Update

Immigration paper work has arrived in Texas. Pray for speedy appointment with office in Casper. Finishing grant apps tonight and mailing tomorrow.

$4,022 More to be "Dossier Ready"

God is good and is providing for our adoption in the most amazing ways. On October 10th when we accepted these children, we knew that God was going to have to provide in a big way in order for us to have the additional $16,100 ready within 4 months. He has done just that. Thank you to everyone whom God is using to make this happen. It is your obedience to His voice that is making this possible.

What does "Dossier Ready" mean? - The dossier is the group of documents that is sent to Ethiopia and is then approved by the courts allowing us to bring home the girls. Of course then "dossier ready" means that it is completed and ready to be sent.

To give you an idea how big this is, the process will work like this. Once with have the additional $4,022 we will send our fees and the dossier to Ethiopia. They will set a court date. Six weeks after the court date we will travel to bring home our daughters. Very exciting indeed.

So, Naomi and I are going to push to have the additional money in very quickly. Our goal is before the end of November. Can you help us? Please pray about it before you make any decisions. Then, if you can help us reach this goal, we would love to have your help.

You can make donations by mail, or by simply clicking on the donate button on the right hand of this blog. It will take you to our paypal account where you can donate by credit/debit card. You do not have to have a paypal account to do this.

If you would like to write a check via mail please make it out to; "Ethiopia Hope Fund". This will also be a tax deductible donation, as they are run through Harvest Church. By mail donations can be mailed to us at: 822 Jonathon Rd. Powell, WY 82435.

Thanks again to everyone who has prayed for us during this process and those who have helped financially. We have a bit farther to go. But the goal is in sight.

Pasta'd Out

Today, we fed over 150 at the Park Co. Wyoming fairgrounds. I'd like to thank all of our family who slaved over pasta, cookies and lemonade to make this lunch possible. A special thanks to the one family member who took a little extra sauce home in her pockets. :)

We raised $669 at this lunch. This includes selling more puzzle pieces.

If you have not had a change to attach your name to a puzzle piece, you can still do so online through PayPal on the right. See earlier posts for more details.

Attend Creation Festival next Sunday to help out with our adoption and other families who are adopting from Ethiopia. For more information, go to: http://www.creationfesttour.com/

Puzzle Progress

We have currently sold 86 pieces of our adoption puzzle fundraiser. In case you are just now catching up; We are selling pieces to this puzzle for $5 dollars each. We then write your name on the back of the puzzle, which will hang in our daughters room when they arrive home. Here are just a few of the names included in the puzzle so far. (we have sold just enough to create the full puzzle border. To donate just click the "donate" button on the right hand side of this blog. You don't need a paypal account. Any credit or debit card will do. Thanks for all your help.

Fundraiser Update

40 of 500 pieces have been sold so far! Thank you for your donations! If you have not purchased your piece, click on the PayPal link on the right to donate. You DO NOT need a PayPal account to donate, just a debit or credit card. If you would rather send a check in the mail, make it out to:

Ethiopian Hope Adoptions
822 Jonathon Road
Powell, WY 82435

This goes through Harvest Church in Billings, MT (www.harvestweb.net) and these checks are tax deductible. Donations made through PayPal are not tax deductible. If you are mailing us a check, please write on a separate sheet of paper the name(s) you would like to have written on the puzzle for your donation. Again, THANK YOU for all of your help!!

Online Fundraiser

It will be official tomorrow. We are accepting our placement. As mentioned below, Ethiopia does not allow us to publicly post photos, but we will have a picture with us and close to our hearts. We can send a personal e-mail of a photo. If you would like this, please let us know and give us your e-mail account.

Here's how you can help. Our next fundraiser starts tonight! We have purchased a 500 piece puzzle (below). We will put the puzzle together and hang it in the girls' room. You can adopt a puzzle piece(s) for $5 each. Simply click the paypal link on the right and make a donation. When you adopt a piece, your name will be written on the back.

If you would like to go above and beyond purchasing a piece, forward our blog and info to your friends. Post it on your facebook, tweet it...etc. We appreciate all of the help that we can get. We need to raise $15k in the next 4 month. This is one of four fundraisers planned.

Thank you!!!!

Naomi's Birthday Gift

Yesterday, October 6th was Naomi's birthday. About 4pm my phone rings. It was Naomi. She says to me. "I just got the best birthday present." I thought she was calling to thank me for the flowers. This was not the case, in fact as I think about it, I'm pretty sure she never even mentioned the flowers. This is understandable as you will soon see.

Naomi then tells me that in our email is a message from Christian World Adoption. An excerpt from the email follows.

"I am contacting you because we have a pair of sisters who have become available. According to the documents, they are 2 and 5 years old. However, because we don’t have birth certificates in Ethiopia, the ages are only guesses. We do have photos of the girls I could send you, so you could assess their ages yourself, as much as photos will show. These girls are living in the Soddo CCCE Orphanage. They were admitted on September 1st. We do have medicals and referral paperwork for them, all of which I could send you, if you are interested."

As you can see we are very excited and will be making a prayerful decision regarding this in the next couple of days. There is one issue though. In order to prevent these girls from having to wait too long the agency requires that we have everything in, including more than $15,000 in fees, within 4 months. Currently we have about $13,000 more to go. Daunting to say the least.

Due to regulations in the Ethiopian Adoption, I can not post pictures on the net. Once we formally accept the children, I will send pictures to those who request them. Thanks to everyone who have prayed for us so far, as well as those who have given financially. We couldn't do this without you.