Provi's Plane Change - Calling all the Children

Of course, it was only a matter of time before you knew I would be talking about our various fundraising efforts here on the Britton adoption blog. You just didn't know it would be post #2 of the new adoption blog, did you?

Well, I just couldn't help myself. We have several things going on right now trying to raise funds, but today's events are just flat out blog worthy.

Our oldest child, Providence, is really wanting to go to Ethiopia with us when we go to bring home her new sister. Ethiopia is requiring 2 trips right now, so if we were going to say no, we were going to have to say no twice. So sad. No. Really. We would LOVE for Provi to be able to experience such a trip. We can only imagine how life changing a trip to Ethiopia, visiting Orphans, seeing the final phase of an adoption first hand, eating strange foods, eating less food, and just plain experiencing a far different culture could be on a 10 (or 11) year old child. Why would we say no? Well, money of course. We will have about 2 weeks notice before leaving for Ethiopia .... two times. That's an expensive ticket(s). But in the grand scheme of how much this adoption costs, do we believe God could provide the funds needed for Providence to come along? Absolutely!

So we've been talking about fundraising ideas for her specifically. She really wants to be a part of this. As you know, at Christmas time, you can't escape a grocery store or Walmart without seeing a little red bucket with a bell ringer standing to the side. Yup. Salvation Army. I passed out some coinage to the kids just before Christmas for them to plop in the shiny red bucket. As we left the store, they couldn't stop asking about what it was for, who it would help, etc. I began to explain to them that The Salvation Army had collected around 3 million dollars this Christmas alone from peoples spare change. I was trying to teach the kids a lesson on how even their nickels and dimes can add up to something worth while.

Then it dawned on me - what if Provi started her own bucket fund? So I told her she should speak up to her friends about what she's raising money for, and ask for their spare change. Not only would this help her educate her friends about kids around the world who don't have all that they do, but it could really start to add up. She loved the idea.

So you heard it here first. If you have children in your home, would you consider placing a jar in your home for their spare change to fall into? Would you take this opportunity to teach your kids about all they have, and how a couple extra quarters here and there will leave them with nothing the less - but will instead help change the life of one pretty cool 10 year old, and her soon to be sister? Would you ask them to be part this WITH Providence?

Just so you know, we talk a lot around here about sacrifice as well. When we are adopting a child - a lot falls to the back burner. We eat out less, we buy less clothes, we eat the icky leftovers .... we do a lot different to plop some coins into our personal buckets in order to bring home our next girl. Here's where I get to what happened today.

All the kids received $20 for Christmas from a family member. Of course, the day after Christmas, they woke up begging to go to Target to spend their money that just wouldn't stop burning a whole in their pockets. Provi announced that she was going to spend half of her money, and save the other half for her plane ticket. However, when she saw the shiny new lego set that cost MORE than her $20, desire took over. She stuck the toy in the cart, and even googly eyed Grandma and Grandpa into kicking in the extra $6 needed to complete the transaction. However, as we were walking toward the check out, she turned to me and told me that she had changed her mind. She said she would rather just get a thing of tic-tacs, and save the rest of her money for her trip to Ethiopia, because she really wants to go.

Clean up in isle 12 ... some mom's heart just melted.

So she left the store content, with a bottle of tic tac's and $20 still in her pocket. (I couldn't let her spend $1.02 on tic tacs after such an expression of 10 year old sacrifice, so I bought them for her.)

Oh how I love that girl. And I do hope we can raise enough money for her to have the life-changing experience that Africa is. So.....will you enlist your kids?

Will you set a jar out for "Provi's Plane Change"?

Drum Roll Please

Malachi has an announcement to make:

It's true. Just over a year from when we ended this blog, we're officially re-opening it.

We are adopting again!

To answer your questions:
1) Yes we are crazy.
2) We are going back to Ethiopia. Why? So Malachi has a sibling from his country. Also because we saw what we saw, and we can't forget it. (In the words of Sarah Groves.)
3) We are planning to adopt a girl, between 3 & 6. (Years old silly! Not 3-6 girls. We're not that crazy.)
4) We are using a different adoption agency this time (WACAP), same homestudy agency. (Colorado Adoption Center)
5) We are anticipating things moving along a bit faster this time (for instance - we officially started this process a month and a half ago. We're almost done with our homestudy).
6) We are hoping to have the next Britton home by Christmas of 2011. (However, Aaron cautions me against such hopes. For those of you who followed our last adoption journey, you probably can understand why. I'm not super great at waiting longer than anticipated. Or waiting at all for that matter.)
7) Yes, we are crazy....and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Hopefully that answered most of your questions. If not, follow along. Buckle up!

Please keep your arms and legs inside at all times. This ride is known for making sudden stops, and sharp turns.