Tuesday, June 26, 2012

What God can do through CUPCAKES! :)

I have been really busy this week. Mostly busy doing a "Happy Dance". You see, as of yesterday, unless something crazy happens, our adoption is FULLY FUNDED. Let me repeat....FULLY FUNDED! You need to know how incredible this is. Our estimated maximum adoption costs for Brittany, Brianna, and Brian were set at $24,000. This was in February. Today is June 26, and we are FULLY FUNDED. We have NEVER paid an adoption off before we finalized. This is the 2nd most expensive adoption we have ever done. I am just in AWE of God, and also reveling in his confirmation that this adoption is RIGHT, and is from HIM! He is moving mountains to make this happen for us! Praise His holy name! Now let me back up. Aprill F, my dear friend, happens to own a small bakery. Months ago she came to me with an idea to sell cupcakes as a fundraiser. I have to be honest. I did not expect much, but I was certainly willing to give it a try. We sold over 200 dozen cupcakes, through Facebook, in a little over a week! And on top of that, God's people were AMAZINGLY generous! We have received SO many financial gifts that it is both overwhelming and extremely humbling! I am SO proud of God's people, for understanding that caring for "the least of these" is all of our job, not just a select few. This adoption would be a tremendous strain on our already strained budget, without the help of you all! So, thank you, anonymous donor, who gave above and beyond! Thank you M & M, thank you Tammy, and Kelli, and Matthew and family. Thank you to those of you who we did not even know, but you still stepped up, and bought those crazy cupcakes! Thank you Aprill, for baking your little heart out! And thank you to ALL of you who gave what you could, to give Brittany, Brianna, and Brian stability and a home. And for giving us the blessing of being parents to some awesome kids. We love you all! God bless! Ann
Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families. Psalms 68:5-6
PS One more thing....NOW LET"S GET RU HOME! http://lovetakesheart.wordpress.com/do-good-t-shirts/

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Some new photos of my sweeties!

Hello! Just a quick update to let you know we are all doing amazing! The kids have settled in SO well. Having 10 kids at home is not as hard as I thought it would be! LOL It gets a little easier each day. Having a busy summer so far...here are some highlights: We had the awesome opportunity to go on Toby's MAKE-A-WISH trip to the Mall of America last month, and it was absolutely wonderful! Closer to home, we have been working on finishing some school, building a small deck off the back of the house, and working in the garden. We had two calves and 22 lambs born this spring, so it has been fun watching them grow and thrive! Our first grandchild, Landon, is doing well, and growing like crazy! He is the happiest, cutest little guy ever, but we don't see him often enough! They need to move closer! We are slowly chipping away at our new adoption expenses. We are right in the middle of a CUPCAKE fundraiser, and it is going very well! We have sold almost a 100 dozen at this point! Thanks to all of you who contributed! Will update more soon! It is harder and harder to find free time!!! :) God bless!