The Carpenter Story: We're adopting!

Ok, so the cat is out of the bag. We are adopting! Some already know this but we have been waiting for approval from our agency before we told everyone. We are hoping to begin our homestudy as soon as our adoption agency and homestudy agency finish their last little bit of paperwork. We are adopting from South Koera through Holt International Adoption Agency. We are beyond excited to start this journey. This has been talked about, thought about, and prayed about for over a year now. I am starting this blog to keep family and friends updated about our adoption as well as our family.
Some of you already know or have heard that adoption is VERY expensive, so we will be trying to raise money throughout this process so we can bring our baby home! At this time, I am selling merchandise from 147 Million Orphans. This group advocates for orphans all over the world. This number is so sad to me. When I first started thinking about adoption, I have to admit that I was very unaware of the orphan crisis in this world. I guess I just didn't think about it to be honest. But God knew. He opened my eyes and I have not been the same. He has laid on both mine and Joey's hearts that he has called us to adopt. And so we must do it. As we became more and more educated about orphans and what God commands of us regarding orphans, we became passionate about adoption. There are several references to orphans throughout scripture that spoke to me as well as others that just moved me to act.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

Isaiah 1:17 "Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, plead for the widow."

"Speak up for thoe who cannot speak for themselves for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." Proverbs 31:8-9
"Once our eyes are opened, we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows we know and holds us reponsible to act." Proverbs 24:12

Ok, so back to 147 million orphans! They also allow adopting families to sell their merchandise to help fund their adoptions. I hope to soon have a link on my blog that allows you to go directly to their website and purchase products. Every product you purchase through this link will help us with our adoption costs. In the mean time, I will be selling the old fashioned way- word of mouth! There are tshirts for sale as well as hats, bracelets, and neckalces. The great thing about the necklaces is that they are made by women in Uganda from recycled paper. The purchase of these necklaces helps these women provide for their families. Plus the necklaces are so cute! If you want more info about 147 million orphans, their website is 147millionorphans.com You can see what the front and back of the tshirts look like on this website.
I am posting some pictures below of the items for sale and their price. Please add $2 shipping for these items. I will be ordering in bulk and they suggest adding $2 per item to cover shipping.
If you would like to place an order, you can leave a message for me on my blog or email me at jillcarpenter@hotmail.com. Thank you in advance!