One Year DTE

(I'm a few days late on this post, but I didn't want to just "forget" it; so here it is.)

It's been one year since we were added to our agency's "list" of adopting families.  While we don't know our "place" on the official list that our adoption agency (America World) keeps, we have been following an unofficial list on the Yahoo group that we are a part of and we have been keeping everyone up-to-date each month as to where we are on that list.  The first few months we moved up several places.

One Month DTE

Two Months DTE

Three Months DTE

Four Months DTE

Five Months DTE

Six Months DTE

Seven Months DTE

Eight Months DTE

Nine Months DTE

Ten Months DTE

Eleven Months DTE

Here we are today.  Our request has changed.  WE have changed.  God has not changed.  He remains faithful.

We are now on seven different lists on our Yahoo DTE list.  We have seven different numbers.  I am NOT going to give you nice pretty pictures for where we are on each list :-).  Let's just do the three categories that we are highest on the list.

Siblings 0-10 years

Child 4-years and older

Boy 19-47 months

God's Plan Will Be Perfect

Nate ~ We recently asked you to pray for us that we would have wisdom about some decisions that we needed to make.  Well, we have made a decision and wanted to share it with everyone.  Pam will tell you a little more about how we came to this decision, but I thought I'd just share what we have done.  Our adoption process is more than a year and a half running and our dossier was sent to Ethiopia almost a year ago.  We recognize the importance of waiting; however, we had heard some rumors about the wait time for siblings and we wanted to check it out.  The answer we received was not encouraging.  Because of that, we asked God for wisdom, which He has promised to grant to us.  We are being led to open our adoption up to a single child, either gender, from age 0-5 years.  What does this mean?  It means that we could still receive a referral for two siblings (that door is not closed) but we could also receive a referral for one child.  The percentages suggest that we are much more likely to receive a referral for a single child than we are for siblings, but that doesn't mean it is a guarantee.

This was not a quick or easy decision for us.  We looked at the number of families looking to adopt siblings vs. a single older child and we recognized that we will not be leaving two children without a family even if we do receive a referral for a single child.  Again, Pam has more information and specifics now, but this is the change that has been made to our adoption request.  We are still confident that God will place the child(ren) in our home that He has been planning all along.

Pam ~ Isn't it great to know that God is in control of EVERYTHING?!?!  Without that knowledge, I think I would be a disaster right now.  This decision has not been easy for us, because our hearts have been planning and loving TWO children for over a year now.  But, in other ways, it has been an easy decision to put everything into the hands of our loving and caring Heavenly Father who knows what is BEST for us!!!

We had initially made the decision to request two siblings because we wanted to have more than one child in our home (and it makes more "sense" financially to adopt two at the same time) and because we wanted to be able to help biological siblings stay together.  We have stuck to that decision over the past year that we have been on the waiting list.

On December 6th, I spoke over the phone with our family coordinator and she advised me that if we continued to wait for young siblings (0-5 years) we needed to expect a much longer wait than we have already had (upwards of a year or more).  That was VERY discouraging to hear!!!!  She did acknowledge that God is "in charge" of all this and we could still receive a referral for siblings soon, but that it did not look humanly very likely.  She then encouraged us to consider being open to adopting just one child.

Nathan and I have talked and prayed a lot over this decision in the past couple weeks.  We do not have access to the official waiting list that our agency has, but we looked at the unofficial list on the Yahoo group that we are a part of.  There is a need for families to adopt older children.  

There are a total of 40 families on the waiting list that are requesting or open to young siblings (0-4 years).  We are number 10 on that list.  In contrast, there are 14 families that are requesting or open to adopting one child who is over the age of 4 years.  We would be number 2 on that list (and number 1 for a boy over 4 years).

We want children.  We also want to be used by God to give a loving home to a child who needs a family.  The need for families for older Ethiopian children is great.  Is God wanting that for us?  Is HIS plan different from OUR plan?  Maybe.

As Nathan said, we have now opened up our official request to be open to adopting one child, either gender, 0-5 years.  Humanly speaking, that is what will probably happen.  We will probably receive a referral for one child who is 4 or 5 years old.  God speaking, His plan will be perfect.

Here are our new numbers.  #20 (boy 0-18 months), #27 (girl 0-18 months), #10 (siblings 0-4 years), #1 (siblings 0-10 years), #4 (boy 19-47 months), #9 (girl 19-47 months), and #2 (child 4+ years).

Stay tuned to see what GOD does!!!!!

Arrogant Christians

 Nate ~     Please bear with the way I write. I write like I think - and that is often confusing.

By the year 2008, I had made two different professions of faith in Christ, neither of which were genuine decisions based on faith in Christ. I could add to that, but it is not the focus of this blog post. It was not until 2008 that I realized that I didn’t know what I believed. I didn’t know how to know. I believed there was a God, but I didn’t think I (or anyone else) could prove who that God was. To attempt to shorten this, I went through a time where I met with my pastor to seek counsel and I talked with my wife. They both encouraged me to keep asking questions and looking for answers. They gave me their thoughts and support, but ultimately, nothing they said convinced me. Which is good because now the answers are mine and no one else’s. I was ready to leave the church and my wife in 2008 because I was so frustrated with my doubts and the hypocrisy that I saw in churches. I now look back and see that I hated my own hypocrisy and so I assumed others were being hypocrites too.

One thing I understood was that Christianity hinged on the Bible, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Either it was true (and Christianity was true) or it was not and none of it was true. I knew the facts. I knew the data. I spent months consciously wrestling with all of these details and my own doubts. I then came to a conclusion in August of 2008. I prayed and I told God I was going to trust Him and we would see how things turned out. It turns out, that’s all it takes - a faith in Jesus Christ. That faith has changed my life and who I am. It has given me freedom to be more than I would be on my own, as I have the Holy Spirit helping me in life and a Father I can pray to at any time for help.

 One of my problems during this time was understanding why Christians felt so sure they were right. I mean, what arrogance to assume that their religion was correct and everyone else’s was wrong. Who were they to make that determining factor? The irony is that in hindsight I can see that everyone does this. The Christian, Muslim, Mormon, Buddhist, even the atheist and agnostic assume that they are correct and everyone else is not. In fact, the person who assumes all religions are true is just as arrogant in assuming something that most of the religions of the world contradict. Today I was thinking, is it really arrogance? For example: If you lived in a city that had 100 wells and everyone drank from the wells every day. However, one day you discovered that 99 of the wells were poisoned but it was such a subtle poison that those drinking didn’t know they were being poisoned. If you discovered (or were told) which of the wells was the only clean, non-poisoned well, would it be arrogance for you to tell people or just your responsibility?

 In truth, the true arrogance that we show is that we know the truth and we do not share it. Is it arrogance to tell everyone that their well is poisoned but you know which one isn’t, or is it a greater arrogance to simply not tell them at all? Except, it is not their body that is dying, it is their soul. The Bible is clear that once the power of the Holy Spirit came upon believers (which it has) they were to be witnesses of Christ. They were to preach to the entire creation what Jesus Christ had done. That is, that Christ, being God himself, was willing to be humbled. He became a child, lived a perfect life so that he could die and that innocent death would cover the sin of the world. This satisfies a just judge who required payment to account for our sin. This satisfaction of justice allows Him to give us mercy where we do not deserve it and to see us as he sees his Son: without sin. That is our gospel message. That is the well with pure water. That is the one well that won’t leave a person poisoned and dying.

 Are we hearers of the gospel message only, or do we do something about it as well?

Prayer for Wisdom

Pam ~ Would you please pray for us?  That God would grant to us HIS wisdom.  That we wouldn't let what WE want get in the way of what HE wants for us.

James 1:5 says......

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God,

who gives generously to all without reproach,

and it will be given him.

Eleven Months DTE

We are holding steady at number

on the "Siblings 0-4" list, and at number

on the "Siblings 0-10" list

At least we aren't going backwards :-).

A Different Perspective

~ Nate     This is long, but read it anyway! :o) I'll add my thoughts at the end.

Imagine for a moment...
     You have met the person you've dreamed about all your life. He has every quality that you desire in a spouse. You plan for the wedding, enjoying every free moment with your fiancee. You love his touch, his smell, the way he looks into your eyes. For the first time in your life, you understand what is meant by "soul mate," for this person understands you in a way that no one else does. Your heart beats in rhythm with his. Your emotions are intimately tied to his every joy, his every sorrow.
     The wedding comes. It is a happy celebration, but the best part is that you are finally the wife of this wonderful man. You fall asleep that night, exhausted from the day's events, but relxed and joyful in the knowledge that you are next to the person who loves you more than anyone in the world...the person who will be with you for the rest of your life.
     The next morning you wake up, nestled in your partner's arms. You open your eyes and immediately look for his face. But it's not him! You are in the arms of another man. You recoil in horror. Who is this man? Where is your beloved?
     You ask questions of the new man, but it quickly becomes apparent that he doesn't understand you. You search every room in the house, calling and calling for your husband. The new guy follows you around, trying to hug you, pat you on the back...even trying to stroke your arm, acting like everything is okay. But you know that nothing is okay. Your beloved is fone. Where is he? Will he return? When? What has happened to him?
     Weeks pass. You cry and cry over the loss of your beloved. Sometimes you ache silently, in shock over what has happened. The new guy tries to comfort you. You appreciate his attempts, but he doesn't speak your language-either verbally or emotionally. He doesn't seem to realize the terrible thing that has happened...that your sweetheart is gone.
     You find it difficult to sleep. The new guy tries to comfort you at bedtime with soft words and gentle touches, but you avoid him, preferring to sleep alone, away from him and any intimate words or contact. Months later, you still ache for your beloved, but gradually you are learning to trust this new guy. He's finally learned that you like your coffee black, not doctored up with cream and sugar. Although you still don't understand his bedtime songs, you like the lilt of his voice and take some comfort in it.
     More time passes. One morning, you wake up to find a full suitcase sitting next to the front door. You try to ask him about it, but he just takes you by the hand and leads you to the car. You drive and drive and drive. Nothing is familiar. Where are you? Where is he taking you? You pull up to a large building. He leads you to an elevator and upt o a room filled with people. Many are crying. Some are ecstatic with joy. You are confused. And worried.
     The man leads you over to the corner. Another man opens his arms and sweeps you up in an embrace. He rubs your back and kisses your cheeks, obviously thrilled to see you. You are anything but thrilled to see him. Who in the world is he? Where is your beloved? You reach for the man who brought you, but he just smiles (although he seems to be tearing up, which concerns you), pats you on the back, and puts your hand in the hands of the new guy. The new guy picks up your suitcase and leads you to the door. The familiar facestarts openly crying, waving and waving as the elevator doors close on you and the new guy.
     The new guy drives you to an airport and you follow him, not knowing what else to do. Sometimes you cry, but then the new guys tries to make you smile, so you grin back, wanting to "get along." You board a plane. The flight is long. You sleep a lot, wanting to mentally escape from the situation.
     Hours later, the plane touches down. The new guy is very excited and leads you into the airport where dozens of people are there to greet you. Light bulbs flash as your photo is taken again and again. The new guy takes you to another guy who bugs you. Who is this one? You smile at him. Then you are taken to another man who pats your back and kisses your cheek.Then yet another fellow gives you a big hug and messes your hair. Finally, someone (which guy is this?) pulls you into his arms with the biggest hug you've ever had. He kisses you all over your cheeks and croons to you in some language you've never heard before.
     He leads you to a car and drives you to another location. Everything here looks different. The climate is not what you're used to. The smells are strange. Nothing tastes familiar, except for black coffee. You wonder if someone told him that you like your coffee black. You find it nearly impossible to sleep. Sometimes you lie in be for hours, staring into the blackness, furious with your husband for leaving you, yet aching from the loss. The new guy checks on you. He seems concerned and tries to comfort you with soft words and a mug of warm milk. You turn away, pretending to go to sleep.
     People come to the house. You can feel the anxiety start to bubble over as you look into the faces of all the new people. You tightly grasp the new guy's hand. He pulls you closer. People smile and nudge one another, marveling at how quickly you've fallen in love. Strangers reach for you, wanting to e a part of the happiness. Each time a man hugs you, you wonder if he will be the one to take you away. Just in case, you keep your suitcase packed and ready. Although the man at this house is nice and you're hanging on for dear life, you've learned from experience that men come and go, so you just wait in expectation for hte next one to come along.
     Each morning, the new guy hands you a cup of coffee and looks at you expectantly. A couple of times the pain and anger for your husband is so great that you lash out, sending hot coffee across the room, causing the new guy to yelp in pain. He just looks at you, bewildered. But most of the time you calmly take hte cup. You give him a smile. And wait. And wait. And wait.
      How would each of us handle all these changes? Or the lack of control in our lives?
      How would this impact us for the rest of our lives?
(Written by Cynthia Hockman-Chupp, Cynthia is an adoptive parent like many of us. She was a longtime school teacher for a variety of grades who has a website on dealing with attachment issues: www.a4everfamily.org. Analogy courtesy of Dr. Kali Miller.)

We know that many of you are family and friends of ours and your experience with adoption is diverse and various. Some of you have adopted, some are waiting to adopt, some didn't know anything about adoption before we, or another loved one, began their journey. Whether the ideas above are new for you (like they were for me) or this is old hat, the idea is something that we can all stand to be reminded of. For me, this was a shocking way for me to read it, to bring the emotional pain and rejection to my level and it really helped me understand more of what we've read about with attachment problems that arise with adopted children. 
If any of you reading this are adoptive parents and have any comment to make or word of advise that goes with this, feel free to share it. Whether it would be helpful for Pam and I as we anticipate meeting our children in God's time, or whether it could help those reading get a better understanding of how attachment problems can manifest themselves, I invite you to chime in.
Thank you all for your love and support. While God has carried (and will continue to carry) us through this journey, please know that in many ways God has allowed you to be the tools He has used to help us through this journey. We love you and appreciate your love for us and your excitement to meet our children! :o)

Ten Months DTE

(This post should have been done yesterday; I'm a little behind.)

We have moved backwards a couple places this month.  We are now number..........

 ...........in the "Siblings 0-4 years" category on our unofficial Yahoo list. 

However, we just extended our age request to siblings 0-5 years so we are also on a new list :-).  We are number.............

............on the "Siblings 0-10 years" unofficial list.  This sounds better than it probably is.  Because this list extends to 10 years, we are LOW in that age bracket.  But at least we are on it :-).

Nine Months DTE

We have moved up the unofficial waiting list (in the "siblings 0-4 years" category) to number............

 That means we have moved up THREE places this month!!!  Each day brings us closer to the day we can happily announce that we have received our referral!!!!

(btw.  When we DO receive our referral, we will not be able to give specifics here on our blog.  We will not be able to post pictures or their names until we pass court [which will prayerfully happen within a couple months of receiving our referral].  If you live close to us, you will just have to pay us a visit to hear those details and see those photos :-)

A "Wait" Answer

Pam ~ Have you ever had one of those moments where God reminds you of something so strongly that you just want to stop everything and cry?  I had one of those moments today while I was teaching our Bible lesson at school.

I have a roomful of 23 four/five year old children.  Our daily Bible lesson consists of singing lots of Bible songs, memorizing/reviewing our Bible verses, a doctrinal drill exercise and a Bible story.  Today I continued telling the story of Abram/Abraham.

A couple of days ago, we learned the story of God calling Abram to leave his home and travel to a place that God would show him.  Abram uprooted himself and his family and left, trusting that God would take care of him.  Our story continued to tell how Abram let his nephew Lot choose the best piece of ground for him and his family without Abram getting mad and telling Lot that it was "not fair" for him to have the best.  (I teach four/five year olds.  The lessons are kept fairly simple!! :-)  Abram trusted that God would take care of him.

Our lesson today focused the promise that God had given to Abram that He would make of Abram a great nation.  Obviously for Abram's descendents to become a great nation, Abram needed to have a son.  But he and Sarai didn't have ANY children yet.  So how was God going to accomplish this "making a great nation" thing???

Many (if not most) of you reading this blog already know the rest of this story.  God continued to tell Abraham (God had changed his name from Abram to Abraham) many times throughout the years that he was going to be the father of many nations.  But Abraham and Sarah grew too old to have children.  Had God forgotten His promise to Abraham?  Had God lied?  (I ask my students this question with the most HORRIFIED look on my face!!!  They know how I feel about lying!!!!)

Of course not!!!!!  God would NEVER tell a lie.  He just had a wonderful plan in mind!!!

Here is the part of the story that got to me today.

God ALWAYS answers our prayers!!!  He often answers our prayers with a "Yes".  We like these answers :-).  We have asked God for something and He gives it to us.

Sometimes God answers our prayers with a "No".  These are not the fun answers to get, but God knows what is best for us.  He knows that sometimes what we ask for is not what HE wants for us, and HE always wants the best.  Make sense???

The third way that God answers our prayers is with a "Wait" answer.  I think that this answer is probably the hardest one for me to accept.  At least if the answer is "No" I can process and deal with that.  It's done and over, time to forget about it.  But when God tells me to "Wait", I have to do just that............wait.

I told my students today that God made Abraham and Sarah wait to have their son Isaac because that is what was the PERFECT plan for them.  God showed everyone how powerful HE is when he gave them Isaac.  If they had had children before, no one would have seen God's power!!!!

I told them that God makes us wait sometimes because He wants to give us what is PERFECT for us.  If He gave us everything we wanted, we wouldn't learn how GREAT and POWERFUL He is.

I had to stop for a minute and breathe so that I wouldn't break down in tears right then.

Who am I to question why God is having us wait to meet our children?  MY plan would be to already have them at home with me.  GOD'S plan is different.  I want to have HIS plan accomplished in my life.

Stagnate

1) to cease to run or flow, as water, air, etc.
2) to be or become stale or foul from standing, as a pool of water
3) to stop developing, growing, progressing, or advancing
4) to be or become sluggish and dull

Pam ~ How do I get past this block?  I want to keep everyone updated on how our adoption is progressing, what we are doing, the crazy dreams I have been having...................and on it goes.

But I don't.  I plan to.  I think about it.  I get an idea to share.  I say I'm going to.

But then life happens.  I work a long day.  Physical therapy wears me out.  I have to get the dishes done, laundry washed, Facebook checked {grin}.

Honestly???

Maybe I'm just feeling a little down about not yet having our referral.  I don't even expect the call right now.  Things are moving slowly in Ethiopia.  Referrals from our agency are slow.  (Although we have had a couple in the past week!!!!)  I don't really have anything to update you readers on.  Maybe you're tired of hearing from me.  Maybe my updates aren't even that interesting to you.

Nathan and I are watching episodes of Columbo during our evenings together at home.  Alone.  By ourselves Which we are enjoying.  Honestly.  But it reminds me that there are no kids running around the house screaming for our attention.  I know that one day I will probably look back to these quiet evenings at home and miss them (at times).  But right now they just hurt.

Eight Months DTE

Eight months on the waiting list as of today.  If I were pregnant, we would be KNOWING that we would be meeting our new little family members SOON.  But, I'm not physically pregnant, so there is less excitment as we enter this next month of waiting and more "tired of waiting" feelings.

But God is good, and we are continually reminding ourselves that His timing is perfect.

We did move up a spot on the unofficial waiting list during this past month, but we also moved back down a spot last week (a family above us changed their request to include the possibility of siblings) so we are still at number

Please continue to keep us in your prayers!!!!!

Wait

 Wait

by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried.

Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,

And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait."

"Wait? You say, wait!" my indignant reply.

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!

Is your hand shortened?  Or have you not heard?

By Faith, I have asked, and am claiming your Word.

My future and all to which I can relate

hangs in the balance, and YOU tell me to WAIT?

I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,

or even a 'no' to which I can resign.

And Lord, You promised that if we believe

we need but to ask, and we shall receive.

And Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:

I'm weary of asking!  I need a reply!

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate

As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut and grumbled to God,

"So, I'm waiting....for what?"  He seemed, then, to kneel,

and His eyes wept with mine,

And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.

I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.

All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.

You would have what you want - but you wouldn't know Me.

You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint;

You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;

You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;

You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there;

You'd not learn the joy of resting in Me

When darkness and silence were all you could see.

You'd never experience that fullness of love

As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;

You'd know that I give and I save....(for a start),

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,

The faith that I give when you walk without sight,

The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked

Of an infinite God, who makes what you have LAST.

You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,

what it means that "My grace is sufficient for Thee."

Yes, your dreams of your loved one overnight would come true,

But, Oh, the Loss!  If I lost what I'm doing in you!

So, be silent, My Child, and in time you will see

that the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.

And though oft' may My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still, "WAIT."

Travel Expenses Trip #1 Thermometer

Pam ~ We have just passed the 50% mark on our thermometer marking our savings for the travel expenses for our first trip to Ethiopia!!!!  Praise the Lord for His goodness and provision!!!!

Handmade Birthday Cards

You may remember way back last September (almost a year ago now) we started a fundraiser selling handmade cards.  In the last year, we have sold a few packets of cards, but not very many.  So we are revamping this fundraiser and are going to try again.

Here are the Birthday Cards we have for sale.  We are asking for $2.50 per card, OR you may purchase 5 cards for $10 ($2 per card).  Just leave a comment or e-mail me (hearts1982@gmail.com) with the number(s) of the card(s) you would like.  If you are local to the Des Moines area, we can arrange drop-off / pick-up of the cards/payment.  If you would like to have the cards mailed to you, we are asking for an extra $1 to help with shipping costs and you may pay via a mailed check OR using our PayPal button located on the right sidebar.  If you choose to pay via PayPal, please be sure to include a note that it is for our handmade card fundraiser (and e-mail me the numbers of the cards you would like to purchase).

In addition to numbering each birthday card, I have also included how many of each card we have available.  #15 is available in green, yellow, pink & orange.  #16 is available in blue, yellow, orange, green & pink.  #21 is available in pink, blue & yellow.

Sold Out!!                                    #2 (1x)

#3 (3x)                                       #4 (1x)

#5 (1x)                                      #6 (4x)

#7 (1x)                                    #8 (1x)

Sold Out!!                                #10 (2x)

Sold Out!!                              Sold Out!!

Sold Out!!                         Sold Out!!

#15 (7x)                                  #16 (11x)

#17 (5x)                                         #18 (1x)

#19 (8x)                                            #20 (2x)

#21 (11x)

Our Busy Lives

Pam ~ Yes, we're still here.  We're still waiting for a referral phone call.  We're still living our lives one day at a time.  We're still thankful for God's blessings.

I thought that I would update you readers on what we have been doing these past few weeks :-).

Surgery Update ~ I got to take my brace off on July 12th, just shy of six weeks after my hip surgery.  Two weeks later I started physical therapy.  My PT is having me come 3 times a week until school starts and then we will drop down to 2 times a week.  My poor leg is WEAK!!!!  I am doing strengthening exercises when I go for my appointments and some stretches at home.  Things are going well, and will hopefully continue to improve since I have 10 more weeks of PT!!!!  I am walking normal again (for the most part) but still have lots of moments of stiffness and even pain when I move in certain ways.  Slowly and surely things are getting better.

Walking to the 4th of July Parade w/my nephews.  Isn't my brace fashionable?!?!

Summer Enrichment ~ I went back to working part-time on July 7th.  During past 3 summers, I have worked part-time at my school's Summer Enrichment Program (SEP).  Think of it as a summer day camp.  We have different themes each week and do activities that relate to the week's theme.  This week is "Poppin' Around with Popcorn" and we made a popcorn volcano yesterday :-).  My fellow teacher (and fellow SEP worker) just had her baby last week!!!!  The kids were sooooooo excited to see the tiny picture on my phone of her new little girl!!!!

Garage Sale ~ We did have our fundraising garage sale the weekend of July 22 & 23.  It went VERY well!!!!!  We raised just under $600 to put toward our adoption travel expenses!!!!!  (Which reminds me.  I still haven't gone to the bank to make that deposit.  Whoops!!!)  But when we looked around our garage, we still saw LOTS of good things that hadn't sold.  So we decided to have another sale the next weekend :-).  We both had to work on Friday, so that wasn't an option, but we kept all the tables set up in our garage and put them all back out again on Saturday morning.  To be honest, my mindset wasn't on how much money we would make that day.  I just wanted to get rid of more stuff and not have to box it all up and haul away.  So when we didn't have ANYONE stop by for the first hour and almost two hours, I was wondering if it had been worth it.  When the first people DID finally start arriving, we told them that the marked prices were just a suggestion.  They could "barter" with us on just about anything.  BUT.....................God decided to teach me a lesson.  We sold basically NOTHING!!!!!!  At the end of the morning, I think maybe ten to fifteen things were gone.  But we had over $100 given to our adoption!!!!!  People would say, "I don't see anything I really need, but here is $5.  God bless you!!!"  We got to have several conversations with people about our adoption, or about THEIR adoption journey.  What a blessing!!!!!  Even though we had a lot of things to take out of our garage (which we took to "Hope Ministries" in Des Moines) we received many GREAT blessings from the day!!!!

Friends ~ Our friends, Garth & Carmen, along with their two little boys, Jeremiah & Simon, drove from NE to visit us after our sale on Saturday, July 23rd.  They have been home from Ethiopia with their boys for 3 months now, and it was sooooooooo much fun to get to finally meet the boys!!!!  The boys warmed up to us as the day progressed and we had a GREAT time with all of them!!!!  I can't wait until we have our own little brown-eyed, brown-skinned little ones running around our house!!!!

I LOVE the way Simon's hand is up like he's saying "NO more pictures, PLEASE!!!"

Habitat for Humanity ~ Nathan volunteered at Habitat for Humanity last Friday.  He had a GREAT time!!!!  But I wasn't sure I wanted to let him in the house once I saw him.  He was FILTHY!!!!

 Family ~ We had a GREAT time with my sister and her family over the July 4th weekend.  We learned that my nephews are petrified of fireworks, but LOVE to get lolipops at parades :-).

I love to make Ben laugh!!!!

My sister & her family.  Doug, Debbi, Benjamin & Joseph

We also got to go out to TCBY's for ice cream on August 2nd, to celebrate their 3rd Bday!!!!  I can't get enough of those boys!!!!  I love them to pieces!!!!!

So...................we're still here.  We're still praying for patience.  We're still praying for our children.  We're still living our lives as best we can; even though our hearts are far away in Ethiopia.

Seven Months DTE

Today marks seven months of being on the wait list.  Each month brings us closer to REFERRAL DAY!!!!!  We are now number

on the unofficial waiting list for siblings 0-4 years old.  Please keep praying that God will give us patience as we wait.

Fundraising Updates

Pam ~ We haven't been doing too many "active" fundraisers in recent weeks, so I haven't mentioned our adoption finances on here in quite a while.  I think that the waiting time has started to wear on me.  We have been DTE for almost 7 months and really don't know when we will be getting that long-awaited referral phone call.  It "could" happen this week, or we could be waiting for several more months.  We had focused hard on saving the money we needed to be able to submit our dossier (which we did in December), and then we focused hard on saving the money we would need to be able to accept a referral (which we were able to save last April).  Since then, we have be working to save the money that will be used for our first trip travel expenses.  In the 3 months we have had this as our financial goal, God has allowed us to save just about $2,400 out of the estimated $6,500 we will need for our first trip.  We haven't been "focusing" on fundraising over these past 3 months, so the savings has been slow, but steady.  It is hard for us to feel an urgency when we don't know when we will be making this first trip.  However, we want to be ready.  We want to have that money saved and ready to purchase plane tickets ASAP when we receive that wonderful referral for our long-awaited children.

We are back in the "fundraising" business :-).

This weekend we are having another garage sale.  Our sale last October went so well, it seemed like a good idea to have another one.  Throughout the past two weeks we have been collecting items from friends and family to sell from our garage.  As of today, our garage is STUFFED and we still have a few more items coming!!!!  Praise the Lord!!!!

We will be up late tonight pricing items, and then up early tomorrow morning to pull everything out of the garage and set it all up.  This is quite a feat right now, because I am still not supposed to lift anything over 1-2 pounds (this has been "fudged" on several times this past week) so Nathan is having to do a lot of extra work.  We have been very blessed to have had several college girls coming over evenings this week to help us out.  (Thanks Tonya, Erica and Hannah!!!!)

Please pray for GOOD WEATHER!!!!  The forecast is calling for rain (which would not be fun!!!), but I am praying that God will allow the rain to skip us (just between the hours of 7 a.m.--6:30 p.m.)!!!  Will you please join us in praying for God's blessing on our sale??????

We will be putting out several of our hand-made cards that we have been attempting to sell :-).  We have packages of 4 cards that we are asking $10 for the group.  If you are interested in our beautiful cards, please leave a message or e-mail me (hearts1982@gmail.com)!!!!  We have sets of Birthday cards as well as All Occasion cards.

And in case you have forgotten, we are still collecting soda cans/bottles and getting the deposit money for them.  My mom just let me know that they are saving cans out in Colorado for us and will be bringing them to us when they come to visit in August :-).  You can't get a deposit back in CO so they are hauling them to IA just for the $.05 a can/bottle :-).  I love my parents!!!!!

Prayer Requests:
     ~ NO RAIN on Friday and Saturday (at least not during the hours of our sale)
     ~ That we will rest in knowing that God is in control of this garage sale.
     ~ Calmness.  I (Pam) get stressed when things are not "normal" and out of my control (like the weather).
     ~ Patience.  For Nathan as he has to deal with a "stressed-out" wife :-)
     ~ Patience.  In the wait.  To see our children's faces.  To bring them home.