Both Hands Project

WOW!!! I love serving others. There really is no greater feeling in this whole world than loving others the way Jesus loves them. Yesterday was one of the greatest days and I want to share it with all of you.

Both Hands is an organization desiring to help families raise money for their adoptions and bless a widow at the same time. We were approved for one of these projects back in January and have been planning ever since. I have to admit with all the paperwork for the adoption, planning to send over 500 letters out, and getting this work day organized I was tired! Earlier this week I thought I'll just be glad when it's over. I had to repent about thinking that way last night because God totally amazed me yesterday. Despite being tired Heath and I prayed all week about Saturday, for Ms. Brenda and her family. When we woke up on Saturday morning we still weren't sure if we had it all together but God used us in our weakness and showed off His glory!

We spent an entire day working on Ms. Brenda's house and showing her the love of Jesus but at the end of the day I think I was changed more. I was humbled, thankful, grateful, and overwhelmed by the love of Jesus. We have all probably heard the saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words," so I am going to let the pictures tell the story.

Front of House (Before)

Room (Before)

Another View of Room (Before)

Our Crew working hard on the yard!

Getting the walls ready for paint.

Building the wheelchair ramp.

While everyone was working hard on the house I took Ms. Brenda to get a manicure.

All the girls had a fun time and her nails look beautiful!

Then we took her on a girls day out lunch!

When we got back it was finally time to show Ms. Brenda her new room and other improvements! I loved watching her face light up when she saw her room.

Room (After)

Another view of room (After)

Another view of room (after)

Wheelchair ramp (After) Our crew did a great job building it.

Front of House (After)

Heath and I praying over Ms. Brenda, her house, and family. It was such a sweet moment.

Ms. Brenda showing off her new nails!

Our crew who worked so hard all day long! We are so grateful for each one of them and we love them all so much. Words cannot express how much you mean to us!

At the end of the day I kept thinking I can't wait for my son to come home so we can show him all that he inspired us to do and all the people who helped bring him home!

That was our incredible day! We have been starting to recieve money from the letters we sent out to help bring Isaiah home. We are grateful for all of you who have contributed financially to this project. For those of you who maybe recieved a letter and weren't sure about the project I hope reading this changed your mind and encourages you to give. If anyone reading this feels the Lord leading you to give to our project and help us bring our son home just follow this link http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/bhProj.html. (scroll down till you see Michael and Paige Wilson and click the donate button. We have until May 6 to reach our goal of $10,000.) Lifesong for Orphans is the organization working with Both Hands to offer tax-deductible donates to all the people who give to our adoption. So you can help bring home an orphan, bless a widow, and get a tax break all in one step. What a great opportunity.

I will end with this sweet and funny picture of our little Gracie! She was with us the whole day while working on Ms. Brenda's house because all of our friends and family (our normal babysitters) were helping work on the house. So we took turns watching our kiddos and finding little things for them to carry and what not. I was so grateful for my friends Jennifer and Rachel who watched Gracie for most of the day. At the end of the day as Gracie was getting more and more irritable Jennifer decided to put her in an old wheelchair and push her around the yard. Well when I came out this is what I found....

It was too cute but we all wanted to be doing the same thing. It was a great day and finally time to rest! Bless you all!

A Lesson in Patience

So much as happened since my last post, which is part of the reason I haven't had time to blog in almost two months!!! yikes! Here is what's been going on in our journey to Isaiah.


On February 18th we had our first fundraiser. I hosted a Green Gold Party, where people came with their old, broken, or mismtached jewelry and recieved cash for their gold. We recieved a percentage of the total amount of gold bought that night. We had a really great turn out and raised about $2700 that night. It was a great start towards all the adoption expenses.


We spent most of February working on our dossier paperwork and getting the proper authentications from county, state, etc. We finally got everything done at the end of February and sent them to our agency to be reviewed.


March 7 we finally sent off our dossier!!! It was such an awesome feeling to be done with all that paperwork! We used Assistant Stork to take our paper work to the correct department in Washington D.C. and I'm so glad we did. They were great and I would recommend them to anyone.


March 10 we recieved our I 171H in the mail. This was exciting news since we had been waiting for 3 months for this document to arrive. We were starting to wonder if we were ever going to get it so the night before Heath and I had prayed that we would recieve it in the mail very soon. God is so faithful, He put it in our mailbox the very next day!

We are in the process of another fundraiser right now called Both Hands. This project allows us to bless a widow while we raise money for our adoption. We have been connected with a widow in our community who needs help on her house, so we gathered a group of our friends and family to send out letters of support to raise money to bless this widow and bring our son home to his forever family. I love the concept of this fundraiser. Please check out their website to learn more and watch some of the videos. This video is my favorite http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98PD-O97N3I&feature=player_embedded
This project required our group of friends and family to commit to two days of work. The first was on March 13th for our envelope stuffing party. We asked each couple to bring 20 to 50 names from their Christmas card list to our party and we provided supper, envelopes, stamps, and the letters. We had 17 adults and 8 kids at our house that night and stuffed 544 envelopes in about 2 hours. We prayed over the letters and mailed them out the following Monday. We can't wait to see how the Lord will use those letters to speak into the lives of others about adoption. The other day of committment is actually working on the widow's house. This woman has been diagnosed with MS and has a difficult time getting around. On March 27th our same group of friends and family will work for a full day on Brenda's house. We will be building a wheelchair ramp, painting, cleaning, landscaping, and even giving Brenda a manicure! Please watch for pictures and videos to come after we complete this project.


On March 15th we recieved noticed that our dossier had been sent to Ethiopia for translation and we are officially on the wait list for a referral. So, this is where patience comes in. We know God has handpicked our son and He is guiding our path to him and will let us meet him at just the right time. But that doesn't make the waiting easier. So I just put my hope in my Creator and trust that He is faithful to fulfill His promises. Please pray for us as we wait to see our son for the very first time and pray for Isaiah that the Lord will protect him and surround him with His loving arms.

Last thing for tonight, I have to share some of our lastest family pictures. Did I mention in the middle of all that's been going on in the last few months the pregnancy care center I work for put on our Second Annual Father/Daughter Purity Ball, which me and another girl are in charge of. All the plannig and preparation for that took some time in my already crazy life. But it was two great nights with over 400 Fathers and Daughters laughing, dancing, and making a pledge of purity. So it was well worth all the time and effort. I want to end with some pictures of my husband and my little girl. Heath brought her to our First Annual Father/Daughter Ball last year when she was only 3 months old and he brought her again this year. She was so cute and they were so sweet together.... Enjoy

Our Family

Heath walking Gracie into the ball.

Gracie looking at her pretty dress.

So precious! She is smiling at him while he's telling her she's beautiful.

Goodnight all!
Paige