Another grant, update

We are so thrilled to let everyone know that we had generous friends and family members, plus a generous business- Gadgets and Gold- who all helped us reach the $2500 matching grant we received. On January 13th we heard from another organization called Show Hope. This is Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman's organization that not only helps fund adoptions through generous grants, but also helps train and educate adoptive families on the complicated issues that come along with adoption. In November we submitted a grant application through them. The application was 30+ pages and went through every aspect of the process from finances to the reasons for the decision to adopt. I had spoken to our social worker the day before and told her we were waiting to hear from Show hope. The next day we got a letter in the mail stating that we had received a very generous grant from the organization. The grant that they are sending to our agency will really help with the cost associated with our adoption.

We feel so blessed to be supported by so many. We have seen God's faithfulness in this process. He set our lives on this path of adoption officially 24 months ago, even though he was writing this into our story long before we both knew it. There have been so many changes along the way. We thought we were going to adopt a domestic infant, but God showed us another plan. We thought that when we switched to Uganda it would go quickly because there are so many waiting children, but God has his timing. The USA went through law changes and our agency had to get set up to comply with the new laws...this probably delayed our process by at least 6 months. We have been to adoption picnics through our home study agency here in town and so many families have been placed with babies while we still wait. But, we know that God's plan is perfect. We don't understand that wait, but we are confident that he is training us through it.

Another piece to our puzzle that has been put together...we got a van! It was just the van for our family. Has 8 passenger seats, only 10 years old and 92,000 miles :) New timing belt and tires. Owned by a sweet couple just north of Orlando and was a craigslist find. Plus, it even has manual sliding doors which is something that I prefer as the motor for those doors is so expensive if it was ever to break. It makes me laugh when I think about how God really cares about details right down to manual sliding doors!

We have been visiting friends over the past several months at their churches around town. It has been a great experience getting to worship with the body of Christ around town and getting to know people all over our town. Here are a list of the churches we have visited so far. Our tour de Gainesville churches is not over, so if you still want us to visit there is time!

• Creekside Community Church
• Greenhouse Church
• Abundant Grace Community Church
• Harvest Christian Church
• Redemption Orthodox Presbyterian Church

I has only been passed a month, but we had a wonderful Christmas. One of the traditions we started is delivering cookies to fire stations on Christmas. The kids love it and we got to see a firehouse we have never seen because it is so busy. We spent time at my cousin Keith's house. The day after Christmas we went to my gramma's house and the following day we went to my dad's. We had a great time visiting with family. We did not make a trip to Iowa because of our October visit there. We are hoping to make it up there to visit sometime soon. I am still working on Christmas cards, so if you haven't received one...it probably isn't because we don't like you anymore- ;)

The one question I hear most often regarding our adoption come phrased in two different ways: Will you get the kids faster now that you are funded? What are you waiting on now?

We are just waiting on our agency to match us with kiddos. They are very diligent in orphan investigations and making sure that the kids they match are actually orphans. They are in the process of helping two kids be resettled right now. So exciting!