Day #1 of Blog Challenge

While Blog hopping I came across this blog challenge and thought I'd try it. You can read more about it here (30 Day Blog Challenge).

Today's Prompt is: Your current relationship.

My current relationship is I'm married :) I have been married just over 3 years and am looking forward to many more. I met my husband online and we were married almost exactly a year from the day we met. I love my husband more than words can say, but our marriage hasn't always been a walk in the park. It has had it's ups and downs.

 I've realized just how hard marriage is. It takes a lot of work! It takes two people who want to be together. Who make mistakes, who forgive, and who no matter what love and fight for their marriage. There will always be things that come up against you. We have to keep Christ as the center and focus on Him when everything else says turn and walk away.

My best friend, my protector, the love of my life. 

*My husband*

Where the funds Go...

We were asked if we had a break down of the fees we need in the next 30 days. Are you ready for sticker shock...  here we go ;)

Trip 2 breakdown is this:
7000-service & support
1000-registration deposit
2000-post placement deposit
450 post placement administration fee
All those paid 10 days prior to traveling
$8000-In country fee
260 per day adoption team services (total $5460)
Hotel-2500 (3 1/2 weeks)
Meals-400
2700 for in country travel (including paying for teams travel to region)
400 US- legal paperwork fees (to be paid in rubles)
1800-8 doctor medical exam in country
1000- miscellaneous expenses & needs- recommended by agency to take for emergency
Flights-$2000 (estimation going off flights found 10/26/12)

We have about all but $18,608 covered. 

If you'd like to donate to help bring these sweet girls you can make a tax deductible donation using the "donate" button to the right. It will go to our project hopeful account. 

You can also donate to our Reece's Rainbow FSP ** HERE**

Our family is humbled by the outpouring of support and love for Olga & Vanessa as well as for our family. 

Blog Challenge

While blog surfing last night I came across this 30 day blog challenge and decided to give it a try. Each day I will write a blog post on one of the following topics. It should be fun. If you take the challenge leave me a comment, I'd love to stop by your blog. 

( If your looking for the iPad Mini giveaway click HERE )

1. Current Relationship

2, Where would I like to be in 10 years

3. Top 5 Pet Peeves

4. Views on Religion

5. Favorite Comfort Foods & Why

6. Zodiac sign & does it fit?

7. Favorite Childhood toys

8. A moment you felt most satisfied in your life

9. If you would have any job in the world what would it be?

10. Your guilty pleasures

11. Put your Ipod (in my case iphone) on shuffle and write first 10 songs that pop up

12. Bullet your whole day

13. Somewhere you would like to move/visit

14. Earliest Memory

15. Write 15 interesting facts about yourself

16. Your views on mainstream music

17. Your highs and lows this last year

18. A book you could read over and over and never get sick of

19. Your biggest regret in life

20. How important you think education is

21. One of your favorite TV shows

22. How have you changed in the past 2 years

23. Post 3 pics of famous people you find attractive

24. Your favorite movie & what it's about

25. Someone who fascinates you and why

26. A problem you have or have had in the past

27. If you had 1, 000, 000 to spend how would you spend it?

28. Something that you miss

29. List 10 people dead or alive you would invite to dinner, include the menu

30. Goals for the next 30 days!

So I will begin this challenge tomorrow. I'm hoping it will keep my blog from collecting cobwebs and will give you a little peek into who I am.  :)

*Have a Momtastic Day*
Jenn

Christmas GIveaway Update

**** UPDATE****
Winners were drawn 
The winner of the iPad Mini was Christina Schye
The winner of the Silpada Bracelet was Jennifer Stanley

Thank you all for your support and donations! Each dollar helps bring Olga & Vanessa home. 


We  started our giveaway yesterday with an Ipad Mini 16 gb wifi.  Tonight we are adding another wonderful item. After church tonight our church had a pie fellowship. During it a sweet lady called me over and handed me a beautiful piece of jewelry from Silpada.  We were thanking God tonight for it as we had been praying for more items to add to the giveaway.  These sweet donors have touched our family so much. If you are reading this THANK YOU!!! 

Now on to the giveaway

Entries are :

1 Entry for $5

or 

5 Entries for $20

Also, if you share on your blog or facebook page and leave a comment here (or on my fb page) with the link you will be entered for 1 free entry. 

The Prizes:

#1

An Ipad Mini 16 gb wifi

Retail Value of $329

#2

A Cavalier Bracelet from Silpada

(Silpada.com)

Sterling Silver & Cubic Zirconia

Adjusts 7.5 to 8.5"

Retail Value $259

Please donate using Chip in or Project Hopeful links to the right. Project Hopeful is tax deductible. Chip in is not.  Only donations to these two accounts will be counted in giveaway as we need to be able to use these fees prior to getting our 2nd trip date. 

Our auction is also still going on Facebook. Stop by and see if you can find something to put under or on your Christmas tree  HERE

Thank you for your support & help. All donations will be used to pay unexpected fees. Any donations left after that will be used towards agency fees for trip 2. 

It's all for Olga & Vanessa!

Ipad Mini....

Our court dossier was reviewed for the 2nd time and to he judge once again asked for more. This time she wanted an updated homestudy, new medicals with labs drawn in last three months, new USCIS fingerprints,  a new apostille on a document, a new commitment letter from our home study worker and a copy of new lease as ours expires December 1. These new documents bring new unexpected expenses. We completed our homestudy review on Friday. Our worker said she is going to still approve us for 2. We recieved the new apostille in the mail today and also did our new USCIS fingerprints. 

An annonymous donor has donated an Ipad Mini 16 gb wifi to use to help raise the funds we need to cover these unexpected expenses and the rest of what we need for our second trip. 

Here's the details

You can enter using the "DONATE" button on the top right side of the page.  Chip in is down right now but as soon as it's up we'll set one up.  Make sure you leave a comment here letting us know you entered. We will match up all donations with comments here & on auction. We will assign each donation a number and on December 1st a winner will be drawn using an internet program so it is 100% fair. We will then notify the winner via email as well as post on here. 

1 Entry $5

5 Entries $20

1 Free Entry when you share on your blog or facebook. Make sure you leave your blog address or fb post link in comment so we can verify. 

Feel free to stop by our auction and see what we have as well. 

MOVING MOUNTAINS AUCTION

Thank you to each one of you for being the hand & feet of God. We truly feel blessed to have you on this journey with us. This is all about Olga & Vanessa, not us. Each donation given is being given to bring those two sweet little girls home to a family and a home. A place where they can have a room that is for them, toys that are theirs and a place to call their own. Every child deserves a family and a home. Thank you for helping give them one.  We pray that God would receive all the glory for the mountains moved. 

Moving Mountains

Faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain. Praying today for faith.

Time to clean house........

Lately the kids and I have been watching a lot of sitcoms from the 50's. You know, I Love Lucy, Donna Reed, Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver. I love that on most of these shows the siblings get along, the children on the sitcoms learn that listening and obeying parents usually has better results than disobeying.

But, you know the one thing I love the most.... The oh so clean and simple homes. I love the life portrayed of the 50's housewife. The house is always clean, kids are always happy, meals always on the table when the husband is ready to eat, and family time is the rule not the exception.

Now. I know this is not reality, even in the 50's but the thought makes me smile.

So today my daughters and I started out with cleaning house. We rearranged rooms, cleaned out closets, dusted, vaccumed, and organized all the kids rooms as well as the living room. We started around 8:30 this morning and finished around 3:30.

It started out as just cleaning the house. As I went through the day I realized that I was happy. Getting rid of so much junk. My daughters got along and worked together and have truly been closer today than they have in a long time.

I found myself thanking God so much today. As we loaded bags and boxes of stuff to go to Goodwill we all realized how lucky we are. We have so much more than some and we too often take that for granted.

I pray God will continue to clean me on the inside like we did the house. Getting rid of all the unwanted junk and cluttered shelves of my heart.

Today was a wonderful day to clean the house.

Going Orange for Anna

I wrote not long ago about our former pastors daughter being diagnosed with Leukemia. Those who know Anna and are praying for her and her family through this journey have started wearing orange on the first Sunday of each month to show support. A way to remind Anna and her family that so many have their back through prayer. This was started by Anna's friend Kaitlyn. Today was the first Sunday of the month so our family took part. Here are some pictures of us going orange. We love you Anna & Houston family, you are in our thoughts and prayers.

We used Orange hair chalk in the girls hair.

Brit, (not quite awake) showing her orange flower clip and orange hair. 

Becca, she didn't have anything orange to wear so she did orange in the ends of  her hair & her orange flower clip. 

Jessa, she didn't have anything orange either (think we need to fix that before next month). Showing off her  orange curls & flower clip as we were leaving for church. 

Becca and I going Orange for Anna

Even Chris went Orange. He did a light orange mist of his hair too. 

Jessa and I 

Brit and I


Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.~ Mark 11:24

A Sister's Love Part 3

 For the past 20 months we have shared our adoption through our eyes. This is part 3 of the adoption through our daughter's eyes.




"I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast give me; for they are thine."~John 17:9

                          If this adoption has taught me one thing, it is to pray without ceasing, constantly. And not just for you or the things you want, but for everyone and everything in the world. From the man richer than Bill Gates to each individual blade of grass.

                          But we shouldn't only pray for forgiveness, even though that is extremely important. We should pray for thanks, for love, for guidance, and for peace. Many people believe that prayer should only be used to apologize to God for our sins. I know, because that was me.

                         I used to think that if I apologized and asked for forgiveness from God, I could do the same thing over again, and it would count as my "daily prayer" for that day. But I quickly realized this wasn't enough. The Bible says that God should be closer than a brother, closer than your very best friend. But how is He supposed to be that close if we never let Him in? We are suppose to talk to Him as if He is our best friend. We should share our hopes and fears with him. If we don't then how can we get upset at Him when things don't go our way or how we think it should go?

                        I never understood this before the adoption. I still don't think I will ever be able to fully grasp how important prayer is. It's one of those things that no matter how much I try, it will never be enough. No matter how many times a day I pray, it will never even begin to give God the glory He truly deserves.

*More to come*

A Sister's Love Part 2

If you are just joining us, please read A Sister's Love Part 1 . This is part two as written by our oldest daughter Rebecca.




~Jaysean~

                           Almost automatically the penny pinching and saving started. We cut back on extra trips, extra spending, and just about everything else! The coupons and store ads came out each week, so did the cookbooks. Even though we already made many things from scratch, we baked and cooked more than usual. Our house constantly smelled like bread, not that anyone was complaining. ;)

                            And as the saving started, so did the "sibling search" as us girls called it. Multiple times a day, Momma would sit down with the computer and go through the different databases and the Reeces Rainbow site. Looking at the different regions.She would look at it with us too.  We would look at each child instantly falling in love. Along with looking at it with us, she would with Daddy, as well as alone.

                            One day, Momma and Daddy found a little boy in  Latin America named Jaysean (pronounced "Jayson"). He had the cutest smile and the chubbiest cheeks I had ever seen. After we all agreed we fell in love with him. The praying and fundraising started. We were all praying that if it was Gods will for us to adopt Jaysean he would open the doors and bring the money needed in quickly.

                            But even through all of the praying and fundraising, something was holding Momma and Daddy back from puttig a commitment on Jaysean. After looking into the requirements for Jayseans region in Latin America, it turned out that we couldn't meet all of them. Taking this as Gods way of telling us we weren't meant to be Jaysean's forever family, we prayed that God would bring his family to him soon.

                            So, as the praying continued and fundraising was put on hold, the "sibling search" started once again. We all waited anxiously for the day when Momma and Daddy would tell us that they found the one we were adopting.

*More to come*

A Sister's Love Part 1

My oldest daughter Rebecca gave me permission to post this here. She has started writing about our adoption from her point of view. I hope you enjoy it. It touched this momma's heart.



 The Question
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father in this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world ."~ James 1:27

                     "What would you say if we adopted a kid with special needs?" This is the question that changed my life forever. My family was sitting in the living room of our house in Olalla. Momma and Daddy sat on the couch, while us three girls sat on the floor in front of them. Jessica held one of our foster kids in her lap, and Britney held our yorkie named Mocha. The red lights on the Christmas  tree glowed on the wall.          
               
                     I expected them to ask. Since Brother and Sister Browning announced that were adopting two children with Down Syndrome, many families had started the adoption process or advocating for a child with special needs. My parents had started looking at the site, where the Brownings found their two children.

                     After a few minutes of silence, Jessica spoke, "okay". "Me too" Britney pipped up. "Alright" I said. Seeing as how we were all in agreement momma spoke up. "You guys know they will have some things that are different than most kids, right? They may look different , or it may take them longer to comprehend things."

                  "We know. Like Justus." Jessica spoke up. Justus was the Brownings little boy they just had who had Down Syndrome.  "Yes like Justus" momma said. "So you all okay with that?" Daddy asked.  "Yeah." Brit said, giving Mocha a kiss.

                 "You know we may get gunny looks, right?" said Momma. "Momma, I think we already get funny looks." I said. She laughed. At that time we only wore skirts and dresses that were below our knees and were no lower than four fingers below our collar bone.

                "Okay, so now what?" I asked. "Now we pray that God will lead us to the right kid. And if it is not His will for us to adopt, he will show us quickly." Momma said. The three of us girls nodded in agreement. We all bowed our heads together as Daddy prayed.

                 As we gave Momma and Daddy hugs and went to bed, I had a feeling that our lives would changed drastically. So that day in December of 2010, we pledged as a family that if adopting a child with special needs was Gods will we would follow Him all the way.

More to come tomorrow :)