Uganda beads...second chances...

 **I am reposting part of my last blog because we just received a new shipment of Uganda bead necklaces and they are beautiful!!  We sold out of our last shipment in about 2 weeks so they are all the rage:)  Just wanted to share the news because I truly love these beautiful necklaces!!***


Now our newest bit of news, which I am super excited about!  We are also selling Uganda necklaces as a fundraiser!  We purchase them from a wonderful organization, 147 Million Orphans.  It is run by two moms with 13 children between them, 7 of which are adopted.  These women sell items that promote adoption but also help families fundraise for their own adoptions.  These necklaces come with a neat little bio with info on it.
"147 is honored to share the story of our sisters in Uganda who hand make these necklaces from recycled paper.  They roll the beads by hand, dip them in varnish, and thread them onto the string.  Prior to learning how to make these beads, most of the women 'picked trash' or turned to prostitution to provide for their children.  By purchasing the necklace, you help a mother make a sustainable income to provide for her family.  This purchase also helps feed a child in Uganda."

BAM!! So how awesome is that!?! I love these necklaces. They have a clasp so you can use them as bracelets, belts, or necklaces.  Each one is unique in color and patterns.  They are so fun:) We are selling them for $25.  We make $10 and $15 goes back to the women in Uganda:)  They will make great birthday gifts, teacher gifts, Easter basket surprises, Mother's Day gifts, graduation gifts, bridesmaids gifts...you get the idea!!  So you can leave me a message on the blog, Facebook me or email me if you are interested in buying one or some!!
(Yes the price did go up by $5 because the price through Uganda went up!  Sorry!)

The boys wanted to model:)

I really get overwhelmed as I sort through and look at these necklaces.  To think of the women that made them and the poverty, war and pain they have gone through...and now they find hope.  You can also check out more of their story at www.amazima.org.  An amazing 21 year old gal, Katie Davis, works with these women on the Uganda side.  Each necklace is so unique from the colors to the patterns, to the size and length....kinda like each story behind each woman that made them, each child adopted and each person that buys one.  And I love the way God can take trash (recycled magazines) and make something so beautiful from them that can result in bringing Jesus glory and fulfilling the command in James 1:27 to care for widows and orphans!!  We serve a God that loves to use trash and recycled things and make them beautiful and useful!  Our God of second chances!! It truly amazes me!!
So there you have it! Things are progressing...even though at times it feels like it is slowly:)  Thank you everyone for your prayers and support!  We are so, so blessed and so thankful for what the Lord is doing IN us along the way!  More on that, next time!

Lots of Updates!

Updates: Our second home study visit went SUPER well!  Our social worker is really, really a precious lady. We found out the next day that even though we thought we were finished,that Nightlight needs more paperwork...a lot more paperwork...to finish the homestudy:)  So we are furiously working on that.  As frustrating as delays are though we are truly trying hard to trust the Lord's timing.  He is in charge of each moment and it only wastes energy to become frustrated.

This week our agency also has been sending us updates because one of the children in the orphanage has bacterial meningitis and is now hospitalized.  Her condition was quite serious but thankfully she is slowly showing signs of improvement.  However, this means all of the children were potentially exposed and this little one will likely be in the hospital for possibly three weeks.  This just makes us even more keenly aware of the need to be praying for our little one. Psalm 17:8 says, "Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings." And that is what we are praying.  That the Lord will cover and protect our child...or children.  Will you please pray too!
*** We received an email this morning that the little one with meningitis went to be with Jesus during the night. We are all so, so sad and I cannot imagine what the caretakers at the Baby Home are feeling.  She had a forever family in the United States that was waiting for a court date to bring their little one home. Life is indeed fragile.  We heard a statistic today that there are 8 doctors for every 100,000 people in Uganda. Please pray that God speeds the days so we can bring our babies home!***

At this last home study visit we officially requested two children.  All along we have been open to siblings but we officially asked to be considered for two children, whether they are siblings or not.  Big breath...this is a big step for us but we really feel that we are being obedient.  We still may only be referred one, but the Lord knows what we need and can handle!  We are definitely anxious to speed the days for our referral and then to get to our little ones!

Also!!!  This past Saturday, Crystal and Tim Bausmith held a multi-family yard sale at their house for us.  Many people donated things and it was SO successful!  The Bausmiths are expert yard salers:)  They built/installed hanging racks in their garage and hung up ALL of the clothes!!  People showed up and shopped from 7am until almost 3pm.  It was amazing:)  We earned over $1200!!  That was so awesome and we are SO thankful!!

Now our newest bit of news, which I am super excited about!  We are also selling Uganda necklaces as a fundraiser!  We purchase them from a wonderful organization, 147 Million Orphans.  It is run by two moms with 13 children between them, 7 of which are adopted.  These women sell items that promote adoption but also help families fundraise for their own adoptions.  These necklaces come with a neat little bio with info on it.
"147 is honored to share the story of our sisters in Uganda who hand make these necklaces from recycled paper.  They roll the beads by hand, dip them in varnish, and thread them onto the string.  Prior to learning how to make these beads, most of the women 'picked trash' or turned to prostitution to provide for their children.  By purchasing the necklace, you help a mother make a sustainable income to provide for her family.  This purchase also helps feed a child in Uganda."

BAM!! So how awesome is that!?! I love these necklaces. They have a clasp so you can use them as bracelets, belts, or necklaces.  Each one is unique in color and patterns.  They are so fun:) We are selling them for $20.  We make $10 and $10 goes back to the women in Uganda:)  They will make great birthday gifts, teacher gifts, Easter basket surprises, Mother's Day gifts, graduation gifts, bridesmaids gifts...you get the idea!!  So you can leave me a message on the blog, Facebook me or email me if you are interested in buying one or some!!

The boys wanted to model:)

So there you have it! Things are progressing...even though at times it feels like it is slowly:)  Thank you everyone for your prayers and support!  We are so, so blessed and so thankful for what the Lord is doing IN us along the way!  More on that, next time!

Home study Visit and more news!!

Tomorrow is a big day for us:)  Our social worker is coming for our second home study visit.  Hopefully we will finish up the paperwork and sign a bunch of papers and be finished with our home study.  Then we move on to sending the appropriate paperwork and money to Immigration and get an appointment set for fingerprinting.  Once that is approved we will finish up our dossier in the hopes of maybe receiving a referral this summer.  A lot of that may sound like a different language:)  Honestly, sometimes we feel like we are feeling our way through the dark but we are simply trying to take things one step at a time and work on something adoption related each day.

We are so thankful that Mark's best friend, William Turner, ran a marathon two weeks ago to help raise funds for our adoption!!  He survived and raised over $2,000!!  We are so thankful and blessed to have such amazing friends, like William and Melanie, that are willing to invest their time, money and energy to help us bring our little one home!  Thank you William!!  Thank you to everyone that donated!

You probably also noticed the new pictures on this blog.  Lindsay Haselden took them so we could use them for our adoption paperwork and on the blog.  She did a GREAT job and we are so, so thankful!!  She also designed some neat thank you cards for us.  Many of you might receive them:)

Lastly, in the next few days we will announce through the blog another neat way we are going to be raising funds for the adoption.  Think colorful, spring and fun!!  I can't wait to show off a neat idea for gift giving this spring.  It'll be great for teacher gifts, Easter and Mother's Day!!  So be sure to check back in the next few days:)

"Children Of God" - Official Music Video

Sharing...

I follow a stranger at this blog.  Sara Hagerty doesn't know me and probably never will but I am consistently amazed at her words and the way they reveal her heart.  So often she expresses so well what my heart is feeling.  She is sharing a guest post on another neat blog. I hope you will take a look below and hop over to finish reading what Sara has to say.  Good stuff:)

No Longer Motherless Daughters

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Sarahagerty

She lost her tooth on another continent. She learned to write her name there, and how to use the potty. Someone other than me taught her that girls like frilly dresses, but that it doesn’t keep them from playing in the dirt.
Her milestones, to date, are my mysteries.
We’ve named her Hope. She doesn’t know her new name yet – a whole new set of letters to learn – but she’s already becoming, for us, her namesake. One day she, herself, will breathe deep the reality of this name.... (to finish reading, click here or here. And I hope you will.)

Just Love Coffee

I (Erika) only started drinking coffee about a year ago... and I am sorry to say I am addicted:)  Getting up early mornings with the kids for school, especially when it is cold outside, sends me looking for some warm caffeine!  Mark actually has a more refined taste in coffee because he drinks it black.  I have a little coffee with a lot of cream and sugar:)

So we are always looking for ways to order our addiction while feeling like we are doing something with the money we are drinking down...so we like to order fair trade coffee. What is fair trade coffee? It is coffee which is purchased directly from the growers for a higher price than standard coffee.  The purpose of fair trade is to promote healthier working conditions and greater economic incentive for producers.

We recently discovered Just Love Coffee .  They not only sell excellent fair trade coffee but work with families that are adopting.  They help families raise funds to go toward their adoption.  So if you click on the nifty little link to the left:) and purchase some coffee from our "store" we will earn $5 per bag of coffee!!  We bought several different kinds of their coffee so far and have really, really enjoyed it.  They sell whole bean or already ground and ours came within 4 days of ordering it!

So if you want to try some new coffee, help out some fair trade farmers and help us bring our little girl home...then click and shop please!!!  Thank you ahead of time if you decide to grab a cup of java:) They make great gifts too!!

God provides and Seeing Heroes in action

Mark: Genesis 22:14 says, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided." Abraham proclaimed this after God provided a ram to be sacrificed in place of his son Isaac. Erika and I have seen time and time again God's provision and this past month as been no different. Erika will go into more detail below.
I have seen Heroes in action. Since this journey began Erika and I have been humbled by the financial generosity of those who want to see us bring our "baby girl" home as quickly as possible. Once again Erika goes into more detail below, but because of the efforts and gifts from many of you we are able to go further, faster. We are ahead of the curve with our process and paperwork because money has not slowed us down. Thank you for being our Hero!!

Erika: We've had LOTS going on in the last week or so!! We sent in our homestudy application and a majority of the required paperwork.  We received an email about a week later that said they received it and would contact us soon to set up an appointment for a social worker to come and interview us.  That was huge!!

We also went on Monday to apply for our passports.  I knew the cost for the application and for the pictures but didn't realize we also had to pay other processing fees.  It went very smoothly and quickly but I was a little surprised at how much that whole process cost!  The amazing thing though is that each step as we face new needs and as we find out how each piece of paperwork seems to come with a new cost...God is ahead of us already providing. One family sent a check to Nightlight with our homestudy paperwork.  God provided!

Another family has donated money each month for the last 3 months.  Each time that donation arrived it was JUST as we were having to pay for 16 birth certificates from 3 different states...or finding out Mark needed to go back to Columbia again to order 6 more marriage certificates...or right as we received an email from Nightlight announcing that Ugandan lawyer fees went up in price another $1500.  So this journey is definitely already a bit of a roller coaster ride, but God is saying hang on!!  He is definitely in charge:)

We have some dear friends, Chris and Cookie Cawthon, that have been such an encouragement to us in this adoption process.  Their two girls, Carson and Campbell, had a cookie and lemonade stand a few months ago and raised over $32.00 toward our adoption!  Chris decided he was going to run the Myrtle Beach Half-Marathon to help us raise funds toward our adoption.  Well, Chris is highly motivated and I've never met a person that doesn't think he is great!!  We knew he would be successful at whatever he put his hand (or foot) to...but we have been blown away at his success.

We spent the night at the beach and Mark spent the morning of the race following Chris from point to point as much as possible.  Chris did a great job running and finished the 13.1 mile race in 2 hrs 12 minutes.  Even more impressive is that Chris' friendship and influence and efforts raised over $2500 toward our adoption!!!  Isn't that so cool??!!  We are so grateful for people like the Cawthons and other friends and family that are helping us reach our goal!!  Our God provides!!

So next steps are:
1. Working on our dossier which is essentially all the paperwork that goes through the US Government's hands and then into the Ugandan officials' hands.  Lots and lots of notarized stuff!
2. Waiting to meet with and be interviewed by a social worker from Nightlight as part of our homestudy.
3. Taking an online class and doing lots of reading and research to fulfill our education requirements for our homestudy.

I will also try to blog soon about the neat ways God has been preparing our boys' hearts for their little sister.  We have prayed that the Lord would already begin bonding their hearts with this new sibling and God is answering that prayer!