The Great Garland Exchange!

Happy Wednesday Y'all! 

I am SO excited to share that I am participating in Angie's Great Garland Exchange! I would love for you crafty folks to join me!  It's super easy and she has lots of inspiration there to guide you! PLUS, the entry fee is only $5 which goes directly to their adoption fund!

They are trying to meet a goal of $1,000 and I'd love to be able to help. Not to mention, November is Orphan Awareness Month, and what a great way to show your support! Also not to mention, she has not ONE, but TWO snazzy give away's going on! 

Y'all know I'm all about helping out other adoptive parents, so y'all scoot on over to 

Raised From The Water and sign up! :) 

xoxo, Steff

A Long (Overdue) Post

Well, last week brought a lot of progress on the adoption front!

First, we completed our home study! I shall insert a happy dance and a big "Hallelujah" right here! We could not have been blessed with a more smooth process. We are truly thankful for all of the "adoption people" the Lord has placed in our lives. Our social worker was amazing, and so sweet. I'm looking forward to her being a part of our family for the next few years! :) As she left, she told us "Next time I see you guys, I will be coming to visit you and your baby!". That made it very real that we are making PROGRESS!  

Our next step (once we get our home study officially approved) will be to mail off an $890 check and apply to USCIS (for immigration)!! We already have a lot of the documents prepared for our dossier, and we will just have to mail them to Atlanta to be apostilled. So, I really feel like we're making good time!  

A couple of weeks ago, Spencer and I found a little girl on the waiting child list, and fell in love with her little picture. We prayed and really sought God's will about making Anika a part of our family. We, naturally, got very excited and really thought she could be "the one". The more we found out about her, the more we realized the Lord was closing the doors. Her special needs were found to be a lot more severe than we first realized, and while it was the most heartbreaking thing ever to say "no" to her, we also knew that we are not capable of giving her the care that she needs and deserves.  We are praying every day that the Lord will send this little angel a family who can give her the home and environment she needs to thrive!

Will you help us pray for Anika!?  

While it is hard to fall in love with a child and then realize you can't go get her, I don't feel like it was a wasted experience. It has really made Spencer and me pray and talk about what special needs we feel called to accept. We don't want to be too "picky" and miss out on the child God has for us, but we also want to know our limitations and make an informed decision.
Our agency wants us to fill out a "comfort level" sheet, which is basically 3 pages of medical conditions we will be willing to accept, consider, or refuse. We really desire your prayers as we make these decisions, it is a lot harder than it sounds!  We may even make an appointment with a pediatrician to learn more about some of the conditions that are on the comfort level sheet. We just really want to be sensitive to the Lord and make the right choices!  I will add here that I'm SO glad for the Holy Spirit that lives and dwells in me (and Spencer) and we aren't left to decide these things on our own. The peace that He gives still amazes me every day and I can't imagine going through life without the comfort of knowing Him. It's such a reassuring thought to know that He knows the end from the beginning, and He is working everything out for our good and His glory!  And like our Pastor preached tonight, the best stories come from the times of brokeness in our lives and everything we go through in life is so we can help others who are going through the same things.  

In other news, we've had quite a few more generous donations to our adoption fund. I'm amazed to watch God send in the funds to start our family, but after all this time, WHY would I doubt Him!? He is too good to us! We have a few more FUNdraising ideas and I'll be sharing more details with you soon! We're going to do a "baby bottle drive" soon. Maybe in the month of November if I can get everything together in time! You'll be able to pick up an empty baby bottle, take it home and fill it with change, then return it to the drop box! You don't even have to roll the change!  VictorySong will also be hosting a benefit sing coming up after the first of the year, it's going to be a super fun time! They will be making a program and selling ads, so if you are interested in that-- feel free to message me, I can get you in touch with the right people! 
 We truly are so blessed with the most amazing people that care about us and getting our sweet angel home!  Many thanks to you all for the love, prayers, and support!! 

xoxo, 
Steffani 

Finally-- Something to Update!

Are y'all as shocked as I am to actually have an update?!
I feel like we've been stalled out in the home study process for too long, and we're thankful to be making forward progress again! Monday evening, our social worker, Mrs. S. came to visit and we were beyond NERVOUS!!! (If you've never had a complete stranger come into your home, inspect it, and ask you personal questions which will determine if you are suitable to become a parent-- you have no idea how nervous we were!) Spencer and I were pleasantly surprised to find that Mrs. S. is the sweetest lady ever! We worried over nothing, imagine that! For our fist visit, she just took a quick tour of our home, and asked some general questions. Next week, we get down to the nitty-gritty during our interviews, but at least I'm not nearly as anxious as I had been! We're both super excited to get this step completed and we'll be that much closer to bringing our angel home! :-D

In other news, we have had several special blessings the past month or so! A sweet, sweet young lady baked and sold some beautiful cupcakes and donated the money to our adoption fund! SO sweet!!  One of Spencer's relatives will be gifting us with his frequent flyer miles so we won't have to worry about plane tickets, which would be a huge cost! We've also had quite a bit of money to come in for our adoption fund.  I am AMAZED at how all of this is coming together, the Lord is SO good to take such good care of us! It is seriously humbling to know you have so many people behind you, cheering you on, and helping start your family. Adoption is a very special gift.


Thank you all for reading along and I hope to have a lot of good news to update in the coming days!
                  xoxo,
              Steffani :)