2 months

Today marks 2 months since we made the decision to adopt from Ethiopia.  God has done more than we could ever ask or imagine.  My heart is so full and at peace.  For 2 years now, God has been preparing Russ and I for this.  We felt him calling us to adopt...that there was a little girl out there (or to be out there) that we were to parent.  At first, we thought maybe we misunderstood.  Why would be adopt when it is not necessary?

He continued to work on our hearts...opening them to whatever child HE had for us.  This was a process that completely exposed the ugliness of our hearts (well, specifically my heart).  He told us to "Be still and know that He is God."  I didn't understand.  We were called to adopt but then we felt Him telling us to wait.  Then, on August 10...we KNEW what he was telling us.  And for the first time, my heart and flesh were willing.  Not because of me but because of the work He had done in me.

Russ and I were talking last night about how much has happened since that day...2 months ago.

We have (or should I say God has):

1.  Made the decision to adopt
2.  Found an agency
3. Sent off our I600A to immigration
4.  Told all of our family and friends  ( and been completely supported!)
5.  Completed our fingerprinting
6.  Began AND completed our homestudy (as of today.  Yea!!!!)
7.  Sent in most of the paperwork to Gladney
8.  Organized a HUGE yardsale to raise money (Thanks to our great friends and family!!!)
9.  Raised almost $3,000 at the yardsale
10  Been given almost $5,000 towards our adoption
11.  Cleaned out the room that will be Lucy's
12.  and finally, fallen more in love with her.

So, today on the 2 month anniversary of us deciding to adopt, we are thankful.  Our homestudy lady will be here in 4 hours to let us read over our homestudy so it can be sent to Gladney.  Then we can officially work towards getting on the waitlist.  My mom once told me we should not just be thankful for what God does for us but we should praise Him.  Today, we will do just that.

Icing on the cake

After the sale, friends and family all gathered to add up the total money made.  Such a special moment....we are so supported! We all made guesses and all underbid.  I had prayed that God would multiply the money made and the people that came and He did just that.  We are a few steps closer to bringing Lucy home now.  

I thought people would not care what the cause of our sale was.  I was wrong.  We had people donate money, let us keep the change, and most did not even try to get us to reduce our prices.  We had people come by to share their adoption stories and to wish us good luck.  We even met someone that has an Ethiopian friend that we can take language classes from.  God is so faithful, even when we doubt.  While I am confident in our decision, I love the times that God makes things so clear and reminds us that He has a plan.  

Oh yeah, the amount we made was the exact amount of our next payment to our agency.  Icing on the cake :)

Thanks to everyone that helped to make the sale a success.  We are so thankful!

The Big Day

Thanks to great friends and family, the yard sale DID happen!!  I am so glad that we moved the sale to a house where we could have it indoors.  The rain decided it wanted to make an appearance but people still came!

 Jessica making our sign to let people know about our little Lucy!!

Russ' mom and her AWESOME shirt!  She was ready to sale some stuff for her grandbaby :)

Me and my mom.  We would not have made it without the help of our sweet moms.

We had a double stroller for sale and my mom felt the need to try it out :)

Our friends Margaret and Crystal.  They made the sale happen! Such great friends.

Can't wait to have her home.

Great Finds

We found some GREAT items from the garage sale!!  Russ and his mom (Mrs. Birdie) modeled a few for us.

Too funny!!!  Russ looked GREAT in his fur coat!

Our Messy Life

Our friends were so generous to donate LOTS and LOTS of stuff to our garage sale. Here is a little preview of how much we had! I also added a creepy pic of my sweet husband :)

This would be the creepy pic:)

I have NO idea how we ever got this organized!

We got SO many clothes that we couldn't sort through them. We ended up selling Wal-mart bags full for $3 and garbage bags full for $5. I must admit, I was skeptical BUT I was wrong. There is no telling how much we made off of these clothes!

Fingerprinting and Homestudy

We are so excited!! We have our fingerprinting appointment tomorrow as well as our first homestudy visit. We are praying God would find favor on us during this time. Thanks for praying with us through this entire process. We feel that God has a story using Lucy and we are just glad to be a part of it. We will eventually write down the backstory that brought us to adopting from Ethiopia but...right now we are up to our necks in paperwork (and organization and time management are not by strong-points :) ) We will let you know how tomorrow goes!!!

Anna

Yard Sale

I must just tell you that right now my house looks like a junkyard....but hopefully, all of this stuff will get us one step closer to bringing our baby girl home. God is providing for us in ways I never could have imagined. I am sure hard times will come but right now we are in such a state of peace about this adoption. I am writing this down and telling the blog world because I know there will be a day that I need to be reminded of this. Since beginning this adoption we have traveled through many states of emotions. But, today we are excited and trying to do all that we can to bring her home.

Email me at annapolsgrove@gmail.com for more details on the sale. I will keep you posted on how it goes.



Yard Sale will be September 26, 2009 at 6 am!!!

Surprise....

Well, for most of you it is probably not a surprise but....we are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. We are so excited and thrilled about getting our little girl home. We are at the very beginning of the process which takes about 18 months from start to finish. God has worked in amazing ways and we know that He will continue to do so. We look forward to telling her story on this blog. Please pray for God's favor to be on her and us throughout the entire process. We randomly picked our blog title out several years ago, but it seems that for the next year we will definitely be exploring, dreaming, and discovering... and we couldn't be any more excited about it!!!

love,

Anna


You can go here to check out our agency!!

Happy Anniversary!

Russ and I have known each other almost 9 years. And I must say...I have loved him from the beginning.

I just finished reading Pride and Prejudice and there was a quote from Mr. Darcy to Elizabeth. When asked how long he had loved Elizabeth he said, " I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun." No words could better describe how my love for Russ started. I think he would feel the same way.

Yesterday we celebrated being married four years. While I cannot believe that it has been that long, I must say it has been a journey. An amazing journey. Seeing our relationship grow and change deepens my trust in our God that put it together. While I cannot wait for the many years to come...I will start with today. I will love him harder, hug him longer, and serve him more today all the while knowing that he is doing the exact same for me. What a true blessing.

I love you, Russ!!

African Children's Choir

I got a text message from Russ. It read..."want to go on a date Friday night?" I thought maybe that meant dinner or a movie. Then it said "To see the African Children's Choir." I could hardly breathe I was so excited. So Russ and I went on a date to see the African Children's Choir in Tupelo last month. The African Children's Choir was started by Ray Barnett and was started to give hope to the hundreds of thousands of children orphaned in Uganda. I did not realize what all being in the choir did for them. They are taken out of their unbearable circumstances and given a chance to better themselves. They are even given an education.

I had heard them sing before at a leadership conference...even purchased their CD. So, needless to say, I was very excited to see them in person. Russ and I got there early just to get a good seat. And I must say....they were PRECIOUS!!!! The best part was a video they showed. It was of previous choir members talking about where they came from and what being a choir member did for them. Then they told what they had become...doctors, lawyers, teachers, bus drivers, etc. At the end of the show, the little kids in the choir came out, introduced themselves and told what they wanted to become. Such great examples of hope!

After the concert, we were invited to hang out with a few of the choir members. We got to meet and hang out with three of the sweet little boys. Red light, green light has never been so fun!!!