Sweet Emma Grace

My sweet Emma Grace, you do not know us, or have ever met us, but we feel like we know you already. I am praying that God prepares your heart to meet us, and for your future. God has known you since the moment you were formed and oh how he loves you so much!  We can’t wait to meet you, hug you and get to know your personality. We know there may be times of grief and loss for you and I hope it is brief for you. Until we meet, praying for you always…Mama

So the time is getting closer, for me to board the plane and go around the world and meet a precious little girl who has no idea what is about to happen to her. I ask for prayers for our family, that we all stay well, protected and that my children don’t miss me terribly. This is a very hard part for me to leave Kolya and Bella, it will be the first time I have left them this long since I have had them.

Thank you all for the love and support you have given our family and Emma Grace…………the journey is just the beginning!

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I am going to China!

Today, God opened a massive door for us! As I type this I am crying with emotions right now. Today God helped us meet 2 big matching grants that is helping us get to China. Are we fully funded yet? No, BUT,  once we get our 5/5/5 grant we should be funded, or very close enough to be able to take the rest on our own! PRAISE GOD!!!

Each adoption journey is very different, and a different walk with God. I can now share that the entire adoption process, I had a peace that passes all understanding! I had not had that with other adoptions, and this one was a peaceful walk. Now I am not going to lie and tell you that every moment of my day, or every turn in this adoption I was at total peace. I did have moments that my flesh was asking HOW IN THE WORLD ARE WE GOING TO DO THIS?!! I wanted to throw my hands up in the air, and I did, at times and I would cry out to God and say YOUR will, YOUR direction, and ONLY if it is from YOU! I turned It right back to him and said I can’t do it, but if it is your will, You CAN!  I have to tell you that at those times, I still felt a peace I had never felt before. A peace that their is a reason, and a timing and to trust.  I don’t know if that makes sense, but that is the only way I can describe it.

Now, a little girl is about to get her world rocked, changed, and never be the same. I want to ask for prayer that God will prepare her heart for this new journey she is about to embark on. God goes before us, and I need him to go before us with Emma.  Also, please pray for our entire family I can not even begin to tell you how many families I have seen this past few months who have suffered immense stress, heartache, and pain right at the adoption times! A few of them have been in country and their children have been run over by cars by a freak accident. Satan is MAD! He is MAD that we are bringing a little one into our home and that she is going to hear about the Love of Jesus and know a Savior who loves her! Please keep our entire family covered in prayer as I leave, and come home! This has to be my most important plea I have for our family!

Lastly and not least….Thank you just doesn’t seem like enough to those who have prayed, shared, cried, yelled and posted my posts! I pray over each of you who help us and I always ask God to send you and extra blessing and to show you how you have helped us. I do plan on paying it forward and working on ways to help other families who are in process when I get home. I use to be an admin for anonymous Angels and had to take a break because of things I was dealing with Bella. Now I feel I am over that hump and will ask God how he will use me to help other families. When you are in the trenches of adoption together, it doesn’t seem so lonely! Hugs to everyone…..Love you all, and thank you!!

11 days!!!!!!!

We leave in 11 days! Sept 2nd I board the plane to go meet this little precious angel that God laid on our hearts back in Nov 2014. I can’t believe we are so close, and I will be holding this angel before long.

Last night we were given another matching grant by the Anonymous Angels of $455! God watches over us and is never late on supplying for our needs. He is an ON TIME GOD! I have been very faithful in our fundraising, and very honest as I have always done in the past. We never raise too much or over what we need. I make sure to be very careful and only ask for what is needed to complete the adoption. Right now for us to get both matching grants our FSP needs to read $13,254. We had $1600 left to still raise from our $5000 matching grant and now have the added grant we got last night. So total that needs to be raised for both grants is $2055.   Please help us get this last amount for both grants!! Pray for us, and cover our entire family in prayers, because I know Satan is not happy another life is about to be saved, and she Is going to learn about Jesus and his love.

Thank you so much for following our journey and supporting us! Keep us in prayer!

We leave in 18 days!!!!

These past few days have been quite a blur! The reality of us brining another daughter into our family has really hit me! Another precious little girl who will have a family, a crazy , loving family!  We got travel approval and it took off from there..emails flying back and forth for flights, hotels, information overload! Notifying my work of the days I will be gone, husband talking with his work about his days off, it is all HAPPENING!!! We started the process of November 2014 and it was a creep, slow pace until now!  Can you tell how excited I am?!!

This is our 3rd adoption and it is always the financial piece that seems to be the most difficult part of the journey!  Rich and I did not choose to adopt to make our family bigger, or to have “children of our own”. The sole purpose of us adopting was we saw a need, a crisis in other countries where children who have special needs have NO HOPE, NO FUTURE, NO ONE TO FIGHT FOR THEM and to give them a CHANCE! We saw a crisis, in their eyes in the photos, we heard there personal stories, and watched as families returned and told us ” there are so many of them who need help!”  How can we not as Christians, human beings do what we can to help these children?! Helping them comes in all kinds of forms for everyone, for us we knew we had room and we knew we had the medical insurance, and the knowledge to help a child with special needs. So helping came to us in the form of giving them a home and family! I say all this not because we are looking for a pat on the back and to say “you guys are angels”, because we are NOT. We are just like you and have our own fears, concerns and desires of our hearts just like anyone else does. We are not special angels, we are just two people trying to do what we can.

Adoption is SO COSTLY, SO expensive and to get to the point, Where we bring them home we do need help! I wish we could save them all, but I pray that when anyone makes a donation, they know they are Sowing a seed into this child’s future.  Please know that our family has made many sacrifices ourselves to make this work. When we get home that is also a very hard time, because we are spent and spent our last dime on the adoption.  The MOST IMPORTANT request I could ask is keep our family in prayers , before I leave, while I am in China and when we get home. I have seen many attacks on families during this part of the adoption, some that are just horrible , Cover us in prayers!  Lastly, if you feel lead to help us save this little girls life, now is the time, we need help! Thank you to the many who follow our journey, who pray for us, share our posts, and donate. Your act of love does not ever go unnoticed and certainly God see’s your heart too! If anyone is interested in learning more about adoption, becoming an advocate for a family or child, message me and I will give you the information.

HERE WE COME EMMA!!!!!!

We need help!

It is crazy how everything speeds up at the end of adoption from China. We started the adoption process for Emma In Nov 2014! Every single step took forever, or at least it felt that way. Once we got to the end, it went by extremely fast and going even faster now! Today I booked our flights, and stood on faith because guess what, we don’t have all our money! I don’t know where or when it is going to come in, and I don’t know what else to do other than what I am doing. I am sure there are some out there who are getting tired of hearing me ask for help, and honestly , I wish I never had to ask for help.  Emma is worth it though and I believe that with Faith you have to work also and do what you can on your part also.  We were graciously given a $5,000 matching grant and we are struggling to get it met. We are selling Totes, bracelets and doing everything we possibly can to get this grant met. So far we have met close to $500 of that matching grant. Thank you so much for those who are helping us, and Emma get to her family. Will you pray with us that we make it, share our need and Reece’s Rainbow account with everyone you know to help us?  Thank you for following our journey! We are coming EMMA!!!!

$5,000 Matching Grant!! How can you HELP US??!

Thank you God!! We have a $5,000 matching grant and we should be getting travel dates in about 1 week. When we get travel dates, we need the money to pay fees, pay for airline and travel arrangements. We really need your help to get this grant matched FAST

So how can you help us get this grant matched? We are selling MUDLOVE Bracelets and they are $15 each with a flat shipping rate of $2.50 no matter how many you buy!!

 

 

We are also Selling these Black Zipper Tote Bags that measure 22 x 15 x 5 for $20 and asking for a flat shipping rate of $3.00 for all Domestic Shipping.

 

Please make a payment on our HERE ON OUR REECE”S RAINBOW ACCOUNT so it will go towards our grant, But once you did that please email me at dbrook2010@hotmail.com your receipt of that payment so I have your address, and tell me which ones you want of the bracelets or if you are ordering the TOTE. Or you can message me on Facebook the same information too.

How else can you help meet this grant? We are also trying to gather items right now for a ONLINE AUCTION and would love some donations for that. Message me if you have questions on how to donate an item.

We are also making and selling LAVA ROCK JEWELRY FOR ESSENTIAL OILS! This is jewelry made from Lava Rock that is very porous and allows you to apply your favorite Essential Oils to them and wear them on yourself, or child all day. If you want this to apply towards this matching grant please look at our website and message me the item you want to purchase, and I will pull it off my website and have you pay through our Reece’s Rainbow account that way.  Any purchases on this website does go directly to our adoption, but it will not be linked to the Matching grant.

Last but certainly NOT LEAST…..You can always just make a donation and help us! You can mail in a check, and also send payment through our REECE”S RAINBOW FAMILY PAGE, and remember all donations to this page are tax-deductible!

Thank you so much! Pray, share and help us!

God’s Timing Matching Grant!

God’s perfect timing and peace is amazing! We have been applying for multiple grants through this entire process and each time been turned down. It is a hard pill to swallow each step you get closer and closer to going to get your child and you are staring down that huge Financial Mountain.  But God always has it in His control, and has His Plan, not ours, on how this will work.

I woke up this morning to some news from Angels In Disguise that they have approved our grant request and have offered us a $5,000 matching Grant! All I can do and say is I am humbled and honored to receive such a grant, from this organization and I am beyond grateful!  I wish I could hug all their necks who made this decision, of course I would be a blubbering mess crying all over them.  God is just so good, and I prayed for an Army to step up and help us, because I knew that is what it was going to take! Now I need an army to help us meet this grant! Will you be part of something BIG, a miracle that only GOD can create and orchestrate? Please help us meet this grant, and please cover us in prayers. As you know Satan will try all he can to foil God’s Plans, and when you are close to a victory, that is when Satan does all he can to stop it. GOD IS GOOD!! Thank you Jesus, for being faithful, for loving Emma, for going before us and for this HELP! OUR family is thankful and praise YOUR NAME!

OUR FSP ON REECE”S RAINBOW HAS TO READ $12,779.73 before we can receive this grant!! Please make your donations to our Reece’s Rainbow account  HEREhere

Faith………the kind that takes your breath away.

**UPDATE** 7/25  WE MET OUR $500 MATCHING GRANT!! WE NOW NEED $13,900 to be fully funded!

 

So right now, we are about 5 weeks away from meeting our daughter. The reality of that, literally takes my breath away and keeps me awake most nights lately.  I stay awake wondering, will she like me, will she understand what is going on, and who we are coming for her. Will she have any medical concerns I will need to tend to right away. Many questions and such overwhelming concerns at times.  I cry also at night thinking how did I become so blessed to be mom to these incredible children God has given us. Isabella and Kolya have just grown so much in love and understanding of love and here I am lucky to be their mother. Tiffany and Brianna, are such wonderful big sisters to them also, and they too have shown so much love and understanding with them! I am a very blessed mother indeed!

FAITH…..that word alone, I will stand  and look at and think, No way do I have enough faith to complete this journey, but God showed me just tonight that I do! I have no earthly Idea where we are going to get the last $13,900 we need right now. I do not see it and I do not see a plan, but you know what I am doing inspite of my FEAR, my UNKNOWNS and my HOW IN THE WORLD  questions?!! I am emailing the NV asking for my GUZ number (part of the adoption process) so I can move forward and get my travel dates! I am also filling out our POA paper I need to take with me to China, AND I am also applying for Brianna and I’s Entry Visa into China, God showed me, that is practicing FAITH…..I am still proceeding and moving forward with the thought that this WILL BE COMPLETED! If I did not have FAITH, I would just sit back and quit! I am not doing that!! I am wore out, beaten down, more so than any of the other adoptions and I am so ready for this journey to be over. I believe God has a plan and he has the steering wheel and directing our journey.

So as I sit here breathless and tired and no clue how this will be done, I am asking for prayer warriors! I believe in the power of prayer and I am asking for my family that you cover us in prayers from now until we are home with Emma. God still moves mountains, and he loves Emma far more than we ever could. Thank you for following our journey and just ask everyone you know to just pray for us, The Brook Family. Thank you so much!

We have a $500 matching grant!!!

As time draws closer and closer to me flying over and getting our daughter many feelings flood me. I know that we still need at least $14,800 before I can even consider booking the airplane tickets. All that money goes to plan fare, hotel fare, food, orphanage fee, and adoption fees that are to be paid in country. I have applied for many grants only to get that letter in the mail that says we did not get a grant. I have made many bracelets, sold Tshirts, MUDLOVE bracelets, held yard sales, did bake sales, sold furniture, kids clothes. worked and saved our own personal money to get us to this point. We are on the last leg of our journey and we need people to bring us home, to hold us up in prayer and to cheer us on.  I know God brought us to this point, God will see us through, but I still believe that God needs us to do our part as well. I have many long conversations with him through out the day and I pray for him to send the help we need.

A generous donor messaged me and told me they wanted to help us out and would like to offer us a $500 matching grant to our Reece’s Rainbow account. I thought wow!! Thank you God for answered prayers! We just need to get this grant met now. Would you please come along side of us, cheer us on, hold us up in prayer, and please donate to help us get this precious little girl home to a loving family. Every child deserves to have a family and we are answering that call, we said yes, we just need help getting to her. Thank you so much for your support and love to our family!!  You can make your TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION at the top of the page by clicking on Emma’s picture or where it says MAKE A DONATION. It will go towards our Matching grant!

Traveling SOON!!!!

We should be traveling in about 9 weeks, maybe even a little less or a little more. This is the best we can do right now, watching time lines of others who have gone before us and talking to our agency. So where are we financially….well we still need $15,400! We have applied and been turned down by all the grants I could find that we qualified for, and as you know I have been fundraising and asking for help like crazy :-). Trust me when I say I hate fundraising, and asking for help. As a mom, I will do what I have to do to get this child home to a safe loving family.

Please share our need, you never know who God has been talking to, and you never know who God may use!  Pray for us, pray that God will open the doors that need to be open and that he will meet our needs. Thank you all for following our journey!

We are still selling the MUDLOVE Bracelets and this is what we have left. You can use the donate at the TOP RIGHT OF THIS PAGE to place an order. You just type which one you want in the notes section SHIPPING IS $2.50 for all orders.

The ones that cost $12 are: PLUS $2.50 SHIPPING

 

Be Brave     brown & burgundy

Be the Voice      gold & burgundy

Be Love      red & burgundy

Be the Change         grey , brown , turquoise , navy , burgundy

The ones that are $10 are: PLUS $2.50 for Shipping

Courage     brown & turquoise

Faith     red & burgundy

Forever    gold & grey

Heart      red & burgundy

Jer. 29:11    brown