I have an update on where we are in the process. I hope you are not thinking, "Oh wow, he is actually going to mention the adoption in his adoption blog." I realize that this blog is more than an adoption blog. It didn't start out that way, but in blogging about where we are in the process, it has to include blogging about God's provision and grace. There haven't been that many times in my life when I can say,"This is definitely the direction God wants me to go." Most of the time, I go where I think He wants me to go and see how it turns out. Times I have been certain are, switching jobs from food service to Southwest, my marriage to Katy,and the adoption. He has put it on our hearts and spoken to us both at the same time on many subjects. The amount of stuff donated, and the money raised is God all the way. I have no doubt that God's hand is guiding our situation.

             I have been feeling lately like God has been working to get my attention. Katy has felt the same as well. I really feel as though God wants our attention to show us something big he has for us, or maybe it's just so we are paying attention to the next step in the adoption.

                                             God very much has been showing me that I need more of Him and less of me. (I think I might be repeating myself from a previous blog.) I have been hearing for some time now, different scripture and hearing sermons about seeking God, fasting, and being quiet and listening to Him. I am going to be obedient and see what God has planned.

BUY ME !!!!!

can't wait to try this one!!!

                                         
We are prayerfully considering beginning a new fundraiser. The more I read about it, and think about the potential, the more excited I get. We will be selling certain kinds of coffee and a large part of the money comes to us. Here are a couple of  the coffees.We will let you know. We will have our own website in a sense, so it will be easy for you to check it out and make a purchase. Pray for us. Marsha is coming on the 25th to continue to put our lives under a microscope. We are getting the house ready, but there is only so much we can do. We are after all a family of five. Please leave a comment so I know you stopped by. Thanks!!!

I'm Glad That's Over.(Garage Sale Results)

  Tomorrow is Katy's and my tenth wedding anniversary.It seems like it has been longer than ten years. Looking back, it seems we have gone through so much together in that time. I know,lots of people go through difficult times. That's just part of life. Don't get me wrong, the tough times were not between Katy and me. We endured hard or difficult situations together. We think we have an exceptional marriage. Of course we fight sometimes, that is normal. I think a marriage that doesn't experience that may not be a healthy marriage. There are certain things we agree on that I think has carried us this far, that is, without talking divorce, or Katy wanting to kill me in my sleep.Besides the "make up time" is awesome.    

                                   1. God is the center of our marriage. If you want to balance something, you center it.            One side or the other and it falls.
                                   2.In addition to #1, we pray together.
                                   3. We also play together.
                                   4. We don't always agree on everything, but we know the importance
                    of a united front.

             Most importantly,I love her the best way I know how. Sometimes I'm really good at it, and sometimes...uh..er...I'm not. But, if you asked her if I love her, she can say "yes" without hesitation.


                      We had our last adoption garage sale this week. Let me correct that. We had four long days of sales. It was tough, but God never said everything He has us do would be easy...and you know what? He still shines through. I want to give glory to God for the blessings and grace He has shown during our fundraising. We had garage sales in September too. Everything we had to sell was donated. Words can't describe the abundance of giving and generosity people showed. Normally, I am not comfortable talking about money matters to people. It just seems like such a private thing, but I want to tell everyone how great our God is. We raised just over a thousand dollars in September.We created a "donate" button on this blog, and had several friends donate above and beyond. During this garage sale, we raised $940. I put a $5000 goal on the blog and the total amount God has blessed us with is $2495. Thank you Jesus. God speaks to our hearts and confirms for us that we are in line with His will.

                   So, now we have the dossier to contend with. We are taking a trip to the Gilbert police admin office tomorrow to ask them to type a letter stating we don't have a criminal record. This dossier is no easy task, but it is our last hurdle before our papers are sent to Ethiopia for approval. Even after that, we are still looking at 9-12months of being on a waiting list before we get a referral.We are trudging away at our online education. Some of it is super boring. Some of it has been helpful. There was a really weird one that wanted us to do this "exercise." It wanted us to draw a picture of what we think our child will look like, complete with fingers and toes, then touch the fingers and toes.Pretty creepy!!
 Anyway, we will keep you informed. I will see if I can get Katy to post a blog too, so you can get a different perspective, and maybe you won't get sick of me. Katy is more articulate than I am.And cuter.See ya!

                                                             Brian