It's been awhile...

So...I haven't written in this blog for quite awhile. I guess it has taken a little back seat to actually living life. :) I do however really want to document and journal this process for our little one and for others who find themselves wondering if God is leading them down this same journey.

What's been going on lately...
Well first about life in general: Our little buddy has started 4 year old preschool and he is loving it. Which makes this Momma's heart happy. He is playing soccer in a local Upwards league- which we love! He LOVES playing "defense" and does not want to move to far away from the goal. They don't actually have goalies, but he has pretty much claimed the position for himself. :) We just recently returned from a weekend beach trip and we are looking forward to celebrating the hubs' 33rd bday this week! I just realized recently that it is just about one year ago that we started our adoption journey. We told our parents our adoption news last year at the hub's bday dinner- wow, time really flies!!

 

Our adoption journey is moving along. We have completed our homestudy, completed our I 800-A application and we will be going to B'ham Friday to do our biometric fingerprints (sounds pretty official, right?!). We have also recently mailed in our application for an adoption grant from Lifesong. We are praying that we will receive one of their matching grants! No, we have not been matched with a child yet, and no we have no idea when that will be. We are hoping to have a referral maybe by next summer and travel by the end of next year. We have also done a lot more fundraising since I last wrote on this 'ole blog. We had a second yardsale- which raised $1000. We have sold jewelry (beautiful ceramic cross necklaces) and also made and sold AU an AL wooden door wreaths (huge props to my hubs for that).

What we have learned on this journey so far. It is hard... It is beautiful... It draws you closer to God. :)

Lately I have been thinking on the not so pretty side of adoption. The beginning part of a child's adoption story. The sin in this world that leads some children to be orphaned, abandoned, whose only hope of a family is through adoption. Adoption is beautiful- we see that in the Bible. As believers we were once lost, without hope, but through faith in Jesus Christ we are redeemed, forgiven, and adopted by our Heavenly Father. In this world, which is one wrought with sin, with every adoption comes pain, loss, grief, trauma, etc. Being orphaned or abandoned is not the best beginning for a child, to say the least. (and I am speaking on those children who were mistreated, abandoned, or left in orphanages. I am not speaking about the ones whose loving and brave birth parents chose life for their child and lovingly placed them with a forever family- that is a beautiful beginning). Some of these precious children have witnessed, and experienced more horrible situations than most adults have, and at such a young age. It hurts my heart. We are a people in need of a Savior. The hubs and I are not journeying down this adoption path in hopes of rescuing a child, because we can't do that. God is our only Rescuer. We are simply called to love, and for our family that looks like adoption. We are praying for God's mercy and protection over our little one's heart, mind, soul and body while we wait for her. We are praying that He begins to mold her heart, and prepare her heart to be able to bond with us. We pray that she will be able to accept our love and to one day be able to show love in return.

Little One,
Your big brother loves you so much already and talks about you often. How he will help you, and teach you things- like how to run fast and kick a ball. He is always wanting to buy you something. :)  He talks about where you will sit at the dinner table and how you might not know how to share- but that we will teach you. ;)
Mommy and Daddy love you too. It is amazing how you can love someone you've never met before, but it is true. You might not be growing in my tummy right now, but you are most definately growing in all of our hearts....

Our first yardsale fundraiser

So this past Sat, we had our first yardsale fundraiser. It. was. CRAZY...but oh, so wonderful as well. The best part was that God was written all over this sale (as He is everything :). We started planning for this yardsale back in Nov of last year. We had heard of so many adoptive families that had raised  money for their adoption funds with a yardsale. I thought that was a great and fairly "easy" thing to do, but we didn't have that much "stuff" for a yardsale. So, I put the word out on fb and around our church that if anyone was cleaning out for the New Year and getting rid of some stuff to let us know and we would be happy to come by and pick up any unwanted items. Well, we quickly learned that people wanted to help! What a blessing our family, friends, and church family were in providing donated yardsale items. My awesome parents happily let us take over  half of their garage to use as storage for our yardsale items. Well, by the end of Jan we slowly began taking over the other half as well. By the time our sale came around we had the entire garage filled- wall to wall, and floor to ceiling. I so wish I had taken a picture of it, but I forgot. :( We were blessed.

About three weeks before the yardsale we spent almost all day every Sat, organizing and pricing items. You should have seen the driveway- it looked like we were hoarders. haha We would have people drive by and slow down wondering what was going on. ;) The week before the yardsale the weather forecast did not look promising. It was predicitng a lot of rain and thunderstorms for our yardsale day. We were trying to be hopeful, knowing we could always do it another weekend, but ads had already gone out and a lot of work had been done. The Thurs before the sale Wes went around the area putting up signs advertising the yardsale. As soon as he had gotten the first sign hammered into the ground, he got back in his car, and it would not start. *sigh* (Oh, and it sarted raining). This is just three weeks after his car stopped on the interstate due to a broken belt. So, he had to once again have it towed. At this point I think my hubs was feeling a little disheartened, but he did not let it bother him too much. Well, Fri afternoon and night was spent doing more pricing and organizing. We wound up spending the night at my parents house, since we didn't go to bed until 12:00 and had planned on waking up at 5:00 to start setting up.

So, the morning of the sale I woke up with butterflies in my stomach. I really thought no one was going to come to the yardsale. After all this work, I just wanted people to atleast come. Well, they came! At 5:45 a.m.(while it was still dark), they came- lots of them!! I had no idea yardsale shoppers were so intense- I mean, this was like a sport to them. They came prepared, with their flashlights! I guess when we advertised a "HUGE" sale, they took notice. Wes had only gotten out there at 5:15 to start setting up, so when people came we still had stuff piled in the garage up to the ceiling. I thought we were in over our heads, but my awesome Dad quickly woke up after seeing the look on my face when I so kindly said, "HURRY!!" and come help. :) Soon my awesome mom in law arrived and was an amazing help getting stuff out and helping to take money. And my awesome mom kept our little bit happy and entertained inside. After E woke up, he came outside excited about helping with the yardsale, but he took one look at all the people in the yard and he ran back inside. I think at one point he said, "all those people are scary!" lol :)

So, from about 5:45 until 10:00 we had a yard FULL of shoppers. At one point a dark cloud came over head, and the wind picked up. I just knew it was about to rain, but all of a sudden the cloud was gone. From 10-11:30ish we still had a few people coming by, and by 12 we started putting up what we hadn't sold. Wes and I had hoped that between this yardsale and our second one we will be having in May, along with what we already had in savings, we would come up with the amount we owe for our secong big payment to Lifeline which is $2500 (due after our homestudy is complete). Well prior to our yardsale Sat we had $1000 saved already in our adoption funds. When we added up what we made from the yardsale the total was a little over $1500. Yep, I got teary eyed. So we made exactly what we needed, in only our first yardsale!! God provided, and in so many ways. Through friends and family who prayed, donated items, and gave us tables, God blessed us. Through the overwhelming amount of shoppers, God blessed us. Through the rain staying away, God blessed us. Through the extra amounts a few friends, and even strangers overpaid, who came by to shop our sale, God blessed us. However,even if it had been a rainout, even if no money had been made, even if no one came, God would still have been good to us, because He is good all the time.

Thank-you friends and family for encouraging us, and praying for us. We still have a long journey before we can bring our little one home, but we are one step closer!



Making signs and organizing clothes. This is the only pic I got of the entire yardsale :(



Our God is bigger!

I was going to write a whole long and wordy post about all the crazy things that have happened recently since the beginning of our adoption journey.  Many other friends who have walked this path of adoption before told me these kind of things would happen. It doesn't really matter what you want to call it. All that matters is that... Our God is bigger, and stronger! Is He bigger than having to deal with our once reliable fridge that all of a sudden broke a few months ago?? YES, God is bigger! Is He bigger than the extreme stress my hubs is all of a sudden under at work?? YES, God is bigger! Is He bigger than having to deal with the hubs' car (which is rather old, but completely paid for) breaking down in the middle of the interstate, having it towed, and paying to have it fixed?? YES! God is bigger!  We aren't scared, we aren't running, because we know the TRUTH! God is bigger!

Thoughts this morning...

This morning during Sunday School our teacher was teaching out of Esther. One thing he spoke of was how we should strive to glorify Christ in all we do. Well, my mind goes straight to our adoption (specifically our fundraising)- yes, I WAS listening, but my mind wandered for a moment ;). I start asking myself are we glorifying God in all that we do, including our adoption fundraising? hmmm...well, we are raising money to adopt a child into our family and that is a good thing! God loves adoption! He calls us to care for orphans and widows (through adoption, prayers, donation, etc...). However, the Bible also speaks of another adoption. Our adoption as believers. God FIRST loved us. He sent His Son to rescue us...ADOPT us. Jesus came to Earth and took on flesh, walking without sin, pefectly loving God the Father, perfectly loving us, dying a painful death on the cross, buried....RISEN!! ALIVE!! Why?? God knew we needed a Savior, a Rescuer, a Redeemer. We can not earn salvation on our own. Even on our best day, we are sinful. Through our faith in Christ, as we turn from our sins, and trust in Him as our Savior, we become Heirs. We are ADOPTED. Not by our own works, but by FAITH.

"and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." Romans 8:17

"he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will" Ephesians 1:5

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world" James 1:27

Ok, back to my thoughts in Sunday School. :) I realized that at times, as we work on our fundraising projects, I sometimes lose sight of what this is all about. Oh, I never forget that it is to help us bring home our new little one. I also know our fundraising is good and necessary, but it is about more than that. At times I become focused on getting donation items, how to store items, finding the best yard sale tips, how many puzzle pieces we have, or working on our new crosses we are making. While all of that is good, none of that really matters unless, God is being glorified through all of it. This shouldn't simply be about us. This should be about God, and striving to glorify him through our adoption process. God our Father, who first loved us, as believers adopted us! He sent His own Son to die for us... glorifying Him is what this should all be about.

We have been tremendously blessed by donation items for our yardsale, and puzzle pieces being bought. We are so thankful and humbled. I just ask and pray that when you think of our adoption, or donate items for our yardsale, or purchase a puzzle piece, you don't simply think of us. I pray that you think of our little one, I pray you think of all orphans worldwide (all 147,000,000), I pray you think of God's call to care for orphans, and mostly I pray you see how God first loved us. I pray you see that He wants us to come to Him, and trust in Him as our Savior. I pray you see how we too were once orphans, but as believers, we are ADOPTED, heirs of God, and that He is glorified.

First homestudy date set!!

So, we have our first homestudy planned for this Friday! We are so excited because this makes it feel like we are finally making some real progress! However, our house is out of control unorganized. I've got some major cleaning to do before our social worker comes over. Hey, I'm just keepin' it real folks. :) Somehow I've got to find time to get our little home nice and clean. :) Usually I can keep up with the day to day housework and cleaning, but lately I've dropped the ball. In my opinion time spent with E is more precious than a super tidy house. Oh, the necessities are still getting done, but real cleaning has been getting pushed aside lately, and I'm ok with that. I know there will be a day when I have a perfectly clean and organized house, but it will be a lot more quiet. A clean and tidy house will come, but little hearts that want you to read, drive cars, paint, and snuggle, will one day grow up. I'm going to enjoy it while I can. Therfore, if you come over to our house anytime soon you will not find perfection, but you will find happy and fun! That being said, it will get clean for our first homestudy. So friends, if you do want to see our home really clean and shiny drop by sometime Friday, because it might not last long. ;)

Here are a few pics of our everday...

Practicing our letter "E" in buzz jammies ofcourse!

Swingin' with Daddy

Reading books in our tent one rainy morning

A tender heart

Not really too much adoption news going on to share. We have been playing phone tag with our social worker the last day or so trying to schedule our first homestudy. Other than that we've been cleaning out, decluttering, and pulling stuff to include in our yard sale fundraiser coming up in the end of March (March 23rd to be exact). Let me take a moment to add how BLESSED we have been by family and friends who have offered items for us to include in our yard sale! Wow! We have acutally never put together our own yard sale and we are about to organize a fairly large one. Go big or go home right?! haha ;)  Pray with us for nice weather and good turnouts!!

On another note I just wanted to jot down for my memory sake E's sweet prayer tonight at bed time. God truely blessed us with our little bit who has such a tender heart. While he was saying his "night night" prayers he added at the end, "...and God please don't let my brother or sister, who is far away, be sad or scared. Help us to get there fast. Amen."  Melt a momma's heart! :)  We might not know who our new little one is, but God does and we are all praying for Him to comfort him/her until we can do so. We might not even be close to having a referral yet, but E is already learning and growing into the super, awesome big brother I know he will one day be!

Puzzle Fundraiser update

So, the puzzle fundraiser is off to a pretty good start! It is so fun piecing it together while daydreaming about how it will one day be hanging in our new little one's room. :) If you enjoy blogging please consider sharing this link on your blog, in hopes of connecting us with more readers and in hopes of growing our puzzle more and more! We have some other fundraisers we are currently working on including a yard sale in the spring (probably more than one, since we have been blessed tremendously by friends and family donating items and)! Also, my hubs and I are in the process of working on making wooden wall hangings that we are going to sell (all profit for our adoption). So, between work, school, adoption paperwork, fundraising projects, and enjoying our precious family time we have had lots going on. Friday we have a phone conference with Lifeline and then our homestudy will hopefully get scheduled. We are ready. More than ready.

The started puzzle! Pray with us that it will keep growing and through our friends and family it will one day all be pieced together!

Thankful and blessed! God is so good!

The big 4!!

Welcome to all readers from Kellys Korner! Keep reading the posts further down to learn more about our adoption fundraiser and how God led us to adoption! He is Good...All the time!


Our little bit turned 4 this past Friday. *sigh* :) Four?? Really?? How is that even possible?!! He had been counting down the "night nights" for a week before his birthday. Every morning he'd ask, "am I four today?" and "I can't believe my eyes, that I'm gonna be four!!" He makes me smile- everyday! God truely blessed our lives when He gave us our little bit. He is a miracle and we are truely thankful for him everyday. I never knew how much I'd absolutely LOVE having a little boy, until he was born!! He is the sweetest, friendliest, most thoughful, loving, happy, silly, fast runnin', cars drivin', joke tellin', baseball playin', awesomest (I know that's not a word, but I'm using it anyway- ha) 4 year old around! :) Our lives were changed in the most wonderful way when he was born 4 years ago. I never realized how fast 4 years could go. Hopefully the next 4 won't go by so fast!! Oh, and let me add that he is so excited to one day bring homw his little brother or sister. He talks about how he will help take care of them- all the time. :)  He just plain makes my heart happy!!

So on the big day he had birthday chapel at his preschool. He got to up on stage with the other children having birthdays and tell his name and how old he was. He did great!! After that we had a little party in his classroom for snacktime and then he got to go home early from school. While we waited for time to go meet Daddy at the firestation for lunch ,we went and hung out at Toys R Us. We just roamed the aisles and ofcourse he sat in all the big cars. :) We then took lunch to have with Daddy at the firestation. When we got back home he wanted to ride his bike, so we went on a good little walk. For dinner (per the birthday boys request) we had chocolate chip pancakes!! yum :) Later that evening Granmom, Grandad, and Gammy came over to help celebrate with some presents and a brownie cake!! We had a wonderful day!!

Love you our sweet "little bit" and we are so thankful for you!

2013 brings... our FIRST ADOPTION FUNDRAISER!!

Happy New Year!! I can't believe it is 2013!! I can't believe our little boy will be 4 in less than two weeks (and that his first season of t-ball is right around the corner!). *sigh* :) I can't beileve this month brings the beginning of our first homestudy (this is getting real)!  I can't believe that we could potentially know who our new little one will be by the end of 2013!! Wow! This could be a very big year for us folks! :)

So, with a new year comes our very first adoption fundraiser!! It is going to be a puzzle fundraiser and it will be ongoing throughout our adoption process or until the puzzle is completed. Here is how it will work:

Wes and I have chosen a beautiful 500 pc puzzle with a picture of Noah's Ark on it. For a $10.00 donation (all going to our adoption fees) we will write your name on the back of one puzzle piece. When we have the puzzle completed we will frame it in a double sided glass frame and it will hang in the room of our new little one to be! On the front will be the beautiful Noah's Ark picture and on the back will be the names of  all the people who have donated  to our puzzle fundraiser. I think this will be a wonderful way for our new little one to see how many people loved and prayed for him/her before we even brought our little one home. If you would like to be a "piece to our adoption" please see below for how to donate! :)

How to contribute to our adoption by sponsoring a puzzle piece:

Sponsor One Puzzle Piece for $10 donation 
Sponsor Mulitple Pieces for $10 each
Donate whatever amount you feel led to give ($10.00 is merely a suggestion. No amount is too small! )


You may choose to sponsor a single piece, or if you want to donate a larger amount, you may sponsor as many pieces as you desire.

How to Donate:
*All donations will be placed in a seperate savings account we have made, specifically for our adoption*

• Click on the Donate button on the right sidebar and pay securely through PayPal
• Write a check or donate cash and hand deliver to myself or Wes (Checks can be made payable to us)
• Mail a check to us (email me at htorode@yahoo.com  for our address)

                                             
                                              
                                             Here is the beautiful puzzle we have chosen!!

 

Please help spread the word by sharing this on facebook, email, twitter, or your own blog! The puzzle has 500 pieces, so it has the potential to raise $5000. That would greatly help our adoption fund!

So, this does feel a little strange. Seeking help, asking for contributions from others- it's a little unnatural, but I have been encouraged by others to go forward with and do some fundraising to help bring our little one home. We have and are doing things on our own as well to save for our adopiton including: saving, working overtime hours when available, not vacationing, planning a yardsale in the spring, etc., but the cost of adoption is great (for a China adoption the cost is right at $30,000) and I know we can't do this on our own and I'm beginning to realize that, that is ok. Some of you may ask: Well, why then are they adopting if they can't afford it?? First let me say, being able to "afford" to raise a child is completely different from being able to afford the $30,000 upfront fee it cost to bring that child home. My second answer to that question is: God told us to and we are choosing to obey. No, He didn't bellow down from the sky with audible words, but He did speak to our hearts. For a non-believer that might be hard to understand, but it's the truth. God works in amazing ways and there are times when those who know Christ as their Savior can be completely certain that God is speaking to their hearts. Through prayer, through His word, through simple tugging and nudging on one's heart through the Holy Spirit, God speaks. He placed adoption on our hearts and for that we are certain. :) So, like I've said before, our trust is not in our own finances, but in Him alone. Pursuing adoption may mean that we won't have fancy new cars, or a shiny new house, or an abundance of material things and that is ok with us. We are gaining something far better! Not only will we, Lord willing, bring our new little one home one day, but we are living for Christ and that is the best gain in life!

Wes, Ethan, and I have already been blessed tremendously by amazing friends, family, and community that have enouraged us and are continuously praying for us! It makes my heart happy knowing that our new little one will be welcomed and embraced by all of our friends and family!! Thank-you for sharing this journey with us!