Hey everybody! Well our 31 gift fundraiser put on by Jerri James is now over. And it raised $400 dollars!! That was so sweet of her to volunteer her hard earned money and time to help us with the adoption. We can't think everyone enough for the huge amount of support that has been given to us.
SO...here's the big news now! Our case worker got a hold of me today wanting to set up our home study appointment. It's going to be August 26th (Monday). That is only 12 days away!!!! Goodness!!! I instantly got nervous when we set the date. So much to do! You would think that knowing this was appointment was coming that we would be getting the house ready bit by bit so we wouldn't have to rush. I mean...that would be the responsible thing to do right??? Haha. Those who know me laugh because every one knows that I am the queen of procrastinators. I work well under pressure. I like it. Ha! So here we are...12 days away from meeting with the woman who has our future in her hands. The one who says yes you are capable of raising a child or no you are crazy, no child for you. haha.
So, this is our plea. Pray!! Pray for us! Pray for our case worker Rachel. Pray that she sees us as fit to parent a child. Pray that we won't be nervous. Pray we will continue to trust God through this whole process. Ultimately HE is the one who has our future in His hands. Not Rachel.
We also got word today that another mother has our profile. As you know...all it takes is one mother to choose us to parent her child, and we know of two mothers that have our profile. Please pray for those mothers. Can you imagine the decisions she is trying to make right now?? How hard this must be for them. Pray for peace for these two women.
We are so excited! We are slowly getting closer day by day!
We love you all
The Nuzum's
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Belyn
This post is dedicated to my ADORABLE and BEAUTIFUL new cousin Belyn! I am SO excited to welcome her to our family. My uncle and aunt (Brent and Christi) have been going through the process of adopting Belyn from Ethiopia and TODAY (Wednesday) they have left to go get her and bring her home!!!!!!! I am so happy for them and can feel their excitement all the way from here. This sweet little girl's life will never be the same now. She now has a forever family that will love her unconditionally. She will be home very soon and I can't even imagine the feelings that Brent and Christi are feeling right now as they are about to see their daughter in this orphanage for the last time and will get to bring her home! I thank God that He has brought this all together and I know that He has been glorified and honored in this process.
As for us, we have FINALLY finished the mountains of paperwork that we had to complete in order to turn our home study notebook in. It is now getting processed and we will be expecting a call from our case worker so we can set up a time for them to come to our house and interview us and inspect our house. There was SO much to fill out in this home study notebook that it was almost overwhelming, but you just have to breath and push through it. I'm not going to lie...it almost got to the point of being annoying having to fill out all this stuff. I just wanted it to be done so we could move on! HaHa! So after we get approved by our case worker we just wait. I'm dreading that part...waiting.... It could be short...but it could also be VERY long.
I know I have said this in our previous blog post, but we have raised and been given a little over $10,000. We are needing around 4 to 5 thousand more. My mom and my grandma held a garden party fundraiser recently to raise money for this adoption. They both worked VERY hard to make it a success and we raised around $800 dollars!! We were so thankful to them for their sacrifice of their time and money to make it a success.
We also have a friend, Jerri James who is a 31 Gift consultant. They have so many cute things to buy. Jerri has been so awesome to us. She is throwing a fundraiser with her profits going to our adoption. I can't thank her enough for being so giving. So everybody go check it out!! Buy some awesome things for yourself or for gifts and in turn help us get closer to the reaching our goal!!! LOVE this idea.
Other than that, not a whole lot going on right now, just waiting. We do know that one mother has our profile. One is obviously not very many, but it only takes one mother to choose us to raise her child. So we pray. We pray for whoever this woman is. Pray that she has the courage to make the decision to choose life for her baby. Give her the courage for the decisions that she will have to be making. It has got to be the hardest decision of a life time.
Anyways...we love you all. We are excited. We thank God for all of you who read, who support, who pray for us. We will keep you posted!!
love you all
The Nuzum's :)
Monday, May 20, 2013
BLOWN AWAY
Hey all you out there!! I know it's been a while since I have posted anything...but I didn't have anything to say until now! :)
Just filling you all in with what is going on right now! Well...this past weekend a very dear friend of ours Sharen Cunningham hosted and put on a yard sale with the proceeds going toward our adoption. That was so incredibly sweet of her and we can NOT thank her enough. So many of you out there donated items to sell and it wouldn't have been possible without all of you..so thank you. Then of course the people who came out and BOUGHT stuff (especially those who worked the yard sale haha)..thank you thank you. We had kind of set a goal in our heads for the yard sale. We thought it would be really awesome if we reached $1,000. And we thought we had set a pretty good goal...because really....$1,000 for a yard sale is A LOT and we knew it could be hard to reach. Okay...well let me just tell you what our God did this past weekend. He blessed that yard sale 3 times over than what we ever imagined. Our total proceeds from the yard sale turned out to be $3,900.!!!!! (we round it up to $4,000 because it's close enough for me! ha) I mean SERIOUSLY....FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS for a YARD SALE????? Who knew that was even possible? God has proven time and time again to me how little my faith is. I thought I had some pretty good faith for setting a goal of $1,000. God you are worthy to be praised and you never cease to amaze me. Thank you for choosing to bless this adoption thus far. I pray that you are getting all the glory and that everyone is seeing that you are real and totally involved.
Okay, so we have raised right at $10,000 for this adoption! Not gunna lie...that hasn't even began to sink in yet. In only a few short months we have raised $10,000!! (sorry I have to keep repeating it until it feels real) That is UNBELIEVABLE and I am completely blown away. We only have about 3 to 5 thousand more to go. How amazing! Which brings me to my next paragraph :)
We are doing another fundraiser so bear with us!! ha ha. Richard and I are selling T-shirts to help us get a little closer to our final money goal. I will put a picture below to show you what they look like. They are $18.00 each. We have a standard t shirt and then we have a cute fitted style but I will warn you that the fitted shirts run pretty small. Just to give you how the sizes are in the standard t shirt. I (amber) am wearing the Extra Large and it fits me perfectly. Richard is wearing the Large and it fits him perfectly. If ANYBODY would like a t-shirt you can comment on here...on face book...in person...haha...just let me know some how. (the picture below is an example of the fitted style)
I love you all. All the followers, friends, family, supporters. Couldn't do this without a single one of you helping to make this happen. We could never repay you for all that you have done. I pray God will bless you ten times over that what you have blessed us.
Love you all
The Nuzums :)
Just filling you all in with what is going on right now! Well...this past weekend a very dear friend of ours Sharen Cunningham hosted and put on a yard sale with the proceeds going toward our adoption. That was so incredibly sweet of her and we can NOT thank her enough. So many of you out there donated items to sell and it wouldn't have been possible without all of you..so thank you. Then of course the people who came out and BOUGHT stuff (especially those who worked the yard sale haha)..thank you thank you. We had kind of set a goal in our heads for the yard sale. We thought it would be really awesome if we reached $1,000. And we thought we had set a pretty good goal...because really....$1,000 for a yard sale is A LOT and we knew it could be hard to reach. Okay...well let me just tell you what our God did this past weekend. He blessed that yard sale 3 times over than what we ever imagined. Our total proceeds from the yard sale turned out to be $3,900.!!!!! (we round it up to $4,000 because it's close enough for me! ha) I mean SERIOUSLY....FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS for a YARD SALE????? Who knew that was even possible? God has proven time and time again to me how little my faith is. I thought I had some pretty good faith for setting a goal of $1,000. God you are worthy to be praised and you never cease to amaze me. Thank you for choosing to bless this adoption thus far. I pray that you are getting all the glory and that everyone is seeing that you are real and totally involved.
Okay, so we have raised right at $10,000 for this adoption! Not gunna lie...that hasn't even began to sink in yet. In only a few short months we have raised $10,000!! (sorry I have to keep repeating it until it feels real) That is UNBELIEVABLE and I am completely blown away. We only have about 3 to 5 thousand more to go. How amazing! Which brings me to my next paragraph :)
We are doing another fundraiser so bear with us!! ha ha. Richard and I are selling T-shirts to help us get a little closer to our final money goal. I will put a picture below to show you what they look like. They are $18.00 each. We have a standard t shirt and then we have a cute fitted style but I will warn you that the fitted shirts run pretty small. Just to give you how the sizes are in the standard t shirt. I (amber) am wearing the Extra Large and it fits me perfectly. Richard is wearing the Large and it fits him perfectly. If ANYBODY would like a t-shirt you can comment on here...on face book...in person...haha...just let me know some how. (the picture below is an example of the fitted style)
I love you all. All the followers, friends, family, supporters. Couldn't do this without a single one of you helping to make this happen. We could never repay you for all that you have done. I pray God will bless you ten times over that what you have blessed us.
Love you all
The Nuzums :)
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Patience!
Not a whole lot to give you all today, but I will just update the little that I can. :)
What we are doing right now is still...paperwork paperwork paperwork!!!! There is so much to fill out it is almost overwhelming! There is lots to do like: fill out form after form, criminal background checks, physicals, etc. So after we finish up this paperwork we will turn it in and then somebody will come to our house to complete our home study and tell us if we passed or not. Other than that...not a whole lot going on.
On a more exciting note: Richard and I have started getting stuff ready for the baby room, because once everything is complete we could get a call any day. Since we won't know the gender we have decided to do a neutral theme. We are going with a lot of different browns, greens, safari type colors. Now that we have started decorating the baby room a little, we both find ourselves just going to the room and staring at it! We are SO excited! HOWEVER....it is making it a lot harder to have patience!! Now that we are getting ready...we just want this precious baby NOW!!! :)
We just want to keep giving God all the glory for all that has been done! The support, the amazing deals we have found on baby furniture, and everything in this entire process!
Check out some pics of the baby room!!
What we are doing right now is still...paperwork paperwork paperwork!!!! There is so much to fill out it is almost overwhelming! There is lots to do like: fill out form after form, criminal background checks, physicals, etc. So after we finish up this paperwork we will turn it in and then somebody will come to our house to complete our home study and tell us if we passed or not. Other than that...not a whole lot going on.
On a more exciting note: Richard and I have started getting stuff ready for the baby room, because once everything is complete we could get a call any day. Since we won't know the gender we have decided to do a neutral theme. We are going with a lot of different browns, greens, safari type colors. Now that we have started decorating the baby room a little, we both find ourselves just going to the room and staring at it! We are SO excited! HOWEVER....it is making it a lot harder to have patience!! Now that we are getting ready...we just want this precious baby NOW!!! :)
We just want to keep giving God all the glory for all that has been done! The support, the amazing deals we have found on baby furniture, and everything in this entire process!
Check out some pics of the baby room!!
We love you all!
The Nuzum's :)
Thursday, April 18, 2013
New Update for YOU!!!
Hey out there all you blog followers!!! I didn't realize it has been so long since my last update so I thought I would let you all know where we are and what is going on right now in this whole process.
What we have been doing with our time is filling out lots of information for a profile. The adoption agency that we are going through has asked us a series of questions that we had to answer and write about ourselves, our family, and our home. We also had gather a lot of pictures of ourselves. Pictures of us by ourselves, our house, us on vacations, our extended families, etc. So we have got that all done now and will be sending that off tomorrow! Once our adoption agency gets it, then they will organize it into a profile. Then they will put our profile online and birthmothers out there can start reading our profile and try and decide if we are the right match for their baby!!! HOW EXCITING! That means after that profile is out there...we could be matched that very same day, 18 months from now, and/or everything in between!
The next thing we have been doing is filling out loads and loads of paperwork for our home study. There is a lot involved in our home study notebook. Lots of paperwork about us, our family, our income, and every other small detail in our life. We have to go get physicals, get a criminal check out, get finger prints taken, etc. We have been filling out paperwork for several nights now and haven't even made a dent it feels like! Once we finish that then we will have somebody come to our home and visit us a couple of times and they will approve or deny us as suitable to adopt! So keep your fingers crossed!!
Ha! Thought that was funny!!
Anyways, what else is going on??? Lots of you all out there have been asking about more fundraisers and what else we have planned. We still need to raise at least another $5,000.00. So we definitely have some things planned! FIRST...A very dear friend to us (Sharen Cunningham) has been very gracious to us. She has decided to host a garage sale with the proceeds going to the adoption fund! How sweet of her for doing that!! It is going to be in the very first part of May (more details to come) and if ANYBODY has things that you don't use that you don't want in the way anymore...Sharen is accepting donations! I know WE have been searching through the house and getting rid of unused things! Dressers, dishes, clothes, etc. So like I said...if you have stuff you want to get rid of you can always send them Sharen's way!!
Thank you all for being so supportive in every kind of way!
We love you!
The Nuzum's
What we have been doing with our time is filling out lots of information for a profile. The adoption agency that we are going through has asked us a series of questions that we had to answer and write about ourselves, our family, and our home. We also had gather a lot of pictures of ourselves. Pictures of us by ourselves, our house, us on vacations, our extended families, etc. So we have got that all done now and will be sending that off tomorrow! Once our adoption agency gets it, then they will organize it into a profile. Then they will put our profile online and birthmothers out there can start reading our profile and try and decide if we are the right match for their baby!!! HOW EXCITING! That means after that profile is out there...we could be matched that very same day, 18 months from now, and/or everything in between!
The next thing we have been doing is filling out loads and loads of paperwork for our home study. There is a lot involved in our home study notebook. Lots of paperwork about us, our family, our income, and every other small detail in our life. We have to go get physicals, get a criminal check out, get finger prints taken, etc. We have been filling out paperwork for several nights now and haven't even made a dent it feels like! Once we finish that then we will have somebody come to our home and visit us a couple of times and they will approve or deny us as suitable to adopt! So keep your fingers crossed!!
Anyways, what else is going on??? Lots of you all out there have been asking about more fundraisers and what else we have planned. We still need to raise at least another $5,000.00. So we definitely have some things planned! FIRST...A very dear friend to us (Sharen Cunningham) has been very gracious to us. She has decided to host a garage sale with the proceeds going to the adoption fund! How sweet of her for doing that!! It is going to be in the very first part of May (more details to come) and if ANYBODY has things that you don't use that you don't want in the way anymore...Sharen is accepting donations! I know WE have been searching through the house and getting rid of unused things! Dressers, dishes, clothes, etc. So like I said...if you have stuff you want to get rid of you can always send them Sharen's way!!
Thank you all for being so supportive in every kind of way!
We love you!
The Nuzum's
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
SEVERAL UPDATES!!
Hey just wanted to keep all you informed on what's happening!! Well first, my amazing grandmother (mema) has been so gracious to Richard and I by offering her time and talent. She has just painted a piece of art and donated it and put it up for auction with the proceeds going toward the adoption. The auction just ended 45 minutes ago and the ending bid was 975 dollars!!! SO AMAZING!!! I can't thank those that we were bidding enough. We ESPECIALLY can't thank my mema enough. The winner of the auction will be blessed to be able to own a piece of her artwork. Thank you Thank you Thank You!!!
Second update is: WE FINISHED THE PUZZLE!!!!!!!!! It is totally complete! Just finished up tonight! I just can't believe all of you out there that helped make this puzzle complete. It is a feeling I can't describe. To feel that all of you are behind us in our adoption process is definitely something that can't be described. We love all of you to pieces!! Ha Ha get it...PIECES!?!? PUZZLE!?!? Crack my self up over here!! :) Alright here is a picture of the finished puzzle. Now to get it framed!
The above picture was taken by my mother. It was the last two pieces of the puzzle and it was Richard and I putting in the very last pieces.
Second update is: WE FINISHED THE PUZZLE!!!!!!!!! It is totally complete! Just finished up tonight! I just can't believe all of you out there that helped make this puzzle complete. It is a feeling I can't describe. To feel that all of you are behind us in our adoption process is definitely something that can't be described. We love all of you to pieces!! Ha Ha get it...PIECES!?!? PUZZLE!?!? Crack my self up over here!! :) Alright here is a picture of the finished puzzle. Now to get it framed!
The above picture was taken by my mother. It was the last two pieces of the puzzle and it was Richard and I putting in the very last pieces.
We love you all!
The Nuzum's :)
Sunday, March 31, 2013
The Most Important Blog So Far!!!!!
Look at the title of this particular post: "The most important blog so far". Why is it the most important blog so far you ask??? Well...let me tell you why. Sit back. Relax. Grab a cup of coffee. Because this may be a long one. Not sure yet. I'm just going to write until I stop :)
It is the most important blog because this one is the one that is going to show God in all his amazingness. The one that is hopefully going to let everybody out there reading this KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that God is real. Not only is He real, but He is takes care of His children. He is our Provider. He is our Father. He works in His own time and because of all this He deserves to be praised. To be lifted up.
Ready for the story? Let's go!!
I'm not going to lie, this week has been hard on Richard and I. We were looking at 4 days left until our deadline. And we had 2,400 dollars in the bank. We need 5,000 dollars by our deadline which is today to be exact. Sunday, March 31st 2013. As you can see, that's barely half of the money we need. We still need 2,600 dollars. We have 4 days to get 2,600 dollars!?!?!?! Talk about us looking at that amount and thinking to ourselves "ha yeah right". So we started preparing ourselves mentally and emotionally. We started to talk to each other and decided that maybe this agency isn't God's plan after all. Maybe we got ahead of ourselves. Maybe we aren't going to reach our deadline because we are supposed to be somewhere else. We REALLY feel like it would bring God the most glory if we did this adoption debt free. So that's our plan. No short term loans. No borrowing from family. So we were preparing to have to stop this process until we had the money. And let me tell you this...it simply broke our hearts....to even think about stopping before we got started was really hard to grasp.
So here we are on Friday night, still needing 2,600 dollars. We met up with some very good friends of ours for a date night. When we left they handed us a check for 200 dollars. We were so thankful beyond words to them as I know it was a sacrifice. On our way home from our date night received another message to stop by another friends house. Somebody had anonymously given 550 dollars to help with this adoption. And another good friend 50 dollars that same night. It was too much to take in. I couldn't believe it. This is crazy! God You are so amazing!!! The next morning went to work and person after person came up to me handing me 100 dollars at a time!! This is seriously not happening right now is it?!?! How is this possible??? So we went from needing 2,600 dollars on Friday morning and by Saturday evening we were down to only needing 700 dollars!! Oh my!! I can't even grasp that!
Sunday morning (today) We celebrated Easter. Had an amazing time with family and friends. Just sat down for some down time. Richard received a call from a very special couple. They chose to give us 600 dollars. And then shortly after that another dear friend to us had text us and said they would like to give us 100 dollars. Are you seeing that???? 700 dollars is what we needed by Sunday. Sunday afternoon 700 dollars just comes to us. Can you even GRASP that?!?!? I am not sure I have yet. God is so amazing. I feel so stupid for even doubting for a single second. I ask for forgiveness for doubting that God would do something totally amazing.
There was a reason that I never told on my blog how much we needed exactly. Because I didn't want a single person to be able to doubt that God is in control of this adoption. We needed 5,000. We got 5,000. Really God?? You are so AMAZING!!!!!
We are SO EXCITED!!!! I can't even believe this!!! Is this really happening to us??? Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your support. Thank you! Thank You! Thank You!
We will definitely keep you updated!!
We love you!
The Nuzum's :)
It is the most important blog because this one is the one that is going to show God in all his amazingness. The one that is hopefully going to let everybody out there reading this KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that God is real. Not only is He real, but He is takes care of His children. He is our Provider. He is our Father. He works in His own time and because of all this He deserves to be praised. To be lifted up.
Ready for the story? Let's go!!
I'm not going to lie, this week has been hard on Richard and I. We were looking at 4 days left until our deadline. And we had 2,400 dollars in the bank. We need 5,000 dollars by our deadline which is today to be exact. Sunday, March 31st 2013. As you can see, that's barely half of the money we need. We still need 2,600 dollars. We have 4 days to get 2,600 dollars!?!?!?! Talk about us looking at that amount and thinking to ourselves "ha yeah right". So we started preparing ourselves mentally and emotionally. We started to talk to each other and decided that maybe this agency isn't God's plan after all. Maybe we got ahead of ourselves. Maybe we aren't going to reach our deadline because we are supposed to be somewhere else. We REALLY feel like it would bring God the most glory if we did this adoption debt free. So that's our plan. No short term loans. No borrowing from family. So we were preparing to have to stop this process until we had the money. And let me tell you this...it simply broke our hearts....to even think about stopping before we got started was really hard to grasp.
So here we are on Friday night, still needing 2,600 dollars. We met up with some very good friends of ours for a date night. When we left they handed us a check for 200 dollars. We were so thankful beyond words to them as I know it was a sacrifice. On our way home from our date night received another message to stop by another friends house. Somebody had anonymously given 550 dollars to help with this adoption. And another good friend 50 dollars that same night. It was too much to take in. I couldn't believe it. This is crazy! God You are so amazing!!! The next morning went to work and person after person came up to me handing me 100 dollars at a time!! This is seriously not happening right now is it?!?! How is this possible??? So we went from needing 2,600 dollars on Friday morning and by Saturday evening we were down to only needing 700 dollars!! Oh my!! I can't even grasp that!
Sunday morning (today) We celebrated Easter. Had an amazing time with family and friends. Just sat down for some down time. Richard received a call from a very special couple. They chose to give us 600 dollars. And then shortly after that another dear friend to us had text us and said they would like to give us 100 dollars. Are you seeing that???? 700 dollars is what we needed by Sunday. Sunday afternoon 700 dollars just comes to us. Can you even GRASP that?!?!? I am not sure I have yet. God is so amazing. I feel so stupid for even doubting for a single second. I ask for forgiveness for doubting that God would do something totally amazing.
There was a reason that I never told on my blog how much we needed exactly. Because I didn't want a single person to be able to doubt that God is in control of this adoption. We needed 5,000. We got 5,000. Really God?? You are so AMAZING!!!!!
We are SO EXCITED!!!! I can't even believe this!!! Is this really happening to us??? Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your support. Thank you! Thank You! Thank You!
We will definitely keep you updated!!
We love you!
The Nuzum's :)
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Another Puzzle Update!!
Well we have had fun working on the puzzle!! We have gotten a LITTLE further than what I last posted!! Ha-Ha! The last time I checked I think we had up to 238 puzzle pieces sold! And after I took my last picture of the puzzle we have already sold almost 10 more pieces! I am SO thankful for all you out there who have been blessing US and blessing this baby that will one day get to see all the people who were a part of this process!!
We are coming up on our deadline!! VERY CLOSE TO OUR DEADLINE!! As in 3 more days!!! How are we doing???? Well, we are terrified, nervous, and a whole other bunch of emotions rolled up into one...which by the way is REALLY confusing to work through! Ha-Ha! We are fighting with being discouraged and we are joyful and encouraged at the same time! We aren't to our goal yet. But we are focusing more on what we HAVE been blessed with! Every time we think about how we have been blessed it bring tears of joy, humbleness, and excitement to our eyes. Because YOU ALL ARE AMAZING!! And we thank you! Please don't ever mistake us being discouraged as us being ungrateful! FAR from the truth!
I just ask for prayer right now! Pray that God give us what we need left! If He chooses not to do that and to wait, pray that our agency will be gracious to us! Pray that we continue to trust in Him no matter what happens in this situation. He Is Able!
Here is a couple of pictures of the puzzle so far. Sorry if you can't see it very well, the pieces are so shiny it's hard not to have a glare on them!
We love you!
The Nuzums :)
We are coming up on our deadline!! VERY CLOSE TO OUR DEADLINE!! As in 3 more days!!! How are we doing???? Well, we are terrified, nervous, and a whole other bunch of emotions rolled up into one...which by the way is REALLY confusing to work through! Ha-Ha! We are fighting with being discouraged and we are joyful and encouraged at the same time! We aren't to our goal yet. But we are focusing more on what we HAVE been blessed with! Every time we think about how we have been blessed it bring tears of joy, humbleness, and excitement to our eyes. Because YOU ALL ARE AMAZING!! And we thank you! Please don't ever mistake us being discouraged as us being ungrateful! FAR from the truth!
I just ask for prayer right now! Pray that God give us what we need left! If He chooses not to do that and to wait, pray that our agency will be gracious to us! Pray that we continue to trust in Him no matter what happens in this situation. He Is Able!
Here is a couple of pictures of the puzzle so far. Sorry if you can't see it very well, the pieces are so shiny it's hard not to have a glare on them!
We love you!
The Nuzums :)
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Puzzle Update!!!
Hey! Well we got the puzzle in last night and we started working on it as soon as we could. It was so cool to be able to write down all the names of all you out there that have been so amazing to us! This is after we got all the pieces written on with the names of those who have bought a piece of our puzzle!
So many generous people!
As I was putting pieces together. I wanted to take a picture of a small sample of what the back would look like.
Families may not be beside family, but as I looked at this picture, it struck me that this puzzle represents all of the people coming together (like a puzzle) and making our dream come true.
It really is overwhelming to see all you being so generous to some random people who have a dream of bringing home this amazing baby. I could never thank you all enough. It is definitely more than a donation to us. We love you all for doing this. It means the world. Thank you.
Here is where we quit for the night...
All the pieces around the puzzle are also "bought" puzzle pieces...we just couldn't find a spot for them yet, so we will keep on working on it as people continue to "buy" pieces for the puzzle. I will update as we keep adding to the puzzle.
Thank you all!
Love,
The Nuzums :)
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Meanwhile....
Well, while we are waiting on our puzzle to get here so I can get that started, I figured I would write a random post. A filler, if that's what you want to call it.
A blog post that will kind of describe what's been going on through my head during this process.
Since we have started this whole process, I have been spending most of my time getting on OTHER families blogs about THEIR adoption journey. I get enthralled in their story and I find myself starting at the beginning of their journey and not stopping until I have read every post until the end. In reading lots of adoption blogs, I realize how blessed I am.
100 percent of the blogs I have read have dealt with women who struggled with infertility and are now adopting. I have read how their hearts have been broken. All the tears they have shed. And the great struggle of getting through that. I feel SO blessed, because I think God has chosen to protect me from that. I have never struggled with it. My heart doesn't hurt because I haven't had biological children. I don't get sad when my friends get pregnant. Which is just another reason why I feel like I'm called to adopt. This just feels natural! :) I thank God that he has thus far spared me from all that turmoil. Thank you Lord :)
A dear friend to us who also adopted, told us that this would definitely stretch us. He said that as a married couple we would have to pick each other up. Boy was he ever right, and we haven't even REALLY gotten started in this process. We have already had points where I was weak and needed my husband to pick me up. We are now at a point where my I'm doing okay and now my husband is needing me to be strong and pick him up. I guarantee that if you give it some time, it will be my turn again. So I am thankful for my husband and I can't wait to see how we grow together as a couple through this.
We are approaching our deadline in a couple of weeks and we aren't even half way to where we need to be. And it's easy to focus on how much we don't have and the fear of how we may have to postpone this until we are fully funded. But we have both been smacked out of that thankfully and heard God telling us too look at how much He has blessed us! Because of the loving support of our friends and family, we have been blessed to raise almost 2,000 dollars in just 2 and a half weeks! That is just INSANE! I am so amazed at all of you out there who are being so good to us. We love you. We thank you. You are a blessing to us and our family. I pray that God blesses you doubly.
The fact that we have been through all these things with our feelings is a little scary seeing as how we aren't even out of the beginning step yet! ha!! But I am also excited to see where this whole thing takes us. I hope you all stay along for the ride!
we love you!
The Nuzums :)
A blog post that will kind of describe what's been going on through my head during this process.
Since we have started this whole process, I have been spending most of my time getting on OTHER families blogs about THEIR adoption journey. I get enthralled in their story and I find myself starting at the beginning of their journey and not stopping until I have read every post until the end. In reading lots of adoption blogs, I realize how blessed I am.
100 percent of the blogs I have read have dealt with women who struggled with infertility and are now adopting. I have read how their hearts have been broken. All the tears they have shed. And the great struggle of getting through that. I feel SO blessed, because I think God has chosen to protect me from that. I have never struggled with it. My heart doesn't hurt because I haven't had biological children. I don't get sad when my friends get pregnant. Which is just another reason why I feel like I'm called to adopt. This just feels natural! :) I thank God that he has thus far spared me from all that turmoil. Thank you Lord :)
A dear friend to us who also adopted, told us that this would definitely stretch us. He said that as a married couple we would have to pick each other up. Boy was he ever right, and we haven't even REALLY gotten started in this process. We have already had points where I was weak and needed my husband to pick me up. We are now at a point where my I'm doing okay and now my husband is needing me to be strong and pick him up. I guarantee that if you give it some time, it will be my turn again. So I am thankful for my husband and I can't wait to see how we grow together as a couple through this.
We are approaching our deadline in a couple of weeks and we aren't even half way to where we need to be. And it's easy to focus on how much we don't have and the fear of how we may have to postpone this until we are fully funded. But we have both been smacked out of that thankfully and heard God telling us too look at how much He has blessed us! Because of the loving support of our friends and family, we have been blessed to raise almost 2,000 dollars in just 2 and a half weeks! That is just INSANE! I am so amazed at all of you out there who are being so good to us. We love you. We thank you. You are a blessing to us and our family. I pray that God blesses you doubly.
The fact that we have been through all these things with our feelings is a little scary seeing as how we aren't even out of the beginning step yet! ha!! But I am also excited to see where this whole thing takes us. I hope you all stay along for the ride!
we love you!
The Nuzums :)
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Let The Fundraising Begin!!!!!
Hang in there blog readers, this is kind of a long one!!
Okay, there is no way to beat around the bush here. Might as well just come out and say it. As we have talked about before...adoption cost LOTS of money. I know this may come as a shock to you all, however, I need to say it...we don't have a lot of money!! ha-ha.
So here I am, asking all of YOU and all of YOUR family and friends and all of THEIR family and friends to become a part of this process. To be a part of bringing this baby boy or baby girl home. :)
No better time to start except for the present! So here we go! Fundraiser Number ONE!!
PUZZLE FUNDRAISER
Richard and I have picked out an adoption related picture and we have sent it to a company that is going to turn it into a puzzle. Our puzzle will be here in about a week.
Okay, here is how it works:
We have ordered a 513 piece puzzle!! Our puzzle pieces are going to be for "sale" for $5.00 a puzzle piece.
When you "buy" a puzzle piece, we will then put a piece of the puzzle together. And also when you buy that puzzle piece (s) we will write your name on the back of that piece.
We will be taking pictures to update you as the puzzle progresses. When every piece of the puzzle is "bought" then the puzzle will be complete. We will then frame the puzzle between two pieces of glass and hang it in the babies nursery. It will be framed in two pieces of glass so when we turn the puzzle over we can show our little one all these people who helped bring him/her home.
We are going to keep the actual picture a surprise until the puzzle is completed, but you will get to see it as the puzzle progresses!!
So just tell me on my blog, on facebook, or in person if you would like to "buy" a puzzle piece so I can get your name on the back of a piece!
If you would like to participate in this, you can either pay me in person or mail us the money at: Amber and Richard Nuzum Po Box 159 Pleasanton, KS 66075. Possibly in the future we will have a button on our blog where you can pay/donate using paypal. But for right now it's just by mail or in person.
Thank you everybody in advance. We are so excited about this. And we are SO glad that we get to include all of you in this process!
If this didn't make sense and you need more explaining just message me and I can try to explain it a little better :)
Love,
The Nuzums
Okay, there is no way to beat around the bush here. Might as well just come out and say it. As we have talked about before...adoption cost LOTS of money. I know this may come as a shock to you all, however, I need to say it...we don't have a lot of money!! ha-ha.
So here I am, asking all of YOU and all of YOUR family and friends and all of THEIR family and friends to become a part of this process. To be a part of bringing this baby boy or baby girl home. :)
No better time to start except for the present! So here we go! Fundraiser Number ONE!!
PUZZLE FUNDRAISER
Richard and I have picked out an adoption related picture and we have sent it to a company that is going to turn it into a puzzle. Our puzzle will be here in about a week.
Okay, here is how it works:
We have ordered a 513 piece puzzle!! Our puzzle pieces are going to be for "sale" for $5.00 a puzzle piece.
When you "buy" a puzzle piece, we will then put a piece of the puzzle together. And also when you buy that puzzle piece (s) we will write your name on the back of that piece.
We will be taking pictures to update you as the puzzle progresses. When every piece of the puzzle is "bought" then the puzzle will be complete. We will then frame the puzzle between two pieces of glass and hang it in the babies nursery. It will be framed in two pieces of glass so when we turn the puzzle over we can show our little one all these people who helped bring him/her home.
We are going to keep the actual picture a surprise until the puzzle is completed, but you will get to see it as the puzzle progresses!!
So just tell me on my blog, on facebook, or in person if you would like to "buy" a puzzle piece so I can get your name on the back of a piece!
If you would like to participate in this, you can either pay me in person or mail us the money at: Amber and Richard Nuzum Po Box 159 Pleasanton, KS 66075. Possibly in the future we will have a button on our blog where you can pay/donate using paypal. But for right now it's just by mail or in person.
Thank you everybody in advance. We are so excited about this. And we are SO glad that we get to include all of you in this process!
If this didn't make sense and you need more explaining just message me and I can try to explain it a little better :)
Love,
The Nuzums
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Being Still
Be Still. A LOT harder than it sounds. Who knew two little words could be so hard to live out??? "Be Still and KNOW that I am God" is even HARDER!! To sit back and wait....doing nothing except trusting the Lord. Trusting that my situation is going to be taken care of by Him if I just stay the heck out of the way and let Him take care of it.
So where are we at right now in this whole process? God has opened (with ease) several LOCKED doors. Locked door number 1: We got accepted in to this agency that we thought basically impossible to get in to. Locked door number 2. We found out there was an age requirement of 25 yrs old. Richard is only 24. They are choosing to waive that requirement for us. Now we are standing at Locked door number 3. Dead bolts from top to bottom (ha). The agency sent us the contract that we need to sign. 3 pages of a contract to read and sign...piece of cake. Here's the thing....we need to mail back our signed contract with X amount of money. An amount of money that we have never had all at once in our entire lives. ha-ha. We have to send back the contract within the next 21 days.
Richard and I have prayed about it and from the very beginning we have decided that we want to do this adoption debt free. We just feel like that's how God would like us to handle it. That being said...we have nothing close to our X amount of money that we need to send in. Our flesh is crying out that we just go get a small loan, or borrow the money from someone. Then we cry out for forgiveness for not being still and trusting in the Lord.
Coming up soon we will be doing some fundraisers that we hope you all will participate in and be a part of bringing our new addition into our lives. Some of the fundraisers we have in the making take a little longer than 21 days to pull together.
So here we are. Being Still. Trusting. Fighting our Flesh. Surrendering our doubts.
We love you all. Keep following us!!!
Love,
the Nuzums :)
So where are we at right now in this whole process? God has opened (with ease) several LOCKED doors. Locked door number 1: We got accepted in to this agency that we thought basically impossible to get in to. Locked door number 2. We found out there was an age requirement of 25 yrs old. Richard is only 24. They are choosing to waive that requirement for us. Now we are standing at Locked door number 3. Dead bolts from top to bottom (ha). The agency sent us the contract that we need to sign. 3 pages of a contract to read and sign...piece of cake. Here's the thing....we need to mail back our signed contract with X amount of money. An amount of money that we have never had all at once in our entire lives. ha-ha. We have to send back the contract within the next 21 days.
Richard and I have prayed about it and from the very beginning we have decided that we want to do this adoption debt free. We just feel like that's how God would like us to handle it. That being said...we have nothing close to our X amount of money that we need to send in. Our flesh is crying out that we just go get a small loan, or borrow the money from someone. Then we cry out for forgiveness for not being still and trusting in the Lord.
Coming up soon we will be doing some fundraisers that we hope you all will participate in and be a part of bringing our new addition into our lives. Some of the fundraisers we have in the making take a little longer than 21 days to pull together.
So here we are. Being Still. Trusting. Fighting our Flesh. Surrendering our doubts.
We love you all. Keep following us!!!
Love,
the Nuzums :)
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Simply Amazed
Well....today was the day. The day we found out if we got accepted into the agency we REALLY wanted. The agency that interviews 200 couples a month and only accepts 6 a month. Like I told you before in my last post, we were totally doubting. 200 out of 6...I mean...come on...the odds are NOT in our favor.
I probably checked my email 75 times today. So anxious. Couldn't think about much of anything else.
2:00 in the afternoon comes. I check it again (10 minutes after the last time I checked it) There it was...that email that had been plaguing my thoughts all day long. Except the email was the total opposite of what I thought it was going to be. The title of the email explains it all. "Your Angel Adoption Acceptance" Did you SEE that?????? We have been ACCEPTED!!!! AHHH!! We are SO excited we can hardly stand it!! Tears immediately formed in Richard and mine's eyes. We couldn't believe it. We were simply amazed.
God is so amazing. He's opening doors. We are praising Him.
I'll be honest...too excited to even come up with anything else to write at the moment. So this is going to have to be it for right now.
Thank you all for praying! Don't stop now!
Love,
The Nuzum's
I probably checked my email 75 times today. So anxious. Couldn't think about much of anything else.
2:00 in the afternoon comes. I check it again (10 minutes after the last time I checked it) There it was...that email that had been plaguing my thoughts all day long. Except the email was the total opposite of what I thought it was going to be. The title of the email explains it all. "Your Angel Adoption Acceptance" Did you SEE that?????? We have been ACCEPTED!!!! AHHH!! We are SO excited we can hardly stand it!! Tears immediately formed in Richard and mine's eyes. We couldn't believe it. We were simply amazed.
God is so amazing. He's opening doors. We are praising Him.
I'll be honest...too excited to even come up with anything else to write at the moment. So this is going to have to be it for right now.
Thank you all for praying! Don't stop now!
Love,
The Nuzum's
Monday, February 25, 2013
A Tiny Update For You!
Not a whole lot going on to update you with right at the moment. Before, I told you that we had two agencies we were looking at and we have already visited with one. Well the SECOND agency is the one that we REALLY want.
Today we had a phone interview with the second agency. It seemed to go well. We will know on THURSDAY if we have been accepted into their program! Here's the thing.....they have about 200 couples apply every MONTH. They only accept SIX couples every month, and right now they only have 2 spots available. So we are thinking...yeah right...we have NO chance and then doubt after doubt crept in and we had already given up. And then we stopped ourselves with all our doubting and sat there and prayed together. We simply just prayed for faith. God is bigger than our circumstances, our doubts, and our impossible situation. If this isn't the agency God wants for us (but we really hope it is) then there is obviously a better option right around the corner. We just need to TRUST.
So if you are out there reading this today, please pray for us. Pray that we continue to trust in the Lord. Pray that if this the way it's supposed to be that it be very clear to us.
Today we had a phone interview with the second agency. It seemed to go well. We will know on THURSDAY if we have been accepted into their program! Here's the thing.....they have about 200 couples apply every MONTH. They only accept SIX couples every month, and right now they only have 2 spots available. So we are thinking...yeah right...we have NO chance and then doubt after doubt crept in and we had already given up. And then we stopped ourselves with all our doubting and sat there and prayed together. We simply just prayed for faith. God is bigger than our circumstances, our doubts, and our impossible situation. If this isn't the agency God wants for us (but we really hope it is) then there is obviously a better option right around the corner. We just need to TRUST.
So if you are out there reading this today, please pray for us. Pray that we continue to trust in the Lord. Pray that if this the way it's supposed to be that it be very clear to us.
Monday, February 18, 2013
First of MANY prayer requests!!!
Hey everyone!! First of all..I am SO SORRY that this blog post is so LONG winded. Once I started I just couldn't stop, so hang in there til the end! ha ha
As I said in the first blog post, we are trying to settle down on an agency. We have met with an agency in Overland Park, Ks last Monday called "Adoption and Beyond". We liked how the meeting went for the most part. We had talked it over and pretty much decided that this is the agency we are going to go with. MAINLY because the cost was some of the lowest we had seen for domestic infant adoptions. The cost was $18,000 up to $22,000. The only CONS we had with this agency was that the average time frame for a completed adoption was a little longer than what we had hoped for. Another thing that I found out today was that they focus mainly placing an infant with the same race as the adoptive parents. That's not necessarily what we are looking for. We don't care what the skin color of this amazingly ADORABLE baby is going to be! But that being said...in our minds we had settled on this agency because the price was a little lower than what we had found and it was close and convenient for us.
So today as I am just playing around on the computer I start doing some research of other agencies just for the fun of it. I literally STUMBLE across this certain agency and start looking into it. I INSTANTLY fell in love with it!! It is everything we want AND it's even CHEAPER than the first agency!! So I am just looking around this website and find that they NOW have 2 open spots available. So what do I do? I hit the apply button and start filling out the lengthy application. After I hit the send button a message pops up saying that once it is reviewed they will send out an email to let us know if they think we are a good fit for this company and to say that we can move forward in setting up a meeting with them.
An hour later.......an email comes in saying they would love to have an appointment with us over the phone! This appointment is going to determine whether or not they will accept us into the program and give us one of those two open spots.
WHEW!!! Now to the point. PRAY. Please pray that if this is the agency God wants us to use then the door be opened and it be VERY clear. If this is not God's plan for us then please PRAY that the door will be shut very fast. I usually try not to get to excited very quickly but it's kind of hard not to. How can you not be excited when you are thinking about one of these agencies is going to be our guide to holding our amazing and precious baby!?!?! I just want it to be clear which one is God's way for us. So thank you in advance for all the prayers lifted up!
Love,
The Nuzum's :)
As I said in the first blog post, we are trying to settle down on an agency. We have met with an agency in Overland Park, Ks last Monday called "Adoption and Beyond". We liked how the meeting went for the most part. We had talked it over and pretty much decided that this is the agency we are going to go with. MAINLY because the cost was some of the lowest we had seen for domestic infant adoptions. The cost was $18,000 up to $22,000. The only CONS we had with this agency was that the average time frame for a completed adoption was a little longer than what we had hoped for. Another thing that I found out today was that they focus mainly placing an infant with the same race as the adoptive parents. That's not necessarily what we are looking for. We don't care what the skin color of this amazingly ADORABLE baby is going to be! But that being said...in our minds we had settled on this agency because the price was a little lower than what we had found and it was close and convenient for us.
So today as I am just playing around on the computer I start doing some research of other agencies just for the fun of it. I literally STUMBLE across this certain agency and start looking into it. I INSTANTLY fell in love with it!! It is everything we want AND it's even CHEAPER than the first agency!! So I am just looking around this website and find that they NOW have 2 open spots available. So what do I do? I hit the apply button and start filling out the lengthy application. After I hit the send button a message pops up saying that once it is reviewed they will send out an email to let us know if they think we are a good fit for this company and to say that we can move forward in setting up a meeting with them.
An hour later.......an email comes in saying they would love to have an appointment with us over the phone! This appointment is going to determine whether or not they will accept us into the program and give us one of those two open spots.
WHEW!!! Now to the point. PRAY. Please pray that if this is the agency God wants us to use then the door be opened and it be VERY clear. If this is not God's plan for us then please PRAY that the door will be shut very fast. I usually try not to get to excited very quickly but it's kind of hard not to. How can you not be excited when you are thinking about one of these agencies is going to be our guide to holding our amazing and precious baby!?!?! I just want it to be clear which one is God's way for us. So thank you in advance for all the prayers lifted up!
Love,
The Nuzum's :)
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
We have an announcement!!
This is a letter that Richard and I have just sent out to our family:
Hey all!!
Richard and I have been talking and praying for sometime now, and I think we are FINALLY ready to begin this next ADVENTURE in our lives and we want you ALL to be a part of it!! We are very excited to share this with all of you and we want YOU to be excited too! I know you are thinking "get on with it already!!" So here it is....our big news....our next big adventure. Richard and I have decided to pursue ADOPTION!! This has been on our hearts every since the day we were married. We knew that no matter how many (if any) children we had on our own that we STILL wanted to adopt.
I will be honest with you all about a couple of things. FIRST...this is equally terrifying as it is exciting. SECOND I have been very hesitant to share this with anybody. Why you ask? Well, we are SO early in this whole process (and when I say early, I mean EARLY) that I'm kind of afraid of failing before we get started. I didn't want to tell everybody so early on, and this all ending up not working out. Then we would have to go back and tell everybody again...oops sorry never mind!! However...my mind has been changed. First by my husband who keeps begging me to just get this all out in the open. Second, I have been following the blog of an amazing couple who has just finalized the adoption of their beautiful baby and they shared some reasons for THEM telling people so early on in the process. Listening to them tell their story has got me so excited that I have decided to let everybody else in on this excitement.
First of all we just want to say that we are SO excited about this whole idea that we can hardly stand it! Which is one major reason we are telling you all right now...because we just can't hold it in any longer!! Another Reason we are telling you so early on is because we know what an amazing and scary journey this will be and we can use all the prayers & support possible!
Some people have raised the questions, "Why adoption?", "Can you not have any children on your own?" So why adoption you ask? Richard and I have always had the desire to adopt. The only thing I can say is that this desire has to be from God. I think God has instilled in me this desire since the day he created me. Growing up as a child I remember that I have always had a big heart for the "under dog" the one who is less fortunate than myself, the one who nobody else ever gave a second glance towards. As I got older I went on several mission trips to a third world country. Seeing all those children without parents, mothers trying to GIVE their babies away to the Americans...I knew right then that I was meant to adopt. And for God in His perfect design to pair me up with a wonderful Christian husband who feels the same way about adoption is just icing on the cake!
"Can you not have any children on your own?" Well, to be honest, I don't know. I CAN tell you this. Richard and I have been married for 3 almost 4 years and we don't have any children yet :) But I'm not worried about it. I don't feel the need to go to the doctor for all that infertility testing business. If God wants me to have biological children...then I will. If God chooses not to bless us with biological children, then we are okay with that.
Some of the "equally terrifying" part of this process is the financial part. Turns out children are really expensive!! (ha-ha) Through all the research we have done, we have found that with the kind of adoption we want to do (domestic infant of any gender and of any race) the average cost is $25,000. WOW!! I know!! $25,000 is TERRIFYING!! How are we going to do this? We obviously don't have $25,000 in spare change just laying around. We are trusting that if we are meant to adopt, then God is going to make it happen. We are going to pray, fundraise, pray, save every penny, pray, cut other costs as much as we can, did I mention pray?? Because that is how all this is going to happen. We are putting God at the forefront of this adoption. We want God to get ALL the glory through this process. And we want everybody on the outside to SEE God working in our impossible situation. Which is another reason we are telling you all so early. We want God to get the glory in EVERY STEP forward in this adoption process.
Right now Richard and I are trying to settle down on an adoption agency out of a couple that we like, then after we do that, the REAL fun begins. We are so excited!!! We want to you be involved and equally excited in this process. We want you to share the excitement in the ups and we want you share the painful tears in the downs.
We love you all. We invite you to take part in this process. We pray that all involved will see how magnificent God is. We thank you now for all the prayer support you will be giving us. We will keep you updated! Thank you all for being so amazing!!
Love always
Richard and Amber Nuzum,
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