Thanks to all...

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our yard sale and for those who came and bought.  We sold about 1/2 of what was donated... Wendy- the wagon and Tonka truck were some of the first things to go!  I will probably be heading to Philadelphia to set up for a yard sale on Saturday at Mark's brothers house.  They are in a great location to have a sale (besides having fun with my in-laws!). 

We talked with the girls today and they are doing well.  Last week was a holiday week from school.  Rita got to spend a little time with her Dad before he left again.  She says Lera is still very excited to come to America.  They are looking forward to 'hosting' us and introducing us to their foods and culture. 

No additional news on the dossiers.  Still waiting to hear from the Children's Minsistry for a travel date. 

Dossier update

Because of some other issues concerning hosting, we have been trying to find out when we may possibly travel...will it be December, January or later? In this questioning, we found out our dossiers have been translated and are now at the Ministry!!! This is at least a week sooner than I expected. Making progress...
Today I ordered an extra long twin bed for Rita at Dykes Furniture. She is a little too tall to be comfortable in the regular twin we bought last year, but Lera, oops, Vanessa, should fit quite nice! Enjoyed talking to the ladies at Dykes. I love spreading the word about adoption and hosting, always hoping it will spark an interest and result in another child finding a forever family.

Let the Raffles begin!

Sandra Thomas, Vicksburg's 2010 winner of the Best Licensed Massage Therapist, has graciously donated a 1 and 1/2 hour massage for us to raffle off.  She said it can be used in 3 30-minute massages, or 1 1-hour and 1 30-minute massage... your choice!  Raffle tickets are $5 and can be purchased at Sandra's business on North Frontage Road or by using the Donate Button on our blog.  Please put your name and "massage" in the Purpose box so I can create a ticket for you.  We will hold our drawing on the Sunday before Thanksgiving so you will be ready for a much needed stress reliever after Black Friday shopping!!!  Or, this would make a GREAT Christmas gift for that someone special!!!
We are also raffling off a gift certificate for a pair of in-stock boots, up to $150, from Bovina Feed and Seed!  This raffle ticket is $15 and can be purchased at Bovina Feed and Seed or also by using our Donate button.  Please put your name and "boots" in the Purpose block so I can register you for the correct raffle.  Again, this would make a GREAT Christmas gift!  They have a great selection to choose from!  
For each entry, I need you to send me an email with your name and phone number, raffle and donation so I can contact you when you win!!  Email:  charlotte.freeman9141@yahoo.com. 

Loving it!

It's amazing how God works in our hearts to bring healing.  Without us ever realizing it, little by little, He chips away at hurt and mis-trust and replaces it with caring and acceptance.  All during our hosting, Rita never once said she loved us, never called us mom and dad (or even host-mom/dad), and rarely ever gave us a hug.  In emails and phone conversations, there has not been an acknowledgement our our "love ya's".  But last week, all of that changed.  I received an email from her and she signed it 'Love, Rita'!  Then, a phone conversation ended with 'I love you too'!  Such sweet words, reassuring us that the connection we feel to her has not gone unnoticed, but given time, will grow into a relationship that will last forever! 
Tomorrow is Lera's birthday!  I still haven't heard if they have received the package I sent them.  One thing they have been having fun with is deciding on new names!  Rita quickly picked hers:  Rita Jessica.  I looked it up and Rita means 'Pearl' and Jessica means 'He sees'.  I immediately thought about the story in Matthew 13 of the merchant who found a pearl of great price and sold everything he had so he could purchase it!  When I emailed her that meaning of her name, and told her that God sees her value and her beauty and has shown it to us, she emailed back with 'Wow!  That's cool!!!'.  Lera wants to completely change her name and has chosen Vanessa which means butterfly.  It fits her!!! Now to find a middle name for her!  Any suggestions that I can send her?????

Birthdays and Blessings

Today my oldest daughter turns 15. She is celebrating with the family who has raised her for the past 7 years. She said it has been a very good birthday and tomorrow she will have another party with friends. Wednesday, my youngest daughter turned 13. There is so much about her I don't know. I've only met her three times! But I still feel a connection to her that goes beyond just caring, but is delving into the realms of love. Communication with her is sparse and only comes through the older daughter. But I think she is trying to speak more English. We will call them soon to wish them a Happy Birthday and hear about the party. I hope their birthday package arrived, but I don't think it has yet or we would have gotten an email from them. So I just focus not on the birthdays we are missing but all of the one's yet to come! The sweet 16's, the milestone 18's and 21's; their first birthday as a new mommie, and the forever 29's! So though we've missed the kiddie birthdays, we have so many more yet to come...happy birthday my little one's!!!

Fundraising and friends

I have officially started off our fundraising for the adoption. Our first endeavor was a Mary Kay party with a few friends two weekends ago. We raised enough to apostil the dossiers and ship to Wende in Georgia so she could hand deliver to Daina.
Next fundraiser has been the Covenant Blessing. I wrote this for a little boy I pulled off of the angel tree years ago. I realized he may have never had anyone speak a blessing over him or offer him encouragement and a vision for his future. So I wrote out a blessing for him. I saved it to my computer and have actually given it to a few people over the years. But I find it very interesting how God will give you something, not to be used at that specific time, but to store away for time of famine. And because this was brought to my remembrance, and God has led others to read this, we have received 25 orders to date, which should pay for one of the girls one-way tickets from Latvia to the USA!!!
I have also started asking for donations for items we can use in a garage sale. I'm planning on the last weekend of October or first in November if the weather doesn't cooperate. Now, I need a location. Going tomorrow to see what I can find. I have had several donations and I need to go through my closet and attic this weekend.
My next fundraiser immediately after the garage sale will be the Israel calendar. I am especially excited about this because it combines two things I love to talk about- Israel and adoption. I'm hoping to find a venue where I can give my Israel presentation. I love doing it. And am always amazed at how God enables me to stand before people and talk...I typically am very shy. So if you want to see one of the most amazing places on earth, call me.
I'm also working on an idea for some Christmas ornaments... Just in the idea phase right now. That should wrap up fundraising 2011. Then hopefully we will get a big project in between our first and second trip.
Thanks to everyone who has supported us so far, whether through finances, or sharing the fundraising info with others, or praying for us. We need all three. Thanks and God Bless!

Uplifting conversations

We were able to talk with the girls foster mom at length on Saturday and got some valuable information. It was such a joy to talk to her. She used to be an English teacher so there is little lost in conversation. I got Lera's family history which will help to understand behaviors and attitudes. She is a strong Christian woman who has a heart of gold! Then on Sunday we were able to talk to the girls. They had been at a church youth rally this weekend and said they had a great time... Well Rita did. They are trying to wrap their minds around coming to America for ever. They asked about hosting and couldn't seem to understand they don't need to host again- they will possibly already be here! Their birthdays are coming up soon and I am gathering things to ship to them. Our dossiers arrived in Georgia today and will go with Wende as she travels on her 2nd trip. She will hand deliver to the lawyer on Friday. We are now waiting for translation and our invitation! In the meantime, we will be trying to raise the money needed for our first trip.

Hearts Desire for 2

9-25-11  The start of the blog!
We have learned so much over the past year.  We have learned things about ourselves, things about orphans, things about God, and things about technology...ok, still learning that stuff.  So what is this thing called adoption that we are pursuing...and why? 
Our journey started years ago with a thought.  After a miscarriage, and yet even before then really, the thought of adoption kept coming to me.  Wow, that was probably 7 or 8 years ago.  After the miscarriage I attended a Crabb Family concert where they passed out sponsor cards for Holt International.  I sponsored a girl from India, and as I was drawn to learn more about the orphans around the world, I began to open my heart to possibilities of a daughter; not through birth, but through choice.  One little girl in particular grabbed ahold of my heart.  I found myself praying for Vaishnavi so passionately, so broken, so intently. I can remember praying for God to bring her here, to give her a family, and selfishly to bring me a daughter like her. I looked into adoption, but there seemed to be barriers, whether they were real or just from my own fear of being rejected. So years went by with just hope remaining in my heart. Was it just not time?
In April 2010, we were introduced to New Horizons For Children based in Acworth, Georgia. We prayed about hosting a child from Eastern Europe and felt this was a good step. We decided to wait until Christmas to host and selected Rita as our host child. But soon after we chose her, another family started adoption with her. So we chose Emily and thought, after a wonderful host period, that she would be our daughter; but when she returned to Latvia, she changed her mind. After a few months of heart healing, we decided to host again. We searched the photolisting for one girl, but none really spoke to us. We thought about 2 girls and considered sisters Ksenija and Valerija. We found out they didn't want to share a room so we moved on. I had about given up and we were only a few weeks from the deadline. I was going to just select whoever was left and when I opened the listing, there was Rita!!! So we signed up to host her. Then we found out that she is in the same home as Ksenija and Valerija. We had a good host and about half way through, Rita asked if we could consider adopting Valerija as well. We looked into it and checked with the family hosting them, and found they were not wanting to adopt Valerija. So here we are now- with paperwork on it's way to Latvia and hopefully our first trip before the end of the year! It's good to allow God to chose your path!

Dossier on it's way

What a way to close out September... On 9/30/11 our dossier was mailed to Wende so it can be delivered to Latvia on Wednesday Oct 4th.  One more step complete on our adopton journey.