Everyone has already been so supportive and has begun asking if they can do anything to help us. The answer is yes.....Here is what we are working on now:
1st - we would love prayers. The first time around our process was so smooth and amazing - Clearly a work of God. We would love for all of you to be praying for a smooth and fast journey to meet our next child.
2nd- Adopting is an unbelievable blessing, but a pricey one.We have already saved up over 80% of the $20,000 it will cost to fund the adoption. To raise the last bit, we are hoping to host an Adoption Yard Sale and Raffle in March. Here's where you guys all come in: We are looking for donations of items to sell at the yard sale. Spring cleaning? Getting rid of clothes that don't fit? Packing up those old baby toys? Give us a call. We can come get donations and store them until the sale. We have a space set aside for donations of all sizes, so just let us know. Everything will be cleaned up and sold at the sale in March. 100% of the proceeds will go towards bringing our baby home. Also, we will have a bake sale table at the yard sale. So, all you cooks, let us know if you would be willing to bake something. Please pass this on to all your friends, family, and coworkers as well. The more donations we can get the BETTER!
Thank you all so much! We will be sending out a flyer for the sale in a week or two!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
It is official!
After much prayer and contemplation, Drew and I have decided to adopt again! We are very excited to begin this journey toward bringing home another child and Ian having a little sister. That's right, we have applied to adopt a baby girl.
This time we have chosen to go through an agency. (Of course we are always open to the fact that God may have other plans for us. He did with Ian. And what an amazing journey that was and blessing he is!) We met the head of this agency during our adoption process with Ian. Last minute we were told that we had to have a private social worker meet with us before we were allowed to bring Ian back into SC. That meant we had to find a worker near Charlotte that would be available right away. Enter Sharon, from Christian Family Services. I called her 10 am on a Friday morning and she was able to meet us at a local Wendy's at noon. She was amazing and crucial in us getting the clearance we needed to come home, helping make sure our paperwork was in line, and getting the adoption finalized swiftly. She was just an awesome person to add to our list of people who are hugely important in our lives.
Fast forward to now: Drew and I are ready to expand our family again and again we are feeling called to adopt. Our first call was to Sharon. She sent us all the info and paperwork we needed to get started. We filled out basic forms, picked out our favorite family photo, picked out a photo of the front of our house, wrote a check for our application fee and sealed it up in hopes of a fast approval. The mail man picked up it up a little while ago. As he left I smiled knowing that we are one step closer to bringing our next child home.
Please pray that this journey is as smooth and joyous as the journey that led us to Ian.
More to come....
This time we have chosen to go through an agency. (Of course we are always open to the fact that God may have other plans for us. He did with Ian. And what an amazing journey that was and blessing he is!) We met the head of this agency during our adoption process with Ian. Last minute we were told that we had to have a private social worker meet with us before we were allowed to bring Ian back into SC. That meant we had to find a worker near Charlotte that would be available right away. Enter Sharon, from Christian Family Services. I called her 10 am on a Friday morning and she was able to meet us at a local Wendy's at noon. She was amazing and crucial in us getting the clearance we needed to come home, helping make sure our paperwork was in line, and getting the adoption finalized swiftly. She was just an awesome person to add to our list of people who are hugely important in our lives.
Fast forward to now: Drew and I are ready to expand our family again and again we are feeling called to adopt. Our first call was to Sharon. She sent us all the info and paperwork we needed to get started. We filled out basic forms, picked out our favorite family photo, picked out a photo of the front of our house, wrote a check for our application fee and sealed it up in hopes of a fast approval. The mail man picked up it up a little while ago. As he left I smiled knowing that we are one step closer to bringing our next child home.
Please pray that this journey is as smooth and joyous as the journey that led us to Ian.
More to come....
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Wonderful Tonight
I am so behind. There have been no Christmas posts (though I have three drafts saved), no pictures of all the holiday festivities, and no posts at all in month. SO, I PROMISE I will do a December recap (complete with photos) tomorrow. But today, I want to talk about something else entirely.
New Years Day has always been important in my family. Not only is it the start of a new year which in itself is an amazing feeling. (With one tick toc the clock creates a blank page and another chapter of our lives is started). It is also the day my grandparents were married and years later it is the day my mom and dad were married. So, we celebrate anniversaries and fresh starts all in one day.
This year was a VERY special anniversary for my grandparents. This year they celebrated their 60th wedding aniversary. The very thought of that is awe insipring to me. It is something that is almost unheard of in our culture today. Not only did their marriage last happily for 60 years, we are blessed that they are both with us and in good health to celebrate it. So on Tuesday Ian, Tim, Drew, and I loaded up in the Tahoe (also a new developmet I need to blog about) and headed down to Orlando. (I will blog details of the trip later..promise....this is about something more). My parents and Ben came down as well. My aunt Mel and Uncle Bill live there as does my Aunt Karen. My cousin Chris, his wife Ubi, and their kids, Katherine and Christopher, came over from Texas, and suddenly we were a gang of 17 taking over local restaurants. We spent a few days visiting and sight seeing until Friday arrived.
My Aunt Mel invited us all to a New Year's Eve party at her church. None of us were too happy about the concept, but we all agreed because we could be together. It was a small affair. There was a DJ, a keg, food, and lots of laughing at our table as we told stories about the past. Ian didn't last until 930pm and my AMAZING husband took him out to the care to sleep for 2 hours. The DJ announced that my grandparents were celebrating their 60th and had everyone clear off the dance floor for them to have a special dance. He played a song that was played at their wedding and my 83 yearold grandfather proudly held my 80 year old grandmother in a loving embrace on the dance floor. They were only able to dance for one verse, but it was enough to make me cry like a baby. I can only hope and pray that the Lord will bless Drew and I with the ability to dance at our 60th anniversary. Then the waterworks really started as the DJ called my parents out on the dance floor for their 23rd anniversary.
Midnight arrived to find Grandma and Grandpa cutting the cake, just like they did 60 years ago. We toasted, hugged, kissed, and I got to spend the start of the year with my two favorite guys, my family, and my extended family. On the car ride back to the hotel, Wonderful Tonight played on the radio. I realized that from where I was sitting it was an accurate song. 2011 had arrived...and it certainly looked Wonderful that night.
New Years Day has always been important in my family. Not only is it the start of a new year which in itself is an amazing feeling. (With one tick toc the clock creates a blank page and another chapter of our lives is started). It is also the day my grandparents were married and years later it is the day my mom and dad were married. So, we celebrate anniversaries and fresh starts all in one day.
This year was a VERY special anniversary for my grandparents. This year they celebrated their 60th wedding aniversary. The very thought of that is awe insipring to me. It is something that is almost unheard of in our culture today. Not only did their marriage last happily for 60 years, we are blessed that they are both with us and in good health to celebrate it. So on Tuesday Ian, Tim, Drew, and I loaded up in the Tahoe (also a new developmet I need to blog about) and headed down to Orlando. (I will blog details of the trip later..promise....this is about something more). My parents and Ben came down as well. My aunt Mel and Uncle Bill live there as does my Aunt Karen. My cousin Chris, his wife Ubi, and their kids, Katherine and Christopher, came over from Texas, and suddenly we were a gang of 17 taking over local restaurants. We spent a few days visiting and sight seeing until Friday arrived.
My Aunt Mel invited us all to a New Year's Eve party at her church. None of us were too happy about the concept, but we all agreed because we could be together. It was a small affair. There was a DJ, a keg, food, and lots of laughing at our table as we told stories about the past. Ian didn't last until 930pm and my AMAZING husband took him out to the care to sleep for 2 hours. The DJ announced that my grandparents were celebrating their 60th and had everyone clear off the dance floor for them to have a special dance. He played a song that was played at their wedding and my 83 yearold grandfather proudly held my 80 year old grandmother in a loving embrace on the dance floor. They were only able to dance for one verse, but it was enough to make me cry like a baby. I can only hope and pray that the Lord will bless Drew and I with the ability to dance at our 60th anniversary. Then the waterworks really started as the DJ called my parents out on the dance floor for their 23rd anniversary.
Midnight arrived to find Grandma and Grandpa cutting the cake, just like they did 60 years ago. We toasted, hugged, kissed, and I got to spend the start of the year with my two favorite guys, my family, and my extended family. On the car ride back to the hotel, Wonderful Tonight played on the radio. I realized that from where I was sitting it was an accurate song. 2011 had arrived...and it certainly looked Wonderful that night.
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