It's a SMALL TINY world!!!

God IS AMAZING!! That needed to be said first! A few weeks ago our agency sent us "Chase's" (code name) information. It had the little medical we had on him which was nothing but his measurments, 2 pictures, and the orphanage he is at. Not expecting to find any information I google his Orphanage. To my amazment they had a webpage!! I searched all over hoping to catch a glimps of our little man, but i didn't see anyone who resembled him. I did however find something that made my heart race! I noticed that it saying that The Light Church in Alabama funded something at the orphanage (don't remember exactly). I don't remember where I read but i found that this church goes on mission trip to Africa TO "CHASES" ORPHANAGE EVERY YEAR!! This really made me excited...MY STEP SISTER LIVES IN ALABAMA!! Maybe we could send him a care package?! So I googled Light Church in Alabama. I sent an email to EVERY church that pulled up. No one responded. 
        Last night June 28, 2012 I couldnt get "Chase" off my mind. I just wanted to snuggle him, I knew that wasn't possible so I decided to go to his orphanages facebook page to see if by chance the church posted anything about when they were going on their mission trip. I didnt see anything about Alabama people or a mission trip but I did see that someone posted a link to the orphange blog, hoping to find a pic of our little guy I clicked on the link. I feel the urgancy to find something and I wasn't giving up until I did.
         In big bold print I see THE ALABAMA CREW!! :-)  I was onto something! First thing on the blog was a picture, immeditally spotedt "Chase" I couldn't see his face but i just knew it was him! He was snuggled around a young girl with long blonde hair. I read the blog, then went back to the top and started reading the comments hoping that maybe the girl holding "Chase" would have left a comment. I didnt see any pictures or names that seemed to feel right. Under comments I found a link, it said madison academy and "Chases's" country. My heart was racing I knew I was getting ready to find exactly what I had been looking for! I clicked the first set of pictures, A beautiful blonde girl on the first page! This was her I just knew this was the girl holding my sweet little boy! She was beautiful! I clicked faster, skimming her pictures hoping to see more of our sweet little boys face. Finally there he was! I just started crying, he was perfect! I was so happy to see that he looked happy! He did not look happy in the pics that our agency gave us. These pictures gave us an entire different view of him! So of course I looked at every picture from then until the end! He was with this girl in almost every picture! He loves her, and she loves him! You can see it in both of their eyes! I immeditally thought Wow, is he going to love us as much as he does her? So the water works started again! How is it possible for me to love a little boy so much that I have never met? I dried my tears and did more dectective work. I found her name on the blog, then found her facebook page..crap it was locked down tighter than fort knox! All I could do is send her a friend request, in my heart I knew she wouldn't accept me. She didn't know me and I didn't blame her.
         Next, I goggled Madison Academy, the first picture that popped up on the page was them in Africa. THANK YOU JESUS!! It was late and i knew that no would be there but i called anyway and left a message. I also emailed them and went back to the blog and requested that anyone know her please have her contact me! So now that I knew what the school name was I did a mapquest from my sisters house to the school. HOLLY JEEPERS!! The school was only 30 mins from sisters house! I could not believe this!!!
        Today a lady from Madison Academy called me while I was in bible school, she took all of my information and said she would have the girl in the pictures call me. I was in hysterics, I couldn't stop cring and I hadn't even talked to her yet! At the church my phone never gets reception, my phone beeped I had a voicemail I missed her call! I was so upset! I had my helper take over the bible school class and ran into the next room and called her back. As soon as she answered I started cring more and she started cring even harder! I talked to her for a few mins. Dont remember much other than she said she knew him, and they were close. Then when I got home her mom I talked to her mother for almost 2 hours, it didnt seem that long at all! She seemed like family and I was right her and "Chase" are very close. The entire family is very close to him. This melted my heart!
          How AMAZING is our God?! I feel like he litterly held my hand yesterday and guided straight to their family. Only God can make me speechless! That is exactly what happened since yesterday, I'm speechless! I can't say it enough God is Amazing! We are going down to see my sister next weekend and we are going to meet for dinner with their family. I can not wait to hear all their special bonding moments with him. To find out about their mission trips, what his country is like, about him. We are so blessed to have found them. God brought us together for a reason, to keep them connected! How heart breaking would it have been for the mission group to go over there next year and him be gone and them not know where he was? The loved him first, I feel like they have every right to stay in touch with him! God would have never let us meet if that wasn't what he wanted! My promise to their family is pictures, emails, birthday invitations and a visit when we go to Alabama! I don't feel like I have found new friends Ifeel like we have gained an extended family! Did I mention that I feel soo blessed, and God is AMAZING?!?!

F-U-N-D-R-A-I-S-E-R-S!! WE NEED YOU!!

  To some it seems that this process is already seemingly taking years, to others (like Tony and I) it is going much faster than we anticipated. I'm not worried because I know we have an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G God and support group that will help us earn every penny we need. GOTTA HAVE FAITH! Yesterday, we got our agency welcome packet, lots of things to sign with a friendly reminder when you mail in the signed forms please include your first agency payment of 2,700 ASAP. WOZZERS!! So I'm not going to lie I'm stressing out bit. We need this on top of the 900 more to finish the homestudy. Not worried so much about the homestudy the agency we are using is allowing us to make payments and must be paid in full when its complete, THANK YOU JESUS! What about the grants, your wondering? Well, right now we are stuck in a big circle. We can't apply for grants until the homestudy is complete. Can't pay for the agency or home study until we do more fundraising since we cant apply for grants yet hints the reason for this blog...
    I have have come up with monthly fundraiser we'll be doing to help with cost until we are finished with the homestudy. Each month I will give more details about each fundraiser.
                   
                   JULY     = T-SHIRTS
                                             AUGUST   = 31 AND SCENTSY
             SEPTEMBER= M&M
             OCTOBER  = PUMPKIN PARTY
             NOVEMBER = COFFEE
             DECEMBER = ORNAMENTS

On top of these things we will also be doing cookouts an other things around town. I am in the process of opening a Helping Hands. Helping hnands is a website that tells you how much we have earned and how much more we need. With this site all of your information is protected and it allows you to make donations to us. When you donate it will give you the option to print tax deductible sheet. I'll provided the detailed information when it is complete. Also you can call our agency directly Phone: (253) 383-1928 and make a donation they will give 100% of it to us, and also email you a tax deductible sheet. Also, you can send me a private message at aairwin1125@yahoo.com and I can give you are mailing address if you just want to send cash/ or check. I know several of you want tohelp but don't know how, I hope this blog helped. There is no such thing as a donation to small. Every penny counts for us, and for every penny we are truly thankful and appreciative. With pennies and prayers I know we can earn this 3,500.

You Gotta Have Faith!!

This next series is a timeline everything happen so fast I didn't have time to post every day. But here is how it went down!

June 11, 2012

Every night before bed I check to see if any new child has been added again nothing screamed "that's my son!" So Tony decided to search himself. He wanted to see our "rainbowkids" and every other child that fit our age range. I went and did something in the other room. When I came back he was still on rainbow kids. He sad I keep coming back to him, and showed me his profile. I said really he was on there when we tried for RJ (Haiti boy), what makes him so special now? His response was I don't know but it feels right, this is him. First I checked the agency, so I could start reviewing yet another agency. Faith International is what i was researching. I joking said "Ha, Gotta have Faith" and immediately began researching. I could not find anything good or bad on his agency. That scared me, so I had a friend see if you could find anything. Again no results, this is very odd to me because everyone always has something bad to say! So I e-mailed the agency with a huge list of questions. Here is just a few 1.) Can we see more pics of "Chase" 2.) Can we get hi info before we actually sign with you 3.) Do you have references we can talk to I can not find any reviews on your agency anywhere.

June 12, 2012

The VERY NEXT morning I got a reply. The email had answer all 40,000 questions So over the next 2 days I continued to try and find reviews. I called and spoke with Kristen a few times. She was so nice and friendly. THIS WAS TO EASY GOING.. I typically believe if something is too good to be true than it is. So that night I went to bed and I prayed " Dear God I trust I you more than anything, I know you have brought us this far for a reason, but I simple can't sign with this agency without knowing that they are real. Please send us a review good or bad, if this child is real and belongs in our family. I know you will give us strength if this a horrible agency. Amen"

June 13, 2012

At this time I check my email on my phone as soon as my eyes open. Kristen had emailed me back answering more questions that I had asked but still hadn't provided me with a reference. I was totally bummed, but went on about my day. After praying about it all day, I guess you could say we took a leap of Faith and committed to "Chase" So I again emailed Kristen telling her we were ready to move forward. She emailed me back the Faith International adoption application and a list of homestudy agency's that we could work with. Still no references my mind is saying don't do it, my heart is saying practice what you preach and have faith. We filled out.

June 14, 2012

Again I checked my email before getting out of bed. Kristen had again reply this time she provided me with pictures, grant options to help us fund the adoption, what they had on him (which isn't much) and more. I was shocked to say the least. ANNNDDD A REFERRAL to someone that had used there agency. I didn't even need to call her. I knew my prayers were answered. So I printed the mountain of paperwork, and finished filling out the application. My mom came over picked up the check, and application so she could fax it the Faith at work the next day. Then we mail the original copies. She was willing but agreed this was going to smooth and easy! Too good to be true!

PRAISE GOD!!

June 15, 2012

Kristen received our fax!!! PRAISE GOD! "Chase" IS officially referred to our family! He is no longer on rainbowkids. When the agency receives our actual paperwork in he mail, they will contact the Orphanage and let him know that he has a family waiting for him! What a great day for him that will be. I pray he is able to understand how is life is going to forever change. I pray that God help us understand how this process and addin to our family is going to forever change our life also!

God Funds What He Favors!

Wow, We have had a lot of AMAZING things happen since my last post! To quickly sum everything up, we had or first fundraiser, found the little boy that is now called our son, sent in the application fee and now starting the homestudy! Wheww.. I know alot of great things right! Now to go into detail and show how God is working so greatly in our life.

Saturday June 8, 2012

As you know I we have been getting reviews and searching the crap out of agencies. I feel like I could work for a few of them. My goal was to have found an agency by the date of our first fundraiser. On Saturday 8th w had a yard sale. My goal for the sale was 300 dollars. The amount of the application fee of the agency I thought we would be going with. When I told my husband this he kinda laughed and said good luck with that. Annoyed with him I said " You gotta have Faith" We agreed if it was meant to be we would raise the money needed for our application fee. All the Friday before we picked up donations and got the sale ready. It was a lot of work! We had so much stuff! We had a few customers, nothing like I expected that we would have. Just when I was ready to tuck my tail and tell my husband he was right its not our time to do this. I got a phone call someone bought all of our baby stuff and donate more money. Then we had a couple of very nice donations. My heart was racing and I couldn't stop the tears. God was funding our adoption, IT WAS MEANT TO BE! Our first fundraiser provided enough for the application fee and HALF of the homestudy...A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

REWIND

May 2012

When we first decided to adopt we joined rainbowkids. It is a website that shows you the pictures and information on "waiting children". I stayed up until 1:30 viewing all 1683 children's profiles. ANY child that interested me I saved as "my rainbowkids" The next day when Tony got off work he viewed my list of interests. We both fell in love with the same little boy. So I decided to contact his agency, as it turned out he was in Haiti and we did not meet Haiti's guidelines. We both were heart broken and didn't pay too much attention to the other kids I saved.

If There is a Will, There is a Way!!

Just an update on where we are with all of this. Last weekend was a rough weekend for us. We have been so excited to share any and all information on our new adventure. Last weekend was a holiday and anyone who didn't know we were considering adoption does now. For the most part everyone has been very happy, supportive, concerned on how we will raise the money, and everyone has had a ton of questions all basically the same. So for those of you who have these same question and are afraid to ask I'll answer them for you here, Any others you can message me on Facebook or just ask. We want everyone to be as happy and supportive of us and this process. Needless to say after what seemed to be a beat down we questioned our reasoning and ability to do this and have somewhat been bummed. Then this morning I read an adoption blog, it had this verse "You will only see My power when I see your faith." That hit me hard! Why are we questioning what God has laid upon us to do? If I have as much trust and faith in God as I think I do I shouldn't and won't be worried from here on out. I know he has a plan!

         

First and most important question we have been asked and some statements that were also mentioned...

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? YOU CAN'T SAVE THE WORLD! DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE?(YES THIS WAS REALLY SAID TO US)

**** We both have always wanted to, me more so than Tony. We BOTH want this.  We are doing this because we have tried for four years to have a second child, and it has yet to happen. God clearly has other plans for us. You are right we alone can not save the world, BUT we will do are part in making the world a better place! We can and will make a difference in the world and most importantly to an orphaned child.  We will make a difference at least to one child. Here is a statistic for you.. If only 7% of the 2 billion Christians in the world would adopt a single orphan, there would effectively be no more orphans. HHMM...One person will make a difference!
       

WHY CAN'T YOU ADOPT FROM THE U.S.? ARE YOU TRYING TO BE LIKE YOUR FRIENDS?
**** I know that there are orphans in the U.S. that need good homes. I have thought about doing foster parenting for the past few months it doesn't seem right. Maybe now is not the time for us to adopt in the U.S.. In Ethiopia these children are in orphanages because their parents just can't take care of them due to illness and poverty. Most of these children have nothing and no one. Not even a government system to give them a foodstamp or medical card... NOTHING! I understand there are horrible situations here with orphanages and foster homes here. But at least we have a government that can and does step in to try and protect our children. They provide food and health care. We do have a friend that adopted and we followed their story very closely. It has brought us to be good friends with them. Tony saw how much love it has brought to their home and how happy the little boy and their family is.  I would love to give all the credit to them by saying its because of them we have chosen adoption but that would be a lie. God has laid it on our heart to adopt. He has chosen now, the place and he already knows what little boy that is waiting for us. They are a great family to look up to. I can only pray that our story will inspire someone as much as their story did us. I pray adoption IS contagious and that one day there will be no more orphans.
      

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO PAY FOR THIS ADOPTION? DO YOU REALLY THINK PEOPLE ARE GOING TO HELP YOU COME UP WITH THAT MUCH MONEY? (WOW!! IT WAS REALLY SAID TO US)
**** We will come up with every penny that we need for this adoption. I have 100% faith in god and our friends and family! We are going to apply for grants, have sales, fundraisers, and hopefully get a few local businesses involved. If there is a will, there is a way. WE WILL FIND A WAY! We have narrowed it down to 2 agencies. The agency that we really like and are considering requires 4,950 up front. That's a lot of money to get started, double what we initially thought we needed. Once we pay that (if we choose this agency) they will email us letters of recommendation to apply for grants. Grants are what we are counting on for the majority of the funding. If we choose the other agency 4,950 will cover the application fee, homestudy and a few other things. So how can you help? This weekend we are having a yard sale at our home. This will be our first fundraiser. You can donate things to the sale. Also, we are going to have grilled burgers, hotdogs, chips and sodas for sale. If your out 'n about stop by and get an early lunch. ALL OF THE MONEY FROM THIS SALE is going towards our adoption. We are in strong prayer that we will have a successful sale and that by the weekends end we will be able to make a choice in agency and send in our first payment and officially get this adoption started.  


I felt that this is very appropriate to us right now...
For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

~ James 1:3