Two day total...

The boys have a little message:

We can't thank you enough for your love and support! Thank you! Thank you!

 As Trenner says, Please Please keep sharing! {just don't pick your nose while doing it!}

And don't forget. For every donation you give and every way you share, come back to this post and leave a comment so you can be entered into our give away!

Until Edna's home,

So who's ready for a give away?!?

I knew you would be! Okay, first up. Here's what you could get!

Be the Change bracelet made by Brenda of The paper-roSe.

VictoriaGean Mug Cozy made by yours truely {mug is not included. sorry!}

Beautiful 8x10 print. Remember when my friend Jade was selling them for me?

Here's how it works. Go to Give1Save1Europe, watch the sweet sweet video our ever so talented friend, Liz, made for us. Click the donate button at the bottom. Donate $1 {or however much you feel led to donate}. Then, come back here and leave me a comment telling me you donated. Easy Peasy, right? Wanna earn an extra entry? Share our story. Blog it, tweet it, facebook it, instagram it, pin it. Whatever you can do. Come back and leave me an ADDITIONAL comment telling me you shared and there you go. Did you donate yesterday? Don't worry! I'm not gonna leave you out! Just comment and let me know you donated yesterday! Sunday, March 3rd I will use Random.org to pick our winner. 

You guys. $1 is such a huge blessing. Just imagine if you gave $1, then challenged 10 of your friends to give $1. Then they challenged 10 of their friends to give $1. So on, and so on. Do you see how that could add up?!? Do you see how that could get us one huge step closer to bringing Edna pie home? We thank you, thank you, thank you in advance for being apart of our story.for allowing God to use your gift and multiply it.for loving our peanut right along with us. 

Until Edna's home,

Mark 6:38-44

“How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”

When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

' Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. '

Give away....

Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen, for the total of our day one on Give1Save1Europe....To sweeten the pot a little, we're also going to do a little give away of sorts. I mean, really, who doesn't love a give away?!? So, come on in a bit......

in awe.

Only this song can explain my heart today. 

"take this life laid down and be glorified." 

And we're up!

Today's the day! Eeeek! Can you believe it!?! We are being featured on Give1Save1Europe {just click and it'll take you directly to the give1 website}! You guys, this is just amazing! We are the FIRST family featured on the Europe page. Talk about blessed! We've prayed and prayed about support for this adoption. Going into it, Trey and I prayed together, giving it all up to God knowing we could NOT do anything, move forward in any way without Him! He has provided so so much, moved so many mountains, and now He's giving you a chance to help do His work! Ahhhmazing. So would you? Would you pray about supporting us $1 at a time? Would you, please, please, pray about supporting us by spreading the word? Sharing our story? We KNOW God can do all of this on His own, but we also know He loves to use His children to do His good works. We know being featured on Give1Save1 is a straight up blessing only from Him. So hop on over here, watch the sweet video Liz made for us, and praise Jesus with us! We are in awe, full of thanks, and stoked to see what He has planned!

Until Edna's home,

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

Lessons from a 7 year old.....

Meet Cody:

Sweet Cody had his 7th birthday earlier this year. I was contacted by his mom because Cody wanted to do something a little different this year for his birthday. Cody wanted to forego birthday presents for himself, and instead ask for monetary donations to go toward our precious Edna's adoption. I was blown away. Seriously, could not wrap my brain around a 7 year old asking for NO gift for himself. Instead, wanting to bless someone else. Amazing. He had a goal of raising $100. A pretty tall order, if you ask me! We told him we would be thankful for $5; his thoughtfulness and heart were more than enough. Cody had a dream, but God had a bigger dream. A mother of one of Cody's friends contacted our local newspaper about what Cody wanted to do. Word spread. Big things happened. A man at one of our local banks offered to match Cody's $100 if he raised it. Cody did, then the man doubled his match! Amazing. Cody had a birthday party. At his party he had a money tree. All he asked was that people who came would add to the tree. He asked for NO gifts for himself! {i seriously CANNOT get over that!} When Trenner heard what Cody was doing, he was pretty amazed, too! He said we HAD to go get Cody SOMETHING for his birthday....{which, of course, ended up being LEGOS!} Cody collected all the money donated, we wrapped his gifts, and met with him at Hodson's Market on February 16th. We were so happy to meet with him. To tell him thank you face to face. To hug his mom and tell her what an extraordinary boy she is raising.

Notice the makeshift "Edna's Tree of Life" in the background? Getting very very full! We are so so thankful an d cannot wait to move those leaves to the tree in her room!

Ya'll, I was blown away when he handed us all the money he raised! This sweet 7 year old boy with a dream of blessing us with $100, handed us $360! We had already received the $200 that the sweet man at the bank donated, so that brought the total Cody raised to $560! It's amazing how God can turn something so sweet, meaningful, and selfless into something so big! We felt, without a doubt, that we in return needed to use some of this money to bless 2 other families in the midst of adopting right now. 

First, we were able to donate to the Schmidt Family. They are in the process of adopting 2 sweet ones from Ethiopia. Unfortunately, just like us, the Schmidts are no stranger to loss. The Lord is helping them turn their pain and sorrow into something beautiful. The redemption of 2 sweet children. Isn't he great?

The other family we have been super stoked to help is the Brink Family. The Brinks adopted their stud muffin of a son, Jackson, from the same orphanage our Solomon was from. I got to love on her boy while I was there meeting Solo for the first time. She was able to love on my boy while Trey and I were home waiting for our court date. I have never actually met either Brinks, but am happy and blessed to call them friends! They are in the midst of adopting a sweet sweet girl from Uganda. I cannot wait to see pictures of Jackson with his sister! {you can go see their little family story HERE}

{I know these two families would love prayer and support as well! So, please, feel free go on and send 'em some love!}

I am so thankful for Cody and his heart. I'm thankful he's been able to remind all of us what it truly means to be selfless. I pray we can all be a little more like him every day.....

xo, 

Reason to dance.

Why are my boys dancing?!? 

Well, ladies and gents, our family has been chosen to be the FIRST family featured on Give1Save1 Europe!! We are uber excited! We will be featured on Monday, February 25th and they will feature us for that whole week. On the 25th, you can go here and see the adoption/family video my sweet friend, Liz, put together for us. {ummm, she's pretty much magical behind the lens. You DON'T want to miss it!} Give1Save1 is an outstanding blog that features and advocates for families that are adopting. You can read more about them in my post below.... 

So, skip out on your polar pop for the day, get your dollar handy, and prepare to spread the word anyway you can think of! $1 goes a long way when you multiply it by the hundreds you can share it with every day. The Lord has blessed us with such an amazing opportunity and we are so so thankful! We're so thankful for any and all ways that you are or have been coming along side us. Simply by praying, telling our story, or donating. Thank you doesn't even begin touch our gratitude to you all!

xo,

"Come to Me with all your weaknesses: physical, emotional, and spiritual. Rest in the comfort of My Presence, remembering that nothing is impossible with Me. 

     Pry your mind away from your problems so you can focus your attention on Me. Recall that I am able to do immeasurably more than all you ask or imagine. Instead of trying to direct Me to do this and that, seek to attune yourself to what I am already doing. 

     When anxiety attempts to wedge its way into your thoughts, remind yourself that I am your Shepherd. The bottom line is that I am taking car of you; therefore, you needn't be afraid of anything. Rather than trying to maintain control over your life, abandon yourself to My will. Though this may feel frightening-even dangerous, the safest place to be is in My will." -

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

xo- 

Give1Save1

Ever heard of Give1Save1? It's a super awesome blog that advocates for adopting families. Every Monday they highlight a new family. Each family makes a video for you to watch. If you feel led, then they ask you to donate $1. That's it. Just $1. That's your polar pop for the day. Or that candy bar you have for your afternoon snack. Or 1/5 of your daily Starbucks. Your $1 goes a long way. Once you've donated, start sharing away! Blog, Facebook, tweet, instagram, or pin and spread the word about Give1Save1. Just think. Your dollar. mulitplied by hundreds of people who hear about your dollar. Those hundreds of people feel like 'Really, how can I NOT give just $1', so they donate and spread the word. Which means hundreds of people donate $1 and God turns that $1 into hundreds of $1s. And a family is hundreds of dollars closer to their sweet pea. God can take so little and turn it into so much. Isn't He awesome? So, hop on over to Give1Save1, grab some tissues {cause these video's will rock your socks off!} and get your $1 ready! And know your are giving $1 to save 1!

xo-

My heart and I

My heart and I are not friends today. Burdened and heavy. Thankful and anxious. Longing and overwhelmed. Two years ago this month, I lost our baby. Our third baby lost in a year and a half. so loved and cherished, lost too soon. Last year this month, we welcomed our big eyed, gap toothed, brown skinned, chubba cup into our family. He has brought joy and laughter. Frustration and redemption. and a whole lotta sweet! This year, I long to hold my blonde-headed, sweeter than punkin pie, baby girl. My heart is confused. As am I. So much heartbreak, so much joy. Seeing how far we've come, seeing how far we have to go. I feel split in two. I'm afraid this longing will never go away. Longing for all the 153,000,000 orphans. Longing for my sweet babies I won't meet until heaven. The heaviness is there everyday. Thankfully, less noticeable most days. But always lingering. always there. The joy is there everyday. He teaches me how to find it. He opens my heart to accept it. More noticeable some days, trying to make it noticeable everyday. Today is a day my heart has trouble accepting it. So, I must work harder at it. Maybe we'll be friends tomorrow.

In honor of Edna

We invite you to come be apart of a tea luncheon fundraiser in honor of our sweet Edna.

So, dust off your fancy white gloves, darling garden hat, and fancy Sunday dress and join us!

{Ticket prices are $20 for adult and $12 for child}

   If you are interested in having a fancy, fun, relaxing day with us and would like to purchase a ticket, please contact myself at bvboswell@ hotmail.com or Brenda Romine at bdr314@yahoo.com. We will serve tea, a light tea brunch and have a delectable sweet station. We have some pretty outstanding items for the Silent Auction, as well. You really won't want to miss it!

until Edna is home,


A huge thank you to Roseburg Event Center! They are being so gracious and we are so blessed to have them come along side of us for this fundraiser.