We are blessed!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!! 

This post has been a long time coming!!!! There has been a lot happen since the last time I posted. 

We all started back to school and Football Season began. Shortly after school started back, we sold mums again to raise $ for the adoption. Once again everyone supported us beyond measure. God has always blessed any fundraiser that we have done for this adoption. Thank you for all your help! While selling mums, I met Michelle Foweler who Ben used to teach with at Danville. She does photography now and I had been wanting Fall pictures done for a long time. She was willing to work around our football season schedule, so we got some done! :)

Then, in October we were blessed with a nephew, Raylin Roy Swofford. Isn't he adoreable?!

AND

We also were matched with a wonderful birth mother who is having a baby girl in January!!!!


                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 Since we found out that we were matched, we have been preparing her room, going through clothes, and going to some of the doctor appointments with the birth mother. 

Here are some pictures of her nursery:

          

          

         

       

We have enjoyed our time off for Christmas Break, but Monday we will all go back to school and soon Mia will be here!!!!! We are so excited!!!! Thank you for following us on this journey. God has been faithful!!!! We chose the name Mia Eliana because "Mia" means "wished for child" and "Eliana" means "God has answered" so we thought that fit her well. :)

Over Christmas break, we enjoyed a week up in Northwest Arkansas with my side of the family, went to Silver Dollar City, made gingerbread houses, played the Pie Face game, and even went to Andrew's favorite football player's wedding on Mt. Nebo. It's been a fun and busy 2 weeks!

                                                         

Please continue to keep our birth mother, Mia, and us in your prayers. I will keep you posted! She will be here soon!!!! 

The Waiting Game

Hi Friends!

Has it really been since late September that I posted last?! Wow! Things have been busy.



Well, since then we have been on the waiting list, showing our profile to opportunities that come available, and also trying to raise more money to go towards the adoption. We have been on the waiting list now for about 9 months, about the amount of time you have to wait to meet your child if you're pregnant. However, our baby isn't growing in my belly, but in our hearts. The wait is hard, but we are trusting in God's PERFECT timing. We went for a period of about 9 weeks without any opportunities to show our profile, but recently there were 3, unfortunately we were not chosen for any of those, but it just wasn't God's time I guess.

On a positive note, we found out that we received a grant for our adoption!!!!!! It was a little over a 1/3 of what we have left to pay. God is good!!!! We are currently working on filling out more grant paperwork and getting ready for our next BIG fundraiser...........

WE ARE SELLING FIREWORKS!!!!!!! 

We were given the opportunity to run a fireworks stand for Chris and Casandra Brewer. Our tent will be located behind the old KFC/Taco Bell in Atkins. There are 2 there, but we will be in the BIG white tent. It is the first tent you come to on that road. You would have to pass our tent to go to the other one beside us. We will be selling Sunday, June 28 - Saturday, July 4th, so come see us and please pass the word on to your friends!!!!!!!

Thank you for following us on this journey and please continue to keep us, our baby, and her birth mother in your prayers.

We hope to see you next week at our fireworks tent in Atkins!!!!!


Love,

Ben, Lacy, and Andrew

BIG NEWS!!!!

Hello friends! Since the last time I posted we had our home study, did a fundraiser, and officially got on the waiting list!!!! THANK YOU to all who supported our Mums Fundraiser and also all of the other fundraisers that we have done. You have truly blessed us! 

We have received 3 emails about potential birth mothers, but today we received our first baby girl email!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!! :) Please pray with us for the birth mother and the baby. They will show our profile to her this week and she is supposed to choose a family by October 10. We know that God has our baby girl somewhere, but only God knows if it is this one. So please just pray that God's will be done.

It is such an exciting time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have already began gathering important items and have been given TONS of baby girl goodies thanks to Jayme Wooten! :)

More to come soon!

Lacy

THE NEXT STEP!!!

Sorry it's been so long since I posted last, but now I have some more good news! As many of you know we just did a bake sale at Bargain's Galore at our church for 3 days. Thanks to all of our friends and family who contributed baked goods, water, donations, and prayers we were able to raise about $700!!!! Thank you soooooooooo much!!!! God has blessed us! We are on our way to making our goal of what we need to raise to be on the waiting list. We would like to raise about $1,000 more towards our adoption.

Previously when I posted I had sent off our paperwork. The good news is that our file has been completed and passed onto the adoption specialist!!! This means that we are ready for the home study part of the process. Next week, August 21 at 9 a.m., Ben and I have a joint interview with the adoption specialist!!!!!!!!! She will interview us at their office in Little Rock for about 1.5 hrs. Once this interview is completed then we will schedule the last part of the home study where she comes to our house. After both of these interviews are completed and approved we can get on the waiting list!!! So as soon as 1-2 months we could be on the waiting list for our little girl! :) I can't hardly believe it!

Please continue to pray for us, our little girl, and her birth mother and THANK YOU for all you have done for us already. :)

Lacy

Ready to mail!!!

Well, after about a month and a half of filling out paper work and getting all the necessary documents ready, we are ready to mail in the formal application!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The next step is the home study and then the waiting list!!!! I am so relieved that the application will go in the mail tomorrow! It is finished!!! Praise the Lord!!! :)

 It has been a long day, so goodnight friends!


Lacy

Our Little Cupcake

Well friends, you did it!!! With all of our friends and family's help through buying, donating, and getting the word out; we made the goal. We actually went over it! We hoped to get at least 150 items sold in order to get free shipping, but we sold 158 items!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! This fundraiser alone through donations and items bought we raised  $1,057.50 (enough to pay for the rest of the home study and $200 more towards the next $3,000 chunk.) 

 PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!

We only need to save/raise $2,800 more before we can be put on the waiting list!!! I have been trying to think of some more fundraisers and what I can do personally to raise money for the adoption. As I was laying in bed this morning, I believe the Lord gave me this idea:

All of the proceeds from my cupcake bouquets are going to go straight into the adoption fund. This one was for my niece's 3rd birthday. They are great for birthdays, anniversaries, Mother's Day, Graduation, baby showers, etc. The bouquets are $55 and I can do any flavor/color combination you would like. There are 19 cupcakes on the bouquet, so if you needed a few more that would just be a few dollars extra. If you would like to place an order for one, just email me on Facebook or leave a comment on here.

We are currently working on getting our "Formal Application" completed so that we can move on to the Home Study. Once the Home Study is completed and approved and we have paid the $3,000, we will be put on the waiting list! So that is where we are currently. We are so excited and know that God has perfect timing. He already knows who our little cupcake is and you are helping us make it happen. Thank you so much!

 

Information Meeting/First Fundraiser!!!!!

Good news!!!! We finally got to go to our information meeting about adoption! It was very informative and we also got to hear from a birth mom that placed her baby up for adoption last Fall. I really enjoyed hearing her side of the story. Hearing her side of the story opened my heart up more to a semi-open adoption. We are so excited to more forward in the process.

In addition to going to the information meeting today, I also signed up for a flower bulb fundraiser. I was excited to find this fundraiser. It is such a different fundraiser than the normal candy bars, etc. When I looked at the brochure and saw the products and the prices, I knew that it would be a great fundraiser. We will make 50%. We really need to sell 150 items or more. If we sell at least 150 items then we get free shipping. Otherwise it will be $65 just for them to ship the items to us. The products range from $6-$26 and there are a wide variety of products. The products are also guaranteed. I wish I had a tree in my front yard just so I could order a tree ring kit. :)

Here is a link to the brochure:  http://www.easy-fundraising-ideas.com/downloads/fundraising-flower-bulbs.pdf

If you find something you like just find me or Ben at church or school or email me on facebook. We will be taking orders for 2 weeks until March 28. I will keep you updated on how many items we have sold. :)

Thank you in advance for your help and for just following our journey. We are so blessed!

Ben and Lacy