Adoption Expenses Update

Our matching grant from Lifesong for Orphans has been completed!!!!!!! Click HERE to read the blog post Nathan wrote on that blessing!!!!!!

After the matching grant, we still have an estimated $2,000 remaining to be able to complete Layla's adoption. WE ARE SO CLOSE!!!!! God has been so good in blessing us and bringing friends and family alongside us in Layla's adoption journey!!!! Thank you!!!!!!

Our account with Lifesong will remain open for regular (non-matching) donations until Layla's adoption is finalized. So if you have been and are still wanting to give a donation that will be tax-deductible for 2014, you need to do that today or tomorrow!!!! Click HERE for all the information on how to donate to our family's account.

We want to thank everyone for the support and encouragement and prayers that have come our way through this crazy adoption journey!!!!!!

Matching Grant from Lifesong

We are excited to announce that our family has been chosen to receive a matching grant of up to $2,000 from Lifesong for Orphans (through Lutheran Family Services)!!!!!!

Here are the details.

 - Lifesong will match ANY DONATION up to $2,000 between now and January 14, 2015!!! So, for example, if a person were to donate $25 (or any other amount) to our adoption fund, Lifesong will match it to give us a total of $50!!!

 - You can MAIL your check to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744. Checks should be made payable to "Lifesong for Orphans." In the memo, write "Maxwell #4931" to assure it goes into our family account. Lifesong has been blessed with a partner that underwrites all U.S. administrative and fundraising costs. That means 100% of your donation will go directly towards our adoption!!!!!

 - You can PAY ONLINE by going to www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate. Select "give to an Adoptive Family." Complete the online form and fill in "Family Account Number" (4931) and "Family Name" (Maxwell) fields. NOTE: PayPal charges an administrative fee (2.9% + $.30 USD per transaction. Your donation will be decreased by the amount of this fee.

 -  (NOTE: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor's suggested use. Individual donations $50 or more and yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Receipts for donations under $50 will gladly be sent upon request. Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization.)

Would you please consider helping us continue to raise/save the remaining $6,300 we need to complete Layla's adoption? (Her adoption will be finalized sometime in February.)

Puzzle
We have not yet completed Layla's puzzle!!!! We have had 178 pieces sponsored with leaves us with 322 more pieces. If we had just 200 of those pieces sponsored, we would completely FILL our matching grant and be that much closer to having Layla's adoption paid for!!!! If you would like to donate via Lifesong to have your donation matched and would like your donation to be put toward sponsoring a puzzle piece, please just send me an email or FB message to let me know. For every $10 we will put your name on the back of a puzzle piece!!!!!

Will you have a part in helping us make Layla Autumn Rose a legal part of our family?!?!

Three Things

1) You should vote in our poll (located to the right of your screen).  How much money have we raised via soda cans/bottles?  GO VOTE!!!

2) We have FINISHED our Lifesong matching grant!!!!!  Just over $3,000 has been donated towards our adoption expenses and Lifesong for Orphans has MATCHED that amount with another $3,000 to give us a total of $6,000!!!  Thank you to everyone who helped us reach this goal!!  The deadline to raise the money was tomorrow, so we just made it!!!  Praise the Lord!!!

3) Check out our updated thermometer!!!  We already have $1,167 (18%) of our 1st trip travel expenses saved!!!!  We have a GREAT God!!!

Lifesong Grant Update

(Click HERE for our original post giving the details of this matching grant we received from Lifesong.)

Pam ~ We are sooooooooooooooooooooo very close to raising the full amount for our matching grant.  We are just about $600 away from meeting the $3,000 goal!!!!!!  We were given a deadline of raising the $3,000 by April 15 ~ and that's just ELEVEN days away!!!!

We are humbly asking for YOUR help in raising this additional $600 (which will be MATCHED ~ totaling $1200 more to put toward our adoption expenses!!!!).

If..................
     100 people donate $6
     50 people donate $12
     25 people donate $24
     20 people donate $30
     15 people donate $40
     10 people donate $60
     6 people donate $100

........we will reach our goal!!!!!!!!!!  Will you PLEASE help us?????

Here is how you can donate.
*Make checks payable to ~ Lifesong for Orphans
*Memo Line ~ preference Maxwell/#1731 adoption
*Mail to ~ Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St., Gridley, IL 61744
OR
*Pay online via PayPal ~ click HERE (note: PayPal does take a percentage from the donation amount)
*Make a note ~ preference Maxwell/#1731 adoption

All donations will go 100% towards our adoption expenses and are tax deductible!!!

(Many of you have already helped us by donating financially towards our adoption and/or supporting us in prayer.  We want to thank all of you for the blessings you have been and continue to be to us!!!!!!)

Fund-Raising Friday + An Adoption Update

Look at our thermometer!!!  Just LOOK at it!!!  We are now just $821 away from reaching our referral total!!!  (Insert SCREAMING here!!!!!!)  Our prayer has continued to be that God would allow us to have the full referral amount completely saved before getting our referral phone call and WE ARE ALMOST THERE!!!!  Can you guess what our prayer is going to be once that thermometer is FULL?!?!?

We still have $602 left on our matching grant from Lifesong for Orphans and we are praying that we might have that amount raised before our deadline of April 15th. 

*Make checks payable to ~ Lifesong for Orphans
*Memo Line ~ preference Maxwell/#1731 adoption
*Mail to ~ Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St., Gridley, IL 61744
OR
*Pay online via PayPal ~ click HERE
*Make a note ~ preference Maxwell/#1731 adoption

We are also continuing to raise money via our "miscellaneous" fundraisers ~ soda cans, "Just Love Coffee" store, hand-made cards, and Faith and Grace quilts.  Just click on any of the names for more information on how YOU can help.

AND..............................................

I have an update from our agency (AWAA) on the adoption situation in Ethiopia.  You might remember that I told you HERE that Ethiopian adoptions were going to be reduced by about 90%.  We were VERY disappointed and yes, even a little discouraged by this news.  But we have been fervent in our prayers that God would work this situation out for His honor and glory and that His will would be done, not only in OUR adoption journey, but in the lives of the estimated 4.8 million orphans in Ethiopia.  You DID read that number correctly.  In 2005, the UNICEF estimated that there were 4.8 MILLION orphans in Ethiopia.  Six years later, that number is probably much higher.

On to the good news :-).  Here is the e-mail we received this past Wednesday from our family coordinator.

Dear Nate & Pam,

We are writing to update you on the current situation in Ethiopia.  While meetings between Ethiopian government officials continue, we have seen positive steps.  Within MOWA, there have been significant and positive personnel changes which have resulted in overall staff turnover and changes in the adoption unit.  This unit is now called the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affiars (MOWCYA).  We are hopeful and expectant that the new leadership will not only support processing an adequate number of favorable recommendation letters, but also implement policies that will best serve the children.  Due to the staffing changes, we anticipate much transition over the next few weeks.  However, we expect that once everyone is settled into their new positions, MOWCYA will work to process a higher number of recommendation letters than they currently are able to process.

We have continued to receive optimistic feedback and have seen that the Ethiopian government is very committed to adoption.  I hope this information is an encouragement to your family.  We will continue to update your family with any confirmed information we receive.


PLEASE continue to keep Ethiopia in your prayers.  God is working and we are excited by this positive news!!!

Fundraising Friday ~ Lifesong Grant Update

It's probably about time that I update you readers on the status of our matching grant that we received from Lifesong for Orphans.  On January 28, we found out that Lifesong for Orphans had approved us for a matching grant of $3,000!!!!  What a blessing!!!

The matching grant works like this.  Friends and family send monetary donations for our adoption to Lifesong and Lifesong MATCHES the donation, dollar for dollar, up to $3,000.  These donations are tax-deductible for the donors and help us raise the money we need to bring our children home.

We have been soooooooooooooooo very blessed over the past one and a half months!!!  The first blessing came in that our Soup Supper & Silent Auction was scheduled for just a few weeks after we had been approved for this grant and we were able to have all the money raised from that event doubled!!!!

The second blessing has been in the number of family and friends since then who have additionally sent in money on our account to be matched by Lifesong!!!!!  Thank You!!!!!!!!!!

We have seen $2,298.07 come in of the $3,000!!!!!!  That just leaves us with $701.93 left of the grant to raise.  We have until April 15th to raise this additional money and we are confident that God will work in His time and way!!!!

You may have also noticed that we have just $1,252 left to fill our Referral Thermometer!!!!!  So..................  If we are able to bring in that $701.93 by April 15th (and it will be doubled to $1,403.86) we will have FILLED our thermometer + MORE!!!!!!!!!!

If you would like to help us finish raising the rest of our matching grant, you may.........

*Make checks payable to ~ Lifesong for Orphans
*Memo Line ~ preference Maxwell/#1731 adoption
*Mail to ~ Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St., Gridley, IL 61744
OR
*Pay online via PayPal ~ click HERE
*Make a note ~ preference Maxwell/#1731 adoption

All donations will go 100% towards our adoption expenses and are tax deductible!!!

Special Note ~ You may be wondering, based on my post from this past Wednesday, what our plans are based on the recent goings-on in Ethiopia adoptions.  Well.........we are going to continue praying and moving forward.  This news does not change our desire to adopt from Ethiopia, nor does it change the direction that we have felt God leading us.  We will continue to work hard to save the money we need, and we are trusting that God will take care of all the little details.  Maybe God will allow us to have ALL the money saved before we move forward.  The wait may be longer and harder than we had planned, but we are going to continue planning, preparing, and learning through this possibly extended journey.  Thank you for continuing to pray for us and the country of Ethiopia!!!!

Soup Supper & Silent Auction TOTAL!!!!!

Pam ~ This is going to be a short post because we are leaving for church in a few minutes, but this is the first chance I've had to update you all about our Soup Supper & Silent Auction we had last night. 

The bad news.  I forgot to take any PICTURES!!!!  I am soooooooooooooooo upset with myself that I forgot!!!!  I had my camera there and everything, but I got so distracted with visiting everyone and enjoying the evening that I completely forgot about my camera :-(.  So I don't have any pictures to share with you :-(

The good news.  God allowed us to raise..........

$1145.85

Isn't our God GREAT?!?!?!?

AND this amount will be doubled because of our matching grant from Lifesong!!!!!

Life is BUSY

Pam ~ Did you notice that I haven't been posting very much lately????  Things have been a little busy and blogging is one thing that I haven't been finding the time for.  Oh well.  I'm back now.  At least for today :-).

God is continually amazing us with His provision for our adoption.  We received a check in the mail this week from an extended family member on Nathan's mom's side.  I have met them once or maybe twice, but really don't know them.  They had heard about our adoption journey and wanted to send us something to help.  We just stood in our kitchen and said, "God, You are amazing.  Thank you!!!!"

We also had one family make a donation to our adoption through Lifesong, and Lifesong matched their donation!!!  I am soooooooooo excited to update our thermometer tomorrow!!!  It will make a good size leap this week!!!

(Just a reminder about Lifesong.  They will match ANY donation [up to $3,000] sent towards our adoption expenses.  Click HERE for more information.)

This last Saturday was filled with meeting our college kids (we are "leaders" of our church's college group) for lunch at Tasty Tacos, a home school supervising home visit in the afternoon (I supervise for three families), and a big fundraising banquet in the evening for the Christian school where I teach.  I was pretty much busy from the moment I got out of bed until we got home just before midnight.  Then it was up for Sunday School and church, an afternoon nap :-), and church nursery duty in the evening followed by a Super Bowl party with the college kids.  (Okay.  I'll be honest.  I didn't watch the game.  I played "Settlers of Catan" in a side room.)

I spent most of Monday morning in a spine specialist's office as he tried to figure out what is causing the leg pain I have been having since August.  I ended the apt. with x-rays being taken of my hip, and then headed to school to rescue relieve my associate teacher.  I left work early on Tuesday to go to the dentist for two small fillings (btw ~ "small fillings" does not =  less numbing) and spent the rest of the day trying not to talk very much.  Because the novocain always makes my stomach upset, my wonderful husband made me soup and RedBoxed the movie "Inception" for us to watch (good movie, btw).  I also found out on Tuesday that I have to have a "MRI with contrast" taken of my left hip next week.  I won't be allowed to drive for 24 hours following that (because of the ink they will be putting into my hip joint), so I will be taking TWO days off work.  I NEVER take two days off in a row!!!!  I"m not sure I'm going to be able to handle it!!!

This coming weekend is BUSY!!!!  Friday night, Nathan and I will be babysitting our nephew and 3 nieces all evening and overnight so their parents can get away for a night.  Then, we will rush home, get ready for the day, and hopefully be ready to fellowship with a fellow adoptive couple who are coming to our house for lunch and the afternoon.  Then Saturday evening is a "gingerbread house making competition" with our college kids.

I've rambled on long enough :-).  If you are still reading by now, maybe you'd better leave me a comment so I can see who my true bloggy friends are :-).

Oh yeah.  Last thing.  Between everything else going on, I'm working on final preparation for our soup supper & silent auction that is going to be on Saturday, February 19th.  It's going better than I had planned, and I'm looking forward to seeing how God works.  I think I will probably share some more information (again) on this fundraiser tomorrow for our "Fundraising Focus".

Finally.  I'm done.

Lifesong for Orphans GRANT!!!!!

We found out this past Friday that we have received a matching ADOPTION GRANT from Lifesong for Orphans!!!  We are praising the Lord for His provision!!!

Here is how this grant works.  Lifesong will match ANY DONATION up to $3,000 between now and April 15, 2011!!!  So, for example, if a person wants to donate $25 (or any other amount) to our adoption fund, all they have to do is mail a check made payable to "Lifesong for Orphans" with "preference Maxwell/#1731 adoption" written in the memo line and Lifesong will match it to give us a total of $50!!!  Or, you can donate online via Lifesong's PayPal account.  Simply make a note ~ "preference Maxwell/#1731" ~ to ensure that we receive your donation.

Summary ~
*Make checks payable to  ~ Lifesong for Orphans
*Memo Line ~ preference Maxwell/#1731 adoption
*Mail to ~ Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St., Gridley, IL 61744
OR
*Pay online via PayPal ~ click HERE
*Make a note ~ preference Maxwell/#1731 adoption

All donations will go 100% towards our adoption expenses and are tax deductible!!!!

Would you please consider helping us continue to raise/save the remaining estimated $23,000 we need to bring our children home!!!

Little Ephram

Ephrem from Lifesong for Orphans on Vimeo.

 “What first drew me to this little boy was his sweet round face.  Obviously, he has suffered a great deal from malnutrition.  When we visited the school he and the rest of the children were so focused on their meal.  It’s amazing to see how Lifesong was changing their lives.  After lunch, I found myself surrounded by children playing a name game.  He reached out and kissed my hand.  My heart melted... I think of him daily.” 

Jenny Anderson, Orphan Advocate

Sometimes it can be hard to imagine the hardships that go on around the world.  We sit in our comfortable homes, with pantries full of necessities, and it seems strange that most of the world doesn’t have a pantry, let alone food to fill it.  But for millions of children in Africa this is their reality.  Hunger is a part of their daily lives.  Then add the fact that many of these children are also orphaned, either by death or abandonment… it’s almost more than we can bear.  It’s hard to go there mentally and we protect our hearts by pretending it doesn’t exist.  But it does.  Children are suffering.

Little Ephrem is one of those children.  Born in Ethiopia, his father is now dead and his mother disappeared years ago.  He was taken into his grandmother’s care, but she has struggled to provide for him.  At 4 years old, Ephrem is extremely small for his age, and most likely suffers from a type of growth disorder, though the lack of specialized medical care keeps us from knowing for sure.  And since he has been malnourished most of his life, it is no wonder his health is affected.
Praise the Lord, Ephrem is now enrolled in Lifesong’s Adami Tulu Nursery School, where he is getting two meals a day and seems to be flourishing under the care of his teachers.  His sweet demeanor and precious smile easily capture your heart.

Bring joy and purpose this Christmas season to children like Ephrem around the world!

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