How YOU can help!

I've had many people over the last few weeks ask how they can help us with our adoption and be involved. I love that. I love to see people coming together to support one another! It brings joy to my heart!

I wanted to post about the ways that you and your family can help us bring our little guy home from GHANA! (I don't think that I've officially mentioned that we are adopting from Ghana yet, so there it is! I had heard some wrong information that we weren't supposed to list country name but that has been corrected! -- Although I'm sure most of you could have guessed it was Ghana!)

Back to my post...

Most all of you know that adoption. is. expensive. Very. expensive. We acknowledge that and know that God has called us down this road. We also know that because He has made this path of adoption clear to us, He will also provide for us. Now... in walks the hard part for me. I'm a Type A personality... I like to have a schedule, I like to have everything figured out, I like to have all my ducks in a row - not to mention the crazy OCD organization! Needless to say, stepping out in faith with this adoption process is a huge thing for me. He's already taught me so so much and changed me in ways that I am forever grateful but, I need to remember that IT'S NOT ABOUT ME! It's not about my timing, my plans, my ideas, and my organization... It's about HIS! I can't plan anything on my own or make it work out on my own. It doesn't work that way! I will choose to put my faith in Him, knowing that He will provide for us and this adoption... in whatever way HE chooses to do that.

With that being said, I'm going to list some ways that you can come along side of us in this journey... The journey to bring our little man home from Ghana.

1. The first way you can help join in on our journey is by PRAYING! Prayer is so important. We need prayer warriors on our side. We need your prayers as we are preparing to bring home Baby Boy Bettinger. It is not an easy journey by any means, but we know that He is faithful and He is preparing the way for us. We appreciate all of your prayers already and we are grateful that we have such a strong support for the future!

2. I'm super excited about this next thing. I've recently started metal stamping and I LOVE IT! I'm currently open for business :) Plus One, Minus One Jewelry! All proceeds go to fund our adoption (does that sound business-y?!)
Yes, I'm doing metal stamping ... Necklaces, Keychains, Bracelets - anything that you could ever want! Here are some pictures of things that I can do:

This is actually the first thing that I ever stamped. I made it for my mom. It says "Carry You Always." It has my grandmother's birthstone on it. It's in remembrance of her as she recently passed away in September.

I do have these rounds with the hearts in the middle and can stamp anything around it... adding any type of charm that you want.

I'm excited to be getting this stamp soon... the AFRICA stamp! They are VERY hard to find and I've got one on order as soon as she releases them. Should only be a week or so. This stamp looks great as well by adding a heart over your favorite country in Africa (I'll be making myself one with a heart over Ghana for sure!)

This is just a great picture to show that just about anything can be stamped and added to make a great necklace! It's also a little hard to see in the picture but I can make the round either concave or convex (curving inward or outward) for style preferences.

A cute picture of an example of children's names. Could also work with adding birth dates. Or doing something fun with a husband's or wife's name. Another great visual for having your children's names on a necklace. LOVE LOVE LOVE this for those adoptive families out there. Or.. just just let people know that you are supporting an adoption.

a great visual for stacking disks on a keychain!

I've seen a lot of these done up... great grandparent gifts. I've also seen them done on "washers" - or a disk with a circle in the middle.

I know that's probably a lot but I wanted to list a few options.

I can do quite a bit... just email me (jmlbettinger@yahoo.com) or Facebook me and we can "chat" about logistics and design. I have an uppercase and lowercase alphabet. I can add charms. I have plain rounds, rounds with hearts, rounds with circles, and keychains.

They make great personal gifts, great gifts for family members... And the best part is that with your purchase you are making a difference.

I would love to work with you! Make sure you tell all of your friends as well!

Prices are between $15 and $22 - depending on how many disks you want and if you want charms.

I look forward to working with YOU! Oh, and I of course can ship jewelry to anywhere!!!

3. The third way that you can help out, if you feel led, is by donating straight to our adoption fund. There's a paypal donate button on the right side of my blog, under the picture of Africa. Feel free to click on that and send a direct payment if you feel the Lord leading you that way. We thank you in advance for any donation that you send, whether $15 or $50.

4. The fourth way you can help is by visiting my sweet friend Adriana's blog and making a purchase. You can read my post here and the story about this amazing girl's BIG heart! Make a purchase from Adriana's blog and she will donate a portion to our adoption! I'm still in awe. We are so thankful, Adriana! Visit her blog / shop!

I can't express what it has meant to have so many friends and family supporting us along this journey thus far. We are currently waiting on our foster licensing to be approved. Because the adoption won't be fully complete in the U.S. when we arrive home, we have to have a foster care license so that we are able to have our little man with us until the adoption is made complete in IL. (It's obviously complete in Ghana when we go through court.) So, we are waiting on that license and then our home study will be ready for review at our agency. At that point, we will send in our next monetary installment along with some more paperwork and the home study. Once our home study is reviewed and approved, we are officially ready to be MATCHED! wahoo! It's a lot... but it's one step at a time.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support. Things are moving along and God is in control! I've already seen so many things happen in the process this far that amaze me! God is awesome!

Let's bring home Baby Boy Bettinger!!!!