The other night we were discussing our "new brother and sister." I asked the kids what they thought our brother and sister were doing. Jackson said- "probably crying for food, clothes and a mommy and daddy." I immediately felt so sad to think how possible it is that he was speaking truth. However, he quickly followed it -"soon they will not be crying for that anymore."
How wonderful to think that also is true! One of these days our precious new siblings will be home with us. They will have yummy food, clean clothes and a loving family!! Isn't it amazing that even his young mind understands all this:)
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Our Paper Pregnancy
I am sure that when you read the title of this blog, you wondered what in the world it meant. Well, I was thinking tonight that we needed to update our blog- but the question is with what. We really do not have any new "news." We are just sort of waiting. So I thought I would share something a bit different.
I have heard that adoption is like a "paper pregnancy"- hence the name of this blog entry. A friend who has adopted twice before us, shared how adoption for her was similar to pregnancy. As I think about it, I see many parallels.
The beginning stages, with all of its paperwork, I guess would be similar to the early months of pregnancy. A time when there are many ups and downs. A time when you know you are pregnant/adopting, but it is still not real. You are not showing, you are just waiting. The paperwork and all the aches and pains that go with it are similar to morning sickness.
Well we are past that initial time and now we have moved on to wait for our "ultrasound." We have several friends who are expecting and they are counting down the days until ultrasound time. The ultrasound brings them pictures of their little one. It tells them more about the precious being growing inside of them. It makes the whole pregnancy journey seem more real. Well I guess we too are waiting for an ultrasound of sorts. We are waiting for the day when we will have pictures of our little ones. The day when we will know more about them. The day when all this will seem so much more real.
Once we have our pictures, our ultrasound, then we will begin the countdown to THE day. The day that is much like the day our other children were born. THE day we get to meet our little ones face to face. To touch them. To hug them. To spend precious days, week and years together.
There is however one BIG difference in this "pregnancy" journey, compared to our other 4 pregnancies. This one is not on a predictable calendar: a 9 month journey, with predictable milestones. This journey has many unknowns... the biggest of which is timing. We are not on a 9 month calendar. We do not know for sure exactly when our "ultrasound" day will come. We do not know for sure exactly how long we will be "pregnant." We do not know for sure exactly when we will meet our little ones.
This journey may be different. It may present its own challenges and unknowns- BUT I am so thankful to be on this road. I am thankful that God has called us to this. I am thankful for how HE is working as we journey.
Thank you for following our "pregnancy." Thank you for praying.
I have heard that adoption is like a "paper pregnancy"- hence the name of this blog entry. A friend who has adopted twice before us, shared how adoption for her was similar to pregnancy. As I think about it, I see many parallels.
The beginning stages, with all of its paperwork, I guess would be similar to the early months of pregnancy. A time when there are many ups and downs. A time when you know you are pregnant/adopting, but it is still not real. You are not showing, you are just waiting. The paperwork and all the aches and pains that go with it are similar to morning sickness.
Well we are past that initial time and now we have moved on to wait for our "ultrasound." We have several friends who are expecting and they are counting down the days until ultrasound time. The ultrasound brings them pictures of their little one. It tells them more about the precious being growing inside of them. It makes the whole pregnancy journey seem more real. Well I guess we too are waiting for an ultrasound of sorts. We are waiting for the day when we will have pictures of our little ones. The day when we will know more about them. The day when all this will seem so much more real.
Once we have our pictures, our ultrasound, then we will begin the countdown to THE day. The day that is much like the day our other children were born. THE day we get to meet our little ones face to face. To touch them. To hug them. To spend precious days, week and years together.
There is however one BIG difference in this "pregnancy" journey, compared to our other 4 pregnancies. This one is not on a predictable calendar: a 9 month journey, with predictable milestones. This journey has many unknowns... the biggest of which is timing. We are not on a 9 month calendar. We do not know for sure exactly when our "ultrasound" day will come. We do not know for sure exactly how long we will be "pregnant." We do not know for sure exactly when we will meet our little ones.
This journey may be different. It may present its own challenges and unknowns- BUT I am so thankful to be on this road. I am thankful that God has called us to this. I am thankful for how HE is working as we journey.
Thank you for following our "pregnancy." Thank you for praying.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Who knew??
Well who in the world knew that the Chick-fil-a calendar fundraiser would be such a hit. God has really used this effort to bless our adoption fund. We have been so amazed. We have sold over 300 calendars so far. Each calendar profits our adoption fund $5- thus adding over $1,500 to our fund!!!
We have found that many people will even put a few extra dollars with theirs, because they know it goes to a great cause. Tonight we had a really nice surprise regarding our calendars. My cousin had asked a friend to buy one and they asked could they give a bit extra. Well as it turns out they only wanted one calendar, but they decided to "pay" $100 for it. Cool huh??!!!
We are continuing to sell calendars so please let us know if you want one or if you would like to help sell them. Our goal is 500 calendars.
We have found that many people will even put a few extra dollars with theirs, because they know it goes to a great cause. Tonight we had a really nice surprise regarding our calendars. My cousin had asked a friend to buy one and they asked could they give a bit extra. Well as it turns out they only wanted one calendar, but they decided to "pay" $100 for it. Cool huh??!!!
We are continuing to sell calendars so please let us know if you want one or if you would like to help sell them. Our goal is 500 calendars.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
We are ready
This week we made an important call to our agency. We called to let them know that we are ready for our referrals. We still need about $600, but we do not owe it until we actually have our referrals- So we are trusting God for it.
I am so excited that we are getting so close. Many of you have asked questions about referrals. So I will try to answer them-
I am so excited that we are getting so close. Many of you have asked questions about referrals. So I will try to answer them-
- Do we get to "choose" our child(ren)? No, our agency will present us with a picture of a child and a little bit of information about them. We will have a short period of time, probably 24 hours, to make a decision.
- Will the 2 children be siblings? We have requested siblings. However, children in the country we are adopting from are typically abandoned. So there is no way to know if they are biological siblings or not. However, once we adopt them they will be siblings:)
- What happens once you say yes? Our children will be moved from the orphanage to foster care. They will then have access to doctors, nourishing meals and a more family like setting.
- How old will our children be? We have requested a boy around age 3 or 4. We have requested a girl under 18 months.
Please feel free to ask us any questions you have. No question is silly. We both enjoy chatting about our adoption. We are excited to be on this journey and want to share. After all, if we are open to share our experience, it may impact others to pursue adoption!
Pray for us as we await our referrals. Pray for patience, mine especially:) Also pray for our children, wherever they are, that they will be safe and that God will prepare them for the coming transition. Pray for our agency as they match us with our children. God is in control and we are trusting HIM with every step of this adoption.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
HE did it again!!
As you probably know we have been collecting items for a Yard Sale for today. Well about a week ago, I was looking at what we all we had. And really there was not all that much. I don't mean that to sound bad at all. But it is part of this "story" of how God works in HIS time. Anyway, I was thinking about how much we still needed for this payment and was comparing it to the "stuff" we had. I know, I know- I was trying to make things work in my eyes and not God's.
Well, as the week drew to an end, we had several calls. We spent a big part of Friday doing pick up of stuff from people's houses. When we finished loading up everything from here and all we had picked up we had 2 trucks and 2 trailers FULL of stuff!! God sent it, but in HIS time.
This morning we got up early and headed up to the sale site. We set everything up and the selling began. We sold and sold and sold. My husband is the BEST at selling!! I think we probably sold 3/4 of all that we had!! It was amazing.
Once we got home, we totaled up all the money from the day- $1,113!!! WOW!!! I also had some Chick-fil-a calendar money that I had been given. I sat down and totaled up what all money we have and what we still needed.
After all my crazy "math" I figured out that we still needed about $1,200 to be able to get our referrals. I was pleased to see how close we were getting.
I sat down at the computer to write this blog and my email opened up. I was awed, humbled and overcome with emotion as I watched the screen. Dave looked over at me wondering why I was at the computer crying. You see, as I looked at the screen, there was an email from Paypal. It was telling me we had a donation from the "donate" button on our blog. A precious friend that I grew up with had donated $600 to our adoption fund!!!
My God is so faithful!! We woke up today needing about $2,500 and ended the day adding so much to our fund. We are now down to only needing about $600 to proceed with our current payment.
We began this journey knowing that it would be amazing- we just had no idea how amazing!
Thank you for your prayers and support. Thank you to everyone who donated items to our sale. Thank you to all who helped us set up, sell and feed us. We are so blessed!!
Well, as the week drew to an end, we had several calls. We spent a big part of Friday doing pick up of stuff from people's houses. When we finished loading up everything from here and all we had picked up we had 2 trucks and 2 trailers FULL of stuff!! God sent it, but in HIS time.
This morning we got up early and headed up to the sale site. We set everything up and the selling began. We sold and sold and sold. My husband is the BEST at selling!! I think we probably sold 3/4 of all that we had!! It was amazing.
Once we got home, we totaled up all the money from the day- $1,113!!! WOW!!! I also had some Chick-fil-a calendar money that I had been given. I sat down and totaled up what all money we have and what we still needed.
After all my crazy "math" I figured out that we still needed about $1,200 to be able to get our referrals. I was pleased to see how close we were getting.
I sat down at the computer to write this blog and my email opened up. I was awed, humbled and overcome with emotion as I watched the screen. Dave looked over at me wondering why I was at the computer crying. You see, as I looked at the screen, there was an email from Paypal. It was telling me we had a donation from the "donate" button on our blog. A precious friend that I grew up with had donated $600 to our adoption fund!!!
My God is so faithful!! We woke up today needing about $2,500 and ended the day adding so much to our fund. We are now down to only needing about $600 to proceed with our current payment.
We began this journey knowing that it would be amazing- we just had no idea how amazing!
Thank you for your prayers and support. Thank you to everyone who donated items to our sale. Thank you to all who helped us set up, sell and feed us. We are so blessed!!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Another Yard Sale
Well it is Yard Sale time again. We will be having our sale this Saturday, October 23. We will start selling about 8 am. The sale will be on Rutledge Pike about 2 miles from I40. Just look for the signs.
We have collected all sorts of things. Please pray that the Lord will bless us with wonderful weather and lots of sales! We are about $2,500 from having referrals (pictures and information) about our 2 children.
Check back on Saturday to see results.
We have collected all sorts of things. Please pray that the Lord will bless us with wonderful weather and lots of sales! We are about $2,500 from having referrals (pictures and information) about our 2 children.
Check back on Saturday to see results.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Golf Tournament Results
Well I have to confess, I have never been a huge golf fan. But today I had the best time. Our precious friends the Sharps and Wisharts hosted a Golf Tournament to benefit our adoption. The day was long, but we had a blast. We were blessed with gorgeous weather and 29 men who played!
There were many prizes awarded. But one category we left out was- "Cart that had the MOST fun." That award would definitely have gone to the cart driven by Gary Sharp and carrying my boys. Gary drove the cart more like a 4 wheeler and that created lots of giggles. My boys now love golf... or at least the experience they had with golf today:)
We were blessed today to add $1,075 to our fund! We are so very thankful to all who played and helped make today possible. But the biggest thanks goes to our Provider!
Please continue to pray. We have a yard sale next weekend and are still selling calendars. We need around $2,650 more to be ready for our referrals. We know God will provide that... in HIS time.
There were many prizes awarded. But one category we left out was- "Cart that had the MOST fun." That award would definitely have gone to the cart driven by Gary Sharp and carrying my boys. Gary drove the cart more like a 4 wheeler and that created lots of giggles. My boys now love golf... or at least the experience they had with golf today:)
We were blessed today to add $1,075 to our fund! We are so very thankful to all who played and helped make today possible. But the biggest thanks goes to our Provider!
Please continue to pray. We have a yard sale next weekend and are still selling calendars. We need around $2,650 more to be ready for our referrals. We know God will provide that... in HIS time.
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