lawn mowers and vacuums

The other day I was vacuuming the house and Ishmael (my 2 year old) wanted to help.  So I let him stand in front of me with his little hands on the vacuum and "help" me.  He wasn't a whole lot of help.  In fact I know that the whole thing took me twice as long.  But he was having a blast....and that was really what was important.  He got to feel like he was "mommy's little helper" and I got to see his face light up while doing house work!

It reminded me of that old saying about us believers working with God.  I have heard it said that God is like a man mowing the lawn who lets his child stand in front of him to "push the mower".  Now, I am not a fan of children around lawn mowers and for good reason! (for those of you who don't know my husband lost a leg in a lawn mower accident as a boy) However I do think the point of the story still stands. That when we think we are doing God's work and helping him "mow the lawn" God is doing all the work and He is just letting us help.  I think our call as believers is much simpler than we make it.  And in my case I tend to take too much responsibility upon myself to get the job done.

I have tried to keep this in mind with my fundraising for this adoption.  Bringing our little Simon home will cost around 22,000.00.  Which to me sounds like A LOT.  But I know that it isn't impossible for God.  He has made it clear time and time again. (we have raised 8,000.00 so far)  I know that HE is the one raising the money.  HE is the one guiding hearts to give of their extra income to help us bring Simon home.  The other day my friend, in response to a large sum of money coming in said, "see, now are you done worrying about fundraising?"  I wish I could confidently say, YES.  However I am still a sinner and I still struggle with the faith to move mountains. Which is really sad.  I am not the one driving this lawn mower, or vacuum....it is God.  So why do I try so hard to make it happen?

Every night I pray for Simon.  For his heart, for his mind and for our adoption.  But I also pray that God would "help my unbelief".  It is hard for me to give up control.  And an international adoption is not something where you ever really feel in control.  This is a good test for me and clearly a learning experience.  I wish that I would stop trying to push the lawn mower and just walk behind it, safe in the father's arms.   He must look down at me as I strive with all my might to make it go faster and think, "silly Anna, don't you know that I am in control?"

Please keep praying for our hearts.  I can't share it right now but we are trying to make some big decisions and we have hit some walls.  I don't know if these walls are another test in our faith in God's ability to move mountains or just God moving us in a new direction.  Thank you everyone who has supported us through giving, praying or just saying supportive things to us.  Your gifts are grand and they help us move forward, to follow the call of a God with a much bigger plan to love these orphans and bring them into family.

Here are the things that are going on right now that will help us in our fundraising:

1. there is a matching grant of 1,000.00 until the end of December.  We have 550.00 so far, so only 450.00 needs to be donated and we will have not 1,000.00 but 2,000.00 towards our adoption!!!!  You can bring in or mail donations to Trinity Chiropractic 3120 O street Lincoln Ne 68510.  Or donate on my blog (see chip in on right hand side...you pick, one with a tax deduction and one without....(please mail any large donations to either Reece's Rainbow or Trinity to keep paypal from taking a cut!)

2. Our dear friend Natalie, aunt of Grace's Samantha who came home from Simon's orphanage just a few months ago, is making BEAUTIFUL hair combs and jewelry.  Please see her blog for items you might like to purchase for yourself or for any lovely ladies on your Christmas list:  http://pricklythistlecreations.blogspot.com/

3. I have a few hats and some art for sale on my facebook page.  Click here to see the hats and here to see the art.  Thank you to my wonderful friends (Holly on the hats and Daniel on the art) who have created these masterpieces and donated them to my adoption.  

Thank you again for reading, praying and giving!!

Why we are fundraising

I am not a person that can ask for financial help easily, let's just get that information out there. I guess in some ways I am hoping people will want to help us because we aren't adding a child to our home for our own glory. Nor are we desiring to complete our perfect family unit.(not that adopting for that reason is wrong at ALL) I am not struggling with infertility as far as I know :)

We decided to adopt to save a child from life in an institution, one I first learned about through my friend Grace and through this blog.  http://theblessingofverity.com/ While my husband and I are trying to be as open as possible about finding the child we will adopt we have been moving toward adopting from this orphanage, the one the Bulgarian media call "Auschwitz" just a few months ago. We know there have been some improvements however the children in this orphanage still have a long way to go. I was overwhelmed just yesterday by the new pictures and descriptions of children just posted on Reece's Rainbow that are up for adoption from this institution. (you can see them by going to http://reecesrainbow.org/ in the search box type in #11 and you will be shown children from there)

I don't know what I can and can't share and perhaps this will all be removed later. I found these pictures on another person's blog that show the inside of this orphanage. I thought you might like to see them. Go here http://jamesonetwentyseven.weebly.com/adopting-from-bulgaria.html (these photos have been removed.  If you click on background of Simon's Orphanage on my page you will find some articles and pictures of conditions in pleven)

I also found this story on a different blog, while it is not about the place I visited, I really identified with how this mom felt about leaving these kids behind. http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/2010/06/i-left-my-heart-there.html

Adopting from Bulgaria costs about 22,000.00 give or take a couple thousand, which when you are talking about this big of a number what is a couple thousand either way? I would LOVE to raise it all, however we are also willing to take out some loans as well.  Thanks so family and friends we have been able to raise over 7,000 which has taken us this far.  (We have paid off our home study and our commitment fees.  We have also made 2 agency fees!!)

So I am just hoping that if you feel so led you might want to be a part of helping us free an orphan from this institution by donating to our cause. There is a box in the top right hand corner of this page where you can donate through paypal. You could also mail us a check at 2740 R street Apt 2 Lincoln Ne 68503.  We also have a link to our Reece's rainbow family profile.  Your donation will be tax deductible if you donate through RR.  If you mail a check to RR we will get all of the money, there are fees if you use your credit card....sadly.

I did some math that I found interesting...Now we all now that not every friend of ours on facebook is really a "close friend". Especially if you have my personality or view facebook simply as a networking place :). I have 698 "friends" on facebook. If each of them donated 32.00 my adoption would be fully funded. Isn't that crazy???  (I posted this on my facebook page and had a little over 15 facebook friends send me 32.00 or more!!)