Switch Up

Let me be honest…it has been a LONG couple of weeks. We have had so many ups and downs surrounding the benefit concert and silent auction. I never know what to expect.

As difficult as these past 2 weeks have been, they have gotten me to a place where I realize that I cannot be in control ALL the time. I have learned some hard lessons about putting my trust in God.

One of the artists scheduled to play for the benefit concert found out last minute that she is no longer able to be there. We were so disappointed.

BUT God is faithful and He has provided us with another artist to fill her spot and we are SO EXCITED. Her name is Jenna Davis and you can listen to her music here. I know you will love her!!

Hope to see you on Saturday!

Congratulations Britt and Forrest!

This past weekend, we went to my cousin’s wedding. It was at an old farm house and was absolutely beautiful.

I brought my camera in hopes of getting some super cute pictures of the kids. They were all dressed up and the little girl cousins were matching (thanks Grandmom :)). The farm house had such lovely places to capture some great pictures. But did I get any….of course not! As hard as I tried, my little subjects (all 5 and under) were just not cooperating. I wonder why? Don’t your little kids do super cute poses for the camera when you ask? Geesh! 

Another giveaway!

I think it is a good time to give away 2 more tickets to our benefit concert and silent auction...don't you think so?
And I might as well give away a couple of t-shirts as well. So if you can't come to the benefit, you can still play for the t-shirts. 

This one is pretty easy. There are 2 ways to enter.

• Become a follower of my blog and leave a comment that you did so. Or if you already follow my blog,  you can leave a comment as well.
• Tell you friends about our benefit concert and silent auction. You can email your friends, post it on facebook, write a blog post, anything works!

You can do one or both, but be sure to leave 2 separate comments if you do both. The giveaway closes on Sunday evening.

Happy Thursday!

Update: and the winners are...well the only 2 people who participated :) Thanks Tiffany and Karen!

Oh my cuteness!

Do you see this face?

This cute, cute, face?

I am so in love with this boy!

Enjoying some one on one time with this little guy!

A different country. A hard choice

If you have been here before you may know that I have had doubts about our adoption from Ethiopia. You can read about this here and here.

Over the past few months, God has been doing a lot of work in our hearts. As comfortable as we were sitting on the wait list for Ethiopia, we began to see that might not be what God had for us.

Last week, we left our Ethiopia program.

Yes, we are still adopting, but God has led us in a new direction and to a different country. He is showing us truths about special needs children.

We have been praying like crazy over the past months. I have looked into many other countries in Africa and several different options for adoption. I have spoken with adoption agencies, orphanages, attorneys, and families who have adopted from Africa.

All doors seemed to be closing, all except one.

We are now pursuing adoption from Uganda! We are drawn to the country, its culture, and the children there. Our hearts have also been opened to the possibility of adopting a child with special needs. Read more about that here.

Why would God lead us to Ethiopia only to ask us to switch 6 months later? Were we just not hearing God correctly? As much as that thought runs through my head, I don’t think it is the answer. I do think God led us to Ethiopia, but for some reason He is now asking us to go in a different direction.

This has been a HARD decision. We both felt a strong pull to Ethiopia only months ago. But ultimately this is God’s decision, not ours. His plans for our adoption are much better than our own and we have to give full control to Him.

Special Needs

When you apply for adoption, there is this dreaded check list that you have to go through. You have to “pick” what preferences you are willing to consider and which ones you are not. There is everything from the age of a child to Downs syndrome, from poor vision to HIV. It is pretty brutal. It is such a hard process to determine what is right or not right for your family.

Mark and I have done this checklist. There are some items that we left unchecked, but when considering special needs, we want to be as open as possible.  

We are still uncertain if adopting a child with special needs is what God has for our family, but at this time we want to be open.

During our journey, we have done much thinking and praying about our child. We have done research and want to share something that we have been learning over the past couple of months, specifically related to HIV (taken from positivelyorphaned.com).

• HIV can NOT be spread through casual/household contact.

• HIV is not spread through hugging, kissing, shaking hands, sharing toys, sneezing, coughing, sharing food, sharing drinks, bathing, swimming or any other casual way.

• It has been proven that HIV and AIDS can only be spread through sexual contact, birth, breastfeeding and blood to blood contact (such as sharing needles).

• HIV is considered a chronic but manageable disease. With treatment, people who are HIV+ can live without developing AIDS and can live long and full lives.

Some great website for information about HIV:

http://www.positivelyorphaned.com/

http://www.fromhivtohome.org/

http://www.projecthopeful.org/

As we continue our adoption journey, I will keep you updated about what we learn and where we are on this road. We would love prayers for wisdom and clarity as we seek what God has for our family.

And the winner is...

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 9  

  

I had major issues with trying to get the "widget" on the blog. I entered a max of 10, but for some reason it showed up here as 100.

Anyways...
Karyn, you are the lucky winner!!! I guess since you and Andy had a 40% chance of winning the odds were in your corner :) Let me know your t-shirt size and I will get everything to you. And since you and Andy put in the extra effort, I will give you a family ticket. Wouldn't want those sweet little girls of yours to miss out :)