Christmas Reading

Christmas break is always a good time curl up with a good book. Today's giveaway is for a collection of hardback Christmas books. This collection has been donated by our friend Gayle with Heaven Bound Books.

• "The Heart of Christmas"--A Devotional for the Season by Hank Hanegraaff retails for $9.99
• "The 12 Ways of Christmas"--Twelve truths of Christmas that often get buried under the busyness of parties and activities" by David Jeremiah retails for $12.99
• "Christmas Wishes for You"--quotes and stories focusing on the real reason for Christmas by The Zondervan Corporation retails  for $6.99
• "God's Message of Christmas Love"--devotional readings for the season by Eugene  H. Peterson retails  for $14.99
• "Christmas Past"--  Christian fiction retails for $12.99
• "The Gift of Christmas Present" -- Christian fiction retails for $16.99

For more info on Gayle's books, she can be contacted at momvictory@aol.com

 

Just to Review

Here's a review of the rules. And remember, there is no obligation to donate. These are giveaways (FREE)! But you can't win if you don't comment. And the more entries you receive for doing the following, the better your chance at winning.

• Receive 1 entry for commenting on that specific post. And for all of you out there that don't know how to do that or don't have a google account, simply click "comments" at the bottom of the post and fill in your info as "anonymous". Leave your name though in the comment as I won't know who it is otherwise. Then click "post comment".
• Receive 5 entries for your suggested donation of $10 or more through the "Adoption Donations" button in the top right corner of the blog.
• Receive 5 additional entries for any donation over $25
• Receive 2 entries for posting about our fundraiser on YOUR blog and linking it back to this blog.
• Receive 1 entry for posting about our fundraiser on Facebook and linking it back to our blog.
• Receive 1 entry for becoming a follower of this blog
• Receive 1 entry for becoming a follower of our family blog
• Receive 2 entries for sending an email about our fundraiser to 10 friends and carbon copying us as well.

When you comment on the item you are interested in, let me know how many entries you should have for that particular item, based on the the info above. The more entries you have for that item, the better your chance at winning the item.

Look out boys (and dads)!

One little girl is going to win this adorable dress and look so CUTE!!

These have been made by my friend, Libby. She can make one in any size from 12 months to 4T. The fabric and colors will vary from these, but are sure to be nothing but fabulous!

Now, back to the girls!

We are halfway through the fundraiser and have another fabulous giveaway for today. It is an Ethiopian coffee bean necklace from Ten Thousand Villages. It is being donated by my friend Shelly, a mom who has adopted from Ethiopia and has been a great help and encouragement to us during this process.

To find out more about this fun piece of jewelry, check out their website. There is some neat info about Ethiopia and two of the great things they have to offer: coffee and silver. Both in this necklace!

For the Guys

A big thanks to Nick and Kasey for generously donating their time and talent to make a set of cornhole boards for one lucky winner. These can be customized with any team or design the winner chooses. So, although winter is just around the corner, you can be brave and play in the living room, or pull these out in the spring for some backyard fun.

Tis the Season-ings

Today's fabulous giveaway is for this salt and pepper grinder set with stand from The Pampered Chef. It was donated by my aunt Evelyn. This set is valued at $52. The grinders are topped with bamboo and are sitting on a bamboo stand.

It's not too late to join in on the fun of this fundraiser. Here's a recap of the rules or go here for the full post.

• Receive 1 entry for commenting on that specific post. And for all of you out there that don't know how to do that or don't have a google account, simply click "comments" at the bottom of the post and fill in your info as "anonymous". Leave your name though in the comment as I won't know who it is otherwise. Then click "publish comment".
• Receive 5 entries for your suggested donation of $10 or more through the "Adoption Donations" button in the top right corner of the blog.
• Receive 5 additional entries for any donation over $25
• Receive 2 entries for posting about our fundraiser on YOUR blog and linking it back to this blog.
• Receive 1 entry for posting about our fundraiser on Facebook and linking it back to our blog.
• Receive 1 entry for becoming a follower of this blog
• Receive 1 entry for becoming a follower of our family blog
• Receive 2 entries for sending an email about our fundraiser to 10 friends and carbon copying us as well.

Preserve Your Memories

Today's giveaway is for a beautiful Creative Memories Picfolio album. This album is perfect for the person who has a desire to scrapbook, but needs to do the quick and easy version. This album is perfect to start preserving your children's or grandchildren's precious moments. The album is 11x14 and holds up to 160 4x6 size photos.

 The album is designed with 2 vertical and 3 horizontal picture sleeves on each page ready to slide in pictures, journal boxes or embellishments.



The album was a generous donation from Nicole Hancock, a consultant for Creative Memories. If you wish to learn more about scrapbooking or check out their wonderful products, Nicole can be contacted at 913-634-6043

A warm fall glow

In my opinion, it's time to pull the candles out. When it gets cold outside, I love lighting a candle, especially one that smells like fall.

This candle is a 19 oz candle from Gold Canyon's baking line. It has been donated by Jennifer Tavernaro, a coworker of Adam's. I just wish I could attach the scent to this post, because the warm apple crisp smells delicious. It's perfect for the holidays!

To contact Jennifer about additional purchases from Gold Canyon, call 913-548-1891

If you are new to our blog and want to get in on these fabulous giveaways click here for the details

Oops! Small mistake

I just fixed the blog to allow "anonymous" comments. Sorry. I didn't realize that was not an option. So now everyone can comment away. You can also post as "name/url" and just sign your name. You don't have to post a URL. Hope that helps everyone.

Ready for bath time!

After a nice bath, it's necessary to bundle your little one up. Today's giveaway is for the best hooded towel I have ever used. It is being donated by Robin, a lady in our church. She made this one for my baby shower and it's the only one I use. It is so plush and big (a good thing when your little one outgrows the small towels sold for infants). I LOVE it!!!

The winner will receive a hooded towel in a gender specific or neutral color. Please specify when you comment if you would like one for a boy, girl, or neutral.

Alphabet Photography

My good friend, Kristi, is donating her amazing photography talent as she has been doing some fabulous alphabet photography. She lives in Vienna, Austria, so all photos are taken in fabulous places around Europe

The winner will receive a framed piece with any word or name they choose. A card describing each picture and where it was taken will also be included. These are selling for several hundred dollars, so it's a great prize.

If you're just joining us and wondering what is going on click here for the details of these fabulous giveaways

Super Cute Nameboards

These name boards are so cute, and hand painted, by Carla Smith, a friend from church.

The winner will receive a custom board made for any name or monogram they choose. These are quite large in size (24"x24").

I think our new little one might need on of these in his/her room too!

To see more of her work, click here

Girly, Girly Tutus and Headbands

These tutus are made by Amy Vance, a friend from church, and are just so cute. I have my fingers crossed for getting a girl who will one day be running around in one of these.

The winner will receive this tutu with matching hairbow.

Countdown to Christmas {in November}

Well, it's been a month since our last fundraiser and we survived it. So, it's time for another one. This time one online! We are moving right along in the process and could be matched soon. As exciting as that is, it's also a wee bit nerve wracking as we will have to pay our largest amount of money yet (~$20,000) to the agency immediately to "confirm" or "hold" that child. Unfortunately, we are nowhere near being ready for that yet, but have full confidence that when that time comes, be it sooner or later, God will provide all that we need.

For the rest of the month of November, I will be posting various items for you to win. These are all really nice things and any of them would make a fabulous Christmas present, either for you or someone you know. If you see something you really like, let me know and your name will be entered for a chance to win that item. You can do this multiple ways for even more chances to win. So, come back daily (as I intend to post a new prize daily until they run out) and check out the new things.

• Receive 1 entry for commenting on that specific post. And for all of you out there that don't know how to do that or don't have a google account, simply click "comments" at the bottom of the post and fill in your info as "anonymous". Leave your name though in the comment as I won't know who it is otherwise. Then click "publish comment".

• Receive 5 entries for your suggested donation of $10 or more through the "Adoption Donations" button in the top right corner of the blog.

• Receive 5 additional entries for any donation over $25

• Receive 2 entries for posting about our fundraiser on YOUR blog and linking it back to this blog.

• Receive 1 entry for posting about our fundraiser on Facebook and linking it back to our blog.

• Receive 1 entry for becoming a follower of this blog

• Receive 1 entry for becoming a follower of our family blog

• Receive 2 entries for sending an email about our fundraiser to 10 friends and carbon copying us as well.

You do not have to leave seperate comments for each entry. Simply comment one time and let me know how many entries you qualify for. I hope to be drawing for the winners at the beginning of December so that all prizes can be shipped or delivered in time for Christmas.


We have set up the paypal button at the top for anyone to make donations. It is completely safe. We have used paypal for years without any problems. If you would feel more comfortable donating another way, let me know and we can work something out.


Thank you so much for supporting us in this effort. It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a REALLY big village to adopt one.

One Step Closer!!

We feel like we have turned a big corner today. Our completed and approved home study arrived in the mail today! Yay!! This means we can start applying for grants and are now officially on the "wait strip". Next, we apply for immigration. We can do that now and will probably get that done by the end of the week.

Our First Big Blessing

We had our first big adoption fundraiser last weekend and to say it was a success would be an understatement. It was a very stressful week with the garage sale, our first homestudy visit from the social worker, and Adam's parents coming into town, but it finally all came together. We only heard about our neighborhood garage sale two weeks prior, so we started the planning and rounding up donations. We were so blessed to have such wonderful friends donate so many things. Becuase we had so much stuff, we couldn't walk through the garage by Thursday, which made the organization piece really difficult. We posted ads and Adam made some great signs to advertise and try to round up as much traffic as possible. We opened Friday morning to people already waiting and in the first hour had made nearly $100! We had a steady stream of people ALL day long. There was no lull like most garage sales experience. We finally decided to close the garage around 5:30 and someone came and knocked on our door to ask if we would open it for her. Then we had 3 families (close friends) come by that evening to shop. Saturday was another great day with lots of people coming by. I've never seen a sale like this with so many people. We had several people come by, buy stuff, go home, and come back with a box of things they wanted to donate. We gladly took it, but in the back of our minds were thinking, "we're trying to get rid of all of this stuff, not take more." We finally closed the sale around 4:30 on Saturday after two LONG days. We were all exhausted, but so pleased with how it turned out. We were so blessed with good weather all weekend, lots of shoppers, so many donations, and in the end, a VERY LARGE grand total!! God is so good to give us the encouragement and confirmation we need when we start to feel discouraged. We know we are on the right track and are even more excited to bring our little one home as soon as possible.

Thanks so much, friends, for all the donations. We so greatly appreciate them. And a huge thannks to Adam's parents for helping in such a big way all weekend. We could not have done this sale without you.



The attack continues!

This is a VERY busy week for us on the adoption front. We are having our first big (hopefully) fundraiser this weekend with a garage sale. It's the classic adoption fundraiser, but has the potential to bring in some good money. So, we sent out an email to friends and coworkers to donate items and come shopping. We have gotten a good and big response. So, now we are a little overwhelmed on how to organize it all. We have some nice things, and all we need now are shoppers with lots of money!

So, I guess it's been a couple of weeks since we've felt Satan attack our finances, but never fail, here we go again. On Sunday night, with a garage full of stuff, the spring broke on the garage door as I was trying to put it down. It wouldn't go up after that. Of course, the one part of the house that needs to be in working order for this fundraiser is now broken. We were able to get a good recommendation for someone to fix it and it was back in working order yesterday ($200 later), just in time for several guys to bring several loads of stuff over for the sale.

This has made me realize that this child is very important and is meant for our family. The more that happens to try to get us down during this process, the more I am beginning to feel connected to this little one. I am digging deeper to keep on fighting because I know it is worth it and this child deserves a BIG fight.

We are moving forward. We had our first visit with our social worker tonight. We have been really stressed out this week with all that we have going on, so are relieved to have this piece over. There was really nothing to stress over with this visit. We cleaned the entire house, but she didn't even want to look at it. Oh well. Now it's clean for Adam's parents, who arrive on Thursday. She didn't have any hard or uncomfortable questions for us and was here less than an hour. Grayson was a little handful and wanted a lot of attention, so the process was a little chaotic. I think she understood our constant running around to try to keep Grayson entertained and quiet. She will write up a lengthy report about us and will be back next week for us to proof it. Then it's off to the main office to be approved. Our home study is nearly finished! Yay!

One Less

Matthew West has written a new song about adoption to be featured on his new album, coming out next week. I barely missed hearing it on the radio this week, so I can't wait to hear it all the way through. It's the story of a family from TN and their journey through adoption.

One Less by Matthew West (The Story Behind The Song) from emicmg on Vimeo.

Ethiopia? Are You Sure?

So, I promised to tell this story in our timeline, so here it is.

During the few days of our Europe airline ticket fiasco/disaster, it was a couple of REALLY stressful days. We were barely speaking to each other and when we did, it was just around the topic of these tickets. We had just sent in our application to adopt and then this happened just a few days later, leading us to question if we had made the right decision to adopt. After Adam spent a full 2 days on the phone with various people trying to work out a solution to my name problem, it came to the point where it was all over. New tickets were booked, the credit card number was given out again, and all we could do was move forward and try to get excited about our trip.

As Adam wrapped up his conversation with the travel agent, he got a beep. He clicked over and the conversation went a little like this. . .

Holt- Hi Adam, this is so and so from Holt. How are you?

Adam- Oh, funny you should ask. We have just had a horrible 2 days and I'm a little stressed out.

Holt- Well, I have some good news. I was just calling to let you know that we received your application and you have been approved. I will be helping you adopt a child from Ethiopia.

Adam- What?!? We didn't apply for Ethiopia. We applied for Korea.

Holt- No, I have your application right here and you applied for Ethiopia.

Adam- Oh no. Did I make another mistake online. My wife is going to kill me. How am I going to explain this one right after this ticket mess?

Holt- Well, I have your application right here. Let me double check to make sure you put Korea.

Adam- Thank you

Holt- Oh, you did apply for Korea. This application must have been put in my box by mistake. I will get it to the correct person and have her contact you.

Adam- OK. I really didn't think I had made that mistake, but after the last 2 days, there's no telling.

This conversation was just what we needed, thank you Lord, to ease the tension, and provide some good news after the stress we had just been through. We had a good laugh out of it and were very glad it was all worked out in the end. Now, we were ready to go to Europe.

The Attack Begins

So, finally, we did it. We applied online on July 14. The application was pretty easy. But in those few minutes and hours after you submit something this big, you find yourself asking "what in the world have we done?" and "How are we ever going to afford this?". We knew this decision was not made quickly. It had actually taken several years to get us to this point.

Throughout this process, I have been reading a lot of family adoption blogs and one theme that tends to run throughout many of these are the different ways that Satan seems to attack around the time of application. I was really hoping this would not happen to our family, but it did. Less than a week after applying and less than a week before heading on a long-planned and well deserved trip to Austria, we learned that my airline tickets had been booked in my maiden name. No big deal, Adam said. We could just take my marriage license and be ok. Not so!! Since my tickets and passport did not match, I could not fly. After spending 2 days on the phone with our travel agent, all 3 airlines, immigration, etc, etc, the only option we were left with was to cancel our tickets and rebook them at that current day's prices. Mind you, this was Tuesday and we were scheduled to leave on Saturday.  (How did this happen, you wonder? Adam finally found out that when he booked the tickets, he logged in to the website and it pulled up my maiden name, maybe from booking something for our honeymoon. He clicked the box next to my name verifying I was a passenger, but didn't look closely enough to realize it was the wrong last name. He said he realized it a few months after booking, but called and was told it was ok for me to bring my marriage license. Now the airline's story changes. Why can't all airlines have a simple $50 name change fee?!) So, back to the story, since this was our only option, and I was not going to give up this trip, we cancelled our tickets, which cost $450, and rebooked new ones 3 days in advance. In order to get the best deal, we ended up extending our trip by leaving a day earlier and coming home 2 days later for an extra $1300. Lesson learned: Do all adoption paperwork TOGETHER and proofread EVERYTHING. This was a costly lesson, but one that we hope will be valuable to us during this adoption process.

Well, our trip to Europe started off a little rough with 3 missed flights due to weather delays and then ended in Austria with no luggage to be found anywhere. Fortunately, it arrived the next day, out of nowhere, I guess. As we were picking it up, Adam admitted that he had a really hard time with the luggage ordeal because he wasn't in control of the situation at all. Lesson learned: We are not going to be in control of this adoption at all. We are going to have to get used to that feeling and trust that the One in control, has it all taken care of.

We had a great trip, but spent A LOT of money, because it was Europe. We have traveled to Asia several times, where you can have a really nice dinner for $2.50 a person. The exchange rate goes the opposite way in Europe and they like to charge you for everything (parking in a mall garage- $25!). So, we came home with a nice bill to pay (in addition to the tickets we had just charged to get us there).

When we arrived home, we had a letter from our agency saying that we were officially approved and as soon as we sent them a large amount of money, we could move forward with the process. Sure thing. Just add it to our tab.

The week after we got home and settled back in, my brakes started making a horrible grinding noise, so we took my car in and brought it home nearly $800 later!

Somehow, in the past month, we have still managed to put food on the table and gas in the car, but have definitely felt the attack in our finances. Of course, those questions arise again, "What in the world are we doing? and "Did we make a mistake?". But when I came across 2 Cor. 5:7 "For we walk by faith, and not by sight" I know we made the right decision. God clearly led us to adopt from Korea, the most expensive program in Asia, and He has quickly taken away our financial safety net in order to get us to COMPLETELY trust in Him. We know He can provide financially. We have seen Him do it before in a very big way, so we know it can happen again. So, we plug on and move forward, several thousand dollars poorer, but more excited every day about the journey we are on and the little one we will soon meet and bring into our family.

This journey is going to require some creative fundraising, so if anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them.

Why Korea?

We began the research phase in late May, early June. This is such a tedious and time consuming phase of the adoption process, but really needs to be done thoroughly. During this phase you have to decide what country you want to adopt from and what agency you will use. We knew we wanted to adopt from Asia since we have been several times and have grown to love the people and culture. We have only been to China and Thailand, so these were naturally our first choices. Each country has qualifications (age, length of marriage, age of children, income, etc) and we quickly learned that we didn't qualify for many countries. We are not old enough yet to adopt from China and the process is so long in Thailand, and the children are usually at least 2 before coming home, that we would have to wait a really long time because of Grayson's age. So, we eliminated Thailand. As we began calling agencies to get information on different countries, we were told there weren't any options for us except for Korea. We had not really even looked at Korea because it is the most expensive country to adopt from in Asia. But because of our age, Grayson's age, and the timeline we were looking at, Korea became our only option.

We definitely were not opposed to this, just wondering if  God was closing all the doors at this time and telling us to wait a few more years or if He was just making our decision really simple by narrowing it down to one country for us. And why does this one country have to be so expensive? We realized that God might have just designed this option for us to increase our faith because we know there will be NO way we can afford this on our own. We have seen Him provide in BIG ways for us in the past, so we know He is capable of doing it again in an even BIGGER way. We didn't want finances (or the lack of) to be the one thing that held us back from an extraordinary blessing, so we decided Korea was it. Grayson's babysitter, since he was 10 weeks old, is a lady from Korea that we just love. Coincidence or God-designed? So, with little hesitation we decided to go for it.

With the country decided, picking our agency was a pretty easy decision. We had it narrowed down to 3 and called each one to talk to someone. We were most impressed with Holt, Int and all that they have to offer after the child is home (summer camps, family picnics, heritage tours, etc). They also have a local office and someone in town for us to talk to. So, we will be able to complete the entire process with them. We went to an informational meeting and were thoroughly impressed. They have been working with Korea for many years and have a great relationship. The process with Korea seems like it will go very smoothly because of this.

So, after two months of researching, making graphs, comparing countries, calling agencies, praying, and talking with our families, we decided we were ready to move forward. A decision like this is pretty scary, but  FAITH UNCHALLENGED IS FAITH UNCHANGED.

Why Adoption?

Our heart for adoption began to grow as we began going on international mission trips several years ago. When we got married, I think we knew that one day adoption would be a possibility for us after we had our biological children. In 2008, our heart for adoption was renewed and grew even bigger as we traveled to China for another mission trip. We were able to visit a foster home for orphaned children with special needs and I helped out with some therapy for a few hours. I knew after this brief visit that I would be adopting. When we returned home from that trip we began sponsoring a little girl that we met while we were there. Over the past year and a half my love has grown for her and for the work that this foster home does for orphans, but since we do not yet qualify to adopt from China, knew that it would be a long wait for her specifically. In 2009 we were blessed with our first child, but in the past few months as people have begun to ask us about the timing of our next child, I just could not get adoption or Addison out of my mind and off my heart. I was beginning to feel that before we had more biological children, adoption was the direction we needed to go.

In May our church began an adoption ministry and held its first meeting. We went to see what it was about. I left even more ready to adopt, but didn’t want to lose this little girl we had grown to love. I began to wonder if God was leading us to adopt from another country first and then go back to China later. Adam went to the meeting as well, but thinking that the info we gathered would be for several years down the road. Although, when he left, he was a little more ready and was ok with me beginning some research. As I began looking at other countries that we might qualify for, I never had a peace about moving forward. I just couldn’t leave our little girl without a family and adopt someone else. On May 21, our anniversary, we found out that Addison, who we adored so much, was matched with a family. I was devastated, but Adam gently reminded me that God had someone else in mind for our family. Someone even better for us. The next day, I woke up with a complete peace about moving forward with someone else and a different country. I then realized that Addison was holding me back and to get me to move forward, she had to be moved out of the equation. Funny how God often uses difficult circumstances to give you the push you need to do what you know is the right thing. We are very excited for Addison (now Emma) who will be joining her forever family in a few weeks. She is going to a wonderful family who is crazy about her and we are now on a journey that will change our family in a very big and exciting way.

To be continued. . . (of course there's more)