Haiti Mission Trip 2013

 Evan and I got back from Haiti about a week ago. We went for a short 6 day trip to serve with an amazing organization in Gressier, Haiti called Respire Haiti. I had gone to Haiti last year around this time and came back with an entirely new perspective. The trip rocked my world and right at the time that it needed to be rocked. God challenged me with so many things and I was able to share those things with Evan. A month later, we decided to start the adoption process.

This year, although it was not easy with 3 littles to leave behind, Evan came on the trip too ( A big thank you to those that pitched in to watch our kids). I was excited for him to see all that I had seen the year before and for God to work in him in his own unique way. I was excited to go back and see the amazing progress that has happened over there in just a year. It was a testament to God's faithfulness and provision over this organization.

We had an amazing time serving in various ways and bonding with our fellow team members. I would love to share some of the things that we did while we were there. Here is a picture of our awesome team on top of Belvue Mountain, where the school is located.

 1) We threw a teacher appreciation lunch for the teachers at the school and gave them handmade bags and journals (that some of our amazing church members worked on) along with some other goodies. I was so super excited that I got to plan a party (one of my passions) while in Haiti. They were so excited to be recognized and it was a joy to do that for them. We also put Evan's balloon animal skills to use by making centerpieces and photo props. Evan even taught an impromptu ballon animal class to some of the teachers in the corner of the room. They were so interested in learning how to make them. Who would have thought balloon animals would be such a hit?

2) We got to help some of the children from the school practice their Haitian creole by reading with them and listening to them read. I do not speak a lick of Creole, so not sure how much help I was, but it was fun listening to Green Eggs and Ham in Creole. Plus, this little guy was adorable.

3)We helped with the Saturday feeding up on the mountain, where many of the kids that come, get their one meal of the day.  We sang songs beforehand. The view on top of the mountain is amazing. I even saw the little boy that I fed last year. He had grown so much! I also got my braids worked on as you can see

4) We did a field day with the first grade class and taught them a cute little french song. They were so cute running around getting excited.

5)We worked with the adult English classes. We were able to teach them English through doing devotionals with them. It was an amazing time of sharing the gospel and them asking lots of deep spiritual questions. Unfortunately I have no pictures of this:( But I can assure you that God was moving in cool ways during this time. The English classes are one of my favorite activities.

6) We were able to bless the cooks of the school with goodie bags and give them an encouraging word.

7) The guys built a bench for a missionary family that will be working with Respire and needed a table to homeschool their 5 kids. I'd say they are going to have PLENTY of space:)

8)We attended the local church on Sunday and worshipped with the Haitian people. Later that day we took a walk to the not so nice beach, but I pretended it was nice despite the smell of trash. It was nice to have a day of down time. Later that night, we worshipped on top of the mountain. It was beautiful!

9)We were also able to bring down lots of supplies and Bibles for Respire to distribute to families and children. I am always amazed at how much we manage to get down there. Excuse this picture. My camera did something whacky.

We had great intimate time doing worship and devotions as a team and growing in our own personal walks with the Lord. I feel so close to each of my fellow team members. We now share inside jokes and memories that will last a lifetime. One of our teammates, Matt, is an amazing videographer with Harmonic Films and put together the following video to give a glimpse into our trip. If you have the time, check it out.




It was a wonderful trip that I am so thankful we were able to be a part of. If you have never been on an International mission trip, I think everyone should do it at least once. Here are a few lagniappe shots from the trip as well:

Our first wait list #

Finally! We are FINALLY on the wait list officially! After 11 months, I have been itching to type those words. Our official wait list number as we enter the list is:

What does this mean? Well, it means we have a LONG road ahead, but all of our paperwork is completed and approved (although we will have to update it throughout the wait). Technically there are 163 families ahead of us who are waiting for a referral from the agencies that we work with (Lifeline and West Sands). Now, each family has different specifications such as gender, age, health status, siblings, etc. So we would not necessarily have to be at #1 before we get a referral.

As of now, we are being told the wait is around 24 months before we get a referral and then another 9 months after that till we can bring him home...sigh! Yes, that is a long time! There is no firm time frame, they just give you an estimate based on what they know as of now. Lately there really have not been many referrals with our agency due to paperwork slowing down with the Ethiopian government. There are so many factors that go into this. We are hoping the referrals pick up soon. Each month we will receive a new number, as long as referrals are coming in. Some months, there are no referrals, so your number may not change. As we receive a new number, I will be sure to update you all each month.

While this wait ahead is going to be tough, I am just thankful that we made it on the list before the end of 2013. It was a great surprise to open my email and see that number. We will be taking a rest for a while from paperwork and fundraising since we have been going hard at both of those for almost a year. We are whooped! In the mean time we will be continuing to pray for our son, educate ourselves on adoption and Ethiopian culture, spend some good quality time with our kids, and continue to follow God's calling in this area.

Thank you to all of you who have been so supportive during this first part of the process. We have raised half of the money we need. I still cannot believe that! All of you have been so wonderful this year and we truly feel supported and encouraged. Thank you for sticking with us through this journey so far. Please continue to pray for us and our son as we WAIT.

"The Lord is good to those who WAIT for him, to the soul who seeks him." -Lamentations 3:25

"Wait for the Lord;  be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord." -Psalm 27:14

Win an amazon.com gift card!

We are so excited to announce our next fundraiser! We know that most of you have already started your Christmas shopping and if you haven't you are stressing as you think about all the Christmas shopping you need to do. So much time and money! So, we want to help make it a little easier and more exciting for you. You ready for this?

You have the chance to win a $500 AMAZON Gift Card. Oh yes, you just read that right... a $500 gift card. Do I have your attention now? Good!

Here is how it will work. We bought a deck of cards. As you know there are 52 cards in a deck. For $25, we will write your name on one of those cards and enter it into the drawing. You have a 1 in 52 chance to win $500, those are pretty good odds my friends!

On December 1st or when all cards are sold (whichever comes first), we will draw one card at  random. If your name is on that card, you win $500 to spend on Amazon! Amazon is our go to shopping spot. You can pretty much find ANYTHING you need on there and with a click of a button, have it delivered to your door. If you have a prime account, you can get most stuff within 2 days and with no shipping cost!

So, here are 2 things we are asking you to do:

1) If you would like to purchase a card for a chance to win, please click on our paypal button (at the top left of the blog) and donate $25. Include the name you would like on the card.

2) SHARE this blog post with your friends through Facebook or email. We want to sell all 52 cards as quickly as possible so that the winner can get to shopping. Amazon always has GREAT black Friday deals, so if we can sell them fast, the winner will get more bang for their buck.

 Remember your donation is helping us to reach our fundraising goal to get our little guy home from Ethiopia. Let's see how fast we can sell these cards. One lucky person is going to be a very happy shopper!

Where in the World is Our Adoption Tee at? Post # 20

It has been a while since we have done a blog post because I tend to do most of our updates via FB, since it is quick and easy. I forgot that I had received a picture of a precious family wearing our adoption tees a while back and I wanted to make sure to give them a shout out because they are just AWESOME!

Meet Andy Wayne and Krista Chance along with their 7 totally adorable kiddos. I cannot tell you how much I love this family! When I was in college and attended a church in Hammond, Andy Wayne came on as the associate pastor. Through church, small group, game nights and just hanging out we came to know and love this family.

I look up to these guys so much! Andy Wayne is a pastor at The Vine Church in Hammond (If you live in Hammond, you should totally check them out). He is also a teacher at Northlake Christian School. He is insanely smart and loves to pass down his knowledge to his kiddos.  I remember hearing from someone in a conversation once, "I know this guy in Hammond who is teaching his 5 year olds Hebrew." I knew immediately it was AW...haha!

Krista is the essence of everything that I want to be when I grow up. She is insanely beautiful on the inside and out, loves the Lord with her whole being, is always joyful and positive (How does she do that?), home schools her kids, teaches workout classes, bakes incredible cakes and sweets, etc. I could go on and on about her. Plain and simple, I love this lady and she inspires me! As for the kids, they are all precious cotton tops with fun and unique personalities who are always so polite when we see them.

We love hanging out with Chance Crew any chance we get. We are so thankful that they bought adoption tees for the whole family and sported them proudly to church. Thank you Chance family for your love, support, and friendship. We love you guys so much!

Had to add in the one with Esther Kate's silly face. Makes me giggle!

LuLaRoe Shows the Love

One of the coolest parts about this adoption process so far, is seeing the people who have been touched by our story and want to jump in and be a part of it. I have mentioned several people who have come up with their own unique ways to help us with the cost of this adoption from offering legal services to making our adoption video, selling homemade body products,  donating talents and items, cutting hair, etc. Today, I have another fabulous lady to tell you about.

 I met Christy about 2 years ago through one of the neighborhood block parties that we threw. I found out that we had mutual friends and I would see her at events on occasion. A few weeks ago she attended a ladies night with our church. I had heard that she started doing trunk shows with LuLaRoe. 

LuLaRoe sells the cutest most comfy maxi skirts, A line skirts, pencil skirts and dresses. I congratulated her on her new business venture. She proceeded to tell me that our family had been on her heart with the adoption and she wanted to use this business not only as an income source, but a way to give back. She felt like our adoption was how she wanted to do that. I got choked up! It is so amazing how God is laying this adoption not only on our hearts but others as well.  

Christy told me that her plan was that every time she does a trunk show, she will give the people there a chance to enter a drawing for a free maxi skirt. You can get 1 raffle ticket for $2 or 3 tickets for $5. WOW...what a great deal! I would totally be entering that drawing. She is then going to use that money from the raffles at her Trunk Shows and donate it to us to go towards our fundraising efforts. She has our little picture up at the shows and is sharing our story with her clients. I was so touched and humbled, as I was reminded that this adoption is WAY bigger than us! 

I remember her saying, "I know it's not much, but I wanted to help in some way." I told her that the heart behind it means more to me than any amount of money and that we are so appreciative for any amount, no matter how big or small. I just love that God has placed people in our lives who are willing to be creative and supportive in so many ways, big and small. Each person who has stepped up in some way is a source of encouragement for Evan and I and we are thankful.

If you are interested in booking a trunk show with Christy, contact her via her FB page. It's super easy and fun! She brings all of the items to you. Invite your friends to come over and try them on at the party and leave with their new wardrobe in hand! No sales pitch, no catalog, just trying on some adorable clothes with your closest friends. There is also a way to earn a free skirt and get items at a discount.  Many of my friends have recently purchased from her and every time I see them in their LuLaRoe, I fall more in love with their line. Comfortable, affordable and super cute!

Thank you Christy for thinking of us while you embark on this new fashionable journey! 

Going once, Going Twice...SOLD!

One week from today, on October 1, 2013, our FB auction benefiting our adoption will go live at 8:30 p.m (central). I am so beyond excited! We have over 60 items up for bid. So many people have donated to the auction and we truly have a great variety of items to auction off. This is a great chance to get some early Christmas shopping done and help our adoption at the same time. Here is how the auction will work:

Once the auction is live, you may place a bid on the item by typing your bid amount in the comments section. Please note that each item has a starting bid in the description. Bid amounts must be in whole dollar increments and can continue to go up in price until the auction closes on Tuesday, October 8th at 8:30 p.m. Be sure to check on the items you have bid on throughout the week to make sure you are still the highest bidder.

Most of the items can be shipped, however if they are shipped the shipping charge listed will be added to your total bid amount. Some items may be for local pick up only and we will arrange a time and place to meet for those items.

Please keep in mind that while, yes, there are some great deals on our auction and we want you to get an item for a great deal, the purpose of this auction is to raise money to help bring an orphan into a family. The more you share our link (even though you really want to win that item), the more money we bring in and the closer we get to our fundraising goal. PLEASE share the link on your FB page!

The actual auction page is not available as of yet. When it is go time, I will post the link on our McGinty Adoption FB page and you can access it from there. I am currently uploading pictures and writing descriptions of each item to get the auction ready.

All payments will be paid through paypal and if you are the highest bidder on the item, then we will send an invoice to your email. Please, if you bid on an item and win, make sure you check your messages and respond in order that we may send you an invoice. Invoices will be sent out within a week from the time we receive your email address and must be paid within 3 days of receiving your invoice. All of these rules will be on the auction page, just wanted to give everyone a heads up.

Honestly, I wish that I could bid on every item in our auction because they are that awesome, but that would defeat the purpose. You guys are in for some good treats! Make sure to "Like" our FB page if you have not already and be ready next Tuesday, October 1st at 8:30 p.m. (Central time) to place your bids. Gosh, I can hardly stand it y'all! I really cannot wait to see what God does. Giving this all up to HIM. I know he will use it as he sees fit and bring in the money according to his plan. Happy Shopping Friends!

Be prepared to get as excited as this lady when you win!