Hoping to Grow Our Family!

About a week ago I asked for prayer concerning a big decision Derrick & I needed to make. Thank you so much for lifting us up as we worked through some things. Now is the time that we are ready to share about the decision we were working on.

Several months ago a friend shared with me that her family was in the process of adopting a little girl. She gave me the website so I could see the little girl they are working to adopt. Listed on the site were many other kids with different special needs from all over the world. And that's where the "trouble" started. I fell in love with 2 little girls, both almost 5 years old & both coming available for adoption in late 2014. I talked to Derrick about it & we decided to pray about what God wanted us to do. As we were praying about the girls, I kept checking their pages on the website. One afternoon I got a notification...one little girl had a family committed to adopt her. To me, that was the answer. I all of the sudden felt very strongly that we needed to adopt the other little girl. I talked to Derrick & he agreed with me. We feel like we can offer this sweet girl something she has never had...a loving family.

Right now there are a few major needs to make this happen:

1. We need prayer! We know that if God wants this to happen, it will happen. Continue to pray with us, please.
2. We need insurance that will cover her as soon as the adoption is final. No one can probably help with this (if you can or know how, let me know!), so we would appreciate your prayers for this situation. Again, if God wants us to have her, this detail will work out. 
3. We need MONEY! International adoptions are expensive! In total, this adoption will cost around $25,000. That sounds huge, and it is, but again, we are trusting God to come through.

So here's the deal: I can't say much about this little girl until we are actually committed to her. And while we have a lot of love to share, we don't have the large amount of money needed to actually adopt her. To start the process, we need $5,000. We have about $1000 saved right now. We will be doing fundraisers as time goes on, but right now to bring in extra funds for the adoption, we have several things going on.

• I am making & selling crocheted hats. I currently can make Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($15 each), penguins, yellow minions, Minnie Mouse, & Mickey Mouse (all $20 each). I custom make all of them & am willing to try to make different hats if you have any ideas! I am also willing to make other crocheted items if I have the knowledge & abilities to do so!
• We are selling several items, including a stroller/carseat/base combo & some Avon I have left over from when I sold it. I am doing some babysitting, & Derrick is willing to do tech support/computer work for a donation to our adoption fund. 
• I am looking into taking items to a flea market to clear out some space & to earn some money. We will also be participating in our church's yard sale in September. 
• We are brainstorming other fundraiser ideas. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. 
• We are accepting donations. We don't like asking for money, but we know we can't do this alone! Donations can be sent through PayPal to djsindt@gmail.com (select friends/family in order to save us the PayPal fees!) or cash & checks would also be gratefully & thankfully accepted. If you would be able to donate, please send Derrick or I a message on facebook, an email, a text message, or give us a call. 

Once we are able to pay the upfront fees & are officially committed to this little girl, I will be able to share her picture. I can't wait to be able to show her to you! Please help us as we move forward to add this sweet girl to our family!