Adoption Update #6 - Contract Time!

You know that feeling when God opens a door that you thought was closed for awhile longer??  That feeling of excitement, humility, PRAISE, and in awe of God?  Well, that's what we're experiencing this evening.

Today God opened the door for us to sign our contract with Lifetime Adoption Center at a huge discount!  A $6,000 discount!  We jumped at the opportunity.  So after electronically signing our contract and emptying out our Adoption Fund, we are now officially a "waiting family".

Last week we took a step of faith and decided to start our homestudy in order to apply for grants to help offset our adoption costs, and today God provided us this discount (equivalent to receiving a couple of grants!).

We still have much more money to raise and we'll continue to sell our delish chocolate bars to help with that.  Chocolate anyone?!  :)  Our fundraising goal is still $20,000...of which we have already received $8,000!  This $8,000 went directly to Lifetime Adoption Center. (To see a breakdown of our adoption costs, click HERE.)

So now we work to get our homestudy done, prepare our 50+ "Dear Birthmother" packets to show how fabulous we are (insert gleaming smile!), and wait to be "matched" with our birthmom.  This is now the busy phase!  Tons of paperwork and mailings!  All totally worth it!  :)

We're one step closer to meeting the next child God has planned for us and we're thrilled.  Completely thrilled!

Adoption Update #5 - Moving Forward

After much prayer and lots of research, we have decided to move forward and get our Homestudy completed!  God has beautifully provided the money needed for this first step and we are excited!

There are tons of grants available to waiting adoptive families to assist in the adoption costs.  But, you must have a current & approved homestudy.  So once our homestudy is complete, we will fill out as many grant applications as possible and see how God might provide!

If you are interested in adoption, here are some available grant options that we've discovered.  I will add to this list when I come across more.  These are both Christian and non-Christian foundations.  If you know of an adoption fund that's not listed here, we would love to know about it!  Please comment below or email us at sweetdreams.tami@gmail.com!  Thank you!

Show Hope
Gift of Adoption Fund
Cade Foundation - Supporting Families Overcoming Infertility
Karen Kingsbury's One Chance Foundation
Affording Adoption
Help Us Adopt
iAdopt - An extensive list of different grant & loan programs
Rescued Adoption Fund
JSC Foundation
Because of Isaac

Adoption Update #4

I just got to change the amount on our fundraising thermometer...see it there on the right??  I am moved to tears this morning as I reflect on this huge blessing!!

God used a blessed couple to double...yes, DOUBLE, the amount in our Adoption Fund!!!  This dear couple saved up this money just to present it to us & all for GOD'S GLORY!  This gift is totally from God!  We are speechless, moved to tears, humbled, joyful, and excited!  God is working and we get to watch His plan unfold!!

We now have $7,000 in our Adoption Fund!  Only $6,500 more til we can sign our contract with Lifetime Adoption Center if that's what God has planned for us!

"'For I know the plans I have for you', declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you 

and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

~  Jeremiah 29:11 ~

Creativity with Chocolate Bars!

Here and there we are hearing stories from our friends as to how people are responding to our adoption story via our chocolate bar sales!  All for God's glory!  And this story is no different!  Read on...

A friend of ours, who lives in Alaska, bought 50 chocolate bars from us (what a blessing!) and she made 50 copies of our adoption flyer and attached them to each bar.  She then had her kids hand them out at their high school as an anti-abortion message!  Creative!  I love it!!  :)

Will you join me in praying for those high schoolers and that if God wills, their lives be changed because they ate a candy bar with a message attached?

When we first started our fundraising, the impatient side of me wished we could get a loan and quickly move forward...in MY timing!  But 1,000 times over we've been blessed by waiting on God's timing.  We are blessed every day by a story, a candy bar being bought, a check arriving in the mail, and having strangers bless the socks off of us!  It's slow and I have days where I struggle with trusting in God's timing as we ache to hold ALL our kids.  But God is leading and we are following.  If God leads us to take a loan out, then we'll obey....but for today, we wait on God to use others to provide & be a precious part of our adoption story!

As of today we have $3,400 in our Adoption Fund!  Praising God!

Italian Food...yummmm

We've been blessed by this opportunity: for every order over $20, the Famighetti Italian Pantry will donate $5 towards our Adoption Fund!!! Celebrate Father's Day with some amazing Italian food & coffee! :)  Thank you Pete!!

www.italianpantry.com

Adoption Update #3

I have a confession to make....I'm sitting here procrastinating on making dinner, typing this post, and eating a delicious chocolate bar!  Did I get my work-out in today to justify the calories?  Nope.  How many calories can I burn by typing...typing really fast??

This is where we need your help:  Please help our adoption fund get FAT instead of us!  :)

Chocolate Bars are just $2.00 each so if you'd like one, or two, or a bunch...just let us know!  If you're local, we'll deliver and if you're not, we'll mail!  :)  All donations go directly into our family Adoption Fund.

Out of the 3,024 chocolate bars that we started with (wow...never did the math until now!) we have only 396 left so sell!!!!  We have the most AMAZING family & friends who have generously helped us sell the previous 2,628 bars!!  The money is starting to come in and our Adoption Fund now has $3,108.  Once all the bars are sold and all the money has been collected, our account should hold over $6,000!!  What a BLESSING! (Our choc bars are being sold in these states:  AK, WA, CA, NV, CO, TN, WI)

We will still need $14,000 more to reach our $20,000 goal!  We know in God's perfect timing (& provision) that we will get there!  We pray for our future children daily and can't wait to meet them and hold them.

Three weeks ago we had our first Dine & Donate restaurant night in northern California at Mary's Pizza Shack.  yummy!  It was a fun night of seeing dear friends and meeting new ones.  THANK YOU to all of you who were there and to those of you who did take-out!  Of the families that came out to support us, Mary's Pizza donated 20% of their bill to our adoption fund.  The total:  $143.00!  We are blessed by every penny!

Still to come...a Reno Dine & Donate night TBD!

P.S...and on a personal side note:  If you ever hear of or know of a birthfamily who is choosing adoption for their precious child, please tell them about us. We would LOVE to adopt their child!  We are fundraising to go through an agency, but we are open to whatever avenue God has planned to bring home our children!!

Thank you!

Blessings

It's amazing to me how the Body of Christ works.  We're all sinners and yet by the grace & forgiveness of God through Christ's death on the cross we are new creations!  We are brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are working together to do the work of our Father, to glorify Him with our lives, to reach out & love on & minister to the lost.

This morning I'm reflecting on the selfless love we are receiving from the Body.  Old friends, new friends, and even those we don't know are helping us in our efforts to raise money for our next adoption.  We're humbled, blessed, & feelin' oh so loved upon.  All this is for God's glory!  We pray that our lives are a witness of Christ and that through our story, some may come to know Him.

The donations we are receiving with our chocolate bars are above and beyond.  Some are paying $20/bar, some are donating and not taking any bars, some are buying a box or two worth, many have volunteered & are selling the boxes for us!  Blessed, blessed, & blessed.

We recently had our Santa Rosa "Dine & Donate" night at Mary's Pizza Shack!  20% of around 50 families orders will be donated into our adoption fund!  We should receive the total check in about a month.  THANK YOU Mary's Pizza Shack & THANK YOU to everyone who attended!!

Again I say, Blessed, Blessed, & Blessed!

We are still a long way from our goal, but we joyfully rest in God's plan.  If you're craving chocolate after reading this we still have plenty of yummy goodness just waiting for you!  :)  Choices:  Krispy, Caramel (our favorite!), & Almond.  If you're local, we'll deliver!  And if you're not, we'll ship!

Thank you!