Fundraiser through Lifesong for Orphans!

We are so excited and blessed that Lifesong approved us to fundraise through their wonderful orphan care ministry! Several months ago Sean and I applied for 6 grants! Last week we received 2 letters in the mail.  The first letter contained a $500 grant- PRAISE THE LORD! We were SO excited to receive this! The second letter was from Lifesong for Orphans! This wonderful Christian ministry will allow anyone to donate on our behalf through them and receive a tax deduction.  We are mailing hard copy letters (let us know if you want one) and we are also copying and pasting what we mail below so you can be a part! If you decide to donate please make sure you use our account number and family name so it goes directly to us.  The great news is that we will receive 100% of donations!

One more update- our next rummage sale will be Saturday November 16! We are still collecting items and working on a location! We truly appreciate your support and donations. 

Here is our letter about fundraising through Lifesong:
 

October 21, 2013                                                                                     

 Dear Family and Friends,

Some of you know we have felt called by God to adopt a “fatherless” child into our family.  We are adopting a little girl from Ghana, Africa and will be matched with a specific child in the next 12 months.  After we have been matched, we will travel for court then we will travel a 2^nd time to bring her back home.  As a family, we’ve been excitedly praying for her, and we’ve already named our daughter- Jada Suzanne.  For those of you who don't know, Suzanne is my moms name and my middle name. 

What has prompted us to adopt? Primarily, we’ve felt so clearly directed by God to adopt that we want to obey him.  We also desire to give an orphan child a family that she probably wouldn’t otherwise have.   God desires for orphans of all nations to be loved, cared for, and adopted into Christian families- ultimately so they can become saved and adopted into His eternal family through Jesus Christ.

There are over 147 million orphans worldwide and 120,000 children currently in the U.S. foster care system.  It is estimated that less than 10 percent of these children are adopted in evangelical Christian families.

 The biggest challenge is not opening our hearts and home to another child, but it is finding the finances to make this happen.  The estimated cost for the adoption is $35,000. That’s certainly money we don’t have, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him.  By God’s grace we’ve been able to pay the initial $5,000.  We have held 2 fundraisers: a rummage sale this past May raising $3,800 and an online Facebook auction this past September raising $4500.  We have now paid a total of $13,300 towards our adoption!

Honestly it’s a little difficult (because of our pride) to make our needs known to the body of Christ, but we realize it is biblical to do so.  Your friendship is appreciated, and we would like you to pray and consider helping us in one or two ways with our adoption.

 1.      Please pray God would tenderly care for Jada in Ghana until we are able to bring her home; that God would prepare us for the upcoming changes in our family; and that God will give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we raise Jada to know Jesus.

2.      Will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help cover the remaining $20,000 towards our adoption expenses to bring Jada home? Our goal date is December 4^th, but funds will be accepted towards our adoption until the child is in our home and/or our adoption is complete.

 Please make checks payable to “Lifesong for Orphans.” In the memo, note family account number (#4038) and family name (Richardson) to assure it goes to the correct account. Please email to Life Song for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744.  Lifesong has been blessed with a partner that underwrites all U.S. administrative and fundraising costs (TMG Foundation and other partners). That means 100% of your donation will go directly to the adoption. 

 Another option is to give online.  Go to www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate. Select “Give to an Adoptive Family.” Complete the online form and fill in the family account number (#4038) and family name (Richardson).

 In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization.  This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use. Individual donations of $250 or more and yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt.  Receipts for donations under $250 will gladly be sent upon request. Lifesong is a 501©3 tax exempt organization.

Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and finances- it will be an investment with an eternal return! We’ll give you an update with a picture of Jada and details as we receive them. Please pray this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His purpose.  You may continue to follow our blog at www.therichardsonadoption.blogspot.com.  

 

In Christ,
Sean and Sarah Richardson


We also received a letter of support from Lifesong that we are mailing with the hard copies! Please let me know if you would like me to mail you or your family a fundraising and support letter.

We truly appreciate and are overwhelmed with all of the love and support we have received.  Please continue to pray for us during this "waiting period" until we receive a referral.  Please also pray for our daughter (whom we will name Jada) and the people who are caring for her. 

Love you all,

Sean and Sarah

*Thankful & Blessed*

THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for helping make our auction a success!! We started the auction with a goal of $1500 and we TRIPLED it! We know this would not be possible without your prayers and support.  We truly appreciate all of the sweet messages, donations, purchases, and support through this time.  Sean and I started to pray at the beginning of the week that we might be able to double our goal! God is always providing WAY more than we expect and we want to give the glory to Him.  If you are new to our blog then scroll to previous posts to read our testimony about how God has led us to adopt.

 

For those of you who may not know, Sean and I would like to explain where the money we raised from the auction goes.  First, I must explain that adoption fees come at different times.  We don’t pay for everything on the front end; we pay for things as we go through the process.  This makes it easier for us to apply for grants and raise the money as we go. Our most recent fee (which we submitted last week) was half of our country fee.  The country fee sends our dossier to Ghana and helps process our case once it arrives.  This money helps keep the orphanage running, provides things for the children, and helps prepare a variety of people for our case.   This half of our country fee cost approximately $6,250.00 with a $300 shipping fee for the documents.  The money raised during our adoption auction will all go towards that fee! This is such a blessing to us because we have prayed for months about paying the costs of this fee.  We always trust that God will provide, and it amazes us how many different ways He has provided.  This verse stands out in my mind: “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.” Philippians 4:19. 

 

What next?  Well, we have applied for 7 grants that we are waiting to hear back from.  Each grant takes between 60-90 days to let you know your results! We should know something about a grant between October-December. Please pray that we are able to receive a grant because this will help our next country fee.  Grant funding can be limited at times so we pray that one of these doors will open! Like we always say, we trust God to provide! We know that He has a plan for us and we trust Him to take care of us! We ask that you pray for us as we wait to hear back from each organization.

 

More fundraisers? Absolutely! We have already received some generous donations towards another rummage sale.  After the last rummage sale in May, we decided to have another one! We weren’t sure when it was going to be, but since we have been receiving donations we have decided to have one on November 16! We are unsure of a location at this time, but we will let everyone know when we decide! We will gladly pick up any items that you no longer need and would like to donate.  We appreciate all of the support with each of our fundraisers, and we are truly grateful for everything that each of you does for us. 

 

We just want to end this blog with another THANK YOU! We truly appreciate the generosity and support from each of you.  Please continue to pray for us during this “waiting time.”  We could be waiting 3 months or 1 year! We don’t know when we will be matched with our daughter, but we ask that you be in prayer for us.  Please continue to pray for us as we wait, pray for our daughter and her caretakers, and pray for the grant applications that are processing.  Please feel free (as always) to share our story! I encourage you to read previous post if you don’t know our adoption testimony and what God has done for us! It’s truly a blessing for us to be called to do His will through adoption.  We are so excited about our journey and we hope others will be too! If you ever have any questions about adoption please let us know. 

 

We love you all,

 

Sean and Sarah :-)

The short version and update of our adoption journey!

Why so long to wait on a child?  This is a question we have received several times over the past few months.  I wish more than anything that we could give you an answer to this, but we don't have one.  International adoption takes time to process everything.  If you take into account that we are adopting from a third world country, then you must consider the process/time that paperwork takes to travel and go through the hands of many different people.  Although some things are done through the internet, Ghana has a lot of time when internet is down or it works at "dial up" speed.  They don't have the resources and amount of workers we have here to help process our case quickly.  I think this leads us to the question: where have we been in the process and where are we now?

Our journey to adoption started long before we applied through our adoption agency.    Last year (2012) we started praying about adoption.  We explored a variety of adoption choices and agencies, but certain doors began to close.  We really felt like God was calling us to adopt, but  nothing was opening up so we weren't sure what to do.  At the end of last summer we decided to stop looking for ourselves and wait on Gods timing.  It was around Christmas that we felt God calling us towards International adoption.  We talked to a local (national) Christian agency that we really felt like God was wanting us to work with.  We loved the local and international people that worked in our agency so we applied to adopt (Jan 2013).  It cost $500 to apply and we weren't sure where we would find the extra money, but God provided.  The week we turned in our application I received a $500 bonus at work.  YES, exactly $500 which is what we needed.  We knew we were doing what we were supposed to because God provided in our time of need.  Once we filled out the application we had to decide on a country.  We had prayed about which country for months, and we both mutually felt like God wanted us to adopt from Africa.  We waited 3 weeks on a response to see if we were accepted to the program.  We applied to the Ghana and Ethiopia program, but of course Ghana was on my heart because I had traveled there previously on a mission trip.  The door to Ethiopia closed because we did not meet the requirements.  We waited 3 more weeks to hear from the Ghana program.  I remember we checked our e-mail daily waiting on a response.  In February, we finally received our acceptance and welcome to the program.  At this point we knew God was leading us to adopt from Ghana.  We entered the Ghana "pilot program" with our adoption agency.  This program was only accepting a limited number of applicants because it was new and they were unsure how the process would work.  They took in 25 families and we were at the tail end of those 25.  This brings me to explain the timeline of events for us. 

In late February, we received our adoption paperwork packet in the mail.  It didn't seem like a lot at first, but then I read the instructions and WHOA was I OVERWHELMED!  We had in our hearts to do whatever it takes so we did the paperwork without complaints! We didn't know at the time that this was just the beginning of A LOT of paperwork! We started our home study in March and completed it in June (2013). A homestudy includes paperwork of things such as: finances, employment references, personal references, debt statements, our style of parenting, family involvement, ect.  After the paperwork is completed we did individual interviews with our social worker (whom we love) and a joint interview about why we felt called to adopt.  Our social worker came out to the house for a tour and went through her checklist of things for us to have done prior to adoption.  For example, we had to do an evacuation plan and have a fire extinguisher, but I suppose this will be good to have in the future!  HOME STUDY COMPLETE! Next up: DOSSIER

The dossier... WHAT?! That was on my mind when I first saw those words.  Who knew there were so many different things to fill out and do for adoption?  We sure didn't, but this is where adoptive moms come in to help.  During this process the Lord has sent so many wonderful adoptive parents into our lives.  Our church has started a support group, and we have met people through other people.  We have heard countless numbers of adoption stories and each one has a different story.  You learn that other adoptive parents are the BEST resources to have during this process.  I have probably ask 100 questions to women I had never met prior to adoption.  These women are becoming some of my closest friends.  Adoptive moms understand adoptive moms, and there's really no better way to put that.  We all go through the paperwork, emotions, and waiting period together.  Even trying to explain this process to anyone besides an adoptive family, it's still hard to understand. DOSSIER- a BUNCH of endless paperwork that approves you to adopt your child, but of course worth every second of your time gathering it.  This includes: USCIS approval, birth certificates, marriage certificates, financial and debt statements, reference letters, employment letters, insurance coverage, homestudy, power of attorneys, passport information, tax information, pictures of our home and family, police clearances, and reasons to adopt.  That's not all of the paperwork, but that's the bulk of it.  USCIS takes the longest at 6-8 weeks for approval.  This is a special  fingerprinting/biometrics done at the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration office in Memphis that approves us for adoption.  It all sounds like a lot, and of course it is, but well worth the time that it takes. 

So what now?! Well, we mailed our 318 pages of our dossier to Ghana Tuesday evening.  We spent months preparing for the day it was mailed off so we celebrated!!!! This is a happy time because the bulk of our paperwork has been done!  That doesn't mean it's over, but for right now we can breathe! Once our dossier arrives in Ghana (this can take weeks) it will be approved and we will go on the "official" waiting list to be matched.  We are approved for a female ages 0-4 yrs.  During this time we PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!  We pray for our daughter to have good caregivers, to be healthy, to feel our love worlds apart till we can bring her home, and to be safe.  Chances are that she has already been born and she is waiting for us too.  It brings tears to our eyes to think that she is somewhere waiting on us all alone, but we pray God provide comfort to her until we arrive.  Our estimated wait time to be matched is 3-12 months.  With Ghana being a pilot program this could change at any time.  There have not been enough Ghana adoptions to know an exact timeline so we just wait.  We pray it's sooner than later, but we also pray for Gods PERFECT timing because we know this is HIS plan. 

What to do while waiting? What can you do to help?! PRAY! We ask that everyone please pray for us as we await being matched with the daughter God has in store for us.  A lot of people tell us "she's so lucky to have you waiting", but the truth is we are so blessed that God called us to be her parents.  We know she will change us in ways we never knew existed.  We already love her and we don't even know her yet.  Please pray for strength as we wait, pray for her to stay healthy and taken care of while she waits, and pray that God continues to provide for us through this process.  We know that adoption is expensive, but we also trust that God provides.  We have several fundraisers that we would love you to be a part of.  This Sunday 9/22 we have a Facebook auction called The Richardson's Adoption Auction which runs through the following Sunday 9/29.  We will have several wonderful items donated by some amazing people with 100% of proceeds going towards our adoption.  We are graciously taking donations and look forward to starting this fundraiser! We are also planning another rummage sale on November 16.  We are already collecting stuff for this and are graciously taking donations.  Please feel free to be a part of our story, share our story, and ask any questions that you may have for us.  Most of all, please pray for us!  We just continually ask people to pray because we know that God provides every need for us.  He has given us strength, patience, love, and an overwhelming amount of support through this time.  Thank you to all of our wonderful friends and family for your support as we continue this journey in our lives. 

Love you all so much,

Sarah and Sean :-)

 

Goodbye dossier paperwork 9/17 & HELLO waiting/referral time:

 

Updates :-)

As I began to update our blog, the first thing that comes to my mind is the country of Ghana.  Many of you probably don’t know that they have been a bit unstable with the adoption process recently.  The whole adoption thing is new to them so they are working through things that aren’t processing correctly.  I have spent the past several days just praying for God to guide Ghana in the right direction.  They want to do what’s best for the children, but all of the waiting families will be waiting longer to get our children home.  I try to find a peace knowing that it’s best for the children, but I am still longing to know who our daughter is so we can bring her home.  I will not post the details of the situation on our blog, but I do ask that you pray for Ghana, for all of the people working through this process, and for protection of the children.  We know God has a plan for Ghana so this is the time for us to pray for guidance and patience. 

 

Over the past several weeks I have submitted 6 grants.  These grants were all sent to Christian organizations and will be prayerfully considered.  We ask that you pray for God to open the door to at least one organization so we might be able to receive some funding towards our adoption.  These grants included a lot of information such as: an application, financial statements, 2-4 references, a pastoral reference, an essay, and pictures of our family.  It took a lot of time to get them done, but it was worth it to be considered for this opportunity.  We look forward to hearing from them between the months of November-December.

 

We still have some awesome fundraisers coming up that we are getting very excited about! On September 22 we start our “Richardson Adoption Auction” on Facebook.  You can like our FB page to get involved.  We will have a variety of items for people to bid on.  Please feel free to share the page because we would love more people to be involved.  We will have several razorback items and paintings! If you know anyone who owns a business or would like to donate to our auction please let me know.  We are still in need of some items and we would love to advertise your business for you.  We would greatly appreciate anything that we are given.  To like our page go to https://www.facebook.com/therichardsonsadoption

 

 

We have gotten several texts/calls about another rummage sale.  The answer is YES we are going to have one and we are excited about it!! We did so well on our last one that we decided to have another. We are already graciously taking donations and storing them in our garage.  I haven’t posted about donations yet, but if you need to clear some stuff out of your house and you would like us to pick it up then please let me know.  We are thinking about having the sale October-November sometime.  I need to check our work schedules before I can pick an exact date.  We received SO many wonderful donations for the last one and we look forward to having another successful sale.  The date and location are TBA in the near future! Please stay posted for details.  If you or anyone you know would like to donate please call or text me (501) 831-1679.  We really appreciate your support :-)

 

A lot of people have asked us about the money we have raised so far and how much we have left to go.  The total cost is around $35,000 and we have raised around $5,000.  We are extremely grateful that we have raised this much so far.  We know that with prayer and support we can reach our goal of $30,000.  We have only had 1 fundraiser (the rummage sale) so far so we are extremely blessed that we were able to bring in that amount.  We have also received some anonymous donations and we are currently waiting to hear back from grant applications.  We have also sold a lot of tie-dye and purple “Richardson’s Adopt Ghana” prayer bracelets as a reminder of our adoption so please let me know if you would like one!

 

I can’t thank you all enough for the support and love that you have given us since we started this process.  The two things we need the most are PRAYER and SUPPORT.  These things are priceless and mean so much to our family.  I ask that you continue to pray for the country of Ghana, for all of the people involved, for all of the children involved, and for all of the families that are involved.  I ask that you specifically pray for me and Sean to have patience and understanding as we continue to be in the “waiting phase” of this process.  I also ask that you pray for our daughter, whomever God has planned for us, that He will watch over her and give her good caretakers until we can bring her home.  Please feel free to ask me any questions and share our story.  We want our story to reach others and we hope it may lead another family to feel the calling to “care for the orphans” (James 1:27).

 

We love you all,

 

Sean and Sarah :-)

Thankful :-)

I haven't been able to post since the rummage sale so I have a lot of updates! First off- I have to thank EVERYONE who was involved in our rummage sale! We had a huge success and we were so grateful.  This was our first fundraiser and our goal was $2,000! We ended up making double the goal! I know that this would not have been possible without everyone involved and A LOT of prayer! The Lord continues to bless our adoption and we are so happy! Everyone has asked us if we are having a second rummage sale?! The answer is YES! We decided since the first one was so successful that we will be having another one.  Some people have already started dropping things in our garage or asking us to pick things up and we have done that! I don't have any dates for it yet, but we won't turn anything down! :-)

NEXT- I want to thank Kristi Reed. Kristi helped us a lot with the rummage sale, and now she is throwing us a Thirty-One fundraiser.  Tomorrow (June 27th) is the last day to make purchases! There are a lot of excellent things that you can purchase and 20% of your sale goes towards our adoption!  Please find "Sean and Sarah Richardson Adoption Fundraiser" on my Facebook page to make a purchase.  Thank you in advance to everyone who has made a purchase.  Once again- the Lord continues to bless us in everything!

People are asking us what other fundraisers we have planned.  I wanted to give everyone some ideas of what they can expect in the near future, and I am also up for ideas that anyone else may have for us!  A dear friend of ours (Christy Herbert) purchased 300 beautiful tie-dye and purple rubber bracelets! These bracelets say "Richardsons Adopt Ghana" on them.  She surprised us with these bracelets so that we could sell them as a fundraiser! We have decided to sell them through this whole process for a minimum $3 donation! These bracelets serve as a great prayer reminder.  One thing we really need more than anything in our adoption process is prayer! We are so grateful she thought of this idea! I always carry some in purse and we will continue to sell them! Here is a picture of one:

The other fundraiser we are working on is a Facebook auction! We have a few items that people have donated, but we are working on getting some more.  We appreciate anyone who might want to donate something to the auction!  If you have a business or you are crafty or artistic then we could use your help! We hope to do this sometime after school starts back if we are able to collect enough items!


UPDATE on adoption process- We are still waiting on some paperwork to go through.  Paperwork is as thick as a book each time we fill things out.  We are working on gathering all of our dossier items and we have already sent a few items to Ghana.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the process please feel free to ask me as many questions as you want! The dossier is the paperwork that goes to Ghana and processes to put us on a waiting list for a little girl.  We have requested a female ages 0-4 years old.  We are still waiting on the final copy of our home study to come back so we can start applying for grants.  Please pray that we will be able to receive some grant money towards our adoption.  We have several places that we are filling out paperwork for, and we pray for the right place to help us fund it.  We learn daily that with adoption God teaches you A LOT of patience.  One day we are filling out paperwork and the next we are waiting for it to go through! We find that this is a continuous repeated cycle through the whole process! When you are praying please keep these requests in mind: that our paperwork processes correctly, that we continue to have patience, that we can receive grant funded, and for the daughter that God has in store for us.  We know this process is long, but it is well worth the wait! There will be no bigger blessing than to bring our daughter home at the end of all this. 
I can't thank everyone enough for all of the prayers, support, love, and kindness that you have showed us.  We give the Lord ALL of the credit!  We know without God these things would not be possible!

I will update again soon! :-)

Love,
Sean and Sarah (of course I am writing this) :-)

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

I can’t believe our rummage sale is almost here!! We are so thankful for all of the things that we have collected so far and all of the items that we still have to pick up. We were overwhelmed with the amount of items that people offered when we posted about donations. We got so many items in the first few weeks that we had to rent a storage unit! This is great news and we are so thankful for everyone who has helped. I wanted to update the blog to let everyone know details about the day of the sale. We are going to start at 6 am and go till at least 4 pm. We will be located across from the Walmart Supercenter on 9008 HWY 107 in Sherwood. We received an anonymous donation of a $100 Walmart giftcard to raffle at the rummage sale. You can purchase raffle tickets the next few weeks for a chance to win it! We are going to be selling tickets for $1 and you can enter as many times as you want! You do NOT have to be present to win. We will draw the name of the winner at the end of the sale on Saturday May 18^th. Make sure when you buy a ticket that we have your phone # so we can call you if you win. We have also decided to sell hot dogs, chips, and drinks starting at 11 am that day. We want everyone to come out and have a picnic with us! We thought selling concession food would be a great way for everyone to bring their kids! We ask for prayer for beautiful weather that day! If anyone would like to volunteer to help us please let me know. Here is a list of items to look forward to at the sale:

dressers, book shelves, kids toys, kids clothing, baby items, strollers, pictures, art work, kitchen tables, men & women clothing, kitchen items, pool table, bicycles, suitcases, and many other items! We look forward to a great turn-out and we appreciate everyone’s help and support with this event!

We are still grateful everyday for how the Lord works with providing for our adoption. A few weeks ago I went to the mailbox and opened a letter with no return address. The envelope contained an anonymous donation and a sweet note that brought me to tears. The letter came unexpectedly and at the perfect time. I know that God is always providing and taking care of us. There is no way that we could make it through this journey without our faith in Christ. He has called us to adopt, and we feel blessed more and more everyday that He has chosen us. We have been getting an abundance of support from family, friends, and even people that we don’t know. We feel so blessed and we want everyone to be a part of our journey.

Please look for new posts as we continue to update through this process. We will also update what fundraising events will come up next! We are still looking for silent auction items and ideas for a dinner/silent auction night. The next item we sell will be t-shirts! I can’t wait to see what my BFF Aubri Duran has created for us! Thanks again to everyone who is praying, helping, giving, and being supportive.

We hope to see you Saturday May 18^th!

--Sean and Sarah :)

Our Story

Sean and I have been praying about adoption for several months.  We started thinking about it last year and looking into the different options.  There are so many orphans domestically and internationally.  We prayed for God to open a door for us, and after several months of prayer, He led us down the path to Ghana, West Africa.  We sent in our application and were approved to begin the process with Ghana.  Our hearts are overwhelmed with joy and we are anxiously awaiting to learn more about our future daughter and all of the plans God has for her.  I have been asked several questions since our adoption so I decided to answer them on our first blog. 

Why adoption?

John 14:18 says "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." 
Ephesians 1:4-5 says: "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will."
James 1:27 says: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." 

These are just a few of several verses that speak to my heart.  I believe God adopts us as his children.  He calls us to love one another and take care of each other.  We are called to reach out to those in need and share the gospel with the lost.  The first question I always get from someone about adopting is "why don't you have your own children?" or "can you have your own children?"  My answer is simple: Yes we can have our own children, but there are 140 million orphans in the world and God is calling us to bring one home.  God has given us a huge heart to bring a child home and make her a part of our family.  We are going to be able to provide a life for a child whom may not have survived without our care and love.  We are going to be able to love this child unconditionally the way Christ loves us.  We are going to be able to give her a home, take her to church, pray for her daily, and raise her with Godly principles to help her throughout her life.  Most of all, she will be a blessing to us from God.  She will change our life in more ways than we can imagine.  We are praying for her as we anxiously await to find out who she is.  We think about her and know that God is watching over her right now.  We are so blessed that the Lord chose us to have this calling. 

Why Ghana?

Ghana holds very near and dear to my heart.  I went on a mission trip to Ghana in 2010 and my life was changed forever.  I stepped off the plane having no idea what to expect, and I came home a different person.  My heart grew daily as I loved on the precious children in Ghana.  The Lord used me to reach the children and families in ways I didn't know were possible.  I was able to interact and love on children each day I was there.  My heart was broken for the children who did not have a home.  I realize now that God was preparing me for what we are going through now.  I can't wait to go back with Sean so he can experience the same thing I did when I went.  We can't wait to bring home our little girl. 

How much does it cost?

This is always the next question that I get.  Our goal is to raise $30,000 to bring our little girl home.  I always see two big eyes when I give those figures to people.  I am sure that when people go purchase a car they don't think twice about the $30,000.  The fact that we are able to bring our little girl home is priceless to us.  She is worth everything and far more than the $30,000 it cost to get her here.  These fees include the US fees, International fees, and travel expenses since we go twice.

How can I help?

I love getting this question- it puts a huge smile on my face.  The most important thing you can do to help us is PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!  We need your prayers more than anything.  Pray for us through this process, pray for our little girl while she is waiting, and pray for our families as we all await her arrival.

Fundraisers

We will be holding several fundraisers over the next few months to help bring our little girl home.  We have a fundraiser section on our website that we will be updating frequently.  Our first big fundraiser is a RUMMAGE SALE on May 18th.  We are currently taking donations of items (ANYTHING) and we will pick them up!! Some other fundraisers to look forward to: donation letters (you can donate through paypal on our website),  bake sale (sponsored by my wonderful mother-in-law), t-shirts (created by my BFF Aubri Duran), dinner/silent auction and possibly a speaker (our biggest event with the help of my wonderful parents), a raffle basket full of great items (we are looking for donations), cookbooks, and selling art and jewelry.  We are open to any fundraising ideas that anyone has!  Please let us know if you would like to help out with any of our fundraisers. 




Please feel free to join our blog and follow our journey, and please feel free to SHARE our story with your friends!! We will update frequently and keep you informed of our timeline.  Thanks for taking the time to read our blog, follow our journey, and pray for us daily!  We could not do this without the great abundance of love from God, family, and friends.  We love you all!!!

--Sean and Sarah