Hand in Hand Matching Grant

***UPDATE:  Praise God!  As of today, Friday January 4th, we were notified we have $1,415 in our Hand in Hand account.  Remember all donations must be postmarked by Friday January 11th.  There is one only more week left to complete the matching grant!***

As promised here is our Hand in Hand fundraising letter that includes details on how to give towards our matching grant.

Dear Family and Friends,

As many of you may have already heard, we are excited that God has called us on a new journey to provide a “forever” family to a child through the process of adoption.  At the beginning of this year, we started down this path and God directed us to the country of Ethiopia.   Although the time frame may be variable, between 12-24 more months from now, before we bring our son home, we have already chosen to name him Boaz. 

We know this road will be full of great joys and great challenges. We look forward to the joy and blessing of opening our hearts and home to another son but at this time one of the greatest challenges is the financial responsibility.  The costs of adoption include the expense of a home study, adoption agency fees, appropriate government paperwork, travel expenses, etc., with the total cost ending up somewhere around $35,000.  We know that God is faithful and He is asking us to trust him.

Through His’ provision, we were recently awarded a matching funds grant to help with the expenses of our adoption from Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. a non-profit private operating foundation.  Hand in Hand will match any funds that are donated through our friends and family for the expenses of our adoption.  All funds received through our friends and family will be matched dollar for dollar by Hand in Hand up to $3,000, once matched totaling $6,000.   All donations are tax-deductible.

Please find enclosed a grant award letter that will explain more about the matching grant program from Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. You can find out more about Hand in Hand through their website at www.handinhandadopt.org. If you have further questions about the Hand in Hand matching grant program please feel free to give us a call or email us.*(for the purposes of the blog you can ask questions by leaving a comment below and we will contact you directly)* You may also contact Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. with any questions you may have.  They can be reached at 913-248-5015 or by e-mail at handinhandadopt@gmail.com.

If you would like to be an integral part of bringing Boaz home, please send all donations made payable to “Hand in Hand Christian Adoption” postmarked by January 11^th, 2013 to: (For tax purposes please include our name on the outside of the envelope only.  Please do not put our name on the check itself).

 

Thank you for your prayerful consideration of investing in our family.  It is our hope to continue to keep you updated as our adoption proceeds with details as we receive them. Please pray this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His purposes!

Walking Hand in Hand,

         The Wolfe Family

Hand in Hand has also recommended we post our grant award letter.  The link for the letter is here.  Thank you so much to all who have donated and prayed up to this point!  We are blessed. (We know we say that a lot - but we truly are!)

Woohoo for adoption grants!

 

Tonight we received news that we have been awarded a matching grant from Hand in Hand that could total up to $6,000.  We are so thankful that again the Lord is providing.  Now to fundraising the $3,000 to get matched before the end of the year!  What a great way to kick start our Christmas season!   *all grant related details to follow, soon.

Today: Orphan Sunday

Matched!

We received official word at the beginning of this week that we were awarded the full match from We Care for Orphans/Lifesong.  To this point they have received $3,900 on our behalf - complete with match = $6,900.  Wow.  Thank you for all who given and prayed for us up to this point.  You have already been such a blessing in our lives.

Surprise Staff Meeting

Wednesday morning, we had an impromtu staff meeting.  It isn't completly uncommon for us to have one, but it quickly began to feel like I was the only one who did not know why we were there.   I am not always the most perceptive person and I had witnessed a lot of odd things going on that morning.  I was too busy trying to get the video feed set up so that we could have a web meeting. 

I perked up when several from my office began to read the following poem:

Twas a regular Wednesday, right here in Fin Aid

Are we here for new regs? Are we making the grade?

 

But it’s not a staff meeting and it’s not Q & A.

We celebrate something quite different today.

 

The story unfolds in our own Father’s heart,

Who gathered us near, tho’ we’d wandered far.

 

Once we were strangers, but now we belong

To the family of God, tied with eternal bonds.

 

Now one of our own is spanning  a gulf

To add to his family a new baby Wolfe!

My office raised more than $1200 to help us bring home Boaz. 

We are continually humbled and amazed that God is using so many of those around us to bless and encourage us.   We are in awe of His goodness to us. 

 

Wow!  We are humbled by the outpouring of your generosity. We are celebrating that after one month of promoting our We Care for Orphans/Lifesong matching grant we have raised $2,500 of our $3,000 match!  We are almost there!  Lifesong will continue to leave our account open even once we reach our goal.   They will reimburse expenses from our adoption (up to the entire cost of the adoption), if donations continue, until our adoption is finalized and Boaz is home. 

 

We have also been blessed with a $4,500 grant from ShowHope (the letter received, in the week full of blessings post)! 

 

 

 

After the adoption is complete, M’s employer will also pay up to $4000 in expenses. We are extremely overwhelmed as we watch how God is (through many of you) financially providing for us.

 

Where does that put us to date?

 

 We have paid: $11,984.

 

Grants/Donations: $12,650

 

Just Love Coffee Sales: $556

 

Remaining Balance: $9810

 

 

Ok enough about money!  If you would, please continue to pray. So far our faith and obedience seems to be constantly challenged as God uses this long and expensive process to refine us as a family, as a couple, and as individuals.  The Ethiopia program referral times seemingly continue to grow longer. We are confident this is exactly where we are to be, but we are unsure of all of the steps along the way. Pray that we are a reflection of Christ, grow as parents and keep learning during the wait!

Promo Video

A video from our agency