Puzzle Pictures

 We finally had time to work on the puzzle on Christmas Day! Allan's brother, Nicky, came over and helped us with the puzzle too! We have sold 637 of the 1000 piece puzzle. We sure did pick a hard puzzle, the top and bottom are all the same color which makes it super hard, but we will get it finished someday! :) Thanks to everyone who has bought a piece of the puzzle to help bring home baby Pack.

What it looked like when we started for the day

Nicky & Allan working hard on the puzzle

Nicky and I working on the puzzle

What it looked like when we stopped on Christmas day

In Awe...

I just want to say how Awesome and Wonderful God is!! When you fully trust Him and lean on Him for guidance, reassurance, and all of your needs, He will meet them every time. (He will meet your needs, not your wants!)

God continues to provide the way for us to bring home Baby Pack!

     Today at Church, we were approached by two friends who wanted to tell us what God had placed on their hearts. The couple told us that their car wasn't working anymore and their neighbor had actually given them his car. So they sold the car that no longer worked to someone else and were able to tell him a little bit about our situation and how they had prayed about this and were going to give us the money for our adoption fund. Wow, Seriously?!? They sold their car and gave us the money to put towards bringing home our little one! Words cannot even describe how grateful, amazed, thankful and blessed we are! That was all God, He took that gift of their neighbor giving them a car and multiplied it! We continue to be in awe of what He is doing in our lives! The kindness of all those who continue to pray for us and help us.


In John 15:13 Jesus says, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."
This doesn't mean we have to die to show our love for our friends. We lay down our lives every time we put someone else's needs before our own. This is what that couple did for us. We can lay down our lives through service and can do small acts of kindness. These things, whether big or small, let us feel the happiness of connecting with our brothers and sisters and remind us that God allows us to be the answer to someone else's prayers!

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We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!! :) Remember Jesus is the Reason for the Season! We plan  on working on our Adoption Puzzle on Christmas day so check back soon for pictures! :)

"God Wink"

God wink= Every time you receive what some call a coincidence or an answered prayer, it’s a direct and personal message of reassurance from God to you!

      God continues to provide the way for us to bring home our baby. We are just in awe of Him!! When we first started this journey we didn't know what to expect, we just took that leap of faith and trusted that God would provide. Taking that leap of faith was the best decision we have ever made!! God hasn't let go of us, some things haven't gone the way we wanted them to but God definitely knows what He is doing! We have slipped and tried to take things into our own hands but God is so patient and forgiving and picks us back up again. I can honestly say without God in our lives we would have given up on this adoption long ago. God has changed our hearts and He can change yours too! :)

The Lord directs the steps of the godly.
    He delights in every detail of their lives. 

 Though they stumble, they will never fall,
    for the Lord holds them by the hand.

Psalm 37:23-24 NLT

     I'd love to share our "God wink" experience from yesterday. Allan and I were asked to attend a formal dinner at Biltmore Baptist Church where they wanted to pray over us and our adoption process. After our dinner, Stuart, the one who was going to pray for us, called us up to sit with him in from of a hundred or more people. Then, asks Allan to tell about us and our adoption journey. Well, neither one of us are good at speaking in crowds and especially when we aren't prepared! Allan did a great job though and I was so proud of him and thankful that I didn't have to talk!! :)  Then, Stuart proceeded to tell us that half the money collected from the dinner was being donated to us for the adoption and then prayed for us and our baby-to-be! Wow! We were so surprised and are thankful beyond words! God is working in and through people to help us bring our baby home! God is and has done great things and He is providing each and every step of the way! I just can't wait to meet this little one that He has picked out just for us!

     Thank you to all those hearts who have donated and are praying for us and Baby Pack!

*Here are some pictures from the dinner, unfortunately these are from after everyone had already eaten. 

Entrance to the Dinner

The yummy dessert table

Cake Pops

Dancing and hanging out

Decorations

While we were dressed up we wanted to take some adoption pictures!

Waiting for our Baby! Christmas 2013

Up 2 Date

     We are looking forward to starting our online auction within the next week! So keep a lookout for it on facebook! :) It's a great way for you to do some Christmas shopping and help us bring home our baby!!

     We have had a lot of people inquiring about the adoption, so we thought we would catch ya'll up on what is happening...
    We are still in the waiting stage of the adoption, our paperwork has been in Ethiopia since March 22, 2013 and that day is when our official wait time started. The adoption agency estimates the current wait is 2 to 2.5 years and it's possible that it will continue to increase. The biggest reason for this long wait is because the demand for younger children is higher than older children and we have requested a healthy 0-2 year old. It is really hard being patient, but I know God has a plan and that it'll be totally worth the wait when we bring our baby home!

     Since the wait is so long, we have documents that will expire while we wait. Starting in January 2014, we have to start renewing some of our documents, like our medical exams and our homestudy. We definitely aren't looking forward to getting back into the hassle of the paperwork again but I guess we should be use to it by now! Some of these documents have the potential of being very expensive to renew, but we won't find out how much they are going to set us back until next year. We are hoping that we will only have to renew once!
  
     We also are required to read 6 books while we wait. These books are intended to prepare us for the child and give us a heads up on what to expect. I like that the books prepare us for the worse, rather than sugar coating everything. We also found this cool website, which is helpful in teaching us how to care for their hair. http://www.chocolatehairvanillacare.com.
 
     While we wait we also have to come up with the money to pay for the adoption, cause unfortunately it isn't free! There is a range for how much our adoption will cost, the range that our adoption agency gave us is $28,190 - $38,100. You can find the detailed breakdown here: http://www.awaa.org/programs/ethiopia/cost.aspx. So far we have paid $9,587.00 and we still need approximately $10,000-$19,000. We continue to do new fundraisers and try to have at least one fundraiser a month. God has blessed us so much and we know that He will continue to! We are so very thankful and grateful for everyone who has helped us!  We still need a lot more to bring our baby home, so we will continue to press forward and trust in God and His plan! 
    

Adoption Fundraiser Spotlight

 We were highlighted on Julie Gumm's website, this is a great way to get our story out there!

Please check it out!!! Just ignore the mistakes that I made!
http://juliegumm.com/2013/11/adoption-fundraiser-spotlight-the-pack-family/

Julie Gumm wrote the book Adopt Without Debt, which is a great book and I suggest you read it!! It has a lot of great ideas!

BBQ & BINGO

     Words cannot express all that I want to say! I am so overwhelmed and speechless that all I can manage to say is Thank you, Thank You, Thank you!  My heart is overflowing with love and gratitude and I feel so unworthy to have such great people in my life. I am blessed with so much more than I deserve.

    

    Allan and I are so thankful for everyone who helped and contributed to our fundraiser.  We are so grateful and thankful for having true friends; people who love and support and cheer us on every step of the way. We are thankful for our amazing family and friends that really have gone above and beyond to help us.  I am thankful for my loving, generous, gracious, reliable mom and for our  wonderful community, with whom we continue to share every step of this journey with. 

    The fundraiser turned out great! We had a good turnout and had lots of fun! God continues to bless us on our journey and has overwhelmed my heart with gratitude. 

  Food Lion volunteered to cook the meat for us and then had several people donate their time and skills to shred the meat for us. They didn't have to do that, but they chose to and we are so grateful!

 

Nyokia and Maria cooked the meat for us!

 Sara Lee and Flowers donated hamburger buns and Snyder's donated Chips. They didn't have to but they chose to help us.  

Our dear friends donated items to make prizes for the Bingo, donated time and money to make coleslaw, yummy desserts and donated their free time to come help, participate and support us. My mom donated her artistic abilities and time to plan and decorate our event. They didn't have to give up so much just for us, but they chose to help us. They chose to help us get one step closer to bringing home our child. We are so blessed and so thankful and we love our friends so much! God has put some pretty awesome people in our lives! Here are some pictures from our BBQ & BINGO fundraiser!!

Leaves and Pumpkins that my mom cut out

Bingo prizes

More Bingo Prizes

Money table and Bingo Cards

The food tables!

Dessert table before it was filled up with tasty treats

Erica ready to take money!

Allan and I ready to serve food!

Krystal, her Nanny and Tommy. This pic was taken before the prizes started piling up

Fun for all ages!

Hanging out and enjoying yummy food

Annette and Bob, also adopting, came out to support us. They racked up lots of prizes!

Erica and sweet Nyla, who knows our baby is in Africa, really far away, and apparently is going to be put in a shopping cart! :) She is precious!

My mom playing BINGO!

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Again, I know I sound like a broken record, but through this fundraiser God has just completely overwhelmed me with the presence of love and support from our dear friends.  

It is just pretty neat that with each fundraiser, God reveals more to me. I totally get more out of the fundraiser than just another step closer to bringing home our baby! I grow so impatient waiting for our baby, but I have to say it is totally worth the wait with all that God is doing along the way! :)

Thanks to everyone who is standing by our side and waiting to share in the joy when we bring our baby home! :) It means more to us than you will ever know!  

Worries

     As you know, we have a big fundraiser coming up on the 26th. We have been super busy planning and organizing this event and are blessed with great friends who continue to help us! We have thankfully had some items donated but the rest has come out of our pocket. This BBQ is costing a lot more than we thought it would! I have been praying that God will bless our efforts and that we can at least make back what we have spent so it's not a complete loss.
     Well, as I've been praying about this fundraiser, God spoke to me through His Word. In Proverbs 19:21, it says "Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails."  I'd been so busy praying that God would bless this fundraiser the way I want Him to bless it when I should be praying His will be done because it is always best! God might have something totally different to offer us at this event! He might put someone there who needs the Lord that we can witness to, He might bring someone who is adopting who needs our help, the possibilities of what He is up to are endless! He has done great things at past fundraisers, so we shouldn't expect anything less at this one. So, like it says in Philippians 4:6 "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." I am going to stop worrying about the "what if's" and just Trust God. I know He will provide the way to bring home our child, if not from this event then by some other way. He has provided so far and I know He will continue! Not by our efforts, but because of who He is!
Sometimes the journey is just as important as the destination! :)
  

BBQ & BINGO

 We are super excited to announce our next big fundraiser! We are having BBQ & BINGO on Saturday, October 26th. We are looking forward to this event and pray for God's hand on this fundraiser. Below is an example of the postcards we will be printing up and giving out. We have one more fundraiser after this one and then we will stop for the year. This will be an ongoing process of fundraising until we bring our baby home. We Thank God for all those who have helped us get one step closer to bringing home Baby Pack!

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On another note, I bought something for our child a few weeks ago. I absolutely fell in love and had to have it! I had a sock monkey when I was kid and I want our child to have one too!  :) I can't wait to give it to him/her. I was thinking this could be what we give to them when we first meet them.

Top 5

We have met a lot of different people along this journey. Some people have been helpful, supportive, encouraging and have become friends of ours. While others have left us wondering, questioning and praying! The following is a list of the Top 5 comments that people have actually said to us! These are comments that we would rather not hear, sometimes people don't realize that things they say can be hurtful..

1) So, you're adopting a dog or something??

   -I am an animal lover, but No, I wouldn't do all of this for a dog!

2) Sharing all the horrible adoption stories that they have heard about and even cutting out newspaper articles with these types of stories

    -We know this is a possibility, we also know that God is in control and we trust Him! Telling us these stories, isn't as helpful as some might think. We know the Lord and he will bring peace in whatever happens. 

3) That's a lot of money for a kid, It's free in the U.S.
 
    -God has called us to adopt from Ethiopia. He continues to provide in ways that only HE can. It is a lot of money, but we could never put a price tag on the child God has picked out  for us! But, by all means, if they feel so strongly about adoption, then they can adopt a "free" child in the U.S.. All these children need homes whether here or there!

4) You're almost done, right? You should have all your money by now.

     -No, we still have a long road ahead of us! What an amazing journey we are on though,  God continues to amaze us! His timing is perfect! He will provide the way! 

And, the #1 thing that people say that drives me crazy...

5) You know once you adopt, you'll get pregnant

    -No, I didn't know that. How do they? God is in control of that! It upsets me when people say this. It is taking away from the joy of bringing home the child we are adopting and making it sound like they are less important than a child that Allan and I would conceive.  If all we ever have is the child we are adopting then I'm content with that. Don't take away from that joy! 


 Yep, those are actually things that people have said to us. Crazy, huh?!
Well, I also decided that I'd make a list of the Top 4 things I'd love to hear or are looking forward to hearing about the adoption!

#1 -- Here is your baby!! :-D  (Can't wait for that day!!)
#2--The remaining balance is $0.00!! (How awesome that'd be!)
#3--We are praying for you and your child  (Prayer works!!)
#4--Positive/encouraging stories about their adoptions

What's Up?!?

Adopting a baby is hard work so it helps to have as many supports as possible along the way to keep you going.

I had the following blog shared with me on facebook and I wanted to share it on here. It describes perfectly how I feel. It is helpful to know there are other people out there going through the same ups and downs of the adoption process.  If you have time check it out, http://wondermentetc.com/2013/08/02/dear-friends-of-waiting-adoptive-moms-some-things-to-know-also-were-sorry/    

The waiting game is so hard, I find myself thinking about our child everyday. I see little kids and wonder about ours...Are they even born yet? Is it a boy or a girl? Are they hungry? Thirsty? Lonely? Scared?
All we can do is Pray and Trust that God is taking care of them and has perfect timing in when we can bring them home.

God has placed several families in our lives that are in the process or have gone through the process of adoption. It is a great opportunity to be able to work together to bring home our babies! It opens the door to a lot of prayer opportunities to pray for these families and their children too.

God continues to bless us with different fundraiser opportunities and we are excited to see what HE is up to!!

 Here is a list of the following fundraisers that are currently going on or coming up. :) Please pray about these opportunities and please feel free to share these with your family and friends.

1) Faith, Hope, Love bracelets 1 Corinthians 13:13 ---$1.00

 2) Pieces to our Puzzle --$2.00 You buy the puzzle piece and your name goes on the back of the piece. When complete, it will hang in our child;s room!

3) https://justlovecoffee.com/thepacksareadopting This is our newest, a coffee fundraiser. We get a certain amount for each coffee that you buy! Great idea for a Christmas present!!

4) http://coupaide.com/deal/pack-adoption-fundraiser  This is a restaurant deal, where we get $10 of the $20 that you spend. They have some great restaurants to choose from!

5) We are teaming up with Annette and Bob for a Flap Jack Fundraiser at Applebees on Hendersonville Rd in Asheville on September 7th from 8-10am. It is $7 per person. We would love to have ya'll come, all tickets must be purchased in advance!

 6) We are having a BBQ lunch at The VFW in Brevard on Oct. 26th. More details to come! But, please go ahead and mark your calendars!

7) We are planning a golf tournament at Fun Depot on Saturday, November 2nd with Annette and Bob Lewis. We need teams of 4 to sign up to play. It is $50 per team, so only $12.50 per person. We will have door prizes! More details to come on this as well, just wanting to give everyone a heads up!!

Yard Sale #2

Yesterday, we finished up our last yard sale of the year! The rain held off which was great, but we still didn't have a very big turnout. Regardless, we are thankful that God provides us with these opportunities and are always eager to see what HE is up to! We are so blessed! We couldn't have pulled this off without help from my Mom and Tommy who let us use their vehicles to transport everything to Brevard. Also, We were so blessed to have two sweet boys who were willing to donate some of their toys to help us bring our child home. We are so thankful for the continued love and support! 

 We didn't unpack everything just in case it started to rain on us!

We are currently doing a Dave Ramsey Financial Study and will be selling Allan's car this week. We had to take the Adoption Sticker off his car in order to sell it, but were able to cut it down and now it is on my car! We hope that people will check out the blog and get to read about what God is doing in our lives through this adoption process. All the Glory to God! We wouldn't be where we are without HIM!

Also, We have some friends who felt led to send out a letter to their family and friends asking if they will "Adopt a Family" who is Adopting! Really neat idea and looking forward to what may come from that! :)

What's going on...

We finished up our online auction on Facebook on the 15th, it turned out well. We had a few glitches but nothing too major. We are so thankful that another couple shared this idea with us, and we have had several people ask when we will be doing another!

We have looked into doing a flapjack fundraiser at Applebee's where we sell tickets in advance to a breakfast on a Saturday morning at Applebee's. We are working on getting a date for this and will need to find some volunteers who will be willing to be up bright and early to help serve the food. :)

We have another yard sale this coming Saturday, the July 27th on Rosman Highway and hope to get rid of the rest of our yard sale stuff!!

 It's hard to believe it's already been 4 months now since we sent in our Dossier! Seems like the time has passed by quickly as we stay busy with fundraisers. I just hope the rest of our time flies by so we can bring our child home! We pray everyday for our little one and can't wait to meet them!

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

Texas Roadhouse

Thanks Texas Roadhouse!!

 We had our Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser on Monday, July 1st from 4-10pm. We teamed up with Annette and Bob, another couple who are adopting and had a great turnout! It is so neat to see how God continues to put people in our lives at just the right time. HE never ceases to amaze me! We are so thankful for Texas Roadhouse letting us do this and for everyone who came out to support us! We are blessed with such great friends, who go out of their way to help in anyway they can! We have a close friend, who invited her whole small group to come eat and also posted flyers at the post office! We are just so blessed! It makes the journey so much better with our friends by our side.

They posted our flyer on the door!

Elizabeth &Allan   Annette & Bob

The Flyers that were passed out

Allan put this box of peanuts with flyers stapled to them at his work

I posted this on the Coke machine in the break room at my work

Books & Grants

Recently, we have been getting stuff ready for the child's room. We don't have it set up, cause the room is currently full of yard sale items, but we are working on it. I get excited doing this because it makes me feel like we are closer to bringing our baby home. I long for the day we bring him/her home! We found an Ethiopian flag that we will put in their room and ordered a few Adoption books to read to our child and also a Baby Book. We plan on being open with the child about adoption from the start! These are the books we ordered, I copied the pictures from Amazon, so you can't click to look inside, sorry!

I'm excited to fill out the baby book

This is a sweet book

Not what I thought it would be, not too impressed

We got some discouraging news from the Adoption agency yesterday that they will be increasing the wait time soon, meaning it could be closer to 3 years before our child comes home. It is already really hard to wait 2 years and for the wait time to continue to increase is really frustrating and upsetting. I know God is in control and he knows what he is doing, but it is still hard.

We continue to do fundraisers and apply for Grants, along with reading books about Adoption & Ethiopia while we wait. We have so far applied for 6 grants and have been approved for 3. We are currently looking for more grants to apply for, but haven't found any yet.