Another Successful Fundraiser!!!

As I mentioned before, we were vendors at the Calvary Chapel Holiday Bazaar this past Saturday. We were packed into our booth with so many goodies I was surprised it all fit! The bazaar was a huge success to say the least! Once again, God confirmed that he was going to continue to bless my obedience to him telling me to "use what I know" to help bring the girls home. We ended up nearly selling out and raised over $1600 for our adoption! Praise the Lord! We are so grateful for all of you guys that showed up to support us and for all the help you provided to us while we were getting ready. I also want to thank all those who donated the great pieces to us to make this happen! We are overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness at how God continues to bless our efforts and for the people he has moved to support us!

DOSSIER TO CHINA!!!

We got the call Friday, 11/22/13, that we are officially DTC, or Dossier to China! Woohoo! This means that in a few weeks we should have official approval from the Chinese government to adopt a child from them! At that point we will be considered Logged In and will begin receiving referrals/files of children that match the special needs profile we filled out earlier in the process! We are hoping to be able to put a face to the name God gave us for our daughter to her face very soon.

I want to clarify, if any of you have noticed, I have been writing in the singular, as in ONE daughter. While we got amazingly exciting news this week, we also received some very hard news as well. The agency we are working with is no longer allowing families to adopt two children at one time and thus we will not be able to bring home both of our girls in one trip. We are STILL adopting two little girls, our time frame has just been altered. We will have to complete the adoption of one of our girls first, come home with her, and then wait 6 months before starting all over again to bring home our second little Chinese princess.

We would very much appreciate your prayers as we continue to walk with God on this journey. The news hit us hard, but we are just clinging even more to Jesus to give us strength to cope with the change. Prayer for guidance and clarity would be much appreciated and for the right perspective on the situation.

Hopefully we will have pictures of our daughter to share very soon!

Another Fundraiser!!!

As some of you know, when I asked God how/what we could be doing to raise money to bring the girls home, he told me to "Use what you know." This is exactly what we have been doing and God has blessed us richly for our obedience. I think it is so amazing how He leads all of us so differently and allows us to each use our unique gifts from Him to feel like we are part of this process, even though I know that all of it comes from Him!

All that to announce that we will be participating in the Calvary Chapel Tri Cities Christmas Bazaar next weekend, November 23rd, 2013! I am super excited and working very hard to create some awesome pieces to sell. I have a wide range of refinished furniture, rustic decor, fun shabby chic accessories, and even some great hand made pieces for your little Princess thanks to my Mom's handiwork! 

Be sure to come check us out . . . we will literally be center stage at the event! 

Don't worry, I have lots of projects for everyone! :) 

Just hoping I can get them all done in time! We are packed to the rafters in the garage with awesomeness thanks to some very generous people and lots of amazing garage sale treasures!

Authentication!

Just wanted to share a quick update. We are now in authentication (about halfway done with this step). We made it through the county side of things and our paperwork was sent to the consulate on Tuesday to get more stamps/notary seals placed on everything in preparation for sending it to the CCCWA. Hopefully, by next Wednesday, we will have them back and be DTC (Dossier to China)! We are so grateful for continued movement towards referral.

In the pic above you can see better where we are at in the adoption process from China. We are hoping to be able to highlight step 7 next week! :)

Our Awesome Halloween Treat . . .

Pumpkin Courtesy of Sammy! :)

Instead of a TRICK this Halloween, we were awesomely given the TREAT of receiving notification of our I800a approval! Praise Jesus! When I called yesterday, Halloween, I was informed we were approved and that our letter went out in the mail on the 30th! Can't wait for it to get here so that we can start the authentication process.

Happy Halloween Everyone! :)