Fundraising Update #1

From time to time, we will give an update on how our fundraising is going, mainly to share our immense gratitude toward the friends and family who have generously contributed toward our adoption fees and services.

So far, since we have announced our plans to adopt earlier in June, we have been generously given $3,827. Combined with our savings, we have a total of $7,444 raised toward our adoption fees!

Nothing says "yay!!" like the minions

Woo hoo!!!

That is 30% of our goal already, in only a few weeks. Wow.

(In case you're wondering why the amount we received is an "odd" number, that is because one family's two oldest children each sent us a $1 bill. :) )

We have been very touched by each and every donation. More than once happy tears have come to our eyes. We know that no one "has" to give. We know that the people who wrote us a check or donated online or gave us cash don't have piles of money to spare. We know that they are raising kids and paying off school debt and saving for their own big life changes or hard earned vacations, and on and on. So each and every donation feels like "the widow's mite" (giving even when you don't have much; see Mark 12:41-44). For this act of love, we are so very humbled and grateful. Thank you for your love and sacrifice in order to help us become parents and to give a loving home to a child in need.

And we also very much feel the prayers of friends and family who are unable to give financially - those prayers are very much appreciated too! We truly believe in the power of intercessory prayer and we are grateful for that powerful gift.

We've also received a few unique gifts: a baby "how-to" book (to brush up on before the time comes!), two little onesies, a blanket, and a newborn sleep sack. Having these around our home are great reminders of our end goal of parenthood, to keep us moving forward! And we just can't believe these things relate to us now. (Dan was reading a book about parenting and said out loud, "It's great to read these books and think how it applies to us and not some other parents. It's so exciting!")

In conclusion: we have a lovely list of names waiting to be written on our baby's quilt and we were talking the other night about how beautiful it will be when our little one is able to talk and points to names on the quilt saying, "Mama, Daddy, tell me about this person and that person and who is he? Who is she?" and we can tell stories about our friends and family, how we met them, memories we had together, and most of all how generous they were to us - in so many ways. Your love will not be forgotten.

We'd like to end with a favorite Bible verse of ours that we would like to share with you as a small way of saying "thank you":

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." 

- Luke 6:38