Puzzle Pieces For Our Girls (Hoping to Fill Every Piece)

This puzzle has been hanging around for awhile. We started this fundraiser a few months after we committed to Yana. We have sold a total of 125 pieces. We planned on running it until she comes home, sadly she isn't (at least not right now.) I thought about just stopping it, but the show must go on. We need to sell 425 more pieces at $5 each. That would make us an additional $2125 for our adoption of Phoebe +1. For every $5 donated you will get your name on the back of a puzzle piece. The winner will be drawn when all puzzle pieces are sold or when Phoebe +1 comes home. Your name will be highlighted. The puzzle will be put together by our family. It will then be framed with the wood of your choice with glass on the back and front (by Bryan's Framing here in Zanesville, OH.) That way you will see what piece you played in Phoebe and Daria's future. God bless and thank you so much for all of your support! Let's get selling-only 435 pieces to go!! All donations are tax deductible.

Bella's Birthday Celebration Donation

Our little Bella (Daria) is having her 3rd birthday on December 15th. Can you help celebrate her birthday by donating $3 in her name to the white box on the right or go to our fsp page and donate? I cannot wait to celebrate her birthday with her. No more birthdays without her family!!! The nice thing is-we will be there to celebrate with her (well Daddy will be home with the rest of the kids...but Mommy will be!!!) We are still $7739 short of what we need to bring her and her sister home. Every donation counts!!!!

We Have A Court Date!!!

It is December 6th! Praying for miracles for the judge to rule in our favor, for the documents they want redone to be easy ones, for the $7739 we still need to be here in God's timing and for a quick trip so we can be home with our other kiddos for Christmas!

The Past Couple Weeks

This past couple of weeks has been getting our dossier ready and sent. Then applying for a grant/loan through A Child Waits Foundation. We should hear the preliminary yes or no this week. Our oldest had some serious soccer games these past two weeks. The ending left me a little bitter. I am a Mom and I don't think she got what she deserved. The worst thing is seeing your daughter upset. I can tell you carrying around that bitter feeling has taken a lot out of me the last couple days. It zaps you. I prayed today for God to help me help myself to let it go. God knows I am human and I am a mother. I know feeling like this is normal. That look you see when you look into your daughters eyes and they are hurt. It's just a little tough to let go. Yes, like I said, I am working on it.

We are about $7739 away from being funded (thanks to a donation from BioPlastics and a dear friend)...barring any crazy fees or huge airfare hikes. We need our white button to the right to say $28,813 to be where we need to be. I am really hoping for the grant/loan to come through. This week we should have our littlest girls' room ready. We picked up their beds last week. We have their bed sets ready. We just need to paint and set up. For those people who say you can't love a child you only met or visited for four days-maybe for you or others, but for me and my husband it is possible. I know we didn't give birth to them, but the feeling is the same as the very first second you set your eyes on your newborn as they placed him or her in your arms. We love these little girls very much. It's not just about getting them for me or us. It's not about the fact that they make us so happy (which they do,) but it's about two little girls who need a family. It's about two little girls that will grow and be loved. It's about the fact that we have open arms waiting for them. It's about two little girls who we know will have issues, but are willing to accept them. It's about two little girls who will need us to have patience along with the love. It's about two little girls God brought to us. A beautiful little blonde and brunette who without finding a family and being adopted, will have no chance at a life outside of an orphanage. To me that is enough. Two little special enoughs. They are enough. Exactly enough. No matter what anyone thinks or ponders, we love these little girls and cannot imagine our lives without them.

Dossier Sent To The Agency

Our second dossier has been sent to the agency. Monday we went to get everything apostilled and it was not an easy day. The copies of Ohio birth certificates didn't work. So, we had to go and get 4 birth certificates for our children born in Ohio, take them back and have them apostilled. It was a fixable problem...but nothing is ever painless. We are ok with that. God has given us the ways to fix the problems. Got to have labor pains somehow, right? So, now we are praying that none of the paperwork is wrong. Our visa apps have been sent. We are back to trying to figure out how to get the rest of the money we need for the adoption. God has shown me he is here many times through this adoption. I know he will work it out in his own due time. We thought we were down to needing $7,913...but I forgot to add the girls tickets home...so we are back to needing about $9,833. Asking people for help all the time is really humbling, but to get to my girls is what we have to do, so ask away we must. Please continue to pray and spread the word if you can. To get to where we need to be...the white box to the right should say $28,813. I know it can happen. I just know it can. Somehow, someway it will.

Matthew 17:20
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Getting Closer

Due to our last donation of $2,500 from the Buddy Walk of North Canton and the continued prayers/donations from our friends & family-we are now only $7,913 away from our goal for our court trip. We hope to have our documents completed and off to our agency on Monday or the latest on Tuesday. Thank you all so much! I am going to post a prayer to St. Anthony:

Wondrous Saint Anthony, glorious for the fame of your miracles, you had the happiness of receiving in your arms our blessed Lord as a little child. Obtain for me from His mercy this favor that I desire from the bottom of my heart: that we are able to complete our adoption of Phoebe and Isabella and bring them home safely all together as a family.

Since you were so gracious to poor sinners, do not regard the lack of merit on the part of him who calls upon you, but consider the glory of God, which will by exalted once more through you, by the salvation of my soul and the granting of the petition that I now earnestly present to you.

As a pledge of my gratitude, I beg you to accept my promise to live henceforth more faithfully according to the teaching of the Gospel and to be devoted to the service of the poor whom you ever loved and still love so much. Bless this my resolution and obtain for me the grace to be faithful to it till death. Amen.

In Exactly Two Months

In exactly two months, my Isabella Daria will be 3 years old. 3 years without a family. 3 years of no birthday cakes. 3 years of no presents. 3 years of it passing without a celebration. This year I hope and pray to God that the situation changes. I hope that either we are there with her on her birthday or we are on our way home. Right now we are $10,448 away from having what we need to travel. We hope and pray that somehow, someway it all is there when we need it. Phoebe's is in April. Two little girls who prayerfully will not have to spend another birthday without their family (US!!)