We had a wonderful weekend! We took a trip in state to meet our baby's birth mom, and it was a fun time. Claudia, Gus, Joey, and I enjoyed our time together so much. Joey's mom went with us, as well, and it was so good to have her with us. We had an enjoyable time playing in the sand and water on the beach on Saturday afternoon and a fun filled Saturday night at Medieval Times. Going to Medieval Times was a first for all of us, and it did not disappoint.
Joey and I had breakfast with our baby's birth mom this morning, and it went really well. We are thankful to have had the opportunity to meet her in person and get to know her better. She is an amazing person, and I admire her so much. We look forward to continuing to get to know her. I feel so honored that she chose Joey and me to raise her little boy. We are so excited to meet him in two months! Please pray for all involved as the time for our sweet boy's arrival draws closer.
Below are some photos from our weekend. It was an encouraging weekend, and we are so thankful for the time away with family. :)
We continue to fundraise for our final adoption expenses. We have $1,500 left to raise so we are very close. Thank you to everyone who has helped us get to this point. It means so much! We are looking forward to introducing the newest member of our family to you when he arrives. We appreciate your continued prayers for our little boy, for his birth mom, and for us.
We are only about $2,000 away from raising the funds we need for our adoption! We need to have all of our adoption funds in by mid-December so that we can make our last payment to our agency. It will be a huge relief to reach our goal and focus on our final preparations for our little boy's arrival in late January.
If you are interested in giving towards our remaining adoption costs, there are several ways for you to do so:
1. T-shirt fundraiser--Our t-shirts are $20
each, and we receive 50%. This is a great way to donate because you get a "souvenir." :) We have a link on this blog that will give instructions on how to purchase a
T-shirt. The last day to order a T-shirt is November 30th. We will
receive the T-shirts the first week of December and get them to everyone who
orders one.
2.
Lifesong for Orphans--If you would like to donate and receive a tax deduction
for your donation, then you can go to the Lifesong for Orphans website or send a
check to them with our account information on it (Goldsmith #4762). We get 100%
of what is donated through this organization, which is wonderful! Normally an
organization will take a percentage for administrative costs. We have a link
on this blog that will give instructions on how to donate through Lifesong for
Orphans.
3. Give directly to us--If you would like to donate
directly to us, you can make a check out to Joey or Jennifer
Goldsmith.
We will let everyone know when we have reached our fundraising goal. We recently got our puzzle framed from our puzzle piece fundraiser and will be hanging it in our den so that anyone who visits our home can see it. It's really amazing to look at that puzzle and see so many people who have invested in our family through this adoption. We look forward to sharing that with our little man and telling him about this journey that brought him to his forever family.
We plan to travel this weekend to meet our baby's birthmother. Please be in prayer for us about this. We are excited and nervous at the same time! We hope that we make a good connection with her and that our relationship with her will continue to grow.
We will soon be a family of 5! This continues to be an amazing journey. Our adoption process has been interesting and we have learned a lot through it. We plan to adopt again in a couple of years, and we will be better prepared and know more of what to expect next time. There really haven't been a lot of surprises so far. It's just an interesting path to walk. We are thankful to have so many friends and family walking right beside us. We can't wait to introduce Baby Boy Goldsmith to each of you! (We do have a name for our little guy, but we aren't sharing it until we know for sure that we are getting to bring him home with us.)
Thanks again for loving our family, encouraging us, and supporting us! We appreciate it more than we can say!
