A Huggy for Sweet Pea

Each of our girls have a huggy. A little bear that they sleep with every night. It is the one little stuffed animal that they bring to the doctor or like to hug if they need extra comfort (HERE and HERE). The girls quickly thought of the idea that Sweet Pea needs a huggy. I had saved a coupon for $5 off (pretty good coupon) for Build-a-Bear. We had never had the experience before so it was a first for all of us.
We decided on the chocolate brown one. It was a popular choice, every one else making a bear at that time picked the same one. And with the coupon we were able to get the bear and have all the fun for about $5.

Filling the little bear with love and fluff. We made our bear not too soft and not too hard ~ just right. We ended up not getting huggy onto the fluff tube all the way and fluff went everywhere.

Then off to wash the bear. This place thinks of everything. I love how the girls were able to "do something" as we are working hard to prepare for our new child.

I loved these signs hanging from the ceiling. I just loved the idea of this is what an orphan desires. For someone to take them home. For some family to choose them.


And here is our family with the new huggy - just waiting for Sweet Pea to hug it some day.




This turned out to be a great family activity for the kids as we are preparing our home and our family for Sweet Pea. Now we just need to sleep with huggy a few nights and have it smell like us and hopefully it will someday provide comfort to our new little one.

Homestudy update

Our homestudy report is done and has been sent to the international agency for review. Once that is done, it will be printed and notarized and we can be done with that part of the process. So far, I think we are also waiting on some child abuse clearances. Those had to be done for every state we have lived in since we were 18.

We have also been working on our dossier. We only have about 5 things left to accomplish. None of it is too hard. But as I said before, we are short some funds to send it in. Hoping those details work out quickly so we can press on ahead. I am going to try and get those last things done in faith and trusting that we can send the dossier in soon.

yard sale - fund raiser

We ended up having another yard sale this past Saturday with the proceeds going to the adoption fundraising. Our first one was in the pouring rain and this one was in the freezing cold. Yep, we know how to pick the day. It turned out to be a pretty good day and we were so very thankful for all the goods that were donated to us and the help from my Mom for organizing the stuff.

big week

The rest of the week will be a big week here. Today is our last homestudy meeting. This time the case worker comes over and visits our home and meets our girls. Nothing to be nervous about, she has already warned us she isn't coming to look in every closet, just a nice visit. This is nothing compared to having your home ready to show for real estate. Been there...done that.

We also need to decide the age range of a child we are willing to accept. That one has been a hard choice for us. We have decided that we will accept boy or girl (which most likely means it will be a boy). It has seemed unnatural for us to pick the gender of the child. At the moment, we are thinking one child zero to 18 months old (at the time of referral).

Once we have this last homestudy meeting, it takes the case worker about 2 weeks to write the report then we have a week to have it approved by the international agency before it is printed and notarized. Then we just have a few more things to finish up for our dossier. The dossier is the pack of information that is country specific. Once the dossier is sent in, it goes to Ethiopia and is translated and then we are placed on a waiting list. The problem for us is, when we send it in, we need to send it in with our next large payment. We are still waiting on the funds. That is why we have been working hard on the call-me-cards (HERE) and the yard sale. We have worked really hard to cut our own budget back to the bare bones, and we are praying that God provides the needed funds when we have our paperwork done.

Understanding God's Heart for Adoption

Chuck and I were blessed this weekend as we had the opportunity to attend an adoption conference called Together For Adoption. We sat and listened to speaker after speaker, sermon after sermon about learning to care for orphans, about having a heart for the nations, about God's passion for adoption and how it is His idea and His plan. This was not an adoption conference that teaches someone how to adopt or what agency to use. No, this was digging into the Word of God and understanding what He has to say about His children and the importance of caring for the orphans. We came away both blessed and encouraged and yet heavyhearted.

I quickly want to share about the passage in James 1:26-27. A verse that is very familiar with those in the adoptive world.

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Notice how there are 3 parts of true religion.

1. bridling the tongue
2. visit orphans and widows in their distress
3. keep oneself unstained by the world

How can we practice true religion when we are neglecting one or more of these 3. I have a passion for the orphan (obviously) and yet I often fail when it comes to bridling my own tongue. Not to mention, being worldly and living with performance based living, that is being stained by the world.

Like I said, I was challenged and brought to a humble place before God to examine my heart before Him. The messages are going to be available for listening on the Together For Adoption website (HERE). It might take a day or two before they are available. Hopefully you can also find encouragement.


If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Notice how there are 3 parts of true religion.

1. bridling the tongue
2. visit orphans and widows in their distress
3. keep oneself unstained by the world

How can we practice true religion when we are neglecting one or more of these 3. I have a passion for the orphan (obviously) and yet I often fail when it comes to bridling my own tongue. Not to mention, being worldly and living with performance based living, that is being stained by the world.

Like I said, I was challenged and brought to a humble place before God to examine my heart before Him. The messages are going to be available for listening on the Together For Adoption website (HERE). It might take a day or two before they are available. Hopefully you can also find encouragement.

Ethiopia in the Bible

Just thought I would share what Chuck had gathered in his studies on Ethiopia in the Bible. If you are FB friends with him, he posted this a few days ago, but I found it quite interesting. Below is a copy of his notes. He must have shared this with the girls because they were able to tell me all about it at the dinner table last night. Oh, I wish I could retain knowledge like they do.




Since we are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia I wanted to do a little research on mentions of Ethiopia in the BIble. I had no idea what a rich Biblical history Ethiopia has! It is mentioned more than 45 times in Scripture! Here is a short overview of several of them. (NOTE: I did not write this!!! The following is a compilation of notes & excerpts taken from from several websites.)

CREATION
Ethiopia is first mentioned in the Creation account itself. The river that watered the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:10) split into four giant rivers: "The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold... the name of the second river is Gihon: that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia." (Gen 2:11, 13). God's "Garden" was quite colossal, actually - more like a giant preserve, a country or a continent. His "Garden" had to be watered by a mighty river! That river split into four other mighty rivers, two of which flowed in Ethiopia.

THE PROPHET ZEPHANIAH
The prophet Zephaniah was at least half Ethiopian (he had an Ethiopian father, no info about his mother). This Israelite prophet was a direct descendant of King Hezekiah: "The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah." (Zep 1:1). "Cushi" means "man of Ethiopia". There are three men named Cushi in scripture, all very prominent: Joab's runner (2 Samuel 18:21-32), the great-grandfather of Jehudi the scribe (Jer 36:14), and Zephaniah the prophet's father (Zep 1:1).

MOSES WIFE
Moses had an Ethiopian wife. He married her after his first wife died. Moses' only children were through his first wife, Zipporah (1 Chr 23:15). God punished Moses' sister Miriam with leprosy after she and his brother Aaron spoke against Moses for marrying her (see Numbers 12:1-15).

JEREMIAH'S RESCUER
Another Ethiopian saved Jeremiah's life. Jer 38:4-15 records: "Therefore the princes said unto the king, let this man be put to death..." Zedekiah the king said, "Behold, he is in your hand..." "Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire. Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; Ebed-melech went and spoke to the king, saying, My lord the king, these men have done evil to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is likely to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.

Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die. So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put these under your arms. And Jeremiah did. So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

Jer 39:15-18 says, "Now the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee. But I will deliver you in that day, saith the LORD: and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid... because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD."
God used this Ethiopian man to save the life of the prophet Jeremiah, then God blessed Ebed-melech by saving his life in return.

A RUMOR SAVES JERUSALEM
God also used a rumor about an Ethiopian king to save Jerusalem during one of the most famous battles in the Bible. The Bible talks about this battle in 2 Kings 18 and Isaiah 37. There was a king named Rab-shakeh who had Jerusalem surrounded. It looked like God's people were doomed. He had conquered other mighty nations before attacking Jerusalem. But he got so proud and cocky that he started blaspheming God. Isaiah 37:7-9 is God's reply to Rab-shakeh: "...he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with you...." -- God sent Rab-shakeh back to his own country and killed him. And He used a rumor about Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, to get Rab-shakeh back there.

1 MILLION-MAN ARMY
Of the nations that Israel went to war against in her history, Ethiopia had the largest army. Its size is mentioned in 2Ch 14:9 "And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with a host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah." A thousand thousand is a million. Zerah the Ethiopian led a 1 million man army, the largest numbered army that Israel ever fought. Zerah the Ethiopian went to war against Asa king of Judah, whose army was much smaller. Without God on their side, any army of any size can be defeated. 2Chronicles 14:10-12 continues "Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried to the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou [art] our God; let not man prevail against thee. So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled."

PHILIP & THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH
Another Ethiopian (the Ethiopian Eunuch) is mentioned in Acts chapter 8. We know he had traveled over 1,000 miles, from Ethiopia to Jerusalem, to worship God (Acts 8:27). It would be hard to believe any man would travel that far across the desert by chariot, but he did.
In Acts 8:28, we find him "reading Isaiah the prophet" as he traveled. When Philip drew near the chariot he asked the Ethiopian if he understood what he was reading. He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" (Acts 8:31). After this, Philip got up into the chariot and "preached Jesus to him" (Acts 8:35). In the course of preaching Jesus, Philip spoke of water baptism. We know this because the Ethiopian said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" (Acts 8:36). Philip responded "If you believe with all your heart you may" (Acts 9:37). The man then confessed, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." His confession was an acknowledgment of the Lordship of Christ. After his confession, "he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him" (Acts 8:38).

Pretty cool, huh?
~chuck

Call-Me-Card Fundraiser

If you have ever grabbed a receipt or a deposit slip to jot your phone number, email address or blog address in order to share it with a friend, than you might be interested in Call-Me-Cards. We are launching our Call-Me-Card ADOPTION FUNDRAISER. A Call-Me-Card is like a calling card custom made for families. We have had lots of affirmation about our customers satisfaction with the Call-Me-Cards and we thought it would be a great fundraiser. The girls started this as their business over a year ago and it is still going. In order to make it a fundraiser we had to adjust our prices just a bit, but it is still a pretty good value and all of the proceeds are going to the adoption fund.

Click on the girls website (HERE) to see some samples and how to order. Chuck posted it on his facebook page and we have had our first sale already. If you have ordered before, and have run out, now is a great time to order some more.