I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU AS ORPHANS. I WILL COME TO YOU.

JOHN 14:18





Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Our new home church...our new family

For the past few months Jared and I have been attending a home church.  We have always wondered what a home church would be like and when we were invited by a wonderful friend we thought, why not check it out? From the first day we stepped foot into this warm, cozy home, we have felt very welcomed and loved. There are maybe between 30-40 members who are SO on fire for Jesus. Jared and I have attended very large churches for as long as we can remember so this is definetely a change. But a very refreshing one! The first day we attended, the  youth led worship and both Jared and I were brought to tears. Their worship was so authentic and simple. There prayers were so heartfelt and real. We were blown away! Everyone is so full of joy in that place. One of the first things I noticed was the radiating joy that shined on their faces. You really can feel the love in that place! Something else we really loved about this church was the incredible deep love and concern for orphans. There are four families that have adopted internationally, and another who has been a foster mom. The church has also just commited to fully funding a school and orphanage in Nepal. After a couple of months, it was clear to both Jared and myself that we had found our new church home.
The support and love we feel from this church is like nothing we have ever experienced.
We feel blessed!

May 7th Rummage Sale Fundraiser!!

It's time to clean out your closets and mark you calendar  for a fun day of shopping and eating to help us raise money for our adoption!! Our sale is set for Saturday May 7th and possibly Sunday too (depending on how much stuff we have left over)
We hope to have lots of great stuff to sell, as well as a yummy bake sale and a BBQ later in the day!! So if you have anything you would like to donate towards our sale please let us know! We are collecting any household itmes, as well as baked goods, bottled waters, hot dogs, and buns. We will collect food items the night before or morning of the sale.  We would love it if you could help us by telling your friends about our sale so that they can donate or shop too! We think it will be a fun day and hope to have the opportunity to also share with people about our adoption and the orphan crisis in Ethiopia and all over the world.
Please contact me at nicolepimentel5@yahoo.com if you would like to drop some things off!! Thanks again in advance for getting the word out and for your help!!

Lots of Updates!

So the month of March has been a crazy one with many ups and downs! To be honest, I haven't felt like blogging in a while because of the roller coaster ride of emotions this month has brought us so far! As many of you may already know as of March 10th of this month MOWA (ministry of womens affairs) made a statement that they were going to bring their recommendation letter amount from 50 per day to 5. These are the letters needed in court in order to pass court and proceed with an Embassy clearance (visa for child). With out this letter everything stops and they projected that the wait could be years due to this new procedure change. Since finding all of this troubling news out we have recieved many updates from our agency letting us know that things are looking positive and this new 5 letter procedure has not been put into practice yet. Maybe it won't at all...hopefully! You can read all of the news regarding this and stay updated with what is happening regarding adoption in Ethiopia at http://www.jointcouncil.org/
So all of this crazy news has brought with it many tears, moments of doubt and sadness. These last few weeks have been challenging for sure but it has also been a time of really trusting God, surrendering everything to Him, and praying, praying and more praying. We really want what will be best for the orphans in Ethiopia whatever that may be. So we continue to pray and hope for some updates soon regarding all of this. Will you pray with us? We are resting in Him and trusting....
On a lighter note we have some very good news to report regarding our fundraising! Before last week we had raised a total of $7000!! Thanks to God and the amazing generousity of our family and friends!! Last Sunday an amazing group of friends at our church, who we consider precious family to us, tithed for the month of March towards our adoption!! In one months time they raised $5000 to help us with our adoption costs!! Amazing!! We are so blown away by the love of these dear friends! Words can't describe how loved, supported and thankful we feel! So once again I am reminded that God is so much bigger than money and will provide for us to bring our daughter home! So far we have spent $11,000 in adoption fees and have raised $12,000! It is so amazing to watch God at work!!
Thanks again friends for your love, prayers and support!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Nickels for Nahla update

It is amazing to see how God is providing for this adoption! It is so inspiring to see so many people want to help out and get involved in helping us bring Nahla home! Even people we don't know and have never met have been requesting the Nickels for Nahla labels! So I think we have about 40 or so labels out there with families collecting change to help us with our adoption costs!
In May we plan to have our large rummage sale and in June or July we will have our benefit concert in Santa Cruz! Fun stuff ahead so stay tuned! If you would like a Nickels for Nahla label let me know and I will send you one!
Blessings!!

Dossier on it's way to Ethiopia!!

It's hard to believe that the long process of putting our dossier together is over! I keep feeling like there is something I need to be doing or a document thats needs to get notarized! It is a really nice, peacful feeling to have it done and know that it is on it's way to Ethiopia! It was sent yesterday and will be traveling through many countries until it finds it's way home to Ethiopia. January 28th was our offical DTE date (dossier to Ethiopia) which means that as of that day we were put on the official waiting list for our daughter! Now I need patience to wait for the day we recieve our refferal which will be 7-11 months from now. It feels hard to wait but I am also thankful to know that waiting means many other families are also adopting orphans and providing them with forever families! It feels me with so much joy knowing that so many people desire to adopt and bring hope to children who would otherwise end up on the streets or grow up in an orphanage with hundreds of other children. So waiting is a good thing :)
Thank you all again for your prayers and support! We will keep you updated as things move along!