Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

What can I say, friends....we are blessed!  Blessed to have had a very successful fundraiser meal today surrounded by incredibly supportive and loving friends and family.  It was hard work beautifully paid off.

Thank you to all who came out to support us and Nora today.  Thank you for eating and having fellowship with one another.  Thank you for your prayers.  Thank you for your financial donations.  You are all amazing and we are smiling ear to ear at what God is doing to care for the orphan...specifically "our" orphan, Nora.   As you can see with the fundraiser goal thermometer on the right-hand column, we have now come even closer to our overall goal amount which is such a huge blessing.

I can not talk about our meal without also thanking all of the volunteers who helped make it happen.  Thanks to Abbe Votaw for helping me shop for some of the food.  Thanks to my parents for keeping care of our children so we could focus on the task at hand this weekend.  Thanks to my neighbor, Holly Beachy, and Becky Latta (my mom) for helping get food ready on Saturday.  Thanks to Deb Graber and Linda Miller who were at the church bright and early this morning to chop 40 lbs of tomatoes and get the rest of final touches ready.  Thanks to the youth who helped serve. Thanks for all the other adult volunteers who helped serve in the line and get all the techy stuff running.  Thanks to Sharon Yoder, Linda Miller, Danny Miller, Kris Miller, and Jerry Latta (my dad), for staying extra long cleaning up the aftermath with us.  Finally, thanks to my hubby who had to put up with me counting out food quantities and volunteers for the last month, shopping for all the fixings to feed 450 people, and for all your help today.  You are each amazing!

While eating, many of you may have seen the slideshow running of pictures of our sweet little lady, but you wouldn't have heard the music, so enjoy the slideshow one more time with a beautiful song.  This song was written and sung by another father currently in their own adoption process.  All proceeds from the sale of his song on ITunes go towards their own adoption.  What an awesome way to use his giftings to help bring his own daughter home!  If you love the song, please help them out by purchasing the song for yourself on ITunes ("Ellie's Song" by Gregg Gober).

We will continue to keep you updated on here as we get any news from Haiti.  We are truly praying for God's will to reign...we know He wants Nora home as fast as we do!  Blessings to you all, and again...our many, many thanks for all you are doing to support us in this journey!

Money, Money, Money--Where are We at Financially?

"Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God - the rest will be given. "

~Mother Teresa

 

Oh, yes, friends.  That quote from Mother Teresa rings clear in my heart today as I write to you about where we are at financially in this adoption. With any adoption, the financial end of it can be a burden, a curse, a headache, a heartache, and even a blessing.  The truth is, any adoptive parent would rather have the focus of their future child not equated with $$$ or a "price tag" or a "fee".  Money is NOT what we want to deal with.  Money is not what we want our topics of conversation with others to be about.  When others ask us about how our adoption process is going, we don't WANT to tell you about the money we have raised or even worse, the money we still have to raise.  We don't want to be asking and asking and asking for financial help.  We don't enjoy sitting at home crunching numbers with our budget trying to see where we can still cut corners to save a little more without also making our life situation for our current family so bleak that we feel stressed all the time.  What we DO want is for our friends, family, and strangers alike to fall more and more in love with Nora and with orphans around the world.  We want peoples' hearts compelled to care for those less fortunate when we share our story of adoption.  We want to stir up the call from Christ to care for the orphan.  We want to pass along the hope we have to give our love and home to another little child who needs it.  We want our adoption to be about a child--specifically Nora for us-- not about money.  Yes, I would much rather talk to you about raising funds of love, kindness, understanding, and peace than about money itself, but alas, no adoption can really be completed without money, so here you go...

We are continually amazed at the work of our God in this area.  We have been called to adopt Nora and we have seen God rally His people to help make that a reality.  Financially, we simply can not do this alone.  We have placed, and continue to place, our own money into this, but we also know we can not come up with the big picture of money all on our own right now.  We also believe in allowing others to come alongside us on the journey and be an active participant in Nora's life already.  As I have said before, God calls us all to care for the orphan and many would love to do that, but do not yet feel called to actually bring one of these beautiful children into their home.  There are many ways these people can still answer God's call...financially sponsoring orphans, mission trips to give them hugs and playtime, feeding them meals, and even donating money towards families like us who have answered the call of God to be a forever family.  We have been blessed to have so many of those people send us their financial gifts.

On top of helping us financially in our adoption costs, it has also been awesome to see how God has raised up people to simply have a heart for Nora because of their financial contribution.  This is where Mother Teresa's quote becomes reality--by giving financially, people have fallen more and more in love with Nora.  There is an investment that goes beyond money...it's an investment of love, prayers and hope.  Nora needs that.  We need that.  We need the money, but we also need the support, love, and hope to be rallied around this process.

With our fundraiser meal coming up this weekend, we would like to give you a very clear picture of where we stand financially (hopefully for the last time).  If you look to the right-hand column of this blog entry you will see our original goal of $25,000 has now become $29,000.  Let me explain why that has happened.  With any adoption process, there are many things you learn along the way.  Many changes happen that are unexpected.  Some fees you figure on paying, end up being less than expected--many become more than expected.  There are trips envisioned and budgeted for, but then there are ones that come up unexpectedly with higher flight and baggage costs.  There are lawyer fees that fluctuate beyond your control.  There are monthly fees for Nora's care that obviously add up with the longer she stays there (and, again, we have NO idea how long we will be paying those--this is Haiti).  There are homestudies that end up having to be updated unexpectedly (just to give you perspective, that one example was a $900 setback).  There is just no way to know for sure what this adoption will cost us in the end.  We had high hopes of it being around $25,000 at the beginning.  When all is said and done, however, it could also be over $31,000.  When we took a look at what we have already spent and combine that with what we believe are estimates of what we still have to go, we are looking at that $31,000 figure.  However, we still are placing our new goal at $29,000 with the hope of Nora coming home sooner than later which would decrease our monthly payments and a few other fees along the way.

Of that $29,000 we have $20,927 raised between what we and others have contributed.  That means we have $8,073 left to raise to hit our more realistic goal.  On one hand that figure still seems large, but on the other hand, God has brought over twice that amount in so far, so this is certainly something we think He can complete!  There is nothing that will put a smile on our faces quicker than knowing the financial end of this adoption is past us so we can focus on simply being a Mama and Daddy to Nora...and encouraging the giving of our family and friends towards other children in need.

So, what can you do to help us reach our financial goal?  There are currently three options we have for you.  First would be attending our fundraiser meal this Sunday, May 6th, at 12:15 p.m. at Maple City Chapel.  We will be serving up Haystacks and Ice Cream (with homemade strawberry topping--yum!!!).   Anyone is welcome to attend and we would LOVE to have a chance to visit with you face to face.  It's a great way to have a delicious meal out and have your payment for the meal go towards bringing Nora home.  We will be showing a slideshow of updated photos of Nora as well as letting everyone know where we are at in the process.  It will be a wonderful time together!

Secondly, if you live farther away or won't be able to make it to the fundraiser meal, you can always still send in a financial donation to our account at Lifesong.  Many of you have done this already and for that we are so thankful!  If the Lord would be encouraging you to continue your earlier support by giving an additional amount, then please still follow the directions here.

 

To send in your tax-deductible financial gift through the mail:

-Please make checks payable to: Lifesong. Write "preference Thieszen #2263 adoption" in the memo section of your check in order to direct your donation towards our adoption expenses.

-Send your check to: Lifesong for Orphans, Attn. “preference Thieszen #2263 adoption”, PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford Street, Gridley, IL 61744
              *Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use

To send in your tax-deductible financial gift online:

-To donate through Lifesong's PayPal account, go to http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html. Scroll down until you see “By Credit Card (PayPal.com)” and click on the "Donate" button. Type in "preference Thieszen #2263 adoption" in the Purpose line.

               * Where 100% of your donation from a check goes to us, if you use PayPal, you will be charged a 1.9-2.9% service fee. The amount actually received by Lifesong for Orphans for our adoption will be decreased by that amount.

Lastly, if you need to, you can also give a check or cash directly to us and we will put it into our adoption fund account, however, those financial gifts would not be a tax-deductible donation.

Above all, friends, we are so excited to see God at work in this adoption.  We are continually drawn to Him to get us through this whether it is financially, emotionally, or spiritually.  We are so in love with God and what He is doing in our lives right now.  It is a blessing to be a part of the Lord's work.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your support--both financially and prayerfully.  We thank God for you and pray your lives are being enriched ten-fold as you join us on this journey of adoption.

Thieszen Adoption Haystack Fundraiser Meal

Thieszen Adoption Haystack

Fundraiser Meal

Sunday, May 6^th

Location: Maple City Chapel

2015 Lincolnway East, Goshen, IN

Time: Meal will be served at 12:15 p.m.

(take out boxes available also after 1^st service at 10:15)

Come to enjoy a haystack meal, hear an update on our progress, see a slideshow of recent photos of Nora, fellowship with others on our support team, and help us reach the last $5000+ of our funds to bring Nora home. (Checks can be made out to "Lifesong" with "Thieszen Adoption #2263" written in the memo line.)

You do not have to attend Maple City Chapel to enjoy the meal--this is open to anyone in the community or even visitors from afar if you want to come! If you do not typically attend MCCh and want to participate in the morning services as well as the meal, the first service begins at 9 a.m. and the second service is at 10:45 a.m.

R.S.V.P. is not required, but would be helpful for us to determine food counts. R.S.V.P. by adding a comment on this blog or at angie_thieszen@hotmail.com. If you can make it last minute and haven't responded, please feel free to come...we would love to visit with you!

Three Days

Three days. 3 days.

• Joseph interpreted his fellow prisoners' dreams to mean in 3 days one would die and one would be brought to Pharaoh to have his position restored. (Gen. 40)
• Joseph put his brothers in jail for 3 days before releasing them to go collect their younger brother (Gen. 42)
• Moses stretched his hand toward the sky and total and complete darkness came over Egypt for 3 days. (Ex. 10)
• After crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites traveled in the desert for 3 days before finding any water. (Ex. 15)
• The Israelites often traveled for 3 days in order to find a place for them to rest. (Num. 10, 33)
• Joshua told the Israelites to gather their belongings because they would cross over to Jordan in 3 days. (Josh. 1)
• A woman told Joshua and his men to hide in the hills for 3 days before coming back to take the land. (Josh. 2)
• Their were donkeys lost for 3 days and then found. (1 Sam. 9)
• It took 3 days to collect all the plunder from a raid. (2 Chron. 20)
• The men of Judah and Benjamin had 3 days to gather themselves. (Ezra 10)
• The people fasted for 3 days with Esther when she asked them to. (Esther 4)
• Jonah was in the belly of a huge fish for 3 days and 3 nights. (Jonah 1)
• It took Jonah 3 days to go through the whole city of Nineveh. (Jonah 3)
• Jesus as a young boy was found at the temple after being lost to his parents for 3 days. (Lk. 2)
  
• Jesus told the disciples to feed the people because they had been with them 3 days without any food (Mt. 15, Mk. 8)
• Jesus tells the people He will spend 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth. (Mt. 12)
  
• Jesus predicts that after He is killed and put in the tomb, He will raise from the dead in 3 days. (Mk. 8, 9)
• Saul was blind for 3 days after encountering the Lord on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9)

Three days. These are just some of the examples I found in the Bible that show how important and significant 3 days can be. 3 days are significant to our family too this week. We are just 3 days out from our Lifesong fundraising goal date. We have been amazed at the outpouring of support we have received. "Thank you" doesn't even begin to describe our real feelings when we check in each week with Lifesong and learn our totals have gone up again. It's probably more on the lines of "YYYYEEEEAAAHHHH GOD!!!!!!!! No way! This is so awesome! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't believe it--seriously, I can't believe it! You are so good to us, God. So, so good. YES!!!!" all the while jumping up and down, doing a happy dance, having a huge smile from ear to ear and perhaps (from Angie) tears of joy running down my face. It is such a huge confirmation to us that we are indeed following the Lord's plan for our family and that there are others out there who love us, love Nora, and love doing what God has commanded us all to do in James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." It also reinforces the TRUTH that God will supply our need when we wholeheartedly surrender to His will.

With 3 days left until our goal date, will you please still consider joining our support team? We are just under 1/2 of the way there, friends, and still need your financial support. Some have questioned why we aren't paying for this adoption all on our own or why we are asking others to support us financially with a decision we clearly have made for ourselves. Questions like, "Shouldn't we be taking care of the needs of our own family and backing up our own decisions without asking for help from others?" or "Isn't this irresponsible to be saying yes to adoption and then openly saying we don't necessarily have enough funds to make it happen?" are valid questions to have come to the surface. Here are our answers to questions like these, for what it is worth...

• Adopting wasn't our idea....it was God's. That may sound like a "Sunday school answer" to some of you, but it is as true as it gets to us. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is who is behind this adoption--not us. Because it is God's idea, it is something we feel He will use His kingdom to bring to pass and His kingdom is not solely comprised of Micah and Angie Thieszen...thankfully! : )
  
• We ARE supporting our own adoption financially as much as we can. We are not sitting around using other peoples' money while living poshly off of our own. Out of respect to our own privacy we will not be sharing how all we are making our own sacrifices, but please trust we are indeed a vital part of this process financially and would never want it any other way.
  
• We believe God's Word to be true and hold to the James 1:27 reference that everyone is being asked to look after the orphans. For some, that verse fleshes out in actually going through the process of adoption and caring for an orphan in a forever family situation. For others, that is not even on their radar, so being able to go on a mission trip to care for them for a few weeks or so is a better answer. For still others, maybe that seems a bit too much so they are sponsoring a child or helping financially to pay for an orphan to receive better care. The connection for us is that we have a situation where you would be able to do your part in looking after the orphan by helping us financially bring Nora home. It's an investment you will get to actually see the benefits of--as we bring Nora here and she grows up in our family, you will be able to witness firsthand the blessings of answering God's Word.
  
• As much as we personally cherish the feelings of love and support by having all of your contributions, we truly hope they are not being given solely on the basis of a connection to US. Our deeper heart's desire is you would be giving them to honor, respect, love, and support Nora herself. Nora needs you to care for her. Nora needs your prayers. Nora needs your financial support. Do you see this empty picture frame? I've had this frame ready for a picture of our sweet little Nora for a while now and yet it has remained empty. It is HARD to look at this empty picture frame because it leaves me feeling restless in this process, yet it is also good to see it empty because I KNOW there is a little girl who is going to fill it--and fill our lives--with so much and I HAVE to continue doing everything I know how to make sure that picture frame is filled soon! Yes, we know all too well, it's hard to not have that little brown face visible yet to know exactly who you are helping. It's hard to connect to this little girl when you don't even know she really exists. It's hard for us too, but we assure you she is out there somewhere in Haiti where she has a 50% chance at survival right now and we beg you to be thinking of HER and not us when you are giving of your finances. She needs YOUR help just as much as she needs our help! We have committed to giving it to her for the rest of her life and we pray you will be joining in that with us. You see, this is NOT about us--Micah, Angie, Lily, Tobias, and Quinn Thieszen--this is about Nora Thieszen. Make your donations for HER and we will undoubtedly feel the love and support as well--there is nothing better than feeling like someone else loves and supports your kids alongside you!

So, three days, friends. 3 days. If God can die, take victory over evil, and raise from the dead in just 3 days, I have no reason to doubt He can rally the troops and bring in a HUGE amount of financial support for our adoption in 3 days too. Would you be willing to not only give financial support to us, but also encourage others to do so as well by linking this post to your own blog page, facebook page, email account, twitter account, text message or whatever social medial outlet you use? I've often wondered what does it take for a message to go "viral"...I'm thinking the best answer to that question is God. What can't God do in 3 days???

To financially give follow the instructions below:

Option #1: Send your check in the enclosed, stamped envelope.

• Please make checks payable to: Lifesong. To direct your donations to our adoption expenses, write "preference Thieszen #2263 adoption" in the memo section of your check.

• Send your check to: Lifesong for Orphans, Attn. “preference Thieszen #2263 adoption”, PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford Street, Gridley, IL 61744

• *Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.

Option #2: Donate online through Lifesong's PayPal account.

• To donate online, go to http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html. Scroll down until you see “By Credit Card (PayPal.com)” and click on the "Donate" button. Type in "preference Thieszen #2263 adoption" in the Purpose line.
  

• Where 100% of your donation from a check goes to us, if you use PayPal, you will be charged a 1.9-2.9% service fee. The amount actually received by Lifesong for Orphans for our adoption will be decreased by that amount.

Thank you, friends, for all you are doing for Nora...and all of us. We are blessed indeed.

How Can You Support Us?

Lots of adoption posts here right now, but bare with us as we get this information out there for those who don't know our story or need the information. If you already know of our financial plan and just need the link again to Lifesong, scroll down towards the end of this post and you will find it there. Thanks!

For those of you wondering how you can be supporting us financially with this adoption, please read this and learn of our plan to raise the funds we need as well as impact future adoptions by other families!

“At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality.” -2 Corinthians 8:14

Dear Family & Friends,

May we begin this letter by claiming we have a BIG God who calls us to BIG things in life! This past year has been an amazing journey with the Lord.

Although it is the Lord's calling on our hearts to adopt Nora, He certainly calls all of us to care for the orphan (James 1:27) whether or not you actually adopt one. We believe He also does not call a person to do His work alone, but instead uses many people to accomplish His will to further His Kingdom. It is with these beliefs we are asking for your support. Obviously, we covet your prayers as we make steps along this road. Prayers for a miraculously smooth and quick journey, patience for us as we wait, and for Nora while she is still in Haiti. We know the Lord has BIG things in store for all of us and covering that in the protection of Jesus is refreshing. Additionally, we are asking for financial support to make this adoption possible.

The total estimated cost involved in this Haitian adoption is $25,000. Yes, this is a BIG number, but remember our God is a BIG God! One would think we would be content simply raising the $25,000, but we feel called to something even higher than that because this is NOT about us—this is about being obedient to caring for who God cares about—the orphan. It would be amazing to watch people pour out their resources, help meet our $25,000, and then surpass it to help other parents seeking to adopt! We get chills just thinking of what all God wants to do here, friends, so stay with us! Here is the vision we believe God has given us...

If every person we touch base with gives $10, we would eventually meet our goal, but what if each one also reaches out and asks others to give $10? The money multiplies quickly! For example, if we ask 500 people to give $10 of their own money and they additionally find only 6 other people to contribute an additional $10 each towards our dream, we would then be receiving $70/person we have contacted. If all 500 people send in $70 of that collective donation, we would quickly have $35,000 ($25,000 to cover our adoption process and an additional $10,000 to put towards someone else's). All of that can happen by no one giving more than $10/person!!! However (and this is where it gets so cool), we believe God is going to do something HUGE with this! For example, what if everyone gave $20 instead of the $10 in the above example...our BIG amount of $35,000 has now become a HUGE $70,000—how amazing! What if people took it even higher than that and gave greater amounts than $20—Woah! No amount is too big or too small to help the orphan in need. What God can do with that amount of money is truly life-changing for the families waiting to adopt these priceless children.

God is actively at work in 3 other couples within our church family also going through the adoption process. Because of this, our church, Maple City Chapel, has created a new adoption ministry called “Grafted In”. They have partnered with Lifesong for Orphans to assist in the handling and distributing of funds donated towards families desiring to adopt (see attached letter to find out more about Lifesong). We have been BLESSED by Lifesong & Grafted In! To help start us off in a huge way—they are giving us a $3000 matching grant! For every dollar we receive between now and November 9th, they will match it (up to $3000). This is an amazing affirmation that God wants to do something BIG with these donations! Our prayer is that you will help us surpass this goal by a long shot! Every dollar that comes in exceeding our own adoption expenses will be placed into our church's account at Lifesong for future adoption needs. We are excited and blessed to be a part of this process and hope to see funds raised beyond our wildest expectations!

So, what are we asking of you? Would you be willing to be one of our 500 people who is committed to a monetary donation, as well as ask 6 of your own friends, family members, or even neighbors to make a donation too? If that answer is yes, we ask for you to follow the instructions below and be BLESSED for coming alongside us in our call to care for the orphans. If you do not feel led to ask others to come alongside you in this process, but still would like to make a personal contribution of any amount, please also follow the instructions and be BLESSED! Again, no amount is too big and no amount is too small! Each donation draws us closer to bringing Nora home!

Thank you in advance for your amazing willingness to help bring Nora home to us and to further the cause of caring for the orphan. You are all dear to our hearts and we look forward to updating you on our adoption as we continue on this journey.

Blessings to each of you,

Micah & Angie Thieszen (as well as Lily, Tobias, and Quinn)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please send in your tax-deductible donation A.S.A.P.—remember the goal date to raise our support is November 9th!

Option #1: Send your check in an envelope through regular postal mail.

• Please make checks payable to: Lifesong. To direct your donations to our adoption expenses, write

  “preference Thieszen #2263 adoption” in the memo section of your check.

• Send your check to: Lifesong for Orphans, Attn. “preference Thieszen #2263 adoption”, PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford Street, Gridley, IL 61744

• *Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.

Option #2: Donate online through Lifesong's PayPal account.

• To donate online, go to http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html. Scroll down until you see “By Credit Card (PayPal.com)” and click on the "Donate" button. Type in “preference Thieszen #2263 adoption” in the Purpose line.
  

• Where 100% of your donation from a check goes to us, if you use PayPal, you will be charged a 1.9-2.9% service fee. The amount actually received by Lifesong for Orphans for our adoption will be decreased by that amount.

---------------------------------------

(Here is the letter sent by Lifesong)

July 26th, 2011

Dear church, family, and friends of Micah and Angie Thieszen,

Lifesong for Orphans (www.lifesongfororphans.org) is a non-profit Christian ministry dedicated to help meet the needs of orphan children around the world, and obey God’s call to “visit the fatherless…in their affliction” (James 1:27).

The number of children worldwide without families to love and care for them is astounding… there are over 143 million orphans worldwide!

God tells us in His word He has heard the cry of the orphaned and abandoned children (Psalm 10:17, 18) and He has made a way for them to be cared for – through adoption. As believers, He adopted us into His family through Jesus Christ, and did not leave us as spiritual orphans!

We believe adoption at its core is evangelism--a vital part of the Great Commission is bringing the mission field home. God desires orphans from all nations to be adopted into Christ-honoring families so they may ultimately be adopted into His eternal family through Jesus Christ. God calls us to fulfill James 1:27, “visit the fatherless…” but not all are called to adopt. Some are called to pray, some to give financially, some to go on mission trips, and some to adopt.

Micah and Angie have sensed God’s call . . . and have joyfully stepped out in faith and obedience to adopt a girl from Haiti. As you may already know, international adoption can cost around $25,000 and prevents many godly families from adopting. Maple City Chapel and Lifesong believe God has raised up the Thieszen family “for such a time as this…” and we have committed an Adoption Matching Grant of $3,000 to help raise the funds necessary to complete the adoption of this young girl. This means Maple City Chapel partnered with Lifesong for Orphans will match “dollar-for-dollar” everything the Thieszen’s raise from their church, family, and friends between now and November 9, 2011, up to $3,000. We invite you to support them financially to make this adoption possible. As a 501(c)3 organization, your gift is tax deductible. *100% of all funds raised will go directly to cover adoption costs--nothing will be taken out for Lifesong for Orphans administrative costs.

Will you invest financially in the life of this little girl? . . . It will be an investment with eternal return.

God bless you for laying your treasures up in Heaven,

Andy Lehman

Vice President

p.s. I trust God will do great and mighty things through this, and all for His Glory!

PO Box 40/202 N Ford St, Gridley, IL 61744

phone: 309 747 3556 fax: 309 747 4647 www.lifesongfororphans.org

bringing joy and purpose to orphans