Lately....

We've been busy reading The Connected Child:

as well as completing 10 hours of online training from the National Council for Adoption.

We have learned a lot!

Our talented friend Kelsey designed T-shirts for this:

We hope everyone in the area can come next week! 

We are scheduled for our 3rd home study interview this Friday, May 3rd. We are excited about that! 

This week we plan to have physicals completed by our doctors, so we can check that off our list.

We have also been selling the Apparent Project bracelets like crazy!! We had to order another box because they went so quickly! They will be available at Newk's for purchase, or you can message me and I'll ship some to you.

Our Amazon link is still up and going! Think about using it for your Mother's Day purchases :)

Our updated total of earnings is $123.29!

We can't say thank you enough to all of our supporters! This past week we reached half of our first $2,000 goal in donations through our Youcaring link. This has already been an amazing journey; we look forward to what God has in store! 

God, Our Provider

"I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds!"
~Psalm 9:1

We are so thankful for:

-$780 in our YouCaring fund!

-Prayers and encouraging words from colleagues, friends, and family!

-The date being set for the Newk's fundraiser !
(May 6th from 5-8 p.m.)

-A $500 love offering from Gareth's home church family (Winchester United Methodist Church in Waynesboro)! We had a great time as he led the singing there on Sunday night, April 7. 

-Bracelets from the Apparent Project (www.apparentproject.org) to sell for funding ($8 each, $4 goes to Haitian artisans, and $4 goes toward our adoption)!

-An opportunity for Gareth to play at the William Carey Coffee House on May 9!

-Outside and private donations given by loved ones, and some we don't even know (now THAT'S cool)!
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We covet your prayers in these areas:

-Pray that God would ultimately bring glory to His name through our fundraising and sharing of His story.

-Pray that hearts would be opened toward adoption in general

-Pray for our future child(ren) in their current situation

-Pray that the rest of our home study goes well and efficiently.

-Pray for continued fundraising opportunities, and for future donors (praise for those who have already given!)

-Pray for decisions regarding our work schedules in the next year, as we will no doubt miss school to travel to Hungary.


----Hungary Fact of the Day:  Hungary's capital city, Budapest, was once divided into two regions--Buda and Pest.


Thanks for reading!

$500 Milestone!

We had a blessed Easter weekend!

Once again, thank you, family and friends, for the continued prayers, financial support, sincere interest, and good questions!

We have reached a $500 landmark on the way to our first $2,000 goal!

Gareth wants to list the donors on the blog, but I told him they might want to remain anonymous. Some are, and some are not. If you'd like to see the amounts given and some names, click the "Give Now" to the right (it simply takes you to the YouCaring website; it does not mandate a donation).

We are in between the 2nd and 3rd (out of 4 total) homestudy interviews. The interviews have been pretty simple, straightforward, and easygoing so far. Our social worker will schedule our 3rd interview when we complete the ten-hour training course online (it consists of 9 modules, and we must complete them individually). The course is from the National Council for Adoption. It teaches us from learning about our country, to learning about the Hague Convention, to common developmental delays in adoptees, to what to do and not to do when we meet our child, to the adoptee's medical care when we return home, and finally, to how we grow together as a family.

Regarding funding, as I've already said, we've been so blessed so far, not only with the amount you see over there to the right, but with some outside and private donations as well.

I have a friend working on a t-shirt design currently, and we are going to have a Newk's night later this month (we help Newk's restaurant in Hattiesburg advertise and serve from 5-8 p.m. and they give us 10% of the profit)!
I will let you know the exact date when I am sure.

Also, Gareth is going to lead the music at his home church in Waynesboro (Winchester United Methodist Church) this Sunday night (April 7) at 4 p.m. for a love offering. Along the same lines, he will be playing at the William Carey University coffee house (Common Grounds) in May for tips. We have some business cards on the way that contain our Amazon Affiliate link, our blog web address, and our mailing address. So things are rolling!

We have earned $85.11 through the Amazon Affiliate link! Keep purchasing at http://tinyurl.com/ag594uh !

Hungary Fact of the Day: Hungary's monetary unit is the forint; the exchange rate is approximately 230 forints per 1 U.S. dollar.