In just one week from knowing our request for Andrew was accepted, God has brought in half of the immediate money needed!!!
A friend had called Jen last Friday to order a loaf of bread and 2 dozen cookies from www.wickedgoodeats.etsy.com and then proceeded to give her a check for $100. Then over the weekend Aaron's mom managed to sell 4 of Aaron's CD's at their church for $400. This morning we woke up to a phone call letting us know a check for $1,000 was in the mail. God is good!! He called us to adopt which we knew we could never afford, but chose to obey anyway. Then He continually blows us away by His provision.
We are planning on putting a photo album together to bring with us for Andrew on our first trip so he will have it until we bring him home. We really wanted to write the family member names and how they're related in cyrillic so that his caretakers can read it to him while we're gone. We weren't sure how to go about that and asked for help on a yahoo group we're a part of. We have blessed by a man and his wife (strangers to us) who have offered to translate the words and names for us from English to Bulgarian in the cyrillic letters. What a blessing!!!!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
A lot has happened since our last post. We were sent information on one child over a month ago and asked for more information about him. We had some questions regarding what his needs would require of us. On March 11, our agency "accidentally" sent us information on another little boy (thinking it was the boy we inquired about). This new little boy seemed to better fit what we were looking for, so that evening we asked our caseworker to request him for us.
By Monday morning we had officially requested him with notarized papers. By Tuesday we got word that our agency in Bulgaria received our request and had submitted it for us. We were told they might discuss it in Friday's meeting. We didn't hear anything and thought we'd have to wait until the following Friday. Best case scenario would be that Tuesday when the council met again, but we definitely weren't holding our breath for this. In the meantime, God had given us 2 scriptures to hold on to and put together.
Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God..." for Proverbs 21:30 "there is...no plan that can succeed against the Lord."
He gave us peace that He would bring our son to us and if this little boy was our son, then no plan could get in the way of it happening.
So, Monday morning we asked our caseworker when they thought we would get word. We were out for a good part of the day, so when we got home around 5:45 P.M. we checked email from our caseworker. We opened it figuring it was in response to our email, but instead it was an email informing us that the Intercountry Adoption Council had accepted our request for this little boy on Friday. Praise God!!!!!
We can't give anymore information other than he is in our age range and was on the waiting child list. We will be calling him Andrew and will keep part of his original name as his middle name. We were not intending on adopting a child with special needs, but we started praying that if God wanted us to, that He would make clear to us what we could handle. When we read this boy's report we felt peace about his need.
So now we wait for our formal invitation to travel.
We are still in need of around $3,000 in order to travel for our first trip over to meet him (which could be in the next month or so). About 4 months later we can bring him home, which will require approximately $10,000 more. These amounts not only include travel expenses, but facilitator fees, interpreter fees, admin. fees, orphanage donation, etc.
Though it looks like there is so much more to raise, we are encouraged by the fact that God has already provided $20,000 to date. At the very beginning of this journey we determined that if God called us to adopt, then He would provide every penny. At every step of the way, we have had exactly what we needed when we needed it. So our faith in unwavering as we know He will finish what He started.
So, in the meantime, we continue to do what we can to raise the funds necessary to bring him home. We have opened a storefront on Just Love Coffee selling Fair Trade coffee. $5 of every bag sold will go towards bringing Andrew home. Go to http://www.justlovecoffee.com/littlebrother.
Just a reminder, we are still selling t-shirts at http://www.adoptionbug.com/littlebrother. We bought the ones written in Bulgarian for our family and absolutely love them. Above is a picture of our kids wearing them.
We have original worship CD's still available for sale and all proceeds from these will go towards bringing Andrew home. Just click on the "Add to Cart" button on the side bar to order.
In all your encouragement, support, and prayers, you are "looking after the orphans" (James 1:27). Thank you all for coming alongside of us in this journey.
By Monday morning we had officially requested him with notarized papers. By Tuesday we got word that our agency in Bulgaria received our request and had submitted it for us. We were told they might discuss it in Friday's meeting. We didn't hear anything and thought we'd have to wait until the following Friday. Best case scenario would be that Tuesday when the council met again, but we definitely weren't holding our breath for this. In the meantime, God had given us 2 scriptures to hold on to and put together.
Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God..." for Proverbs 21:30 "there is...no plan that can succeed against the Lord."
He gave us peace that He would bring our son to us and if this little boy was our son, then no plan could get in the way of it happening.
So, Monday morning we asked our caseworker when they thought we would get word. We were out for a good part of the day, so when we got home around 5:45 P.M. we checked email from our caseworker. We opened it figuring it was in response to our email, but instead it was an email informing us that the Intercountry Adoption Council had accepted our request for this little boy on Friday. Praise God!!!!!
We can't give anymore information other than he is in our age range and was on the waiting child list. We will be calling him Andrew and will keep part of his original name as his middle name. We were not intending on adopting a child with special needs, but we started praying that if God wanted us to, that He would make clear to us what we could handle. When we read this boy's report we felt peace about his need.
So now we wait for our formal invitation to travel.
We are still in need of around $3,000 in order to travel for our first trip over to meet him (which could be in the next month or so). About 4 months later we can bring him home, which will require approximately $10,000 more. These amounts not only include travel expenses, but facilitator fees, interpreter fees, admin. fees, orphanage donation, etc.
Though it looks like there is so much more to raise, we are encouraged by the fact that God has already provided $20,000 to date. At the very beginning of this journey we determined that if God called us to adopt, then He would provide every penny. At every step of the way, we have had exactly what we needed when we needed it. So our faith in unwavering as we know He will finish what He started.
So, in the meantime, we continue to do what we can to raise the funds necessary to bring him home. We have opened a storefront on Just Love Coffee selling Fair Trade coffee. $5 of every bag sold will go towards bringing Andrew home. Go to http://www.justlovecoffee.com/littlebrother.
Just a reminder, we are still selling t-shirts at http://www.adoptionbug.com/littlebrother. We bought the ones written in Bulgarian for our family and absolutely love them. Above is a picture of our kids wearing them.
We have original worship CD's still available for sale and all proceeds from these will go towards bringing Andrew home. Just click on the "Add to Cart" button on the side bar to order.
In all your encouragement, support, and prayers, you are "looking after the orphans" (James 1:27). Thank you all for coming alongside of us in this journey.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
In case any of you noticed, the Rachael Ray show aired our friends story, but did not include Aaron's music. We're not sure why, but God does. They did have Aaron sign a license agreement for them to use 2 of his songs for that particular show. The producer did say that this was the first time that he'd been in a church where he actually wanted to use the music. We did send him off with a copy of the CD, so who knows what can or will happen in the future. Just a reminder about our 2 fundraisers. Feel free to pass on our information to others.
We will be recycling ink cartridges and toners and getting some money back for those towards our adoption. So, if you live in the area, contact us and we will collect them from you. If you don't live in the area, but would like to use this as a fundraiser for yourself go to http://www.advantagecartridge.com/. If you mention our name we can get a $20 credit.
We also are selling 4 styles of t-shirts on an online store in which we will get anywhere from 26%-43% for our adoption. These fundraiser tees consist of designs that may have some themes related to adoption (family,faith,etc.) but are not specific to adoption only. Therefore, they should still appeal to all. Please visit www.adoptionbug.com/littlebrother or click on the t-shirts in our sidebar to see sizes and prices.
Our favorite is the one that says Faith, Hope and Love in English and BULGARIAN that's pictured in the top of this post. Those of you adopting from Bulgaria should check it out!
Thanks again for your prayers and support!!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Adoption News!!!
Our friends Nate and Catrina Brock (http://travelstocertainty.blogspot.com/) brought their little girl Dania home last week after 4 years of waiting. Thanks to any of you who helped through prayer and calls to your government officials!! Because of the conditions surrounding her homecoming(earthquake in Haiti) their story has become national news which meant a week full of interviews and camera crews.
They decided to allow all of this in order to give glory to God and continue to raise awareness of the needs of Haiti. As a result, we had a film crew and producer from the Rachael Ray show join them for our church service last Sunday. We have been told the story will air February 3rd.
An added blessing, a producer heard some of Aaron's songs during worship and has decided to use two of them as backround music while the story is aired. We signed a license agreement and have asked that they do what they can to promote the CD in order to raise adoption funds.
Our agency has informed us that we are now registered with the Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria as of Jan. 15, 2010. Yay!!! We are now in their system and have been "put in line" for a referral. We are being told this could take 12-18 months. We know that God has this process in His hands and will work everything out perfectly in His time.
We have launched 2 new fundraisers!!
Please check them out and feel free to pass the information along.
First, we will be collecting used ink cartridges and toners for recycling. We found a company that will pay us for the these as well as pay for the shipping for us to return them. The company is http://www.advantagecartridge.com/. We get a $20 credit for anyone who signs up, mentions our name and sends in their 1st qualified shipment. This company recycles laptops, ipods and cell phones as well. Check out their site to see what qualifies. We can get more boxes, so if you know of a business or organization that might be interested in supporting us in this, let us know.
Second, we found a company online that sells t-shirts as an adoption fundraiser. We were able to pick out 4 styles to sell at an online store. Go to www.adoptionbug.com/littlebrother to see our personal page. We will make 26%-43% depending on the size and style of shirt. All we have to do is direct people to their site and the company takes care of payment and shipping. Once we end the fundraiser they will mail us a check for our part.
For those of you who are also adopting from Bulgaria, our favorite design has the words Faith, Hope and Love written in Bulgarian.
We are real excited about these opportunities. We continually pray for creative ideas from God and He has continued to supply us with them.
Thanks again for all your prayers and support. We love you all!
They decided to allow all of this in order to give glory to God and continue to raise awareness of the needs of Haiti. As a result, we had a film crew and producer from the Rachael Ray show join them for our church service last Sunday. We have been told the story will air February 3rd.
An added blessing, a producer heard some of Aaron's songs during worship and has decided to use two of them as backround music while the story is aired. We signed a license agreement and have asked that they do what they can to promote the CD in order to raise adoption funds.
Our agency has informed us that we are now registered with the Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria as of Jan. 15, 2010. Yay!!! We are now in their system and have been "put in line" for a referral. We are being told this could take 12-18 months. We know that God has this process in His hands and will work everything out perfectly in His time.
We have launched 2 new fundraisers!!
Please check them out and feel free to pass the information along.
First, we will be collecting used ink cartridges and toners for recycling. We found a company that will pay us for the these as well as pay for the shipping for us to return them. The company is http://www.advantagecartridge.com/. We get a $20 credit for anyone who signs up, mentions our name and sends in their 1st qualified shipment. This company recycles laptops, ipods and cell phones as well. Check out their site to see what qualifies. We can get more boxes, so if you know of a business or organization that might be interested in supporting us in this, let us know.
Second, we found a company online that sells t-shirts as an adoption fundraiser. We were able to pick out 4 styles to sell at an online store. Go to www.adoptionbug.com/littlebrother to see our personal page. We will make 26%-43% depending on the size and style of shirt. All we have to do is direct people to their site and the company takes care of payment and shipping. Once we end the fundraiser they will mail us a check for our part.
For those of you who are also adopting from Bulgaria, our favorite design has the words Faith, Hope and Love written in Bulgarian.
We are real excited about these opportunities. We continually pray for creative ideas from God and He has continued to supply us with them.
Thanks again for all your prayers and support. We love you all!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
One of the families in our church is bringing their daughter home from PA. Here's a PA news story on them. Praise God!!!!!
http://kdka.com/local/parents.adoption.orphans.2.1438966.html
http://kdka.com/local/parents.adoption.orphans.2.1438966.html
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Something else we can do to help the orphans
I have copied the below information from a friends blog. We have 2 families in our church who are adopting from Haiti. One family has a child in the same orphanage that the entry is written about. Please read and send emails to your Senators to help bring these orphans to their families quickly.
"Our daughter and her husband are in the process of adopting two children (Wendy & Josiana--brother and sister) from Haiti. The two children are in an orphanage in Port-au-Prince. Fortunately, no one in the orphanage was hurt in the earthquake, but now they are threatened with a severe lack of drinking water and food.
Beyond for sending money to one of the relief agencies, there is little we can do as individuals to help. EXCEPT...
Like Wendy and Josiana, there are hundreds of Haitian orphans who are awaiting final approval for adoptions to families in the U.S. The building in Haiti where the adoptions are processed was destroyed in the earthquake. It may be years before the processing can resume.However, the U.S. can grant temporary visas to all orphans whose adoptions were pending before the earthquake. With the grant of visas the oprhans could then come to the U.S. to live with their adoptive families, but be classified as "foster care" children until the final paperwork is completed.
In granting the visas, the evacuation of the hundreds of orphans stuck in this limbo will free space in Haitian orphanages for the thousands of new orphans that have been created by this emergency. Please note that under U.S. rules, any family that applies to adopt a foreign child must first be certified as a foster care family, so there is a safe-guard system in place to insure that these oprhans who would come here under this plan will be safe.
PLEASE, PLEASE. Contact your U.S. Senators asking that they put pressure on the United States Citizenship and Immigrantion Service (USCIS) to grant "temporary visas" to all Haitian orphans now in orphanges awaiting the completion of their adoption process.This is a real way to help and it will cost nothing. You can send Emails by going to the website for the United States Senate (http://www.senate.gov/) and finding the links to your two senators' websites.If you have contacts or friends in any agency of the U.S. government who could push this idea with USCIS, please reach out to them to help, too.Thank all of you for your concerns, good thoughts and most of all prayers for my family these past few days. ~Ed "
Feel free to post this on your blogs or facebook and spread the word. In doing this we are helping the orphans be with their forever families.
Thank you!!!
I have copied the below information from a friends blog. We have 2 families in our church who are adopting from Haiti. One family has a child in the same orphanage that the entry is written about. Please read and send emails to your Senators to help bring these orphans to their families quickly.
"Our daughter and her husband are in the process of adopting two children (Wendy & Josiana--brother and sister) from Haiti. The two children are in an orphanage in Port-au-Prince. Fortunately, no one in the orphanage was hurt in the earthquake, but now they are threatened with a severe lack of drinking water and food.
Beyond for sending money to one of the relief agencies, there is little we can do as individuals to help. EXCEPT...
Like Wendy and Josiana, there are hundreds of Haitian orphans who are awaiting final approval for adoptions to families in the U.S. The building in Haiti where the adoptions are processed was destroyed in the earthquake. It may be years before the processing can resume.However, the U.S. can grant temporary visas to all orphans whose adoptions were pending before the earthquake. With the grant of visas the oprhans could then come to the U.S. to live with their adoptive families, but be classified as "foster care" children until the final paperwork is completed.
In granting the visas, the evacuation of the hundreds of orphans stuck in this limbo will free space in Haitian orphanages for the thousands of new orphans that have been created by this emergency. Please note that under U.S. rules, any family that applies to adopt a foreign child must first be certified as a foster care family, so there is a safe-guard system in place to insure that these oprhans who would come here under this plan will be safe.
PLEASE, PLEASE. Contact your U.S. Senators asking that they put pressure on the United States Citizenship and Immigrantion Service (USCIS) to grant "temporary visas" to all Haitian orphans now in orphanges awaiting the completion of their adoption process.This is a real way to help and it will cost nothing. You can send Emails by going to the website for the United States Senate (http://www.senate.gov/) and finding the links to your two senators' websites.If you have contacts or friends in any agency of the U.S. government who could push this idea with USCIS, please reach out to them to help, too.Thank all of you for your concerns, good thoughts and most of all prayers for my family these past few days. ~Ed "
Feel free to post this on your blogs or facebook and spread the word. In doing this we are helping the orphans be with their forever families.
Thank you!!!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Grant Money
Some very exciting news: On Monday of this week we received a letter in the mail from Show Hope. The letter informed us that we had been awarded an adoption grant in the amount of $4,000!! As you can imagine we are very excited and once again amazed at our Heavenly Father's provision. We still have more to go, but we are encouraged that to date we have raised over $20,000. He is faithfully directing our every step throughout this entire journey.Our status for now is that our dossier has been received in Bulgaria and we are waiting to be registered with the Ministry of Justice sometime in January.
The holidays are keeping us busy for now. LOTS of family time, preparation, and fun. Occasionally we stop to ask the kids what they think "Little Brother" would make of all this noise, food and activity. It's sort of a family game. (i.e. "Do you think Little Brother will like fried turkey?") I think it helps with getting us all ready for his arrival by making us consider what he'll be going through.
After the New Year we plan to get out our Bulgarian language CD again. It's been fun practicing the phrases we've learned so far with our children. We try and speak Bulgarian in as many everyday situations as we can.
We'll also be praying for more creative fundraisers. We have a couple ideas that we need to look into more to see how practical they really are. But for now we are content to enjoy this season and reflect on its true meaning.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
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