Raleigh, A Children's Museum & Our Financial Fast Update

Wednesday, as I posted previously, AnnaGrace, Sarah Mei and I made the 3 hour drive to Raleigh to have our adoption documents authenticated. We arrived in Raleigh at 9:30 a.m. (the documents had to be in the Secretary of State's office by 10 a.m.) The officer informed me that we could pick the completed documents at 2:30 p.m. I saw signs pointing to a Children's Museum, just a few blocks from the Secretary of State's office. I threw up a prayer asking God to make it affordable and walked inside. Praise God they had a home school special...teacher's (that's me) got in free and it was only $4/child. I decided to spend the $8.00 and we spent the next 4 hours in the most incredible children's interactive play area/museum!! If you're ever in Raleigh, it's a must see if you have children 10 or under.


After picking up the documents, I was disappointed to discover that 2 of our documents had to be redone...that's when I caved on our financial fast....walking in the flesh...sigh. I booked a hotel room (it was free with points we had accumulated) but I bought a Starbucks coffee (true confessions) and ordered a pizza. Total in the hole for the day: $31.00

The good news...my sweet husband had the 2 documents redone, so they were waiting and ready when I got home yesterday. Yesterday at 4:30 p.m. all our documents were overnighted to Raleigh and/or Washington D.C. to a courier who will hand carry everything to the U.S. State Dept. and the Chinese Consulate. Lord-willing they will ALL be back in our hands by next Friday and then we can overnight them to our adoption agency.

In addition to completing the 2 adoption documents, Phil made 2 returns and bought me 3 red roses with part of the proceeds. His note to be was "Just Because I Love You." How sweet is that! After 22 years of marriage, it just keeps getting better!

Our Net Financial Outgo since Sept. 1st: $6.00 (after expenditures and reimbursements from returns).

Tomorrow I get to go grocery shopping with our $40 weekly budget (part of our financial fast.) I am busily cutting out coupons and matching them with the store sales fliers. I'll let you know how it goes...tomorrow.

One Additional Praise....God met our needs in the most unexpected way yesterday. I received an e-mail from another adoptive mom with a heart of gold. She said she had dress shoes that her girls had hardly worn and aren't using, and she's shipping them to us!! We truly do serve an awesome God who provides abundantly more than we ask or expect. Ashley...THANKS just isn't adequate for your sweet gift to us. I pray God's rich blessings on your family as you continue the adoption of your son!! Check out her beautiful family at her blog.

When I first received the e-mail my reaction (again...in the flesh) was that's nice but I wanted to dismiss the offer (not because I wasn't THRILLED with the offer...but quite frankly due to pride...it's SO much harder to receive than give.) Last night as I read another chapter in Adopted for Life by Russell D. Moore

a statement he made, concerning his own pride in accepting help when they were adopting, convicted me..."Maybe you just need to repent of your pride and self-confidence and just let somebody bless you." Ashley...thanks for blessing us!!

Thank you Lord!!

Right after I posted the last post, I opened my purse and unzipped a small pocket and lo and behold there were 3 - $1.00 bills in it. I NEVER keep any money in that pocket and have no idea why it was there. God, in His goodness, knew I needed encouragement today! We ended up at ZERO for our first day of our financial fast...instead of in the red.

Thank You Lord for being intimately involved in the details of our day to day lives!! To God be the Glory!

Tomorrow the girls and I get to drive to Raleigh to hand deliver some of our adoption documents to the Secretary of State for authentication. It's about a 3 hour drive, each way, but will save 3-4 days in processing time. Every day counts for our Isabelle!!

Day 1 - Financial Fast

O.k. for some reason I feel a great accountability to our financial fast because I've committed to disclosing our victories and failings with you, our blog audience.

So here's a summary of Day 1:

I had to get creative today because I needed to buy a ball (that one of our girl's OT said she needed for core strengthening)and some s'more ingredients for a cook-out we're attending on Sunday.

Allow me to digress for a moment...We're REALLY looking forward to our Sunday outing because we're getting together with Sarah Mei's Chenzhou sisters, Lilly and Lanie. The girls grew up together in China before they were joined with their forever families. We adopted the girls just weeks apart and are blessed to live within a 2 hour radius. Check out Lilly and Laine's family's blogs!!

Back to our financial summary:

I returned 2 pillowcase covers that I purchased and decided I wasn't going to use and received a $18.04 refund. With the refund amount I purchased the ball, graham crackers, and chocolate bars...all for $19.11. I scrounged around for some change in the bottom of my purse and it was an even exchange. Victory #1

A small set-back...I take part in a great book exchange called Paperback Swap. I LOVE books and try to purchase only ones that I know I want to keep; however, occasionally one will come home, and I'll decide it's not a keeper. When this happens I post them on the Paperback Swap site. Once a request comes in for my book, I ship it and get a credit to purchase any other book (for free) on the site. Basically you get books for the cost of postage - $2.38. It's a great program and works almost flawlessly. That brings me to our 1st small set-back...Another member accidentally sent me a book designated for another member, so I agreed to pay the shipping to forward it and in exchange I got an extra "free book" credit. That's great but I had to pay $2.38 out of pocket, today, for postage...sigh.

Summary of Day 1 - In the red - $2.38

I know these details are riveting...just humor me as I hold myself accountable by posting for all the world to see.

As the summer recedes into our memory...and our homeschool is now in full-swing...enjoy a few photos from a day at the beach this summer...

30 Day Financial Fast

In preparation for our upcoming adoption of Isabelle...our family is taking a 30 day financial fast. We did this once, about 6 years ago, and found it very interesting and challenging!

So here are the rules for our personal 30 day fast....NO SPENDING except for the following:

Gas

Groceries - limit of $40/week (for milk, produce and the bare necessities.)

Garage Sales - the sales are GREAT this time of year, and it's how I outfit our girls so we'll still be going to garage sales on Saturday morning.

Adoption Costs

Other than that, we'll be content with all the blessings God has provided us.

We'll finish up projects that need to be done with all the time saved from running errands.

We'll get creative in meeting unexpected expenses.

We'll brave the fashion police....let me explain. The girls still have only their white sandals for church. We usually switch to our black shoes around Labor Day. I must confess that I was tempted to run out, yesterday, and buy everyone their winter shoes...but that seemed like cheating on the financial fast....so we're going to brave the fashion police and wear our summer shoes for a month longer!! In the scheme of eternity, does it really matter??

We're going to learn to lean on the Lord instead of our own financial means.

So if you're feeling brave and/or inspired...why don't you join our 30 day Financial Fast Challenge and let me know how it goes!! (And if you see us holding up signs that say "We'll work for food..." have mercy on us and throw us a morsel:) )

Horton Adoption Update

Well the last two months have been filled with changed plans, redirection from the Lord, exhaustion, laughter and tears. We welcomed 18 Ethiopian orphans for the Summer of Hope - Charlotte program for the month of July. As the community coordinator I was busy beyond belief. The moments of joy were greater than I had imagined and so were the moments of sheer exhaustion. The HUGE praise report is 4 of the 18 children are in the process of being adopted...including Meskerem (the 8 year old little girl who stayed in our home.)

In the last two months we also received a referral for a 8 year old girl and an 18 month little girl from Ethiopia. We were excited about the girls joining our family; however, during the course of the Summer of Hope stay, it became abundantly clear that an 8 year old was not going to be the best match for our family. In the midst of the emotions of this realization, we got a phone call telling us that "our" 18 month little girl had a brother who was going to need to be placed with her. Phil felt VERY sure that we were supposed to parent girls...which led to "losing" our referral of the 18 month old. Our hearts were broken but as usual during times of sorrow, the situation forced us to seek the Lord's direction, once again, for our adoption process.

After much prayer, tears and many closed doors in Ethiopia, we decided to look at the China program again. My desire is to adopt one of "the least of these." Praise God, last week, we saw the photo of our new Chinese daughter - Isabelle - who is 16 months old. She has a severe heart defect which will require 2 open-heart surgeries upon her arrival to the states. Sadly, we can't post her photo until we pick her up in China. But of course she's BEAUTIFUL!! Pray for quick processing of our adoption paperwork as every week is critical in preserving her health. Pray for God's hand of protection on her.

I'm SO proud of our 4 daughters. They have been patient through all the adoption ups and downs!! Torie is coming home to go to UNCC for her sophomore year of college. A hard decision for both Phil and I and also for Torie. She has showed such maturity in accepting and eventually embracing the decision. We love the close friendship that is blooming between her and Michaela as they ride and show their Thoroughbreds together. We went to a schooling show this weekend. Michaela's mare proved she can fly. That suits Michaela fine after having her "pony with wings" - Popcorn - for so many years.

Torie riding Brego (named after Aragorn's horse in Lord of the Rings), her new 8 year old Thoroughbred gelding.



Michaela "flying" on Hwin (named after the horse in C.S. Lewis's book - The Horse and His Boy)her new 8 year old Thoroughbred mare.



Both girls schooling cross-country...


While the older two girls rode, the two younger girls picked bouquets of flowers.

New Arrivals

At the end of June we will welcome an 8 year old Ethiopian little girl to our family for a month. We are community coordinators for Christian World Adoption's Pilot Program, Summer of Hope. Our church, in conjunction with CWA, is blessed to be bringing 18 Ethiopian children, ranging in age from 6-11, to the Charlotte area for a month this summer. Each child will stay with a host family where they will experience family life, have their medical needs met, and hopefully meet families who eventually might adopt them. CWA plans on expanding this program to other cities in future years. Please pray for smooth transitions as we welcome these children into our homes.

As we continue to wait patiently for the Lord to match us with our 2 new daughters in Ethiopia, we continue life on the farm.

Torie, our oldest, is home from college and enjoying competing a wonderful horse for the summer. In God's providence, we found an amazing horse for lease for the summer months. It was a blessing to his owner who wanted to keep him fit for the summer and left us speechless as the arrangement allows Torie to compete at levels that have never been possible before.


TORIE & RANDY competing in Aiken, SC


After watching Torie compete, 2 weekends ago, she and Michaela begged and pleaded with Phil to allow them to bring home 2 kittens. After promising that they will be completely fiscally responsible for the new additions, he acquiesced and we made the 3 1/2 hour car ride home with 2 mewing kittens.


MICHAELA (sporting her brand new braces) and TORIE with BUSTER and SMEAGOL


In addition to adding 2 new kittens to the farm, we've also added 50 chicks (who will grown into free-range laying hens for our egg business) and a little male goat!


SARAH MEI with a CHICK



ANNAGRACE with her kid - CURIOUS GEORGE

A Washing Machine in Ethiopia....They Don't Take it for Granted

I don't know about you, but I constantly struggle to stay caught up with our laundry!! When Phil visited Ethiopia in 2008, he saw women doing their laundry like this....

That picture made be GRATEFUL for my washing machine!!

Now imagine doing laundry for dozens of children without a washing machine. Think bedding, clothing, diapers, etc....ugh. When Phil visited the Soddo Children's Home in 2008, the electricity was intermittent and laundry was done by scrubbing it on cement chutes.



Since that time the orphanage has been blessed with receiving donated generators which insure electricity. And thanks to the special efforts of 8 young ladies (ages 9-14), in our church, the orphanage in Sodoo, Ethiopia now has a commercial washing machine!! Christine & Katherine, Leah & Alexa, Lydia & Natalie, Sierra and Michaela raised $250, without parental assistance, to help buy a commercial washing machine for the orphans of Ethiopia. They were able to present the money to Stephne Bowers when she visited our church last month. Stephne runs 3 children's homes for orphaned children in Ethiopia and has an amazing ministry!



Here is Stephne's heart-felt letter to those who donated the funds for the washing machine...

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Soddo and Awassa children's clothing can now be washed in our brand new washing machine which you so graciously donated funds for!

We still have to carry water from the well or bring water on donkey's backs- which then fills this blue container for the days' laundry! But now the nannies can actually get all the washing done before lunch time, which allows them to fold and put away the dry washing by 5 p.m. every day!

These machines can also ONLY function when there is electricity (maybe 3 days per week...?) and on days without electricity, we have been blessed with a generator for each home where we can continue 'normal' day operations without the frustration!

We feel so blessed and the staff are so very thankful for this gift!"

To God be the glory for young hearts sensitive to His call. Thanks girls!!

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!!

The Horton Family - Easter 2009....eagerly awaiting 2 sweet Ethiopian faces to complete our family!!


The Easter festivities began with Torie polishing all the girls toenails. Sarah Mei was especially excited about that!!


Next we colored Easter eggs and were reminded of new beginnings...just like our new beginning in Jesus Christ.
One of the greatest joys of being a mother is seeing your children grow and become good friends. Torie (freshman in college) and Michaela (7th grade) are best buds now and enjoy their time together!!


Easter morning began with attending our church's Easter Sunrise Service. We have a "civilized" sunrise service held next to Lake Norman at 7:00 a.m. each year. It is a great opportunity to reach out to the community with the Gospel message. We had over 700 people attend this year.



After attending the sunrise service, we attended our church's regular worship service and then came home for pictures, a big Easter meal and a Sunday nap!! It was a beautiful day!