Exploring

Myla ready for outdoor adventures!





Today has been a great day!! Our SDA appt went great, we took a long walk in search for TGI Fridays and the Red House restaurant. After walking what seemed like forever carrying a 2 yr old up and down steps during the heat of the day we decided to turn around and just go back. We went to the cafeteria at the mall and ate some lunch and gelato. Then went back to our apartment where Myla and I took a long nap :) while Jim went and searched for wifi.

We've been told lots of places that have wifi but for some reason aren't having any luck finding them or the many places with wifi that we've found for some reason it won't let us join there network on our phones or on our computer. Not quite sure why. We have tried McDonalds, Kpum, Mc Foxy, and Double Coffee. Our best luck we've had so far has been walking along the street and finding wifi spots and standing there to post our blog posts :) of course it's to hot to stand outside to do anything else. Maybe if we can find TGIF then we can sit and email some people back and read the comments written.

We called Serge and he said that we are about a mile from TGIF (Maybe we just didn't walk down far enough.) We will prob try tomorrow but our legs are currently sore and tired :) Us out of shape Americans that drive everywhere we go :) LOL

This evening we went and looked at some beautiful churches, buildings, architecture, Gold domed monastery and went to a park. Myla had so much fun swinging and playing for a bit. We got some sort of crepe like wraps filled with cheese, meat and spices. They were really good!


Places we bought our dinner from.






Myla on the slide.




Myla swinging




Some beautiful pics:

SDA appt went great!!

We had our SDA appt this morning! Everything went great. Myla was a little antsy by the time we made it in there cause we had been standing outside for about an hour and she had been running around and playing but over all she did good. We had to bribe her with a treat :)

Here's Mina's baby pic they had on her file. We gave them the pic of her we have from RR and they gave us this precious picture.








Mina was born January 15, 2009 and lives in an orphanage in the same town she was born in. Serge said that will make it easier on us because we won't have to travel out of her region to obtain any documents so that will help keep costs down. He also said that her parents had signed waivers on file already so that is good because that will be less documents for us to obtain.

Here's some extra pics from this morning.








































We will be going back to the SDA tomorrow to obtain a document so we can head out to Mina's region.

We will meet her very soon!!
Thank u all for ur prayers!

SDA appt Today!!

Our SDA appt is this morning August 3rd at 10am. Serge will be picking us up around 9:30. Please pray for everything to go smoothly with that and say an extra prayer for Myla to be on her best behavior :)

We are going to be staying in an apartment in Mina's region. It is the same one another RR family who adopted from Mina's orphanage stayed in and they loved it! We are so excited to get to stay there. Also Michele if you are reading this Serge said that he would get us in touch with Rostik. We are so excited about this. Rostik is a cab driver they used and absolutely loved and the best part is he speaks english! What a blessing that is for us! We will have to go get a modem so that we will be able to use the internet when we are in Mina's region. I am assuming that will be a day or 2 till we get there and then hopefully we can keep you all updated regularly.

Thank you all for your love and support and prayers!! We appreciate it so much!

There are several other posts updated today. They are back posts I typed previously but couldn't post till now that we found wifi!

Our phone # and venture out!

Okay we are much more rested now. We went back to sleep from about 4am-noon. Got a knock on our door and it was Nikolai bringing us our phone. For anyone in our family that would like to call us or any RR families here (WE WOULD LOVE TO GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU.) Our # is 011380507320417. You can call through Skype to that # and I believe it is about 17 cents a minute! To our fam We would love to talk to you! We miss you all!

Heres some pics of town:




















All we could get from Myla :)






We ventured out today and walked around a little town square like area. We went into a mall and carried Myla in her stroller up and down a ton of steps everywhere we went. We thought it would be fun to go into a store and look at some of their clothes for fun... well we got in the store just fine but when we left the store alarm started beeping. So then someone from the store comes up to us and we tell them we only speak English. She goes and gets someone who speaks a bit of english and he looked through Jim's backpack and stroller. I guess the electronics must have set it off... not quite sure cause on the way out the second time of course it didn't go off. We decided we would wait to go in anymore stores when we did not have Jim's backpack with us :) We found a restaurant called Kpum. It was really good and had a menu in English. Jim got some sort of Beef tip dish and I got greek salad and some sort of stuffed pasty with meat and cheese. Myla loved that!! They had wifi there but we got 6 different password and login information sheets and everyone of them said they were out of minutes so we gave up.



















After walking back to our apartment we thought we should call Yulia to find out where wifi or an internet cafe is. She said McDonalds so we left and went to McDonalds hoping for wifi. We had a coke and fries and were told by the manager there was no wifi there so these blog posts are going to keep being postponed. He told us go down to the mall for wifi but we already tried that earlier today and there was no luck. We left McDonalds headed back to our apartment and I kept my phone out to check for wifi spots!.... Yay we found one!!! Outside of a hotel accept they had a little entry area with tables where we sat. Hopefully we're not breaking any rules :)

Pics of us leaving from OKC

My wonderful sister in law took some pics of us leaving our house and arriving at the airport. Here they are!!







Our precious Myla waiting for us to get everything loaded up







Myla and her cousin Keely












Myla with her cousin Kaetlyn







Getting ready to load up






Myla telling Papa Bo bye on his birthday!







Jim checking us in and me filling out info tags for our bags.

Long blog post!! We're here!!

Here's the long blog post I told you about :)

Well we are here and it is 2am on August 2nd and we are up... not by choice. So much for adjusting to the time change quickly. We went to sleep around 8 and Myla decided at midnight she didn't want to sleep anymore. This is after about 5 hours of sleep on the plane of the course of a day and half... so as you can imagine she was a little bit cranky. We tried practically everything to get her to go back to sleep and after 2 hours of frustration and many tears on Myla's part we decided we would just up for a little bit and so I thought I may as well start blogging to keep track of all the adventures on our trip this far. Not sure when we'll get to actually post it. Have to wait till we find wifi.

So we left July 31st and flew out from Oklahoma to Chicago to Dusseldorf and then here. Everything went pretty good all in all on our flights. Lufthansa serves amazing food on the plane rides so that was really good!


For our family (here's an update about Myla)... she is having a bit of a rough time but we just got here yesterday. We are hoping after a few days of adjusting she will back to her normal sweet self. She is a having a hard time adjusting to the time change and has been awfully cranky and of course more disobedient due to the lack of sleep. After all the plane rides of wearing diapers (since she had an accident on the first plane ride cause of course she needed to go when the seat belt sign was on) now she is having accidents now that we are here. Gonna have to find a store with more diapers for night times since we've been using the few we brought. All these things I think will be fine in a day or two she just needs a little adjusting time. That is a long trip for a 2 year old. She is excited to be here though. She keeps talking about meeting her sister Mina and how she got to fly on an airplane to come get her. She did great on the plane rides. She didn't sleep a whole lot just about 5 hrs on the long overnight flight. She colored, played with some toys and watched part of a movie. The only time the plane bothered her was of course take off and landing and we gave her milk during those times so that helped a ton! Please continue to pray for her!

When we landed in Germany we had to go back through a security checkpoint. They barely let us keep Myla's milk (which we had a note from the Dr stating that she was allergic to all other milk.) I am so thankful they decided to let us keep it. We had to toss out our good American water and I had no idea how much I'd miss it until we got to the other side. Oh how I wish I would have downed the rest of it real quick. So after having everyone of our bags searched (Note to self don't pack your bra in the top of your bag... it's a little embarrassing) we made it through security we went out through a passport control area to buy some water. Got our passport stamped twice (once for exiting and one for returning.) So after spending $4 on a small bottle of water it was nasty mineral water that was some sort of sparkling water and they said was the least sparkling water they have. I thought I'll just wait till we get on the plane and drink water then.

So we made it to our gate and sat down for a bit and then I realized we had left Myla's cares airplane seat harness that helps strap her into the airplane seat in our last overnight flight. So I rushed out to try to see if I could find someone that would know if the plane was still there and we could look for it. I talked to numerous people, went back through passport control to the Lufthansa desk, out of security down to the baggage claim area to lost and found and they said they didn't have anything like that turned in yet. She called someone to go check the plane in the seat we were sitting and I waited and waited till finally the lady got a phone call saying they had located it. Praise the Lord!!! At this point it was about 10 minutes till our flight would be boarding. I rushed back up stairs, through security, to the Lufthansa desk to pick up the seat harness, back through passport control, back downstairs to our gate and thankfully we were just about to board. I was literally praying the entire time. Thankfully I made it before they boarded because we had to take a bus to get to the plane. And I am so glad they were able to find it because that was a huge life saver on the plane rides and we will definitely need it on the way home. That was the only thing keeping Myla in her seat. Anyone who is traveling with young kids I highly recommend it. It's like a carseat belt and they can't get out as easily as just the planes lap belt.

So back to water issue :) Everyone in my family knows I am an extremely picky water drinker and I will let myself get extremely dehydrated before I force myself to choke down nasty water. Probably funny to most people cause some will argue water is water but if there was a taste test I could definitely tell you what was tap and what was bottled. To me there is a world of difference. So once we got on the plane ride with my high hopes of good bottled water I got 4 cups and chugged the down because I was so thirsty.... Tasted just like tap. I thought surely once we landed we will find a place to buy good water (like Ozarka style) but we bought 3 different types of bottled water yesterday from the little store we went to and 2 ended up being sparkling and the other tasted just like tap. It definitely tastes better when it is cold... I will just have to drink it really fast :)

Location:We're here! Long post

We are here!!

I typed a long blog post and will come post it tomorrow now that I found wifi!!! But we are here!!

Our sda appointment is tomorrow at 10am. Please pray for all to go well. Our phone # is 011380507320417 for our family to call us through Skype or any RR families here. We'd love to meet up with u all!!

Post soon!

Headed to Eastern Europe!!

We are now on the plane waiting for take off from Chicago to Dusseldorf!! On our way!!!

A day of rushing, packing, and blessings!

Today has been a crazy whirlwind of a day but also full with many blessings. I know I haven't updated in a bit and that is because we have been running around like crazy people and still are at midnight :)

Just a little left to pack and pick up around our home and then I'm off to bed.

My wonderful cousin, Alex has been such a complete blessing for us. I really wanted to get Mina's quilt all finished so we could take it to her and I just couldn't find the time with everything else. She took that burden off of me and completely took care of it and it looks absolutely beautiful!! I am so amazed and thankful!! She stayed up till around 2 in the morning finishing it for me! Thank you cuz it means so much to me! She even wrapped it with a beautiful bow and heart shaped card.

Here's pics to share with you all!











Later this afternoon a wonderful person of God that has an amazing little boy who has down syndrome stopped by and donated money for us to take on our trip. That was a huge blessing and we are so grateful!

Then this evening we went to my Mimi and Papa's and my grandma had made an amazing dinner for us (Chicken fried chicken, green beans, pineapple carrot salad, and macaroni and cheese) YUM! Several of our family members (aunt, uncle, cousins, siblings, parents) came to pray with us to send us off. My grandma gave us each a special coin that she got when she had her radiation treatments for cancer and they are very special to here. She asked us to carry those with each of us as a reminder of God's protection over us and that our family back home is praying for us! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family!!!

Thank you Lord for all these many blessings!! We truly are blessed beyond belief and we are getting ready to go recieve the greatest blessing! Thank you all for your prayers, love and support!

WOW... can't believe we leave in the am! Better go finish packing so I can sleep :)

Mina & Myla's Room!

A room fit for 2 little princesses!!  :)

Mina's Bed already for her!!!! 

(Once we get home with all our many pics with her, we will put them in the frames and will be adding her name to the wall by Myla's!!!)

Myla's Bed!

And lots of toys!!!

Pics of Mina~ I just received the greatest gift!!!

So I got an extremely sweet letter today from a family who was in the process of adopting Mina but due to some unforseen reasons decided to let her go so she could be adopted by another family quickly.  She said they prayed for a family to come for Mina and God answered their prayers! Honestly if we had been asked days before we even came across RR if we'd be adopting we would say yes we would love to LATER on in our lives... Not now... Well obviously God had another idea.

Anyways I'm rambling~ so off to the joy above all joy and excitement!!! She emailed me several pics of Mina from when Mina was younger. I have never seen these pics nor did I even know they were out there. 
I am so excited to have these! It is so wonderful to see more pics of our baby girl and have keepsake pics of her when she was younger.

So here you go....Enjoy our girl!!!

Blog remaining open :)

Ok so we've changed our mind and decided to opt out on making the blog private and will just leave it open.  So thank you all so much who have sent email addresses and info to follow our journey~ that really means a lot to us!  I had no idea that many people were even reading or cared about our blog and our story so I am really touched by all the requests.

We think it will be much easier on us as well as everyone else who wants to follow our journey if we just leave it open, and that maybe someone will come across our blog and it will be a tool to open a door in the heart of someone else to adopt. 
We have handed out hundreds of cards with a picture of Mina asking people to pray for her and telling them they can follow our blog to see us bring her home and I would hate for someone to come to our blog wanting to read our journey and see our angel and not be able to.

So we may have to be a slight bit vague in some aspects for the time being... but I think for the most part most of you know where we are actually going and the specifics :)

So no worries about being sent out private invites. You can get on and check our blog just like usual!
Thank you to all who follow along, pray for us, and support us in bringing Mina home!!

The countdown is on!  6 days remaining!!!

Still have squares left on Mina's quilt if you want to send me a prayer, scripture, or message to include! Just post a comment or email it to me and I'll add it on!! :) Thanks to all of you who have done so!

Letter to Mina~ 1 week!

Mina,

Our precious baby girl, angel and gift from our God above!! My heart is jumping with joy that we have only one week left till we board a plane to finally come meet you in your country. You have absolutely no idea how much we love you, how much we think about you, talk about you, pray for you and long to meet you! We are so grateful that the Lord has chosen us to be your mommy and daddy. There is no greater gift in this world then the gift of a child and we are thankful that God chose to bless us with you and that He put a burning desire on our hearts to do something crazy, out of our element but so rewarding. I can’t wait to wrap my arms around you, kiss you, hold you, tell you how perfectly and beautifully made you are, and how much you are loved!

Your bedroom is all ready for you. Your bag is mostly completely packed and your sister is anxiously awaiting meeting you. She talks about you at least 100 times a day- telling mommy where your bed is and your toys, and saying Myla share with Mina. She asks everyday when she gets to get on an airplane to fly to meet her sister and she talks about you flying home with her. What a joyous day that will be!

Mina, feel the peace and comfort of the Lord. Rest in His embrace and know that soon… very soon you will no longer be alone here on earth but you will have a huge family with lots of aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents who will always love and adore you!

Mommy wrote this just for you:

Oh precious girl, your life was planned,
God formed you with His two hands.
He knows about you and loves you my dear,
He’s watching over you until we get near.
A blessing, a gift what a joy you’ll be,
Not ours by birth, but our child from the King.

Oh wonderful Creator
You loved us so
And as you’ve told us,
We will surely go.
To care for the orphans,
Embrace them with your love
And accept this gift of life
That you entrust us with.
The debt you paid is far greater than ours,
Thank you Lord for the gift of a child.

We know you were left for reasons unknown,
Although you don’t know us, we already love you so.
We pray for you each day,
And already feel your ours.
We can’t wait to meet you with open arms.
A blessing, a gift what a joy you’ll be,
Not ours by birth, but our child from the King.



We love you little angel!!
Soon very soon….


~ Your mommy & daddy~

Going Private!

Ok... so I've debated on whether or not to make our blog private and well just figured since most everyone else does it for safety reasons for the adoption I might as well be on the safe side and make our blog private as well. 

Basically what making our blog private does is allows us to tell you exactly where we are going and post the truth about our adoption journey in Mina's country! That way we don't have to worry about saying something that could possibly cause a problem in our adoption journey.

Anyone who wants to follow our journey can email me (sweetraeoflove@gmail.com) or post a comment with your email address and name.  Be sure to include your name & email address in order for me to add you to the list.  I will compile the list and then send out invites next week before we leave.

Be sure to email me or comment before the blog goes private so you won't get locked out.

Off to do some of the many things on my to do list. Only 9 days left till we are boarding a plane to Mina's country!

Also we still have many quilt squares left.  Please send me a scripture, prayer or message that you would like written on a square so we can get Mina's quilt finished before we leave!

Thank you!!

Mina's Quilt! Please Help! No donations Requested! Just words! :)

All blogger friends, lurkers, facebook buddies, and family please help us get Mina's quilt finished. We are not requesting any donations just your words, scriptures, prayers, love & support!

Ok... so we leave in less than 2 weeks and Mina's quilt is far from being complete.  We have about 68 squares left to fill in before I can even begin to finish it (which will take some time as well.)

Originally we had asked any amount of donation to buy a quilt square to leave a message. But at this point we just want Mina's quilt filled with love so that we can get it put together and take it to her when we go!

Our thoughts in making her a quilt was to be able to take a blanket filled with messages of love, scriptures, and prayers to wrap her in it to be a keepsake and reminder of all the love & support it took to bring her home!

Please post a comment, email me at sweetraeoflove@gmail.com, or Facebook me your message and we will write it in on a square!

Thank you for your help!

Garage Sale Praises!!

This past weekend was such a wonderful blessing. It was extremely hot, tiring, exhausting, oh and did I mention HOT!!! There is nothing like having a garage sale in the middle of July with 105 degree weather. One of the joys of living in Oklahoma!


So for any of the crazy garage salers who fought through the heat with us… just fyi we normally wouldn’t be this crazy and have a garage sale the hottest time of the year but did it simply for the fact of bringing our little girl home and leaving in 2 weeks. Never again do I think I will ever have another garage sale… especially in the heat of the summer!

~Dear Lord, Please never ask us to adopt where we have to hold another sale in July. Any other cooler month will do or please send cooler weather. Thank you in advance :)

We were able to meet so many wonderful people through the sale. We heard story after story of people who have adopted personally, know someone who adopted, or are in the process of adopting. We met a couple who is in the process of adopting from Ethiopia and is waiting on their referral. We just want to lift them up to the Lord and ask that they receive a referral quickly and that the process and travel date would come so quick so that they can go meet their child. There was a mom from here who has adopted three children that came out just to donate~ what a huge blessing she is to our family and I am so grateful for her faith in loving and caring for those children. Another man stopped by just do donate $50. What a huge blessing!


Thank you to all the garage salers who came out, found treasures, and helped support us bringing Mina home!! We are truly grateful! Thank you, thank you to all those who have graciously donated and given to help this sale even be possible!  We made $1,232 total at the sale this weekend!!!


GARAGE SALE LEFTOVERS & WHAT TO DO:
Then there was figuring out what to do with all the leftovers. I tried contacting people asking if they knew of any families in need that could use some of the things we have left over so that they could come look through and take what they needed and couldn’t find anyone. Thought about donating+ a tax deduction but just didn't feel that would be fair to all the wonderful people who blessed us and so we wanted to in turn pass on the blessing to someone else!  So then I contacted the Malone family asking if they knew of anyone adopting that wanted to have a garage sale to help raise funds for their adoption. They knew just the person. She called me and was so excited. She said she had just been praying to the Lord about what they were going to do and where they were going to get stuff from because they hadn’t received much to sale & her phone rang with the news! She said that her and her family would love to come pick it up and even help us box everything back up (something I was dreading doing after this long week.) So it was just perfect!! I am so grateful to all those who donated to us to help us raise funds to bring Mina home and so grateful that the Lord opened the doors for us to be able to pass the remainder to another family for the same purpose! They are coming this evening! What a blessing!



SPECIAL THANKS: There is so many wonderful people we have to thank! Thank you to Kate & Cody our neighbors for always helping with anything needed. Kate spent the week with me setting up for the sale & getting everything organized as well as sit at the sale and help me run it! Cody helped pick up several heavy items for the sale. What a huge blessing you have been to our family! Thank you to my Mimi for all your love & support for your great grandbaby. She watched Myla one day of the sale for us, came and set with us in the heat on another, and cooked us dinner the next day! Thank you!! Charmaine~ my Mimi’s good friend, for all your time, donations for the sale, love, and for sitting out in the heat as well and being our best sales woman :) We are so grateful for you!! Thank you for letting us borrow your cash register, clothes rack, and tables. You are such a wonderful person and I am so thankful you are a part of our lives! Thank you to my wonderful husband Jim for always being supportive, hard working, loving and most of all patient with me when I get impatient in the miserable heat :) I love you so much baby and couldn’t do any of this without you. Jim put up some awesome signs with arrows leading directly to our house. He moved boxes after boxes and heavy furniture/ tables day after day. He forced me to sit inside out of the heat for awhile cause he was worried about me. LOL You are amazing and I love you and am so grateful that you are my helpmate from the Lord!!

Garage sale~ Day 1!

Praise the Lord for such a wonderful successful day. Despite the dyer heat this afternoon everything went quite well for the sale. Thank u so much to all those who came, donated, purchased items, shared in conversation and truly blessed our family & our precious little Mina!

We made $585 today!! We are so appreciative and once again say thank u! I will adjust our fundraising thermometer at the end of the sale!! Yay!!

A special thanks to our wonderful neighbors who have been such a huge blessing to us and have consistently helped for the past week set up, get prepared and sit with me at the sale!

As well as a special thanks to my grandma's best friend Charmaine!! She has done a tremendous amount of things with us helping set up, run, and coordinate the previous huge event sale, working at this one, and donating a tremendous amount of wonderful items as well as time! Charmaine we are forever thankful for all you've done & continue to do. Thank u!!

We truly couldn't do it without all the help, love and support and we praise God for each of u!! Each of u play an amazing role in us bringing this little girl home. We covet the prayers and pray blessings on all of u!!

Once again we say thank u!!

will post pics tomorrow for everyone!!

Still lots left. Sale continues next two days!

Thanks,
Blessings

Garage Sale July 15, 16, & 17 8am-4pm

Ok... so I'm extremely exhausted and can barely keep my eyes open but thought I'd write a quick post to update everyone on the sale!

I have spent this whole past week cleaning out the garage, organizing, moving hundreds of boxes and getting things ready, now the sale is here and I am down right tired :)

So my garage is completely full to the brim. There is hardly any squeezing room between tables and things to get the garage door closed but we managed to cram everything in.   We will be getting up around 6:30am to start pulling lots of stuff out of the garage to line the driveway. 

We have just about anything imagineable:  beds, furniture, antiques, books, children's stuff galore, children's books, toys, clothes, shoes, bedding, Adult clothes, shoes, purses, accessories, etc, holiday, houseware, kitchenware, decor, picture frames, paintings, candles, baskets, crafts, books, movies, electronics, tvs, computers, keyboards, etc, etc, etc.....

Please pass the word on to any Oklahomans in the area!! :)   Also please be in prayer for an amazing turnout and that the Lord would continue to provide for us financially!  Thank you all!!!!


WHEN:  July 15, 16, & 17th  (Thurs, Fri, & Sat) ~  8am - 4pm

WHERE:  6312 Westpark Drive  OKC, OK 73142

WHY:  To help us raise funds to bring Mina home!!


Now off to bed to get a few hours of shut eye before it's time to get back to work! Can't wait to have this baby home & all the hard work paid off! :)  Only 2 weeks till we leave!!! Horray!

Electronics!

So we've been working on getting everything ready to go and planning our next big garage sale. Rain permitting we will be having the sale this weekend at our house so please be in prayer for that to be a great turn out!

Some exciting news! I think we are close to having the electronics side of our trip figured out. The only laptop Jim and I own is 10+ years old and it's a little ancient, runs extremely slow plus doesn't have wifi capabilities, so I don't think it would even be useful for us to take it along.

We had talked about buying a laptop for the trip so we would be able to update our blog with pics, videos, etc but as time gets closer just don't really feel we have the money to go spend on buying a computer at this time.

So I started brain storming and thought... I have an iphone so I thought if we can find wifi over there than we could update our blog through my phone. So I searched for blog apps and found a free one where I can upload text, video through you tube and pics. I also figured out that the ipad keyboards can be attached to our iphone & I can type using that making it much easier and quicker than typing out on our phone. So I will be able to type the text in my notes on my phone at our apartment/ wherever we stay than when we go to a wifi hotspot we can connect and post everything.

So I am really excited about it! Plus it saves us the packing and the extra expense. Just hopeful that it works out as well as we think it will :)

Myla eating a krispy kreme donut

So I'm testing out this new app I got on my phone to see if I can upload pics and videos to our blog. So here u go.

Plane Tickets Are Booked! We leave July 31st!

A little less than $5,000 later and our plane tickets are booked!  We fly out July 31st at 12:20 in the afternoon from OKC and arrive in Eastern Europe on August 1st at 2:30pm.  It will be around a 24 hour flight and layover trip with the time change.  Our SDA appointment is August 3rd!

Please begin praying for us and for our daughter Myla.  We have decided to take her with us because we just didn't feel we could leave her for 5-7 weeks and come home with another baby. We thought for her sake it would be better if she got to be there and be apart of things and us go as a family to bring home our precious girl.

Please pray for her during this process. For her to do well in the long flight and adjust quickly to the 8 hour time change, for her to have patience beyond belief, that she would be very well behaved in all the office visits, orphanage visits, and trips we must take to get everything done. As many of you know she is 2 and anyone who has kids knows how 2 year olds sometimes act.  Please just lift us up in your prayers!

We are so excited! Just a few weeks left.

Prayers Needed!

Please Continue to pray for us financially. 

We still need approximately $13,000 to bring Mina home and I've been looking at purchasing plane tickets and they have gone up to $1650/ each so of course that makes our costs and needs financially go up. 

Please pray for us to find an awesome price on plane tickets and for the Lord's provision for us financially.

We will be having another garage sale (which we have tons and tons of stuff, furniture, baby items, etc) July 15-17th.  Click here to see pics from the last sale event to see how much stuff we still have to sale. 

Please mark that on your calander and come check it out if your in the area and pray for a great turnout!

We also have Mina's quilt that we are trying to get filled up so that we can take that to her when we go to get her. Please send a message, prayer or scripture and help us get her quilt squares all filled in so her blanket can be finished and be a symbol of all the love, support, and prayers that got her here! Click Mina's Quilt tab above to see quilt.

Thank you all!!!

Blessings!

SDA Appointment Date!!!

Yay!! We've finally received our SDA appointment date after lots of anticipation and impatience :)

Drum roll please....... August 3rd!

So it's a whole month a way and further out than we'd hoped but we know Gods timing is PERFECT and we are just excited to finally have an official date to look forward to.

The SDA office closes every 3 months for 2 weeks and that just happens to fall July 1-15th so I'm sure that pushes everything back.

Now we are off shopping for plane tickets.

We get to leave in a month to finally meet our daughter ;)

Praise the Lord! We are so excited and blessed!

Still Waiting...

Okay so I  know it's only been 1 week today since our dossier was submitted to the SDA but I keep anxiously checking my email thinking, hoping, praying.... thinking, hoping, praying some more that for some reason I will open it to find our travel date.

Well, no travel date yet but I am hopeful we will find out this next week! We have been picking up a few things here and there trying to get somewhat prepared for when we will be able to leave.

Please continue to pray for God's provision for us financially!  I know God is faithful and we trust in that. We are still planning on having another sale (which we have TONS of stuff left) but unfortunately my daughter and I have both been sick the past couple weeks and unable to. Since next weekend is the 4th of July we figured we would wait and do it after that (depending on our travel date of course!)

Thank you all so much for your prayers, and support.  We are so grateful and couldn't do it without everyone.  Please say a prayer for us and our precious girl anytime we come to mind! Thank you!!

IMAGINE A DIFFERENT LIFE

So I came across this post on another families blog that brought me to tears for these poor children.  It is so sad to think of what happens to them and that had we been born in that situation that could've been us.  I am thankful for the blessing of being born into a wonderful loving family and I praise the Lord and thank Him for that.  At the same time I can't take my blessing and shut the rest of the world out and pretend I don't care.  Imagine if more people stood up to make the difference!!

Click Here to read an amazing story about what can happen for these children when people do live their lifes out loving and showing care for these precious children that once seemed hopeless!



Here is the story below from Garden of Eagan Blog (link below):


Imagine you're a newborn baby. Born in a land far different than where you are now. A place where the value of human life is much different than it is in developed countries. Now imagine that you were born with something like Down Syndrome, or something as minor as a hand deformity.
Your parents will be told to send you away, that there is no care for you, and you're going to die anyway. So your parents follow the advice of doctors and bring you to an orphanage. But remember, this is an orphanage in a 3rd world country. You spend your days, weeks, months and years cold, hungry, and without medical care. If you're lucky, there will be one caregiver who takes a liking to you and tries to give you some extra attention each day.

But there's something looming over you. Something that most children in the world celebrate...your 4th birthday. Only for you, this birthday brings a death sentence, because in many of these countries, if you turn 4 and have not been adopted you'll be moved to a mental institution where you are no longer available for adoption. For all intense purposes, to the rest of the world you are dead.
There you well spend your days like this

You will be straight jacketed in sheets. Why? Because of the intense boredom and lack of human physical contact you will resort to desperate measures, even if it means gouging your own eyes out. The only contact you will get with people is if you're lucky, someone will notice that your sheets are full of urine and feces and decide to change them. You will never see sunshine. You will never smell fresh air, only the overpowering odor of urine and feces from several hundred children just like you crammed into the same building getting the same lack of care. You will likely die within the first couple of years from some terrible illness, severe dehydration, or hypothermia from lack of heat in the decrepit building.

Or perhaps you would be like this little girl. Bound by her wrists for years already, left alone in a state of severe dehydration. TIED TO HER BED!!!!!

If you don't die within the first couple of years, your body might continue to grow. But don't think it will get you a bigger bed. Instead you'll be forced to spend more years in the same crib, just like these TEENAGERS have been crammed in.

But it doesn't have to be this way! It doesn't! While governments and organizations like Mental Disability Rights International will have to deal with the indidual countries, there are ways to save these children! Reece's Rainbow is an adoption organization dedicated to rescuing children with Down Syndrome from certain death in these countries. There are many children who are approaching their 4th birthday. While not everyone is in a position to adopt a child, Reece's Rainbow has established a fund for each child to help with the adoption expenses so that nobody can say, "I would do it if I had the money."

Even if you can't adopt a child, can you spare $5, $10 or more so that someone else can? Please...this makes me sick to know these children are dying. Read through the child profiles. You'll find children that have nothing wrong with them other than an eye that needs surery, or a hand that has a mild deformity, yet they have been thrown away. But we can save them!!!!

Posted by Leah   To see the Blog where this posting came from: Click Here!

http://www.reecesrainbow.org/

DOSSIER SUBMITTED!!!!

Yep you heard it right!! Our dossier was submitted TODAY!!!  I was thinking it was going to be next Thursday but it was this Thursday!!

Praise the Lord!!  We will hopefully know our travel date in the next 2 weeks!

I called my grandma to tell her the exciting news and she was so filled with joy it brought her to tears.  She is so ready to have that little great grandbaby home and said she was praying this morning asking the Lord to get her here even quicker.

We are so excited!!! Time to start getting things lined out, prepared and somewhat ready to go! 

Please continue praying for the finances! I was unable to do the garage sale this weekend because Myla and I have both been sick the past week.  We are trusting in the Lord completely and know He will provide!

We are so ready to get our baby home!

SDA Hopeful Submittal Date!

If everything goes as planned our dossier should be submitted to the SDA in Mina's Country this next Thursday- June 24th!!!

Please pray everything goes smoothly and it is submitted asap and that we get a quick travel date!


Please help us fill up Mina's Quilt Squares! We still have lots of quilt squares left needing a loving message, prayer or scripture to finish up her quilt so that we can put the backside on it and take it with us! Please email or post a comment with a message you would like to leave for her so that we can wrap her in everyones love, support, and encouraging words!!

Click here to see a pic and more info on Mina's Quilt!

Thank you all!!

While we....

This is a poem that was written by a wonderful lady that helps so much with Reeces Rainbow providing support, encouragement and help along the way through the adoption process.  I read this on another families blog who has adopted through RR and it really touched my heart so I wanted to share it with you all. Thank you Meredith for helping us all to see the reality for these poor children.

James 1:27 (New International Version)

27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.


While we were eating…
… they were hungry
While we were playing…
… they were restrained
While we were tucking our kids into bed…
… they were alone
While we turned up the heat…
… they laid in the icy cold
While we wrapped our children in blanket sleepers…
… they laid in their own excrement
While we sang songs and listened to music…
… they listened to the screams and cries of those around them
While we rocked our babies…
… they silently rocked themselves
While we hugged our kids…
… they scratched at their own faces and pulled their own hair for stimulation
While we cried over scraped knees…
… they moaned in their loneliness
While we brushed our daughters’ beautiful hair…
… they had their heads shaven to stave off the lice
While we fought off the flu with love and nourishment…
… they got the flu and went Home.
No longer suffering… but so many more still are.
In memory of those that have never felt the love of a family, but have passed away alone.

By: Meredith Cornish

Praise the Lord!!

Wow what an amazing Blessing and revelation of God's power when ordinary people step up and try to make a difference. 

We have a friend who actually adopted their little boy that was transferred to this orphanage after turning 4 and they have many horrifying memories of the stench and what they saw and experienced when they went to meet their little boy.  Could you imagine never even knowing the basic sanitation of washing your hands?

Check out this link to Read an article of a Mental Institution Where children with special needs are transferred at the age of 4

How sad for those children and praise the Lord for the few who stepped out and began making the difference.

Here's an amazing update of the transformation in 1 years time!!

What an amazing change just 1 year with Love and care has done for the least of these.  God has called us as Christians and followers of Christ to step out and care for the orphans, the weak, and widows.  It's so sad to think of all the many children in this world with out the love of family and just locked away as outcasts hidden from the world.  Imagine the change that could be done if more people said yes!!  Praise the Lord for the change in this orphanage & we pray for the change to continue for them as well as many other orphans in the world!!  We pray for the walls to be broken down for the disabled girls that MTU will be allowed to go be apart of that orphanage & we pray for change for them as well!

What a blessing it is to serve a God where nothing is impossible!

AUCTION WINNERS!

Thank you so much to all those who have placed your bids & helped us get closer to bringing Mina home!!

The highest bid winners and amounts have been updated on the Auction tab Click here!

I will be contacting the winners listed within the next 48hours to arrange delivery/ payment!  Thank you!!

Dossier Delivered!!

What a blessing UPS has been! Our package was delivered today at 3:45pm in Mina's Country!  That was extremely fast and boy do I love tracking #s :)   It's so good to know that our dossier is finally there in Mina's Country and we are that much closer to going to meet our precious girl!! We are so anxious and can't wait till we receive the good news of our travel date!

Please continue to pray for us! Pray for Mina as she faces these days in an orphanage till we get to her.  Pray for the Lord to prepare her heart for meeting her forever family.  Pray for Myla as she prepares to meet her sister and for understanding. She is so extremely excited about meeting her sister, but still we could always use prayers in her heart fully being prepared and for her to not feel jealous as I'm sure Mina will need special "mommy/ daddy time" in the beginning. 

Please continue to pray for us financially! We still are about $15,000 short! June 17, 18, and 19th we will be having another sale which we still have tons & tons of great stuff for! Please pray for God's provision in the financial aspect and that many many people would come to the sale!

And a huge prayer request is please please pray for all the orphans in the world!  147million children are out there all throughout this world lonely, no one to rock them to sleep or kiss them goodnight, no one to sing lullabies or hold them and comfort them when they fall down, no one to celebrate special holidays or birthdays, no one to make them feel loved and cherished and like they are a gift and blessing as they are. Pray that the Lord would continue to call people out and put a burning passion and desire on their hearts that they just can't shake it. Pray that God would lead people to become prayer warriors for these children & stand in the gap for them. Please pray that God would send people with the financial means to help provide for those willing to open there home and heart to a child forever- that more children can feel the love & gift of family!!

God's Heart 4 Adoption!

This video brought on the waterworks.  What an inspirational video of how God truly orchestrated adoption from the beginning of time!  Oh how I praise Him for adopting us into the family of the King!

Just how Important is adoption?