Quick Yard Sale Update

This will be a short post as we still have to load the U-Haul and take down our yard sale stuff today but I wanted to give an update to all who prayed for today before our internet is disconnected this afternoon. God provided us with another $471 to bring our precious child home!! We now have enough for our first $3200 bill which we will put in the mail on Tuesday and we are on our way to saving for the next one :) Praise the Lord for providing this money so quickly!!!! Thanks for all your prayers - our next blog post will be from a public library until Internet is set up at our new home. More soon!! -Kristen

Wal Mart Didn't Happen...But God Did!!

Well, today was NOTHING like I expected!! I woke up this morning thinking we were going to Wal-Mart for our fundraiser. We had bought over $250 worth of hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, and drinks to barbecue and sell. I had also made about 80 bows and 2 bow holders to sell as well. We had signed up for this fundraiser over a month ago and I made sure that it was okay for us to grill and sell food. Leading up to this morning, I had been very very anxious. I know the Lord says,

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:6-7

However, those of you who know me, know that I am a worrier. I was trying very hard last night and today to give this day to God but I was struggling. When I got to WM this morning, I checked in and then we began to unload. Almost as soon as we unloaded, someone came out and told us that we couldn't sell food there. To make a long story short, apparently whoever told me I could was wrong and you have to have insurance to sell food there. I was very very upset!! Reflecting back on that moment, I realize that Satan was trying to get us to give up on today. He knew that I would be devastated and not sure what to do next. However, God had a bigger and better plan for us today. Josh's cousin Jimbo was with me and Grandaddy at WM (Josh was at work). He immediately thought that we could sell plate lunches to local businesses and people that we know in town. So we went back to the house, got on the phone, and Grandaddy began walking up and down the street knocking on doors. Once again, this story is getting long...Jimbo, Josh, and Grandaddy grilled while Ashley (Jimbo's sweet wife) and I put together orders and took care of the kids. Through 2 $300 donations, several smaller donations, and many orders from people who didn't want change, God provided a total of $1185.00 towards bringing our precious child home. Satan may not want us to adopt an orphan but God does and He will ALWAYS win!! Thank you to those of you who helped, donated, and prayed for us today.

Here are a few pictures from our day. This is my wonderful husband. This is Jimbo sampling the food. We could not have gotten through today without him and his sweet wife! They were an incredible blessing to us today!! This is our baby, Hannah. She was trying out the styrofoam cooler that we used to keep the food warm.

I wish I had a picture of Ashley and Grandaddy but I don't...

Piggly Wiggly Take 2

Well, today was our second fundraising event and it was once again at the Piggly Wiggly. We were very encouraged by the support we received today! I sold 47 bows and a few other items plus we got some donations. Our total profit from today was $193.00!! We are slowly but surely making our way towards our goal of bringing our child home :) This is our sweet Abbey Grace helping us bring her brother or sister home from "Afeeca."

Next Saturday we are having a fundraiser at Wal-Mart. Then the following Saturday is our fundraising yard sale in LA and then Sunday we load the moving truck and Monday we head to Louisville!!! We have a lot going on and a short amount of time to do it in. We appreciate your prayers, encouragement, and support!

Louisville

Well, we are super excited to announce that we will be moving back to Louisville!! This July we will have been married 7 years and this will be our 7th move. We have decided that we are tired of moving and are ready to settle and that we want to settle in Louisville. One of the main reasons we chose Louisville is because of our church there. Since leaving Immanuel 2 years ago, we have had a difficult time finding a church that helps us grow spiritually like Immanuel. God has blessed us by giving us church homes in the two places we've lived since then but we have always missed Immanuel. Therefore, we decided that we wanted to settle in Louisville. Of course, we are also closer to our friends and most of our family there too.
God has worked this out for us so that Josh will have a job in Louisville with the same company so we know this is what He wants for us too. However, things are moving along much quicker than we thought they would. It looks like we will be moving the first of June. This is exciting but a little stressful as well. We are buying a house in Louisville but are not closing until July. Therefore, we don't know what our living situation will look like for that month's time nor do we know what we will do with all of our belongings during that transition. It also causes a little stress on us financially to be moving that early. We are excited because this could speed things up for the adoption because we can go ahead with the first meeting for the home study but we also don't want to have to slow things down with the adoption because of finances. I hope that makes sense. Of course, we are keeping our adoption fund separate from everything else; it just means we are unable to contribute as much to it right now. In the meantime, we have two fundraising opportunities down here in Louisiana that we are preparing for so I will be busy making crafty items plus packing. If you are praying for us, please pray that I (Kristen) will not worry about all of these things because I am very much a worrier! Please pray that we will trust in the peace of the Lord and that we will trust that He knows what is best for us and will provide ALL that we need. Please pray that we will be able to SAVE SAVE SAVE as much as possible over the next few weeks and that God will work out the living situation. Finally, please pray that I will be able to devote as much time to my family as they need/deserve over the next two weeks even while I am trying to prepare for the fundraisers and the move. Oh, and one more thing. Please pray for Grandaddy as he prepares to live by himself for the first time in over 60 years. His wife passed away shortly after we moved in so this will be the first time that he will live alone. His faith is strong and he knows that the Lord will take care of him but it will still be hard. Whew!

What's Going on With Us...

Well, as of right now, we are still working on getting all of our paperwork together for our Home Study. I took the girls for their physicals yesterday and found out from our home study contact that they will have to have ALL their vaccines. We had not vaccinated them against HEP B b/c we did not feel that their chances of contracting that were very high at their age. We thought maybe someday we would go back and do that. Well, I guess we have to do that now so I've scheduled that appt as well as appointments for Josh & I to get our physicals. We are also completing forms for background checks for all the states we've lived in for the past 10 years (5 for me, 4 for Josh).

And, we are fundraising like crazy!! We have $3200 that is due to our agency ASAP so we are trying to do whatever we can to raise this money. God is continually blowing me away by His provision!!! We have two additional fundraising events scheduled this month (more to come) and a yard sale scheduled for the first weekend in June.

Anyway, that's where we are right now. If you are praying for us, please pray that God will protect our child until we can bring him/her home, that He will provide the finances that are needed when they are needed, and that we will continue to trust in Him and not get discouraged. We are VERY excited and not at all discouraged right now but this is a long process and I know it will have its ups and downs.