Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Love and Sacrifice

I have been so so blessed this week by the generosity of friends and family. So many have taken the time to encourage us as we begin this new journey. Many have sacrificed and allowed us to see God's provision through their acts of kindness. We have received clothes for our kids, baby bedding, a meal, donations to our Adoption fundraiser and more. We also have had a couple of sweet friends approach us about doing fundraisers for us. Which would require so much time and effort on their parts. We are so thankful that they believe in adoption and are willing to sacrifice so much!

I have also seen God work in the hearts of my children who are totally willing to give up so much in their own lives in order to bring their brother home. My sweet Emmy loves dance. She dances 4 days a week at minimum. Dance is a huge part of her life to say the least. I was talking to her about the sacrifices that we may need to make in order to get baby M. here. She told me something that made my heart melt into 1000 pieces. She said, "mom, I love dance and I never want to have to give up dancing but.....if it comes down to it, I would give up dancing to get baby M home." Ohhhhhh I cried when she told me this because I know what a sacrifice this would be for her and one I would not ever want to have her make. But she gets it!!! She has visited orphanages, she has a brother and a sister who lived in an orphanage and she knows the transformation that takes place in the life of a child when they have a family! This is the greatest gift, knowing that I have a daughter who has a heart like His!!! :))

Thank you all so much for praying for us and walking this journey with us!

With Love,
Jennifer

Saturday, January 12, 2013

The Chipin website is currently down. You can make donations to the iPad Mini Adoption Fundraiser at the link below or to us directly and we will add your name to the drawing:

Soon to be a party of 7


We are excited to announce that we have officially started the process of adoption again! We are pursing the adoption of the sweetest little boy that we met this summer on our Ecuador mission trip. Jason and Cameron spent time with him on their trip in December as well and they fell in love. He will be two in March and he is ADORABLE. He has Down Syndrome. God has used two amazing families in our community that have children with downs to really encourage and show us that this very special boy is to be apart of our family. We recently found out that his paper work was ready and he was available for adoption. We have spent weeks praying and asking God to SHOW us if he was our son and God has shown us this clearly.
Over the past few days we have started our home study paperwork and have tried to get a clear picture of adoption costs for Ecuador. It looks like the costs will be somewhere around $30,000. Honestly, we were not at all prepared for this. We will be able to apply for grants once all of our paperwork is submitted but we will have a great amount of expenses to cover prior to this. So we are going to begin fundraising and have been brainstorming many ideas that we will share in the months to come. We decided to start with a bang! We are going to begin with giving away an item that everyone will love…….a new iPad Mini, 16GB, WiFi!! We have created a Chipin account where donations can be made and we will include the link on our blog. For every $20.00 donation made towards our adoption, your name will be entered into the drawing. If you make a $50.00 donation, your name will be entered 4 times! The fundraiser will run from now until January 31, 2013. On February 1, 2013 we will hold a live drawing and announce who gets the iPad Mini. To make a donation, click on the Chipin button below or you can make a direct donation to us.
 Most importantly we ask that as we begin this process that you will keep us all in your prayers. We know that this will be a difficult journey but one that we want to enjoy each step of the way. We need your prayers to sustain us. Also, if you felt led to give in order to help us bring our son home let us know and we will update you with our needs.

With Love,
The Nails Crew




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