Fantastic News!

We have been so blessed the last couple of months with our Both Hands project and today I want to reveal the total raised so far. Here it is...

$16,251!!

 

Andy and I are overwhelmed with thankfulness! We are thankful to God who decided to bring us on this journey and who is providing a way for us to bring Everleigh home!!! We are thankful for every person who sponsored our volunteers to work on a widow's home and we are thankful for every person who gave up their lives for a Saturday to bring our girl home. Andy and I are so humbled by HIS love and the love of those who sacrificed their time for a widow and orphan.

 

Many people have asked us about what the next steps are and I want to be totally honest about what's ahead and how the money raised is being used. Right now we are waiting for our approval letter from immigration and an agreement between our home study agency and adoption agency to arrive in the mail. They both should arrive this week (hopefully today or tomorrow) and then I will take all of our dossier paperwork to be authenticated by the our state. Our state has to acknowledge that every notary who signed our dossier paperwork does indeed exist. Once that is done, I will send our dossier to our agency who will also authenticate it. $8,725 will be sent to our agency from Both Hands to cover the cost of our dossier submission to Ethiopia. I hope to have our paperwork to our agency by Monday, December 15th.

 

Once our dossier is in the Ethiopian government we begin waiting for our referral. I contacted our agency about how long the referral wait will be and they explained that even though they receive referrals from all over Ethiopia, two of the largest regions are restructuring their adoption process. They went on to say that a normal referral time is 5-7 months, but with the restructuring it could be longer. We know that this is all in God's hands and we will receive our referral when the timing is right. However, you will probably still hear me gripe about the wait :) Grace's referral was only 7 weeks which was crazy fast, but I do not anticipate such a quick referral with Everleigh.

 

When we receive our referral we will owe approximately $4,000 in order to accept our referral (paid for by the Both Hands project). The rest of the Both Hands money will go toward the cost of transition home fees, medical costs for Everleigh, other miscellaneous cost, and travel expenses for the first trip. Our Both Hands account will remain open for the duration of our adoption for anyone who feels called to send in a tax deductible gift to go toward the remaining expenses (about $5,000-$7,000) can do so.

 

I'm posting the link to our Both Hands Website so you can see the awesome work our volunteers completed.

 

http://www.bothhandsfoundation.org/andy-and-jodi-knoll

 



Both Hands Project

Well, a lot has happened since a last blogged (about a million years ago). We were accepted by Both Hands to work on a project to raise funds for our adoption! YAY! We have been so busy since then recruiting team members, finding a widow, and planning the project. Life has been such a whirlwind and a blessing these last 5 weeks.

Andy and I have the sweetest most accommodating widow named, Ms. Wanda, whose home we will be working on November 16th. She is allowing us to come in and work on her home because she "wants to help bring this baby home." A lot of our workers for the day are excited to have the opportunity to help Ms. Wanda because she has impacted their lives. She is a truly remarkable woman!

Since we began this project, God has assembled the most awesome team of workers and we are simply amazed by the response! I just had someone else join our team today with a little over a week until our project! We even have a friend flying in from Ohio to help! These volunteers are asking for sponsorship to work on Ms. Wanda's home and all the money goes toward our adoption. How cool is that?! They are working on a widow's home to bring an orphan into a forever family!

We are forever grateful to God for this opportunity and for the sacrifice these workers are giving to help a widow and an orphan. We are excited to see the impact they are going to make. They have already impacted our lives with the love they have unselfishly poured out onto us.

All of the money raised for this project is tax deductible and 100% goes toward our adoption. We are using this money toward the dossier paperwork fee of $8,250. This will also put us on the waiting list for our daughter! Any money left over will be used for the remaining portion owed for the adoption process and our travel expenses to fly to Ethiopia twice.

If you would like to sponsor our project or would like to learn more about Both Hands Foundation please go to our website
http://www.bothhandsfoundation.org/andy-and-jodi-knoll

Praise the Lord! Our Contract is Submitted!!!

When we began the process of adopting we knew we had A LOT of money to raise. $32,000+ is daunting when you think of it in one lump sum. Andy and I decided we just needed to tackle it a little at a time as the Lord guided us.

We began brainstorming ideas and praying about how to fund raise. Andy came up with the iPad mini raffle and because it was so successful with our last adoption we decided we should try it again. Andy wanted to set the goal of $1,000. I thought maybe we should be a little more ambitious and said $2,000. Neither of us really thought we'd reach that goal (not that we doubted God). Little did we know, God provided people in our lives who not only gave, but gave so sacrificially that we exceeded the goal!

We had Johnathan draw the winner on his birthday. We told the winner that they had won. They asked us to keep the money! Seriously? Yep. They knew the struggle of fundraising for an adoption. God placed them in our lives for such a time as this.

With the donations from the raffle and from other donations, we were able to submit our contract yesterday! This was no small chunck of change! THANK YOU to everyone who made it possible!!! We will also be able to submit our USCIS paperwork once we receive our home study!!!! We had a goal of submitting our contract on October 1st so we are ahead of schedule! God is so good!

Speaking of our home study, we just received word that our social worker received FBI clearance for Andy so they will be printing up our home study this week. Things are finally falling into place!

We now have to raise $6,250 for our dossier. Once that is submitted, we will be put on the waiting list for a referral. Our goal is to have the money raised by the end of the year.

In order to raise additional funds, we will be having a garage sale on September 21st. We have received so many wonderful donations and we will continue to accept items until the day of the sale. So if you are local and have things you would like to get rid of please let us know and we will come and pick it up!

We have also begun filling out the application for a Both Hands project. This is a really cool opportunity to help a widow in our community while raising funds for our adoption. You can see what it is all about here  http://www.bothhandsfoundation.org/videos

So how can you help?

-PRAY! Please pray that our USCIS application and review goes smoothly, that our garage sale is a success, and that we are accepted for a Both Hands project.

-If you are local and have things to donate to the garage sale let us know!

THANK YOU again if you entered the raffle, donated items to the garage sale, gave a donation, or have prayed for us! We appreciate you!!

 

Bountiful

This week has been a bountiful week. I am so grateful for everything and everyone God has blessed us with.

Our washing machine broke (and it is still broken), but our sweet neighbors have stepped up and are letting us use theirs until ours is repaired. This saves me time and money because I don't have to go to the Laundromat in town. You can imagine the grief of not having a washing machine with five kids and about a billion loads to do everyday, but God has provided me with great neighbors and is changing my heart from grief to gratefulness. It has only taken me 35 years to accomplish this and I'm still learning :)

We found out that Caleb's car has a break line problem and it has to be completely replaced and his exhaust needs to be welded. Fortunately, my parents gave Sam a car this summer and since he can't drive yet Caleb will use it. We are selling Caleb's car and putting the money toward our adoption contract. Once our adoption is completed we will give him the money toward a new car. God is providing!

People continue to donate toward the raffle.  We are receiving a donation that once combined with the sale of Caleb's car will cover the cost of our agency contract! It is amazing what God is doing!!!

I am in awe of the sacrifices people are making on our daughter's behalf. You are making a difference and we are grateful! There will be one less orphan very soon!

People have asked us how they can help so here we go:

          -Pray! We need to raise about $10,000 to be put on the waiting list. Please pray that God gives us guidance on how to fund raise and doors will be open for grants and a Both Hands project. Please also pray that we can be good stewards of our money and budget wisely. Please also pray for Everleigh and her family. We don't know the trauma they have been through.

          -Local friends: We will be having a garage sale in late September or early October. If you have items you can donate we will be happy to pick them up!

          -Enter the iPad mini raffle at https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/eZdj8.

          -Post our raffle or blog on your Facebook and other media outlets


Update on the process:

We are continuing to wait on Andy's FBI fingerprints, but once they arrive our home study will be complete!!! Yay!!!

We will sending in our application to USCIS (immigration)  and our application to Both Hands once we receive our copies of our home study.

 

Encouragement

Adoption is one of the hardest most rewarding journey's Andy and I have ever experienced. As the days pass there are so many questions that race through my mind. When will we have enough money to turn in our paperwork? How old will our daughter be when we get her referral? Has she been born yet? Will she have any special needs? What kind of trauma has she and her family been through that results in her being placed for adoption?

You see, in international adoption there is always something traumatic that occurs to the child and their family. Whether it's the death of one or both parents, extreme poverty, abandonment, or rape there is always a reason these kiddos are put up for adoption and it's sad.

The beautiful thing about God is that he has a plan for these precious kids and he's watching over them. I'm often reminded of Psalm 121 when I begin to dwell on the questions that plague my mind about the little girl we are going to adopt. One of my friends, Kristin Haden, shared this with me when we were adopting Grace. She inserted Grace's name into the Psalm and I just have to share it with you.

Psalm 121

Grace lifts up her eyes to the hills-

Where does her help come from?

Her help comes from the Lord,

The Maker of heaven and earth.

 

He will not let Grace's foot slip-

He who watches over her will not slumber;

Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

 

The Lord watches over Grace- the Lord is her shade at her right hand;

The sun will not harm her by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep Grace from all harm- he will watch over her life;

The Lord will watch over her coming and going both now and forevermore.

 

Now it's time for me to insert Everleigh's name into this Psalm. It's so difficult not knowing what's happening with our baby girl half way around the world, but God knows and he's watching and taking care of her. I just need the patience to wait on his timing and remind  myself that she's in His hands. Jeremiah 29:11 also helps me with this.

 

Jeremiah 29:11 (with Everleigh's name)

 

"For I know the plans I have for Everleigh", declares the Lord, 

"plans to prosper her and not to harm her,

 plans to give her hope and a future."

 

God is so good! He sends me encouragement in his Word and through the people I come in contact with every day. I am thankful for all of you who read this blog and give me encouragement. Thank you!

 

Update on our process:

 

We were able to pay for our home study update with donations from some generous donors. Now we are just waiting for Andy's FBI clearance to come in. We are not sure why its delayed, but hopefully our social worker can get it this week. Once that is done, our home study will be complete and we can apply for grants and for a Both Hands project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finances and Fundraising

A lot of people have asked us "How much will this adoption cost?" Most everyone is blown away with our response. "$32,000" we say with a smile. Yep, $32,000. We could buy a nice car with that kind of money or even renovate our three bathrooms for that. We could even help other organizations support orphans and widows around the world, but God didn't call us to that right now.

Why so expensive? There are a lot of reasons. We are dealing with two governments, an adoption agency, travel expenses, transition home care, and medical expenses. Our airfare alone for four round trip tickets to Ethiopia (two trips each for two people) was around $8,000 with our last adoption. That's just airfare. It doesn't include staying in the guest home/hotel, food, in-country transportation, or airport parking. I'm not saying this to gain sympathy or even to complain. We just want to be transparent while we fund raise.

Why fund raise? That's pretty simple. We can't do it by ourselves. We just paid off the airline tickets for Grace's adoption. HALLELUJAH!!!!! We have zero credit card debt, but very little savings at this moment. We know God will provide for this adoption through fundraising and other resources. We were very blessed with so many people becoming part of Grace's adoption story through prayer and financial support. They are part of her story. Fundraising allows people to become part of God's amazing love story for orphans.

What's the plan?

-I am going to start babysitting this week and all of this extra money will go into our adoption fund.

-We are continuing our iPad Mini raffle through September 8th. Our iPad raffle last year was such a success that we thought we would try it again. You can enter the raffle here https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/eZdj8

- Applying for a Both Hands project to help raise money for our adoption and also help a widow in our community. We are VERY excited about this and hope they accept us. Check out the link to see what it's about at www.bothhandsfoundation.org.

- Applying for adoption grants. We are applying for multiple grants.

-Link and Drink- This is encompasses selling hot dogs, soft drinks, and chips at a local business. We are still trying to find a local business to let us do this in their parking lot.

-Garage sale- we are hoping to do this in September or October. If you're local and want to donate your old stuff let us know and we'll pick it up!

-We are saving money and downsizing our cost of living

What's the timeline? We cannot be put on the waiting list for a child until we have enough money for the agency contract ($2,750) and for the dossier paperwork ($8,250). Getting our paperwork together is the easy part right now, but we cannot submit it until we have the $11,000. We also have to apply for our USCIS (approval from our US government to adopt an orphan). This is another $890. After this money is raised, we will be put on the waiting list which should take 4-6 months before we get our referral. Once we accept our referral (our daughter) we will then owe $4650+medical expenses. We will have to pay for our travel, re-adoption, and other miscellaneous expenses after acceptance of our daughter's referral also.

I think this sums it up! We are always willing to answer specific questions about fundraising or the adoption process so please ask if you're wondering!
 

Why Now?

A couple of months ago I sat in my living room holding my sweet little girl in my arms. It had only been 5 months since we brought her home from Ethiopia and we had gotten through the "rough" stuff when it came to adopting from a foreign country. The Salmonella poisoning that gave her several bouts of diarrhea every day, the sleepless nights, and the undiagnosed lactose intolerance were a thing of the past. Life was good. I had my four boys and finally a little girl. I was content.

I find it funny that when I start feeling content that's when God speaks and says "I'm not finished with you." Of course I didn't hear Him audibly, but He spoke to my heart that day. I knew at that moment that He had another daughter waiting for me. I told Andy immediately and he gave me that "your crazy" look. He knew better than to say no, but I read the look on his face and decided to not push him. You see, we were still paying off the tickets we bought for our trips to Ethiopia and we didn't have any savings. Everything was spent on bringing Grace into our family. So how were we going to afford another one?

I prayed for God to change my heart if this wasn't the plan He had for our lives because I wanted to make sure that He didn't put this desire in my heart for another purpose. Maybe start an adoption ministry or possibly an orphan care ministry? I wanted to be 100% sure. I prayed that God would change Andy's heart if we were to adopt again. I didn't nag Andy about adopting once during the next two months. I knew it wouldn't do any good because he's so hard headed :) When it comes to adoption I don't believe God would tell me to adopt and not tell Andy too so I left it to God to convince him.

On July 7th He did just that. We came home from church that afternoon and Andy knew we were suppose to adopt. He looked at me and said "Our family isn't complete." I already knew that, but sometimes he's a little slow :) We both knew that we needed to pay off our one credit card that we had used to purchase our tickets for Grace's adoption. God is so good. Our Adoption Tax Credit would cover it.

We started telling our family and friends that we were adopting again. I must say I was a little taken aback by a lot of responses. We heard "Again? Really? This soon? Why not from the states?" several times. I'd be lying if I didn't say my feelings weren't a little hurt, but God didn't say this would be easy. I can understand the responses because I know what I'd be thinking if I were in their shoes. I'm writing this blog to answer some of these questions.

First, we have learned that when God calls answer the calling or be left out of the blessing. Yep, He can find someone else to do it, but he asked us to adopt.

Second, we are not bringing our daughter home tomorrow. International adoption takes months and often times years to bring a child home. Grace's adoption only took 10 months. This is RARE! Also, we have to raise the money for this adoption. This is not an easy task when we've "fundraised" all of our friends and family out with our first adoption. More to come on that subject in a later post.

Last, we feel God has called us to Ethiopia. We didn't wake up one day and say "Oh, Ethiopia sounds great! Can't wait to spend thousands of dollars and countless hours on ridiculous amounts of paperwork!" I know I'm sarcastic, but the reality is not good times. Don't get me wrong, we are blessed through the process, but it is often times not an easy one.

So there you have it. Yes, we are crazy! Crazy and in love with a God who has blessed us beyond measure and we can't wait to bring our next blessing home!