Fundraiser Update

Thanks to everyone who came out to support our Race For Home this past Saturday. We couldn't have had more perfect weather for a race. Special thanks to all of you who came from Ohio/Michigan/Indiana to be with us! We raised $420 and are happy to add that to our fund! We will be posting pictures soon!
Looking forward to this coming Saturday's Fundraiser - Shopping!!! Come on over to Crestwood and order some Christmas gifts with vendors like 31 Gifts, Pampered Chef, Premier Designs, Mary Kay, and even get a chair massage/snacks while you shop!! If you can't attend but would like to buy online, I have online accounts set up for 31 Gifts and Pampered Chef. If you would like, you can have things sent to me so you don't have to pay additional shipping and I will get your gifts to you.
For 31 Gifts go to http://www.mythirtyone.com/maggiegrimes/  from there you can look at the catalog and place orders. Make sure you find our event, it is under Bethany Hall, to make sure your order's proceeds go towards our adoption.
For Pampered Chef orders go to http://www.pamperedchef.biz/nancymcleroy  again, you can click shop online and search for our event under my name.
If you would like to buy something from Mary Kay go to http://www.marykay.com/klenon/default.aspx you can order through Kim and just mention somewhere in the comment line that you are friends of Kevin and Bethany Hall.
Hope to see lots of you there :-) Thanks again for your support!
ALSO, we have our Lifesong account set up so people can donate a direct gift and receive a tax deduction. If you would like to donate directly to our lifesong account you can do so online at http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html and click on the donate button. Put preference Hall/#1680 adoption in the purpose line. You can also send checks made payable to Lifesong for Orphans with the same preference in the memo section. Checks can be sent to:
Lifesong for Orphans
PO Box 40/ 202 N. Ford St.
Gridley, IL 61744
*Note:  In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization.  This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use. 

Sorry for the long update :-) thank you again for partnering with us in bringing a child home!

Love,
Kevin and Bethany

Holiday Shopping Fundraiser

Running not your thing?! Check out our other fundraiser coming up the very next weekend. We wanted to have two big fundraisers that would hit on very different interests to allow as many people as possible to get in on our adoption process :-) This one is right up my alley!! Stop on by to get ready for Christmas! Have your lists ready. We will have Pampered Chef, Thirty-One Gifts, Premier Designs, and finish it out with a chair massage and some snacks!! Hope to see you there! Can't make it but still want to place an order? Let me know!!

Our God is Greater!!

YAY!! We got our first donation toward the adoption in the mail today. What a blessing it is to be a part of such a wonderful group of believers. We are SO excited to see how God will provide and the precious little boy or girl that is waiting for us!!

Run for Home - Upcoming Adoption Fundraiser

Check out our upcoming adoption fundraiser! We are so excited to host this race as running is one of Kevin's passions. If you would like to participate but cannot attend or live out of town, you can still purchase an entry fee and Kevin will wear your bib number with your name on it in your honor. Please let us know if you purchase an entry fee but will not be attending. We hope to have fun things available for the kiddos including snacks and face painting. We are in great need of some business sponsors so please let us know if you have a business that would be willing to donate a little money to cover the cost of the race and/or donate prizes, food, etc. Thanks!!! Click on the pictures below to make them bigger (easier to read :-)

Family Profile

IT IS DONE!!! YAY!!! Thought I would include it so you could see what we have accomplished. Man this took FOREVER :-) I know it is personal...but most of you know all this about us anyway and we wanted you to see our heart for our birthmother and unborn child. The only thing I ask is that if you see any typo... don't tell me about it. I had it looked over many times but now that it is printed and off to be read by birthmothers... knowing about a small typo will only stress me out. Thanks!!

Can't wait!!! Only a matter of time now!!! Please pray for our birthmother as she makes difficult decisions and that she would make healthy choices as they now affect our child. Please also pray for our baby that he or she would grow big and strong and healthy. We love you all!!

You're getting warmer!!

I used to love playing that game when I was a kid. You would walk around searching for something that was hidden and the other person would be saying "cold" or "warmer" or "hot" to help you find it. Some days I feel like I am playing that game!! Today I feel like we are definitely getting "warmer" and it is SO exciting. I am finishing our birthmother profile as we speak and our Social Worker already has a birthmother in mind to show it to!! I am trying not to get my hopes up and yet still so excited to already be at that step. God has been so faithful through our journey already and are enjoying each new step along the way. We are finalizing our homestudy tomorrow at 11:30am with our Social Worker. Checking fire alarms, seperate interviews, and the house tour. Our social worker is wonderful! She was our friends' social worker through their adoption process and they loved her as well so we knew that we were blessed from the start.
We had the blessing of seeing some of our dear "Friends for Life" at Cedarville's homecoming this past weekend. We has such an incredible time. We are SO blessed to have some godly and joyful people in our lives. We were able to eat together, laugh, catch up, and most importantly they layed hands on us and pray for us in this next step in our lives. I couldn't help but be overcome with emotion as they brought us before the throne. We are so thankful for the bond we share in Christ and for their support during this time. We'll... time to edit our profile and head to Kinkos. Feels like college heading to the 24 hour Kinkos in the middle of the night to finish a last minute project :-)

Homestudy part 2

Well... quick update! We are meeting with our social worker on Wednesday at 11am. Pray everything goes well, that we enjoy getting to know each other, and that the Lord makes it clear to us the next steps to take. We are so excited to have this meeting as each step gets us closer to our baby!! Thanks for your prayers!

Homestudy

Paperwork is officially DONE!! So glad to have everything in order. It is ridiculous how much information they need from you when you adopt a child. They must may know more about us than our families... in fact it is entirely possible :-) So..... we meet with our Social Worker, Becky next week. She is out of town until Monday but we will talk on Monday and set a date for our home visit. Hopefully I can keep Gunner from messing up the house too much before next week! So today is a day full of cleaning the house and working on our birthmother profile. I am trying my hand at digital scrapbooking to make our profile. I am using cropmom.com and I like it so far... just hard because you can't do some basic things like copy/paste or change the color of objects so you have to be creative with what they have to offer. Anyway... its fun for me because I feel like every day and every project brings me one step closer to being a mommy! My heart is also filled with joy today thinking about my friend Tera who just got home with their 6th child this week. God is so faithful... even on the days when I feel like nothing is going right and I just want the process to HURRY UP :-) Thankful for such a sweet reminder!

God's "Plan B"

Recently I have been reading Dr. Moore's book "Adopted For Life". It is a great read for anyone but especially for those thinking about or pursuing adoption. He has a chapter in the book entitled "Don't you want your own kids?" Just the title makes me laugh a little because of how many times I have heard that exact question or some version of that question. It used to hurt my feelings but I am starting to understand more about that question. I have even come to the point where I am thankful for that question because it has really brought me to a deeper understanding of who I am in Christ. As Dr. Moore states in his book "...for many who've never experienced adoption, adoption seems to be simply a Plan B for people who can't have children." For me, that was never the case. Not because I'm especially holy or in tune with God or even because of the beautiful spiritual picture that I now see adoption is. Really, God has just put it on my heart from an early age. I always knew that I would adopt children, whether I was blessed with the ability to have biological children or not. Lately though, the whole "Plan B" mentality has got me thinking. Really, I'm a lot more like the adopted baby we will soon have in our home than any child that would come from my womb.
Romans 11:17-18 says, "If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you." I was the wild olive shoot and I have been grafted in among others that "biologically belonged" to that tree. More than that, when God chose me, I had nothing. I was an orphan and looked nothing like my Heavenly Father. That is why I chose the verse I did at the top of my blog:
Ephesians 1:3-8, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."
I am so glad that God chose me, when I was unlovely and orphaned. I am so glad that I am not "Plan B" for God, but rather deeply cherished and loved as His heir. I am so thankful that he has given us the opportunity to experience in some small way a part of the joy it must bring our Father to bring us into His family.

New Blog

Well... here goes. I have wanted to start a blog for awhile, but was afraid that I wouldn't really be able to keep up with posting. Starting the adoption process has given me an excuse to jump in I guess. I wanted a way to let people know where we were in the process and how they could be praying for us. I also feel like it will be good for me to have an outlet. Any of you that have been through the process of adoption know that it is a very emotional process and not for the faint of heart. So I am hoping to be able to get out some of my thoughts and also gain clarity as I "talk through" things on my blog. I hope that our journey encourages others to consider how they can become involved in the ministry of adoption and that we will bring glory to God through the ups and downs of this amazing time in our lives. I want to give anyone that plans on keeping up on my blogging fair warning... I tend to be long winded... just ask Kevin :-)