final t-shirt order- new colors!

We are now taking pre-orders (as in you pick the size(s) and color(s) you want and we order them for you) for our final t-shirt order!
Jon & I created our t-shirt design together on our computer and the Lord has provided steadily for our adoption through these shirts. We are so humbled and thankful for every one of you who has ordered a shirt already and all of you who are about to! When we designed the shirt, our hope was that whenever you wear it, you will help raise awareness of the global orphan crisis and God's love for orphans. We also pray that wearing these shirts would open many doors for gospel conversations and for sharing how all Christians are called to care for orphans in some way. So be ready to explain that there are 147 million orphans worldwide. That there are 39 million orphans just in Africa- around 4 million in Ethiopia and in the DRC. And that every single one of them bears the image of God, just like you and me.

 We need to order a minimum of 24, and we hope to have at least that many pre-ordered by April 24th so we can send in our order. 
If you would like one (or 10!) please email me @ mrsmeach1@gmail.com with the colors and sizes you want us to order for you! I will hand them out (and mail them out) when they come in.

You can donate the $20 per shirt several different ways (please don't forget to include $2 per shirt if you need me to ship them, to help cover shipping costs):
1) You can donate online through our ChipIn button (on our blog's sidebar)
2) You can mail a check to Lifesong (directions on our Both Hands tab)
3) You can mail a check to us and we will deposit it into our adoption account (email me @ mrsmeach1@gmail.com)

I happily wear my super soft and comfy adoption t-shirt often! So often that one of my best friends dressed up as me for Halloween and wore- you guessed it- our adoption shirt! =) Love you Jordan!

SO thankful to be an adopted daughter of my Heavenly Father,

Gifts that Keep Giving: Thirty-One fundraiser

Did you know that the name Thirty-One comes from Proverbs 31?

I'm sure most of you have heard of Thirty-One gifts by now, but for those of you who haven't here's a brief intro:"Our stylish, affordable products are exclusive to Thirty-One. From our signature purses and totes to storage solutions that help organize your life, you'll find something to fit every personality and situation. Each season, we develop new products built on the idea that our products must be functional AND fashionable (and, of course, make great gifts!)." (taken from thirtyonegifts.com)

Needless to say, there are TONS of great gift ideas for the mothers in your life!

AND here's the best part- now through April 24th, you can email me an order for any Thirty-one items and my friend, Molly, who is a Thirty-one consultant has offered to donate a big portion of her sales to OUR ADOPTION!
You can browse the entire catalog online and benefit from the April monthly special! For every $31 you spend, get 1/2 off any purse!

There is something for everyone. Cute lunch totes, purses, organizing totes, even stationery!

I have the Picnic Thermal Tote (in the same pattern as #9 actually) and it wonderful for playdates to the park or the zoo. There's plenty of room for me to pack lunch for Jonah and myself (with room to spare for future kiddos lunches)!

I also have my eye on the Organizing Utility Tote (#4) and the Large Utility Tote (#5)! And I love the Retro Metro bag in one of the new gray prints!

Toward the back of the catalog you can see all the fun prints that are available for each bag!

So go to Thirty-One's online catalog, pick out some gifts for yourself or someone you love and email me @ mrsmeach1@gmail.com to tell me what you want to order by Tuesday, April 24th, and VOILA- you've gotten a great gift for someone and supported adoption as well!

We are only $4200 away from our adoption being fully funded!

Fundraising Party Coming up!

Hey friends,
As of today it looks like we are just a little over $4,000 away from our adoption being fully funded!!! We are PRAISING THE LORD for His provision for our every need (it is truly SO humbling to see how He has provided for every step of our adoption) and we are looking forward to seeing how He provides through our next Fundraising event!

We are hosting a GIRLS NIGHT OUT Adoption Fundraising Party on Tuesday, April 24th! It will be a fun night to get away, enjoy some free food and drink, maybe WIN some prizes and shop for yourself and all the Moms in your life!
You'll be able to purchase great products by Thirty-one Gifts and Norwex (chemical-free cleaning cloths + more) and a portion of everything you buy will be donated to our adoption!! There will also be adoption cookbooks, African paper bead necklaces, and adoption t-shirts available to purchase to support adoption. So you can SHOP for all the people in your life and SUPPORT our adoption at the same time!

*Orders will be ready in time for Mother's Day!

If you live nearby & would like to come, email me @ mrsmeach1@gmail.com for directions & details!

We are opening up ordering to ALL OF YOU! If you would like to ORDER any NORWEX or THIRTY-ONE products, please email me @ mrsmeach1@gmail.com  by April 24th so it can be counted toward our adoption donations as well!! Online orders will not be able to be counted, so please make sure you email me all your order info and I will pass it on to our consultants!

Both companies actually have some great specials going on during the month of April!

source

For every $31 you spend, Thirty-one will give you 1/2 off any purse! These great-looking bags speak for themselves! (I LOVE my Picnic Thermal Tote! It is perfect for play dates at the Zoo!)

And Norwex has several monthly deals as well as package deals! For those of you who haven't heard of Norwex yet, here's little info about one of their top-selling products:
       "Antibac Enviro Cloth  This multipurpose, antibacterial, microfiber cloth removes dust, dirt, and grease from all washable surfaces, while preventing the transfer of germs to your hand and cross-contamination between surfaces. Use it dry for dusting, or damp for cleaning walls, tiles, bathtubs, counters, metal surfaces, car interiors, etc. Between launderings, simply rinse, wring out and hang to dry."(Taken from their website.)

Norwex products allow you to literally clean your entire house just using water! Check out their website to read more or come to the party to see the demonstrations for yourself! Several of our good friends have switched to this budget-friendly, chemical-free way to clean their homes and they LOVE it.


Don't forget- email your orders to me @ mrsmeach1@gmail.com by Tuesday, April 24th!
Thank you in advance to everyone who is able to shop and support our adoption!

I am really looking forward to a fun night out with the girls!

our African Paper-Bead Necklaces

Our sweet friends, Justin & Bonnie, were finally able to bring their sweet babies home from Ethiopia last month! Well, we were (and are) completed OVERJOYED that God knit their family together and that they're finally home as a family of 4! When Bonnie came home from being in Ethiopia 10+ weeks she also brought home a special treat for us... 5 bags of paper-bead necklaces for us to sell as an adoption fundraiser!! Bonnie & Justin were able to pay for Justin's plane ticket to Ethiopia with money raised from these beautiful African necklaces! So they passed on some more in hopes that they would  be a blessing to us as well. We are SO thankful for their kindness and generosity!!

Each bead is hand-rolled from recycled paper (magazines, calendars, etc) by women in Africa. They are coated with some type of clear finish, so they are water-resistent but certainly not water-proof for a shower or swimming, etc. . If you want to request a necklace, you can leave a comment here, send me a facebook message, or email me @ mrsmeach1@gmail.com. Just let me know what color(s) you want, while supplies last.

We are asking for a $10 donation per necklace. (Please add $2 per necklace if you need them shipped or $5 total for shipping 3 or more.)

Each necklace is one long strand that can be wrapped

once, twice, or three times for 3 different looks! 

These are all one long strand wrapped 3 times (so they could all fit in the picture!).
Top row, Left to right: multi purple (3 left), multi pastels (3 left), multi bold (15 left)
bottom row, left to right: multi bold (see "multi bold" above), multi pink/red (3 left), multi blue (4 left)

We have already been very humbled and thankful for the $680 the Lord provided for our adoption this week through my husband's kind co-workers purchasing our African paper-bead necklaces!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!  We are still $5000+ away from our goal, but we can see the Lord slowly and faithfully providing for our adoption and we are so THANKFUL!! And we still have around 50 necklaces left!

beyond thankful to be an adopted daughter of the King of kings,
 
PS- Our agency was in the DRC last week and we DID get some new pictures of our baby girl! She is beautiful and looks healthy (except for a pretty yucky rash on her neck/chest). We can't wait to see new pictures of baby R when they get back to the land of the free and home of the high-speed internet connection! Plus, we are SUPER excited to get the video footage they took of our kiddos!! Ahhh, be still my soul. I can't wait to see my babies, hold them, and love on them for... forever!

A message from your big brother

Baby brother and baby sister, we have a message from your big brother, Jonah, to share with you today:


{You can watch it on Youtube @ http://youtu.be/kdMGJYxgIo8 }


Jonah is also excited to announce our newest FUNDRAISER below:

Please PRAY with us for 2 members of our agency who arrived in the DRC yesterday!!! Pray for their safety and protection and for a very productive trip! Pray they would get to see ALL of the children referred to families and get plenty of pictures and video. And pray with us that all the children, including our son & daughter, would  be united with their forever families SOON!

In Christ,

kids size adoption shirts

We are so excited about all the interest in kids sizes of our adoption shirt! Around 20 shirts have been requested so far- that will be around $400 for our adoption!!! Praise the Lord! (We're still about $6000 short for those who are wondering.)

 Leave a comment on this post or email me {@ mrsmeach1@gmail.com} if you'd like us to order one (or ten) for you! Just tell me what size(s) and color(s) you want. (We can order any color you see listed (as long as they're currently available), we just have to order a minimum # of shirts.)

 

You can donate the $20 per shirt to our adoption online via our ChipIn button (on our left sidebar) or by mailing a check to us. We will distribute the shirts as soon as they come in. We're going to order them Thursday and they said they'd be ready in 2 weeks. If you live near me I'd love to meet up with you somewhere to give you your shirt(s), but if you're out of town please add $3 to cover shipping costs (and make sure I have your mailing address!).

 

this shirt comes in 2T,3T, and 4T- http://www.handsonoriginals.co/Toddler-Heavyweight-Cotton-Tees-p/toddlerheavyweightcottontees.htm}

 this shirt comes in youth XS-L in lots of fun colors http://

www.handsonoriginals.co/Youth-Cotton-Blend-Tees-p/youthcottonblendtees.htm}

 

We're going to try to order the kids shirts by Thursday of this week, so please let me know by then! (After that I can't promise we will have the size or color you want.)

 

We are so excited that we are IN COURT right now in Congo and should officially be baby R's parents ANY DAY now! And we're praying that baby girl would get a court date as soon as they have her birth certificate in hand mid-March!

Please continue to pray with us that God's hands of protection would be wrapped around our son and daughter, and that they would be home with us very soon! We're placing our trust in God's timing and also trusting that He will continue to provide for the financial costs of rescuing our babies. We just found out this week that we owe an extra $2400 for the court process to get our kids birth certificates. Boo. But nothing is impossible for God right? He will help us complete this adoption, but we do appreciate your prayers for provision and for us to not fear or worry about HOW we're going to pay all these bills. Please pray that we would rely on Christ alone and not our own strength to do this! We fall short, but our Heavenly Father holds us and our children in the palm of His hand and cares deeply for us. We know that He called us to adopt and that He has chosen these children for our family, and we CAN'T WAIT to have them home!!!!!

 

Baby R and baby girl's Mommy in Waiting,

NEW T-shirt Colors and Sizes available!!

{I am pictured above wearing size Small in all 3 shirts. You'll notice the pink shirt is a "women's cut" shirt and fits slightly different than the rest of our unisex shirts.}

Current Colors & Sizes Left as of 2/15 2/18:

Smoke Gray: 51S, 2 1 L, 2 XL, 1 XXL

Light Pink: 5 4 S, 4 M, 1 L, 2 XL

Mocha Brown: 3 S, 5 3 M, 2 L

Navy: 2 L, 1 XL

Contact me @ mrsmeach1@gmail.com to reserve your shirts today! This will probably be our last batch of shirts, so hurry to get the size and colors you want! First come, first served. Once they're gone, they're gone. 

We're asking for a minimum $20 donation per shirt (add $3 if you need them shipped to you). These are great quality "fashion fit" shirts! Jon & I made the design ourselves. If you're local, shoot me an email or facebook message and I'd love to bring your shirt to you or meet you somewhere.

You can DONATE $20 per shirt to our ChipIn account online (on our Fundraising Tab) using PayPal. Just make sure you let me know what Size & Color shirts you want in the COMMENTS section! (And please add the extra $3 if you need me to ship it.)

If you don't want to use PayPal email me at mrsmeach1@gmail.com and we'll work out a different way for you to make your donation for your shirts!

We hope you enjoy wearing your nice, comfy t-shirt and each time you do you'll know you helped us get one step closer to bringing our children home and you'll be a walking bilboard for orphan care! Thanks for helping us spread the word about the 147 million orphans that need a family, God's heart for orphans, and that ALL Christians are called to care for them in some way!

We're praying God will provide for our last $6,550!

Did you know?

I made this blog extra using a combination of Photoshop and Illustrator with the info I saw on 147millionorphans.com.

 I want to share it with you (totally free) so you can help raise awareness of the global orphan crisis.

{Just right-click on the size you want, Save to your computer, and "add a picture gadget" to your blog's sidebar, or include it in a post. Use it however you like, but Please just leave a source link back to my blog.}

 Together, let's pray that WAY more than 1% of Christian families will adopt!

small

medium (recommended)

large

I'd love to create a custom blog extra for you!

Want to display a favorite scripture verse? Need a new blog header? Need to advertise your fundraisers in an eye-catching way??  

Go to www.blogdesignbybethany.blogspot.com to support our newest fundraiser!!

I'll create a custom design for you and EVERY dollar goes directly to our adoption expenses!

a blog design Giveaway!

We are hosting a blog design GIVEAWAY right now

 at jonandbethany.blogspot.com!

 Go check it out- you could WIN a FREE CUSTOM BLOG HEADER and SIGNATURE just for helping us spread the word about our newest adoption Fundraiser!!

Thank you for your faithful prayers, support, and encouragement along this journey!

Trusting in the Lord to provide for us {we are about $6,500 short},

our newest Fundraiser

Our newest Adoption Fundraiser has begun! I will be sharing my love for blog design, cute fonts, and Photoshop to help finance the final costs of our adoption at blog design by Bethany!

(100% of the proceeds from my blog designing will help us pay the rest of the travel, attorney, agency and other fees we have left to rescue our two sweet children from the DRC!)

Once our adoption is complete I plan to continue blog design by bethany so that 100% of the proceeds can be given to financially support other families who are adopting!

The Lord seems to have laid this fundraising idea on my heart in His perfect timing. Last week my van started doing something funky, not going from first to second gear at times, etc... so we took it in to get looked at, and yes, just as we had feared---- we need a new transmission. So our personal savings account is now taking a $3,000 - $4,000+ hit (depending on if they can find a good used one to rebuild- Pray with us that they do!). All this after we just finished fixing the major structural damage we found in our basement at the end of the record-setting rainfall that flooded our basement 10 times last spring/summer (another $3,000 we weren't planning on spending).
All this to say, we are trusting in our Sovereign God to provide for us, but we would love it if you would help pray that He will provide the last $6,500 we need!

If you'd like to help spread the word, I'd love for you to "grab" my blog button and add it to your blog! {You just copy the text in the box beneath my button on blogdesignbybethany.blogspot.com, add an HTML/javascript gadget to your blog (on the Design tab) and paste the text, then save!} You could also help me spread the word by writing a short post about this Fundraiser on your blog or Facebook wall!

For now, I am clinging to Christ and His promises in His word:
 ³ Put not your trust in princes,
   in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
⁴ When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
   on that very day his plans perish.
 ⁵ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
   whose hope is in the LORD his God,
⁶ who made heaven and earth,
   the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
 ⁷ who executes justice for the oppressed,
   who gives food to the hungry.
   The LORD sets the prisoners free;
 ⁸ the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
   the LORD loves the righteous.
⁹ The LORD watches over the sojourners;
   he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
   but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
 ¹⁰ The LORD will reign forever,
   your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!
Psalm 146: 3-10


Praying Expectantly for His provision,

End of Year Giving

If you'd like to make an end of the year gift to our adoption, we would greatly rejoice at any amount you feel led to give! We still have thousands and thousands of dollars of travel expenses, referral fees, attorney fees, and more in the coming months as we get closer to bringing our precious children home.
If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to our adoption, you can donate through Lifesong.

To donate online, go to www.lifesongfororphans.org/bhProj.html. Look for the DONATE button next to our picture (Jonathan & Bethany Meacham). You can even read our letter we sent out to people about our Both Hands project if you'd like. Giving online allows you to give using a credit or debit card.

To donate by mail, make your check out to "Lifesong for Orphans" and write "preference Meacham Adoption #2036" on the memo line. Then mail it to:
 Lifesong for Orphans
PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St.
Gridley, IL 61744

Praying for our two soon-to-be children across the world! Lord, have mercy and execute justice for the orphan! Please place two lonely, orphaned children in our family!

We thank you in advance for your gift and want you to know that we praise and thank God for your generous giving!! We truly do praise God for the countless Christians who are a part of our adoption and who have each played a role in helping us rescue and care for orphans in the Congo! You are storing up treasures in Heaven!

In Christ,

Our Both Hands Project Recap

The Lord gave us beautiful weather this past Saturday for our Both Hands project!! The perfect number of people were able to come help (totally the Lord) knock out our "to-do list" for Mrs. Denise home. Here's a video we made to recap our day. We hope you enjoy it!
Both Hands is a non-profit helping orphans and widows. Our team of friends and family sent letters out asking people to sponsor them (like a 5k,etc) as we work on a widow's home for a day. My husband and I covered the costs of all the supplies for the day. ALL of the money raised goes directly to our adoption costs!

A BIG THANKS to:
 *Home Depot for donating $100 in gift cards & giving us 20% off everything else
 *Chic-Fil-A for donating Chicken sandwiches for our whole team
*Starbucks for donating lots of coffee to get us ready for the day
*Walmart for donating $25 to help cover the cost of drinks for the team

You can also view the video online @ http://youtu.be/HQR-dZQQ8hk


**There are details at the end of the video if you or someone you know would like to support our adoption!!
* You can make a tax-deductible donation online by clicking the Donate button next to the "Meacham family" project details at www.lifesongfororphans.org/bhProj.html

Hope you had a great weekend!

Waiting

We are still waiting to find out if we will lose the referral for our little boy. Until we have our answer the Lord is not done working, so we will continue praying fervently on his behalf!!!!!

In the midst of this sad situation, the Lord has given us reason to rejoice. He is providing for our every need and for our adoption!!!!
As of June 30th (the last day to give to our Matching Grant), we received $5,590 in donations to Hand in Hand!!!
$5,000 was matched Dollar for Dollar, making for a grand total of $10,590 toward our adoption expenses!!!!!!

We are praising the Lord for every single one of you who gave! We are so humbled and encouraged by your generous giving!!

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to our Adoption Fund, from this point on you can donate through Lifesong. To donate online, go to www.lifesongfororphans.org/bhProj.html.
To donate by mail, make your check out to "Lifesong for Orphans" and write "preference Meacham Adoption #2036" on the memo line. Then mail it to:
 Lifesong for Orphans
PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St.
Gridley, IL 61744

Praying for 2 orphan babies across the world! Lord, have mercy! Execute Justice for the Orphan & the widow! Place the lonely in families!

Hand in Hand Giving Update

We just wanted to let everyone know that we got our weekly update from Hand in Hand last Friday. As of Friday we had $200 donated!!

We are praying that the Lord would provide all $5,000 that Hand in Hand has agreed to match dollar-for-dollar!

If you would like to give, or are planning on giving, just remember your donation must be postmarked by June 30th!!

Here's how to give to our matching grant:
If you would like to contribute to our dollar for dollar Matching Grant, you can mail your check made payable to "Hand in Hand Christian Adoption" to:
Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.
Jonathan & Bethany Meacham
18524 Juniper Street
Gardner, KS 66030-9147
**For tax purposes please include our name on the OUTSIDE of the ENVELOPE ONLY. Do NOT put our name on the check itself!
** Make sure it is postmarked by June 30, 2011

Thanks to everyone for praying for the Lord's provision for our adoption!! It is so humbling and exciting to see Him providing for us!!!

Walking Hand in Hand

May 19th was a GREAT day! Let me tell you why it was such a great day...

In the midst of our basement flooding/mold/termites/Rotted Wood FIASCO, the Lord has KINDLY and MERCIFULLY heard our cries!
We met with some of our Both Hands team on Thursday night & were encouraged that others are excited to serve this widow to support our adoption like we are! After the meeting wrapped up, we were hanging out with a few friends and their sweet kiddos who are all around Jonah's age when we found out some more GOOD NEWS...

We were approved for a $5,000 MATCHING GRANT from Hand In Hand!!!!!!!! This is exactly what we have been praying for! We know that the Lord hears, but wow. This is such a SWEET and GRACIOUS provision from the Lord! It is amazing and encouraging to see the Lord MOVING to help us RESCUE 2 ORPHANS and expand our family through our Congolese adoptions!

So we are now busy trying to let people know about this great opportunity to support our adoption & have their contribution DOUBLED! I would love to give $25 knowing that it will become $50, or give $50 knowing it will become $100, etc to any of our friends adopting! Please pray that the Lord would provide $5,000 for this matching grant, so that we will get the full $10,000!!
We are praying that the Lord would move quickly because the letter stated that "All donated monies must be in our HANDinHAND office or postmarked by June 30, 2011 to be considered in the dollar for dollar match for your specific grant. "
*If you would like to contribute to our dollar for dollar Matching Grant, you can mail your check made payable to "Hand in Hand Christian Adoption" to:
Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.
Jonathan & Bethany Meacham
18524 Juniper Street
Gardner, KS 66030-9147
**For tax purposes please include our name on the OUTSIDE of the ENVELOPE ONLY. Do NOT put our name on the check itself!
** Make sure it is postmarked by June 30, 2011!

Thank you for your prayful consideration in helping two orphans find a forever family!
And please be praying for Jon & I as we have some big decisions to make in the coming days, more on that soon! =)
 I'll leave you with one of my favorite hymns which recently had me in tears, reflecting on the INCREDIBLE mercy of the Lord in saving me when I was 20 years old! And adopting ME as His own.

It is Well with My Soul

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Refrain:
It is well with my soul,
it is well, it is well with my soul.

2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and hath shed his own blood for my soul.
(Refrain)

3. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
(Refrain)

4. And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
even so, it is well with my soul.
(Refrain)

Both Hands!!

We are so excited and encouraged to have some GOOD news on our adoption! Yesterday morning we got a call from Lifesong telling us that we were approved for a $10,000 interest-free loan from our wonderful church, Immanuel, and that we were approved for the Both Hands fundraising project!
We are praising God for HIS provision! Just the night before all the awesome ladies in my Bible study prayed that the Lord would provide for our adoption & that we would trust in His provision. {THANK YOU LADIES for your encouragement & continued prayer for us in this season! I'm so thankful for each of you!}

We are SO EXCITED to have the opportunity to be a part of Both Hands!!
Both Hands= One for the Orphan + One for the Widow
We will be gathering a team of friends and family to help work on a widow's home one Saturday. Each team member will send letters out asking people to donate to our adoption.

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James 1:27

Check out this awesome video from one family's Both Hands project:

Or watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98PD-O97N3I&feature=player_embedded

 

A Grant Update

We have heard back from Hand in Hand, a Christian foundation, where we applied for a matching grant. They are passing our grant application onto their Board and we should hear by May 20th if we get approved or not! Would you please join us in praying & asking God for grant money from Hand in Hand! So far we have only applied for one other matching grant, through Lifesong. With our basement problems deterriorating some of our savings, it would be super helpful and awesome if we were able to get some matching grants!  To God be the glory!

http://handinhandadopt.org/

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Phillipians 4:6-7

"When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all." Psalm 34: 17-19

Praying that the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, would surround us right now as we pray for our children & try to figure out where the next $14,000 is going to come from!! We can't wait to get our referrals, but also realize that the Lord may be delaying our referrals to give us time to fundraise so we will have that money when it is due!! We are also praying that we would TRUST in the Lord, in His word- that He hears our cry for help!
We've heard it said that "the Lord FUNDS what He FAVORS," and we know He favors adoption & orphan rescue! We are just praying that we can trust in the timing & ways of His provision!
We still have plenty of our Adoption Fundraising Shirts if you want to get one to support our adoption!

Thank you to everyone who has been encouraging us lately!! We really appreciate it and, honestly, we need it!

Praying He grants us some GRANT money

No referrals yet. Still waiting on the Lord and his timing.

But we have sent off applications for several adoption grants. Two are matching grants. We are really praying that the Lord would provide through one or several of these grants! They said it takes about 6 weeks to hear back from them. So we are asking the Lord for his favor & for complete trust in Him. We know that he provides for our every meal and every penny we have in our bank account is a gift from Him. We know that He has called our family to adopt. So we TRUST that He, in His goodness and sovereignty over all things, will provide.

Speaking of every meal... we continue to pray for our children & all orphans in the Congo! We chatted with our director the other night about what kinds of donations we could collect to bring with us when we go to pick up our children. I asked her, "What kinds of things would be the most helpful?" To which she replied, "Anything and everything. They have nothing."
They need formula, cloth diapers, mosquito nets, clothing (newborn to teen), shoes, sheets, towels, pajamas, toys...
She reminded me that it is VERY HOT in the DRC and there is, of course, no air conditioning in the orphanages, so we will need to keep that in mind as we collect clothing, sheets (no flannel) & shoes.

So, as we get closer to our travel date we will start collecting these items. (Well, as much as we can fit in our extra carry-ons.) So if you have any of these things lying around the house- DON'T get rid of them yet! Keep them tucked away safely for a few more months & we can take them with us to the Congo!
 It's so encouraging to know that every family that travels to pick up their children from the DRC will be blessing the orphanages with loads of needed goods. We'll keep you posted with more details on this for those who are interested in donating!

We really appreciate all the prayers of believers! We still have plenty of adoption t-shirts for anyone who wants one (or two, or three)!

T-shirt update

Hey friends!!
Thank you so much to everyone who has ordered t-shirts so far!! We will get them to you soon! Here is an updated list of what sizes & colors we have left! We'd love to sell out & need to place an order for another hundred! Especially after seeing the new financial info for the Congo... it is going to be about $10,000 more than we had anticipated. But, what's $10,000 to God, the Creator of the universe right?? So, your prayers for God's provision are MUCH appreciate! We know He hears the prayers of believers!

Charcoal Gray Adoption shirts left:

15 Smalls

17 Mediums

16 Larges

6 XLs

3 XXLs

Navy Adoption shirts left:

5 Smalls

4 Mediums

3 Larges

4 XLs



To order your shirt(s) to support our Adoption, you can make your donation to our ChipIn account (on our Fundraising Tab and on the Left Sidebar near the bottom) and make sure to email me at mrsmeach1@gmail.com to let me know what color & size(s) you want.

Or you can email me at mrsmeach1@gmail.com for more info!

 

**If you need your shirts shipped, make sure you include your address and the extra $5 per household to help cover shipping costs. Thanks!

An Interesting Email...

Well friends, We got a very interesting email last night!
We got a BILL from our Adoption Agency for the "Attorney fee stage one for 2 referrals"....
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We still hadn't heard anything from our director, (she has only been back in the US for a few days and we've been trying to be patient & not bombard her with questions as she recovers from major jet-lag)...
So we had no idea what this bill meant!
Jon sent her a quick email saying, "Does this mean we have referrals?!?!"

We found out that we do not have referrals yet, but that our agency found a great attorney in the DRC (Congo) and he has our dossier in his hands!!! So, we need to send a check to our agency asap (like this week!) for $3200 so that he can get started!

Our director said she expects us to get our referrals within the next month!!!

So, please pray with us! Pray that God would provide financially for our adoption! We are sending off several grant applications this week- please pray with us that the Lord would give us a matching-grant through one of these non-profit agencies!! Pray that we would trust in God's provision and His timing for all of our adoption! And please pray with us for our children! Pray that God would protect our children, keep them safe from harm or disease, and that they would be loved on! Pray that I would not grow anxious about the timing or having 3 children under 2 to care for! I know God's grace is sufficient, and His power is made perfect in my weakness! (2 Cor. 12:9)