Tree Quilt Fundraiser

I wanted to share something with you that we have decided we are going to do as a fundraiser. Many adoptive families have suggested doing the Puzzle Piece Fundraiser, where they sell pieces of a puzzle and people then write their name on the back of the piece. Once complete they frame this is and keep it for child to hang in their room to see all the support.
I am not a fan of puzzles, lol... I hate putting them together... dont have the patience, and I dont like this fundraiser bc you miss out on the important part... the names!

So we have created our own version of this. When we have our baby home, his nursery will be in owls and trees... We are going to have a tree trunk, that is sad and dead looking without its leaves... And we need you to help us bring it to life! We will place a leaf on the tree for every person who gives a monetary donation towards our adoption costs. We will have the names of each person/family that donates on their leaf. We plan to have this on a quilt for our child to always have... I want him to always see the many people that had a part in bringing him home to us. I want him to know YOUR names!!!!

Below is a photo as an example of the tree for you to see how much we need your help in getting this quilt put together. Please consider donating today to help us meet our goal of $7,000 so that we can have everything paid for to get us to where we can apply for adoption grants. Throughout our entire adoption process, all donations will be on this quilt. And we plan for it to be bigger than this little example :)

Heart breaking....

Today as I sat and thought about our child, I couldn't help but thinking of so many different things within Ethiopia. The leading cause of these children becoming orphans is poverty. I read on Compassion.com that 39% of the population of Ethiopia lives on less than $1.25/day. That is $465.25 for an entire year. This makes me sick to think of how much we as Americans take for granted. My house payment a MONTH is a little more than some of these people live off in a YEAR. And that is just my mortgage! Wow.... can you imagine the things these people go through? They are a land-locked country and often times have to  make long trips just for water, then carry buckets of water back to their homes. The condition of this water is near toxic, but some have no other choice. Does this break anyone elses' heart like it does mine? More has to be done to help these countries...
In all of this thinking I began to think about our future sons mother... The woman losing such a precious child. How heart breaking.... I cant even imagine. Our child more than likely hasnt been born yet. But when he is, is it that she just doesnt want him? Is it that she cant take care of him? Is she forced to give him up for the lack of being able to provide what he needs? Or is he orphaned bc of the many deaths that women endure during childbirth there due to lack of medical care? None of these things would make it any easier to bear. But I hope if nothing else she will have the peace of knowing we are going to give him an amazing family that loves him, and do nothing but have his best interest in our hearts. I pray for her often, just praying that God somehow care for her in this time... and somehow some way give her peace.

I ran across this photo of 2 mother reuniting.... I cant imagine what this would feel like to meet my childs mother. :( So sad...

Courageous!

As we are faced with decisions and what direction God is leading us to raise the funds. At a point when we have no clue how God is going to do this. We are trusting in Him and we KNOW he will take care of us and provide all that is needed to do as he has called us.

Came across this verse today and wanted to share:

Joshua 1:9 This is my command, be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Today, just know that we need you! More than you truly know... We need all of you to help us spread the word, and to help us raise these funds.

Amazed...

Today I received a phone call from a girl who had seen a fundraiser post on Facebook about my photography, and that all proceeds go to our adoption. She called to ask about the fundraiser, but also shared how she thought it was awesome that we are adopting and she wanted to do anything she could to help us. This is just an example of the supportive responses we continue to get upon people hearing our story.  I love it! God is getting all the glory! I love that people's eyes are being opened to the many orphans that need homes! Weve had so many ask what they needed to do to get started on adopting, and people tell us how theyve always wanted to adopt. I just continue to encourage and say please do it! A child needs you! If you're reading this, and you have at some point considered adoption. Please please pray and see where God leads you. He will take care of all of it! A child out there needs you to fight for them!

Sorry back to where I was heading with this, we are so extremely thankful for the support we are getting. So many people offering words of encouragement! I appreciate every bit of it! So many strangers that we dont know want to help in any way they can. Yesterday I was blessed with being able to share at our Avon Meeting, where all reps from my district come, about our adoption and about our fundraisers. So many were supportive and excited about this whole journey for us! None of these women had I ever talked to before. I just am amazed at the people God is placing in our path, and the blessings that they are.

Scentsy Sales to Support our Adoption

An amazing friend, Kyra Hawkins, has so graciously offered to give us 100% of her commissions from her February sales with Scentsy! If you would like to order please go to kyrahawkins.scentsy.us and click "Huff Adoption Fundraiser" on the left of the screen. It's 10% off this month so you can stock up, save yourself some money and still be a very big help to our adoption funding!

I greatly appreciate this awesome donation :) Thanks so much Kyra! You'r truly a blessing!!!

They need you....

Went to Winter Jam tonight..... as they showed the videos of orphans, my heart just broke thinking how many children need homes. And our child is one of them. If you have ever considered adoption, please look further into this. THERE ARE SO MANY!! Dont stand back and expect others to step up, you step up and give a child a loving home! Be Christ's hands and feet.
If you feel that you are just one of those people that adoption isnt for you, please support those who are reaching out to the orphan and welcoming them into their family. Whether its us or someone else. Help in any way you can!

Answers to some common questions :)

We keep getting lots of questions and so I wanted to answer a few for anyone who is afraid to ask :)

1. Can we not have kids???
We are able to have kids, we are CHOOSING adoption! When your eyes have been opened to the many orphans out there who need a loving family, its hard to pretend that you don't see it. I've been on several mission trips and have seen children who need love, trust me, you can't get those images out of your mind. We just feel this is something God has called us to do, and we are being obedient.

2. Why not adopt a kid from the US, its cheaper??
We honestly considered this as our first choice, we looked into DHS and Cherokee Nation which are both free. But when it came down to it, we didn't have peace. We felt God leading us to International Adoption. I feel that maybe its because to so many it is such a long process and waiting, and very many are turned off with the costs of International Adoption. And we are okay with both of these things, we know the work that goes into, and are willing to do it! We were able to be a part of the process that our friends went through to adopt from Kazakhstan and saw that they were able to fundraise 85,000!!!!! God can do it folks, and we're crazy enough to believe it! And we feel that this faith in him is going to get us through this.

3. Why does it cost sooo much?
If you would like to go to the organizations website that we are adopting through, follow the link below. They have a list of all costs and where the funds go. http://awaa.org/programs/ethiopia/cost.aspx

4. How do you plan to raise this much money??
We plan to do as many fundraisers as possible. We mainly need to raise $7,000 ASAP so we can get our homestudy completed. Once this homestudy is done, we can begin to apply for Adoption Grants, where organizations pay a large sum of your adoption fees. I am standing on God's promise that he will provide!!!!!!!!!!! Deuteronomy 7:9 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mostly just try to understand our hearts and our intentions. We are doing as God has called us, and we know the need.
There will be ONE LESS orphan in the world once this is all completed

OUR VALENTINE NEWS :)

Today we received an email that our adoption application was accepted!!!!! What a great Valentine's gift!!! We finally told all of our family today as well :) So excited to share the news with everyone we know!

Now its onto fundraising! To get everything going we have to raise $7,000 asap! Please share our blog with everyone you know, and our fundraisers!

You can order coffee from our online store at www.justlovecoffee.com/huffadoptionjourney

Encouraging....

This Sunday our church was blessed with a song that was written by a couple that were visiting our church and leading worship. This song just spoke to my heart that we are doing what we were called. We are following his voice, and going where he leads us....

Shepherd pelase dont let me wander far
Shepherd lead me by your voice
Your voice it calms my fears
I'm safe when you are near
You gently keep me here
My Shepherd

I will follow you
I will follow you
Where you lead I will follow
My Shepherds voice

Draw me close, Draw me close
I'm letting go

The beginning.....

Where to start... God is doing something amazing! We had been praying about our future. We felt that maybe God was leading us in the direction of missions. One morning I woke up early and began to read his word, and he took me to several verses and notes I had written in the past about missions. I instantly began to break down, knowing he has so much more for me that I am not doing! One of the verses was Acts 7:3 "Leave your country and your people", God said, "and go to the land that I will show you." I of course began to see this as, we were soon going to be on the road to be missionaries in another country. As we began to talk, missions had been on Daniel's heart as well. We began to pray together, when and where God was leading us. For a few weeks, we felt like we were getting nowhere! No answers! Then out of nowhere, we began to discuss adoption much more seriously, and where we wanted to go in the direction of having children. More and more adoption was on our hearts, a very big weight! As we began to pray about adoption, we felt that this is the mission field God was leading us! And in the verse listed before became such a different meaning, yes we will leave our country and our people and going to the land he has showed us! But we're coming back! And bringing a child with us! We began looking at the different adoption programs with America World Adoption, and praying about which country God was leading us to. We had no idea where we would adopt from, we began to pray that God would narrow it down for us. And he did! Very clearly! Ethiopia was the only country we met the requirements for out of the countries we were considering! Very clear answer Lord :) Thank you! So it is with much excitement and anticipation that we have began this process of adoption!! We plan to adopt a boy from Ethiopia, and have 18 months of waiting of him! Please join with us in the process, we need your prayers and support! We will need to raise $36,000 for this adoption, and are trusting in God to provide every penny, because without him we could not do this! We ask that you please send people to this blog, and share our story!

If anyone would be interested in hosting a fundraiser for us, any help would be greatly appreciated!!! We plan on having many fundraisers to come in the future!

If you would to donate you may go to the Donate button on the blog, and give through Paypal

You may also give directly to America World Adoption , and it will be applied directly to our adoption 100%. Just follow this link: http://www.awaa.org/downloads/development/EFP_Contribution_Form.pdf
And just complete the form as needed, they will send you a receipt for tax purposes as well.