Wind, Water, and Free Unlimited Sodas!

Holiday World and Splashin' Safari are two parks in one! They are located in Santa Claus, IN and worth the drive! 

Holiday World is full of rides for adults and for kids. The Voyage is rated "the #1 wooden coaster on the planet. You'll experience 24.2 seconds of zero-G, one of the steepest drops on any wooden coaster and 90-degree banking at highway speeds!" With bumper cars, food, and always free drinks and sunscreen, there's lots of fun to be had for your family.

Splashin' Safari seems to grow every year. They keep adding water rides! I've counted at least twelve different water rides, but that doesn't include their three elaborate splash pads for kids and two huge wave pools. The Zoombabwe is the "World's Largest Enclosed Waterslide." The Zinga is eight-stories tall. With "one-third mile of wild and watery uphills, drops, twists and turns, and a four-story drop," the Wildebeest is voted to be the world's #1 water park ride. Plus, there's a new water ride coming this summer called Hyena Falls.

There's lots of reasons to want to go to Holiday World and Splashin' Safari, and here's one more! I wrote a letter to them in December 2012, and they sent us two FREE tickets (an $80 value!) to help us raise money for our adoption. 

For every $10 you donate to our adoption fund, your name goes into our drawing to win these TWO FREE tickets to Holiday World and Splashin' Safari!

PLUS, when you donate $10, your name also goes on the back of a puzzle piece. We only have 289 pieces left! When our puzzle is complete, we will frame it in our child's bedroom and you will forever be a piece of the puzzle that brought our child home. 

You gotta hurry, though! The deadline is Friday, May 10. On May 11, we will draw the winner of the TWO FREE tickets to Holiday World and Splashin' Safari! 

(Like I said, there's lots of reasons to want to go to Holiday World and Splashin' Safari!)

Yard Sale Results

Because God is amazing, we were able to fill our garage with donated items for our yard sale and raise over $2,500!

Not only did we raise a lot, but we learned a lot.

1. We have amazing friends. Many people gave us things they could have sold or kept for themselves. Others baked cookies. Some friends even showed up at 5:00 am to help set up! One friend even brought us all pizza for lunch. Those were blessings!

2. Some people do not understand adoption. One of my best friends' sons defined adoption this way: "a husband and a wife cannot have a baby, so they go out and buy one." This is a cute five-year-old understanding of adoption, but most of us know adoption is much more than that...and not exclusive to couples dealing with infertility. However, I was surprised with just how many adults asked us what kind of pet we were adopting. People really thought we were raising money to adopt a dog! We were able to share our reason for choosing adoption: the gospel. That was a blessing!

3. Some people really understand adoption. We met one family who just finalized their adoption at the courthouse that morning. We met several people who either had adopted, were adopted, or who were touched by adoption somehow. We also met a man whose family completed their second adoption last fall. He actually came to our sale just to encourage us in our adoption process. He bought a cupcake for $20 (he said to keep the change), and prayed with Daniel and me. Those were blessings!

4. Adoption is a parable of the gospel in more ways than I'd seen before. The big picture: our adoption as God's children through Christ is reflected when we adopt a child as our own. I also saw smaller glimpses of the gospel message throughout this experience: As everyone gave of their time, possessions, and money, I kept wanting to say, "I owe you big time!" The thing is, everyone knows there is no way I can repay everyone for their gifts. I finally realized that I had to accept everyone's gift (gift after gift after gift). It reminded me of my own salvation in Christ; I can do nothing to earn it or pay for it. It is because of nothing I have done, but only because of Christ. That was a blessing!

5. God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Indeed, praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Massive Yard Sale

Since December, we have been collecting items for our adoption yard sale fundraiser. Our garage was once spic and span (well, almost), but now it is jammed packed with donations from so many friends. 

Thanks to our friends, we have furniture, large kitchen appliances, bicycles, trampoline, metal swing set, clothes, golf clubs, sewing machine, decor, printer, picture frames, televisions, holiday stuff, and more! We even have a kitchen sink (and a nice one, too). Bring your sweet tooth, because we will be having baked goods, cold drinks, and coffee. We are so overwhelmed with the generosity! We are also blessed to have some amazing friends coming to help us set up for the sale this Friday morning. Our sale will be Friday and Saturday, April 5-6 from 7:00 am to noon.

We lack about $8,000, and we hope this yard sale will get us closer to our goal. Please pray God will give us an amazing turn out!