An Army of Families (Prayers for Many)

If there was one thing taking months off of blogging did, it was give me a boatload of new families in the adoption process to advocate for when I finally made the time for it again. At this point, most of the families  I meet I either met through other adoptive families who are or have gone through the process, or it's families who have adopted before adopting again! :D So without further ado, let's start down the loooooooong list of families who have stepped out in faith to answer the Call of God found in James 1:27, Proverbs 31:8, and so many other verses in Scripture.

First up is the Ochs Family, who you'll recognize if you read my account of my trip to Texas. Marj and Ryan (Mr. and Mrs. Ochs) are a fantastic couple with two great little kiddos, Colvin and Georgia, and are in the process for Elvira from Reece's Rainbow. They are standing before a judge to petition for Ella to be theirs RIGHT NOW, so PRAY PRAY PRAY if you read this before Thursday Morning! Continue to keep them in your prayers over the next month too, as they wait out their 30-day waiting period and head back to Eastern Europe one last time to finally bring Ella home. The link to their blog is here. 

Next is the Burman Family, also a family from the RR community I got to meet whilst in Texas and who I now love to pieces! Few of you who have been in the Reece's Rainbow community over the last year will forget two HUGE stories that went viral amongst us- Carrington, a 10-pound 4 year old literally on death's door when the Burman's brought her home, and the other story being that of Pleven, one of Bulgaria's Orphanage facilities and the horrid conditions that were found there- 10-pound, 2-year-old sized 12-year-olds, etc. Having gotten to meet Shelly, Carrington, and the entire Burman Bunch, I can tell you they really are an amazing family and that Carrington is a living miracle, having gone from death's door to a happy, smiley, raspberry-blowing little lovey. It's no secret that the Burman's have brought home and saved 5 kids in all from Eastern Europe, along with having their two biological kids Madelaine and Ethan. Earlier this year, Shelly and Brian (Mr. Burman) felt called to bring home two boys from Pleven- Teagan (4 years old) and Kelten (12 years old). Shelly and Maddie have already embarked on their first trip (with the awesome Sousa-Brown Family), and are now anxiously awaiting a court date. In the mean time, they are holding an Etsy fundraiser with their friend Joy selling "Carrignton Necklaces" (necklaces originally sold to raise funds for Carrington) for the boys! You can get them in 4 different styles, and hey, a gorgeous necklace that reminds you of an amazing family with an amazing call, helping them ACHIEVE that call, is pretty awesome in my eyes ;) their blog link for Kelten and Teagan is HERE and the fundraiser link is HERE. Make sure in the message space to say what style you want and which family you want the proceeds to go to!

The next Family I want to re-introduce to you is the Rogers Family, who you may remember I mentioned in a few posts like this where I advocated for multiple families who have supported us and we support in return! At the time that  I was advocating for them, they were bringing home two sweet peas, Oscar and Christine, now Clare and Malachi. Needless to say, these two have blossomed.

Now, the Rogers are going back for two older children! Bernadette (a 16 year old with Down Syndrome who will be re-named Jessica) and Mason (9 yrs old, DS)!

Their blog is HERE, and, as luck would have it, they're doing a Carrington Necklace fundraiser too! So following the link above in the Burman's section, if you say you'd like the money to go to the Rogers family, it'll go to their Family Sponsorship Page! Or maybe buy one for you and one for a friend and give each family some love ;)

The next family is the Lindquist family adopting Ethan, who we've mentioned multiple times as they are huge supporters of ours and are reaching the end of their process! Please keep them in prayer as they do one last garage sale and get ready to travel to BRING ETHAN HOME!!!!! Their blog is HERE. You can find their FSP in our "Children we are Praying Home" page, as on top of their estimated garage sale profits they need 2400 extra $$$.

Next up is the Whiteaker Family, another long-time supporter and friends of ours! They are waiting for travel dates to finally pick up Mr. Danny/Colton, but are also awaiting the arrival of their first BABY!!!!! Looks like Colton's gonna be a big brother a little while after he gets home! :) Their blog is HERE.Please continue to pray for them as they prepare now for not one, but TWO little boys!!!!

Next is another family we've mentioned before- the Anderson family, adopting two little girls (outside Reece's Rainbow) from South America! Right now our compatriots over at Rainbow of Hope/4Girls4Christ are running a fundraiser to help this family with the funds they will need to hopefully  travel in the next few months!!! The link to the Anderson's blog is HERE and the 4G4C fundraiser is HERE. Just for clarity, the Faith Trust and Pixie Dust chip-in is the one for the Anderson's ;)

Next is the Schwenzer Family, who adopted Julia and Aaron from my sister Julia's orphanage shortly after we brought our Julia home! They are going back for Marina, also from the Orphanage that my Julia, their Julia, and Aaron are from! Please, as with all of these families, keep them in your prayers. I had the chance to meet them this January (along with reuniting with the Hinzes), and I so hope I can see them again once Marina's home! Their blog is HERE.

The next family that I'd like to introduce for the first time is the Breen Family, who I met up at Pathfinders/Cooperstown this summer at the RR Reunion! Missy and Bill adopted Vlado about a year ago, and are now traveling back to get another little boy! Feel free to follow their blog and keep them in your prayers!!!!!

From Left to Right- Andrea Roberts (!!!), Missy (Mrs. Breen) and Vlado, Bill (Mr. Breen)

We now have three families to round out this post: two new, one of whom has made multiple appearances on the blog .

First of the new three are the Jenks Family, adopting Sydney and Lucien from the same region as the Schwenzers! The Jenks family currently have 4 children and are so beyond excited to bring home these two adorable children! Right now, though, less than a month from possibly travelling, they are TEN GRAND short. Thus, time is short to help them raise a titanic sum of money. But God has done great things for those families in adoption processes before, He can do it again! If you go HERE and purchase one of these pendants (meant to be Mother's Day gifts) and mention the Jenks family in your order, 50% of the proceeds will go towards their adoption!

The other new family I'd like to introduce is the Shpak family, adopting Shannon from Reece's Rainbow! I can't even begin to articulate the strength this family has and the amount of callings they are following selflessly at once, so I'm merely going to state the fact that they're AMAZING, and then link the blog for their adoption of Shannon HERE (Mr. Shpak has just met her, TOTAL cutie)  and their domestic adoption process of a little boy named Ethan, a process which has asked for so much time, energy and faith, all of which the Shpak's have kept and are keeping. Keep this family safe, Father as they continue to walk with you, in their own words, "knee-deep in adoption!"

Finally, we are continuing to plug our beloved Spitz family in their fundraising for Lyla. The stakes have been upped, however, members of the family and friends have started taking challenges to raise money faster. The Basile family kicked it off with Mrs. Basile taking a pie to the face when they raised 10 grand, then the Spitzes took it into their own field when Dave (Mr. Spitz) got a stylish mohawk and makeup treatment ala the littles (quite the artistic piece if you ask me) and now- well, Conor and Nick (the big bros of the bunch) have agreed to dress in teenage girl apparel once the fund hits 12K. Good grief- talk about LOVE! Needless to say, all 3 Spitz men will be getting medals of honor from yours truly when I hopefully see them this summer. If not, well, there's always the postal service ;) Their fundraising continues to rise to titanic proportions at the blog linked HERE. They are also frantically raising the money needed to finish their dossier so they can send it out to USCIS and become one step closer to going to GET LYLA! You can see that over HERE.

Well, that just about wraps it for this group of families! We are, as always, praying for them hard and anxiously awaiting all of them to be home with their beautiful children! In the mean time, please continue to pray for our precious Russ and Ilya, and that THEY can be in one of these posts soon!