Ready to shop?

                                               

 A sweet friend of mine sent a bunch of goodies to me to help with our fundraising efforts!

 It has a couple of pockets so you can place pacifiers, your wallet, or keys in while you shop!

 It also has a few latches to hang toys from to keep your little one entertained!

So this is the best picture my husband got of it actually on the buggy!

Pictures do not do it justice! It is super, super cute!

 donation of $50 or more to our adoption fund!

This is a beautiful family pendant!

It sells for $40

 A $25 donation or more to our adoption fund!

This was purchased from A Gift from China at Shamian Island.

It is an adorable children's necklace!

A donation of $20 or more to our adoption fund!

 A 100 Good Wishes Quilt Book full of lots of beautiful patterns and ideas!

A donation of $10 or more to our adoption fund!

This bag is super cute and matches the buggy cover!

Would make a great diaper bag or just a cute tote to carry your

little one's stuff around.

A donation of $30 or more to our adoption fund! 

First come, first serve basis!
If you are interested in any items just email me at grayfamilyof6@yahoo.com
Thank you for shopping and supporting our adoption!

The Money Game

I made a small confession on Facebook this afternoon… I play a little game… one I like to call The Money Game. I don’t play it out of worry or stress. I’m just a numbers girl and I like to think of all the ways God may just provide for our adoption. Now really, I know God’s ways are much greater than anything I could come up with in my silly game so it’s just a fun numbers game that I like to play. It goes like this:

We have to have $9000 in 60 days. Yes, yes. I know. It sounds daunting! Maybe even impossible, but that is a great thing because that is what we prayed for. You may be thinking “are you crazy!” but let me explain my reason. Never did I want this adoption to be about me, my family, or even this precious child. I wanted from the beginning to the end to be about bringing honor and glory to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Instead of trying to make things happen we just wanted to trust God and live dependently on Him. Instead of tracking the days, the weeks, the months, or even where we were at in the process we chose to stay focused on Him and His timing. We buried ourselves in God’s word and we began to pray for opportunities to share Christ. God began opening our hearts and our eyes to the truth in His word. We found ourselves in the middle of a mission field that we never expected. God is at work and doing great things in our lives. I can’t wait to one day share them with you all but right now we must get back to the number game.

$9000 in 60 days OR

$150 a day for the next 60 days OR

A charity dinner where we sell 1800 spaghetti plates for $5 each OR

A donation of $45 from 200 of my closest friends and family members OR

A donation of $15.42 from each of my Facebook friends

The game can go on and on for hours but you get the pointJ As you can see in the first couple of rows in the game, it looks completely impossible to complete. However, as we continue down the rows something amazing happens! With love and support from friends, family, and even complete strangers this daunting task becomes possible.

 I don’t know how God is going to provide but I do know in my heart He will, and no doubt, in an amazing way!

I had no idea that my post would turn into a fundraiser. It really wasn’t my intentions but God is good and here we are. If you would like to join in the game you can leave a comment below. If you would like to be part of our story and help us bring Nate home you may make a donation in the following ways:

-Through PayPal to the right of your screen

-Through snail mail

Attention Chad and Kristy Gray

PO Box 2364

Cullman, Al 35056

-Stop by Peoples Bank in Good Hope

A HUGE thanks to each of you who stepped up and turned this fb post into a fundraiser in full force. I had been praying all day about a specific fundraiser I was considering. I wanted to make sure God’s hand was in it before I even began. This was not the fundraiser I had imagined but I can definitely feel God’s hand in it. Thanks for your support!

In just a few hours we have received $20 in cash and 4 promises totaling 61.68 as well as an offer to do a photography fundraiser!

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:39

LOA

It has finally arrived!

We have our LOA!

This is our Letter of Acceptance from China.

We are one step closer!

Looks like we will be traveling in September...maybe.

September is a busy month for us.

We have 2 birthdays

(Colin and Dylan a week apart)

School starting

and

a very busy soccer season!

Chad should have fun holding the fort down while I'm gone:)

I have no idea how long we waited from LID to LOA.

I was so surprised to get the call!

God called us to this so I will

sit back and let Him handle all the details

you know it will work out so much better that way:)

Please be in prayer for our upcoming

YARD SALE!

Planning on June 16th

if nothing changes.

We were blessed again yesterday

with a
HUGE

donation from a childhood neighbor

that I haven't seen in over 15 years!

It filled my sweet little minivan

completely up!

(the trunk and ever seat, I tell ya!)

Thank you so much Amanda!

I was really overwhelmed with your kindness!

There was so really good stuff in there:)

PRAISE GOD!

God's Blessings

Praise the LORD, all nations!

Extol him, all peoples!

For great is his steadfast love toward us,

and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.

Praise the LORD!

(Psalm 117 ESV)

I have wanted to share this post for sometime now but I just can’t find the words to do it justice. This has been an amazing month for us. God continues to work in our hearts and lives, transforming us to be more like Him. He continues to provide in amazing ways as we learn to live dependently on Him.

Our adoption account has sat on empty since we sent off our dossier to China. Yes, we had a need of $13,500 and a deadline 3-4 months away, yet we felt confident that the Lord would provide. I had some ideas in mind of how I thought He would provide but slowly, one by one, those doors closed.  I thought of grand ideas for fundraising even went as far as making a few things (some art work and homemade jam) but after much prayer I did not have a sense of peace about it so I did not move forward. The last thing I want is to manipulate the situation or try to guilt people into giving.  So I waited, and waited. I began to get discouraged and as I crawled in to bed one night I prayed “Lord, please just make this clear. I know you called us to this child but I don’t see how this can happen. Please make things clear. I want your will not mine.” You will not believe what happened next….

I stopped by the post office to pick up my mail and I seen a little red envelope sticking out of all the bills and junk mail. My first thought was “How exciting! Someone sent $2 for Nathaniel’s birthday!” I tore open the envelope to find a letter from a lady in California. She shared with me how the Lord had put it on her heart to help us with our adoption and she hoped this would bless us and encourage us. Attached was a check for $1000!! Tears flowed down my face as I began thanking Jesus. Yes, I was so thankful for the money but more so for serving such a mighty God who cares so much about me to hear my cries and answer me. I am also thankful for this family who acting in obedience to reach out and help a complete stranger.

It doesn’t stop here. Just today a man walks into the bank and asked me “do you do yard sales?” and I replied, “Yes, I am having a yard sale.” He replied, “Well it must be God. I have a truck full of Home Interior stuff that I want to give you to help you with your adoption. You should be able to get around $1000 for it.”

The blessings continue to fall. A co-worker, who has helped us in more ways than I can even put into a blog post, donated $100 to our fund. She also is contributing to our yard sale AND donating a Prada purse that she purchased on a trip to Paris!

This month our adoption fund has grown by $2043.15 and we received $1300 in yard sale donations thus far! Overwhelmed with God’s blessing!

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6

So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:5

Happy Birthday Nathaniel!

Nathaniel’s birthday is coming up and I want to do something special for his big day. He will be celebrating in China with the wonderful caregivers and his little friends at the House of Love. I am thankful to God for placing him in my path and placing him in the hands of two wonderful organizations that have provided the best care possible as he waits for us.

Click on the link to see his first steps at the House of Love: HERE

Our need right now is so great and yet the Lord has given me peace. He called us to this precious child, not only to be his family but to share the word of God with him and to raise him up to be a warrior for Christ. God has this covered. He is working on hearts. He is preparing the way. I have no idea where this money is coming from but I don’t need a plan B when God is my plan A. So as we patiently wait for God’s provision we want to do something special for Nathaniel’s birthday. 

Nathaniel will be turning 2 on May 18^th and to celebrate this special day we ask that you send Nathaniel a birthday card (homemade preferred but will take store boughtJ) with a $2 donation to AOW inside.

You can mail his birthday cards to:

Chad and Kristy Gray

PO BOX 2364

Cullman, Al 35056

We will cherish the birthday cards received and one day share with him the story of all the child he helped on his 2nd birthdayJ

On May 31^st we will add up our donation and purchase shoes to send to An Orphan's Wish to support their You Got Sole Project:)

If you feel the Lord is leading you to give to our adoption fund as well please note on your card how to designate the money.

Thank you for making Nathaniel’s birthday so special!

He is WALKING!!

This is just too precious

My BOY

WALKING

you must take a look:)

Click HERE!  

He is quickly approaching his 2nd birthday!

We will be having a big celebration.

Wish he were here to enjoy it:(

The Cost…

The most asked question we getJ

2^nd is why so much?

So here is a run down of how it works, where we are, and how God has provided.

Nathaniel was part of a program for hard to place children within our agency….so from the start the agency waived their fees of $5800.

The home study was roughly $2000.00 plus the cost of postage, copies, birth certificates, doctor visits, lab work, authentication, certification, and misc. cost put us at another $1000+. I have to chuckle at the way we came up with this money. It was actually a terrible week with a silver lining. I was backing out of the drive way when I ran into my husband’s car. If he had parked where I told him it would not have got hit but we would not have received a large check from the insurance either. I got a friend to fix my car at a very discounted price. I now have a black mirror on one side and silver on the other but nobody has noticed (until now). Then I was rear ended when taking the kids to school. I got a little crack in my car bumper and a generous check from the insurance company. We chose to live with the small crack and use the money to complete our home study. Driving a minivan with two colored mirrors and a little dent is a small sacrifice we are very willing to makeJ

$900 to CIS for our finger printing and biometrics and it was all covered by our yard sale! We hope to have another one before we leave. If you are local and would like to donate we would greatly appreciate it!

Once we had all of our documents complete we had to send them to Houston, TX to the Chinese Consulate. The cost was around $600 but we had a very unexpected surprise. Chad’s cousin not only delivered them for us saving us $200 but she also covered the fee. We paid nothing!

Thanks to Chad’s cousin we were able to pay the $900 fee to China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption. I assume this covers translation and processing. Just my guess.

So that brings us to dateJ

What is left?

Visa for Nate:  $230

Visa for me: $140

Travel (airfare, hotel, food): $4850

Airfare for Nate home: $900

Legal Fees in China: $1385

Orphanage Donation (mandatory): $6100

Post Home Study Updates: $1500

Re-adoption Cost:??

Did I miss anything?

I am really scared about going by myself but as of right now I don’t see any other way. We simply don’t have the money. To add an extra person it would be around: $3500-$4000. If God provides I will be bringing Colin as my sidekick. Chad will not be able to get off work at the start of the school year.

So as a re-cap:

We have 4-5 months until we bring our little guy home and in need of $13,600!

God is our plan A so there is no need for plan B’s.

No worries, God will provide.

PS… I hear our dossier is in the Review Room! That could mean our LOA is right around the cornerJ

ONE STEP CLOSER