God has continued to astound us (in His usual fashion) as we clearly set our sights way too low in this fundraising effort. When Andrea and I first sat down to discuss our ‘hopes and dreams’ for the success of our giveaway, I was hopeful that she would be able to raise $1000. Andrea was just hopeful that it would be worth my initial investment! How God must have been laughing at His doubtful daughters 😉 To say that Andrea and our entire family have been blown away by the support they have received is a huge understatement.
Incredibly, we are very close to having raised not just some of the funds they need to bring Cole home, but ALL of the funds they need. AMAZING. Since we are now in territory we never expected to be in, we discussed our options, should the amount needed be met. Should the amount needed be met?!? Just discussing this made us stop and stand in awe at how big our God is!! One option was stopping the fundraiser early, but then we worried that some people might want to enter cuz I figure, well, I wanna enter and if I wanna enter I am sure there are others out there who would love to win… there are lots of really amazing prizes! The biggest reason was because we had originally decided to run the giveaway for 2 weeks and we wanted to give God that time, in case there was something He had planned. Our other option was letting the fundraiser continue, but IF we should raise enough funds, what to do? Amie, once again coming through for us, had the idea of giving any additional funds to the Elison Project. PERFECT!! Shelby graciously agreed, noting that any funds would be greatly appreciated due to the recent number of requests the Elison Project has received for grants.
So that’s how things stand! One more fantastic prize has been added to the giveaway! And it will continue to run until the original end date of Wednesday, October 22. Honestly, if we don’t raise one more cent for Andrea’s expenses, we are SO delighted. SO joyful. SO grateful. I can’t tell you what a BLESSING it has been to witness this incredible effort made possible by every single one of you, and most of all, the Big Guy Himself 🙂 But if we are able to raise the total funds and more, you can be certain that those donations will be directed toward the Elison Project, so it can help bless another family in the way that my sister’s family has been blessed.
Hi Stefanie,
I wanted to tell you thank you!
I found our daughter on a waiting child list that you had posted on your sidebar back in January. It was late at night or shall I say early in the morning about 1 AM, I went to your blog and I saw that you had “New List” posted beside CWA, I went to it and when I opened our daughters file it took my breath away! I immediately requested her file, after waiting the longest weekend of my life we found out that we were on a waiting list. I prayed and truly knew in my heart that if she were our daughter that it didn’t matter how many were ahead of us that God would hold her for us and we would eventually hold her in our arms and if not than she was not the child that God had planned for our family. Several weeks passed and I continued praying and having faith that God was in control and wanting his will and not mine. About a month later we received our daughters file. When we read it both my husband and I knew and had a peace that YES she was our daughter. We received her out TA mid September but are having to wait to travel because of the fair, our agency rarely sends families during the fair and with Hua Hua being from Guangdong Province it was out of the question. We leave Nov.7th, we will be holding our precious daughter in our arms on Nov.10th. We have a blog but I’m working on a travel website with My Adoption Website to journal our journey. I would love for you to follow along with us to China. God used you and your blog to direct us to our daughter, I just wanted to let you know and say thank you!
Paul and I are starting over, we have 3 grown or almost grown children, 25, 22, 20….two still in college, our oldest is a Kindergarten teacher. We adopted a son last September, children the second time around has been FANTASTIC, we love it!…now nearly on the way for #2 from China and our #5…YEA!! Didn’t really mean to write this much so I will go but just wanted to let you know how God used you and you didn’t even have a clue you were being used 🙂
Blessings to you and your precious family!
Kim
God is so good! You have to post a picture of Andrea with her baby in her arms!!
Is she close to travel??
God bless and have a wonderful weekend.
~Amy
I guess today is just my day to cry.:)
I remember the first day I saw the ChipIn with the $3000 on it. I thought, “Man, that is alot of money…Please, Lord just let them get CLOSE.”
I am in Awe.
Ain’t God Good?!
A
WOWEE, Stefanie!! THis is just incredible!!! PERFECT to give the extra funds to the Elison project too!! LOVE how He has worked in all of this!!
And…Oh my goodness, I almost CRIED when I read Kimi’s story (first comment)!! By this story alone, you know you are doing God’s work!!
And as an aside, they call her daughter Hua Hua…that’s what they called Kiara in China! Seeing that name just touched my heart.
ANyway, I am so THRILLED about the outcome of this fundraiser!! FANTASTIC!!
Wow, kimi’s story is amazing. AMAZING!
The Boss and I just had a great conversation tonite about the provision of God – on the heels of two more grant application rejections. We are discouraged but also hopeful at the same time. I really needed this post tonite. It’s hard to keep seeking funding: humiliating at some levels and frustrating at others. Thank you for the reminder that God is in control and He will move. Our debt is in His hands.
$5920?????????????????
That will teach us to ever underestimate our GOD!
Hey… call me when you get a chance… I have an idea for you related to this…
hugs~
Amie
I am so happy for your sister..I keep checking and it just makes me smile:)