Thankful for the Body of Christ!

So many blessings to share today! And I just have to share…I want Isaac to one day see God’s fingerprints ALL over this entire journey! YOU ARE LOVED ISAAC!

On Friday, we posted a cupcake fundraiser to help fund our Ethiopia trip. I contemplating selling t-shirts and emailed a few places…told them I needed to raise just $1000 to go toward our trip. One place told me that was a lofty goal. WELLLL…we serve an AMAZING God! We decided to skip the t-shirts and just go straight to God’s people…and guess what?! $1500 came our way in just 48 hours!!! SERIOUSLY?! I’m SOOO serious! Glory be to God!

Check out our cupcake designs here…each contributor designed a cupcake with their donation to help bring our CUPCAKE HOME! We couldn’t be more blown away…more thankful…or more excited to have those who have journeyed alongside us also support us in the end…GOING TO GET HIM! AHHHHH…it’s THE GOSPEL!

Adoption on Earth sooooo mirrors our adoption in Christ. HOW COOL IS IT for us, as believers, to help fund the actual GOING TO BRING SOMEONE HOME!!! To think—for years…I never knew there were THOUSANDS of believers out there following the Lord in adopting His little ones who need families…MY how I’ve been missing the opportunity to help support them!!! This whole cupcake thing…was for MY HEART…FOR HIS GLORY! Richard and I have made the commitment to help fund adoptions…making orphans SONS AND DAUGHTERS…until the DAY WE GO HOME TO BE WITH OUR SAVIOR! Stay tuned…because I have some ideas that the Lord has planted on my heart that I’ll be sharing after we bring home our love! I’m SO NOT DONE here people! How contagious it is to be in the midst of the Lord’s work! AND I’M ADDICTED!

One thing that has BLOWN ME AWAY…is how the body of Christ serves one another. Can you believe that there were 26 families that participated in my cupcake fundraiser in 48 hours? Can you believe that I have only met 10 of them?! YES…that’s 16 families supporting ours that are BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST who supported us…MOST raising money to adopt THEMSELVES! WOW! I am blown, blown, blown away by that!!!

Something else that blows me away…is how others not only support BUT LOVE ON one another in this journey. Now…it’s one thing for me to send my bestfriend a baby gift. BUT…on Friday I opened my mailbox to find THREE gifts from some of YOU. SERIOUSLY?! I had to sit down while I opened these because I was so humbled, so thankful, so amazed at how the body of Christ serves and loves one another through adoption. Each gift has a story…

First, I opened up a gift from Jenny Calfee. Jenny’s family is also adopting from Ethiopia…they have 3 children already—2 biological and 1 STUD from Guatamala! They are a precious family who we have bonded with…many late nights Jenny and I can be found text messaging one another through TEARS on Facebook. Jenny has been such an encouragement on our journey. Oh Jenny, I hope I can be the same to you on yours! She sent me this beautiful pendant with “enat” on it which means “mother” in amharic…And on the back…ISAAC!The crazy thing about this gift–is the night BEFORE I got this I had a DREAM that I was holding Isaac and he kept saying “Enat! Enat! Enat!”
Imagine my smile when I opened up THIS at the mailbox…talk about both Jenny and God loving on me! She got this precious pendant off etsy.com at dosbesitos.etsy.com. Visit the Calfee family’s blog to follow their sweet journey to their FOURTH child! SO thankful for this precious family!

SECOND…I got a gift from ANOTHER adoption mommy friend—the Strobel family! Loooove me some Melanie Strobel. Melanie and I have had many a long phone conversation…and we have laughed together–cried together…she and I have truly connected and I’m so thankful to be on this journey with their family. Honestly, this momma’s heart makes me…(ahhh…happy sigh!). She has a heart for orphans like you wouldn’t believe. I opened up a precious package from her and found this…It is PERFECT! The colors of Isaac’s nursery! I could hang this with nails matching up with the holes, but I think I’m going to find some fun ribbon to hang it from instead. It would fit one of my 8×8 prints beautifully—and I think it’s just going to wait on one of our first family portraits! (I’ve been getting some sneak peak pictures from families in Ethiopia getting their little ones…so I might have to put one of those up just for me to stare at for a bit;) AND how cute is the magnet that holds the picture on…SWEET CARAMEL BROWN BABY FEET! OK…Melanie couldn’t have planned this one–only the Lord. After I took this picture this morning and was swooning over the magnet feet I checked my email to see someone wrote on my Facebook wall…from the Peltz family who is at Hannah’s Hope in Ethiopia RIGHT NOW getting their son! And what did she have to say? “You’re little man is SO cute! AND I really think he looks so strong! Tiny feet…but really cute feet! Maybe I will take a picture of those toes for you!” Seriously…now if that didn’t make me smile! I love how the Lord always connects dots for us—Michelle nor Melanie could have planned that one…the Lord just wanted to remind me, “I AM IN THIS ANDREA! TRUST ME!”

OK…I know you all are going to want to know where she got this! Not sure if you can buy direct but here is the website on the card: www.carolroedastudio.com. SOOOO PRECIOUS! Thank you Melanie for thinking of me and taking time out of your busy schedule (they have THREE little ones TOO…and are also going for #4!) to love on me! YOU ARE A BLESSING IN MY LIFE!

And finally, a gift from the Pighinni family. Jenn is a former client of mine. SOOOOO precious to have one of my photography clients who will now be without a photographer as I quit to be 100% mommy to my babies SUPPORT my decision and even shower down love on us! Your family is just precious to me Jenn! I love your little G…and it was a JOY to capture her first year of life for you. Jenn surprised us with this beautiful print (I blurred out his Ethiopia name which will be his middle name as our agency doesn’t allow us to share his given name until we bring him home)…Now…to go for a white matte or soft baby blue matte with a dark brown frame…that is the question:). You can find a sweet print like this also at Etsy at Wall Candy. Can’t wait to put this on the nursery wall as well. HOW this Isaac has been prayed for!!!

My…how His blessings flow down and the love we feel through the body of Christ! Thank you sweet friends for supporting our trip to Ethiopia…and these precious gifts! I love you all to pieces and pieces and more pieces!!!

How can the Lord use me to love on someone else today?

Show me Lord families that you desire to feel your showers of blessing on. Let us serve one another! Thank you friends for modeling for me what it means to love and serve one another today. XOXO!

Andrea