Saturday, October 25, 2014

Give $10 recap and more!

Whew! I am so sorry this post is at least a week late and that we haven't been as great this time at updating the blog. Facebook is just so easy to do quickly from my phone. To further justify my lack of posting I'll say this is a busy time of year for us. We call it party season. Hartley's birthday, followed quickly by the Pumpkin party and then followed quickly by West's party then Thanksgiving and Christmas. We LOVE this season and LOVE having folks into our home but it does make life a little more busy then normal:)

 We are so thankful for the opportunity to be on this journey again. When I grumble at the fundraising or the mounds of paperwork, I look at Molly! It's easy to lose your focus on why we adopt and looking at her brings it back to the "why"!! Especially this week after becoming friends on FB with a family who serves in Molly's orphanage it has reminded us even more. The very rooms our daughter lived in, the very walls where we stood, babies are dying, children need families. An 8 year old lays in a crib all day long with no stimulation. YES life is busy, YES adoption is costly, but Lord have mercy.. We can.not.just.sit.by. At least the Gotbeters can not. We've been wrecked for the Gospel and for orphans and once you have seen and you know you can not ever be the same again. And.. you don't want to-

 We announced Wills 2 months and 1 week ago. At that time we hit the ground running, right off the bat with the good ole' Give $10 change a life. Raising $10K in 60 days, 1 $10 donation at a time. We had PA, and we were rocking and rolling on our home study update, praying to utilize something called the Supplement 3. Molly and I were flying all over the country and fall was well underway. Suddenly  we hit some pretty scary road blocks and things were very stressful for a little while. Thankfully those things are mended now and the Lord prevailed. We were back on track! Thank you Jesus!! So many of you gave so selflessly of your time to share our post and also donated your hard earned money to bring Wills home. We also organized a garage sale at the last minute and are so thankful for your amazing donations and your shares on social media to help it be the success it was! With the Give $10 and the garage sale we made $8K of the $10K that we had hoped to make. Although it is short of what WE had hoped to make it was exactly what we needed to make our first two large payments and have just a little left over for some other fees coming our way. For that we are BEYOND thankful!!! It does mean though that we do need to start another fundraiser sooner then later because we have several more fees in larger amounts coming soon and since we were $2K short on the Give $10 we need to make up that money soon to pay for those larger fees. We know God is able and one thing that we have learned is that this is a different story then Molly's story and thus will be a different journey!

 Truly it is. Just like every birth, every adoption is totally different. When we began we had no idea where the funds would come from with Molly. We didn't know about Lovegave or the other grants. We just walked in obedience trusting that the Lord would provide. HE.did. and HE.will... Some folks have ask me what does it mean if you don't make your fundraising goals? What do you think God is trying to say if you don't make the money you need to bring Wills home? Tommy and I stand on the calling and promises that the Lord has given us to adopt Wills. Just because a man-made goal that we set doesn't happen we won't focus on that. Instead we praise HIM for the $8K we did make. $8K in 60 days is significant. We can't apply for all the same grants again this time, and not everyone who gave last time can give this time. Molly attached so well so quickly and Wills may not. Molly speaks English fluently, he may have more trouble. Everything thus far is so different with his adoption so it only makes sense the fundraising would be different as well.

 Where are we now? Our home study is finished and headed to Columbia to be approved there and then onto Immigration. Our supplement 3 is looking good ( a step to avoid the 800a again) and that deadline is November 9th. From there we will be DTC ( Dossier to China) again, then will wait to be LID ( Logged in), then LOA ( Letter of acceptance), then the 800 process, Travel approval and CA       ( Consulate appointment) and we head out:) I'm excited for these next steps as the paperwork is less and the waits are unpredictable but predictable in the sense that we can't make them go any faster then they will. I'd say best case is late spring early summer to travel. As soon as we have a copy of our home study in hand I have several adoption grants for it to join, they'll be prayed over and mailed out. We are very hopeful we'll have a good response there again. I know one for sure we can't apply for but we are believing that God has already begun a good work and that this will be a fruitful avenue for us again. In addition we have;
Goats milk soaps coming soon.
A custom adoption Tshirt being made locally to sell online.
And also "A night of Hope" a family, friendly but more formal then our normal parties here, event planned here for Feburaryish. We have begun securing food donations and will have a silent auction. Please be thinking of ways that you could help? Do you have a connection with a food co that would donate? A craft or a trade you'd like to donate to the silent acuction? We'd like to make a significant amount this night and would like to have a really nice silent auction.
 These things, along with grants, we pray will be bring us to the finish line and bring Wills home.

 We covet your prayers and are so thankful for your donations!!! Even in between fundraising events you can donate anytime on the side here with our you caring link. 

 We continue to walk forward praising God for all he has done and continues to do to help us bring Wills home! God is able!!