Updates

We are so thankful for the blessings that continue to pour in almost two weeks after our yard sale. Amazing notes of support and love, encouraging stories of adoption and financial gifts that are pushing us so very close to our first goal! Thank you each and everyone who has come along side us in so many ways! We are ready to get the ball rolling and move onto the next step. I keep reminding myself that it's all in His timing but my heart is longing even more deeply for our son and I'm ready to dig in and start the mountains of paperwork. In the meantime we are praying for our little guy wherever he might be. Which leads me to the next most frequent question we're asked and one I totally understand might be confusing! We have been asked a lot if we already know who Henry is and if we've seen pictures of him. No, we don't know and there is a possibility that Henry is not even born yet. Kind of crazy! We are just beginning our journey and there are a multitude of steps to complete before we even get to the referral process. What we do know though is God has called us to adopt a son and we have requested that he is somewhere between the ages of 9 months and 2 years old.  Tonight the kids and I were sitting at the table talking about different scenarios when Henry is finally home...just simple things like will he sit at the table or in the high chair? We have many conversations like this and although in the beginning it might have seemed a little strange I've now come to realize it's no different than when I was pregnant and we dreamed about what life would be like after each baby was born. With all our kids we had them named before they were born so even in utero we called them by name....it's really no different. The only difference is that Henry is in our hearts. We are all longing for him. It fills my heart when Amelia asks if she can pray for her new brother that's being "dopted" from Africa. And the other day when she was eating her scone she held it up and said "mom....look what shape my scone is?" Yep, you guessed it Africa! Sam has asked numerous times how soon Henry will sleep in his room and Maggie stated months ago that she's not sure how many kids she'll have and how many she'll adopt. I love that they're "getting it" and pray they will seek the eternal gifts He has for them.

On a fundraising note we have ordered t-shirts and we hopefully start printing soon. My sister-in-law Kristen did such an amazing job designing them(she's also responsible for the blog design too:) and our dear friends Chris and Darami are printing them for us! Chris and Darami are such a blessing to us and have been friends and mentors to us for years now and they are also adoptive parents! Their company plans to start partnering with other adoptive families to help them fundraise the resources needed for adoptions both domestic and international. Once again I'm blown away by the provisions and plans God has for us and how they weave so perfectly together with others. We have taken some pre-orders and plan to have some t-shirts modeled up here on the blog but for now check out this great design.....

You have your choice of red or green on a grey t-shirt! The minus one goes on the back below the collar. Love them! I'll be sure and update as soon as they are available!