Being His Hands and Feet

This weekend we said Good-Bye (for now) to 2 very dear friends of ours. Two of the most beautiful people we know, Seth and Sarah are leaving for a minimum of 2 years to serve, love and empower in Sudan.
We all hear the stats, watch the news, and see the pictures. We know that Africa does not have safe drinking water. We know that there are millions of orphans. We know that women are socially powerless. We know that over 50% of children die of a preventable disease. However, it seems so big that we have no idea what to do. Right? I know I do.

These 2 are doing it. They are tackling the problems head on. They've sacrificed their comfy american lives to follow God into one of the poorest countries and love and empower. They've been so inspirational to us and we cannot say enough things about them and the work they are about to be doing.

We're hoping to visit their children's home and see their work first hand when we go to Africa in about a year.

Go here to read their story and here to see a fun opportunity to get books to the kiddos. 

Seth and Sarah: We heart you!

T-shirt Fundraiser

Here they are!!! We created our very own fundraiser t-shirts. We LOVE how they turned out! The colors are great and the design is exactly what we envisioned. It advocates for orphans and gets our mission across without being in your face. We have Africa with a heart over Ethiopia. We chose the message
"4.3 million... minus one" There are 147 million orphans in the world and 4.3 million of them are in Ethiopia. It is one of the highest orphan populations in the world. (Ethiopia is twice the size of Texas). I saw a very moving video where images of beautiful Ethiopian babies were shown after joining their forever families. Over each one it said "minus one". It was beautiful and powerful. Thus we chose it for our shirts!

We're asking a $20 donation. Everyone who has already bought one has loved it as much as we do!
To order one, leave a comment or e-mail me! Thanks for helping us bring home baby Niehaus :)

  

They are all chocolate brown, with the choice of pink or blue ink. The blue is a bit brighter than the picture, more like the pink one. In pink we have sizes S,M,L and in blue M,L,XL,2X

Slow, but Great

Things are moving a little slow right now. Fund raising has been going well, though. We're over 1/5 of the way there! Don't think that doesn't mean we don't have a ways to go, but we're so excited to be where we are!

We picked a homestudy agency and are about to send in the application. We fell in love with Hope's Promise through e-mailing with them. We're so excited about working with them! Hopefully we love our family coordinator too.

Also, our t-shirts are in!!!! Check back shortly for pictures and ordering info. Hurray!!!

Conception

This week we wrote our first very large check (of many). We also received a very sweet support check in the mail. God continues to be very good to us!

This adoption process has been so exciting for us. Sure, it's nerve wracking and stressful at times. We have no idea where the money will come from and the paper work/ legal stuff is daunting. However, we continue to be so excited. A good friend even told me I'm beaming! I think the reason it's so exciting, because it is for sure (well, unless Ethiopia changes its' laws on us) that every check we write and every task we check off our list gets us closer to holding a baby. When we were on the tired fertility treadmill every month got us no where. We were in the same place that we were 6 months prior. This time, we know we will end this process with a son or daughter. How exciting!!!!

I call this period "conception". When we have finished our homestudy, it will be the end of the first trimester. The second trimester will be the paper work (called the dossier) and the third trimester will be waiting for our refferal and travelling! Unfortunetly, I have no idea how long each trimester will take but I'm ready for the ride! :)