Wes and I have been blessed to receive a matching grant from a wonderful non-profit organization, Lifesong for Orphans. Lifesong, in partnership with our church Morningview Baptist, has committed a $7500 matching grant to help us bring our daughter home!! This means all donations that are sent to Lifesong, in our name, will then be doubled! If we meet our grant allowance of $7500 we could have raised $15,000! We are incredibly thankful for this opportunity we have been given. Wes and I have chosen to follow God's call to adopt our precious daughter from China. When we first began this adoption journey the cost of an adoption seemed like a huge hurdle we would never be able to jump on our own. However, we took a giant step of faith and followed God's call to our lives, knowing and trusting in His provision. Ever step we have made He has been there. Every dollar so far has been provided for, through yardsales, donations, overtime at work, etc. We have witnessed God's goodness, faithfulness, and provision throughout our adoption journey, and what a beautiful thing to be able to experience! At this point we still are praying to raise the necessary travel expenses for when we go to China to bring our daughter home. In-country travel is an estimated $10,000-12,000 plus the cost of our plane ticket. Please pray and consider helping in one or two ways:
1- Pray God would tenderly care for our daughter in China until we are able to bring her home; that God would prepare Ethan for the upcoming changes to our family; and that God will give us wisdom as we raise them both to know Jesus.
2- Consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us meet our $7500 matching grant and cover the remaining adoption expenses. 100% of donated funds will go to our adoption
If you would like to donate, please make checks payable to Lifesong for Orphans. In the memo note, "Bailey #4173" to assure it goes to the correct account. Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744. Lifesong has been blessed with a partner that underwrites all U.S. administrative and fund-raising costs (TMG Foundation and other partners). That means 100% of your donation will go directly to our adoption!
Another option is to give online. Go to www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate. Select "Give to an Adoptive Family." Complete the online form and fill in "Family Account Number" and "Family Name" fields. (Our acct number is #4173 and family name is Bailey).
Thank-you for prayerfully considering making a donation. However of most importance of your prayers!! Please pray for us as we continue this journey and we grow closer and closer to bringing our daughter home!
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Saturday, October 19, 2013
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....
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....
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
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!
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!
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| Making signs and organizing clothes. This is the only pic I got of the entire yardsale :( |
Thursday, March 7, 2013
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!
Sunday, February 24, 2013
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.
"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.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
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...
Here are a few pics of our everday...
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| Practicing our letter "E" in buzz jammies ofcourse! |
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| Swingin' with Daddy |
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| Reading books in our tent one rainy morning |
Sunday, February 10, 2013
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!
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!
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
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.
Thankful and blessed! God is so good!
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| 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! |
Monday, January 14, 2013
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!
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!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
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*
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!
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!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
"What country are y'all adopting from...."
Up until now we have not "officially" announced where we were hoping to adopt from. Many people do know and if anyone asked us in person we would tell them where we hoped God was leading us too. We have been waiting until we were officially excepted into the program to announce that.... God is leading us to CHINA to bring home our future little one!! We will be adopting from China's special needs program and are so excited to be moving along with this process. We haven't publically announced it sooner because the China program has many requirements that have to be met and red tape that you have to go through. God faithfully allowed us to meet those requirements.
So, you might now be asking, "why China?" That's a good question! Here goes an answer:
For several years now, as I have said before, Wes and I have been talking about adoption and how we one day wanted to pursue it. Well, just like when you think about what things will be like when you are pregnant, we thought about what our future adoption might be like. For years, Wes has always had China on his heart whenever we thought or talked about adoption. That is just how he always pictured it (and let me add that it melts my heart knowing that God placed that desire on Wes' heart first)! We believe that for the past several years God has been tugging on our hearts and slowly preparing us for when He would one day be leading us to China. Now, let me say that when we officially began our adoption a few months ago, we did not automatically know we would be going to China to bring our little one home. We made a couple of detours and struggled with the decision. Why?? I have no idea. It seems so obvious now that China was always the right choice, but it wasn't always always so clear. It was mostly me and my stuggles with, "how do we know for sure where God wants us to go..." kind of a thing. I mean how do you decide where your next child will be coming from and who that child will be?? There are around 147 MILLION orphans in this world, how am I too know from which country will we make it ONE LESS??? How am I too decide who will no longer be labled an orphan?? How am I to decide who will be the one with a chance to hear the gospel?? How am I to decide who will not be a child who "ages out" of the orphange??? How am I to decide who will have the chance to having a loving family to trust, depend on, and embrace??? I did NOT want that responsibility of decison making (I'm the worst decision maker)! But wait a minute, I'm NOT the one making these decisions. Praise the Lord!! Crazy me would sometimes forget that I was NOT the one leading this show. Yep, sometimes I stressed out over how to make these huge decisions. My sinful self would forget that our God is soverign. HE is the One leading this show, not me! He is in control of all things and He already knew who our little one was and which country he or she would be coming from. Comforting indeed. All Wes and I needed to do was to trust Him. After praying a lot, and as we began the adoption process, it slowly became obvious that this is where God wants us to be. There are also some "practical" reasons for why we chose China, that fit into "our" God given desires.
A little about the China special needs program:
In order to control population growth, China implemented a “one-child policy” which has resulted in children being abandoned. China does not allow families to place their children for adoption, so if a family cannot care for a child they may have no choice but to abandon the child in a place where the baby will hopefully be found quickly and placed in an orphanage. (from Lifeline website)
The children available for adoption from China are abandoned with no identifiable blood relatives and no identifying information. (from the Lifeline website)
There are many children with minor/correctable special needs and also more major/serious special needs that are languishing in an orphanage. Because of this "one-child policy" China has, many parents are looking for the "perfect" child. Therefore if a child is born with a "need" they are at times abandoned.
What our adoption might look like:
We are hoping for a referral of a boy or girl around 18 months when they come home. Our little one will have special needs, likely minor or correctable (cleft lip/pallate, minor heart defects, blood issues, extra digit or missing digit, are some examples of the types of needs we might see). With our financial situation and where we are in life this is what we think we can best handle. We are hoping the entire adoption process will be no more than 18 months from now (that is the timeline they are currently giving us). We will both travel to China for I think 7-14 days and then be able to bring our little one home. China only requires one trip, which is awesome!! (and yes, for those who know me well, know I am dreadfully afraid of getting on an airplane- I'm choosing to ignore the whole 14 hours in the sky fact, until I have to face it. haha In all seriousness, it really it is a big fear, but I know God is greater than my fears and I'm trusting in Him)!
We are excited beyond words and can't wait to see who God will be bringing into our family!!
Next on our adoption "to-do" list is to schedule our first homestudy!
Please continue to pray for God to fill us with wisdom in all decisions and pray for God to provide for us financially!
So, you might now be asking, "why China?" That's a good question! Here goes an answer:
For several years now, as I have said before, Wes and I have been talking about adoption and how we one day wanted to pursue it. Well, just like when you think about what things will be like when you are pregnant, we thought about what our future adoption might be like. For years, Wes has always had China on his heart whenever we thought or talked about adoption. That is just how he always pictured it (and let me add that it melts my heart knowing that God placed that desire on Wes' heart first)! We believe that for the past several years God has been tugging on our hearts and slowly preparing us for when He would one day be leading us to China. Now, let me say that when we officially began our adoption a few months ago, we did not automatically know we would be going to China to bring our little one home. We made a couple of detours and struggled with the decision. Why?? I have no idea. It seems so obvious now that China was always the right choice, but it wasn't always always so clear. It was mostly me and my stuggles with, "how do we know for sure where God wants us to go..." kind of a thing. I mean how do you decide where your next child will be coming from and who that child will be?? There are around 147 MILLION orphans in this world, how am I too know from which country will we make it ONE LESS??? How am I too decide who will no longer be labled an orphan?? How am I to decide who will be the one with a chance to hear the gospel?? How am I to decide who will not be a child who "ages out" of the orphange??? How am I to decide who will have the chance to having a loving family to trust, depend on, and embrace??? I did NOT want that responsibility of decison making (I'm the worst decision maker)! But wait a minute, I'm NOT the one making these decisions. Praise the Lord!! Crazy me would sometimes forget that I was NOT the one leading this show. Yep, sometimes I stressed out over how to make these huge decisions. My sinful self would forget that our God is soverign. HE is the One leading this show, not me! He is in control of all things and He already knew who our little one was and which country he or she would be coming from. Comforting indeed. All Wes and I needed to do was to trust Him. After praying a lot, and as we began the adoption process, it slowly became obvious that this is where God wants us to be. There are also some "practical" reasons for why we chose China, that fit into "our" God given desires.
A little about the China special needs program:
What our adoption might look like:
We are hoping for a referral of a boy or girl around 18 months when they come home. Our little one will have special needs, likely minor or correctable (cleft lip/pallate, minor heart defects, blood issues, extra digit or missing digit, are some examples of the types of needs we might see). With our financial situation and where we are in life this is what we think we can best handle. We are hoping the entire adoption process will be no more than 18 months from now (that is the timeline they are currently giving us). We will both travel to China for I think 7-14 days and then be able to bring our little one home. China only requires one trip, which is awesome!! (and yes, for those who know me well, know I am dreadfully afraid of getting on an airplane- I'm choosing to ignore the whole 14 hours in the sky fact, until I have to face it. haha In all seriousness, it really it is a big fear, but I know God is greater than my fears and I'm trusting in Him)!
We are excited beyond words and can't wait to see who God will be bringing into our family!!
Next on our adoption "to-do" list is to schedule our first homestudy!
Please continue to pray for God to fill us with wisdom in all decisions and pray for God to provide for us financially!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Encouragement!!
I just want to give a shout out to my sweet cousin, Kristin Torode. About a month ago she contacted me about participating in the "Shop for a Cause" fundraiser at her church. She explained how there would be a $5 entry fee at the door and all of that money would go to their church's adoption fund! How awesome is that! She then went on to tell me that she wanted to sew her adorable, awesome bibs (my desription, not hers- and they truely are adorable!) and sell them at the event. Each person who has a table can donate their profit to whatever cause they choose. Well, she wanted to give the profits from selling her bibs to our own adoption fund!! :) Not too many people selflessly choose to take time out of their own day, to serve someone else. She did though (and mind you she has 4 of her own little ones at home!). Can you say a godly heart! Her offer alone was such an encouragement to our family!
Wes and I thouroughly enjoyed this event! It was so awesome to walk around the room, looking at each table and see the beautiful crafts and products that were being sold. Even better than that though, was meeting the people at each booth. It was so much fun to talk to everyone and hear about their "stories." Many families were in the adoption process themselves, and it was such a joy to hear their stories and where they were adopting from, etc. Adoption is not for the "faint at heart." I have already seen a few ups and downs and we have barely begun the process. So, it was just the encouragement we needed to talk with others who have been where we are now- at the very beginning and at a point where the road seems so long and possibly impossible. Just what we needed. God is awesome!
Thanks Kristin for your selfess, loving, godly heart!
(my only regret is I didn't think to get a picture with her and her adorable table of bibs- *sigh*) :)
Wes and I thouroughly enjoyed this event! It was so awesome to walk around the room, looking at each table and see the beautiful crafts and products that were being sold. Even better than that though, was meeting the people at each booth. It was so much fun to talk to everyone and hear about their "stories." Many families were in the adoption process themselves, and it was such a joy to hear their stories and where they were adopting from, etc. Adoption is not for the "faint at heart." I have already seen a few ups and downs and we have barely begun the process. So, it was just the encouragement we needed to talk with others who have been where we are now- at the very beginning and at a point where the road seems so long and possibly impossible. Just what we needed. God is awesome!
Thanks Kristin for your selfess, loving, godly heart!
(my only regret is I didn't think to get a picture with her and her adorable table of bibs- *sigh*) :)
Monday, November 26, 2012
Matthew 19:26
So, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with our families! LOTS of yummy food, the Macy's parade, and awesome family!! Wes and I experienced our first early morning black friday shopping at Target (an experience indeed-ha)! Ofcourse Sat, we watched the Iron Bowl. It was a tough one to swallow. I'm pretty sure around the 3rd quarter I spied my hubs asleep- you know the game is a loss, when Wes is sleeping and working during then second half-lol! Oh well, maybe next year, right??!!
We talked with Ethan throughout the month about being thankful. Each morning (ok, so only the mornings I remembered) we all said what we were thankful for that day and then we added it to our "thankful tree". We started off doing pretty good, but about two weeks into Nov, I would always forget to write down what we were thankful for and add it to our tree. So, the idea was pretty good, but I was not so good with the follow through. Atleast it got us talking about thankfulness. :)
Mostly we are thankful for God's grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, patience, and the many abundant blessings He has given our family, especially our Lord and Savior! We are thankful for our wonderful and loving family and friends! We are thankful Wes has a career that he enjoys and can support our family, allowing me to stay home and cherish these moments with Ethan (and work at my very part-time job which is super fun!). We are thankful for our first little miracle, Ethan who is almost 4!?! (Where, oh where, does the time go?!) We are thankful He has led us to grow our family and make one less orphan in this world through adoption! We are thankful His timing is now!
We are thankful God is soverign in all things. We are thankful that nothing is impossible with God. I needed to remind myself of this truth the other night. :) I kind of lost it. hehe ;) I started worrying about how we were going to finance this adoption without going into major debt that we can't afford. We have strived as a family to be debt free and for the most part (besides our mortgage) God has allowed us to live within our means. When we started praying and thinking about beginning an adoption, the financial side was the part we struggled mostly with. Most people know adoption is expensive. That is the most common comment I get when I talk with others about our adoption. I think I've heard some form of the phrase: "isn't adoption very expensive?!" numerous times. Yes, it is expensive and no, we don't have a stockpile of money or a magic money tree growing in our backyard (wouldn't that be nice! ha). However, we know this is God's plan for our family. He brought us here and Lord willing, we will bring a new little one home one day through adoption. Therefore, we are trusting in His provision. It is a giant leap of faith, but isn't that a great place to be! So, the other night I was struggling with how we were going to afford this adoption, thinking to myself: "There is NO way, no way possible for us to finance this adoption without major debt. How are we going to do this?" and without a pause in thought, God reminded me of this simple and great truth, "...with God, all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
We are thankful for His truth, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
And because all posts are better with pictures, here are a few pics from when we got our Christmas tree this weekend:
We talked with Ethan throughout the month about being thankful. Each morning (ok, so only the mornings I remembered) we all said what we were thankful for that day and then we added it to our "thankful tree". We started off doing pretty good, but about two weeks into Nov, I would always forget to write down what we were thankful for and add it to our tree. So, the idea was pretty good, but I was not so good with the follow through. Atleast it got us talking about thankfulness. :)
Mostly we are thankful for God's grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, patience, and the many abundant blessings He has given our family, especially our Lord and Savior! We are thankful for our wonderful and loving family and friends! We are thankful Wes has a career that he enjoys and can support our family, allowing me to stay home and cherish these moments with Ethan (and work at my very part-time job which is super fun!). We are thankful for our first little miracle, Ethan who is almost 4!?! (Where, oh where, does the time go?!) We are thankful He has led us to grow our family and make one less orphan in this world through adoption! We are thankful His timing is now!
We are thankful God is soverign in all things. We are thankful that nothing is impossible with God. I needed to remind myself of this truth the other night. :) I kind of lost it. hehe ;) I started worrying about how we were going to finance this adoption without going into major debt that we can't afford. We have strived as a family to be debt free and for the most part (besides our mortgage) God has allowed us to live within our means. When we started praying and thinking about beginning an adoption, the financial side was the part we struggled mostly with. Most people know adoption is expensive. That is the most common comment I get when I talk with others about our adoption. I think I've heard some form of the phrase: "isn't adoption very expensive?!" numerous times. Yes, it is expensive and no, we don't have a stockpile of money or a magic money tree growing in our backyard (wouldn't that be nice! ha). However, we know this is God's plan for our family. He brought us here and Lord willing, we will bring a new little one home one day through adoption. Therefore, we are trusting in His provision. It is a giant leap of faith, but isn't that a great place to be! So, the other night I was struggling with how we were going to afford this adoption, thinking to myself: "There is NO way, no way possible for us to finance this adoption without major debt. How are we going to do this?" and without a pause in thought, God reminded me of this simple and great truth, "...with God, all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
We are thankful for His truth, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
And because all posts are better with pictures, here are a few pics from when we got our Christmas tree this weekend:
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| Ethan helping Daddy look at Christmas trees |
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| Ethan wanted to take a picture of Mommy and Daddy :) |
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| Playing in the leaves as Wes put out our Christmas lights |
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Inch by inch...
Inch by inch, slowly but surely, we are moving along with our adoption. We finally got our fingerprints and background check application in the mail! On a side note, am I the only one who thought police and sheriffs still made fingerprints the old fashioned way like they do in movies? You know, pressing your finger onto a big ink pad and then stamping it down on paper. Well, I was wrong! lol Who would've thought that they have caught up with the times like the rest of the world! lol! FYI, fingerprints are now done by a computer for those of you wondering. ;) Anyways, we would have mailed them last week, but as I was walking out the door to mail them, I realized we needed to make a copy of the background check application and send it to Lifeline as well. So, finally copies were made and then to the post office we headed. This is the first "big" step which comes right along with our first "big" payment. We are trusting in the Lord's provision here people! :) Next on the list is a phone conference with Lifeline, and scheduling our first homestudy. So, yes we are moving along with the process- a little more slowly than we would like, but that is just the way it seems to be falling. It's all good! You know why? Because God is All good, All the time! We are happy to move through our adoption process a little slowly if that is where God wants us to be. However, if it's still going slowly 6 months or a year from now check back with me. I might then be struggling with contentment and patience! haha ;)
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| Our fingerprints and some paperwork. |
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| Paperwork on it's way to Lifeline. Yep, that's my little buddy not wanting to have anything to do with looking at the camera. Pretty typical these days :) |
Monday, November 12, 2012
A link to a great blog...
I love her blog and thought this was pretty interesting. Although we have just begun our adoption journey we already have heard phrases that make us do a double take sometimes. :) We welcome questions and conversation about our adoption process. Thankfully, we have not come across anyone with a negative attitude toward our decision to adopt- we are blessed with awesome family and friends who love adoption as well! Click on the link below:
It's Almost Naptime!: How to respectfully ask questions about adoption: Adoption answers we are too polite to say out loud by: addylawson As an adoptee, I have also had people come up to me more times...
It's Almost Naptime!: How to respectfully ask questions about adoption: Adoption answers we are too polite to say out loud by: addylawson As an adoptee, I have also had people come up to me more times...
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Why adoption?? Why now??
Well, the most simple answer to this question is that God has led us to adoption, and we are simply following Him. :) The longer answer is that Wes and I have always had a heart for adoption. We have so much love in our family and we have and know the love of Christ. How can we not desire to share that love and grow our family. Yes, we have struggled through infertility, but that is not what led us to adoption. We are adopting because we prayed for God's desires to be our desires. God loves adoption. As believers, He first adopted us. We are adopting because through God alone, we can help there to be one less orphan in this world. We are adopting because we want to simply love another child into our family! After being blessed with our first son Ethan, we new one day that adoption would be a part of our family. We just didn't know when God would lead us there. Through His soverignty, and His perfect timing, that time is now.
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
Galatians 4:4-6 - But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father."
Why international adoption?
Well, why not?? ;) God calls different people to adoption in many different ways. He also places different desires on each person's heart. So why are we adopting internationally? Easy answer, God gave us the desire to do so, we are simply following Him.
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
Galatians 4:4-6 - But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father."
Psalm 68:5-6 - Father to the fatherless, defender of widows- this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
God places the lonely in families..
God places the lonely in families..
Why international adoption?
Well, why not?? ;) God calls different people to adoption in many different ways. He also places different desires on each person's heart. So why are we adopting internationally? Easy answer, God gave us the desire to do so, we are simply following Him.
Orphan Care Sunday- Nov 4th, 2012
Wes and I were given the opportunity to share our testimony of how God has led us to adoption, during Orphan Care Sunday at our church. Let me just say I am not a public speaker, not in any way. I usually run very fast from any public speaking. However, when God gives you an opportunity to share His goodness, and faithfulness in your life, how do you say no?!! :) So, we nervously accepted the opportunity and shared our testimony with our church family. God is so good and gracious, that He allowed me to get through our testimony with out breaking down in tears, or passing out! haha ;)
Before reading this please know that God calls people to adoption in many different ways. This is how He called our family. We are not adopting because of infertility or because we haven't yet had a second child biologically. Yes, we have struggled through infertility, but that is not why we are adopting. We are adopting because God loves adoption. We are adopting because we prayed for His desires to be our desires. We are adopting because through God, we can help make one less orphan in our world. We are adopting because we can't wait to love on our new "little one!" It is simple, God led us to GO NOW and adopt! Our hearts have always known adoption would one day be a part of our family, but God chose for us to go now. This is simply how His perfect timing came to be.
We are sharing it because we want God to be glorified.
Our testimony:
Psalm 68:5-6
Before reading this please know that God calls people to adoption in many different ways. This is how He called our family. We are not adopting because of infertility or because we haven't yet had a second child biologically. Yes, we have struggled through infertility, but that is not why we are adopting. We are adopting because God loves adoption. We are adopting because we prayed for His desires to be our desires. We are adopting because through God, we can help make one less orphan in our world. We are adopting because we can't wait to love on our new "little one!" It is simple, God led us to GO NOW and adopt! Our hearts have always known adoption would one day be a part of our family, but God chose for us to go now. This is simply how His perfect timing came to be.
We are sharing it because we want God to be glorified.
Our testimony:
Psalm 68:5-6
Father to the fatherless, defender of widows-
this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
God places the lonely in families
this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
God places the lonely in families
. Well, we are excited to announce that God has led us to grow our family through adoption! We have just started this adoption journey and are at the very beginning of the process. We are with a wonderful Christian agency Lifeline Children's Services and are so blessed to be working with them. We know we will be pursuing an international adoption, however we are still praying about what country God is leading us to. Heather and I have always had a heart for adoption and have known since before Ethan was born that adoption was going to be part of our family. I remember sitting at the dinner table one night with Heather and Ethan and comenting on how God has blessed our family so much. Not only do we an abundant amount of love in our family, but we have and know the perfect love of Christ. We started talking about adoption and how we have been adopted by God and are now His children. We just knew that we wanted to share the love in our family and the the love of Christ with a child who may never experience that.
Like I said we have always had a desire for adoption, but we had "our own plan" as to when we would pursue an adoption. After we had Ethan we knew we wanted to evetually grow our family. "Our plan" was that we would have a second pregnancy and then years down the road, when we had saved more financially we would pursue an adoption. Well, God had a better paln for us and we are so thankful!
What I would like for you to get from our testimony is not that we struggled through some trials (everyone goes through trials at some point), but that God's grace was and is sufficient for us. It is His grace and His soverignty that has brought us to this awesome blessing of adopiton! Anyways, like Wes said, for a long ttime we knew adoption was going to be part of our family. However God's plan and our plan looked a little different. About a year and a half ago God placed the desire on our hearts to grow our family. About 3 months later we found out we were pregnant and ofcourse we were SO excited. Sadly, howerver shortly after we found out we were pregnant, we lost the oregnancy and had an early misscarriage. 3 months after that in Oct of last year we found out we were again pregnant. We were so excited, and rejoiced. However, once again we had another early miscarriage. That was probably the hardest time Wes and I had ever experienced in our married lives togetrher. To have the excitement, joy and promise of a new life and then it so quickly taken away is hard. We struggled. A lot. However, it was during those moments of pain and the months that followed, God was so graicous and faithful to us. We prayed and asked God to fill our hearts with joy. Even though we were aching, to please fill our hearts with joy. Joy in the many blessing He has already given us, joy in the goodness of God, and joy in Christ our Savior. He was faithful. He allowed us to be joyful in our sturggles. Not that it wasn't ever hard. Not that it wasn't ever painful. But we were able to see the joy in the satifaction of Christ and His goodness.
What I would like for you to get from our testimony is not that we struggled through some trials (everyone goes through trials at some point), but that God's grace was and is sufficient for us. It is His grace and His soverignty that has brought us to this awesome blessing of adopiton! Anyways, like Wes said, for a long ttime we knew adoption was going to be part of our family. However God's plan and our plan looked a little different. About a year and a half ago God placed the desire on our hearts to grow our family. About 3 months later we found out we were pregnant and ofcourse we were SO excited. Sadly, howerver shortly after we found out we were pregnant, we lost the oregnancy and had an early misscarriage. 3 months after that in Oct of last year we found out we were again pregnant. We were so excited, and rejoiced. However, once again we had another early miscarriage. That was probably the hardest time Wes and I had ever experienced in our married lives togetrher. To have the excitement, joy and promise of a new life and then it so quickly taken away is hard. We struggled. A lot. However, it was during those moments of pain and the months that followed, God was so graicous and faithful to us. We prayed and asked God to fill our hearts with joy. Even though we were aching, to please fill our hearts with joy. Joy in the many blessing He has already given us, joy in the goodness of God, and joy in Christ our Savior. He was faithful. He allowed us to be joyful in our sturggles. Not that it wasn't ever hard. Not that it wasn't ever painful. But we were able to see the joy in the satifaction of Christ and His goodness.
A couple of months ago in Sept we knew God was saying to go now! Stop tip toeing around, and just go. Trust Me and start this adoption journey. Well, as excited about this as we were, there was just something holding me back. And that was just heartache for the two miscarriages we had experienced and the aching and longing for a second healthy pregnancy. Well, I prayed and said God, if you want us to go now. To adopt now, we are ready. I prayed and said God, I can't heal my heart. I can't do it. I need help. Well, about two weeks later Wes and I "just happened" to experience another trial. Those two weeks that I went throught that trail were very hard. However, it was during those two weeks that all of a sudden what I once saw as important no longer was so very important. All I wanted was to come out of that trial I was experiencing, and get on the other side, so we could begin our adoption. He is faithful. He graciously answered my prayer. He used that trial I experienced for His good plan and for our good! God faithfully and graciously answered my prayer. John 13:7 says, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
So that kind of brings us to today. The very beginnign of our adoption journey! We are beyond excited to see the Lord working in our lives. We are beyond excitement to see who the child is that God has already chosen to be a prat of our family! We are thankful that God told us to go and adopt now. We are thankful He chose us for this adoption journey! We are thankful He gave us hearts to obey and follow Him!
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Friday, October 19, 2012
Our adoption journey begins...
8/26/2012
That's right today's the first day of our "adoption journey!" We mailed in our initial application to Lifeline Children's Services! This organization is so precious and all though we are barely beginning this process of adoption, I know this is where God wants us to begin. LCS is a Christian agency whose vision is to: "give children a hope and a future through Christian adoption, support, and care." They work with both domestic and international adoptions (which is great b/c we have no idea where God is going to lead us).
We are very excited to begin this journey. We have prayed for God's desires to become our desires. We have prayed that He gives us a heart to follow His will for our lives, so that He can be glorified! This is His timing and His will. He has chosen to give us this desire to follow through with an adoption now, and we are simply following, trusting, and obeying Him! Are we a little nervous? Yes! At this point we don't know what the aoption is going to look like (domestic/ international). *** updated: We now know God is leading us to adopt internationally, however we are still praying over what country He is leading us to adopt from.*** We don't know how long the process could take. Also, most nerve racking is, we don't know how we are going to afford to finance this adoption. However, we know this is God's will and our trust is in Him, not in our own finances.
We can't wait to meet you little one! We don't know where God will lead us to, to bring you home, but we promise to trust Him and we know He will guide us to you! We love you and are praying for you already!
Mailing our application!
That's right today's the first day of our "adoption journey!" We mailed in our initial application to Lifeline Children's Services! This organization is so precious and all though we are barely beginning this process of adoption, I know this is where God wants us to begin. LCS is a Christian agency whose vision is to: "give children a hope and a future through Christian adoption, support, and care." They work with both domestic and international adoptions (which is great b/c we have no idea where God is going to lead us).
We are very excited to begin this journey. We have prayed for God's desires to become our desires. We have prayed that He gives us a heart to follow His will for our lives, so that He can be glorified! This is His timing and His will. He has chosen to give us this desire to follow through with an adoption now, and we are simply following, trusting, and obeying Him! Are we a little nervous? Yes! At this point we don't know what the aoption is going to look like (domestic/ international). *** updated: We now know God is leading us to adopt internationally, however we are still praying over what country He is leading us to adopt from.*** We don't know how long the process could take. Also, most nerve racking is, we don't know how we are going to afford to finance this adoption. However, we know this is God's will and our trust is in Him, not in our own finances.
We can't wait to meet you little one! We don't know where God will lead us to, to bring you home, but we promise to trust Him and we know He will guide us to you! We love you and are praying for you already!
Picture of our application ready to be mailed! A lot of prayer went into to preparing this!
Mailing our application!
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