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!!!

Fundraising Focus

 Just Love Coffee

This is a super easy fundraiser we began last October.  We have a personalized "Just Love Coffee" webpage where people can go order some VERY yummy coffee and have it delivered directly to their front door.  We receive proceeds from EVERY SINGLE order and have a check mailed to us each month.

If you are a coffee drinker, would you please go check out our page and consider trying some of this coffee?  You may click on the link included in this e-mail, OR simply click on the "Just Love Coffee" photo and link on our sidebar.  There are MANY different options to chose from, so take a few minutes to look at everything.  Just make sure you start on OUR homepage (there is a picture of us) to make sure we receive our proceeds.

If you are interested in a little background as to how "Just Love Coffee" was started, keep reading :-)

Rob Webb knows coffee. When Rob was two years old, his father started Webb’s Coffee Service, which blossomed into a full-blown refreshment service supplying businesses in Nashville, TN and the surrounding areas, and is now run by Rob.

Rob Webb knows the adoption process. In the summer of 2008, Rob and his wife Emily were called to adopt from Ethiopia. After much prayer and discussion with their first two children they started their adoption journey in August 2008. During the flurry of paperwork and preparation, Rob & Emily read books not only on adoption in general, but specifically on Ethiopia. Learning that Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee caught Rob’s attention, and after reading about the living conditions and wages of the average coffee farmer, he was compelled to take action. What developed through his reading and his trip to Ethiopia to unite with his daughters was a realization that he could combine his expertise and longstanding desire to roast his own coffees with his desire to help others. Just Love Coffee Roasters was born! Roasting Fair Trade Specialty coffees, Just Love uses proceeds to help an Ethiopian orphanage and families adopting not just from Ethiopia, but from anywhere in the world.

Other Fundraisers ~ Homemade cards, African puzzle, Faith and Grace quilts, Soda cans, Christmas ornaments

Fundraising Focus

Faith and Grace Quilts

In October, I had a good friend from college contact me about doing a fundraiser for our adoption.  Karen likes to make quilts and she wants to make a quilt for each of our children that is put together via donations from family and friends.

Here is how it works.  For a minimum $10 donation, Karen will make a quilt block.  Each block will feature an appliqued star and no two blocks will be made of the same fabric.  On the back of the quilt, she will put your name so our children will know who helped bring them home!!!  

If you are interested in helping put together these quilts, just contact Karen over at her blog ~ 27 Penguin Place ~ and let her know how many quilt squares you would like to sponsor.  She has information on her blog as to how to send her the money.  She is collecting all the money from this fundraiser and will send us a check along with the quilts when they are finished.

I can't wait to see these quilts!!!  Will you please help her put these quilts together for our children?!?!?!

Other Fundraisers ~ Homemade cards, African puzzle, Just Love Coffee, Soda cans, Christmas ornaments

Fundraising Focus

African Puzzle

We began this fundraiser back on July 16th and it has been our biggest fundraiser so far!!!  We purchased a 500 piece puzzle and began asking people to sponsor puzzle pieces for $10 each.  As a person sponsors a piece (or more) we write their name on the back of a puzzle piece and add it to our puzzle.  When the puzzle is finished, we will glue it and frame it to hang in our children's bedroom.

To be honest, I never thought that we would actually have all 500 pieces sponsored.  That just seemed like a LOT of pieces, but I thought that it would be neat to see how many would be sponsored before our adoption journey was finished.  My God is bigger and better than my thoughts and plans.  Look at our puzzle today!!!!!

(Sorry about the picture quality!!!)

 We have had 439 puzzle pieces sponsored!!!  That means there are only 61 pieces left!!!  Praise the Lord!!!

Several of those pieces have the name of a person or family who simply gave us a donation towards our adoption expenses.  They did not specifically ask to sponsor a puzzle piece, but we have added their names as a reminder of the many people who have been praying for us and helping us throughout our journey.  We have also had a couple gifts that were semi-anonymous ~ we were told that the money was from God.  So when our children read through the names on the back of their puzzle and they see "God" written on many pieces, we will be able to tell them of the many ways God worked to help us bring them home!!!

If you are interested in helping us finish our puzzle, please send an e-mail to ~ hearts1982@gmail.com ~ or you may make a donation via our "Donate" button on our sidebar.  Simply leave a note letting us know that you would like to sponsor a puzzle piece.

Other Fundraisers ~ Homemade cards, Faith and Grace quilts, Just Love Coffee, Soda cans, Christmas ornaments

Amazing

Pam ~ If you are friends with me on FB, you might have seen a little excitement going on yesterday.  What an incredible day that I am still working to process.  We started the day just $303 short of the $7700 we need to submit our dossier.

Throughout the day yesterday, God laid it on people's hearts to share our story on their blog and on Facebook.  We received a total of 7 online donations and 1 in-person donation and brought in $366!!!!  We have MORE than what we need to mail our dossier!!!  Two of those donations were from people we don't even know; three were from fellow adoptive families, one from a childhood friend of mine, one from a parent at my school, and one from a couple in our church!!!

We have been praying that we would be able to submit our dossier by Christmas and God has answered that prayer!!!!  We are now continuing to pray that we will be able to mail it on Monday (snow is in the forcast), that it will make it safely to our agency (America World), and that all the paperwork will be in order and accepted!!!  Please pray along with us!!!!  What a WONDERFUL Christmas present it would be to be DTE (Dossier To Ethiopia) on December 24th ~ Christmas Eve!!!!!

We want to give a BIG Thank You to everyone who has been praying for us, shared our story, and/or donated to our adoption fund!!!  Our dossier thermometer is FULL!!!  Praise the Lord!!!

God is good...but it's still hard

Nate ~ It's funny. God provides for our needs. This is a true statement and there is no questioning it. However, our needs are not our wants. :o)

I drove my sister-in-law to the airport this morning. From the moment I started driving I knew something wasn't right. I got to the mechanic's and they opened an hour and a quarter later. After they looked at it they confirmed that the clutch was slipping. They then confirmed a $650 price tag. Now, do you wonder how God is good?

It's simple. Since June, we have had 3 fairly costly repairs to make on our cars. In all of that, each one has happened shortly after we regained our store of savings so that we can get these things fixed when they happen. So, the price tag is high, but we can get it fixed and I can go to my job on Monday.

It still hurts though. That's going to be $650 that we will need to replenish before the kids can come home. (Please note.  No money that is donated to our adoption ever goes to these things. We take care of this on our end with our pay checks...so your donations go completely for our kids). That's hard, because now my OT from the last couple weeks will need to go to the care repairs instead of the adoption.

Would you please pray for both Pam and I? God is aware of our hearts and minds. He knows if we need encouragement and how much (more that we ourselves know) and He'll continue to provide for our needs. God is amazing and now we get to see, again, how He will provide for us outside of our own power!!!

Fundraising Focus

Pumpkin Pie 

This is a BRAND NEW fundraiser for the holidays!!!  A parent of one of my students has volunteered to make pumpkin pies as a fundraiser for our adoption!!!  Martha is taking local orders and will have them done to be picked up or delivered by Christmas {or before if you want them early!!}.

She is asking for a minimum donation of $12 per pie, and they will be DELICIOUS!!!  If you live local to her {Indianola, IA} she will deliver your pie(s) to you; if you are local to the Des Moines area, Nathan and I can arrange a pick-up location with you.

If you are interested in ordering a delicious pumpkin pie, please e-mail Martha (mmkclrowe@gmail.com) or me (hearts1982@gmail.com) with your order and the date you would like your pie.

Thanks, Martha, for all your hard work!!!

BTW......There may be a limit to the number of pies she can make by Christmas, so get your order in TODAY!!!