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Mudlove is a great company that gives 20% of
their sales to help give clean water in Africa! So when you buy a
bracelet from our fundraiser, not only will 100% of the proceeds benefit
our adoption, but 20% of the actual cost of the bracelet will go
towards clean drinking water for people in Africa.
For every $10 you donate towards our adoption fund,
you can pick the MudLove bracelet [no shipping fees] of your choice.
To order yours, use the donate button to the right and let me know in your note which band(s) you want.
Check out our Smith Family Adoption Fundraising page for up to date band colors and quantities.
We are headed to Uganda again to reunite Brenda with her brother and we so need y'alls help!!! This is SOOO out of our comfort zone, but we have no choice but to fundraise to bring him home.
As many of you know, this will be our second adoption this year. Who would have thought this would be apart of God's story???
From September 21 until September 28 Sep 14 until Sep 21 we will be holding an online silent auction
to help get us closer to our $12,000 goal.
If you have anything that you'd like to
donate or if you know someone or a business who might be willing to
help, please contact me by September 4.
Ideas include gift cards for national chains,
handmade items (knit, lotions, soap, sewing, etc), jewelry,
electronics, books, local services (photography, lawn mowing) and almost anything else
new/unused that you can think of.
All money raised will go directly to our adoption fund and we will give any shops/businesses who donate a lot of good
PR!
The online auction will open on September 14 and it will run for
about one week.
If you would like to contribute an item, please:
1. Email me a clear photo of the item(s)
with a description and approximate value to poulinsj@hotmail.com.
2. Links to your Facebook page, website, and/or shop.
3. Your name and the best email address to reach you.
Y'all, I’m believing that God will use this auction to provide far
above and beyond what we need to complete this adoption.
I
know, I’m dreamin’ BIG here. But I believe the GOSPEL changes everything.
Please SHARE, SHARE, SHARE this post so we can get as many great items as possible for the auction!
Come on over and like our facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/SmithFamilyAdoption
A quick little update: We have finished the home study.
Next step: Send off our I-600a.
Never in a thousand years would i have guessed we would be in the midst of another adoption...especially, in the very same year.
Dear Jesus, Let the money fall from heaven!!
It's official! We have started the process to bring home Brenda's brother. Crazy!!! As the ups and downs of adoptions go, we must recreate our homestudy.
From scratch!!
It is what it is....not much has really happened in the past few months as Brenda just came home. Anyways....
So the first huge chunk of change went out in the mail yesterday and wouldn't you know it God already provided for it.
Let the good times roll!!!
We are currently in the middle of a bedroom addition so we can have all 3 girls in one room and little man will have his own room..........FOR NOW.
We have decided that we will add to our crew. God willing. Another boy. :) :) :)
As i write this, i am watching a little girl swimming in my pool with her new sisters and brother. Even though her English is broken, they are laughing. They are playing. They are being typical kids.
You would never know that less than 4 months ago she lived in an orphanage that is filled with older kiddos living with more heartache than i will ever see in my life.
They all have a story to tell. Some are sadder than others. Some are terrifying. If we took them to see a shrink, they would be labeled with some scary label with 3 or 4 letters. Now don't get me wrong, these are real issues and shouldn't be taken lightly, but we are talking about kids that have lost parents and suffered trauma that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.
There WILL be issues.
So often when my friends come up to me and ask how things are going, i give a smile and say,
"Great!!! Everything is so much better than we anticipated."
And there is TRUTH to that statement but we have had some dark days. Brenda wouldn't be in my home if we didn't have issues that we needed to work through.
There are days that are HARD. Adoption is exhausting, expensive,
uncomfortable, and some days not rewarding AT ALL.
Do i know what the future holds? No.
Will i have to deal with some sort of attachment issue with Brenda? Maybe.
Will we have to spend years in therapy? Perhaps.
How will this affect my bio kids? I'm not sure.
On the days that i long for what life was like as a Mom of 3, God reminds of Redemption.
Definition: Redemption is the act of buying something back, or paying a price to return something to your possession.
Redemption is costly. Buying back lives costs A LOT. When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him.
But, Redemption is a BEAUTIFUL thing. Jesus didn't call me to an easy life. He didn't promise me the American dream. He didn't promise obeying Him would keep my kids out of harm's way.
The reality of God's Kingdom is that this life is not my own.
This life is about letting Jesus do His thing. He redeems lives, and y'all, He will keep doing it with or without me.
It’s not
about me, but I'm honored that Jesus chose me to shine a little of His light into this precious life.
We have finalized our adoption today in the State of Florida. It consisted of 7 questions over the phone with a notary present while our lawyer was in court with the judge. Super fast and easy!!
She is officially ours!
