God Bless Chick-fil-A!

CHICK-FIL-A DAY

TOMORROW

Please come eat at the awesome Chick-fil-a on 75 and 380 on

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 13th

Tell the cashier when you order that you are with the Evans Adoption Group

 and 15% of your total will go straight to the adoption fund! 

What a delicious way to help bring an orphan into a forever home. 

Chick-fil-A is a wonderful organization who truly cares about the family. We are very thankful for their willingness to give us this oppurtunity. 

Thank you to all of you who will come by tomorrow! Enjoy your breakfast, lunch, or dinner (or all three) and as you eat it, know that you are being a huge blessing to our family and our future child from Ethiopia. =) Wish I could be there all day to hug each and everyone of your necks!

Stuck.

Adoption seems crazy right? Well at least the adoption process does. Who wants to volunteer to put themselves and their family through tons of legal hoops and frustrations and red tape, not to mention coming up with $30,000. This is the thinking that stops so many families from even considering adoption... but what if it wasn't so hard? 

Please take a moment to watch this preview of a movie called "Stuck" that will be playing on March 16th in Dallas at AMC Valley View 16. It is a film that will create awareness for the children of the world who are stuck in orphanages and about their right to have a family. Both Ends Burning is an organization who is trying to shift government policies so that in the future, the adoption process will be less of a battle and most importantly to change the trend of international adoptions which has sadly decreased 50% in the past 10 years.

  Stuck Trailer

We plan on going to see the movie on March 16th and would love for some of yall to join us! Check the website to see if this movie is coming to your town.

Paper Pregnancy vs. Real Pregnancy

Real pregnancy for me was easy (at least compared to most horror stories I hear) my doctor even told me at my 6wk check up after delivery that I should consider being a surrogate since my body handled it so well. I'm not bragging, I give all credit to good genes. (Thanks Mom) I say this to say, I am not choosing to adopt because I cant have my own babies. Our reason to adopt comes from a totally different place. (Every reason to adopt a child into a loving home is a good one!)
I can remember when I first felt Micah moving inside my tummy. It was an overwhelming feeling, I loved knowing he was inside me and I could keep him safe and I could eat well and give him all the nutrition he needed. I could control (to an extent) almost everything about his life before he was born. I was a little nauseated the first trimester, I was exhausted the second, and had energy the third(and was also huge). Real pregnancy was textbook easy.

Paper pregnancy is hard. I find myself daydreaming a lot or laying awake in bed at night thinking of our little one that has no idea that he is soon to be an Evans, our son or daughter. He/She doesn't know how much we love them or that we are praying for them everyday. They are laying in an orphanage/care center, most likely sharing a crib with another baby. There little mind is trying to learn and grow all on its own. No mommy and daddy to tell them how special they are and to laugh at every new little trick they learn. No one to tell them that its not normal to have flies always flying around there perfect almond shaped eyes. No one hold their bottle for them, and to stare at them while they eat. No mommys heart beat or familar scent to calm them. They probably like most orphans rock themselves to sleep everynight or slowly bang their head on their crib to self soothe. They dont know that soon, Mommy & Daddy get to rock them to sleep. I lay in bed at night and unconsciously find my hands on my tummy as if they were inside, safe and warm. When I realize where my hands are I have started moving them to rest on my heart. Because that's really where this child is. I have chosen to trust God through this, I have nothing else. Every moment spent in worry is a moment not spent praising and thanking Jesus for all he's done.

Poor Micah has been inflicted with all my mommy emotion and even though he is a independent touch me not, I keep tackling him down to give him hugs and kisses, enough for him and his brother/sister.

CreatedNew

April Wade, creator of the adorable ruffle infinity scarf has graciously partnered with us on our adoption fundraising!! (Insert excited face here!!!)

How can you participate?

1. Go to: http://www.aprilwade.etsy.com/

2. Decide which scarf you want out of all the adorable scarfs (hardest part) and buy one for YOURSELF,your mom, best friend, daughter, kids teacher, etc... I'm asking for one for Valentines Day (are you reading this momma?) :)

3. Enter coupon code: "EVANS" at checkout to receive F R E E shipping and to let her know your associated with our adoption! :)

4. Pat yourself on the back because 40% of your sale is going directly into our adoption fund to give an African orphan a forever home.

5. Receive scarf in mail... And strut your stuff. (The best thing about infinity scarves is that you cannot wear them wrong!)

In Case You Were Wondering

I stole these questions from my sister in law Anna who is an awesome blogger who is also adopting! Check them out and order coffee through their fundraiser site. www.justlovecoffee.com/babyabell Its fair trade & ITS DELICIOUS!

How old is the child you are planning to adopt?
 We have requested a child under the age of two. With Micah being almost two, we thought it would be best to let Micah remain the oldest child in our home… especially with his strong will! We know he will make an amazing older brother.

Will you adopt a boy or girl?
We have decided to not request a specific gender. We truly want to keep our home and hearts open for whomever God has planned for us. We want to be as non-picky as possible. We have been told by our agency that this most likely means we will be the proud parents to a little boy! (We are teaching Micah how to say “brother”. It is precious.

How long is this going to take?
I honestly don’t know. So much of the time frame depends on so many different people and variables. Patience is huge. I don’t mind you asking time frames… just know its all a guesstimate. The time frame the adoption agency averages is at the least a year to the most three to four years. We are obviously hoping to have our new son or daughter home sooner than later.

Will you have to go to travel to Ethiopia, Africa?
Yes. Twice. The first time we go we will get to meet our son or daughter and we also have our court appointment. We then have to leave our child at the care center in Africa and come back home. I am absolutely dreading those weeks/months until we get the “go ahead” from the court and our agency to go back and bring our child home!

On a fundraising note, if you or someone you know have frequent flyer miles they would consider donating towards the cost of our travel. It would be GREATLY appreciated!

Where are you in the process now?
We have signed the contract with our agency and paid the HUGE agency fee. Thank you so much to those of you who participated in the photo shoot fundraisers and donated already. We are doing our best to save our pennies, but we truly could not do this without you. We have our Home Study scheduled for next Monday! The social worker will come do an on site 3 hour interview in our home/apartment. This is a huge part of the paperwork that goes to Africa to represent us in court. Aka BIG DEAL!

How will you pay for the cost of the adoption?

We are doing our absolute best to save anyway that we can. We don’t feel called to do it all on our own either. If we did, we would spend the next 5 years saving up and then start the process, but we feel like the need and time is now. We promise that every dime you donate goes directly towards the cost and fees of the adoption. We have a bank account at a completely separate bank from our regular money and savings. We are also doing some fun fundraisers to help offset the $30,000 that will be do along the duration of this adoption.

Coming up first on WEDNESDAY, FEB. 13^th at CHICK FIL A on 380 and 75. All day long they have agreed to give us 15% of all sales from our friends and family. You must tell them when you are ordering that you would are a part of the Evans Adoption Fund. Thank you so much for coming out and eating delicious chicken and donating to our precious baby. We will be there for all three meals, so feel free to eat there for every meal… and then go running.  =)

Coming soon is a Collection of Original Songs and Hymns by Justin and some of his talented friends. Aubrey and Jen McGowan, Blake Reynold, Cody Kimmel, Kandis Sebastian, Macy McKenzie… I am really, really excited about this one as well as super grateful for this insanely talented people who are donating their time and talent.

We also will be selling t-shirts! I will be advertizing on Facebook, instagram, and our blog. Stay tuned!!!

Drowning in Paper

Yesterday was one of those days I just wanted to quit. The pile of paperwork and documentation needed seems to be an ever growing pile. Weirdly enough I am not stressed about the financial side of it at all. I think its because I have seen God provide financially for us so many times I am done doubting. He is so good. Its mainly the never ending checklist of things needed. I did not expect it to be this overwhelming. If that wasn't enough to get me stressed out, my mommy heart is already attached to my baby in Ethiopia (whoever they may be) and I keep hearing these stories on blogs or in person about terrible things that get done to babies in Africa. So not only and I annoyed with the paperwork, I am worried that someone is ripping my babies molars out of their mouth or cutting off their uvula from their throat, or abandoning them somewhere. My momma bear side wants to finish this paperwork as fast as possible so nothing else can happen to my baby! I just want to get this paperwork over so I can know that my baby is in the Care Center of our adoption agency and is being loved on by the  nurses that work there.

If you have a moment would you take a moment to pray for future baby Evans? Thank you so much... from the bottom of my mommy heart.

Application Approved.

So excited to say that our application has been approved and we are now moving on to more paperwork and more paperwork with the contract and home study. This process is way more involved than having a baby naturally =) I wish there was an epidural for paperwork...