Tombstone- Virgil Earp?

Wow!  We are overwhelmed by the great response to the fundraiser that Uncle BoBo
has so graciously agreed to do for us to help bring Sweet S home to our family.  The donations are currently at $600 which puts Barlow at receiving the sweet 'stache of Sam Elliott:

In my (humble) opinion, he would be getting off way too easy with a Sam Elliott mustache.  Just $150 more moves him up to the Hulk Hogan:

But, the real fun comes when we raise $2500 and YOU get to decide what facial hair route Barlow has to go.  You can donate through any of the DONATE buttons located throughout the blog.

Thank you for being a blessing, 

Jessica

Uncle BoBo

This is my brother, Barlow.  He is also known in this house as Uncle BoBo.  He is a handsome chap, but the standard beard is becoming a bit too commonplace.

Might he look better in a Tom Selleck?

Or a Hulk Hogan?

Maybe the Farmer Brown?

Or possibly even the Tiger Tail?

The good news?  You get to decide the fate of his facial hair!

  Uncle BoBo is anxious to meet his new niece, sweet S, and has agreed to allow us to use him to raise money to bring her home.  

It will work like this:  Every $250 raised moves Barlow up to the next level of crazy facial hair.  We now have a DONATE buttons on our blog (towards the bottom) that will allow you to donate directly to our adoption.  Each time we hit a new level we will post the current 'stache (or beard) to our page for all to see.  If we can raise $2500 by October 15th, YOU will get to vote between three pictures for the final outcome of Barlow's beard.  We will have a "Reveal" party on October 25th and he has agreed to wear the beard for at least a week.  

 We can't wait for this little girl to know how much her Uncle BoBo loves her!

Stay tuned, 

Jessica

King or Queen?

It's on my mind today...will we have the privilege of raising a king or another queen?  We are excited and anxious to find out!

BAM!

So, the system in Ind*a for adoption registration did NOT open as anticipated :-(  We pray continuously that April 1st will be day...please pray with us!

BUT, today our agency received our dossier AND our completed service plan.  It feels so good to have these things done.

In other adoption news, the Koegles should have their boys HOME by the end of March!  Three years of waiting to meet these boys and it is finally going to happen.  So exciting!

Have a happy Tuesday!

Big Day

Today, this man right here turns 45.  He is an amazing husband, father, son, friend, child of God.  I am so thankful that I am the woman who gets to share this life with him.

Today, well tonight, our adoption agency will attempt to register us in the adoption database in Ind*a.  Please say a prayer that we will successfully be in the system come tomorrow morning.  While you are at it, will you please say prayers for my friends Mer and  Colista to receive news soon that they can move forward in bringing their daughters home?

Today, I am going to try, try, try to finish up our service plan.  I sent our dossier by Fed Ex yesterday and would love to have all adoption work (for our end) done by March 1st.

Along the lines of adoption, might I suggest a sermon series titled "Adopted" by The Austin Stone church?  Powerful stuff!  You can even get The Austin Stone app and listen from your smartphone or iPad.

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you." John 14:18

What About The Other 364 Days?

"Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples."   John 13:35

On this day of love, hearts, flowers and loads of chocolate, my heart has been contemplating this verse.  How do my actions and love for others reflect His heart?  Will I love others tomorrow (and the next day and the next) as much as I do today?

I'm thankful that the best gift of love I have ever received was a Savior on a cross.  Amen.

In adoption news, there is so much going on!  The good news is not with our adoption, but with our best friends the Koegles!  They should be bringing their boys home by the beginning of March!  We have prayed and traveled this journey with them for three years and it is a bit surreal to think that their family is about to expand.  God is good and His plans are always best!

I have also had the joy of becoming cyber friends with an amazing woman, Kristen, who is in India to bring home her daughter FOREVER!

The Rich family was also blessed with their new addition, Olivia, through adoption last week.  Again, He is good and His love endures (even through the really tough times!)

All of these exciting things happening with others' adoptions have been a great distraction for me.  While we are in this waiting period, He reminds me that He has it all under control.  He loves our child more than we ever could and He works all things in His timing.

I'm off to devour another piece of chocolate :-)

Thankful

There have been so many blog posts the last few days titled Thankful, but I could honestly think of nothing else to title this post, so here it goes....

We had a whirlwind of a week starting with the celebration of my oldest daughters' 11th birthday!  To say that we are Thankful for Evie Jo and Lucy would be the biggest understatement.  Their humble beginning came on Tuesday, November 20, 2001.  They weighed a COMBINED 2 lbs. 6.5 oz. and were the tiniest things we had ever seen.  Why God chose to allow them to live, thrive, grow to love Him and allow us to have the privilege to raise them, we will likely never know.  But we are Thankful!  We started the day horseback riding with Evie Jo's amazing violin instruction, Ms. Emmie.  They decided on Melting Pot for their birthday dessert and ice skating for their activity the following day.  We all had a blast!  Happy Birthday my precious Evie Jo and Lucy!

We are also Thankful for all of the donations that were given for our "Garage Sale for Orphans."  But, what good are donations if no one comes to shop?  Which leads me to yet another reason to be Thankful...garage sale shoppers!  Between the generous donations and the shoppers, we were able to raise more than $1000 (wowzers!) to go towards bringing 3 orphans home to their forever families.  THANKFUL!

Our life is going to be CRAZY the next couple of weeks!  The oldest girls are in their first theater production, The Little Mermaid Jr., and we have many nights of rehearsals and early calls on show nights.  But as this Christmas season approaches, I pray that I can take time to reflect on the true reason for my Thankfulness, my Savior Jesus!