Band Aid.

Huh? you say....why did my post header read Band Aid?

Well, I will tell you. :)

There is a song I have always loved at Christmastime. It's a song by Band Aid. Yes, it shows my age a little, but who cares.

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1983--1985 famine in Ethiopia. There are many popular artists including Sting and Bono (two of my all time favorites!). Click here to see the youtube video: Do They Know It's Christmas?

I was in a store a couple weeks before Christmas, doing a little Christmas shopping and this song came on. I began singing along as is par for the course with me and a song I love. I got to the part "there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas". And it hit me. Right there. In the middle of Gordman's. There won't be snow in Africa this Christmas. There won't be snow in Ghana, where we are adopting from this Christmas. Honestly, we didn't have snow either. But it's more than the snow. The snow is symbolic for SO much more. At Christmastime this year, I was surrounded by the three most important earthly figures to me, my husband and my two children. That in itself is reason to celebrate. We stayed in our home and ate way too much food.

But...

The children in Africa. The orphans in Africa.

One donation we did as a family this year was give to Ghana Make a Difference. They were collecting funds to provide a Christmas dinner for many orphans in Ghana. A Christmas dinner. That's all. If there were funds left over, gifts would be given, but that wasn't a sure thing. My heart was drawn to this need. Something so simple, a dinner, that we so often take for granted.

Jesus, I pray for these orphans, in Ghana and beyond. Lord, show them love. Stir in the hearts of many to hear the call to give one of these precious orphans a forever home, a forever family. This is my Christmas prayer.

Homestudy.....check!

We had a goal to get our homestudy completed by the end of the year. It is December 19th and I am delighted to say that...WE DID IT! Yippee, hooray, yahoo. Yes, that is me doing the "happy dance". Don't get me wrong, there are still many hills to tackle, but today we REJOICE!

Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again, rejoice!

~Phillippians 4:4

For those curious what a homestudy consists of, let me not bore you.... But, I will say it's a lot of paperwork, getting documents together such as marriage and birth certificates. Sometimes being placed on hold for a long time or in a line waiting for something for a long time. Visits from a social worker. Some waiting in between requesting documents. Fingerprints. Ok, I am probably starting to bore most of you, so I will stop now. But you get the point, right?

Let's just say, we are happy to be done with that part. And excited to move on to the next.

What does this mean for us? Well, let me tell you...

We are now 'officially' on the waiting list. The waiting list for a referral for a child or possibly children. It's exciting and crazy all at the same time. On one hand it seems like January of 2012 was so long ago and on the other hand, it seems like yesterday we just started this new chapter in our lives.

It is also a time of waiting on our Lord and His perfect timing to reveal to us the child(ren) He has chosen for our family.

God has blessed us IMMENSELY along the way. In so many ways. By family, friends and yes, even practical strangers...who showed up to show us the love of our Lord. This past week was no exception there. Two checks showed up in the mail...both for $250. One from dear friends of ours ~ that crossed my path @ 2Rivers Church, we don't get the pleasure of seeing very often, but love it when we do. The other, from the parents of some old and dear friends of ours from good ole' Jeff City. Thank you so, so much!

I am also VERY EXCITED to announce that we surpassed the $5,000 threshold of donations for Minus1Orphan! Amazing...truly amazing! Still a ways to go, but again, we REJOICE!

Our hearts are full. Merry (early) Christmas everyone!

How great is our God?

"this whole adventure is just plain crazy..." ~to quote my husband from an email earlier today. In a 'wonderful, God-crazy way, that is!'

That email was asking him if he knew a certain individual that just gave to the Snodgrass Adoption Fund via Paypal. Truth? He didn't know this individual and neither did I. Fortunately, his email was in the message I got from Paypal notifying me someone just donated, so of course I wanted to thank him personally.

Scott & I do pre-marital counseling within our church body. Just so happens, a very sweet young woman who we just so happens to be in the middle of pre-marital counseling with us, just so happens to know a certain someone at her work that has ALSO adopted and she shared our story with him. And yep, you can see where this story is going. HE GAVE TO MINUS1ORPHAN! In his case, to minus another one as he has already stepped up to the call that was obviously placed on his heart some time ago. A little boy from Russia ~ who 7 years ago was given the special gift of a family.

I'm smiling right now, just in case you can't see that. :)

Yes, our God is great ~ and He continues to show us how mighty He is by His ways...

Jeremiah 33:3
‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

God continues to show how His hand covers us...

In the midst of almost completing our Homestudy. Literally, was waiting on one document to come in the mail and we just got it this week. Praise God. Currently, working with our social worker to make final revisions. I sent an email to our awesome point of contact, Anita, and this is how she responded:

"Once you have the final copy of your homestudy please scan a copy and send it to me for your file. Then, you're officially waiting! That's all there is to do until your referral arrives."

What a surreal feeling. I cannot quite describe it. Surreal, for sure.

Now, back to my original point of this message...(yes, my mind can easily get side tracked these days as there is SO very much on my mind). :)

God is orchestrating ways slowly, but surely. And along the way, He gives us settle reminders that He is taking care of things in His timing.

On our official adoption letter to our family & friends, we asked for them to prayerfully consider partnering with us. Specifically, we are seeking 80 contributions of $250 each. That would equal $20,000. That, to go along with the $10,000 we have already saved ourselves for the adoption would get us where we need to be in order to fund the entire process.

Last weekend, Scott's grandmother came for a visit and handed us an envelope with the words "Minus 1 Orphan" written on the outside. Inside was cash. Exactly one of our 80 contributions. Praise God!

This past Monday morning, I woke up to check my email and noticed there was a deposit in our PayPal account (specifically created for the adoption fund) and another contribution for $250 was there! A sweet girl from our church. I say girl because she is younger than me (and I am ancient, so everyone is younger than me)! ;)  The awesome part here, I do not know her well. But, that didn't matter. She gave from her heart and for that, I am so very grateful.

Monday evening we had a covenant meeting at our church. Another check for $100 was given to us. This time, the parents of a new peer/friend I recently met. Her parents, I have NEVER met. Truly speechless on this one.

Then, as if God didn't already show up in BIG ways to us over the past few days, as we were walking to our car in the parking lot after the church meeting, yet another young, sweet couple stopped us to give us a card. Inside, words that warmed my heart as well as ANOTHER contribution for $250 to Minus1Orphan!

And last, but certainly not least...a dear friend from high school who already gave to Minus1, again contributed to the fund this week. Amazing.

Humbled, yet feeling His love surround our family. My eyes are filled with tears of JOY as I write this post.

Seeing God move in incredible ways in others to support the mission HE has called us to is

JUST -SO - BEAUTIFUL.