Merry Christmas!!

I wanted to take a quick minute to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!! I hope everyone had a great day celebrating the birth of Jesus with family and friends. We had a great day--and week--being with all of our family and friends. (And Kyle is having lots of fun playing with his Eli's new remote control helicopter.)
I know the chances of having our little one here with us next year can go either way, and I pray hard that she will be here! But even if she's not and we're still in the midst of waiting, I pray I have the beautiful outlook of this sweet adoptive mama. I don't know her outside of blog land, but she never fails to encourage through comments on mine and others' blogs and through her own blog posts. If you would take just a moment to read her recent post and pray with me that her sweet little daughter's passport will come in this week so they can go to India and have her in their arms after this long time of waiting. You all have blessed us so much and I'm grateful that we are surrounded by people who love His children and desire for them to be placed in forever families. Pray for this sweet little one that she may be embraced in the arms of her family within the next couple weeks.
Praise Jesus that He came so we can be a part of His forever family.
Merry Christmas!!

More bragging on our favorites

There's a lot of things I should be doing right now, but I can't keep going until I write a little blog about the craft fair last weekend. And to say it yet again--we have the most generous, loving church you could possibly imagine. (I know you might think you do if you attend a different church--but we do--and I win, because it's my blog. ;)) But really, they are--they love us so much, and I love hearing the little comments that are being made about our little one like she half belongs to each of them.  I know they already feel like she's a part of their lives by how much they want to bring her home and will do anything to help us do that. I absolutely cannot wait until she gets here so she can see how much she is loved by so many people!
And back to the craft fair--which was absolutely perfect! There were so many generous people who donated and shopped. I loved seeing all of our favorite people in one room excited about what they've made and what they're buying because they are excited to bring a new little one into the Providence family. And this year the craft fair raised more money than any other year before-----$4,450!!!!
Kyle and I keep talking about how we just cannot get over how grateful we are for our friends who have supported us so much. The Lord has led us to adopt, and he is leading our friends and family to support, support, support. I know I joke about our church being the most generous and loving, but in all honesty, they're just a picture of Jesus--they're the hands and feet of the One they serve. They are the example of what every church is supposed to look like--what THE Church is supposed to look like. And we are forever grateful for not only their financial support but especially for their prayers and love. Thank you all who donated and helped and shopped at the craft fair--and for being our friends always. (I love having this blog just say I can brag on our family and friends.) We love you guys!!

Come Soon

I know I've said this in a million ways on this blog already (and I'm sure I'll say it a million more times), but we are in awe of how the Lord's people have desired to help in any way they can in bringing our little one home. At the beginning of this I didn't even want to have to ask for money--to ask to borrow people's tables for our sales has been hard enough! I knew it was going to be awesome to see it all raised, but asking people for help is not the easiest thing for me to do (unless it's my parents--thanks mom and dad!). But then the offerings of wonderful friends and strangers of their possessions, time, money, talents came pouring in and I've been very humbled as I've watched how his people have given and given. I'm grateful that we're surrounded by friends who love Jesus and want to serve with all they have been given. And as a side note--I'm grateful for a God who creates people in so many unique and diverse ways--what a bunch of beautiful people he has created in this world!
All that to say--we have been blessed by yet another friend! I mentioned a few blogs ago that our (very talented and big hearted) worship pastor, Drue Phillips, wrote a song for Advent last year, and this year wanted to record it for everyone to worship with during this season. Instead of telling you all about it, I'll just let you go to the fundraising page he created for our adoption using this song! He put together a video that talks about the song and our story and is offering a download for $1! I could talk all day about how moving this song is but my words would never do it justice. I feel this way about all of Drue's songs--the Lord has blessed him with some unbelievable talent, but this song touches a special place in my heart during this season of expectant waiting.
Yes, it helps our adoption, but more than that I know it will bless you in amazing ways. You can check out this song for only $1, but I'd also encourage you to at least go for a download of this and his album for $10--it's all beautiful! Thank you Drue!!

 

Come Soon

Also-while I'm on our awesome friends helping us--if you didn't see on our fb page, due to this crazy ice all over everything we're moving the craft fair to next Saturday. I know it gets busier and busier the closer we get to Christmas, but this sale is worth making time for since you'll cross off at least half of the names on your Christmas list while you're there. I'm telling you--we seriously have some of the most talented friends in the world. How does that happen?!

NEXT Saturday! December 14th!

REGISTERED!!!!

We are officially registered with CARA!!! And (as Kyle had to point out to to me) it happened on Eli's 6th birthday! I can't wait to let him know after school, he's going to be soooo excited to know that we're a step closer. This process is so confusing to the kids. :)
We can now be matched with a child anytime--but I'm sure it'll still be months before we find out who she is. I keep shifting between super excited to being nervous about the REALLY hard waiting that's coming. I want to receive a call saying we have a referral but I dread opening that picture, falling in love, and having to wait and wait and wait for who knows how long for people to get their act together and get that baby home to me! I do get it--I like that there's a process. Processes make sure kids aren't kidnapped and sold to the highest bidder. Processes done right make sure you don't have to deal with years and years of battling of all sorts in courts in multiple countries. But I've also seen over the last few months how frustrating it can be waiting on that ONE person to simply pick up your paper, do what they need to do, and send it out...and that's before I even know who our child is.
But really, I will take all the (sometimes impatient) waiting to have that little one in our family!!
So I'm celebrating today! Celebrating my smart, handsome, life loving 6 year old, and celebrating that we are now officially waiting to see our little Sparrow's face for the first time!!

Raffle winner!

And our raffle winner is #41---

April Klics!!!!

Congratulations April!!
There were so many amazing people who entered the raffle and Tracy and I were wishing we had something to give every special person who entered. One or the other of us had a story to go with each person who donated and with each entry we were happy that people were entering but sad that the person before might not get it...but then happy that the most recent person might win. It was all a circle of emotions about who was going to win that amazing bundle!! :) So congrats April--so excited for you--and I've heard lots of amazing things about you from Tracy! :)
And thank you to everyone who entered the raffle, and for everyone who donated their beautiful treasures to the raffle. I know April is going to love each gift that comes to her throughout the next couple weeks!!