Hello! Just a quick update. This weekend we had another yard sale fundraiser as part of our neighborhood's yard sale. It was not very productive in terms of raising funds, but it was so easy to set up and break down because it was at our house and we didn't have a ton of stuff. All in all it was a nice day and we got to meet a lot of nice people.

Also this weekend, we started another fundraiser. The Acteens (mission organization for girls ages 12-17) at Bethabara Baptist, the church family of one of my dearest friends, worked with me to make some adorable and cuddly blankets for babies/toddlers that I will now try to resell as an adoption fundraiser. They were a sweet group of girls, and I was so honored that they wanted to help us with our adoption by making these blankets. I got to share a little with them about orphans and our process, so that was a blessing too. Thanks so much to the Acteens at Bethabara and my dear friend who organized it all! You are superheros!

Update: The yard sale went well! In my enthusiasm to try out some new ideas, I forgot how much work it is to set up, but I am so thankful for those who showed up to help with that part.

In terms of fundraising, we did pretty good for a yard sale, but not as good as I had hoped. Still thankful though! And everyone who shopped left with a Gospel of John and a CD of worship music, so that is awesome!!

Some things I learned:

• Human sign holders are a must! (as is advertising everywhere you can)
• Doughnuts sell well
• Bottled water does not
• "Fill a bag" for $5 seemed to go well and was much easier at checkout
• Price everything
• Sticky labels are great to have on hand for price reductions or spontaneous promos
• Music makes for a fun and relaxing atmosphere
• Many hands make light work (especially for pricing, organizing, keeping areas pretty, etc.)

I'm sure I learned a lot more, but that is all that is coming to mind right now.

So thankful to all who came out and shopped or talked to us or helped!!!!

Original post below:

We are having a fundraiser this Saturday, April 14. Hope you will participate by spreading the word and coming out if you can! Here is the ad:

"Huge Multi-Family Yard Sale for a Good Cause (Ethiopian Adoption)

400 Greencrest Drive on the "East side" of Athens in Green Acres neighborhood, Sat. 4/14, 8am-12pm.

Sale includes MANY HIGH QUALITY items: baby/kids clothing/gear/toys, furniture, tools, electronics/tv, appliances, house wares, books, movies, jewelry, adult clothing/shoes."

We really do have A LOT of nice items for sale. I think because we are raising money for our adoption, our friends and families have given their best, once again. We are so blessed!

We are looking forward to it!! Hope to see lots of you there!

We are #37 on the West Sands "Dossier Waiting List." That means there are thirty-six dossiers/families ahead of us in Ethiopia. These are West Sands families, not all the families adopting from Ethiopia through other agencies, etc. West Sands works with six different orphanages, totaling nine homes in five different regions.

It is hard to know how long it will be before we get a referral because not all of the families in front of us are requesting the same age/gender of children. Our referral request is pretty open: three years old or younger, boy or girl, and healthy or with special needs.

Referrals are averaging 6-9 months from the time our Dossier arrives in Ethiopia, so for us, that would be August to November.We were originally told about seven months, which would be September.

This is just for our referral. After we receive our referral, will will receive a court assignment 1-6 months later. Then we will travel for the first time to appear in court. 3-4 months post court approval, we will travel for a second time to pick up our child.

On the low end that is 10 months from now till we have our child. On the high end, that is 19 months. So, it will probably be somewhere in between.

We will see!