The love keeps on comin'

The love you are all sending is blowing us away! day by day we're still receiving amazing financial gifts!! Thank you!! We are getting closer and closer to our $7,000 goal!!! We are now at $2,852... THANK YOU again and again!!

Now that our adoption has been finalized, we wait for the kids passports to come through. I have no idea when it will happen. One family got passports in 2 and 1/2 weeks, while others have had to wait months. We're praying for as soon as possible and would love your prayers for this too!! We would love to have the kids home by July because we have a huge family reunion the end of August. That would give us a good month of chill-family bonding time.

The wait has been so much harder since our good friends came home with their little boy they adopted from Acres of Hope, Kojo. Just seeing him and hearing his Liberian accent makes my heart ache for Osobie and Fatu to be home. Plus they met our kids!!! They shared cute stories of our little feisty kids that brought Jeff and I to tears. Just this in itself is such a 'God-thing'. To think 5 years ago we met our friends and on the first night we hung out, we were dreaming and scheming about adopting African kids! Never in a million years would I have imagined that we would be adopting from the same orphanage, AND that they would be the first ones to meet our kids!! It was a total gift from God.

Oh, wow...need to brag on God a little more. Last week we almost lost our dog, Kenya. She got into some pj's, chewed them up and ate a piece. Well, this is the 2nd time she has done this. The first time cost us about $3,000!! We were faced with a decision to put her to sleep or pay for another expensive surgery. There is no way we could afford this, no way. We called friends and family and started them praying. It was a up and down roller coaster, but eventually the vet called Kenya a 'medical oddity". They couldn't find the pj's in her and she seemed to be getting better by the day!! GOD TOTALLY HEALED OUR DOG!!! She is back to normal, still crazy, (maybe it's the Labrador/golden retriever combo) but healthy. We're so happy Sobie and Fatu get to come home to their doggy!. Thank you gang for praying for Kenya. As you can see, she's back to normal. Our happy healed dog...saying goodbye to Summit County on our way back home Memorial Day.

Fundraiser update!

So far we have raised $2,340 from our one dollar adoption fundraiser!!! Thanks to so many of you for giving us such generous gifts!
Keep passing it on!!!!!!!!!!!!
www.jeffandkatie.onedollaradoption.com

We are so grateful for you guys!!! Thank you for walking this journey with us.

We are counting down the days until we get ''the call" that the kids passports are in. In the meantime, Jeff and I have been getting the house ready for the kids to come home. We have a ton of odds and ends to finish up and then we have the garden to plant. We are trying to bust out all our chores so once the kids are home, we will have absolutely nothing to do but cuddle, play, and enjoy each other. We cannot wait to have them home!!! I can't resist ...another pic of our cuties!!

I've been tagged!!

Okay…so Laura and Becky have tagged me and so here goes.

7 things about me?…that most people don’t know mmmmmm

1. “When I grow up, I want to be…” I’m sure like most people, I changed my dream career a million times. Here’s my list: fashion designer, marine biologist, movie star, brain surgeon, artist, detective, monkey trainer (Jane Goodall was my hero), wildlife biologist, nurse, and a missionary. Whew!!!

2. This may seem incredibly weird, but I LOVE being dirty! (Earthy dirty that is!)…Jeff (my husband) and I went on several missions’ trips to the Rainbow Gatherings in various states. The Rainbow Gatherings are basically big (20,000) hippie fests of love, drugs, and craziness in a national forest. We hung out with a Christian group called Bread of Life and cooked and served food for the hippies. We had “the dirtiest feet contest” to see who came home the darkest shade of brown! Jeff came in first place and I came in second. I just love the “I’ve been camping in the woods” smell. Yeah, this is weird.

3. I drink my coffee with a spoon in it. I’m a cream and sugar coffee drinker so I stir it up and leave the spoon in my cup for the remainder of my drinking time.

4. I was born in Vienna, Austria. My parents were missionaries with Operation Mobilization and they lived on their first mercy ship called the Logos. They were stationed in Austria for 2 years where my sister and I were born.

5. I’m a SAUCE fanatic!! Our fridge is primarily made up of sauces and condiments. On a daily basis we have 15 to 20 different kinds of salad dressings in our fridge.

6. I know all the words to “It Takes Two” by Rob Base and D.J. Easy Rock. Thanks to my childhood friend Laura, this is permanently branded on my brain. Not only can I sing the whole song, word for word, but I can also do the dance that goes with it without missing a beat.
   
7. Okay, so we might want to start a club here because I am a cereal addict TOO!!!! Wow, here I thought I was alone in this area. I seriously could eat cereal for every meal. (or sushi…I just might have a tie for the dinner category) Just last night I had a bowl of pumpkin granola cereal for dinner.

WOW...you people are amazing!!

We are going on 2-3 weeks of running the One Dollar Adoption fundraiser and we are already at $1,600!!! Thanks to all of you, many of whom we do not even know, who are helping us make our final step towards bringing our kids home!! Thank you!! and please keep Passing It On!!
http://jeffandkatie.onedollaradoption.com

We also have a update to share...OUR ADOPTION HAS BEEN FINALIZED!! Just last week we got word that we have completed this next step. Now we are ready to be submitted for passports, and once they come through, we will be able to travel. So, we're hoping and praying to travel July or August??? We're getting closer everyday and we cannot wait.

Here's a couple recent pics!!
Osobie is in the blue on the right and Fatu in the yellow shirt right next to him!!

Fatu and her braided hair!