New Stuff

It has been a while since the last post. A few things have happened since then that are helping us out. In November Jennifer and I applied for an adoption grant through Shaohannah's Hope to help us with the financials of the adoption. We were told it would be late February or early March before we heard anything. It was mid March when we received a letter from them and they were congratulating us for an adoption grant that we are receiving from them in the amount of $3000.00. Talk about taking your breath away. That was a tremendous boost for us. We thank God for that. Yet, another sign that His hand is working in the adoption. The amount will be sent to our agency through paperwork and they will pay up to that amount for the expenses that will be coming up when we make arrangements to leave. They said if there money left over, it will be given to us and then we can use it for the fees while we are in China. That will make things a lot easier.
We held a fund raiser on April 6 and 7. It was an Antiquities Photo fund raiser. We sold tickets for $10.00 to people/friends/family who wanted to have their child/children photographed in an antique like photo. This was a really neat one because you will get a 10x13 photo for buying the ticket. The photographers will come back next week and then they can purchase packets of pictures. That was 2 long days but let me tell you, after seeing some of the costumes and children, those photo's are going to be adorable. We can't wait to see the photo's. The photographers were excellent and did a great job with the parents/children. We are going to do another one of these later this summer/early fall. I will set a link to the right to their website so you can take a look.
We are planning our next "Mystery Dinner" for May 6th. It is Mystery in the Library. What happened to King George? Looks like a lot of fun. You will get to dress up as a favorite fairy tale character. We are finishing up invitations and hope to send out tomorrow. What for more on that later.
The rummage sale is coming at our church in June. It will be June 7-9. We already are collecting items and people are telling us now that they have items for us. This will be bigger then last year so we are going to need help. If you can help setting up or during the rummage sale, contact us. I have a monetary goal of $2500.00 for this. I know it is a lot, but it can be done.
We have changed our focus on the adoption fund raising. We want to bring awareness of adoption, our journey and tell others of adoption. This journey has been awesome to travel so far. It is only going to get better and when we travel to China, that will the "Highlight" of it. It is like you are just cruising along on an interstate at 90mph and you know the city is coming up, it is there, but you just aren't there yet. That is how it feels to me. It is fairly smooth with only minor road bumps. Some of the road bumps are going to be when we have to redo fingerprinting/immigration paperwork. Fees are going up for these also. That will be a minor inconvenience but we will get through it. I will have to start doctoring those fingers of mine so I can go right through it this time. It will be fine.
We have "teamed" up with Roy and Kari Smalley for the fund raising. Roy and Kari are committed Christians and they are walking this journey like we are. We will be doing the rummage sale with them. There are members from their home church that will be donating items along with members from our home church. They live only a few blocks away from us. We have been spending some time with them and getting to know them even more. We are doing a parenting bible study. It is great. There are good pointers and helpful advise for parents. I hope that will help us give a solid foundation to our children. There are many things to that but it is a tool to help. They are a great couple and we know we have established a life long bond with them.
We felt that the focus of fund raising would be taken off of us and directed towards the process of adoption, adoption it self and everything else that goes with it. It isn't about the money, it is about adoption and the journey God is taking us on. We have submitted to him the adoption and are leaving it in His hands. It is only by His hands that this will be fulfilled. I know that may sound different, but that is how we feel. That is where we are at in our faith journey. It's about growing as we go. And this is helping us with that. When we are all done with the process, what a great ministry about adoption we will be able to tell others. This is only part way into the journey and as we get closer the more there will be able to tell. God Bless all of you.