SSC introducing our family to the audience.
Giving Paul and hug.
Myself talking (imagine that) about Rita.
SSC making a big deal about Natalie's "I'm a Cinderella"....SSC concert T-shirt. One of his new songs is called Cinderella...it's about enjoying our children while their still little.
SSC was so sincere when presenting our family with a grant for $4000 from his organization, Shaohannah's Hope, for Rita's adoption.I can't believe that it has been two weeks since our concert already. Here are a few pictures that my friend Stephanie's friend took while we were on stage. Stephanie and her family live in Findlay. We have gotten to know each other over the internet fairly well over the last year and a half. Her youngest daughter is from the same orphanage as Paul. She too has 2 biological kids and 2 kids from China. She and her husband are also waiting to adopt their 5th child.....so as you can tell we have a lot in common. I had every intention of posting every detail about the concert but time has just got away from me. We are still talking about our amazing night with Steven Curtis Chapman and his staff. The neatest thing about the whole evening was how we were treated like we were the ones doing them the favor and not the other way around. Over and over both SSC and his staff thanked us for being there.......uhhh.....hello........we were the one's who should be so thankful!!! So here are the details on the grant. We received $4000....praise the Lord!!!! What was so cool about the grant was how it was raised. SSC came out on stage during intermission. He introduced his new campaign "change for orphans." During this concert tour he has volunteers carry around buckets asking people to donated their loose change to help out orphans. ( to read more about change for orphans visit http://stevencurtischapman.com/news.htm ) So he told asked his audience to dig deep because all of the change that was collected that night would go back "to a family that is right here in this audience" ( I assumed that he was talking about us!!!!) So actually $2000 came from Shaohannah's Hope and just a little over $2000 was collected that night from the people of Toledo!! Thanks Toledo!!!!! I joked with the kids as we were walking out that I was glad that we just got a letter stating how much the grant was for and that we didn't have to carry $2000 worth of loose change back to the van. It was a night to remember.
The concert was Sunday.....then we got really busy Monday getting ready for our big garage sale. Our pastor and his wife suggested having a garage sale and a soup supper at the church to help raise money for the adoption. We were busy for a good two weeks collecting "stuff" from people to put in the sale. We were overwhelmed by every one's generosity. This garage sale was a lot more than just a sale...it was a wonderful time to share our adoption journey and our faith in God with many people. I was hoping to make at least $500 BUT was so grateful to see that our total reached just a little over $2000!!!!!!!!!! I just couldn't believe that we made that much in just a 2 day garage sale. We even have a few bigger items that didn't sell that we plan to put in the classifieds that should easily bring in another $500 or so. Now we are just 6 days away from our all-you-can-eat soup supper. I'm praying for a big crowd. Once again so many people are helping us with this project.....some have volunteered on their own......some have been volunteered by me. It should be a really nice evening. We even have well over $700 worth of nice door prizes from local business owners.
Another blessing this week was that Troy and Sarah (my brother and SIL) received their LOA for their little sweetie Rachel!!!!!!! My exact words to them were "YIP.....YIP...YIPEEEEEE!!!" They should be traveling to China in 6-8 weeks to bring her home. Audrey is so excited that her cousin from China is coming home soon. To read more about Rachel follow the link on the side that says "waiting4Rachel." Troy and Sarah still can't officially post pictures of Rachel until they receive their travel approval but let me remind you.......she is CUTE!!!!!!
The only bad thing that has happen to the Homan family this week is that we suffered our first broken bone. I always assumed it would be Andrew but NOPE, it was Miss Audrey. She broke her collar bone after falling from the playground equipment at the campground. She has been quite the trooper but we sure do know when her pain reliever is wearing off. I'll post pictures of her in her little brace soon.
