Link Love….

Today, I’m sharing some links that I think are worth checking out!

Mary Ostyn, an adoptive mama who blogs at Owlhaven, recently blogged about her experience at the Together for Adoption Conference.  Karen Purvis, who is absolutely my favorite adoption parenting expert, spoke at the conference. 

Visit the blog postings to get a glimpse of what is being presented at the conference.  If you haven’t read  Purvis’ The Connected Child: Bring hope and healing to your adoptive family, please do check it out or buy a copy soon.  As a former school teacher, I think it even has relevance for those in the education field. 

Here are the posts from Ostyn’s blog which summarize some of the sessions she attended at the conference:

“Parents on a Healing Journey”

“Karen Purvis:  Real Hope for Help & Healing“

Adoption Support & Training in the Church

 

Another blog posting I’d like to share is one I read awhile back on transracial parenting and racial issues.  It is a reposting of an interview with Thabiti Anyabwile, pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman.

Check out the inteview with Anyabwile :http://www.carolinahopeadoption.org/blog/archives/63/

Heather

Rekindled Hope…

As summer has finally come to a close, we’ve been busy with a trip to Grandma  Brandt’s house and fun adventures, like taking Colin to his first rodeo.   (A rare photo of Heather–albeit hidden under a floppy hat).

 

We expect an update on our adoption Monday(tomorrow).  Please pray that God will continue to lead us to the baby girl whom He has intended for our family….that He will make the path clear and provide what we lack to bring our daughter home. It would be wonderful to have our baby girl home before Christmas but we know that in adoption there really is no way to predict anything. 

‎This week I read the quote, “Expect hope to be rekindled.Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways.The dry seasons in life do not last.”-Sarah Ban Breathnach

Hmmmm….Living in expectance can be challenging sometimes…the world makes it so easy to be pessimistic or “realistic.”  When someone is “too” hopeful by the world’s standards, they are often mocked.  But as a Believer in Christ, I am supposed to be living by different standards.  I choose this week to believe that our “dry season” will not last forever…That God will lead us out of the dry season and will answer our prayers for our daughter in “wondrous ways.”    While we still don’t know if our daughter has even been born yet, we pray for her well-being and that of her birth mother. 

Fundraising/Grants Update:

We have received $100 from donations family and friends have given through Lifesong.  There is still time to give a tax-deductible donation of any amount through Lifesong.  Just click on the tab above or to the right on this blog.  We are still being considered for a grant and hope to hear something in October.  Please pray that we will receive this grant to help with the remaining projected expenses for our adoption.  We still lack  $3,445-$27,880 (projected)  but we are trusting God will provide for us and that it will be to His glory!

Thanks for your prayers & encouragement,

Heather & Alan

Updates…

 (Photo of Colin & Alan from our summer visit to TN.  Colin had been playing with the water hose.)

Last week, we were submitted to another situation (possible match with a pregnant birth mother ) but we were not chosen.  This little one yet to be born was not our daughter. 

We don’t tell Colin this sort of thing.  We honestly don’t mention his baby sister a lot but as we try to prepare her room or put aside things we might need for her we do naturally find ourselves talking some about her.  Yesterday on the way to church, Colin asked if we could go to Target.  We asked why, expecting him to mention the toys which he loves to play with at Target.  Instead, he said he wanted to go to Target to get clothes for his baby sister.  We tried to explain that we don’t know what size she will be for sure and that we need to wait before we get any more clothes.  He tried to ask us when she is coming home and we had to tell him that God knows but we can’t be sure of when it will be.  He said something indicating that she would be coming soon.  No, our little boy is not a prophet but he does have the faith of a child.  He implicitly trusts that she IS coming and, with his very rudimentary understanding of the passage of time, he believes it will soon.

Because we have only estimations of what the costs may be for our travel and placing fees and legal fees, we are still saving and raising money.  We lack about $3,445-$27,880  based on the estimations of our adoption consultant.  Lifesong is graciously accepting tax-deductible gifts on our behalf.  You can click on the link at the right(the paypal box) or the one at the top of the page for info. on how to give (It’s labeled “Make Tax-Deductible Gifts.”)  Make sure you follow the instructions on how to label the gift so we will receive it. 

We are so thankful for the prayers, encouragement and gifts of our friends and family!  You have lifted our spirits and helped us to keep on keeping on as we wait on God to reveal the little one He has planned for our family.  Please keep praying for our future daughter’s well being and for her birth family. 

God bless,

Heather & Alan

Pendant Sale Extended to TODAY, WEDNESDAY, 9/8 to Benefit Brandt Adoption

Sarah has extended our fundraiser to today!  You can still order pendants today & we will receive $5 for our adoption funds for each handmade pendant you purchase from Sarah’s Treasure Box (etsy store online). (Custom orders do not count towards our fundraiser other than the custom order listing Sarah has  for $19.99.  You can email Sarah through etsy if you have questions). Remember to leave a comment saying you are shopping for our fundraiser.  Please share this sale with others 🙂 if you forgot to put the comment that it was for our fundraiser, please just email Sarah through the etsy shop & I think she’ll honor it.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sarahstreasurebox

Thanks for sharing news of this EXTRA DAY for our fundraiser!

Heather

Pendant Sale TOMORROW, Tuesday, 9/7 to Benefit Brandt Adoption

Tomorrow Tuesday (Sept. 7th), we will receive $5 for our adoption funds for each handmade pendant you purchase from Sarah’s Treasure Box (etsy store online). (Custom orders do not count towards our fundraiser other than the custom order listing Sarah has  for $19.99.  You can email Sarah through etsy if you have questions). Remember to leave a comment saying you are shopping for our fundraiser.  Great gifts for teachers, friends, and loved ones! Many designs to choose from (7 pages worth!)! Please share this sale with others 🙂

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sarahstreasurebox

Thanks for sharing news of this ONE DAY ONLY fundraiser!

Heather

A Prayer for His His Baby Sister…

At bed time tonight, I teared up at one of Colin’s prayer requests.  He asked to pray for his baby sister.  When he prayed, he said, “Thank you for my baby sister, Jesus.”  This was all from him, no prompting from us.  It reminded me that I need to pray believing that God has already brought this little one to us, a believing prayer that shows confidence that this little girl actually exists.  It’s not important whether she has been born yet or not.  What is important is that I continue to believe like my son that God will lead us to her and that He will provide a way for her to come home.  In my son’s eyes, she is already a part of our family, and I believe that is how God sees her already, too.  God has planned for her to be a part of our family and we look forward to meeting her…hopefully some day soon.

Thanks for stopping by,

Heather

Pendant Sale Tuesday to Benefit Brandt Adoption

This coming Tuesday (Sept. 7th), we will receive $5 for our adoption funds for each handmade pendant you purchase from Sarah’s Treasure Box (etsy store online). ONE DAY ONLY! Remember to leave a comment saying you are shopping for our fundraiser. Great gifts for teachers, friends, and loved ones! Many designs to choose from! Please share this sale with others 🙂

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sarahstreasurebox?page=7#

Photo: One of the many pendants featured @Sarah’s Treasure Box! 

Pendant just for women who are in the process of adopting just like me–paper pregnant 🙂

PLEASE share news of our fundraiser with Sarah’s Treasure Box with all your friends and family!

Thanks!

Heather & Alan

Adoption Update….

thanks for all the prayers…We were being presented as prospective parents yesterday but we found out this afternoon that we were not chosen. God will lead us to our baby girl when the time is right. We thank Him for leading us so far!  Please continue to pray for us as we wait on His will.  We will probably not be bringing home our daughter until November, December or next year due to Alan’s work commitments and our required post-placement for Russia in October.  Pray that God will give us (especially Heather) peace in October as we have to take a little break from the process.  We could still be matched in September or October but it would have to be with situations where the baby is due in November or December or later…

Heather & Alan

Urgent Prayer Request

Please pray for us today!  We could be on the brink of big news….or not!  In the adoption world, things can change at a moment’s notice.  Pray that God will make clear His will and that we will trust in His will and His provision for us.  We still are accepting gifts through tax-deductible button (via Lifesong).  100% of your gifts (designated for us through Lifesong) will go towards our placing agency fees if we are matched with our daughter this month or whenever God wills it to happen.

Heather & Alan

Matching Grant Total News!

Thanks to all who gave to our matching grant challenge! We received word on Friday that we will receive $10,645 towards our adoption expenses!  This means that our friends and family (and some folks we may never meet) gave $5645 in gifts.  Hand in Hand matched $5000 of that amount (that was the maximum they were going to match).  We are so grateful for the generosity of you gave and thankful to God for removing part of the obstacles still standing between us and our daughter.

Please do NOT send any gifts to Hand in Hand for our matching grant challenge.  The deadline has passed now.  You can still make tax-deductible donations through our paypal link on the right (Thanks to Lifesong for Orphans!) or by making purchases of coffee or the other items we have listed on our side bar.  IF you give through Lifesong please please make sure that you designate the gift for us by writing “Brandt #1460 Adoption” in the blank section you see when you click on our paypal link.  You can also mail checks(with the same info. in the memo section of the check) to :

Lifesong for Orphans

Att:Brandt #1460 Adoption

PO Box 40

Gridley, IL 61744

When will we meet our daughter?  We still don’t have a clue!  We know that it could be as soon as this week or it could be as late as 2011.  It is absolutely crazy to think about that big a variance in the timing!  We know that the adoption will probably be a transracial one because that is one of the greatest needs in U.S. adoption.  We really do not know which state she will be born in or if she is already born.  We do know we probably will be traveling by airplane to bring her home.

We are assembling one of our suitcases with some baby items and other items that we might need if we had to quickly travel to meet our daughter.  It feels a little weird to do that…kind of like pregnant women do as they near their due date except I don’t have a cute belly bulge and there’s no doctor to predict when our baby is “due!”

Due to Alan’s commitments with his job, we do know that there is a large portion of October that we will not be able to complete an adoption.  This means that our daughter is either already born or is probably going to be born in September, November, or December if it is God’s will for us to bring her home this year.

What we need:  lots of prayers for us to have the wisdom and discernment to recognize our future daughter when we receive word of the possibility of adopting her…Again, this could be before she is born or after she is born.  We are still saving and fundraising and waiting on word of other grants for which we applied.  We lack anywhere from $3,000-$27,880 still.  The big range in our estimates is due to there being no way to predict right now how much travel will cost and agency fees vary (we are registered with more than 1 agency and are open to the possibility of something arising with an agency we may not yet be registered with). Please join us in praying that God will provide exactly what we need to complete our adoption and that it will be to His glory.

Thanks for stopping by,

Heather & Alan