Today has been amazing! God is really providing for our adoption. Today has been such a reminder that God is in control and He will provide. We just need to continue to trust Him.
In just about 2 hours time we were so hugely encouraged. Jen came home to check our email and facebook and all. She found 2 more cookie orders on wickedgoodeats.etsy.com Just minutes later she found a note on facebook from an old college friend of ours.
Our friend also has an etsy shop, selling homemade children's clothes, aprons, little boy's ties, blankets, etc. She put a link to her site and told us to check it out. Jen immediately had tears in her eyes as she read the page. Our friend is raffling off for $1.00 a little girls tunic she will make and all proceeds will go to our adoption. We didn't ask her for this and didn't know anything about it until she sent the link. What a blessing having someone else promote our cause for us. She also gives people an option to just donate to us. If this wasn't enough, their shop is also donating 20% of their earnings for April to our adoption. Wow!!! Please, check out their shop. Her items are beautiful and original. http://www.redpajamasdesigns.com
A couple hours later we were notified by paypal that a family member had just donated $100. Thank you so much!! An hour later another family member wrote asking for our address in order to send something to our adoption fund. Again, wow. God is so good and so big and so in control.
We are so encouraged today and just wanted to share all this with everyone. God's word says to proclaim His mighty deeds and so here we are doing just that. Psalm 145:3 "Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom."
On a side note, we just added Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies to our etsy shop.
Two weeks ago we launched the Etsy shop (WickedGoodEats.etsy.com) selling Jen's baked goods and we immediately received two orders. Soon after we received an offline order from a friend. He asked for one batch of cookies, but to our surprise sent us a check for over three times as much. Within the next few days, we added whole wheat bread to the store and received an offline, loaf-a-week order from a friend who lives locally. We will soon be adding other items as well. Also, there's a local market in our town during the summer months where we'll be able to sell some of our home made baked goods and crafts. Jen's sister is amazing with scrapbooking and has offered to make greeting cards to sell for the adoption. Jen herself will be sewing pajama bottoms, hero capes for boys and princess capes for girls.We sent out email and snail-mail letters to many family and friends updating them on the adoption and fundraising efforts. We promptly received a check for $100.00 from an individual who has only met us once! In addition they took the time to compile grant and tax information regarding adoption.Between the Etsy shop and mass emails, our outdated, overused computer was suddenly having serious problems. I have a laptop for work, but that too is becoming outdated and is only available to Jen in the evening when I get home. Buying a new computer was financially not an option. So we prayed and asked God to provide a computer. Why not? It just might work.A week later, some close friends came into possession of a 1-1/2 year old computer and thought we might need a newer model for all the adoption work we are doing online. We never asked anyone for a computer, yet God heard us and answered!! Hallelujah!!!One of the longer parts to the adoption process in Albania is waiting on a referral for a child. We've been in touch with one family in particular who have adopted from Albania and have been a tremendous help and encouragement. They actually brought home their daughter this past December. She has some medical problems, but they deal with them because they love her and know she is their daughter. In talking to them, we were encouraged to maybe look into a child with some needs other than "normal" institutional issues. So, we contacted our case worker to look into any boys from Albania with special needs that we might be able to deal with. At the same time we had seen pictures of some children in an orphanage in Albania from this past October. A couple had been over there at an orphanage and posted pictures of the kids on their blog. They did not know the status of any of the kids, whether they are adoptable or have any health problems. We scrolled through the pictures and were amazed at one picture of a little boy. He looks so much like our son, Tobin. We were blown away. We showed his picture to some family members and they completely agreed. Our son, Tobin, actually asked if the picture was him and when we said no, he said, "I want that boy to come to our house and live with me." So, when we contacted our case worker, we asked her to look into the possibility of this other little boy as well. Our case worker has contacted the Albanian program director about the possibility of both these boys. Now we are waiting to hear back. We don't know for sure whether either of these boys is our son, but we wouldn't put it past God for him to work in this way. We don't know who our son is yet, but we love him so much already and cannot wait for him to come home and be a part of our family. Our kids pray for him everyday, especially Tobin. He also asks every day, "When is 'Little Brother' coming home?" We don't know how long the process is going to take, but we will not stop until our son is home.
On April 7th, Jen will be hosting a Pampered Chef Fundraising Party in our home. We will be able to receive a percentage of the total sales towards our adoption fund. Anyone wishing to order can do so online. The cut off date is April 13th. The address is pamperedchef.biz/jackieturk Click on Shop Online. It will ask you if you have already been invited to a show. In the first box type "Santor Adoption" and then click Search for Host. Santor Adoption Fund/Jennifer Santor will appear. Click on it to shop. Be sure to ask for direct shipping so your order will not end up here in Georgia. Please let anyone you know about this option to order. Most people like Pampered Chef products and would order something from them, especially if they knew they were helping one child find a forever family.
We've been grinding our own wheat now for over two years. Jen loves baking with it, and we love enjoying the fruit of her labors. She is a phenomenal cook. Our house has become a virtual white flour free zone! Back in May, Jen was talking with some close friends about the adoption and different fund raising ideas. One of them suggested that she needed a divinely inspired idea for fund raising and that they should commit to prayer. A few weeks later, Jen had the idea to sell her homemade, whole wheat baked goods online. Since then, we have been working on finishing all the paperwork for the home study and just simply trying to live life. With the holidays behind us,paperwork done and money due, God saw fit for this to be the time. So we've opened an Etsy store. We are currently only selling cookies, but will soon add french bread. If you type in the above address it will take you right to the store. We will be keeping everyone updated on future fund raisers. On April 7th Jen will be hosting a Pampered Chef Fundraiser Show. We will make a percentage of the total sales. If anyone is interested in putting in an order feel free to contact us, even if you don't live in the area.Also, over the past several weeks we have received two $50 checks towards the adoption. We feel that this is God's way of encouraging us that He IS going to provide. We are thanking Him through every step!
