The best news of the year.....so far!

Alright, I am about to fall over here at the computer from exhaustion but I can't NOT write this post!!! I have been holding this news in and just can't wait to let it out!!

This weekend, we have officially passed our goal of $10,000!!!

We prayed that the Lord would provide it within 90 days from when we received our conditional approval with AGCI. That would be around the end of March/beginning of April. Well, you know God is soo good and we prayed that He would show off His power and His provision and His glory, and guess what?? HE DID!!! I don't want to post an EXACT total yet because we are still waiting on some donations to be finalized but I will say that God has provided MORE than $10,000 in LESS than 90 days!!

Ahh, we seriously can hardly believe it. We are SO excited to be able to sign our contracts and begin our paperwork and homestudy now to adopt our sweet baby!

Thank you to ALL of you who have helped with your time, money, prayer, gifts, love...I could go on. You rock! I'm hoping you all are still reading this blog, haha, share your excitement with us by leaving a comment!

Oh, in case you're wondering this is definitely NOT the end of our fundraising but this was our first big hurdle. We will keep you posted on what's next! I will give some clues though. It involves spaghetti, the 80's, and cool things to bid on! Oh, and I'm going to get our t-shirt page up and ready too!


Love, Love, Love,

Come and see!!

You guys have to come see our new Rummage Sale setup at The River Church!! It looks soo good! Again, our wonderful design team, this time with a few new members, have made it look like a cute little consignment shop! We have almost every item of clothing hung up and organized! There is some great stuff there! We got a 4 poster bed, antique rocking chair, several sofas, coffee tables, dressers, chairs, and of course toys, clothing, shoes, books, kitchen items, housewares, electronics.....you name it we got it! Come and see!!
Tomorrow from 8am - 2pm. We're on the corner of 150 and Welcome Arcadia Rd. (also known as Frye Bridge Rd.).

2nd Rummage Sale in a few days!

Again here is all the info about our 2nd Rummage Sale this Saturday! We had two trailers full of of stuff not including more items that we have picked up since the first sale! We would love for you to share this info with everybody! If you go to consignment sales for kids' clothing, come check out our sale cuz we have a TON! So here come the details!

WHEN: Saturday March 13th
8am - 2pm

WHERE: The River Church
4307 Welcome Arcadia Road
Lexington, NC 27292
(It's on the Winston-Salem side of Lexington though. If you go Peter's Creek Pkwy (Hwy 150) South then you'll get there. Or, you can go from Clemmons down Frye Bridge Road and get there) Check it out on google maps: http://tinyurl.com/yjpgz8m.

Here's the church's website: http://www.riverchurchlive.com/

WHAT: Sofas, loveseats, chairs, coffee tables, exercise equipment, bikes, TOYS, baby stuff, all sizes of clothing and shoes, artwork, BOOKS, homewares, kitchen appliances and cookware items, electronics, and I'm sure I'm missing something else!

We will also have an order form for our t-shirts! They are $20 each. Look at my grandma modeling her shirt!

We hope to see you there!! :) If you wanna help out on Friday night by setting up with us, give us a call or an email: angelahunt1023@yahoo.com.

Most Common Adoption Questions

I decided to do a series of posts about the most common questions that people have for us about our adoption. So, if you have a question or a comment (you know you are allowed to leave comments) let us know in the comment section! :)

Here are the most common questions that we get a lot:

• How much will it cost? Why??
• How long will it take? Why??
• Do you know the child that you will adopt yet?
• Will you go to Ethiopia and if so, then for how long?
• Why did you choose Ethiopia?
• Why didn't you choose to do a domestic adoption?

So, today's question that I will tackle is:

How much will the adoption cost?

This is not really a cut and dry answer but I will try my best. The estimate for an adoption with our agency for Ethiopia is roughly $26, 000. That looks like a pretty huge amount. I will give you an estimated breakdown of that total.

$2,000-$2,500 Homestudy Fees/Social Worker Expense

$6,300 US Fees and Expenses (This is the agency fee and application fee. This goes to our agency since they are directly working with our country, with our social worker here, with timely documents, with coordinating everything, etc.)

$1,000 Orphan Care Fee (this part goes directly to orphans in Ethiopia)

$6,000-$6200 Dossier Paperwork (This is all the government fees and paperwork that includes fbi fingerprinting, birth certificates, stuff like that. This also includes Authentification and Translation of the documents and International Service Fees)

$5,000 Referral Packet (This amount consists of fees that would need to be taken care of after we have been referred a child. This includes medical check-ups/testing, translation of final documents, post adoption documents and reports, and care for our child until we get a court date and can go pick them up!)

$5,500 In Country Travel/Accomodations (This is when we finally get to go pick up our child! This fee includes our flights, visas, transportation, lodging, food, etc.)

There are also other things like doctor visits for Brian and I, re-adoption for our child once they come to the United States, and any kind of extra things that just pop up during the process. I hope that gives you all a better understanding of the cost of adoption and why it costs that much. There are many factors that go into making an adoption legal and involves the governments of two countries.

Okay, one more thing. I also hope that this makes it very clear that when people adopt they are not "buying" a child. That comment is pretty offensive to the parents, birth family, and mostly the child. There are many fees involved in adoption. They are mostly to protect the child and family. They are to help you legally adopt that child as your own and bring them into your family. The fees associated are necessary to adopt, not directly "buying" a child. Okay, I will now step off the soap box. :)

Stay tuned for our next question!

My Restaurant Review & Date Pics

Go read my review of Dan Thai Jazz Bistro and see our fun pictures from our anniversary date tonight!:)

http://addtothebeautyangela.blogspot.com/2010/03/dan-thai-jazz-bistro.html

Check out my other blog today

It's about our anniversary today!

http://addtothebeautyangela.blogspot.com/2010/03/our-6th-anniversary.html

It's a week away!!

The 2nd Rummage Sale is a week away everybody! Even if you don't live close to the Davidson Cty/Forsyth Cty. border in Arcadia you can post about our sale to people that do! Please tell them we are having a huge sale with lots of furniture, toys, baby items, etc. from 8-2pm @ The River Church on March 13th! Grab the button to the right if you have a blog or a website! It links you to the info page!

http://ping.fm/tjchC

Friday update!

So, I feel like I have a lot to write but I can't quite put it all together. All good things but I don't know if I have much consistency to it....if that makes sense. I'm writing this from my couch with my lovely electric heating blanket. :) I decided to disconnect from the internet to write this. I have also taken a leave from facebook for a while. I am still checking my messages. I don't plan on deleting my whole account or anything. I just felt like I was checking and updating tons of stuff (2 blogs, personal email, 2 schools worth of professional email, facebook which has so many layers of updates too!) and I had this need to update and keep up. I started having some serious pain in my right hand and arm. I went to get a massage and my therapist said my arm was a wreck! We realized that a lot of pain was coming from the way my hand was propped on my laptop and at my computers at school. Also, the amount of time I was using the computer. So, after scveral days of no facebook I already feel a little better. Tonight, I'm sitting in a totally different position with my hand supported and I'm hoping it will help.

Okay, on to more interesting things!

Tonight we went to Blaise Baptist in Mocksville for an Adoption & Orphan Care dinner. The speaker was Peter Abera and he is from Ethiopia. This was his very first trip to the United States. We got to hear his testimony and how God has just planned out his life so beautifully and how He has used him to bring about change and to love orphans in Ethiopia. After the event, we wanted to say hi and introduce ourselves to him. We told him that we are adopting from Ethiopia and he was very excited to hear that. He also really liked my Simply Love Africa Valentine's Day tshirt from Children's Hopechest. He said, "oh, where did you get that?" He works with Tom Davis and Children's Hopechest and when I showed him the website (http://www.hopechest.org/) on the back of the shirt he was so excited and surprised! He really wanted one. So, I hope he can get one of his very own soon when he goes to visit the main office in Colorado. Okay, here comes the even cooler thing! We told him that we are adopting through AGCI and I mentioned Hannah's Hope (the home AGCI started in Ethiopia) and he said, "Really?? Hannah's Hope is right down the road from my house! When are you coming? How can we get in touch there?" Haha, how amazing right?? We also got to meet other families that are adopting or have already adopted. It was really encouraging!


We're headed back tomorrow for the Hands of Hope Adoption & Orphan Care Expo! It's from 8-12pm at Blaise Baptist in Mocksville. There are all kinds of booths and breakout sessions. The sessions go from 10:00-12:00pm. You can learn about domestic and international adoptions, foster care, financial strategies, orphan care mission trips, starting an orphan care ministry in your church, and lots more! You don't have to sign up or be there at a certain time, or pay, just show up! http://www.blaisebaptist.com/templates/System/details.asp?id=36001&PID=629815

I think that's about it for today! Oh, tomorrow is our anniversary!! Brian and I got married on March 6th 6 years ago! He got us reservations to a Thai Restaurant in High Point that also has live jazz! Isn't that random? Apparently, the people that started it are actually from Thailand and love cooking and jazz music so they combined their two loves! Haha, I'll be sure to post an update afterwards! http://www.danthaijazzbistro.com/


Much love,

Great news!

Thanks to all of you who were praying for the family I mentioned from Chile! I just found out this:
"GREAT NEWS, PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!KEEFE CALLED AND HE AND THE KIDS ARE WELL. THE HOUSE IS FINE. NIGHBORHOOD IS INTACT. A NEIGHBOR HAS A POOL AND THEY HAVE WATER TO WASH UP AND FLUSH TOILETS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS. PASS THE NEWS PLEASE. GRAN NOTICIA, KEEFE Y LOS NINOS ESTAN BIEN, TODO BIEN.:"

Yay! Praise the Lord!

Call for Fathers!

So, this video is circulating the adoption blogs today and I had to share it! It's a husband/father's perspective on adoption. Also, make sure you watch until the very end! :)