"I will not leave you as orphans..." - John 14:18
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Monday, April 30, 2012

April Waitlist Numbers


It's that time again! Waitlist numbers! 


Here they are:
Girl:
January - 53 
February - 50
March - 45
April - 44

Boy:
January - 44
February - 40
March - 37
April - 35

Siblings:
January - 18
February - 18
March - 15
April - 14


A funny thing happens when you're forced to wait for so long. At some point, if you allow Him full reign, God's grace allows you to be at peace with how long it takes for the blessings He's promised. You realize after a while that many unanticipated blessings are showered upon you in your times of wait. 


Oftentimes, when we're faced with a season of wait, we feel this tension between reaching the endpoint and being satisfied with where we're at.  Once we're certain that God is calling us to embark on a certain journey, it's difficult to wait for what's to come, but it's during these times that God is working. 


Our waiting rooms are NOT a waste.  It's a time of preparation. It's a time of growth. It's a time to sit back and simply watch God work all things according to His purpose. And that's a beautiful place to be. I love seeing Jesus work! It blows my mind. Time and time again. And work He does. He is faithful to bring forth that which He promises. Even though I now find myself to be at peace in our wait, I still look forward with joy to the time when we get to see the fruit of our journey. To the time when we get to gaze, once and for all, into the eyes of our new little one(s)!  Oh, what a day that will be.


As mentioned in our last post, we broke our camera, BUT we've been able to get some pics even though we hadn't had a camera for a while.  My mom took some and then Travis' parents gave us one of their old cameras! Thanks Mom, John, and Sue!!  Here's what we've been up to:


Skiing with Grandma, Grandpa Gary, and cousins...







Easter!






Cute pic...

 OK. This deserves a bit of attention.  The girls built a marshmallow/frosting castle and then used a homemade catapult armed with Trix to knock it down.  Good times...




 Avery's picture of her holding our twin babies from Ethiopia...


And finally, I don't have a picture of this BUT my braces are OFF!  Thanks again to Travis' dad, John! Pictures will follow...

We pray that this finds you well and that you are immersed in the grace and blessings of God! Until next time...

A Post from Travis - New Fundraising Shirts!


Howdy friends! An other-than-normal post from the Mr. of the house here as opposed to the Mrs…

Let me start off by saying “Thank You” to everyone who has been following and supporting our family during this journey of adoption that we decided to pursue a not so recent 17 MONTHS AGO! It’s been a journey filled with excitement, frustration, patient moments and not so patient moments, and LOTS of growth for our family as a unit and individually.

I’m writing this post to let everyone know that we are offering some sweet new threads for anyone who needs to add to their (or your kids) wardrobe. We’re doing so as part of a small fundraising effort to help offset some of our adoption costs which will total about $30,000 at the end of the day. We also feel led to do our small part to raise awareness for the orphans of Africa -  4 MILLION of which are currently living without families in the country of Ethiopia ALONE! Laurie & I have committed to donating 10% of the funds we raise to a grass roots charity created by a gal named Katie Davis who lives in Uganda and is living out her calling from God in the Ugandan culture (she has adopted 13 orphan children and raises funds for education, food, and community outreach projects). See here for more info: http://www.amazima.org/

Laurie has been honing her sewing skills, and has made some ladies and kids shirts with an Africa logo. You can check out our adoption Etsy shop by clicking here

I had the following T-shirts made up for the fellas out there or for you ladies who enjoy rocking a T-shirt. “Ajayibe-Tsega” is Amharic (one of several native languages of Ethiopia ) for “Amazing Grace”. Psalm 68 says “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families…”.






Our God is kind and just. He will guide and hold us so long as we surrender ourselves to him and find our identity in him alone. If you feel led to purchase a shirt, you can do so by clicking the PayPal link on the upper right of this blog. Shirts are $20 each. Thank you again for your support!

Travis

Thursday, April 5, 2012

March Waitlist Numbers

So, there's been a lot going on around here! But it's one of those times that's so busy that it's hard to break it all down.  Additionally, our camera broke when it was dropped on it's lens (opps!).  My fault, really.  I allowed Avery to take some pics.  So, unfortunately, we're camera-less for a while, which will make these updates a bit shorter. Bummer!

I do, however, need to share one last cute picture we captured before the camera mishap.


 Gotta love little girls!

So, without further fanfare, here are our new numbers:

Girl:
November - 59
December - 56
January - 53 
February - 50
March - 45

Boy:
November - 47
December - 44
January - 44
February - 40
March - 37

Siblings:
November - 22
December - 19
January - 18
February - 18
March - 15


There's movement!!  Super excited, as that makes us that much closer to our baby(ies)! Oh, how we look forward to that day.

Until next time...