Cornhole Tourney and Adoption Fundraiser

Yesterday morning was a bit rough with my sweet middle boy. He was overly tired which made him angry and unkind words were spoken from his mouth. But he is a loving boy and a loved boy. And even though this was the hardest morning he has had in a very long time, it is a good day and we are rejoicing at the Craighead home. 

On Sunday, we had our first adoption fundraiser to help bring our daughter home from Ethiopia. We decided to do a corn hole tournament which also included a BBQ and Bake Sale. The fundraiser was a success and we are just overwhelmed with the amount of support we have received from our friends and family! God is good! We weren’t sure if this was going to be a great idea for a fundraiser but it seems that a wonderful time was had by all. And now we are selling corn hole boards, also to help fundraise. We already have a list of orders and most of the boards we made for the tournament sold as well, yay!

We could not have done it with out our family, who were a huge help! They came early and helped set-up. They made sure food was ready to go, baked goods were replenished and donation jars were emptied. They brought over their mini-horse and mini-donkey for the kiddos to dress up. Our friends made the yummiest baked goods and provided side dishes for our BBQ. Even though I had my normal anxiety, worrying that everyone was “good” and didn’t need anything, that they knew where to get a drink or find the bathroom, I was repeatedly reassured that everything was great. I am so, so, thankful. Best of all, they came, people showed up once again - in all different ways - just as they always do.

We are praising God today (and every day) for His answer to prayer regarding our fundraiser! And we are praying for a good night’s sleep and better mornings to come.

You can find a link to our fundraiser page to the right.

Happy Birthday to Me

On August 29th, the day after my birthday, I received the best birthday present of my life! We were shocked to receive a referral for a 7 month old baby girl. We are madly, madly in love with her and cannot wait to get her home!!! Eeek!!!! How do we speed up the process?!! We know we cannot and that only God can, so we are praying that the time goes quickly and perhaps moves at lightning speed!

Ben called me on Friday morning, he had gone into work that day. He said to me, “ I just spoke with our caseworker. “ She normally calls my cell phone so I didn’t think much of it. Perhaps he had called her with questions about our paperwork. So I was like, “Yeah, ok. What did she say?” He said, “Guess what. We have a referral…for a baby girl. She is 7 months old.” I could hear the excitement and shock in his voice and at that moment, the butterflies in my stomach were flying non-stop and I could not stop grinning. My face lit up with extreme excitement! He told me that photos were on there way shortly. I opened up my email and was giddy like a little girl!!! I could not contain myself and in seconds, our 3 boys were by my side looking at photos of their little sister. They too were very excited and couldn’t believe it, asking “Is that our referral? Is that our sister?” I told them yes and they didn’t stop oohing and ahhing over her beauty and cuteness. Ben was looking at the photos with us, from his office. He was overwhelmed and I could hear it in his voice. He couldn’t stop saying how beautiful she is. And she is, the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.

We received the complete referral later that day, containing social and medical history. We then met, on the phone, with a pediatrician who only does adoption medicine. She was amazing and confirmed our daughters good health and measurements. We didn’t think it could get better than that first day, but this really topped it off, we were just so thankful. Her good health makes us feel so much more at ease about the time she will spend in Ethiopia before we get to meet her and bring her home.

So that’s it!!! We have a referral!!! And she’s a baby!!! We were open to 0-5 years old and never expecting we would be having a BABY!!! We are overjoyed!