But boy do I have a LOT to say! (whats new, huh!)
1) Our yard sale went amazing! People came! They bought stuff!
Our kids and some of their sweet friends sold baked goods and passed out cards telling people about what the sale was for. It was precious.
We made about $1500 in 2 days which was almost enough to pay for the home study all by itself! That combined with the generous birthday party donations and the money we have been saving we have raised a little over $4,ooo!
*side note: our adoption is expected to cost about $40,000, but the great thing about adoption fees is that you generally pay them in small (er) chunks. We are excited to get the home study finalized so we can apply for some grants and do some more fundraising! (We have some very fun ideas coming)
2) We have now had 2 of 4 home study visits required for Uganda. They are actually pretty fun and very informative. So all my fears of 'being evaluated are (mostly) dissolved!
3) We now know for sure (if we didn't know before!)
WE HAVE SO MANY AMAZING PEOPLE in our lives....
Last night, I was finishing up some VERY LATE thank you notes to people who have:
contributed funds
or yard sale donations
or baked goods
or time,
in the form of set up/running of/take down of the yard sale
or even babysitting our kids while we did our home study visit,
or providing THE REALLY NICE HOTEL ROOMS Or food and fun and friendship
when we traveled out of town for the 2nd home study visit,
(the first was IN our home)
Anyway, I know you all don't want me to mention your names here, BUT I will say this:
It struck me again.
You are proof,
There is more than one way to be a follower of James 1:27
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
My heart is filled afresh with gratitude for God's Provision for this adoption.
It is just so easy to forget from who comes ALL GOOD gifts.
The Body of Christ obeying His word is A VERY GOOD GIFT.
We can't all adopt
(though our prayer is always for more parents to be given this amazing, God given desire)
But we can ALL help somehow.
Helping adoptive families adopt, or supporting ones who already have, IS HUGE!
The truth is we can not do this alone!
We need, love, desire, embrace, stand forever grateful for all the many forms of support!
So in honor of Orphan Sunday (which was over a week ago now, but I am almost never punctual!)
We want you to know:
We consider you all to be defenders of the fatherless!
We are so thankful for everyone who has blessed and showered the provision of God on us.
This is the verse we put on the Thank You notes, it pretty much sums up our hearts:
"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.... because of your partnership in the gospel, from the first day until now!" Philippians 1:3-5
(PS if you read this and a thank you note hasn't been given to you yet, and one was meant for you, give me another week or so and then just send me a message that says something like, "Hey Christa, I want to see that really fun photo of your family on the slide I have heard so much about...." I will take the hint and get it right to you, I tried to remember everyone, but some of the donations were handed to me in passing and well, I forget things sometimes.....)
