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!

A Special Gift

Friday we received the most wonderful gift.  Our friends Sam & Mary sent us a HUGE box of fabric for our adoption sewing projects.  I have been having a blast sewing and being creative to help bring our new baby home.  My sister, Melissa,  showed me a pattern she had used to make purses and I adapted it to make different sized bags.  I am going to sell what I can in town and then upload the rest to my etsy shop.  Here are the first few.  Thanks Sam and Mary for the fabrics and Missy for the skype tutorial.  Love you all.

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               $607.00 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)

How Great is Our God!!!

Psalm 31:19(NIV)

How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.

  God is so good!  When we started this journey a few months ago we didn't know how he would provide but were confident that our God is faithful to equip us when he has called us.  We are so excited to report that we have met our first two goals and we are about a month ahead of where we hoped to be.

  Emily just returned from a four day weekend in Colorado with our dear friends Elijah and Melissa.  It was a wonderful time of refreshment and encouragement in the Lord.  They were able to share ideas on parenting and pray together for each of their children.  We are so looking forward to the day we get to bring home our new baby!  Over the years we had passed on our out grown baby clothes on to Melissa and Elijah for their children and they blessed us with some adorable little unisex outfits, sleepers and a beautiful crib bedding set.



Thank you so much for your support.


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               $762.00 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)

Baking for Baby

The Kids had a wonderful time today preparing for their bake sale.  Madilynn and Katelynn baked Chocolate Crinkle Cookies a family favorite.  Abigail and Levi worked on their Ultimate Oatmeal Cookie mixes.  So much fun and soooo much flour EVERYWHERE.  They had fun practicing writing their names in the mess of flour and sugar on the table when the baking was done.  The kids were are very excited to do something to help bring baby home. 

 
Now Available For Local (Havasu) Delivery:
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies 
Ultimate Oatmeal Cookie Mix 
White Chocolate/Hazelnut Scone Mix
Semi-Sweet Chocolate/Hazelnut Scone Mix
Special Coffee Drink Mix
Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

More to come!!!       $10 Each


              



 

Our First Meeting at Christian Family Care

Friday Aaron and I traveled to Phoenix for our first meeting with Sharon, our adoption worker at CFC.  What a huge blessing.  Sharon is a wonderful woman who loves the Lord and is passionate about finding loving, Christian families for children and for caring for birth parents.  We were blown away by the agency.  We knew they were a Christian agency and that the adoption workers would be Christians but we did not expect such a focus on how God is working in our lives etc.  Most of our time was spent answering questions about our spiritual lives and the journey the Lord has brought us on since childhood.  Sharon specifically asked how we teach God's word to our children which sent Aaron and I babbling on for quite some time.  We just got more and more excited sharing with her what an impact the Lord has made in our home and how we try and take the most ordinary, everyday events and use them to teach our children about who God is, what He is doing or has done, our need for Him and taking opportunities to share Him with others.  The more we talked the more excited we got about welcoming another child into our family and home.  Before we left the office Sharon prayed with us and told us the agency prays for us everyday.  Of course I got teary eyed (it doesn't take much but pray for me and I am a goner).

Our meeting lasted almost 2 hours and then we had another blessing!  Aaron's grandparents were on their way home from working at Answers in Genesis in Kentucky for the last several years.  We met them on their way through Phoenix for lunch at Cracker Barrel and got to visit and share what the Lord has been doing in this process.  So much fun and such a blessing.  They had just come from a family conference with Pastor Voddie Baucham and were excited to share what they had learned with us.  (If you have not heard of Voddie baucham check out his book Family Driven Faith).

We are now working on completing our paperwork, physicals, finger printing etc. for our Home study.  We are almost done with our paperwork and have our physicals and finger printing in the next week.  When those are all completed and we have our home study fee we will mail it all to the agency and begin our home study visitations.  We are very excited!  We are getting closer!

The girls are working jar mixes for a bake sale and I am sewing for the Etsy shop.  We will be having a garage sale in the coming weeks as well.  Please continue to pray for us as we complete each step.  Please also be praying for the birth parents and baby-for wisdom as they make some difficult decisions and for health for both mommy and baby.

Thank you so much for your support.


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              $102.00 left
  3.  $1200 Home Study Fee                              Oct. 5, 2010
  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)

What a Wonderful Gift

Just reflecting today on the amazing gift God has given us.  Redemption, salvation, sanctification.  Thinking ahead to Friday's meeting with Sharon (our adoption worker) I keep thinking about how we as christians are adopted into the family of God.  Our identity is in Him and we are loved and secure.  Some of our friends were just chosen by a birth mother and are expecting their little girl in the fall.  A youth pastor couple we have been following from CFCA were just matched as well.  So many mommies are out there making a courageous decision to give a couple the gift of life and yet we all have the opportunity to not only to give a home and a family but to share THE GIFT OF LIFE with them.  When I think about what it took for Christ to extend that gift to me I can't help but be overwhelmed with love and gratitude.  We are so excited to experience this whole process.  At times it may be very difficult but ultimately we cannot imagine a greater joy than welcoming a child into our family and shepherding them into a loving relationship with their heavenly father so our little one can be twice adopted.

Ephesians 1:3-10

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.