This Journey is SO much bigger than us!!

One of the most amazing things about this adoption journey has been connecting with adoptive families and those who are passionate about orphans around the world! It has been enlightening, to say the least! I can't tell you how blessed I have been by hearing other adoption stories, mission trips to visit and care for orphans and those who have dedicated their entire lives for the least of these. God's heart is so evident in the lives of these wonderful people! There is a movement to care for the orphans that, up until a few months ago, I had no idea existed. It has hit me so many times recently that I have fallen SO incredibly short in God's command in James 1:27 to "care for the orphans and widows in their distress." Both Matt & I have a renewed commitment to be broken for the things that break God's heart. What that means for the future, we have no idea, but we are so excited that God has chosen us to be a part of all of this. Does that mean we are going to be packing up and moving to Africa-probably not. But I know that the journey we are on is bigger than we ever expected it to be. It's not just a journey to our son in Ethiopia- it is so much more!
As I stated before, we have connected with some amazing people and families and I wanted to share some of those with you. This blog lately has been all about OUR Fundraising efforts, etc. I want today to be about some others who are changing the world with their vision.



Samantha is an amazing 11 year old girl whose family is adopting four year old little boy from Ethiopia. After learning more about Ethiopia and the orphan crisis, she decided she had to help. She is making these beautiful bottle cap necklaces and donating 100% of the proceeds to provide shoes for children in Ethiopia because "I don't need things, and others do." Isn't that AMAZING! Please go to her blog and order 1,2 5, or 10 of these beautiful necklaces. They are only $6! Click on the picture or go to http://littlegoody2-shoes.blogspot.com/

The McKinney Family is an awesome family we have connected with through our agency's Yahoo Group. They are in the paperchasing phase just like us!! They have a great blog and have come up with a very creative fundraiser to help with their adoption costs. 5000 for 5 is an effort to get $5 donations from 5000 people/family, etc. Plus, when you donate, they will put a push pin on your location on a large map they have made to track where donations are coming from--I would love to see KANSAS or WISCONSIN completely full!! Go to http://lifeabitsweeter.blogspot.com/ or click on the picture to go to their blog, read all about them and donate!

The Druckenmiller Family are also in the same place where are, adoption wise. In fact, their fingerprinting appointment was right after ours! They live in Nebraska, which is also exciting for us, as there are not many adoptive families that we know here in Kansas. We are hoping to meet them some day! They are selling some super cute magnets for only $5. They are great to have on your fridge to remind you to pray for adoptive families and the orphans in Africa. Click on the picture or go to http://www.druckenmillerfamily.blogspot.com/ to order!

That's all for now! I want to make posts like this a regular part of this blog. I want all of you who are following our journey to be aware of and support others who are doing wonderful things! Please take time to go to each of these blogs and, if you can, donate. Your support, however big or small, will have an eternal impact.

Have a great weekend!

Rubeinna

BIG GIVEAWAY!!

We are still almost $5,000 away from the $7,700 we need to send off our dossier, as soon as it is completed! We will not be put on the waiting list for our little boy until our dossier is sent to Ethiopia, so the sooner that happens, the better!!

So. . .we have decided to do a BIG BLOG GIVEAWAY! This is an idea we have seen on several blogs and we thought it would be a great way get spread the work about our cookbooks and our coffee sale.

What are we giving away??? There are going to be several options, depending on your specific needs or desires!! Check it out:

Aprons!!

My wonderful sister and mother make these amazing aprons. They make four sizes-adult, young girl (or boy), toddler, and doll size. Aren't they adorable?? (Doesn't my nephew look so excited to be a part of this photo?!)

Our cookbook!!

A bag of coffee!!

2 dozen cookies of your choice!!

If you win, you will be able to choose from these options:

1. A Complete set of aprons (your choice of color/design) and 2 dozen cookies.
2. 1 apron (your choice of color/design and size), a cookbook and 2 dozen cookies.
3. A cookbook, a bag of coffee and 2 dozen cookies.
4. 2 aprons (your choice of color/design and size), a bag of coffee and 2 dozen cookies

So. . .how do you enter, you ask?? Here's how:

• Become a follower of our blog (if you already are, that counts too! Just post a comment that you would like to be a part of the giveaway)-1 entry per day
• Post about our giveaway on your blog-1 entry per day (comment, message or email me to let me know)
• Add a link about the giveaway on facebook-1 entry per day (comment, message or email me to let me know)
• Buy a cookbook-2 entries for each book purchased!
• Buy coffee-1 entry per bag

AND THE BEST WAY TO ENTER:

• If anyone buys a cookbook and coffee and mentions your name, you will receive 3 Entries!!!

Enter as many times as you like! There will be 1 winner for every 50 entries!! Just be sure to let us know each time you post/link, etc. Also, be sure to have anyone who is purchasing cookbooks and coffee to mention your name.

We will end the giveaway on Friday, August 13th and the winner(s) will be announced on Saturday, August 14th!! (changed from previous dates!)

Good Luck to all of you and we hope you have fun!!!

Rubeinna

Update

Sorry about not posting much lately. Our paperchase journey is nearing the 5 month mark (average is 4-6 months). So far, it has been fairly smooth and for that we are so thankful. We are still waiting on our beloved I171h immigration form to arrive. It's been a little over 2 weeks since our biometrics(fingerprinting) appointment. Each day when I head to the post office to check the mail, I try not to think about it too much. I do search each little piece of mail, even the junk, just to make sure!! It would be a huge shock for it to come this soon though. Other families have been waiting quite a while for theirs. The Wages Family has been waiting over 80 days for theirs! They have been paperchasing for almost a year. They have had several delays with various things, including the home study, and now to be waiting so long for their I171h is so hard. Say a quick prayer for them-they are resting in God's timing, but it can be so frustrating at times.

We are still busy fundraising. As you can see from our thermometer, we have been blessed greatly in the past month. We are barely a month into fundraising and have raised close to $2,500!! We are really praying that we'll get to the $7,700 mark BEFORE our I171h arrives. At this point, that is my biggest fear: having our paperwork completely finished and not being able to send it because we don't have the money raised.

Cookbook sales have been going well. We have been overwhelmed at the support from the people here in Meade, especially the at the hospital where Matt works. They have been absolutely amazing and have even "advertised" the cookbook in their weekly newsletter. We haven't had the sales we expected online, though, so we are working on a GREAT giveaway to get the word out on the web and hopefully more traffic on our blog.

We will post all the details tomorrow so be sure to come back and check it out!!

Rubeinna

Enter to win a Fun T-shirt!!

A fellow adoption family is selling T-shirts to help bring their little one home. They are doing a T-shirt giveaway to help promote the shirts. Please go to their blog and check them out.
http://marquezfamilyjourney.blogspot.com/2010/07/t-shirt-giveaway.html
You can enter to win or buy a shirt!

We have been papercasing with this family for a while now, but just today they recieved their I171h and will be DTE soon!!!!! The I171h is the form we are currently waiting on now that our fingerprinting is done!

Rubeinna

Puzzle Progress

As many of you know, as a part of our fundraising efforts, we are putting together a puzzle to hang in our son's nursery. Each piece of the 1000 piece puzzle will have the name of a person or family that helped bring him home to his forever family.

This is what it looks like so far: 158 pieces!!!

The back side-with names!!

A close up shot!

This shows a picture of what the puzzle will look like when completed

Looks good so far, doesn't it?? Only 842 pieces to go! If you are new to our blog or have forgotten how to "sponsor" pieces, there are three ways to do it.

1. Buy a cookbook-1 puzzle piece for each cookbook sold (details are on the side of the blog)

2. Buy coffee-1 puzzle piece for each bag purchased (link is on the side of our blog, under the cookbook stuff)

3. Give any monetary donation-1 puzzle piece for every $10

Can you help us finish it?? As you can see, we are making great progress but have a long way to go. Anything you can do to help is so much appreciated!

Thank you all for your prayers and support during this journey! Things have been pretty smooth so far, but emotionally we have had our ups and downs. We know that God has called us to this and we are so excited, but there are times when it becomes overwhelming, especially when thinking about the financial aspect of it all. Yesterday was one of those days for me, and this morning God blessed our socks off with an amazing donation in the mail from a wonderful, wonderful lady! It's days like these that we feel your prayers and know that God is able to do more than we can ask or imagine!

Rubeinna

We're getting fingerprinted!!

Today was a wonderful day at the post office!! Our USCIS fingerprinting appointment came in the mail! July 13th at 9:00 a.m. can't come soon enough! I almost decided against checking the mail. . .I'm so glad I didn't! I was the perfect beginning to a holiday weekend! Have a wonderful 4th of July!!

Rubeinna

Another plug for our cookbook!

Just a reminder that we still have lots of cookbooks in stock to sell! We are getting extremely close to the $1000 mark. This includes donations, cookbook sales and proceeds from our food booth at Dalton Days last weekend. Only $6700 to go! Here are a few pictures from the finished product:

If you have considered getting one for yourself or as a gift, don't hesitate--they really are great! As a little "testimonial," one of Matt's co-workers made a recipe from the book the other night and her husband, who never takes leftovers for his lunch, liked it so much he took the leftovers to work the next day!



Remember, for each cookbook you purchase or bag of coffee you buy, you will "sponsor" a puzzle piece. I am hoping to update on the progress of the puzzle soon so that you can see the progress we have already made!




These are some verses I read during my quiet time this morning:

But I trust in you, O Lord; I say "You are my God. My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me. Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.
Psalm 30:14-16


This fundraising thing can be scary at times. I have had to remind myself too many times to trust. It is such a hard thing when those big numbers are looming in front of us. We know this is God's plan for us and we know it will happen in his time.

Rubeinna