Jamberry Nails: Raising Funds To Bring Them Home

Y'all, I took the plunge! A plunge I NEVER thought I would take. I watched a friend wear her Jamberry nail wraps and be very successful with her business. So, Nick and I discussed it and prayed about it. I dove right in!

Yep, I'm an independent consultant for Jamberry Nails! Don't know what Jamberry is?? Here's some info for you!

We figured this was a good way to share the fun with others and also make some additional funds to go towards our adoption. I get to interact with other women, make new friends, share a bit about our adoption journey, and raise awareness about orphans around the world and right here at home!! 

Like what you see? Let's have a party! Seriously! It's as easy as you inviting people to a Facebook event and showing up to comment/participate in giveaway entries. I do the work and you walk away with some awesome product at the end of the party. OR we can have even more fun and invite all the girls over for some snacks, fellowship, and pampering! What I earn becomes part of our adoption fund. When we need to write our next check to the adoption agency we use this money to do so.You end up blessing us by having fun with friends and family and earning some awesome product in the process!!

Let's do this! Contact me! Ask about finding a date that will work for you, we'll have lots of fun, and you'll earn some amazing free product! You can email/call if you have my info or you can in touch with me via my page at www.facebook.com/EmilyBJamberryNails. While you're at it, can you like and share my page? This gets the word out about the business and, as you can already guess, helps grow our adoption fund!

I've also been blessed to do a few fundraisers for friends who are also adopting. The Lord has laid it on our hearts to use this business as a means to bless others, too. If you know of anyone else who is adopting and could use funds to bring their child(ren) home, PLEASE share this with them as well:

Thanks!

From Where I Stand: {Christmas Traditions, Old & New}

Nick & had the privilege to attend Together for Adoption in October. While there we met another young couple who live very near where I grew up. We've had the privilege of building a relationship with them and are blessed to see them every so often as we all walk this long road of adoption together. Stephanie had the brilliant idea of starting a circle blog and this would be the first post I am writing for From Where I Stand. 

We're still in the newlywed phase of life. This will be our third Christmas together, but only our second in the new house, so we are still very much in the process of creating and making new traditions during the holidays.

We each brought our own favorite childhood Christmas traditions into our marriage. I liked decorating the tree and re-living memories as we got out our ornaments and remembered who had given them to us or what grade we were in when we made it. Nick's favorite tradition growing up was listening to his dad read The Shoemaker's Christmas just before opening one gift on Christmas Eve. He also grew up baking Christmas cookies to send to relatives & making gingerbread houses. As an engineer, he takes this seriously and plans out his design before ever even baking his pieces. It may look messy when finished, but each piece has been graphed and carefully designed.

My most fondly remembered tradition of my growing up years was spending the night at my grandma's house after celebrating Christmas with my dad's entire side of the family. My great-grandmother would have all of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren over. It was big gathering and I was a shy kiddo who didn't know everyone, but there was always this anxious anticipation for dinner to wrap-up, Santa to come and go (not a Santa person, sorry), and the gifts to get passed out.

My great-grandmother lovingly crafted new pajamas for each of us kiddos. Soft, warm, flannel nightgowns for us girls and a shirt/pant set for the boys. I was always so excited to see what material she would had chosen, what style she'd made, and it was as if I was holding my breath, waiting to see if she had done it again this year...

My younger sister and I in our pajamas.

She ALWAYS, without fail, made them as if we had stood in her sewing room for multiple fittings. The arms would be just the right length, the hem would stop right at our ankles, and we could always spin and twirl in them and see the fabric balloon out around us much to our delight. She never once asked for measurements. We saw her at Easter and often Thanksgiving, but even with those short and spread out visits she always got it just right, for everyone, the dozens of us great-grandchildren. It was such a special, loving tradition that has provided wonderful memories to this day. 

I'm not a little girl anymore and Grandma Slade is in Heaven, so those nightgowns are a memory, a tradition that has passed, but that still makes me smile every Christmas. I wonder if I'll ever do something so thoughtful for those in my life with each passing year. Time will tell.

As we have been establishing our own traditions in our marriage and new house we often find it is too easy to let the hustle & bustle of the season and the demands of being at this gathering and that gathering take over. It's hard to carve out time to just be.

We're starting a new tradition this year of really being mindful of this advent season. I bought The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp, author of One Thousand Gifts & blogger at A Holy Experience. I'm desperately anticipating opening the book later today and being refreshed. I'm excited to do the reading, printing and hanging of the advent ornaments from our fireplace mantel, and the remembering as we live these days leading up to Christmas. We're excited to really focus on THE meaning of the season this year- Christ come to earth as a baby only to grow into a man who would one day take away our sins.

We will build our traditional gingerbread houses. We'll watch White Christmas on Christmas Eve night with only the tree lights on, open gifts on Christmas morning and spend the day with family. But it will be that slowing down and meditating on the real meaning of the season that will be my favorite tradition this year (and hopefully for years to come).

What is your favorite Christmas tradition? New or old? How do you celebrate this advent season? 

Thanks for visiting and reading about our favorite Christmas traditions! Please check out my friend Julia's blog to read more about her favorite traditions at Christmas while living and serving in Germany.

When Thank You Isn't Enough

I'm not sure there is any myriad of feelings/emotions that compare to this week's. Up, down, up and down at the same time. Numb. Ecstatic. Ready to throw the towel in. Confident and determined. Adoption is a roller coaster, folks. On the up side, we had some really unexpected blessings this week.

This week we were handed a very generous amount of cash. How does one even begin to describe the emotions that seem to be bursting forth and competing with each other? AND how do you even respond to such a gift? I was so taken aback since it was our first gift, and I was not expecting it (really are we ever?). After receiving the gift and stumbling over words and a response I shut the front door and immediately felt the tears start rolling down my cheeks while the emotions began banging around in my heart, colliding, and streaming down my face in the form of tears. There is NOTHING to prepare you for this. Nothing to explain how it feels to be on the receiving end of such a gift. Is it about the money? No. It's about the generous heart behind it, the support & sacrifice of a loved one, and about someone coming along beside you and saying 'Hey, I love you. I value what you're doing. I'm helping to bring your kiddos home. I support you.' It's a lot, but that one generous act says that and so much more.

After a few hard weeks this was very much a healing gift for me. Nick (who was not sure what had just happened, but saw my tears and waited for me to explain) reminded me that there will be moments like this all throughout this journey. He's right. I forget. I think it's all going to be hard. I can be too much of a 'realist' sometimes. I can forget to take delight in the journey. 

Then this afternoon we logged onto our Pure Charity account for the first time in a few weeks and were again blown away (and yes, I was again in tears) at seeing that someone else had backed us with a very generous one-time gift and signed up to donate monthly. This is someone I have talked to twice, maybe three times. And yet, there it was again, "Hey, I'm behind you. I value what you're doing. I'm going to help bring your kiddos home. You've got my support.'

Now, I recognize that support comes in all different forms, and I am in NO way am saying that the only way someone supports us is by giving financially. Not at all. In fact, I would argue your prayers are needed most. It is just that this has been so hugely felt due to the difficulty of the last few weeks.

How does one express gratitude for such generous hearts and actions? Thank you isn't even adequate. It fails to really convey the depth of gratitude... and yet there isn't anything that can really be said other than that. Words fail, but they are about all we have. So, if you're reading this, you know who you are... It isn't enough, but THANK YOU!!

Not A Fan of Rubber Bands

Today is easily turning into one of those really hard days. I've been told we'd have them. Days that just seem to kick you in the gut and leave you unable to move or at best staggering. After an encouraging visit with a friend & her little joy this morning I came home and started reading other adoption blogs our agency had sent us. Families who have adopted from Latin America, writing about the real ups and downs they have experienced through the process from application to home for several months and walking through behaviors and attachment issues. And it makes me cry.

I don't have it in me to walk this road. There's nothing in me that is equipped for this. (This is where I try to start preaching to myself about God giving me the strength and grace). For the hard, rough, and seemingly unending wait, for the days that I don't know what to do to speed the process, for the waiting on others to do what they need to do to keep the process rolling, for the times I feel powerless to do anything right. There are days I just want to throw the towel in, sit in a corner, have a good cry, and then go binge on chocolate or another comfort food. Cheese would be at the top of my list right now since I have some new dietary restrictions. Or read. Reading would be amazing right now. Yet I don't do any of these. I just keep carving away at the busy pace of life. Feeling like I'm chasing the wind some days. A friend reminded me yesterday I need to remember to take some time for myself after I told her it was refreshing to have a long wait at one of my appointments because I got in a few minutes of reading/thinking time.

We have been SO busy lately. I've been sick, going from obligation to appointment to grocery shopping, working hard on growing my business, and trying to not give Nick leftovers. When we talked at lunch today I told Nick I just need to get out of the house tonight with him and go talk, pray, and reflect. I find that I feel stretched thin in just about every area of life right now and that I have a strong dislike for feeling like a rubber band about to snap. My lovely type-A, people-pleaser personality wants to feel like I am doing just ONE thing perfectly well. Ha! God is teaching me my days aren't mine, the hours in them can't be controlled by me, but yet if I am not intentional that obligations & such will overtake me. Far too often, being busy, even with 'good' things, can keep us from the most important things. Adoption is one of the things that can all too easily get put on the back burner when I'm running from appointment to appointment or doing the laundry, learning new food sensitivity recipes, cleaning, and being a somewhat invested wife.

So our date night tonight (which have been few and far between with our crazy schedules lately) will be a huge relief. Just processing with Nick & getting his input will be a breath of fresh air. Getting out of the house where distractions abound will be good & taking time away from work, household chores, technology (yes, our phones stay away on a date), appointments, making dinner, and all the other things calling my name.

I'll be a bit less like a rubber band after tonight, I hope. 

30 Ways We Are Saving Money

As you may have picked up on by now adoption is expensive. Yet, the Lord has made it abundantly clear we are called to do this, so we are working hard at saving around here and have been for quite some time. It helps that I get some weird satisfaction out of being frugal and learning new ways to watch where our pennies go. I even have a whole board devoted to it on Pinterest. So, I'm hoping our ideas will give someone else in our shoes some ideas or just anyone who is desiring to live within a budget or frugally. There are 'smaller' things and 'bigger' things, but they are all things we have done or are currently doing.

30 Ways We Are Stretching/Saving Our $$

1) TWO plus years of saving ALL of my part-time/full-time income has given us a bit of a start in the bank, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to what we need! We knew before we got married this is what we wanted to do with my income and we have stuck to it by God's grace.

2) Make and stick to a budget like nobody's business! We used to meet monthly about our budget and have found we don't have to meet quite as often now, but we definitely see wisdom in knowing where our money is going and how we are using it. Some months I like to challenge myself to spend only half of a certain category if I can. Not always successful, but it makes me mindful of being able to live with even less. 

3) Sell a product you believe in. I started selling Jamberry and it has paid off already in just over a month!! I'm loving it and finding so many others do, too! More to come on that later. : )

4) Buy Walmart giftcards to pay for gas for our vehicles, saving us 10 cents per gallon at certain times of the year. We recognize some stations have credit card rewards, but we only use debit or cash. Kroger also has fuel perks if you shop there much.

5) Replace showerhead from 2.5gpm flow to 1.5gpm flow, saving an average of 70 cents/shower. Times 2, that is $1.40/day. At 365 days/year that is $511!!! Now we're working on shorter showers, but there is nothing like hot water on a cold fall/winter day!

6)  Lowered our gift budget, giving meaningful, thoughtful and often homemade gifts. We spend $10-$20 depending on the occasion, and we cut sibling Christmas gifts last year as we all talked about it and realized we're adults and can buy what we want if we really need it. 

7) Eat leftovers! Even if it isn't our favorite new recipe we still eat them or find a way to make them better.

8) Limit our 'out to eat' budget. We do fast food occasionally. I always get water, my drink of choice. Some months we take a bit from our grocery budget and go to a nicer restaurant for a date (As important as being frugal is, I never want it to come at the expense of my relationship with Nick). 

9) No cable/satellite/Netflix/etc. We didn't even have a TV until this summer and were actually given an antennae to use for the local channels. We frequent the library for movies and TV series. This has to save us at least $20/month.

10) Run our dishwasher at 2 a.m. when usage is cheapest. I set it to run on a 6 hour delay around 8 p.m.

12) Isty-bitsy teeny-tiny... monthly clothing budget! It's true. It's so small I'm not even going to tell you what it is. But let's just say I've learned to be creative with mixing and matching and content with less and I like it this way. 

13) Sell things at Half-Price! I still have books from teaching that I weed through every so often and take, or we'll go through the movies/music we had before we were married and decide we don't really need it anymore.

14) $5 savings plan (anytime we have a five dollar bill,we put it in a jar and are creating a stash of cash, slowly). I am not an only cash Dave Ramsey follower, but I do try to use it for groceries and a few other things. So, when I get a $5 bill it goes in a special place and gets put in our adoption bank account later. I was really surprised the first month at how many 5 dollar bills I ended up with. (I tend to do this every few months, challenging myself to see if I can save more than I did the last time). 

15) Adjust thermostat accordingly. If we're talking heat I keep the house set at 63/64 at night and 65-67 during the day. I bundle up and we use an electric blanket to warm the sheets before we fall asleep. This makes up for the summer when I can't sleep no matter how much I have tried unless it is 73, but it stays at 76/77 during the day.

16) Don't buy pop or bottled drinks. Nick is a trooper to have given up his Diet Coke. I love H2O and he drinks tea that I make here at home.  

17) Grow a garden. While this first year was an investment, we reaped lots of reward that more than paid for itself! Our cucumbers especially were a huge hit. With 9 plants we always had plenty to keep us happy. We also grew strawberries, peppers, tomatoes, green beans, onions, spinach, lettuce, and snap peas.

18) Learn contentment. The Lord is teaching me how truly blessed we are. We may both have older cars with a few issues. Or we may not have painted the bedrooms since we moved in or still have dated light fixtures, but honestly there are things I want more-like funding this adoption. It's about my priorities. 

19) Scour garage sales/Goodwill for good deals. (Or be blessed by friends). 90% of the furniture in our house has been handed down to us by generous family and friends. May not be the latest style, but it is helping our 1-income-saving-for-adoption lifestyle. Some of my favorite shirts Nick wears have come from Goodwill. I can get him about 5 shirts for the cost of 1 elsewhere and we walk away with quality brands.We've also had our own garage sales, bringing in money for our adoption.

20) Skip the smart-phone and contracts. We bought 'cheap' phones and skipped the smart phones since neither one of us have a need of them for work or such. I love that I'm only paying $30/month with AirVoice.

21) Use Priceline for getaways. We recently went to Louisville for an adoption conference and scored an AMAZING deal on a nice 3.5 star hotel that was cheaper than the comparable 2 star hotels around town!

22) Change internet providers or re-negotiate. When we first moved in we got our high speed internet for $20/month. We tried re-negotiating and ended up going with another company for slightly more. They recently raised our bill and we are in the process of getting them to lower it again. Always worth asking!

23) Eat a meatless meal at least once a week. This is getting harder with my newly begun wheat and dairy free diet, but is possible. It definitely helps spread the money further.

24) Combine trips/errands in town. I seldom go to the next town over to the store unless I have planned out a way to squeeze as many errands into it as possible. Since I'm 6-7 miles away it saves me about half a tank of gas (round-trip) each time I can combine errands.

25) Frequent the library. I used to buy books a few times a year or maybe more. Now the librarians see us quite a bit. If our local branch doesn't have it I will put a request for it and they bring it in from around the state. Nice perk of living within walking distance of our local branch. : )

26) Buy paper products at Costco. I stock up on Kirkland brand TP about once every 6-8 months. It saves us more than I could with coupons and I like not having to add it to my grocery list every few months. I also took a good friend's advice and use rags (I bought white barmop cloths) for cleaning and wiping down counters and the sink. Since they are white I can bleach them or I throw them in with all our whites on hot if they don't need bleached. This is saving quite a few paper towels.

27) Pay our phone bill and shop online with the Pure Charity plug-in. Hundreds of companies/stores are available. We pay Nick's AT&T bill online and get a small percentage back we can give to a cause of our choice on Pure Charity, be that our own adoption or one of several great causes.

28) Take advantage of an FSA account. We sit down and figure out how much we think we'll spend on medical expenses in a given year based on what we spent the previous year or what we know we have coming up. This includes dental, vision, prescription drugs, doctor visits, contacts, glasses, & more. Anything we contribute doesn't get taxed. I've read that someone contributing $1,500 in could save about $325 in taxes for the year. Be careful though because you will lose what you don't use by the end of the year or within a certain grace period.

29) Put off that (dream) vacation. Nick and I both have dreamed of making it to Ireland for years. We decided early on that we would put this on the back burner though in order to save for adoption. We'd both still love to make it there someday, but ultimately know that we'd rather see our funds go towards providing kiddos with a home.

30) DIY. Chair repair? No worries. Nick will take care of it. House needs painted? No problem. We'll climb up on ladders and do it ourselves (ok, that was a bit ambitious but it did save us a couple of thousand). Plumbing issues? Nick was awesome and persistent! Kitchen needs painted? My dad lives close and was going to help us, but we came home one night to a painted kitchen. He's quite the handyman and has been a great help to us. I'm very proud of Nick for all the hard work he puts into our house and the ways he helps save us money even when it would be more convenient to hire someone else.

There are many other ways we are being money conscious, but these are the first 30 to come to mind. Being mindful of where our money is going and where we WANT it to be going has really stretched me and challenged me to be mindful of money not being my own. We desire to be good stewards of what God has given us and recognize that being cheap frugal is helping us do that and pursue adoption.What are some things you do to stretch your money/save?

Pure Charity & Shopping Online

As I shared in our announcement this adoption is definitely going to cost us a pretty penny. It would be easier to not adopt. Easier to ignore the needs of children for a forever family. Easier to not think about and question where thousands of dollars are going to come from.

One of the biggest things the Lord has been working on me about over the last year is giving others the chance to get behind you, to get behind caring for orphans, to be love.

That said, we are looking into some creative more 'less direct' ways we can gather funds. This is the SIMPLEST one ever!

Pure Charity is amazingly brilliant! Most of you probably shop online. I also imagine most of you are going to be doing quite a bit of it in the days leading up to Christmas. A small percentage of those purchases at retailers you are already buying from can be used to back a charity you choose!! You can provide water for people in Africa, school supplies for students in China, OR 'coming home' funds for our kiddos! 

There are HUNDREDS of retailers participating (Target, AT&T, Walmart, Kohls, Apple, Groupon, Priceline Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Southwest)!

So, when you want to buy a book, pay your monthly phone bill/internet/cable bill, snatch a Groupon deal, stock up on vitamins or toiletries, or surprise your special someone with a new TV or gadget you can also be helping us (or another charity of your choice) bring our children home. HOW COOL IS THAT?! I have been in love with this model for months, and now I am incredibly thankful it can be an answer for helping to fund our adoption!

The easy how-to:
1) Sign up for an account.
2) Install the Pure Charity Plug-In.  (Or shop on their site and search for your choice store)
3) Click to add each retailer in the top toolbar, and SHOP! A percentage will be given to the charity/project of your choice! We'd love for you to back us! (Keep track of our progress right here on the right of this blog.) Funds will go directly to our 5013(C) agency, not us.
4) Share this with your family and friends! Post on Facebook, Twitter, or send an email! Your sharing and giving can help us get them home!

I'm not asking for you to shop and fund our adoption because it is about us. I'm asking for it because it is about children, our children, we haven't met yet, desperately needing a forever family. It's about God's glory!

Adoption As A Paper Pregnancy

Before we began this process I had heard the term 'paper pregnancy' over and over. I thought I understood what they meant, but it hasn't taken long to figure out I didn't fully grasp it and probably still don't.

I didn't know that as soon as we announced our plans there would be a line drawn in the sand. No longer were we just saving, like we had been for the last 2 years, but we were official. Paperwork was being filled out. This was happening. We were officially beginning our 'paper pregnancy'.

When someone gets pregnant they have their own wait times. They wait for their first ultrasound, the first time they feel the baby move, the ultrasound that will reveal the gender, and of course delivery day. While they wait for these firsts there is also preparation for bringing baby home. They know they will be pregnant and have about 9 months to get ready.

When you begin your paperwork pregnancy all you know is you will wait. And wait. God knows the timing, not us humans. There is the application, the homestudy, the submission of a dossier, the referral of a child (or children), and then the travel date. You could have longer than 9 months to get ready. But I also think of a friend I know whose entire process took 4 months from application to 'gotcha day'.

All of that may crawl or parts may happen overnight. It is not uncommon to hear of a family that is notified and has less than 24 hours to board a plane. It is also not uncommon to have a referral and wait months, even years to bring that child home.

I'm finding pregnancy would elicit a YES! response from people. They would know right along with us that we have 9 months to go. They would relate stories from their own pregnancies. Yet, adoption is a whole new ball game. None of us know how long we have to wait. Most people don't have adoption stories to share.

The referral of a child/children will be a HUGE moment for us- probably the ultimate until we board a plane and go meet them and bring them home. We'll be able to tell people about them, show pictures, and even decide on names. We'll find out what special needs our child/children has and research and learn how best to care for them and how it will impact our daily lives. We'll get to know them from afar and watch them grow before we can even touch them. We'll meet people who have walked this road before us. We'll learn patience as we wait. But we will also relieve the highs during milestones such a completed dossier, when the referral comes, and when travel happens.

So, this 'pregnancy' has begun. We may not know how many months we have, but we are announcing that we have children somewhere out there. (Yes, given the ages we are requesting they are most likely alive and waiting even now). We may not have names or genders or ages for you, but much like when someone announces they are pregnant, we are announcing we are going to be bringing home a child or children!! We have to wait for that gender reveal just like parents do who have biological children. We have to wait to decide on names. We have to wait to bring them home, probably more than 9 months, but we can tell you we have children we are preparing for, already loving, and fighting to get home. How awesome (and humbling) is that?!

What You {Don't} Say

It's a couple hours past my bedtime, and I'm wide awake. Finally got out of bed so my tossing and turning wouldn't bug the man of the house. This after a solid 30 minutes of tears and convo and prayer with him a few hours earlier. This after being reminded (yet again) that my guy is the best.

Adoption is hard. HARD. And we're not even really in the all out battle of it yet. Can I be honest with you all? I feel let down. Discouraged.

I thought people would be excited. I thought (maybe rather ignorantly) that we wouldn't have the silly/stupid/hard/Lord, give me grace to answer kind of questions or flippant reactions. I didn't think we would be dealing with racism and prejudices. I really didn't. I expected one or two hesitant yet happy reactions and that the rest would be ecstatic for us and for children who are fatherless (read that and really let it sink it) that are about to receive a home.

Can I be honest? I told Nick in tears tonight that I don't even want to talk about it anymore. I don't want to tell anymore people. I don't want to think about breaking it to a newer church body and people we are just forming relationships with. I don't want to think about conversations that are going to happen with the people who have already shown less than enthusiasm at our big news. I don't want to go to such and such gathering and be subjected to more less than gracious questions or comments. Maybe this will pass. I'm praying it does.

But if I'm being completely honest, let me tell you something else. Not only do less than kind questions or comments sting, but so does what you don't say. Sometimes more than the unkind words.

People who I know would be the first to hug us, congratulate us, like our announcement on Facebook, send us a text and so on to be excited along with us if we were pregnant are silent. That silence is deafening. And insulting. More than I can tell you. These are the people who would be the first to want to keep up with you during your pregnancy, to help you out on a rough day, offer a word of encouragement here and there, bring a meal post delivery, comment on all your pregnancy bump and then baby pictures. Yet they say nothing now. They seem to become chameleon-like and blend into the surroundings. 

It hurts. I know I sound like I'm not happy with how anyone is reacting. Like when people do talk they say the wrong things, and when they don't speak I wish they would make their presence known. I don't want the reactions or lack thereof to steal my joy. Yet it is. I can count on less than 5 fingers the people I have talked with face to face who seem genuinely over the moon happy for us. One of them is my husband.

Somewhere out there is a boy or girl or both that already has a piece of my heart. And that piece is growing more each and every day. I can't see them, touch them, talk with them, or even know what is going in their lives. They aren't growing and developing in my womb, but they are growing in my heart at a rapid pace. A heart that feels like it isn't even at home in my body anymore.

The fact is God already knows who these children are. He knows He is going to allow us to raise them. They are His, but we will be His instruments. We'll get to make some awesome memories, laugh and cry, hurt and heal, hug and fight, and hopefully make disciples for Him. Through it all we will be a family.

Cry and laugh alongside us. Pray for us. Rejoice with us.

Just Love Coffee: Impacting Lives One Cup at a Time

If you're that person that just loves a cup of hot, aromatic coffee then this is for you! Just Love Coffee sells fair trade & organic coffees from countries around the world where the need for work is great. Knowing that the workers received honest, fair wages used to support their families is important to me. This helps stamp out the orphan crisis at the very core!

Just Love Coffee is an AMAZING company that also works with adoptive families to help them raise support for their adoption. You buy coffee and the proceeds support our adoption. A bag of coffee would make a perfect gift for that hard to buy for coffee-lover on your list! You would helping the workers provide for their families, helping us raise funds for our adoption, and giving that coffee-lover on your list a gift they are going to drink right up! 
Ready to shop?
www.justlovecoffee.com/basileadoption

We're Adopting!

I tell people the Lord did an awesome thing when He paired Nick and I (for more than a few reasons). We both had a heart for adoption, specifically international adoption, before we even met. We thought we would get married, enjoy our newlywed phase of life for 2-3 years, have a few kiddos, and then adopt as the kiddos got older. The summer of 2012 (before we were even married a year), the Lord began really laying adoption on my heart even more. I began to pray about it, thinking there was no way this could be the direction we headed this early in our marriage. Unbeknownst to me, God was working on Nick, too. We both felt like the Lord was directing us this way and is continuing to do so.

For over a year now we have been gathering information & trying to save money like it's our job (and working a few different jobs to do so). We've prayed and sought counsel. We've had some sleepless nights. There have been some tears. But there has also been plenty of smiles, laughter, and excitement!

Reactions have been mixed. I'm not going to lie when I say this is hard. I just can't fathom why people wouldn't be excited. Two (yes, I said two) kiddos will be given a home and Nick and I will be parents.

We've named this blog SunbeamsAndRaindrops because we know this journey will be HARD, but yet rewarding. Just like any experience or season in life we also recognize that God provides both the sun and the rain. We'll enjoy the sun and take comfort in the fact that rain can grow and heal us. 

I know there are several questions floating around in your heads since I've heard them multiple times already.

Where? South America. Columbia or Peru to be exact! This is the plan for now, but we've also heard of families starting the process towards one country only for the Lord to direct another direction. We're both open to Africa and a few other places, too. I told Nick the other day I don't think it is an accident that he is pretty much fluent in Spanish. I need to see that as God's provision.

Cost? Gulp. It's big. Like biiiig. But our God is BIGGER! The average international adoption averages around $30,000-$40,000. Add two to the mix and the cost goes up a bit. We're committed to doing this debt-free since that's a commitment we've made in other areas. Nick is constantly reminding me God will provide. In my flesh it is all TOO easy for me to doubt.We'll be posting some very exciting ways that we think God will use to provide for this adoption soon. 

Two? Yes. That is our hope. We see a real need for families to be willing to adopt sibling groups since they are often looked over for one child, especially infants. We also recognize this may not be the Lord's will at this point, but we're walking that way.

Timeline? 2-3 years. STOP. Did you read that right?!? I am not real excited about learning patience and trust in this process, but that is the average time it will take to bring them home. And it is not about me. God is sovereign and He could speed it up or slow it down.

... and the one that can really get under my skin when I see it rolling around in heads... (I'm such a sinner). 

Infertility? The short answer we love comes from a Tony Merida message we watched. It's a theology issue, not a biology issue. We could become pregnant during or after this process. We could never become pregnant. We are just following the Lord in where He is directing us now!

We hope you will join with us on this journey by bathing us in prayer and staying connected through this blog. It's sure to be a wild ride!