Saturday, January 12, 2013

Beard for Glory

We have these friends, Lindsy and William Wallace, (yes his name is William Wallace), who have the faith and the patience that I have never seen.  We met them at an art fair where she was with her friend who happened to be the mom of Tedi's classmate... small world, eh?  Then, we became friends, completed our Both Hands together last March.... We love this people...  now it is time to step up and be the friends to them that they have been to us.

Let me highlight their adoption journey:
~ 3ish years ago decided to adopt from Ethiopia...halted for pregnancy
~had baby Meadow and restarted their Ethiopian adoption.....halted because William got cancer
~beat cancer and restarted adoption from Ethiopia......halted because Ethiopia said they could not adopt because of the cancer
~changed to the Congo program and matched with a five year old boy
~this boy was returned to his uncle and in the meantime took in 2 and 4 year old foster sons
~matched with a second child and this boy was also returned to family

Would you blame them for stopping?  I would not.... I can not fathom what I would do in the same circumstances.  Nevertheless, they have persevered.  They had decided to take a break..... and then they were told about a baby girl named Glory.... read the story here: It's a Girl.

The baby, Glory, is not with their previous adoption agency.  They got NO REFUNDS on any of the money spent during the process above.  So they find themselves starting from scratch again...new home study, new dossier, new money.

To raise support to get Glory home, they are doing something totally different.  I know you are shocked that a guy named William Wallace has epic beard.... they are selling $5 chances to see if keeps or gets rid of the beard.... check their blog here: Beard for Glory...please consider supporting them....

Here is the post:
You may not know this, but my husband has the God given ability to grow an "epic" beard.
The epic beard.


I didn't know either until last year when he grew out his beard for 12 full months. Said beard then took on it's own persona. I couldn't go anywhere with the beard without hearing "man, that beard is epic" or "great beard" from every other man the beard and I encountered.

I'm all for beards but I prefer my husband and being married to the beard got a little, well, hairy. I was thankful when the one year mark arrived and the beard had a long dicey encounter with a razor.  

The beard has been gone for barely two months and my hubby is already longing for it's return. So I thought, "How can a girl make the most of this legendary facial hair?"

And Beard for Glory was born.

Here's the deal folks - we're letting you in on a little marital wager. (Are we the only ones who do this when there is a disagreement? The wager part not the public on the interwebs marital disagreement part.)

Visit Beard for Glory and vote with your wallet. $5 buys you one day - beard or no beard.



On Valentine's Day, whoever has the most "days", or votes, wins. The beard grows or it goes for that number of days. YOU decide. The Point - ALL the money we raise gets us closer to bringing Glory homeOur goal for Beard for Glory is $5,000.

Ladies, if you consider yourself my friend, would you please skip your latte this week and buy a day or two for me? You know where I'm coming from right?

HIV Guest Speakers...

JT is the half this marriage that likes speaking....likes anything social.  I am cool to stand back and talk to those I know... However, he forces me out of my comfort zone.... Several months ago he spoke at Highview Baptist Church when they hosted their own orphan care and adoption seminar.  I was working that day, and honestly at the previous 3 he has been involved in.  Finally, next Saturday January 19th, I will be there, in the flesh, not just in pics (like below).

JT and I are leading the breakout session on HIV+ Adoptions in the upcoming seminar on 1/19/2013.... We would love you to come to the conference....if you are interested in adoption, foster care, or serving orphans and widows even if you are not at a place to adopt.  The other sessions include: International Adoption Travel, Transracial Adoption, Domestic Adoption, Healing a Child's Loss and Trauma, Financial and Adoption Processes, Dealing with Infertility, Caring for Orphans as a Family and Church, Local Orphan Care Options, Waiting Child Adoptions, Are You Ready to Adopt.

Check out www.orphancarealliance.org for more info. We would love to see you there.