Our Current Fundraising Ventures

We're beginning some new and interesting adoption fundraising endeavors for anyone who would like to participate.

1. Baby Bottle Fundraiser. We are going to be purchasing baby bottles and we're asking willing parties to fill one up with change -- or any currency they'd like -- over the course of one month, and then return it to us. Why one month? Because as with all things in life, if we begin something with intentions of getting to it at some point, it usually doesn't get done. We see that quite often. So we thought it would be a good idea to set a deadline. So whe

Our goal from baby bottle fundraiser:  $1,000 or more

So yeah, being able to raise that amount from the baby bottles alone could be HUGE for us! If you'd be willing to take a bottle and fill it up within one month, please contact one of us. If you don't have our contact info, you can email me at lawsonadoption12@gmail.com If you don't live near us, we'd be happy to mail you a bottle.

2. Cookbook.  We need your recipes.  We are going to be putting together a cookbook. This is going to not only allow us to raise some much needed funding, but will also allow us to keep our mind off of the waiting.  What we would like at this time would be any recipes that is cherished by your family. Could be one of your kids favorite meals, or your grandmothers family favorite.  You can email those to me at lawsonadoption12@gmail.com. I will be compiling these for the book and in the coming months, they will be available for purchase.

Please be sure to include the following:

Recipe Name

Servings

Your Name

A picture of the dish or of your family eating the dish (optional)

Ingredients

Directions

Nutritional facts if available.

We would like to get these recipes by the April 15, 2012 so that we can begin working on this project.

Thanks again for all your support!!!!

Matt, Mandy and Clayton

How you can help!

Dear Family and Friends,

We want to share our exciting news with you! We have decided to expand our family through adoption once again. God blessed us six years ago with a wonderful and sweet little boy and we are now ready to begin the process to welcome a second child into our family! Clayton has been praying for a baby for a while now and we are excited to be able to begin the process to make him a big brother.

The bible tells us that, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. _{Hebrews 11:1} We do not know exactly when this will happen or how it will, but we know it will. We truly believe that God is leading us this way once again and believe our family will be completed through this process.  We know that this process is not easy, and it will take a lot of prayer on our part and the prayers of those around us. We do not wish to depend on man, but to depend and have faith in God to lead us through this process.  Because we know, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible. _{Mark 10:27}

As many of you know, our first adoption was processed internationally, a somewhat predictable and estimated process.  We have made the decision to process a domestic adoption, which is more unpredictable. For us, the difficult part of this process – other than the waiting – is the expense. As some of you may know, adoption expenses include agency fees, legal fees, document preparation costs, travel expenses and much more. We are working on a number of fundraising ideas, but our hope is to raise as much money toward the adoption as possible.  We have been and are saving but are still seeking ways to raise more funds for our wonderful venture. We need your help to make this adoption possible.

ONE WAY TO HELP! You can help make our dream possible by making a tax deductible donation to our agency on our behalf. Your donation can be made out to All Blessings International and mailed to us. When your donation is received, we will collect it with other donations received and present them to our agency and obtain a receipt for your donation. Receipts can be issued for donations over $25 only.

In the coming days and weeks, I plan to post a number of fundraising ideas and ways you can help.  We will have very limited information for a while, but plan to keep this blog updated for our friends and family. Please check it soon and often.

The above is just one way you will be able to help us. If you are unable to support with a donation at this time, we understand and ask for your prayers.   Thank you in advance for your support.

Love,

Matt, Mandy and Clayton

For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him; Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.  

1 Samuel 1:27-28

Our love

As I go to put Clayton in bed last night he gives me the biggest hug and says, I love you mommy! My heart just bubbles. I tuck him in and he starts his prayer, it goes something like this:

Dear God,

Thank you for God and help us to be good boys and girls. Please bring us a baby and thank you for your love. Amen

Sweet, precious and innocent. He has had this same prayer for weeks now. It's awesome to see God working with these young children and I know that Clayton's prayer will be answered. Gris our love and we will add more love to our family as we make this journey through the adoption process.

Oh how wonderful it is to know the love of God.

Let the Paper Pregnancy Begin!

So today starts the official journey to our second child. After six years of waiting and lots of prayer, Matt and I have made the decision to start the adoption process. We truly believe that God is leading us this way once again and believe our family will be completed through this process.  We know that this process will take lots of prayer on our part and the prayers of those around us.  We have faith that God's will, will be done and that it will be in his time not ours.

We have made the decision to process a domestic adoption. For us, the difficult part of this process – other than the waiting – is the expense. As some of you may know, adoption expenses include agency fees, legal fees, document preparation costs, travel expenses and much more. We are still working on fundraising ideas, but our hope is to raise as much money toward the adoption as possible. We need your help to make this adoption possible. In the coming days, I plan to post a number of fundraising ideas we will be doing and also ways you can help.

We will have very limited information for a while, but plan to keep this blog updated for our friends and family. Please check back soon and thank you all for your prayers.