Some people would give up after the heartache of two matches falling through, but Joshua and Kristen have continued to pursue match three... "the little one" that they were confident God would unite them with in His time. Their heart for children in need didn't allow them to sit by idly by and wait for her to come home!
Through an organization called Safe Families for Children, they opened their home to other children in need as a temporary home while their parents worked through "grownup" concerns. They cared for many kids over that first year... until a call about Gia. This little girl had just a few days to find a forever home and she found it!!
They finalized Gia's adoption and then left for Africa in March to start the process of bringing their second daughter home!
Watch their video filmed IN COUNTRY where they are now to hear their other surprise too!
For those of you new to our blog, here is what we do every week!
1. Read our family's story
2. Watch our family's video
3. Donate $1! ..........DONATE HERE FOR THE BAUDIN FAMILY!
4. We share with our friends so they can help too!
Follow the families story here...
http://ourafricanprincess.wordpress.com/
Thank you for being a part of bringing children in to their forever families! What a blessing you are!
Desiree
Monday, April 28, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
Helping Orphans In Kyrgyzstan
LAMb International works to help the orphaned children in Kyrgyzstan.
The Jeremiah House is a home for orphans in Kyrgyzstan that age out of the orphanage at age 15 with no where to go and no way to earn a living, as they won't legally be allowed to work in Kyrgyzstan for 3 more years. The Jeremiah House gives them a loving home and teaches them life skills such as cooking and sewing so that one day they will be able to live independently. Currently, the Jeremiah House has six former orphanage graduates: Altanye, Vika, Slavik, Aziz, Omerbeck, and Janabeck. They are preparing to receive three more youth who have no place to go after orphanage grade nine graduation.
DaySpring is a home in Kyrgyzstan for five orphaned girls, Jenya, Kristina, Annya, and Ulya. Olga and Costa our the "mom" and "dad" of the home and also have two biological children and a dog.
Both of these homes give the children not only the life skills they need to succeed and the love of family, but they also learn about a God who loves them greatly!
Here is a letter from LAMb International:
Dear Donors
We are a small charity. We work to ensure children have homes – forever families. Our work is to teach, train, and develop pilot projects to demonstrate making a difference in the orphan care movement. Right now we are focused on several very important projects in Kyrgyzstan:
1. Keeping children out of the orphanages and getting them into families –Dayspring
2. Helping gradating orphans who have no hope – find hope and a future –Jeremiah House
We are seeking funds to do repairs on our Dayspring home. We desperately need draft proof windows – to keep summer out and winter out. There are many needs – and we are seeking help from you. Our children need your support:
New Windows for Dayspring: $2,350
Painting Interior Walls: $1450
New Tires for Van: $425
Fix Roof: $750
Make a patio for children’s play: $1120
Fence for yard: $1000
Gate for Fence: $200
Entrance heat and lights: $460
TOTAL $7755
Let's raise the funds, $1 at a time, to help Dayspring and the Jeremiah house make their needed repairs! Can you give just $1 or more? Can share about the need on social media? Please help! All donations to LAMb International are tax deductible!
The Jeremiah House is a home for orphans in Kyrgyzstan that age out of the orphanage at age 15 with no where to go and no way to earn a living, as they won't legally be allowed to work in Kyrgyzstan for 3 more years. The Jeremiah House gives them a loving home and teaches them life skills such as cooking and sewing so that one day they will be able to live independently. Currently, the Jeremiah House has six former orphanage graduates: Altanye, Vika, Slavik, Aziz, Omerbeck, and Janabeck. They are preparing to receive three more youth who have no place to go after orphanage grade nine graduation.
DaySpring is a home in Kyrgyzstan for five orphaned girls, Jenya, Kristina, Annya, and Ulya. Olga and Costa our the "mom" and "dad" of the home and also have two biological children and a dog.
Both of these homes give the children not only the life skills they need to succeed and the love of family, but they also learn about a God who loves them greatly!
Here is a letter from LAMb International:
Dear Donors
We are a small charity. We work to ensure children have homes – forever families. Our work is to teach, train, and develop pilot projects to demonstrate making a difference in the orphan care movement. Right now we are focused on several very important projects in Kyrgyzstan:
1. Keeping children out of the orphanages and getting them into families –Dayspring
2. Helping gradating orphans who have no hope – find hope and a future –Jeremiah House
We are seeking funds to do repairs on our Dayspring home. We desperately need draft proof windows – to keep summer out and winter out. There are many needs – and we are seeking help from you. Our children need your support:
New Windows for Dayspring: $2,350
Painting Interior Walls: $1450
New Tires for Van: $425
Fix Roof: $750
Make a patio for children’s play: $1120
Fence for yard: $1000
Gate for Fence: $200
Entrance heat and lights: $460
TOTAL $7755
Let's raise the funds, $1 at a time, to help Dayspring and the Jeremiah house make their needed repairs! Can you give just $1 or more? Can share about the need on social media? Please help! All donations to LAMb International are tax deductible!
US PAY PAL LINK
CANADA PAY PAL LINK
Friday, April 18, 2014
It's Friday!!
I've been looking forward to today for days now. Fridays are great and this one is pretty special.
Author and blogger, Kelli Hays, has decided to generously donate 20% of the proceeds of the sale of her new book all day today!! Isn't that an amazing gift to our family of the week!
In her own words...
I'm honored to be able to play a part in getting Annabelle home to Brooke and Jeremy. Brooke and I have been friends since high school and I'm amazed at her faith in saying "yes" to adoption. It is my prayer that this book is a blessing to those who are enduring hard times, or are helping a loved one get through a difficult journey.
The book is His Grace is Enough: Looking for God's comfort in times of trial. I decided that I couldn't write about the book without reading it... so that is just what I did yesterday and I can't wait to read it again.
We've all been there. A loss. A sickness. A betrayal. A door slammed in your face. A situation that you know is completely beyond your control and you feel helpless. You cry out to God. You start quoting His word.
LORD! You are the Great Physician. You are my every present help in time of need. You are sovereign. You are my Helper. God... I know you can do all things. Why won't you fix this? Where are you? What's the purpose of this suffering?!?
His Grace is Enough: Looking for God's comfort in times of trail is a book I'd recommend having on your Kindle for those times when you need a quick reminder of how modern day followers of Christ have handled their walks through the desert.
Thank you, Kelli, for being willing to help support our family of the week! They have broken the $1,000 mark ... Let's see if we can hit $1,500 or MORE!
Donate directly to the family of the week HERE.
Buy the book HERE.
Check out Kelli's blog HERE.
Desiree
Author and blogger, Kelli Hays, has decided to generously donate 20% of the proceeds of the sale of her new book all day today!! Isn't that an amazing gift to our family of the week!
In her own words...
I'm honored to be able to play a part in getting Annabelle home to Brooke and Jeremy. Brooke and I have been friends since high school and I'm amazed at her faith in saying "yes" to adoption. It is my prayer that this book is a blessing to those who are enduring hard times, or are helping a loved one get through a difficult journey.
The book is His Grace is Enough: Looking for God's comfort in times of trial. I decided that I couldn't write about the book without reading it... so that is just what I did yesterday and I can't wait to read it again.
We've all been there. A loss. A sickness. A betrayal. A door slammed in your face. A situation that you know is completely beyond your control and you feel helpless. You cry out to God. You start quoting His word.
LORD! You are the Great Physician. You are my every present help in time of need. You are sovereign. You are my Helper. God... I know you can do all things. Why won't you fix this? Where are you? What's the purpose of this suffering?!?
His Grace is Enough: Looking for God's comfort in times of trail is a book I'd recommend having on your Kindle for those times when you need a quick reminder of how modern day followers of Christ have handled their walks through the desert.
Thank you, Kelli, for being willing to help support our family of the week! They have broken the $1,000 mark ... Let's see if we can hit $1,500 or MORE!
Donate directly to the family of the week HERE.
Buy the book HERE.
Check out Kelli's blog HERE.
Desiree
Monday, April 14, 2014
The Cartwright Family
Help me welcome the Cartwright Family!
When God surrounds you with what this family likes to call "God winks", you can't deny His guidance in each step of the journey...
The one that hit me the most was the prayer of their son for his sister before adoption was even on their radar screen. Melts. My. Heart.
The Cartwright Family is working on becoming a family of 5 as soon as they are able to bring their sweet Annabelle home! I can't wait to share about how special her name is later this week :)
Doesn't doing this every Monday just start your week off right?!?
Okay. Time to do what we do!!
Watch the video. Give your dollar (OR MORE!)
Then, share their story with the world to help there be ONE LESS!!
FROM THE FAMILY:
Giveaway details: Share this post or the link to Give1Save1 website on facebook, your blog, twitter or pinterest and include in the comments #nihaowdy to be entered. You can be entered once daily this week. On Sunday we will have a drawing for two prizes:
1) A strand of black pearls from Guangzhou, China
2) A calligraphy print with your family's name in Chinese
We will get these customized gifts when we travel to China!!
Giveaway details: Share this post or the link to Give1Save1 website on facebook, your blog, twitter or pinterest and include in the comments #nihaowdy to be entered. You can be entered once daily this week. On Sunday we will have a drawing for two prizes:
1) A strand of black pearls from Guangzhou, China
2) A calligraphy print with your family's name in Chinese
We will get these customized gifts when we travel to China!!
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Toddler Conversations
Since our son Isaac has been home with us, we have kept his birthparent's name in our conversations. We'll pray for them and talk about them, have him draw pictures for them. We talk to him about other people we know that are adopted, including Superman and Unlce Ben (my little brother), and me. It hasn't been until recently that he's become active in those conversations, interjecting his own thoughts.
As he's gotten older, we have talked about how he came from C's tummy, and Alex came from Momma's tummy. We tell him how much C and J loved him, and that they wanted him to live with us and be happy. Isaac has C's eyes when he smiles, and glistens of red in his hair from J. It's so intriguing to my husband and I seeing his personality explode, and wondering who he got different facets of it from, C or J.
A trait that we know firmly came from his birth mother is dancing. She was a professionally trained dancer in many styles, from ballet, tap, jazz, and hip-hop. When we met her, she shared her love and passion for dancing with us, and I'm so glad she did, because it has come out in Isaac. Anytime there is music, his little hiney get's to wiggling, or his arms start moving, even if its when we're standing in line at the post office!
A few times a week, while we're cleaning up from dinner and have time before our bath and bedtime routine, we'll put on a toddler station on Pandora, or play a few of his favorite songs we have, "Happy" by Pharrell (from Despicable Me), or "Wobble" by Family Force 5. These evening dance parties are some of my favorite times with my three guys, because everyone is dancing, silly Daddy, and Alexander will crawl around bopping his head to the music. On one of our more recent dance parties, we told Isaac that he was such a good dancer, and he said, "Yes like C!". It took us by surprise, but our hearts were full, because yes, it was indeed a piece of C coming out in him.
I am so encouraged that he is starting to make connections to his life from the things that we tell him about his birthparents. I pray that we as parents will continue to encourage HIS personality, even if it stretches our comfort level as parents, because there is nothing more precious then seeing him grow and change in ways we would have never believed.
As he's gotten older, we have talked about how he came from C's tummy, and Alex came from Momma's tummy. We tell him how much C and J loved him, and that they wanted him to live with us and be happy. Isaac has C's eyes when he smiles, and glistens of red in his hair from J. It's so intriguing to my husband and I seeing his personality explode, and wondering who he got different facets of it from, C or J.
A trait that we know firmly came from his birth mother is dancing. She was a professionally trained dancer in many styles, from ballet, tap, jazz, and hip-hop. When we met her, she shared her love and passion for dancing with us, and I'm so glad she did, because it has come out in Isaac. Anytime there is music, his little hiney get's to wiggling, or his arms start moving, even if its when we're standing in line at the post office!
A few times a week, while we're cleaning up from dinner and have time before our bath and bedtime routine, we'll put on a toddler station on Pandora, or play a few of his favorite songs we have, "Happy" by Pharrell (from Despicable Me), or "Wobble" by Family Force 5. These evening dance parties are some of my favorite times with my three guys, because everyone is dancing, silly Daddy, and Alexander will crawl around bopping his head to the music. On one of our more recent dance parties, we told Isaac that he was such a good dancer, and he said, "Yes like C!". It took us by surprise, but our hearts were full, because yes, it was indeed a piece of C coming out in him.
I am so encouraged that he is starting to make connections to his life from the things that we tell him about his birthparents. I pray that we as parents will continue to encourage HIS personality, even if it stretches our comfort level as parents, because there is nothing more precious then seeing him grow and change in ways we would have never believed.
Monday, April 7, 2014
The Wilson family
Emily and Nathaniel Wilson have been waiting a long time to bring their daughter home from The Congo.
She is legally already their daughter, but unfortunately they have been stuck because of the country suspending exit visas of adopted children. Right now they need our help to continue to pay for her living expenses and she has been ill so medical expenses have come up as well.
Please take a minute to watch their sweet video and to donate $1 to them today!!
Here is a word from the family:
"We haven't even brought our daughter home yet, and yet we already feel incredibly
blessed by having her in our lives! I (Emily) met her in November and felt an immediate bond with her. We spent 4 days laughing, playing, teaching each other new words, dancing, splashing in the water, coloring, and cuddling. God truly blessed our time together. Our boys are good buddies and ask all of the time when their sister is coming home. We have felt blessed every single step of our adoption journey and have had amazing support from our friends and family. Unfortunately, with our unexpected extended wait because of the exit visa ban in the Congo, we are really struggling with our expenses and paying her monthly care fees. We would love to share a piece of our hearts for our daughter through your awesome site. Thank you!!!"
Here is a word from the family:
"We haven't even brought our daughter home yet, and yet we already feel incredibly
blessed by having her in our lives! I (Emily) met her in November and felt an immediate bond with her. We spent 4 days laughing, playing, teaching each other new words, dancing, splashing in the water, coloring, and cuddling. God truly blessed our time together. Our boys are good buddies and ask all of the time when their sister is coming home. We have felt blessed every single step of our adoption journey and have had amazing support from our friends and family. Unfortunately, with our unexpected extended wait because of the exit visa ban in the Congo, we are really struggling with our expenses and paying her monthly care fees. We would love to share a piece of our hearts for our daughter through your awesome site. Thank you!!!"
Lyla from Emily Wilson on Vimeo.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Surprises
Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday! If you're visiting the blog for the first time, welcome:) Thank you all for supporting the Pachciarz family this week. Will you come back next week, too? And the next? $1 every week doesn't seem like much, but it's a big deal to our families.
So, we've been home almost 5 months with our daughter. I thought I would share my Top 5 surprises.....
1. I was not prepared for the addition of a 3rd child. I THOUGHT I was, but I wasn't. It was hard and I was tired. Oh, and boys are easier than girls. I may be the only one who wasn't sure about that one.
2. She is learning English crazy fast!
3. My boys have done amazing with her. Our youngest has a mild form of Autism, (<---today is Autism Awareness Day!) so we wondered how he would react to her after the "excitement" wore off. He is super patient with her and loves her to pieces. Adding a 3 1/2 year old little sister to the family when you're the baby has the potential to be rough;) Both boys have been a huge help. Don't underestimate your kids!
4. She has a BIG personality! Maybe I thought she was coming to us as a passive little girl, I'm not even sure. She has found her place in the family and loves it. She knows her brothers will do whatever she asks and she goes throughout her day at full speed.
5. How much we love her! It's hard, she's stubborn, I'm stubborn, we're tired, it was a long road, but she is our sweetheart:)
What were your biggest surprises or misconceptions? I want to hear them!
Have a great week, friends!
So, we've been home almost 5 months with our daughter. I thought I would share my Top 5 surprises.....
1. I was not prepared for the addition of a 3rd child. I THOUGHT I was, but I wasn't. It was hard and I was tired. Oh, and boys are easier than girls. I may be the only one who wasn't sure about that one.
2. She is learning English crazy fast!
3. My boys have done amazing with her. Our youngest has a mild form of Autism, (<---today is Autism Awareness Day!) so we wondered how he would react to her after the "excitement" wore off. He is super patient with her and loves her to pieces. Adding a 3 1/2 year old little sister to the family when you're the baby has the potential to be rough;) Both boys have been a huge help. Don't underestimate your kids!
4. She has a BIG personality! Maybe I thought she was coming to us as a passive little girl, I'm not even sure. She has found her place in the family and loves it. She knows her brothers will do whatever she asks and she goes throughout her day at full speed.
5. How much we love her! It's hard, she's stubborn, I'm stubborn, we're tired, it was a long road, but she is our sweetheart:)
What were your biggest surprises or misconceptions? I want to hear them!
Have a great week, friends!
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