Are we still collecting books and stuff?

So some of you have asked if we are still collecting textbooks, regular books, DVD's, CD's, and videogames. The answer is YES!! We just got a TON today and are so excited and thankful to you that have donated. Every little bit helps us bring our daughter home!

I also wanted to share a prayer request. This Friday our friends at UNCG are setting up a table there to collect items that students would like to donate. They are passing out our fliers/adoption story at the EUC (their student union) tomorrow! Isn't that cool? Our prayer is that people would be drawn to the Gospel through our story and that people would be motivated to care for orphans and those that cannot speak up for themselves. We are also going to be doing something similar at Wake Forest. Some super cool people that go to Wake and that go to church with us are excited to help with this! On Thursday Brian is heading over to Wake to place our bins in the lounges. Our contact is also going to be in touch with the RA's to let the students know about our bins. There are several other cool things happening with this but I'll have to elaborate on them later! I'm so excited about what God is up to!

So join in! Let us know and we will come by and pick up any of these things that you are willing to donate!

So grateful for your support!!

Tote Bag

So check out this cool tote bag that I made tonight! You just wait, I got some more coming up! What do you think??

Our Fundraising Bins Story

These are the bins that I made last night for my friend April to take to the campuses that she works on with Campus Crusade! I delivered them to her today. They are going to set up a table and encourage people to donate their textbooks and other books, cds, etc. to support our adoption! They are also passing out a flyer that I'm going to create that will tell our story and also share how God has adopted us as His children because of Jesus! I am so excited about our adoption fundraiser pointing people to the Gospel! Our prayer has been that God would use this whole journey to bring glory to Him and open people's hearts to Him and even prick their hearts for adoption and/or orphan care. Yay, thank you April for your help!

What we're up to!

I realize that I haven't posted anything new in a while and it's because we have been working on our paperwork! Last week we had our first talk with our Case Manager at AGCI. She went over everything that will need to happen for our dossier and what we should be focusing on right now. Our main focus for the next couple of months is our homestudy and our education. We are currently gathering and working on our homestudy documents (some of these are the same as our dossier documents). After we get all of these gathered and signed, etc. we will send them to our local homestudy agency and then we will begin our visits with our social worker.

I have been busy working on my autobiography. Brian and I are each required to write up an autobiography discussing our childhood, school, relationships, how we met, our dating relationship, marriage, our daughter, etc. So, as you can imagine this is pretty time consuming. I've enjoyed writing it but I also am having a hard time finishing it.

I also mentioned that we are working on our education. Our agency requires that we complete 6 online classes about adoption as well as a huge workbook that Brian and I will do together. It has 20 chapters and just about every page has questions. We've already looked through the book and I am really excited about it. It's going to be tough but stuff that we need to think about and ask ourselves. I'm so thankful that our agency wants us to do this education so that we are better prepared.

So, if you wonder where we are or why you don't see us as much it's because we are working on all of this! This week Brian is going to get our certified birth certificates and marriage certificate. We have to take pictures of each of us and the front and back of our house too. We are also going to be getting our criminal background checks done. The list is long guys and I won't list everything but we are eager to get it all turned in! Pray for us that this will go smoothly and we can schedule our visits soon!



Much love,

The Paper Chase!

A couple days ago we received our homestudy packet. It is full of information that we need to complete and collect. Some of the items are to be turned in sometime before the last visit but most of it must be turned in before we are able to schedule the visits. Next week we are scheduled to receive our adoption planner and have our dossier run-through call with our new Ethiopian Case Manager. I think this officially means that we are beginning the paper chase! One thing in particular that I am chasing after now is a report from Mexico. In order to adopt you are required to prove that you have not been on any child abuse registry lists. This definitely makes sense! If you have only lived in one state then it's a pretty simple process. If you have lived in another state you work with the FBI to get that but if you have lived in another country since you were 18 then you must check with the registry in THAT country. Well, apparently Mexico does not have a central registry but one for each state and I lived in two different states in Mexico. So, I am going to contact the DIF (Desarollo Integral de la Familia) for both states by writing up a statement requesting clearance. Good thing I speak Spanish! DIF is like the Dept. of Social Services in our country. Our agency said that this has been a long process before so pray that it goes smoothly! :) We'll keep you updated! I can't believe we are already in this phase of gathering documents!! It's exciting!

p.s. that is not our current stack of paper, don't worry! It's a cool picture I found though!

UPDATE!!!
I told you guys about having to get in touch with the DIF in the two states that I lived in while I was in Mexico the other day. I decided to ask a great friend that I actually met living in Xalapa. Let me just say that she is awesome! I asked her if she happened to know anybody that worked in the DIF in Xalapa and guess what? She does!!! Crazy! And get this! The guy that she knows actually works in the adoption dept. of the DIF. AND they went to the same church that I went to in Xalapa and we're thinking that I might have even met them. I really am amazed at how God has continually provided for this adoption. One of these days I'm gonna write up all the ways because it's amazing!

Seeds Family Worship Giveaway

I love giveaways! I especially love this one! Brian and I have started listening to Seeds Family Worship in the car and at home with Isabel. She loves it and we do too! The songs are all based on Bible verses and the music is not hokey. For real! We have only listened to the Encouragement one so far but it's great! As a teacher I am always promoting music to memorize things so I think that's why I love these! Anyway, another adoptive family blogger has offered a cool giveaway on her blog so if you're interested go there and make a comment about your favorite Bible verse and there are some other ways to enter too. Check it out!

http://filledwithpraise.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-giveaway-seeds-family-worship.html#comment-form

Oh, here's the link to listen to the some of their stuff: http://www.seedsfamilyworship.net/

Happy Easter!

Today has been a wonderful Easter. Isabel woke us up early because she was "hungry." We came out into the living room and she was so excited to see eggs hidden all around. Then she saw her Easter basket full of little goodies and a cute little Chippette doll that Brian found. After breakfast we spent some time reading the Easter story in "The Jesus Storybook Bible." I love this book. Not only does it have beautiful illustrations but it does such a wonderful job of showing how the story of Jesus doesn't just suddenly appear in Matthew but that the whole Bible is big story of God's love for us. That the whole Bible is pointing to Jesus. It tells the stories like a story, it draws you in. Go get it if you don't have it!

After we all got ready we headed to church. Our church is such a blessing to us. Brian and I try to explain it to people sometimes and we just can't. We love it so much. We have learned more at this church in a year than I can explain. It's inviting, loving, and full of grace. Pastor Alan is gifted. We love listening to him and learning more about Jesus' deep love for us. Even Isabel loves her class! Okay, so there's my plug for The Ascent at Reynolda Church. :)

So then we headed home to clean and get ready for dinner. For the past few years we have invited my grandparents, mom, and Brian's mom over for Easter. I make the ham and a desert every year. I love to cook so it's fun for me. I have mastered this ham y'all and it's SO good! This year Isabel and I made a bunny cake. She did a great job adding fur (coconut) and decorating. She named the bunny "Fuzzy Ears." She's a nut! So, check out some pictures!

So after the festivities we went outside for a little while and did some chalk drawings. After Isabel went to bed I signed on to read soem blogs. One of the sites I read is called The Rabbit Room. It has lots of different singers, songwriters, and writers. Our family loves Andrew Peterson's music and stories. Today, he put a special Easter song on his blog and I thought you should check it out. It's beautiful. It was a great way to end the day.

http://www.rabbitroom.com/?p=6978


Enjoying the end of a beautiful Easter,

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Please forgive the DISASTER that has happened to my page here. I was experimenting because something about the quilt blog got on my nerves. I didn't like how stuff was getting chopped off, it felt too cramped, and those quilt squres were getting to me even if the idea of it was cool. Well, in the midst of trying new things I managed to dELETE, YES DELETE, almost everything on my blog! However, I remembered why I liked the layout of my previous blog design so I went back to that with a different style. Anyway, please be patient with me, it will look better soon. :)

Funniest Easter Egg Surprise Ever

Okay this has to be one of the funniest things that has happened all week! Today we went to Tanglewood for Lillie's Friends Family Festival. One of the events at it was a big Easter Egg Hunt for kids. Isabel went prepared with her basket/bucket and was ready to grab some. She got like 4 I think. It was tough because the place was COVERED with parents and kids! It took no time for all the eggs to get snatched up. Anyway, so afterward Isabel wanted to open the eggs to see what was inside. She found a cinnamon candy (which I ate because she thinks it's too hot), a little dinosaur stamper, a pencil topper, and.....are you ready for this????


Yep, that's right!

It's Jordan Knight!

In case you didn't also have a button like this or any of the other larger buttons of the whole band or tshirts or slap bracelets with their faces or go see them in concert in 5th grade, then you might not know that this was a member of New Kids on the Block. As you can tell, I've already fastened it to my purse. Isabel said, "Mommy, why did they put that in my Easter egg??" hahah, clearly it was to make somebody's mom laugh really hard!

Hangin' Tough,

Forever Changed

Today I've been so grateful for even having a relationship with Jesus. I can't imagine my life without that relationship. Bethany Dillon's song "The Way I Come to You" expresses what Jesus accomplished for us so beautifully. I've been listening to it and I wanted to share it so you could reflect on how His life forever changed our's. You can listen to it here: http://www.last.fm/music/Bethany+Dillon/_/The+Way+I+Come+To+You


"Day turned to night
You breathed your last
Blood flowed from Your side
All of God in a young man
Who gave away His life

You loved me
When I was Your enemy
And You chose me
When I didn’t believe

You drank the cup that was all filled up
With my punishment and shame
From the garden to the empty tomb
The way I come to You forever changed

A crushing burden on our backs
The words hang in the air
“His blood be on us and our children”
Still, You forgave us there

And you loved me
When I was your enemy
And you chose me
When I didn't believe

And You drank the cup that was all filled up
With my punishment and shame
From the garden to the empty tomb
The way I come to You forever changed

Jesus, perfect through suffering
Jesus, my merciful High Priest
The weakness of God is mighty
And the foolishness of His love has saved me

When you drank the cup that was all filled up
With my punishment and shame
From the garden to the empty tomb
The way I come to You forever changed"



So grateful,

Our New Fundraiser

Hey everyone. This is Brian. I feel like a guest judge on American Idol. So Ange wanted me to let you all know of another fundraiser that we have started. We are collecting books, videogames, DVD's and/or CD's that you do not want anymore. We have teamed up with a bookstore in Winston-Salem called Piedmont Books. They are helping us sell the items that we collect and they are giving us a great deal since it's for our adoption. They are really nice people and are excited to help us bring our child home! Their store by the way, is in the Old Town Shopping Center on Reynolda Rd. Here's their website: http://www.piedmontusedbooks.com/

Anyway, if you are doing your spring cleaning and have any of the above mentioned items that you no longer want, then let us know and we would love to get them from you. Oh, we cannot take CD's or DVD's that do not have their original case. Turns out, if you try to sell them with no case, then the police would like to talk to you and find out why you do not have the cases. You know you didn't steal it. We know you didn't steal it. But really, no one needs the hassle.

As for the books, we will take any book that you may want to donate. The best is if you have college textbooks, architecture, medical, or law books. What's that, you don't have any textbooks? Have no fear, we can sell almost anything. Children's books though are a little harder to sell simply because there are so many of them and they are usually not too expensive to buy in the first place.

It's crazy to think that some old books, watched movies and iPod loaded CD's could go a long way toward bringing a child home! So, if you or someone you know would like to donate some items, let us know. You can post a comment or email Ange at angelahunt1023@yahoo.com.

Thanks everyone. It's been fun guest blogging!



...ahem...Brian