A name that fits

We have been calling "Gus"
 "Gus" 

for a while,

our agency listed him as "Gus" 

and we went with it -

I kinda liked it - we have a Grandpa and Uncle who had been
nickname "Gus"
but...

Dad -
well,
he had a dog named Gus,
a beloved dog,
with well,
a story that still hurts Dad...

so "Gus" is not a good name for our precious son!

So,
with a lot of thought
and 9 opinions on every other name -
our family has decided on
the perfect name for our little man.

Allow me to introduce you to

Griggs Everett!

(I need new updated photos!)

Care Package... HELP!

Okay, sweet friends,

 I need your help! 

We have been okay'd to send our sweet boy 

a care package for a while now,

but we haven't -

and it's killing me! 

But, I don't know what to do!

Here is my dilemma:

1.) We sent Jorja a care package as soon as we could,

which in hindsight was way to early.

She held on to our photos for many long months -

and though I'm sure it gave her a little hope,

it also hindered her trust in us - 

thinking we would never come to rescue her. 

(We didn't send Jailyn a package,

and

we didn't have he option to send the boys 

a care package -

 it wasn't allowed.)

2.)  What does it do to the other kids who don't receive 

a special care package?

I know that I can send some little candies or toys for the

other kids - 

but I hate that any of these precious kids 

feel sad and feel left out. 

OHHHHHH what to do!

I want to send him something so bad -

but...

We still have months before we will be LID

(Log In Date - 

which means all of our paperwork is in China -

waiting for the next step)

I'm feeling that it is my selfishness that wants 

to send something. 

What do y'all think?

Please help!

Beautiful Necklace Fundraiser!

Look what we have!

Aren't they just beautiful? 

I just love these necklaces! 

I love them so much I bought them 

for Christmas presents this past year -

for family,

friends 

and teachers!

I bought them from this beautiful family -

We met them in Ethiopia over a year ago 

they were adopting their little guy Jacob -

waiting their Embassy appointment 

when we were there for our Court appointment.

We were so blessed to meet

this amazing couple!

Who have hearts overflowing for the Lord!

When we announced our journey to "Gus",

they were in Ethiopia again! 

Yes, less then a year later they were in Ethiopia

waiting their Embassy appointment for their 

two sons, Isaiah and Kaleb!

Tara messaged me and asked if she could get me some 

beautiful "Magazine Bead" Necklaces for us 

to help us fundraise to bring "Gus" home.

Really????

I thought, Tara you have your hands full!

But, she still took the time to help us 

and to help our sweet son get home!

We have $55 necklaces to sell -

straight from Ethiopia!

Each necklace is one long strand

which you can wrapped once, twice or three times- 

for different looks.

Each bead is hand-rolled from recycled magazine paper

by women in Africa. 

They are coated with a clear finish,

so they are water resistant

(though NOT water-proof).

We are asking for a $15 donation per necklace

(includes shipping).

You can donate on our paypal account

and in the comments let us know how many necklaces 

you would like. 

I will connect with you if there is a specific hue of colors 

you would like,

as you can see - they are mostly multi-colored beds.

  

Thank you for your help!!!

Absence

Please excuse my absence from the bloggy world 

for the last few weeks.

I've missed y'all 

and will be back on regular schedule soon,

very soon! 

But for now,

I have to clean my house 

and get papers in order...

our social worker is coming tonight!

YAHOO!!!! 

Let's get this Home Study finalized! 

And just cause I love y'all so much -

I'll leave you with these sweet photos!

Remember these?

  

This was last year when we "passed" court 

in Ethiopia 

and were able to celebrate with our sons!

Donovan mentions those streamers 

all the time! 

And reenacts that day 

whenever he can!

It's a great feeling to actually belong to someone!

God is greater then...

I loved your answers to this sentence!

Amen and Amen!

"Anything and everything"

from Pam

"Then the boogie man"

from Melissa

"All my fears and all my dreams"

from Amy

"My ways and my thoughts"

from Cari

and I know another friend, Z's mom,

would say -

HE is greater then the US Embassy in Ethiopia -

cause you know what Z is coming HOME! 

********

and you know what he is greater then?

HE is greater then raising $30,000

to bring our son home!!!!!

Ohhhh yes HE is!

Did you see our fundraising thermometer on the side bar?
We're already more then 500 friends!

Only God!!!

****

When we first spoke to our agency about moving forward 

with this adoption -

they wondered where and when our funds would come

through -

we told them -

"When God provides!"

and guess what -

we haven't missed a payment,

haven't been late for a payment,

haven't even worried about a payment!

Thank you to all of you who are saying "yes" to God 

to help us bring our sweet boy home!

Some days I just can't pull myself away from his precious face -

but today I have to clean out closets to make room 

for him! 

I love cleaning closets when it's to bring home

another one of God's children!

"And whoever..."

Our sweet friends at

Journey to our kids

live this verse.

Their hearts are love God 

and the orphan.

They are amazing friends and 

are raising amazing children!

We found out yesterday that 

Little Miss had a bake sale for our sweet "Gus".

We came home from a long day of soccer games

and had a long night ahead of us!

This beautiful gift was waiting for us -

and I cried and cried and cried!

Even broke into the 'ugly' cry.

So much that some of my family 

came running cause they thought something was 

terribly wrong.

NO, everything was just right -

I had been praying early in the day -

knowing this week was going to be a rough one

and if the Lord would just send 

someone/something to encourage me -

well, that would be great!

This encouragement was just what I needed!

Knowing that friends were not only thinking and praying for us-

but taking time out of their schedule to 

share with us!

Thank you Little Miss!

Thank you dear friend!

 

Slow going...

Just to update y'all on how things are going with 

our journey to our sweet boy!

We are working hard on paperwork,

waiting on scheduled Dr. appointments

for our physicals,

and homestudy stuff.
This part of the adoption process is soooo slow!

And wishing we could get an update of my boy!

New photos please!!!

This is a hard time,

I really just want to get on that plane

and go get my boy! 

I do want to share with y'all some super ways 

that people have encouraged us 

during this time...

We have been overwhelmed with friends and 

family who have donated to help us bring "Gus" home.

One friend, from our Ethiopian adoptions,

her 16 year old daughter 

donated her $20 tithe to "Gus".

another friend donated $100 to us.

Later that week I found out that they 

were short funds for a bill. 

God provided for them -

they were faithful in that God 

asked them to share with "Gus" -

and He provided double the funds for them! 

HE IS SOOOOO GOOD!

We have made new friends 

like Matt and Heather who live in China!

Who have donated to "Gus" 

and have shared our stories with their friends

who have also shared with us. 

Today we received a generous donation from 

another new friend!

My new friend wrote in your email:

I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't get

one of my babies home if they were in need.

Go get that sweet boy.

God bless you. 

Susan you made me cry!

Infact, every time I think of what you said 

I cry!

I miss my boy so much! 

It's amazing the love God gives us for 

a person we have never met 

but will travel around the world to bring him home.

Thank you for all of you who have shared with us,

to help us bring our sweet boy home!

Extended!

Oh yeah!

Our sweet friend Gayly,

has offered to extend our jewelry sale 

for TWO more days.

So,

if you thought you missed out...

YAHOO!

YOU DIDN'T!!!!

And remember,

share our sale on your blog or facebook,

let me know,

and you will be in the drawing for this

wonderful necklace! 

My Jie Jie and Me
http://www.etsy.com/shop/quiltnmama2

Also,

remember to add our family code

"sweetgus"

in the comment section so that 

Gayly will know you want 

her $10 donation to go to our family!

Thank you sooo much 

for helping us bring our boy home!

"Lost no more"

"Momma, 

I no see Daddy yesterday.

I no see him before school,

 I no see him before bed."

"You're right Donovan,

you didn't get to see Daddy,

did you.

I bet you'll see him today!"

as he seemed to be remember fun times,
he added,
"I like to see Daddy!"

Seeing he was really sad,
cause he really loves his daddy,
I thought I would add some humor.

"You have ME though!"

with excitement, that surprised me, Donovan answered,

"YEA!
I lost no more!

I don't like to be lost!

I like to be with my family!"

Ohhh sweet boy!

I am so sorry that you ever felt lost! 

It is hard to imagine that my son, 

just a few months ago,

was one of 163 million children 

who feel lost -

no one to care for him,

no one to teach him,

no one to show him unconditional love. 

I am so thankful God brought our babies home! 

and HE will bring our sweet Gus home too!
Remember our jewelry fundraiser is still
up and running until this Wednesday!
Check it out here.
and remember to add our family code 
"sweetgus" 
in the comment box!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/quiltnmama2







 

5 days down, 5 to go...

We are half way through 

our jewelry sale for "Gus".

If you haven't gotten a chance to check it out -

please take a look.

If you would like to a purchase a necklace -

please remember to add to the comment section 

our family code:

sweetgus

this will make sure Gayly know that 

y'all are our friends,

and she will donate $10 of the sales to 

help us bring our son home! 

Thank you so much! 

I just love the little girl jewelry too! 

This is the one Jorja wants...

"wo ai ni" I love you in Chinese.

and Jailyn's middle name is "Hope"

so she wants this one!

I still need to decide which one I want -

but I'm leaning towards this one - 

or this one...

I love them all!

And remember if you share on your blog or facebook,
let me know -

you have the chance to win this beautiful necklace!

Thank you for helping us bring our sweet boy home!

Assurance

All of our kids are super excited to get 

their little brother home from China,

but Donovan talks about him 

A.L.O.T.

As we were making cookies

today we were talking about Gus

and his sweetness -

Donovan asked in his 

inquisitive,
yet

re-assuring way...

"and we wont just drop him off,

right momma?"

I bent down to look into my sons eyes

and reassure him,

that none of my children will 

be "dropped" off. 

We are here through thick and thin,

good and bad,

happy and sad - 

sorry buddy you are stuck with this crazy family! 

Surprise "your adopting!"

Some people say that you can't have a surprise adoption -

but ya know what?

You can! 

And once the shock wears off -

it's just as exciting,

may be even more exciting then 

if you had planned for this. 

Our journey to Gus began long before we
even knew about Gus,

God had told us "no" to Z in Ethiopia,

we were sad, very sad,

and we searched for what God wanted next for us -

another adoption?

find an adoption group to help with?

work with families who have adopted?

or just 

BE STILL.

One thing our family does is
keep our refrigerator full of photos of waiting children.

(I can't show you our refrig as some of the faces

cannot go out on the internet)

A few months ago, 

we got word that the last "waiting" kiddo on our 

refrigerator had a family!

We decided Gus would be our next kiddo 

to pray and advocate for.

He was on the Waiting Child list with our agency, 

Lifeline Children Services,

and was listed with the SN of Pygmyism.

This was intriguing -

and not being able to find any info on Google about

Pygmyism.

We asked some friends about it but no one really knew.

We asked for his file, so we could ask a 

Dr. to review it for us.

Not like we could advocate for a child whom we don't know

what his SN is. 

The report for the Dr was very favorable.

So we began to pray for his family and

began advocating.

I also contacted my friend Stephanie,

as she has a daughter with a similar diagnosis.

Stephanie was just about to email Lifeline to ask if she could 

also advocate for little Gus. 

I asked Stephanie to wait a few days,

as we were really praying what God's will was for us and Gus.

We then found out that Gus needed to be "spoken for"

in 2 weeks or his file would go back to China 

and he would sit on the shared list. 

Since we were still unsure,

I asked Stephanie to also advocate for him,

if we weren't his parents -

we needed to find his parents 

QUICKLY!

A few days later,

I emailed Stephanie again to tell her that we were working with Lifeline 

to be Gus's family! 

One of the discussions we had with Lifeline was,

$.

Can I tell you I hate $! 

But, Lifeline agreed to pray with us and believe that 

God will faithfully provide for us to 

bring our son home! 

They were willing to work with us,

and work with  our  God's timeline.

Can I tell you how exciting it was 

when we sent in our first paperwork, 

to tell our coordinator that the 1st fee would be included in the paperwork! 

She was shocked 

and together we praised God for HIS provisions! 

HE provided our first payment 

two weeks early! 

Isn't that just soooo God! 

So, here we are -

working on the next level of paperwork! 

(With our third agency fee due in a few months)

Excited to see God at work to bring our sweet boy home! 

Home where he belongs -

in the arms of his mommy and daddy and

brother and sister and brother and sister and brother and sister and brother! 

ohhh those chubby cheeks just get me every time! 

Why?

We are getting this question a lot lately...

so in case there are others
wondering the same thing...

this is why
we are adopting again.

Isaiah 1:17
"Learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Help the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the orphans.
Fight the rights of widows."

Proverbs 31:8-9
"Speak up for those who cannot speak
for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy."

We are adopting again because God asked us too,
and the last thing we want to do
is to tell God "NO"!

This week I plan to share with y'all
how God has
opened doors for us to bring our sweet son home.

And our prayer is that we will
go where ever God leads us.

Psalms 147:10a
"Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God..."

and we are just blessed that He has lead us to Gus! 

Leaping for joy!

I tell you -

nothing makes me more happy then 

when a family 

finds their child/ren!

And this week has been very emotional!

 Remember Z in Ethiopia?

He met his parents this past week,

they passed court 

and have returned to the US,

waiting and praying their Embassy appointment

comes quickly and they can

return to their son,

and bring him home!
Ohhhh - what a roller coaster ride this has
been for ALL of them -
but soon they will be safe in each others arms
FOREVER!

Ohhh this is just a beautiful photo!

And then,

Lucky!

What a handsome guy!

His family found him this week!

He will age out of the China system in August!

His family needs to get all their

paperwork together 

and travel by his 14th birthday 

in order to adopt him. 

Please add these 2 beautiful families to your prayer lists! 

and...

if you didn't notice -

we added a pay pal account for our 

fund raising for our sweet Gus! 

(friends have requested the pay pal as it does make it 

easier on everyone)

Thank you for keeping us and Gus in your prayers too!  

Garage Sale FUN!

Preparations for the garage sale are not so much fun!

But, 

ya know' 

we had a good time during the sale.

(Elijah's job was to work the "cute factor"!)

The entire family helped!

 (Conner's main job was to keep Elijah away from 

the traffic - and keep from mom having a heart attack!)

Jailyn must have been taking business classes

from her big brother, Brady,

because she and Jorja brought in $50 

on their cookie and gatorade stand!  

(serious saleswoman!)

The sale itself brought in 

$650 :)

(eyeing those yummy cookies! -

they loved the people who "paid" for cookies and said,

"you can eat my cookies"!)

We have a few larger items that people are 

supposed to come pay and pick up this week -

which will help bring our total up

about to $700 :)

Thank you to everyone who donated items 

and who came to shop

and who prayed for shoppers!

God brought LOTS of shoppers!

If all works well this week - 

we will receive the "last" of our "first" 

set of paperwork needed - 

and that will be off to China!

(we begin the BIG stuff today!)

For our first agency payment, 

we are short 20 "friends" or $200

but we know God will provide!

keeping it "Old School" and give-a-way

Y'all have brought us to tears!

All the comments, FB messages,

texts, emails, phone calls!

Tears of joy that God is totally in control of our journey

and will guide us the entire way!

We've also thought maybe we will keep our 

3000 friends "Old School".

Meaning - we just loved hearing from y'all

and with PayPal we're afraid we will lose that connection -

so, 

we're gonna do this old school -

through personal contact, 

and snail mail. 

(we'd hope y'all don't mind but if we can thank you in person

we'd rather do that!)

If you would like to be one of our 3000 friends-

you can email me at 

soccermom@tx.rr.com,

comment here, or

comment of FaceBook.

(for y'all who have already contacted us -

I will get back with you today - 

yesterday was a day of many kid activities -

so mom was taxi driver :)

Thank y'all sooo much! 

I'm already dying for new photos and information on my baby!! 

Also, 

don't forget -

 today is the last day to get your name in the drawing 

for the book 

by Kyle Idleman

not a fan.

be sure to become a friend and 

leave a comment here!
We will announce the winner tomorrow!

I know...

We are still in shock!

God has been working in our hearts to do more for the ophan - 

but we were thinkin' -

maybe a cool website,
put together some videos,

reaching out to potential adoptive parents,

supporting parent and adoptees after they are united...

you know, something we can control! 

Ha!Ha! We are so thankful He is in control!

After 4 adoptions in 5 years our bank account for adoption fees is 

well,

empty.

So, not only will this journey be one of humbling ourselves but of complete trust that God will provide ALL of the fees needed to ransom our son
and bring him home!

It would only take 3,000 friends to donate $10!
(not sure if we have 3,000 friends -
but God does!) 

We plan to set up a pay pal account ASAP,
but are experiencing some kinks -
if you would like to be on of our 3,000 friends 
your more then welcome to leave a comment or email
at
soccermom@tx.rr.com
and I can fill you in on more details.

Thank you so much for sharing in our excitement
and joining our journey to our sweet, sweet boy! 

 

Here HE goes again...

A few months ago,

Bryan and I swore  strongly agreed that we were done!

We have been blessed immeasurably 

with our beautiful family...

but...

WE were done. 

Thank you God but
seriously -
WE'RE DONE!

Warning -

never say that to God!

Cause HE may take you on ride

that you never thought possible! 

He melted our hearts! 

Brought us to our knees!

And God moved stubborn mountains to tell us 

that we are his mommy and daddy!

So now we begin our journey to China and to our sweet son Gus!

We are praying for 3000 people who will be willing to help us bring
Gus home,
by donating $10 each. 


 To insure a more personal contact with our friends - we will be using the "old school" way and  will be accepting donations through snail mail and face-to-face!  If you would like to make a donation to help bring Gus home, please leave a comment with your email or email me at soccermom@tx.rr.com.  Thank you for blessing us with your friendship!