LET'S GO!

Are you ready?

     I am.

Before you read further, take a peek at that beautiful thermometer! Yes, in case you missed it- yesterday that puppy read: $11,018.

We first shared that we were going to start the process of adopting in mid to late May of 2012. In the original “plan” (God thinks MY plans are funny by the way) my goal was to have half of our fundraising done ($14,000) in one year and have the home study complete by June 2013. As June drew near, it was clear that it was not going to happen. We were not prepared financially and it was clear that it was not the right time. I distinctly remember the end of May/ beginning of June mourning that I hadn’t met “the goal” yet, even though we had worked tirelessly for a very long time to get to the goal. Feeling distraught that my timing was wrong and uncertain of what this meant, I recall crying in prayer, “God how much longer until we get ½ way financially to the goal.” At the time, we were still a good $3,000 away from the half way mark, which in my mind, may as well have been $300,000! It started to feel unattainable. Ashamedly, I admit that I doubted, I questioned….. “was I wrong in feeling God is leading us, calling us to adopt from Ethiopia?” But amidst that, I felt that still, small voice saying…”keep going, don’t stop.”

I kept coming back to Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us”  (emphasis added)

Then, it happened, clarity. Promise. Light. Hope.

Now, here I am walking into August (mind you only 2 short…okay looooong months after “my goal” of June) and we are not only half way to the financial goal- we BLEW PAST the half way mark!

What does this mean? So glad you asked! In August and September we will:

1.) Officially apply to the adoption agency that we would like to work with

2.) Complete our home study (hopefully by early Sept)

3.) Begin putting together the dossier.

August is going to be big month folks!

I (frankly) had been avoiding August like the plague for another reason. I am turning 30. It is actually my golden birthday this year (30 on the 30^th). However now, I think it is time to leave my 20’s in the dust, grab onto 30…. and hang on tight because it is going to be awesome.

Only about $8,000 to go in fundraising. Can you believe it?!? ONLY $8,000 left. Who is ready to push that thermometer to the top with me!

Ready. Set. GO!

Where have you been! And, what is going on with the adoption!?!

Good morning friends and family and random blog readers from the U.K. (blogger tells me you hop on and read)   :)

Well, clearly it has been several months since I have posted on here. However, the time has come to get rolling!

First to answer a couple brief questions:
1.) I haven't heard much about the adoption lately, are you still doing that?
Answer: YES, YES and YES! So here is the deal friends, we had been fundraising our brains out for about a year and needed to take a moment to breathe. It is important to continue to be good stewards of the family we have in our home and invest here just as much as we invest in fundraising. We had to hit the pause button to take care of one another and be as healthy as we can be in moving forward in this adoption journey. The journey is long, and emotional, and exhausting (and this is just the beginning!) We sprinted for almost a year to raise funds for the adoption, and needed a little water break to stretch before we started running again.

In the meantime, I would like to say thank you SO much to all of you who have been praying for our family

2.) So, where are you at? What is next? Where is your thermometer now!?!
Answer: You didn't really think I would come back after a blogging hiatus and just show you all my cards right away did you? Let me say this.... In the next 48 hours I will be posting an AWESOME update that will blow some of you out of the water. Take a peek at where the thermometer is today....it won't look that way for long.


Anticipation. Excitement. Get ready......

Amber

Pennies from Heaven

If there is one thing about our adoption journey that makes me a bit sad, it is that Josh’s mom, Jeri never knew we were planning to adopt. We had started talking about it before she passed away but had not announced it to our family. It was only a couple weeks after her courageous battle with cancer ended, that we announced our intent to adopt. IF I could go back- the only part of our adoption story I would change is that I would make sure that she knew.

             Jeri was a phenomenal mother and then an extraordinary grandmother. Before she became ill, she would change a poopy diaper for you- just so she could be close to her grandbabies. (Now THAT is love folks!) The grandchildren who were born before her passing each have their own special song that she wrote and she would sing it to them every chance she got. We would give just about anything to have her here with us, but we find peace that God’s plan is ALWAYS bigger than our own.

            After Christmas Roger (Joshua’s dad) was over and told us that he discovered that Jeri had additional life insurance that he did not know existed. Anyway, Roger decided to split the money between his children and said we could do whatever we wanted with this money from Jeri. However, what do you do with your final gift from your mother? Josh and I have thought about it and we think that if Jeri were here, she would be right beside us- working every fundraiser possible trying to help us bring this little girl home. So, it just seems fitting that our final gift from mom would be to get a few steps closer to our goal of bringing Noel home. I can’t wait to look in Noel’s eyes and tell her all about her beautiful Grandma Jeri; and even though they will not meet in this life, we can tell Noel that Grandma Jeri helped bring her home to us.

Thanks mom,
Josh & Amber

Christmas Hope

Merry Christmas from Joshua, Amber and Noah.

We pray this special blog post finds you wrapped in peace from the remembrance of the birth of Jesus; the greatest gift to all of mankind, bringing hope to the world.

We are eager to share our special announcement with you today. This name was long ago laid on my heart and we are excited to pray for our adoption and future daughter by name and encourage you to do the same. We will give her a new name when she is adopted but part of her middle name will be her African birth name; which we obviously do not know yet. The question mark is where we will place her birth name.

Without further anticipation we are excited to share that we will be naming our little one:

Noel Hope ____?____ Rohde

What does this name mean to us? So glad you asked J

Well, her name quite literally means “The hope of Christmas.” Christmas representing the new life we all were offered when Jesus came to the world. Born for us, and laying down His life for us. Hope, well that has been our central theme through this whole process!! Some of you have had a small connection to her name and didn’t even know it: Collecting loose change in your “Jar of Hope” or proudly wearing your “Shirts of Hope.”

The Old Testament  has numerous prophecies about the birth of Jesus (See the book of Isaiah) . Believers waited in anticipation for his arrival. For some of you it may be confusing why we are giving her a name now when we have not been "matched." However, that is where faith comes in for our family. We 100% believe we have been called to adopt and are waiting in anticipation for when that will happen. That is why we feel confident in sharing this with you all.

Joshua & I have a simple mission, to have a home filled with the peace and hope of Jesus Christ and to be agents of peace and hope to others. This is one of the reasons we named our son Noah, which literally means “Peace or comforter.” So, whenever our next little one comes home we will LITERALLY have a home filled with peace/comfort (Noah) and Hope, all given to us through the birth of Christ on Christmas (Noel).

May God bless you and your family with peace, comfort and hope this Christmas season and throughout the coming year.

Love,

Josh & Amber

Season of HOPE & Something to look forward to...

Dear friends,
  The Christmas season is upon us, December is all about hope and peace for us. When Christ was born, he came to give us all a new life in HIM and offer peace to those who believe in Him. As we pray for our adoption fundraising and our little girl we are energized by the concept of hope as it has absolutely no limits.

We are blessed today to have been encouraged in an unexpected way- check out our fundraising thermometer to see where we are!  Josh and I had set a goal of being 1/2 way to our fundraising goal by Christmas. That is only $6,000 away! I know it is easy to look at that and say, "wow, $6,000- that is a lot!" However, we don't look at it that way- We look at our goal as, "God, WHEN this is your will, help the support to come. We will trust in YOU alone." Thinking about fundraising in this way brings us great peace.

It would be amazingly, fantastically, wonderfully miraculous to us if we got to the half way point for Christmas. However, regardless of where we are with fundraising on Christmas Day we will be making a fun announcement. We have chosen our daughter's American name and have decided to share it with you all on Christmas Day, so that you can begin praying for her by name with us. Her first name at birth will be a part of her middle name after adoption, but, we will give her a new American first name & middle name. (Yeah- it will be a bit of a long name)  :0)

Thank you so much to all of our family and friends who have been there for us during this journey so far. Our hearts overflow with gratitude and we are energized by the hope you bring.

Love,
Josh, Amber & Noah

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