Wow! There has been MUCH movement in Ethiopia this month! Our current #'s on the waitlist are......
#127 girl, #109 boy, and # 51 siblings!!! We are sure moving right along on this waitlist! And, unofficially, we are one less on each list, as there were 2 more babies referred in the last 3 days. In the past, the average referrals per month was 2 for AGCI. In the last month alone(our first month on the waitlist) we have moved up about 15 spots!! When we started this process, both Kevin and I had a feeling that it wouldn't take the 2 years that our agency prepared us to wait....we felt it would be less. And going by these trends, it will be MUCH less!! BUT, we are still waiting....however long it takes. Waiting for our Lord, waiting for Him to move mountains in our lives. I love our little Nichols already :-)
I must say, half of me is writing this post with pure excitement, because this means that we are that much close to OUR little one, and these children will now know the love of a family and GOD!! But the other part of me is filled with sorrow.....You see, adoption does not come without loss, the kind of loss that most of say "i could NEVER do that!". My heart aches for these little ones, who are losing their birth family. It aches for the birth parents, who sometimes have no choice but to give up their child, because of poverty or illness. I continually pray for these little ones, their birth families, and their forever families. Would you join us in praying for these babies? And also for the babies that don't get to be matched with a forever families.....there are plenty of them as well. I wish I could take more....I wish I could do more.
So, I've been doing some number crunching lately too. So far, we are about $7500 funded for our adoption. Not too bad, but we still have so far to go, especially since our "paid in" total is far more than our "paid off" total. I would so love to be out of adoption debt before our little one comes home. We are so appreciative of everyone who has supported us thus far, and are humbly asking for more help!!! But, friends, I know that resources are scarce for alot....so what we are asking for mostly is PRAYERS!!!!! We covet your prayers!! Prayers for our journey, in general... We pray that our fundraisers will be successful, not only in earnings, but we are trying to come up with fundraisers that are fun and great and that don't put too much pressure and stress on people. Second, we need HELP with our fundraisers! Help with planning, help with making our events happen, help getting donations, and especially spreading the word, etc.And last thing is we need people to participate in our fundraiser, that's where you all come in, to help spread the word!! So here's a glimpse of what's coming up(or ongoing).....
1. BUNCO!! We will be having a Bunco fundraiser on Sept 22nd at Cooks Hill Community Church. Watch for details about ticket sales! Needs for this include prize donations(we already have alot of awesome ones!!), food(see me for details on this one), and BUNCO PLAYERS!!! This will be a great night!
2. Another yard sale! Sept 7-8th I will be having another yard sale. needs for this include helpers(please, please!) at the sale and donations for the sale. We'll gladly take your donations, whether it be a box full or a truck full!!
3. Cell phones-this will be an ongoing thing, if you come across one, keep us in mind and save it for us!
4. Our Adoption Bug T-shirt site! The link is at the top right of THIS BLOG!, you cal click on it and it will take you to our site. these are awesome t-shirts that show you are PROUD to support adoption!
I have more fun things in mind to keep us busy over the next year as well....stay tuned!
This is alot to soak in, I know.....I just want to give a HUGE shout out and THANK YOU to all who have supported and helped us thus far.....We have such a tremendous support system. You all are wonderful, and we so appreciate you.
In you the orphan finds mercy.
Hosea 14:3
