Four Months DTE

Pam ~ We have now been waiting for 4 months since our paperwork was submitted to Ethiopia (DTE).  This "Dossier month-aversary" also happens to fall on Easter :-).

Happy Easter, Everyone!!!

Our "unofficial" number has moved up to........

....in the "Siblings under 4-years" category.

Thank you for all your prayers!!!!  God is good!!!

Ramblings

Pam ~ I'm feeling in a rambling mood today.  Care to come along???

The doctors have finally figured out the cause of the leg/hip pain that I've been having since last August.  I guess I somehow got a labral tear in my left hip.  Who knew???  So now I'm scheduled for surgery on June 2nd.  The surgery doesn't sound like a too horrible of a thing (it's out-patient surgery), but the recovery isn't going to be fun.  Two weeks on crutches with absolutely NO weight to be put on my left leg (have I mentioned that we live in a three-story town home with LOTS of stairs!!!), and six weeks in a large brace that wraps around my waist and goes down my left leg.  The doctor said that 60% of patients are fully recovered at 3 months, 30% at 6 months, and 10% at a year.  I'm hoping that I'm in the 60%.  (Although, since I'm in the 5% of patients who don't know HOW they tore their labrum, statistics don't seem to be in my favor right now.)

Today is my last day of school for the week.  My students are sleeping and I'm blogging :-).  We have school off tomorrow to celebrate Good Friday.  Guess how I'm celebrating????  If you guessed that I'm sleeping in, doing some laundry and house cleaning, watching movies with my cousin-in-law who is coming to visit for the weekend, grocery shopping, and birthday shopping for my niece's 3rd Bday party, you would be correct :-).

Speaking of my cousin-in-law.........Stephanie is arriving tonight and will be staying with us all weekend.  She goes to college up in the Minneapolis area and we are looking forward to having her spend a few days with us.  Stephanie stayed with us a few days last December and got to go with me when I mailed our dossier to AWAA!!!  She gracious enough to put up with my silliness that day :-).

Saturday is a Bday party for our niece, Chloe.  She turned 3 years old this past Monday.  Hard to believe she's THREE already!!!!

My sister, Kristi, is going to join us for Easter dinner on Sunday.  I don't know what we are having to eat yet.  Probably should figure that out soon.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by everything coming up this next month.  School activities ~ bike-a-thon, field trip, school program, my student's graduation program (which reminds me that I need to get busy working on the year-end powerpoint ~ YIKES!!!), and all sorts of year end activities.  Family ~ my parents will be visiting for a week, sister's college graduation, possible trip to see grandparents, trip to see both sets of parent in CO.  Personal ~ baby showers to attend, home-school supervising visits, starting and completing a three week 20-hour a week part-time job from home, doctor appointments, etc.  And that gets us to June 2nd ~ Surgery Day.  Is it wrong of me to be looking forward to being stuck at home????

And that's the end of my rambling for today.  I was just reminded that I need to go work on field trip plans.  Where would YOU take 55 students (ages 3, 4, 5-years) on a field trip???  (BTW.  That means 55 car seats!!!!!!)

Soda Cans/Bottles Total

We have currently raised...

$801

...by recycling soda cans and bottles!!!!

 Leave us a comment and let us know if you guessed correctly!!!!! 

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???????????????

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!!!!!!)

"Just Love Coffee" WINNERS!!!!

Here is the moment that you have all be eagerly waiting for!!!!!  Thanks to many of YOU, we brought in $110 in profit from our "Just Love Coffee" store!!!!  Thank you!!!!!!

We promised that we would give away the free coffee if we were able to meet the "March Madness Incentive" of making $75 in profit, and since we met (and exceeded!!) that goal, here are the WINNERS!!!!!!  (Listed in the order that we drew them.)

#1 ~ Susan Prause
#2 ~ Susan Prause
#3 ~ Deb Pehl
#4 ~ Dawn Bauman

We will be contacting you SOON to get your coffee request :-).

Honesty

Pam ~ I am going to try to be honest today.  Honest in sharing my struggles and emotions.

Last night I was in tears.  I bottle up all my conflicting emotions ~ happy, sad, confused, frustrated, envious, angry, selfish, thankful, etc.  They all swirl inside me every day, but it's easier to stuff them down inside and MAKE myself happy and smiling on the outside.  Maybe if I make myself look "okay" on the outside I'll start feeling it on the inside.

Have I ever mentioned how much I want to be a mommy?  It's my life dream and has been since I was a tiny girl.  Have I ever mentioned how hard it's been over the past six and a half years of marriage to DREAM of the day that Nathan and I would become parents and raise our children together in our loving home?  Have I ever mentioned how jealous (yes, jealous!!!!) I have been of every friend and family member who has announced they are expecting?  How hard it has been for me to smile and congratulate them as if it's the easiest thing in the world?  How I go home and cry my eyes out?  Sometimes for several days.  And then go on.

We were accepted by our adoption agency, AWAA, 10 months ago tomorrow.  We have been DTE (on the official waiting list) for just over three months.  We have been adoption "pregnant" for 10 months.  And will be for many more months (probably).

One of the areas that I am REALLY struggling with right now is my job.  I teach kindergarten at a small private Christian school.  And I love my job.  I really do.  I have poured myself into each and every one of the over 100 students I have taught.  They have been my "babies", my children whom I can love and "mother" while they are with me.  I cry at the end of each school year as I have to let them leave my classroom and hand them over to new teachers for the next school year.

My school knows that I will be done teaching as soon as we bring our children home.  I want to be a SAHM who can teach and train our children in the loving environment of our home.  I am a full proponent of Christian schooling AND home-schooling (I was home-schooled).  We don't yet know which option we will choose for the education of our children, but now I am veering off what I was intending to write about :-).

I will be given a teaching contract soon for next school year.  What do I do?  Do I sign it, knowing that I will possibly (and hopefully!!!!!) not finish the entire school year?  I am praying soooooooooooooooooooooo hard that we will have brought our children home before the end of May 2012!!!!!  So, do I sign it?  Would that be fair to my small school, to leave them short-handed in the middle of the school year?  Would that be fair to my little students, to abandon them to a new teacher who has different methods and ideas?  Would that be fair to the parents, who have prayerfully entrusted their precious children's foundational education to ME?  Do I not sign the contract, but instead ask for an associate position at my school, where I can still interact with my co-workers (who are some of my best friends), and help many of the children I have taught in years past and still dearly love?  Would I BE ABLE to step out of a teaching position and leave that job to someone else?  Honestly!!!!!  CAN I DO THAT??????  Or do I not sign the contract, and leave my school entirely to substitute teach next school year?  I would be able to teach and yet not have the busyness that is involved in having my own classroom.  I would work MUCH shorter days.  I could have any days off that I needed or wanted.  I would be able to be done working immediately and easily when we leave to bring our children home.  But I know what subbing is like.  I did it for a year and it's not very much fun sometimes.  It can be VERY stressful.

I've probably lost several readers by now.  This is going on and on and on and on.  Sorry.  I'm feeling a little down today.  Maybe it's the double pink eye I have.  Or the "almost strep throat".  Or the fluid filled ears.  Or maybe it's the stuffed nose.  Take your pick.  Happy April Fool's Day (I wish this WAS an April's Fool)

I know that God is in control.  His plan IS perfect.  And I'm praying that He will teach me through this adoption to trust more fully in Him.  I'm just struggling right now.

Three Months DTE

Pam ~ We have been DTE (Dossier To Ethiopia) and officially waiting for 3 months today.  Thus far, the wait hasn't been horrible :-).  We are continuing to save money and pray for God's timing in receiving a referral.  And, God has been gracious to allow us to have saved $8,988 towards our referral fees!!!  We are only $797 short of the amount we need!!!!  Praise the Lord!!!!!  Lord willing, we should have that amount saved before another DTE "month-aversary" passes!!!!

We are now number......

for "siblings under 4 years" on the unofficial DTE waiting list!!!

We have moved up THREE places :-).  Will we move even faster this next month???  Thank you for all your prayers!!!!