Update & a shirt reorder!

Good Morning to our amazingly supportive friends & family!
       Many things on my heart this week. I figured the best thing to do was put our thoughts & feelings out there so that our team of loved ones can be praying along with us. First, it has been an odd week for me (Amber). Here is why: So, if you have ever had a child and made a baby registry, you may remember that your mailing address gets shared with everyone. So, you start receiving mail from all sorts of baby venues. I remember when pregnant with Noah (and for the first year of his sweet life) getting numerous baby formula samples and coupons up the wazoo for formula. Those stopped coming shortly after his first birthday. Well, this week I received two separate mailings: One from Gerber, it is a lavender box with a baby girl on it. The box reads, "You've spent months preparing for your baby's arrival. Now we want to help you..." Inside are 2 cans of Gerber Good Start gentle formula. The special gentle formula for little ones who have tummy trouble (like most children do who are adopted from Ethiopia.... coincidence?)
 Then, I received a mailer from Similac that reads, "Your first moments, Our first priority", it has three $5 formula coupons in it for formula.
 THEN, on Sunday a sweet woman from church OUT. OF. THE. BLUE. came up to me and handed me a fleece "tie blanket" her and her friends made. She said they made this blanket and prayed over it and it was a gift for our little girl. It is sweet, light green with butterflies.
   All of these combined in one week feel- well, strange. I can't help but find myself wondering, "God, are you getting ready to MOVE big time here?" We are pumped about raising about $6,800 so far but the reality is that we still are in need of a little over $21,000. Of our knowledge we aren't "close" to going to the next step, but maybe we are and God is just getting us ready? I have to be 100% honest, after the blanket was given to me I had the passing thought, "Oh Lord, please don't tease my heart." But teasing is not the Lord's business- that is not His way. THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING MORE HERE. Just wish I knew what it was.....  Would you please all join us in continuing to pray for a peace in our hearts for God's timing. Oh- and pray in the name of JESUS  for provision! NOTHING is too big for God to handle.

Also- we are reordering more fundraising shirts! My heart soars when I see one of you wearing one of these and I find great comfort when I wear my own. Tell your friends & family about the shirts! Info below on ordering :)


Here is is:

The shirt is our new favorite quote: "Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of HOPE" ~Maya Angelou

Ready for more AWESOME news?? We will be offering the shirt in Adult sizes AND youth sizes! (The smallest we will be able to offer is 2T) So sizes available are:
Youth: 2T through (youth) large
Adult: (adult) small through XXL

So, how can you get your hands on one (or two or three) of these awesome shirts? Well my friends, I am glad you asked!

1.) email us at rohdeadoption@yahoo.com with the following information:
           Your name
           Mailing address
           Phone number
           Quantity and shirt size (make sure to specify if adult or youth size)

2.) Our fundraiser shirts will cost $20 each for adult sizes and $18 each for youth sizes.
     You have a variety of payment options for your shirt order:
* You can pay by cash or check if you see us in person
* You can mail a check to our home through USPS (just email us for our home address-
   we did not want to include that on the public blog!)
* You can pay with credit/debit card through our paypal link right here on the blog. Just   
   make sure to note in your PayPal payment that it is for shirts so we can make sure to
   separate it from the other cash donations.
*A note about PayPal: Just an FYI, if you can pay by cash or check that is great because we get more of the proceeds that way. If you pay through PayPal, they keep a small percentage of the money. However, if PayPal is easier for you PLEASE feel free to use it!! It will still greatly help us with our fundraising to bring our precious little one home. We just want to inform people of this info in case you are on the fence of how you want to pay. :)

We love each and every one of you and are grateful for your commitment to walk along side us; offering your resources, time, and most importantly your prayers.

Much Love

Post Ethiopia trip blog #1

To my dear Friends & Family,
   Well, I have been home from Ethiopia for 2 weeks now! The Bright Future Academy is ready for kiddos and is going to be changing lives! Time has flown in these 2 weeks, I thought that by now I would have posted a good 2 or 3 blogs telling you all about the trip down to the very last detail. Frankly, I find myself avoiding writing because....well, I just don't even know what to say.
  My world, my life, was shaken to the core. I really don't know if I could explain before the trip why we were feeling called to adopt from AND serve Ethiopia. I mean, we could articulate it nicely but the emotion behind it is difficult to pair with words. Now, I have seen; and my heart is broken. It was aching before, knowing that we were called to adopt but not being sure how it would play out or what the circumstances would be like when it happened. However, now.... there is a desperate ache in the bottom of my belly. I have seen the need- far greater than my imagination could conjure up. (No matter how many YouTube videos I watched or how much research I did beforehand.) Our daughter's birth mommy and birth daddy are out there, living in conditions that would be unfathomable here. I pray for them even more now. I pray that somehow they find comfort and peace in God's provision. I pray that when their time of desperation comes and they realize their daughter will become and orphan and maybe they find themselves crying out to God for her to be taken care of- that He reveals to them in a gentle whisper, "I already have."  Josh, Noah and I are the provision they will be praying for. Our daughter's birth parents may not know that God has gone before them and answered their prayers before it has even passed through their hearts; but we are here. We are ready. We are waiting.

Waiting on God's timing. We continue to pray that the financial aspect that goes along with adoption comes at just the right time- when our daughter is ready for us. However, I am human and it is hard being patient! We have been fundraising for a bit over four months now (almost nonstop) and from that perspective I believe we have done great in fundraising THANKS to YOU! However, I still look at how far we have to go and it is hard not to become discouraged.

Anyway- keep praying with us friends. I will be returning to blogging soon- first I need to figure out how I think and feel about my first Ethiopia experience so that I can put it into words for you.

Much Love,
Amber