YOU ARE INVITED....Friends, family and the church

Trying to do some research for Orphan Sunday this is what I found....And I truly do believe that our churches NEED to be stepping up to this...unfortunately we don't come from an area that has this as a main mission of the church...and it saddens me and makes my heart very heavy.
• There are 143 million orphans in our world.  If all the orphans in the world were moved to the country of Mexico, Mexico’s population would more than double, growing from 108,700,000 to 251,700,000
• Over 16 million children were newly orphaned in 2003
• There are approximately 17.5 million orphans who are ages 0-5
• There are approximately 47 million orphans who are ages 6-11
• There are approximately 79 million orphans who are ages 12-17
• 87.6 million orphans live in Asia
• 43.4 million orphans live in Sub-Saharan Africa
• There are as many orphaned and vulnerable children in Ethiopia as there are people in greater NYC
• 12.4 million orphans live in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Almost 1.5 million children live in public care in Central and Eastern Europe
That’s our world.
With this many orphans in the United States and in the world the church has a monumental task before it if it is to practice true religion. James 1:27 says, "Religion that is pure and undeled before God, the  Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their afiction." Clearly, the church has its work cut out for it. 
We're not saying you all need to adopt an orphan. We truly believe people are called to this journey...but those of us that do feel this calling CANNOT do it WITHOUT our family, our friends and OUR CHURCH.  We currently are doing fundraisers and we dont even expect you all to be part of them, but we do ask for a significant amount of prayer.  After enduring through this journey, I can honestly say this has been one of the longest and even one of the most stressful journeys we've been on.  The rollercoaster of emotion can be very heartwrenching but yet rewarding all at the same time.  So I have also found a VERY interesting and IMPORTANT link that gives other ways you can be involved in Orphan Care if you arent feeling the call to expand your family!!
http://524hosting.com/os_wordpress/wp-content/uploads/10WaysPoster.pdf 
Tomorrow Nicholas and I start a 40 day prayer for the orphans.  At one point we were praying for our child.  The child we would adopt one day...and now....God's changed our heart and our prayers.  OUr pray is for every single one of the 147 million children walking this world without a family to love them.  God is moving mountains in our hearts. Our prayer now is that He opens the hearts of all our friends and family and church for this ministry.  We invite all of you, OUR FRIENDS, OUR FAMILY and OUR CHURCH to join us on this 40 day journey. 
Below is the link of the guide we will  be following.  I am going to try and post the 40 day prayer guide but if I dont get it you can surely follow the link!!  Help us pray for our area churches, families and all the children in this broken world! 
http://www.pearpod.com/oc/downloads/40DaysofPrayer.pdf

Cards for a Cause

One thing I love doing is reading through old greeting cards that I have received over the years.  We have a basket stored in our bedroom with all these cards and when I'm having a bum day I often pull out a card and just read the message someone sent us at one point in time.  God knows exactly which one I need to when I go to reach for one.  With that I made it a new years resolution to personally write and mail one card a week to someone in our life.  Everyone needs a card at some point, whether for an anniversary, birthday, loss, thank you or just because.

Our grant process is NOT going as planned and the amount of money needed is getting overwhelmingly scary.  We are leaving that all to God, but we also need help from our family, friends and church with prayer for this reason.  We are remaining obediant to Him and our heart is growing stronger and stronger to be advocates for His children, the orphans of the world.  God calls each of us to be part and care for the orphans.  If you/your family are not able to give them a forever family, there is nothing wrong with that!  There is SO SO SO much more you can do.  You can sponser a child through world vision or lifesong.  You can sponser a family with a monthly donation.  You can get involved with fundraisers (we love help, but wont ask you specifically), and YOU CAN PRAY!!  

We currently have the opportunity to make 43% off of every box of greeting cards we sell. They are $30 for a box and one box contains 30 cards.  

    WOW, $1.00 per card!!   

When Walmart sells them for at least $2.99 a card....

....and we'd be ever so grateful for helping us bring Baby Rice home!

We are trusting God in this. Satan wants to discourage us right now, because we dont know where our next $1500 and $1000 payment are coming from. We've already paid over $12,000, which is far more than we ever thought we could contribute from our family income in a year but God truly is blessing us!  We have a long ways to go yet and each day our heart aches more to complete our family through the adoption journey!  Our goal is 40 boxes and with God's goodness and the support from our family and friends we KNOW we can all conquer the devil's plan to discourage us together!  And how awesome if we could BLOW that goal out of the water!!?? 
If you have no need for greeting cards or just cant afford to buy a box right now, please consider helping us share this blog post.  Our phone call, Lord willing, could come any day now and we have to be ready!!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow....

Today was such a special day for us as a family. We had the opportunity to stand before the church family and dedicate Kynzie to the Lord.  To us, raising our children could NOT be done without the loving support of some of our strongest supporters within the church.  We were so blessed to be able to have all 4 of Kynzie's great grandmas there, some of our aunts, Nick's mom and two of Nick's nephews and grandpa Chuck.  After the dedication we went to the Barn Restuarant and just enjoyed a very yummy homecookin' meal and time with our family together.  Kynzie brings so much to our lives and we love her more than anything.  Our children all hold a very dear and special place in our lives. 
We followed that by an awesome family bike ride where we met at the park and the girls had fun playing together.  Lots of laughter and giggles, as always at the park.  We couldnt thank the Lord anymore for the blessings He has given us and the gifts of HIS children, entrusting us to be their earthly guidance to raise them in the way they should go.  We truly have to be the luckiest people ever to be blessed with such an incrediable gift and feel so very honored to have the priveledge to be the parents of such wonderful children.   They are our everything!! 
Tonight while laying here in bed, Nicholas and I prayed together.  Many nights, we just take turns praying aloud together and then we say our own silent prayer individually, but we both felt led to pray together aloud, instead of it just being one or the other.  Thanking Him for all our blessings and then asking Him to be with us through all the trials of parenthood and in our adoption journey.  In this journey our hearts are in so many places.  We both feel 100% in knowing God is calling us on this adventure. We both are honored to be where we are and we both are a tad bit overwhelmed by all the paperwork, the tasks that need to be accomplished, and the heartache that is involved.  Our entire family longs to be completed.  We long to know what's going to happen and where we are going to be.  Ashalyn talks daily about her brother and sister.  She begs to go see them.  She asks when we will go on an airplane to meet them.  She wants to know all the little details.  And everyday she makes something.  The most recent being a family picture.  She drew, Nicholas and I, Kynzie and herself...along with 3 other children.  I asked her who they were and she says, I don't know them mommy but they are my brother and sister.  I want them to come play with me and Kynzie.  So she knows and I really feel she understands.  And honestly, I know God is calling her to the place of being a big sister to these children.  She asks us throughout the day to pray for them, without us saying a word.  She goes up to Kynzie and in her mom voice talking to a little baby, tells Kynzie everything she knows about them and how we will have to go pick them up and bring them home to our house.  We're just all so anxious and excited for this journey of a lifetime.  We are so anxious to grow our hearts and our family, as well as an unexplainable love for these children that share nothing with us genetically, other than that pure and whole place in our hearts. 
I'll be honest, just tonight we talked about the numbers again financially...and it scares us...it scares the crap out of us.  "What if we are unable to come by these kinds of numbers?"  "What if our family is denied the grants?" and "What if we get that call tomorrow morning and we cannot come up with the next $1000 payment?"  So many what ifs, but we pray...we pray for God to show us a way and to calm everyone of our fears.  We ask that you join us in these prayers, because it is scary.  It's scary to have the unsure when talking about such large amounts of money.  We pray for opportunities to be able to save the funds we need.  Excuse me with this scenario, but it's not like the moment you find out you are expecting biologically and you can go to your physician and turn it into insurance and see what portion of these incrediable opportunity they will cover.  A OB will not deny you services because you dont have the moeny to cover at that exact moment you go into labor.  But it's scary knowing that if we dont have those funds readily available we could lose the precious chance to get to know a beautiful baby girl or handsome little boy.  So that's my prayer request tonight, that God provides us with a sense of comfort in knowing that He will take care of us, He will provide us with the opportunities when the need arises, and that we are equipped with the faith needed for the mountains to move and doors to be opened.  Our journey is only in it's beginning.  Our family life is still at the early stages and there is so so SO many things for us to be thankful for.  Our blessings are beyond numbers and we truly are grateful for every opportunity to be with each of our children, in our presence and in our hearts.  We pray for each of our children, the ones here in our home with us, our ones in Heaven, our ones clear across the world and across the states, and every other child we are not able to adopt but who are waiting for their forever love and family!  It's been a very special day with some very special people!  GOD IS GOOD...ALL THE TIME!                                            

Clearing up the confusion...

We received a text message the other day and another friend asked..."If you get a US opportunity first will you NOT be going to Africa?"  I can completely see where the confusion took place, because it may seem crazy.  But Yes, we will do BOTH.  We ARE doing both.  There is a super long wait time right now for children in Africa.  We are still being called there.  And we are still WAITING.   In the meantime, we have filled out paperwork and been approved for a domestic adoption. 
What does that mean?

Within the week our electronic profile will be on the web and available for birth mom's across the United States.  For the last 5 weeks we've been getting emails with birth mom scenarios that come through our agencies.  When we find one that matches our family specifics we submit ourselves for the birth mother to go through.  She could get 10-20 families interested.  And from those profiles she chooses the family she would like to place her child with when he/she is born. 

Only God knows, but our United States wait time could be just as long as in Africa.  We don't have a clue what God has planned for our family.  But, I can say with 100% certainty that He is moving mountains in our household. 

A weekend = a full time job

Logging onto our email account today, I stumbled across a yahoo story.  I never considered my weekend as a full time job!  This article stated that research shows that the most successful Americans in the work force are those that plan their weekends around relaxation and unwasted time.  One way I never looked at it is that starting at 6pm on Friday night until 6am Monday morning there's 36 hours, which is considered a full time job!  
Nicholas and I sat down and talked about how many of those hours are wasted in front of the tv, computer or just down time!  And after we looked at it that way, you wouldnt believe all the things we got done, and it wasnt even all hard work! 
First we sat down and made a list of 300 things we want to do on a weekend.  Some were things that cost money and others were very budget friendly.  Some allowed us to relax, others allowed us to give, and others helped us accomplish stuff around the house!  
After our list, here's what we accomplished today....
*BMV for new tags and a new license (7 months after we bought our house)
*delivered some 31 stuff to my customers
*groceries
*garage cleaned while the girls played in the sand table
*dishes done
*bathroom sink, toilet and shower cleaned
*floors swept
*delivered a baby/toddler slide to someone
*made party mix TOGETHER
*spent one on one with each child before bed
*Ashalyn and I cleaned her room together
*girls played playdough while we cleaned
*made clothing list  (this is a blog post in the making)
Can't wait to start our list of want to do's so we can enjoy our weekends and become refreshed for the work week.  Just having the list makes me feel so much better about everything we're doing and gives us a second or two to breathe and chill!  Can't wait to see how this transforms our lives and how it improves our weekly attitude!

Who says you can't save $120 a month??

I'd say its time for another post.  Really nothing new going on with our adoption.  We are all ready as far as the paperwork...and now we are just waiting for our approved copy of the homestudy!  We are very anxious. 
Next step is another payment.  So starting to get a little more strapped for cash and no upcoming fundraisers, we have sat down and made major adjustments to our daily living.
* We've eliminated going out to eat. 
*We're selling the unneccessary items within our house. 
* We've read over every bill we receive.  We found 2 bills that we could lower just by making a simple phone call.
            1. Our cable tv bill showed a $45 fee for HBO and Showtime Cinema, which are channels that we never watch.   In addition we were getting charged $8.00 a month for our second tv and $6.00 a month for the rental of our 2nd tv equipment.  The second tv is in our bedroom and we have only ever turned it on once or twice at the most.  So that to us was $14 a month that we could be saving just by eliminating a second tv and $45 just by getting rid of a few channels we didnt realize we were being charged extra for.
            2.  We use the cheap straight talk phones from walmart.  One phone has the 1000 minute 1000 text plan and the other has unlimited, an extra $15 a month.  We looked at our monthly usage and realized we would be safe with both phones having the 1000 minute 1000 text plan.  $15 savings a month.  Considering starting our magic jack phone service back up to eliminate a cell phone in its entirity. 
*We found a local lady who was making cloth diapers for extra income to her family. I am not a fan of changing messy panties so this really wasnt an option.....UNTIL....I calculated the savings. Our youngest daughter, 15 months, is pretty much on a schedule with her "messy" diapers. So we thought if we can eliminate 3 diapers a day by using the cloth diaper, that would be a savings of 90 diapers a month, over one jumbo box of diapers....$24.99. We still are using disposable for when we go places and in the mornings when we know a messy one is coming!  Can't believe we didnt do this soon...absolutely LOVE it, LOVE the savings, and think our little girl looks absolutely adorable in them! 

Our oldest daughter, still wears pull ups at night because she sleeps so sound that she doesnt wake herself up.  So our next step is to purchase a set for her too.  Pay $7.00 to eliminate a pack of pull ups a month as well.  $19.99. 
So all these savings = a total monthly savings of ....  $118.98      SCORE!!!!!! 
$118.98 more that we dont have to ask for to go towards our next payment!  And for that we are grateful and beyond blessed!  

a heavy heart....and we're off!!

My heart has been so heavy over the last few weeks.  I know we are being called in this direction.  I know we are being called to Africa.  My heart hurts because I want to be a part of something big...something huge!  But it hurts because my children here...they're ages really do not allow us to take them with us.   We havent ever left our girls for more than a night.  And when we have we've not traveled out of the town they were in, yet alone the country.  The anxiety of this is overwhelming.  It's scary.   But God still calls us.  He still is saying, "I need you here!"  So it is my prayer today, that we can answer this call with a peace amongst us, to know our girls here will be taken care of and that we can open up to this adventure fully! 
I am amazed at how my heart is opening for these children.  I never once doubted we'd ever have a hard time loving our babies...but my heart is opening for ALL of these children.  Yes, every one of the 147 million that are without a home and a forever family.  I've joined the prayer battle, daily!!  Praying for every single aspect of this life.  I pray that area churches can be more open minded to this.  I pray that when a family feels the call they can openly say, "Yes God, use us." and I pray more than anything that He uses our family in whatever way He desires. 
As of yesterday we are COMPLETELY finished to be available for domestic adoptions, as well as state waiting.  So now whatever God has planned we are completely ready!!   For those that do read my blog...hold on...this could get interesting!!  WE ARE VERY READY!!!