Inspiration for Adoption

This video is definitely an inspiration to me. It makes me weep, I yearn for the day that I will hopefully bring home our little boy.

The Need for Adoption

Gladney is the adoption agency we are using. We are excited about being able to use such a great company. There is a HUGE need for adoption, which makes this a burden on our hearts. I hope that this touches your heart as well.

This leads me to how else you could help us through this adoption. Adopting a child costs a lot of money. If you've never looked into this or heard about the costs, an adoption can cost between $25,000 to $50,000. One of the reasons we have chosen to adopt from Ethiopia is because it is the cheapest international adoption. The estimated cost of this adoption is about $35,000. Yeah, that's a lot of money. Zach has a good job which allows us to carry some of this burden but no where close to all of it. We believe this cause is well worth our money and yours.

There are several phases of the adoption process which each have their own expenses. In about six weeks Laura and I will need to come up with $4000 to cover the cost of the home study and a portion of the adoption agency fee. After that we will have to pay a plethora US and Ethiopian government fees to the tune of $7000-$9000. After waiting for a referral, usually 4-8 months, we will need somewhere between $9000-$13000 in travel and post-placement fees before our son is legally our son.

We live in reality and the numbers are daunting but the hope of removing the title "orphan" from one child isn't a burden that can or should be shouldered by one family. We are humbled by the opportunity to adopt and we are humbled by the fact that we can't do it on our own. Thankfully we have been given some great ideas on support raising. We have sold some of our own possessions, we have friends who have made t-shirts and we have used our own money thus far but at the end of the day we still need more...

We are asking each one of you reading this to consider if and how you could help us. Would you consider giving to our family to help make what is now only possible a reality?

If you would like to give, there are two options:
1. Mail us a check (this is the best option since we get 100% of that money)
2. Donate by clicking the button on the right side of our blog.

We know that not everybody is led to adopt, but we do know that we are all called to help care for the fatherless (James 1:27). One way to care is to support those of us who will adopt the fatherless. We pray that you will partner with us in bringing home our son!

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT!

What else have I been up to? Well...

We are excited and anxious to share a part of our life with you. We are adopting! After seeing the beautiful relationship some of our close friends have with their two adopted sons, Zach and I began praying about how we should view adoption in light of the fact that God has already blessed us with two amazing biological daughters of our own.Those prayers were clearly answered. We, like many of you, always thought adoption was a good thing but since we have been able to have biological children we never thought adoption was something we were called to do until about six months ago. There are hundreds of millions of children in the United States and around the world that go to bed every night without a bedtime story or a hug from their mommy and daddy. As moving as this statistic might be, the answer to our prayer came in the form of our eyes being opened to the larger issue at hand, that is, the Gospel.

You see, we want to adopt not simply to make one child’s life potentially better but rather, to respond to the truth of the Gospel. In Ephesians 1 Paul gives us this encouragement:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. –Eph 1:3-6

We have been adopted as God’s children through the death and resurrection of Christ. We want to respond to this truth with our lives by living out the Gospel. We want to adopt a child because spiritually we have been accepted and unconditionally loved by a God who is perfect, holy, and almighty.

We are extremely excited to embark on this journey, but we definitely will need your help! I will share more on how you can help us later. Right now we would love your encouragement and your prayers. We only hope and pray that the Lord will bless us, and that we will be able to bring home a little boy from Ethopia!

COOKIES!

So what have I been up to lately? Many, many things. You will be informed over the next few days..
One of those things: baking cookies. lots of cookies. 82 to be exact.

It was for a women's event at my church. We had a wonderful turn out, and I came away very refreshed. However, I was upset I didn't have any of these left (so was Zach and Ellie), these cookies are amazingly delicious.

8 Months!

Am I really writing this post? I cannot believe my baby girl is 8 months old already! This means she's gonna be crawling and walking and talking right around the corner!! I guess this is what they are supposed to do.

Ainsley is still oh so precious and the sweetest little thing. I mean every time I look at her, I just want to hug her and squeeze her. She's so stinking adorable, and has such a wonderful temperament. She has started her little fusses over a few things (such as food, items being removed from grasp, and getting stuck in certain positions), but most of the time she is very content. Here are a few things she is up to:
-rolling to tummy and to back, also has rolled to move across the room (but only have seen this once). Not sure why she doesn't do it more often?
-scooting backwards, although she is not a fan of this. She gets frustrated that she is going the wrong direction.
-still babbles all the time, she loves to talk! she says mama, dad, and today I think she said Ellie (yea, I might be ahead of myself here)! None of these intentionally of course.
-has started eating cheerios, goldfish, and cut up fruit. she used to love puffs, but now only occasionally will eat them (i think this is very strange, even Ellie still loves those things). also has started to refuse some veggies, yup it's begun...
-sleeps extremely well at night, hardly ever has nights where she wakes up. sleeps from 7p-6:30a.
-takes 2 naps a day, one in the morning (1 hour) and one in the afternoon (2-3 hours)
-has just started to refuse the bottle, lovely. She nurses 5 times a day.
-still no teeth, not even a sign of them.
-still a mommy's girl. i love it. i just feel so special that almost no matter what, she is always content in my arms. she also gets so excited whenever she sees me, even if I've been gone for just a second. she has a little separation anxiety, but usually only at home when i leave the room (strange?).
-loves peek-a-boo
-LOVES the jump-a-roo
Yesterday I had to take her in to the doctor for a rash that was all over her body. It looks awful, kind of like chicken pox, but it doesn't bother her and is only viral. It should go away within a week. Ellie never has had a rash, so this was very alarming to me! I hear babies have them all the time, so that makes me feel better.


I am so blessed to have such a beautiful, healthy baby girl! I'm going to miss these sweet months, but excited to see what kind of little girl she'll turn into.

Ellie's Catechism

We have been trying to teach Ellie a few things. We first started with a simple catechism. She started getting the first few questions really easily, although when we add a question it take forever to learn it. Once we realized she could start learning things, we decided to try bible verses. We have been very impressed by how quickly she learns the verses and how she retains them very well! We memorize one verse a month with the church, she has gotten the past 3 months down pat! It's so awesome to see Ellie learning!! So here is a video of her showing off her skills. She's a little distracted by the yumminess of the oreo, but still impresses me :)

Ellie's Catechism from Laura Hanlon on Vimeo.

Project: Play Kitchen

So I found this online one day while searching the endless world of craft blogs. (I have become addicted now to these). I have now bought a nightstand so I can FINALLY start this project for my sweet girls! I cannot wait to see how it turns out... wish me luck!

(You should see this nightstand I bought, it is absolutely hideous. With a little work, like knocking off the wooden handles, I think it's going to be perfect! Just wait and see, I'll be showing pictures when I eventually complete the project.)

Jump-a-Roo

Okay first, I've been a little slack in the picture taking hence hardly any pictures. I haven't failed in taking videos though, so don't despair!

So, Ainsley LOVES to bounce. We first discovered this at church when she was in this bouncy exersaucer thing, she squealed with delight in it! She also loves to bounce when she stands with your help or if you bounce her on your knee, really any form of it! So I decided to get her a jump-a-roo, a bouncy thing that hangs from the door frame. We discovered not only does Ainsley LOVE it, but Ellie does as well. Enjoy the videos...

Ellie bouncing from Laura Hanlon on Vimeo.

Ainsley bouncing 1 from Laura Hanlon on Vimeo.

Ainsley Bouncing 2 from Laura Hanlon on Vimeo.

Ellie's Video

Ellie has improved slightly in her videoing skills. Take a look:

Ellie's Video 7/24/10 from Laura Hanlon on Vimeo.

I love how she says cheese. Although not in the video, I love how instead of asking me to take a picture, she asks me to take a "samel" (aka smile). Love this little one.

Ticklish Ainsley

Just a cute little video of a night in the Hanlon household:

Ticklish Ainsley from Laura Hanlon on Vimeo.

Oh Too Cute!

Can you tell that I'm in love with Ainsley? She is at this fabulous stage, one of my favorites! She is such a snuggler, blabs all the time, very ticklish, and very very very easy going. She also is trying to crawl and has started to whine a lot more, but it's not too much. She is just so cute, I can't resist her!

Miss Hollywood

My Little Princess

This little tiara was meant for Ellie, but she refused to wear it. At least I have one little princess, Annie didn't mind being my little princess at all. What a sport!