New Blog update

So sorry, my apologies.  Apparently the link I created was not working.  Our new family blog can be found at http://www.theeccentricfamily.wordpress.com

New Blog

Please feel free to visit my new blog at  The Eccentric Family

The End. . .

Quite obviously a blogging sabbatical has taken place as we welcomed two children into our family.  And yes, Zegaye and Erbeka joined our family over Labor Day Weekend 2010.  Within the next month I hope to begin a new blogging venture, so if anyone ever still checks here hopefully soon a new blog will begin.

Thanks for reading over the past two years, and feel free to continue perusing the archives!

-Bethany Taylor

UPDATE!!!

Woah!  Well, hopefully most people know that I’m a slacker blogger and we have actually been to Ethiopia for court and returned!  We did end up traveling for court July 19-27th and had a wonderful time meeting Erbeka and Zegaye for the first time.  I’ll be posting a bunch of pictures here soon, but did most of our posting via facebook while we were in-country.

So much has happened over the past few weeks its difficult to think through typing it all out here.  But to say the least God’s grace has been so evident in each step we’ve taken in this adoption.  We just have to stop and thank God for again and again proving Himself faithful to our family.  10 months ago we just couldn’t logically think how in the world we’d be able to pay for another adoption and care for one or two more children, but as we’ve stepped out in faith to what we believed God was asking us to do we have seen Him provide WAY beyond our wildest imagination.  We’ve had anonymous gifts sent through the mail, seen friends and family sacrificially give out of their abundance and even out of their need, within the last week we also had someone give us all the money we needed to purchase a van!   **For those wondering we only need about $5-6,000 more to finish up this adoption, this means that over the last 8 months God has provided $34,000 to cover adoption expenses so far AND an additional $10,000 for us to purchase a vehicle that will fit our expanded family!  But we do need this remaining amount within the next week to be able to pay for our plane tickets to Ethiopia and our in-country expenses while we’re there. **  If you’re interested in helping, the best option is to give quickly to our Lifesong account (info under the Funding our adoption page) this option allows you to receive a tax-deduction for any amount you contribute.  If you’d like to send a personal check to us to help with the remaining expenses that is also an option.  We’ve updated the Funding our Adoption page with the details of the expenses we have left to pay.  Please take a look and see if you may be lead to help with one of the final expenses we have, our family would be forever grateful!

And now. . .  here’s some photos from our time in Ethiopia!  We just can’t wait to have Zegaye and Erbeka come home and join the Taylor Family Clan!

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Lifesong for Orphans

Lifesong for Orphans is a wonderful ministry that does much work in caring for orphans, but a facet of their ministry is helping adopting families bring their children home.  They do this by providing matching grants or by setting up tax-deductible giving funds on behalf of a family to help them in fundraising.  We were blessed to receive a matching grant with our last adoption, however this time around we have been approved to have a fund created on our families behalf.  Lifesong is a trusted organization administering the funds on our children’s behalf, and will pay adoption expenses out of funds we’ve received.

For those of you who would desire to support our family in this way, please click on our funding our adoption page for information on how to give to this account.  And thank you for supporting our growing family through your prayers and finances.  We are very grateful for any help you are able to provide.

SILENT AUCTION

Well, the time has finally come!  After weeks of hard work our big night will be held tomorrow June 19th at Sovereign Grace Church at 7:00PM.  A huge thank you to Melanie Leung-Shea’s and Lauren McCray!  You ladies have been my backbone throughout this entire planning.  Seriously. . . if it was not for these two ladies this evening would not be 3% as wonderful as it will be!

So I’m sure you’re just wondering what type of fabulous items will I find when I walk through the doors?  Well let me lay it out for you!  As you come in you will be personally greeted and given a program of items up for bid.  If you continue in you’ll notice we have live music from Duke Walker and you can help yourself to the snacks and drinks as you enter.   Then be sure to continue on over to where we’ll be offering samples of Organic Fair Trade Coffee from Ethiopia.  If you look to the right on our blog you’ll see the link for JustLoveCoffee.  We have partnered with this coffee company that was started by a man who adopted his children from the very same orphanage our 2 new children have come from.  We will offer samples of this superior coffee and have order forms for you to place an order.  Our family receives $5 for each bag sold.

Right next to our coffee sale will be a display of friendship bracelets.  Tigist has been hard at work making dozens of these bracelets in various sizes to help bring her new brother and sister home!  These will not be up for bid, but you can purchase them directly for $5 each.

After you’ve settled in with a refreshment you can enjoy the music in our sit and relax area with friends, or take a moment to view the items organized around the room.  We have grouped them into 4 categories for easy viewing.  These categories are: Items, Services, Gift cards and Sets, and Entertainment.  Here’s a sampling of what you will find up for bid:  Baby items, personalized artwork, jewelry, home-brewed beer, a hand-bag, gym membership, babysitting, photography packages, tutoring services, home organization consulting, haircuts, dessert delivery, summer dance camp enrollment, sewing lessons, dinner at outback, a gift card to a florist, greeting cards, the pastors “favorites” book collection, Nationals Tickets, movie theater tickets, a day on a 34 ft Catalina sail boat, an authentic Chinese meal cooked and served in your home.  Are you excited yet???  We are!

Your fabulous MC for the evening will be Luke Middleton.  He will be making announcements and explaining how the evening will proceed and how the bidding works.  Joshua has produced a beautiful video that shows the impact adoption has made in many families.  This will be shown, and then we will open the items for bidding.   You’ll want to arrive right on time because the people who are first to bid on an item will be eligible for 2 drawings we will have during the event.  *And please remember to bring cash or checks because we will be unable to process credit cards. *

We are very grateful to each personal and business that has donated to make this event possible.   We are trusting God to provide each and every penny we need to bring our sweet children home and this evening is a huge step in making this a possibility.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to each of you who donated items and services, and to each of you who are attending.  Your generosity IS making a huge difference in the lives of two orphans who will soon have a forever family.  Thank you and we hope to see you tomorrow evening!  Everyone is invited!

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

WE HAVE A DAUGHTER!!!!!!!  We are so excited to announce that today was the day that our agency called with the wonderful news that we have a girl!  If you remember about 6 or 7 weeks back we announced that we were referred a son who is 6 years old and we have been waiting ever since for news of a second child referral.  So let me tell you the story. . .

Ever since we submitted our paperwork our family has been in line to receive a referral for a healthy toddler aged boy or girl but we still enjoyed browsing our agency’s Waiting Child List (WCL).  This photo listing is also how we learned about our son, only we first saw his picture over 2 years ago.  The WCL is a photolisting a children who are maybe a little more difficult to place either because they are older then 5, are part of a sibling group, or who have a medical condition.

About 4 weeks ago the most precious and adorable infant girl was placed on the WCL due to her visual impairment (likely full blindness, but unsure at this time) and small size (most likely born pre-term).  So often I browse this list and pray for these children, but this time was different.  This striking little girl caught my eye and lodged herself in my heart.  I showed Joshua her picture that evening and he was equally smitten.  In our original homestudy we were approved for the full gamut of special, medical, and developmental needs, however due to some challenges our son has we were asked to wait for a healthy toddler and not pursue a 2nd child that was considered special needs.  This made a lot of sense at the time and we agreed with our agency.  However, we could not forget this precious child and about 2 1/2 weeks ago called our agency to discuss the possibility of adopting her!  After much prayer and discussion on both sides we have been approved to pursue adopting this baby girl!

Unfortunately we are unable to post pictures of either child until we pass court in Ethiopia so you’ll just have to imagine the most adorable Ethiopian 7 month old little girl you can for now.  We are still hoping to be given a court date the end of July to travel to Ethiopia and meet both of our wonderful children!  Please keep us in prayer as we move ahead with our fundraising.  We are holding our silent auction NEXT weekend.  My next post will cover all the fabulous items we’ll have up for bid.  Stay posted!

Referral #1 Received!

Friday was a wonderful day here in the Taylor household.  Although I have not been as diligent keeping up with posting, much has been going on here.  We officially finished up our homestudy visits and paperwork collection a few weeks ago.   AWAA (our adoption agency) has been reviewing our file and has been in conversation with us about what may be the best fit for our family.  We are so excited that our request to adopt a positively precious 5 year old little dude from the waiting child’s list has been granted!  In the next few weeks AWAA will also be seeking to match our family with one other child in the 0-4 year old range. 

This adoption process has gone so much quicker then we expected, and while many “bumps” may still lie ahead there is a high potential that we will travel to Ethiopia in July to meet our son and potentially one other child.  We will be in Ethiopia for about 1 week while we meet our children and attend a court hearing to give our intent to adopt and parent these children.  We will then return to the US for a period of anywhere between 6-12 weeks while the rest of their paperwork is processed at which point we will be told we are able to return to bring our children home.

We have updated the “Funding Our Adoption” page on our blog with when different fees are due.  We are applying for grants this week, and hope to have a fundraiser in the works soon.  Thank you for praying for us and walking through this with us.  Please continue to pray for our family as we raise the rest of the needed funds to bring these children home.  Please also pray as we prepare our home and Tigist and Fikadu for their new siblings.

Trusting in our Great God. . .

A friend sent this Spurgeon devotional to me the other day, and it brought such encouragement to me.  May I forever be resolved to bring glory to Christ no matter the trial or affliction.  His grace bears me up or will work a deliverance.  May I persist in unwavering faith towards a God who sent his son to take care of my biggest need.  He alone is faithful.

“My grace is sufficient for thee.”—2 Corinthians 12:9.

If none of God’s saints were poor and tried, we should not know half so well the consolations of divine grace. When we find the wanderer who has no where to lay his head, who yet can say, “Still will I trust in the Lord, when we see the pauper starving on bread and water, who still glories in Jesus; when we see the bereaved widow overwhelmed in affliction, and yet having faith in Christ, oh! what honour it reflects on the gospel. God’s grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and trials of believers. Saints bear up under every discouragement, believing that all things work together for their good, and that out of apparent evils a real blessing shall ultimately spring—that their God will either work a deliverance for them speedily, or most assuredly support them in the trouble, as long as He is pleased to keep them in it. This patience of the saints proves the power of divine grace. There is a lighthouse out at sea: it is a calm night—I cannot tell whether the edifice is firm; the tempest must rage about it, and then I shall know whether it will stand. So with the Spirit’s work: if it were not on many occasions surrounded with tempestuous waters, we should not know that it was true and strong; if the winds did not blow upon it, we should not know how firm and secure it was. The master-works of God are those men who stand in the midst of difficulties, stedfast, unmoveable,—

“Calm mid the bewildering cry,
Confident of victory.”

He who would glorify his God must set his account upon meeting with many trials. No man can be illustrious before the Lord unless his conflicts be many. If then, yours be a much-tried path, rejoice in it, because you will the better show forth the all-sufficient grace of God. As for His failing you, never dream of it—hate the thought. The God who has been sufficient until now, should be trusted to the end.

Thank you!

Round One of the bracelets are going in the mail tomorrow!  Thank you to everyone who made a donation!  Fikadu and Tigist have been hard at work this past week.  We are still taking orders if you’d like to leave a comment or send an email with a request we’ll get the next batch out in a couple weeks!  And thank you again for your support of our next adoption!