Book Santa Portraits Now......

Attention Auburn/Opelika friends! Book unique Santa portraits NOW with our friend Chere. You can also order them as this year's Christmas cards.......her sessions are limited, so give her a call! Click here for location/booking info (go to "Gallery", then "Santa Claus is Coming"). HAVE FUN!

Change of Seasons......

Fall brings many new things.....as do all change of seasons. There's just something about crisp morning air (we've had lows in the 50's this past week), long sleeves, brilliant leaves, and...... Auburn Football!! There's nothing quiet like living in a college football town - Auburn is THE BEST! One weekend ends, only to begin anticipation for the next. There's a constant "buzz" around town, with plans being made and preparations taking place.....fun to be had! This town & University hold a special place in our hearts because God really came into our lives here........He has walked with us, grown us, and brought us from season to season......bringing so many new things. Let's pray for grace to slow down & enjoy each season.....& the special things God places them!

Bad Hair Days.....

We are so ready for some sunshine here in the (not-so-sunny) south!! Our football game Saturday night even had to be evacuated and delayed about an hour due to a torrential downpour. Anyway, Abbey & I were playing with our Yorkie, Mocha, & decided to let him model how we all feel lately with the humidity! :)

God's got this!!

Since turning our lives over to Christ in college, we've always believed in worshipping Him with more enthusiasm than we ever gave worldly things before. It's soooooo good to know that HE is the one in charge of this adoption process (timing, finances, etc)! This is a favorite song right now & reminds us of just how big HE really is!
*pause our playlist at the bottom of the page & enjoy!

One that chose life......

Ok...so rap may not be your favorite music; despite that watch this video!! A true story from the point of view of an adult whose mother decided not to abort....pause our playlist all the way at the bottom of the page & watch (very moving!)---Then,pray for birthmoms who face this life-and-death decision DAILY.....oh, that they will CHOOSE LIFE! :)

Family Portraits

Our friend Chere did an awesome job with portraits for the family adoption scrapbook we have been building for birthmoms to look at! We had soooo much fun & wanted to share a peek with you:) Check out her website here.

We have a winner!!

Congratulations to Meg Cutter on winning our raffle drawing!! She chose the $350- Best Buy card as her prize - This will give her lots of options! :)

Our family profile is almost finished - it has been soooo much fun creating a digital scrapbook of our famiy! I have now found a new hobby!!

We appreciate all of you dearly.......we are ALMOST in our waiting phase & every ticket bought in our latest raffle has brought us 1 step closer to our goal - bringing sweet Zoe home!!!

Raffle Update

Our latest raffle has been extended until August 1st & new prize choices have been added! Stop by A.K.'s Coffee Co. or click on the ChipIn link to enter.......the winner will choose ONE of the following prizes:

Canon EOS Rebel XS Digital SLR Camera
*10.1 megapixels
*2.5" LCD Display







Dell Mini-10 Netbook
*Intel Atom Processor Z520
*10.1" Widescreen
*1GB SD RAM Memory
*keyboard is 92% of traditional laptop

$350- Best Buy Gift Card

IPOD Touch
*8GB - stores over 1,750 songs
*3.5" multi-touch screen display





Wii Gaming System
*includes sports disc with
golf, baseball, bowling,

tennis, & boxing



TICKETS - $5.00 EACH or 5 FOR $20.00!

GET STARTED!

1.)Click the "Chip In" button on the left to be taken to the SECURE PayPal link. (deadline will be extended to Aug. 1st)

2.)Use your credit,debit card, or checking account to pay securely through PayPal. Enter the amount you wish to donate - we will issue ticket numbers according to the amount entered (each ticket is $5.00 or buy 5 tickets for $20.00)

3.)Watch for your email confirmation from us including your raffle number(s).

4.)Drawing held August 1st-watch for your notification by email!!

***BLOGGERS WHO POST A LINK TO THIS RAFFLE WILL RECEIVE 3 FREE RAFFLE TICKETS! Email me if you're interested in participating!
jlane633@charter.net

Order Now......Support the Zoe Fund!

*Click pictures to enlarge

Now taking orders for "Names of Jesus" canvas art. Each individualized piece is on a 12"x 16" black canvas with distressed paper accents. A beautiful addition for a wall hanging or side table. I am accepting orders by email at: jlane633@charter.net. The $50- price goes directly toward the adoption of Zoe! Feel free to contact me for any additional questions & thanks for your continued support! BLESSINGS!

A glimpse.......

Here is a glimpse of families who have walked out the adoption call - isn't it beautiful!!!

Another Winner!

Our latest raffle winner for a month of free A.K.'s Coffee is..........Ms. Betty Wilson.....congratulations & enjoy!!! Thanks again to all of our faithful customers/friends who participated! You are a great joy to us!

Our final homestudy is close (the goal is for next week). The plan is for all paperwork to be completed by the end of May when we will apply for grants & complete our Family Profile scrapbook. How exciting! We truly appreciate your continued support - GOD IS GOOD!

"red, & yellow, black, & white....."

We wanted to share a blog post of a friend regarding his experience with inter-racial adoption. We have a huge heart for adoption across racial lines - there's such a desperate NEED even in the U.S.! Click the picture above for the link!

Now that's a lot of red envelopes!

A quick follow-up about the Red Envelope Project which was a grassroots effort to send empty red envelopes to the White House in support of LIFE:

"White House confirms it got 2 million red envelopes-President's mail worker claims letter campaign 1 of largest in 35 years

Posted: April 06, 20098:21 pm Eastern
By Chelsea Schilling© 2009 WorldNetDaily

The White House mail office has confirmed it received a "deluge" of as many as 2.25 million red envelopes symbolizing the empty promise of lives snuffed out in abortion in a massive campaign that was larger than most White House mailing movements in the last 35 years.
White House mail worker "Steve" has handled letters for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for more than three decades. Every single package and letter destined for the White House goes through his office.
Asked if he has seen a flood of red envelopes bound for the White House, Steve chuckled.
"Uh, yes," he said emphatically. "Believe me, they made it here."
Steve said while Obama has been occupied in Europe, his administration has noticed millions of red envelopes on behalf of aborted children.
"Quite frankly, there was definitely a deluge of mail coming through," he laughed. "I had to handle them all."
"I've been here 35 years, so I've seen presidents come and go," Steve told WND. "This campaign ranks up there with the big ones.""

25% of Sales for Zoe!

Click the picture to shop for MARY KAY cosmetics through my cousin, Kathy Martin's, website. **25% of sales March15-April 30 will go to The Zoe Fund!** When checking out, simply type "For The Zoe Fund" in the comment box. YEAH!!! Thanks so much Kathy!!!

Let it snow!

Only in Alabama can you have a tornado touch down 3 miles from your home one day (73degrees) & 24 hours later wake up to this.......................
Abbey & Mary Kathryn sledding on campus

Snowman on AU President's lawn We ran into Aubie in front of Samford Hall

Abbey calm for the moment......Meg going WILD!

1 of many snowball fights

Now we're inside getting warm, the sun has started peeking out & everything will melt before you know it but............ WHAT A FUN DAY!! (And yes, it is supposed to be 70 degrees again by mid-week)!

Now on DVD...

*click the banner above to visit the Fireproof website & view the movie trailer
Everyone who knows us knows we are HUGE fans of this movie! If we begged & you still didn't see it while in theaters, rent it today!! Produced by a church in Albany, GA, Fireproof and the accompanying bestselling book, The Love Dare, have been a huge unexpected success! Read CNN's article on it HERE.

120,000 sent & counting......

Click the envelope to read about this simple, yet profound statement supporting LIFE!

Only God.....!

If you haven't read "Our Story" in the right margin, please do so to get the full picture of this amazing journey we're on.......As you'll see, it all started with God leading us to begin this process, and confirming, in part, by using the name Zoe. The family who had the adopted child named Zoe on stage at "The Call,D.C" has started an adoption foundation to help Christian parents in the process. We've been blessed to share our Zoe Fund logo with them!!! We had the logo designed simply for our fundraising, never dreaming it would travel across the nation with this precious couple as they share the heart of adoption with so many! CLICK HERE to read their latest newsletter & HERE for their website. We're constantly amazed that ONLY GOD could put all of this together!

Fingerprinting...Check!!.....1st Home Study....Check!!Check!!

Progress has been made! This week we've been able to check 2 important steps off our list....Monday Jan. 26th we both got fingerprinted, followed Tuesday by our first home study which lasted around 4 hours! Things are moving well, although not at lightening speed, simply due to the huge amount of paperwork to be completed. Our sweet social worker laughingly told Abbey that she was giving Mommy & Daddy lots of homework:) Here is our assignment list:

1) Dr. visits for physicals
2) Gather general documents (our birth certificates, tax returns, etc.)
3) Complete individual AUTOBIOGRAPHIES (childhood to parenting & all in-between)
4) Web sites to visit and read together
5) Questionaires for approaching real-life adoption scenarios
6) Continue checking into grants/fundraising

In about 4 weeks we'll have all of this completed and set up our 2nd and final home study, then make a family profile for birthmothers to look at when choosing a prospective home for their child. Then more writing, this time for grants to help cover the rest of the costs! As you can see, the process is not a quick one, but will be well worth all of the effort. Keep checking in for updates and thanks for your prayers!

Another Great Video!

*PAUSE PLAYLIST AT BOTTOM OF PAGE TO WATCH

The Joy of Adoption

Please pause the Playlist at the bottom of the page to enjoy this beautiful video made by Joy...(read her adoption blog by clicking HERE)....Thank you Joy for sharing!

THANK YOU!

We are so humbled by God's goodness in our lives! Words cannot express the gratitude we feel for: each penny donated for the Zoe Fund, each prayer lifted up on our behalf, and each word of encouragement we receive almost daily! We are continually reminded that HIS plans are coming to pass for us....by the confirmations He sends through YOU!

We will be celebrating the miraculous birth of our precious Lord Jesus with loved ones, then look forward to moving swiftly with the process to bring Zoe home! We'll begin by being fingerprinted and then set up our first home study of two. This process should take about 90 days to complete.

After that, we will start applying for grants to cover the remaining $15,000-$20,000 adoption expenses. This seems like a mountain to look at in the natural, but God has shown Himself faithful thus far, and WILL complete what HE has begun!

Thanks so much to everyone for your continued love and support....CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS to you all!

What Christmas is all about.........

(pause the playlist at bottom of page first)

We're back!

More to come later.....Thanksgiving blessings to all of you!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The Latest.....

Tonight we met the social worker for our orientation meeting......we left with great peace in our hearts and a greater level of anticipation than ever! We laugh as she left with us an introduction folder and a small flash drive with important info (which she advised us would fill around a 3-ring binder)!! Happy reading, huh!

.......Off to Disney Friday, then Thanksgiving with family which we are SOOOOOOOOOO THANKFUL for! Please continue to check back for updates & most important -- Keep praying!

Zoe.......the name

Many of you have asked about the name Zoe; it came from a series of events after years of praying for a LIFE movement over our nation......

David was in D.C. at "The Call" on 8.16.08, a day of prayer/fasting for America. Abbey & I were home in Auburn, & upon waking up that morning I had a fleeting thought about a name (Zoe) we had talked about for our puppy, "what if God wants us to adopt a baby and name her Zoe?"....I dismissed it as being very random (seeing as adoption had not been on my mind AT ALL) & went about my day.......

until tuning in to watch the D.C. event online...........

a pastor was praying for God to touch people's hearts with the Spirit of adoption. A mom was holding her adopted child on stage and the prayer was that the meaning of her name, "LIFE", resonate across this nation. Guess what her name was!?!?....Zoe! I knew in my heart God was speaking. I prayed, "Lord, if this is you, confirm it through David". David called me 2 hours later & said, "there's something to this adoption thing for us"...we were both amazed at what God was doing in both of us so far apart! We've talked about wanting to adopt since we were engaged, but always said God would have to show us timing....so WHAM!!!

After taking it to Pastor Jim & Nancy & talking with our parents, we knew this was truly the Lord! Romans 8:15 teaches us about this miraculous Spirit of adoption which brings us to God through Christ, "For this spirit which you have now received is not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption (the Spirit producing sonship) in which we cry, Abba! Father!"

Isn't He amazing!

.........and so it is............Zoe:)