As you know we were blessed to be chosen as one of April's 5/5/5 families. The goal for the month was $3,110 and with your help we exceeded that goal!

I have felt like God was preparing us for the next step as we were starting to see money coming in again and in previous steps of the adoption requiring a payment we had it right before we needed it. Well, today I received an email inviting us to meet our sweet girl. I can't wait to be able to go over and meet her and tell her she has a mommy and daddy! We are about $2500 short of what we need for trip one. We have many items for sale on our facebook page and we have to shirt fundraisers that end this week. Check them out!
MOM www.bonfirefunds.com/stum-family-adoption
DAD www.bonfirefunds.com/stum-family-adoption-1

It will still be several months before we get to bring her home. The last leg of the adoption will take about 4-6 months.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support!

Well another week has slipped past us that our daughter sits in an orphanage. Another week that went past just waiting for them to tell me I can go meet her, scoop her up and tell her she has a mommy and daddy who love her, want to get her home as quick as they can, and show her the love of family.

Our last paperwork has been in for awhile and all we can do is wait and pray. We get by trusting that God is in control of this entire process and his love for our sweet girl far exceeds what our love ever could be.

This week is a big week in our household. We celebrated Chris and Jeremiah's birthdays this week. The night I went into labor with Jeremiah I got a countdown to midnight  so Chris could have a birthday buddy. Jeremiah waited until morning to have his own day.

Hopefully I will have more adoption news to report next week and we will be starting the next leg of this journey.

God blesses abundantly, all we have to do is look. His blessings come in so many forms, they come in time spent with family, new pets, friends that are there, protection, and so much more. We felt with the adoption as far as it is and since we will be traveling soon it was important to get some quality time with our children.

We went on a mini vacation (one night in Colorado Springs). It was wonderful. We found an inexpensive hotel with an indoor water slide. We went to a Sky Sox game on fireworks night, and to Focus on the Family. If anyone is looking for a vacation on a budget I would highly recommend this! The time spent together just having fun without life's interruptions was a blessing to us.

It helped us to spend time with our kids without the stress and hecticness that can surround us. We can get so consumed in our lives with work, bills, meetings, adoption that we forget to take time with our children. And more so quality time. We always eat dinner at the table to have time together but when it becomes rushed because of meetings it begins to lose its value.

It is also way to easy to let the stress of life interfere with the interactions we have with our children. When we are stressed or frustrated they feel  it. They need time without that frustration to truly open up to you and enjoy being your child and for you to enjoy your child. It is hard to enjoy someone when your mind is preoccupied.

This vacation was one of our blessings from God this week. After a stressful frustrated week we were given the opportunity to unwind, relax, enjoy, and love each other as a family.

Through this process we have met the occasional person that has nothing but negative things to say about us adopting. It seems in recent that those people are increasing in number and I felt like people should know a few things about adoption (or at least ours).
1) We weren't ready!
       So many times God's plans differ from what we think is right for us. We wanted to wait until we could afford to adopt. We now know that if we waited until everything lined up and was the perfect time to adopt we never would have. God has used this to teach us to trust Him in all things. Every fee has been paid and much of the money wasn't there until the day before it was due.
2) I don't feel equipped!
       I am a stay at home mom of three young children. I home school the older two. We have a farm where we grow primarily wheat and millet that takes a good portion of my time during harvest. I wanted my kids to be a little older so they could help around the house more. If God brings you to it He will bring you through it. In the short amount of time since we started the adoption process my kids have gotten better at helping around the house, keeping things picked up, and doing school with fewer arguments. God has shown me that dependence on Him makes my days a lot easier to get through.
3)Sometimes I want to quit!
      In my moments of human weakness I want to just quit! When people have nothing but negative to say, there is a fee coming due, and paperwork got sent back because it wasn't just right I want to quit. Then, I remember that beautiful little girl sitting in an orphanage without a mommy and daddy to love her. I remember this is God's plan not my own and if I lean on Him He will be faithful to give me the strength and endurance to make it through. God has already put love in my heart for her and I know it will continue to grow as we continue this process and finally meet her and then finally bring her home officially as our daughter.

I'm sure I could list more if I had more time to sit here.
Whether you are in full support of someone's adoption or are against remember to think about the stress they are going through and that many times they are being attacked by satan! Pray for that family. Pray for wisdom and strength. Many families are called to adopt and it may not be the most opportune time. By answering God's call these family allow God to build them, mold them, and teach them many, many lessons.

It has been an exciting week in the adoption world for us! The paperwork that was kicked back has been redone and is on its way back over. Now we wait for travel dates. We also learned that we were selected as one of this months 5/5/5 families on Reece's Rainbow.

5/5/5 for Families is a great program to help families financially bring home their children. It is a great opportunity for you also as you don't have to choose just one family to donate to if you are on a tight budget. Meet this months five families here http://reecesrainbow.org/category/sponsorafamily/555-family. These are families that are close to having many of their expenses due. To learn more about 5/5/5 and to donate visit http://reecesrainbow.org/555families.

Two weeks ago we celebrated Cayleigh turning 4 with a Frozen birthday party. It was a great time spent with family and friends. I loved making her cake and enjoyed how simple it was and how pretty it looked.

Easter weekend was spent with family. Cayleigh and I went to see Cinderella at a special Easter showing for kids. On Saturday we made Resurrection Rolls and colored eggs. Resurrection Rolls have become more of a tradition to me than coloring eggs. I love being able to show my kids the Easter story. I love they can see we put something in the "tomb" but after we bake them the "tomb" is empty. Chris and Josiah went out to dinner then we all met to go see Home with my parents. We spent Easter day at my grandparents. It was a fun day filled with family, food, and Easter egg hunts. I look forward to next year when our sweet little girl should be home to join in on all the fun!