Auction Update!

Wow, wow, wow!  We have witnessed so much generosity thus far from those who have donated items to our Facebook Adoption Auction coming up November 14-17!

We have 43 totally awesome confirmed items, which is half way to our goal of 100 items!!!  We continue to follow up and reach out to new people each day.

We have run into one obstacle.  We originally hoped about half of our auction items would come from our networks and the other half would come from local businesses.  Unfortuatenly, 90% of the businesses we have reached out to have already met their donation maximum for 2016.  We did not anticipate that!

However, we continue to hold fast to our goal of 100 items to raise $10,000 for our adoption, but we need some help!  Here are the two main way you can help right now:

- Consider donating an item!  Perhaps you have an idea of your own.  If not, we can give you idea for any price range! The item can either be mailed or delivered locally (wherever you live!).
- Reach out to your network for donations; we had a dear friend do that this week and she rounded up a weekend cabin stay and a piece of artwork custom made by a professional artist!  Click here for a flyer you can share!

Thanks for sharing this adventure with us.  It will be two years on December 29 since we started this journey (although we took March-September completely off from fundraising this year).  When my faith wavers, God sends the sweetest reminders of his sovereignty in this journey.  Of course I pray we will have a baby in our home sometime in 2017; I am not sure how many more days I can tell look at James' big brown eyes and tell him that "we are working on it".  I should really start saying "God is working on it".  He has started making up imaginary siblings...  That kid LOVES babies!

What's Next with Our Adoption?!

Many of you have lovingly inquired about our adoption this month so I figured it is time for an update!

For those of you who have been following our adoption journey, you know we hit the "pause" button earlier this year due to a multitude of circumstances.  Waiting has been gut-wrenching, especially with a three year old who asks about a sibling EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

We wanted to be available when the time came for Darwin to go Home.  He passed away peacefully at home surrounded by a multitude of family and friends at the end of May.  Tears pour down my face as I write that sentence.  The tears continue to flow because Wes' dad and my dad continue to have chronic, life-threatening health conditions.  We want to be present to support them as well.  But we know we cannot hit pause indefinitely.  God planted the desire to grow our family deep within us.

And thankfully, Wes' health continues to improve, although we believe he will always need to be vigilant about over exertion and rest.  The road to health has been more like a rollercoaster, but when we look back at where Wes was seven to eight months ago, gratitude abounds.  A night and day difference.  A tangible case of God making all things new, transforming death into life.

So what now?  How do we hit PLAY again?  The short answer: FUNDRAISING.  $8,000 down, $17,000 to go.  Can I just put something out there?  I loathe fundraising.  That may surprise some of you because I have done a heck of a lot of it.  I have been doing fundraising for half my life: mission trips to Mexico, hurricane relief trips, trying to save a pre-school, sending high schoolers to Young Life camp, Wes' salary when he was on staff with a church plant...the list goes on.  Perhaps I have always had a lot of passion but not the pocketbook.  To fundraise again, I must cast off my pride and be obedient to God. (To be clear, I have not stopped praying that $17,000 would fall out of the sky instead.)

So here's the vision:
- Facebook auction with 100 items
- November 14-17 (great timing for Christmas gifts!!!)
- Raise $10,000 so we can do our home study in the first quarter of 2017 (the home study itself is not that expensive but a lot of our fees would hit around that time)
- A lot of paperwork and a lot of prayers...and probably more waiting.

Many of you have kindly asked how you can help :):
1. Donate something to our auction!
2. Invite friends to our auction group on Facebook!
3. Purchase something from our auction!

More than anything, WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS!  A lot of decisions will arise along the way, and we yearn for the wisdom and discernment that only comes from God.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for your love and support!

Timing is Everything

I have written and re-written post.  I do not know why it has been so hard.  Perhaps because I like things to go according to (my) plan, but life rarely works that way.

Here's the short version: we have postponed our adoption home study until at least January 2017.

Here's the long version:
Despite several red flags, we kept plowing forward with the adoption because it is a dream so deep in our hearts and we really wanted our adopted baby to be close-ish in age to James.  The truth of the matter is that Wes' health was quickly declining. So so thankfully, he finally has a proper diagnosis and is on the road to recovery (click here to read more).  The details of that recovery need to be the primary focus of 2016 for us.

Additionally, Wes' beloved step-dad Darwin (who lives in Mississippi) will soon leave us here and go Home.  We want to be available during his final days.  We want to be available for Beverly after he passes.

Wes' dad (who also lives in Mississippi) is also facing some very serious and life-threatening health issues.  And so is my dad.  We want to be available to support them as well.

After much discussion and prayer, we have decided to postpone our adoption home study until at least January 2017.  While we are sad, we are also at peace with waiting.  We have an incredible three year old to enjoy and invest in.  And we a lot of plates spinning this year.  Adoption is still deeply rooted in our hearts and we still very much intend to grow our family through adoption.

So far, we have raised $8,000 (YAY and THANK YOU!) for our adoption.  We will continue to chip away at the other $17,000 we need to raise.  We will likely do a summer and fall fundraiser to well prepare us for January 2017.  And we will also continue to pray that $17,000 falls out of the sky ;).

Please please pray for us.  Please please encourage us.  We need it.  This ride has been quite the roller coaster.  My heart feels an abundance of love for a baby who likely has not even been conceived yet.  I remind myself each day that every "obstacle" will change the timing of our adoption, which will determine which baby joins our family.  That is INCREDIBLE.

Thank you for walking along side us in this journey.  It truly takes a village...