Scarves to Bring our Baby Home!!!

 

Please see below to order!

Thank you so much for all you guys have done to help us raise funds for our adoption! 

With all that you have donated by coming to the pancake breakfast, ordering breads and cookies, and of course the soft cozy scarf purchases that you have made we are nearly there!!! 

                          Scarves to Bring our Baby Home!!!!

Here are some pictures of the beautiful scarves that we are selling. There are tons of colors including many that are bi- and tri- colored! If you let me know what colors you are interested in I can then send you examples of what colors they have.

Look a the beautiful texture of this yarn! You can see just in this picture how fluffy and soft this scarf is. 

 Our scarves have a lacy pattern to them, so when laid flat this is how they look. This makes them extra floppy and extra cozy and comfortable.

Here are some more pictures and some examples of the amazing colors this yarn has. We can do kids and adult sizes and hats too!!!!

You can order a scarf by PMing me on facebook(www.facebook.com/hoffmanadoption)  or emailing me at davidspsalm_23@yahoo.com and then donating to www.gofundme.com/hoffmanadoption. 
Prices:
scarf: $25
hat: $15
scarf and hat set: $35

We are also making sets of washcloths! They make great gifts!!! Each set of two is $10!!!!

Shipping on all orders in $5.00

Thank you for helping bring our son home!!!!

 

Update on our Adoption

Wow! Time is just flying by. A couple months ago we were rushing to get going on our home study. December, in perfect time for the Christmas craziness, we are in the middle of a LOT of different things to do with the adoption.... all while trying to take care of 6 kids, shop and bake for the holidays! But God is so good! So we will tell you what miracles He has performed this month :-)
Our home study is being completed as we speak. The final piece of the puzzle is the psychological report, which I actually thought was part of our dossier. So as soon as that is completed we can let our hair down, finish up our dossier and find our baby!!!
We had an enormously pleasant surprise when we were told by our paperwork coordinator from All Gods Children that we are almost done with both our home study AND our dossier!!! With life being as hectic as it is Julie has been an AMAZING blessing to our family. She has kept us on the ball because every 2 weeks she calls me and talks over what needs to be done within the next 2 weeks. Without even realizing it we were working through, not only our home study, but our dossier paperwork. So instead of another 3 months of handing things in we have another month at the most. We are thrilled that soon we will be paperwork ready and able to move forward with finding our baby/child and getting paperwork(ugh, paperwork, haha) ready to go to China.
We would like to take a moment, I wish we could take more, to thank all of you who we tapped on the shoulder to ask for a reference. You have been awesome in getting that paperwork in. I think we only have 2 more that need to come back!!! Thank you so so much!!!
Obviously the only obstacle that has been in our way is....you guess it....funding. We have been amazingly blessed that just in time to set up our psychological evaluations we have the exact amount needed to hand to her. PRAISE GOD!!! With all our crochet and baking, plus selling some kitties and cutting back on some spending God has given us that money.
Our next obstacle that we are asking the Lord to help us overcome is the $2,500.00 needed to complete and send in our home study. After that we have another $5,000 to raise for our dossier. So before February 1st we need to have that money in our account and ready to go. Please pray hard that people step forward and donate. Our gofundme is gofundme.com/hoffmanadoption. Please pray about giving as the Lord leads. We thank you for $5, we thank you for $500, whatever the Lord puts on you, every single penny brings our child home and out of the situation they are in. Thank you for taking a moment to pray.
To raise this money, aside from outright donations, we are selling crochet items, blanket yarn scarves have been enormously popular!!!!, plates of cookies and fresh, homemade yeast and sweet breads. Because of how amazingly generous you have all been in purchasing these we have been able to move forward. We could not do this without you. Thank you for helping us bring our baby/child home!!!!
Our next event to try and raise some funds is our pancake breakfast!!! We are so excited and so thankful to everyone who has volunteered to help pull this together! Our pancake breakfast is Saturday, December 19th from 8-11 at the West Walworth Fire Department on West Walworth Rd in Macedon. West Walworth road is off 441. Please email me at Davidspsalm_23@yahoo.com for directions or go to our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/870653809715424/
Another thing we have been so blessed with is speaking about our adoption process at our church, New Life Bible on Atlantic Rd in Macedon. For the past 2 Sundays and for this Sunday coming up we have been speaking at our church and they will be taking a love offering this Sunday. If you would like to attend to learn more, first hand, about our adoption, please come! Service is from 10:30 until about 11:45.
Thank you so much for taking the time to pray for us. We are incredibly blessed to have the friends and family we have. Love you all!!!!

Please help us bring our baby home

Life is a crazy, crazy thing.

We are living life every day to the fullest. With 6 kids things can be crazy....even when we try so hard to be normal. My second oldest, Fran, broke her foot while in the middle of our complicated home study. We were going to do our walk through and instead found ourselves at several doctors visits. After CT scans and x-rays and blood tests it ended up in just a cast instead of the surgery they originally thought would have to happen. So praise the Lord.

On the way out the door for our second Drs visit we ran into our social worker. It turned out we had scheduled our walk through apt on Monday, not Tuesday. Both Jeremy and I thought it was Tuesday! So that was horrible but our SW was so understanding about it. She has been a true blessing this entire time. I'm so glad we like her! She will be our SW for the next several years. There will be one visit a month for 12 months and then they become farther and farther apart. So its definitely a good thing that we get a long!!!

So our home study is almost completed. We completed our interviews, our biography and all our background information. She met and chatted with the kids which was fun. I wonder how often she gets to chat with 6 kids from one family.

We still have our medical apts and our psychological apts to do. After those are completed we are finished and can continue to work on our dossier. The dossier is basically mad paperwork, including our completed home study report. We have already begun this process but our main objective right now is to get our home study completed.

We have a huge problem facing us right now. After we complete our home study we have 3 months to get our dossier done and turned in. But we can not finish our home study without $2,500 to give to them. We have $165 so far. We are not too proud to tell you that we desperately need your help.

I know there are people that are holding back from giving. There are some things on my heart that I want to clarify, that people have spoken to me about or things that I have heard(unfortunately from a second source). I want to give you answers so that you can feel good about giving to our adoption. I think we all realize the horrors that can take place in the Chinese orphanages. I don't think people just don't want to help those children. So I will just answer some other concerns.

1. "I don't want to give until your family is approved or I'm giving to something that could possibly not even help anything."
         I completely understand this concern. You don't know much about Jeremy and I personally growing up, where we've worked in the past, or, if you don't hang out with us on a regular basis, if we are truly able to care for another child, until the social worker pokes at us and decides we are able(and let me tell you, it is not possible to hide anything from this woman. They go all the way back to your birth!!!!) and approves us. We know not many of our friends have a ton of money to give to a cause unless they know for a fact it will in fact be helping a cause.
If this is your concern here are a couple things that could help you give without fear :-):
  a. You could wait until we complete our home study and just give later.
  b. You could give but tell us if you would like to be reimbursed should our home study not pass. You may think this is rude but we will NOT be offended and we will even write you a receipt if you would like. If we donated $100 to a cause and that cause fell through it would suck to not get our money back. We understand and we WILL NOT be offended, I promise.
  c. You could stick with purchasing things to help out. That way, if it does fall through, you still have gotten something for your money. We are still selling bracelets that help with workers in the Apparent Project. We are also doing bake sales and crochet sales.
  d. You could speak with our social worker after we complete all our paperwork, get the ok that we passed from her, and then give towards closing our home study. She is a wonderful lady and would be happy to speak with you.

2. "No offense, I don't really like you and I'm not sure I want you raising a child because you suck."
          Ok, I know not many people reading this feels this strongly(or you probably wouldnt be reading this). Perhaps you disagree with our parenting skills, have concerns about Jeremy and I and our relationship, disagree with our political or religious views, or just plain don't get along with one or both of us. I understand that this happens and I'm going to address it.
          If you don't like us, that is OK. Everyone has a different personality and some people just clash. But if you know us, you know our kids. If you have a chance to talk to our kids about the adoption, about us as parents, or just chat with them you will see that they are good kids. Not just good but great kids. They love the Lord, they love people, they love learning, they love volunteering, they love going places and doing things, they love to chat with people, they behave themselves(as much as a 2 year old can). We go on tons of outings, we play games, we read books. The kids play house, they color, they are friends. We have raised some good kids. Now consider if we added another. That child who has no family would be a part of our family and would be as awesome as our other kids. So if you don't like us as people, that is fine. But if you think we are doing a good job raising our kids, please consider giving.

3. "You are a mean parent."
          I'm throwing this one in there because someone who I considered a friend said this behind my back. The reason she said it is because she feels that I keep my kids home and un-socialized, that I force them to do chores, and that I don't allow my kids to do the things other kids are allowed to do: date, sleepovers, etc.
          I'm afraid there is not a lot I can say about this. We do home school and we do feel this is something we were lead to do. We do allow Godly relationships and right now Christians best friend is a girl. We want to encourage healthy relationships with the opposite sex and we will always encourage our kids to love everyone, but we do not think dating is a good way to learn about the character of the person they should marry. We feel this control over our children's friendships has lead to amazing, Godly and loving relationships with their friends. Their relationships, especially Mariah's, Fran's and Cosette's, are richer. They don't have 10 friends they barely know, they have 3 or 4 friends that feel like sisters to them. Its different but it is not wrong.
            And yes....my children will always have chores. Because that is life. :-)
            So if you feel this way I want to assure you that my children are happy and socialized. Again, your feelings over us personally are not what you should look at. Please take a look at our children. If you enjoy them and enjoy spending time with them and talking to them then please consider giving.

4. Chinese is INSANE and UNREASONABLE to expect you to pay $45,000 to take a child from their country that 1. they dont want and 2. they shouldn't have in a country with 1.3 BILLION people.
         Ok. This is a very difficult argument for me. Do I think that they are spending $500 on paperclips? $1,000 for someone to call us to talk about our dossier? No, I don't think that it should be as expensive as all this. I think it should be that we do our background checks, our walk through, our references, talk to our kids and to us a bunch of times and then hand us over a child. I think the hurdles we have to jump through and the money we have to shell out can make people very irritated with the adoption process and not want to give. I do understand this argument, I know how you feel.
          There are so many orphans in this world and so many more being born every minute. In some countries, China for example, babies with cleft palates are dying of starvation. And as much as we would love to turn our nose up at China and say, you know what? You can forget your $45,000, you are horrible for forcing people to pay for children you don't even want......we can't. BECAUSE THIS ISN'T ABOUT CHINA. Its not about China or the money or being ripped off. Babies are dying. Children who have nothing wrong with them except they are deaf or blind are being shut up in institutions or shunned their entire lives because of something that can be worked with and something they had no choice about. Its not about China. Its about a child that needs a home, a home that we can provide with so much love. Until there is a better way, a better method to get kids out of China, one that doesn't require all the paperwork or the money, this is how it is done and this is the way we must do it.
           Don't be so irritated about the money or about the method that you don't want to give and provide a child with a home. Please accept that this is the only way to save children from suffering. For now, with us working together, we can get a child out of a bad situation, get them a surgery that might save their lives, give them a home with people that want them so bad they do say, forget that country....we are going to do it anyway, we are going to be the better people. Please, put that concern aside, consider giving.

5. What about American orphans? Why cant you get a child here?
           Jeremy and I originally had plans to adopt from the US. We looked into it and found that it was a lot more complicated than we originally thought. The main way to adopt children from the US is through foster care but we knew that that was not something we wanted to do. After trying unsuccessfully to find a place that would allow us to outright adopt we gave up and found All Gods Children. After reading about the orphanages and conditions in China we decided that was where we needed to be.
            We know that in the future we will continue to help orphans around the world, including the US. But this is what God has put before us for now. Every child needs and should have a home. There are 50 million children orphaned in China(UNICEF). There are 100,000 in the US(UNICEF). Just to show you the need in China, plus tell you that on top of that China will not help its orphaned Children even though there are more than enough Chinese people to do so, I hope you realize that Chinese orphans need outside help.

Thank you so much for considering giving to bring our baby(or child) home. Like I have said, we have a long way to go. When you think of the $32,000 we owe before our child comes home(this includes about $20,000 for travel to China for 2 weeks), the $2500 to complete our home study seems like nothing so you think you can just give later. But I can tell you now it is a HUGE hurtle. We have $165 towards that. We are not too proud to tell you that we can't do it without God and you. Please consider giving.

Just as an added incentive we have two events planned. When we complete our dossier we will be throwing a huge party with everyone who gave towards our adoption or filled out a reference as special guests. When we come home with our baby, after he or she is adopted and is settled in, we will be having another party(probably a little low-key or we will freak our baby out :-) with everyone who was involved in anyway in this process and they will be the first to meet our new son or daughter! So just another little nudge :-).

To give either anonymously or using your name please visit www.gofundme.com/hoffmanadoption. You can also call us at 585-738-6057 and get our address to give by mail. You can also give by paypal, please email me at davidspsalm_23@yahoo.com.

Thank you so much for your help. We are truly blessed to be your friend.

Moving Forward

These last couple weeks have been great, we have sent our money in for our home study and will be starting that soon. We are praying that this part of our adoption moves quickly, that we can move into the deciding phase. That is the phase we are most anxious about, as we continue to look at the precious babies on the All Gods Children website. There are so many looking for homes. Please continue to pray about your role in the orphan crisis. Is it to pray? Is it to go? Is it to donate? Is it to bring a child, who so desperately wants a mom and dad, into your home?

We have a lot more funds to raise, especially  if, when our home study is completed, we don't get the grants we are thinking we will get. We need to be thinking of traveling expenses, which is more than 1/2 of our costs. We will be spending two weeks in China and I know that those 2 weeks will be amazing and eye opening. But we need to raise those funds. Once our home study is completed we will want to move quickly to decide on which child God has chosen for us and to get to China to bring him or her home. They have waited for a family long enough and we are so excited to go get him or her.

We would like to continue to ask for prayer for our precious baby/child and ALL the children that are living in the orphanages in China and around the world.

In the meantime we would love you to pray for some children specifically.

Mason is on my heart at all times and if he does not come home with us he is who I will be advocating for. He is blind and 8 years old. He has a beautiful smile and looks like he has a gentle, precious spirit. Please pray that he finds the perfect home, whether it is with us or not. Thank you so much for praying for this very special boy who will always be in my heart.

Please pray for Lilly. She is also blind and is 5 years old. She looks like a wild and intelligent baby. She is 4 and does not have her eyes. She is in remission for ocular cancer. Please pray for her health and that she finds a loving family.

Please pray for 2 other boys, Caleb and Josiah(I know, weird). Both are babies but are so precious. They will be scooped up soon I'm sure since they are so young. Please pray they grow up in a loving and wonderful home.

Thank you so much for your prayers for these children and for all the kids in China. Most of all pray that some day someone tells them about Jesus. That, above all else, is the single most important thing.

Love to you all in Christ Jesus.

The Orphan Crisis

Today my second daughter was baptized. My first, who is 18 now, was baptized with Jeremy and I years ago.

Cosette is 9 years old and has fully given herself to the Lord. Every word that she wrote down to tell the congregation came from her heart. And although she was very shy about it, she also read Matthew 13, one of my favorite passages, where Jesus became baptized by John the Baptist.

Our decision to follow Christ is a surrender to oneself Pastor says. This is something that Cosette will have to learn. And it will take a while before the selfishness that comes along with being a little girl gets crowded out. Before long she will be planning parties around someone else. She will be praying for others and forgetting to pray for yourself. She will love someone so much that she would not hesitate to put herself in front of harm before that person. I just read the other day of a father who threw himself on top of his son who had caught on fire. He put out the flames with his body, his own skin, probably not even feeling the burn, just feeling his baby not burning any longer. The boy did survive with 3rd degree burns. But now he can live, because his father did not even hesitate. Even when his body caught on fire and he also is covered in third degree burns. But I pray he wears those as badges of honor.

We are starting the next process of our adoption. We continue to really pray for those mothers and fathers who have no choice but to give their children away. We continue to ask for your prayers, especially regarding the precious children that we see on the All Gods Children website. We can't choose. We can not say no to a child that needs us. No one who has gone through this process could ever look at the beautiful children, all of them needing a home, and just turn away without mourning. We pray more Christians come forward, that they follow Gods Holy Word and come forward and take a child from these orphanages. We cant take them all. If 1 Christian out of 4 came forward and adopted a child it would end the orphan crisis in the entire world. Just one out of four.

Please help us and prayerfully consider bringing a child into your home.

If you are not able to adopt prayerfully consider giving money to another couple who could. It does not have to be us, there are so many that have to scrimp and save, sometimes for years, to bring a child home. Please help them like we will be doing when our baby is finally home. We will not stop helping others adopt. Please join our fight to end the orphan crisis.

How Great Is Our God

"How great is our God?". I hear that a LOT from a friend of ours who is living with his beautiful wife and charming family in the Dominican Republic. The have followed Gods call on their lives and are preaching God's word in a lost land. Praise GOD!!! We have, just in the past week, had the amazing blessing of another visit from them here in the US. While they were here they told us about God's provision and clear path for them in the DR and we told them how God has been blessing us all over the place with our adoption. How GREAT is our God?

It has not been easy. Friendships have been tested and either failed the test or passed with flying colors. God has been revealed many times and agonizing decisions have been made. We have been more surprised at the hows so far than any thing else. We thought the $7, 500 would come from many different people and places. God revealed again how He can do whatever He wants to do whenever He wants to do it.

You heard me right! Step 2: complete. We sent our paperwork and our scary-huge check into them today. Hopefully we dotted all our i's and crossed all our t's. Linda from Fairport Federal Credit Union, our notary and friend, was awesome and we got a cute selfie with her we will post later(I insisted....yes, I'm that kind of nerd).

So what's next? Why, the beginning sillies!!! Haha, yes, this is the beginning beginning.Step 3: home study and more paperwork. We have, miraculously, come up with the money for the home study, praise God. We now have to make a decision on which agency to use(they work in conjunction with our agency, All Gods Children) for that. We have to paint the boys room, put locks on poisons and medicine doors, fix the basement, fix the storage and get rid of things, make sure that everything is perfect and NYS law abiding. We have all sorts of meetings, meetings with me, Jeremy, both of us, the kids and us, Mariah separately, psychological and medical testing, our biographies to write, lots and lots of paperwork that comes out to thousands of dollars.....whew. Lots to look forward to in the coming months.

It is just hitting me as I write this that things will be actually moving forward now. 3 months has seemed like 6 and I'm sure the next 3-5 months of home study will feel like 10.... but we are excited. And we have lots of things to do. We are both very hands on people(obviously, with 6 kids plus 1 :-) so we are excited to keep going. We can't wait to see how God works this all out.

Please continue praying for precious M, the 8 year old boy that can not see. Through all of this the only thing that continues to make me anxious is the decision of which child will be ours. M is constantly on my mind when I think of bringing our child home and yet I can't see how God would make that work. We want a clear path to what God would will for our lives. So please, while praying for M, please pray that our decision is made very clear to us through God, not our hearts. We only want to do what God wills.

Thank you so much for your prayers. And a special, deep in our hearts thank you to all of you who have given us anything at all for this adoption. I don't care if it was 5$ thrown into our jar at church, you are part of the reason we will be taking a child out of the circumstances he is in in China. Thank you so very much. We love you.

A Jumble of Thoughts and Asking for Prayer

I truly wish I could give you all the password to show you all the precious children on the All Gods Children website.

I don't spend a lot of time looking unless a child is especially on my heart. M is always on my mind. M is blind and he is 8 years old. A is also on my heart quite a bit. She has a tumor growth problem and her last one turned up cancerous. She is 2. So many more with so many issues. But each one so precious and one that God gave to this world.

We jumped into this thinking that we would be adopting a sibling group within the US. After talking with the agency we chose to adopt internationally. When we asked where the greatest need was they didn't even hesitate, they said, "China". But everyone adopts from China! After much research we know why. The circumstances in China are one of the worst. It is a combination of several factors, each more heart breaking than the last.

Ok, China then! We began to look forward to adopting a little baby girl, as young as we could get, with something very correctable....a cleft palate, possibly even a repairable heart defect. Something easy. Something that was easy on us.

But looking through the kids and babies, watching the videos the agency took on their last mission trip, watching the videos of older kids being dropped off at baby hatches(http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1462626/abandoned-heartbreaking-moments-parents-leave-their-children-chinas?page=all), God has placed an even deeper meaning on our hearts. Easy is not what this is. Children being abandoned in baby hatches, sometimes by parents who would have given anything to keep them, is not easy. Babies and children who are going through the first part of their lives without their mommy kissing them good night is not easy. A blind boy who in a couple years, at age 14, will be out on his own, possibly institutionalized just because he is blind but otherwise is completely healthy, is not easy. Nothing about adoption is easy. Not what is happening to these kids now, not what happened to them or their parents in the past, not what could possibly happen to them in the future. Every part of this adoption is hard. And it is from God. Thank you God, for giving us this experience. Thank you for letting us pray for these precious precious souls. 

Logically we should not take the 8 year old blind boy. Or the 4 year old blind girl. Or the girl with the cancerous tumors. Logically we probably shouldn't be adopting at all with 6 kids. We can't think logically. We have to think prayerfully. We cant let our pocketbook lead us, we have to let the Holy Spirit. We cant look through the kids on the page and brush uncomfortably past those kids that might make us cringe. We have to look at them, read their page, think about how their lives combined with ours would look, and pray pray pray.

We are SO thankful for each other. My husband is dealing with finances while I deal with fundraising. We are working as a team and talking to each other about what seems like peoples indifference to adding onto our family or their careless words about us adopting a child with special needs. When nothing seems to be going right, when we spend $100's only to make not even 50% of it back, we can talk to each other and know that we each feel the same way, that at least we have each other to understand.

We are SO thankful that soon we will have our social worker to talk to and ask questions. We will be on the "in" in the agency and be able to ask questions of other moms and dads who have taken home a baby or child with special needs.

We are so excited to move forward, to have a child picked out and to have help with that from our agency, China's agencies and our Social Worker. We are excited to get into the nitty gritty, dealing with travel arrangements, her new bedding and her suitcase to take with us to pick her up. To meet with our pediatrician, to set up his first appointment and get any surgeries scheduled. To pick out his school work for his first year of homeschooling or crib bedding and baby toys if he is a baby. To sit our kids down and really discuss the children that are our options, how they would work into our family.

So much to look forward to. So much work to be done. We are so thankful for each step that is taken that moves us further along. We appreciate your prayers above all. We thank you so much for being an ear when we cant shut up about the process or one of the kids. We thank you the most for the kind words and actions that you share with us. And thank you so much for anything you can donate- a dollar, $5.00, $100.00. Everything you donate helps bring our baby Hoffman home.

We THANK YOU.

Todays Blessings

Yesterday and Today were exciting and amazing. We spent all day Saturday baking a bunch of goodies: cupcakes, cakes with gummy worms, caramel sauce, and cream cheese frosting to name a few. Today when we got to church we were greeted by our amazing church family who poured out their love to us by bringing in more yummies for our bake sale!!! All morning we were selling stuff including some bracelets and one wonderful person who threw a $10 into our random donation jar. We made a nice little chunk of change to bring our baby home.

When we got home I had to run out to catch a part of my cousins sons graduation party. He doesn't remember me but I remember those adorable squishy cheeks when he was a baby. It was truly a blessing to watch his video and see the amazing young man he is now. I got to chat with my Aunt Susan for a little while over some sammiches. It was nice to be able to talk to you, but too short, Aunt Susan. And as usual, spending time with my cousin and her oldest daughter was a huge blessing. I love you Lynda and Amy. We WILL do that date soon!!!!

Back at home, while Jeremy ran to take Mariah to work and to wander around Lowes getting some stuff, the kids and I got to give big hugs to "funny man" Rob and his GORGEOUS and AMAZING wife Sherrie. Yet another blessing!!! And the kids got to watch both of the big kids try out their electric scooters.

Then it began to sprinkle so we booked it inside, put on our pajamas and we watched The Wizard of Oz....a classic that my youngest children have not seen and one of my very favorites of all time. I got to snuggle with the baby boys, itch Josiah's elbow bug bite for him and watch Christian hide his face whenever the wicked witch came on. The girls, as always, were enchanted with the singing and magic.

Reflecting on what an amazingly blessed life I lead. I have a husband I love and "get to kiss whenever I want". I have 6 kids and I get to stay home, home school and raise them....and most of all I get to goof off with them.

And on top of all that I have another child out there, somewhere, I can pray for. Although I don't know who he or she is, God does and I can pray for them, their health, that they are safe and being well cared for and loved while we both wait to be united. I can't wait to hug him or her. I can't wait to teach them things and have them teach me who they are and what they know. And I especially can't wait to tell them about an amazing Savior who loves them more than I or anyone ever could. 

Dear Jesus,

Thank you, Lord, for You and for giving me my family. 

In Your Holy Name,

Amen

Go Fund Me

Hi everyone!
We are trying to make it super easy for anyone who has prayed about it and chosen to help fund our adoption. We found probably the simplest way online is through Go Fund Me. Here is our link below. Please remember that every single penny will go towards bringing our baby or child home. If you can give a dollar, $20, or $1,000, you have helped to bring our child home.
Thank you for your prayers and please check out our fundraising page!

http://ourroadgoeseveron.blogspot.com/2015/06/listening-to-god.html

Listening to God

When we first began this adoption adventure, and really, we are still in just the beginning, we knew what we wanted. We wanted a cute little girl with some repairable medical problem: a cleft palate, even a heart defect that was operable. And if you read some blogs from people who adopted from the list of waiting children, many say the same thing, they went into this knowing that they would get a child with as minimal problems as possible only to have God place a child with them that was completely not what they "knew". But how could we?

I mean, we have 6 kids, right? How could we add a child with severe problems?  Like brain cancer that could come back or a heart condition that could end their life in a couple years? Or how about a child who has been blind from birth?

The more I look through the available children, the more I'm drawn, not to the perfect little baby girls who need a couple minor surgeries....but to a baby boy who is blind. Another boy who is a little older and blind in one eye. An eight year old boy who has been blind since birth but who, his caregivers say, never complains and is very bright.

Now I'm not sure what God has in store for us. We are only beginning, we still have our homestudy to do, we still have months of paperwork and visits. So we will just wait and see. Waiting on the Lord. We will know in His time and we will know who.

Until then, could you please pray for M, the boy who is 8, A, who is the very young baby who is blind, and J, who is a little older and blind in one eye. Thank you for praying for them and thank you for praying for us.

Dear Jesus,
Thank you for these precious boys. We don't know your plans for them but we know that we can love them even from here and pray for their families. We don't know if one of these boys is our son, we will wait until you place that clearly in front of us. We are scared, Lord, of what it will mean to have a child with significant medical or emotional needs in our home. We don't know how this will change our family. But we do know that, once that child whom You have chosen is here, our lives will be richer because You gave him or her to us.
Thank you for taking us on this journey that has made us more compassionate. While first we were gushing over the sweet little baby girls, we are now praying with tears in our eyes for those children who may graduate out of the orphanage without ever knowing a real home. We again, Jesus, promise Your Name will be the first thing our baby or child hears from our lips. You are all who matters.
Thank you Jesus for every thing You give these children and we thank You for All Gods Children and all they are doing to try to help this orphan crisis. We especially, God, pray and thank you for those selfless, compassionate and amazing parents who have taken in a child with a significant medical issue. We pray you bless them and watch over them and guard their hearts. We pray for all the children in the orphanages in China and around the world who can not see, or have to endure painful surgeries or procedures, the ones that don't have a mom and dad to hold their hands and tell them they will be ok. We can only be one, we pray more families come forward to take these children into their homes.
In Your Precious Name, Jesus, Amen.

The excitement

Lots of things about this adoption are nerve wracking. The waiting. The thought of the home study that I hear from people is "long and invasive". The fundraising.

But under all the paperwork and waiting we are so excited!!!! I just love going onto the All Gods Children website and seeing all the adorable babies and precious children waiting for their new homes! I get such a thrill when I see the word "matched" under a name! Matched means that some amazing, awesome, loving person or couple or family has decided to make that baby or child a part of their family! Even if it is a child that I was daydreaming could be ours, there is not one thought of that once I see that child has finally got a family- no more waiting for them!!! I get such a thrill knowing that, one day, that "matched" will mean that that baby or child is OURS and that we will be bringing her(or him) home soon to meet her sisters and brothers!!!

When all my kids were born those first few months were magical. While other moms may dread those nights up I treasured every second of it, even more so for each birth. Every night away meant that I got to spend a few precious hours with my baby alone. I know that our new baby may not have many awake nights, she will be a little older, but I know that I will set aside time, perhaps in the evenings when the others have gone to bed, for just us. It won't be those middle of the night nursing sessions with my biological children, but I'm determined to make it a special time for us. It doesn't have to be the same, it just has to be ours.

I know that the time leading up to getting matched, the time leading up to traveling to China, the first few days and nights(and possibly even years, we just don't know!) with our precious one will have their challenges. I am not dreaming that this is all a walk in the park. All the paperwork and fundraising has proven to be one mountain of challenges after another. But knowing that this is Gods will for us, that one day our baby will have her own family, that she will be loved unconditionally and so so much, that she will have siblings that would die for her.....the challenges are nothing. She is everything.

I love her already.

A Mothers Strength

There are so many different parenting styles. Some parent based on belief, like our family. Some do what their parents did. Some go with their gut. Some research and see what methods have worked for others in the past. There are so many parents out there that are doing what they feel is the best thing for their children. Every parent who loves their child is going to do what they believe is best. I will never know the strength of someone who decides that their best is to give their child away.

I have a friend who does foster care. She is a believer and she and her husband prayerfully made the decision not to outright adopt like our family has chosen, but to foster until they find their little boy baby to add to their family. They have taken children into their home and they have a little boy there now that has become part of their family. He is deeply loved by his momma, his daddy and his sisters. They are all he has ever known. They have rocked him to sleep, stayed up nights, fed him his first mouthful of cereal, prayed over him. His biological parents have not yet made the choice to sign the papers to allow my friend to adopt. I will never know the strength it takes to live every day, loving unconditionally a baby that is not mine, not knowing if the baby I love just as much as a child I gave birth to will be taken from the only home he knows.

In order to be a mother you have to be strong. I know mothers who have waited through many many miscarriages, finally having a healthy pregnancy, a healthy baby. I know a mother who raised her son all the way to adulthood, only to have him pass away in a motorcycle accident, in the arms of his twin. I have seen a mother squint at her food stamps to make sure she is getting what it says, not what she wants, and then turn to her baby boys in her shopping cart and give them a huge smile and a tickle.

I don't know how strong I am. I don't know if I would have the strength to give up my child, smile when there wasn't enough food on the table. I try to be strong every day just going through the usual routine that is a house with 6 kids. I pray to yell less and cuddle more. I pray to have enough energy to get up at 6:00 after being up for 3 hours at night with a sick child, play and work all day, and then still have enough energy to make my husband his dinner before I relax for the night. I pray for peace. I pray for their futures. I pray that they will be strong moms and dads, like all the moms and dads I see around me every day.

Be-Attitudes for Mothers

 

Blessed are the Mothers who love God, for their children shall
not be ignorant of their Creator and His plans concerning them.

 

Blessed are the Mothers who love the word of God, for their
children shall know of the way, the truth and the life.

 

Blessed are the Mothers who love the house of God, for their
children shall enter there and sit with them in the presence of God.

 

Blessed are the Mothers who love to pray, for their children
shall feel the power of prayer and many shall find salvation.

 

Blessed are the Mothers who love to give to the cause of Christ,
for their children shall become supporters of the Kingdom of God.

 

Blessed are the Mothers who love the family altar, for they
shall have their reward in this world and in the world to come.

 

Blessed are the Mothers who love to speak kind words to their
neighbor's children, for thereby they shall win
other boys and girls besides their own to Jesus Christ.

 

Blessed are the Mothers who love to be companions to their
children, for they shall be called understanding Mothers.

 

Blessed are the Mothers who love to fight life's battles
bravely with a strong and steadfast faith in God, for their
children shall know where to find strength in time of need.

 

Blessed are the Mothers who, when they are old and gray,
can look back upon memory's wall with no regret and can say,
"I brought my children up in the fear of the Lord."
Theirs are the mansions in glory.

Author uknown, http://www.crossroad.to/Victory/poems/mother-prayer.htm

He Led Us Here

When Jeremy and I first got married our dream was to eventually adopt.

When we got married Mariah was already here, she is my daughter from my first marriage when I was a teenager. She was part of the ceremony, just as big of a part of it as we both were. So in a way, Mariah was Jeremy's first "adopted" daughter. The years passed by so quickly and we loved every single time we learned that we would be adding yet another amazing blessing into our home. After 3 girls we finally got our first boy....and then 2 bouncing baby boys after that!!! Each new beautiful face filled us with incredible happiness and we would not trade anything for our sweet babies.

But we knew that we wanted to add children who did not have a family to our family, even before we had children of our own. I knew I wanted to adopt as soon as Mariah was put into my arms. We have so much love and fun to give. We fight, we argue, things can be crazy, our home is probably not the cleanest place you will ever see, it is definitely the loudest, we have several cats because of our cattery so they are always underfoot. Everyone is expected to do their chores, help with everyone younger than themselves, and obey.....But we love each other: we play, we wrestle, we read our favorite stories, we pray and learn everything we can about Jesus and following Him. We watch our favorite shows like Star Wars, Anne of Green Gables, the Avengers, the Sound of Music, and the Labyrinth. We play video games and we do our school work on the computer and together in one room instead of going to school. We learn different crafts and sign language and we LOVE LOVE LOVE to be outside every day during the spring, summer and fall. We pop popcorn and scoop up ice cream and Jeremy makes the very best milk shakes you will ever have. We have more than we could ever have dreamed of. And we want to share all that with a baby, a child, or a group of children.

Because every night at 7:00 we get our kids ready for bed. We read one or two chapters of the Laura Ingalls books or another amazing family book together, we snuggle on the big bed in our room, we pray, sometimes we wrestle like loons, and then one by one we tuck our kids in. We kiss them and hold them and look at each other and think about all the kids out there that don't have a mom or dad to tuck them in. We want them to know what it is like to have a parent adore them, cherish them, laugh when they laugh and cry when they cry, pray for their future, help them completely rid their hearts of the past, and introduce them to an amazing Savior who died just for them.

So we have made the decision to adopt. Now, not later. Yes, even with 6 children, yes, even if that means that we will adopt several siblings, yes, we will love them although it may be a challenge at first or even forever, we will love them as Jesus loved us. We don't ask that the time with them is easy, we just ask that we do what Jesus has asked us to do. And that is put others before ourselves, love other children as much as we love our own children. We read a beautiful passage in the bible today. Its a beautiful passage but its also a scary passage. And I think every Christian should read it while sitting on their comfortable couches, holding their own children. It is from Matthew 25:

 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

“Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’

“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’

“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

Refusing. Refusing. Refusing to help the One who gave everything for us. We know, not just from this passage but from our Saviors life, that we are called to help the least of these. And I cant think of anyone else who is considered more "the least of these" than precious babies and children who have never known true love. How are they to love if they don't know what love is? How can they love without knowing the One who loved them first??? How can we blame them for being part of the downfall of society when these children are graduating out of foster care never knowing the love of a mom or dad? Shouldn't we be pointing the finger back at us, sitting on our comfortable couches? I'm reminded of a song:

I woke up this morning
saw a world full of trouble
I thought how'd we get so far down?
How'd we get turned around
I looked up at heaven and said God why don't you do something?
Couldn't bear the thought of people living in poverty
Children sold into slavery
The thought disgusted me
So I shook my fist at heaven, said, "God why don't you DO something???"
He said, "I did!!!! I created YOU!!!"

We know that God has put in front of us the desire to help. Even if adoption does not even happen for us we know that we will perhaps help others to adopt or perhaps do more through Compassion, there are so many ways to help. All we know is that we will help, we hope its by adding to our family. If not we know that it will be Gods will.

We appreciate your prayers as God works this out to His will. We have many things to do and many funds to raise.

If you too, would like to follow Gods calling and help there are TONS of ministries to help with through your churches or through http://www.compassion.com/. I hope you truly feel a calling on your heart to help in whatever way you can.

Our God is Bigger

Adoption- our God is bigger

All I've read about fundraising(and trust me, I've done some serious research on fundraising! 6 kids, 2 adults and trying to raise $40,000 for our adoption? Yuh, I've done some serious research!) says that I should be simple and upfront about the costs we need for fundraising. So here goes:

Application: $300.00. This was to get the adoption agency to accept us and to begin our family folder of legal stuf

Home study and dossier: $2-4,350 + : This will approve us completely to adopt a child. Background checks, fingerprints, meeting with our social worker, any house safety issues that need to be dealt with, all our legal paperwork needs to be motorized, etc. a LOT is included. For more specifics please contact me.

Country adoption fee for China: $8-9,000: this is to cover the costs of caring for our baby. This also covers a mandatory donation to help care for the orphans that are still waiting for their new families. This donation is a true gift from God and I'm praying we can add even more to this donation if it is at all possible.

Travel and paperwork to and from China: $5,000-17,000: this covers everything to go get our baby and to get her back here, visas, hotel, transportation, etc. this is so wide because it depends on the country. We will know better when they approve us for China.

Authentication/translation fees: $175-2,850: this depends on country. All our paperwork has to be switched to Chinese within China.

Post-adoption fees: $2,500 and more: for the meetings after our baby is placed with us.

U.S. Agency fees: $6,000: all the fees to pay people's salaries and office supplies. This includes the offices here and in China.

Orphan care fees: $500-2,500: again, we are donating to the care of orphans who are waiting for their own families to adopt them. And again, this is a huge blessing to be able to do. This is a global fee, China's fee is just for their own orphans.

So there it is. I see these numbers and they can be very scary. But our God is bigger than this.
I won't lie. We need your help. It will take a village to get just one child who needs a family. I know we can do this. If you would like any more information I'm available to explain anything to you before you become a part of this amazing story. If there is a specific place you want your donation to go, that is where it will go and we can show you that. If you want to specifically donate to just the general orphan fund or specifically to China that would be awesome. If you want to help us with our tedious paperwork funds we would be amazingly grateful. We are grateful for a dollar or $100 dollars. We thank you for anything you can do.

Love you all and please, if you can not give to our adoption, pray for our family and for the children and people of China.

Adoption

The decision to follow Christ is a commitment, a surrender, death to oneself. ~ Pastor Tom

If we are called to go, why do we stay? ~ Larry Porter

The decision to follow Christ was a decision that Jeremy and I made late in life. We had already begun raising children. We had trouble in our marriage and I began to look for some way to help keep us together. I was lead to Christ by a a friend. Jeremy, being the logical man he is, took some time to think things through. But God got to him. He gave his life to Christ a year later.

When we first got married we talked about adoption. We knew that eventually we would adopt. We continued to add onto our family. We never really had the urge to adopt at the beginning although it had been something we always talked about in passing. Even after we came to Christ we continued to add to our family and again, never really felt the push to adopt although, again, we talked about it often. 

After Josiah was born Jeremy and I both felt it was our last pregnancy. We had 6 beautiful children and, while it was painful to think about that chapter of our lives ending, we both knew that it was time. God put that on our hearts, knowing me and my love of being pregnant and having my babies, the peace I had was remarkable. A peace beyond understanding. 

In January, Jeremy brought me the book Kisses for Katie and said "read it". Jeremy is not much of a reader and he is definitely not one to pick up a book and tell me to read it. So after we finished our latest missionary book, Rachel Saint, we picked up Kisses for Katie and there ended every last drop of doubt as to Gods calling on our lives at this time. We would adopt. Not later, not when we had the money, not when the kids were older and it would be "easier". God clearly told us to get moving.

The decision to follow Christ is a commitment. Pastor just said that today. And it is. Sometimes is it not easy. Sometimes it's amazingly easy. But it is a commitment, a stronger commitment than the one you made to your husband or wife on your wedding day. Its a stronger commitment than when you got pregnant for the first time and committed your life to that little one inside you. 

The decision to follow Christ is a surrender. Everything you have is now His. Your children, your husband or wife. Your home. Your finances. Your hopes and your dreams. Your future. Everything is to be laid at the foot of His cross.

Your decision to follow Christ is dying to oneself. You are not the you you once were. You can not be selfish with your time, your money, your family, your plans. You are no longer your own, you belong to Him. 

I see no where in the bible that we are to make life easier on ourselves. I have 6 children. Adding a child, most likely a child with health problems, into my home will make things more challenging. Of course. It would be easier to not adopt. I could just continue to homeschool and care for my beloveds, play with my cats, clean my house and make dinners. I love my life, I'm living my dream, as little my life may seem to some. I could happily grow old, watching my amazing children grow and make their own choices, retire in 18 years with Jeremy. We could go off to wherever and live in relative comfort. We could do easy. We could call it a day right now. 

But there's a problem with that scenario. 

God called us to do something else. And we would never be a happily ever after if we ignored that call. Not when we love Him so much.

And I can see in my minds eye getting on plane and traveling a long distance with a feeling that I feel right now, an excited breathless feeling. I can see picking up our baby for the first time, taking her away from the circumstances that she has had to go through. Giving her a home, loving her unconditionally, never letting her ever feel fear or pain or coldness again. We cant let that go now. Not when God has called us so strongly. Our hearts are already prepared to welcome her into our hearts, our home and our family. We have been called to go, we were called 11 years ago, and we will not ignore that calling.

God is waiting on us. He will accomplish His will no matter what we say. If we said no He would get His will done. And the blessing of a precious jewel, the blessing of helping other children through this adoption and our continued support through the agency, would go to someone more willing. 

Thank you all for your prayers as we go through this process. Ill be updating as things happen. If you would like to help us raise funds for this adoption please like us on facebook. Ill have the page up this week.