Give Away

Like this bracelet? It's the giveaway!

Hello! Having a good week?? Have you decorated for Christmas? I have not.  I don't really know when that will happen.  I'm hoping one of your elves on the shelves will show up at my house and work his magic.

Check out our domestic page....Give1Save1 Domestic.  They have a blog link up for fundraising, auctions, etc.  Pretty cool!  There are other families to support on the Africa and Carribean pages, too.

The DONATE button is working fine now if you're wondering. See it over there on the left?

The Kreps family should be coming home soon with their newest addition. You're a part of their journey.  Have you commented on Katie's blog for her giveaway?  (or on here or  Facebook??)
  
 Most organizations offering grants will not give them to families once they travel.  We feel blessed to allow you to donate through their whole adoption journey.  You are helping pay for some of the expenses on their trip--food/taxis/hotels/airline tickets, etc.  (all donations go straight to our families) Also, the Kreps' little boy, Darren Xiangzi, will need surgery for his heart condition when he comes back home.

 Please know that your gift is valuable and much appreciated. 

Have you donated to charity:water yet? They build wells in underdeveloped nations.  Clean water is a big deal.

Do you have a charity or project close to your heart? If it fits with our giving theme, let me know about it! You're a generous bunch!

Great Benevolence

Good morning, friends........today we'll hear from Katie, a past mom of the week.  Read her sweet words about her friend, Sandy Kreps.

Great Benevolence

This is a story of the greatness of our God. It’s a story of mercy unending and grace beyond expectations.

Once upon a time there was a little boy whose momma loved him more than she could ever have imagined. She didn’t expect to feel so fiercely protective from that first glance. She didn’t expect that her dreams would suddenly fade into the background as dreams for this new life took their place. The world took on new colors and love beyond her imagination grew in her heart.

The world stood still while the this sweet momma heard the doctors telling her that her baby, the one she had dreamed of for so long wasn’t perfect. He was her dream come true and they were telling her about a nightmare. He was everything to her. Her heart and her mind warred against the injustice. She couldn’t keep her sweet boy. The world told her she wasn’t allowed to watch those dreams for him come true. So, she wrapped him warmly, kissed his sweet face and left him with a note that shared her greatest hope for her boy. “I hope someone kind will help him.”

On the other side of the world a mother’s heart was being refined. She was loving on her babies and God was stretching her beyond what she thought she was capable. In God’s grace He gave her a beautiful, sweet baby for her family to love and to cherish. And in the darkest hours of the night ,in His incomprehensible mercy, He took the baby away.

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.  (Job 1:21)

And our great God wept for the brokenness in the world. Angels surrounded a baby boy in China and protected him. They sang over him. God answers the prayers of the brokenhearted. He spoke of hope into a mother’s broken heart. He whispered dreams in the darkness of a sweet boy.  He found someone “kind.”

The boy’s name is Darren Xiangzi . Right now he is being grafted into a new family and learning to love his new momma. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

The cost of adoption is nothing in the hands of our Great God. He is moving in hearts around the world to bring His orphans into homes. What an awesome, incredible privilege to be given a chance to be a part of His mission. I stand in awe that He would allow us to walk with Him on this road.  Please donate to this precious family and their newest son. What a journey! 

The angels are singing again tonight, my friends. Hallelujahs are surrounding His throne.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. Sometimes in the darkest hours our kind God giveth again. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Giving Tuesday-A Project For You

It's Giving Tuesday!! Much better than black Friday and cyber Monday, don't you think??

Take a look at charity:water.  charity:water is a non profit dedicated to bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

Their goal is to provide people with clean water.  Pretty basic, right? Since you can't live without water, it's a big deal.

Here is an opportunity to give money toward building wells in Ethiopia.  I have a campaign to raise $1000 for clean water.  This is your chance to help. GIVE what you can to this project and help save lives. Dramatic? Yes.  It is. People die when they drink contaminated water.
Thank you for your giving spirit!!


Remember, click the big donate button for the Kreps family (currently in China meeting their son!!!) The donate button takes you to their blog....same idea, just a different spot to give.  Thank you for being awesome.

New Week- Meet the Kreps Family!!

Hello, friends!  Have you recovered from Thanksgiving yet?? Maybe not everyone eats too much....I don't know.

I'm glad you are visiting our blog. We have a new family to introduce this week, too!  The Kreps family is already in China where they are meeting and bringing home their 3 1/2 year old son! Get to know them.....and get ready to give to this family:)

 Erik and Sandy Kreps'  little boy, Darren, has a very serious heart condition that sped up his adoption process.  The Kreps did not have a lot of time to fundraise.  Please donate HERE and support this family.   Share this page on your own Facebook, too! This little boy is in for a treat when he gets home to his family full of children-- he will make them a family of 9!  You'll hear more from a friend of their family this week.  Katie Hurst, a previous mom on Give1Save1 Asia will be guest posting about her friends, the Kreps!

Will you donate on the Kreps' family blog while we work out the kinks on our big donate button? Pretty please? I knew you would! Read more about them there, too. 

Have a great week!

Ready for Turkey? (and pie, and dressing...)

Are you ready for Thanksgiving?? I am! I only have to bring side dishes, so I have it easy. What about you? Have you already started cooking or do you get to just show up and eat?  My kids are excited for their break and getting to see family. We'll hit the road tomorrow.  Do you go out of town for Thanksgiving or stay home? Serve at a shelter? Go to dinner with friends? Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy it.

The Penland family will be in CHINA for Thanksgiving, picking up their 2 children! That will be a great Thanksgiving memory. Thank you for giving to them.  They'll be on our blog all week, so pass it along! Share away.  (Watch their VIDEO if you haven't already!) Hit the big donate button if you haven't yet. Many thanks. If you haven't liked us on  Facebook  yet, go ahead! And feel free to post on that page, too. We're all family here:)

Enjoy your time with family and friends!

New Week--The Penland Family!!

Hey, you!! Thanks for stopping by our blog!  Do you know what to do? You give a dollar (or 2, or whatever you want to give) and then you share this on your own Facebook, Twitter, blog, email, smoke signals....however you desire!! The more sharing, the better. See the big DONATE button over there? Use that.
Guess who's already in China?!  The PENLAND family!!  Chip and Traci.  They are our family of the week and left a few days ago, traveling to China to pick up their 2 children, a daughter and a son.  Take a few minutes to watch their VIDEO...you haven't seen one like this!

Both of their children in China are deaf.  The Penlands are fluent in sign language, so now, these children will learn to communicate, too.  I love it!  Learn more about this sweet family on their blog....LikePenAnd

Go ahead and get your donations ready.  Let's bless this new family of 5! 

National Adoption Day!

Happy day, folks! The Jackson family, who are adopting 2 beautiful children from China, will be on our blog through tomorrow night.  You can donate through Sunday to their family.  (there's a big donate button on the side!) We will switch families Sunday evening. It's busy, busy around here!! And I love it!
Want to know more about orphan care, but aren't adopting yourself? Focus on The Family has a lot of information for you. See how you can get involved in James 1:27...

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Take a look at their adoption and orphan care initiative. 

Check back tomorrow for our new family! 

Holiday Fun

It's Thursday--this week is flying by! Have you donated to the Jacksons? Well, thank you very much!
Starbucks has their holiday drinks on sale, BOGO,  from 2-5 for a few days.  Just thought you should know. Oh, and if you want to get some Cranberry Bliss Bars for me, go ahead. They'll ship just fine!

(In case you forgot who you were donating for!)

The holidays are coming soon and I was wondering.... what are your favorite holiday traditions with your children?  We love opening 1 gift on Christmas eve, making a gingerbread house and (usually) having an advent calendar.  And I love looking at Christmas lights. What about those with children from other cultures--do you incorporate their holiday celebrations into your own? Do you celebrate them seperately? What do you do?? I'll need to know this info next year, so leave comments, folks!  Don't be scared. 

If you haven't donated, you may do so now. Also, be sure and visit our other pages by clicking "back to the map".  There are lots of posts happening these days!

Tuesday Shout Out

Hey! Thank you for supporting the Jacksons this week.  If you haven't had a chance to visit their blog, do it now! (Mercy For The Fatherless)  I think you'll enjoy reading about their family and the journey they're on right now.  Did you know they're bringing home 2 sweet children? Yep. They are. They have a fundraising goal in mind, so check it out and see how you can be involved.
If you haven't donated yet, click the big "donate" button on the left.  Share their story today, too, whle you're at it!  See the little share buttons below? You can Facebook it, tweet it, or whatever you want to do. 

Have you checked out the other Give1Save1 pages?? There are other families on the blog this week, too!
Thank you for sharing your dollars.

See this beautiful little girl?  She's waiting for her family.  Read about her on Holt's blog.  I love her big pink bow!

New Week--Meet the Jacksons!

Hi there!~Time to introduce our family of the week.  Meet the Jackson family from Tennessee.  They are Randy and Kathy and are adopting 2 beautiful little girls from China. Even though we don't have a video this week, we think you'll really enjoy getting to know them.
Here is a picture of their sweet girls waiting in China.

 Aren't they beautiful??

  Both are medically fragile and need to come home.  

The Jacksons are not strangers to adoption or raising children.  They already have 4 children and 3 grandchildren in their family!  Sounds like fun!    Visit their blog (Mercy for the Fatherless) to learn more about their journey.
Please give your dollars and share their story!  The Jacksons are traveling very soon to China to bring their daughters home and appreciate your generosity!

Happy (almost) Monday, everyone and have a fantastic week!

Thankful Saturday

Happy weekend!! Just a quick note to tell you that we will have a new family of the week for the next 3 weeks, so keep checking in!
Also,  a big "thank you" to everyone who supports our families.  It is so much fun to watch these families be blessed by you.  THANK YOU!!!
My hubby is coming back in town this afternoon, so we're off to a (free!) concert tonight.  After that, it's boy time with the guys! My kids miss their Dad when he's gone, so he has to play catch up for a while:)
Enjoy your weekend, friends!

Lots of Links!

Hello! Since we don't have a family this week, I thought we could look at a few other places to give.

Reece's Rainbow has their Angel Tree going on right now.  The Angel Tree focuses on a number of waiting children in different countries. You can donate to their funds.  That money will go to their families when they find them!

Also, Love Without Borders has a project called Coats for Kids.  It's pretty self explanatory! These children are in China and you know it gets cooollllld there.    You can donate $10 to help provide coats for these precious kiddos.  It's one of their special projects and there are other programs to support on the site, as well.

Don't forget Operation Christmas Child! Fill a shoe box and drop it off.  Find out details at Samaritan's Purse.

Shopping Suggestions:

We are on Zoe Clothing.  Shop, type in "garrick" and support our adoption.  CUTE tee shirts, etc!

Get some very sweet girly accessories at Katie Hurst's etsy shop, Courtly Creations. She has beautiful bows, headbands and tutus!! And even cute little bow ties! We can't leave our boys out, now can we?

Buy a piece of art from Beth Cupitt at ArtisticAdoption on etsy.

Get beautiful blankets, hats and scarves from Lindsay Morris at Lindsay Lou Creations on etsy, too.

Okay, so you have now been given several Christmas gift suggestions! No need to procrastinate any longer!  Have a great weekend and check back next week for our new family!

Tee Shirt?

Hey there, give 1ers!! I hope you're having a fantastic day!

Please pardon my personal plea here.....sooo.....Want a tee shirt?? They're 20 bucks shipped and are going to my own personal adoption fund.
Here's a  pic and sorry, but I couldn't suck in anymore!! (kidding, kidding)

Here I am!! Nice to meet ya!

My 11 year old took this pic and I kept trying to get a good angle;) I wanted to turn to the side but you couldn't see the writing...."everyone is someone".  (the back has a quote by Mother Teresa in an outline of Korea)  Men/women's sizes....the men's have a slightly more "washed look" and are not V necks! The ladies' shirts are roomy and true to size. I'm 5 10 and that's a medium shirt I'm wearing. It's not too tight around the "middle."  Man, things got personal here today.

You can message me or order through my blog if you want one. (order a necklace, too, while you're there!)


Beth's taking orders for her artwork. Time to shop for Christmas!
Order on the Africa page. I love them--mine are on the way!

I'm a bit partial to this one!

Alright, everyone. Keep following along on our blog....we will have a new family next week!

Hello, Monday

Good Monday morning!! How was your weekend?

We do not have a new family this week, but please check out the Give1Save1 AFRICA page.  There you can support Bring Love In.  Nice!! Spread the love, folks! They even have a giveaway happening!

Also, the Give1Save1 Domestic page has a great article about fundraising.  You should read it! We're all in this together, right?

Several people are almost ready to be on our Give1Save1 ASIA page.  Let me know if you would like to be one of those families! tonyagarrick5 at gmail dot com  I would love to hear from you!

It's National Adoption Month.....what does that mean to you?

Thanks for supporting all of our adopting families.  Your giving spirit is amazing!

#NAM12

Happy weekend, friends! You have given the Walkers almost $500 this week! Thanks so much for supporting their family's adoption.   You can continue to give to them through Sunday night.

Ready to do some Christmas shopping? We are on Zoe Clothing.  They have super cute tees and other clothing/accessories.  Our family will receive $15 from each adoption tee and a percentage of all other sales when you type in "garrick" at checkout.

This is a picture of my friend's daughter sporting her Zoe adoption tee! Don't you love it?? (You look great, Micaela!)

You can read about our family's adoption on my personal blog...Peaceloveandcaffeine! (There are a few other fundraisers on there, too!)

Tomorrow is Orphan Sunday.  Let us know what you or your church did to raise awareness.   Use #NAM12 if you tweet about it!  You can share your stories/pictures on our Facebook, too!

National Adoption Month

It's November and you know what that means.....National Adoption Month! And Thanksgiving. And my son's birthday.  It's going to be another busy month for the Garricks.

To help you learn more about adoption options internationally and within the US, check out the links below.

Holt International has programs in several countries. 

Reece's Rainbow advocates for waiting children with various special needs. 

Bethany Christian Services has domestic and international programs.

Learn more about adopting from the US foster care system at Adopt US Kids.

Thank you for supporting adoptive families.   

If you haven't donated to the Walker family, you can do so by clicking the big DONATE button on the left.  

Enjoy the rest of your week....hopefully, you're recovering from the candy overload!