Blessings and bloggy friends...

We are so blessed.  In more ways than we can count.... 

I have started following many adoption blogs since we started on this journey.  Most of the adoption blogs I follow are families adoping from Ethiopia, and many of them are using Holt International as their agency (as we are).  Several blessings have come from my "blog-stalking" (as Drew calls it)!  I entered a drawing on this blog and we won!  This family is doing a coffee fundraiser through JUST LOVE COFFEE and selling coffee online.  $5 of each bag of coffee sold would go towards their adoption, but they have made the decision to split their proceeds with another family who is adopting.   What a neat thing for them to do and what a blessing to us...  If you are interested in ordering coffee or other merchandise and helping to fund both our adoption and this family's adoption, click here and order!  Each day I'm amazed at the ways God is showing us this is His plan for our family.  Who knew that a "random" family who is also adopting would be such a blessing to us.  Even cooler, we discovered that we are using the same adoption agency, are very close in the process, and only live several hours from each other.  It's crazy to think that we could be traveling to Ethiopia at the same time and our children could be friends someday :)  I love how technology can be used for such a greater good!

I also LOVE this blog and so enjoy seeing her new creations.  Laura sews all kinds of amazing goodies and sells them in order to fund their Ethiopian adoptions (they have already adopted one little guy and are in the process of adopting another).  She did a giveaway several weeks ago on her blog (see here) in celebration of one-month on the waiting list for their little one and I WON!!  We love our ornament and I plan to hang it on our fireplace after the Christmas decorations are down as a constant reminder of our little one...  To order your own ornament, visit this etsy shop! 

Thank you to everyone who continues to support us through prayer.  You are such a blessing to us and we are so very thankful for your love and continued support!

All I Really Want For Christmas

This afternoon I've been doing a lot of praying and thinking while Evan naps.  I've been looking at the 4th stocking hanging on our fireplace without a name on it and wondering when that stocking will have a name and face to go with it.  I've been wondering how long we will wait to see our baby's face and whether or not she will be spending our next Christmas with us.  I've been thinking about names and dreaming about how wonderful it will be to see Evan love on his baby sister.  I've been dreaming about little pink clothes and how I plan to decorate her room.  And if I'm being honest, I've been having a little pity party for myself wondering why the list isn't moving as quickly as I'd like.  And then I came across this video and have been bawling like a baby.  There are soo many children who need families (over 5 million in just Ethiopia).

But the truth of the matter is, God is in control and He already has OUR CHILD chosen for OUR FAMILY.  She may or may not be born right now. He knows what the timing will be and He will give us the strength and patience to get us through this long and emotional process.  But sometimes it's just so hard.  Today is one of those days.  But even in these tough days, I pray that I will always be reminded that adoption is NOT ABOUT US.  It's about how we can serve HIM and in doing so, give these orphaned children a FAMILY (a perfect representation of how we are orphaned in sin and then adopted by Christ).  I definitely have a different perspective this Christmas.  I pray we can all take a step back in these next few days and really reflect on why we celebrate Christmas and give thanks for the gift of baby Jesus on that special day in Bethlehem so many years ago.  Merry Christmas!

Our Dossier is in Ethiopia!!

We received an email from our adoption agency yesterday that our dossier has arrived in Ethiopia!  To those of you wondering what this means, not a whole lot...  But it does mean we're one more step closer to our little one.  We will still be waiting awhile for our referral...  But it's still exciting news!!

What We've Been Up To...

We've been.... 

decorating the house for Christmas... 

making a paper chain to count down to our referral (we moved at least 3 spots this week!)...

visiting Santa (somewhat reluctantly, but he wanted to make sure Santa knows what to bring!)..



and finally sitting on his lap for a quick happy picture...




and playing at the Indianapolis Childrens museum...

We've been busy, but we're having oh so much fun!!

An Unexpected Blessing

This is Drew again... As many of you know, one thing we wanted to do as we go through our adoption is to provide as much information and encouragement to others that may be considering adoption. I wrote this post a few months ago sharing about the costs of adoption. Going along with that, we received a great blessing recently!

For those who don't know, Lifesong for Orphans is a great non-profit organization that cares for orphans in many ways. One of them is by helping those who are adopting that are facing a mountain of expenses related to the adoption.

A few months ago, we filled out an application through our church and Lifesong. We just got word that our church, through Lifesong, awarded us a matching grant of $2,500! We weren't expecting this, but because our church has set funds aside to help those within our congregation who are adopting we were awarded this matching grant. Wow, what a blessing!

One thing Lifesong does is allow you to set up an account with them so that those people who have wanted to partner with you and your adoption expenses can send their contribution to Lifesong and have it be tax deductible. Since we had a few people ask us if they could help, we filled out the application hoping to just get an account for the tax deduction. But, with our church having a separate set of funds set aside to use for families adopting, we were given a matching grant. So, the first $2,500 given to our Lifesong account will be doubled!

We had decided that we didn't want to try to "raise support" as some people do (which we don't condemn at all, just a personal decision). Although we had decided not to actively fundraise, we have been amazed and blessed by people who have sought us out to see if they can partner with us financially as their way to support orphan care. For those people who have asked us, you can email Ashley or I for more details and our Lifesong account number.

For those considering adoption: As I said in the post about adoption costs - don't let expenses hold you back from adopting. I know that there are more people that want to partner with you than you realize.

We feel so blessed by our church, Lifesong, and those who are partnering with us both in prayer and financially - and we look forward to "paying it forward" for other adoptive families in the future.

WE ARE ON THE LIST!!

We are officially waiting!!  We received our I-171H yesterday and over-nighted it to our adoption agency in Oregon last night.  They received it this morning, approved it (with no revisions- all that double and triple checking paid off!), and added us to the list!  Our agency will now send our dossier to be authenticated by the US State Department and Embassy of Ethiopia and we will be notified when it reaches Ethiopia!

For those of you wondering what #56 means (I've been asked that question several times already)...  Basically, there are 55 families in our agency waiting for children ahead of us....  They aren't necessarily waiting for infant girls (could be older children or boys), but they are ahead of us.  We will be receiving monthly updates as the list moves and our number changes....  Our agency is estimating that our wait time for our referral (child match and picture) will be 3-9 months... Obviously we are praying it's closer to the 3-month mark, but it's totally in God's hands and His perfect timing... 

Thanks to everyone for all the support and encouragement through this process...  It means so much to us!!  As they say in the adoption world....  WE ARE OFFICIALLY PAPER PREGNANT!