Our family had the opportunity to go on a short-term mission trip to El Salvador to aid orphanages, and my husband and I prayed God would give us His eyes in seeing the world, and His heart in caring for others. Boy, did he ever! We are incredibly grateful that He not only showed us what true “need” is, but that He is allowing us to be parents through the blessing of adoption. With the busyness of life and raising three children, I used to jokingly tell people that if God wanted us to have more children, I would need Him to make it perfectly clear. In fact, I would need him to write me a letter! One day the realization hit me, that He has in fact written us a letter – the Bible! In it, Christians are clearly called to defend the cause of the fatherless, and God has made it clear that adoption is the way our family can do this. We love our children ferociously, and are elated that He opened our hearts to welcome more!
We have two biological daughters ages 9 and almost 5, a 3-year-old son born in South Korea, and our newest addition is waiting in China! He is a beautiful 3 year old with albinism, meaning he is lacking pigmentation in his body. His hair is an angelic white, and his eyes are a beautiful violet-blue, and he has stolen our hearts!
Fundraising has become a weekly venture in the Hudson home! We have held fundraisers at McDonalds and Tumbleweed, designed and sold t-shirts, and held a HUGE yard sale. A friend held a jewelry party and raised money for us as well. Thus far, the yard sale was the most successful with a whopping $1500 raised!
For our fundraising future, we are planning events at Orange Leaf, as well as a Christmas Shopping Extravaganza.
This will be an event where local businesses and direct sales companies, such as Thirty-One and Mary Kay, will set-up tables and sell their products all in one location. Each company will be donating a percentage of their sales of the day to our adoption fund!
Where did this fabulous idea culminate? From a marvelous book we read cover-to-cover. It’s called “Adopt Without Debt” – have you heard of it?! 😉
Customers will be able to shop with at least 9 different vendors, and we are recruiting more every day! We will be selling homemade roasted pecans at the event as well – yum!
We are also embarking on an envelope fundraiser with the potential to raise $11,000! Participants will be entered into a drawing for a variety of prizes, including $300 cash or a mini-iPad and various gift certificates and autographed items. Anyone can participate in this fundraiser, so please check out our blog for more details: www.afamilymadebylove.blogspot.com. God has been amazing in His provision, and we give Him all the glory as He shows His power over the mighty financial obstacle in the adoption process!
Each Friday I’ll feature a different fundraising adoptive family. My hope is that we can support each other and also learn from each other. For submission guidelines, go here.