WE HAVE OFFICIALLY APPLIED!!!!!!!

We've been working on the application for a few days now! Finally, after speaking to our sweet agency and asking close to a million questions it's complete. Jason got up this morning and overnighted the documents to Portland. My husband is incredible! I spoke with our social worker yesterday and I have now started another application for that process. We are getting all of the certificates we need as well as passports this week. Our agency said that the adoption process is planned to be around 1 1/2 to 2 years. Which is actually A LOT shorter wait than I originally suspected. It could be shorter or way longer....it's just something that can't be predicted. We are so EXCITED to actually begin the LONG AWAITED PROCESS OF BRINGING OUR LILY HOME! The silicone bracelets that we ordered a couple of weeks ago should be in on July 2nd. You can purchase those with any donation. We ordered hot pink, glow green, and patriotic swirl! This past Sunday was the first time that Jason and I have spoken to our church family about the adoption! Gadsden Christian Fellowship is such an AWESOME church family! We raised almost $3,500!!!!!! A sweet man that was visiting that morning gave us a 10th of what we need!!! Such a blessing!!!! We are still on the rise to raising the amount needed!We love you all!!!!!!!!

We Have Finally Made Our Minds Up :)

After doing who knows how many hours.........of research we have finally made our minds up. We are sticking with Taiwan and we are planning to work with an agency out west. They answered every question we could possibly come up with and we meet all of their requirements! We are sooooooooooo excited to finally start the actual process! We will officially apply on June 16th! YAY! We are in the process of ordering bracelets to sell as a fundraiser. Jason is working on getting a video together to share with everyone. We are now ready to start sharing our hearts at any local church that will have us. We are going to kick off the journey to Lily~Wynn at our home church Gadsden Christian Fellowship (GCF). We will also be having a benefit concert at GCF this summer! There may be some other exciting events to raise money that everyone would definitely want to be a part of! Please pray for us!

Details, details, details :)

Hello Everyone! So many generous people have donated monetary gifts to our adoption fund over the past two weeks! We now have around $1,200 dollars to go toward our sweet baby! We have been praying about some very important details over the past couple of weeks. We are seriously considering a Southern Korean adoption over Taiwan at this time. We are also not going to set a particular date to apply. It may even be next summer before we can fill out the initial applications. I was a little down at first, but through prayer and lots of support I believe that the Lord's timing is always perfect! Waiting another year will allow us the time and opportunites to meet our $30,000 goal. Please continue to pray over us and our decisions. I love u all and truly appreciate your support! I would like to mention a sweet lady that wrote us a $1,000 check to go toward our adoption. I will not mention her name but I want everyone to know that she gave not knowing the security in her position at her job. I want you to know how much you have touched our hearts and others that I have shared this with. I love you so much! You have inspired me to give and to plant seeds in others! :)

Moving Right Along....

Hi Everyone....I told you the blogs would be slow...lol! Nothing much has changed at this point, but it's all moving in a great direction. We are still planning to apply next month...wow! We have recently started officially raising money for the adoption. This summer we plan to go to some local churches and speak/sing. I recently let my AES school family in on the big news. I received so many encouraging emails that really meant so much! I have been doing a lot of agency research lately before we send in our official application next month. Jason is doing very well after his surgery. He still hurts quite often so please keep him in your prayers. We will find out if he is going to have another surgery this summer (in a couple of weeks). Well...that's about it for now! Love u all! God Bless, Emily

Just a quick word......

Well...Jason had knee surgery last week. Please continue to pray for his healing. I have a peace within me because I know that everything is going to be fine. I serve a HOLY God that has everything under control. In 4-6 months the doctors in B'ham plan to do one more major surgery. They really believe that this is going to be the last. We are still planning to apply for adoption this summer. It may be at a later date though. We are just taking everything one day at a time. We are on the Lord's timing...so when it all works out..it will be wonderful and right on time. I am such a blessed individual. I have the sweetest husband anyone could ever ask for. I can honestly say that I love him more now than I did the day I married him. I love my family! Both mine and Jason's parents are precious in every way. We have so much support in every aspect of our lives. I also have to mention my students. I teach the coolest, most loving, compassionate, sweetest third graders in the nation. I would adopt them if I could...lol....:) Well....that's all for now folks! Just keep praying for us....and know that I love each of you with all of my heart! God Bless, Emily

Great News!

The adoption agency we are interested in told me yesterday that we meet the requirements to adopt from Taiwan.....(sigh of relief) :).....I also spoke with a local social worker today. We will begin our homestudy process this June as well. Our focus now is-TO RAISE SOME MONEY! The first few fees are going to be in the thousands....WOW! I'm like ....HELLO I'M A TEACHER......NOT A MILLIONAIRE ...HAHA! But it is completely worth it in every way. I am going to figure out how to put PayPal on this page so that you all can donate that way. If you feel called to donate, you can also contact us through email. Every penny will add up. If you can donate $10.00 it will be a blessing! Please spread the news!!!! I love you all very much! If we are blessed with a baby girl....we know the name....if it's a sweet baby boy......not so sure....we're still thinking on that! I would love for everyone to become followers. To leave a comment or to become a follower you need to create a profile. It's free and so easy! Post some good name ideas!!!!! So excited:)

First Bump in the Road

I was told today that a lot of Taiwan adoption agencies have put a hold on American adoptions. I really hope there isn't much truth to this. I have sent out a couple of emails and hope to hear something back soon. I was also told that the few orphanages that are still open to adoption here require you to be 30 years old. :( This is the exact reason that we decided against adopting from China.....I really don't want to wait that long. I know that the Lord has everything under control! I really just want to get this process going!!!! SUCCESSFULLY! Please pray that the Lord has favor with us............Much, much...love!