"Be A Voice"- fundraiser for Annie

"Be A Voice"

After reading about our sweet friend, Annie, and her newest treasure from China, one mother who was especially grateful for Annie's help rallied alongside me to raise support for Annie & Chris' adoption.

As it turns out, this same mother was the sweet friend that I spent time with in Guangzhou back in December when Colin and I traveled to Ch*na for Cameron.

Anyway...she and her husband sell adoption related jewelry and she has made an INCREDIBLY generous offer to our friend!

Tammy has offered to donate 100% of the

 *PURCHASE PRICE*

of all jewelry ordered by May 4th

to our friend, Annie!

That means she is donating not only her profits, but the cost of each piece as well. 

This is what Tom bought me for 

Mother's Day!

She has other great pieces as well...

There is something for everyone and many of the bracelets come in 6", 7" & 8" lengths.  How many of your daughters wouldn't love this adorable ladybug bracelet?

Please consider ordering one of these beautiful pieces for yourself or someone you love this Mother's Day. 100% of your purchase price is being donated to Annie & Chris as a thank you for the love that they have shown to so many, especially to Tammy and her family!

You can place your order HERE.

Thanks!

Angie

Calling all adoptive parents!

Calling all adoptive parents!

Time to close ranks for a dear friend who has finally found her child!

Ok, let me explain...

My dear friend, Annie Hamlin, is adopting again!  After waiting years for God's timing, Chris and Annie have found the little girl that the Lord wants them to bring home.

For years, Annie has been advocating for the least of these.  

For years, she has longed for another child, but waited on the Lord

 (and her husband! LOL)

 to be on board with that desire.

Well, that time is now!

Please check out Annie's story here!

There aren't a lot of people in the United States that do not know and adore Annie!

There are hundreds of families that owe a debt of gratitude to Annie for the way she has helped them with their adoptions.

Anyone who is a regular reader of this blog knows about Annie.  She was a huge resource for Tom and me when we were navigating Colin's adoption.  We knew NOTHING about adoption at that time and Annie and others reached out to us and spent a L.O.T. of time answering questions and offering encouragement.

Annie has spent thousands of hours over the last few years (for FREE) advocating, answering parent emails, returning phone calls...

all to help the helpless find their families!

Now, God has allowed the two of us to work alongside Lifeline to reach even more children in need.

It is my sincere prayer that we could come together as a very grateful family of adoptive parents (and believers!) and shower this family with a

flood of financial blessing!

  I would be overjoyed if we could stay one step ahead of each bill. 

 I am asking God for BIG THINGS here!  Can you help?

I want the adoptive community to rally around Annie and Chris and 

FUND THEIR ADOPTION!

As you look at your children today, (adopted or not), please think about how fortunate they are to have a family who loves them and prepares for their future.

Most of the children that Annie has helped to rescue can't thank her themselves, but we can all do that on their behalf!

Please pray for Annie and Chris as they move ahead with this adoption and

 DONATE

 as the Lord leads your heart.

You can find a link to donate to this adoption fund on Annie's homepage here.

Let's fill their adoption account before they even need it!  Go!!!

An Art Duel!

An Art Duel!

I had posted before about our newest addition, Cameron, having some serious, hidden (until recently) Artistic talents.

Here are some of his pieces...

Cameron's first drawing in America! Argh, matey!

Drawn from an alarm clock we have...

Copied free hand (no tracing)

Self-portrait done as a requirement for an Art audition

Clearly, this kid has some mad skillz!

Well, we were thrilled that a few weeks ago, we received a notice from the local county that Cameron had been accepted into the Gifted and Talented program for visual arts.  This will allow him to attend special summer camps for art as well as weekly classes throughout the school year.

Now, on to the DUEL part...

Our youngest son, Tommy, who has always enjoyed art, but never expressed a strong attachment to it, took an art class this year at his Homeschool co-op, H.E.L.P.

He has been learning a LOT of art history and seemed to be enjoying himself.

Well, this past week was the end of year art show.  This is what our little artist produced for the show...

Now, I have already admitted that visual arts is not a strength of mine, but anytime a child paints something that you can identify, well, I think that is awesome!

I could actually tell that this was flowers in a vase. 

Cool huh? 

So, of course, we praised Tommy's work and agreed to try to frame his masterpiece and hang it somewhere in the house.

Well, yesterday, after completing his school work, Cameron disappeared for awhile upstairs.  

After an hour or so, he descends the stairs with this...

It would appear that we have a little healthy competition brewing...

And two talented kiddos!  Can't wait to see what they bring in the coming year.

Lifeline Debuts in Charleston!

This was such an amazing week!  One week ago, I had the privilege of sharing with over 85 Charleston-ians about...

It was such a wonderful night!

Stephen and Laura Lewis, of 

Journey Together Ministries 

invited us to share about what Lifeline is doing around the world and that we are opening an office here in Charleston!

***If you have any connection at all to adoption and live in the Charleston area, you MUST get connected with this support group.  They have such a heart to help adoptive families!***

We welcomed over 85 people that evening who were gathering to hear about and support the work of Lifeline here in SC!

We were blessed to visit with area pastors,

 ministry leaders, 

adoptive families, 

and prospective adoptive families.

They gave me a mic..and away we went!

I was joined by our Executive Administrator, Daniel Taylor, as we shared about the mission and ministries of Lifeline.

The energy in that room was fantastic!

Everyone listened intently as we shared what God is doing in and through our ministry--here and abroad.

We shared about our Domestic and International Adoption programs.

We shared about our Foster Care Support Network in AL and our desire to bring this effort to SC someday soon.

We shared a great deal about our mission to the (un)adopted...

We shared about programs currently underway in Pakistan, Ethiopia and Liberia, just to name a few...  

You can click on the country below for more info on our partner organizations...

Pakistan

Ethiopia

Liberia

At the conclusion of our session, we had the honor of praying over the Lewis family 

who are now in Uganda completing the adoption of their new little boy!

Please join me in praying for Stephen and Laura as they will be in Uganda for the next 5 weeks.

~Angie~

Strawberries!

I know it has been a LONG time since my last post, so I am going to attempt to play catch-up this week.

Two weeks ago, we took a Saturday and drove the boys to their Grandmother's house for their first strawberry picking adventure.  Look at these BERRIES! YUM!

Here I am, "old lady hat" and all...with our two youngest.

We had a beautiful, cool and sunny day for picking.

Each boy got to pick a large container.

After we left the strawberry farm, we returned to Granny's for hotdogs and garden work.

Since my mom and Charlie live on a large farm, they sometimes need help keeping up with the gardens.

We had the opportunity to help get the nut grass out of the lettuce and other veggies.

We love having access to these fresh, organic veggies, so it was the least we could do.  You will note that we did not get too many shots of Tommy at work because, well, he was a less than eager participant.  He did pull some weeds, but there were more than his fair share of breaks in between.  LOL

Here I am clipping fresh lettuce to take home.

Colin did most of the raking and digging up of the larger weeds, while Cameron and I pulled them up.

 Once we got home, the boys learned how much work it is to cut up and freeze 5 large containers of berries... 

they ended up taking a break and finishing this job in two shifts. :-)

It was a fun day with Mom and Charlie and the boys seemed to enjoy getting dirty in the garden and being helpful.