Hand In Hand

We are so excited to be accepted for the Hand in Hand Grant!! After mailing out many grant applications, it was SO wonderful to see a "yes" in my inbox!

For those of you that don't know about Hand In Hand.....

HANDinHAND Christian Adoption, Inc. is dedicated to helping children become part of "forever" families by partnering with Christian couples to help carry the burden of the cost of adoption through matching grants and the raising of support. We believe we can accomplish this goal by working together with private donors, churches and the family and friends of adoptive couples. We are not an adoption agency and we do not place children with families. We do work with families that have already begun the process of adoption to help make that process more affordable.

So our family was awarded a matching grant for up to $3500. So if we can raise $3500, Hand In Hand will match that amount dollar-for-dollar.

We are excited to get this opportunity and we are grateful to God for blessing our finances with this grant.

If you feel led to give (any amount is SO greatly appreciated) you can make your check out to:

Hand In Hand Christian Adoption Inc.

And mail it to:

Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.

James & Kathleen Ellis

18524 Juniper Street

Gardner, KS 66030-9147

They said don't make the check out to us.... just reference us on your envelope. :)

My prayer is this: That God will lay our family on someones heart. That they will feel led to help us move toward our $3500 goal with any amount...small or large. That God will allow this grant to really bless our saving toward our adoption and toward making our family whole.

Asking for donations is HARD! I'm not one to ask for much of anything...especially money. I moved out of my parents house when I was 16. They moved to a really small boarder town in TX and I was crushed to have to leave my friends behind. I basically made life really crappy for them and decided to move back to San Antonio on my own my Jr. year of high school.

I worked at the horse race track there in San Antonio at night to make money to live off off and then I went to school during the day. It was SO hard. My stubbornness didn't allow me to ask for help and I was so embarrassed when someone would help without me asking.... It made me feel like a failure. Oh dear sweet PRIDE!!! ugh.

I always did things on my own.

So this is hard.

VERY hard.

Asking for others to help me become a Mom is so humbling, so pride-swallowing....

My faith has grown by leaps and bounds throughout this process. That was God's intentions, I know. He knows how to draw us closer to him. So now I give it to Him. This grant, this adoption, my infertility, my health, our family.... all of it. to. Him.

Thank you to everyone that "get's it". That gets how it feels to have to ask for money for something you feel called by God to do. That gets not having the ability to run out and "do" with your own checkbook. That gets what it means to be "called" by God to do something. That gets what a "Sun Stand Still" prayer means....and how much faith that really takes. Thank you to those who pray for God to lead them to give or to really "get it", or to simply pray for families like ours to become whole.

What a way to start the week!!

I'm so excited for our friends, Ben and Rebecca.... Yesterday was THE day! They got the CALL! This sweet family has been waiting almost 17 months for a referral for their second babe from Ethiopia, and yesterday their prayers were answered.

A sweet, 14month old girl is an orphan no more!

I am beyond excited for Ben, Rebecca and SWEET Eli.
Rebecca has been a real inspiration to me. She is so real and honest and I admire that about her.

I am just praising God for such an answered prayer as this!

We're on the move!

Got confirmation yesterday that we are now officially number........



on the waitlist!

We are so excited to be moving up. For a few weeks things were slow. No new referrals were coming in. That was not fun.
Praise God that things are moving a little again. It's so crazy how just a simple number can lift your spirits!

I have been reading the devotional,"Jesus Calling". It's such a great book. Today the first sentence was all I needed to hear......
"Trust Me and refuse to worry, for I am your Strength and Song."

Give1Save1 is featuring the Ellis Family!!

I'm so excited! This week is "our" week over at Give1Save1!
Beth Cupitt is such a sweet, giving, wonderful person to have created such an idea as this. Here's a tid-bit from the website explaining what Give1Save1 is all about!

GIVE 1

every Monday i’m going to ask you for a dollar. i’m going to tell you who it’s going to and what it’s being used for. we’re mostly funding African adoption for the people, by the people. we’re just going to rain down a crazy blessing on a family, organization, orphanage, or project and we’re going to do it every week. we’re going to get huge. and the world will be changed for lots of people because of your generosity. that sounds exciting, doesn’t it?! let’s do it.

i’ll tell you who we’re sponsoring and where to send your dollar. you’ll need a paypal account to play. if you don’t have a paypal account, you just need one. it’s time. so go ahead and set one up and meet me back here. i’ll link a button to the paypal account that we’ll be blasting. then once you’ve donated your dollar spread the word to get some more dollars in here. if you have a voice, an email account, a blog, a facebook page, a twitter account or a pinboard USE IT! the only way we can make a big difference is to make it viral!

SAVE 1

and your dollar will be saving and restoring lives in all kinds of ways. in Ethiopia one in six children don’t live to be five years old. there is a desperate need for basic food, clean water, and medicine. removing a child from an orphanage gives that child a family and a future, something everyone needs. it also frees up a bed in an orphanage for a street child. your dollar will change lives and save lives in ways you may never know.

How awesome is that? She features a new adoptive family every week. She doesn't know these families personally, she just knows the NEED.... and has found a way to make a difference in the lives of many!

So this week is our family. So every dollar you donate goes directly to us! Praise God!

Thank you to everyone that is going to make this the best week ever!!!! We are so grateful to be featured and can't wait to see the wonderful things God has planned for our family!!!!

So go, now....to Give1Save1 and donate your dollar....and remember to go back every week and read the awesome stories of families adopting from Africa and give 1 then too!!!

Qualifies

Shirts are IN!

So excited that our new shirts are here. They turned out SO good!

If you ordered one and need to pay for it, please do so by either clicking on the "Donate" button and paying through PayPal, or you can send me a check. Whichever works for you!

They are $20 each.

Please let me know if you are sending a check so that I can make sure and watch for it.

Again, thank you to everyone that purchased a shirt. If you didn't get a chance to, but would still like to order one, you can! I have a few extras and will be doing another order in a few months. They are Gildan Ultra Cotton brand and come in either pink or dark heather grey. They fit true and are a unisex cut.

YAY for shirts!

Nursery Construction

Clint has been working on the construction in the nursery. It is coming along SO GREAT! He's such a hard worker and I am grateful he's SUPER handy!!!

The added space now has 2 can lights and power! Yippee!
This past weekend I experimented with a few colors. This pic was taken with my phone, so hard to tell what looks good. I'm still not sure. We pulled the colors from the fabric for the crib bedding. We'll see. Who knows, I may put 4 more samples up there before it's all said and done!!

Birthdays!

This past Sunday, the 11th, I celebrated my 32nd birthday. Many mixed emotions about that, but none I will bore you with for now.

My sweet step-daughter turned 15 the day before me and so we celebrated together Sunday night.

We had sweet friends over for cake.
Laynie and her new iphone 3Gs.

Me with a fun gift card!

We both had a great birthday.
I sure hope to have 2 more to celebrate with next year!!!

3 months down....? to go

So it's been 3 months since we were added to the DRC waitlist with One World Adoptions. A lot of movement in the past 3 months. We went from #18 to #7. We were loving the movement we were seeing.
Until now.
It has slowed down and they don't have any new referrals at this time. I think I got used to moving up on the wait list weekly, so this quiet time has been a bit hard.
I know God is preparing our children and us.
I've been in a blog funk. Not really sure what to write. Not really full of positive things to say.
I HATE when I feel that way.

I cling to knowing that God has a PERFECT plan for us. He has everything worked out in such awesome timing and I need to trust more in that!
It's a daily struggle.

I pray every day for my children. That they are healthy, safe, loved. That they are not hungry or hurt or sad.
It's hard.

So for today I will celebrate the past 3 months. Happy waitlistaversary.