Fundraiser Update and a Few Other Things

Well, we had our cookout this past weekend and it was great!!! The Lord provided $700 for our adoption plus I have sold about $50 in bows in the past week! We had some wonderful helpers on Saturday - my dad and stepmom drove down and Jane watched the girls while my dad grilled all day in the heat. Also, our good friend and pastor at our church, J.C., was able to come help us grill as well for a few hours (despite the fact that his wife is 9 months pregnant and they have 3 other children). Also, a couple other families from the church dropped by for lunch and made deliveries for us while they were there :) Thanks to all these precious people for their help!! Thanks also to all the Dillard's & Mall employees and our church family who stopped by and bought a meal from us to help us get closer to bringing our child home! Thanks to Dillard's management for letting us use their dock to set up our fundraiser!! The Lord is so good to continue to provide ways for us to raise money for our adoption! I have been so encouraged to see how the adoption community as well as our church community and several family and friends have been so willing and eager to help us out!

Another fundraising opportunity literally dropped in my lap this weekend! I found out about an event called "Shepherd's Fest" in Shepherdsville this next Saturday (27th). This event is put on by a church and has several arts/crafts booths as well as live music and lots of other fun things. Last year there were roughly 4500 people there. I called just to see if they had any booths left and they were so excited that we are selling bows and other items for our adoption that they said we could have a FREE booth!! Praise the Lord!! How could we pass that up?? Please pray that I can get enough inventory made and that I will be able to find childcare for our children that day. Hopefully this event will help us raise the rest of the money we need for our home study...then we can start saving for our dossier :)

On a couple of other notes, we will be mailing our application to Show Hope tomorrow and to Katelyn's Fund on Wednesday for more grant opportunities. We also have our fingerprinting appointment with USCIS on Sept. 13.

We were able to get together with some sweet friends this past week who are also adopting from the Congo. She was so kind to take pictures of my bows and post them on her blog to help us out. Her pictures are so much better than any I ever take :) Thank you, thank you Ruth!! Check out her blog at www.whatsmixing.com

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!!!

Next Fundraising Event

Well, we are pretty much settled in Louisville (still a few things left to put away...) and it is time for our next fundraiser! Woohoo!! Since our home study is now complete, that means we have a home study bill to pay and we only have part of the funds :) Therefore, this Saturday (20th) from about 11-6, we will be grilling out and selling hot dogs/hamburgers, chips and drinks at the Dillard's at St. Matthews Mall. We will be set up around the back on the dock (where the trucks unload) of the Men's store. This will be right next to El Nopal (the old Panera in the mall). If you are out and about and are planning to eat out for lunch, please stop in and see us. We'd greatly appreciate it!! If you aren't in Louisville or planning to eat out Saturday, please pray that God will use this time for us to share His word with the people who stop in to see us. Please pray that these people will be able to see God's love for them and all the millions of orphans worldwide. Finally, please pray that we will trust that He will provide all that we need for this next step :)

Also, we sent off our first grant application this past week to Lifesong and got an email notification today that it had been received. We are waiting on a letter from our agency and then we are going to apply for a few more grants as well.

I've also started making bows again and have quite a few ready to sell to bring this child home :) Let me know if you're interested! Thanks for all your prayers and support! This is a long process and it is easy to get discouraged but we are trusting in the Lord that this will all be completed in His timing and we will be able to bring our precious child home exactly when He wants us to.

Finally An Update...

Finally, finally, finally our home study is complete!!! Praise the Lord! Now we can move forward in the process to bring our child home! I felt like we were stuck at a standstill for a little while...however, now hopefully things will move a little quicker :) We are quickly finishing up several grant applications and planning many fundraising events as we need to come up with about $3500 ASAP to pay for our home study and send in with our dossier (which is a collection of documents that we send to our agency and they send to the Congo). As soon as we have this money collected and our fingerprints done (which will hopefully be soon), we can send in our dossier. Then, the wait begins - we will officially be on a waiting list for a child!!! We can't wait! Here are ways that you can help - PRAY (I will list specific things shortly), buy or sell bows for us :), host a Pampered Chef show or place an order, donate anything for our yard sale, donate old cell phones, inkjet, and laser printer cartridges. Thanks in advance for all your help and support!!

Here are some specific prayer requests:
* That we will be diligent in completing our grant applications quickly
* That we will be awarded some grant money :)
* That the Lord will provide all the finances we need for our adoption & that we will trust in Him to do so
* That some other fundraising activities that we are working on will work out
* That our fingerprinting appt will be scheduled very soon so we can finish our dossier and be on the Wait List!!
* That our child we be fed and well taken care of until we can bring him/her home
* That the Lord will use this journey as a way for us to be a witness to others

Thank you! Thank you! Josh & Kristen