Thursday, February 18, 2010

Thank you!

WOW! We had a fantasitic celebration and fundraising dinner last Sunday evening. Good food (thanks Mikelle, Amanda, Barb and Mom for helping)and good turn out of family and friends. The silent auction was fun, especially the Hereim grandkids bidding against each other and the Hereim boys setting up friends to bid against their family! BIG thanks to all who donated items to auction and those who bid! We greatly appreciate your support working to raise the funds to bring our 3 sets of little hands home. We raised $$$ for our homestudy which we hope to have completed soon. Note: The auction item that went for the most $$$$ was Joe's handyman service...if I would have known, I would have had more options to bid on the handyman!
Our next fundraising endeavors are the Smoker Raffle, $5 tix gets you a chance to win the awesome Louisanna Grills smoker; our Gargage sale on May 7-8 (we'll take donations the end of April)and to pay for the kids travel home we're selling puzzle pieces, a 500 piece puzzle for each kid, pieces starting at $5 each. More info on fundraising to be posted soon.
Thanks again! Love you!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Howdy all,
Happy Groundhog Day!!! Happy New Year! We look forward to seeing you soon and have some great news to share!
So, we’re adopting. Adoption has been on my heart as long as I can remember and after a lot of prayer and time, it’s also on Joe’s heart. We know God has an Ethiopian sibling group of 2 or 3 kids ready to come home to Montana as soon as we get our paperwork and fundraising complete. Joe and I are super excited to parent together and don’t really know how the adventure will work out but are trusting God has some fun and character building experiences planned for us. Yes, 2 or 3 sets of little hands in our home soon.
So, where are we at? When will the little hands be here? We have paid our initial fees to our adoption agency, Christian World Adoption (CWA) and are working on completing and compiling the mountain of paperwork needed for our Home study and Dossier. Our next job, other than hours of required parent education courses, is to continue saving, praying and fundraising. We raised money so far selling coffee, producing a concert (kinda…it’s a good story) and through generous anonymous donations. We need additional funds to pay for the home study provider, adoption agency fees, document translation and travel. (Just think, the airfare; 2 or 3 round trip tickets to Ethiopia plus more 3 one-way back to the USA to bring our little hands home.)
SO, we are hosting a Little Hands Celebration & Fundraising Pasta Dinner on Valentine’s Day, Sunday Feb 14 from 430-7pm. We will have a silent auction, raffle and “Fill the Kid’s Piggies” event that evening. Pasta buffet served from 430-7pm; raffle and silent auction winners announced at 630pm, the Piggie Banks will be open all night! The dinner is at the Lockwood campus of our church, 1413 Rosebud Lane.
This is an anxious time for us in some ways as it is unfamiliar and out of our comfort zones; however, God has put adoption on our hearts to provide a loving family environment for these young siblings and open up beds for other orphans.
If you’d like to help us and these children in any way, we will totally appreciate it and thank you for it. If you are not sure or not able to help, we understand, but please come and celebrate this adventure with us by sharing a meal and fellowship. We need your encouragement and friendship as much as the funds. Please come join us!
God Bless,
Joe and Lisa

Pasta anyone?

Howdy!
We're hosting a Pasta buffet fundraiser dinner on Sunday February 14th from 430-7pm. Dinner will be served in the basement of the Lockwood campus of our church from 430-7pm but wait, there's also a silent auction and raffle, winners will be announced at 630pm. More details to follow...you'll probably get a personal invite via email or snail mail soon!
Appreciate your prayers and support as we work to bring our little hands home.