Today...

* ...friends of ours leave for Taiwan to meet their 3-yr. old daughter for the first time!  Please pray for the Thomasson family!

* ...I made another $200 towards the $7000 we need for our travel expenses...every little bit helps!  I still have a few ornaments and lots of cookbooks if you are interested!

* ...I received another quilt square for Sophia's blessing quilt...have you sent yours?

Thank you, Lord, for a good day...and may Sophia have had the same!

Sophia's Blessing Quilt

We began collecting squares for Sophia's blessing quilt over a year and a half ago.  In China there is a tradition of giving a baby a "100 Wishes Quilt" made from pieces of fabric belonging to friends and family. We have taken that idea and are creating a "100 Blessings Quilt" for Sophia.  You can follow our progress at our Blessing Quilt blog...and feel free to join in on the fun...we are only a quarter of the way to our 100 blessings!

Passing the time until our daughter comes home...

Our Referral Dossier...

is on its way to Taiwan!  It was back from TECO in a week...that's pretty quick!  Now it will be translated and logged into the courts...another step closer!

Sleep tight, Sweet Sophia, we're coming!

Christmas Frenzy

I can't believe that Christmas is right around the corner, can you?  As you begin your Christmas shopping, why not support a family in the process of adopting a child by purchasing items that they are selling as a fundraiser?

   

As you know, we are selling our Forever Family cookbooks (currently on sale...by 3 get 1 free!) and our Chinese, handpainted ornaments to help financially as we bring home our daughter Sophia from Taiwan.  But there are MANY other families in the midst of this journey who are fundraising as well.  Christmas Frenzy was set up by an adoptive mother of six as a way to get the word out about families who are fundraising for adoption.  God has not called everyone to adopt, but He has called everyone to care for the orphans...Christmas shopping from these families is a way you can do just that!

Thanks for caring for the "least of these"!

Another Step...Dossier to TECO

Just found out that our referral dossier was sent to TECO (Taipei Economic and Cultural Office) for final certifications on Monday, November 8!  Hopefully we'll get a quick turn around (for our initial dossier it was three weeks, which, at that time, was long) and then our dossier will be winging its way to Taiwan for translation and we can be logged into court!

Another step closer to bringing Sophia home...



Referral Dossier...Check!

Our referral dossier, and the accompanying orphanage fee, were delivered to our agency today!  God provided some additional funds and the peace to use some credit we had available in order to pay the large fee, and we are thankful for that.  Now we wait for our dossier to be certified one last time, and then it will be on its way to Taiwan for translation and filing in court.  We are probably looking at 4-6 months more of waiting before we travel, although it could always be sooner or later.  We now shift our focus to raising the $7000 needed to pay for our travel expenses.  A large part of this is round trip airfare for Dave and I, and a one way ticket for Sophia.  Additionally, we need money for our hotel stay, food, etc. while in country.  Our 13-year old son, Sabastian, has expressed a desire to travel with us.  I have told him to pray specifically for that desire, as that would be another $1750-2000 that we would need in order to have him travel with us.  It sure would be cool if God grants that desire, but Sabastian knows that the answer may be no.  But he continues to pray!

In order to raise these needed funds, we are still selling cookbooks, Chinese Christmas ornaments, and hand-crocheted doilies.  In addition to these things, we are hoping to do one more big fundraiser of some sort.  We are praying about what that might look like, so stay tuned!  Thank you to all of you who have prayed us this far into our journey.  I can't wait to be able to post the first photos of our beautiful daughter when we get our final decree from the Taiwanese courts!

Closer than ever to bringing Sophia home!

Cookbook Sale!

We still have a few boxes of our Forever Family cookbook (as seen on the sidebar) that we would love to sell to help out our adoption expenses, so we are running a sale "while supplies last"!  Buy three cookbooks at regular price ($15 each) and get the fourth FREE!  These cookbooks, containing more than 300 recipes, have received rave reviews from everyone who has bought them over the last year and a half.  They would make great teacher gifts, gift exchange gifts, gifts for the neighbors...the list could go on and on!  Shipping is reduced as well from $5.00 per book to $10 for the four books when you buy the "three and get one free" deal.  That's a total savings of $25 for four books!  If you would like to place an order for this special deal, leave a comment with your e-mail address and mailing address (I will not publish it) and I will send you a paypal invoice.  Upon receipt of payment, the books will be on their way!

Thanks for helping Sophia come home to her forever family!