~ A few days late, but in celebration of our dossier being in
Ethiopia for one year, we are starting a fund raiser as we begin saving and
paying for the 2nd half of our adoption (around $20,000) of our
little girl Zoey.
February 14th,
2015
It’s the national day of Love:
Valentines Day! How fitting because today marks one year: 365 days, 8,760
hours, 525,600 minutes since we officially started waiting on our girl.
This time last year; February 14,
2014 after much prayer & counsel, we took a step of faith & sent our
dossier across the ocean to Ethiopia in the hopes and anticipation that one day
we too would be joining in the journey across the ocean to get our little girl.
At that point we were unclear as to
what the future would hold.
Our agency, America world informed us
that due to multiple cases & circumstances many agencies were pulling out
of Ethiopia & thus those agencies were encouraging their families to adopt
from other countries. They told us that they did not foresee themselves doing
that but it was still unclear.
At that point we had a choice to
make. We could choose like many families to switch countries or we could
continue to walk forward & see what the Lord had in store. We prayed and
fasted and we felt a peace from the Lord to trust and move forward. At that
point, we sent our dossier: another word for a document that contains all the
nooks and crannies of ones life and family, along with around $10,000 to our
agency and then to Eithiopia. To say it was an act relying on the Lord and trusting
Him with our journey is an understatement, but when God calls you to something,
Ben and I have seen time and again that He will also see you through it.
Adoption is hard! It is character
building! But it is HIS heart, and more than anything else, we want our family
to be after HIS heart!
So in celebration of our dossier
being in Ethiopia for one year & most likely having at least 2-3 more years
of waiting, we want to commemorate this BIG day as we wait for our girl.
We want her to know that she was
wanted and longed for and anticipated and prayed over and joyfully celebrated
long before she became a part of her forever family!
More than that, we want to do what
the Lord tells us to in scripture, which is:
Joshua
4:20-24
And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan,
Joshua set up in Gilgal. Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When
your children ask their fathers in time to come saying: What are these stones?”
Then you shall let your children know saying, “Israel crossed over as the Lord
your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed
over that all the people of the earth may know the hand of the Lord that it is
mighty that you may fear the Lord your God forever!”
This year we want to commemorate this
BIG day with a T-shirt that expresses our celebration and anticipation as we
wait for Zoey and secondly, as always, we want to share the Gospel and the Hope
that we have in Christ which sustains us and molds us and keeps us as we wait!
(which is so not an easy thing to do and we are not very good at)
T-Shirts will be available in adult
sizes all the way down to youth size small: which will fit a 3-4 year old
child. The shirts are super soft and they are a fun spring color!
They are available for $20 each. If
you need the shirt shipped, we will add on another $4 for shipping.
All funds raised go to our adoption
of Miss Zoey.
Ways you can order:
We are doing a PRE-ORDER: This means
that I will be taking orders for the next 2-3 weeks and then requesting our
first shipment. You can place your order by:
1.
~ if we do a lot of life together:
text or call me and let me know you would like a shirt and what size and pay
for the shirt and I will add you to the list J
I will also have a sign up sheet available for those who
would like to sign up and pay in person.
2.
~ comment below here on the blog or on Facebook or instagram with your email and
shirt size and I will send you a PayPal invoice that you can pay online.
3. ~ email me at els_erin@hotmail.com
with your name and size and I can again send an invoice to your email.
4. ~ Lastly, our mailing address is
Ben &
Erin Allred
2 Jarrot Dr.
Shawnee, Ok
74801
Please send
us a note with your size(s) and money.
As always, thank you for celebrating
with us and supporting us! We look forward to the day when we will have the
opportunity to introduce Zoey to all of you! God is good!
