Fundraising

When we felt God calling our hearts to adoption again, we knew that it would undoubtedly be in His hands. You see we are taking a HUGE leap of faith. The expenses that accompany international adoption are great. We knew that our family finances would support another child; however, the ability to gather the extra expenses to complete the adoption would be a challenge. We are still unsure from where all the funds will come. We do know that the Holy Spirit prompted us to hear, and we are answering His call. So far in the process, we have witnessed the Holy Spirit work in some very amazing ways. He is moving the hearts of many for His orphans! We are blessed with the love and support of our church family and from many friends (old and new). We stand amazed that people have used their personal talents to earn money for our Toby. We are grateful for people who have contributed monies (people that don't even know us personally), for friends (who are in the adoption process themselves) contributing some of their fundraisers to us, and for friends that felt the Spirit moving them to send unexpected monies. We serve an amazing God that indeed can move mountains and accomplish what seems impossible to us! You see He wants every child to have a forever family!!
Please join us in praying over some upcoming and some ongoing fundraisers:
1) This weekend, April 1st and April 2nd, we are having a garage sale at our church. Many people have donated items to sale to help us get our precious baby boy home. Please pray that God will multiply monies made and that it will glorify Him!
2) A friend of ours is a talented photographer. She considers herself to be a hobbyist in this area, but she is really,really good! She is using her talent to benefit our adoption. She is scheduling photo shoots for donations. Check out her blog: http://keriquitecontrary.wordpress.com/
Please pray for her "Potrait of Promise" fundraising efforts... and if you are not to far from us in  Southwest,MO. schedule a photo shoot with her.
3) We are in the process of planning a couple of fundraising meals. One for sure will be a Spaghetti Supper. Please pray for all the details to come together for these events and that it will be successful at raising some more of the funds....More on this later...
4) We have had several friends who have offered profits from items that they sale. We are so grateful for their generousity. One of these events will be a Thirty One Party. Thirty One company makes bags, lunchkits, and organizers that are made of beautiful fabrics. This will probably be scheduled in May and anyone can order via internet catalog. More details on this later...
5) We are organizing a "raffle". Please pray for the organization of this and for its success. More details on this later ...

Singing Praises to our Glorious GOD!! We can hardly stand it...We want our baby boy in our arms! All in God's perfect timing!

Boy, Boys, Oh,Boy!

Guess it is no secret that I love being the momma of boys. Boys are wild, crazy, full of mischief, and just plan FUN! No there isn't much quiet time, and no there aren't many things that haven't been tampered with and/or destroyed; however, there are lots of love and hugs!...and, OH! How they love and protect their momma. ...and OH,How I Love Them!

Toby

Our tiny boy will be 23 months old in just a few days.  He's in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, and we are SO ready to go get him!  Unlike the referrals from our previous adoptions, Toby's contained little information about his personality.  So, we don't know much about him, yet, but we already love him!
We continue to try to approach this adoption differently from the others.  We wholeheartedly believe that God gave us a heart for children and placed a special calling on our lives to adopt.  Nevertheless, we insisted on maintaining control of every aspect we could.  (Of course, those who have been there and done that KNOW how false any sense of control is in the world of homestudies, dossiers, and approvals.)  I guess that's why I (Brad, the guest blogger at Kim's request) resisted so long the call to adopt again.  I couldn't say with certainty where the money would come from.  I couldn't say for sure what impact it would have on the ongoing bonding struggles within our family.  In short, I wouldn't be in control.  But, the Holy Spirit used a combination of many things - realizations or discoveries I made about myself on our mission trip to Honduras last year, clarity I'd gained from recent study of the Gospel, and a challenge from a recent study to stretch myself and allow the Holy Spirit to work, to name a few - to prompt us to trust Him and follow His call.  So, that's what we are doing.  Would you please join us in prayer over some specific things?
First, for the completion of our homestudy.  Our homestudy was delayed in getting started due to some miscommunication, and its completion has been delayed by my fingers!  (I don't know if I abused my fingers in my days as an electrician and then as a phone man, or if I was just born with bad fingerprints, but I have a terrible time getting good prints taken for the various background checks required in the adoption process.)  Our second set of my fingerprints is currently in review, and we need this final background screen to be DONE to complete the homestudy and move on to our USCIS application (and yet another fingerprinting appointment)!
Second, for Toby's continued care.  Not only did the referral not contain much about his personality, the medical info was somewhat limited and in some areas, conflicting.  What we do know is that his special needs are being attended to, and he is showing improvement.  Our prayer is that God equips his caretakers to continue to help him until we can bring him home.
Finally, that God will continue to provide the resources for us to see this through.  Our friends and church family have been so awesome with their support of this adoption.  It has been amazing!  We've had friends come up with and implement their own creative fundraising ideas, and they've jumped in to help us with the fundraisers we've put together.  It's been humbling to watch the Lord provide just what we've needed as we needed it, and we trust Him to continue to do so.  We are so blessed!

A Test... I think I failed ?!

Do you ever feel like you are an exhibit at the zoo? I know many of my friends that share this journey of adoption, especially those with "larger" families get where I am coming from...

I feel like I am constantly being "tested" ... The test..."Do you consider "all" of these kiddos to be your children?" ... The proctors of the test...people in general...

The story... Well, the girls are participating in a wedding of a dear friend (the "bestest" babysitter in the whole world, the "bestest" drum teacher... you get the idea). We love this wonderful young woman, and she is like family. ...on with the story, last night was rehersal and then the rehersal dinner (all of the family was invited), and thus, we were on exhibition. I know people are curious, about large families...about adoption, but really sometimes the questions can be ...well disturbing!
The Question... Are any of them brothers and sisters? ... with our 10 year old daughter sitting there, hanging onto every word that is spoken...!!!
The Answer... well, this is where I failed... I was so taken aback. The question was asked by a person in ministry... part of the grooms family... we are their guests...
My answer, which followed a very tense pause (I was struggling to get a "nice","polite" answer formulated and to not take the persons head off...)... "Well, my adopted children are from different provinces in China and they aren't biologically related." Then that question was followed by "And these are your sons? (refering to our bio boys)

... But, you see, I failed! I saw it almost instantly in my 10 year old daughters eyes. She needed me to be her champion! She needed to hear me correct this insensitive question! This child already struggles with identity and belonging. She was looking to me to claim that they are all my children! You see... I have never felt any other way... they are ALL OURS! God granted us the gift of all these children whether they were born to us biologically or born to us in our hearts! ... but I failed ( I say I because, the question was directed at me, and I was doing the talking)... She needs to know that she is MINE (OURS)!... She needs to FEEL that she is mine(ours)! She needs to hear me say it...over and over again! She needs to know that I claim her in front of the whole world. She needs to comprehend that we are her forever family! She needs to BELONG!

 I still feel like weeping this morning. It makes my heart and my mind sad that we (people in Christ) still struggle to comprehend... to Know... that we are all family. That God loves us all... that we are all brothers and sisters. Why does biology make us family?? Why do people think that they must make "adoption" into a "bad" thing... like it is a last resort or that those children are inferior? ... Oh, Now I am getting "angry"... and on a "Soap Box".... So, How do you handle those insensitive questions? ...especially those asked in front of your children ...You know, it is a lot harder, when the children are old enough to understand!?