Happy 1st Birthday!!

Today is "N's" first birthday. In a way it is bittersweet. We are thankful the Lord has sustained her life for this first year yet sad that we can't celebrate this special day with her. She probably doesn't even know that it is her special day. When I think about Abbey and Hannah's first birthdays and the HUGE celebrations we had with many friends and family, I am saddened that we can't have that party for her too. Hopefully we will be able to adopt her and this will be the last birthday she celebrates without a family.

In other news, we found out yesterday that we will still get our Show Hope grant after all!!! We are so thankful for the Lord's provision for our adoption! Lets bring this little girl home!! Thanks for praying!

One HUGE step forward, one GIANT step back...

So, we heard back from one of our grant applications today that we cannot be approved for a grant because they only work with non-profits and ALBB is a for-profit!!! What???!!! We had no idea that there was such a thing as a for-profit adoption agency.

What does this mean for us? The $5,000 Show Hope grant we were rewarded will most likely not be able to be used because they only award grants to 501c3 agencies. I called them and the lady I needed to speak to will be out of the office until tomorrow.

We are not switching agencies again. This agency has proven to be very ethical and trustworthy. This just means that instead of the $4,000 we thought we needed to accept the referral, we now need about $8,000 ($9,000 minus a generous donation and some money I got today from selling jewelry)...this is needed ASAP. I'm so tired of talking about/trying to raise money...

Will you please pray that I will not get discouraged?? And that I will trust in God's perfect provision for our adoption?? Also, will you please pray that He will provide this money ASAP so we can move forward in this process to bring our daughter home??

Thanks

Referral Time

We have some exciting news!!!! At about 10 Saturday night, I opened my email and saw the words, "Referral Time" in the subject line!!! We were shocked! Two weeks before we had been told it would be 1-2 months until referral and it was only 2 weeks!! I still feel like it's kinda surreal...we've been in this process for so long and now it feels like we might actually get to finish it :)
So, our referral is for a beautiful little girl who will be a year old on October 11!!! I wish I could post her picture but I can't yet.

Would you pray that The Lord will keep her safe and healthy until we can brig her home? Also that the rest of this process might go quickly? Hopefully 4 months? Average is 4-6 months from now.

Yay!!!!

Hand in Hand

We found out yesterday that we were approved by Hand in Hand for a matching grant up to $2500!! Praise The Lord!! That means everything donated up to that amount will be doubled! If you are interested in donating this way, you write the checks to "Hand in Hand Christian Adoption." Do not put our name anywhere on the check because of the non-profit aspect of the agency. Oh, and your checks will be tax-deductible! Then, mail the check to Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Joshua Koenig Family, 18318 Mimosa Ct, Gardner, KS 66030. If anyone wants to purchase a tshirt or any of our other fundraisers you can write a check to them for that too and it will be doubled :) It has to be postmarked by November 8. Thanks for considering!

Also, we had a yard sale today and made $341!! Thanks to everyone who donated stuff and/or time to help us out! You are greatly appreciated!

According to our social worker, she is hoping to have a referral for us in the next 6 weeks :) BIG SMILE!!

Oh, and some dear friends of ours came home with their girls this past Monday from Congo!!!

Oh, and one more thing - our next fundraiser is a pancake breakfast on Saturday, October 13. If you can come, RSVP by Friday, October 5. Thanks again!!

Little Treasures

Well, after 12 days of the Little Treasures sale, we made $576!! Praise the Lord! I finally figured out how to upload pictures with my phone so here is one of our booth. I'm not sure what order they will put these pics but I'll also include a couple of our trip to Frankfort. Oh, and an update. We mailed our dossier last week so now we are officially on the waiting list again!! One of the pictures shows our massive 3" stack of papers that we sent in! Please pray with us that we will get a referral soon. Thanks!

Happenings

Well, it has been an EXTREMELY BUSY week!! I was accepted as a vendor for a HUGE consignment sale that lasts 12 days..I was very excited about this event but had no idea what to expect...well, the Lord has blown me away! We have made quite a bit of money so far and there are still 5 days left!! All I have done for the past week is make bows. I've made at least 300. Although I did not do this all myself - I had multiple friends come and spend hours helping plus my parents have graciously kept our girls for the past 6 days so they could have some fun while mommy was preoccupied. They come home tomorrow and we sure are ready to see them!

Also, Josh was off today and we drove to Frankfort to get our final documents state certified for our dossier!! Yay!! What's next? Well, tomorrow Josh will make 3 copies of the 1" stack of papers for our dossier, then scan it and send it to our agency. Then on Thursday he will FedEx it to them along with some money!! Then we will officially be "paper ready" again and could really have a referral at any time!! Woohoo!!!

We have applied for a couple of grants and are working on the applications for two more. We also have a pancake breakfast and silent auction planned with some other friends who are adopting. Finally, I have at least 2, potentially 3, more craft shows coming up. Oh, and a yard sale. We also still have several Shirts left. Therefore, we are entering a busy season of fundraising. Hopefully it will be our final push :)

How can you pray? Well, first, we are supposed to send $9000 with our dossier. We don't have $9000 so we aren't sending all of that at this time, just some of it...hopefully that will be okay. Please pray that the Lord will provide the funds exactly when they are needed and that we will trust Him in this. Also, pray that the Lord will prepare the hearts of our children for the changes that will be coming in our family. Pray that the Lord will be glorified in every aspect of this process and that our unbelieving friends/family will come to know Him, even possibly through this process. Thanks for journeying with us!

Oh, I wish I could post pictures from today but I can't from our phone so you will have to just imagine us at the capital building :)

Please Pray

Please, please get on your knees before the Lord and pray for our dear friends. All I will say is that they too are in the adoption process and both of their children are now "missing." These children are legally theirs. Please pray that the Lord will sustain them through this trial. Pray that the people responsible will be held accountable and that they will be saved. Pray that many will come to know the Lord because of their faith shown through this trial. Please pray that justice will be done for these precious children and that they will be found and be able to come home very very soon...Also, because of safety reasons, if you know these people please do not leave a comment with any more details or names of them or their children. Thank you!