.It's Party and {Give Away} Time.

I wish I could invite you all to curl up in my living room with a cup of coffee, while we enjoy a girly party looking through Thirty-One Gifts. Instead we will have to do it virtually. A sweet friend of mine from college, Christy, offered to host a Thirty-One party and donate all of the profit to help us with the finances needed to bring Habi home.  (Christy is also in the process of fundraising to bring her Ethiopian sweetheart home. Please check out her blog here!) The party will be open until next Saturday, June 16. Thirty-One is a Christian company based on the principles of Proverbs 31. The items are beautiful and would make organizing one's home a little more fun (and pretty)! There are oodles of fabrics to choose from.

You are invited to the party, and when you make a purchase of any item - no matter the amount, you will have one chance to win an adorable Cinch-It-up Thermal Tote (retail $24). These make great lunch bags!

(Winner chooses the fabric!)

And this month only during this Blog Party, if you spend $35.00 you can purchase the Large Utility Tote for $10.00!  Also Thirty-One is offering tops ONLY this month for the large utility tote on special, for only $10!



There are 17 prints to choose from for this amazing bag! It looks like a great bag for a mom-on-the-go with littles! It would be perfect for picnics at the park, a day-trip, an over night diaper bag, etc.


All of the profit made from this party goes directly toward bringing Habi home.

To shop click here. Then click on My Parties on the top left and Shop Now after my name.

Would you take a moment to browse? Would you also be willing to share about Habi and this online party on your social media? Thank you so much friends! God is really at work in this situation. As of today, Habi has his birth certificate, and we believe his passport as well. It looks as if we will take him to his Visa Embassy Interview on Monday, July 2. We are specifically requesting prayer for Habi's courage and for a kind and gracious consulate. We have done everything we can humanly do up to this point. Now we surrender this all over to God - it's all in His control anyway. I believe He has a wonderful plan to bring Habi home. Thank you for being part of that plan. We are about to witness a miracle!

.A Home for Habi.

Jim and I have both taken time to discuss and pray over this post, and yet I still sit here with butterflies in my stomach. It's the whole fear of man thing again, threatening to choke me. It's fear of what people will say about us taking on something so much bigger than us - so beyond our means. I lived my life cautiously, calculated, and safely for many years. I honestly lived a watered-down version of a follower of Jesus. I don't want that anymore. I want to be all in, completely sold out to my Savior. So that brings me to this post.



As I mentioned on Thursday we have been trying to adopt Habi for a long time now. The door for adoption was permanently closed this week, but we cannot give up this fight just yet. Jim and I have decided to pursue a F-1 student visa for Habi. Because of a number of circumstances we have to hire an outside agency. We got the quote yesterday and panic set in. When we add that to what will be his tuition and school/sport fees next year (he will be attending a private Christian school), a plane ticket, a wardrobe (one that fits into a private school's dress code at that) and necessities for a boy who has neither, along with the actual visa fees we come up with a number around $15,000 - $20,000. And that scares me. It's like another adoption without the luxury of time on our side. (We are praying to have this accomplished by early July - about 6 weeks.)

Jim and I talked last night about areas that we can sacrifice in our family. We are cancelling cable and phone on Monday and going down to the basic $20 Internet. We will be scrimping in every area that we can. I am searching my home for things that we can sell. We are also trying to throw together a quick t-shirt fundraiser. I feel simultaneously overwhelmed, and oddly at peace. I know without a doubt God is still asking us to fight for Habi. Whether Habi is granted the visa or not, I know that God is asking us to close our eyes and jump - taking a risk and trust that God is in control of the details. Perhaps it is the journey that He needs us to walk, whether the ending is what we pray for or not.

So we do that.

But this is not really about our family, and honestly, this is not about sweet Habi either. This is about bringing glory to God, and I want that so much. In wanting that I know that I cannot hold this situation in my clutched fist. I have to open up and let people in, however God desires that to happen. We feel as if God desires for us to share this burden with other brothers and sisters. Here is what we need God to provide:

1. A host of people committed to praying from now until that visa interview. We need prayer for finances, for Habi as he prepares for the interview, for the agency that we are working with - that they will be able to quickly gather a birth certificate, passport, and secure an interview before we get there in July or while we are there. I am also asking for prayer for the embassy consulate who will interview Habi - that even now God would begin to work in this person's heart. Above all please pray that God is glorified and that His will is done, even if that means Habi is denied the visa.
2. Clothing for Habi - size 27 inch waist 29 inch length pants (or size 16 boys). Size small men's shirts. Size 7.5 men's shoes, sneakers, flip-flops, etc. I have picked up clothing at various thrift stores for Habi, but I have mostly found winter clothing. He will need summer clothes and dress clothes for school - khakis, polos, button-downs, etc.
3. Lastly money for all of the things that I mentioned in this post. We cannot financially do this on our own with just Jim's salary. Please do not feel pressured to give. This is only for people who feel led to help in this way. I so do not want to come across as pressuring anyone for money, and I understand not everyone that reads this has the means to give. I also want to clearly state again, that even after paying a significant amount of money (money we cannot get back)  - Habi could be denied the visa. We are taking a risk and going on faith here. Please do not give any money if you are not comfortable doing so. If you do feel led to give please understand that every single dollar helps.

For now I am going to put a chip-in on this post. When we get the t-shirt fundraiser ready I will post that. Thank you so much for all of the support and encouragement you have given to me here. You have been a huge blessing as our family has walked through some crazy times. Thank you for giving me grace with this post.

Dear Habi,
Dad and Mama love you. You have taught us so much about courage and love and the importance of family. Habi, you have opened my eyes to a world outside of myself. We continue to seek God in bringing you home. God has a great, big, plan for your life. I cannot wait to see it unfold, and I pray that we get to be a part of it. I love you to Ethiopia and back. Always in my heart.
Love, Mama

.This & That.

I know several have asked me the results of our yard sale. At first I was disappointed and discouraged that we did not meet our goal. But then I realized that, though this is true, Jesus is still the same and God still loves adoption!

We are tired, and we are sunburned. We now know that Memorial Day is not the best day to hold a yard sale but....

Here is what God did do:

Brought in approximately $725 total!!
Rallied our best friends around us, to help us, encourage us, and just be with us.
Gave us more opportunities to build relationships with our neighbors.
Allowed us to share how God laid Ethiopia and adoption on our hearts with strangers.

And knowing God and how He works, I am sure that He did things that I am unaware of!

Praise GOD!!

So, yes, we are short the money we need for the next step, but yes my God is still in control, and He still has a perfect plan. Right now we are trusting Him for that and will continue to do what we can on our end. We know He owns a cattle on a thousand hills, so this $1300 that we still need is nothing to Him! What an amazing thing to know!! I'm resting in His timing at this point.

Here are a few (unedited - too tired) photos of our sale.





No, that is not our garage - it is our neighbor's. He does chicken bbq's out of it! We are working with him to do a fund raising bbq sometime this summer!












Thank you for your prayers, your encouragement, your emails. They all mean so very much to us. I hope to take a few moments this morning to catch up on emails.


On a completely different note Raising Homemakers launched today!! I am feeling really excited and blessed to be a contributor for this site. I encourage any woman who is training a daughter to be a homemaker, or is trying to be a godly homemaker herself to check this new site out. Some great give-aways are going on today! Click the button to be directed there.

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.Yard Sale Update.

Whew. We are tired!! We saw a steady stream of people today, and had such wonderful help from our friends. Not as big of a crowd as I had anticipated, but that is okay. We are holding this again Monday (although thunder storms are predicted.)We are praying we get a large turn out on Monday.

So the grand total from to day is....$642.66 Praise God! Thanks for your prayers, encouragement, and support. We still need it all!


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.Adoption Yard Sale.

My home is being over taken by yard sale items! And I am so okay with that. {grin} Our church family, friends, and family members have been so gracious and have donated oodles of things to our sale. I have spent hours organizing and tagging. I just peeked at the weather forecast for what must be the millionth time, and Saturday is predicted to be 79 degrees and partly cloudy. Monday's prediction is mostly sunny and 84 degrees. Perfect. We have already seen God blessing this day! I have prayed so hard for this fundraiser (it is the major one we have planned) - that God would send the right people, that the weather would cooperate, that we can actually fit everything into our yard, and that people would clearly see Jesus in us. For this is not about us. It's all about Him. I am believing that He is going to do great things.

Under the bright beautiful {hot} sun, Cadi and I painted our morning away. I got the idea for this sign off of another blog, and tweaked it for our sale. I am even more convinced after a morning side by side my Cadi that she is very gifted in encouragement. Every step of the way I heard her little voice. Mommy, you are doing great. Mommy you are using perseverance! (We worked on perseverance a lot this school year.) Mommy you are the best painter. etc., etc. She makes me smile. {grin}



I was trying to keep all of the yard sale items upstairs, but we have had to start using the living room. Yesterday a sweet friend of mine brought some really nice country prim Christmas decorations. The snowmen are so sweet!



This is what our spare bedroom (this will be the baby's nursery - it is a walk through from our bedroom) looks like at the moment. Believe it or not this is pretty organized. Ha!






And this used to be our bedroom! Remember how I have mentioned that I cannot sleep well in a messy bedroom? {grin}



The tree is not for sale (my decor) neither is the treadmill.



That trunk is part of my decor as well.


I know of at least four other families who are still donating items for our sale. I will be tagging and organizing those soon. I still have a lot of signs to make up as well. I have also planned a bake sale to go along with the yard sale, but am not sure if we are getting many donations. Unfortunately, it does not look as if I am going to have the time to bake either. Whatever we have, we will sell though.

Could I ask some of my bloggy friends to pray for our adoption yard sale?

It's such a privilege to have people rally around us and support us. Each one is following the command of James 1:27.

Just a quick reminder that we are very close to putting our t-shirt order in, so if you are still interested click here.

Have a lovely day, friends.


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