A Daddy's Love!!

The other day Ty came home and said to me, "Hon, even though I've never even seen her...I already love her dearly!"  It just melted my heart!!  He then said,  "I heard this song...and it's our song to her."  I just love this man...he is going to be an awesome daddy to our princess!!

Empower Your Beliefs!!!

We have some new adult bracelets that we've added to our fundraising section.  They are power bracelets crafted of Ceramic, Crystal Beads, and Rhodium with 18K Gold-Plated accents.  From each bracelet dangles a charm.  They are super cool!!!  They are selling for $18 each and can be bought on the blog or in The Brown Box!!!  Below is a picture of each bracelet and on the reverse side of the Charm they each say believe in the power of....

All proceeds from these bracelets go towards the adoption of our baby girl!!!

 Love,

Christy

Friendship!!

Winston's sweet little friend, Carly, wrote him this precious letter, after she found out he was going to have a new sister someday!!!  When I read it...I just bawled...it is so dear and from the heart!!  Since you can't really read it in the picture...here is what it says (just the way it is written):

Dear Winston

I heard about your baby sister!!! Yea, so exiting!!! I'm thrilied for you! You will love her and be a great brother! You will take care of her. God has blessed you with a sister. And you will treausre her. I am praying over her. The bible says "Love never fails." Your love for her will never fail.  You are a treasure to God also, and always will be.  Your sister is a treasure and so are you! When she gets older you will probly get mad at her sometimes, that's normal! Always remember that "Love never fails" and that your love for her will never fail.  I'm praying!  Have a good day!  Carly

Isn't that the sweetest letter...oh, to love like a child!!

Love,

Christy

How Can I Help?

Since we have made the "Announcement", we have had many friends and family ask, "How Can I Help?"  So I thought I would take a moment to let you know!!!  First of all...Thank you for being so supportive!  It means the world to us when you write such kind words about us, our family, and this adoption.  We feel so loved and are humbled by your expressions!

The most important way you could help is prayer.  Ty and I truly believe that God is calling us to adopt this child and we want His complete guidance. Pray for our boys...that this experience will show them God's love like no other.  Also pray for our princess...that she will be healthy and strong.  Pray for the birth mom...that she may feel God's love and believe that giving her child to another family is the ultimate sacrifice of love.

The second way you could help is donating to our adoption.  If you read from our post yesterday…it will cost between $24,000 to $30,000.  For us to even start the process we need about half.  So with that being said…we are going to be selling items and doing some fun things so that we can bring our princess to Oklahoma.  At The Brown Box, we will have a special section…anything bought from that area will go towards the adoption.  If you don’t live in Ada and want to contribute…we will be adding items to the blog to sell.  If you will notice (the left side column)…today we have some darling children’s bracelets.  These are braided bracelets crafted of rhodium and cotton cord…they are very playful and would make the perfect gift for a special young lady!!!  We have the adoption store set up through PayPal, which is a very safe way to shop on the Internet. But if Internet shopping isn’t your thing…just give me a call at the store (580) 421-9446 and I can take care of your order that way too. 

Again, thank you so much for your support…we appreciate and love you very much!!!

Love,

Christy

We Are Thrilled!!!

We are thrilled that you are thrilled about our news!!!  Thank you to everyone for being so supportive…all your kind words mean the world to us!!  Today I will answer question number two!!! (and three)

“When will we bring our little girl home?”  Generally, from the time we submit our application the process takes 12-16 months.  With that being said…that leads into the third question…"How much does it cost to adopt a child from Ethiopia? " International adoption is very expensive and varies from country to country.  For us to adopt our precious girl it will cost between $24,000-$30,000.  Now, I know you are thinking…”Oh, My!!”…but we feel that she is worth every penny.   We will be trimming down, on the spending…(I am going to have to cook!)…and we told the boys that we wouldn’t be going on vacation this summer. Money is the number one reason that people don’t adopt…we are not going to let that stand in our way.  It has been recommended that we save $12,000-$15,000 (basically half) before applying so that is where we are in the journey.  Ty is in the process of designing some AWESOME

t-shirts to sell to friends and family who want to support our adoption.  Also, I am going to have a section at The Brown Box that will have some darling items and everything sold, in that area, will go towards our adoption.  I know, to some,  that fundraising for an adoption sounds weird  but if you look at it as saving a life it really changes your whole outlook.  After doing a lot of reading, we found out that most families do fundraisers to help with their adoption costs.  We have already had so many friends offer to help us…and we feel so blessed. 

Please keep praying for us…and her!!!

Consumed By The Call,

Christy

We Have An Announcement!!!

Hello friends and family and welcome to our new blog. This is going to be a journal of an exciting call God has put on our hearts. We are adopting a baby/toddler girl from Ethiopia!!!  I have talked and thought about adoption for years and just basically would try and put it out of my mind.  I would bring it up to Ty and he would smile and appease me in dialogue and then we would both go on our merry way.  Well, that hasn’t been the case lately.  For the past months, I haven’t been able to get adoption out of my mind.  God and I have had some long talks and He has been very persistent.  I finally asked Ty to start praying about adopting and God revealed that adopting a child was a gift that he wanted us to receive. We are in the very beginning stages of this long, long, long process but are thrilled and want to share the news and events as they happen with you.  We know that our friends and family have lots of questions and we want to answer them.  This blog will be a super place to do that and it will be a wonderful way for us to record this marvelous journey.

I am going to answer one question today that has been asked and will answer more as the process goes on.

 First question: “Why Ethiopia?”   My first response to that question is that this is where God has led us.  We knew that our hearts were leaning towards an international adoption, so after reading and doing research, Ethiopia is where our hearts landed.  Let me give you some statistics that I  have read…1) The total population of Ethiopia is about 70 million people with 85% of them living in rural areas. 2) There are 5 million orphans in Ethiopia.  3) A Quarter of the population lives on less then $1 a day. 4.) Only 11% of the rural population has access to safe drinking water, and many people survive on a strict ration of less than five liters of water per day. The blow of the water shortages is particularly severe for women and girls who are traditionally responsible for water collection. 5). 1 and 10 Children die before their first birthday. 

 My answer now…How Can We Not!!!  Ty spoke this truth last week, in his sermon, and it just sent chills down my spine…

“…once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act.”
~Proverbs 24:12
 

We are so excited about this journey and so much want to share every step of it with you!  Will you please start praying for us and our baby girl…we love you all!!!

Consumed By The Call,


Christy