As 2009 comes to a close, it's hard to believe that we have been on this adoption journey for over a year now. Perhaps in 2010 we will meet the daughter for whom we have been waiting for a very long time, but with the long wait times, it may not be until 2011 or 2012...only God knows! I pray blessings on my little Sophia, if she is born, and on her birth family and caretakers...
Happy New Year!
When you are pregnant, you can't wait to get through the first trimester. You usually begin to feel better and the risk of miscarriage seems to go way down. You can breathe more easily and start to plan for the arrival of the new little one. Well, our first trimester of being "paper pregnant" is almost done. Our dossier arrived in Taiwan on September 14, so in a few short days, we will have been waiting for three months. I'm glad to be busy with other things during this time of waiting. It makes the time go by faster. In the back of my mind is the nagging thought that we don't have the money we need for when the referral comes, but I know God will provide in His time. I pray often for our daughter, who may or may not be born yet, and for her birth family and the choices they will be making regarding our daughter. I know so much is going on behind the scenes right now that only God knows, and I trust Him to work it all out. So, as we move into our fourth month of waiting, I continue to rely on God to bring this dream to fruition!
Waiting and praying...
My sister, who is, Lord willing!, almost done her 2+ year wait for her two sons from Haiti, wrote a post on her blog today about our family. She is a brilliant writer, and I thank her for highlighting our family on this last day of National Adoption Month. Since I really have nothing else to say on this blog right now since we are just waiting, waiting, waiting, I thought you might like to read what my sister had to say!
All in God's time...
I know it has been awhile since I posted on this blog, but I really have nothing new to say. We are playing the long waiting game that so many adoptive parents are playing right now. I e-mailed our program coordinator and asked her what our dossier was "experiencing" right now, just for something new, and basically it is being translated and shown around while the orphanage works on finding us a match that fits our home study parameters. I'm sure glad that God is in control and ultimately will bring the perfect little girl for us into our family!
The need of funds is still there, as are many, many cookbooks. So, if you would like to order some cookbooks as Christmas presents, please let me know...I would be happy to oblige!
Pray without ceasing...
Our dossier has arrived in Taiwan, according to Fed Ex! Yippee! Now the long wait begins...possibly as long as 24 months according to our agency. Plenty of time to raise the funds needed for the orphanage fee and travel. We still have five boxes of cookbooks left...they would make great Christmas presents. Please let me know if you would like some to help us bring Sophia home!
Waiting on GOD to bring Sophia home...
According to our FedEx tracking device, our dossier should arrive in Taipei, Taiwan, tomorrow, September 14! And according to our adoption agency, we could have up to a 24 month wait for a referral! That was not the number we heard originally when we began this journey, but God has a plan, I'm sure. The adoption process in Taiwan is similar to domestic adoption here in the U.S. in that if there is a birth family still involved with the child, they are involved in choosing the family to whom their child is given for adoption. Therefore, as I understand it, if there is a birth family who finds a family with four sons who live in small town USA, and enjoy fishing and traveling, attractive as a family for their daughter, we could find the wait to be much shorter than 24 months. As far as we are concerned, God is in control and He will guide the orphanage people in Taiwan who are helping to make that decision, and He will guide us when we are given a referral to know if the child referred to us will fit in our family. But we would appreciate your prayers as we wait! (And as we continue to raise the orphanage fee and travel funds!)
Waiting expectantly for Sophia...
Our dossier is on its way to Taiwan! I received the official word from our agency today. I'm so excited, yet extremely nervous. This means that our referral is the next step, and then we need the money for the orphanage fee. But, God knows all of that, so we will continue to pray and wait and do what we can to raise the funds. Cookbooks, anyone?
One step closer to Sophia!
Just a quick post to say that we have not heard anything since sending our dossier to our agency. We know our home study is being authenticated for Taiwan, and then the whole dossier will be sent to the orphanage in Taiwan. As soon as we hear it has been sent, I'll let you know!
Waiting for Sophia...
On Saturday I took our dossier to the Post Office here in Jonestown and entrusted it into the care of our friendly neighborhood mail clerk! Talk about faith! But thankfully, it arrived in Kansas on Monday and it looks great (says our agency contact)! Thank you Lord! The next step is to have all of our documents authenticated for Taiwan, and then it will be translated and sent to Taiwan (or maybe sent to Taiwan and translated?)...you get the idea! When I hear that it has been sent to Taiwan, I'll let you know! Thanks for praying, and don't stop now! When we get and accept our referral, we need to pay the orphanage fee, which could be anywhere between $4,000 and $10,000. Most likely, it will be around $6,000. But our God is able!
Praying Sophia home...
Today Dave and I finally had the time to go to a notary together and get some paperwork notarized. We praise God for the kindness of the notary who did not charge us saying, "Adoption is expensive enough!" I also sent two copies of our home study to Harrisburg, PA, to receive the state seal of Pennsylvania which is needed to authenticate the notarization, I guess? Goodness me there's a lot of hoops to jump through! But we are getting closer! Once I receive the home studies back, everything will be sent certified mail to our agency in Kansas and it will be out of our hands...yeah! We are getting closer, baby step by baby step!
In other news, we are planning an interesting fundraiser for the next few weeks. It involves selling flower bulbs that can be planted this fall to come up in the spring. If you are interested in helping us sell these (think Girl Scout cookie-like brochure...really easy!) or would like to purchase some bulbs ($6 a packet and the number of bulbs per packet varies depending on the flower type) let me know! We get 50% profit on these!
Each step brings us closer to Sophia...guide our steps, Lord!
I will never cease to be amazed by God's faithfulness. I know in my heart of hearts that I have no reason to question or waver in my faith, but my flesh is weak. I was REALLY discouraged this past weekend. I was REALLY questioning whether or not we were on the right road with our adoption of Sophia. Several dear people, including my dear husband and wonderful sisters, encouraged me to hold on to the dream. But I wasn't so sure...until God used a special family to CLEARLY direct us to keep on the road to Sophia.
Remember that $2000 we needed to send our dossier to our agency and then on to Taiwan? We no longer need it! Praise God! I was handed an envelope at church on Sunday that contained a check to meet that need entirely. How do you thank someone for something like that? Not only did our financial need get met, but God used that gift to clearly tell us that we were on the right road...keep moving forward...Sophia awaits!
In the next few days I hope to get all the dossier documents in order. Several items need to be notarized, so we need to find time when Dave and I can take care of that together. Then, it's on to our agency in Kansas. After some authentications and translation...it's on to Taiwan! Thank you Lord for your amazing provision and for increasing my faith!
(P.S. Don't stop praying, though! The next amount we need to raise could be anywhere from $4,000-$10,000 for the orphanage fee. But God will provide!)
God is able...to do exceedingly abundantly ABOVE what we can ask or think!
It has been over a year since I started this blog and we ventured out on this journey to our daughter Sophia. The road we have been on has had many twists and turns, but we have always felt that we were supposed to be on it. If you follow this blog, you know that we have been fundraising for quite some time now--it seems like forever--and we still have a long way to go. Just recently I ventured out in my faith walk and for the first time fasted and prayed (the fasting was the new part for me!) for three specific requests, one of them being our adoption finances. We were to hear this past week whether or not we received a grant from an organization that has given substantial adoption grants to at least two people that I personally know. I had high hopes that God was going to use that agency to supply a good chunk of our funds. Well, we found out yesterday that our request was denied. To say that I was bummed is putting it mildly. Put that on top of not getting the last $2000 we need for the agency fee after a month of praying and waiting...you see why I'm at a crossroads.
In one direction I have the choice of taking this latest turn of events and saying that God is trying to tell us that we shouldn't be on this journey...He hasn't provided in what I feel is a timely fashion, so maybe this is His way of closing the door. In the other direction I have the choice of saying that God has something bigger and better planned, just keep trusting and taking baby steps forward. He doesn't need a grant agency to make this happen. But how long do I wait until I'm back to the first choice...you see why I'm at a crossroads.
I guess all of this to say that I could use your prayers right now. I'm not sure in which direction to turn. I'm so thankful for my husband who seems to be up when I'm down (and vice versa!) He doesn't talk as much about the adoption as I do (or blog about it!) but apparently he's been thinking and praying about it a lot recently, because when I was blubbering yesterday he said he's more sure than ever that we are supposed to do this. Maybe I'm being impatient, but I know that if our dossier is not to Taiwan before our home study is six months old (which it will be the beginning of October) then we have to redo the home study which will cost us more money...which we don't have to begin with! I'm tired of fundraising and asking the same people to buy this or donate that. I'm just being real here. However, I'm so grateful for those who have given in so many ways, and it's my feeling of accountability to them that really keeps me going some days--I'm not ready to give up yet because so many people have invested in our daughter's homecoming...you see why I'm at a crossroads?
I'm not sure what else to say except...
Thanks for your prayers...
This past week we were at a Bible conference in upstate New York. It was a great time of rest and relaxation. We heard some great preaching/teaching, and spent time with some dear friends. On Tuesday, the conference center has a ladies' luncheon. The speaker spoke on faith. I was really touched by how she and her husband have stepped out by faith over the 40+ years of their marriage, and how they have seen God show up in really big ways. After she spoke, I told her about our adoption efforts, and how we are trusting God to supply our financial needs. I told her that her words had encouraged me anew to keep the faith. I know my God is big enough to meet ALL of our adoption needs!
At the end of her testimony, the speaker on Tuesday had us sing an old hymn that I have sung many times. But the words really struck a chord with me this time...especially the second verse. The hymn is entitled "His Eye is on the Sparrow":
Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come, Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home, When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Chorus:
I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free, For His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me.
“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear, And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears; Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see (emphasis mine!); His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise, When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies, I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
I really want to write a check for the entire adoption agency fee and surprise my agency when they open my letter...I have hesitated to write a check for half of it, thinking that perhaps God will supply in a miraculous way. If God's eye is on the little sparrow, then I know He is also watching me, and He knows just how and when and from where our funds will come. Will you pray for my faith to be increased? Thanks!
"Faith is believing what God SAYS HE WILL DO...He will supply all my needs in Christ Jesus!"
We are praising God today for another generous gift from another dear friend which puts us only $2000 shy of our agency fee! Please thank God with us and continue to pray for a miracle...the sooner we have our entire agency fee, the sooner our dossier gets to Taiwan, and the sooner we get our referral for Sophia!
Praising God from Whom all blessings flow!
Guess what came in the mail today, much earlier than anticipated? Our I-797C, the document stating that we have been approved for our advanced processing of orphan petition! I had heard that this could take up to 12 weeks to come through, and we had only done our fingerprinting and such in early June. We now have everything we need to submit our dossier to our agency and then to Taiwan EXCEPT...the second half of the agency fee! If I had another $2750 to send to our agency, I could have our dossier to them in the next week and to Taiwan in the next month...we would be that much closer to a referral for our little Sophia. Will you please pray with me that this money will come in sooner rather than later? I know God can do this! Thanks!
Praying for the next step to Sophia...
Thanks to the generosity of some dear people, and the sale of our cookbooks and sub tickets, we are over halfway to our goal of $5500 for our agency fee! Praise God! I will probably be sending the first half of the fee to our agency this week, as it really is overdue anyway...they have been most gracious in working with us. The second half is due with all of our dossier documents, so please pray with us that it will come in by September when we hope to have everything ready to go for our dossier.
Thanks for praying with us...until Sophia is home!
It's hard for my carnal self not to get jealous when I hear of hugely successful fundraisers that others have done to get money for their adoptions. But they always know someone who knows someone who knows someone, and the word gets out and God moves in a great way for them. I know God can do the same for us, but He may choose not to. That's the hard pill to swallow. But, we keep trusting and moving forward nonetheless. Because that's what faith is all about, right?
On another note, our scrapbook is done and on its way to us from Snapfish. I hope it turns out nicely when it's printed. It's kind of hard to tell on a computer screen.
Please pray for our faith to be increased as we wait and wait and wait...for Sophia.
I have been reading several adoption blogs recently where all that is holding up the adoption is "red tape" and/or finances. So far we haven't run into "red tape", but I sure can relate to the finances. On days like today I wonder if we shouldn't just give up on this dream, because it just seems too impossible. I only have limited resources for fundraising, and, to be quite frank, I'm tired of asking for money. The only thing that really keeps me going is that I know God is able, and He could provide the money tomorrow if He wanted to. So, I plug along, but not always happily. It's just one of those days.
I know God is able to bring Sophia home, but...
As Dave put it, another "baby step" was taken today on our journey to Sophia. I'm happy to report that our trip to York for fingerprinting was uneventful, unlike our recent trip to Philly to file our immigration paperwork. Thank the Lord for small miracles!
Doing whatever it takes to bring Sophia home...
Today I worked on the third piece of our dossier for Taiwan--a photo book of our family. I had fun on Snapfish playing around with layouts and such. It was hard to choose a theme, but I really like how the book turned out. It basically introduces each member of our family and shares what we like to do together. At the end I share our desire for a daughter/sister to share those family activities with us. Hopefully it will make a good impression on the "powers that be" who will see it and give us a referral. Of course our highest "Power" is ultimately in control, and He knows exactly who will fit in this crazy, male-dominated family of ours! My prayer is that she is feminine and likes to shop!
Praying Sophia home!
It's been awhile since I updated Sophia's Blessing Quilt blog, but today we have reached 25 blessings! Check it out here! We are trying to reach at least 100 blessings/fabric pieces, so feel free to participate if you would like. The information is all on this post!
Today we received our official summons to retrieve our "biometrics"...or in lay language, fingerprints. We are to appear in mid-June at an office in York County to take this next step towards Sophia. Imagine if they made all parents jump through these hoops...I bet we wouldn't have so many unwanted pregnancies in this country...oops...that's for another post!
Whatever it takes until Sophia is home...
I am SO proud of my 11-year old son, Sabastian. This weekend he took it upon himself to go around our neighborhood and sell more of our fundraising sub tickets. He was able to make almost $250 for Sophia's adoption fund in a few hours of roller blading around the neighborhood. Way to go, Sabastian!
I can't wait for Sophia to meet ALL of her big brothers...
We made it to Philly and back today, but not without A LOT of drama! You can read about it on our family blog here. But the immigration paperwork is filed, and for that, we are thankful. We are one step closer to bringing Sophia home from Taiwan. Now we wait for the letter stating when and where we get fingerprinted, and after that, we wait for our actual document stating that we have been approved to adopt an orphan and bring her into this country. How exciting!
Until Sophia comes home...
Next week we take another major step in our journey to Sophia in Taiwan...our immigration paperwork appointment! We are scheduled for Wednesday in Philadelphia, so pray that all goes well and that I remember everything I'm supposed to take with me! We are praising the Lord for the monies needed for this step ($800) and still praying for more monies to come in so we can keep moving forward.
Thanks for your prayers on Sophia's behalf!
Many people have been asking me about our financial status since the completion of our successful garage sale. We praise God that our home study ($1500) is paid for due to the proceeds, as well as our immigration paperwork ($800) and post-adoption visits ($900). I have changed our ticker on the right side of our blog to reflect our next big goal which is $5500 for our agency fee. Please pray that our cookbooks will sell, as this would make a big dent in that amount. We also have a myriad of other fundraisers going on right now: Avon (through 4/26), Mary Kay (through 4/30), homemade cards being sold at a local art gallery, and sub sandwich tickets for a local sub place being sold around town. There are several other fundraisers in the works, too: Tupperware, Pampered Chef, Tastefully Simple, a Zumba-A-Thon, spaghetti dinners, and pancake breakfasts. If anything interests you from this list, make sure and contact me for more information! You can also pray for a few grant applications that will be going out soon--hopefully God will see fit to provide in that way as well. We are so excited about how God is providing as we need it...thanks for your prayers!
Until Sophia is home...
This is what the church foyer looked like on Thursday night when we began unloading the four locations where we had been storing items...
Sabastian and Jonathan were big helpers with the loading and unloading, as well as their friend, Brandon, and several men from church...
When we finally got everything into one location, there was way more stuff than I had ever imagined--what a blessing, but what a lot of work! I'm so thankful for my Mom and some other ladies from church who helped organize on Thursday night and again on Friday morning...
This is Beckie setting up the Bake Sale...she and her husband and daughter are adopting a little boy, most likely from China, and joined us in this endeavor...
Here we are on our beautiful, sunny yard sale day! I am praising God for answering our specific prayers: nice weather and lots of buyers! In the foreground of this photo is Tiffany, one of my special friends from church who helped us on both days of the sale--she's the clothing sorter Queen!
A view of the household items...
The shoes my Mom meticulously separated and organized...
Nicole and Tiffany hard at work on the 40+ boxes of clothing we received!
Some of our buyers rummaging through the clothing boxes...some ladies were at this for hours!
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Forever Family has arrived! And in my humble opinion, it is great! But you don't have to take my word for it...the fact that I have already sold through one box in less than a week says that others think it's great, too!
We have so much to be thankful and excited about on our adoption journey this week:
1. Our HUGE Yard/Bake Sale is this coming Friday and Saturday! I know God is going to richly bless this effort. We have already been blessed by so many donations of items and time by friends and family. Come on out if you live nearby!
2. The cookbook is here! Stay tuned for how you can order one if you would like one. I'll post about that next week...
3. Our home study is done and in hand! Yeah! Now we can move ahead to the immigration paperwork and other items for the dossier, as well as grant applications.
4. I get to create a scrapbook as part of the dossier--I just found out about that today! What fun that will be!
As you can see, we have a lot to be thankful for and excited about. Please continue to keep us and our daughter Sophia in your prayers. We are many steps closer to meeting our new daughter...I can't wait!
Rejoicing in what the Lord has done, is doing, and will do...
We have been blessed with so many donations to our upcoming garage and bake sale...continue to pray for good weather and lots of buyers! In this process, a couple of ladies from our church have also offered to help us do a "fundraiser within a fundraiser" through their home businesses. One such opportunity is through Avon. If you are interested in purchasing some items from Avon to help us with our adoption expenses, please leave a comment with your e-mail address, and I will send you a listing of what is available. Special combos of items have been created for this fundraiser in all the categories we know and love from Avon...perfume/cologne, makeup, lotions, etc. We will receive up to 40% of the retail price of anything ordered during the fundraiser, and all of it will go towards our international adoption expenses. Items can be sent anywhere as long as you are willing to pay the postage! Thanks in advance for your support and for helping us bring Sophia home from Taiwan!
This week we received an update about our home study. It has been through the first review by our agency, and has been sent back to our social worker for some corrections. Hopefully we will have the final, notarized copy next week sometime! We are thankful that this step is behind us, but know that the financial aspects of the adoption are now going to be set in motion quite quickly, and we still need to raise a lot of money. Please continue to pray for us in this regard!
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills...
I know I haven't posted anything in a while, but that's because little has really changed since the last post. We are still waiting for approval on our home study so that we can move forward with the other government paperwork and grant applications. The proof for our cookbook is being reviewed as I write, and hopefully we will have cookbooks to sell in the next few weeks. Garage sale donations are flowing in...just pray for good weather and lots of people to buy all the stuff we have! And we are in the middle of our sub ticket fundraiser as well...lots of irons in the fire, but nothing is burning too quickly--guess that's a good thing in many ways!
Thanks for journeying with us!
I'm so happy to update you on our fundraising efforts! So many things are coming together by God's grace and goodness. First of all, the donations are coming in for our garage/bake sale on April 17 and 18. Today we picked up probably close to 40 boxes of girl's clothes from one family! Please continue to pray that we would have good donations and great weather...and of course, lots of buyers! Secondly, I received the cover proof for our cookbook yesterday and it looks great. Now I just have to fax it back and keep the process moving. Stay tuned to my blogs to find out how you can buy yours when they arrive! Lastly, we are selling Krall's General Store sub tickets. Where's Krall's you ask? Well, right here in our little Jonestown, PA! So, if you are anywhere nearby and wish to buy a ticket, let me know!
Praising God from whom all blessings flow...
Thank you so much for your prayers on our behalf as we move forward by faith with Sophia's adoption. Our home study might be completed by this time next week, so we are looking at not only the homestudy fee needing to be paid, but also the agency fee. However, we are so very excited about that milestone being completed because it opens up so many other doors for us...grant applications, fingerprinting and documentation appointment, and ultimately, a completed dossier. Please continue to pray as we walk by faith through the open doors that God places in front of us. We only want to do His will, not our own!
We walk by faith, not by sight!
Last Wednesday I posted about needing a miracle. Well, we still need one, but I'm feeling much more at peace about what's happening with our agency. Today I spoke with our agency contacts again, and I am sending out the application fee in tomorrow's mail. At the very least, we will be saving a couple of hundred dollars by being able to pay their application fee instead of the new agency's application fee. Then, it seems as though we have until our home study is completed and turned in to pay the much larger agency fee. It will be the new agency's fee, which is a bit higher, but at least we have some time to get the funds together. I'm still praying for a miracle, and asking God to bring in all the funds that we need, when we need them. Thanks for all of your encouragement and prayers. They really mean a lot!
Until Sophia is home...
I just got off the phone with our adoption agency. Well, still not officially our adoption agency since we are lacking the fees to pay their fee and begin the process, but the agency we are planning on using. To make a long story short, they are in transition to become an affiliate of a larger agency, and if we don't have the $5500 to pay their agency fee in the next four weeks, we must begin the process all over again with the new agency and the fees will be more expensive...not a ton more, but every little bit adds on to the final cost of this adoption. Additionally, we are hearing that Taiwan may soon become a Hague country which means we will have the same paperwork issues we were having with China which caused us to choose Taiwan in the first place. If that happens before we are in a program, we will probably not be able to continue the adoption. I'm a bit discouraged, and again I'm wondering if we REALLY should be doing this when we have no money whatsoever at this point towards our agency fee (or the additional $15,000 we'll need after that!) and are struggling along with everyone else to make ends meet financially in this economy anyway. I'd appreciate your thoughts and prayers...what keeps me going is that I DO believe in miracles, and if God wanted to, He could plop all of the money we need in our laps today. Will He choose to do that? Probably not, but you never know!
Please pray for wisdom and patience...thanks!
After many months of not moving, we are finally picking up speed on our adoption process! Today I forwarded our preliminary application and a draft of our home study to our adoption agency. There are many changes coming to our agency, and since we are in transition, they are trying to figure out how to best nudge us in to the process amidst the changes. Only a few minor corrections need to be made to our home study to get it up to par for Taiwan, so that's wonderful news. We are also looking into getting a date to go to Philly to get fingerprinted for our immigration paperwork, which is another big step. Please continue to pray for the funds to come in, as now that we are picking up speed, money will be needed more urgently! I'm excited to see how the Lord continues to provide, IN HIS TIME!
Moving forward toward Sophia...
Our little "committee" meeting on 2/3 went really well...I'm so grateful for my friends who are pitching in to help us with our garage/bake sale in April! Thanks, guys! Then, yesterday, 2/7, we had a wonderful visit with Stephanie Carpenter, our adoption agency's Taiwan Program Director, and her family here at our house. Although Stephanie works for our agency which is located in Kansas, she "telecommutes" right here from Lebanon County, PA...how cool is that! We really enjoyed getting to know Stephanie and her husband and her two daughters...the youngest of whom was adopted from Taiwan in 2007 from the same orphanage we will be going through. Stephanie and her husband had a lot of great fundraising ideas for us based on their experiences, and they are even putting together a spaghetti supper fundraiser to help us and a couple of other families raise funds for our adoptions. There are some changes afoot in our adoption agency, but I think they will be to our benefit in the long run. When I hear more, I'll post more about that. But for now, I'm just very thankful for two great meetings and the encouragement to "keep on keeping on".
...Until Sophia is home!
This morning I am so excited to be attending my first "committee" meeting with my dear friends who are helping me out with our garage and bake sale in April. I am so thankful for Nicole, Louise, and Lori, who are selflessly jumping in to help us raise money to bring Sophia home. And so many people at church are donating items to help us out, too. Sophia is loved by so many already...I can't wait to bring her home! Who knows how many more people might also be touched to meet the needs of the orphans of this world in some way through this as well...
...until Sophia is home!
I am so excited to announce that we will be having our International Adoption Benefit Garage Sale and Bake Sale on April 17 and 18 in the parking lot of the Lebanon Evangelical Free Church! God has brought together a little "committee" of women to help me plan and organize, and it has been so neat to see things come together for this event. If you would like to donate items to be sold at the garage sale, just let me know! If you live fairly locally, we can arrange for pick-up. Already we have received items from Church members and I can't wait to see what else God brings in for us to sell! Pray that we have gorgeous weather that weekend, and that we can advertise well...the church building sits back in a neighborhood, so we need to get the word out so people can find us. Our Church family has been so supportive and encouraging...just the way the Body of Christ is supposed to function!
We are working hard to bring you home, Sophia!
