A Week of Mini Graduations

This week was Doria's 5th grade parent breakfast/awards ceremony.  She's off to join her brother in Middle School.  She has a great group of friends and I pray that God draws them to himself in these years.

At church today Devin graduated from Kid City.  He will be joining Doria in Take 56.  Not so sure how excited Doria is about that, but Devin is delighted that he no longer has to wait on us to check him out of class.

Donaldson's Delighting in Done Dossier (yeah, we like D's)

We mailed our completed dossier today.

We celebrated with a dinner at Biaggi's.
Then we braved the storm warning and went to the Fort4TheFatherless (www.fort4thefatherless.org) kick-off event with Stephanie Fast.  Oh my!!!!  I wish everyone I know could have been there to hear her story...a "half-breed" left to die in Korea after the war...and her rescue by the Lord via the hands of his servants...Totally motivating, humbling, inspiring...  Side note:  Coincidentally, Drake had just watched a film in school today about North and South Korea...I love God's timing!
Thank you God for this journey you have put us on, thank you for opening our eyes to your heartbeat...we're diving in.
A couple links to blogs of families who have also recently been moved by God to act:
www.ourunveiledfaces.blogspot.com
www.weloveourlucy.blogspot.com
www.treasuresinjarsofclay.blogspot.com
Enjoy

Fort 4 the Fatherless

I'm so excited about what our community churches are doing for the 147 million + orphans out there...ok, so maybe we in the fort can't touch them all, but even one life loved is worth it!!  The kick off event is this Friday may 21st.  Go to www.fort4thefatherless.org to find out more about the Stephanie Fast event.

lIIiIIIIIiiiiiiiiI

F.W. Area Ethiopian Support Group

 I just returned from the very first meeting of the newly formed F.W. area Ethiopian adoption support group.  I am so thankful for the resource and connection this will be for so many families.

Journey to Adoption: Not for the Faint of Heart

We received a referral for a sibling set about two weeks ago.  What began with much excitement and anticipation ended with sadness as we let the referral go.  It was not the right match for our family.  Thank you to our sweet, faithful friends and family who have kept us in your prayers and helped us find discernment.  We begin our wait again confident that all things will work together for the good.

Tournament and Conference Champs..Go Team!!!

What a fun season!!  Great job boys.

Wild Wednesday

   When I checked my e-mail this morning I found two urgent messages re: the need to quickly find homes for up to 300 Haitian orphans.  They desired families that had already completed a background check which pointed to qualified foster families and adoptive families.  Our hearts instantly went out and we quickly made the decision that we would make room, but we didn't want to compromise our current Ethiopian plans.  After some checking, we learned that we probably could do both, but as it turned out the plane of sweet Haitians needing families never came and the state of IN is uncertain if it ever will.  Also, the urgent need became less urgent as close to 1000 Hoosier families stepped up to the plate to offer their hearts and homes!  Safe-Families says they are ready if and when the need becomes a reality.

The One By One: Family By Family Campaign
We are not raising money. We are raising awareness. We need your voice. Our goal is to have 100,000 views of this video by February 28, 2010. Please use your blog, email, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter to spread the word!

So what's the solution to the crisis you've just seen? Click here to find out.