The sale before the sale

I am very curious how our Priceless Yard Sale is going to turn out. I go back and forth on what I think will happen. For those that know me well, you know this is par for my course. However, I can tell you this. The movement of our children to begin collecting some of their things and gathering a few things from some neighbors has already produced its first tangible fruit, well, dollars. A friend stopped over tonight to donate some things to the yard sale. She had not received the email until late this afternoon. Ironically, her family had just participated in their own neighborhood-wide yard sale. She came in from that sale and learned about what our kids have started. She loaded the unsold things up in her van and brought them over. I knew this was going to happen because I got the answering machine message she left. Maren had no idea she was coming. What I completely didn't expect is that after we unloaded her van, she turned to Maren and I and handed us some money saying, "And here are the proceeds from our sale". Can you believe that?!! Needless to say, we were very touched. The kids are thrilled. It was another example of what we saw during our first adoption. We knew God was going to move us during the adoption. What we were not initially prepared for, and watched in awe over, is how God moved others. Thank you friend for your gift today. May the Lord bless you for your generousity.

C.A.R.A. and the Book of Life

A few days ago, we received a PDF document from the Central Adoption Resources Agency (CARA) in India. Their website states: Its mandate is to find a loving and caring family for every ophan/destitute/surrendered child in the country. That night, while lying in bed, I was struck by the strangeness yet odd excitement of seeing our names and address printed on some document created halfway around the world. Our names on that document meant that the country of India did not object to our adopting our little S. In other words, at the right time, we will be connected and be able to be one family. I laid in bed and thought about the amazing reality of our names on that document. So far away. Just for us. Simply amazing. And then it struck me. India is not the furthest away that our name has been written down somewhere. Further even than China when we adopted Elijah. Our name has been written down in the Book of Life. I have no concept where that book is kept. Obviously under the care of God, and obviously not in some agency on the face of this earth. If our name being written on a document in India is amazing, then the only way to describe our name being written in the Book of Life is "awesome". At just the right time, our name there means that our own adoption will be complete. Our Heavenly family will be connected. The Creator of the universe has no objections to us joining Him for eternity. Whoa! God has found us as orphaned/destitute children and has paid a much higher price than our adoption of S. He gave it all. For me. For my family. It boggles the mind.

Priceless Yard Sale

Our children began to gather things from around the house to sell at a garage sale to help raise money to bring their little sister home. They also began to ask people to donate items to the sale. We were touched by their efforts and have felt led to participate too. We are gathering things around our house to sell and are wondering if you might have a few things to donate too?

Here are a few things you might want to know:
1. We are working towards bringing home the priceless treasure who is our daughter. Because that is the goal, we will not be pricing any item in the sale, but are asking shoppers to spend what they feel led to spend.

2. We are reserving the right to refuse to sell to low-ball offers. We will invite those people to return at the end of the sale on Saturday and if the item remains, they may have it for their original offer.

3. The sale will be held June 25-26 from 8 am- 4 pm.

4. Any donated items that remain after the sale will be donated either to New 2 You or the the Goodwill.

5. We have made space in our garage to store donated items as we prepare for this sale. If you would like to share something, please let us know and we can make arrangements to get the items. We can pick up some local items and would be grateful to be available for you to drop things off.

6. We will also be having a bake sale/lemonade stand during the yard sale.

7. If you have a folding table we could borrow for the sale to keep things off of the ground, that would be helpful. The tables will be returned after the sale (of course).

8. We already have several families who have volunteered items for the sale. We will be selling knick-knacks, clothing, baby items, and even some furniture. Anything will be helpful.

Thank you for your willingness to help bring our little girl home. We are praying this sale will be a huge help towards meeting the goal of being able to bring her home without incurrin debt. We appreciate your continued prayers as we go through this process.

The heart of children

Today was Mother's Day. Maren had been gone for the past 4 days and got home late this afternoon. She decided on Chipotle for her dinner (mmmmm, Chipotle!). While there, the discussion arose as it often does about traveling to India. While Maren was gone for the past few days, one of her friends suggested that Nana and Papa travel to New Delhi with the kids when we are to arrive there during the second week of our trip (thank you Carol T.). This would cut down on expenses while still allowing the kids to experience some of India and still meet their sister in her birth country. We shared this idea with the kids at dinner as a possibility. Of course, they were quite excited that this is something to consider. They were beginning to relegate themselves to the idea that they may not be able to travel. After hearing this idea, they shared some stunning news with us. The kids have been secretly stashing away a bunch of cash from their birthdays, babysitting, and allowances and have accrued $133 to be used for the trip as a way to help offset our costs and allow them to go! Their heart and generousity brought tears to my eyes. I knew they had been gathering some of their toys and other things to have a yard sale to help with the costs, but I had no idea they were saving like this as well. On one hand, $133 is a drop in the bucket for airline tickets that may cost in the neighborhood of $10,000, on the other hand, how do you discount something like this? Almighty God, we pray that you would see fit that our whole family could travel with us for the entire trip as we continue to form our family.

NOC approval!!

It is only one step, but it is an important one. We have received our NOC approval which is a document stating that no one in India is objecting to our adopting our little girl. It is an exciting document because it is the last "informal formal" step. The next thing that happens is that our documentation is entered into the Indian courts. We are still a long way away, and there is much to be done and that can happen, but it is exciting none the less.