Where Do I Begin......Lots of Great News!

Have you ever been so full and overwhelmed in a good way by so many great things happening in your life?  This past week has been one of those WHOA God, hold on let me catch my breath kind of weeks.  I'm so full with his blessings that I've had a difficult time blogging because I couldn't figure out where to start.  So, I think the best way is for me to just dive in to what's been happening this week:

1. We were approved by Lifesong for Orphans' Both Hands project!!!!  This is HUGE, COLOSSAL because it means that when someone decides to make a donation, they have the option of going through Lifesong for a period of time so that they can receive a tax-deductible donation.  Bigger than that though is the fact that we'll be working on/repairing the house of a widow in the months to come.  I am super excited about this project.  Check out our initial post about our Lifesong Application here:  http://lifeabitsweeter.blogspot.com/2010/07/lifesong-for-orphans-helping-widow.html
2. Received the sampler pack of fair trade coffee we are selling through Just Love Coffee!  Oh my goodness!  It came in a priority mail envelope and the envelope in the mailbox smelled yummy!  I requested ground coffee and they only grind each bag upon each order.  I can't wait to brew my first cup but first I need to grab a good friend to drink it up with me!  See our fair trade coffee site here:  http://www.justlovecoffee.com/lifeabitsweeter
3. Celebrated with one of my bestie (yes, I said bestie) adoption girlfriends on the announcement of her referral!  I adore Melissa and wish we lived closer so that we could share a cup of coffee and cry tears of joy together about the referral of her daughter.  Check out my buddy Melissa over here:  http://thelemanskis.blogspot.com/2010/08/big-news.html
4. Started working with a great group of friends who are helping with a fantastic fundraiser!  This is monumental for me because I'm not good...okay comfortable, asking people to help me.  The problem with this character flaw is that there's no way I can get through this adoption with just me and Tony operating alone.  In the words of one of girlfriends....yes, Naneka again....I have to do whatever necessary to fight for my daughter and bring her home.  As my pastor reminds me, this adoption journey is so not about me so some things as scary as they are to me, I'm going to have to do them scared!
5. Received our appointment for our biometrics fingerprinting with the US Government!  Woo hoo!  This is so huge because this approval would give us the approval of our I171-H form which allows us to move forward with sending our dossier to Ethiopia and ultimately going on the wait list.  (Now of course, there's that little matter of the $7700 that needs to accompany the dossier but I'm believing God is going to partner with us or us with Him to do something amazing for us to get closer to the $7700 and bring His daughter home.)
6. We've selected and agreed upon a name for our daughter!  This is fantastic because although we don't know who she is yet, she's had a growing place in our heart.  We have been going back and forth about what to name her.  We've come to an agreement and I am happy, happy, happy because I'm ready to refer to her by name.  So.....you'll have to wait til next week when I'll announce her name.   (Those who know Tony....no tricking him into telling you!  As older people say....he can't hold ice water!)

Thanks for sharing in our joy this week!  Love y'all for caring enough to check in on us via our blog.

(BTW:  The cute little "I Am Blessed" necklace above is available at this cute little Etsy shop: click here)