The Unexpected!

This post is way overdue and for that I appologize! I have neglected this blog for far too long!

As many of you know, our adoption has been put on hold. Why?? Because God has an amazing sense of humor! We found out in early September, 4 days before we were supposed to be DTE, that I was pregnant!

Obviously this was completely unexpected and unplanned. Not just now, but ever! We truly never expected or "tried" to have biological children. In fact, and this may sound strange to many of you, I have never really had a desire to be pregnant. Adoption has always been Plan A from the beginning. From the beginning of our relationship, Matt and I knew our family would be built through adoption.

In some way, part of me thought part of the reason God placed adoption so strongly in my heart because I was unable to concieve, and I was totally fine with that. Although we never "tried," we really didn't do much to prevent it from happening either. And honestly, after 10 years, we thought we were in the clear! Boy, were we wrong!!

Being so close to being DTE, my first reaction was not completely positive. It sounds silly now, but at the time, I felt like I was grieving the loss of our Ethiopian son. I have come to realize that I was really, very selfishly, grieving the loss of "my plan." Getting pregnant through a big wrench in what I thought the plan for our family should be! I am so grateful that God's plan far exceeds our own!!

We are still going to be adopting. We have no doubt that God laid our adoption on our hearts, though our little boy is not quite ready for us yet! Our agency's policy is that we withdraw from the process until the baby is 6 months old. We have been told we may be able to get an exception and continue earlier than that, but we will wait and see.

So far, the pregnancy is going well! I am at 22 weeks and not feeling too bad! We had our sonogram just a few days ago and our little Ethiopian boy is going to blessed with 3 sisters when he joins our family!! Yep, it's a girl! Matt is so excited about being even more outnumbered!

Thank you all for your prayers and support. Hopefully it won't be another 3 months before I post again!

Rubeinna

What a mighty God we serve!!

Psalm 29
A psalm of David.



Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic.
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the LORD strikes with flashes of lightning.
The voice of the LORD shakes the desert; the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare.

And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"
The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever.

The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.



This was the psalm Matt & I read on Sunday morning before beginning our dinner/auction fundraiser. It was such an encouragement to be reminded of God's power. It energized us to face the day, no matter the outcome. Little did we know how much of his glory, power, strength and mightiness that we would witness in the coming hours!


God knocked our socks off!! We raised $6,486!! It was so absolutely amazing and it was humbling to be a part of it all. Our hope was to raise enough to send in our dossier. Not only did we raise enough for that, but we are now almost halfway to our next goal--the payment due when we accept our referral!!


So many people helped with the dinner and donated items. Thanks to all who contributed in any way. We love you all and appreciate you so much!! We could not have done it without you!

What happens now? Well, we officially sent our dossier to America World. We hoped to send it Monday, but we didn't get to the post office on time. So, we sent it on Tuesday. It is now in Dulles, VA and will be delivered to America World in the morning!! Unless we have overlooked something or a document in incorrect, we should (hopefully) be DTE(Dossier to Ethiopia) on September 10. Being DTE means we are officially on the waiting list for our precious little boy!

When we received our I-171h a few weeks ago, we struggled with not getting discouraged. Having our paperwork done, but not having the funds to send it was hard. But the Lord worked it all out in His time. He has provided above and beyond what we even imagined! We are now about 4-6 months away from seeing the face of our baby boy for the first time. What a day that will be!! I was a bawling mess on Sunday afternoon when we witnessed what God has provided--I know I'm going to be an even bigger mess on our referral day!!

Rubeinna

New Auction Items!!

We have had so many people donate and offer to donate items for our auction items in the past week and a half! A few of the things donated are:

A catered dinner for 4

Pizza Hut Pizza

Spring Rolls made by Maggie Beachy!!

Betty Thomas' famous chocolate chip cookies

A handmade oak clock made by Matt's Grandpa!

Handmade wooden items made by Matt's Dad!

Cinnamon Rolls and lots of other baked goods!

Jalapeno Jelly-Sounds awesome, right!?

Baby Quilts

These are all items above and beyond what I mentioned in the last post! We have close to 35 different items and almost 50 total items for the auction!

I want to bid on so many things. . .but that would defeat the purpose of this fundraiser, wouldn't it!?!

Please come out and support us if you can! This Sunday, August 29th at Emmanuel Mennonite Church. We will begin serving lunch at noon(it is going to be tasty!) and the auction will start at 1:00 or soon after!

Going once. . . Going twice. . .Sold to the highest bidder!

Don't you just love auctions?? The thrill of bidding for your desired item!!


We will be having a dinner/auction on Sunday, August 29th! All proceeds will go towards sending in our dossier!!

Here are the details:

Where: Emmanuel Mennonite Church(basement) in Meade, Kansas

When: Sunday, August 29th. We will serve lunch starting at noon. The auction will begin between 1:30-2:00 p.m.

Menu: BBQ chicken, potato salad, baked beans, fruit salad, bread and dessert. Sounds yummy right??!!

Auction Items: blankets(Chiefs, KU, K-State, etc.), aprons, house plants, framed art & photography,lots of baked goods(cheesecakes, cookies,pies, pastries, etc.), gift baskets, babysitting services(Violet & Maggie) and HOPEFULLY many, many other things!!

***If you have ideas or items we could include in our auction, please contact us by comment, phone or email!

Please come! We would love to have a huge crowd! Great food and Great fun. . .what's better than that!??

Rubeinna

AND THE WINNER IS. . .

Our hat full of entries!!Maggie did the drawing honors. . .

And the Winner is. . .

CarmenDruckenmiller!!

Congrats Carmen! Thanks so much to all who entered! We wish we could have drawn all of your names!

14 hours left!!

We will be taking entries for our giveaway until Noon on Saturday(tommorrow)! We will draw for a winner sometime in the afternoon and let you all know as soon as possible.

There is still time to enter!! Go to our July 31st blog post or click on the link to find out all the details!

It Has Arrived!!

The post office was a happy place today! Our I-171h arrived this morning!! Our dossier is basically complete now! We have to get everything in order, make our copies and it will be ready to put in the mail.

ALMOST!

The Problem--we still don't have the amount we need to send our dossier to our agency.

Seeing our I-171h in the mail today was a little bittersweet. Yes, we were excited, but knowing we can't send in our dossier is just a little heartbreaking. It wasn't unexpected, though. We have had a feeling that our paperwork would be finished before our funding was in (I think the Lord was preparing us). We have been praying that we would have patience and wait on the Lord's timing. Boy, is that hard to do sometimes!

Also, there are families that have been waiting for their I-171h for much longer than us--and they have the funds to send in their dossier as soon as- they get it. I feel guilty for getting ours before theirs came. It seems a little silly for us to have ours when we really aren't quite ready for it. But, the Lord knows what He's doing, even when we just don't understand it!

I told Matt that as soon as the I-171h was in my hands, I would be going crazy and be a complete mess! Surprisingly, although I feel that little tug at my heart, I am actually doing OK. I'm sure that has something to do with the Lord providing us with so many wonderful people who are encouraged and prayed for us! I know that the Lord will provide-I KNOW He will! Our commitment to finishing our paperwork without going into debt has not, and will not change. We truly believe God is telling us to let Him provide at this point.

Does that mean we are going to sit and twiddle our thumbs-not at all. We are fundraising and will continue to do so. We are still selling our cookbooks and coffee. We have a big fundraiser planned and we will let you all know the details as soon as it is all worked out.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!

Rubeinna