My Very FIRST Adoption Airport Arrival!

Remember my girls (Jenn, Stacey, Monica, Susan, and Bethany) who also live here in the DC area and are also adopting from America World???  WELL....Susan and her hubby Ed came home with their THREE children from Ethiopia and OH MY GOODNESS...it was more than I could have ever imagined.  The love, joy, and tears were beyond words.  Don't believe me??? Catch this.....BUT WAIT!  Among many others parts, one of my very favorite moments in the video is when Susan's son, "J", meets back up with his Ethiopian friend, "A".  Who but God could orchestrate something so amazing so that these two 'best buds' who lived in the orphanage together now also live only minutes from each other in America.  God, You Rock!!!  Take a peek....



Hold on to your hearts though....Stacey and her hubby, Evan are leaving TOMORROW to go pick-up their son!  I don't know if my heart can take another one of these airport arrivals.............nah....yes, I can!

We Hit Another Milestone This Week!

What another phenomenal week!  As we continue to chug along in saving and raising funds to totally complete our adoption costs, including travel, I am astounded at the love our daughter receives.  So on June 13th, I tweeted that I thought we could hit 88% completion of our adoption goal:

Well we did it!  This morning, I entered the offline amounts and we made it with a few bucks over.  Beautiful! 

Totally amazing that we may be totally funded through our savings and fundraising BEFORE we are even matched with our daughter! Who knew?!

Rev Run on Adoption....gotta watch this!

As we journey through this adoption process, I always find strength in hearing other family's stories.  Well, imagine my delight when I came upon this video today where Rev Run (of rap group Run DMC) TRANSPARENTLY shared their family's adoption journey at Catalyst West.  I loved every single bit of this because it was from a man's perspective.  You see, I know what we think about as women as we travel this adoption journey, but it was so great to hear Rev Run (ya know...a real dude) share what the adoption journey was like for him.  Trust me, all 3 videos are worth viewing.

From Tragedy... (Part 1)


To Love... (Part 2)

**....and please (smile) don't ride him about his comment about loving his adopted child more than his biological children.  Take it into context and what he's really trying to articulate....in the beginning, he didn't know if he could love his adopted child the same way he loved his biological children.  In fact, he discovered that he loved Miley more than he could have ever imagined.

A Dad's Perspective (Part 3)


Whether a family decides to adopt a baby or a teenager, he's right -- adopting a baby (a child) will blow your mind!  Can't wait to see when our daughter gets here how she turns this testosterone-dominated house into a pile of mushiness! (smile)  I'll keep you updated.

Big hugs,

We're Closing the Gap!!!

I am so excited because since my last blog post, we've reached another milestone!  We shared then that we had about $5500 left to complete our adoption.  Well, the word got out and we saw some amazing movement.  Everything from straight-out donations to t-shirt and necklace purchases.  Here is just a small sampling of how God moved people's hearts.  There was:

• the widow without much money who donated $5 via my aunt Johnette (simply amazing and beautiful);
• the adopting mom who keeps coming back to donate even though she's raising money herself;
• my pastor who keeps putting the word out on his personal twitter and facebook page;
•  friends who are repeat donors;
• the family member who shocked me with $200 in an envelope...i literally screamed!;
• the friend who keeps supporting and is now donating $20 every pay period;
• the beautiful people who donated who don't even know us but just heard our story;
• and truly...the stories go on and on.

So I say a big THANK YOU! We are now only $3,713 short of closing the gap on our adoption costs!!!  Thank you for being a part of our daughter's adoption story.  What a beautiful story we are weaving together.  Collectively, I believe we'll finish this by the end of the summer!  *eek* so excited!

Don't forget, when you donate through our partners via our First Giving page, it's a tax-deductible contribution!  Check it out here:  www.firstgiving.com/michellemckinney

We Couldn't Have Done This Without You!

If you've followed our adoption journey from day one, you know that this has been a remarkable journey for us.  We started out as a family stepping out on faith with a big dream....a God-sized dream.

From the very beginning, we were staring at a debt of around $25,000 that later grew to around $31,000 due to changes the Ethiopian government made to the adoption process.  Staring at that debt was well beyond anything we could ever do....but you know what?  The God we serves specializes in paying debt.  If you don't believe me, check out John 3:16 in the New Testament. (smile)

...and TODAY, in looking at our fundraiser thermometer, we see we only have about $5,500 left to finish out our adoption costs.  This is MONUMENTAL!!!!

Why?  We are the average middle-class family without boat loads of money sitting in a savings or retirement account.  We save as much as we can and find cool ways to raise funds.  Most of all, we have seen what your sacrificed donations of $5, $10, $20, and $50 have done at chipping away at this debt.  It may have seemed little to you at the time, but your donations have meant the world to us.  We've been blown away in the past year by two separate $5,000 donations....and then how one of those donors decided to also do a donor match back in February.  Your stories of sacrificial giving amaze me and are making a difference in the life of a child who has grown in this mama's heart for the past 2 years.  Like today, receiving an unexpected donation did this mama's heart so good.

We're at the home stretch family!  Will you partner with us to finish strong by donating today or this week?  Don't forget, your donations are tax-deductible when you donate through our partner at Lifesong for Orphans/First Giving.  As you've seen every little bit of sacrifice is changing the world....one orphan at a time.

Love y'all!