First Fundraising Event

Well, we had our first fundraising event today and God worked everything out so well!! The local Piggly Wiggly let us set up a table and sell crafty items and I sold some Pampered Chef stock (mainly $1 cookbooks) that I had also. I sold a total of 47 bows, 4 wipes cases, 6 headbands, 16 Pampered Chef things and we received $40.10 in donations. All together we made $211.00 profit!!!!! WOW!!! I am so amazed by the ways God keeps showing us that this is His will for us! Another prayer that was answered for today was that a friend from church was able to watch the girls today so I didn't have to worry about them all day (Josh had to work). Here is a picture of our table (Grandaddy is in the background).

Oh, and I was so overwhelmed by God's blessings when I got in the car after sitting out at our table all day and the song on the radio right at that minute was "Children of God!" Coincidence? I think not...

Wow!!!

So, yesterday I was feeling a little unsure of where the $3200 for our first agency fee was going to come from. Yes, I've been selling a TON of bows and we have a chance to set up a table at Piggly Wiggly this Saturday to sell some crafts but that would be A LOT of crafts. Thankfully I had a friend from church who was willing to come over and help me make bows. Anyway, back to the beginning of my story...I opened my email to find an invoice for OWAS and realized, "Okay, this money is DUE! Where is it going to come from??" So, I was praying for God to give me peace and to show me where this money would come from because we KNOW this is what he wants us to do. I tend to worry about things anyway and so the thought of this first lump sum was starting to get to me...Well, God is AWESOME!!! You'll never guess what happened - I was opening the mail yesterday afternoon and I opened a letter from a sweet friend and her husband and there was a $1,000 check! Along with this check came some Bible verses that really spoke to my heart. Psalm 10:17-18 - "O Lord, You hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; You will incline Your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed..." WOW!! He answered my prayers in a way that I couldn't even imagine!! Thank you to these sweet, selfless friends for being a part of our journey to bring our precious child home!!

Accepted

Well, we received an email today saying that our application for adoption has been accepted from OWAS!! Woohoo!! In that email, it said, "Please fill out the attached paperwork and return with $3200." I guess now we get to start passing out the big bucks! Woohoo!! :) Therefore, we are hitting the fundraisers even more earnestly.

I mailed out two boxes of bows to two other family members/friends today. I am working on a box for my sister-in-law. So, we will have bows for sale in Kentucky, Indiana, and Missouri. Not to mention that I am setting up a table at the local Piggly Wiggly (in Louisiana) on Saturday, April 30 and hoping to sell several different crafty items (bows, flannel wipes, fleece blankets, maybe some cards if I can get them made). I'm not sure that we will raise $3200 but it's a start! :) If anyone else would like me to mail them a box of bows to sell, please let me know. We'd greatly appreciate it!! We are also still collecting cell phones, inkjet, and laser cartridges as well.

Please pray for us that I (especially) will not get discouraged/overwhelmed by the amount of money needed for this adoption. That we will trust that the Lord will provide everything we need in His timing. Thanks for praying with us!

Bows, Bows, and More Bows

Well, our most lucrative fundraiser so far is the selling of these hairbows that I have been making. My mother-in-law took several to her school and has sold about $40 worth in 4 days time. That's a $25 profit!! So, I made a box of 24 more and just mailed them to her yesterday.

I am selling them anywhere from $2-$5 apiece. This is a picture of the ones I mailed to Jan. Now, my stepmom told me if I mailed her a box, she would sell them at her school too :) So, I'm getting ready to start on some more for her. If anyone else would like to sell some bows for us, I'd greatly appreciate it :) Also, if you might like to buy a bow for someone, let me know that too (shipping is really inexpensive). Praise the Lord that this is going so well!!

And We're Off...

Well, we are SUPER excited!! We mailed our applications today to One World Adoption Services and to Adoption Assistance for our home study! The process has officially begun!!

Abbey was excited to help! She helped pick out the family picture that we included. And for the record, she told us she wants a girl (but I think she'd be happy with a brother too :) )

There they are, waiting in the mailbox!! Yippee!!!

Oh, and my mother-in-law called today and said she sold 3 of my bows and has 2 more on hold for tomorrow! Guess I need to make some more to send as today was only her first day trying to sell them! Thank you Jesus!!

Details

Ok, I felt like this should be a separate post than the other that I just published. Many people have asked for more details about the child we will be bringing home so I thought I should address those questions on here. First of all, we are only adopting one child at this time. Although sometimes I think about adopting 2, we have decided that one is all that the Lord is calling us to adopt at this time. We are specifying that the age of the child be between 0-2 as we feel that birth order is important and we don't want the child to be older than the two we already have. Of course, he/she may be very close in age to Hannah (who just turned 1 on Apr. 3) and we feel that that is okay. Also, we are not specifying a gender. There is a longer wait for girls so we feel very strongly that we will probably be given a boy but we would be happy with either one! This final question that I can think of to answer right now is the color of our child's skin. Yes, he/she will be black. We believe that the Lord calls us to care for ALL orphans regardless of skin color and at this time, He is calling us to adopt from Africa. Therefore, our child's skin will be a different color than ours. However, he/she will be no less precious in our eyes nor in the eyes of our Savior. We know that there will be some people who have a problem with this and we know that at times, we will face struggles but we already love this child whom God has called us to raise even though we know nothing about him/her. We know that by leaning on God we can face anything that comes our way. We know that He will never give us more than we can bear. We are EXCITED about this incredible journey to bring our precious, precious child home!

Ups & Downs

So, I've come to the realization today that this journey will have many ups and downs. For example, I found out this morning that our initial $1000 donation will not be coming until after we bring our child home. Of course I am still thankful for the money that this person intends to be used for our child's schooling but was a little disappointed not to have it to help us through the process. There were a couple of other small things that contributed to my discouragement this morning; however, I was walking down the hallway and I just asked God to help me to trust in Him and not to get discouraged. I told him that I wanted this to happen in His time and not mine. Then, I also told Him that we KNOW this is what He wants us to do and that He WILL provide. Not 10 minutes later, my mother-in-law offered to take my bows (that I've made and you can see the link to my Etsy page to the left) to try to sell them at her school in Kentucky! I am very encouraged by that!! As I was getting excited about that prospect and thinking about making more to send with her, I realized that God answered my prayers immediately! Now, I know that this will probably not happen every time I ask but it did this time! He knew what I needed and has provided it!! Thank you for your continuing prayers!!

Update

Well, we just got back into town after spending a week with my family and friends. We celebrated our daughter's first birthday as well. While we were there, we received many cell phones and ink cartridges and were so encouraged by the support and offer to help with this fundraiser! We even collected $10!! $5 was from someone we didn't even know but who worked with my stepmom! God is so good! We are looking for new ways to fundraise as well and have contacted the local WalMart to possibly sell hot dogs/hamburgers out front of the store. It seems like there was much more I wanted to share but my oldest child is calling for me so I will have to add more later! Thanks for your prayers!