Have $2? Let's Get Miss A Home!

Alright, here we go, our first fundraiser to help bring Miss A home! It's a raffle for a brand-new ESV study Bible - a fifty dollar value! I have the student version of the ESV Study Bible and I love it. The maps, background information, and side-notes helps one to clearly understand the circumstances of the Hebrews. It includes:

• 2,575 pages
• 20,000 notes
• 200 full-color maps
• 40,000 all-new illustrations
• 200 charts 
• Over 50 articles on theology, ethics, biblical teaching, and application
• Concordance
• 80,000 cross-references

"The scope and faithfulness of the ESV Study Bible is breathtaking." ~John Piper

"I can't imagine a greater gift to the body of Christ." ~C.J. Mahaney

"A new standard in excellence... As a pastor it's my goal to get one into the hands of every member of my church." ~Joshua Harris

"Outstanding! The ESV Study Bible is a treasure - a beautiful volume, filled with a wealth of resources!" ~Jerry Bridges

Every ticket is $2. Hear that? This "breathtaking" Bible could be yours for only $2! Or, you can get six entries for ten dollars... or twelve entries for twenty dollars... or eighteen entries for thirty dollars... on and on.  In addition, you can get a FREE entry when you share on Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, whatever. BUT you need to buy at least one ticket for you to get this free entry.  To purchase a raffle ticket, you can use the PayPal button below (email me at a.broaddus@hotmail.com for alternative ways to donate if PayPal doesn't work for you). But please remember to comment on this blog saying how much money you donated and if you shared this blog post. 

The raffle will last from today (March 25th) until Monday, April 8. Let's help Miss A come home to her family soon! 

Also, please remember to visit Miss A's family's blog and remember to comment on their posts for encouragement! And one last thing - PRAY PRAY PRAY your hearts out that God will pave the way for Miss A and her family to be together soon! She has waited so long, I wish that she didn't have to wait another day! Thank you all!

Would you please help me get home? I am praying that my family will come for me!

Will you please help my friend come home to her forever family? She has been waiting so long. I know that she would be so grateful if you would!

Spokane Orphan Summit

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to speak about orphan care at any age at the Spokane Orphan Summit. I felt so humbled when I was asked to be on a panel to discuss how I've helped with orphan care. 

My mom and I had a great day spending time with other adoptive parents and even adoptees. We left with some very valuable information. Plus, we got some good books for little price!

We even received the ones below for free!

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has adopted, is considering adopting, knows someone who has adopted, or just wants to figure out what God's will for their life is. It not only addresses the orphan and widow crisis, but a hundred other things applicable to all Christians today.

At lunch, we sat at the table for international adoptions with South America. We waited and waited, but there was no one else out of two hundred and fifty people that had adopted from South America (unless they were sitting at a different table for some reason). Finally some missionaries to China who also have one (almost two!) Chinese daughters came and sat with us. Just the fellowship with other adoptive families was so valuable. It reminds us that we're not alone!

There were many booths representing different agencies for international, open, and foster adoptions. I have a whole bag full of brochures. One of the most powerful brochure I got was from Lifeline Children's Services. From it I found out that less than 1/10 of 1% of orphans will ever be adopted. Did you know that every 2.2 seconds (38,000 every day) are released from orphanages with no place to go, no family to help them, little education, and with barely any money? And about 75% will be involved in prostitution and trafficking for money just to survive, imprisoned, or dead within two years after being released. Most of these girls and boys are age sixteen when released from state care - my age. I can not imagine what they have to go through.
What I realized most after the conference was that I need to be more involved in care for the orphaned, widowed, poor, and oppressed. Right now I'm praying for what the next step may be.

While I was gone, guess who lost a tooth! I was so sad to miss it - it was her first tooth she lost since being home! She didn't want to put it under her pillow - even if she received a surprise in the morning. I think she was terrified of the thought of a strange fairy coming in and crawling under her pillow at night - silly girl. 

Guess What!

Do you remember my post about Miss A? The one about a special little girl that I was pleading with you to pray for? The girl who herself prays for a family? Guess what! She has a family coming for her! I met one of Miss A's future big sisters while I was in Ecuador on one of the days I was volunteering at Sofia's former home. I had no idea that she was to be Miss A's big sister! I am so very happy for Miss A and her wonderful family. But can I ask something of all of you? Will you please PLEASE pray for this family and consider donating to their fund? They are stepping out in faith and would much appreciate it! You can follow their journey on their blog here. (If you can't access it through the link, go to www.godoftheimpossible.blogspot.com.) They also have a place to donate if God puts it on your heart to do so.

Last weekend, Jenna, Alison, and Jamie took a short trip to DisneyLand for 4 1/2 days. They had a lot of fun together. Jenna wore her Cat and the Hat costume in the airport (because they left on Dr. Seuss's day) and was quite thrilled with all the attention she got :)

Yesterday Sofia and I went outside and had a photo shoot. I took so many cute pictures of her! During the first month or so with her, she would never pose for photos and you had to take the picture quickly in order to catch her smiling. Look at her now! Posing, smiling, and waiting!

Don't you love her smile?

How is it possible to love someone this much?

Look at her pose! 

How is it possible to love someone so much after only being with them for three months? It feels like we've been together forever. It's definitely a God-given bond :)

Today (Saturday) Sofia, Jenna, and I went on a picnic in the woods while Alison was at her basketball game. We packed peanut-butter sandwiches (Sofia's favorite), applesauce, clementines, cheese-sticks, chips, and lemonade.

It was a really sunny-day here (nevertheless still only 39 degrees), so Jenna was persistent on wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts. I tried to convince her to wear jeans and a jacket, but she assured me that she would be fine. So I just told her that she couldn't complain if she got cold. Later she admitted that she got a little cold :)

Jenna is such a good big sister :)

Keely wanted to join in on our picnic :) 

Update on Sofie's school... The first school we tried didn't work out :(. But they got her into the developmental preschool here two days a week for a couple hours. She starts her first day on Tuesday! She will also go to preschool at a wonderful school the other three days. This school is forty minutes from our house, so driving there three days a week will be a sacrifice, but they have all the services that are so important for Sofia. We are really excited about it! Her first day at that school is not this Monday but the next. Thank you for your prayers!