One Week In

If this is your first time reading this blog, click here to see the email that started it all and find out how to help.

Here's the latest...

It's been one week since I emailed a challenge to almost everyone on my mailing list to get involved with the adoption journey of our good friends Matt and Lisa Maxfield.  Emily and I committed to matching every single dollar we receive in the month of January, up to $10,000, hoping to surprise Matt and Lisa by removing every financial roadblock for the baby in Ethiopia who doesn't yet know that he has a mom and a dad and a sister waiting to meet him.

So far, people have contacted us with pledges totaling $800, and we've already received more than half of that.  I'm very encouraged that we've been able to reach almost 10% of our goal so quickly.  But there's a lot of free money left on the table, $9,200 to be exact.  Help us give it away!

You have three weeks left to get a check in the mail.  Of course we'll accept any amount, but please consider doing something crazy.  I dare you to write a check for $1,000!  Or $10,000!  We could wrap this thing up today!  And remember, once this adoption is paid for, any additional money will go into an adoption fund that we will use to help provide a home for another orphaned child.

One more thing.  For years, Katie Davis has a kept a blog about her life in Uganda and the many children she's adopted.  Her story is incredible and I highly recommend her book, Kisses From Katie.  Let me leave you with a quote I found on her blog today.

It is well after our 8 o’clock bed time. I have been sunk deep in the couch and in the Word knowing that 13 pairs of feet were tucked snugly in 13 beds. But as I make my way from the couch to my room, something catches my eye and I peek my head in the girls’ bedroom.

There flat on the cold, hard tile floor is my 11 year old with her blanket pulled tightly around herself. It doesn’t look as if she has rolled out of bed; it looks intentional. I nudge her awake. “Honey, what are you doing on the floor?” Why would anyone ever choose to sleep on this, the hardest of surfaces, with a comfortable bed just inches away?

“Remember,” she mumbles sleepily, “I just want to remember. Some people don’t have a bed,mom. I didn’t have a bed, mom. God gave me a bed. And I wanted to remember what it was like to not have one.”

There is a child in Ethiopia right now who doesn't have a bed.  You can help put him in one.  

Thanks,

Jeff & Emily

P.S.  To visit Matt and Lisa's blog, click here.  They just posted some exciting news on January 5th!   Feel free to leave them a comment.  Tell them how amazing they are.  Let them know you're praying for them.  Just don't tell about this fundraiser!  (We'll let you know when they find out)