Wow what a week! Our roller coaster week has had me reflecting on many times that I have said "Never" in recent years so I thought I would share some of those that I'm glad I said Never and God said differently. Here goes and not necessarily in this order....
Never say "Never will I fly in an airplane" so "Never will I leave the USA"
God said " We'll see about that... Sent me to Costa Rica on a mission trip for my very first time flying!
Never say " Because I have never flown and I have never left the country could I ever adopt internationally"
God said " We'll see about that.... I have a Big Brown Eyed Beautiful Ethiopian Prince waiting for your family"
Never say "Ok I can rely on God for strength to travel to Africa for one trip but I will never take the very very long direct flight through Ethiopian Airlines"
God said " We'll see about that... You will actually travel TWICE within thirty days and on the second trip Cindy, you will have my strength to do the very very long direct flight through Ethiopian Airlines"
Never say " We would love to add to our family through adoption but we could never afford it"
God said " You can't but I can"
Drum Roll Please....
God has officially and COMPLETLY provided for us to adopt our Jadon David Henok Scott!
God has provided around $32,000 for our adoption journey in about 16months time! We always believed God would provide because he had clearly called us on this journey but we really had NO idea HOW and WHEN! We really had to have FAITH LIKE POTATOES!
This is how this week started: Denied by two organizations for grants/interest free loans to help us with the $7000 we still needed for the minimum to get Jadon home. We had exhausted every possible fund we had just to get to this point so we didn't know what we were going to do now in such a short time. We decided to pray for guidance, trust as we had been doing for the last 16mths and know that HE is God and he had a plan! God of course had a plan .... He provided a way when there seemed to be no way! (Thanks Susan H. for reminding me of that truth). In 48hours we went from only having 10% of what we needed to having a way to fully pay for our tickets for ALL FOUR of us! Yes Lily is going to Africa with us to be united with her brother she has been praying for! AND we have received through your generous donations the remaining amount that was needed to pay for our accomodations in ET and all outstanding Final fees with our agency. That is a total of $9591 in funds provided in 48hours!
A good sized portion was provided through an anonymous Interest Free Lender so if you have donations in route to us or still want to be a part of this journey through a donation we would still greatly appreciate it. All donations from this point forward will help us pay back that loan as quickly as possible. But the main thing at this point is JADON IS COMING HOME TO TENNESSEE!
Here are just a FEW of the MANY unique ways God has provided:
One donor wanted to donate but didn't have the money so she donated her Plasma for money to donate to our adoption fund.
Baby Bottles - $1500
8 Yard Sales - $5500
Zumbathon - $ 800
Fun Shaped Pasta $400
T-shirts
2 Purse Sales - $400
Car Wash - $600
2 Online Prize Raffles - $1700
Photo Sessions
Note Cards
Many donations from friends, family, strangers
Cleaned someone's house for a donation
There are way too many to mention but we are SO SO SO very grateful to EVERYONE for all your prayers, encouragement and donations.
After ELEVEN years of praying to add to our family we could not be more full of Joy in our hearts to be welcoming our son to his new home in just a few short weeks and on one of the most special days in the year... Our Savior's Birthday!
With much love on behalf of our whole family of FOUR,
Cindy
Psalm 115 1 Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
"Henok is YOURS"
These are the best words we have heard since "It's a girl" more than twelve years ago! Basically that was our "It's a boy" moment. WOW, what a week is all I can say. November 17th was our precious "Meetcha Day"! For months we have been talking about what we would say to Jadon and questioning will he even understand or know who we are. We even wondered will we recognize him immediately because he has been growing so much and his hair was always different when we would receive updated pictures. So THE day was finally here and we were so excited! We were picked up after breakfast and taken to the HOH. We had no idea how we would be introduced to him. Would he be in a crowd of other kids or would we be taken to a special room for him to be brought in? We pulled up in front of the gated doors to the HOH, the driver toots his horn, the guard peeks out and then proceeds to open the doors and as soon as they opened I saw my precious brown eyed, curly haired son jumping up and down smiling and pointing at our van! Unfortunately David missed that moment because he was trying to get our cameras ready because we didn't know to expect him greeting us like that. I started screaming there he is! There's our son! One of the orphanage directors was riding with us and sitting next to me. I just about pushed him out of the van because I couldn't get out quick enough. As soon as I got out Jadon ran straight to me! He became a little shy (which is to be expected) but he was wearing his photo book across his shoulder so I pulled it around in front of him and pointed to my picture and David's telling him we were his mommy and daddy! He also knew who his big sister was and could say her name perfectly! He then quickly gave me a hug and kiss as well as his daddy! This moment was so much more than we could have ever imagined! We then went into a special room they have for visiting families to spend time with their kids to bond. He bonded right away with us! He is so beautiful and this mommy is already wrapped around his pinky! He knows how to work those big beautiful brown eyes! He is so stinking cute and very smart! He is full of energy too! We were able to visit with him twice a day for about 3 to 4 hours each visit. We were able to call Lily during our afternoon sessions just as she was waking up for school. She got to talk with him a few times so you can imagine she was very excited about that especially because he talked back a couple of times. He can't carry on a conversation in English but he could understand a lot and he could repeat English words very easily. Jadon was very ready to come to America with us. He told the HOH director the week before we arrived that he was ready to go to America but if mommy and daddy are not coming soon then take him back to the orphanage where he had been living before the HOH. The HOH is a transition home ran by our agency. While we were there he climbed in the our van and told the driver he was going to America (in his language but we understood the "America" part.
Almost every time at the end of each session he would cry or pout as we left. This was so hard on this mommy and daddy because we knew that Saturday was coming and we would have to say good bye for a few weeks! At the end of our last morning session I was walking him to his little "dining room" for lunch and he was pouting so badly. Our driver was running a little late so I peeked in the room to check on him and he was sitting in his little plastic chair crying the biggest crocodile tears I have ever seen. I went in to wipe his tears and hug him and then joined him in crying! It was heart breaking because I knew that afternoon was not going to be easy when saying goodbye for the last time. We were blessed with being able to go back to the HOH a little earlier than usual so we got almost an extra 2 hours with him on the final day! Also as many of you know my birthday was Sunday so a sweet adoptive couple that is staying in ET currently until their embassy date brought in a cake for me and another girl who was there whose b-day was Saturday. So I got to split a piece of yummy chocolate cake with my sweet boy and then Sunday I got to celebrate with my beautiful daughter who made me my favorite cake ...yellow cake with chocolate peanut butter icing!
Our translator did talk to him and explain what would be happening earlier in the day and he seemed to handle it okay. The dreaded time came for us to say our final good bye but it went better than we expected. He didn't cry but his behavior was different. We could tell it was just his way of handling it. I think he wanted to prove he was a big boy and could handle it. We had been praying for us all three to be strong in that moment and through God's strength we kept it together...atleast in front of each other. I completely lost it once we got in the van and pulled away. His Daddy had lost it the night before when we watched another family say their final good bye and he watched Jadon crying and me crying. Even the Nannies were crying watching all of us crying!
It is so hard to be torn between your kids in two different parts of the world. We so badly missed Lily but we hated having to leave our son! It is good to know he is in good hands. We know God is watching over him and has surrounded him with the most loving people in Ethiopia to take care of him!
We are expected to be back in ET on Dec. 20th at which we will take custody of him and then attend our embassy date of Dec. 23. We would then leave ET on Dec. 24th arriving back home on Dec. 25th! What a Christmas present!
Although it is final we still have some work to do to get him home. Our adoption fund is dry and we need to book tickets asap before the prices keep creeping up as we get closer to the holidays. For David and I to go and bring him home we are looking at about 7k. For Lily to go it would be an additional 2500 for a total of 9500. As much as we would love for Lily to experience this priceless moment in our family we know that it is up to God's will for her and we will trust in him to make that clear one way or the other. We are basically just concentrating on the 7k because what matters most is us getting him home as soon as possible. We realize that it is close to the Holidays but are asking if you would pray about whether you could spare $5, $10 or more to help us get him home. Maybe pray about sharing our story with family and friends and see if they would like to participate in the work God is doing in this precious boy's life... Jadon is no longer an orphan. God has blessed him with a family and now he just needs to be united with them forever. Little is much when God is in it!
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!
These are the best words we have heard since "It's a girl" more than twelve years ago! Basically that was our "It's a boy" moment. WOW, what a week is all I can say. November 17th was our precious "Meetcha Day"! For months we have been talking about what we would say to Jadon and questioning will he even understand or know who we are. We even wondered will we recognize him immediately because he has been growing so much and his hair was always different when we would receive updated pictures. So THE day was finally here and we were so excited! We were picked up after breakfast and taken to the HOH. We had no idea how we would be introduced to him. Would he be in a crowd of other kids or would we be taken to a special room for him to be brought in? We pulled up in front of the gated doors to the HOH, the driver toots his horn, the guard peeks out and then proceeds to open the doors and as soon as they opened I saw my precious brown eyed, curly haired son jumping up and down smiling and pointing at our van! Unfortunately David missed that moment because he was trying to get our cameras ready because we didn't know to expect him greeting us like that. I started screaming there he is! There's our son! One of the orphanage directors was riding with us and sitting next to me. I just about pushed him out of the van because I couldn't get out quick enough. As soon as I got out Jadon ran straight to me! He became a little shy (which is to be expected) but he was wearing his photo book across his shoulder so I pulled it around in front of him and pointed to my picture and David's telling him we were his mommy and daddy! He also knew who his big sister was and could say her name perfectly! He then quickly gave me a hug and kiss as well as his daddy! This moment was so much more than we could have ever imagined! We then went into a special room they have for visiting families to spend time with their kids to bond. He bonded right away with us! He is so beautiful and this mommy is already wrapped around his pinky! He knows how to work those big beautiful brown eyes! He is so stinking cute and very smart! He is full of energy too! We were able to visit with him twice a day for about 3 to 4 hours each visit. We were able to call Lily during our afternoon sessions just as she was waking up for school. She got to talk with him a few times so you can imagine she was very excited about that especially because he talked back a couple of times. He can't carry on a conversation in English but he could understand a lot and he could repeat English words very easily. Jadon was very ready to come to America with us. He told the HOH director the week before we arrived that he was ready to go to America but if mommy and daddy are not coming soon then take him back to the orphanage where he had been living before the HOH. The HOH is a transition home ran by our agency. While we were there he climbed in the our van and told the driver he was going to America (in his language but we understood the "America" part.
Almost every time at the end of each session he would cry or pout as we left. This was so hard on this mommy and daddy because we knew that Saturday was coming and we would have to say good bye for a few weeks! At the end of our last morning session I was walking him to his little "dining room" for lunch and he was pouting so badly. Our driver was running a little late so I peeked in the room to check on him and he was sitting in his little plastic chair crying the biggest crocodile tears I have ever seen. I went in to wipe his tears and hug him and then joined him in crying! It was heart breaking because I knew that afternoon was not going to be easy when saying goodbye for the last time. We were blessed with being able to go back to the HOH a little earlier than usual so we got almost an extra 2 hours with him on the final day! Also as many of you know my birthday was Sunday so a sweet adoptive couple that is staying in ET currently until their embassy date brought in a cake for me and another girl who was there whose b-day was Saturday. So I got to split a piece of yummy chocolate cake with my sweet boy and then Sunday I got to celebrate with my beautiful daughter who made me my favorite cake ...yellow cake with chocolate peanut butter icing!
Our translator did talk to him and explain what would be happening earlier in the day and he seemed to handle it okay. The dreaded time came for us to say our final good bye but it went better than we expected. He didn't cry but his behavior was different. We could tell it was just his way of handling it. I think he wanted to prove he was a big boy and could handle it. We had been praying for us all three to be strong in that moment and through God's strength we kept it together...atleast in front of each other. I completely lost it once we got in the van and pulled away. His Daddy had lost it the night before when we watched another family say their final good bye and he watched Jadon crying and me crying. Even the Nannies were crying watching all of us crying!
It is so hard to be torn between your kids in two different parts of the world. We so badly missed Lily but we hated having to leave our son! It is good to know he is in good hands. We know God is watching over him and has surrounded him with the most loving people in Ethiopia to take care of him!
We are expected to be back in ET on Dec. 20th at which we will take custody of him and then attend our embassy date of Dec. 23. We would then leave ET on Dec. 24th arriving back home on Dec. 25th! What a Christmas present!
Although it is final we still have some work to do to get him home. Our adoption fund is dry and we need to book tickets asap before the prices keep creeping up as we get closer to the holidays. For David and I to go and bring him home we are looking at about 7k. For Lily to go it would be an additional 2500 for a total of 9500. As much as we would love for Lily to experience this priceless moment in our family we know that it is up to God's will for her and we will trust in him to make that clear one way or the other. We are basically just concentrating on the 7k because what matters most is us getting him home as soon as possible. We realize that it is close to the Holidays but are asking if you would pray about whether you could spare $5, $10 or more to help us get him home. Maybe pray about sharing our story with family and friends and see if they would like to participate in the work God is doing in this precious boy's life... Jadon is no longer an orphan. God has blessed him with a family and now he just needs to be united with them forever. Little is much when God is in it!
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!
P.S. Please excuse the typos and anything that doesn't make sense - it's the jetlag!
Friday, November 5, 2010
Nine Days!
We were approved to travel as planned! God is so good! We leave in about 9 days to meet our son! I can't tell you how excited we are! In celebration of meeting Jadon soon we have extended our online drawing for one more week! Receive an entry for every $10 you donate until 11/12/10 for a chance to win a painted bdrm or bath valued at $500 or a chance to win a P90X Workout package valued at $250. Both could be given as great Christmas Gifts. See our post below for more details and pictures of Erica's painting work. You can donate via paypal on our site or email us at godforgives@bellsouth.net for our address to mail a check. Any amount is greatly appreciated. All donations will go toward our travel expenses for the second trip ($9K). Little is much when God is in it!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
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!
(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!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
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
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
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
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
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
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