The Beginning of the Story

Where does one start to tell the story of how God has led us to adoption? I guess the best place is at the beginning. I have always loved children and wanted to have four of my own. However, even in high school I thought that adoption would be a wonderful way to have children. After all, God adopted us, so adoption is just another step in our walk with Him.

I wasn't sure that I would ever be married so I considered the idea of single parent adoption but with my parent's teaching, I came to realize that this is not what God intended for children. His intent was a 2 parent family; so I prayed for my life partner. I just assumed that he would be found while I was in college, but that didn't happen. After many years of singleness (and hating every moment of it) God taught me that I needed to be happy in my singleness. Boy what a hard lesson to learn. Shortly after coming to terms with be single for the rest of my life, I met Ralph, my dh, at the age of 29. Doesn't God have a sense of humor?

We got engaged after dating only a few months. One of our first conversations was about children. He loves them as much as I do, but we realized that we might not be able to have our own biological children. Ralph mentioned adoption and I immediately responded with a hearty, "you bet"!

Gotta run, dinner is calling. I'll be back later to continue on with the story.

Adoption Fundraising

We are trying to raise the funds to take the next step in our adoption journey. The church received 2 gifts today for the adoption fund. PTL!!

A cousin suggested an idea for a fundraiser -- a family yard sale at our picnic on Labor Day. We loved the idea! I'm sure that the family will help out in this area since we all have lots of stuff to get rid of.

One other way that I'm trying to raise the funds is to sell my retired Stampin' Up! stamp sets. If you are interested in seeing what's for sale, take a look at Stamphappymomma. You'll be able to click on each thumbnail to get a larger picture that will also show the price I'm asking. 50% of what I get for each set will be going to our adoption fund. The rest will help to pay off some bills.