On the 12th day of countdowns….. We are still excited and praying!
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14…13…
Waiting and Praying!
Let The Countdown Begin!
I just thought I would give everyone a heads up. On October 15th we will find out if we will receive the grant from the Cade Foundation! We are excited to see what will happen, but I suppose we are also a little apprehensive at the same time. We are trying to not get our hopes up, but I have to be honest and say it’s a little (lot) hard not to. I have to say if this is the way to learn patience, I haven’t been the biggest fan! While I have to say this has not always been the easiest path we know this is the one He has laid out for us. I pray that someday, maybe, somehow, these events in our lives will help mold us into what HE wants us to be, and we will be able to be a blessing and help to some other family facing this same difficulty. In the mean time LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!! Hopefully in two weeks I will be sharing a post that says we are Maryland bound. 🙂
It’s that time again!
Hello everyone! Last Friday was our first $5 Friday, and we were able to raise some funds to help go toward our IVF procedure. As of this writing, we’re at $6,630 total raised. Praise the Lord!
Today is another Friday, so we’re asking you to please share this with all of your friends and have them share with their friends to spread the word.
We’re at about 2 and a half weeks until the time we find out if we’ll be awarded the grant by the Cade Foundation. If we do get it, we’ll still need a little less than $1,500 to make up the gap. We are so thankful for how God has provided through all of your generosity! We look forward to seeing what God is going to do moving forward!
If you can, we’d appreciate it if you can give just $5 today. If you’re unable, one thing you can do that will mean so much to us is to pray! Pray that God will help us to raise the funds, but most of all pray that God will have His will in our lives during this process.
It’s Friday!
While we’ve nothing new to report in the way of progress on our own new addition, I’m happy to report that my sister has had her 6th boy! Born on Monday, September 16 weighing in at 7 lbs, 8 oz, Gunner Magnum Crass is as healthy as they come. We’re excited to have another nephew, and excited for the family as they bring a new bundle of joy home!
For our part, we still need to raise some money. Since today’s $5 Friday, we’re sharing this out to all our friends and ask that you share it to your friends, and encourage them to share it as well. If all you can give is $5, that’s great! Every little bit helps, and if several of you and your friends are able to just give $5, it would go so far to help! We certainly appreciate it and pray God will bless each one of you! If you are unable to give, we ask that you please pray as we continue to raise funds to be able to have an IVF procedure!
$5 Fridays!
As all of you know, we’ve sent off papers for a grant, which we’ll hear back on next month. In the meantime, we still need to raise some more funds. In the grant application, we estimated that we could raise an additional $1,500 ourselves, so that amount is being taken into account by the Cade Foundation if they choose to award the grant to us.
To help us reach that goal, we’re turning to you to help us get the word out. Each Friday, we’ll post and ‘advertise’ the opportunity to donate. Where you come in is that we ask you to share these posts in your social media outlets – Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.
We haven’t had that much to update on lately, besides patiently waiting to hear if we’ll be awarded the grant dollars or not. What we do promise though is to update with whatever we can on each Friday.
Thanks for your continued support, donations, and most of all your prayers!
Grant Application
Tomorrow, July 1, 2013 marks one month that the grant papers were due. There was so much paper work involved! We worked very hard for several weeks trying to make sure we had everything exactly the way it had to be. We had to fill out all the paper work they required plus all the other information they needed. This list consisted of a copy of our marriage license, copies of the past 3 months pay stubs, a copy of last year’s 1040, a 4×6 photo of us, and copies of our birth certificates. (For this we were a little unsure of what to send for mine. Due to the fact I was born oversees, I have 3 different birth certificates. So… to be sure we did the right thing we sent a copy of all three)! 😉 We also had to have copies of all my medical records from my doctor, and a letter written by my doctor saying basically that we do have infertility problems, and should be counted eligible to receive this grant. All of that had to be in a signed and sealed envelope from the doctor. Included in the paperwork that we had to fill out was two copies for a treatment budget. (This was a list we had to make of how the money would be spent if we did receive the grant.) There were two copies of our monthly household budget, and a personal statement written by each of us stating why we wanted to do IVF, why we felt we would make good parents. etc. (Basically self promoting ourselves… Neither of us were comfortable with this, but had no choice.) These are just some of the things we went through to get these papers ready to be sent in.
As a way of memorializing this special occasion I took this picture of Jonathan on May 27, 2013. We mailed the grant papers on the following day. It was quite a relief to be done with it all, and know that we had gotten it sent in on time. However, at the same time we were very nervous for the next several days while we anxiously waited to receive an email from The Cade Foundation. This was a pretty big deal to us! Some of you may be wondering why. Well… as part of the application process we also had to fill out some information online and pay a donation fee of $50. At that point we found out that if our paper work was in any way in-complete we would not be considered for the grant. It stated that if everything was correct that we would receive an email saying that they had received our paper work. That email came 12 days later on June 10, 2013! I know that is not a long time, but we felt as if we were waiting on pins and needles! We were beyond thrilled when we received that email! It was at that point that we had a small feeling of satisfaction in knowing that everything we had just spent weeks laboring over was in fact what it needed to be. Now though… we have come to another waiting period. We are of course hoping we will receive this grant, but we also know that like us there are so many others who are waiting as well to know what will happen. We are very excited and I have to say that October 15, 2013 can’t get here fast enough! 😉
P.S. I also have to say that while the amount of money that is needed was somewhat overwhelming to us, we’ve always known that The Lord would supply the need for what we were doing. He’s always supplied our needs before and why would He lead us in a way that He would not provide for us now?! I heard a saying many years ago: Where God guides, He provides! I KNOW this to be true.
While we knew that we would receive support from our family and friends, we did not expect the response to be quite like this! To see The Lord work these past few months for us has been amazing! There are no words to describe how overwhelming it has been. In a little over seven months we have received 6,540. dollars. Our total need is 14,030.00, and the amount we applied for is 6,090.00. We are hoping to be able to save another $1,500.00 between now and January 2014.
Thank you to everyone who has given to us to help with the expenses, and also thank you for all the prayers that are being said, and most of all thank you to Our Lord for His many blessings! God is good… ALL the time!
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
-Becky
They Are All Finished!
Just thought I’d share some progress. All four puzzles are finished. Now comes the part of having each puzzle framed. This could be a lengthy process due to the fact that it is somewhat pricey to have each one done. Below is a picture of each puzzle. As we have them framed I will be sure to also share pictures of each one as well as a completely finished project once all of them are on the wall!
We have also been working on the papers that have to be filled out to send in for the grant. Those as well as the fee are due by June 1, 2013. We are not sure if we will qualify for the grant. We will know the answer to that via email on October 15, 2013. If we get it, of course, it will be wonderful! We would then be required to attend a banquet in Maryland on November 9, 2013 where they will formally acknowledge each of the grant recipients.This is a grant for $10,000 so as you can imagine it will go A LONG way to help pay for the cost of doing in-vitro. However, if we do not get it then that’s ok too. God knows the need and as He has already proven through so many of you, we believe it will be met!
God bless you all and thanks for helping make our dream come true!
-Becky
About My New Grandbaby
I can let myself imagine seeing this new little one….tears of joy streaming. Even though I have 8 grandchildren to date, this new little one will bring just as much joy……maybe more so as our family and others have prayed and waited so long.
I’m so thankful for a family who loves God and I know we’ve all been praying and trusting together about this situation.
We laugh together, cry together, hurt for each other, joy in each other.
I, we, all know that the Lord we serve knows what’s best for us…what we need…even though many times we just don’t understand. That’s where faith comes in. God has our lives all planned out. He knows. So we must love and serve Him…and trust.
Even though this is MY son and his wife, I must say I KNOW they will be wonderful parents. I KNOW they love the Lord and desire so much to have a child to love and raise for His honor and glory.
So, please join with us in prayer that the Lord might see fit to allow them….and our family to have the desire of all our hearts.
God is good…..all the time~
While We Are Waiting
Meet Cole & Ross Slaven
These two boys are from a family that has been visiting our church some. We decided to take care of these boys for a while due to their family needing some help. We have had them for a week so far, and we will have them for a couple more weeks if things go according to plan. I know that is not a long time, but we are praying that for the time that we do have them we can have some kind of positive impact on their lives. Please help us pray for these precious boys, and please pray for us as well. While we are waiting for God’s timing in our lives for our own children, we want to help these boys as much as we can. Even if it is for a very short time.
Cole (pictured to the right) is the oldest. He turned eight a couple weeks ago. He is the out-going one. I’m pretty sure he would talk to a post and not mind that it won’t talk back! He LOVES basketball, video games (with a passion), and Little Caesars Pepperoni Pizza. It could be that these three are his greatest survival needs. 😉 j/k
Seriously though.. Cole is in first grade. He was not ready to advance to second grade at the beginning of the 2012/2013 school year. He is doing much better now though, and has been on the honor roll for the past 6 weeks and improving in every subject. He cannot pronounce his “R’s” quite yet, but for now that is ok because it is really cute and he will learn given time. I wish I could type out how he says “girls” it makes me smile every time!
He is talkative, very bright, and full of questions. He is (most of the time) very well mannered, but like most boys his age does tend to have a slight case of selective hearing at times. 😉 He has a beautiful smile, a big laugh, bright eyes, and a way about him that will steal your heart in just a second. He gives hugs and kisses constantly, and I am told “I Love You” more times in one day than I could possibly count. I love every one that I receive and he seems to love getting them back. He is precious, and so full of love.
Ross (to the left) is six. He is more quiet and shy, but once given a few seconds to get used to you would gladly give you a hug in a minute!
He LOVES football, and video games as well. While he seems to have a wider range of things he will eat he is still a little on the picky side when it comes to food. I’m pretty sure both of them wouldn’t eat a vegetable if their life depended on it!
He loves wrapping his arms around my leg and holding on for dear life while all I can do is manage to inch my foot along. This of course makes him laugh all the more! He loves to play “Come Catch Me.” and will run until I am about ready to hit the floor, but he is still raring to go. He loves being tickled and has the sweetest giggle.
He is also in first grade, but is a very young first grader. He can read but is a little slow with it. He is learning to count to 120. He gets a little stumped at times and leaves numbers out but given time and maturity will master that before long I’m sure. He tends to get frustrated with himself a little more quickly if he messes up, but with encouragement seems to get a second wind and wants to try again.
He has the biggest smile that makes his eyes disappear. He loves to crawl up in your lap just to snuggle. He will stop whatever he is doing to find you just to say “I love you” then off he is again to whatever he was doing. He too gives an abundance of hugs and kisses everyday, and I love you’s all the time.
We got each of them a new Bible for Valentine’s Day as well as some candy, and little toys. But anyway… These are the first Bibles they have ever had and they LOVE them! They both are always asking questions about what something says, or what something means or sometimes they will even just sit and turn the pages. Earlier today I asked them if they knew what the red words were for? They didn’t know so we told them those were the words that Jesus said. To this Cole said “Man, God sure did have a lot to say!” They seem to enjoy Sunday School and Church, but don’t understand why they have to sit still for so long! It’s sad that its so foreign to them, but I am hoping and praying that in time they will come to understand just how much Jesus loves them, and that they will be saved. I hope and pray that we will be a light to them and our home will always show God’s love!
We have only had them for a week, but just in that amount of time I’ve come to love them so much. They have so much to give and just want someone to show the same back to them. Again I ask that you please help us pray for these precious boys!