Today Is Mother's Day

Today...

Eddy was up and gone for work before the kids and I had even budged an inch in our beds.  Every other year, he gets the kids excited for making a big breakfast for me to eat in bed that comes with my favorite handmade cards.  They apparently plotted and planned a little earlier this year since Eddy wouldn't be home.  I woke up to Grant (he was super excited for "The Plan") telling me I had to stay in bed.  I heard him go wake his sister up and over the next hour, they made me toast with approximately half a stick of butter on it, went outside and picked flowers, made me cards, cleaned up their rooms and made me a comfy bed on the couch and turned Little House on the Prairie on (they know me well).  It was completely different than past years that usually included waffles and strawberries and big bouquets, and I loved every minute of it.  I am so blessed that those two kids call me their mom.  They are two of the greatest gifts I have ever been given and I couldn't love them more.

 

Today...

because of this overwhelming love I have for my children, our third child's First Mama was on my mind a lot.  I think about her every day, but today, with all of the extra attention on moms, my thoughts wandered to her often.  I have no idea if she is expecting her baby yet.  Maybe she knows and is trying to make that life changing, selfless decision to make an adoption plan and put her baby's needs before her own.  Wherever she is at, and if she knows about the little life that she is/will carry, what does Mother's Day look like for her?  There is always a loss in adoption....will she feel that loss every year on this day?  Will she question her choice?  Will she wonder what it would have been like to be called mom?  I pray she knows that in her decision to place her child into a loving family, she made the best, most motherly, loving decision she could make and that is reason to celebrate her as a wonderful mother.  I don't know what our birth mother's life and circumstances will be and what the reasons for adoption will be, but God does.  He is orchestrating the whole journey and knows the beginning, middle and end.  I know He has a plan and purpose for our unborn child, their birth mother, and our family in all of it.  I pray He will be glorified and made much of through it.

 

Today...

just like the last three Mother's Days that have past, my heart aches to meet our third child.  I just got done saying I know God has a plan and purpose, and I know that His plans and purposes are far bigger and better than my dreams are.  But, it doesn't make it easy...this wait is hard.  So, so hard.  I love that it puts me in a place where I am completely and totally dependent on Him.  It's still hard.  But He didn't lead us to adoption because it would be an easy, smooth path.  He brought us on this path to glorify Himself, change our hearts and teach us things about Himself that we probably never would have known otherwise.  As the time gets longer and longer, I do wonder how much more He has for me/us in this wait, because, I'm not going to lie...most of the time I am just sick and tired of waiting...I want my baby home.  I want to know they are safe.  I want to be done with paperwork.  I want, I want, I want.  But because none of this life is about me, I realize that all of those wants are me-centered and have nothing to do with God's plans for my life.  They are all about my dreams, plans and comfort.  And I desire to have His plans as my top priority and focus in my life.

 

Today...

I desperately want our baby home.  I can hardly wait to see G & Q love on their baby brother or sister and watch Eddy care for his newborn baby.  I am so ready for that amazing newborn smell and tiny clothes and learning all about our third child...memorizing their face, knowing their routine and teaching and loving them.  But I also know that God has a plan that I can trust without hesitation or question.  He already has our baby's face memorized.  He already knows everything about them.  Just like he already knew G & Q before we ever knew about them.  So until His plans and His timing come to bless us with our sweet third child, I know he/she is good hands.  I know God is watching over our baby's First Momma...He loves her and has a plan for her.  He is so good to care and watch over us...seeing every last detail of our lives.  My prayer today is that our birth mother will know that love He has for her.  I pray she responds to that love and gets to experience being adopted as a daughter of our Heavenly Father...a perfect picture of love and sacrifice.  I pray she knows that the choice she is making for her baby reflects that love.

 

Today...

I am so thankful God has made me a mother.  I am blessed each and every day by my children.  Today I am thankful that God is faithful and sovereign and I can put my full trust in Him and his plans.  Today I am thankful for our baby's First Momma, wherever she may be.  This is a day to celebrate her and all the other mothers who have made such a hard decision, felt such a great loss...and gave one of the biggest blessings to another Momma.

 

 

HIS GLORY!

Last weekend's online auction fundraiser is finally coming to an end!  After a week of contacting and pick ups and deliveries, we have almost everything done!  It was such a blessing and so much fun seeing our friends and family and many other people who we have never met come together and support us in our adoption process through this fundraiser.  We were completely overwhelmed and humbled by the generosity and donations from so many people.  Truly, we are so, so thankful. 

During the auction, a friend of ours said that only God could take an online auction and make it grow the way it did.  She is so right.  There is no explanation other than Him.  He has used this long adoption process to prove Himself over and over again...and we want to make sure that He is glorified because of who He is and how faithful He is! 

 

 The waiting for our child to come home is not easy.  Every day I remind myself that God has a plan in the wait.  We aren't just waiting for a baby...we are waiting for our baby.  So, I ask myself, "What is the purpose in the wait....because I know God has one."  I have found purpose in all the birth mother situations we have been presented with.  I don't want to just read through these situations and forget about them if it isn't "the one" for us.  I want to pray for these birth moms and these babies.  I want to remember their names and cover them in prayer...because who knows if they would be prayed for otherwise, and because this may be the one reason God is bringing so many situations our way before we are matched.  I want to be diligent in my prayer for each of them.

 

I've also realized that this whole waiting thing makes me see just how little control I have and just how much God is in control of everything.  That's a good place to be.  A  hard place to be at times, but so good.  I am having to constantly give up my false sense of control and I am thankful for that.

 

I've also learned to embrace this waiting period because of the amazing opportunities it gives Eddy and I as parents to teach our kids.  When they ask "Why does it cost so much money to bring our brother or sister home?"  and "Why is it taking so long?", it can be pretty difficult to answer those questions, because really, why does it cost so much money?  But the answer for why it is taking so long...because God has a plan and we don't have to understand everything.  Through our fundraisers, I have also watched them wrap their little minds around just how much other people are selflessly giving to us to make this adoption happen.  What an awesome example for them to see how to walk out being the hands and feet of Christ!

 

Through the waiting and through the fundraisers, Eddy and I both have repeatedly had to lay down our pride.  God has humbled us so much in so many ways through this whole thing.  When He puts you in a place that you just know you can't do it without Him working mightily on your behalf, get ready to be humbled and amazed at what He can and will do!

 

I know a lot of you have been waiting to hear how much closer the auction got us to our goal.  And we are so excited to share it with you all because, good grief, aside from God and all of you amazing people, this wouldn't have happened!  We were expecting the auction to get us about $3,000-$4,000 closer to our goal of approximately $35,000.  We are so thankful for God's faithfulness and provision in this process and we want to make much of Him because it really is all about His glory!

 

 

 

"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:19

 

 

ONLINE AUCTION ADOPTION FUNDRAISER

We started receiving birth mother situations this week.  The feeling I got when we received the first one was a mixture of total excitement, a little nervousness, a little scared and completely overwhelmed.  We are so happy to be at this point in the adoption process!  It seems like its been years...oh wait...it has been years...since we started this whole thing.  Getting an email about a birth mother situation made it suddenly feel so very real, which is wonderful.  Another very real aspect of the process is the financial end of things.  We are still very much in need of some more mullah to bring our sweet child home.  After contemplating and throwing around some ideas, we decided to have an online adoption auction next month.

 

 

 

 

We have seen a few of these auctions and they always seem to be a success.  We are praying that God will use this fundraiser to get us much closer to bring the littlest Hostetler home.  If you feel led to donate an item or a service to be auctioned off, please let us know!  The items do not have to be new, but we ask that they are in good condition and it can be ANYTHING that you think someone else might want.

 

We are so thankful that God is allowing us to be a small part of His big plans and so blessed by so many people wanting to be a part of it as well!  Asking for help is not something that either Eddy or I like to do.  It seems God has put us in a situation to help us grow in that area!  We fully trust that He can and will provide...because He who called us is faithful.

 

He doesn't need us, but He invites us to be a part of His plan.

 

I don't think His plan is just to raise money for our adoption.  I think part of His plan is to allow others to "help orphans in distress".  I think most of His plan is to show His power, prove His faithfulness and be glorified because of it.

 

 

 

 

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

 

 



Praying in the waiting...

As we get so close to finishing our profile needed for our agency for our domestic adoption, we wanted to send out a little update and ask for some specific prayers.

 

 

Making the profile has been time consuming, a little draining and a lot of fun.  Time consuming because I am entirely too picky about it.  Draining because it is writing letters to our baby's birth mother and, surprise....that is not an easy thing to do.  Fun because I love designing it and seeing it all come together. 

 

 

We only have a few more tweeks to make to the book and it will be sent off to get printed.  We have our applications to agencies and our home study all ready and waiting to go, so once we send it all to our consultant, we will start the process of viewing birth mother profiles and requesting for birth mothers to see our profile.  Talk about nerve-wracking! 

 

Through this time of preparing the profile, I have felt God working in my heart and opening my eyes.  Giving me a compassion for these mothers who so selflessly look beyond themselves to their baby's best interest.  He has laid it on my heart to pray for these brave women....especially one in particular.  We don't know her yet, but God does and He wants us to pray for her.  She will be giving our family one of the most precious gifts....and losing one at the same time.

 

 

So, we would love if you would join with us in lifting up our child's birth mother in prayer.  Pray for her health and safety.  Pray for her heart.  Pray that we might be able to minister to her in some way when we are matched.  Pray for our baby...for his or her health and safety.  Pray that he or she would feel loved before he or she is even born and that God would have a hold on that little heart from the very beginning.  Eddy and I would also love if you could pray for us and Grant and Quincey....that God would prepare our hearts to walk this out in a way that would bring Him much glory.  Adoption is messy.  It takes God turning painful things into beautiful things.  Pray that He would do that in our child's life.  Please also pray for financial provision.  God has been so, so faithful to provide and we trust 100% that He will continue to be faithful in that. 

 

 

A LONG OVERDUE UPDATE!!

Although the progress has been slow and the waiting long, God has continued to do a work of preparation in our hearts.  Patience is not easy.  But, we are thankful for the real opportunity to rely on the fact that God’s timing is perfect.  It has also given us the opportunity to teach Grant and Quincey the importance of being persistent in our prayers. 

The rate of international adoption continues to decline.  Not because of fewer families desiring to adopt, but because of the ever changing regulations and additional paperwork that slows down the process.  As a country, we’ve gone from almost 23,000 placements in 2004 to only 7,000 placements in 2013.  That number will certainly be fewer for 2014.  Upon our acceptance into our agency last October, the average number of placements per month was 5.  There have been only 5 placements in the last year.  We’ve been told that we should accept this slowdown as the new norm. 

Since the beginning of our journey into international adoption, we planned on adopting domestically as well.  Our plan was to pursue a domestic adoption a few years after we adopted internationally.

BUT GOD...

His plans do not always look like our plans but we know His plans are always far better than ours.  After months of praying and waiting on His direction, and with the state of international adoption as it is, we have decided to switch the order. We have begun the process of a concurrent adoption, which means we are still waiting on our child in Ethiopia, while beginning the process of bringing our baby home within the U.S.  At first Quincey was not sure about this.  She was concerned for her brother or sister in Ethiopia, to which we explained that we are not giving up on them!  We believe God will bring our precious child home in His perfect timing.

With this change of events, we find ourselves realizing that we may have a BABY in only a few months.  We can’t even express how excited we are at this possibility.  The process of a domestic adoption looks quite a bit different than an international adoption.  We are back to filling out papers, along with making a profile for birth mothers to view.  We will continue to update you here and on our Facebook page (His Glory, Our Joy).

 

Keep a look out for more of our fundraisers!  We are excited about the Christmas Mini Session Fundraiser coming up this weekend at McClellan’s Tree Farm. 

 

 Lib has also been busy making more earrings, which would make great gifts for the holidays.  We are so thankful for everyone’s continued support! 

 

 

-Eddy & Libby

 

 

 

 

JUST LOVE COFFEE FUNDRAISER

We found this awesome website a few months ago and knew we wanted to use it as a fundraiser for our adoption.....

 

 

 

 

Now that the yard sale is over, we finally got around to setting it up!  It's a pretty simple, but great concept...you buy some coffee, and part of the proceeds go toward our adoption!  It's a win-win situation! :)  The company does all the work, other than us marketing our "store front" on the website.  So, if you are a coffee lover (really, who isn't?!?), please consider trying some coffee from Just Love Coffee.  You can follow the link below and it will take you to our store front on the website and you can start shopping!  Or, you can click on the Just Love Coffee Button on the side of our blog and it will get you there as well.

  If you aren't into coffee, would you please share this blog post to let more people know about our fundraiser? 

https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/hisgloryourjoy/

 

Thank you all so much for your support and help in this process!  God is using it to teach us so many things, and a lot of it is through people who are so eager to be a part of this and encourage and help us as we take this journey!  If you do buy a bag or two of coffee, while you sit back and enjoy a cup, we would greatly appreciate it if you would say a prayer for our family...all 5 of us! :)

 

 

 

OUR GOD IS SO BIG.

I finally have some time to sit down and write a post to update on the outcome of the yard sale.  Now that we can finally park in our garage again and life is semi back to normal.  I could have done it sooner, I'm sure....but I wasn't sure what all to say.  So, this will be my attempt at explaining just how big and strong and mighty our God is.

 

You know the kids song....

"Our God is so BIG, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing our God can not do!"

I've always believed that song, and had fun singing it with my kids, but boy, did He prove Himself much bigger, stronger, and mightier than my mind can fathom the weekend of our yard sale.

 

We got started with this idea for a yard sale fundraiser after I read a few adoption blogs that suggested it...most said it was their biggest fundraiser (up to $2,000).  That sounded awesome to us, so we started asking people for donations.

 

And donations we got.  So many donations, Eddy decided it would be nice to make $4,000.  I still thought $2,000 sounded like a lot.

 

We were overwhelmed with the amount of donations.  Thankful, but very overwhelmed.  We tried to keep things orderly and have a little bit of an idea as to what we were storing in our garage.  But when it got to the point that we had to start storing things in our basement, then in a shed beside the church, then asking people to keep things at their house until the day of the yard sale...we kind of lost track...we really had no idea what we were going to find when we unpacked all of it for the sale.

 

(I did know there was a very scary clown mask and a stuffed monkey that shrieked so loud when you squeezed it that it made Quincey cry....I will admit, it was kind of fun sorting through those boxes.)

 

Anyway...the day before the yard sale, we started taking loads of STUFF to the church.

LOADS AND LOADS. 
We had so many people come help with setting up.  It was awesome.  They were awesome.  We really couldn't have done it without every single person who came and helped. 

 

We started unpacking things around 1:30 on Thursday.  We had everything set up and ready to go by 9:30 or 10:00 that night....I cant remember for sure...I was delirious by that time.  Eddy slept at the church that night on a couch that was for sale.  Good nights sleep, I'm sure. 

My mom took our kids home for a sleepover, which was awesome, considering I had to get up way early the next morning to be at the church and they would have been a little scary to wake up bright and early after such a long day.  

 

 

 

 

 

So the morning of the yard sale...people again...show up to help.  I cannot say enough about our friends and family who showed their support by offering their time, baking skills, muscle, and whatever else we needed. 
We truly are very blessed to have each and every one of you in our lives.

 

We started the yard sale at 8am, praying with a group of friends beforehand that the day would be successful, fun and that God would be glorified.  And from then until at least noon there was not a break.  We had a huge line of people most of the morning waiting to pay for their things.  I went into this thing doubting that we were going to be able to make it worth it, worried that about what in the world we were going to do with all of this STUFF.  By the end of the day Friday (it was a whirlwind of a day), we were exhausted.  I was sad that I didn't get to have any of the amazing cupcakes from our bake stand, but glad they sold out. 

(My very thoughtful aunt sacrificed one that she bought and brought it to me the next day though!) 

We started cleaning up and counting up money. 
And I had to ask God to forgive me for doubting and worrying.  For underestimating His ability to provide.  For not really relying on His faithfulness.  For not being able to trust in just how big He really is. 

 

When the money was all counted up...we were shocked.  Wayyy more than what we had hoped for.  Like thousands more.  And by the end of the next day...even a few more thousands more.  So many people went above and beyond in giving.  It took days for it to sink in and realize just how much God showed up at that yard sale (or flea market, as some people were calling it.)

 

We were amazed, overwhelmed, and just so speechless...hence the lack of updates on the yard sale until now.  God used that yard sale for more than a fundraiser.  It was a faith builder for us.  To see Him provide in a way like that was just awesome.  To realize just how much He wants to bless this was amazing.  God used it to touch other people's lives.  We heard from numerous people how He revealed something in their life when they saw this huge thing...a community coming together to help with one family's call to adopt.  It touched people...people who don't attend church.  People who aren't a part of something like what we have at Freedom Fellowship.  A church family.  God uses things for so much more than we can see.

 

We came away from the yard sale much closer (almost half way) to our goal for funding this adoption.  We also came away from it with changed hearts.  Seeing the generosity of people, seeing their excitement to be a part of this...to get this child home, made us want to be more generous.  God stirred in our hearts to give more toward things like this.

 

Like I said before...I went into this doubting.  I walked away from it with a much clearer picture of just how much God is in control and a heart full of trust and dependence on Him.  He got us half way there in two days.  I am not worried about the other half.  He will provide. 

My favorite part about the entire thing is the fact that in no way can we take credit for any of it.  God led us to adopt.  He blessed this fundraiser.  He provided.  He proved himself....His sovereignty.  He was glorified.  He was made much of.  Exactly the way it should be.  Nothing that we did or have done or will do made this happen.  He brought us to this place and

HE MADE HIMSELF SHINE.

The Mighty One, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
Psalm 50:1&2

We are trusting Him to continue leading us through this adoption process.  We really have no idea what we are doing!  Each step is new to us.  But it is such a comfort to know that He sees the end.  He sees our third child in our arms, running and playing with their brother and sister.  He sees the hard times it will bring and the good times. 
And it is good to know that we can trust Him in all of it. 

lemonade stand!

 

earrings!

 

awesome friends!

 

my sister and cousin manning the lemonade stand!

 

our garage getting emptied out the morning of the sale!

flea market!

two cute helpers!

 more stuff!

yes...there were bunnies at the yard sale...and we somehow ended up bringing two home.

 

lemonade man!

 

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.
1 Chronicles 29:11&12