Fundraiser/Matching Grant Update

I found out this morning that there were more donations Sunday that were put in the offering box, and that the funds raised were only $89 away from reaching the full matching grant amount. Our church was quick to add that amount, so the grant is fully matched!!!

Once again funds have come in just in time for the next round of fees. We will have our final documents back from the courier tomorrow. I will mail them on to our adoption agency tomorrow afternoon. The fundraiser/matching grant will just about cover our remaining agency fee of $3,600 and China's dossier fee of $1,790. We will be able to submit our dossier without delay! Again, we are so thankful for the amazing show of support from our church family this week.

Looking ahead, once we have our dossier log in date from China, we can be matched with a child.
                                                                    
                                                                                     LORI

Fundraiser Dinner

We had our fundraiser dinner at church today. We had a wonderful show of support from our church family, and we raised $1,888 to go toward our matching grant from Hand In Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. We are so thankful!!!

We Have I-800A Approval

We have I-800A approval. We were approved 6/4 and received the notice in the mail today. Wow! One more step down. Like the fingerprint appointments, the I-800A approval came sooner than expected. Unfortunately, this probably means that there are less families adopting. We will have a copy of our approval notarized Monday. Brent will take the last four documents of our dossier to the Sec. of State's office Tuesday for certification. The office isn't very far from where he works. Then Wednesday we will mail the four documents to our courier, Denise Hope, in Chicago. The Chinese Consulate in Chicago no longer allows for families to mail in their documents. So, it's either we hand deliver them or use a courier, and a courier is actually cheaper than travel. The Chinese Consulate has to authenticate the documents. We then should have the documents back in our hands sometime the following week. After this it will be time to submit these final documents to our adoption agency, China Adoption With Love, Inc. to complete our dossier. At that point we will need $5,380 for our agency fee and China's application fee before our dossier can be submitted to China. The timing of this will depend on when we have the funds available. 

                                                                   LORI

Post from our son Adrian

Trinidad Missions 2014

I can't believe it but at 2:30 am this morning I left for Denver International Airport to board a flight to Trinidad and Tobago. These are two small islands located in the Caribbean.

While in Trinidad we will be working with an organization called Every Home for Christ to take the Gospel from home to home. This is the third year that DLA has gone to Trinidad and Tobago, and we are coming close to completing the mission of reaching ever home, on both islands, with the Gospel.

I am both filled with excitement and nervousness for this trip. We will be gone for just a little over a week, and while there we will face many challenges and many victories.

Please be praying for us as we travel and for the hearts of the people to be open to the word of God.

We Have Been Blessed

We are thankful for God's provision. We have been awarded a matching grant for our adoption from Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. We received this very same grant in 2011 for Mia's adoption. Hand in Hand will match dollar for dollar up to $2,500 for a total grant of $5,000. 

Last time we did a fundraiser dinner at our church, and we were able to maximize the grant and then some. It worked out so well that we are planning on doing the same thing again. We only have until July 15 to raise money for this matching grant, so things have to move quickly. The dinner is scheduled for June 22 at our church immediately following the morning service. 

It just so happens that if we can maximize the grant as we did with our first adoption, the amount raised will be almost exactly what we need for the next round of fees. The next fees will be due when we submit the final papers for our dossier, which is just weeks away. God's timing is always perfect!

                                                       BRENT