Adoption Fundraisers

Teddy Jianjin Crawhorn

Thank you for helping us fund our adoption and bring our little angel home! 

 Our current adoption fundraisers include:

*Silpada Designs through Nancy Garrett (until March 21st)

*red Faith, Hope, Love t-shirts & bags from T-shirt Express in Franklin, IN.  Youth sizes available for $10, adult sizes $12, and cloth bags $8. 

 *Butter Braids pastries (Until March 23rd with delivery on Apr. 7th-sorry local orders only due to refrigeration) $11

*Just Love Coffee (on-going until we have Teddy home & will continue to help with medical costs) $12.95

 *Longaberger basket sales through Deloris Taylor (April)

 *Longaberger basket raffles (coming soon-keep checking back :-) )

Thank you for your generosity!

 Tom, Melissa, Sam & Teddy Crawhorn

Jinjiang families

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New friends & a Sneak Peek at our Future

 

We had a great weekend together as a family.  One of the highlights of our weekend was getting the opportunity to meet 2 families with JinJiang cuties!  Our friend Stacy was in Cincinnati with her son Solomon (home from JinJiang just 4 mos.) and & oldest son T.  They are here for some medical appts. all the way from California.  What an amazing opportunity to have them so close.  Stacy has a beautiful blended family built by birth, domestic & international adoption.  They could definitely show you the miracles & blessings adoption can offer.  It was surreal to see Solomon after seeing him in photos with Teddy.  Sam really enjoyed the boys.  I was a bit caught off guard when Sam asked Solomon for Teddy.  I think Sam thought he would be there with Solomon.  Oh how we wish he could have been!  Of course, they were starting to become more relaxed about the time we had to head home.  Solomon asked if he could go home with us and sleep with Sam in his bed.  Our hearts melted! We've looked at a photo of Solomon & Sam and know it's a glimpse into the future with our Jinjiang cutie & Sam together.  Tom & I spent the ride home talking about how we could save the money to travel to California in the future.  We also had the opportunity to meet Nancy Ann & her sweet 5 yr. old daughter Adelie (home in KY from Jinjiang 3 yrs. now).  She gave us a personal tour of the Cincy zoo.  She was a bit shy so I had to be sneaky to get any pictures with her in them.  :-)  I will have my camera ready for our next visit & see if I can be a bit quicker.  We thought this would be the end of our visit.  However, Tom is now going to be off this weekend & we hope to get to go back for one more short visit.  If all goes as planned we should get to meet Jolene & her family (from Michigan) on this trip.  They are at about the same pt. in their adoption process for their son Dalton.  It would be terrific to get to travel together to China.  There are 5 families adopting sons (all at a close age) from JinJiang who are just days apart in their process.  How awesome is that?  God is truly amazing! Tom & I keep telling each other that these new friendships are just another gift we have discovered on this journey to bring our son home.

     
 

Growing According to God's Plan,

Melissa :-)       

Waiting and waiting and waiting



 We are anxiously awaiting approval of our I-800 A.  Tom is so excited about having Teddy home, but he stays so calm & collected.  Not me!  Waiting is not one of my strengths.  I do want to mention I am in great company while I wait.  I'm with 2 of my 3 favorite guys.  Tom & Sam are so amazing!  We are enjoying our weekend together so far.  It was great to see the sunshine today. Can't wait to see Sam & Teddy playing in the backyard.  Tomorrow we are going to meet two other families who adopted from the same orphanage Teddy is in.  Tom & I are anxious to hear their advice & experiences.  One family is from Kentucky and the other is from California.  I still think it is so awesome to have this chance to get together.  What a gift!  I don't want to forget to include we are excited to officially meet Solomon.  Solomon is a friend of Teddy's.  He has been home with his family in California since September.  We feel like we know him a little already from all of the beautiful pictures.  Can't wait!  Before I call it a night, I would like to ask everyone to say a prayer for our son Sam.  He had a hearing test earlier in the week & didn't pass in one ear.  We are working on getting him into an ENT for further testing.  Maybe this will hold the answer to why speech is such a struggle for him.  We know God is watching over both our sweet angels while we wait for news!
Growing According to God's Plan (& Anxiously Waiting),
Melissa :-)      

What a journey!

Who would have thought building our family would take us all the way around the world?  I certainly didn't.  Tom & I were just kids when we started dating.  It's amazing to think we've been together for 17 years now. Where did the time go?  We've grown up together and are now blessed with such an amazing friendship & love!  We waited for college graduation to get married.  Then we wanted a couple of years together on our own before starting our family.  We would have never imagined it would be so tough.  From start to Sam's long awaited arrival was 5 years.  It seemed like forever!  If you had told me then our infertility would have been a blessing I would have laughed.  No, I would have probably screamed.  Now, we know differently.  Waiting taught us to cherish our time with Sam!  I know we would have loved him, but would we have loved him so deeply?  Then, there's Teddy!  When Tom and I were dating and talking about our futures, we had no idea it would include adoption.  What a miracle!  When we saw Teddy's sweet face, we just knew he was our son.  I've had a few ask "Why China?". I loved the response I read on another adoption blog, "that's where our son is!"  In the past months our lives have changed more than we expected.  More than some of our friends and family may even realize.  We started this process searching for a child to add to our family.  I had no idea how much it would touch my heart!  All the beautiful faces waiting for their families!  Oohhhh!  I wish I could personally find a loving home for each and every one.  When we bring Teddy home (which can't come soon enough), it will not be the end of our adoption journey.  This is the start of a new calling for our family!  We want to spread the word about the amazing children out their just waiting.  Thank you God for allowing us to be a part of your plan!  What a blessing!  

Growing According to God's Plan,
Melissa