INTRODUCING........

We are excited to announce on the blog that Isaiah K. Irwin officially became a part of our family. On Monday March 25, 2013 we passed court finally, we are a family of 4! My heart melts when I think about the day I will get to wrap my arms around his sweet neck!!

SOOOOO NOW WHAT? WHEN DOES HE COME HOME?!?

 

It will still be several months before we can bring him home, we have only passed court. COURT= The U.S. approving our adoption. Now the "process" is out of our hands, we no longer control how fast things move. Its all up to the Ghana government. The next steps are as follows:  Step 1: Since we have passed court we are waiting for our court decree to be printed. This could take a few weeks it could take a few months. We are in desprite need of prayer that everything is printed correctly. Step 2: Once we have the court decree in hand along with a other documents, we will file the I-600. I-600=The paperwork needed for the Ghana government to approve our adoption. We will file our I-600 stateside, we again wait for the approval. It could take a few weeks it could be a few months. The timing is all in Gods hands. So we have exited the easy part and entered the hard part of waiting!!

Here is our timeline so far with Isaiah: Referral in December. Dossier got in country in January. Court/passed in March. So we have been blessed to have been moving so fast, I pray it continues.

NOW WHAT?!?!?

We continue to fundraise! We ALMOST have this adoption completely funded, travel included! We need to earn about 3,500 more to be fully paid. It sounds like a lot but I faith it will provide quickly. I know we can do this, its getting warmer, the sun is shinning fundraising will be so much easier now :-) To keep up to date with our process, and fundraisers, and other things going on in our life keep an eye out on my Facebook news feed. I will post a new blog next time something exciting happens. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers!

 

 

Beyond Blessed

Since my last post our Dossier has made it to Ghana (praise Jesus), we also sent our sweet boy a care package, and we found our our awesome God has given us a referral of his own (I'm pregnant)! Its sooo much to take in, to say I am overwhelmed is an under statement. I'm trying not to think about how our lives are going to double change! Don't get me wrong  this is 2 things we have prayed about for a long time, and we are extremely happy. However, if i was in control and planning this big picture i would have brought our sweet Ghana boy home then maybe considered having another baby.  Clearly God thinks this way is better. If the adoption process has taught me anything it is DO NOT PLAN or think you have things under control. It seems every plan made has fallen apart and when i seem to have things in control and what i think is supposed to happen the exact opposite does. Perhaps this is God giving me a friendly reminder, it doesn't how much i plan and try to take control hes does in fact have this under control.

Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plan in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the lord that will stand.

Our adoption process so far as been very unique. Nothing seems to be going "typical" or "normal" and I can't lie its terrifying. I am the type of person likes things in order and routine, i must know whats going on and planning to happen. So as things this time are not going in a routine or in the typical process a lot of us know, i am asking you to pray for our family. In the back of my head i still have a fear of loosing this sweet boy. My heart can not take another loss. I need to find the courage and trust in God that I had in June when we started this journey. Obviously, I trust and have faith in Our AMAZING God, but i would be lying if i haven't asked "WHY" a lot these past few weeks. Not doubting our lords plans but sooo confused!

Psalm 28:7 The lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and i am helped; my heart exhaults and with my song i give thanks to him

We had it all planned out, we as a family would travel to file our i-600 in Ghana. We would meet our sweet boy. It is soo important to me to meet our sons biological mother. I want to know anything and everything she can tell me about him, their life, family ext. get pictures of all of us together. It was so important to me for me to tell her that her son will be very well taken care of, loved, taught about Jesus, will attend school, and that we would love to send her updates on him. The crucial bonding that i so desired for our family to gain with him on our first trip is now not going to happen. Since i am pregnant i can not get the yellow fever shot required to enter Ghana. So now are filing our I-600 stateside and only going to travel to pick him up probably only my husband. I just don't understand God reasoning for this......it means sooo much for me to be there and honestly I'm a bit depressed about it. I am trying hard to trust gods plan at this point. I know he knows whats best, but i am human and it is hard!

Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to the lord; trust in him and he will act

In a few weeks we will send our biggest payment and this payment will be the last of our funds and it will still leave us owing 3,500. Plus travel cost. I should add that travel costs will be significantly less now that only  my husband will be traveling and staying a much shorter time. I have faith our lord will provide he has guided and provided this far why would he forsake us now? He wont and i know that, still knowing the situation is scary! We have amazing friends several of you have donated hundreds of dollars, you are amazing, we are blessed and i pray one day we can repay you or at least pay it forward. You  help me keep faith and its your kindness that keeps me going. I sit back and think about all the people have helped us from the beginning; T-shirts, Yard sells, my mom and mother in law making 20 plus cheesecakes, our salsaritas fundraiser and the random donations, I stand in awe. The bonds our process has created with people is amazing, the trust i have found in our Lord unimaginable. This process has definitely brought me closer to God. Perhaps his purpose? I just don't know what I have done in my life to be so blessed! I almost feel guilty, our amazing God has provided, provided, provided and i still wonder and question how we will get the last of money needed. I am so unworthy of his continuous, faithful, providing love and yet he keeps providing and loving us....another thing i will never be able to understand.

Psalm 107:1 Oh give thanks to the lord, for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever!

FINALLY!!!

Howdy!! So what's going on with us? Well we are trotting right along! Our I-600a has been filed, we are waiting on our USCIS finger prints apt. In the mean time, while we are waiting on that we have everything for our dossier ready and will be sending it with a fellow traveler next week. Evidently we don't need the I-600a results to submit our dossier. We only need it to file I-600.  This is soo exciting!!! THIS IS SOO SCARY!!

EXCITEMENT:
When our POA gets our dossier he will make us a court date. Once we go to court he is officially ours :-) This is AMAZING! This is what we have waited for months for!! We will go to court in the Cape Coast. We are told that it will be very very soon. It is VERY POSSIBLE that we will get to travel in February! To love on my sweet, sweet boy... sigh...I can't wait for this day!!

FEAR:
We are not ready financially to travel so soon! We have 2 fundraisers set up we are prayerful that will help bring in quit a bit. The fact of the matter is we need prayers and WE NEED YOUR HELP!! This coming together way faster than we ever could have anticipated. I know its all in Gods timing, praying we can just keep up!

This is where we are at:
3 plane tickets from Nashville to Ghana    $4,300
hotel/ stay in country for 10 days                 $   600 
Food 10 days 4 people                                         $   200
Souvenirs/ other                                                   $   200
TRAVEL TOTAL                                                             $5,300

This seems impossible!! I know God funds what he favors, but I can't lie my worldly mind is a nervous wreck! I'm worried that because of my inability to come up with funds I will not be able to travel when its time! I know that the impossible is possible with God. He put me in check and reminded me he's got this under control this morning!

FACT:
This is ONLY our first trip travel cost that we are fundraising for. We still Owe our POA 6,000 and we will stay have to earn the money  to travel back to pick our sweet boy up and bring him home. The plan is to finish paying our POA with our tax money and fundraising for our 2nd trip travel cost. I will be the only one to travel to pick him up and plan to only stay for 4 days. so that trip will be much less expensive.

PLEASE, PLEASE CAN YOU HELP BRING OUR SON HOME:
Clearly the majority of our travel cost is going to be airfare. AIRLINE/ FREQUENT FLYER MILES!! So many of you travel often. You can donate your miles and be such a blessing!! It looks like we will be flying Delta. They are the only airline that I have found that only has one connecting flight then straight to Ghana.

Don't have airline miles? We will take any donation you offer! There is no such thing as to small. Each dollars is a blessing! You can mail us a check to 4705 Springlane Dr Owensboro, Ky 42303. We have a paypal account but I'm not sure what you need to add to that. If you know please comment below :-)

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask him anything according to his will he hears us. 1 John 5:14 

The BIG one!!

"When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place"

It's that time again...fundraiser time!! I have prayed since before Christmas on what the right fundraiser will be for us. Over and over again I keep thinking about the same thing. So our next fundraiser will be a SILENT AUCTION AND WALKING TACO DINNER on Febuary 23 at 6:00pm :-) In addition to this we will be selling raffle tickets for $1 each for a chance to win $100. We will draw the winning ticket the night of auction. I am excited I think this will do very well for us.

So what is this money going towards? All of the money we raise is going to our TRAVEL COSTS for our first trip! HOW EXCITING IS IT TO BE WORKING FOR THAT?!!!? So what do we need to in order to travel? Tony and Bri have to get their passports. All 3 of us have to get our shots. 3 rountrip airline tickets and our room/stay in Ghana for 10 days. A great way you can help is airline miles! Thats an easy way to help with something alot of people forget they have. Please be in prayer with us that we will come close or exceed our goal. Our goal for this fundraiser is $1,200. Its going to cost alot more than $1,200 for us to travel but that is a great start and we will have a few other fundraisers to follow but this is our big one :-)  

I know most of you are very supportive about us taking our daughter and a few of you are unsure. Our reasoning for deciding to take her is as follows. We are a family, this is exciting for all of us. She can not wait to meet her brother! I think it is cruicial for him to meet all of us at the same time. I have asked several other families and they all highly recommend it. I think it will be easier for him to come with and trust us if he sees shes happy and taken care of. Also, I dont want her to think we have left her, or replaced her. She is 5 years old and the longest shes been away from me is about 20 hours, never a full day. This will be a life changing experience for all of us including our son. It's something we need to do together.

I LIED!!!

I LIED.. My last post was not my last one for the year (that's the lie)!! :-) I have never been so happy to have to go back on something I said! We are ecstatic to to announce that we have been given a new referral of a little boy!! He is 4 years old, and is in the Ashanti region. We have an AMAZING POA in Ghana! I get to talk to him everyday, and he holds our adoption close to his heart, we are very blessed! So WHAT HAPPENS NOW?????

As you know we are doing this independent now. So the next thing we must do and ASAP  is file our I-600a. That is where we will go to Louisville and do our biometric finger prints. That is the light at the end of the tunnel. From what i understand this is will take about 30 days to get the prints back. Once we get it back we compile everything into our dossier and send it to Ghana. We only need I-600a, Tony's and Bri's birth certificate for the dossier. I have already gathered all the other documents needed. Once we send him our dossier he will set a court date and appear in court for us. Then we will get an apt to come file our I-600.This will be our first trip and when we get to meet our sweet little boy :'-) Then hopefully about 6 weeks later we will get to travel back and bring him home with us :-) OH HAPPY DAY!! This is an extremely rough timeline and I know to expect bumps in the along the way, but we are very prayerful that this will happen soon and smoothly

The only thing that is preventing us from traveling to Ghana the first week of Febuary is money. Once we get the funds needed we will be traveling. It is going to move very fast. Since we are doing our adoption independent we can not apply for grants. (If you know of any that fund independent PLEASE LET ME KNOW!) So I will be thinking of way to earn money. Don't forget if you want to help bring our little man home we would love donations. SO how much is it going to cost now? It will cost us 7,500..... THAT'S IT!!! Of course that does not include travel. So including travel about 12,000. The impression I got from our POA is we will be traveling as soon as we get our prints back. Other ways you can help is by donating airline miles to us. So keep that in mind, airfare will be the majority of our travel cost. If you can donate airline miles that will be a huge, GIGANTIC BLESSING!!

Our God is an amazing awesome God!! I have no doubts or worries about funding this adoption. It may not happen as fast as I want but I know it will happen. Please pray for me to have patients and not get discouraged.We plan to use our tax money for the majority. Hopefully we will only have to fundraisers and earn about 6,000. I am very optimistic and I know it can be done. We have an awesome support system that can't wait to bring this little guy home.

 PSALM 28:7 THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH AND MY SHIELD; IN HIM MY HEART TRUSTS, AND I AM HELPED; MY HEART EXULTS, AND WITH MY SONG I GIVE THANKS TO HIM

QUICK NOTE:
I have been asked: Are you going to tell Bri? Are you going to get attached before he gets here? I have been told DO NOT do either of the above, that we are setting our self up for heart break, b/c we COULD loose him too. MY RESPONSE: If you were my friend I would tell you the same thing! However it is IMPOSSIBLE! Attachment happens whether you want it to or not! Our family is growing and Bri knows. We are not getting her as involved yet. We are being more reserved with what we tell her, but she knows and has saw his picture. When you find out your pregnant you immediately start loving that child, and want to tell everyone as soon as soon as you find out. You wouldn't keep it to yourself b/c you might have a miscarriage....see what I am saying? God has a plan, who are we not to trust him? We are putting our hearts on the line, I feel like if we don't go all in we will miss out. Its not possible to work so hard and go across the world without falling in love. I wouldn't do these things for just any boy but I will move mountains to make this little boy our son and bring him home as soon as I possibly can! BE PREPARED I have my drive and passion back and I will do whatever it takes to get the money to bring my sweet little boy home! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND PRAYERS

Let go and Let God

Well, as this year is coming fast to an end I thought I would give you guys one last update, although, not much has happened. As I said in the last blog we have decided to do our adoption independent now. That means I find a POA in Ghana that helps us find our son. I do all the paperwork, and lots of  fundraising as I do not know of anyone who gives adoption grants to families doing independent. I have been talking to a few POA's one gave us a referral but didn't end up working out. So we are still waiting to find that special little boy to join our family. So if you are reading this and you know a POA or of a little boy 6 years old or younger in Ghana let us know. Our homestudy is complete and we plan to be able to file our I-600A soon that was when we find our little guy we will be ready for the next step :-)

We have said from the beginning God has had his hand on every step of this process, I still believe that this is true. Not long after we found our Noah he lead us to a family in Alabama who knew our Noah. They gave us pictures, told us stories, shared their memories, gave us comfort in knowing that he was being taken care of at his orphanage, and went all in with our adoption process and barely new us. If you have adopted you know how much these things mean and how they are truly a gift from the hands of God. I have no doubt this is why it was so easy for us to accept him as ours from the beginning and so tough for us to let go at the end! After we lost Noah's referral someone who they know, that helps Noah's orphanage out  ALOT went to Ghana to check and see how things were going with all the projects they are doing over there. Of course while he was there he ask about Noah. He was able to find some things out for us. After discovering it was his aunt an uncle who him, he was able to find out where he is now living...HE WAS ABLE TO GO TO NOAHS HOME! The first time he went he was not home he had fallen at school and was at the Dr. (PRAISE GOD HE IS IN SCHOOL AND HIS FAMILY WAS ABLE TO TAKE HIM TO THE DR). when he went back a few days later he said that Noah was happy, clean, and was being taken care of. PRAISE GOD!! Another gift straight from the hands of God! I know of many families who have  their referral and they are just left hanging with no answers. We are blessed beyond imagination to be able to find this out! When I read that I cried and cried and cried some more! This time it was a different cry, more like a happy cry, a cry of relief. It was as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. What a blessing....Thank you to the family and the man who found this information out and shared it with us. You will never EVER understand the peace you have brought to me. I can sleep at night now, I no longer have the urge to need more information, we are ready to move on <3

Bri still talks about Noah all the time, then she remembers hes not coming to be with us so we thank Jesus Noah found his family and pray for the little boy he is going to add to ours. If anything our process has to taught us to let go and let God do the work; he never fails us...EVER! I can't lie its difficult explaining to Bri why her mommy can't get a baby in her belly and why Jesus hasn't found her a brother yet either. My only explanation to her keep praying baby: just like you choose the perfect flowers to pick or the best vegetables out of our garden in summer Jesus
is waiting to choose the very best brother you! Now that I have complete peace with Noah, it will be easier to let go of my worldly troubles and let God continue with his perfect plan with our family!

NOW WHAT?!?!?

Hello everyone!! It has been a while since my last post, but we haven't had to much to say. A few things have happen that are exciting but I have been a little bummed still. Of Course you all know that we lost our sweet Noah (we called him Chase on blog). Since then, our homestudy has been 100% completed. It now lays on my computer desk, waiting on someplace to go. I feel like I rushed, rushed, rushed, to now just wait.  It being complete is a very big accomplishment that  I am proud of.

I guess I should reassure everyone we are still going to adopt, and still from Ghana (unless our great god says otherwise). While our agency director was in Ghana at Noah's orphanage a few weeks ago, we were introduced to Independent adoption. Which is normally not common in international adoption but Ghana allows it. I have been holding out hope that while our agency director was there they would find that Noah was still there. I received an email from our agency confirming that Noah was not there and they were unable to get any additional details. With that information we told them that we have decided to pursue independent adoption. She however reassured me, if something happens that Noah goes back to the orphanage she will let us know.


WHAT'S THAT MEAN.......

Now we have chosen to do independent adoption. What does that mean? Independent adoption has a great deal of pros and cons. I am not going into all of them, but basically it means we find a POA that finds us a child (boy) that is available for adoption. We will work with him directly to file all our paperwork on the Ghana side and here on the US side the responsibility is 100% mine if something is done incorrectly it will be my fault (a lot of pressure). We have been blessed with a lady who has started a group called Hearts4 Ghana. She has a POA that she has put us in contact with that and she is here to help walk me through every step of the way. With her I am very confident I can do this. The fact that doing it independent will be close to $15,000 less in cost is a great motivator. The con to that is i am unaware of any grants that provide to independent adoptions. So that means i will also be fundraising like crazy. I will post a new cost sheet on a different blog. I still believe with all my heart that all of this is in Gods timing and is in his control. I know he funds what he favors.

SO NOW WHAT.....

Now what? Now we wait for a boy. Our homestudy states it has to be a boy 6 years of age or younger. With it being our first adoption we do not want to adopt older than our bio daughter. In the mean time while we are waiting we need to file our I-600a this is the last big step, this says we are approved for international adoption. This is the light at the end of tunnel, after this its safe to say you will will bring home a child. So we need to do this asap. Once this is done WHEN we are matched with a child our process should move extremely fast. So my goal is to earn the money to file the I-600a in the month of November COST $900. I don't know how, or what kind of fundraiser we will do yet but of course I will let everyone know. Also we need to finish gathering documents for our dossier. I only have a few other things I need for that since I have been gathering all of our "originals" from the beginning.

HOW CAN YOU HELP....

Pray!! Pray that God will guide us to the little boy, he wants to join our family. Pray that we will find the funds to file our I-600a, and I also ask that you will pray for me that I will be able to fill out the paperwork correctly so that our process moves smoothly and quickly as possible. If you want to donate to help us file our I-600a you can mail a check to:

Irwin
4705 Springlane Dr
Owensboro, Ky 42303

THANK YOU,  some of you have prayed, praised, cried and questioned this process with us from the start. Adoption isn't easy or for everyone, you must have trust in God without fail. Adoption is emotional and a lot of hard work; I'm sure the pay off will be the most rewarding thing I will ever do in my life.

ROMANS 8:28
AND WE KNOW THAT FOR THOSE WHO LOVE GOD ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD, FOR THOSE WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE.

Everything happens for a Reason

This is picture baby girl brought home from school Wed. before we got "the email" Its me, her, baby Lucy (her cousin), Daddy, and her brother!

Where to begin? Typically when I sit down to write these blogs I have something exciting to share, kinda feels weird not having any "news" to write about. Friday we had appointments to go get our shots for over sea travel, because of the event that unfolded we decided to wait on them. We went to Alabama anyway and enjoyed a nice quiet weekend with the family. I must say it was a very nice weekend, the entire time down there I couldn't help but think about all our new friends we met b/c of Noah. I pray we can still keep contact with them.

After our initial shock and heartbreak baby girl has been the hardest to explain things to. Surprisingly she took it very well. Wednesday night during bedtime prayers I didn't pray for Noah. She said "mommy you forgot somebody!" I said "Noah? Mommy has something to tell you about Noah. Every night we pray Jesus will let Noah know he has a mommy, daddy and sister that loves him very much, right? Well, something cool happened!" Her face lite up and she said what?!?! I explained to her that Jesus found Noah's mommy and daddy. The lady that carried him in her belly. That they took him home so that they could have their little boy. That our prayer helped Noah find his mommy and daddy. Her face dropped and big crocodile tears came down her face and she said so hes not coming to be with us?  I said no but right now as we say our bedtime prayers Jesus's is finding you a new brother. I said do you want to pray that he finds you a new brother? She said, "no thank you," gave me a goodnight kiss, rolled over and went to sleep. That as hard, her heart was broke!!!! Through the weekend we prayed Jesus would find her a new brother, but tonight she got me again. Before we started bedtime prayers she told me she wanted to pray for her picture she colored at school. I said OK what do you want to say about it? She said "that it comes true, that it will be me you and my brother all at baby Lucy's. I said "It will come true we just have to be patient. I bet Jesus already has you a brother picked out, and i can not wait to see him can you?" She said well mommy..I REALLY MISS NOAH! Her eyes started watering again. All I could say was me too, and continued with her bedtimes prayer. Tonight though she prayed Noah was happy and safe with his family, and that Jesus would find her brother soon. That's little girl has a pure heart of gold, everyday she amazes me!!

Great thing about road trips is you have time to think and talk about whats on your mind. Which this trip we had a lot to think and talk about. After a lot of thinking and talking to my husband and other families this has happen to by the same orphanage I have many concerns. This is not easy to get over. His little face keeps popping up everywhere in our house, car, computers, pinterest, phone..everywhere! It's hard to move on when you see that adorable smiling face everywhere, but I am at peace with knowing there is not a single thing that i could have done to change what happen. I have done something everyday since we found that sweet little boy to make sure we could bring him home as soon as possible. I very much so believe everything happens for a reason. I believe this reason is to bring attention to what is happening at that orphanage with the people who spend so much time and money there supporting it. Maybe they can be the change that will help other families from the heartbreak of loosing their child.

I would say back to square on one but I don't guess that would be right. I'm not sure what is the hold with our homestudy being completed but it should be complete any day now. Now i have to finish getting things ready to turn in with our dossier and wait for a new referral. Since all the hard stuff is over once we get one, it should move pretty fast I would think..but then again I have no idea what the good Lord has up his sleeve for us next! Our motto for our process has been "Gotta have Faith" from the start, and it will continue to be. We are not giving up or backing down because things got tough, If god sees us to it he will see us through it! I know with all my heart God has a plan for our family and I can not wait to see his master plan reveled <3

HEARTBROKEN but KEEPING FAITH

Some of you will immeditally know the pain our family is going through others may not, and I pray you never do. Tonight I was playing on my phone when I got a "Noah-tifcation" special sound when our agency emails us. First thing I read "Updates on D***** N*** my heart began to race..YES!! FINALLY WE WERE GETTING SOME UPDATES ON OUR SWEET BOY!! It defienitly was not the news that I wanted or I ever imagined that I would read.... " It is with great sadness that I write you today to let you know that one of D____ N___ parents have returned to him. They have removed him from the orphanage and he is currently in their care." I had to reread it a few times to make sure I wasnt day dreaming. I am heart broken.. Mostly all of you that read this will know I will do anything for anyone. Most of you do not know I guard my heart with a 10ft tall wall extremly cautious to comes in. I will admit I was very hesitant at first on letting this little boy in. I prayed and prayed and felt god gave me what I needed to let me know it was ok to let him in, so I did. This little boy has not been "some kid in Africa." He has been our Son and Bri's brother from the beginning. From the start we have loved him like our own, and prayed for him every night, with that love growing each fundraiser, donation given, or bit of precious information we learned about him from our friends in Alabama. As heartbroken as we are, we are trying to stay positive. We do not know how the sweet boy got to the orphange. There is an unkown number or possibilities that could have brought him there. I pray him being reunited with his family is a good thing, and I will continue to pray for him and his families well being each night! He will always be in my heart!Thats what happen...  

WHATS NEXT?!?! ARE YOU STILL GOING TO ADOPT?! 
The first question I asked our agency was "WHAT IF HE COMES BACK?" If by some chance he ends up back at the orphange he is ours. He will not go on any website or be referred to another family. We get the opprtunity to bring him home once again. 

YES WE ARE STILL GOING TO ADOPTING!! God has always made me aware that he wants me to adopt. At this point I have no idea what Gods plan is for our family, but I do know he has a plan! We can cry and be heartbroken all we want but we can not loose faith! I am a firm believer if God brings you to it, he will bring you through it. If N___ is ment to be our child he will be brought back to us. There must be a little boy or girl that needs us more. God will lead us to them when the time is right. I have no doubt God's timing will continue to be perfect. That does not make this any easier.

WHATS GOING THROUGH MY HEAD:
If they don't know who brought him or any of his background history..how do they know it was his parent that came and got him? If God has made it so easy, why has God taken it away? Is this going to happen again, with our next child? How do we tell Bri? DO WE tell Bri? It breaks my heart in billions of little pieces to think that he will never know how much he has been loved by so many people that he doesn't even know exsist! <--- That is the hardest part...he doesn't even know we loved him so much!!

As I have said 100 times we are heartbroken, the more i think about it i am mad! I know that we are not the only ones this has happen to. There should be a better way to make sure these kids a truly available before they are referred to families or put on websites, but we are not discouraged. I can not lie I am selfish I want him here with us, our God is Great and will provide the comfort and answers we need. With all of that being said I DO NOT need or want to hear any negitive comments. If you do not have anything nice to say do not say anything at all! I am serious no "I told you so", or "hope you learned your lessons." You will not discourage or change our mind about adopting again. We work on Gods time, he will guide us straight to our next child when the time is right just like he lead us straight to our sweet boy. I will continue to pray that i will understand gods reason for taking him away..

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Happy Sunday Everyone!! This weekend we finished our dvd's!! When we give our social worker the last of our paperwork our homestudy can be complete! PRAISE GOD!! But for once this blog isn't about our adoption. Its something that I have thought about many years.
          During Christmas time I have always felt a little guilty for all the gifts I get and now all the things we buy our daughter. Don't get me wrong I love it, but in the back of my head I have always wished there was a way to help others that have nothing around the world. Last year our church introduced Operation Christmas Child to me.  This is exactly what i have been looking for since i was a girl! Operation Christmas Child is a program that sends a gift to a child that is less fortunate around the world. The gift is a shoebox filled with gifts that we take advantage of here in the U.S. and our children would probably be upset if they got. So many American children are spoiled and ungrateful and I am just a guilty as you of making them this way. Not something I am proud of but it is true.
            So I know so many of you have bought new school shoes for your children or even yourself during the great sales that have been going on. I have a favor; SAVE ME YOUR SHOE BOX!! Last year I wanted to send a shoe box but i missed the deadline and was literally heartbroken and have thought about this program all year. I WONT MISS THE DEADLINE THIS YEAR :-) That's all i need from you is a shoe box, most of you can help with that.
             Do you want to help too? I hope this pulls at your heart as much as it does mine! So if it does this is what you do. 1.) Get an empty shoebox  2.) fill your box..below is a list taken from the OCC website. 3.)Include a $7 donation for shipping. 4.)Find a drop off location near you. For those close to me you can bring your filled or empty box to me and I will make sure it get where it needs to go! This is something that everyone can do. Encourage your children to save their allowances and fill a shoe box. You can get most of these things at the Dollar Tree. I also encourage you to write the child a letter. By making your donation online using a credit or debit card you will receive a special shoe box label included in your e-mail receipt. Print or copy the label as many times as you need to attach to each of your boxes.  Your specific barcode is connected to your e-mail address, so it’s important to use the same label on each of your boxes. The barcode on the label enables us to track each shoe box gift. You will receive an e-mail telling you the destination of your gift, along with information about Operation Christmas Child in that country. If your boxes go to more than one country, you will receive more than one e-mail. This is an inexpensive wonderful way to share the gift of Christmas with a child that has nothing..possibly no one!

learn more at:
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/followyourbox/