Support

It's been a while since I posted, mostly because May is a pretty hectic time of year for teachers and things have been bonkers.

Even more than the school year coming to a close, however, we have been busy fundraising- a task we could in no way accomplish on our own. Pictured is a group of friends we've gotten close to over the years- and while there are a few people missing, we're thankful to have this particular group of friends because they have been SO supportive in a variety of ways. This group (including a few notable others not seen here) have gone over and above with their outpouring of love for us and Baby J, so they're getting a dedication post. :) 

These friends have helped at every.single.garage sale (and they've donated more than half of the stuff we've sold), they've donated financially, they've prayed for and encouraged us, they've brought meals and treats when we were exhausted, they've been our cheerleaders- there is nothing that hasn't been done by at least one of them. They've organized garage sale previews, listened when we were stressed, kept a good sense of humor when we've been down, and even started gifting for Baby J. (I also think two of them are going to paint the nursery for us- if you've ever seen me paint, you'd know what a huge blessing that is- we can't afford to replace the carpet.)

I mention this now mainly because we're in a holding pattern- we have had 3 of 5 garage sales and our garage is still PACKED- so we're trying to do what we can and raise funds with what we have in the meantime. Unfortunately, Paul works many Saturdays, and so thankfully, we've had these friends coming to help price, sell, and cover the sale throughout the day. We would definitely have not been successful without them, and we love them for it. We're waiting for our home study to be reviewed by both agencies, which means that we can't apply for grants yet, and so the focus has been on the sales in order to reach the fundraising goal for our next bill. (We need a completed home study to apply for most adoption grants.) 

This is important to us in part because we know that not everyone is going to adopt, but everyone can support adoption in different ways. We have had a LOT of support, and we could write blogs for the next decade about each person that's helped us, both inside this group and outside, but these guys have been almost as involved in the fundraising process as we have been! We are so encouraged by people that help even if it's not their passion- because they've shown us that they're passionate about families in every sense of the word. 

Updates:

I wish I could say that there were major updates, but we are just waiting for our home study to be approved. After that point, we will have more to share and hopefully a clearer view of the estimated timeline (although even that is a guess).

Until then, thanks for everything!  Come visit us next Saturday (5/24) and the following Friday/Saturday (5/30-5/31) for our last garage sales- there's new stuff coming in every day! You're welcome to donate stuff as well if that comes up. Thank you and we love you all!