Etsy Update

Hi friends,
Well, we were finally able to allot some much needed attention to our Etsy shop.
Props to Andrew for the amazingly better pics!

Props to the chive plant in the background of the shots that just keeps kicking with very little TLC.

And props to my precious son for his rock collecting fetish- who knew that pile of rocks on the deck would turn out to be a snazzy prop!

So, here it is....check it oooouuuttt (and share???):
http://www.etsy.com/shop/OutOnALimbAdoption

And just to celebrate the overdue update we are having a little sale. Use coupons code LOVECHINA to receive 10% off your order (plus our standard free shipping)

P.S. The leather cuffs are totally personalize-able (like that word?). Just send us your wrist measurement and word you'd like engraved on it

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Whereby we found ourselves in the newspaper...

Last week I eluded to a message left by a reporter from the newspaper. And today it appeared. So, here's how that happened and then why this happened:

http://timesfreepress.com/news/2012/may/08/faith-motivates-couples-quest-to-adopt-creativity/


Week of Chatty Crafty: I get an email from Holly, a reporter from the Times Free Press.  She wants a quote about our involvement in the handmade crafting movement that is very much active in Chattanooga. "How did you get into your craft?" she asks. Hmmm, that's kind of an involved question for us. But nonetheless, I started into my lengthy answer. A moment later she stops me and says "to be quite honest..." and I'm a little concerned what she's going to be honest about, honestly. She says she doesn't want to just use a one-line quote in this article on us but she'd actually like to do a profile story on our family. Uhh, what? Ummm, ok. Sure, we could do that. She'll call back next week.  We went on about Chatty Crafty thinking this was pretty cool but not sure if it was really going to happen, y'know. 


Last Monday, sure enough, Ms. Holly calls back ready to schedule us to come in for an interview. A little shocked, a bit uncertain we made arrangements and showed up Thursday at 8am.  We shared and trusted the Lord, and trusted Holly to represent our God and our purpose.  


We still don't know exactly why the Lord wants that article in the newspaper. We know that many, many families in Chattanooga are in the adoption process, why us? Its not really anything fantastic, its just what He's called and is equipping us to do.  Our prayer has been that many would be encouraged and provoked to considering the Father's plan for all these 147 million orphans in the world. YOU ARE THE PLAN....WE ARE THE PLAN!

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think."  Ephesians 3:20

Adoption Tax Credit

You may or may not be aware that the U.S. Government offers a very substantial Adoption Tax Credit to adopting families.  Without this credit, adoption would be nearly impossible for many families.

HOWEVER

as reported by America World Adoption:

On April 17, 2012, Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA) introduced the Making Adoption Affordable Act. The act will permanently expand the federal adoption tax credit to $13,360, an increase of $1,000 over the current credit, and make it refundable.

The current adoption tax credit is set to expire at the end of 2012. Over the last several months, many of you expressed concerns about the impact the expiration of the credit will have on your family. Congressman Braley’s bill is the first step toward ensuring that the adoption tax credit continues to be an option to help families offset the high cost of adoption. More importantly, this legislation will promote the adoption of God’s children by loving families.

As people who are passionate about the ministry of adoption, it is up to us to make sure our Representatives support this life-saving legislation. Will you take action on behalf of orphaned and vulnerable children by contacting your member of Congress to urge them to vote “YES” on the Making Adoption Affordable Act?

You can find the contact information for your Representative by clicking HERE.

The full text of the Making Adoption Affordable Act can be foundHERE.

We will provide updates on the progress of the bill as it makes its way through Congress.

Blessings,

Andrew C. Brown

Director of Corporate Governance 

So, if you would take just a moment and click on the highlighted link above you will very quickly be led to a form on which you can write to your Representative.  In fact, to make it even easier, you can copy the text below for the message portion and sign your name. See, no brain work required! 

*******************************************************************************

Subject: Support the Making Adoption Affordable Act

On April 17, 2012, Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA) introduced the Making Adoption Affordable Act. The act will permanently expand the federal adoption tax credit to $13,360, an increase of $1,000 over the current credit, and make it refundable.

On behalf of many families in America, please support this bill. The adoption tax credit helps to make adoption a reality for these families.  However, I urge to make this decision not because of them but because of the 147 million orphans in the world who need a loving, forever family.

Sincerely,

First Meeting with Social Worker

You know, often times, the Lord confirms His will in sweet and encouraging and uplifting ways. We have definitely experienced much of that lately.
Then there are other times that can be just as clear, albeit not so pleasant. I'm referring to those instances when you know that you know that you know that you must be on track because the enemy makes his anger about it so very clear. Kinda like when you spray an ant colony with killer and the scurry around wildly trying to make it stop
Yup, that was our first visit with our social worker today. Andrew ended up having work conflicts arise so I (and the kids) planned to just swing by and pick up the mound of paperwork for us to start on.

Let's just say that the children ran out of patience approximately 2 minutes after we arrived. Both children. Even the one who tends to have much more patience- in fact, he/she had less than the other. So there I was being handed paper after paper (with nice, lengthy explanations of each) by the social worker who is supposed to certify that I am fit to parent an adopted child meanwhile my other 2 are acting like wild beasts who just had their dinner stolen. It was quite humbling, really. And quite an exercise in self-control. After an hour, she walked me out to the car and I wrangled them into their seats. Then I drove home (20 minute drive) to a chorus of synchronized wailing. After 25 minutes of rocking, Chloe finally fell asleep. Wade also went to sleep.
Throughout the whole escapade I was keenly aware that satan had his sights set on me losing it and had all kinds of accusations and lies ready to whisper over me. I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit equipped me to fight the battle in my mind. This isn't the first spiritual warfare we've experienced in this adoption process and I praise the Lord for making it evident to me. Mark this: our enemy is against adoption.
However, in the end I just had to kind of chuckle at his meager and useless attempts. After putting the kids down I found that I had a voicemail from the Chattanooga Times Free Press who is (so randomly!) going to do a profile story on us next Tuesday. It was like the Lord was reminding me that He's got this- Satan may make his attempts to derail but the Lord holds us in the palm of His hand.

Buckle Up

This has been us for the last year...kinda like waiting in line for the roller coaster.

Yes, we've been quite busy fundraising, quite busy indeed. However, as far as the paperwork trail to Gotcha Day goes, we hadn't even laced up our boots. We kept feeling like it was almost time to begin our home study but then the Lord would put another fundraising opportunity before us as our primary focus. 

UNTIL NOW

(drum roll please)

The day has come for us to officially begin our paperwork.  Monday we meet with our social worker to begin our home study and then we're off!

We are so excited about this ride....the uphills, downhills, twists and turns. 

Would you join us in praying for these specific aspects of the first stage - our home study?

• Diligence and balance as we shift our focus to paperwork
• Our partnership: the last year has been a growing blessing for Andrew and I to work together as creative partners. Pray that He will use this new focus to continue growing us. 
• The Lord's favor over one specific aspect of our home study that could cause a delay (don't worry, its not some crazy skeleton in the closet or anything like that)
• There are a few other opportunities before us to show our bracelets - pray for wisdom and discernment on which to pursue. 

Hi.

You may have come here from Facebook, in which case you've been blasted with my posts about Chatty Crafty all week. And you know that we made about $1100 through sales and donations!! Woohoo!!

Or maybe you don't have any clue what that's about....well, this weekend we participated in an Indie craft festival here in Chattanooga selling our handcrafted goods to raise money for our adoption.




This experience was so very cool. When the Lord presented the opportunity we were a bit intrigued but also uncertain. We kind of him hawed around about committing so the Lord hunted us down and we started making preparations. The outcome was way better in a way broader way than we expected. Here's our top eight (cause I got tired before i reached 10)of Chatty Crafty list - in no particular order.

10. Indie festivals turn out to be very diverse and creative. I mean, where else can you find something like this:



Also, where else would you see items described as "Fecal Friends" - I'm not even kidding but I did not take a picture to prove it- you'll just have to use your imagination.

We met so many artists with such amazing (and slightly more tasteful - oooh, bad adjective) talent - it was very sweet.

9. If you tie 4 buckets to the corners of a tent, each filled with 50 lbs of sand your tent will not blow away in 20mph gusts of wind. Perhaps you could use less, but we weren't willing to risk it.

8. On the weather front, the forecast was so sketchy all week that we had everyone praying for clear skies. And the Lord answered! Dark clouds threatened for a few minutes Saturday but cleared into the most beautiful day. Sunday was super windy but sunny!

7. We have amazing friends and family so many of whom came out to support us! Seeing each of your faces was so encouraging!!!

6. Have I mentioned all the people who helped us make this weekend a reality? Ok, here goes: Nana and Grandpa Bill for babysitting and helping run the booth; Ashley Woolsey for more babysitting; Jamie Trollinger and Hannah Elrod for their awesome sign making artistry; Nick Hughes for his flier design and printing amazingness; Dawn Gross for her (STURDY) tent; Walmart for putting TN Titan tent wall panels on clearance; Kirsten Johnson, Jamie Trollinger and the Hammel girls for their stitching skillz; Calvary Chapel for lending us tables; and many, many others who prayed for the weekend! This could not have happened without you. We love watching the Lord invite others along on this journey!

5. We had the opportunity to share with and listen to SO many stories of others who have been blessed by adoption. Seriously, I wish I could have been writing every story down. We totally did not expect this aspect of the weekend and it was such a sweet, sweet surprise!

4. Our kids did awesome! They spent the whole weekend being shuffled between grandparents and babysitters but didn't really complain much. They even spent some time hanging out with us in tent




3. We will probably do something like this again. We're keeping our ears open to other opportunities specifically around Greenville, SC and Atlanta.

Why does such a good thing cost so much?

(Yes, we've been MIA for 4 months and then show up with this random post - forgive? There's actually been quite a bit of action that we will share soon but I need to get to bed early as I attempt to exile a long-lasting cold)


As you know (or last heard) we've been fundraising for about 9 months now.  Inevitably in our discussions with people a question arises "why does such a good thing cost so much?".  Its a hard one to answer.  Of course there's bureaucracy and unfortunately we are human so there is bound to be some corruption.  And then there is the fact that nobody does anything for free so everybody that touches that mound of paperwork wants a dime.  Those are all logical answers for an inquiring number cruncher.  But adoption is not really about that kind of thing. Its about impossibilities and miracles. And I've known that. I've seen and  experienced the financial aspect being about His fulfillment in our deficiency.  


However, tonight He spoke directly to the core of the matter.  I was stitching the last bracelet of the evening listening to the Matt Redman album we recently purchased. I hadn't really listened to it all the way through yet so "Endless Hallelujah" was not familiar. Here's where it hit me:

I will see You as You are
Love You with unsinning heart
And see how much You paid to bring me home
Not till then, Lord, shall I know
Not till then, how much I owe
Everything I am before Your throne


We'll see how much He paid to bring us home. That's it. The cost of adoption is a gift from God. A gift which mirrors - so cloudily - the price He paid to bring us home. Being in the middle of this thing - that number with the zeros staring us down- that revelation is like honey. I am honored to walk out this price-paying, for in it I see more of Jesus. And now I have an answer for all who ask me. The Gospel. Sweet Jesus Gospel. 


Thanks for listening.