T-SHIRTS FOR CUT-A-THON!

T-SHIRTS ARE HERE!

Thanks to the best graphic designer ever who happens to be my little brother (Thomas Ramey) and a generous friend who has a screenprinting business (Wes Turnbow), we have this REALLY cool shirts for our event! We will be selling these at the cut-a-thon on SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2011 at Gallery of Salons (2525 W. Anderson Ln, ATX 78757) or, if you don't live in the Austin area or can't make it out that day, you can order one NOW. (Just another great way to support our cause and you get a cool t-shirt out of the deal!) So choose your favorite color and make an order, so you can contribute to bringing our son home!!

For adult tees we are asking for a $20 donation, and for the child tees we are asking for a $15 donation.

To browse tthrough the t-shirts we are offering, please click here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=279153&id=604242822&l=7a1658c0b8


TO PLACE AN ORDER:

Please email me at kristinmichaelstylist@gmail. com, or leave a comment at the bottom of the blog letting me know what color and size you want. To make your payment, please go to the "Donate button" --------->> on the top right-hand side of this blog and make your donation.

Cut-A-Thon 2011....Change your hair, Change the world



OK! So here's the deal.....

SUNDAY, April 10, 2011 my salon, along with 3 other salons, are having a cut-a-thon. A cut-a-thon is where haircuts are offered at a GREAT price and all the proceeds of every single haircut goes directly towards a good cause. In this case, the great cause is the adoption of our son. All of the hairstylist are capable of cutting and styling ALL hair types and ALL people. The more people come to get their haircut the more money we raise. SO TELL YOUR FRIENDS, TOO! We are asking for a $25 donation for women's haircuts, $15 for men's haircuts, and $5 for kid's who are 6 and under.

We have 4 amazing hairstylist, that will be providing the services, as well as, some very generous cosmetology students who have donated their time to assist the stylist. You don't need to make an appointment or anything. You can just show up at THE GALLERY OF SALONS (2525 W. Anderson Lane, Austin, TX 78757) anywhere between 12:00 - 4:00 and we will accommodate you. Bring the whole family, if you want, bring your friends, your neighbors. Especially bring the people who you've been meaning to recommend to your hairstylist, because they desperately need help in the hair department. (You know who I'm talking about. That person that just popped into your head after reading that sentence!) It's a great way for them to get a professional haircut for a really cheap price, and at the same time, contribute to a great cause!

JUST GOT A HAIRCUT? That's not a problem either. You can still come and be a part of this special event. We will be having a silent auction for some really cool stuff, lots of hair products, accessories, and t-shirts for all you shoppers out there, as well as a FREE raffle just for showing up and being with us!

WON'T BE AVAILABLE THAT DAY OR DON'T LIVE IN THE AUSTIN AREA? You're in luck, that won't be a problem either. You can still participate by buying a t-shirt, bidding on our silent auction items, or entering in our raffles. (More details to come on those, so keep checking back!) You could also just donate funds by using that "donate" button at the top right-hand corner of the blog. Another way to contribute, is get the word out. The only way this event is going to raise funds is if people show up. So you can also help by sharing this blogpost, tweeting out the event, donating your status on facebook to tell your fb friends about our event, or wherever else you can share information to other people. If you would like flyers to hang up at your office, in your neighborhood, at your church please contact me and let me know at kristinmichaelstylist@gmail.com.

OTHER WAYS TO HELP-- If you, personally, or your business would like to contribute to the event, we need you. We need raffle prizes, silent auction items, and even just people willing to help advertise. Please contact me if you feel led to do this.

SO, here's the recap:

CUT-A-THON FUNDRAISER

BENEFITING OUR ADOPTION

Sunday, April 10, 2011

12:00-4:00pm

at Gallery of Salons

2525 W. Anderson Lane, ATX 78757

BE THERE, OR BE SQUARE!

For more questions or information, please email kristinmichaelstylist@gmail.com

                                                  

The waiting game!

It has been a whole month now since our paperwork arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In that short amount of time, a lot has been going on with the adoption process in Ethiopia. Things that are way beyond our control. Just to recap from previous posts, the Ethiopian government decided to immensly slow down the number of cases processed per day to focus on reform and make the process run more smoothly. In the long run, this will be a good thing for the children in Ethiopia waiting for families, but as of right now, this really sucks for us! They are saying that this could increase our wait time (which before the reform was 8-11 months) about one more year. Our agency's view on the matter is that they have seen a slow down of cases processed, but not as bad as they were saying. They continue to have hope, as well, that once they have worked out the kinks, that it will return back to "normal".

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." Acts 20:24

It's been a day to day battle and constant prayer for God to restore the joy of His salvation in me and renew my spirit. Some days I will be full of hope and joy and stand firm that God is with me in this race. There are days where I feel that nothing is going according to plan, satan is winning and I doubt. I let other people's words crush me and influence me into believing that what we are doing is not "realistic" and not worth it. But the hardest days, are when my heart breaks for my son. I think about him a lot, only wishing that I can reach my arms out to him, hug him, and let him know that we are coming for him NO MATTER WHAT the wait, or what others say, or how much the cost. We will come for him. Playing with my children, having family dinners, reading books for bedtime...I feel like there is constantly a missing piece to our puzzle. It's such an unsettling feeling. A feeling I know will not go away until he is here with his sister, brother, mom, and dad. The thought of having this feeling for at least another year scares me. I have fears that it will start wearing on me or that the majority of my days will become the bad days, where I have doubts and sadness. Every day I am reminded by God that through him, I can have HOPE, and that He will make sure that our journey ends with us telling our waiting son of the hope that God has for him, as well.

I read this passage the other day, and it truly spoke to me and has become my prayer/anthem through this waiting time:

"But as for me, I will always have HOPE, I will praise you more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure. I will come a proclaim your mighty acts, O sovereign Lord; I will proclaim your righteousness as yours alone. Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come. Your righteousness reaches to the sky, O God, You who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you?" Psalms 71: 14-19

Not only do I want my son to see and feel the glory of God through our journey to him, it's also my prayer that others will see the glory of God through this journey as well, regardless of how bumpy, smooth, exciting, miraculous, heartwrenching, or painful the path may be.

Here is a song from one of the worship leaders of Austin Stone, Aaron Ivey, that I listen to quite often. It helps me get through those bad days. It's a song about his wait for his little boy from Haiti.



Here's the deal...

There's been a lot going on right now, and it's hard, because we have hardly anything we can do about it, but sit and wait for word.

As of tomorrow, The Ethiopian Government will decrease the amount of adoption cases processed down to 5 per day. This is a preeetttty big increase. MOWCYA (the one's calling the shots about adoption in Ethiopia) is now wanting to approve every match before the case can be approved for its first court hearing. The also stated that if you are not matched as of now, this could cause significant delays.

YES, this crushed me. Can't imagine this loong wait to become even looonger! The even harder part of this, is we have no idea what our future holds. I'm trying to wrap my head around all of this and try to focus on what matters and how this is going to play out for us, which obviously we won't know until it happens. What are we going to do now? How am I supposed to be taking this news? What does this all mean??



 Of course, after having my own personal, private pity party, I came to the conclusion that I was going to trust. Trust the timeline that God has laid out since the beginning. He knows when that little guy is supposed to take his first step into our family. He has fulfilled our every need since the beginning and he will fulfill us through to the end. He will never leave us no matter what happens. Even when my impatience gets the best of me and I try to take matters into my own hand; He's always right there, to bring me peace, and chill. me. out.

Patience is definintely not my strongsuit and I am trying hard to just take these circumstances for what they are and work on, enjoy, and learn from the relationships that God has placed in my life at this very moment. To stop looking and pushing so hard toward's the future and BE STILL and embrace the world that was given around me.

So, I pray that the change will be a shift in the right direction, and it will only strengthen the Ethiopian adoption process as a whole, so that ALL of these children, find genuine and loving homes no matter where in the world, be it Ethiopia, Spain, or US of A. I also pray for growth for myself and my family through this time and we keep Him in the driver's seat!

One Step Closer

I woke up this morning to see this email in my inbox from our case worker who happens to be in Ethiopia right now working on the orphanage that CWA (our agency) just opened to house orphans waiting to be adopted (possibly our child is there right now!!!).....

"Good news... we just got notification that your dossier is at our CWAE office in Addis Ababa.  One step closer!"

Today is going to be a great day!

We get the same question a whole lot of, "Why is it so expensive to adopt?" While, every country, including the US, is different in how much it cost to adopt, part of our decision to adopt from Ethiopia and through CWA (Christian World Agency) was because of where the cost goes. We are not only paying for the cost of legal fees, translation fees, travel fees, etc. towards the adoption of our child, but the rest of the costs goes towards the other orphans. It helps feed them, educate them, gives them medical care, a place to sleep, it helps pay the wages of the wonderful nannies (who the kids call "mommy") who care for them, etc. The gift of adoption doesn't reach just one child, but in our case, A LOT of other orphans hoping to one day become part of a family they hope and long to belong in. Here's more information about the Acacia Village. http://www.acaciavillage.org/village.htm

"For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end." Psalm 48:14

It's official!!!

OUR DOSSIER HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN SENT TO ETHIOPIA!

The dossier was supposed to go out last Friday, but due to bank holdings on our adoption account it didn't happen. They put a hold on our deposit that we made to cover the translation fee, international fee, second agency fee, and adoption fee. Because the check was well over $5,000 they had to hold it for 2 weeks! It was very upsetting for us, because we wanted to get on the waiting list as soon as possible, and the only way to get on the waiting list is for your dossier to be shipped, and the dossier can't be shipped until you have paid everything you owe. So once again, money issues were halting our process. (I feel a recurring theme here, so far with this journey.) But I was clinging to God and His plan for me. It's not always smooth, but sometimes you have to hold on to Him when the road gets bumpy and rest assured that His timing is perfect. That evening I got a very reassuring email from our wonderful case worker, saying that no other dossier has come in and that our dossier is first on the list to be shipped over (meaning no one will be in front us on the waitlist due to this little bank mishap.) Praise God! He works even in our accidentals and imperfections.


So, you better believe that we were ecstatic when we got the email today from our agency saying that they have shipped our dossier to Ethiopia today. Next up, our agency's team in Ethiopia will get our dossier on Monday or Tuesday. One of the workers will run around Addis Ababa all day on behalf of us getting all the necessary notaries and authentications needed from the country. I can't wait to get the email saying what number we are on the waitlist.


So what to do in the meantime......

I ordered a ton of books to read to prepare for the road to come and we have to do some required training from our agency about adoption. We also will be doing more fundraising to pay for the rest of our costs, which consists of traveling fees (we have to travel twice).

I will continue to update our progress everytime we  get word from our agency. To pass time, I'll continue to blog how God is working in our lives to prepare us for what's to come. There's nothing that brings me more joy to be able to go back and see what God did and how He uses people to make His plan perfect!

Thanks, again for all of the prayers and support thus far! It's an honor to share our story with all of you.

Ethiopia or Bust!

We are very excited to share the wonderful news, that our dossier is Ethiopia bound!!!

It has been authenticated by the state of Texas, the US department of state, and the Ethiopian Embassy. Our amazing case worker, Emily, sent us this picture before she sent it halfway across the world!

We also have received our appointment with immigration to be fingerprinted for our son's visa to enter the United States, which is February 22. I can't believe we are done on our end. What's next, you ask?

    We wait......................................and wait..............................and wait some more!

Soon we will hear from our agency's Ethiopian team and they will let us know our number on the waitlist. The waitlist consists of families who have completed their paperwork and are waiting to be matched with a waiting child whose legally ready to be adopted. Who knows how long it will take. On average they say about 9 months. Certain legal things can hold up the process, but Ethiopia has been doing everything they can to make the process faster and smoother. All we know is that God is in control and HIS timing is perfect! We will wait upon Him.

Now that all of the paperwork is done, we are planning a few more fundraisers to help with the rest of our cost. Here is where you can help:

1. We are planning very soon to hold an online auction. If you or anyone you know would like to donate an item please let me know. We're planning on doing one item a day. Items can include: gift baskets, art pieces (for all you artist), a service (i.e. if you're a chef, maybe you could donate a cooking lesson or a free meal with a personal chef, etc...), hotel reservations, maybe your place of business could donate something, etc........ Basically anything worthy of auctioning off. We're planning on auctioning off one item per day, so the more items, the more days, meaning the more we raise to bring our little boy home!

2. Another fundraiser we are planning on doing in the summer will be another garage sale. So, all you in the Austin area, give us all your junk. We will take anything and everything. We also pick-up if we need to.

3. I am also still selling headbands for $10/each and making invitations/stationary ($3/card).  

4. Also, if you or your business want to make a tax-deductible donation by donating directly to our adoption agency, you can do that as well. Just email me at mrandmrsmichael@gmail.com and I can give you the information.

These are just a few things that we have cooking while we wait........and wait........and wait. Please feel free to share our blog with your friends as well and help us get our story out!

Please continue to pray for patience while we wait and for financial provision. We still have about $15,000 to go and I know that He is faithful. As always, we will continue to share our journey with all of you. It is so comforting to know that we have all of you supporting us on this wonderful journey.  I pray that the joy that God abundantly fills us with through this process overflows onto you!!!!

" I saw the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will You let Your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life, You will fill me with JOY in your presence."

Acts 2: 25-28

God bless, The Michael's