Getting ready, but we need your help!

So we are working to get ready for our trip to Ethiopia in just a couple of weeks! I am beside myself excited to be there, experience the culture, soak it all in, and oh, meet my baby!!!! I have looked at others blogs who have done this before and are experienced and gotten their lists of what we need to pack. I feel certain I will forget some major item that we will need, but I am trying.

I am taking 2 big rubbermaid containers full of donations for the orphanages while we are there. Soooo, we need some help! I spoke with our director and she said that the transition house needs disposable diapers and powdered formula. If you would be willing to donate one (or 2 or 3) of those items, those precious babies would be very grateful! You can email me at sarawhitfield@bellsouth.net and i can get them from you. We have been so blessed by friends and family supporting us on this journey, and we thank you!!

And here is a little picture of the four of us over easter weekend. We love our family so much, but can't wait to be a family of 5!!

The yard sale like no other....

There are really no words to describe the yardsale we had april 16. huge, freezing, amazing, exhausting, humbling, crazy come to mind when i think of the weeks before and the actual day. Here are a couple of pictures that can start to put a picture of what i mean....

Here are some of the amazing women who helped me get ready. This is our "thursday night group" who usually go to panera, but on this thursday, they came to my house and worked for hours to help us pull this thing off. and several of these angels were at my house day after day slaving with me in the pod to get ready. oh how grateful i am for my friends!

This is the amount of people here as the sun was rising.....

are you starting to get the picture???....tons of stuff and tons of people!!!!

Some of our very brave friends setting up at 2am...

more helpers doing their part...

We had an awesome bake sale that the kids did all day! They had coffee, popcorn, all kinds of baked goods, water, and lemonade. here are some of our awesome bake-salers!

Here we are, the Whitfields and Thompsons, being blessed by others so we can bring our boys home!!

Despite the terrible weather, God did amazing things this day. At the end of the day, there was very little left that did not sell. What did not sell was donated to 2 very good causes. When all was said and done, we raised a total of $10,000 on this one day! We are so grateful for all of you who helped or contributed to bring home jude and will hudson!

Spring Program....

The girls had their spring program last week and they were adorable! they were both really excited to participate, and neither were too nervous to be standing in front of hundreds of people!

taylor waving to her daddy in the audience

Callie singing her songs

Taylor with Ty and Campbell...these 3 are the best of friends and it is precious!

My 2 sweet girls, i love them so much!!

i will post about the amazing yard sale we had very soon.......

YARD SALE!!!

20 + Family Yard Sale

All proceeds benefiting 2 Adoptive families

Saturday, April 16

6am-2pm

1005 Glastonbury Drive in Franklin

(inside Fieldstone Farms neighborhood)

Thousands of items for sale!!

Multiple large TV’s

Brand New Hallmark Overstock Items

Entertainment Center

Electronics

Bikes and Power Wheels

Kids toys

Lots of furniture (beds, chairs, dressers, tables, couch, recliners)

Office furniture

Artwork/ large and small frames

Baby beds

Silk trees and plants

Bedding and Drapes

Tons of clothes- all sizes and ages

Kitchen appliances and supplies

Sewing accessories (machines, sergers, software, fabric)

Holiday supplies (Christmas trees, decorations, garland, accessories)

Lamps

Luggage

See you Saturday!!!

we have a court date

and i am so grateful that we got it!! so, that means i will get to hold my baby at the end of may!!

with love,

We have gotten a little something together for our new Whitfield!!

I just dropped these things off in a lovely zip lock bag with some friends who are leaving for Ethiopia Friday and they will take it one step closer to our baby!! I am praying that it does eventually make it to him, although i am not totally convinced it will!

It felt so great to shop (at Target, of course) for our sweet baby boy. I have mostly resisted the temptation to shop for him until we get a little closer to him being home for my own emotional well-being (and because i have no idea what size clothes he wears). But, last week, the girls and I laughed and laughed picking out BOY stuff! They had about 10 outfits each for him, but we narrowed it down to 2 outfits...and a photo album full of picture of the 4 of us. They helped me pick out the pictures of themselves for baby brother so see.

...and his name will be Jude David Whitfield. we may keep his ethiopian name as a second middle name, but don't know yet. Jude has ethiopian as well as biblical significance, which was important to us. He will have the same initials as his daddy, which was also important.

We are still waiting on our court date, but are hoping to hear in the next week or so. Things have definitely changed for the positive with the adoption process. The MOWA is processing more than 5 a day, although it is still unclear exactly how many they are doing. Some people are passing when they go to court and some are not....at least some are passing! We are praying for some friends as they travel in the next few weeks that they will all pass on the first try so they can bring their kiddos home soon!

Please continue to pray for our adoption, as well as everyone else involved in bringing their kids home. We feel so blessed to be a part of this journey.....

little update....

Please continue to pray for the children of Ethiopia. We have not heard much of an update, but we are praying that these adoptions will not slow down significantly and these babies and children can get to their forever homes. On a positive note, we were submitted for court earlier this week! It should take a month or so and we will be assigned a court date. We will still go travel for the court date, but will probably not pass (because of the current hold-ups).

and so we ask you to fervently pray, pray, pray...and watch this awesome video!