Why Congo?

Since announcing our family's calling and decision to adopt, we have been asked it seems a million times this question, "Why there?"  Well, to put it simply it is because God lead us there. 

After Eric and I had the discussion of "we know we are called to adopt" the next discussion became "where to adopt from".  Africa has been on our hearts for a while.  It's hard to explain why or even how except God put it there.  So, we started looking at countries to adopt from in Africa.  Initially, we inquired about Ethiopia.  We had some friends that were adopting from there and knew of several other couples that were adopting from there as well.  At this point, things were moving along smoothly and quickly.  It seemed right.  BUT, right about the time we were fixing to say "let's go for it" there was a change to the program.  Now you would have to travel two times to the country instead of one.  (In the grand scheme of things, this is not that big of a deal.  If we had already applied or were in the process we would have kept with it.)  We discussed this and felt that it would be hard to travel two times with 2 small children (ages 2 and 4 at the time).  It wasn't as if we were saying this requirement was a deal breaker, but we just decided to look at more options. 

For about 2 weeks straight, I went into extensive research mode.  I looked at lots of countries, the requirements for each, agencies that others had recommended,etc.  Let me just say- it's a lot of work to adopt.  (Of course, completely worth it.)   There are many things to consider.  You really have to do your research.  Each country requires something different. 

Anyway, from the moment I started to look at other countries, Congo kept coming up and reappearing.  This wasn't just a coincidence- this was God.  You see, I really didn't know anything about the Congo.  I didn't know you could adopt from there, so I obviously didn't know anyone that was going through the process or had completed it.  I've never met anyone that has traveled there.  My only exposure to Congo is from the show ER (This was my absolute favorite show for years. I've seen every episode several times.)  In a couple of episodes, some of the doctors travel to Congo to do medical work.  In the episodes, several people are murdered.  Ok, so that is my knowledge of Congo. 

As I started to research, God started breaking my heart.  I would watch videos of people traveling there.  I would see the pictures of the children on the street.  I would see the statistics.  As I would share these things with Eric, his heart became broken.  We knew that God was telling us "this is it".  We knew that we had a child in the Congo that was meant to be apart of our family since before God created the world! 

Some statistics about Congo

• There are approximately 5 million orphans (this in the entire population of Scotland)
• 770, 000 are orphaned through AIDS alone
• A civil war went on in this country for many years killing about 4 million people
• Rape was used as a weapon of war- 25,000 cases reported in one year
• Child soldiers were recruited- 30,000 have been reported
• 1.1 million living with HIV
• Congo is considered one of the top three deadliest places in the world to be born

Is your heart broken? Mine breaks every time I read these.



Children at a Catholic church service

Will you join me in praying for this country and for the children that live there? 

Although I have never traveled to this country and I have never met my child, my heart is full of love.  Love that only comes from God putting this in my heart and my family's heart!

 Take a couple of minutes and watch this video below!

Brittany

My little man

A couple of weeks ago, I took Brayden to an ENT.  He has had numerous ear infections throughout his life, but recently they have gotten to be more frequent and more severe.  Around Christmas last year, he had an infection so bad that his ear drum ruptured.  The thing is, he never complains with pain until it is unbearable.  So I never know when he has one until it has gotten really bad. 

Since we moved to AZ, he has had another infection.  When we went back to the doctor she said that, after being on medicing for 2 weeks, it looked better but it still wasn't normal.  She recommended going to the ENT. 

The ENT did an exam and then the audiologist did some tests.  The tests showed that because of so much fluid built up that Brayden had a significant amount of hearing loss.  I had suspected this. 

The recommendation was for tubes in his ears.  The doctor explained that once the tubes were in place and the fluid could drain that his hearing would be back to normal and there would be less infections. 

We feel that having tubes is the best thing for Brayden right now.  Without them, his hearing will get worse and he will continue to have infections which could permanently damage his hearing. 

His surgery is scheduled for Friday, May 13 at 7:30 in the morning.  That's only 2 days away.  It is a minor surgery and very common.  (Actually, it is the second most performed surgery on kids other than circumcision.)  Nevertheless, he does have to be put to sleep.  And he is still my baby!  Prayers would be much appreciated on Friday at 7:30 (Arizona time) or 9:30 (central time)!



The doc said he should be able to play soccer Sat!!!



Happy Anniversary Eric!

What's so special about May 1, 2011?  It marks 7 years that Eric and I have been married!  Wow, have those years flown by!  It seems just like yesterday that we were sophomores in high school and he was aking me out at the Back to School Dance. 

Who knew that we would be where we are today?  Not me, that's for sure.  But thankfully, God did!  If you had asked me the day of our wedding where we would be in 7 years, there is no way my answer would have been, "Living in AZ as missionaries with 2 children and another on the way across the world from us!"  But I love our life!  I'm so glad God writes our story and not me.



So thankful for these little munchkins!



Our little bull rider!



Our sweet cheerleader!

Eric,

I am so thankful for you and feel so blessed to have you as my husband. 

When I met you 12 years ago, I loved how you made me laugh, and I loved those cute dimples.

And although I still love those things about you, I love you for so, so many more now.

I love you now for the way you love Jesus!

I love you now for your willingness to go where God leads!

I love you now for the compassion you show!

I love you now for the way you lead our family!

I love you now for being such an awesome daddy!

I love you now for your heart for the orphan!

I love you now for the way you love me- always forgiving and always encouraging and building me up! 

I love you for all the ways I never could have imagined I would!

Happy Anniversary!  I look forward to sharing the rest of my life with you!!





Easter 2011

We had a great time celebrating Easter this year!  We talked with Ella and Brayden for weeks leading up to Easter about the "real" meaning of the day.  We wanted to make sure that they did not just focus on the Easter Bunny and finding eggs.  We wanted them to know the celebration was because Christ was no longer dead but ALIVE!  The Easter Bunny even left them a note that said "Have fun finding the eggs and eating your candy, but don't forget to celebrate that Jesus is alive!" 

So first, the kids woke up to see what the Easter Bunny had brought. 


They were excited to get the movies they had wanted

Then we went hunting for eggs in the back yard!


Ella found one



Brayden was so excited to find them all that he wouldn't even turn around for a pic!

 After all of that fun, we went and celebrated the Resurrection with our church family at First Pima.  This year we chose not to spend money on buying new Easter clothes, but to put that money towards meeting needs.  They were still the cutest kids around though!


Side note: The bush/tree behind them was the prettiest thing around to take a pic in front of.  When you live in the desert you don't have much of a choice. :)

Then, we went out to Cockleburr that evening for our church service there.  It was the first Easter service to take place in that village for many years.  Most of the children had never even heard of Jesus, much less that He died on a cross and rose again 3 days later.  It was a very special time!  After everything was over, we had Easter lunch with some of the families.


Getting ready to start the Bible story



This is Jasmine. She listened to the Bible story very intently.  Please pray for her!

 After leaving Cockleburr, we went to the home of two girls from our youth group.  Their family had invited us to come over to eat Easter dinner with them.  We had a great time! 


Brayden played so hard that he was covered with dirt from head to toe.  Somedays I wonder what is the point of giving him a bath!

 When we were getting ready for bed that night, Ella looked at me and said, "This has been the best day ever because Jesus rose again!" 

We had a busy, fun-filled day!  We didn't get to spend the day with our families back in KY, but we did spend it with church family and new friends.  According to Brayden, our friend Doug isn't really our friend but our family! 

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well and truly got to celebrate the Resurrection!

Brittany

Fundraising Project

It's time to do some fundraising to help with our adoption!  We have teamed up with a wonderful organization called Ordinary Hero. 

Here's how it works:  You go to the website and shop the products they have.  When you purchase a product and go to check out you will go to the place that has affiliate and click my name.  Then 40% of the proceeds will be sent to our adoption agency for our adoption!  It's really simple!  If you decide that you don't want to buy anything, then you may choose to just make a donation.  Please remember that you have to click on the drop down arrow next to affiliate and click on my name for us to get the donation.

Here's the website: http://www.ordinaryherostore.org/ 

Thanks so much for helping us bring our child home!!! 

If you have any questions, you may comment here or email me at liveloveaz@gmail.com

I almost forgot- The affiliate that gets the most donations this weekend, gets an extra $500 added onto the total!!!

Brittany

Pillowcase dresses and more...

Since everyone knows our big news now, it is time to start trying to raise some funds to go towards our next adoption expense.  So, I am going to start making pillowcase dresses, hair bows, jewelry, etc.  Basically, anything that I can to get our child home.  Now if you know me very well, you know that I am not the artsy, creative type.  But I am trying my very best.  I am just learning, so please remember my products are not perfect, but they are made with lots of hard work and love. 

Here are some of the things that I have made so far:

Hair Bows and Head Bands



$5.00



$4.00




$2.00



$3.00



Necklaces



$12.00



$12.00





$12.00- This is red



$12.00



$12.00



Pillowcase Dresses



Size 12-24 mths   $12.00







Size 6-8  $18.00



Size 5-6   $18.00



Size 5-6     $18.00



Size 5   Comes with small purse and small bow $20.00





If you are interested in anything you see, please send me an email at erandbritt@aol.com   You can also email if you have questions or if you would like to see a better pic. 

Also, you can send an email with an idea that you have and I will personally make one for you.

To buy any product, first send me an email and let me know which product you would like.  Once I confirm, you may pay online via paypal on this blog.  You may also send me a check for the item, but I will not ship until I receive it and it clears.  Speaking of shipping, please add $3.00 to ship small items like bows or necklaces and $5.00 for the dresses. 

Please pass this along to anyone you think would be interested.  I hope to have some new items to add in the next couple of days or so.

Thanks so much for supporting our family and keeping us in your prayers!

Brittany

We're Adopting!

We are so excited to officially announce that we are adopting!!!  We have prayed about this for many years and know that God has called our family to this. 

We chose the name of this blog "Love's Ripple Effect" because we know that in our lives that God's love ripples into everything.  We know how to love because He first loved us.  We want nothing more than to be like Christ.  We strive for this.  We know that God's love for orphans is evident throughout scripture.  We see His heart.  We pray for our heart to be like His.

Eric and I always knew that we wanted to adopt.  But over the past couple of years, God has shown us that He has called our family to this.  When I first started volunteering with Starfish Orphan Ministry in Paducah, KY I had no idea how much my life would change.  My first trip to El Salvador working with orphans was amazing.  There is really no way that I can describe it.  God spoke to me everyday.  When I came home, I couldn't talk about the trip without crying.  Everytime I closed my eyes I could see a face of a child or hear their voice.  David Platt makes a statement in his book Radical that basically says it is easy to talk about orphans and think about them and even easier to ignore them until you see their face and know their name.  (I wish I had the exact quote.)  But he is totally right.  It was easy for Eric and I to talk about adopting and then do nothing in return until I saw their precious faces.  It was easy until I held them in my arms.  It was easy until I got to love on them.

After that experience, it no longer was easy just to talk about.  We knew that we had to act.  So, we started praying and asking God to show us where to adopt from. There are 147 million orphans in the world.  How could you just pick?  Well, we believe you can't.  We believe that God knew before any of us were created that we would one day be a family. 

So, through praying, God lead us to a country in Africa called the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo for short).  It is a country that has been through a lot to put it simply. (I will share more details in another post) There are five million orphans in Congo alone.  We have requested a girl or boy younger than age five.  We pray and wait patiently everyday for our child that we don't even know yet.  A child that we already love so much!

You see, adoption is not a lot different than being pregnant.  There is a quote that says, "In adoption, the child grows in it's mommy's heart instead of her tummy."  That's exactly right.  Just like a pregnant mother can't wait for her ultrasound, I can't wait for the day that we get our referral and have a picture in my hand.

We first sent our application to our agency, Compassionate Hearts in June 2010.  We got accepted as clients in August.  We rushed around and got a home study complete in KY in case we were to receive a referral really quickly.  We didn't though.  So we had to redo everything when we moved to AZ.  We have just got it completed again!  So now we wait!

I will update more as we go through this process.  I will also update about things we are doing as a family. 

Please follow along and pray for our family as we follow Jesus to do whatever He asks us to do!

Brittany