Hello Everyone! I know it has been a while since our last post. Unfortunately not a lot has happened in regards to the adoption process. We are still waiting on our homestudy to be approved, also we have to complete several hours of education, so we have been spending alot of our nights reading. The book we are reading is called "The Connected Child" and it is all about the psychological struggles of children who are adopted. It has been amazing to learn that there are developmental difficulties even for children that are adopted at birth. Some of the potential malnourishments, even from the womb, can create subconscious fears in a child as they grow up. We are learning all about how to recognize, manage and overcome those fears. It is actually a very interesting book, and I think one that could apply for all children, not just those of an adopted family.
We also have been truly blessed this past week to receive a few large donations to our cause. It never ceases to amaze me the generosity of those that love us, and some that have never even met us. I came into the office last week to make copies of the fundraiser flyers and ran into the ladies that wash our coffee pots for us. Since I had some with me I figured I would give them a few copies. One of the ladies was even so nice to invite some friends. One of her friends is excited about our adoption and wants to contribute. She can't make the fundraiser, but wanted to know how she could go about donating. What an amazing woman! I have not, and probably will never meet her, but she has truly blessed my family! Thank you so much for all of your continued prayers for fundraising and our baby. I have a friend who recently raised money for a missions trip. She blogged several times that she had no idea where the money was going to come from, but was just trusting in God. I thought I understood how that would feel to see God work that way, but I was clueless. It is truly amazing to watch Him unfold His plans before your very eyes.
Thank you and keep praying. We will see you on the 6th... don't forget the flyer!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
FUNDRAISER FLYER
God at work!
So on Friday I got a call from the marketing department of Buffalo Wild Wings, basically I believe to tell me they couldn't do the fundraiser. DON'T STOP READING! I guess in the past people have been less than scrupulous with fundraisers, even to the degree of pretending to have a sick child, and raising money for their "care." Understandably, having been burned more than once, BWW was a little hesitant to do a fundraiser for a person, rather than a charity. This is where God comes in. I instantly had the idea of doing the fundraiser for Bethany Christian Services, and registered 501(c)3 organization, on my behalf. This allows them to continue with the fundraiser, and Bethany Christian has agreed to accept the money for me, and put it towards our adoption. I am very excited about this, because I am confident that God gave me the idea. He also made it possible to get a mountain of paperwork and coordination done between the two organizations done so that I can still "hopefully" have our flyers by Tuesday, which is when you may see an article in the Waterford Area Chamber newsletter proclaiming this thing to be happening and directing people here to see a flyer that I don't yet have! Anyway after a fairly relaxing morning on Friday, I ended in a flurry, but we were able to get a lot accomplished.
Also, over the weekend I talked to several people that are far out of town and wished they could come to the fundraiser, or otherwise help our cause. Our adoption worker told us about an organization called Chip In! that helpls people raise money for whatever their cause is. You can see on our toolbar on the right a "widget" for chip in. We have set an arbitrary goal of $5,000.00 however, I would be blessed if we could raise even $5.00 for our efforts. Anyway, if you are one of these people that REALLY wants to help us, and lives out of town, or otherwise can't make the fundraiser, feel free to make a donation through Chip In! Again, I feel really awkward asking for money, and please know that we will be very good stewards of any gifts, and everything will go directly to Bethany Christian Services. If you cannot or simply don't want to give, please understand there is NO, I repeat, NO, pressure, and I cannot tell who has, or for that matter who has not given, so we will not know what you choose to do. We just wanted to create an easy way for those who have the ability and desire to help.
On another note, we received our photo books from snapfish. These will be given to potential birthmothers by Bethany Christian. This is how they first get to know us, and how they decide which family they want their child to grow up in. We did as much as we could to show who we were, and are very excited by the end result. I can't believe how quickly this is becoming real!
Our next tasks are to create a YouTube video, basically a photo montage of us, as another marketing tool for prospective birthmothers. Also, we have to do about 20 hours of education on adoption, and raising adopted children.
Thank you so much for your continued prayer, please pray that our baby is out there somewhere and that He prepares a path to our meeting our child soon!
Also, over the weekend I talked to several people that are far out of town and wished they could come to the fundraiser, or otherwise help our cause. Our adoption worker told us about an organization called Chip In! that helpls people raise money for whatever their cause is. You can see on our toolbar on the right a "widget" for chip in. We have set an arbitrary goal of $5,000.00 however, I would be blessed if we could raise even $5.00 for our efforts. Anyway, if you are one of these people that REALLY wants to help us, and lives out of town, or otherwise can't make the fundraiser, feel free to make a donation through Chip In! Again, I feel really awkward asking for money, and please know that we will be very good stewards of any gifts, and everything will go directly to Bethany Christian Services. If you cannot or simply don't want to give, please understand there is NO, I repeat, NO, pressure, and I cannot tell who has, or for that matter who has not given, so we will not know what you choose to do. We just wanted to create an easy way for those who have the ability and desire to help.
On another note, we received our photo books from snapfish. These will be given to potential birthmothers by Bethany Christian. This is how they first get to know us, and how they decide which family they want their child to grow up in. We did as much as we could to show who we were, and are very excited by the end result. I can't believe how quickly this is becoming real!
Our next tasks are to create a YouTube video, basically a photo montage of us, as another marketing tool for prospective birthmothers. Also, we have to do about 20 hours of education on adoption, and raising adopted children.
Thank you so much for your continued prayer, please pray that our baby is out there somewhere and that He prepares a path to our meeting our child soon!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Home study
We had our home study today. Faith, our social worker, came out and talked to us about our adoption. We went over the home study we had from before and discussed the legal details and such for an adoption. It's a scary thought that even once we are matched and get the baby, a birth mother has a few weeks to change her mind. We really pray that isn't God's plan for us. Faith was very nice and willing to answer all our questions. Now we need to do 10 hours of adoption education - reading a book, attending a meeting, researching online - to get ready for the adoption. We also will be making a YouTube video to show birth mothers, along with the book we made.
Thank you for your continued prayers. We hope to get the flier for the fundraiser on the blog soon. Stay tuned!
Leah
Thank you for your continued prayers. We hope to get the flier for the fundraiser on the blog soon. Stay tuned!
Leah
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter! We have a beautiful and sunny day today in Michigan. We started out our day with a great service at our church with 2,000 of our closest friends. :) Just a powerful reminder of the great God we have and a celebration of His resurrection. We look forward to an Easter dinner with my parents and aunt and uncle this afternoon. Quite a treat because they are usually out of town for Easter!
It's great to be home today as we have had a great vacation out to Las Vegas. I posted quite a few pictures on Facebook along the way and will probably be making an album soon. I wanted to make something very clear to those that are reading and those that have commited to come to our fundraiser in June. Our Spring Break trip was one that was scheduled for last August to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. We budgeted and saved to have some money to spend in casinos, on shows and other excursions long before the adoption became a reality. However, during the embryo portion of our journey, the timing of the process meant that I had to be home for a result on one of the transfers. I also had a job opportunity that I really wanted come up and the interview was the week we would be gone as well. Both were exciting possibilites, so we cancelled our trip. Unfortunately, neither were meant to be and we were left with the loss of a baby, job opportunity and great trip. It was a rough time. We also lost some money on the flight and other excursions we had booked. It was very disappointing. Fortunately, we were able to rebook our trip for this month and had a great time.
We understand the great responsibility of asking others to help us financially, though, and do not take that lightly. This was a trip that was paid for months ago and we are now saving every penny. So please understand that we are not asking others to help financially and then living the high life on vacations. :) We are scheduled to go to Hawaii in July to celebrate my best friend finishing her residency as an ER doctor. Again, this was paid for months ago and a great deal that we got. We will be vacationing on a budget when we get there. We love PB & J's!
So please know that if you are willing to help us with donations during this process, we will be good stewards of your money. Every penny that we had budgeted for this vacation that we didn't have to spend we put straight into the adoption fund. I'm telling you this because it was on my heart while we were gone and I felt convicted to do so. Half of our vacation was spent with my aunts and uncles that I don't get to see very often, and it was awesome to spend with them. David got to know them better and we were so glad we could be with them. So it was a great time and chance to recharge before going into my last marking period at school.
So thanks for letting me explain. :) Happy Easter!
Leah
It's great to be home today as we have had a great vacation out to Las Vegas. I posted quite a few pictures on Facebook along the way and will probably be making an album soon. I wanted to make something very clear to those that are reading and those that have commited to come to our fundraiser in June. Our Spring Break trip was one that was scheduled for last August to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. We budgeted and saved to have some money to spend in casinos, on shows and other excursions long before the adoption became a reality. However, during the embryo portion of our journey, the timing of the process meant that I had to be home for a result on one of the transfers. I also had a job opportunity that I really wanted come up and the interview was the week we would be gone as well. Both were exciting possibilites, so we cancelled our trip. Unfortunately, neither were meant to be and we were left with the loss of a baby, job opportunity and great trip. It was a rough time. We also lost some money on the flight and other excursions we had booked. It was very disappointing. Fortunately, we were able to rebook our trip for this month and had a great time.
We understand the great responsibility of asking others to help us financially, though, and do not take that lightly. This was a trip that was paid for months ago and we are now saving every penny. So please understand that we are not asking others to help financially and then living the high life on vacations. :) We are scheduled to go to Hawaii in July to celebrate my best friend finishing her residency as an ER doctor. Again, this was paid for months ago and a great deal that we got. We will be vacationing on a budget when we get there. We love PB & J's!
So please know that if you are willing to help us with donations during this process, we will be good stewards of your money. Every penny that we had budgeted for this vacation that we didn't have to spend we put straight into the adoption fund. I'm telling you this because it was on my heart while we were gone and I felt convicted to do so. Half of our vacation was spent with my aunts and uncles that I don't get to see very often, and it was awesome to spend with them. David got to know them better and we were so glad we could be with them. So it was a great time and chance to recharge before going into my last marking period at school.
So thanks for letting me explain. :) Happy Easter!
Leah
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