Exceedingly Abundantly Above

As I was watching a program this morning, there was a woman who's favorite verse was Ephesians 3:20:
"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us..."

I began to think of our fundraiser and how God has done exactly that. I was thinking it would be great if we could sell 200 dozen, but God did exceeding abundantly above that, more than I could think. How great is our God!

We are coming close to 370 dozen sold, almost double my original hopes, plus donations and I'm expecting more orders! It's amazing!

C.P.A. anyone?

Does anyone know a C.P.A. that will help me with my Verification of Self Employment letter? I've not had time to look around, but I thought I'd throw the question out there!

Awww Phooee!

That's the way I feel. We didn't have "everything" (like the C.P.A. letter for my employment verification) from the list for our Home Study meeting so we weren't able to schedule a Home Study visit before Christmas. The office is closed for about a week and a half for the holidays. I'm really frustrated that I couldn't get all of the stuff done... MAN! It was impossible. Too many things on my have-to-do list, and unless I had gone without sleep completely, there was no way. I'm sure God has something planned, but for now, ugh.

About the meeting on Monday, it was very informative. There were 4 other couples there. David was very relieved when we left. He had this impression that the social worker would be like the gestapo and super picky and basically "out to get us". But our social worker, Amy, was so sweet and nice, and she said their goal is to help us get our children. Yay!

We went over the necessary paperwork and also a few other subjects like books to read and some of the travel expectations. We went over some things that might happen when we bring our child home, and what we might expect from people in the stores and church and such. Many people just don't realize what they are saying and can be offensive. Amy told us we should avoid using the term "Real Parents" vs. "birth parents", or saying the child IS adopted vs. WAS adopted. One other thing that I hadn't thought of, especially if the child is a toddler or older, is that for bonding purposes, the child should only be fed and mostly held by us. (Sorry everyone). Amy said that it's hard because grandparents and family want to help with and take care of the new child (diapers/feeding), but then the child doesn't really know who to connect with. Makes sense but I know it's going to be hard...

If you have any questions, feel free to comment!
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Cookies Galore!

We finished it! David took the order of 167 dozen cookies to his workplace this morning. Wow, what a doozy! What a blessing!
It took a while, and with God's strength, we were able to complete the job! I have to say, I don't mind all the baking, putting together boxes, wrapping them in ribbon and putting on their little tags. It's definitely tiring and really tough on the body to stand for 15 hours straight making recipe after recipe... after recipe... but somehow, it's also fulfilling. David thinks I'm weird, maybe I am. haha

David helped with setting up the boxes for me to fill, and cutting the ribbon that went around them, and tying the ribbon around quite a few of the boxes. He wanted to help more but I reassured him that I didn't mind doing the job and to go to bed since it was very late.

We have hit over 300 dozen ordered so far and it keeps going, woohoo!

Last Wednesday night (Dec. 5), our group read Psalm 46, and the feeling we got was "Bring It On", God can handle it!
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.

The very next day we got this huge cookie order. These verses also help me when I feel anxious about our Home Study paperwork. God is definitely my strength. He can be yours too.

Update coming soon...

I know some of you might be wondering how things went this last Monday night with our Home Study meeting. I've been so busy putting together cookie orders that I haven't had time to really get my thoughts together for an update. I promise it will be soon though... stay tuned...

Christmas has begun!

I went to lunch with some great friends yesterday and they surprised me with some really cute baby gifts. They're killin' me though! I want the baby that goes with the baby things!!! I'm so thankful for their friendship, they are the best! Thank you ladies!

We also got our medical clearance letters done yesterday! Woohoo. Our doctor is so fun and the office staff is also wonderful. The bank lady came over to the clinic and notarized the two documents and that takes care of that! One of the last things we need for our home study is to find a C.P.A. to write a Verification of Employment letter for me since I'm self-employed. Pray that happens soon!

While I'm waiting....

I'm sitting here, waiting for the batch of Ossi (bones) to finish baking. Then I have another set of trays to put in the oven, and then one more set after that. At 40 minutes a set, I'll be up a little while longer.

Reflecting on the day, it's been a good day. I received the biggest cookie order today. An order that not even my biggest dreams could have imagined... 167 dozen from one customer and then Gina and Mark topped me off with another 3 to make a total of 170 orders! It was amazing... God really proved Himself today. What's even cooler... here's an excerpt of an email I wrote to David first thing this morning:

"I worry about how many orders I could get if I ship the cookies. But, as I just wrote that, I realize that God is in control and if he wants to give us a bunch of orders, then He knows I can handle a bunch of orders, right? OK, I'm kinda excited."

So what does God do? He works it out so I get a local order of 167 dozen cookies! I guess God really trusts me to handle a bunch of orders! Well, it's all gonna be with His strength 'cause I'm running low already, that's for sure!

On a note about the paperwork, it's really coming along. I only need one more form for myself, and then we have to write our Autobiographies (maybe I'll work on that while I'm waiting for the cookies, nah) and that will complete our portion of the documents needed for our Home Study! We've pretty much gathered almost all of the documents needed for the Dossier as well. There are several documents that are dependent on the completed home study, but truly, that's out of our hands. We've gathered almost everything we'll need to, for now anyway. Once our Home Study is completed we'll have some other things to do, like another type of background check and then get our fingerprints and stuff, but for now, it's almost all done! Woohoo!

Our First Cookie Deliveries!

Hello all! We're so priviledged to have people around us that support and help us. Thanks to all who have placed cookie orders! Our first deliveries are being made today thanks to Gabriella, my SIL, and David!

The packaging took a while to find and then receive, but now that it's in, the orders should only take 1 - 3 days to fill. I'm so thrilled to see this "working". God is sooo blessing us!

If you'd like to place an order, click on the link to the left, under Fundraiser!

Thank you all!

Early Christmas....

Thank You, Joanna!

My brother's wife sent us an early Christmas gift. These two books are so sweet!

We now have our very first book for our little one to come! The Little Golden Book! And, the "Our Chosen Child" is one of those fill-in-the-blanks baby books especially for adoptive children. It's so great!

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Thanks, God!

I'd like to take a moment and give props to my Awesome God. Without Him I would be going crazy for sure. With all the different forms we have to fill out and then get notarized and then get notarized again and then on and on, I've literally felt God's Grace keep me on track and going.

As some of you know, I am a great procrastinator. I don't like picking up the phone and making appointments or trying to arrange things. It makes me really nervous, for whatever reason. Send me an email and I'm all over it (usually). But with all the stuff on Friday and even all of last week, I have been pretty calm and composed and actually quite upbeat! I've been able to pick up the phone and talk with total strangers about our forms and needs (like the bank notary) without any hesitance at all and that's a total God thing!

So, thanks, God. I know it's all from You!