LIfeline Waiting Children

This is straight from Lifeline's blog. Please keep these sweet children in your prayers that God will lead a family to them. If you feel lead to adopt, I highly encourage you to!!!! PTL!!! 

Lifeline would like to take this opportunity to stir the hearts of many in the adoption world who are considering the adoption of an older child. Will you join us in in this challenge and spread the word?

These children have been waiting a long time. They are all special focus children. They have been specifically assigned to Lifeline. We have been blessed with the privilege of partnering with the CCCWA (China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption) to locate homes for these precious Waiting Children. As a participant in this program with the CCCWA, we are able to advocate for these older children with special needs.

Unique challenges come with adopting an older child with special needs. We realize that! But, they are so worth it! They deserve to have a forever family to call their own!

Please contact us with any questions including questions of transfer possibilities for these children. We are here to help in any way that we can.

Please email Logan Gibbons here or you can reach her at 205-972-8480 or e-mail Lisa Kelly here or by calling her at 785-783-4565 with any questions about these children.

Help us share these children who are waiting with others by "liking" and "sharing" our our "China's Waiting Treasures" Facebook Page HERE.

What a great start to a 2012!!

2012 has been a great year so far!! God has been so faithful!! We praise him for all he has done for us. Tuesday I came home from work and went to the mailbox and pulled out an envelope from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I thought to myself before I opened it, oh no, what is wrong?? We were not supposed to hear from them until the end of January, so something has got to be wrong!! Thank you Jesus nothing was wrong, but everything was right!! We have been approved by Immigration!!! Nothing is ever wrong when Jesus is involved!! Hallelujah!!!

This is a huge step and just a visual that this is really happening!! God is so good!! We are so blessed and so thankful for this journey!! We can not wait for the next few months to pass and to get closer to traveling to China!!! 

In the very beginning we knew that this was not going to be an easy journey and we knew that we had to have complete faith in the one and the only, Jesus!! We have gone through much stress, but continued to pray and keep him first. We know that instead of dashing forward towards our enormous goal, that we would try our hardest to slow down and enjoy this journey with God. We have alot more money to raise....might I add it is $18,000.00!!! Yes, that is correct!! You say, "How in the world?" Well, I said the same thing over and over again to myself and to Steve. When I initially set our goal, I left out the expenses of our children traveling to China with us. What an experience they are going to have!! I have kept them involved and I want them to experience the journey as Steve and I do. They are apart of this and we will continue to keep them a part of this by allowing them to travel to China as well!! 

This week has been a week of thoughts about fundraising. It is a little overwhelming, because I came up with so many ideas, but when you start piling all those ideas on top of each other, it gets a little confusing and exhausting. So, I wrote them down and will continue to pray over them. 

I felt led to have a theme for the Spring arts n crafts fundraising. I was not sure of what I wanted to do, so I began praying about it. When we first started our journey I was explaining it all to my sister, Missy, and asked her if she could help with the sewing. Of course, she said Yes!! She then went on to explain to me that she has also prayed that God would open her eyes and ears to ways to use the fabric that she had left over for a good cause!! :) During that same time period she began to notice sparrows flying around the same window and her garage. They came at the same time everyday and just pecked on the windows and door. She continued to pray and then it hit her to sew some stuff for our adoption to help raise money for our China baby!!! Fast forward a few months to our 1st Annual Sow to China Open House as I was cleaning house and getting everything ready, I opened the doors to just let the fresh air in and a sparrow flew in the house, around the kitchen and sat in my Christmas tree for just a little bit. I thought it was weird because a bird had never flown in my house!!! I walked outside and came back in and the sparrow had flown out. I did not think much about it until a few weeks later. I sent a message to my sister and let her know that it was a sparrow that had flown in and the night was totally blessed with an awesome turnout and we raised alot of money!! God works in wonderful wonderful ways!!!  Yes, I know you are probably thinking, she is one weird cookie!! Well, it hit me the other day when my mother n law mentioned that birds are really in right now. It was one of those Ah ha moments and I got really excited and said, "That's it!!!" Sparrows it is!!! Well, the verse that I have chosen and prayed over is:  

Psalms 84:3, 

Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young--a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. When I decided on a verse, everything just seemed right and I had peace about it!! God is fabulous and amazing!! He asks that we don't get discouraged and not to give up, he is our continuous helper!!! He is the way, the truth and the life!!! He is higher than any other!! I praise him for it all, without him, nothing is possible!! Please continue to pray that God will open doors and continue to bless this wonderful journey!!! Please continue to pray for us!!!! Blessings and Love, Julie

2011 Coming to a Closure!!

Wow! What an amazing year!!! I can not believe that it is a few days away from saying good-bye to 2011!!  In some ways, I am sooo happy to say good bye, but other ways we reflect on and wonder if we should have done differently. We will continue to keep our heads up and say bring it on 2012! What a fabulous CHRIST mas we had!! We had lots of fun parties to go to and family gatherings to attend, we baked lots of goodies and made some homemade ornaments and gifts. The kiddos received way too much stuff and I am to blame for most of it!! Through it all they were very appreciative and knew that Jesus was the real reason!! We discussed many times what it is going to be like next year with a new sibling and the joy he or she will bring!! We will keep our traditions and add lots of new ones! Boy are we excited to share the love of Jesus and his birthday with our new China baby!

God is so good!!! The month of December was a great month for Sow To China!! We have raised our next goal of around $5600.00 to pay our next two payments and our dossier payment. I know that you have to be thinking, "They have got to be getting close to their overall goal???" Well, our next goal amount is not determined just yet because we will be taking Carson and Hailey with us to China to meet their sibling and we are not sure of the expenses for them just yet. We can say that we are half way there!! About 8 months ago we were wondering how in the world are we going to get the money to make the agency payments? Guess what, God provided and they are all accounting for!! Hallelujah!!! Thanks to everyone that contributed and prayed for us!! The next goals will be based on in country expenses while in China which consist of flights, travel, hotel, official fees, visit to orphanage, etc.... We have no doubt that God will continue to provide. We have come this far with his hand and have continued to be faithful and trust in him. We don't deserve the joy that we are receiving from this journey, but knowing he is getting the glory for this, we will take the joy all day long!!


 In the past few days of being on Christmas vacation with my family, we have played with new toys, games, passed around the tummy bug and finally taken all the Christmas decorations down.
While packing up some of the ornaments that were made this year, a china doll ornament, china ornament and a cross that was made for me by a sweet friend, Averie, that is Hailey's friend, I read a letter that Averie attached with the cross. She is 8 years old and has a heart for Jesus!!! I received a text from her mom one Sunday morning asking if we were going to be in church and I replied back, yes, we would be there. She explained Averie had something for me. Shocked, I definitely wanted to find out what she had for me?? Her attached letter read...

Dear Mrs. Julie,
The reason I made the cross is because you are always doing fundraisers and making stuff for other people. So, I decided to make you something.  You know, because no one makes you anything. If you don't like it, you don't like it. But, I hope you like it.
Sincerely,
Averie

What an angel she is!! Of course, I loved the cross and it will be placed in our baby's room! More than anything, I love her heart and her love to give to people!! She brought tears to my face and I realized, I hope Jesus feels this way with me!! I hope he understands that we are doing this for him and not for us!! I hope that he has happy tears for us!! We believe in him and we believe in his sacrifice for us!! What can we do for him? What is most important to him? Is it the one more toy that my kids had to have just because? Absolutely not, it is shining for him and living for him, it is spreading his word!! This sweet orphan that we are going to  rescue will love him and know him, just as he wants us to teach he or she and others! There are no orphans of God!! We are all his children and we will always need his love!!

I have had some time to think about what will be the next fundraisers??? Oh my, not sure yet! We have applied for a few grants, but your not always guaranteed, but we will prayed for and considered. I am sure some handmade items will be coming out soon for the Spring holidays and our Sow To China shirt will be posted soon along with other fundraising t-shirts!! We will be praying for God to lead us to where we need to go and what we need to do to gain a few more steps closer to our China baby!!!

Thank you all so much for all your prayers!! We appreciate it so much and love you all dearly!!

God Bless you all and I hope and pray that 2012 will be a blessed year and you will live for Christ!! Believe me, you will not be disappointed, but filled with so much joy that it will send you on a fabulous journey!! Remember what he did for us.....

Blessings and Love,

Julie

Hope Ethiopia: 100

What an amazing story witnessing God's hand at work!!! This is the latest post from Lifesong for Orphans! What an amazing organization they are and the things that they do for orphans are quite amazing!!

Do you remember that Hope Ethiopia:100 challenge we gave you? The one where YOU all completely exceeded our goals? 

And that one phone call where an AMAZING donor committed to match ALL donations (up to $130,000) to Lifesong Ethiopia through the end of 2011?

Well, we found out about that donor on November 17th! That's 45 days to raise $130,000... which made this goal seem next to impossible... in OUR eyes! However, as you all know... GOD had different plans for THESE kids -

and these kids -
 

Plans that we could never had imagined... plans to give them hope and a future! 

Thanks to an AMAZING TEAM of individuals and their fundraising efforts, coupled with the provision of our Lord, THE MATCH HAS BEEN MET! Did you hear me? All ONE HUNDRED THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS has been donated for the children at the Adami Tulu and Ziway, Ethiopia schools! 

We stand in complete awe of our MIGHTY Jehovah Jireh! 

Thank you fundraising team for your efforts, for the way you never stop advocating for these children, and for our faith in our Lord God Almighty to provide for ALL of their needs! 

Thank you donors who stepped up to the challenge and did not let the dollar amount get in the way... but trusted that EVERY one of your dollars mattered! 

Thank you to all of you who advocated for these children, pray for them, and have invested in their lives... it will surely be an invest with an eternal reward! 

Check the Adami Tulu site often to learn more about The Project, the fundraising priorities, and what's in store for 2012! 

Its been a whole month!

I can not believe that it has been a whole month since I last updated our blog! I guess you can tell that I have not been twiddling my fingers. Well, we had the last 3 fundraisers for the year. We had 1 at Sirote and Permutt, my mother n law's office, and it was a great success!! We raised over $800.00 and are still delivering orders!! We appreciate her very much to take the time to help us get it set up and sell the handmade items while I was at work. Everyone was so sweet and thoughtful and complimented us on all that we had made. God is so good and has blessed me with a crafty side and I am so thankful for it!! It has been alot of fun and just knowing that a little piece of what we have made has gone into so many homes and given as gifts to so many. I pray that the blessings that we received from making it all carries on and it taken by each recipient. The next fundraisers were lots of fun, both were at friends homes and we raised close to $800.00 at both combined. God is so good!! I thank Christy Sparks for allowing us to come into her home and set up. What a fun Shopping Palooza it was! I am so thankful for Christy and her sweet family!! Just to be with friends and praise Jesus for what he has given us and just knowing it was a "God Thing" that we all made it back to another show together was fabulous!! Candi Boissel was there selling Thirty One and she had a great turn out!! I am so thankful for her and her friendship. It is funny how we have met so many people through this journey and some have just touched our hearts in so many ways!! I just think the world of her and I feel like I have known her for years!! Thanks to my mom as well for coming to the party and sitting with me! And thanks for delivering orders after the party!!
The fundraisers for 2011 have come to a fabulous end! We are so blessed and thank Jesus everyday for entrusting us with this journey! We continue to ask for guidance and for him to be the pilot, because we can try and take over, but it will not be the same as how God wants it to be!! PTL!! We have raised enough money to take care of our next payment to the agency and the payment for our dossier to be mailed to China. Oh my, that is a huge relief and a huge praise!!!

So, what's next? Where do we go from here? Well, during the fundraising period, we have been compiling more documents together to be added to our dossier. We have been to the Immigration Department here in Birmingham and had our finger prints done, which was painless and done within 15 minutes!! We have applied for 2 grants so far to Lifesong and Show Hope. We pray that these go through and we get some guidance from those. We have about a 1 month 1/2 left to wait on our approval from Immigration. When we get our approval from Immigration, our dossier will be complete and mailed to China! After about 2 to 3 weeks after China receives, reviews and logs us in to China, we will receive a log in date. When we get the log in date, shortly after, we will hopefully begin the matching process!! Woohoo! So far everything is right on track, we hope that it stays on track, however, if we do come across a road block, we pray that God will continue to let his light shine through us and we continue to build our faith in Him!!

This is just a little note that I shared on Facebook this morning...
Last night Steve and I were discussing that our house is not decorated like it usually is every year, one tree has nothing but lights on it and all of our fun decorations to sit out are still in boxes in the attic, our outdoor decorations are not out, a wreath fell off the window and still sitting on the ground, we have not mailed out Christmas cards just yet, however, the work and time that so many have put into making all those fabulous handmade crafts has paid off!! It does not bother us not to have ornaments on one tree or a decoration not on that step, because next year, we will have another precious angel to celebrate the real reason of Christmas, Jesus Christ!! With that said, we have made our next goal and are a step closer to bringing home our China baby!! Without him, nothing is impossible!! We want to thank everyone that has had their hand in our journey thus far and also thank everyone for the prayers!!

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Psalm 105:1,4


We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Just remember the reason for Christmas, it is not about how many lights you can get up or how many tree's have all the ornaments or just how many presents you expect to get, it is about our one and only Saviour, Jesus Christ and what you can give back!! Please continue to keep us and our journey in your prayers! This time next year we will be celebrating the birth of Jesus with a precious little one and there will be one less!!

Praise to be the Lord!!

Blessings and Love!!

Julie

By God's Grace

O.k. So, I have been a little frustrated for these past few hours because I could not post to our blog!! So, know that I have finally figured it out, I can post about all the exciting things that have been going on!! Of course it is about fundraisers and more fundraisers!! For these past few weeks since setting a date of 11/11/11 for our 1st Annual Adoption Open House, we have been working everyday to get things made and the house decorated, cleaned, cleaned and did I mention cleaned? I think Steve vacuumed the house at least 3 to 4 times a day. I can speak for him, he is glad that the Open House is finally come and gone!! I will get back to the Open House shortly, I wanted to share a few more great things that God has sent our way! By God's grace he has placed us in loving families, a truly loving church and home! God is so great and is getting every bit of the glory and we are overflowing with so much joy that it is so overwhelming. I explained to our preacher that we are so undeserving of the joy that he has provided to us and continues to provide to us! We are learning that being obedient to doing work for the Lord is rewarding with the joy!! We are all adopted into God's family and to be able to extend that love to an orphan is a God thing!! Praise him!!
So, we have a sweet friend that told us months ago that she wanted to do something for us, well she presented us with a check a few weeks ago. She had sold her complete set of "China" to help us bring home our "China baby"!!! What a blessing she is and we just love her dearly!!

Last Sunday was Orphan Sunday, and church service was fabulous! Our great church recognized us and others that have been adopted or fostered or in the process of adopting/fostering and had some really great things to say and sweet prayers! The service was great, the slideshow was great and you could definitely feel the holy spirit!! This is how our Sunday went !!

"First I have to say that God is so good! Yesterday was one of the most
important and touching days that Steve and I have experienced through out
this process! Church was fabulous, the preaching was fabulous, Jennie's
testimony was great, the songs were great and just feeling the holy spirit
in church was overwhelming!! I may be crazy because I don't take things
lightly, but make a "story" out of them. We had plans to attend the St.
Aloysius Fall Festival and we did. We got up early Sunday morning and got
ready,( might I add got ready an hour early because we forgot to change the
clocks back), headed to church with all of the fair stuff, had a great service,
got to the festival unloaded and just sat there and watched the kids play.
There were tons of games for the kids. We sold enough to pay for the booth
fee, supplies I bought Saturday, Carson won (4) 2-liter drinks, that will
be used Friday night ( I will not have to buy any for the Open House) and he
also won 4 movie passes and free Top This ice cream that will be used
Sunday after all this is over!!Throughout the day, I was just thinking about getting home and getting thehouse decorated and making some more stuff. When I finally sat down andthought about the day, I thought to myself, I have thought about the"icing" of the day all day long and not the "cake". God had his hand in our entire day! I thank him so much for that!!! Not only did he provide the
festival, but he provided the funds to pay for it, the supplies I needed
for the Open House and a whisper through my children saying, "Here are 4
movie passes, take a break on Sunday afternoon!" This child will be coming
home soon!!!"

We received the Spirit of adoption, the assurance of our inheritance. For we are the children of God and have been adopted into His family. inspired by Romans 8

O.k So what everyone has been waiting on results from the "1st Annual Adoption Open House". For the open house we made swags, wreaths, garland, frames, camera straps, crayon rolls, chalkboard mats, burlap ornament, burlap pillows and crosses, wooden crosses, decorative lanterns and tons of food!! It was so much fun! I can tell you that God provided tons of customers! I know at one time, it was so hard to even move a step without bumping into someone! This was so successful and we praise God for it!! We have had so much support and love through this process!! Believe me, my house was full of stuff from the dining room to the living room to the foyer! It was, as my daughter says, like a mall!! At 8:30, the last customer left and we sat down and took a breather and started counting the money! A sweet friend of mine, Leslie, was calling the amounts out to me to add up and I was typing each number into the calculator. Now, I will tell you that we prayed for a crazy amount to raise of $1500.00. Yes, I know, how in the world and is she crazy? Well, as I was typing, tears started flowing and Leslie looked at me as I was crying. I handed her the calculator and it showed a total of $1741.00!! In my wildest dreams, did I think that was possible!! Every lost hour of sleep and every late night of working and making one more frame as a customer was coming in to the open house, I knew every minute was worth it!! Yes, I would do it all over again and will do it all over again!!! Praise Jesus!!! He is so good!! We also attended another craft show today at Hepzibah Baptist Church! It was super fun and great to meet great people that love the Lord!! Now the total is $1866.00 between both fundraisers!! 

So, what is next?? A few days of rest!! Then we will be going back at it for an "Open House" at a friends house and a craft fair at my mother n laws office, Sirote & Permutt. Then we will be enjoying the last few weeks of December with our sweet family and friends!!! 

Now a few updates on the adoption process itself. We have completed the Home Study!! Praise Jesus!! It has arrived at Immigration and will be there until the middle to end of January. While we are waiting on the results of that we are preparing our documents for the dossier to be sent to China. Which is a little bit more of paperwork, passports, originals of our marriage certificate, birth certificates and reference letters, pictures of our family, etc.... When our approval comes back from Immigration, our dossier will be sent to China and hopefully within 2 to 4 weeks, we will get our LID (log in date). At that time, we will be able to start the referral program and start searching for our child!! So exciting!! We can not wait!!! We are also applying for grants through different agencies. 

Please continue to keep us in your prayers!!! We are loving this journey!!! God bless you all!!! 

Praise and glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Through adoption in Christ, God invites us to enter His kingdom. We are adopted children of God. 

Blessings & Love,

Julie

Updates from September & October

I feel like I am so far behind from everything that we have had going on especially during September and thus far in October. I wanted to make sure that I kept you guys updated on our progress. During the month of September we had a fundraiser on Labor Day. We went to Pinson for the Butter Bean Festival and raised $400.00. We met some great people and enjoyed butter beans and cornbread!! The people we met are doing some really great things for our gracious God. We received our Sow To China sign and displayed it!!! 

My birthday was September 19th and I received a fun party from my wonderful coworkers!! This party included a fabulous cake and a birthday card. I opened the birthday card and to my surprise they had collected $400.00 to go towards our adoption fund!! How great is our God!! I am so blessed to work with such wonderful, caring people! It was a huge surprise to me and to Steve as well when I told him!! With the money that was donated we were able to make our next payment!!!! 

As you could see from the last few posts, I posted some pictures of the new frames that we are making to sell to raise money as well. Well, Ordinary Hero, a non profit organization in Tennessee contacted us about making some frames for them. What a blessing it was to be able to package up 30 frames and mail them to Tennessee. God is so good and I hope that the joy I received from making them is also received by the purchaser!!! 

The events in October so far have been such a huge blessing. I have told several people that we don't deserve all the blessings that God has given us. I want to share just a small dose of what has been going on.......   October 1st, we attended the 1st Annual Adoption Craft Fair held by Grace Life Baptist Church at Shadow Lake. We worked so hard to prepare for it and we raised $650.00!!! It was such a blessing to be with our family, church family and friends. The blessings received from the fair was far bigger than we could imagine!!! The next weekend we participated in Valley Creek's Craft Fair. This was so fun for all of us. Steve grew up at Valley Creek and was baptized there. He enjoyed being there and spending time with Carson and Hailey. He was able to see lots of people he had not seen or talked to in a while. The kids were able to walk across the street with Steve to see the house that he grew up in and play in the field that he played in. His heart was happy!! 

On Monday, October 3rd, what a great night it was!! We will never forget this day!! Carson and Hailey both accepted Jesus into their hearts!!! This was the happiest time to us! God is truly working in our families lives and it is so overwhelming and our hearts are so full of joy!! The kids were baptized at Shadow Lake the following Sunday, October 9th. What a glorious day it was to share these wonderful baptisms with our family, friends and church family. You can see God's lights shining down!!! We love these kiddos so very much!! We pray that we will continue to be the parent's that we need to be to raise Carson and Hailey the right ways!!! We also pray that for this child we are adopting that he or she will also be raised the best parents that we can be!!

 

The 1st Annual "Swing for Adoption" Golf Tournament was held this past Thursday. Steve planned and planned for this event and did such a great job!!! It went great!! We had 11 sponsors and 5 teams. Brother Joel Frederick and Robert Pelfrey spoke and did a fabulous job!! You could feel God wrapping his arms around everyone!! This day could not have been planned out any better. God had his hands in it for sure! I asked myself several times, "What is going to happen if it rains?" God told me really quickly, "I have it under control!" And guess what? He did!! It was amazing to me to watch the day go on. It rained while we ate lunch and cleared up just in time for Joel and Robert to speak then off to play golf. We raised $1500.00!! What a God thing it was to be able to do it this day!! We thank everyone for sponsoring a hole, playing on a team, praying for our journey and contributing to this day in anyway. We are thrilled that he has chosen us to take this journey with him! 

So, what's next for us? Lots of fundraisers to come!! 

Friday, October 21st - Thirty One Party  

Sunday, November 6th - St. Aloysious Fall Festival

Friday, November 11th - Open House at our home

Saturday, November 12th - McAdory Middle School PTA Fall Festival

We are super excited about what is in store for us through the holidays! We are extremely excited to announce that we are almost half way to the midpoint of our goal! What a blessing that is, we never thought we would even make it to where we are now. With God anything is possible!!! 

We are so thankful that God has put each and everyone  of you in our lives! The joy is overflowing and we hope that it is shared with each of you. We have lots of hands in this journey and I want to thank you all!! 

Blessings and Love,

Julie