Coffee anyone??

Hey all you coffee lovers!!!!
     Below is a link 

https://justlovecoffee.com/judahsjourney

Puzzle Puzzle Puzzle

     March is the month to get our next homestudy meeting!   I'm excited to get this next step completed and on to the next huge step of getting placed with our son.   Kyle and I have been working on our checklists of things that need to get done to complete our homestudy.  You have to copy this, copy that, attach this, go to the doctor....But it's worth it.   
I took advantage of our Saturday by finishing up our profile book and getting that ready for print.    Kyle took advantage of our Saturday by heading out with a friend to do some fishing today!    I am hoping he brings back some supper  :)    It's those moments that I think some day, he will take our boy out and do some fishing, do some golfing, biking, and whatever else comes into our heads that day.   

We are super excited to start our puzzle fundraiser!   You might have noticed in our last post the sneak peak of our puzzle fundraiser, but it has officially begun NOW!

     Here is how the puzzle fundraiser works my friends.  This puzzle is a custom puzzle Kyle and I had made.   We fell in love with this phrase and it applies to everybody!   There are 513 pieces in the puzzle.   How it works is the pieces of the puzzle sell for $10 a piece.   When the piece sells, Kyle and I write the name of the family who bought the piece on the back of that piece or multiple pieces if a family say has bought 5 pieces of the puzzle.  You can buy 1 up to however many you'd like.   Once the pieces are all bought up we then will frame it and hang it in our home.    Our son can look on the back and see then all the families that took part in getting this puzzle complete and hopefully take it with him when he is ready to head out of the home.     
The funds from this fundraiser will be going to pay for our placement fee.    Many people have looked at the price of adoption on different websites and it ranges from $15,000 up to $25,000 for a placement.  That is a wide gap in price and a huge amount, but my God shall supply all our needs.   

How do you buy the piece?  Glad you asked :) 
In the comments section of this post, please comment the amount you would like to purchase.     
How do I get you our donation?  Well great question!  Use our donate button on the bottom of the blog page to donate using debit card or credit card.   We then will place the name on the back of the piece of the puzzle!    If you are in town and want to just bring it to us that's ok too.   If you are in Iowa and would like to just bring to my sisters, you could do that as well and she can get it into our adoption account too.    Please remember to comment on this blog post the amount of pieces desired. 

Kyle and I want to say thank-you thank-you thank-you to all the people who have donated thus far!  We truly feel blessed and humbled by all you have done for us.   We love you guys and are praying for increase upon you, Blessings in your home above and behind you could ever imagine.    
Be Blessed  my friends!
 
 

He's gonna be a good one

       Well we have had our first meeting for the homestudy, and it was actually fun, relaxing, nothing to worry about.     More papers came with it, but we are working away on getting stuff signed and put together to finish this homestudy process.  
Kyle and I, since we decided on adopting, have been praying for Judah and for his birth mom and dad.    Let me tell you it is really strange praying about that, but at the same time we feel a connection being made and we know that God has Judah.  Whether putting him together even now in his mother's womb or going through Judah's destiny and saying, oh this is gonna be a good one!  That is my mind going off, but you have to know that God knows us front to back and each time I think He says, oh she/he's gonna be a good one!
We pray that Judah will be an incredible lover of God and a worshipper.    That he will be outgoing in showing the love of the Father to others.       We pray that his birth parents that they would come to know the love of Jesus in their lives if they don't already know.     That God would keep them safe from harm and that no evil will befall them as it says in the Word.    
 I sit in the mornings and think of how different our days will be.  It brings a smile to my face daily.  
We had a friend tell us that everytime she puts money in to "Judah's Journey" jar that she prays for him as well.     And that she knows that though her part may be small in his journey, she knows that she is still a part of it all.   And we want people to  know that every donation, every piece of change stuck aside is all apart of bringing a son into a home.  It truly is you helping an orphan come into a Christ centered home and helping an orphan come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.    It is about taking a son that a mother knows she can't fully care for on her own and she makes an extremely hard decision to place her son up for adoption knowing that a couple will be willing and able to give him a life that she cannot.


We are a ways off in having our funds raised for this full adoption journey.     We ask that you would continue to pray for us and if you are able to make a financial blessing towards Judah coming home we would be forever grateful.   

To donate you can either:

- use the "Donate" button on the bottom of our blog.  It is all secure and done through paypal.   You are not required to have a paypal account to donate.  Once you click on the donate button you can donate through your paypal account and there is also a spot if you do not have a paypal account you can still donate.  You can use your debit card or credit card.  

-another option is to mail Kyle and I a check directly, we have a seperate account set up specifically for our adoption and all our funds go there. If we are friends on Facebook send us a message and we can e-mail you our address.  Our you can comment on the post with your e-mail address and I can e-mail you our address.  

Thanks so much for helping Kyle and I become a family of 3!    Love you guys!

Here is a sneak peak at our puzzle fundraiser we will be doing soon!  I will keep you posted!

ONE STEP CLOSER

    What has transpired since Kyle's last post in January?   Many normal everyday things of course, but 1 big thing would be we sent in our Application on Feb. 1st.    1 month earlier than what we had planned.     Kyle and I were thinking it will be a full week before they receive the application then they have to get our references back and go from there to the homestudy.  Well.....application was received on Tuesday Feb. 5th and then Friday we get the e-mail stating they are coming to town on Tuesday the 12th and want to meet us.  Me..thinking oh they just want to meet us...no....Let's meet at 2 at your home for your home study.
OH......!  [heart racing]    Talk about acceleration!       Kyle and I have had a lot of stuff going on with the business and such so we were like...should we wait?...we never thought it was gonna happen that fast, but just as Kyle said on a facebook post, "You got to ride the wave or stand on the side and watch."    So, here we are beginning to ride the wave!!!   
God has a way of accelerating things that normally are not that fast.   2013 will be an accelerated year. It won't be in the aspect of going by quickly, but things you've been waiting for and praying for will come accelerated to you.    
I am a person that has everything lined up. I need to do this by this point and that by that point.   But God is the one in control.  It might not happen on how I have it scheduled or the timeline I have planned out, but know that HE will take care of all things in HIS timing for sure.    
God is good!!

Micale

The best adoption ever...

Well, so here is my first entry, Micale has been doing all the writing so far.  The best adoption ever happened the day I gave my life to Jesus.  The bible says we are adopted sons and daughters of God and in the spirit of adoption we cry out. "Abba Father".  One of the greatest parts of this adoption is that my heritage completely changed that day.  I was taken out of the kingdom of darkness and put into the kingdom of light.  I believe this takes place also when we adopt.  Their heritage changes.  They are still who they are, but their birthright is now different.  One can come from a background of nothing and be adopted into a family of greatness.  The bible tells us that religion that is perfect is to, "look after widows, orphans and those in need."  When we do for the least of these we do unto Jesus himself.  Adoption is more than what most people understand today, it is perfect in the eyes of Jesus.  I believe every person who calls themselves a christian has on obligation to adopt or help in the care of orphans, which ever.  God is the greatest example of all, He adopted us into his family, Jesus gave up His birthright so that we could walk in it instead of our original birthright which was darkness.  Kyle

Patience and timing

I am a dreamer.   And sometimes lately it is all I can think about of adopting this little man that we haven't  even been matched with yet.  Grandma's and Grandpa and Aunt's and Uncle's are all excited as well, which makes me even more anxious.    Papa and Grandma Hillerud talk about moving to Bismarck to help out with daycare even!    There is a house for sale down the street and they want it, so Judah can come to grandma's just a few houses down.    I dream about having company on my days off when Kyle is off working.  I am just itching to get this paperwork done and sent in!!  

 I have to keep telling myself, timing is everything.  Currently we are waiting on Kyle's business taxes to get done as well as reaching our first goal of $2000 by beginning of March.   That goal will be used for our homestudy fee after our app is turned in.    

 I have the faith in God and the support of our jars we have given out that it can happen!    While in Iowa we gave out 12, one got mailed to another town in Iowa, 1 mailed to Oklahoma, and when we arrived back home the rest of them went out as well.  I have made up more and all have been called for already!   So if you have a "Judah's Journey" jar and it's filled up, cash in by the end of February and donate those proceeds through the link at the bottom of this blog.  No paypal account is needed if you do not have one.  Or if you feel more comfortable mailing a check you can do that too.    

Currently we are working on a custom puzzle for a fundraiser!   Will be selling the pieces of the puzzle and if you buy a piece or more than one piece, the family name will go on the back of the pieces.  In the end we will get it framed and hung in Judah's room.    :)  

Kyle and I just did a pre-adoption photo shoot too, it was very cold that day but well worth the great photos we got!     

These are only a couple of them.  The rest are on our facebook page.   

Read this on pinterest the other day about adoption and I just love it:

"Not flesh of my flesh or bone of my bone, but heart of my heart and soul of my soul"

Ephesians 1:4-5- 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 for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.    

-I just was thinking.....Judah gets to be adopted 2 times!  How cool is that? :)  He's pretty special already.

Red & Yellow Black & White......

  I am so thankful that we serve a God that wants to fulfill the desires of our heart, and that he takes that desire and keeps it for us and will bring it forth in His perfect timing like he always does.        I sit and think about how I would have adopted a son our daughter many years ago in our early years of marriage, but God allowed us to grow and I am so thankful for that!  For real, if we would have stepped out in this process our 2nd year of marriage or even our 3rd we just wouldn't have been ready in so many ways and God sees that.   Thank goodness He truly knows when to allow something and when to firmly close a door.

  Kyle and I both have always wanted to adopt.  We knew that we would have a blended family in the aspect of adopted children and biological children.    We each had an idea of how we wanted that order to go.     But then again that was our idea.    

As we venture on this path of adoption and God decides to bless us with biological children, well then praise God!   But praise Him just the same for the blessing of the child we will be bringing into our home through adoption!!     Both thoughts just bring such excitement and joy to me!      RED & YELLOW BLACK AND WHITE THEY ARE PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT, JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD.   

 Like I said in my previous post, 2013 IS going to be a wonderful year, it truly will be.    God is gonna do some great things not just personally, but for our church too.     We will be going into our 21 Day fast the beginning of January and I am believing for an explosion of clear direction, provision & wisdom to come out of it.     I won't list all the things I'm wanting God to do in 2013 and the people I want Him to wreck for the good, my expectation are high :) 

    Here's a peek at the jars we are taking to Iowa this next week over Christmas vacation.     We are thankful for friends & family willing to pray and collect for us.    

   If anybody is interested in receiving a jar or interested in donating let us know!      

   At the bottom of our blog we do have a donate button and it is all operated through secure paypal and funds will go directly into our adoption fund.   This again will not be a tax deductible donation.

Have a blessed Christmas season with friends and family and safe travels to those on the road!      Have a Happy Happy Happy new year!