A Barn raising is a one to two day event during which a community comes together to assemble a barn for one of its households, particularly in 18th- and 19th-century rural North America.

Ok, so we don’t have a barn to raise - but we do need a boys bedroom!  As we continue to wait for the Lord to bless us with a precious baby boy (or two!) we have decided to get going on a boys bedroom.  (If you are new to this blog and need a reminder of our current home space - click here to read and see photos)  After much thought we have decided that the best solution for our needs is to increase the size of our family room (which for us is known as the CM/School room) so that we can continue to use it for school, my home based business and also put the couch, games and TV in there as well. We currently use the third bedroom as our family room (with a large couch & TV in it).  By moving those things to the CM/School room we would have ourselves a “boys” bedroom (our “girls” bedroom currently sleeps all six of the girlies and both bedrooms are the same size so we could easily sleep three or more boys in there!) Right now Daniel sleeps in a portable crib in the corner of our bedroom - but when the new little one arrives (hopefully soon!) he will need to have a place to sleep - so……we decided to start moving in that direction now!

We have spent the past couple of weeks cleaning out the garage (which is where the extra space will be added since it sits right in front of the room we are wanting to expand), cleaning out my office and school room (what a chore!) and then moving everything out of both of those areas into the living room and back porch, leaving our house looking like a disaster area!

Yesterday we began the demolition!  Dan and the girls pulled down the garage cabinets, knocked down sheet rock, pulled up carpet and then tile that was under the carpet and hauled debris to a truck to take to the dump today.  Now that we have knocked out the wall between the CM/School room and the garage there is NO turning back!  We are committed.

So far this project has cost us nothing. (but hard work and lots of sweat)  Since you are all aware that we are saving every penny towards the adoption expenses, we are really wanting to do most of the work ourselves….or with the help of those with expertise in certain areas (like electrical and cabinetry) and friends who are willing to give up a few hours to help us tape and texture,  paint the walls, glaze the floor (yes it is cement and we are going to simply use one of those garage floor kits!) and I am sure other things we are not thinking of.  And that’s where a “barn raising” comes in!  We are seeking the help of our “community” of friends and family to help us meet this need for a boys bedroom. 

We have a former student and dear friend who owns a construction company and is going to send a crew out to quickly frame out and sheet rock the new walls.  Before that happens we first need to take care of some electrical infrastructure - like adding a few outlets and overhead lighting in the garage extension area.  We have no experience with this - anyone out there willing to volunteer their expertise and teach Dan how to do this?

Ways that someone can be a part of our community for a “barn raising”:

• Give us advice, ideas, expertise, insights on this “do it yourself” project
• Ideas for where to get supplies inexpensively or even free (you never know!) - wood, sheet rock, paint, glaze kit, tape, a door, double pain window, insulation, nails, cabinets, counter etc…
• Come out for a few hours (or all day) on these two “barn raising days” - Friday June 27 and Saturday June 28 (I am sure these will be just the first of many more during the summer - or call Dan and I am sure he would take your help anytime!)
• Help provide food on our barn raising days to feed the workers
• The electrical needs
• Putting in a new window (or two) - anyone done this?
• We really would like to put up a long row cabinets to store all of our school supplies, my inventory and other storage needs - anybody out there with skills in cabinet making? (doesn’t need to be fancy)
• Putting in a long counter top (24 - 32 feet long) that we can use for each of the girls study areas
• Pray - for wisdom, guidance, good attitudes, safety and provision

Thanks Everyone!  We will keep you posted.

 

We got an email from the adoption agency this morning saying that the birth mother had chosen another family for her sweet baby boy.  We rejoice that another baby has been placed in a loving Christian home.  We rejoice with that family who is celebrating today!

• Are we disappointed?  Yes
• Are we a little down today?  Yes
• Are we discouraged?  No (well maybe a little but that won’t last long)
• Do we know and believe that the Lord has a baby boy for our family to adopt, raise and love as our very own?  YES! YES! and YES!

One of the hardest things for us right now is the knowledge that their are many orphans around the world without a forever family who we could “easily” adopt now that our home study is completed, if we had the finances.  We have not considered foreign adoption due to the huge expense involved.  Even though a domestic adoption is expensive (We estimate in the end we will spend close to $14,000) - a foreign adoption begins at $20,000 and often ends up costing much more.  So we will continue to pursue a domestic adoption unless the Lord gives us the resources to look abroad (We were sent a great website about adopting from Uganda - they have two boys right now we could go get if we had the means - frustrating, huh?)

What happens from here?

There are currently no more babies without families at the adoption agency in Tennessee.  They do have a few mothers who are delivering throughout the summer and have chosen to adopt.

So we wait…..and we hope. 

We got an email from a friend at JECHS saying that their family would like to host a garage sale to help us with our adoption fund!  Wow!  What a blessing.

They  will be holding a yard sale on Sunday, May 25, 2008, with all proceeds going to our adoption fund. It will be at their house, 8957 Nassano Drive, Morada, CA. If you live locally and have any items to donate for the sale, you can drop them off at their house or call Tracy at (209) 931-3445.  I know some of you commented that you had wanted to get some things dropped off for our yard sale last weekend - but were not able to  - here is another opportunity to spring clean!

Thanks Rodriguez family!

Thanks also to those who have emailed friends and family members to help with this adoption.  Every little bit makes a BIG difference!

Adoption fund update:  We are in need of raising only $2,137 more to be able to pay the placement fee at the time of the adoption (which if we are chosen by the current birth mom could be in approximately three weeks). After the adoption we will have to pay $1,200 in post placement fees.

We just got the long awaited call from the adoption agency….

….and we were not chosen to be this baby’s family.  Of course there is disappointment and a twinge of sadness, however we are thrilled that this precious baby has a family to love and care for him.  We also have a complete trust in the Lord and His will for our lives.  While we are confident that adoption is a part of our future, we will trust the Lord for the right child for us, in the right time.  God’s ways are perfect.  We have been praying very specifically for the past two weeks that the Lord would use the birth mom to make the best decision.  So we trust that the Lord is closing this door.

Upon hearing the news my heart sank a bit but within minutes the counselor gave us some exciting and hopeful news as well!  Two weeks ago they received a call from the hospital - a pregnant teenager who was about to give birth to her baby and wanted information about adoption.  This baby boy was born on April 27 and is currently in one of the agency’s “cradle care”homes (temporary care).  The birth mom is officially relinquishing her rights late next week and they will show her profiles including ours at that time.  So we immediately have another sweet baby and his mother to pray for. (and a couple extra weeks to raise the last $2,500 needed)

Please pray along with us as we wait again and hope that this is the child meant just for our family!  We will keep you updated.

Total amount raised at this event: $1,500

Here is the report on our Adoption Yard Sale and Bake Sale we held on Saturday! It was fabulous. 

Our sincere and heartfelt thanks go out to the many who donated items and baked goodies for us to raise money for our upcoming adoption:

• The Buyco family
• The Fichtner family
• Sherwood Manor Swim Team
• The Meier family
• The Barth family
• The Hale family
• Gloria Grupe
• Sister Lillian
• Ceci Sallee
• The Ward family
• Michelle Sallee
• The Rodriguez family
• The Reichard family
• The Saucedo family
• The Krahmer family
• The Martinez family
• The Sciarini family
• Charlie & Lisa Fairchild
• Mike & Lynn Krogstad

 

As you will see in the slide show following, we had an amazing amount of items donated.  We also are so grateful to our dear family members - Uncle Doug, Aunt Kass and Chrisann as well as our friends Monica & Ana Martinez who came over at the “crack of dawn” on Saturday to help us set up and then worked tirelessly for hours helping to sell things.  What a blessing! 

I also had a Creative Memories adoption sale for my clients of some discontinued and overstocked items where I made an additional $300.  Add to that a jar of change our dear life long friend “Grandma Gloria” brought by, a piggy bank full of change from our friends five year old daughter (who wanted to help us get this baby!) and a jar of change the girls have been collecting and the GRAND total for the weekend is almost $1,900.  We will go to the bank Monday and add this to our adoption fund which will bring us to over $4,200 in that account….leaving us just $2,800 needed to pay our adoption placement fees.  If you would like to partner with us and help us with the remaining amount needed  - you can donate Online here!(Paypal or credit card)  Every donation, regardless of size helps us get to the goal. We know that the Lord will provide.

Here is a slideshow of our glorious day!

P.S. - We should be hearing early this week (maybe even tomorrow - be still my heart!) if we have been chosen to be the “forever family” for this precious baby that was born on April 29.  I will post the moment we get word.

We got this email today from the adoption agency.

 

Dear Dan and Beth,

 

Our birth mother has your profile and will take a few days to pray and ponder her choice. She was very pleased with both profiles presented to her. As you can imagine, it would be a hard decision. I will let you know as soon as I know. Just pray for God’s will.

 

We will be praying and we know that God has a perfect plan & just the right family for this precious baby.  It looks like we wait a few more days. 

A friend sent this video my way and it is a wonderful moving song about love - the powerful love  of adoption. I pray it will touch your life and your heart in a deep way.

 

…..yes we are still waiting to hear word from Tennessee.  We were informed today that our profile was being shown to the birth mother tomorrow.  So best guess - we may not know until Friday or maybe even Monday.  So we wait…..anxious & excited & hopeful!

We continue to pray and workfor the finances to come in to help pay for this adoption.  As of today we have close to $2,400 in the adoption fund. (30 adoption partners…THANK YOU!)  We are fast & furiously getting ready for our yard sale & bake sale on Saturday.  We have been going through every room with a “fine tooth comb” to find things we don’t need/want to sell.  We are also cleaning like crazy! (Just like the nesting instinct before giving birth)  The girls and I even sat down this morning to brainstorm the possibilities of taking my office/CM/homeschool room and putting the family room in there too so we can have a “boys” bedroom. (Of course we all agreed the best way to do that would be to knock out the wall & use the garage as a room too….so we just may attempt to do this ourselves this summer since Dan has some construction experience and it doesn’t look like Extreme Home Makeover is coming our way anytime soon. LOL)

Thanks for all your support, prayers & financial contributions!  We will keep you posted.

It is Monday evening and we have not yet received word if this baby is to be the one God has for us!  We keep waiting and praying.

Donation update: 25 adoption partners, $1600 raised

Yesterday as I was finishing up a backyard luncheon with my team of volunteers for the JECHS Spring Fling, trying to get Kristen out the door to her weekly cleaning job, getting the diaper bag packed & pulling out food “to go” as we were getting ready to head out the door for Amy’s last home soccer game and a evening watching the schools performance of Aladdin. (which was fabulous!)…..

….the girls blurted out - “Hey Mom!  The adoption agency called and they sounded excited!” After a quick look at the clock to see if they would still be open, I found the phone number and eagerly called Life Choices.  My heart was beating fast and I found myself pacing excitedly throughout he kitchen when the adoption coordinator said with her great southern drawl…”Beth, I have some exciting news for y’all”. She then went on to say that a precious baby boy had been born on Tuesday April 29 and that they would like to present our family album to the birth mother. 

So folks, by early this next week we should know if we are headed to Tennessee to adopt a baby brother! I can’t tell you the excitement and joy that is filling our home today.  This could be the moment we are waiting for!  We have complete peace that if this is the baby that God has for us - it will happen.

 So………PRAY!  Pray for this birth mom who has made a very hard & heroic decision, pray for this sweet 8lb baby boy and pray for us. 

There is the small little obstacle that we will have to write a check for $7,000 to the agency (plus additional post placement fees we will need - but for now we have to have $7,000).  We currently have $710 in our adoption fund. So in a matter of days I may find out that we have to raise over $6,000 in a very short amount of time.  We have applied for grants (but will not hear for 60-90 days - which we obviously can’t wait until then). We have a yard sale/bake sale scheduled for a week from Saturday (if you have items to donate or would like to bake some things for us - AWESOME!).  After we get a confirmation, we are going to see if our pastor would be willing to take an offering for us at church. And of course we have been working on a donor plan involving recruiting 300 “adoption partners” to help us cover the remaining expenses.  Here is the plan (as posted under adoption partners page - in case you have not clicked on it) - perhaps you or someone you know would like to be one of our baby brother adoption partners.

 We are asking the Lord to give us 300 donors to help us raise the remaining monies needed for our adoption. We are calling this our adoption partners - We are in need of 100 to give $15, 100 to give $25 and 100 to give $50.  This page will keep you updated on our progress!  You can donate Online here!(Paypal or credit card)

12 donors to date - 288 to go

100 to give $15 (or even $10)

1. Dionne Merriott of Lubbuck, Texas
2. Terri Goode of Lakewood, Colorado

100 to give $25 or more

1. Martha Burtenshaw of Centerville, Ohio
2. Deanne Barth of Lodi, CA
3. Charlotte Frye of Stockton, CA

100 to give $50 or more

1. Dan & Krista Coyan, missionaries to Czechoslovakia
2. Robin Dayneko of Ontario, CA
3. Lisa Klaassen of Arkansas, Kansas
4. Alan & Sue Ellen Hale of Grandview, Texas
5. Anita Boling
6. Gloria Grupe of Stockton, CA
7. Becky Wegner of Memphis, Tennessee

 We are also checking with the agency to see if someone wanted to contribute a significant amount towards our adoption (say $500 or $1,000 or more) if they could give them a tax receipt. Please pass this on to anyone you know who may have a heart for adoption and would like to play a part in this miracle.

You better believe that I will be posting the moment we hear word next week if this is our baby boy!