Praise the Lord!!

For those who have been following our blog, you know that Caleb just celebrated his birthday and Jackson is about to. To celebrate we have asked people to donate towards bringing them home, for things like their airline tickets, medicals and visa at the US Embassy, and passports. You may also remember that we had a goal of $4300 by January 4th. Well, $1450 has been donated so far!!! Woohoo!! $2900 more to go to reach this goal, and then all of the above things will be paid for.
Thank you all for your donations and prayers!

Notice anything?

Did you happen to notice anything different on this blog? How about the little train along the side. The one that shows how much more the boys need to come home. Well, it just jumped up $900!! Praise the Lord!!! He is so good!

Thank you to all who gave us gifts of money this year for Christmas. Thank you to all who donated to Jackson's Angel Tree fund. I can't tell you how much it means to us and even more so to the boys!

Praising Him in the storm

What does that really mean, to praise Him in the storm? I used to think it meant that while we were going through really big trials we would still praise God for all He has done, is doing, and will do in our lives, to praise Him for us becoming more like Christ through this big trial. I was partly right...I now know that it means to praise Him in the light drizzle also :)  As we have gotten caught up in the busy-ness of getting everything ready for a homestudy and dossier, we forgot to pray without ceasing. We forgot to glorify God in all we do. We didn't forget Him completely, just when we weren't still and quiet, which was most of the time. So during this, we had trials. Not big ones, just the little ones that sneak up on you and become part of every day life. Like not treating your spouse like a gift from God, or grumbling over something when it was prayed for (but of course, it didn't come in the form "I" thought it should). These are the light drizzles we need to praise Him through...everyday life!! We have had a couple set backs on our homestudy that I really wanted to grumble about, or at least feel sorry for myself about. But I forgot, it's not about me!
So how do we praise Him in the storm, or the light drizzle? By rejoicing in the light drizzle and seeing it as opportunity to shine His light!! By praying for others instead of moping for ourselves! By praying about the light drizzles, we are to take EVERYTHING to Him in prayer! By seeing Him in everything, seeing His beauty, His creation, instead of the light drizzle!
So even though things aren't going "my" way, I will rejoice and praise God that they are going HIS way!!

Thanks to all who had a part in the boys birthday party last night! What a wonderful time we had celebrating and talking about how much more wonderful it is going to be next year with them here to celebrate with us.
As for our goal of $4300 by January 4th, we are on our way! We have raised $160 so far and we have a small craft bazaar we are doing today where we hope to raise more funds and awareness for these kids. Please pray that it goes well, and lots of people stop at our table.

Oh, and we got our first check from the coffee fundraiser!! Woohoo! God is awesome!!

Woohoo! Made $68 at the craft bazaar! Thank you Lord!

Updates

First update, we got our first set of papers off to EE!! Woohoo!! Took 3 tries to get the papers just right, but 2 weeks later and lots of time spent with a notary, county clerk, and Secretary of State employees and we have successfully sent them on their way :) Please pray they get where they need to go in a timely manner and that all is well with them. Continue to pray as we have to finish up our dossier and raise the remaining funds to bring these boys home!

Second update is the coffee fundraiser. We sold our first bag!! Yay! I know $5 isn't much but it is a start :) And I am told the coffee is really good. My sister-in-law got the Ethiopian and really like it so please consider giving up your normal coffee for a couple months to help with this great cause. Click on the link to the left of this post to order from our fundraising page and $5 for every bag purchased goes to us.

Third update, well more like a reminder :) The boys have birthdays coming up (December 10th and January 4th). Please help us celebrate!! Those who are local can come to a birthday party some friends are throwing. (email me for info) For those not so local, you can help by donating. Our goal is to raise $4300 between now and January 4th (Jackson's birthday) to fully fund the boys airfare home, their visas, medicals to come home, and passports. Please consider donating to any of these so that next year the boys can be celebrating with us. Please consider donating so these boys don't have to spend another birthday in an orphanage in a crib with no one to celebrate with, no cake, no presents, no birthday cards, and no mom and dad to give them extra hugs and tell them how much they love them. We will be posting updates on how we are doing towards our goal. We know God can provide and we are resting completely in Him to do this for these boys. And anyone making a minimum $25 donation can get an ornament with Caleb's picture on it! You can donate either on our blog or on RR site, just email us and let us know you did and your address so we can send you an ornament. If you donate a minimum $35 on RR site under Jackson on the Angel Tree page you can recieve an ornament from them with Jackson's picture on it.

I just want to thank everyone for all the prayers, donations, and sharing of our info to others that you are all doing! Thank you for doing this, not for me and my husband, but for these little boys who need a forever family to love them. I can't wait until we can share photos of them here at home with their loving family :)