New/LAST Goal ~ Trip #2

Pam ~ We have just one more financial goal to achieve on this crazy adoption journey we have been on.  It has been pretty amazing to see how God has provided for each of our financial "goals".  And now we are eager to see how He will provide again :-).

I want to again mention that we are estimating how much money we will need for each of these trips.  The cost will vary depending on what time of year we travel, if we are bringing home one or two children, how long we stay in Ethiopia, etc.  I have taken the estimates that our agency has given us and estimated on the high side in each area.  I would rather have a little money left over at the end to put toward buying donations for the orphanages in Ethiopia :-), than to not have the money we need to purchase our tickets.

Here is the estimated break-down of costs for Trip #2.

Airfare (2 adults) ~ varies ~ $4,000
In-Country Travel Package (2 adults) ~ varies ~ $2,000 estimate (as with our first trip, this amount will cover our housing, transportation, food, etc. for the time we are in Ethiopia)
Visas (2 adults) ~ $40
Airfare (2 children) ~ varies ~ $2,000
Visas/Embassy Fee (2 children) ~ $808

This brings the our new financial goal to a total of $8,848.

God has already provided over $30,000 towards our adoption via donations from friends/family, fundraisers, overtime pay, and a lot of scrimping and saving on our part :-), and we are confident in His ability to provide this last amount!!!!!!

We honestly never thought that we would still be waiting for our referral.  We officially started this journey via the "paper-chasing" part of the adoption 1 year, 10 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days ago.  That's a long time!!!  We have been on the official waiting list for 1 year, 4 months, and 4 days.  That's a long time to be waiting for a special phone call.

Thank you for all of your prayers and encouraging words!!!!  They are what is getting us through this waiting!!!!!

Trip #1 SAVED!!!!

Pam ~ After Nathan updated the budget tonight, I decided to see where our adoption savings was at because I was pretty sure that we were very close to having saved the amount we have estimated that we will need for our first trip, and, are you ready for this?????  We have $3 more than what we have estimated that we will need!!!!!!

Our Thermometer is FULL!!!!!!!!

We are praising the Lord for His faithfulness and provision!!!!!!!

Our next goal will be for our second trip to Ethiopia.  I want to "re-figure" the estimated amount (because it's been a year since I last figured the amounts) and then I will post our new and FINAL adoption financial goal!!!

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!!!!

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!!!

New Goal - Trip #1

Pam ~ As I so very calmly explained in my last post {insert sarcasm} we have met our referral goal of $9,785!!!!  I still am in shock that God provided the full referral amount in just over 3 months time!!!  Who are we to ever doubt His provision for His children?!?!?!

I have updated our thermometer with our new goal ~ Travel Expenses for Trip #1.  As a reminder, we will be traveling to Ethiopia TWICE before the adoption is finalized.  The first trip will be to meet our children and attend Court, and the second trip will be to attend Embassy and bring our children home {I can't wait for this trip!!!!!}.

This new goal amount has to be estimated because there are variables that can and probably will change.  Specifically, the cost of airfare varies almost monthly and since we don't know when we will be traveling, we have to estimate how much we will be needing.  Here is the breakdown of costs.

Airfare (2 adults) ~ varies ~ $4,000 estimate
In-Country Travel Package (2 adults) ~ varies ~ $2,500 estimate (this will include our housing, transportation, food, etc. for the time we are in Ethiopia)
Visas (2 adults) ~ $40

This brings the total of our new goal to $6,540.  After our referral goal amount of $9,785, this doesn't seem so daunting :-).  God is going to provide and we are excited to see how He will do that.

We are still in the waiting period of our adoption journey.  We have been officially waiting for 3 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days.  The uncertainty is hard.  Will we get a surprise phone call this next week with a referral for our two children (that surprise call has happened to other families that we personally know), or will we continue to wait for many more months?  Only God knows, and we want to be faithful in this time of waiting.  We will continue to work hard, fund raise where we can, and marvel in the greatness of our God.  Thank you for all of your prayers, and please keep them coming!!!!  We couldn't do this without YOUR prayer and support!!!!!

Referral Fees SAVED!!!

Pam ~ Check out our Referral Thermometer!!!!!!!!!!  It's FILLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!  It has been amazing to see how He has provided throughout the last three months.  We NEVER would have guessed that God would have provided the entire referral amount within this short amount of time!!!!!!!!  Never underestimate the power and provision of our GREAT GOD!!!!!!!

I'm going to just let the full thermometer stay there for a day or two!!!!!  Just to enjoy seeing it FULL!!!!!  Then I'll update it with a new one that will show the estimated amount we will need to have for our first trip.

I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Can you tell???????????????

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!!!!

43% of Referral Fees

Pam ~ I couldn't wait!!!  I updated our thermometer tonight, and we are now at 43% of the money we will need in order to accept a referral!!!  God is sooooooooo good!!!

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.

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!!!

Prayer Request

Pam ~ Take a look at our thermometer!!!  We are just under $800 in what we still need in order to submit our dossier!!!  We are still praying that we will be able to submit it before Christmas and we are SO CLOSE!!!

My friend, Megan, is having a fundraiser for us THIS MORNING at an open house that is being held in her area.  Would you please take a minute to pray for the success of this fundraiser?  We are thanking God so much for her encouragement and sweet giving spirit!!!!  I'll try to post an update as soon as she lets me know what was raised!!!

Fund-Raising Friday

Christmas Ornaments ~ This is your last chance to order some of these adorable personalized cross-stitched ornaments.  Click here for pictures.  My mom has been making these for us to sell {$10 each} and they can be personalized with names, dates, etc.  If you are interested, please send me an e-mail at hearts1982@gmail.com.  This is the last week to order any personalized ornaments.  Next week we will simply be selling any pre-made ornaments that are left.  Order yours NOW!!!

Faith and Grace Quilts ~ Check out this fundraiser my friend Karen is doing @ 27 Penguin Place.  Sponsor a quilt block for $10 and help us wrap our babies in quilts made with love!!!

Just Love Coffee ~ I posted on my Facebook yesterday about the Black Friday contest JLC is having.  Whoever sells the most coffee/products from their store will win 20 bags of FREE coffee!!!  Since Nathan and I aren't coffee drinkers, if we win we will gift those bags of coffee to anyone who helped by ordering coffee.  Today is the last day of this contest, so please go ORDER NOW!!!

Home-made Cards  ~ We still have several packets of cards to sell.  We are asking for a $10 donation for a packet of 4 unique and beautiful cards.  Please contact me at hearts1982@gmail.com or pay via our PayPal donate button.  Just specify if you would like a packet of Bday cards or All-Occasion cards.

Soda Cans ~ How many cans do you think we have deposited since July 12th {that was our first deposit run}?????  Post a comment with your best guess!!!

Sponsor a Puzzle Piece ~ We received a check in the mail this past week with some money from God!!!  We chose to use that money towards puzzle piece sponsorships.  Someday when our children ask us why God's name is on so many puzzle pieces, we can tell them about the many wonderful ways God worked to bring them home to us!!!  What a lesson in the faithfulness of our amazing God!!!

Thermometer ~ We are only $1387 away from being able to mail our dossier!!!  Thank you for all your prayers and please DON'T STOP PRAYING!!!

Fund-Raising Friday

Just Love Coffee ~ One of my co-workers purchased some coffee from our site, and this is what he had to say about it.  "As a coffee Connoisseur, I'll give my WORD that this coffee is the MOST AWESOME jolt you'll have had in years!!!  Try it...You'll like it!!!!!!"  If you are interested in ordering, please click the photo/link on the right side of our blog.  We get $5 for every bag of coffee you order.

Home-made Cards ~ If you are interested {$10 per pkg of 4 cards} please send me an e-mail {hearts1982@gmail.com} or use our "donate" button {just make a note that it is for cards and which pkgs you are ordering}.

Soda Cans ~ Keep 'em coming!!!

Sponsor a Puzzle Piece ~ I was hoping to have an updated picture for you this week, but I guess it's going to have to wait for one more week.  If you are interested in helping us put our African puzzle together, please sponsor a puzzle piece for $10.  Thanks :-).

"Together for Good" Photo Shoot ~ If you haven't had the chance yet, please go check out Erin's blog "Together for Good" and take a look at some of her beautiful photos.  Erin is still willing to set up a photo shoot with you {think Christmas cards!!!} in exchange for a donation of any size to our adoption fund.

Thermometer ~ We've reached and passed the half-way mark toward our dossier!!!!!!!!  Praise the Lord!!!

Fund-Raising Friday

Just Love Coffee ~ I posted about this new fund-raiser earlier this week.  We have had many people tell us what a GREAT idea it is, but we've only had one order!!!  Will you be next???  All you have to do is click on the link on the side bar of our blog.  It will take you to our personalized coffee page and you can order whatever and however much coffee you want.  We will get $5 per bag you order!!!

Home-made Cards ~ We are continuing to sell a couple packets of cards a week.  It would be GREAT if we could have them all sold by Thanksgiving!!!  Will you help us???  Please pass along the info about our unique home-made cards to people you know, and maybe even consider buying some yourself!!!  I know how many cards I run to the store to buy last minute before a Bday, wedding, or anniversary.  Why not stock up on some cards now {$10 a packet = just $2.50 per card!!!}.

Soda Cans ~ It was such a blessing to have a few people bring soda cans/bottles to our garage sale for us.  We have passed $230 worth of deposit money!!!  Thank you!!!

Sponsor a Puzzle Piece ~ Our puzzle was in pieces on the floor for a good portion of this past week :-(.  We needed our card table for the garage sale, and the puzzle broke when we tried to move it.  But we've fixed it and are waiting to add more pieces.  Just $10 to sponsor a puzzle piece.  We will write your name on the back and our children will always have a visual reminder of the many people who helped bring them home to us!!!

"Together for Good" Photo Shoot ~ Erin has been busy with several photo shoots these past couple of weeks.  But she still has some times available.  If you would like to schedule a photo shoot with Erin, she will give you a CD with all the pictures she takes in exchange for a monetary donation of ANY size towards our adoption fund.  If you are interested, please contact Erin via her blog "Together for Good."

Thermometer ~ I love updating our thermometer totals each week!!!  We are now just $158 away from the half-way mark!!!  I can't wait until it's FULL and we can mail our dossier to Ethiopia!!!

Fund-Raising Friday + A WINNER!!!!

Home-made Cards ~ We have sold 16 packets of our cards over this past week!!!  Praise the Lord!!!  It has been so encouraging to us to see so many people interested in this fund-raiser.  We still have 64 packets left, so there are plenty more for YOU!!!  Each packet contains 4 different and uniquely made cards, and we are asking for a $10 minimum donation per packet.  Just let us know how many All-Occasion or Birthday packets you want.  We are willing to mail these cards anywhere in the US.  You may pay via our "Donate" button, or e-mail me {hearts1982@gmail.com} to arrange payment via cash or check.

Soda Cans ~ This fund-raiser took an interesting turn this week :-).  A friend contacted us and asked if he could pay us 10 cents per soda can, up to 200 cans!!!  He needs soda cans for a project he is working on, and he figured he could get his cans quickly AND help our adoption fund at the same time :-).  We currently had almost 200 soda cans in the car, so we ran them over to him and let him take them off our hands.  What a GREAT idea!!!  Does anyone else need soda cans from us???

Sponsor a Puzzle Piece ~ We now have 98 puzzle pieces sponsored!!!  That's almost 1/5th of our puzzle!!!  This picture was taken last Sunday, and does not include the most recent 6 pieces sponsored.  But you can see that the edge is finished and we have begun filling in the middle!!!  Thank you to everyone who has had a part in putting this puzzle together!!!  If you are interested in sponsoring a puzzle piece for $10, you may pay via our "Donate" button {just make a note that it is for our puzzle} or e-mail me {hearts1982@gmail.com}.

Together for Good Photo Shoot ~ Erin has her first TWO photo shoots scheduled for tomorrow!!!  We're so excited to see this fund-raiser up and running.  If you are interested in a photo shoot with Erin, along with a CD of all the pictures she takes and edits, in exchange for a monetary gift of ANY SIZE to our adoption fund, please contact Erin at Together for Good.

Thermometer ~ Our thermometer rose higher this week!!!  We are now at 23% of our total dossier goal!!!  Praise the Lord for His great and wonderful provision!!!

GIVEAWAY ~ Thank you to everyone who participate in our giveaway this past week.

 

And the winner is........

**Kristi**

Congratulations!!!  We will be giving these 10 beautiful home-made Christmas gift tags to you.  Thanks for all your prayer and support of our adoption!!!

Fund-Raising Friday ~ + A GIVEAWAY!!!

Home-made Cards ~ Are you a card person?  Do you like to give special cards to your family and friends?  Do you just buy the generic cards you can pick up at WalMart or do you like to make the cards a little more personal?  How would you feel about being able to buy some very nice and creative home-made cards AND help us raise the money we need for our Ethiopian adoption?

Thanks to Nathan's sister Heidi and the many wonderful ladies who helped her by making beautiful cards, we have 80 packets of home-made cards to sell.  ALL the proceeds will go directly into our adoption fund {we are currently working to raise the $7700 we need in order to send our dossier to Ethiopia}.

We have 50 packets of All-Occasion cards.  Each packet contains 4 different and unique cards chosen from the following categories ~ Get Well, Wedding, Thank You, Sympathy, General Friendship, and Birthday.

We also have 30 packets of General Birthday cards.  Again, each packet consists of 4 cards that are different and unique, made by a variety of creative ladies.

We are asking for a $10 minimum donation for each packet of cards.  That's only $2.50 per card!!!

Also, if you purchase 5 or more packets, we will throw in a FREE card {while supplies last}.  Why not go ahead and stock up for all those birthday and other special occasions that will come up in the next few months???

If you are interested in purchasing, please send an e-mail to hearts1982@gmail.com or pay via our PayPal "Donate" button located on the sidebar.  Simply make a note that it is for our card fund-raiser.

AND......here is the GIVEAWAY part!!!

We have 10 beautiful Christmas gift tags that we are going to GIVE AWAY!!!  We will put all the entries into a bag, draw a name next Thursday evening at 9 p.m., and announce the winner on our Fund-Raising Friday post next week.  Here's how you can enter.
     1) Become a Follower of our blog.  If you already are a Follower, just leave a comment letting us know that you would like to enter this giveaway.
     2) Post this Fund-Raising Friday post on your Facebook page.  One entry for each day you post.  Leave a comment here letting us know each time you post on Facebook.
     3) Link this post in your blog.  One entry for each day you link it.  Leave a comment here letting us know each time you link us.

WHO WILL WIN???????

Soda Cans ~ We want to thank everyone who has been collecting soda cans for us.  It is such a blessing to us to have people stop us and say, "I've got a bag of soda cans for you.  Where can I put them?"  Many, many people are having a part in helping us bring our children home to us.  THANK YOU!!!

Sponsor a Puzzle Piece ~ The outside edge is almost done!!!  Just 3 more pieces to go.  Then we can start filling in the middle.  If you are interested in sponsoring a puzzle piece for $10, please send an e-mail {hearts1982@gmail.com} or click on our "Donate" button.  Simply note that you would like to sponsor a puzzle piece.

"Together for Good" Photo Shoot ~ Are you starting to think towards pictures for Christmas cards?  If you live in central Iowa and are interested in a FREE photo shoot with Erin {Together for Good} and a FREE cd of the pictures she takes {and edits!!} in exchange for a monetary donation of any amount {doesn't matter the size} to our adoption fund, please contact me {hearts1982@gmail.com} or head over to Erin's blog and set something up with her.  Thanks!!!

Our niece, Esther, came over to help put the card packets together.  She was a big help by putting the cards together with their envelopes.

Our living room was a little messy as Heidi, Esther, Nathan and I worked to put the card packets together.

Thank you, Heidi, for all your hard work in putting the fund-raiser together for us.  We love you!!!!

Fund-Raising Friday

Soda Cans ~ Will you please help spread the word about our soda can fund-raiser?  If you are in central Iowa, please help us by collecting all the soda cans you possibly CAN {haha!!}.  Let's help the environment {RECYCLE} and bring some Ethiopian children home to us at the same time!!!

Sponsor a Puzzle Piece ~ If you have been thinking about sponsoring a puzzle piece {or pieces} but just haven't done so yet, please contact me {hearts1982@gmail.com}.  We would love to add your name to our children's puzzle.  Remember, just $10 sponsors one puzzle piece.  We will write your name on the back of a puzzle piece and our children will always have a visual reminder of everyone who helped to bring them home!!!

"Together for Good" Photo Shoot ~ If you live in central Iowa and are interested in a FREE photo shoot with Erin, along with a CD of all the pictures {she edits them!!!}, in exchange for a monetary donation to our adoption fund, please leave me a comment here, e-mail me {hearts1982@gmail.com}, or head over to Erin's blog, Together for Good, and set something up with her.  Thanks!!!

Homemade Cards ~ Coming Soon!!!!!

Thermometer ~ Nathan got paid again today {which included some of his overtime hours ~ he is such a hard worker!!!} and our thermometer has passed $1,100!!!!!  Praise the Lord!!!!!

Fund-Raising Friday

This has been a slow week in the fund-raising department.  The thermometer hasn't risen much in this past week, but that's okay.  Everyone has slow weeks :-).  Hopefully we will see a larger jump by next Friday!!!

Soda Cans ~ Since we made a soda can deposit on August 20th, we have brought in an additional $22.30.  Please keep collecting and gifting us your soda cans!!!

Sponsor a Puzzle Piece ~ We finally started putting our puzzle together!!!  As you can see from the picture, we almost have all the edge pieces sponsored.  Let's see if we can get the edge finished SOON!!!  If you would like to sponsor a puzzle piece {or pieces} for $10 each, please contact me {hearts1982@gmail.com}.

"Together for Good" Photos ~ Erin has three photo shoots in the works, and we are soooooo excited to see how this fund-raiser will turn out!!!  Erin will shoot a whole bunch of pictures and give you a FREE CD with all the rights to the pictures in exchange for a donation to our adoption fund!!!  If you live in central Iowa and are interested in scheduling a photo shoot with Erin, please leave me a comment here, e-mail me {hearts1982@gmail.com}, or head over to Erin's blog {Together for Good} and leave her a comment there.  Thanks!!!

Fund-Raising Friday

Soda Cans ~ We made TWO trips to deposit cans this week!!!!  And I just learned that my wonderful sister is collecting soda cans/bottles in her college dorm, so we will be depositing even more over the next few months!!!!  I would write a "Soda Can Cheer" if I had that talent, but I will spare you from my attempts!!!!

Sponsor a Puzzle Piece ~ If you read my post on Wednesday, you may have seen that I've been a little busy this week with school starting. So.........we still haven't started putting the puzzle together.  Maybe tomorrow????  Oh, I know :-P.  We're just waiting for more pieces to be sponsored so that we have more to put together!!!  Yeah.  That's the real reason we haven't started it :-P.  If you would like to sponsor a piece for $10, please leave a comment here, Facebook message or e-mail me{hearts1982@gmail.com}.  Let's get this puzzle started!!!!!

Mary Kay Adoption Fund-Raiser ~ We raised $118.76!!!!!  Thanks, Clisty, for generously providing this fund-raiser to bring our children home from Ethiopia!!!!!

"Together for Good" Photos ~ Did you get a chance to read Wednesday's post about our new Photo Fund-Raiser?  If you didn't, why don't you go read it right now!!!  And head over to Erin's blog Together for Good to let her know what you think.  I just can't get over her generous offer and willingness to help us!!!!  If you live in central Iowa and would like to have a photo shoot with Erin {your donation for the photos will go straight to our adoption fund}, please leave me a comment, Facebook message or e-mail me, or leave a comment for Erin on her blog!!!!  Thanks!!!!!

Thermometer ~ We have met our last goal and are started on the new one!!!  Our new goal is the largest yet ~ BY A LOT!!!!!  We need a minimum of $7700 in order to submit our dossier.  We know it will be more than that because we are adopting two children, but we don't yet know how much more than the $7700 we will need.  I'll just have to update it when we are told the full amount.  Let's fill this thermometer up quickly!!!!!