I love Adoption!

http://vimeo.com/33807721

On our Way!!

 It has been a good long time since we have updated our blog but many things have been happening.  We have had many small miracles and becasue of that we have been able to reach our first goal!! We have now raised 8,015 dollars and we feel so lucky and blessed to have so many people willing to donate and help. Because we were able to turn in the money we got our homestudy binder and all the paper work that comes with it!! It is a bit overwhelming all the things that need to be done but we are taking it one paper at a time! Yesterday we got  our finger prints taken so we can send them to the FBI and then they can tell us that we are not criminals!! We will continue to have fundraisers and we are still collecting cans and bottles and any cash donations!! We still have a long ways to go but know with the help from God and others we will get what we need to make our family complete! Thank you to everyone who has helped this far it means more than you know and we are so greatful for your support! Merry Christmas!!

A huge thanks to everyone who bought tickets to our pancake breakfast at Applebees.  It was a huge success! We had almost 100 people come and we made over $650 towards our adoption.  We are also very grateful for everyone who helped to serve food and bus tables, and of course to Applebees who allowed us to put on this event in the first place.

Slow and Steady wins the Race!!

Things have been pretty slow lately, we have pushed back the garage sale to this upcomming weekend and are still amazed  by all the people that have helped us this far! We are also in the process of selling tickets to our pancake breakfast that Applebees is so willing to put on for us! We are selling tickets to an all you can eat pancake breakfast with sausage and drink for $7 and $5 we get to keep and $2 goes to all of the food.  We feel very blessed to have so many opprotunities to raise money and hope to make our goal of $10,000 by the end of November! So if you live in Salem and you would like to buy a ticket to a breakfast please let us know!

Garage Sale

We had a garage sale fundraiser this past weekend.  We are SOOOO grateful for everyone who donated stuff for us to sell.  We were able to raise about $500 and we still have a ton of stuff to try and sell.  We are thinking of maybe doing one more garage sale in two weeks.  We are always deeply impressed by people's generosity.  There were several people who gave us extra money, or simply donated to our adoption fund while at the garage sale.  Thanks again to everyone who helped!!! 

Fundraising

So, we have started doing as much as we can to raise money for our adoption.  Jeff is working an extra part time job tutoring and we are renting out rooms in our house to international students for extra money to go towards the adoption.  We are also asking anyone who is willing to help out in any way to make a donation.  We are taking donated items to sell at a garage sale, selling cupcakes and cake pops, collecting bottles and cans, collecting old used cell phones and ink jet cartridges, etc.  We will also be hosting a huge all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast at Applebees in October with all proceeds going to the adoption.  If you want to help out in any of these ways, please let us know.  You can also simply make a donation through PayPal through the link near the top left of the page.  We are soooooo grateful for all who are willing to share with us in this journey and deeply appreciate your help.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also

International adoption is very expensive.  The whole process will end up costing us $30,000.  When I tell people how much we need to save for our adoption, they are often confused and wonder why we wouldn't rather spend that money on a new car (or two), or family vacations, or our children's college fund.  While all those things sound great, my wife and I always remember the passage in Matthew which states, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal;  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal;  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."  Our ultimate treasure is our family, and we know that it is eternally more important to bring home the child the God has prepared for us than it is to have a really nice vacation, or a new car.  How would we feel if we met that child in the next life and had to explain to him/her that the reason they never got to be part of our family is because we really wanted to go Disney World, or we really needed to buy a boat.

Why Ethiopia?

We have decided to begin our adoption process in Ethiopia.  A common question that we get is why we are adopting internationally when there are so many kids right here in the US that desperately need a family.  First of all, we firmly believe that any child without a family NEEDS a family.  We have come to realize, however, that all of the children in our local children services "system" have food, clothing, and shelter.  In addition, they will receive and education, and have instant access to some of the fines medical care in the world.  Orphans in Ethiopia do not.  In Ethiopia, one in ten children die before their first birthday.  One in six die before their fifth birthday.  60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition.  Ethiopia's doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000.  And, only 18% of children reach grade five.  Furthermore, Ethiopia is home to 4 - 6 million orphans.  That is the same number of children under the age of 18 who reside in Massachusetts, New York State, and Washington DC combined.  If every parent in those places died tonight - that would be similar to Ethiopia's orphan crisis.  As we digested all of these facts, and researched the condition that these children live in, we realized that we needed to do our part.

Why Adoption

When we tell people that we want to adopt, they often don't understand since we are able to have our own biological children.  I guess for us, there are two major reasons that we have decided to bring a child into our family through adoption.  First and foremost we feel that it is what God wants us to do.  We have always tried to involve our Father in Heaven in major decisions such as career choices, moving, having children, etc.  As we have prayed, we have felt that this is the path that God has prepared for us.  Second, there is a huge need.  We have seen how incredible it is to be parents and to nurture and love our children.  We see how happy they are to be loved and the great potential that they can achieve in this life.  Then we imagine all the children who have no parents to see their first smile or encourage their first steps; all the children who have never felt a mother's love or a father's embrace; all the children who long for family that will never come.  There are over 143 million orphans in the world today and the more we reflect on it, the more we know that we have to respond in some way.

Meet the Family

My wife and I currently have three kids. Our oldest, Makenzie, is in first grade.  She is very adventurous and loves to play soccer and basketball.  She is a wonderful older sister to her siblings.  Our second is the boy in the middle, Jaxson.  Jaxson is our Valentine's Day baby, which is why we think he is so affectionate and loving.  He loves to hug and kiss everyone, especially the ladies.  Our youngest is Jenna.  Jenna is the one everyone loves.  It must be her curly blond hair and Shirley Temple looks.  But, Jenna's personality matches her hair - she is very energetic, loud, and loves to entertain.  She is also very sweet, and exceptionally smart.


So there are our kids.  We always though we wanted to have more kids.  In late 2010, we went through the process of re-evaluating what it is that we want to do with our lives.  As we prayed about the direction that God wanted us to take for our family, we started feeling like we should look into adoption.  That is where our journey began.