So about  a week and a half ago we had a garage sale to earn money for our adoption.  I think Aaron was surprised how much we had that we could get rid of.  It was nice to sort through things and keep what we need or use and get rid of what we don't.  I love decluttering!  When we started the garage sale we still needed $607.00 for our home study.  After two days of the garage sale we were down to only needing $393.00.  One family came and bought our old queen headboard, an entertainment cabinet and one other large piece of furniture.  Aaron had his car parked in front of my van on the side of the house.  I mean it was obvious it was not part of the sale.  This family wandered over there and started looking at his Honda.  We had been tossing around the idea of selling it because we had been sharing the van for the past few months.  Aaron has a motorcycle that he can take to work on the days he doesn't take Abbi and Levi with him to preschool.  The Honda was on a spare and we were waiting to do both back tires at the same time.  It had a ton of miles on it and was in need of some repairs but it was still running well.  The dad asked me if we would sell it to him.  After a few days of praying and evaluating we sold him the Honda and now have enough money to submit our home study paperwork as well as our match letter when we complete it.  It was so neat how God provided the opportunity and the right buyer for the car at just the right time.  It was not at all what we had planned on but I think God had been showing us over the past few months how we can scale back in many ways one of which was sharing the van.  Our town is small enough that nothing is too far and Aaron's schedule allows me to be able to run errands in the afternoon if need be.  What a great blessing. 

We just had a lovely visit with my parents for the last week and are now getting in gear for the move NEXT FRIDAY!!!!  Our first adoption class in Phoenix is the following Tuesday.  We could use prayer for peace and time management and smooth transitions.  Life in this family is never dull and life in the family of God is thrilling!  We are enjoying the journey knowing that God is the one who sustains and provides.  God bless you as you follow Him on the journey He lays before you!



Our Next Few Goals:
Send in our home study paperwork (we are waiting to hear from our worker on whether or not we need to change our addresses and redo our finger print cards due to our upcoming move)

October 1-move into new house

October 5-Adoption class in Phoenix

Complete home study interviews and inspection, Sharon completes our report, submits it to the court and presents us to the agency for acceptance into the infant adoption program

Send out our grant applications

At placement of baby in our home-adoption fee due

We Are So Excited!!!

We are Sooo excited.  Today we got not only the rest of our home study fee but also our Matchbook fee so as soon as our home study report is certified we can submit our "Dear Birth Mom Letter" and be looked at by birth parents!  God is so incredibly amazing!  He has blessed us beyond what we could have asked or imagined!

I will right more later but it is late and I am exhausted!



Here are our first few financial hurdles:
  Description                                               Goal Date                        Status
  1.  $50 Application Fee & App Mailed          July 16, 2010             Completed!!!
  2.  $300 Adoption Class Fee                            Sept. 15, 2010               Completed!!!
  3.  $1200 Home Study Fee                              Oct. 5, 2010                Completed!!!
  4.  $1000 Matchbook Fee                                Nov. 1 2010                Completed!!!
     (This is where we write a letter/family profile or scrapbook that will then be shown to birth moms)

Success!

Day one of our garage sale was a success.  We sold almost all of the big items we were hoping to and we still have tomorrow morning.  Levi enjoyed hamming it up for the visitors thus producing at least two offers to buy our children (which of course we refused).


We are a bit closer to completing our home study.  I know it has only been a few months but I am so eager to meet our little one I can hardly wait.  God is so faithful.  I love watching the numbers go down on our goal sheet and see how creatively He is supplying for our need.  Praise the Lord for HE is mighty in power!


Here are our first few financial hurdles:
  Description                                               Goal Date                        Status
  1.  $50 Application Fee & App Mailed          July 16, 2010             Completed!!!
  2.  $300 Adoption Class Fee                            Sept. 15, 2010              Completed!!!
  3.  $1200 Home Study Fee                              Oct. 5, 2010               $393.98 to go!
  4.  $1000 Matchbook Fee                                Nov. 1 2010
     (This is where we write a letter/family profile or scrapbook that will then be shown to birth moms)

Garage Sale & Moving

We are pulling things together for our garage sale tomorrow.  Hopefully we will get a good response.  God has been so good to us during this process and it has been so exciting and encouraging to see how He has provided and how we can use our own creativity to raise money for this adoption.  We are getting so close to having our home study fee raised. 

We will also be moving into a new home on October 1.  Our lease is up this month and we found we are able to save about $300 a month by moving to a different location.  Again God was at work and has provided us with a lovely home that backs up to BLM land and has a huge view of the lake from the back yard.  It also has a den off of the dining room that we can make our school/project area.  We are very excited.   Our new landlords are really neat Christians and we are excited to begin building a relationship with them.  This is going to be a great week of scaling down, evaluating our needs and getting organized-and once again the timing is perfect as we had already planned on our garage sale being this week.

God has also provided through our friends.  Our neighbor is giving us her infant car seat and bases and a home school friend of mine is giving us a small crib we can roll from room to room for when the baby first comes home.   

We have so many things to do to prepare for this little one sometimes I am struck with the fact that YES,  a little baby is coming home!  Sometimes I take a few minutes to just sit in the rocking chair in the nursery and image what he or she will be like and how it will feel to once again hold and care for a new born.   It is going to be so different from our other children as I will be going into the adventure rested and with energy rather than after 9 months of pregnancy.  I am so excited!  The other thing I find funny is that we have never been surprised by the sex of our babies.  With this new little one we will not only be surprised by the sex but by the race. How fun! 

These next few weeks will be very busy.  My parents are coming out for about a week, Levi turns 3 on Monday (I cannot even believe he is so big) and then the move.  God is so good and we feel so blessed to be on this grand adventure.  Following Him is NEVER dull!