Come and See what the LORD has done!

"Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles he performs for people!" Psalm 66:5

We all knew this was coming...

If I could cry, laugh and shout all at once, I would! Because God is so good. Because tonight I sat at my friends kitchen table mulling over ideas on how to come up with the rest we needed and as I drove home I mulled it over with the Lord. 

This weekend was an emotionally messy one! It was HARD to be one week from traveling and having no idea where money was going to come from! There were so many times I questioned if we made a mistake saying that we would go early when our agency asked. I wondered if we prayed about it enough, did we miss a sign or something? Were we not hearing him correctly? Because he poured out a lot of money in two weeks and we knew it was him confirming our steps. Then things kind of stalled and I kind of freaked out. Why, why do I ever doubt his goodness and provision? 

We are blessed beyond measure by the people who were obedient and generous and helped us do this in three weeks. It is the absolute best thing to be surrounded by a community of believers who love adoption, who were willing to give what they had whether it was time, an item, money or prayer and to be a part of a church that operates the way the Lord designed it to! 

In seven days we board a plane for Uganda and there will be one less orphan! 

Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the heavens!
    Praise him from the skies!
2 Praise him, all his angels!
    Praise him, all the armies of heaven!
3 Praise him, sun and moon!
    Praise him, all you twinkling stars!
4 Praise him, skies above!
    Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!
5 Let every created thing give praise to the Lord,
    for he issued his command, and they came into being.
6 He set them in place forever and ever.
    His decree will never be revoked.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
    you creatures of the ocean depths,
8 fire and hail, snow and clouds,[a]
    wind and weather that obey him,
9 mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars,
10 wild animals and all livestock,
    small scurrying animals and birds,
11 kings of the earth and all people,
    rulers and judges of the earth,
12 young men and young women,
    old men and children.

13 Let them all praise the name of the Lord.
    For his name is very great;
    his glory towers over the earth and heaven!
14 He has made his people strong,
    honoring his faithful ones—
    the people of Israel who are close to him.

Praise the Lord!

His Great Faithfulness.

Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles he performs for people! Psalm 66:5

It has been a whirlwind these past two weeks! Exactly 12 days since we found out that we are traveling soon. 12 days ago we said yes having no idea how we were going to be able to travel in a month. It was easily one of the most nervous yes's I have ever given. Because saying yes meant that we may not be home with our kiddos for Thanksgiving. That our "perfect estimated timeline" we had planned for this adoption would be thrown out of the window. That we would need to pay our agency $14,000 AND have $5,000 to travel with..in four weeks. I questioned if yes is the answer the Lord wanted us to give right now, because we could have said no and waited and continued along our man made timeline of events for this adoption. 

But saying no would mean we were too scared, too nervous, and didn't trust the Lord enough to know that he would make it all work. Afraid that he wouldn't come through, that there wasn't enough time for him to move the mountains that we needed him to move to make this possible. 

But we knew that to not be true, because we've seen God pour out money like water, we've watched him move paperwork and provide approvals in record timing. How could we have such little faith after seeing firsthand the miracles he had already performed in our lives? 

So it was a yes. And when you say yes to the Lord, he is faithful, so faithful.

$13,100 is where we are with our fundraising as of right this second. $13,100! In 12 days, because the Lord is faithful and loving and loves orphans. He provided us with an amazing community who genuinely wants to help and give. He moved hearts to provide items for an auction, stirred hearts to give and this is exactly what it looks like when we let the Lord use his people to accomplish his work. 

So, here we are. Our dossier has already been sent to Uganda and we should know our exact travel dates by the weeks end! We are also waiting on our fingerprint appointment for immigration, that should come any day now. 

We are $900 short of having all of the foreign fees paid. 

We are $5,000 away from having travel money (two adults traveling for 7-10 days)

$5,900 and 20 days ahead of us. Look at what the Lord has already done! We are confident that he is going to complete the work he began, for we know that he leaves nothing undone! 

adopttogether.org/potterfamily 

Standing Still

I love my husband. Normally, he is the brake to my gas pedal. I'm the go go go, let's do this and this and adopt this child and go here and give this and live in wild abandon. He is the...slooowwwwww down one. He is the steady one. He is the constant one. Sometimes its frustrating, but in times like these I am so grateful for his guidance and opinion, because there are times where I get us into situations that are a little too crazy even for me. And I get nervous, and I doubt, and I wonder if we can really do this and if I've gotten in too deep. But I am able to look to him- and as always, he is my steady. He doesn't worry. He doesn't fret. His faith is so much bigger than mine I wonder why our roles are not switched.

Our court affidavits are sitting in my email inbox.

Yep.

Court.

Affidavits.

Once we sign those and send them in, they go to Uganda. And when they get to Uganda, they are filed. And when they are filed we have a court date. In short, we are traveling before Christmas to go to court! So soon. We knew it would be quick. We knew. Our adoption with the boys was 5 months start to finish. By the time we travel (for the first trip) it will be 4 months. By the time we travel to bring her home, it will have been 6 months.

And we have peace that the Lord is telling us to go and not to wait. But I'm still a mom and we still have a lot of money to raise, so while I know we are in the Lord's will- I am also panicking a little bit over the logistics and finances in it all.

I look to my husband. "Are we SURE this is the Lord? Have we prayed about it enough? Do  you feel absolute peace about moving so quickly? Are you worried about the money?! You're not even a little nervous?! " 

His reply..."I have peace, I'm not worried".

So calm, so sure that the Lord is going to do what we are asking of him. So sure that this is what the Lord is asking of us. It leaves me so thankful for his peace and certainty.

We are traveling BEFORE CHRISTMAS, friends. In 4-6 weeks, and we need your help, again. I know that we have already asked so much of you all. I know that so many of you have already given of your time, resources, money and prayers for Olive and us (in which we are so grateful!). We are asking you to come alongside us again and help us move this mountain out of the way. Many hands make light work.

The need: 

We need to have foreign fees paid, $14,400
and travel money for a quick trip to court and back, $5,500.

Total in 4 weeks: $19,900.

How:

If we can use the amazing tool of social media to find 500 people to give $39 in the next four weeks, we can move this mountain in no time. I know that I alone have more than 500 people on my friends list.

HELP: 

SHARE this every single day with your friends and family. Share our adopttogether profile daily with your friends and family. Ask and plead with your community to donate.

GIVE $39. If you've already given, search your heart and ask the Lord if he would want you to give again. If you don't have $39, give what you can.

PRAY Believe with us that the Lord is going to provide. Pray that he stirs people's hearts to give and praise him because we know that he has already made a way for this to happen! He's going to do this.

We are a few weeks away! We believe that all of the money in the world belongs to the Lord and he will stir hearts to give according to his will for this.

Here is how you can donate, safely, fee free, and tax deductible:

https://www.adopttogether.org/potterfamily


Thank you, friends! For coming alongside us and helping us move this mountain!

“Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes.”
1 Sam. 12:16

fighting.

Is it possible that I have a few quiet minutes to myself during the day? My husband took the big kids to AWANAS tonight and all three of my littles are asleep...which is glorious for me in this moment, but, it's also 5pm. Which means tonight may not be so glorious. But, I'll take it now!

Where do I begin? So many things and thoughts to process and ramble about. We have been so blessed lately by the generosity of the people who surround us. So many dear people who have given their time, their money, their homes, their resources, their support for us. It means so much. Adoption can be a rollercoaster of emotions and feelings and situations, especially when fundraising because the mountain that is in front of us feels so big. So impossible. It IS impossible for us to move it alone- and there have been weeks where nothing moves. And doubt creeps in. But then we receive a note of encouragement in the mail. We receive a free bed for O. Someone who reads this blog (who I don't know) gets in touch with me and donates to our auction. Little fundraisers are adding up. A few more envelopes are filled and each "small" thing just continues to fan the flame and keeps us moving and believing.

(warning, real human feelings below!)
We were approved for a Both Hands project, we were last time as well but we didn't have time to do it because we traveled so soon. Adam and I are reading it late in the week and it requires more help from our people, our community. And I sigh and feel like we've already asked so much of everyone. Can't the Lord just rain it down on our doorstep without us having to beg people and plead and sell things? But then I am reminded that this is warfare. Absolutely a spiritual war that makes adoption so hard, because the is nothing more that the devil wants then for us to give up. For Olive to remain an orphan and for us to go about our daily happy comfy lives. Because the enemy knows that adoption is the Lord's heart and that he is passionate about it- so he is going to fight us for all we have to get us to stop, and if he can use money(the lack of) he will try. He will try anything.

But we aren't giving up. My fingers may be sore from making signs for our auction, my mind may be partially fried after filling out over 100 pages of grant applications all asking the same thing in different ways and writing 5 different essays. My pride may be shredded to nothing after asking and asking and asking and begging and advertising and hosting trying to raise funds. We won't give up, we know that this battle is the Lords and that he's already won it. 

The Lord doesn't lose. Olive has a family and he knows how this will all come to be!

update & current fundraisers

We have a few different things going on right now, so I thought it would be easier to keep up with if I put it all in one central place :-)

Process wise, we are waiting. Here is a little timeline of how things happen and where we are:

Apply
Homestudy (can take anywhere from 4-12 weeks depending)
DSS Homestudy Approval Letter (Typical wait time is 2 weeks)*this is what we are waiting on*
Apply to Immigration (4-12 weeks from start to finish)
Send Dossier (immediately after receiving immigration approval)
File for Court (2-4 weeks to receive a date)
Travel

While looking at this list it looks like we have a long road ahead of us, but our estimated travel date is still in February and once we get into the immigration stage things start moving!

We have applied to 4 grants, one of them replied already and are no longer receiving applications this year. So we have three currently waiting to be reviewed. We are in the process of applying with three more that are very lengthy/time consuming, but we almost have those completed. Total once we have them all in is 6. We are praying very hard over these as grants made our previous adoption possible. However, we are working hard to not put all of our hope and trust in the grants- but in the Lord! We know that all of this is his money and he designates it where he wants it to go! (With that said, if the Lord is telling you to give to someone or something,  even if you think you don't have it or it doesn't make any sense, (in general, to anything! Not meaning just to us!) - do it! He works and accomplishes things through his people.

Also, here is a list of our current fundraisers. We have a few coming up that we are really excited about! I have also updated our thermometer :)


Saturday October 24th
Noonday Trunk Show

Beautiful handmade jewelry, bags, scarves and more made by real women in different countries. A friend of ours has a Noonday ambassador coming to host a trunk show for us at her home! We get 10% of sales, and we also get entered into a drawing to win $14,000 for our adoption. This will be a fun time! If you can't make it, you can still shop online and we still benefit!

https://www.noondaycollection.com/PWS/RebeccaGeddings/eventstore12899/AMUS/product/Tidepool-Earrings,2513,397.aspx

November 3rd-6th
Adoption Auction

We are gathering items now for our adoption auction! This is an online auction, it will be held on Facebook. We have many great things to bid on thanks to many generous friends and businesses! We are praying that this fundraiser brings in $2,000. If you have anything to donate we are constantly accepting items/services!

November 7th
Fall Craft Day

A sweet friend is hosting a fall craft day in her home. We will be making wood slice chalk boards, chalk board banners and practicing different lettering, breakfast munchies will be served! Cost is $25 and it includes your craft supplies, food and donation! Space is very limited, there are currently just 3 spots open for this day. If you want in, let me know!

Ongoing
Envelope Fundraiser 

We are still trying to fill all of our envelopes! It is getting harder to fill them as the majority of smaller numbers are taken, but we are not discouraged! We know the Lord will provide. If you and your family would like to claim an envelope, you can let me know by email, comment, text, message etc. You are also able to make a tax deductible donation, ask me how! The numbers in black are numbers that still need claimed. 

Slowly but surely the Lord will finish what he has began! In the meantime, please pray with us over all of these things!

Isaiah 58:6-12

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
    lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
    and remove the chains that bind people.
 Share your food with the hungry,
    and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
    and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

 “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
    and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
    and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

Then when you call, the Lord will answer.    ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.
    Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
 Feed the hungry,
    and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
    and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
 The Lord will guide you continually,
    giving you water when you are dry
    and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like an ever-flowing spring.

Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.
    Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls
    and a restorer of homes.

A little bit of this and that.

-When I woke up this morning it was a beautiful 57 degrees outside! I ran around like a crazy lady frantically opening every single window in the house and then made coffee, because chilly weather is best when drinking coffee with it.

-My three big girls are in New York with my parents for two weeks. To any normal parent this would probably be too long- to a mama who has lived in Uganda for triple that amount of time away from her kids, we will all be OK for two weeks. But they should prepare to be smothered when they return!

-So I have my boys. Boys are so different than girls. So entirely crazily wildly different. Did I say wild already? They played outside for hours this morning, came in covered with dirt. Not just dirty hands and knees, nope. Dirty nostrils. Dirty ears. Dirt in between toes even though they had on sneakers. Straight to the bath,  then into super hero costumes where they jump off the coffee table and land on the couch, with sound effects, because that is what super heroes do. To eating a massive amount of food (I know, wait until they are teens!) and then finally the ring leader crashes on the couch with goldfish still in his mouth and the other two call it quits but decide on their beds over the couch or floor. Tomorrow more grand adventures await!

-I started T25 Beta this week and so far it is one of my favorites- I actually enjoyed it and then ruined it all with peanut butter! Of all things- peanut butter is my hardest. I can easily eat a days worth of calories in peanut butter- and is so fattening! I gained a little over 20 pounds the last time we adopted- just during the process and its not happening again. Nope. Just no. Paperwork is just as fun with water as it is with cookies....right?!

-So much is happening with our adoption process! The Lord is providing in big ways through an obedient and generous community of friends, family and strangers. Again, when we said "YES" to adopting, we had no money saved for it. In three weeks we raised enough for our application fee ($350), our home study ($1500), DSS to review the home study ($225), immigration fee and fingerprinting ($890), and $500 put towards our first agency fee (bringing the fee from $5250 to $4750).

That is $3,465 in three weeks! Only God.

I try to keep the thermometer up to date on here- it may be a little confusing because we've had different amounts on there. At first I put the total amount of the entire adoption, then decided to take it one fee at a time. So right now because all of the other stuff is paid for and out of the way, the ONLY thing any donations are going towards is the agency fee. Whereas some of the donations went to the home study, some went to the dss fee, some to the immigration fee (whatever was due at the time)- now its all going to the big chunk we need to give our agency.

Our agency really rocks and they are not harping us or calling us like bill collectors to pay them and they do not set a date that a fee is due on, but there will come a point where they won't be able to move anything forward until we do. I am praying and believing that our first partial payment of $5,250 will be paid for by November 1st. We are already down to owing just $4,750 of that, and we JUST watched the Lord provide $3,500 in three weeks. Will you believe and pray with us that $4,750 will be provided for by the first of November?

I dislike greatly that money is such a huge part of adoption and seems to be the only thing we talk about when we talk about it lately- it is the biggest hurdle to overcome for most families walking this path. But it also gives the Lord a huge platform to show his heart and goodness. I caught myself washing dishes a few weeks ago thinking about this very thing. I thought to myself..."what would this process be like if we were not literally dependent on the Lord to do this?" Would it even be the same if we could just cut the agency a check for the full amount and move on? Just swipe a credit card and not have to worry about it or ask or wait on the Lord to provide? I think we would miss out greatly. (don't get me wrong- if you have the money and don't need to fundraise, that just means the Lord has provided in advance for you, and that is not a bad thing!).

So- for an adoption update outside of money...we are waiting. Our home study is complete, we reviewed it this week for corrections and are now waiting on the final copy. Once we have the final copy we can apply for immigration. Then we wait for a fingerprint date, then we send in our dossier once those clear, and wait for a court date! It's a hurry up and wait game. So right now we are praying that our completed home study will come in quickly.

**update!**

Social worker says next week she is sending it to DSS. So we should have it SOON! 

-We finalize the boys adoption on October 15th! Only 2.5 years later :-) 

-I'm drinking coffee regularly now to keep up with the kids, school, and paperwork, and I am so ready for FALL!