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
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