Giving up shopping is NOT a sacrifice!

Today, Black Friday, is day I look forward to each year.  This year some things have changed and bringing Esther home is our top priority.  That means NO shopping for me and cutting back our holiday spending/giving by 85%.  I know that sounds like a huge number but if you put it into perspective it is not that drastic.  This is such a blessing to our family helping us focus our attention on putting Christ back in our Christmas and not being so commercialized and worldly.  We know His timing is not coincidental and He knew that our family needed something to help us get our focus back on Him.  He also knew that Esther is supposed to our daughter and He needs us to surrender completely in order to get her home quickly! We are not going to live in a spirit of fear and anxiousness as we move forward in this process.  He WILL provide! This verse was clearly given to me this morning in my quiet time" Isaiah 41:10 “Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”


The doorbell rang this morning and the mail man delivered our new advent wreath! This wreath is and carved in wood by a 15 year old boy in Canada named Caleb and all the proceeds go to Compassion. If you are looking at starting new family traditions you would not go wrong with this one.  www.cradletothecrosswreath.com

If you are home shopping online instead of tackling the lines and people here are some ways you can donate to our adoption fund:
1.  Order coffee from Just Love Coffee and they will donate $5 per bag to our fund
https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/journeyof1818/

2.  Just click on the donate button on our blog and you can give to our fund

3.  Thursday we will have a super fun online auction that you won't want to miss.  People have generously donated some great items, from 50% off Florida condos, photo sessions, guitar lessons, babysitting and more! Here are the auction details: http://journeyof1818-adoptionauction.blogspot.com/p/auction-details.html

Thanks so much to all of you in advance to partnering with us and for helping us bring home our sweet baby girl!