Friday, October 30, 2009
Silent Auction
Here is the charm my friend made for us to auction. All money goes towards our adoption. If you would like to place a bid, just let me know. The bidding starts at $25 and goes up in increments of 5. It is sterling silver. You can check out the rest of her jewelry here.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Update on our journey
Just wanted to give everyone an update on what is happening with us. We have been very busy getting everything together for our fund raiser. We have so many amazing baskets to raffle off. We also have several very nice items to use for our silent auction. I will be listing those next week and anyone who would like to bid on them can let me know. Some of the jewelry pieces, gift certificates for jewelry to be made, and overnight stays can be used by anyone even if out of state. We also will have cookbooks for sale that will be available before Christmas. They are $10 each and shipping is $2.50. Also if you are a coffee drinker, our store is now up and running. You can purchase coffee and $5 of each bag goes towards our adoption. Here is the link.
We are not on the waiting list as of yet but were told that we are the only family that is waiting for siblings. So it looks like we will be number one on that list. We are not sure where we will be on the infant boy list but we think it will be around number five. We are just waiting for our home study to be signed by our social worker who then has to mail it to the home study agency. After it is notarized, it will then be sent to our adoption agency in Colorado. At that point we will be able to apply for grants and a no interest loan that would be very helpful if we get a referral before we file our income taxes for next year. I am still shock that we are only 2 months into this process and are almost ready to be on a list.
God continues to amaze me through this process. In fifteen years of walking with Him, I have never appreciated His grace and mercy more than I do now. My heart though has been very heavy these past several days. We have heard that orphanages are seeing record numbers of toddlers being dropped off to them. I can't imagine having only the choice of having my child starve to death or be placed in an orphanage. This has kept me awake at night in prayer. I know that my joy comes from another woman's pain. That is hard some times. I pray that I will be faithful to care for that in which God entrust me with.
Thanks to all of you for your support. We have been blown away by your kindness to us. Thanks to all of the men who unselfishly served us and helped get our roof on. We so look forward to November 8th and having you all there to celebrate the gift of adoption with. Please continue to pray for us as we walk this journey.
We are not on the waiting list as of yet but were told that we are the only family that is waiting for siblings. So it looks like we will be number one on that list. We are not sure where we will be on the infant boy list but we think it will be around number five. We are just waiting for our home study to be signed by our social worker who then has to mail it to the home study agency. After it is notarized, it will then be sent to our adoption agency in Colorado. At that point we will be able to apply for grants and a no interest loan that would be very helpful if we get a referral before we file our income taxes for next year. I am still shock that we are only 2 months into this process and are almost ready to be on a list.
God continues to amaze me through this process. In fifteen years of walking with Him, I have never appreciated His grace and mercy more than I do now. My heart though has been very heavy these past several days. We have heard that orphanages are seeing record numbers of toddlers being dropped off to them. I can't imagine having only the choice of having my child starve to death or be placed in an orphanage. This has kept me awake at night in prayer. I know that my joy comes from another woman's pain. That is hard some times. I pray that I will be faithful to care for that in which God entrust me with.
Thanks to all of you for your support. We have been blown away by your kindness to us. Thanks to all of the men who unselfishly served us and helped get our roof on. We so look forward to November 8th and having you all there to celebrate the gift of adoption with. Please continue to pray for us as we walk this journey.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Opportunities for God to show up
Today I was reading another blog and came upon a devotion written by Steven Curtis Chapman. Please read it and allow God to speak to your heart:
It wasn't until our second adoption that I understood what God was doing with my family through adoption. I walked into church on September 1, 2002, wholeheartedly convinced that we were not going to adopt a second time. During that service, our good friends, the Coley family, who have four biological and five adopted children, were brought up on stage for the dedication of their latest adopted child, a boy with special needs.
What happened next was almost as if God lifted my chin, and as clearly as I've ever heard Him speak to my heart, He said, "I've heard you sing the song 'Open the Eyes of My Heart', and I've heard you pray, 'I really want to know You and experience You.' I know you mean that." Then He showed me this family on stage, and He said, "There it is; that's my heart. That's your story; that's my story. This is a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven. There it is, in front of you."
And it was this family with whom we've walked through some of the darkest parts of adoption. We've gone with them into treatment centers; we've shed tears together. They knew exactly what they were getting into, but still, here they were, saying, "This is what God has called us to do. We know it's messy; we know it's uncomfortable, and it's going to turn our lives upside down, but this is God's heart."Yet God didn't stop there. He said, "I delight in setting the lonely in families, so I'm going to keep pouring out my love for orphans, and I'm looking for hearts to pour it into. I'm looking for people who really want to do what I'm doing."
He didn't say, "If you don't do this, I'm going to be disappointed with you." Instead, it's as if, as a Dad, God put His arm around me and said, "You don't have to do this, but I'm inviting you in, because I want you to know Me, and I want our relationship to go deeper. If you really want to see Me show up, I want to take you on another adventure."
So I broke the news to my family and told them, "I think God wants us to bring another child to stand under the waterfall of grace." I just pictured God pouring out His grace, inviting us to bring another child to stand under it. God was saying, "I'm going to bring them into my family, but I want to invite you to be a part of that. I'm going to glorify myself through this."
That's why there are so many waiting children; those are opportunities for God to show up and reveal His glory. They are each an invitation from God's heart, saying, "Come and know Me. And I will make myself known through you, members of my body, the church, as you experience the miracle of adoption."
Am I willing to follow God wherever He may lead so that I might more fully know Him and make Him known?
It wasn't until our second adoption that I understood what God was doing with my family through adoption. I walked into church on September 1, 2002, wholeheartedly convinced that we were not going to adopt a second time. During that service, our good friends, the Coley family, who have four biological and five adopted children, were brought up on stage for the dedication of their latest adopted child, a boy with special needs.
What happened next was almost as if God lifted my chin, and as clearly as I've ever heard Him speak to my heart, He said, "I've heard you sing the song 'Open the Eyes of My Heart', and I've heard you pray, 'I really want to know You and experience You.' I know you mean that." Then He showed me this family on stage, and He said, "There it is; that's my heart. That's your story; that's my story. This is a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven. There it is, in front of you."
And it was this family with whom we've walked through some of the darkest parts of adoption. We've gone with them into treatment centers; we've shed tears together. They knew exactly what they were getting into, but still, here they were, saying, "This is what God has called us to do. We know it's messy; we know it's uncomfortable, and it's going to turn our lives upside down, but this is God's heart."Yet God didn't stop there. He said, "I delight in setting the lonely in families, so I'm going to keep pouring out my love for orphans, and I'm looking for hearts to pour it into. I'm looking for people who really want to do what I'm doing."
He didn't say, "If you don't do this, I'm going to be disappointed with you." Instead, it's as if, as a Dad, God put His arm around me and said, "You don't have to do this, but I'm inviting you in, because I want you to know Me, and I want our relationship to go deeper. If you really want to see Me show up, I want to take you on another adventure."
So I broke the news to my family and told them, "I think God wants us to bring another child to stand under the waterfall of grace." I just pictured God pouring out His grace, inviting us to bring another child to stand under it. God was saying, "I'm going to bring them into my family, but I want to invite you to be a part of that. I'm going to glorify myself through this."
That's why there are so many waiting children; those are opportunities for God to show up and reveal His glory. They are each an invitation from God's heart, saying, "Come and know Me. And I will make myself known through you, members of my body, the church, as you experience the miracle of adoption."
Am I willing to follow God wherever He may lead so that I might more fully know Him and make Him known?
Friday, October 16, 2009
Give me your eyes
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
The first time I heard this song, I was undone. I remember singing and praying that God would give me His eyes to see. Sometimes I think I carelessly pray for things and then when He answers, I realize what I really prayed for is bigger than I ever imagined. When I first heard this song, Africa was nowhere on my radar screen. Adopting from Africa was even farther off of it. Yet here I am waiting for the last piece of information to get to my agency so we can then begin the wait for our child. I can tell you now that I am so grateful that I prayed that prayer and God answered it. I have changed so much in the past several months. The level of intimacy and dependence I have with God is amazing. I have been a Christ follower for over 15 years yet in so many ways, I feel like a new believer. There is a done side to this prayer. The down side is that when your eyes are opened to what God sees, your heart will break. I am haunted at night by what I have seen. Families starving, children dying from treatable diseases,and children being drowned because they are considered "mingi"(unclean). Now that my eyes have seen, I am responsible. At times I think what difference is my adopting one or two children going to make. I then remember that the God who created everything out of nothing is the one whose idea this is. So I still don't know the answer to that question but I do know that God does.
So here is where we are in the process. We are waiting for our home study to be sent to our agency to be proofed. As soon as that happens, it will be signed and notarized and sent to our agency and immigration. We will then be issued an I-171h and be put on the waiting list. The list has been growing so I am hoping that this happens sooner rather than later. Depending on how long referrals are taking we should travel sometime in the summer or early fall. Everything is moving along with our fund raiser. We just found out that our friends from Charlotte are coming in for it so we are even more excited! I will be listing all of the silent auctions here in the next week so that those of you who can't attend but want to bid will be able to. Also, one of my friends is making a piece of jewelry with Africa on it. I can't wait to show it to all of you. I did tell her that she was going to have to make more for the rest of you adoptive mommies! Thanks again for all of your support and prayers.
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
The first time I heard this song, I was undone. I remember singing and praying that God would give me His eyes to see. Sometimes I think I carelessly pray for things and then when He answers, I realize what I really prayed for is bigger than I ever imagined. When I first heard this song, Africa was nowhere on my radar screen. Adopting from Africa was even farther off of it. Yet here I am waiting for the last piece of information to get to my agency so we can then begin the wait for our child. I can tell you now that I am so grateful that I prayed that prayer and God answered it. I have changed so much in the past several months. The level of intimacy and dependence I have with God is amazing. I have been a Christ follower for over 15 years yet in so many ways, I feel like a new believer. There is a done side to this prayer. The down side is that when your eyes are opened to what God sees, your heart will break. I am haunted at night by what I have seen. Families starving, children dying from treatable diseases,and children being drowned because they are considered "mingi"(unclean). Now that my eyes have seen, I am responsible. At times I think what difference is my adopting one or two children going to make. I then remember that the God who created everything out of nothing is the one whose idea this is. So I still don't know the answer to that question but I do know that God does.
So here is where we are in the process. We are waiting for our home study to be sent to our agency to be proofed. As soon as that happens, it will be signed and notarized and sent to our agency and immigration. We will then be issued an I-171h and be put on the waiting list. The list has been growing so I am hoping that this happens sooner rather than later. Depending on how long referrals are taking we should travel sometime in the summer or early fall. Everything is moving along with our fund raiser. We just found out that our friends from Charlotte are coming in for it so we are even more excited! I will be listing all of the silent auctions here in the next week so that those of you who can't attend but want to bid will be able to. Also, one of my friends is making a piece of jewelry with Africa on it. I can't wait to show it to all of you. I did tell her that she was going to have to make more for the rest of you adoptive mommies! Thanks again for all of your support and prayers.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Update on Our Progress
I wanted to give all of you an update on what is happening with our adoption. Yesterday we finished everything that was up to us to finish. I will be mailing our dossier(minus our home study) to our agency today. Our home study should be to us in the next several weeks. It will then get forwarded to our agency and also to immigration. Immigration will then issue us a I-171h. At that point we will officially be able to accept a referral. We did receive information yesterday about a toddler boy. After praying through it, we have decided to not pursue him at this time. Because of where we are in the process, it would be at least several weeks maybe even a month before we would be able to get assigned a court date. We felt that it would be unfair to him to keep him in the orphanage any longer than necessary. Our thinking is that if there is a family that is ready right now and could get a court date soon, he would be out of the orphanage sooner.
Things are progressing with our fundraiser on the 8th of November. We have quite a few raffles and then several very nice prizes for our silent auctions. If you are unable to attend but would like to participate in the silent auctions or raffles, please let me know. We have enough money right now to move to the next step. It is at that point that we really will need to see God move. Depending on if we accept one or two children, we will need $6,000-$11,000 dollars. We are also doing a cookbook fundraiser. I have gift certificates if you would like to purchase one. The cookbooks are $10 each and will be ready before Christmas.
I am truly amazed at how much grace there has been on this entire process. We have had such a peace through each step. It has also been amazing to me as to how often I have been able to share my love for Jesus as I have walked this journey. I have shared the Gospel with more people in the past 2 months than I have my 15 years of walking with the Lord.
Please continue to pray for our journey in the following ways:1. That God would be really big and that we would be really small! This is for His glory and not ours! 2. In our excitement, the reality is that there has to be pain for some one else. A mother, father, or grandmother etc, has to place a child in order for us to receive one. Please pray for comfort for the family of our little boy(s). To this day, Faith's birthmom is my hero. Her sacrifice brought us great joy. It reminds me so much of Jesus sacrifice for me. 3. Please pray for protection for our little guy! Please pray that he has nourishment. 4. Also pray for financial provision for us. I have no doubt that God will provide for this! We will be applying for several grants and an interest free loan as soon as our home study gets here. Our church does have an adoption fund set up for us in which you can make a tax deductible contribution to our adoption fund. 5. Pray for Doug as he shares with our church on November the 8th. If you are local, we would love to have you join us at our church for our Sunday morning service.
Thanks again to all of you who have supported us through this journey. We couldn't do this without your love, prayers, care and support.
Things are progressing with our fundraiser on the 8th of November. We have quite a few raffles and then several very nice prizes for our silent auctions. If you are unable to attend but would like to participate in the silent auctions or raffles, please let me know. We have enough money right now to move to the next step. It is at that point that we really will need to see God move. Depending on if we accept one or two children, we will need $6,000-$11,000 dollars. We are also doing a cookbook fundraiser. I have gift certificates if you would like to purchase one. The cookbooks are $10 each and will be ready before Christmas.
I am truly amazed at how much grace there has been on this entire process. We have had such a peace through each step. It has also been amazing to me as to how often I have been able to share my love for Jesus as I have walked this journey. I have shared the Gospel with more people in the past 2 months than I have my 15 years of walking with the Lord.
Please continue to pray for our journey in the following ways:1. That God would be really big and that we would be really small! This is for His glory and not ours! 2. In our excitement, the reality is that there has to be pain for some one else. A mother, father, or grandmother etc, has to place a child in order for us to receive one. Please pray for comfort for the family of our little boy(s). To this day, Faith's birthmom is my hero. Her sacrifice brought us great joy. It reminds me so much of Jesus sacrifice for me. 3. Please pray for protection for our little guy! Please pray that he has nourishment. 4. Also pray for financial provision for us. I have no doubt that God will provide for this! We will be applying for several grants and an interest free loan as soon as our home study gets here. Our church does have an adoption fund set up for us in which you can make a tax deductible contribution to our adoption fund. 5. Pray for Doug as he shares with our church on November the 8th. If you are local, we would love to have you join us at our church for our Sunday morning service.
Thanks again to all of you who have supported us through this journey. We couldn't do this without your love, prayers, care and support.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Our Friends The Weimers
This is a video about our friends who have adopted 6 children from Ethiopia. Actually we have never met them but their story is what inspired us to move forward with our adoption. We have since become Facebook friends and Heidi is such an inspiration to me. I do realize that she is 11 years younger but I hope to be like her when I grow up!!
So enjoy! here
So enjoy! here
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