(Perkins Baby- We love you already and cannot wait to tell you the stories of the people who have loved on us during this journey. There are so many who can't wait to meet you and love on you. We pray for you often and can't wait to hold you and bring you home. You are loved by us and so many...Love, Mom and Dad aka Mama and Papa)
Since our last post, we have completed all the training, paperwork, interviews, and appointments necessary to finalize our home study report. Chip got a new position at the seminary which was an unexpected blessing on our journey and reminded us that God is faithful and will continue to meet all our needs. Now that we have all the paperwork completed after updating his job information, our home study report is complete and being reviewed by our agency before we get ready to complete our dossier (pronounced “doss-e-A”), its really just a collection of papers containing very detailed information that has to be notarized, and then adding various seals from county, state, and the U.S. government.
We continue to be amazed at the generosity of God's people and their heart for adoption. We have been incredibly blessed these last few months with financial gifts, encouraging cards, and fundraisers by family, friends, coworkers, etc. Here are a few highlights/pictures from our pancake breakfasts (both NC and VA), yardsale, ThirtyOne, and Just Love Coffee.
Valentine Pancake Breakfast-
February 15th- We hosted a Valentine Pancake Breakfast at Imago Dei Church with our good friends, the Thigpens, who are adopting from Ethiopia. We had a lot of helpers and a great turnout. Overall we raised over $3,300.00 for Us, the Thigpens, and IDC's Adoption Fund.
We love our IDC family and are thankful for their generosity and love for adoption!
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| The Thigpen's- Parents to be of an orphan from Ethiopia |
Early morning helpers, making the mix...ready to flip!
Thirty One Party- A Big Shout Out to my coworker and friend Christianne for opening her home to host a dessert and coffee night for friends and coworkers to order Thirty One and fellowship. Our consultant Stephanie was very generous in donating a percent of her earnings to our fund. We had one of her biggest parties! It was great to get free products, many of which will be used for traveling to China and some as gifts to orphanage workers as that is custom to give "American" gifts to workers in China.
Pancake Breakfast #2- After seeing the success that our first pancake breakfast had, our parents decided to host one in Richmond for our friends and family at SMRBC. Again we were overwhelmed with people's generosity in giving to our fund. We were encouraged by many that weekend that have watched us grow and fall in love together and now watch as we bring a child into our home who would otherwise have no hope. We can't say Thank You enough for loving on us in this way!
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| Someone loves Uncle Chip and Chip loves every minute with him! |
Growth Group Yard Sale- The Baileys opened up their driveway for us to host a yardsale in their neighborhood with the Thigpen's. We woke up early to set up and people came ready to buy...
We got rid of a lot of junk!
Just Love Coffee- This will be an ongoing fundraiser throughout our adoption. We received our first check from them a few weeks ago. If you like coffee, you'll love this company and their coffee! For more info, click on the link on the right sidebar to watch a video about the company and how they are helping others. If you order, make sure you use our link so that we get credit for your purchase.
https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/perkins/
We are about halfway through our fundraising goal!! PTL!! God is good! We have felt affirmed by the outpouring of others, that this adoption was meant to be as we follow the Lord and are be obedient in His calling to care for the orphan. We are reminded daily that HE is faithful and will take care of every plan to bring it to completion.
There will be many other ways to help support financially, if you would like to give a financial gift, feel free to use our paypal link on the right side of the blog. We look forward to the many more blessings as we continue this journey to our child.
