Cripple Me - Elenowen

The other day, as I was doing dishes + listening to Pandora, this song came on. I had to pause and listen as the words really spoke to my heart. It is just such a beautiful song, I had to share it with y'all. So here it is, Cripple Me by Elenowen.

I see you waiting, but I'm not readyTo take that first step towards homeSo please be patient, God knows I'm tryingBut these good intentions are not enough

You've pulled back your veil, laid it all on the lineBut I've turned my back and covered my eyes

Please, please, please, please cripple meSo I cannot keep running awayAway from you

I'm walking on a wire, but you're holding it steadyYou're taking me higher, but I'm getting heavy

Just give me some time, I am almost a manWithout you by my side, I don't know who I am

Please, please, please, please cripple meSo I cannot keep running awayAway from you

25 Years Ago...

25 years ago today, my parents said "I do." So, my sisters and I decided to celebrate their 25 years together by performing the song they first danced to. This is the fruit of our efforts....

So, Happy Anniversary to Papa D  + Mahm! Here is to (at least) 25 more!!

With much love,

(+ Jami, Jacki, and Jodi.)

Snapshots: A Wedding

This past weekend, Josh and I added a new member to our family as his sister got married. It was a busy week as we all descended on Fort Wayne, IN to make the final wedding preparations. It's easier to tell the story through photos, so here you go!

Seeing God

As we've started walking this road called "Adoption" there have been many times that I have tried to take everything into my own hands. 

If I just hand in all of this paperwork ASAP...

If I return this email right this instant...

If I....[[fill in the blank]]

But, adoption is a very humbling process. Everything but filling out the paperwork and having my home clean and ready for the home study, is out of my control. 

I can't make a birth mom choose us.

I can't move our paperwork to top priority so that we get into the system faster.

There are just a lot of things that I can't do.

I have been witnessing God move over and over again and we're really only in the beginning phase of adoption. 

God has provided the funds we need to cover expenses.

God found us an agency that would work with us when no one else would.

He has already done so much and used our family and friends to bless us, not just financially, but also through loving support and prayer. 

Things are slowly but surely moving forward. We've (read I've) started making our adoption profiles. [[They're really just scrapbooks that the birth moms get to look through. I have to make 5 of them...]]

We've been putting off some of the paperwork for now simply because the questions are a little overwhelming...

"Where would you like your relationship with your child to be in 1 year? 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?"

How does one answer that question if one does not even know the gender of their child yet? Oh well...we have to answer it...as long as it's a "healthy" answer, I don't think they care what we say...

So, quick financial update:

We are 23% of the way to our goal of $13,000! 

I don't want to keep hounding people for money [[because that's not what we're about here...]] however, we would like to invite you to prayerfully consider partnering with us in our endeavor. Even if you don't feel called to give financially, we covet your prayers. 

Here are some ways you can be praying with us:

{1} Pray for our future birth mother. She has been heavily on my heart lately. I don't even know who she is yet, but I am already feeling the burden of what she will have to go through in the future. Pray that God will continue preparing Josh and I to partner with this new family and be able to work together for the good of our child.

{2} Praise for God continuing to meet our needs financially. He is still blessing us through gifts and stories from our loved ones and we just can't say thank you enough!

One final announcement:

I would like to set a fundraising goal of 25% by the end of the weekend. And to help us reach that marker, I'm having a BOGO sale!! Everything in the shop is Buy One Get One!! No joke...

Just use the code FAYANBOGO at check out to receive your discount. 

Thanks for all of your love and support!!

Yet Another Adoption Update

Y'all...

You may or may not have noticed that I have been pretty absent from the Interwebs lately. There is just a lot going on in my life and trying to balance real life and blog//online life just made me a little nuts.

See?

I know that my last few posts have just been updates about our adoption process, but that's what is going on in my life right now, so that's what I'm going to share. 

So here we go...

Today was part 2 out of 3 of our Homestudy. Things went pretty well. We were sent home with another mountain of homework, which includes the start of our Profile/DVD making....so that will be interesting. 

We have continued to receive generous support from friends and family and seriously feel so blessed! We don't know how we'll ever be able to thank everyone who has contributed through prayer or by giving financially. 

Speaking of fundraising, we have decided to open up another option for giving. If you or someone you know would like to make a tax deductible donation, you can check out our profile on PureCharity.com

Pure Charity allows people to raise money through ordinary online shopping or simply through donations. It works sort of like a cash rewards program, where you get to decide which cause your rewards money goes to. I invite you to check out their website for more information/a better explanation. Our personal profile link is: purecharity.com/spenceradoption

Prayer Requests:

{1} Praise! We are now 22% of the way to being fully funded! Like I mentioned before, people have really stepped up and given so generously. We can truly see God's work.

{2} Prayers as we continue navigating the "homework" from our agency. There are so many big decisions that we have to make regarding our profile and what kinds of children/birth mothers we want to open ourselves up to, [[race, disabilities, etc.]] that it can be overwhelming at times.

If you have any questions for us, please do not hesitate to ask! We love being able to share our story/experiences with others!

With much love,

A Last Minute Sale

Hey friends!

God has been good in the last week and we have received so much support from our loved ones to help us reach our fundraising goal of $1,500 by Thursday.

However, we're still a bit short, so I've decided to have a last minute sale. From now through Thursday, you can get 15% off of everything in the shop by using the coupon code PHASEONE at checkout. We really appreciate your help to bring our child home to us!

 



Much love,

Fundraising Update

Alright.

So, a few weeks ago, I posted to update y'all on our adoption plan. We expressed our need for fundraising and have seen some amazing generosity! We are currently ~2% to our final goal of $13,000.

Here is where we need to really ask your help. Next Thursday [[May 16th]] we have our first home study. We will owe $1,500 at this time. Please consider purchasing something from our shop or making a donation by clicking on the "Donate" button in the left-hand sidebar to help us reach this first milestone.

UPDATE (5.8.13): We are currently 11% of the way to reaching our first goal!

Thank you to all who have supported us financially and through prayer so far!
Much love,