All posts by Molly

Fundraisers

Garage Sale

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My in-laws rock. This Friday and Saturday, my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and mother-in-law had a garage sale. No set prices. Just whatever people thought was an appropriate donation to our adoption. They made $800!!!

It was so awesome of them to put this garage sale together for Reed and Scarlett (and us, of course!)… I barely did anything for it at all.

We only donated one thing to sell.  Aaron’s parents, sister, brother-in-law and aunt donated most of the items.  His sister, brother-in-law and mom put lots of time and work into this garage sale, not to mention all of the stuff which they sold. We are so grateful for their generosity!

Thank you so much! I don’t think families get any better than ours, Aaron’s and mine.

Adoption, First Adoption

Grateful

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I am grateful for a lot these days…

Almost every night, after spending 10 hours at work and an hour driving to and from work, my husband sits down in front of the computer and studies Ukrainian. I am grateful for a husband who loves adoption and is as excited to travel as I am!

Yesterday, I found the blog of the Heim family . Traci & family just got home from adopting Dasha from the same orphanage at Reed and Scarlett are in! It was a lot of fun reading their blog, and seeing the photos and videos of Dasha. She is absolutely adorable. She is just 6 weeks older than Scarlett, the one who someone thought was Scarlett’s sister.

Traci emailed me a group photo of some of the children in their orphanage, and the photo includes Scarlett. Traci also told me about her experience adopting from that orphanage and it was mostly positive! It sounds like for an orphanage it is a very good facility. I am grateful for her email today.

My in-laws are holding a garage sale this weekend… they are donating the money people give them to our adoption. I am grateful for all around awesome in-laws.

A mother in the process of adopting two little girls from Reed and Scarlett’s orphanage emailed me today… I am grateful to learn that two more little girls have homes!

Bethany is coordinating a sponsorship program for the kids in Reed and Scarlett’s orphanage.  We have an opportunity to send a package to Reed and Scarlett. She emailed me three days ago and I already have most of the stuff for the package. I am SO excited about it. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to mail them some things that they might need and also introduce ourselves to them. We are NOT writing that we’re in the process of adopting them, but we do hope that they’ll learn a bit about us and we won’t be complete strangers when we show up at their orphanage.

There are lots more kids needing sponsorship… it involves sending them a package at least twice a year. Filling it up with clothes, toys, toiletries, and a letter about your family (photos, too, if you chose!). If you are interested, let me know and I will put you in touch with Bethany.

Adoption, Orphan Care
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“Stop asking God to bless what you’re doing. Get involved in what God is doing — because it’s already blessed.” -Bono

Tonight, we watched the movie Lord, Save Us From Your Followers. I had watched it a few months ago when my sister recommended it. It is an interesting movie– honest yet hopeful. I would absolutely recommend it… it’s available on Netflix Instant Queue.

The narrator uses a few positive examples of Christians– Bono, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II. Another Bono quote which I love…

“Look, whatever thoughts you have about God, who He is or if He exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a special place for the poor. In fact, the poor are where God lives… But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor.

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.“

Adoption, First Adoption

Still broken

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I need… a big house. A new car. New clothes. Things for my kids. A new collar for my dog. More food to eat. More leisure time. A nice vacation.

I have to admit, I am growing weary. Of this American lifestyle. All of the needs, which are really just wants. I fall victim to it. I am tired. Of needing.

I just want to be grateful for all that I have been blessed with. Willing to give much of it away.

I want to have my eyes wide open to things like… orphans, human trafficking, homelessness, the world water crisis… and on and on.

The first time I went to New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina, I knew that I had to go back. If you experience something like a disaster area, an orphanage, etc., I think it’s hard to go back to your normal life.  It all seemed so trivial to me, compared to what was going on in New Orleans. How can I go to class each day, when I could be gutting or rebuilding someone’s home?

Sometimes, I wonder how I can enjoy my ice cream, which someone in Africa does not have clean water. I wonder how I can enjoy this movie when a girl across the world is being sold in sexual slavery. How can I live like this?

Simply put, my heart is broken for this world. My heart is broken for those who need what I cannot give them. But, my heart is also broken for those who are comfortable. Those who look away from the suffering of this world.

For Christians who are “lukewarm”, content to hang on to what they have “earned”. They probably break my heart the most.

I would like to tell you that I am sorry if you are sick of hearing about how broken-hearted I am. But I’m not.

Adoption, First Adoption, Orphan Care

How It Started

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We had some of those new friends I blogged about earlier over for dinner tonight. It’s rare to meet another couple who has a heart for orphans &  adoption. It’s also rare to meet someone my age with a heart for orphans & adoption. It’s rare to meet someone in real life with a heart for orphans & adoption. SO, it’s very rare to meet a couple, my age, in real life, with hearts for orphans and adoption. But, this sweet new friend found me through another blog, and happened to live an hour away and they were sweet enough to participate in our fundraiser last week and come over for dinner tonight. How awesome, right?

We talked a lot about adoption. One question they asked was how we got started thinking and talking about adoption. It had been a long time coming for us, but the thing that really took adoption from the future and brought in into the present for us was this post . And then this post.

Those posts broke our hearts. Go read them. The need is GREAT.