Referral Alert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In 2009, our girls made a cute litte video announcing our adoption to all of our family and friends... You can see it here - My oh my! They have grown! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCfA5B-St9k

In June of 2011, we sent our big stack of paper work - our dossier- to Ethiopia and we began our wait for an infant up to 24 months old. 

In 2012, our hearts were burdened for children who were no longer considered "infants" and we raised our age request to one child up to 4 years old.

In July of 2012, we decided that our hearts had room for  "just one more" and Elliot James was born
And now, 2013..............

After 4 long years of waiting, we are thrilled to announce that we have a referral!! We have a SON in Ethiopia!! An absolutely gorgeous little boy with the most beautiful brown eyes you have ever seen !!! Our son was on our agencies waiting child list and he has waited FAR TOO LONG for a family! I so wish I could share his beautiful face with you but for now his cute little "piggies" at the top of the page will have to do! Trust me though - he is beautiful.

We had seen his face many times on the waiting child list however it took God moving MOUNTAINS in our hearts and minds before we were ready to call him our son. His story is heartbreaking and he has been through more in his little life than any child should ever have to! Both Jamie and I have been completely broken for this little boy as we have spent the last few weeks learning his story. Let me just tell you, we have fallen hard for this sweet boy and just want more than anything to hop on the next plane to Ethiopia, scoop him up and kiss his little cheeks!!! 

 As much as we just want to "go", of course it's not that simple. Before we can go and officially meet our son, we have to jump through a few more hoops (you get really good at that after waiting for 4 YEARS!). Our biggest "hoop" at the moment is coming up with the money needed to formally accept our referral. Our total adoption costs when we bring our son home will be about $35,000.  At this point, we still need about $9800 to complete our adoption. Annnnndddd, the really scary part is that we need $6000 within the next TWO WEEKS! 

I start to panic a little when I see that number and then I realize that it's not OUR money.... it's His! He's got this! We have been 100%  dependent on God to provide for this adoption from the beginning and we certainly aren't giving up now! I can promise you that we have never had a giant money tree in our yard that has paid for our adoption. We have simply prayed and relied on God to provide and he has faithfully from day one. 

When we began our adoption journey, we knew that we had two options. #1, we could save our money for several years and wait for the right time to adopt financially or #2, we could move forward counting on God to provide.  As you know, we chose option #2. We decided that "comfortable" for us financially was a luxury that our child might not be able to afford. We knew that every minute a child waited was a minute too long. We have had to depend on our faith more deeply than we ever and we have had to swallow our pride many times throughout this process. 

The awesome folks over at www.Lifesongfororphans.org have given our family a matching grant for $3000!! See! God provides!! This means that if we raise $3,000 Lifesong will match that and double the amount to $6000! Our goal date for raising the $3000 is October 15th though Lifesong will honor the grant until our son is home.  If you would like to donate to our adoption 100% of the money you give goes directly to our adoption costs! You can make an online donation here: https://www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate/one-time/?giftchoice=Adoption%20Funding&adoptionfunding=Family%20Specific (our family account number is 3821) 

-or you can click the paypal button at the top of the page

or you can mail a donation using these instructions:

Make checks payable to “Lifesong for Orphans.
In the memo, note : family account number (ours is 3821)
and “family name- Stump ”to assure it goes to the correct account.

Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans,
PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744.
All donations are tax deductible!

Also, our desire is to be totally transparent as we continue the journey. We hope that you will share in our joy as we move forward. I want to say a very special "thank you" to our generous and loving friends and family who have already helped us financially and spiritually on journey so far. Please understand that asking for help is hard and I certainly don't want to make light of those that have already given. Please know that even though it has been 4 long years since we started this journey we are so incredibly thankful for those that have helped us along the way! And for those that have been there from the beginning - hang on!! He's coming home soon!!!!

So, stay tuned! We hope to have more information soon!! In the mean time, please feel free to share our blog with your friends and family and PLEASE join us in prayer for our son (I wish I could share his name, but I can't just yet) "S". Please pray for him while he waits as well as for his birth family and the other waiting children that have not yet found their forever families! 

- Oh yeah! And..... Gracie Stump would like for you to know that she does not have a uni brow and that she has cake in her eyebrows in the lovely picture at the top of the page!