It's Been A Long Time

Wow, it has been a really long time since I have updated our blog! We have been without a computer for a long time and so I have been unable to update this. However, we are still in the adoption process and actually have had some pretty big changes!! Recently it came to our attention that our agency was participating in some unethical practices. We desire an ethical, upright adoption that reflects Jesus at every step. Therefore, after seeking counsel from some elders at Our church as well as some families that have already adopted, we terminate our contract wih that agency and have switched to A Love Beyond Borders. We are very excited about this new agency! Abbey is up from a nap so I must go for now but I will update more soon! Thanks for your continued prayers!!

Getting Ready...

My first craft show of the spring is the 31st and I've been busy getting ready for it. I've made over 50 flower bows and still have another 50 to go...I've also been working on regular bows, clips, cute bow holders, and fleece baby snuggle blankets...Plus we have our necklaces, cookbooks, and headbands as well...It's a busy week but I'm excited to bring in some more money to bring our child home! Thought you'd like to see a few pics of our merchandise. If there's anything you'd like, let me know :) I will be adding more pics later this week.

 

Exciting News

Well we just found out that we have a new number!!! We are now number

Please ignore the date at the bottom...I just though this was a cute image.) This means we jumped 3 spaces in 5 days!! Woohoo!!! Only 2 families in front of us now!! It's getting so very close! I can't wait to see a picture of our child and find out if it's a boy or girl!

This means that we have got to get on the ball with fundraising - we still need approximately $10,000 (maybe a little more) to finish this race. You can still donate to our matching grant at Lifesong for Orphans (we need another $2,600 to fully fund this grant). Let me know if you want the address to mail the check. We are also selling African necklaces, cookbooks, bows, fleece blankets, and headbands if you are interested. Send me an email at Koenigkristen@yahoo.com if you'd like to somehow contribute financially to our adoption.

Please join us in prayer as we are entering the final stretches for the referral process. Please pray that the Lord will begin to prepare our hearts and our future child's heart to become a family. Please pray for the orphanage and the workers - that they will be kept safe. Please pray that the Lord will be glorified throughout this process. Also, this is a long stretch, but nothing is too great for the Lord - we are in this process with some good friends of ours who are also adopting from the same agency/orphanage. They received their referrals a month ago. It would be AMAZING if we could get our referral quickly and potentially travel with them to pick up our children.

Thanks for reading!!

African Necklaces

I'd like to introduce you all to our newest fundraiser.

No, we aren't selling our children :) Our precious girls are modelling our African necklaces that our dear friends, Keith & Julie, brought back for us when they brought home their daughter from Ethiopia. These necklaces were made by African women to help support their families. Each individual bead takes approximately 24 hours to make. They are made by rolling up any kind of paper they can find, then dyeing the beads and putting them all together. Even though they are made of paper, they are very durable and feel as though they may be shellacked (sp?). You can wear them as one long strand (like Abbey is), double them up (like Hannah), or even wrap them a third time.

We have lots of multicolored necklaces, some even have some larger beads mixed in, some yellow, green, purple, gray/black, and 1 blue necklace as well. I am not the world's greatest photographer, and these pictures don't really do these beautiful necklaces justice :) We are selling them for $10 apiece and if you need them shipped, please add $2. These would make great gifts (even for Mother's Day in May). *IBC people, we know there are some other families also selling these for their adoptions so please do not feel any pressure to buy from us :) We love to support adoptions and totally understand if you choose not to buy one from us and buy one from another family instead!!

We are also still selling our cookbooks, blankets, hairbows, and headbands (check out our fundraiser link) if you are interested.

Thanks again!!

Long Time, No Post

Well,
It's been over a month since I've last blogged and I thought I should update our "followers" on our progress. We are currently #6 on the waiting list for our child. We are slowly moving, maybe about a number a month or so but we are hopeful that will pick up soon as there are many children at our orphanage simply waiting for all their paperwork to be completed.

Although our adoption hasn't moved much, we have seen God work in miraculous ways in the past month in the adoptions of several of our friends. Justin and Bonnie brought their two precious children home on February 15 after she spent almost 3 months in Ethiopia while our entire church family and many more people prayed that the Lord would move mountains so they could come home. AND HE DID!! Then, our other friends, Keith and Julie, are leaving tomorrow to bring their 8 year old daughter home from Ethiopia. Our friends, Jon & Bethany, will hopefully be travelling in March/April to bring their 2 children home from the Congo. Our friends Adam & Ruth, accepted their referrals for 2 yr old and 4 yr old sisters. Also, two families at our church have recently been approved for foster-to-adopt and are simply waiting for "the call"!! So, we are thrilled to see how the Lord is working in the adoptions of our friends!!

It is time for us to get back on the fundraising wagon so I have scheduled 2 craft shows (one in March and one in May). We also still have many bows, blankets, cookbooks, etc. and we have ordered some African necklaces to sell as well. They are beautiful!

Please pray for us that we would not grow weary or discouraged as we wait and wait and wait and wait....Thanks for your support!!

Blog Design by Bethany

Some friends of ours, Jon & Bethany are currently in the process of adopting 2 children from the DRC. Check out their blog at wewillcometoyou.blogspot.com They have their referral for their little boy and are waiting for their little girl. In order to raise the remaining funds needed, Bethany has started her own blog design fundraiser. Her blog for this fundraiser is here www.blogdesignbybethany.blogspot.com 100% of the proceeds go to support adoption! They need to raise $6550 to complete their adoption. Once they have raised all the money needed for their adoption, they will continue this fundraiser to help other adopting families bring their children home.

She created the new header and signature for my blog and don't they look AWESOME??!! She can do headers, signatures, blog buttons, custom fonts, and a complete blog makeover! All of her prices are very reasonable and remember all the proceeds go to fund adoptions. You can check out her services/pricing here. She can match your header to your blog or in my case, I told her I would be changing my background soon (she has a link to free backgrounds) so she simply created a header that would go with just about anything.

This is an awesome, original way to fundraise...after all, how many people out there have blogs that looked like mine did? Just a plain header that came from the Blogger design because I don't have a clue how to make my own headers and things like that...So, if you have a blog and would like to spice it up or know someone whose blog needs a little TLC, pass this info on to them or send Bethany a message. You can help bring 2 children (eventually more than that) home and give your blog a makeover in the process.

Blessings,

Show Hope

Just a quick "fund" raising update...we are so thankful to announce that Show Hope has graciously given us a $5,000 grant for our adoption!!! This is not a matching grant, this is just straight up $5,000!! We are planning to use this for part of our referral fee as soon as we are matched. Praise the Lord!!!! And thank you, Show Hope!!