We have started the process!!!!!!!!!

An anonymous donor has completed our adoption fund!!!!! Praise Jesus!  They have told us to go ahead and proceed that it has been taken care of!!!  So as of this week we have started the Homestudy process.  We are filling out all the paper work for our domestic adoption.  Please keep us in your prayers!  We are super excited and will continue to keep you guys updated!  Please remember us and pray for us...we still have to purchase all the things that go along with a new baby...so pray that the funds come in :)  Thanks so much to everyone who has prayed for us and to those who have donated! 

Much Love,

Kristin

Spread a little Christmas Joy :)

Help us give an orphan a home!!!!!  I am looking for 2,500 people to donate only $10 to our adoption fund!  Come on people...$10.  That's less than most of you spend in a day on junk food and magazines!  We are really ready to bring our baby home and are tired of just waiting around for the money to magically appear.  We are going to adopt.  We are going to bring home one of God's children that needs a home! 

James 1:27  

Much Love and God Bless!
Kristin Thomas

Agency news...

Well I have some crappy news.  Covenant Care isn't accepting out of state applications right now.  So now...we are looking for another agency.  I have to start researching them again.  The good news is that Jessica Johnson of Forever Family Adoptions in Franklin KY is helping me find possible agencies!  She is Amazing.  I am so blessed to have her helping us in this journey!  If you are thinking about adopting and looking for someone to do your homestudy, Jessica is awesome.  She is truly living out God's will for her life.  She is a true advocate for the child and for the family.  If you have any questions about reaching her just email me at inspiredbygrace@yahoo.com  I'll give you all her info!  or you can go to www.foreverfamilyadoption.com 

God Bless!!!
Kristin

BIG deal....

Well I have been thinking about fasting for about a week now.  I was wondering what I was going to fast.  I am doing my fast until we bring our baby home!!!!  So are you ready....wait for it....I'm fasting....C...H...O...C...O...L..A...T...E!  Yes you read it right...I am fasting chocolate.  And just so you know...I LOVE chocolate.  So I don't know how long this is going to be...but I will be fasting and praying like crazy until we bring our baby home.  Please pray for us.  Thanks!  Much Love, Kristin

My heart breaks.

My heart is breaking tonight.  I feel horrible and guilty knowing that I have so much, and these orphans are sleeping on nothing...drinking muddy bacteria filled water.  How can we as a church, as God's children just sit back and do nothing, and even more crazy is to just sit back in our comfortable little lives and just ignore what is going on outside of our back yard. 

Tonight I pray that God reaches down and touches each and every orphan...letting them feel His spirit and His greatness...I pray that God protects them...I pray that God reaches down and breaks the hearts of the church for His children, His orphans.  I pray that the church opens up our hearts to these orphans, and steps out of our little comfortable 'box'. 

These are children, innocent children that need us, as a church, God's people, to step up and do as we are told.  In the Bible it says that 'Pure and genuine religion in the eyes of God our father is caring for the orphans and widows in their distress and not letting the world corrupt you."  James 1:27 

He, our Father, has adopted us.  We should be doing the same for His children.  We owe him everything.  This is all his...it can be taken away in a split second.  Please pray for me tonight, pray for our family as we continue to try and raise money to bring home one of the approximately 147 million orphans in this world.  Pray that God blesses us with the ability to care for as many of His children as he will allow.  Pray that He also touches many more hearts and lets them feel what He feels towards the orphans. 

Thanks! 
Much Love and God bless!!!!!
Kristin

Our Story...

There has been a lot of traffic on our blog the last few days...probably because I have been forcing you all to spread the word!!!! lol.  But I thought it would be appropriate to tell our story again so that people would know a little about us and why we are adopting...here it goes.

Cory and I have been married since June 5, 2004.  We are truly best friends!  We have a wonderful biological daughter, Kylie.  She is the most amazing little person on earth!  We love and cherish every moment we get to spend with her.  Kylie will be three in October of this year.  As a family we pray together every night, and go to church together on Sundays.  We love our church family and we put God first in everything we do.  We love our time with Jesus and are so blessed as a family to be on the 'same page'. 

In December of 2009 a friend of mine was selling shirts that she had designed for her adoption fundraising.  I had watched several 'adoption' videos and 'gotcha day' videos.  In the midst of all this I started feeling a tugging on my heart for adoption.  After tons of research, prayer, and sharing it all with Cory, we both decided on Dec 26, 2009 that we would be adopting our next child. 

At first we wanted to adopt from Korea.  We felt that Korea was a great match for us.  We ran into several things when researching Korea that deterred us.  But we kept trying to move forward...knowing that's where we wanted to be.  Then, while doing my daily adoption blog reading from others I ran across an astonishing statistic.  I'm pretty sure this is what it said...'For every caucasian child born in the US there are 7,000 families waiting, and for every African American child born there are ZERO, yes 0, families waiting! 

After I heard that statistic I called Cory and told him.  He was amazed too.  We then decided that's where we were needed, here in the US.  We prayed and prayed for the peace and strength to deal with people who wouldn't approve.  We realized that we shouldn't worry about those people...we are doing God's will, we are taking care of HIS children! 

So that leads us to where we are now...fundraising!  We are trying to raise the money for the homestudy currently and then on to the fundraising for the actual adoption costs.  Please consider purchasing a shirt, purchasing something from our Pamapered chef fundraiser, or donating!  We want to raise it as fast as we can!  We are sooooooooooo ready to bring our baby home!!!!

Thanks and Much Love!
Kristin

Pampered Chef Fundraiser!!! PLEASE READ!

Hey guys!  We are also doing another fundraiser along with our tshirts!  My fabulous cousin is a Pampered Chef Consultant and is doing a fundraiser show for us!  Along with what Pampered Chef is donating Lisa will be donating all of her commission!!!!! HOW AWESOME!  We have a chance to really make a dent in this fundraising! 

Orders will be taken through November 2nd.  Orders will be delivered before Thanksgiving!  Please go to www.pamperedchef.biz/lisacregscooking and search for my name, Kristin Thomas.  You can place your orders right there on the site with a credit card!  The items will be delivered direct to your door!  Please spread the word!

You should check out their new products that just came out Sept 1st!  This is a great time to get your Christmas shopping done!  Not only will you be giving GREAT gifts you will be helping us bring home our baby!!!!

Thanks and much Love!
Kristin

We are almost to our homestudy...well kinda!

So...counted the shirts we have left...if we sell them ALL then we will only be about $100 from our homestudy!!! We have the following left: In the black shirts we have; S=3, M=2, L=5, XL=6, XXL=5, XXXL=3, XXXXL=1...In the Grey we have the following left; S=2, M=6, L=2, XL=6, XXL=1, XXXL=2. PLEASE spread the word! We need to sell these shirts ASAP!

Much Love!
Kristin

So down...

I don't know why I have gotten like this.  Maybe it's the stress of finances, or mainly of student loan debt.  Or maybe it's the fact that I am STILL not a nurse.  Or maybe it's the fact that I'm impatient and whiney!  Cory and I were talking about it the other day...we are SOOOOO ready for another baby!  He said that when we decided to have another if the money wasn't there for the adoption that we would go ahead and start trying to get pregnant.  I was like 'okay, but first I gotta lose at least 70lbs'.  Then he said that we would just have to give the money we have raised to another family for their adoption.  I agreed.  

BUT...We are going to adopt!  I don't feel like we should interupt God's plans for us.  We are going to bring our baby home.  I just have to stop being so impatient.  I know that this is on HIS time, not ours.  This is HIS world, HIS plan, and we are HIS people.  We just have to sit back and watch him work :)  We will get our baby!  (Hopefully soon :) 

Praying for guidance,
Kristin

Who is Jesus???

Tonight our church had our first 'Lifefest'.  It was awesome!  The guest pastor, Eric Baker, gave an awesome message.  He spoke about who Jesus is to everyone.  How,  if you ask people who he is,  everyone will say different things.  But do you really KNOW Jesus?  Do we live our lives like we really and truly have a relationship with him?  Are the 'church' people going around and saying we know Jesus but failing to actually KNOW HIM???  We can talk about him all we want...believe in him...know the story...go to church...and even witness to people...and still I ask...do we really KNOW HIM?  Just like the story of when he went to Bethany four days after the death of his friend Lazarus.  When he got there Mary and Martha, Lazurus' sisters, asked him why wasn't he there, why didn't he come when they called for him???  They said that he could have saved him.  He asked Martha if she knew who he was, and she gave him an answer...one that we would probably give now...one that probably almost all 'church' people give.  But Jesus asked her, "“I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”  And she said yes.  We would all say yes.  But then he went on to see Martha, Mary, and all of His friends and disciples weeping at Lazurus' funeral.  He had told them that he would rise again but they still thought because he was dead and had been dead for four days that a miracle wasn't going to happen.  Jesus actually got angry...so angry that he wept. 

I ask you...are you like those people at the funeral.  You profess to know Jesus, you worship him, you feel that you are one of His people, but yet we still doubt that things can be done?  Seriously?  I know I am guilty of this.  Now I don't mean that we outright, consciously choose to have doubt.  I am talking about when we are doing things, praying about things, and in the midst of these things we doubt that we can finish...we doubt that we are gonna make it.  But you know what, with God on our side, we can't lose!  We need to truly have a relationship with Him, I mean be so crazy in love with Him that we don't even notice when things might not go our way.  That's the love I want.  That's the relationship I want with Him.  I'm going for it. 

So what does all this have to do with our adoption?  I'll tell you what it has to do with it...I've secretly been doubting.  Just sitting back and wondering if God was going to 'step up' and bring us some miracle.  Well I'm done with that way of thinking.  I know that I have to get my butt in gear.  I have to do everything I possibly can to make this adoption happen.  God IS going to bless our adoption...it's HIS adoption.  He wants us to take care of His children that may not get love otherwise.  He wants us to show our love to one of His children so that through us a few people may realize that love has no color.  That God doesn't just love someone for their skin color.  He has adopted us...and therefore we want to thank him and show our gratitude by adopting one (or two or three or ten-hehe don't tell cory:) of His children and raising them in His glory and grace.  I am just going to calm down and realize that God is in control, he always has been, I've just been getting in the way!  It's all yours God, and it always will be!

Much Love and God Bless!
Kristin

Still here...just been discouraged...

Hey guys...sorry so long since my last post.  I have gotten discouraged.  Tshirt sales slowed down, of course after I had just ordered another batch.  So now here we are with all these shirts and no sales.  It's been over a month since my last shirt sale.  I am seeing all of these little babies everywhere and it makes me want our baby home SOOOOOO BAD!  

I have to get to work on this and come up with some more fundraisers!  Any Ideas???  We need to raise about $1200 ASAP for our home study.  I want this terribly!  We don't have very much at all in our fund right now...it's all tied up in our shirts!  I have about 35 or 40 shirts to sell!  If I sold ALL of them we would only be a couple hundred away from our home study. 

We completely understand that people can't afford to give right now.  We are in the same boat.  But would you please pray for us?  We know that we can't do this on our own.  We know that it is going to happen in God's time.  Please pray that he blesses our adoption and our adoption fund.  We were really wanting to have our baby home by Christmas...doesn't look like that's going to happen.  The ONLY way that could happen is if it was a miracle of God. 

Anyways...I'm back...and ready to go at this FULL FORCE in the name of the almighty God!

"I can do all things through Christ who Strengthens me. "  Phil 4:13

Thanks and Much Love!
Kristin

Woohooo!

Well here's the news on our adoption.  We have for sure (unless we decide differently later) chosen our adoption agency,  Covenant Care in Georgia.  We are super excited!  I talked with them this morning and they are AWESOME people!  They seem super sweet and seem to have great hearts for adoption and for God.  So within the next couple of months (hopefully by June) we will be getting our homestudy and sending it and our application in to them.  Then once it is approved we will be put on the waiting list!  Then we will be waiting for our childs birthmother to pick us to be the family to raise her child.

 I pray that God protects our birthmother thru the process and helps her along her journey, and with the hardest decision she will ever make.  I want to thank her in advance for having soooooo much love for her child that she is so selfless and is choosing the best option for her child.  And to our birthmother:  I want you to know that we will be forever grateful to you and we will always keep you in our prayers. 

Please continue to pray for us on our journey and please please please share our story!  Spread the word about our adoption fundraising and tshirts!  Thanks so much!  God Bless!

Much Love,
Kristin

Check out these adorable dresses!!! (and enter to win!)

A fellow blogger who has adopted two PRECIOUS little girls from China is giving away one of the coolest creations ever!  A 'Poppy Dip'.  What is a Poppy Dip you say...well you should just hop on over to http://www.itspoppydip.blogspot.com/ to see AND order them and then hop on over to http://www.throwingourarmsopenwide.blogspot.com/ to enter the drawing for a new Poppy Dip!  I've put my entries in for Kylie!  I am also going to be ordering one of these SOON!

Much Love!
Kristin

Under attack...already!

Okay...so I know there are going to be people who disagree with us adopting out of our race...but today I had to hear it from one lady.  Here's how it went down...

I was telling this older lady how we are adopting domestically now.  She asked what race...so I told her, african-american.  Well apparently she had been holding back her feelings about us adopting until today.  She told me that I shouldn't be adopting anyways because we can physically still have children.  She said that there is no reason to adopt when you can have your own kids.  Then she proceeded to tell me that if we were going to adopt then we shouldn't adopt outside of our own race.  She said that it is ridiculous and it is harmful to the child.  So I proceeded with why we are adopting and why we are choosing african american.  I thought...when this lady hears the statistics there is no way she can argue...boy was I wrong!  When I told her about there being approximately 147 million orphans in this world her reply was..."well you can't change the world!"  I said what do you mean I can't change the world...I can change the world for one!  She asked what that was supposed to mean...but didn't let me explain.  She then went on to tell me that only God can change the world.  So I asked her...how do you think he does that...He sends His people to do that!  One small thing at a time!  I said, how do you think anything in this world gets done, it's not everyone doing something at one time...someone has to be the first...someone has to have a dream to change the world!  She just wasn't having it...she told me that only God could change the world...I said, I agree, and he does so thru us!  So then she went on to say some other really mean things about what people will "think" about me if we adopt african american.  Well I got news for you lady...I ain't out to please anyone but my heavenly Father, and I sure don't care what they think!  I was very bitter most of the rest of the day...but then I realized...that I shouldn't be bitter, I just needed to pray for her and ask God to help me be strong in these situations, and not to get upset.


So the moral of the story...there are always going to be people who don't agree with what we are doing...I just gotta remember...I am not doing this for them, I am doing it for HIM!

I am sure this was the first of many encounters I have like this...I just wasn't expecting it yet...or from her.  But I thank God I didn't lose my cool.  Now, maybe I should prepare a little more for such a beating!  Thanks for yall's support!

Much Love!
Kristin

"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." Luke 6:27-28