our kiddos to come home.  Our home study agency has an amazing hosting program.  The program does cost money.  We feel convicted that we need to have paid all of the agency fees for our adoption before putting money into a hosting program.  If we are going to accept a child into our home for the month of August, we will need to apply next month.  We are praying that if we are supposed to host a child, we will be able to pay all of our agency fees in one month.  At that point, we would still need God to provide the money for the host program.

 

Just a reminder, we have a separate account for money that is donated by all of you wonderful people.  It will never be used for anything but the adoption of our two kiddos.

 

Please keep praying for our family. 

Your prayers are make a difference and are important to us!

UPDATE April 14, 2013

We got out updates of our kids today.

It is so fun to hear that there is an update sitting in our e-mail!

It makes every day of difficult waiting worth it.

Those babies are sitting there getting pictures taken of them, knowing they have families waiting for them!

God is so good!

 

Both the kids are doing very well.  Boaz still weighs about 22lbs.  Small for an almost 3 year old but looking very healthy for living in The Congo.  Isryelle gained 5 lbs these past few weeks!  She must be feeling better!  She weighs in at 26lbs now.

 

 

Those eyes make me want to just run over there and scoop her up!

This is my daughters smile!

This picture has so much personality! His eyes add so much and I am so bummed that I can't show you guys the whole picture.

Hands in his pockets!



Care Packages

We have sent off our first care package!

The package has been sent to Canada first where a sweet adoptive mom

has been kind enough to take it to our kiddos for us.

 

She is not completely sure when she will be able to travel.

She is coming up against some road blocks so were praying everything works out for her.

 

We will most likely get pictures of them opening their care packages and I can't wait!

 

We bought them both crocks, an outfit, cookies, and a photo book of our family.

We got Boaz a toy backhoe...just like daddies and Isryelle got a little doll.
We also packed disposable cameras.

It is fun getting to buy things for our kids for the first time!



The outfits are from Costco.  Boaz's come with shorts, shirt, and onsie. Isryelle's is just a shirt and leggings.  They were only $8!

I thought these crocks were adorable!  The doll is like the size of my thumb...so cute!

I loved little things when I was Isryelle's age.

That backhoe actually makes noises.  That tie die thing is the photo album.  The one in this picuture is Isryelle's and it says "hope" on it.  Boaz's is Blue and says "believe".

 

We stuffed everything into these two bags and wrote their names on them.

The camera's are so the foster mom can take pictures of the kid's every day lives and then when we go to pick them up, we can get the cameras.

 

All Ready to go!

 

Simply Amazed for the Second Time Today!

As you all know, this morning we found out we got a $10,000 grant.

 

What I didn't tell you was about my prayer yesterday.  I was driving in the car,

feeling a little overwhelmed about how difficult this process is.

I prayed that if waiting for the money was not needed for our spiritual growth,

that God would supply as much as the money now as possible.

I prayed that God would be merciful and provide the money we needed now.

I honestly just wanted to feel like we were getting closer.

I never expected God to completely answer my prayers.

 

This morning I was speechless and amazed how how good God is.

Tonight, it got even better.

We had friends give us $5,000!

What?!?!

 

They are not just friends, but friends who are trying to start their adoption. 

They are people who just like us are not sure where the money will come from to complete their adoption.

They are people who will have to fund raise and pray like crazy throughout their process.

I don't know where this $5,000 came from but I know that they were called by God to give it instead of use it.

We were so blessed by their hearts tonight!  They make us want to be more Godly people.

 

So this means that yesterday, we needed to come up with $25,000 in the next few months not including travel.

Today we need to come up with only $10,000 not including travel!

 

We are so thankful that the Lord loves us and our kids so much that he is providing.

We are thankful for people who are willing to sacrifice to bring kids into families.

We are thankful that our God is huge and there is nothing he can not do!

Grant - Praise God!

We have a huge praise report.

We just got word today that we received a grant for $10,000!

Wow!

 

In the world of adoption, that is a huge grant.

God once again has reminded us that we are on the right track.

From time to time, I need a little reminder.

 

This grant means that we now need to come up with only $15,000 in the next few months.

That is not too bad at all.

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for God's provision.

He hears your prayers!

 

We have a couple more grant applications out so you could keep praying about those.

We are pretty excited to watch what God is doing.

dossier sent!

Our Congo dossier is complete and translated.   It has been sent to our coordinator who will soon forward it to our attorney in D.R.C.  if she has not already. We are praying we will be submitted to court pretty soon.

We have been told it could take a few weeks to a few months.

Meanwhile, you all can be praying about our finances.  We need $25,000 in a few months.  

Only God can make this possible!

Kiddo Update

We got an update on the kiddos today!

It is so fun to watch them grow and see them in their everyday lives. 

Our agency is beyond amazing!  When their staff goes to D.R.C. they take tons of pictures.  Not only do I get about 5-10 pics of our kids once or twice a month, but I get a bunch of pictures every few months when someone travels.  We are blessed to have over 100 pictures of our kids!

 

For the month of March, we got picture from the 13th and pictures from the 28th.  The kids are both so beautiful and already look so much older!

 

Isryelle

She has such a beautiful smile!  She has been a little sick the past month.  She started out with pink eye, has had some sort of stomach bug, has had a fever on and off, and to top it all off...she has lice and they shaved her head!  She has actually lost weight this month and we are praying for her health.  Regardless of her health, she still smiles for us in her update picture.  From the pictures, it looks like she likes to suck on her pointer finger.  Were learning her habits!

 

Her hair is so healthy and thick!  It will grow back fast!

March, 13th.  She gives us a little smile.

Such a little lady!

smiley!

 

Boaz

Our son is growing so fast already!  He has gained two pounds this month!  He is already losing a little bit of his baby face.  While his sister has recently gone bald, he is growing little fuzz on top of his head.  I love him with hair!  From the picture it looks like he really enjoys eating...makes sense with how much weight he is gaining.

Still waiting to see a smile with teeth.

Fuzzy!

This boy loves to eat!

Those little feet that I love!

 

I am pretty sure they have been told that we are their parents.  I told Gavin that they look much happier in their latest update than in the older pictures we have of them and he said he has been praying that they will know we are their parents and that we love them.  God is simply answering his prayers.  I hope they are excited to meet us!