The First of Many :)

So, I'm assuming this will be the first

of many posts in the near future ;)

From here on out, we will be receiving

more information, getting more accomplished,

and getting closer and closer to bringing our son home!

I have learned a whole lot this week! 

There is an INVALUABLE Facebook Group

that has been created exclusively for parents

adopting from Compassion for Congo.

 (It's private...sorry:0)

A mom that has had her girls home for a year

is still providing very important 

information for the rest of us and

assisting us with what documents are required!

It is SUCH a help!!!

One thing I have learned.

We will NOT be sharing our son's picture on here :(

I was looking forward to sharing it after our fundraiser,

however, the reason makes sense.

We want to protect any and every child.

This IS the WORLD WIDE web,

and therefore people anywhere (including Congo)

can see this and know what our son looks like.

We also have to protect Pastor Didier and 

the orphanage down there.

So that is why we will not be sharing his photo

until he is safe in the U.S.

(more incentive to come to our dinner!)

Buuuuuttt, 

I'll tell you his name!

He was given the name Chrinovic (K sound)

But we have named him Tobias.

We'll call him Tobi for short :)

 It means God is good, or the goodness of the Lord!!!

We love it and we think it fits our beautiful little

African boy! 

I'm also working away at planning our 

benefit dinner!

I love making these beauties here in all 

different shapes - painted and unpainted:
(btw, I am SO not one of those bloggers who takes great pictures!)

Selling the jars, not the chalkboards!

There will be a variety of different sized jars

and dishes decorated as centerpieces 

at each table!

They will also be for sale :)

Then I'll be making other varieties that I 

will sell as-is with no

goodies in them.

They are so cute for candy, candles,

and other fun decor!

They can be changed up with each season :)

Anyway, I've been diving into 

some paperwork lately.  Trying to keep 

it all organized.  Chris and I have a different 

opinion of how well I do ;) 

I've already run into some mistakes from a while 

back that will require us to get an 

updated home study AND an updated I-600A.

Ugh.

But I hear it isn't that difficult...hopefully it 

won't take too long!

Something else to pray about.

It looks as though our cost may be 

significantly higher than we thought.

Talking with other moms who are just about to 

bring their little ones home,

it looks like we were quoted at least 

$5,000 less than what it will actually cost!

We'll see how it goes.

Our opportunity to apply for grants doesn't

look promising.

This technically being an "independent" adoption,

we do not qualify for the grants that we have found!

We DO know that The Lord WILL provide...

we are trusting He will!

I don't find myself really stressing out about it.

It is just such a large number, 

and we don't have anything 

CLOSE to that!

This is why we are working so hard 

to make this Benefit Dinner a success.

We'll continue to fundraise in other small ways as well,

but probably not on a large level like this.

So please consider coming.

We'd be SO grateful!

It's November 11, 5:30 p.m.

Church at the Cross

Pine Grove.

More info here.

(please let me know if that link doesn't work!)

Let me know in some way if you are planning to come!

(email, Facebook comment or message, or rsvp to the event on FB)

I look forward to sharing much more as we get 

closer to our dinner,

and closer to bringing Tobias home! 

We have a son....

Wow, I've been waiting a few months

to write this post.

We have a son.

We have seen his face.

We have given him a name.

Let me start by telling a little bit of this story.

I have shared previously that we were 

looking for a little boy under the age of 2.

We felt that would be best for our family.

We also assumed that there would be

a little boy under the age of 2 

in the orphanage by the time we were ready.

That is not how it happened.

We were informed that there was one child

in the orphanage that wasn't adopted, all other

7 kids had adoptive parents already(praise the Lord!!!)

We were told that it'd be at least a month before any other 

children would be brought in.

This one child that had no parents

is about 3 years old.

So Chris and I started talking and praying.

We were challenged to greatly question the motive 

of our hearts in regards to adoption.

It's so easy to say, 

"I'd like an 8 month old boy, please"

When there are plenty of 8 month old boys available

for adoption!

It felt so unnatural for us, however, to say,
"I'm sorry little guy, you're just too old for us.

We'd rather wait for a younger little boy.

We are concerned about how well you will adjust

to being put into our family...it might be better

for you to remain an orphan longer."

It felt just wrong.

We prayed much for him and about our situation.

 Within a couple days, we couldn't get this "3 year old" out of our minds (all we knew of him was his age).

We talked with our families about it and they

all seemed to be extremely supportive

and agreed with us.

We didn't pick our biological children, did we?

And praise God, He didn't give us much of a choice

with this one either.

He said,

"Here. Here is your son."

So this was almost a month ago and just 

two days ago, we received a picture.

We put a face to the boy we had been praying for.

It became official in our hearts.

No more wondering, "Who is it??? Who is our child???"

Everything changed in an instant!

Tears flowed as we saw that little guy's eyes

in the midst of the other beautiful 

chocolate faces in the orphanage....now

ALL of them had parents.

He wasn't the only one left anymore.

Now, we aren't going to share his picture 

or the name we have chosen for him just yet.

I can tell you this.

He doesn't look like his parents ;)

He's gorgeous.

He has beautiful dark skin.

The whites of his big round eyes stand out bright 

against the deep color of his skin.

He doesn't know of us yet, but he will this week.

He'll receive pictures and the names of his sisters.

We have some waiting to do,

But MUCH to be done in the waiting.

Lots of paperwork to gather.

And it looks like he may not be home until April or May.

But he is being cared for so very well

where he is.

So I just couldn't WAIT to share with all of you.

We are overjoyed to have his face

in our minds as we pray for our children.

And we are excited to have things to DO!

 It feels good to have goals and to get things 

done in this process.

Thank you to whoever has prayed for our child

and our family.

And thank you for reading.

Continue to pray with us for our son.

For his health, his well-being,

his desire to be HOME.

We will be sharing pictures and his name

at our Benefit Dinner on 

November 11 at 5:30

Church at the Cross,

Pine Grove.

I have an event on Facebook with more info.

PLEASE COME!

$20/ticket

or

$45/family

If you aren't able to make it to the dinner,

I'll be sure to have a post up very shortly after :)

Thank you for rejoicing with us!