The finish line is approaching—WE HAVE ANOTHER MATCH!

We got the GOOD NEWS last week that we've been chosen to adopt a baby girl that's due in less than eight weeks! 

We are very excited, but a little restrained in our excitement. Maybe because we've waited so long, or because we've experienced so many close calls; we are finding it's a little hard to "feel" like this is really happening. But the circumstances surrounding this potential adoption have the odds of us truly meeting our baby as favorable as they can be. 

So, in addition to our reserved excitement, we're also feeling a little nervous and a little anxious. We've been working and waiting for this day for quite a while, but it feels like there's so much that needs to be done and so little time to do it. We've kinda heard that's a normal feeling, for any parent-to-be :)

We have a nursery nearly ready; with just some "girl" touches to add, since we've kept it gender neutral. "We" also got a little ahead of ourselves and purchased some outfits that will be great in 6-12 months (but they are soooo adorable...). 

Thankfully we've already had some friends volunteer to let us borrow some newborn baby clothes, and we've had several friends offer tips for what we will need for the first couple days. We still don't want to go overboard, and we are mostly waiting for any baby showers in the case that things don't work out. So for now, we're planning to get the bare essentials to get us through the first little bit.

One thing that we are still praying to complete before the baby comes is our fundraising . We need close to $4,000 to finalize the adoption. God has been so good in providing nearly $18,000 through fundraising and donations of loving friends and strangers and we are trusting in Him to take us all the way. 

If you'd like to help take us to the finish line you can still make a donation through Paypal using the link on our blog's home page, or you give through our tax deductible fund set up through Lifesong for Orphans. 

Thank you for your prayers and for your support up to this point. Please continue to ask God with us for grace and provision, and for health and safety for our baby and her birth mom. 

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11

We are blessed!

Thank you to each person who participated in our recent Mary Kay fundraiser, hosted by our friends Candace Griffin and Lisa Morgan through our new friend Catie Sheppard, an independent Mary Kay consultant. Through product sales, raffles, giveaways, and other private donations we received over $1,700 towards our adoption. To God be the glory! It was remarkable to watch Him use so many new friends to pour out His blessings in perfectly unexpected ways.

And to all of you who prayed and gave, thank you! You are a blessing to us. 

Perfectly Timed Blessings!

So...we probably don't need to tell you that we haven't posted on the blog for a couple months. We'd love to say it's because we've been too busy adjusting to a new little baby demanding oodles of attention, but it's really because there's been no change at all since June. Except that we are two months closer to the day God's ordained for us to meet our adopted child.

It's been a little discouraging. Well, honestly it's been kinda heavy at times, just waiting. We wouldn't be telling the truth if we didn't say that there have been days we've questioned if our adoption is ever going to happen. But we started out trusting God that He would provide in His time, and there's absolutely no reason to stop trusting in the One who holds the whole world in His hands and who knows what's truly best.

And since He knows what's best, He knew we really needed some encouragement.

At just the time when we felt like we were stuck in a huge adoption journey life-pause, some friends surprised us with the idea of having another fundraiser, this time through Mary Kay; and it's given us some excitement and a reason to post on our blog again.

Caitie Sheppard, a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant and a friend of a friend, has volunteered to host an open house next Friday, August 22nd. The party goes from 6-9 and details can be found on the Facebook event page. Online orders can be placed on Catie's website between now and then. Proceeds from the sales at the party and online, as well as from other events planned to take place at the party, will go towards our adoption expenses.

We feel so blessed to have friends who sacrifice their time and resources to help support adoption.

We were also encouraged this week by a friend who lives across the country and learned of our adoption process through the Facebook post about this fundraiser and decided to give a VERY generous donation. God works in amazing ways!

And yet another reminder of His goodness was this timely and unexpected shout-out photo from the local Locklin Insurance Agency, where another sweet friend works. They recently purchased some of our shirts and wanted to encourage support for our adoption by posting the picture on their Facebook page today. That was a small act of kindness on their part but a gigantic blessing to us.

Please keep praying with us that God will provide the resources for our adoption and that He would grant us His continual grace to wait upon Him.

Also, please consider supporting us and our friends' efforts through this exciting upcoming Mary Kay fundraising event. Post it, share it, tell everyone you know about it...Who doesn't want to look good while doing good?

Thank you to all who have supported in whatever way possible. We will keep you posted.

Fundraiser update (and promo)...

BUY 2 GET 1 FREE!

We haven't put too much energy into any specific fundraiser efforts recently, but we have been receiving t-shirt orders every now and then. For those who have placed orders, we've been waiting until we reach 25 shirts to finalize the order so that we can get the best price (we apologize for the delay). We are a little short of that number, so we would like to try to speed up the process with a little promo.

If you would like an adoption t-shirt and have been holding off, or would like to get one for a friend, now would be a great time; we are going to offer a BUY 2 GET 1 FREE deal until June 20th. All you need to do is order two shirts as you normally would, and then add the details of your third order in the comments section at checkout.

We hope this will allow us to get the order finalized soon and start shipping out shirts to those of you who have already ordered.

Lifesong

Also, it may interest some to know that we are now working with Lifesong for Orphans to help aid in our fundraising efforts.  Lifesong is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and any gifts given toward our adoption are tax deductible.  100% of all funds raised will go directly to cover the adoption costs and nothing will be taken out for Lifesong for Orphans administrative costs.

If anyone would like to donate to our adoption through Lifesong, please consider these two options:


By Check

• Checks should be payable to “Lifesong for Orphans. In the memo, note “family name” and “family account number” (Thayer #4484) 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 the adoption. 

Online

• To pay 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. 
• Note PayPal charges an administrative fee (2.9% + $.30 USD per transaction). Your donation will be decreased by the amount of this fee. 

Please also note the following:

• In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use. 
• Individual donations $250 or more and yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Receipts for donations under $250 will gladly be sent upon request. Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization. 

If you have any questions about the t-shirt promotion or the opportunity to donate through Lifesong, please let us know. 

Again, THANK YOU to all who have supported us through this journey!!!

Patiently Waiting on the Lord

We continue to wait...

hence the symbolic and kinda cute tortoise

Then said Christian, Now I see that Patience has the best Wisdom, and that upon many accounts: 1. Because he stays for the best things... (Bunyan, John. The Pilgrim’s Progress)

Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him. (Ps. 37:7)

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. (Ecc. 7:8)

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. (Jer. 29:11)

It's hard to believe it's been almost two months since we last posted. Since then we have had a couple situations arise where it seemed possible that were close to adopting; but it wasn't the Lord's timing and the situations were more tests of our faith and commitment than direct answers to our prayers. Without going into much detail, we were forced to consider our motives and solidify our decisions; both of which were necessary (though not too much fun).

So not very much has changed since March; except our faith is stronger, and we know we are closer now than we were then to meeting the child God has planned for us to welcome into our home.

A Bump in the Road

Our match isn't going to work out after all...

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the opportunity we were presented with to adopt a baby girl in June had to be called off. We received the call last week. The news was a little disappointing, mostly because we are now back to square one without an end date. But on the bright side, we are one day closer than we were yesterday; and we know that God is sovereign and that His will and timing are perfect. It just wasn't meant to be. 

So other than being unsure about the exact day of our adoption, which we really weren't that certain about anyway, we are pressing on and doing the same things that we have been. We are decorating the nursery, learning all that we can about adoption and parenting, and praying for God to continue to bless us with the resources to fully finance the adoption. We even have an infant parenting class scheduled in a few weeks. Suppose it will show us how to change a diaper?

A couple verses come to mind that have been a blessing to us at this time:

As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. Psalm 18:30

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

We aren't discouraged because we know that God's way is perfect and that He will continue to give us the grace to accept His plan in His timing as we wait to be united with our precious little baby.

Fundraiser Update

James 1:17 tells us, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." So we would like to thank the Lord first for blessing our recent Jamberry Nail fundraiser which allowed us to raise another $875 towards our adoption!!! We would also like to thank our wonderful friend, Joanna, who donated her time and her earnings to help us reach our goals. And we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the 55 girls who participated in the event, spent over $2,500, and are now walking around America with beautifully decorated nails. The weeks of the fundraiser were an exciting time to watch our amazing God work through the hearts of so many loving people to take us one step closer to meeting our sweet baby. 

We would also like to publicly thank another friend whose manliness prevented him from jumping in on the nail decorating frenzy, but who generously donated $500 dollars to our adoption through the website. Unbelievable!

This brings our total commitment towards our adoption to a little over $15,100, with around $7,000 left to go. God is so good!

One more quick update has to do with out t-shirt orders. We know that several people have placed orders and are patiently waiting for them to arrive. We have been holding off on finalizing everything in order to see if we could get to a total of 25 shirts. We are still a few short, but either way the plan is to place the next order next Wednesday, March 5th. So if you are interested in another t-shirt, have been putting off your order, or know someone who you think might like one, please try to place your order before then. 

Thank you again for your support and especially for your prayers!