Overdue!

Jiminy Crickets!

We're already 9 months and 10 days into our paper pregnancy! We are way prego. Our brains appear to be swollen with paperwork retention, our hearts have a hole in them, and are contracting some 60 times a minute with some focal pain. They say our baby is doing well, and she is measuring quite large compared to the average newborn {{for obvious reasons}}.

We are praying that things will keep moving along...we are waiting on approval from the I*d**n government currently. Please pray this comes soon.

The delivery still looks a long ways away, so we try not to think too far ahead...because when we do, it just seems too long. Too far away.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Our heart's desire is for sweet A to feel peace and joy in her heart as she lives each day, and to know in her heart that she is deeply loved by the God of the universe, us, and her huge family in Christ.

In His time. Not ours. {ouch, my toes!}

He will work everything out that is in His plan and purposes.

We know it's true.

 

Yes. He will.

Something for Everyone

It was full. A garage sale lovers' dream.

We had our adoption benefit garage sale the last weekend of July, and the first weekend of August.

6 days of fun. Well, what I remember anyway.

It was crazy. Crazy awesome. God business.

In the middle of the busyness, I didn't get to take many pictures, but here are a few to give proof that it really was crazy big {{kind of like my newly acquired biceps as a result}}.

There were so many generous people who donated items, and a football team of family and friends who helped us prepare and man the garage sale. Thank you all so much!

A loud "shout out" {because we're a noisy bunch}to my Aunt Bren! She is a garage sale diva, and was a huge, huge help the whole way through. You can see her in this picture below, and she'll despise that her picture is on here, but should get over it eventually. She jumped in on the "dirty work", and would consistently keep showing up to help days prior to the sale when I was beginning to wonder if we would be able to get everything ready in time.

My mom, of course, was also a big help, and stuck it out even after she got sick during the garage sale---and folks, the weather was ... more than warmish and sticky. We had our own personal sauna. As I type this, I am wondering why we didn't we think to charge admission to our luxurious spa? Next time. Wink, wink.

Oh, Mary Kate! Why don't I have a picture of you?

Fabulous Mary Kate. She approached me and asked if I would care if she donated some of her antique items, and create a booth in the garage sale. "Um, let me think about it... Sure!" She has a heart for children who need families, and wanted to be part of A's journey home. The booth was awesome, and styled nicely; MK brought all kinds of antique and vintage flair to put in it, and then her cool sisters came and donated some more antiques for the booth. We pretty much had our very own antique road show. If you didn't make it to the sale by 8:20, you kind of missed out on much of this booth. Cleaned o-u-t.

Also, a big thanks to Dave A.! He arrived to help us bright and early the first morning of the sale to help hang signs, and ended up staying all day to help man and organize the sale. Huge help!

Some little people that came wanted to contribute too. Sweet? Yes, very much so.

Thanks, Parks!

Gracie helping with curb appeal!

 Caroline helping at check-out.

 

The sale went over so well, and we want to thank all of you very much who played a part in helping pull it off! From those who donated items, the kind owners of the building we used, friends and family who made yummy baked goods, all the family who came and helped hang up clothes, a dear friend(s) who kept bringing me lunch, friend who sewed up adorable handbags to put in the sale...the list goes on and on, and on.

A is loved. We are very blessed to have family and friends alongside us who share our heart.

Praise God! He is more than worthy.

edit: Thank you to everyone who CAME to the garage sale, and shopped, and generously donated. We really appreciated you stopping by!

Matching Grant Goodness

Is anyone else enjoying this gawgeous midwest weather? We are soaking it up. Too bad my flowers didn't toughen up and fight off the intense heat last month---they would be loving this peaceful sunshine.They now reside in the garden beside the dead squash, and withering broccoli. Gardening has never been my friend. I started feeling bad about it, but then remembered: The weeds. The weeds have never left me! By my side, they will surely always remain.

This post isn't really about the weather or the weeds. I am actually writing about some really awesome organizations that are blessing us majorly, and we would love to give back to them someday.

A couple of weeks ago, we were very, very thankful to be notified that we were chosen to receive a $2,500 matching grant from God's Grace Adoption Ministry (501(c)3 ministry) in Modesto, California. We had been anticipating their decision, and were beyond excited to hear this awesome news. THANK YOU SO MUCH, God's Grace Adoption Ministry for being His hands and feet to us!

God's Grace Adoption Ministry will match every dollar (tax deductible) designated to our family sent to them up to $2,500, and if there is more than $2,500 sent to them that is specifically designated to our family, they will still send all the extra money to our family to put towards the expenses of bringing sweet A home. How awesome is that?

Going into A's adoption, we knew it was going to be very extremely expensive, but at the same time knew that we didn't want the fear of finances stand in the way of bringing her home. We hear time and time again that God provides, and it is true, we have and  are seeing His hand. We don't like to talk or focus a lot about the financial part, but it is very real, and very big. However. She. is. worth. every. penny. EVERY SINGLE PENNY. With that said, do we wish that adoption was more affordable? Yes, definitely.

Some of you may be familiar with the costs of adoption, while others may not.

A's adoption will cost approximately $40,000. Uh huh. Beyond her adoption, we know we will have numerous large medical bills to help her get the care and treatment she will need.

We were hesitant on how to start fundraising---because it is hard to ask. Then, some of our friends threatened us {you know who you are}, and said if we didn't do fundraisers they would start announcing for people to send us money in the mail because they wanted to help. Well, then.

With the recent news of God's Grace Adoption ministry grant, our garage sale, generous donations, HandinHand grant, JSC grant, and our personal savings, we are now about halfway funded for our adoption costs. Amazing. Praise God! We are still in awe.

I have posted a copy of the letter that God's Grace Adoption Ministry gave us to share with our friends and family. All donations are tax deductible. Yipee!  If you feel lead to donate to help with the costs of  bringing A home, you can follow the instructions on the letter, and write our names in the memo line of the check so their office will know the donation is for A.

Donations are anonymous.

We are so thankful we live in a community that cares for a little girl you have never met, being loving and supportive to our family, and most of all: Praying for A. We know she is precious to God, and we just can't wait to have her home.

Garage sale pictures coming soon!
 

I Miss Her, A Trip that Changed Me, and Some Openness

She is missed.

We are waiting. Waiting on her to be with us.

Wondering what she is doing today...

I went to my niece's 4th birthday party last weekend. So much love and joy she had surrounding her. A family that loves her. Cousins that love her. Joy radiating.

God desires that for every child.

So many children... alone.

Stats say 163 million.
 
Alone. Lonely.

Waiting.

I don't think that children have to have birthday parties to have joy. They don't need fancy stuff, status, or their own room. I think children need families. Families that love them, and pray for them. Hugs and kisses too.

We don't know what our family is going to look like when A comes home, but we know God is sovereign. 

Our little girl has been so loved and prayed for the past 2 weeks by many strangers who became aware of her through our garage sale. Strangers in the flesh, but family in Spirit, have opened their hearts to A.

Please, Lord, heal her precious little heart, and be open to our love.

The garage sale was amazing. People kept coming---my many obnoxious neon signs did help draw the crowds, but we're pretty sure God had a little more to do with the success. Emotions rolled in as well. I feel sorry for the kind lady that was asking me some simple questions about A last Saturday, and I start melting into tears before I could finish answering her. I think heat and exhaustion could be playing a small part in some of the emotions, but really, we feel so overwhelmed with love, and prayers, and support...and just the plan that God has for A.

He does have a plan, you know.

We don't always understand it, or it may look a little scary, but we're learning the best way to approach it is: Trust Him.

Oh, were we the last ones to figure that out?

When Mr. Fly and I tied the knot eight years ago, we had always talked about our desire to adopt. Of course, we were going to have a couple of biological children first that hopefully would act just like their dad {{he's sweeter than me}}, get our feet wet on the whole parenting thing, master it, and then adopt our 3rd or 4th child...a bouncing, healthy little baby. I love babies. Always have.

We didn't leave a lot of room for changes in our plan--it was totally single spaced. I left out several other large details that we had in our big 'ol life plan. Some of them weren't that edifying anyway. ha. I am sure all of you can relate. Life is unpredictable, but God is faithful.

Last year around this time we were grieving over infertility, severe endometriosis, tired of surgeries, and countless doctor visits. Life really wasn't as bad as I thought it was, it just wasn't reflecting my perspective of what I expected my life to be, and it wasn't what I thought it should be.

Also, around the same time last summer, we were in Guatemala on a mission trip to minister to orphans with special needs {you can imagine who actually ministered to who}, through Hope For Home with Daryl and Wanda Fulp.

I am posting a few more pictures of our trip. The first picture below is of many of the wheelchairs that belonged to children inside the orphanage. In this particular orphanage, Hermano Pedro, we were not allowed to take pictures of the children. This is sad, because I know their sweet faces would melt you. Most, if not all, of the children in this orphanage had special needs. To the right of the wall in this picture were rows and rows and metal cribs. Cribs full of sweet, innocent children who did not choose to be there.


  
This picture below is of some of the older boys we were able to take out to lunch a couple days while we were there.

This awesome boy was actually in another orphanage we visited. He was very social and was glad to have people around him. His orphanage had less of an 'orphanage' atmosphere.

 


On this Guatemala trip, I had packed a whole huge black suitcase of gluten, dairy, and sugar free food because I was on a stringent diet in hopes of achieving pregnancy. Mmmm, rice cakes, brown rice that is. It didn't work. Yes, I felt better, but no pregnancy. Pain, sad and defeated pain, is what we felt. I'm not sure if this pain ever goes away completely.

You can bet that Daryl and Wanda will never forget me even if they tried---mostly due to the large suitcase full of food I trucked along, and my stock of food in their refrigerator. Yep. I.was.prepared., and we were unaware of God's will that was going to be unfolding.

Daryl and Wanda's little daughter, K, who also deals with cerebral palsy, was such a dear to us, and she had a true concern for me when she found out that we were praying for a family. She had lots of questions. I liked talking to her, and she touched my heart.

Towards the end of the trip, I think, I remember sitting at Hermano Pedro orphanage {the one where all the wheelchairs were lined against the wall} holding and rocking physically and emotionally hurting children by their cribs while sitting next to Wanda. We talked about adoption, foster care, and such. This orphanage environment was all new to me. It was painful to see. We did see joy on some of the children's faces, but words really can't describe some of the sadness we saw.

I distinctly recall a moment as we were sitting there talking...Wanda was encouraging adoption of waiting special needs children. I also remember thinking, ..."I think I would want healthy children" if we ever adopt. Silly me. Is that even possible? Hello. Trauma. In other words, I was trying my hardest to not become convicted of anything while talking to Wanda, even though I am pretty sure I was feeling uninvited conviction creeping in.





Back to 2012.

Here we are! So excited to bring our little girl home.

Two random "shoppers" at our garage sale asked me if I had ever heard of  Hope for Home Ministries, when they heard we were adopting.

Why, yes, we have.

Not only did we experience our mission trip with them, but God used Hope for Home as a tool to bring A to us. If I have the story right, Don and Mel, were introduced to their son through Hope for Home's services. After Don and Mel went to pick up their son in I*d*a, P, they saw A, and had her on their hearts to find a home for her.

Amazing how so many events tied together to bring us where we are today.

Edit: I did want to clarify that A was never a 2nd choice due to infertility. God brought her sooner to us than we expected. In fact, the day we found out about her, adoption so soon was not really on our radar, even though I think God had been preparing our hearts. When we heard about her, we both felt peace that she was to be our daughter.

So, you see, we don't really know what we are doing. We're simply along for the ride.

Sweet A needs prayers, along with all the other hurting and lonely children in the world. 

God is writing our story, and He is writing yours too. They are all different. They are all beautiful.

God's blessings and peace on your journeys.

__________________________________________________

Some more adorableness to make you smile:

Our Village is Awesome

Wow. We are so extremely thankful. The garage sale is just two days away, and the building we are using is popping at the seams with donated garage sale items from so many loving hearts. We feel the big love for our special little girl, and for us...not just from the all the donated items, but also because of your sweet words and encouragement!  Meanwhile, we know friends and family are working hard on planning the cook-out supper. It is humbling to see others using so much of their own time on behalf of our family. We feel undeserving.

Words will not do justice, so we just want to say, "Thank YOU!" So much...for caring for a little girl you have never met. It means so much. 

Some majorly fun news! This week we are waiting to hear news on our 'Article 5' from the U.S. embassy in I*d*a. This step is related to her VISA application. After this step is approved, we will be waiting on our NOC, and this is I*d*a's "No objection" for A to be placed with us. Whoot! That is the Big Daddy of the adoption process. There is of course another process after this, but each step is very, very exciting. After the NOC is issued, A will find out about us. I can't wait to start working on a photo book to send to her of her family and friends that love her so much.

God is amazing. You guys are pretty cool too.

xoxo

Adoption Happenings

Our adoption benefit garage sale is coming right up. We are working hard on getting it up and running!

It is next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, July 26-28,  from 8-6 at the old American Legion building {{9415 W. US Route 36, outside of Covington}}.

We are so thankful and feel incredibly blessed for all the people who have so generously donated items to our sale, and for the people who are allowing us to use their building for the sale. We've had strangers and a church family who hardly knew us donate items when they heard our daughter's story.

I would love to see you, and if you don't need anything, come by to chat, and have a cup of lemonade with me. {{You will need the lemonade if you come, let me assure you. It is a bit warmish in these parts}}.

Some dear friends and family are planning a community cook-out adoption benefit/celebration for our family on Friday night, August 24th at The Barn. Open to anyone who wants to come. This should be a lot of fun, and plenty of socializing as we celebrate adoption in general and our sweet gal! {{I hear there may be some homemade ice cream there too}}. We would love to see you there! You can come for the ice cream, if nothing else. Ha.

More details below:

Happy weekend, friends!

---We got an update on A  this week! Makes our hearts glad to hear little bits and pieces about her.

It's Her Birthday!

We partied hard Tuesday night. Party as in celebrating SEVEN special birthday people in one evening.

Bessie , er, B, was agreeable, and joined in on the fun this year since her birthday is TODAY.

12 years old.

Acts like she is 23 {I think she is even starting to dress like a mom---Shhh! Don't tell her I said that!}.

We decided to make her a birthday cake on Tuesday to take to the big birthday bash. She has this thing for zebra stripes, so I got online to find some easy peasy way to make zebra stripes on a sheet cake. Yeah. There is not an easy peasy way to make zebra stripes in my world. All this talk about fondant... Um, fondant? Not for this rookie cake artist. One blog advised to perhaps pipe the border of the zebra stripes, and then thin some icing to fill in the stripes. Hm. Okay.

Off to Kroger we went. Alas, we could not find any black food coloring, so I asked her if it would be okay if we made some neon pink zebra stripes--you know, like a "Princess Zebra", right?  B thought that should be fine. Great, glad we got it settled.

We trucked it back home, and by this time it is nearing 3:00, and the party was to start at 6:00.

We mixed up the icing, and  B got it all neon looking {folks, neon is like totally cool these days is what I'm hearing}.  Decided to make blue zebra stripes instead of pink. Slathered and splattered the pink icing all over the cake, and realized... my cake decorating skills aren't so hot.

Around the same time, B told me we should probably nix the zebra stripes.

Not a bad idea.

Yep, we'll just do swirly thingamajigs instead.

B did the top border. I'd like to blame the messy bottom border on her, but nope, that was me. Seems there are a few things I could learn about decent cake decorating.

In the end, we had fun, and who cares if the cake was messy, because it was super duper yummy if I say so myself. All thanks goes to our dear friend, Betty. Betty C., that is.


A few faces of B modeling her neon-zebra-stripe-turned-swirly-things cake.

This particular birthday girl does not lack expression.

 

And...Personal Favorite. 

 

Oh my! Oh me! Would you just LOOK at that ghastly bottom border? Look at it.
{In my defense, Mr. Fly DID drop a lid on top of it before the party started.}

Wannabe Aerial Shot:

 

Happy Birthday B! May God bless you with many, many more happy days!