Big News

So, the garage sale was a huge success.  Thank you to everyone that participated and helped. There is no way that we could have done it without you.  We made almost $3000 and still have a garage full. We will probably have another garage sale in May or so since we have so much left.  The Lord was truly good to us.

We have big news.  I have just not had a peace about the length of time that we would be waiting to receive a referral for an infant. I had been losing sleep and had been anxious. This thing called adoption is an ever changing ever sanctifying experience.  For my own selfish reasons and I had wanted a baby girl to dress and relive what I felt I had missed in not having a little girl of my own, so that is one reason that we had decided on an infant.  I know, it's sad. I'm being very transparent here. I'm selfish!!! Seeing all the people on our waiting list and getting to know them through Facebook, I saw all these families that either could not have children and were willing to wait however long for an infant or on the other end of the spectrum, families, that would adopt a child as old as they could.  Either one is awesome! One less orphan, right? Well, I have been able to have my own babies, and don't get me wrong, I LOVE babies, but I just didn't have a peace, like I said before. So, the other day I mentioned to my husband about raising our age range.  He was totally on board.  We feel like there are so many unwanted older children in Ethiopia and their likelihood of being adopted is far less than those of infants.  We had always felt like adopting out of birth order was a bad thing and would "mess" things up, but I've seen families that adopt out of order and what a blessing it is to them. We talked to the kids and they were totally on board.  We do feel that we shouldn't go older than our oldest, though.  He takes being the big brother very seriously, but who knows, that may change in the future too.  So we are now saying one or two children 0-5 with minor/correctable disabilities.  Please pray for us as this opens us up to more possibilities and shorter wait times and more money. :) But, God is able, Is He not? We are praying that He would continue to provide.

Show Hope Grant

We received a $5000 grant from Show Hope for our adoption. We were blown away by the amount considering we didn't think we would get anything.  The Lord is making a way to bring our daughter home. We have $11,000 more to raise to be able to complete our adoption. Please pray for us as we have about a year to raise the remaining funds. We know the Lord will provide.

We have our big garage sale/bake sale this Friday and Saturday and we are hoping to raise $1000 from all the donations that we have received.  Thanks so much to our friends and family that have donated. We are so blessed by your generosity.  It has been a lot of work, but we know it will be worth it.  It's amazing how supportive you have all been.  

Please specifically pray for me, that I would have patience.  This process is so long and hard. Pray that I will seek His face and trust His timing.  

My prayer this week is "Lord, help me to wait well and trust your timing to bring Our Girl home"

Hannah


A song that has encouraged me this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EufaligPigU

Wait List Number

We got our wait list number.  We are..... 

This is about what we expected it to be. Things have been moving pretty slowly with relicensing at West Sands as well as with many orphanages in Ethiopia. There was some concern that some agencies would not be relicensed, but our agency was not one of them, praise the Lord.  

The way our list works is that everyone is on the same list whether they want older children, younger children, girls, boys or special needs, so you don't have to get down to number one to get your referral. 

We are thankful to be on the list even if our number seems forever away. We have much to do and much money to raise before we are ready for our sweet girl, alway.  

Thanks for your Prayers. We are praying for patience right now.