I realize it has been about a decade since I last posted on here. Oops. We've been super busy with life in general! So here's a quick update:
All has been silent on the adoption front. Our profile book was shown a couple months ago for the first (and only) time but the young lady decided on another family. We actually were quite grateful for the experience as now we have a better idea of what to expect. We feel very peaceful that this was not the right match for us and that God is orchestrating our story behind the scenes and we don't need to worry about the details. I am SO grateful for overwhelming peace. It was exciting to have our book shown though and to know that another waiting family like ours just got exciting news! Otherwise we haven't heard a peep for a couple months, but we were warned this would be the case. Especially since we have chosen to only pursue matches in the Oregon and Washington areas for numerous reasons. Namely, it can almost double the cost to go outside our local area. Also, as we have prayed about this we just feel like God wants us to stay local for right now. After a year, we will pray and reassess to see if we should expand our options but for now, we are peaceful and happy where we are!
Fundraising has been going SO well. We are just blown away by people's love and generosity! We had our first yard sale of the season last weekend. I had prayed and asked God that we would raise $1000 with this sale. I counted what we had made at close on Saturday and found we were at $945! We were blown away because the most expensive item we sold was $50. You can imagine how much stuff we had to sell to reach that amount. Right after counting, 3 more latecomers showed up and bought items and then told us to keep the change for our cause (this happened SO many times throughout the weekend!) This got our total to $998 and again I thought, how cool that we got so close to our goal. A friend commented on my Facebook post that she had taken an item and would pay us the $2 next time we saw her. That made our grand total exactly $1000!!! I didn't take this as coincidence, and neither did Chris. We saw so clearly how much God loves us and wanted to confirm we are in the exact place He wants us to be. Amazing how much something so seemingly small can just rejuvenate and re energize our hearts and spirits to continue on this path He has brought us too.
After the sale and other donations from friends and family, we are approximately $4000 away from the minimum adoption fee we would need! In less than a year. This blows my mind. I remember talking with Chris when we were deciding if adoption was right for us, and looking at the costs of $20k plus and feeling so overwhelmed. God is so good. And the people around us are so good. I wish I could go tell each person who has helped in any way thank you and hug their necks. But a giant THANK YOU from my blog will have to suffice for today! THANK YOU. Chris and I feel so humbled that so many people believe in us, believe in adoption, believe in this little person we get to meet someday. This is not a small thing you are doing for us. It's huge. Every time one of you donates, or texts to ask how we're doing, or says they are praying - this keeps our spirits up and encourages us to keep going down this path that is far from simple or easy. I wish I could really convey how my heart feels about all this, but this is as close as I can get with words!
So that is all for now. I guess I had more to say than I thought I did! Thank you for your good thoughts, prayers and encouragement. We can't wait to have exciting news to share someday.
Have an amazing week everyone! YOU ARE LOVED!
Kristen
