Last night April 15th was our comedy dinner fundraiser that we put on at our church for the three families who are adopting from Uganda right now. The night was wonderful! It exceeded our expectations. Thank you to all that came!
I'm gonna do my best to try to give a run through of the night. I really wished I had pictures to post it was a beautiful set-up. The evening started at six. Central BBQ donated all the food for the night...Barbeque, buns, beans, coleslaw, and chips. Chick-fil-a donated all the drinks. McAlisters donated dessert, and Starbucks donated coffee, cream, and sugar. We had a silent auction table set up in the back where not only businesses around the area gave gifts, but we also had people in our church offer up things to give as well.
Some of the items were: Sephora gift basket filled with make-up and other beauty products, 2 gift certificates for an hour long massage donated by our Chiropractor, 4 rounds of golf at Colonial golf course, Starbucks coffee mug, coffee cup, 1lb coffee, and tea, and many other awesome things. The whole night people could make bids and at the end of the night I gathered them all up and announced the winners.
Probably the best part of the night though was the comedy. It was definitely a funny night. Allison and myself opened up the night with a short comedic skit impersonating our husbands. We dressed as them and bantered back and forth on things that they poke fun about each other on like: the fantasy football season they shared in together, Jared's singing and the way he says "totally awesomeeeee" Mike's vegan diet, and the whole prostate/prostrate thing. We thought it was hilarious even though i"m confident we looked absolutely ridiculous!
Jared did a skit called the "schizophrenic preacher" I was laughing SO hard. He is the funniest person I know. He was Louis Brenton (our pastor), Joel Osteen, and Beth Moore. He wore a awful blonde wig for her, a suit for Joel, and a hockey jersey for Louis. His skit he put together was amazing!!! You just had to of been there to get the fullness of what i'm trying to so poorly explain.
We played some videos, got some crowd participation to do impersonations/ jokes etc.
Each family shared on their adoption story. And we played some videos on orphan/adoption. While we ate dinner we had Ugandan music playing..love some Uganda music :) and pictures rolling on the screen of children over there.
We had about 70 people maybe a little more come to our fundraiser. We raised over 2000 dollars. God blessed it and he is deserving of all the praise. Thank you Lord! You are so good to us!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
How it all started....Part 2
WOW it's been a long time since i've been able to get back on here. My apologizes.
So after we decided to move forward in the adoption things started moving pretty quickly. If you've ever adopted or in the process the one thing that everyone will attest to is the large amount of paperwork! You don't get off the hook when it comes to that. As we were filling it all out we had originally put that we were both open to either sex for our child. Then before we were going to send it off Jared comes to me and says how he is kinda wanting to have a boy. It didn't really surprise me I just told him "well we better decided before we send this off." As we talked about it I understood where he was coming from. When it comes down to it, it's not anything profound he just really wanted a playmate for our sweet little Micaiah =)
We are asking for a male around the age of a year in a half. With our agency we are going through the typical waiting time is 10 months to a year from the time you begin your process to the time you have your baby in your home. So if that were the case for us we will hopefully be traveling to Uganda around the end of the year! Man, just typing that gets me soooo excited!
It also means that our little Isaiah (yes that is the name we have picked for him no middle name yet) is already born living in the orphanage right now. I wonder what he is like??? What he is doing right now? We cannot wait to welcome him into our family! Ultimately we have to give all of this over to the Lord. His plans typically aren't what we make for ourselves. His ways are always BEST1
Right now we are in the homestudy process. We are getting real close to completing it. The week of April 25 we will be having our social worker come to our house for our last visit with her. During that visit Jared needs to do his individual interview and then she just needs to see the whole family and look around the house to make sure it meets certain regulations. So until that time let's just say I have got my hands full! I will have this house looking spotless...hopefully :)
That's where we are right now in a nutshell. Our children are so very excited. Addy usually mentions something about Isaiah or Uganda atleast once a day. Even now little mac will grin so big when we mention "baby brother Isaiah". Every night before bed when I tuck him in I say this.."Daddy loves you, mommy loves you, sissy loves you, brother Isaiah loves you, but most of all Jesus loves you." He always smiles so big and then claps at the end :)
So after we decided to move forward in the adoption things started moving pretty quickly. If you've ever adopted or in the process the one thing that everyone will attest to is the large amount of paperwork! You don't get off the hook when it comes to that. As we were filling it all out we had originally put that we were both open to either sex for our child. Then before we were going to send it off Jared comes to me and says how he is kinda wanting to have a boy. It didn't really surprise me I just told him "well we better decided before we send this off." As we talked about it I understood where he was coming from. When it comes down to it, it's not anything profound he just really wanted a playmate for our sweet little Micaiah =)
We are asking for a male around the age of a year in a half. With our agency we are going through the typical waiting time is 10 months to a year from the time you begin your process to the time you have your baby in your home. So if that were the case for us we will hopefully be traveling to Uganda around the end of the year! Man, just typing that gets me soooo excited!
It also means that our little Isaiah (yes that is the name we have picked for him no middle name yet) is already born living in the orphanage right now. I wonder what he is like??? What he is doing right now? We cannot wait to welcome him into our family! Ultimately we have to give all of this over to the Lord. His plans typically aren't what we make for ourselves. His ways are always BEST1
Right now we are in the homestudy process. We are getting real close to completing it. The week of April 25 we will be having our social worker come to our house for our last visit with her. During that visit Jared needs to do his individual interview and then she just needs to see the whole family and look around the house to make sure it meets certain regulations. So until that time let's just say I have got my hands full! I will have this house looking spotless...hopefully :)
That's where we are right now in a nutshell. Our children are so very excited. Addy usually mentions something about Isaiah or Uganda atleast once a day. Even now little mac will grin so big when we mention "baby brother Isaiah". Every night before bed when I tuck him in I say this.."Daddy loves you, mommy loves you, sissy loves you, brother Isaiah loves you, but most of all Jesus loves you." He always smiles so big and then claps at the end :)
Thursday, March 24, 2011
BABY BOTTLE BANK (fundraiser)
Jared and I have been brainstorming some simple fun ideas we could do to help raise money to bring our baby home. We came across a cute easy one and we would like to post it and if it seems like something you would like to participate in let me know and I will hook you up. If not no hard feelings at all :)
It is called the "BABY BOTTLE BANK"
I have 5oz baby bottles that have a small sheet of paper in it telling you a little about our story and there just might be some delicious chocolate in their too ;)
What you do is take it home and put it in a prominent place in your house and the goal is to fill it up with any loose change you come across. When the bottle is full or even halfway return it back to us and we will wrap the change and put it toward our expenses. Spare change goes a long way.
If you would like one let me know and I will get it to you!
It is called the "BABY BOTTLE BANK"
I have 5oz baby bottles that have a small sheet of paper in it telling you a little about our story and there just might be some delicious chocolate in their too ;)
What you do is take it home and put it in a prominent place in your house and the goal is to fill it up with any loose change you come across. When the bottle is full or even halfway return it back to us and we will wrap the change and put it toward our expenses. Spare change goes a long way.
If you would like one let me know and I will get it to you!
Fundraisers :D
Before I go onto the second half of our adoption story I wanted to post a few fundraisers we are doing in case your at all interested, and this post will take half the time since I still have to cook dinner, change diapers, baths, and tuck kids in bed!
First: "COMEDY DINNER EXTRAVAGANZA"
This is taking place April 15th 6pm at Centerpoint Church. Opened up to the public.
We currently have three families in our church in the process of adopting from Uganda. Pretty amazing! We are hosting this event and 100% of the proceeds go to adoptions. It is going to be a great night.
We will have a dinner provided (buffet style) dessert, childcare, music, silent auction, comedy portion, and lovely decor so you may come and have a relaxing evening. You will also hear from all three families on their heart for orphans/adoption.
If any family or friends are interested please contact me for tickets.
The prices are: $15 a person, $40 for a family, and $5 if you will have your child in childcare. Childcare is for children 5 and under.
First: "COMEDY DINNER EXTRAVAGANZA"
This is taking place April 15th 6pm at Centerpoint Church. Opened up to the public.
We currently have three families in our church in the process of adopting from Uganda. Pretty amazing! We are hosting this event and 100% of the proceeds go to adoptions. It is going to be a great night.
We will have a dinner provided (buffet style) dessert, childcare, music, silent auction, comedy portion, and lovely decor so you may come and have a relaxing evening. You will also hear from all three families on their heart for orphans/adoption.
If any family or friends are interested please contact me for tickets.
The prices are: $15 a person, $40 for a family, and $5 if you will have your child in childcare. Childcare is for children 5 and under.
How it all started....Part 1
Hello Friends! Its Steph.
I'm going to start off with this small disclaimer. This is my first time to blog. I don't really feel like "blogging" is my forte but several people were asking how things are coming along in the process of our adoption so I just did it. If there are grammatical hang-ups throughout this (which I'm almost positive there will be) just overlook them. In English class I usually averaged a C+ :) It's going to be great though. I'm excited! Jared will also be on here posting when he is not tied down with work and battling the flu which is currently what he is dealing with. Pray for Him when you think about us.
So let's get this thing rollin!
Jared and I started our adoption in November 2010. Both of us knew that this was something we wanted to pursue at some point. Yet, it was more looked at as something we would do in the future future if you get my drift. Micaiah had just turned one, and as most of you know with Addy you sometimes feel like you're watching three kids. (We love her so much! She's our little bugaboo.) But Oh the Lords timing and plans! They are so much better than the ones we make for ourselves.
I had come across an awesome video on you tube of a husband and wife who adopted a little boy who had been abandoned by his mother. He was just a newborn when they found him in the slums of downtown Texas. He was covered in puke and feces naked wrapped in a blanket. Sorry to be so graphic but it's the cold reality. These people filled with the compassion of Christ immediately took him in. They found contact with his mother and she gave her consent for them to adopt him because she knew in her state of life she could not do it. It was a story that moved me in so many ways!
I began to pray this type of prayer: Lord we want to serve the least of these. We want to love the poor and the helpless in whatever this would look like for our family. I opened the Word and was reading in Matthew and this is the verse I came across, or I should say God so sovereignly brought me to: Matthew 9:35-36 - "And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."
I was so overwhelmed by this word I believe the Lord gave me. I was believing he was going to give us an opportunity to love and lead the "helpless and harassed". Although in my mind at this point I was still not thinking about adoption. I was still thinking some type of downtown ministry. I had been praying for about a week and then I received a text from my pastors wife about international adoption in Uganda. I was so eager to tell Jared. What if this was the answer to my prayers??? Jared and I talked it over and he was all for it from the beginning. My husband has such passion and zeal for the glory of God and serving his kingdom! I love this about you babe. :) We shared this new desire with some close friends and got their advice and feedback, and after about a week we made the phone call to our agency.
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