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