Church and Home Study

Well, we had quite the busy weekend. Busy but great! On Sunday we led worship and spoke at church. We talked about adoption. Our story and God's heart in it. We showed this video and I think everyone should watch it. Andy is a thinker, so this video reached him. I am more emotional, so the slide shows with songs and the video blogs reach me more. This however is such a powerful teaching. Anyhow, we were so blessed by people after church and so encouraged! Just what we needed before a drive down to Indy.
Why Indy? We had our first home study. Our agency requires us to come to them for the first one. We won't argue....it actually made it significantly cheaper!! My family lives in the Westfield area so we were able to take advantage of the time and visit my grandpa, aunt, uncle and cousins. Nahum was especially happy to have time to play with his cousins. He LOVES them!!
My aunt watched the boys for us while we went to our appointment. We were so nervous! We had no idea what to expect. I mean people typically hope to never have a run in with a social worker let alone chose to meet with one!! Ours however was amazing! She was so nice and encouraging. We sat and cried together talking about past adoption stories and the cool ways God has pulled through for people at the last second. It was really so much better and so much more encouraging than I had expected. We were blessed!
Now we have a pile of paper work to do and physicals etc etc etc.....Then, we have two more in home, home studies and then an additional one later. All in all it was a great weekend and we were given a boost to keep on trucking....

Remembering to pray

When you have a biological baby, you have daily reminders to pray for that child. Your tummy grows, you feel sick, you get tired....and the list goes on. There isn't a second that goes by that you forget about that child. You remember to pray with each kick or hiccup. But when you adopt you don't have those minute by minute reminders. Sometimes it's easy to forget to pray for the child in the midst of crazy days. I don't like that! Andy and I wanted to have those minute by minute reminders to pray for our little one so we decided we would look into getting rings that would serve as that reminder. Every time we see the ring we would pray. We looked online and found some we liked, but the cost.....it was hard to justify. Until....This weekend we were on a date night and we went to Meijer. They had all of their diamond, stainless, silver and gold jewelry 75% off! Andy and I both found rings we liked and together they totaled $20.00! That, is doable! I was so excited and felt really blessed that we were able to find decent rings for such a great price! They are bling finger quality at a green finger price! (Get it? Cause cheap rings turn your finger green?) :)
When Nahum saw our rings he asked us why we got them. We explained it to him and he wanted one too! I thought it was so sweet. So, we are making him wear this cheesy, cheap, dentist treasure chest, ring for a week. If he can keep it on without loosing it we told him we would buy him a nice one. I found one online that is stainless steel with a cross cut out and it's even a boys ring! ( Way more masculine than this one lol! He thinks it looks like his papa's class ring, so he thinks it's cool anyway.)
Now that we have a daily reminder, a minute by minute reminder to pray I feel even more attached to this child who most likely isn't even born yet! How amazing that we can cover this kid and his/her biological mother in prayer before he/she is even born and orphaned!

Fundraising time with Joanna Beasley!

It's time for fundraiser number two! This time it's not a raffle, it's CD's for sale! Our good friend Joanna is a recording artist who has really blessed us with her music and as a friend. She has done everything from being a finalist on American Idol, leading worship at churches, touring on her own to the Beyond Idols tour and pretty much everything in between. We were so blessed by her offer to donate CD's. We are going to be selling both her "My World" and "Patiently Waiting" albums. They are both amazing, but I will say her song "You Call Me Beautiful"  is my fav! :) Ok, Maybe "Just Want You To" is tied for first!  Either way, I think this is a great way for you to be blessed as well. We are getting close to having enough money to complete our home studies and we are hoping the sale of these CD's will be the ticket to raising enough money to finish those. Once we finish the home study portion, we will be able to apply for grants and adoption loans! YAY!


So, here is the deal if you would like to purchase/donate......

A beautiful collage of the past few years of growing, changing and 

learning more about the Love of  Christ through her recent marriage.

Released in August of 2005 at the age of 19, just 3 years after advancing

 to the final 80 contestants in Fox's hit show "American Idol.

Pricing

1 CD of your choice~ $7.00
Both CD's~ $12.00

Shipping

If you live close enough for me to drop them to you or for you to stop in and pick them up, donation is as seen above. If you live farther away but would still like to purchase one or both, we will add a small shipping fee. for one it would be $2.00 and for both it would be $4.00 shipping.

Just email me at erinrtoth@gmail.com and let me know if you want one or both and if we need to ship it to you. To pay, all you need to do is click the donate button on the right side of the blog and follow the simple instructions, or we can arrange for you to pay with cash or check if you live near by.

Check out some previews of Joanna's songs from both albums at http://joannabeasley.com/store.php. You will be glad you did!

Thankful

I know, I know....It has been far too long since I have blogged. I apologize. Life has been busier than normal. (Not sure how that's possible, but I guess it is!) I titled this thankful because that is how my heart feels. Overflowing. There have been many updates financially since my last post. First off, just a heads up that we haven't been able to get our fundraising thermometer to work, so there is more money in our adoption account than we are showing at this point. We haven't even been able to put in the $880.00 donated through the Darcy Holsopple Photography raffle. So yeah, even though you can't see it, it is there and for that money we are THANKFUL! Secondly, random people here and there have mailed us checks or dropped us some cash. For that we are THANKFUL! Third, My Parents had a stocking for our new family member and in it was some unexpected money towards the adoption. So sweet, so cute and for it we are THANKFUL! Fourth, We had our final family Christmas last weekend in Ohio. We usually donate to something such as the Heifer project rather than exchanging gifts. This year, unknown to us, they planned behind our backs. :) We had no idea what they had been up to, but rather than donate to an organization they donated it to us. Totally surprised us and blessed us! For this we are THANKFUL! And lastly I got some great news from our  home study social worker. Our original home study cost (we have to do 4 and an orientation in Indy) was an estimated $6,700.00! Holy ridiculousness! However, through the way this agency handles their home studies, our cost has been dropped to and estimated $3,500! HOLY COW! That is a pretty big drop! Praise God! For this we are THANKFUL! To say the least each and every one of these things has blown us away and blessed our hearts! Just another reminder of God's faithfulness and provision! Thank you! All of you! To every person who has said a prayer, donated or encouraged us. For you all, we are THANKFUL!

On the verge...

There are days when I would like to escape the reality of life. Today would be one of those days. Overwhelmed, exhausted, stretched to the max.....sound familiar to anyone? Not that I wish that on anyone, but boy would it be great to know I'm not the only one. I can't remember the last time I fell asleep before 2 a.m. and didn't get a wake up call every 1-2 hours. Both boys have slept horribly lately, therefore I have slept horribly. Last night I may have had a minor melt down around 1:40 am. I bawled my eyes out! My blessed, sweet husband held me until I cried myself to sleep. Praise God for that man!
I have had one, (no joke) ONE day at home last month and one day this month where I wasn't going anywhere and no one was coming over. My laundry has piled into a mountainous range in our bed room and the laundry room. And my dishes....well....lets just say when we woke up the other morning, our house smelled like an onion cause I didn't have time to do the dishes until after 10pm and by that time I was too tired so I let it go......yeah, I know...gross!
Oliver has been super fussy the past two days where all he does is cry. Not only that but he is teething and that has given him a major butt rash. I thought giving it some air might help so I let him run stark naked for a while.....bad idea.....two words.....potty carpet! I crack up laughing when I see this commercial but oh boy are there days like this. Some days I think "What are we doing bringing another child into this craziness?!" And then I see a picture of a little Ethiopian child or get an email from our case worker and I remember.
To add to the whole thing, we have been trying desperately to save money for this adoption and that has gone out the window!!! Every time we start to get ahead the infamous beast of a truck breaks down. And when I say breaks down, I don't mean a bolt pops off. I mean we drop hundreds at a time. I am pretty certain we are  nearing the $3,000 mark in 6 months. Again, no, I am not kidding!! Today we took the crap machine in because we thought something our mechanic fixed a month ago had a problem, and he planned to fix it for free. WRONG! $200.00 more down the tubes cause of course it was something else! So, now we have had to resort to the dreaded credit card. We NEVER use it! NEVER! It is for emergencies only and apparently we have reached that point. aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!! (Can you hear me screaming?!)
To say the least I had some serious moments of discouragement recently and I have questioned what in the world we are doing. Today I was on the verge of melt down number two in 24 hours when two things happened. One immediately following the other. 1~ My dear friend Issy sent me a text reminding me that everything was going to be ok. That God called us to this and put it in our hearts and he would provide in every way. Ah...a wave a peace....2~ My friend Joanna sent me a text telling me she had like 80-160 CD's she wanted to give me to sell to raise money for the adoption. Ah....wave number two. Praise God! (click on her name, it will take you to her website so you can listen to her talent and check her out....maybe you will wanna buy a CD! :))
I'm not gonna lie, I am still tired. I am still stretched to the max. However, I am starting to let go a little and lean on the everlasting arms. Right when I reached the brink HE came through to remind me that HE was still in control. HE cares, HE sees and when I let go HE will carry me.....The old hymn runs through my head....."leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms."

faithful

I was made aware of this family today. This family is not your average family in any way shape or form. I read one blog post and it drew me in. I ended up going back over two years in her writings. Renee (mom) and Derek (dad) have two living biological children, two who went to be with Jesus and 10 adopted. Roughly two years ago Derek was in a terrible car accident and was killed. Renee is now a single mother to 12 and president of the Orphan Justice Center. Just one year earlier they had posted about a missionary family that had suddenly lost their husband/father and asked for prayer and support for them. Now it's her in that position. Her faith in Christ stuns my heart and encourages my spirit in such deep ways. I have never met this woman, I have never experienced the pain she has felt and I have never faced the challenges she has faced. Yet my heart feels gratitude and compassion for her all at the same time. Here I am getting discouraged or frustrated at minimal speed bumps in our adoption road.....my perspective has changed.....greatly. How can I allow such small things shake me? He is faithful!! The faithfulness of Christ in this woman's life....in her children's lives....it brings me to tears. While walking down some of the hardest, most painful roads the Lord has been faithful. In every way faithful. God calls us to follow his calling and his purposes regardless of what life brings. This she is still doing. Regardless. HOWEVER, He is faithful to comfort and care for us through it. He is faithful to provide everything we need. He is faithful to love and carry us. We are not on this journey on our own. Where ever you are, whatever you are going through, whatever discouragement or frustration you are going through......be faithful to follow. He IS faithful to complete the work he started in you! (Phil 1:6)

http://louxfamilyblog.com/2011/10/a-thankful-heart/...Read it... this is one of my favorite ones. You can read em all, but this one from October really reaches me.

And the winner is.....

CONGRATULATIONS #88 BRITTANY B! Thank you all for joining in and supporting our adoption and for entering to win the raffle! Brittany, You have won a Family photo shoot with Darcy Holsopple for 2012! This is valued at $200.00! Yay for you! And a very HUGE thank you to Darcy for being willing to bless our lives and the life of a child by donating your talent! I am blessed to call you my friend and I appreciate and love you bunches! THANK YOU!  Thanks to all of you we were able to raise $880.00 towards our adoption! Love how God provides! If anyone else out there has a fundraising idea or something they would like to donate for our next raffle  please let me know! Email me at erinrtoth@gmail.com.