A Trip to the Principal's Office

The Principal Needs to See You.....

Some of you know that I'm a teacher. I've had the good fortune of teaching at the same amazing school for the past 5 years where we treat each other like family. No....really. We do. And we've had plenty of reason to do so in just the 5 short years that I've been there. You see, we teach at a school where kids come to us with lots of extra "stuff" going on at home. A lot of our kids don't ask what's for dinner that night, they ask "if" there is any dinner that night. Many of them don't get hugs when they walk through the door, they get yelled at. A school like ours requires very special teachers. Ones that care DEEPLY about children - especially the ones that are rough around the edges. Those are the fine folks I get to got to work with and call "family" each day.

And then there's MY kids. The students I get to teach all day. I am blessed to work with kids whose families come from so many different places from around the world I've lost count. They've come here for a better life. For freedom. For safety. For an education for their children. It's the best job I've ever had. I get to teach children English, knowing that it will change their future (and many times their entire family's future as well.)

So why go on and on about my job on an adoption blog? Because I got called to the principal's office this past week. (I know what you're thinking - this can't be good!) He told me to close the door and then he placed this envelope on his desk in front of me:

Then he said, "The person who is giving this to you wants to remain anonymous. They said they just want to 'pay it forward'."

I opened the envelope to find ten $100 bills. I was instantly flooded with gratitude and began to sob. I mean, who would do this for me? The sacrifice it meant. I don't know if you've check out a teacher's salary lately, but we're still near the bottom of all college grads. :(   It still makes my head spin and tears instantly leap to my eyes even still as I think about one of my hard-working coworkers family members making this level of sacrifice to see to it that a little boy that they haven't even met gets to have a mom.  What this one person has done embodies my favorite verse about caring for orphans.

Hosea 14:3  ....for in you the fatherless find compassion

P.S. I have been delayed in publishing this post because we are CRAZY busy try to pack and make sure our 5 other kids are being taken care of when we leave the country next week-- YIKES!  Anyway, in that short few days, I have had multiple other individuals at school just walk up and say, "This is for your new child, congratulations!"  I was also handed a beautiful card that had been circulated throughout my entire school building. Members of my school family had written such kind words and people had once again contributed so generously to help this little boy come home to his Mama.

I'm so very blessed to have these folks in my life. :)

I haven't had a chance to total it up yet, but I think we may be able to cross off the "Charitable Orphanage Donation" line item!!


Thanks so much for supporting us.  We appreciate your continued prayer for our journey.


~Brooke

Plane tickets for Mother's Day

Wow! Some 500+ days have passed since I first received this sweet picture in my inbox:

 

The subject line read "Isaiah", which was the exact name that God had planted deep in my heart in a dream a few years before. Our sweet boy was 6 then. He is now a very lanky, very handsome 8 year old.

 

It has been a faith-testing journey to bring our son home, but we are in the final stretch! We got the call we've been praying about on May 7th that we finally have a court date! Our plane tickets have been purchased and we will board a plane on May 29th to go spend 3 weeks with our son. We will complete the official adoption and other required paperwork. However, we will have to leave him there and then return home, probably for a couple of months.  Once our U.S. embassy issues his visa, we can go back and pick him up, hopefully by late summer.

 

Sooo......remember that puzzle we've been working on for Isaiah? (If you don't, just click on the Help Bring Isaiah Home page on this blog)

 

We still have 249 pieces of the puzzle available for sponsorship! Our suggest donation amount is $10 per puzzle piece.  Here's the link:

 

http://breezefamilyadoption.blogspot.com/2013/05/puzzle-update-249-pieces-left-to.html

 

To read how we first "found" Isaiah click here: http://breezefamilyadoption.blogspot.com/p/isaiah-is-here.html

 

Above all else, we cherish your continued prayers about our adoption. Thank you so much for your support!

 

Brooke & Jeff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puzzle Update! 249 Pieces Left to Complete the Puzzle

We need your help! We leave for our first trip to Ghana in just 17 days! That means we have very limited time to raise a whole lot of travel funds, not to mention $5000 in agency fees that are due before our plane takes off.....

 

There are 249 pieces left to complete Isaiah's puzzle. Please help us get them sponsored! Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell your coworkers, share it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, hang a sign up at work, whatever you are willing to do, we'd appreciate it!  :)

 

Here's what his puzzle looks like now:           Here's what we'd like it to look like when we leave on May 29th:

                          

 

Suggested donation amount per puzzle piece is $10.

 

To read more about how the puzzle works, click here: 

http://breezefamilyadoption.blogspot.com/p/putting-puzzle-together-with-breeze.html

 

To contribute via Paypal click on the Paypal "Donate" icon located on the right side of any of the blog pages. If you would like to mail a check, please send email to brookeb@fuse.net and I will send you the address.

Other ways you can help:

If you wish to make a tax-deductible contribution directly to our adoption agency, the following fees are due BEFORE we leave on May 29th:

Charitable Donation for orphanage - $1,500

Agency Fee #3 - $3,000

Post-Placement Fee - $500   PAID - Thank You for your sponsorships!

 

These donations can be made directly to:

Faith International Adoptions
Attention: Breeze Family Adoption Donation
1105 Tacoma Avenue South
Tacoma, WA 98402

Phone: 253.383.1928 Email: faith@faithadopt.org To read how we first "found" Isaiah click here: http://breezefamilyadoption.blogspot.com/p/isaiah-is-here.html As always, the thing of most value to us is your continued prayers! Thank you so much! Brooke & Jeff

 

With Spring......Comes Hope

 

Psalm 107:28-30 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven

 Dear Friends,

It's been such a long time since I have posted because, quite frankly, it's been too depressing all winter to post anything. :( 

This winter proved to be the longest on history as we waited and waited with very little progression towards our adoption of Isaiah.

While we still felt 100% confident that the Lord had placed the desire to adopt this beautiful little boy on our hearts, the never-ending ache that accompanied waiting to actually meet him truly tested our faith! I tell folks all the time: Adoption is NOT for wimps! It takes all your time, money, emotions, love and faith to get through it. BUT....it is worth every single bit of it!

On to the good news......

As the quote above reads, after winter the promise of spring always returns, and with it comes renewed hope. This could not be more true for us! We are so excited to finally say these words:

WE'RE GOING TO MEET OUR SON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God is so amazing & so faithful! We have had so many people praying continuously for our adoption. We are forever grateful to you! Please continue to keep us in your prayers until he is home and tucked safely into his own bed!

We don't know our exact travel dates yet, probably very late May thru mid June. As soon as we have more specific information, we will post more frequently so folks can start to follow us on our journey to finally hold Isaiah in Ghana!

Much love,

Brooke & Jeff