Almost time to meet Jadon!

I know its been a long time since we updated our blog on what's been going on. We have partly just been busy with everyday life and preparations for leaving in just a couple of weeks to meet our son! We unfortunatley received a phone call from our agency a little over a week ago that is out of the ordinary for them to have to make. The organization that reviews the paperwork to write the letter of recommendation to the judge in ET was requesting more information due to a document that was poorly worded from a government organization here in TN. Without going into a lot of detail the document they are requiring from us has proven to be impossible to provide. We were able to come up with something that we hope will work. It's basically just a difference in understanding our culture and how our government operates. After 2.5days of stress, running around, and $292 later we were able to send off our documents. We did receive confirmation that the new documents arrived and were placed in the hands of the organization Friday afternoon. Now we are just waiting. We are hoping to have good news on Monday or Tuesday at the latest on whether or not they accept what we have sent and let us move forward. As of right now no travel dates have been changed. We are trusting in God as we have this entire journey. We know he has a plan to get Jadon home just when he wants him here with us. On the current schedule and provided all goes well this week and the week we are there for court, we should be arriving home Christmas day with Jadon! What a wonderful Christmas present that will be for our family!


Many of you have asked how our fundraising is going for all of our travel expenses. Our first trip is paid for completely including shots! Praise the Lord! We are now working on the second trip which we anticipate to be $9000. This includes Lily traveling with us. We are praying for God to provide for her to go and be a part of Jadon's Homecoming since this BIG Sister has been praying for her little brother for so long! Tickets for the second trip are looking to be anywhere from $2200 - $2600 each plus Jadon's ONE WAY ticket home that will be about $1200. We will have very short notice to purchase our tickets once we are confirmed to travel and it is the week of Christmas so that is why the tickets are so much more expensive for the second trip. We are waiting on two Grant organizations to let us know if we will receive any assistance. We will know about one of those this week hopefully and the other we are suppose to know by the first of December. Neither are a garauntee but we are hopeful for something.


If you would like to make an anonymous donation you may email our friends Robbie or Dana for instructions on how to do so at butler.dana@comcast.net. Otherwise you may make donations via our paypal or email me for an address to mail a check to at godforgives@bellsouth.net.

Currently we are running our drawing until November 5th for any donations made before then. You will receive an entry for each $10 donated for a chance to win one of the prizes listed below in the blog post http://lilysprayer.blogspot.com/2010/09/online-raffle-is-back.html.

We are grateful for any amount you are compelled to donate toward getting Jadon home. Little is much when God is in it!!!

Please pray for the following:
1. ET document situation to be smoothly resolved and no delays in us attending court and getting Jadon home by the end of the year!
2. Jadon to continue to be healthy and safe.
3. Us as we prepare to travel across the world to meet our son for the first time!
4. Financials to come together to finish this journey out of getting Jadon home to his Forever Family!

We are so unbelievably excited to be nearing the end of this long journey to bring Jadon home and even more excited for the next journey that will begin when he joins our family on the same continent!

Just a couple of more weeks and we should be able to introduce you to Jadon through pictures finally!

Blessings.

Area rugs

This is a a picture of a high quality flat weave carpet remnant that can be made into the following custom size rugs:

(2) 9x7 Rugs retail value $299 or more - Asking $180 for each.

(2) 9x12 Rugs retail value $399 or more - Asking $280 for each

Our friend who custom makes these is donating 50% to our adoption fund. So that is a potential of $460 donated to us.

These rugs can not be shipped so you must live in the Middle TN area.

Please email me if you are interested at godforgives@bellsouth.net. You can pay through our paypal on the website with a debit or credit card if that helps.

As you can see we are trying EVERYTHING to raise money to get our son home!

Thanks for keeping up with our journey and supporting us with your prayers and donations!! We are almost there!

Online Donation Drawing - Updated 10-9-10

UPdated 10-9-10: WE ARE GIVING DOUBLE ENTRIES TO THE FIRST 50 DONATIONS. For example: $20 will now give you two entries, $40=4 entries!


Our Online Drawing is back. We are in the home stretch of getting Jadon home! We have about $9000 to go and really need to raise it by the end of November. Please check out the details below on how to enter and share with all of your family and friends!

Erica of Signature Finishes has offered her services again as a "raffle" for helping us raise money for the adoption. Also Christina Richardson, a BeachBody Coach has donated a P90X package for the raffle. Christina is also our grandprize recepient from our spring raffle!

Here are the details

Enter to win a Bathroom or Children's Room painted by Erica of Signature Finishes, Valued at $500 or a P90x package valued at $250. The package includes the following, P90X pack, chin up bar, push up stands, and a $50 gift card for Dick's Sporting Goods. For every $20 donation made to our adoption fund Starting September 29th thru November 5th you will be entered in the drawing for a chance to win.
$20 =1 entry, $40 = 2 Entries,$100 =5 Entries, etc. You get the idea! To be eligible to receive the Painting service package you must live in Middle TN or know someone you can give the package to as a gift in the Middle TN area. The P90X package can be shipped anywhere within the United States only. Neither package is redeemable for cash.

Below are a couple of pictures of Erica's work. You can make your donation through the donation button here on our website or contact us for an address to mail a check (godforgives@bellsouth.net). We will post the winners on our blog November 6th.

Please send this out to all your family and friends! We would love to meet a goal of 100 entries! Little is much when God is in it!
Spring Online Winner

Working at the Car Wash!!! - UPDATE 9/29/10

UPDATE- We raised almost $600. All Glory to God! Thank you to everyone who helped at the car wash and thank you to all who came out to get your car washed! We are very grateful.


I always laugh when I see a dirty car and someone has written the infamous "WASH ME" on it. Well this Saturday from 9AM-2PM we will be washing those dirty cars to raise money for travel expenses. Please come by the Chik-fil-a in Hendersonville on September 25th to have your car washed. We are asking for a minimum donation of $5.00 but we will accept more. Your support is appreciated and you will be smiling that you have a nice clean car to roll in and that you helped bring our son home.

In HIS grip,
David

Antiques For Sale.........

We have been blessed with some unique items to sale to raise money for travel expenses to Ethiopia. I have posted them below with a brief description and asking price. Please take a look at these items and pass them along to anyone you know who may have an interest in them. I will be glad to take more photos for anyone with a genuine interest in an item. Please e-mail us at lilysprayer@gmail.com if you would like to purchase any of the items or if you need more photos. If you live outside the middle Tennessee area shipping costs will be applied.

We appreciate all your prayers and support. Please feel free to make a donation using the paypal buttons.


Horse Clock in good condition...has no. 315 on the back.....$50.00 obo


Churn Stamp with a pineapple design for the stamp in good condition....$50.00 obo




Old Coffee Grinder... has ARCADE on the lid....$75.00 obo




Mirror.....$50.00 obo



Trunk....needs work on the latch........$40.00 obo



Rocking Horse.....50+ years old ...$50 obo




Nice picture frame...not sure what the wood is but the frame is solid and detailed...$75.00 obo...SOLD



Front......we have 4 plates like this one, one has a chip on it, one in very good condition, 2 in fair condition....$12.00 for all 4 plates. Back of plates below.




1 plate..Double Phoenix, NIKKO Japan 7 1/4" plate...$7.00




7" plate..front above...back below....$5.00




Ceramic Pipe........$10.00 obo




This was my great grandfathers dinnerware...these were made in the USA... 40yrs+ pic to the left is everything I have. 6 cups, saucers, bowls, 5 plates, 1 serving plate & 1 large bowl.


This pic is of 5 complete sets together....$40.00 for complete set obo





In HIS grip,
David

87 Days to Go

We have a court date!!! I received a totally unexpected call from our case worker on Thursday morning. I heard the words "Would you like a court date?" I of course screamed "I would love a court date!". Words can not express how excited we were to receive our court date two weeks after court had closed. We weren't expecting this phone call until the end of September or early October. We will get to meet Jadon in about 87 Days! Our court date is November 19th. That is just a couple of days before my birthday! What a wonderful Birthday present!

Our case worker said they would be doing everything they could to rush getting us in for the last embassy date before the end of the year for our agency. That date is December 23rd. That means we will be spending Christmas most likely in Ethiopia or in airports trying to get home. It doesn't matter to us because we will all be together as a family of four for our first Christmas! God is with us at all times and will be with us where ever we celebrate HIS son's birth! Jadon will have a forever family for Christmas and We will have the long awaited new addition to our family! What an awesome God we serve!

Another huge praise is that having such an early notice has helped us get a very reasonable airfare for the first trip. We have just enough money to cover purchasing our tickets at the end of this week! Praise the Lord. Now we will have to raise about 2200 to cover our shots, our accomodations while in ET and some miscellaneous expenses. We are planning to have a HUGE yard sale in September (possbily indoors).

We did receive a ballpark estimate for travel expenses for our embassy trip in December and since it is around Christmas it is going to be more expensive. Also Lily will be going with us especially now so that she is not left alone on Christmas! The figure is coming in around $9500 for our second trip.

We know that God has not brought us this far to forsake us now. We have total faith that he will provide for Jadon to come home in December. Please continue to pray for Jadon and our remaining journey! If you feel led please feel free to donate via our paypal button or contact us for our address. Any donation amount is greatly appreciated. Little is much when God is in it!

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

A Year in Review

Give God a year and look at what only HE can do! Wow. I have been reflecting a lot about what has transpired in our lives over the last twelve months. I am truly AMAZED. It has been almost a year since God began stirring our hearts toward adoption for the third year in a row. The first 2 years we said no, last August we finally said yes and look at what a journey HE has taken us on. So many of you have been a huge part in this journey and we are so very grateful for each and every one of you. We have been truly humbled by your generosity to show your support through giving toward our fundraisers, yard sale items, and your prayers. God is not finished writing HIS story yet and we can not wait to see how the journey continues.

Jadon was born three years ago and it was three years ago that God began calling us to adopt. Although it was three years ago that we began having serious discussions of adoption we have been praying for this child for ten years now. We have had this love for him long before we knew who he was and long before he existed. There have been many seasons of depression, grieving, questioning and longing for another child. We've told Lily so many times over the years that "God will bless us with a child all we have to do is keep praying". Never did I imagine God would answer our prayers through adoption BUT I am so glad that HE has. HIS timing is so perfect too. Jadon did not become eligible for adoption until the week we became officially eligible to adopt!

Have you ever bought your child the perfect gift for Christmas but there was a problem with it? It wasn't anything he had asked for specifically, so you began to "help" him desire that perfect gift by dropping little hints over time. It's Christmas morning and little Johnny opens his new bike that he didn't know he wanted and says "I love it. It's just what I wanted!". That's what God had to do with us! HE had to take us through some dark valleys, HE had to show and teach us some things, HE had to reveal HIS plan slowly to us so that our hearts would desire what HE desired for our family when the final call came in to adopt.

Our faith has grown so much over the past year and God has used this journey to grow the faith of others around us. It has been so cool to see God at work. He is always at work in our lives and the lives around us. We just sometimes don't stop to join HIM. We have prayed throughout this journey for God to use us for raising awareness for adoption and we now have been given the opportunity to speak at two different churches! We are so excited to join God and give HIM ALL the praise and glory!

41 days til Courts open! We are praying to have the first trip's expenses in place by the end of September because we will most likely not have a huge notice for when we will leave for court. The first trip if we are lucky will be about $5k. We have about $1900 already of that money. Our second trip will be more expensive because we have to stay longer in country, we would love for big sister to be able to go with us and we will be paying for Jadon's visa and plane ticket as well. We are looking at $7-8K for the second trip . We have applied for grants but haven't heard anything yet and one particular grant takes four months to process for a decision. We applied at the end of July so it will be most likely early December before we know if are receiving any grant money which could be too late for either trip!

Please continue to pray for Jadon and the remaining of our journey to bring him home! We can't express enough how much we love this little guy and are so anxious to have him here with us!

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.