Adoption Bug

Some time ago (I can't remember... HAHAHA) we began an Adoption Bug T-shirt fundraiser. We are going to close out this fundraiser on December 31, 2011. Here is the link to the T-shirt fundraiser if you'd like to grab yourself a shirt before the fundraiser ends. :)

Adoption Bug Fundraiser

Support

Support – verb, to keep from falling, to help, to back a cause, to serve.

Sometimes along the journey of adoption support is having a friend to say “I don't fully understand what you are going through but I am praying for you.” Sometimes it means just sitting back and listening to a rant about some aspect of the journey. The adoption process is a lot more like a life journey than a pregnancy journey. All three have a definitive start, but a pregnancy normally has a 9 month term and you can lay a path, plan the dates, know when to have a bag packed for the end result. Not so with life or an adoption journey. You have a start, but show me someone who when they start life's journey or an adoption journey who can even give a somewhat firm answer to what date these journeys would end. We started the journey of growing our family in May, 2008 and almost a year later in February, 2009 we started our adoption journey. We were told when we completed our paperwork and orientation that once approved we would be looking at anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. Now as I write this we have been on the path of adoption for almost 2 years, have been approved and paper pregnant for 14 months and our 4th Christmas season since beginning our journey to grow our family, it becomes harder each year. It's not anyone's fault, life goes on and others see their families growing or see the growth in a pregnancy with a defined date it becomes hard to not get mad at God and can become difficult to be around those whose families are growing because we love them and are happy for them and are glad for the joy of another baby to spoil but still mourn our loss and do not want to rain on their parade as it were. Now back to the support part. (I should be a preacher the way I chased that rabbit trail.) When you've seen a friend who is going along the path of adoption, remember that it has as many ups as it does downs. Sometimes the better thing to say is “I'm praying for you,” because with a domestic adoption, generally “anything new on the adoption” is “We haven't heard anything, still waiting.” On another note, we have added a donation button to the top right corner of the blog. It's setup through Paypal so it is secure. It doesn't require a Paypal account to use. Do not feel obligated to do anything but we wanted to give the option for those who felt led to aid. We look forward to the day that we can say, “We met the birth mother!!! We have 'x' amount of time before the baby God has for us is here.” The best way to be supportive is to pray without ceasing, love unconditionally and follow James 1:19.

Little Leonard's Daddy

James 1:19
King James Version (KJV)
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

Snipits

*We've made nearly $250.00 so far from the Duck Duck Goose consignment sale! WEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! I sold some of the stuff we previously bought. I'm so over green and yellow. HA! Now we will have more to register for. :)

*We shared with our Sunday school class at First Baptist of Chickamauga that we are adopting. Now we have more brothers and sisters praying we will soon be matched with our precious miracle baby.

*This week after supper (or on nights when Charlie works late... as soon as he gets home) we've prayed together for our baby's birthfamily and that we will be matched soon. I'm praying that we'll be matched by Christmas. God very well may decide to have us wait longer, but He said "Ask and ye shall receive." :)

*On October 21st, I celebrated 1 year of friendship with the Kenneth and Kandle Lee! We met at a support group meeting at Bethany and hit it off. The rest is history! I love how God brought us together through our adoption journeys. Kandle is not only like a friend but more like a sister. :) I can't wait to raise our children together!

*Please continue to pray for the soon match of us with a birthfamily and that we'll be able to pay for the adoption in full!

Duck Duck Goose!

This is the second time we've consigned in Duck Duck Goose (Consignment sale). We are extremely thankful for those who donated items for the sale. :) So far we've made over $100!!! God is the Almighty Provider!



We took all of this to the sale!!! YAY!

Persistent and Focused

The message at church Sunday morning convicted both Charlie and me. This was the passage that was read.

Luke 18
NIV

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

As Chris said, our prayers should have a focus... 1 focus. We should not give up or get distracted; we should strive to be persistent like the widow in from the Bible.

For Charlie and myself, we realized our prayer for a child has not been persistent and focused as it ought to be. After a discussion on the way home from church, we decided to lift our prayers to the Lord after supper (and when we come together if circumstances prevent us eating together) to pray specifically that we will be matched with our Little Leonard and for his/her birthparents.

As we've been on this journey to a Little Leonard for nearly 3 1/2 years, God is continually bringing things to our attention to grow us closer to Him. We are grateful that He continues to convict us and bring us closer to Him!

Prayer

I'm struggling with the "longing for a baby blues" a lot lately. Instead of going into detail, I want to keep this entry simple.

We are extremely grateful for your prayers.
We firmly believe God will answer our prayers.
We ask for your continued prayers that we will soon be matched with our baby.
We ask for your continued prayers for strength to press on for the birth parents and us.

Adoptive Families Picnic

We walked away from the picnic today with encouragement and a bit of sadness. It was wonderful to hear other adoptive parents share their stories of being matched with their little miracles. We were extremely thankful that there were 2 other waiting families there today as well! YAY! It was great to catch up with them and not feel like weirdos. :)

While we totally loved hearing adoptive moms and dads tell their stories, it was hard to swallow that we are still waiting for our story to get REALLY exciting. I didn't cry while at the picnic though at times I wanted to. I'm so thankful God gave Charlie and me the strength to get through this picnic and to have a good time. :)

Hopefully next year we will return our reservation card to Bethany with at least 3 who will attend!



This cake made me smile so much that I'm sure I now have a wrinkle!



Bethany did a fantastic job of entertaining the kids! There was face painting and lots of fun blow ups!



Sam or Libby's daddy enjoying his food. :) I'm so thankful for this wonderful man!