Thankful Hearts

Last Saturday our families hosted a BBQ benefit dinner to help Brent and I financially in our adoption process.  We want to give a very special thanks to our parents and sisters who worked so hard to make this event such a success!  We are so very grateful for all of your hard work.   We love you very much!

We would also like to give a special thanks to the Melton's for donating their beautiful farm for us to host the BBQ dinner.  We really appreciate their generosity.  The Lord blessed us with an absolute beautiful setting on a warm spring Saturday evening!

We also want to give thanks to all of our family and friends for coming to the BBQ last Saturday.  Your presence and support were greatly appreciated!  Even though it was tough to spend time with everyone it meant so much to Brent and I to see so many people in our lives support and love on us.  We cannot thank you enough! 

Thank you to all of our family and friends that have called, emailed, mailed, and sent messages that were not able to attend but have encouraged us with your words and donations!  We have been overwhelmed with everyones support. 

We have put this entire adoption in the Lord's hands but we will confess that we have worried about the financial portion.  We have full trust that the Lord will provide but it is was difficult to not pull out the calculator and estimate how much may be donated through the BBQ benefit!  During our second home study visit, our social worker informed us our invoice of $2,165.00 was due immediately.  I calmly resorted to the idea of using our credit card to cover this fee, however it took Brent a few deep breaths and prayers to come around and trust that this amount would be reimbursed through this benefit. 

A frequent question we are asked is how much does adoption cost? For Ethiopia the total cost is estimated to be $30,000.00.  The fees are due at various times and dispersed through the two year process.  The home study fee and dossier submission fee (paperwork to Ethiopia to officially be placed on waiting list) are the two largest fees that are due early in the process.  Brent and I were praying our home study would be reimbursed by our BBQ benefit.  In the back of our minds we were worrying and strategizing how in the world WE were going to be able to submit our dossier to begin the waiting process most likely due in July for a fee of $8,450.00!

After such a fun evening at the BBQ, Brent and I sat down on the couch opening cards full of words of encouragement, cash, and checks.  We were absolutely overwhelmed with joy and gratitude!  Words cannot express how we felt, we actually were speechless for a while and just cried!  The Lord provided through our family and friends who sacrificially gave to His purpose at total of $10,091.00!!  This will cover our home study and our dossier submission.  Praise the Lord!

This demonstrated how little faith we had in the financial portion of our adoption, worrying and taking it into our own hands. Once again the Lord continues to provide us with affirmation of His plan that he has already gone before us and has prepared a precious baby in Ethiopia to become part of our family! Our hearts are full of praise, joy, and thanks.  

Katie, Cora, and I preparing BBQ invitations

Patti, Alyson, and Katie making decorations for tables

Alyson, Patti, Mom decorating for BBQ

Dad, Patti, Alyson, Mom setting up tables

Tables inside

Tables outside

Donation table

Blessing table

Brent preparing for welcome

Our 5 year old niece Cora thought she was going to a party because we were getting the baby.  Ryan and Katie explained this party was to help bring the baby home.  A few minutes later she brought to her dad all of her money from her piggy bank to bring to the BBQ.  What a precious giving heart.  Thank you Cora Lee!

More pictures of the BBQ to come!  Thank you all again for your love and support. 

Love, 

Beth

Preparing our hearts, minds, and....home

It has been another busy month.  We submitted our paperwork to begin our home study on March 7th and had our first home study visit March 12th, again on March 15th, and our final home inspection March 21st.  Whew, what a whirlwind!  We are grateful the adoption process continues to be moving forward.

It seems as if God continues to prepare our hearts.  This past month has been a busy and stressful, but it has also been emotional.  When Brent and I first started this blog we wanted the title and the content to be glorifying to the Lord, to share with our friends and family how God has led us to adoption.  Ephesians 1 really spoke to Brent when I first approached him about the possibility of adoption, specifically verses 3-7. The Lord really pressed these verses on our hearts to gain an understanding that we are adopted by the Father through Christ Jesus, we were chosen to be His children by His glorious grace!  It just seemed fitting to title our blog "To the Praise of His Glorious Grace."  In the beginning of March our pastor began a sermon series in Ephesians.  The first sermon addressed verses 1 and 2.  The second sermon addressed verses 3-6, the sermon title was "To the Praise of His Glorious Grace." This title certainly had our attention! To hear our pastor teach and preach from these verses filled our hearts with joy.  Not only because we had begun the adoption process but to explain God's grace and love through adoption. Check out the sermon from 3/17/2013.

http://www.parkwoodonline.org/media.php?pageID=13

The home study process actually went very well.  Brent and I each met with our social worker at a coffee shop in Belmont separately, two days later together, and finally a week later in our home.  Much of the process is answering questions about our families, our childhood, relationships with our families and friends, our marriage, our motivation for adoption.  Our social worker knows everything about us from our medical history, finances, marriage, our strengths and weaknesses, how we handle conflict, stress, and grief.  It was a very humbling and at times overwhelming experience.  After the first meeting I left Belmont to go back to work in Gastonia when all of a sudden I was exiting on interstate 485 going toward south Charlotte!  Needless to say I was a little flustered but, finally got turned around in the right direction and made it back to work.

We have also began to prepare our minds.  We are currently participating in a 10 hour online training session for perspective parents of adoptive children, reading books and viewing DVD's to educate ourselves on bonding, eye contact, healthy touch, learning about sensory integration, and developmental delays.  Brent's personal favorite is a DVD titled, "Baby Baby Oh Baby: bonding with your brilliant and beautiful baby through infant massage :) All jokes aside we really are having fun learning and preparing for our baby!

Part of the home study obviously is to inspect your home to ensure safety and adequate space for a child.  It is one thing to prepare and clean your house to have friends and family over to hang out but it is definitely different to have a social worker come for an inspection.  All week long we prepared with replacing batteries in our smoke detectors, placing medications and cleaning supplies behind locked cabinets and out of reach of a child, cleaned, and organized closets and cabinets. Then there are our two dogs Hank and Ellie.  They are kept downstairs in our unfinished basement in a bathroom during the day while we are at work.  Their dog beds lie on sub-flooring which over time has become more difficult to keep clean and are kept in the room by a door without a door knob!  We just kept putting off this project of replacing the flooring in this bathroom.  So Brent with the help of our brother-in-law Ryan ended up replacing the door, adding a door knob, and adding new sub-flooring and also laying a laminate floor.  They really did a great job!  We felt proud of all our hard work and felt we had accomplished our spring cleaning and had finished another house project.  At the conclusion of the home inspection we walked with our social worker toward her car, saying our goodbyes when she turned to us and said, "I didn't even see your basement, but I don't really need to since you all don't live in that area of the house anyway."  She drove away and Brent just turned to me, smiled and said, "Really, did that just happen."  Hank and Ellie love their new and improved room!

Brent and Ryan Before

After

Our next step is to wait on our home study to be written and approved which can take up to 90 days.  We will then be one step closer to sending all of our documents to Ethiopia to officially be placed on a waiting list.  During the wait period we plan to continue to raise support financially for our adoption.  We have our first fundraiser coming up this Saturday.  We are very excited!  Please continue to pray for Brent and I throughout this process.

Love,
Beth