31 for 21 - Day 20

So I missed a few days due to being busy, sick, and tired. But, I'm back on track and will finish strong!

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Before I get to today's two kids, I want to share about the craft sale Rachel and I did yesterday!

It was a large indoor (yay!) sale at a local school. One of those big ones you have to pay to get into. After a rough start with set up, we did so well, and ended the day with record sales!! We raised $374!! An all time sale record! God is soo good!!

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This is beautiful Lanaya! She is 3 years old, has Down syndrome, a heart condition, and described as sweet and friendly.

She loves music, gets along well with other children, and plays with toys appropiately. She doesn't have any words or feed herself yet, but she can stand holding onto something.

She sounds like a sweet love bug who would do great in a family!!

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And this is Aisha. Another beautiful girl with a beautiful name. But she is stuck in Russia, because of the adoption ban.

Please pray for her!

31 for 21 - Craft Sale!

In my blogging hiatus over the summer, Rachel and I did several craft sales.

We had a tent in our town's yearly celebration festival thingy on July 20/21. It was two LONG hot days, but we made $252!!

Yes, that's Rebekah going under that table... this was the best picture we got.

Then we did the Farmer's Market twice. We made $219 on 7/29, because it was the end of July, but very chilly (we were wearing jeans and sweatshirts and still cold), therefore people bought lots of hats and scarves. And on 8/17, we made $129, probably because it was a bit warmer!

{Can't find a picture, not sure we took one at either sale...}

On 9/14, we did participated in an Applefest sale, making $116!

And today, we participated in the Oktoberfest sale. It was from 9am-5pm (most sales are until 12pm or 1pm), so very long, and I wasn't feeling well, but it's over and we made $176!

Roughly half of this money is going to the Hebbe family to help them bring home their precious boys!

They passed court, so I can finally share these sweet faces!

And the other half, brings me to today's waiting orphan with Down syndrome! Maria!

Rachel and I raising money for this sweet girl with Handiwork for Maria. She has (soon-to-be) over $16,000 in her account! Yes, SIXTEEN GRAND! That's almost all of the costs for a family to adopt her!

You wouldn't have to do much fundraising to go her and she is such a happy, joyful spirit, just waiting for you to go get her. So what are you waiting for??

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And I would feature Lilly for the child stuck in Russia, but since I already did, here's a beautiful girl who is in the same region/place as Lilly and also has Down syndrome, a heart condition, and strabismus - Anastasia.

 She also got a new picture the same time as Lilly... doesn't she look great?!?

Look what God has done! | 3 years

This past week we celebrated my little brother's 6th birthday! Who is that little brother? Elijah, as in handiworkforElijah.

Which means Handiwork for Orphans has been open for 3 years! THREE YEARS!

And during that three years God has blessed this ministry more than I can believe, and we're not done growing! 

Let's recap:

• 3 years
• Founded in Sept 2010 to help bring my little brother home from Ukraine
• Added Rachel as the missing half of HFO in June 2011
• Hundreds of hats made and sold
• Hundreds of dishcloths and other items made and sold
• 25+ craft sales
• Several people inspired to start their own shops selling items to help orphans
• Hundreds of people made aware of our cause and the plight of the orphan
• Over $7000 raised (estimated)
• 16+ orphans helped to find their families and come home
• 6 of those have families working to get them!
• and 8 are HOME with their forever families!

God is SO good! And we are so grateful to Him, and to everyone who made this possible.

Here's to another 3 years, to more money raised, to more children helped, to more families completed, to more love made.

Dude wasn't cooperating for pictures....

Thank you Elijah! For getting this party started!

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Our current child we are raising money for is Maria.

Check all the fun stuff we have fore sale including our newest item - these infinity scarves!

Plus we have LOTS of new cute hats you probably haven't seen! (Find them here!)

3 Things: A Special Day!

Today... was awesome.

Reason 1, which isn't really a reason, is it's the 15th. And you probably know if you've been reading awhile that the 15th of the month is a special day to me. :)


Now for the other 3 things.

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Today started way too early, when half of us and Rachel left to go to a church over 2 hours away.

We went to see one of our favorite Ukrainians preach - MAX!

He wasn't able to get it in his schedule to come to our church this trip to the States, so we went to see him.

The church he was speaking at is the church our friend Alice pastors. Alice has known us for probably 8 years now, and she led the mission trip my dad and I went on to Ukraine to work with Max. She has been over to Ukraine 14 times to work with Max, and is a great friend of ours, even though we don't see her often enough!

After the service we got the special treatment and got to go out to lunch with Max and Alice! It was a great time to catch up with them, and just spend some time with them we never get to have.

So grateful we got to see them and grateful they took time to visit with us!

If you don't know who Max is, go read here about the last time he came. You are missing out if you don't know who he is and about his AH-mazing ministry! Visit his website HERE!
(Side note: While going back and reading that blog post to link it here, I realized I was wearing the same shirt I am today. Whoops.)

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The second thing.

One year ago today, on September 15th, Lyla Spitz came home!

It was actually after midnight on the 14th, but I count it as the 15th, because ya know, I like that day.

After the three hard but awesome weeks as I took care of Lyla's siblings, Dave and I headed to the airport in the middle of the night to for him to pick up his wife and bring his daughter home, and for me to finally meet the baby girl I had prayed for and blogged about hundreds of times.

It was emotional for sure. I couldn't believe she was actually HOME with her family and I got to witness it! I blogged about it here.

I've seen Lyla twice since then, and my oh my is she doing well!

Welcome home Beanbean! One year! You rocked it, now rock the next one!

*Visit her mama's blog to see how she's doing!

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Third.

Today, someone has a BIRTHDAY!

Maxim is 9 today!!

Max, not the one we went to visit today, but our other favorite Max, has been special to our family for a long time. But he waited and waited and waited for a family.

But then he found one, the Nance family, and I ended up taking care of Max's siblings too while his mama was gone. 3 weeks last December, and another 4 in January and February.

It was by far the hardest 7 weeks of my life. But so incredibly worth it.

Sick day, for me and the kids, and definitely was not the only one!

Because Max got to come home. When I held him for the first time and looked into his eyes... all the pain and hardship, all the sickness and struggle of the previous weeks faded away. Because he was worth it.

I would do it all over again to get him home.

Because today, for the first time in his LIFE, he got to spend his birthday with a FAMILY. Who loves him soo very much. He is learning and growing, and changing the world, because a family said yes, I will love you.

Happy Birthday Max-a-million!

*Visit his mama's blog to see how he's doing!

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What a day! Happy 15th to you all!!

Catch Up - Friends in Ohio

When I go somewhere out of state, I've been making it a habit to connect with old friends, new friends, and online friends. Because the adoption world is so spread out, it's hard to go anywhere without being able to do that.

Our trip to Ohio (see previous post), was no exception.

When I found out we were going, I wanted to go visit Sarah's quilt shop.

Sarah is a young lady who runs a quilt shop with her mom. She also happens to have Down syndrome. I've read her blog for a few years, and I was looking forward to meeting her!

After the GPS got us lost, we finally found the beautiful little quilt shop. We had fun chatting with Sarah and her mom and of course, shopping from all the beautiful fabric.

If you are ever going to be in Cleveland, I encourage to go check them out! Their website is here, and you can also read Sarah's blog here.

Oh, and Elijah was apparently tired of riding in the car because when we buckled him back in when we were leaving, he signing "May I please be excused?" Ha! Nice try buddy!

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And then came the surprise of the weekend. I had mentioned on Facebook that we got to Ohio, and Summer messaged me wanting to know where, because they wanted to come see us!

So, long story short, that awesome Spitz family packed up for a road trip and came to visit us at the hotel!

We swam, we ate, we talked, we played, and we had soo much fun!

When Summer and Dave were in Ukraine adopting Bellie, they met my mom, who was just about to bring Elijah home. I met them for the first time in DC last summer, and then again in September and May when I went to watch their kids. And that's it. So our families really haven't really met. Until they came to see us! :)

I'm so glad they finally got to meet, and I got to see my Spitz babies again, even if just for a few hours!

Thank you for coming Summer and Fam! ♥ you!