Mother's Day

I recieved this poem from a friend of mine a while back. It touched my heart as I read it again today, so I thought I'd post it here in honor of Mother's Day tomorrow. Of course, my boys hold equally huge chunks of my heart too! It's just that this little one has been consuming me lately! ;)

The Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were two women

Who never knew each other.

One you do not remember

The other you call mother.

Two different lives

Shaped to make yours one.

One became your guiding star

The other became your sun.

The first gave you life

The second taught you to live it.

The first gave you a need for love

And the second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality

The other gave you a name.

One gave you a seed of talent

The other gave you an aim.

One gave you emotions

The other calmed your fears.

One saw your first sweet smiles

The other dried your tears.

One gave you up-

It was all that she could do.

The other prayed for a child

And God led her straight to you.

And now you ask me 

Through your tears,

The age old question 

Through the years: 

Heredity or environment

Which are you the product of?

Neither my darling-neither, 

Just two different kinds of love.

Nick and I leave on June 12th to meet our daughter. We are BEYOND excited! 

Please continue to pray for us.

Thank you!

Rummage Sale Fundraiser

I apologize for the lack of posts, we've been a little busy lately ( a good busy though )!

As most of you know, we had a Fundraiser Rummage Sale. We decided to make it a free-will donation, not really knowing what to expect?! As we have been throughout this entire process, WE WERE BLOWN AWAY with how successful it was! We made over $2,800!!!

Not only were the proceeds from the sale a success, the HUGE amounts of donations we collected, the help from friends and family for set-up/clean-up/helping out with our kiddos, the people we had a chance to meet during the sale, ALL added to the success of Operation: Rummage Sale. We THANK YOU for that-you know who you are!

We had  A TON of stuff!

A TON!!!

Our husbands were on a Men's Retreat (and had a BLAST!!!) during the weekend of the sale, so they missed out on all the fun. However, my very good friend, Lindsey, was right by my side from begining to end. Her adoption was fully funded weeks before the fundraiser, but she was still there. I am so thankful for her good heart! We made a great team and had a lot of fun!

Now for some exciting news we are thrilled to share....

 OUR ENTIRE ADOPTION IS FULLY FUNDED!

We are so thankful. The financial side to this adoption was what initially scared us. It felt like we were stepping out on a tiny little pebble of faith as we starred at the number $28,000. We trusted that if God brought us to this He would bring us through it, but still our faith was small. Everyday, after the day we said YES to His will to bring this little one into our lives, our God has shown up in BIG ways! He has not only brought us ALL the funds we need for this, but He has grown our faith from that tiny pebble to a foundation of rock our family now stands upon. He is our Rock! We have learned to turn to Him for everything, He is faithful and has never left us throughout.

We appreciate each and every one of you. You are all pieces to the puzzle in our daughter's life. We will forever be grateful to all of you for supporting us in this journey to bring our little girl home.

More exciting news to share...
On April 11th our case was submitted to court in Uganda!!!

So, as our case is sitting on a desk in Uganda, our prayer is that it falls in the hands of a judge who sees this little girl belongs with us. Also, that this moves quickly and we recieve our court date very soon!

We are more than ready to meet our little lady for the first time!

March 25, 2013 4:09 p.m.

Yesterday, March 25th at 4:09 p.m. will hold a special spot in our family's hearts forever.

We received a phone call from our coordinator that she had a little girl for us. She is 1 year and 8 months old. 31 inches tall and a (whopping) 21 pounds. She is gorgeous.

The very moment I looked into her big brown eyes I knew, she was mine. I am in love. We all are. Each of my boys took an envelope full of pictures of their little sister (THEIR LITTLE SISTER!) to school.

I feel like I've been dreaming ever since yesterday afternoon! To say the Lord has poured out His blessings on our family would be an understatement.

I prayed for a daughter throughout all my pregnancies.

Five years ago when I became pregnant for the 4th time, we decided to find out the sex. "This has got to be a girl...be a girl...". It's a boy!

He was healthy and perfect. I was in love and thrilled! I let go of all my prayers for a daughter. Immediately, I jumped into raising these beautiful boys completely content.

That's where I believe this verse in the bible came into play...

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalms 37:4

He knew the desires of my heart all along. He just wanted my daughter to be given to me differently and at a time in my life when I could devote myself to her (I may not have been able to really soak in all the nail- paintings, hair-braidings, song-singing and dress-buying with all those little boys around).

He placed my daughter in my heart not my tummy. And I love her just the same.

He created my daughter a half a world away. And brought me to her.

"For this child I prayed and the Lord answered my prayer." 1 Samuel 1:27

I serve an awesome God. He is constantly doing immeasurably more than I can ever ask or imagine.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen."  Ephesians 3:20-21 

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!!!

A writer for The Dallas County Recorder interviewed our families at our Pancake Breakfast. She thought our stories would be a great addition for her column, we couldn't have agreed more!

Check it out here!!!


Also, we have an inventory of t-shirts to sell!

8- 2XLarge
5- XLarge
7- Large
6-Medium

Any of the above sizes you can purchase for just $10! We are trying to move these shirts, so they will be available at a discounted rate! If you are wanting a size ( adult small or  youth/toddler ) we can certainly still order them for you! They will be $15.

Luke 1: 37

Luke 1: 37 says, " For nothing is impossible with God." This verse has been what I cling to throughout this process. It is what got me started on this journey and what has kept me going throughout.

When we decided to take this HUGE leap of faith this past September, knowing we needed to come up with $28,000 to bring our little one home, we wholeheartedly trusted in God's promises for us. Boy, has He ever showed up.

We've ran the numbers and done some math (triple checking ourselves due to a lack of math skills) and we are in need of

$4,000

Yes. Praise God. Only $4,000 to go!!!

You see? "For nothing is impossible with God." 

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
Matthew 7:7

He is good.

Small Stack for a TALL Cause

Our Pancake Fundraiser ended up being WAY more successful than any of us had dreamed of. Each of our families added a whopping  $2,333.00 towards our adoptions! Wow. This blew my mind.

It was so nice to talk with everyone who came out. Some of you came and went before we had a chance to make it over to you, I am bummed to think you came all the way out and we didn't get a chance to tell you thank you. So, to all of you we didn't get over to, THANK YOU...it meant the world to us to have you there. Really...THE WORLD.

 We had a news reporter from The Grimes Today and The Dallas County News stop in for a quick interview, look for that this Thursday or the next Thursday. As I sat on the stool as she asked us questions, I couldn't help but to notice a backed up line for food, volunteers scrambling to find more forks, my dad and mom rushing to make more pancakes, an empty table that plates of cookies once filled and a ton of people who love and care for our families. It brought tears of joy to my eyes! We are so blessed by amazing community, family and friends that came out for these 2 little girls that we've never even met.

This whole thing would not have been so successful without the many AWESOME people who helped make it possible. You know who you are. Thank you. We are forever changed by the unbelievably generous hearts that were led to give towards this cause.

Now it him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power  that is at work within us, to him be the glory.." Ephesians 3:20-21

Mail from Homeland Security

We got our I-171H today!!!!!!! This means the US Department of Homeland Security has determined us fit to give proper care to an orphan. Good thing too, since we are already caring for FOUR children and nobody needed to do such background checks on us for them! ;) I find this funny, but respect all procedures of this journey to bring her home.

Wow. This happened WAY faster than we (or our agency) thought it would! Another small victory and another step towards our sweet little girl.


YES!!!!!! Praise God.

How sweet it is...

...To have such amazing people in our lives to make our next fundraiser possible!!!

First, I would like to thank Stacy and Erin (Lindsey's sisters) for putting this whole thing together! They are the sweethearts behind the idea. I never had a sister, so to be a part of your sisterly love is a huge blessing!

Next, to all the great people who stepped up with their talents and resources! The hearts of these people are EXPLODING with love and generosity!! Such a cool thing to witness!
We've had everything from eggs and pancakes to coffee and orange juice donated. We have a "staff" of helpers ,with true servant's hearts, ready to scoop eggs onto plates or clean up at quitting time. We've been given the most adorable cookies to help bring in funds at our bake sale table from an extremely talented gal. Check out her blog-she is so good!

http://fromsweetcorntopeaches.blogspot.com/

Now, we are hoping to feel the same love and support Saturday morning by getting to put faces with all the ones who have been praying for and supporting us all along the way! Please stop by for a quick delicious breakfast before you start your busy Saturday. It would mean the world to us!

 Thank you!!!


Prayer requests:

*Protect our sweet little one a world away from her family

*Guide and protect the amazing Ugandan people who are loving on her until we can

*Bring us our referral

*Let the funds begin to flow

*Help us to remember this is all in His timing and we need to surrender it all to Him

T-shirts Anyone???

We have t-shirts for sale! Only $15 each!! All proceeds go to bring our little girls home!

There are currently over 2 MILLION (!!!!) orphans in Uganda alone! Our family is adopting one of them and the Veach Family is adopting one, hence the "minus 2".

We love seeing our shirts being proudly worn by all our friends and family all over town! Such a great reminder of our supporters!!

Thank you to those who have already bought shirts, and to those who would like shirts, email me and I will get one out to you!! Our email is Kileys5@yahoo.com or come to our Pancake Breakfast March 2nd (see previous post) and pick one up!!

Short stack for a TALL cause

Lindsey, our friend who is also adopting a little girl from Uganda, has some pretty amazing sisters that are hosting a Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser for our families. All proceeds from (FREE WILL DONATION) breakfast will go towards bringing both little sweeties home.

The event is Saturday, March 2nd from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Grimes United Methodist Church 801 W 1st Street Grimes Iowa. It's a free will donation. There will be plenty of pancakes, eggs, sausages, orange juice and coffee. So, come hungry!!!

We would appreciate it if you'd stop by for a quick breakfast before your busy Saturday begins! We are excited to share our stories with the amazing group of people who have supported our families along this exciting journey!

Can't make it...

We've set up an account at Wells Fargo Bank. Please make checks payable to Brianne Kiley or Lindsey Veach, include Pancake Breakfast in the memo line. Please send checks to: Wells Fargo Bank 1414 Walnut Street, Dallas Center, IA 50063

Thank you all for all your love and support!!! We hope to see you there!!!

It's (finally) DONE!!!

Yes, our Home Study is complete!! Did I mention we were approved?! The process was a bit longer than we thought it would be, but this is usually the theme in most adoption processes. It's also a great reminder that God's timing is perfect, we are just along for the ride.
So, with a completed Home Study what does that mean for our timeline, you may be wondering? Well.... it means

We are soooooo close to getting our referral!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very soon we will have a picture, a story, a miracle to show off proudly to all of you. There aren't words for how we feel right now as we wait for the call ,very different from an ultrasound to find out the gender/health of the little life safe and sound in your tummy. This moment will be the ULTIMATE ULTRASOUND! We will see her beautiful face, fall in love and pray and trust that the same great God who watches over my little guys here in Dallas Center, Iowa will watch over our little lady in Uganda, Africa. Although we will be a half a world away for a while longer, we pray for the people that have been placed in her life to kiss boo boo's, wipe tears, sing songs and love her until we come. They are truly doing God's work.

Jeremiah 1:5 says,"I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb..."

Yes, my daughter was formed in another woman's womb, but God knew that exact baby girl was going to be my daughter. He knew the plans He had for her. He knew the plans He had for me. Only the creator of the heavens and the earth could orchestrate that.

When we gave birth to our 4th son ,Cooper, I gave up the fact (or what I thought was the fact) that I was not suppose to have a daughter. I was overjoyed with my 4 perfect handsome guys so it made my coming to terms with that pretty easy.

Then God filled up my heart for adoption and told me He had a daughter for me. I feel like the luckiest mama in the whole world! Lots of daughters have their mama's pretty eyes or straight blonde hair, not us. But you know what? God picked her special for me, little old me in Dallas Center, Iowa.

Please continue to pray for our beautiful brown eyed girl!!!