Wow. Can I just saw that our God is AWESOME!! I haven't had a chance to sit down and write an update on how our Adoption Rally went until now, but with every day that passes I am more and more amazed at how God is providing abundantly! Either from an email telling us that a donation was made through our blog or from some old-fashioned (and lovely) snail mail, the donations keep coming in. I am so ecstatic to say that we raised over $7,500!!! You heard me, OVER $7,500!!!. (well, you technically can't hear me, but you can probably hear me screaming in your head!) $3400 of that was from ticket sales and anonymous LU donations, and the rest, over $4000, is from private donations and merchandise sales either at, leading up to or since the game. Woohoo!!! We have raised half of our $30,000 goal, in just five short months. I'll say it again... GOD IS AWESOME.
We had so much fun at the game. Thank you to so many who came out on a freezing cold, snowy Saturday! The support from our friends, church family and LAES family meant so much to us. It was a sweet sight to see all of the gray t-shirts scattered throughout the arena! We were able to set up two tables full of merchandise as soon as you walked in the main doors to the arena. We were the only one of the nine families to do this, and I think a lot of people that came thought we were some kind of organization there at the game instead of one of the nine families. That definitely worked in our favor! It looked beautiful and we had several volunteers working the table all night (some of them for over five hours straight!) and there was always a crowd gathered around. Besides selling our own t-shirts, we partnered with
147 Million Orphans and sold a ton of their beautiful merchandise, handcrafted by artisans in Uganda, Honduras and Haiti. This was kind of a last minute decision to have their merchandise there, and it was totally a blessing from God!! We can't thank the girls at 147 enough for contributing to this blessing! Jonathan and I pretty much stayed at the table all night, just visiting with people and thanking everyone for their support. The boys had a blast seeing so many of their friends and running around the arena. It was a beautiful, Spirit filled night. So incredibly thankful to have been a part of it.
As far as how our process is going, we received the approval we were waiting on from USCIS about three weeks ago, and this week we mailed our final documents for our dossier to our
agency. That should be (I think) the end of our mountain of paperwork that we've had to gather/write/sign. Our
agency has to do a few things on their end, but should be sending our dossier to the U.S. State Department soon! After that, it will go to the Malagasy Embassy where it will be translated, and then on to Madagascar. Then we will await a referral of a precious child that God has chosen for our family. Only He knows her name. How comforting is that?! We know so many of you have been praying for us and we ask that you continue praying fervently; for us, for the process and for her!
Here are some pics from the Adoption Rally:
Our table turned out so beautiful! Total bonus that all the 147 merch matched our own adoption shirts. Probably something that only I cared about, but I was really excited!!!
Notice the wooden crosses, handmade by Jonathan. He worked really hard for two days getting those ready and everyone loved them. Love my creative husband!
This was Eli's little project to help me get stuff ready for the table. Can you find Madagascar?
It made me happy seeing all the little girls shopping.
Wanted to take this little orphan home, but alas she already has a pretty fabulous family.
This was the only time the boys were together in one place all night. They had fun visiting with friends, playing in the kids zone and hanging out with us at our table. Eli somehow even got into Dr. Lowry's suite (President of LU) and had a nice visit with him.
So thankful to these ladies for all of their hard work!!
And this adorable couple worked pretty hard themselves!
I'm pretty sure this sweet girl gets the award for who travelled the farthest. *love.*
All nine families were brought out on the court towards the end of the game and
they told us the total raised that night- over $22,000!
The Snow Family (in yellow) had brought their three girls home from Ethiopia
just two weeks before the game!
Thank you, Father, for your abundant provision. We pray that You will continue to provide eveything that we need, all to bring our little girl home. We trust that You will continue to be faithful to Your promise to the fatherless. We pray that Christ Jesus and His children, the church, will forever bring praise and glory to You. His power at work in us can do far more than we dare ask or imagine. Amen.
xoxo,
ps- I didn't want this post to be crazy long (oops! too late) so I'm working on another post with pics of all the 147 merchandise and wooden crosses. Will be taking orders to continue our fundraising efforts!
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