total money surrender

dave ramsey "ruined" our life almost two years ago. he threw out our plans to get our backyard done and many other fun projects around the house. instead, we tackled our debt. most of it was mine, brought from college. what we thought was capable to pay off in 18 months we actually pulled off in 12 months. then we decided to get moving on this adoption. enter $27,000.

we knew this was going to be hard work. it was going to be both emotionally and financially taxing, but looking back its been an amazing journey. i am humbled and honored to say that we have about $3000 left to raise. i can't believe we've made it this far and its only because of the grace of God. we have felt lead to adopt and God has provided every step of the way.

i felt lead to take a promotion-i honestly had trouble asking others for money when i felt like God was providing an opportunity for our family to bring in some extra money. this has helped tremendously and while it is so hard to be away from beniah, i work early hours so beniah is home with either dave or myself as much as possible. we also have some amazing people in our life who look after and care for him on a weekly basis. we are so grateful for their love for beniah and their support. speaking of my job, starbucks offers adoption reimbursement for up to $4,000 so we cashed in on that. and dave has also picked up some additional coaching jobs to bring in some extra money. when we paid off our debt to begin with we took the ramsey mentally-work, work, and work some more. do what you have to do to get it done. and so far, its worked.

by the way, have you seen our car recently? in five years of marriage neither dave or i were involved in a car accident..until this summer. we were rear ended, twice in a month. the first time dave was driving and the second time i was. ask beniah about it-he really likes to tell the story. since we own our car we took the money (twice), and applied it to our adoption fund. dave and my dad spent the weekend redoing our bumper (even though i was fine with the way it looked..as long as its safe and has a/c i'm good) and dave plans on finishing it up this week.

we've also done a number of fundrasiers: a photo shoot, poker tournament, car wash, and collecting ink and whip creme cartridges. outside of that we've had a ton of thoughtful and amazing people send us gifts. i have been surprised time and again by the generosity of those in our lives, some we haven't spoken to for quite some time. we are truly blessed.

when we started this journey a year ago we had no idea how we were going to pay for this adoption, but in the midst of surrendering ourselves-and our money-i look back and see how faithful our God is.