Monday, July 23, 2012

The Lord's provision

Since we began this adoption process, Mike and I have been amazed at how the Lord has provided for us and shown us that this is the plan He has for us. This past weekend was no exception! On Friday and Saturday we had our garage sale fundraiser and we were incredibly amazed by how everything played out. We had some great friends from our church help out with the whole garage sale, from setting up, working the garage sale, protecting the items by sleeping outside in the church parking lot, and by cleaning up afterwards. We could not have done it without these friends, and we are so thankful!
Another amazing fact is the amount of money we raised...our 2-day garage sale total was $5576.73! I mean really, who makes that at a garage sale?!? I was talking to Mike on Saturday night, saying that this garage sale experience reminded me of the loaves and fishes story in the Bible. When I was looking at everything after we set it up, I couldn't believe that we had all of the stuff in our house at one point! It was like the Lord multiplied not only the amount of things we sold, but the amount of money we made off of what we sold! It was incredible to see what we ended up with, and  so funny to see all of our faces as we asked each other, "WHAT did we SELL to make this much??" We had some really cool experiences at the garage sale that I want to share.
1. A friend of ours from high school showed up at the garage sale on Friday to give us a donation. She works in downtown Fort Worth and she drove all the way to Burleson on her lunch break just to bring us a $100 check! Her sweet gesture really touched us!
2. On Saturday, some of our friends came and hung out with us at the garage sale for a little while, and as they were leaving he slipped some cash into Mike's hand...after they left, we realized they had given us a $400 donation! We were floored!
3. Several friends and friends-of-friends gave us $50 for things like a flower vase, a purse, etc. and many more contributed to our donation jar!
4. Late Friday afternoon, a man drove up and walked up to the table where I was sitting and asked me what we were raising money for. I told him that it was our adoption fundraiser and he said, "Well I don't want to look around, I would just like to give you a donation." He handed me some money and I asked him if he was sure he didn't want to look around for anything and he replied, "No, I just felt like I was supposed to give you this." When he got back in his truck and drove away, I counted the money and realized he had give us $135!! This was a random man that we didn't know who felt like he needed to donate to us. Obviously, He was following the Lord's leading!
With our amazing garage sale total and the additional donations we had already received, Mike and I realized that we have raised $7386.73 so far toward our adoption! Once the birth parents give the go-ahead, our first payment of $8,000 will be due, and we had almost raised all of this. We were blown away about this figure, but the Lord wasn't finished yet! Last night we received a $70 donation, and today we received 2 checks in the mail, one for $50 and one for $500, which took our total to just over $8,000! The Lord has amazed us more each day through this process by providing exactly what we need.
This is also such confirmation to us that we are walking in His will. So many times over the past 2 1/2 years we have questioned what the Lord's will is for us and how we are supposed to become parents, but now we know that this is His plan for us, and that is an amazing and liberating feeling!
To top off this awesome weekend, I also talked to the birth mother today and we are going to dinner with the birth parents tomorrow night at 7:30! Please be praying for our conversation with them, that we would all feel comfortable and at peace with each other, and that they would decide to place their baby with us!
We can't thank you all enough for your prayers, donations, support and love as we continue on this adoption journey. God is so good! :)
Below are some pics of the garage sale so you can see how massive it was! :)
















(Above is the couch Mike and Kip slept on outside Thursday night!)



Massive amounts of clothes!!




Monday, July 16, 2012

Adoption Bug Fundraiser

Thank you so much to everyone who has been supporting us thus far in our adoption journey! We are so excited that things are progressing and moving in the right direction, and we are trying to stay patient and wait on the Lord to work out all of the remaining details. Just as an update, so far the birth parents both really like us after seeing our profile (the scrapbook I made about us) and they want to have a phone conversation with us, which we will have tomorrow at 4:00! If everything goes well, we will then arrange an in-person meeting with the birth parents and both of our caseworkers. Our caseworker said typically we would arrange a time to go out to dinner with them so that it's more comfortable for everyone.

So please be praying: Pray for the birth parents as they make this decision, that they would have a peace about us as adoptive parents for their child. Also, please be praying for patience for us as we wait to hear their feedback and their decision. We want them to feel a peace about their decision, but after 2 1/2 years of waiting, we are also sooooo ready to bring our child home and be parents, so we are anxious! Also, please pray for our finances as we continue to fund this adoption.

On that note, we have a new fundraiser up and running that you can contribute to if you would like to! It's a website called Adoption Bug, and they have set up a personalized store for us through which people can purchase really great t-shirts, and we receive a portion of each t-shirt sold! The link is now up on our blog (to the right!) and all you have to do is click the link and it will take you directly to our store! (You will know you're in the right place if you see a picture of Mike and me at the top!) This is a great way to contribute to our adoption in a way that doesn't cost much for you, and you also get a great t-shirt for yourself out of the deal! Also, if you can't buy a t-shirt, we also get a commission for every time someone "clicks" the Adoption Bug link on our blog, so even if you can't buy a t-shirt, please click away!!

Mike and I are so thankful for the outpouring of love, support and prayers that we have already received-THANK YOU!!