Here it is!!

Here is the first photo of our puzzle! It is in a couple of sections but right now we have 21 pieces! Thank you to those who contributed since our last post. Bonnie and Russ, Karen's sister-in-law and Bob and Theresa. Mark did some work for some friends and they paid him more than he asked for...so Mark was able to "sponsor" 8 pieces of our own puzzle! Yay!

I told Mark this week that it is very humbling to have people donate to our adoption when they don't even know us! Thank you all!

When you are with your kids everyday you tend to forget how amazing they are. My parents took care of our girls when Mark and I had to take Brian to the ER this past week. (He's ok...needed some stitches but he's healing well.) My parents put the girls to bed while they were here. My mom talked to me the next day said that she got "teary" when the girls said their prayers before bed and both of them prayed for Adam. My girls have been praying for Adam since November and it is becoming "routine" for me to hear them pray for his safety, that he will have a good night sleep and that "we can adopt Adam." This reminds me that prayer should NEVER become routine. I admit that sometimes my prayers can become somewhat of a "checklist." My kids are such an inspiration for me, they want to pray for EVERYONE! Abby regularly brings prayer requests home from school. I love that about her! Her tender heart is so amazing, unfortunately tender hearts bruise easily.

Back to our fundraising efforts, we will be having a yard sale in the next month or two. Last summer Abby and Emily had a lemonade stand to raise money for, what else, toys. I am so thrilled that this year they want to have a lemonade stand and bake sale, on the day of the yard sale, to raise money for Adam's adoption and for Kay's Camp. Kay's Camp is a camp for children who have cancer. Kay's Camp was the idea of Kaylyn Warren. Kaylyn was a teenage who attended our church, she was diagnosed with cancer in her junior year of high school (I believe that is correct) A week or so before she went to be with her Lord in heaven, she told her family that she wanted to establish a camp for kids with cancer. Abby's class is raising money for Kay's Camp and when I suggested that they split the money from the lemonade stand/bake sale between Adam's adoption and Kay's Camp, she was thrilled!!

Prayer requests:

We should submit the final documents for our home study next week, if all goes well. Prayers for that please.

Once the home study is completed we will be able to apply for adoption grants, please pray that we will be approved for enough to complete the adoption.

Please pray for Adam, orphanage life is not easy and I ask you to pray for his young heart that God will protect it from the harsh things of life.

Please pray for whoever is adopting their child at this moment, that the transition will be easy.

There are so many older children who need homes, children who have mild medical needs, or moderate or severe medical needs. There are also children who are completely healthy...just "older". Please pray that people's hearts will be moved to either adopt these children or to pray for these children.

Thank you all for your support, whether it is emotional, financial or prayer support.

Beth

Puzzle update!!

Hello everyone!

Last Sunday a couple from our church stopped to talk to Mark. They were asking about the adoption and gave him $5 for the puzzle! Mark said they were getting "teary-eyed" after hearing about Adam.

My mom just called me. She was getting a massage...not something she does but she had a gift card. She was telling the masseuse about Adam and the story of how we felt led to adopt Adam. Then she told her about the puzzle fundraiser and when my mom was leaving she gave her a tip. The masseuse gave it back and said, "Use it for puzzle pieces. I wish I could do more." So, we now have three more puzzle pieces from her. I know she'll probably never see this blog but, I still want to thank her for her kindness. She also asked my mom to stop in again to let her know how the adoption is going.

We now have seven puzzle pieces. I will probably post a picture on Monday or Tuesday.

Thank you everyone who has donated.

Beth

Our puzzle is here!

Our puzzle arrived in the mail today,gotta love Ebay! We have come across a bit of a snafu...we have to find a place to set it up where Brian won't get to it. A 1,000 piece puzzle and a 2 year old boy do NOT mix! Brian is a typical boy- he loves trucks, tools and sports and there is something to be trashed- he will do it! I'm thinking we might put it in the garage on a small table we have, now I just need to make sure Mark doesn't let Brian follow him into the garage! I'll check with Mark and see what he thinks.

Good news...we have three puzzle pieces "sponsored" Yeah! Thank you Kristin, Mom and Dad. Only 997 to go! LOL! I printed a flier about the fundraiser and posted on our church bulletin board.

Last night before bed I was wondering what Adam's reaction will be when the orphange staff tells him someone is adopting him. I imagine there will be anxiety, some happiness and probably a lot of fear. I need to remind myself that while his adoption day will be a happy day for our family, it will probably be a scary day for him. We have some pictures that other adoptive parents have shared with us. We have been in contact, email, with three other adoptive parents from Adam's orphanage. We have gotten about 12-13 photos with Adam in them. Some are as early as 5-ish. It's so wonderful to see these small snapshots of him. There are a few where he looks very sad and it just breaks my heart...I want to reach out and hug him right now. I just need to pray that until I can comfort him that the Lord will comfort him for us.

Mark and I are leaders at our church's AWANA program. We work with the "Cubbies" group (3 and 4 year olds!) One of the Cubbies' fathers stopped to talk to me after and he told me that his daughter has been praying and talking about all the orphans she has been hearing about in church time (one of the leaders goes on regular missions trips to help out orphanages and talks about the children). The father asked if we were adopting and I was able to tell him a little about the process. I told him that he and his daughter could see a photo of "our son" on a bulletin board that was put up in the church hallway. It has pictures of all the children that our church profiled for "50 Churches 50 Children." I can't count the number of parents that have come up to me and told me that their kids are praying for us and for Adam. Thank you so much everyone...every prayer is appreciated!!

If anyone needs specifics to pray for: please pray that Adam will be healthy, safe and happy. Please pray that someone will be able to tell him about God's love for him, Please pray that we can finish up the homestudy soon. Please pray that the dossier process goes amazingly fast. Please pray that we can find a bed for Adam (we have his dressers). Please pray that we can raise the money to pay for the adoption. Please pray that Adam's adjustment is easy. Please pray that we will be prepared for whatever may happen. Please pray for Abby, Emily and Brian that we will make sure to make time for them.

Thank you all for all that you have done to help us with this adoption.

Beth

Puzzle fundraiser!

We found a puzzle for our puzzle fundraiser. It should be here in a few days. It is a panda puzzle and it is 1,000 pieces. We will be posting pictures of the progress every week or two.
Anyone who wants to donate towards our puzzle fundraiser can email beth_c_smith@hotmail.com for our address. For every $5 donated we will put 1 piece in the puzzle. Our goal is $5,000. The money we raise helps to bring Adam home to his forever family. Thank you everyone who can help out.

Grant!!

We got a grant from our adoption agency! I am so excited!!! It is for $5,000! Wow, thank you Lord!!! What a blessing....

As soon as we get the final paperwork for the homestudy we can apply for grants from other organizations.

We're also planning on doing a "puzzle fundraiser" We will buy a puzzle with something that has to do with China and for each $5 we raise we will put a piece of the puzzle in and when we are finished we will let people know how much we have raised. We're hoping to find a 1,000 piece puzzle. We will post pictures of the puzzle every couple of weeks so everyone can see the progress of the puzzle. I've seen 500 piece puzzles but not 1,000 piece puzzles. Off to search the internet again!

Have a great day!

Beth

Snow Day!!

Well, we finally got our "big" snow for the year! Abby was able to stay home from school and I took the kids out to play. It's amazing how "Mommy" only wants to stay out for about 10 minutes but the kids could stay out forever....by the way, we compromised,20 minutes! LOL! It was frigid, I couldn't see letting them stay out...especially when Brian's nose started running. The girls went out later while Brian took his nap. I'm going to put my first photos on today.

The girls love doing snow angels,but I missed Brian's snow angel. But, here he is "exploring"!