We are so close!!!!  I just updated our funding page and as you can see we are close to having everything paid for!  We will need to purchase our plane tickets and pay our travel fees around the middle of December.  So we have about 5-6 weeks to raise the remaining $8000.00.  We are willing to do baby-sitting or yard work for families close by.  And if you’re just to busy to do all that holiday baking, I’d be more then willing to bake, rolls, bread, pies, make side items.  Please just let us know.  Also if you have any other fund-raising ideas please pass them along. 

We also have a fund that was set up for us by Lifesong for Orphans.  If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution please leave a comment and I will forward you the information. 

Thank you to everyone who has given so far!  We are very excited to soon be able to post pictures and video of our kiddos for everyone to see.  We hopefully will pass court mid-December and then we’ll be able to share with the world our kiddos beautiful smiles!  It’s looking now like we will travel in January, so please keep us in your prayers as our paperwork is going through translation and court in Ethiopia.

Thanks and God Bless!

If I ever had any doubts, and yes I’ve certainly had my days. . . please let me never forget God’s faithfulness and unending kindness.  If you have checked out our funding our adoption page recently you’ve seen that we still have a lot to save and raise for our adoption.  

A few weeks ago we received a matching grant from Lifesong for Orphans.  Basically they will match dollar for dollar given up to $4000 giving us the potential to raise $8000 towards our adoption costs.  Which is exactly the amount we still needed to send in our dossier, accept our referral, and request a court date, and all by the end of this month.

Well it is with much joy and in absolute humility that I can express that God has provided for our needs!  What I considered impossible, He considered possible, what I was hoping for, He exceeded!  Are you ready for this?  Our matching grant has been matched!!!!

For anyone who still wants to donate towards our adoption costs Lifesong has an account set up in our name and any gifts given to our account will be tax-deductible and you will receive a tax-deductible receipt.  Please leave a comment if you are interested and I will send you the information.  

This means that all we have remaining to raise is our travel costs to bring the children home!  This is still a large amount but as I’m learning and continually seeing, God loves to provide for our needs!  And more then that, God loves the fatherless, the orphan, the poor.  For a great video about what God is doing in Ethiopia click on the following link and watch the 2nd video presentation.  This video is part of the missions video put out by our church.  We can’t wait to visit Covenant Life Church in Addis Abba when we travel to Ethiopia.  Enjoy!  www.missionvideos.org

Here is a link to a family who is in the process of adopting 4 (YES FOUR) children from Ethiopia.  This amazing family is following God’s prompting to provide a home to a sibling group that was not very likely to be adopted.  With this many children being adopted at one time there is a huge financial need and their 12 year old daughter has made some beautiful purses and scarves in an effort to help fund the adoption of her new siblings.  If you’re thinking ahead to Christmas presents this would be a fantastic way to buy a gift for a great cause!  Check it out here:

www.adoptingmiracles.net

Our First Bottle Drive participant is Elizabeth.  Daughter of Noah and Melissa Winslow.  What a cutie pie!  Thank you for saving change to help bring our precious kiddos here!

Our caregroup at church has so kindly organized an incredible fundraiser for our adoption.  This fundraiser is specifically for people who attend our church.  For three Sundays in August a group of amatuer and professional photographers have agreed to take pictures of your children outside the church building after the Sunday meeting.  They will provide you with a cd of all the pictures taken for you to use as you choose.  Your photo session is completely free and they only ask that you make a contribution to our adoption. 

Please check out this link foto fundraiser flier for a copy of the flyer with all the information you need.

We are just a few short months away from bringing our precious children home to their forever family!  If you haven’t recently checked out the Funding Our Adoption Page at the top of our blog please do in order to find out about our updated fee schedule. 

We are wanting to get as many children as possible involved in helping bring our kiddos home.  One way we are doing this is by having a baby bottle drive (or bottle of your choice)!  We are asking families with kids to fill a baby bottle up with spare change and any money your kids might want to donate out of their allowances.  Once the bottle is filled if a grown-up could take a picture of the kids with the filled bottle and send it to us with a check in the amount raised, we will be putting all the money raised this way towards the plane tickets for our kids to fly home! (about a $2500 expense)  Also, we will be posting the pictures with the filled bottles here on our blog, so that once our kids return they’ll know how much other children all over invested in helping bring them home! (Of course if you don’t want your kids picture posted we’ll just keep a physical picture to show them)

If your church would like to participate we have a word document with a short bio of us and how we were led to adopt that you can distribute to families in your church.  You can leave a comment here and we will send that document out to you.  

Thank you for helping bring together our forever family!

God Bless- Joshua and Bethany