Fundraising Friday

Our adoption training begins today! We are thrilled to be one step closer to embracing our child. 

During the next two days we will learn more about infant adoption and meet families that are on this journey also. We can’t wait to make new friends and learn more about adoption.

Last weekend we were able to go to a family picnic with our adoption agency. God sent us to a wonderful agency and we are overjoyed to work with them! It was such a great atmosphere filled with Christian families built by adoption. It was a beautiful sight seeing how much love these families have for one another. Maybe next year we will have a baby to bring to the picnic!

Fundraising Friday is here again! This week we stayed at 43%. We are so thankful to be at this mark because we are able to do our classes and set up our home studies without worrying where the money will come from. God is a great provider and we thank you all for being a part of our journey.

Don’t forget to go click here to place a bid for the painting my father-in-law painted as an adoption fundraiser! 

Brothers of Different Mothers

Brothers of Different Mothers

This awesome painting will be auctioned off to help with the funding of our adoption process. My father-in-law painted this with his grand-baby on his mind. We love how artistic he is and the time he put into this painting. 

The title is Brothers of Different Mothers, isn't that so creative?  Click here if you are interested in the auction of this painting!

This is an 8x6 oil painting with a starting bid of $1. 

*Thank you Popee!

Fundraising Friday

This week I came across a verse that keeps coming back to my mind. "So be truly glad there is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while." 1 Peter 1:6. The wonderful joy ahead keeps my feet moving and my heart on track. The thought of meeting our child gives me unbelievable joy and makes me truly glad to be on our journey. Everybody has trials and painful times in their lives, but knowing that there is always wonderful joy in front of us is so comforting. I want to choose joy and be truly glad.

I missed the blog post last Friday, but I have a lot to share with you today! After writing about our huge blessing at the garage sale, we knew that we were SO CLOSE to getting the financial support to be on the waiting list. God’s timing is perfect and we are thrilled with what He has provided for us. After the fundraiser Dakota and I had sweet friends give us a huge surprise. It was around 11:30 that night and I couldn't sleep from all the excitement earlier in the day. I checked my email and immediately woke Dakota up to tell him that we officially were at the mark to go on the waiting list!!! God has used so many wonderful friends and family members to help bring our precious baby to us! We almost can’t believe it! We are so close to being on the waiting list now!

After our last blog post we had many of you congratulate us for being on the waiting list, but I need to clarify that we are not on the waiting list just yet. Financially we have hit our mark. Before we can add our names to the list, we have a few things to do. Our first task it to attend our two day adoption training classes next weekend. We cannot wait to learn as much information as possible and pass it on to you! Our pre study documents are finished, but we need to wait for background checks and a few other items to be cleared.  We recently learned that we both need to be CPR and First Aid certified. I am a preschool teacher so I have my certifications, but Dakota needs to attend the classes before our home study can be scheduled. We also have a mandatory infant training class to take together. As you can see, we still have a lot of work ahead of us just to get our home study started! We are looking forward to checking these off our list and getting closer to meeting our precious baby! The next two months will be busy busy busy! The last step before being added to the waiting list is possibly the hardest thing we will have to do in this journey (other than waiting!). We need to make a book that will show our child's birth mother a glimpse of Dakota and myself. It will include a letter to her and pages that show our personalities, families and lifestyle. That is a lot of pressure. We are already praying about what to include in our book that will show our child's birth family that we are their baby's forever family. Please continue to pray for us as we keep moving forward with this adoption! 

It is amazing that less than two months ago Dakota and I shared this blog with our friends and family to let them know about the journey we were taking. We absolutely cannot believe that we are at the 43% mark on our fundraising meter! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! We want you all to know how much we appreciate you praying for us and continually asking us about our adoption. It is our favorite subject! Our family is being built by adoption and we love when you ask us about it. We also want to thank you for every donation. The amount of  people who have given to our adoption fund touches our hearts and we are constantly reminded of how many people love this baby. Every penny is one cent closer to reaching our child!

Full of Joy-A Sold Out Event

                                                                     Hebrews 11:1

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” 

This is a verse our pastor used in a sermon in the weeks leading up to our first adoption meeting. It is something that has been an encouragement and a constant source of focus during our journey. I love this verse. Dakota loves this verse. It exemplifies the emotion of adoption to us. This weekend we had this verse lived out in our lives. Our first big fundraiser was a huge success. Dakota and I had faith that God would provide for us to adopt our child. We hoped for this journey to be meaningful and to bring Him glory. The things that God has done in our lives and around us, in just over a month, have complete humbled us and encouraged our faith.

There is one constant thing that adoption keeps doing for me. It has allowed my faith to grow in many ways. I am okay with the fact that I may not have biological children. My desires for growing our family are not “controlling” my thoughts anymore. I am okay that adoption will take time and we are just going to enjoy this journey. Basically, I am okay with giving all my hopes, fears and desires to our Heavenly Father because He takes care of me. 

Here we are setting up bright and early! Almost 7 am 

These pictures show the donations we received for the benefit garage sale. What you see the pictures above is very misleading. I promise we were packed to the brim! My parents could not walk in their garage, kitchen, dining room or living room without having a donation at the center of their attention! J What a blessing!! (Thanks again Mom and Dad!) There were eleven tables completely filled with household items. Hundreds of clothing articles, shoes, jewelry and toys were donated. Furniture, collectibles, antiques…you name it, everything had a place at this sale.  Do you want to know what we had at 2 pm on Saturday? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! We sold out with about 15 minutes to spare. God gave us something we hoped for, but we had no idea it was even possible.

Our fundraiser goal for this event was $1000. We prayed we could meet our goal, but there was a little speculation. I am happy to report that we didn't make our goal….WE DOUBLED IT!! Our total for the day was $2,050.00. Praise the Lord for giving us the evidence of things not scene.

As of today we are at the 38% mark on our fundraising goal. We are only $1,162 away from being financially able to go on the waiting list. We believe God will provide and we thank you for being a part of our journey. We feel so blessed.

We also want to thank our parents for working so hard in the fundraiser. It was a family run event and for that we are grateful. We cherish the times we get to spend with our parents and we cannot wait to make these wonderful people grandparents!! 

And of course we cannot forget to thank Auntie Katie, who will undoubtedly spoil and love on her niece or nephew! We love you Katie!

Garage Sale

We are moving along at a great pace! Two months ago we attended our first information class with our adoption agency and today we are ALMOST at the 30% mark on our fundraising meter!! God is working His hand in our adoption and the evidence is undeniable.

Tomorrow my parents will be hosting an adoption garage sale. We received so many wonderful donations for this yard sale! If you are looking for something to do between 7am-2pm tomorrow (March 7th) stop by and check it out! If you know of anybody in the area who enjoys a great sale please let them know. 

Thank you again for all of your support! 

Love,

Dakota and Bekah