Blessed by Bracelets

We are SO excited .... actually excited isn't anywhere close to the right word.... elated, ecstatic, thrilled, jubilant, joyful.... all of this and more!!  We can almost share a little more about our son, almost!  God has been so faithful in revealing His plan to us.  And His provision has been such a blessing!  We have experienced great generosity from friends and family to help bring our son home.  Thanks to each of you that have donated and/or bought shirts, jewelry and journals - you are truly bringing our little boy home! 

Some have purchased items, some have donated money and still others have given of their time and talents.  A dear lady at our church is a talented jewelry maker.  She has generously donated 'conception' bracelets to sell for our adoption.  These are beautiful jeweled bracelets that wrap twice and reflect the birthstones for the month of conception and the month of birth.  A card of blessing is include with each bracelet as well.  I have one bracelet available for each month of the year, just let me know the birth month.  The bracelets are $35 each.  They are truly beautiful and have been designed and crafted by hand with much love!!



December

Thank you very much, Helen, for taking the time to make these bracelets and for the love you have shown to our family!!  You are a blessing to us!

Our Family is Growing

 It has been ONE year since we brought Aster home from Ethiopia.  The time has gone so quickly and at the same time we feel as though she has always been a part of us.  There is no doubt that God ordained her as a Porter long before we ever even knew Aster's name.  Many of you helped bring our Aster home and your prayers and contributions have blessed our family beyond what words can express.  Our faith has been deepened and the journey has been so sweet, that we could hardly wait to do it again!

 

Our hearts are full as we eagerly anticipate the adoption of our son, also from Ethiopia.  We look forward to sharing all the details, very soon, but for now all we can say is that he is a little boy, under the age of 5 and we are over the moon with excitement!!  We anticipate being able to share more in a few weeks. 

Between now and then, however, we need to do some MAJOR fundraising.  Fundraising in and of itself makes me very uncomfortable, but I also know that it is a beautiful opportunity to see God's faithfulness to our family, our son and hopefully you, as you witness our story.  In order to say 'yes' to our son, we need to raise $13,000 - by February 7th.  This is a BIG number with a short time frame, but our God is big and I know 'the One I've trusted in can take care of what He's trusted me to do right to the end.' (2 Tim 1:12 The Message).

Among other things, we are once again selling 147 million orphan t-shirts.  We have partnered with this organization in the past and appreciate all they have done to help us bring our children home.

These items are along the right side of this page.  Please let me know if you have any questions or need help with your order.

In advance - please accept our gratitude - our heartfelt THANK YOU!!

Fundraising Items

As promised, here are our new fundraising items, at least a few of them:


   Magazine Bead and Ethiopian Cross Necklaces

Our oldest daughter is handcrafting these beautiful necklaces. They have various colored magazine beads and an authentic Ethiopian cross hanging from the center.
If you have a specific color request, we are happy to custom make one for you!

red/brown

green/blue

            Personalized Scripture Journals

These are just 2 of many designs to choose from.  My sister-in-law owns a business that makes these amazing journals that have a personalized Bible verse at the bottom of each page.  For example one page has: Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, Aster, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Between now and Christmas she is donating a portion of the sale of each journal to our adoption fund.  Her website is: www.papersunday.com 
**On the address page of ordering there is a 'referred by' drop box.  Simply choose 'porterkids' and we will get credit for the sale**  

 

She also has adoption specific journals that make a fabulous and unique gift with scriptures specially chosen to reflect God's heart for adoption and the journey of an adoptive family.
You will not be disappointed in these truly AMAZING journals.

Let me just express how humbled and grateful we are to those of you that have already contributed to our adoption journey.  And share our gratitude in advance to those that will prayerfully consider supporting us through prayer, finances or time and energy.  We are blessed and our children are blessed by YOU!!

Changes

Change seems to be the common thread that ties our days, weeks and months together over the past year. In the last several weeks my heart has reflected on all of the changes we have experienced in the past 18 months: we moved to a new home, traveled to Ethiopia 3 times for me and 4 times for Craig in a 9 month period, Craig left a very secure job that the world deemed succesful, we started a company together, and best of all we met and brought home our beautiful Aster. Like I said, BIG and wonderful changes in many areas of our family. Looking back over these changes, I realize that while they were difficult the place God has brought us to is amazing and rewarding and like nothing I ever imagined we would get to experience. I am SO grateful for a courageous husband who is willing to follow God's path and not the world's -- who is willing to go on this crazy journey of adoption with me and said yes to it AGAIN and for children that have embraced all that God has called us to with grace, humility and love. Their love for Aster is bigger and brighter than anything I have ever seen!!
And so, with all of these changes we are not content to sit still and settle into our newly fashioned life as we know it, we hear God calling us forward to more changes. For now, we are trusting God as we move forward with another adoption. We have been working on this adoption for well over a year now - in our planning it was supposed to happen at the same time as Aster's adoption, but God, in all His sovereignity has a different plan and a different child than we had originally believed. Heartbreaking as this week has been, we continue to trust and know that HE has a child already ordained as a part of our family and we wait with excited anticipation to see his/her face.
This adoption is much different for us because our financial situation is much different this time. While last time we needed to fundraise for some of the adoption costs, this time we need to fundraise for ALL of the adoption costs. Again, we choose to trust GOD, knowing He has it all covered. I will post our new fundraising items later this weekend, but as a preview, we will have newly designed necklaces and personalized scripture journals. We have an adoption jar that we are putting our funds in as a visual reminder of God's provision for our next child. I know and have seen that He will not leave them as orphans, He will bring them home.

Ethiopian Necklaces

In 3 days we will be on our way back to Ethiopia. My heart skips a beat just thinking about it! I am obviously thrilled to finally be meeting our sweet Mary-A, to hold her, squeeze her, and kiss those adorable cheeks. But, there is also a thrill in my heart to be returning to Ethiopia. This country did something to my heart and I can't forget the beauty and graciousness of the people. I am so grateful that God allowed us to experience our child's birth country prior to meeting her, because I truly believe it gave me a deep desire to keep her connected to her amazing birth country.

Many of our friends and family have purchased a magazine bead necklace from me as a way to support our adoption. We were able to get some of these necklaces in Ethiopia. After being there, I appreciate the colors captured in each of these necklaces because they remind me of the vibrant colors that were all around us in Ethiopia. Each of these beads is hand rolled from a strip of magazine paper and the end result is truly gorgeous. We have decided to sell these ETHIOPIAN magazine bead necklaces as a way to support our adoption and ask our friends and family to continue praying for our family and Mary-A over the next several weeks as we travel to meet her, go to court to finalize our adoption and then return to Ethiopia with our other 4 children to finally be reunited as a family!! 1 necklace is $25 or 3 for $70. I will be happy to deliver them or ship them - just let me know! Thank you for all of the amazing support, prayers and encouragement as we travel this journey God has chosen for our family!

What can a box hold?

Our lives are in boxes and boxes and boxes ... and I've discovered that boxes can hold more than books, dishes, toys and linens, they also hold memories!! LOTS of memories. I am usually a thrower awayer -- I am more likely to toss something into a big plastic trash bag (the black kind so the kiddos can't examine the contents) than keep it. But packing the house has been different, I am finding it hard to get rid of things because I feel like I am throwing away the memory. So, we are moving many more boxes than I thought we would but that makes me happy because we are taking our memories with us to here ...
This is the new home!!! It fits our family so well, and God has been amazing in providing so many things that we asked for - very specific things. We will have a few weeks of transition - we'll have to be out of our house, but we won't be able to take possession of our new home yet, so we are calling it vacation. We will spend some time at the lake house and probably visiting family -- who knows maybe we'll rent an RV and travel around.

Adoption update:
We are still next on the list for a young sibling group. Just to recap what that means - we are approved for up to 4 kids between birth-4 years old. The reality in Ethiopia right now is that one of the governmental offices in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is closed for undetermined reasons and for an undetermined amount of time. As long as this particular office is closed, no referrals can be issued. As disappointing as this is, I KNOW without a doubt that God is in control and HIS timing is impeccable. I have been reminded that this is part of the process, trusting, faith building, not to mention preparing here at home for the tangible changes of having more kids. I have been challenged in the past few weeks to articulate our hearts for orphans and for Ethiopia. Lots of questions from friends and well as strangers has challenged me to be bold and courageous - to speak up for those that can't speak up for themselves - to explain the heart of our family. This has been increasingly more difficult recently because I have been reminded that this goes against a large population of society and the look from strangers when they hear our story reminds me that there are SO many that need to hear of Jesus' love - for them and for our world! I continue to praise God for calling our family to this journey, it is thrilling to hear my children talk about their siblings in Ethiopia, to see the excitement in their eyes when we talk about it, and to reach out to children that are different than them. God has placed His hand on their hearts and HE is changing them and I am SO grateful because it is far beyond anything I could teach them.
This delay in referral also gives us the chance to raise more money to cover the remaining adoption expenses. Please look at the pics of the new t-shirts we are selling from 147 million orphans. They are SO soft and cute. I also have plenty of Uganda bead necklaces in stock.

Exciting Changes and New Shirts

We've had a busy few weeks. Our house has been on the market (again) and we have been praying faithfully for God's perfect timing and wisdom. Fortunately, we accepted an offer on our home and are schedule to move the first few weeks of June. This has been a long time coming -- many have supported us (my neurotic cleaning and pacing) and prayed with us for this to happen. The story is funny, really. It was a week ago, on a Saturday morning, when we had a busy day planned. We had a birthday party to go to, Luke had his last soccer game of the season, we were trying to get everyone ready to be gone for most of the day... Now, Saturday mornings with 4 kids, are crazy enough, but add all of the stuff we had to get together and the fact that the house had to be left spotless - "just in case" - it was nutty! I'm in the bathroom of all places and the doorbell rings. I just knew in my gut that it was an unexpected showing. So, my sweet husband invited them in, explained the situation and we all went about our own business. Us getting laundry put away, kids dressed and loaded and them looking through the house and whispering so we couldn't hear their converstaion. God's sense of humor is great, because that is the couple that is buying our home. Funny huh? I still say it was Craig that sold the house - he has a way with people and he told them all about our home, from his heart. Now, we ask that you continue to pray for God's guidance as we decide what home to purchase. We have a beautiful home that is a possibility, but again, we are just praying for God to show us where to go. It will be wonderful to be moved and settled in a new home before summer and before traveling to Ethiopia. There will be many things I will miss about our sweet home - and the memories here are irreplaceable. After all, this is the home that 3 of my 4 babies were brought home to, the backyard where they all learned to ride their bikes, the itty bitty kitchen where we made some great Thanksgiving meals and the living room where we loved on each other daily - but.... it is time to move forward knowing there are many more sweet memories to make in a new (bigger) home with more children.


In other exciting news .... we are NEXT on the list for a young sibling group. I guess we could get a referral today or in 6 months .... I am sensing a theme of God's timing in my life! Until HIS time to show us our kids, I dream about their faces and think about what it will be like to hold them and hear all the kids playing together.

Also, wanted to let everyone know about CUTE CUTE CUTE new shirts. Thanks to 147 million orphans we have new spring shirts to offer. I have changed the pics on my blog to show these cute new colors and styles. Don't forget - I still have Uganda beads!! They are so pretty and you'll love how they go with anything.

Maybe my next post will have a picture of our new home ... wouldn't that be fun? Or maybe even news of a referral .... only God knows!!!

Failed Fingerprint Friday

No fingerprints on Friday (insert my VERY sad face) but it wasn't because we weren't there! This was the biggest snowstorm in over 30 years for North Texas, and what are the chances it would happen the night before our longed for fingerprint appointment?

My sweet Craig got up early and spent an hour digging our cars out of the driveway, trimming and tying back tree limbs so we could open our gate and getting his car unstuck so we could go to our fingerprint appointment. The sweet part, really, is that he knew there was no way this gov't office was going to be open - but he really did it all because he loves me. Not only did he drive us there, but he sat outside the closed doors and darkened office of the USCIS Support Center while I repeated over and over, "I bet they're just running late. I bet they'll be here by 10. A lot of government offices are opening at 10. Maybe they're going to open." It was so pathetic in fact, that I mistook a lady in some kinda gettup with leg warmers and knit hat, for a USCIS worker because her jacket had patches on it. Turned out, when she got closer, they were Harley Davidson and NASCAR patches. He called the USCIS 800# at least 5 times trying to get more information and one time even ask if the supervisor for this particular Support Center had a cell # that we could call. Craig was pretty sure I had lost it at this point. So, if you look up desperate in the dictionary it says: "Jamey Porter on Friday, February 12, 2010 trying to get her fingerprints taken" Then my wise and obviously much more spiritually grounded husband said, "This is God's timing because He knows one of our children hasn't been born yet."
The good news is that there was a sign on the door (posted from the night before when they closed early) that we could come back anytime M-F between 8-2 and our appt would be expedited. They were closed today - Craig is not able to go Tues - Thurs, so we are going to give it another shot Fri morning. I plan to have my happy little self sitting outside that office at 7:45 am!!

I can't wait to share what the Lord CLEARLY spoke to me Sat morning during my personal quiet time with Him. Your hint is: Numbers 13-15

Also - if you placed an order with me, your order is shipping tomorrow. If you live in Arlington I am ready to deliver!!!

Fingerprint appt tomorrow ... maybe

I'm laying in bed posting from my iPhone because I'm too cold to get up and go to my computer. As we lay here, we just heard another tree limb break. That's because Texas trees are not meant to stand up under 10 inches of snow (and the snow's still falling). This is the biggest snowstorm in Texas history. It's really all fun and exciting, except that we have our fingerprint appt in the morning. Ugh! We can't seem to find definitive info as to whether the USCIS office will be open or not, so we are just praying that God will part the icy, snow covered streets and allow this to happen. Bottom line, however, is that I know that my Lord has plans for me (and our family) and they are plans to prosperous us, not to harm us; to give us a hope and a future with our children from Ethiopia. But I trust in YOU O Lord, I say 'You are my God !'" (Psalm 31:14)
We have precious friends (thank you Team Alexander) willing to take 4 extra kids in the morning while we venture out for this appointment- we promise to bring plenty of Shipleys donuts. I do not worry about getting there because I am married to 'adventure man'. As long as the USCIS office is open, Craig will make sure we get there!!
Please pray for God's favor in the morning!!

On a different note - 147million orphans has a new red Feed 1 shirt for me to sell. Pic is in right margin - check it out... Super cute!!

There goes another limb breaking! Yikes!!

More choices !!!

I have added a few new fundraising items that you will LOVE! Check out the frayed baseball hat and the cow bone earrings. I know it sounds weird 'cow bone' - but they are beautiful!! An awesome addition to your Uganda bead necklace!! Something for him and something for her.

Ordering t-shirts this week!

I'm placing another t-shirt order from 147 million orphans this week. If you want one, order now!! Several men & women styles to choose from - Youth and Toddler shirts available now too!!! Don't forget Uganda magazine bead necklace are still for sale.
Thank you for all of your support!!!

Hurry!

I am SO excited .... through our partnership with 147 million orphans I can now offer Uganda Magazine Necklaces. I can not guarantee how long they will be available, but I can guarantee you will NOT want to miss out!!


These incredible necklaces are made by the beautiful women of the Karamojong tribe. Each is hand crafted from re-cycled magazines. Your purchase of a necklace serves two needs - it helps these women maintain a sustainable income for their families and it helps us bring our children home from Ethiopia. What a wonderful story to share each time you wear them! If you have not had the opportunity to see these necklaces before, trust me - you will not be disappointed with their unique beauty.

I am hoping to place an order at the end of the week, so hurry click the button on the right to order!!!