It hit me like a ton of bricks...a man (who I greatly respect) made a comment about the church building orphanages. My first reaction was joy as orphaned children are my passion and calling. But then my spirit heard another Voice and I realized that the church was never meant to build orphanages. We may be called now, but it's only because we forced God's hand. It sounds strange. How can people force God to do anything? Because He gives us free will and we often use it to tear down what He meant for our good. It started in the garden and we messed that up. The same is true of orphans, they were never meant to live in orphanages. God may be calling His people to build them but it's only because we are still refusing to obey His other calling. Children are supposed to be in families, their own families. Restoring families should be our first goal. It's a fallen world and that's not always a possibility. I think that's why He demonstrated adoption for us. It's His "plan B."  Would you believe that there are approximately 15 times more Christians than orphans. FIFTEEN TIMES! That's inexcusable.
Normally I would keep a word like this to myself. I worry too much about offending someone. However on the way home I started to share with Jacob and he stopped me and said that he received the same word. So I'm going to risk offending you and just ask you, what are you going to do about it?

"So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin"  James 4:17

60+ Meals in the Freezer Week 2

I stole this recipe from a friend...well the idea anyway. I never actually got the recipe but it's a pretty easy one to come up with on your own and lots of ways to mix it up. She served it at a birthday party and it was such a great idea! So thanks Tiffany...
The prices on this one are not exact because it varies by store and what types of meat and cheese you choose. This is based on Oscar Mayer honey smoked turkey and Great Value mild cheddar and swiss cheese.

Baked Sandwiches

Ingredients

10 King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls  ($39.80)

(the big ones in the pie pan)
6-7 lb thinly sliced deli meats      ($34.86)

150 slices of cheese                   ($23.80)

Directions

Cut the top half of each roll off and set aside.

Spread 2 layers of meat evenly on each roll.

Evenly lay about 4-5 slices of cheese on top of the meat.

Repeat 2 times so that you have 3 layers of meat and cheese.

Replace the top half of the roll.

Cover tightly with foil and put in air tight plastic bag or wrap before freezing.

Thaw overnight in fridge and bake at 400 for about 45 minute (until cheese is melted).

I have not cooked from frozen but I'm sure you could just adjust the time.

One sandwich serves 6-8. Great with potato chips and fresh fruit!

Total cost for 10-$98.46

Cost for 1-$9.84

This idea is so great. It's a fun one to get creative with. Try one of these:

Bacon, egg and cheese.

Chicken, pepper jack and bacon (dipped in guacamole).

Pulled pork and provolone   .

An easy NO PREP freezer breakfast or treat

We are selling these amazing braided pastries through 

1/24/14. They are perfect for the busy mom because they 

come frozen. You set them out the night before to let the 

dough rise (they just about triple in size) and then bake. All 

proceeds got to our adoption fund.  Available flavors: Apple, 

Blueberry & Cream Cheese, Cinnamon, Cream Cheese, 

Strawberry & Cream Cheese and Double Chocolate. All flavors are $13 except Double 

Chocolate which is $14. Local orders only as they are perishable. Let me know what you'd 

like! 

60+ Meals in the Freezer Week 1

I am roughly 8 weeks away from having our 5th baby. Children numbers 6 and 7 not far behind...
Basketball season is in full swing and we are about a month out from baseball and soccer starting up.
Oh and there is homeschooling, fundraising and adoption paperwork too. Every year I start out with good intentions but fall in the trap of fast food. Taco Casa and Little Caesars are our go-to's when we are crunched for time and money. Where else can you feed a family of 6 for $10? I am determined not to let that happen this spring so I'm filling my freezer. I've been freezer cooking for a couple of years and still getting the hang of it. My goal is to put 10 meals in the freezer each week until Abby's arrival. I thought I'd share them in case anyone else wants to join me.
These are not necessarily "healthy meals' but many of them can be adjusted. Right now our priority is getting our kids home. These prices are all based on the cheapest NOT the best for you brand. If your grocery budget is more flexible, please make the better choices!

Bacon Ranch Chicken

I got this recipe from Crockin'Girls but made some adjustments (More sauce & noodles to stretch the meal and fill more little tummies). It's one of my favorites because it requires so little prep time and you just drop it in the crock pot the day you want to serve it.

20 lb chicken breast or tenders. $45.92  (4 Great Value frozen 5lb bags)
I have only been using 3 bags (15 lb) lately. The kids prefer it and it cuts costs to $34.44
16 cups sour cream                   $11.84  (8 Great Value 16oz)
15 cans cream of chicken soup  $10.95  (15 Great Value 10.5oz cans)
15 packets ranch dressing mix   $18.45  (7.5 Hidden Valley Ranch 2 packs)
15 tsp minced garlic                   $3.95    (1 Gourmet Garlic 4oz tube-leftovers keep for another recipe)
30 tbs bacon bits                       $4.98    (3 Great Value 2.5oz bag)
10 boxes of egg noodles            $10.00  (Great Value 16oz boxes)
Total for 10 recipes=$106.09 ($94.61 if you use 15 lb chicken)
Total for 1 meal (serves about 8)=$10.06 ($9.46 if you use 15 lb chicken)

Directions:
Divide chicken evenly between 10 containers. I like to use gallon ziplock bags because they take up less freezer space. Reusable containers are a less wasteful option.

Mix together sour cream, cream of chicken, ranch, garlic and bacon and pour (divided evenly) over the chicken.

Seal (I double bag just in case and reuse the outer bags next time.) and lay flat in freezer

When you are ready to use just pull from freezer and place in crock pot on high for 4-5 hours (less if you thaw first).

While it is cooking, cook 1 box of noodles for 1-2 minutes less then the suggested time.

When the chicken is cooked through, shred and return to sauce in the crock pot. Add cooked noodles and let sit for a few minutes and serve.

I usually serve with steamed broccoli.

An easy NO PREP freezer breakfast or treat

We are selling these amazing braided pastries through 

1/24/14. They are perfect for the busy mom because they 

come frozen. You set them out the night before to let the 

dough rise (they just about triple in size) and then bake. All 

proceeds got to our adoption fund.Available flavors: Apple, 

Blueberry & Cream Cheese, Cinnamon, Cream Cheese, 

Strawberry & Cream Cheese and Double Chocolate. All flavors are $13 except Double 

Chocolate which is $14 Local orders only as they are perishable. Let me know what you'd 

like! 

My "plan" is to make 10 of 1 recipe each week until Abby's arrival. I will try to add to this post each time as I purchase the ingredients and break down costs.

Even in the Waiting....

In the midst of all of the waiting and planning, life goes on...and these kids know how to live it to the fullest.

Working on the ranch with Papa Phil is pretty much everyone's favorite thing to do. So thankful we live next door.  They are working on convincing him that they need some goats and chickens now. Getting there;)

We are loving our co op classes and fun field trips.

Melody and Joshua got to play on the same team this year with Daddy as Coach!

 Boss is FINALLY starting to settle down

and Caleb still insists on doing everything Mommy does.

Of course Daddy still has high hopes his other hobby

  We learned about McAllisters $1 kids meals!
(Seriously, they are only $1!)

 officially ran out of stocking space

 and took many trips to our awesome zoo!

 I think the girls room is all ready to go. All we need is a sister to share it with.

 Lots of time with our cousins has made me realize we are going to need a bigger table...and kitchen

 Grandpa Don came to Texas and introduced the kids to Rain Forest Cafe

 and LegoLand!!!

 Of course we are still waiting and planning and treasuring the little things....

like new pictures!

Would you look at those faces!!!!

Fundraising!

We wanted to give everyone a chance to get through the holidays before we started but now...the Holts are in full fundraising mode!!!! Our goal is to raise about $15,000 by the end of March-yikes! We hope to cover as much of the adoption from our own income but need to be fundraising as much as possible so that we have all we need as fees are due. Any funds left in our adoption account will be donated to either another adoption fund or an orphanage. Maybe we'll take a vote when the time comes?
I am happy to answer any questions about when and where the money will be used. We have already had so many friends and family helping in this area and we want to keep everything out in the open for you.
We have a few fundraisers coming up and I will be updating this blog and posting to facebook as they are ready.

Sister's birthday is just a couple of weeks away. It's her last birthday without her family!!!!!!!!! Last year while we "celebrated" her birthday, it was a hard day as we grieved her absence. This year we celebrate with hope and full faith that she is coming home. We are having a Birthday Giveaway in her honor. My hope is to raise $500 by January 11. On the 12th if our goal is reached, I will draw for 3 names.

The first will receive this beautiful premium Scentsy warmer and your choice of 3 bars from my stock. 

The second will receive this Introduction to Essential Oils Kit which includes the introductory audio CD and booklet and a 5 ml bottle of dōTERRA's Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade Lavender, Lemon, and Peppermint essential oils.

The third will receive a $25 Amazon gift card!

There are 2 ways you can enter.

First
Share this blog post on Facebook or your blog for ONE entry. Be sure and tag me or send me the link!

Second
Make a donation. $5 for 2 entries. $10 for 3 entries. $25 for 10 entries!!!!

Where to make your donation

Donations can be given in person or mailed to 

Holt Family Adoption
2110 Fort Worth Highway
Weatherford, TX 76086

Or you can donate online at our Reece's Rainbow Family Sponsorship Page. Donations made here are tax deductible. If you donate online you must email a copy of your receipt to (sarah.m.holt@gmail.com) to be entered in the giveaway.

Thanks for helping us bring our babies home!

My Provider

This week has been HARD. I like to be tough and independent and a glass half full kind of girl, but I was physically, mentally and emotionally broken over the past few days. Do you ever have one of those moments where no one thing has been devastating but just so many little things come at once that you feel defeated? I know adoption plays a huge role in this. There's no way to explain the heaviness you feel constantly knowing that your little ones are still waiting for you on the other side of the ocean...still.  In addition to that I had just found out that I will have to make the big trips to Eastern Europe with Jacob for the adoption and while I'm thrilled at the chance to spend more time with Captain and Sister, I am nervous about leaving the kids, traveling with a new born and of course the travel expenses (a large portion of our total cost) now doubled. Anyway, this week... Jacob was out of town. That's never a good start. I forget how much I need him until he's not here. We were down to one working toilet, washing machine quit working and to top it off we caught the flu. With our new insurance plan I spent about $700 in one day on urgent care and medicine! Naturally I had really started to stress out over our finances. Jacob has been blessed with a wonderful job that provides nicely for our family but adoption expenses wiped us out this month. Knowing we still had to come up with another $20,000 for the adoption was just overwhelming and really felt impossible. My faith was fading fast.
 This morning I was telling Jacob how glad I was that I had cooked up so many freezer meals last month because our grocery money for the next few weeks was gone and that we would need to at least get some fruit this week especially with everyone fighting the flu. I just needed to wait until we had paid all of our bills and put gas in the cars to do it. At nap time I walked over to mom's (next door) to put a load of clothes in her washing machine and when I got back just a couple of minutes later would you guess what was on my porch? A box full of juice, crackers, a sweet note and FRUIT. I'm sure the sweet friend who dropped it by has know idea the magnitude of this gift. To anyone else it was a box of fruit but to me it was a message from my heavenly Father saying, "Daughter, I've got this. Just trust me. I've had it all along. Put your trust in Me, your Provider. Sit back and watch Me work." In that box was the one thing I had said we needed today.
So with all that said I want to tell you a little more about the journey we went through last year and how we got to where we are now. If you remember it was September of 2012 that we first committed to making Captain and Sister part of our family. In reality it was an email sent but in our hearts we became a family of 8 and they have been a part of us ever since. Of course just a week or so later we received the news that the kids were not available for adoption and likely never would be. They would just grow up in the orphanage until the day they aged out(15 I think). Statistically about 80% of girls who age out end up in prostitution and boys in some form of crime as well. Of course, they are still children with nothing and that is their hope of survival. It's absolutely heartbreaking and just wasn't an option for us. So we decided to fight for them. You can read more about that here. Please do, its a beautiful part of this journey that I am grateful for as painful as it was.
 I guess it was October 2012, just a few weeks later, that I first saw Beatrice. I knew God was calling us to her but didn't understand His intentions. I even begged Jacob to let us adopt her too but he knew she wasn't ours. Reece's Rainbow has a fundraiser every year where you pick a child from the Angel Tree and commit to raising money for them over the holidays. I realized that was why God had showed her to me but I was still reluctant. We had our own adoption to raise money for and we still had no idea how we were going to get the kids. Nothing had changed. They were still unavailable. He wanted us to starting fundraising for this other child who didn't even have a committed family??? I questioned Him and He answered. If you don't believe God speaks to us, you need to just be quiet and listen. Sometimes it's a still small voice and makes no sense. This time He told me to take care of Beatrice and He would take care of our children (Captain and Sister). So we did. We signed up and fundraised our little hearts out all the while wondering what He was up to. A few weeks into Angel Tree a family committed to adopting Beatrice. I was so excited! The family was wonderful and the mom and I became fast friends. I shared with her what had happened in our adoption and she knew someone who might be able to help! Did you catch that? We were taking care of Beatrice and God in His sovereignty brought someone into Beatrice's adoption story that knew someone that could help us! Just like He said! This person was an attorney from the country where our children are and she has done such amazing work! God used her to get our kids registered as orphans and available for adoption. She has been such a blessing to us and our kids. I can't help but wonder how things would have played out if we had not obeyed God.
So in continuing with obedience and trusting God to be our Provider, I am going to ask you for money. It's not for us. I know we may need to start some serious fundraising in the near future, but I have faith that God is faithful and He will do it just as He promised. I can't wait to watch. Right now the Tannehills who are adopting Beatrice are still short about $13,000. They expect to travel in January. I am asking the Body of Christ to rise up and be the hands and feet of Jesus. Trust Him with your finances. Give up something else and give to the Tannehills. I don't preach a doctrine of health and wealth, but I do believe that obedience is followed by blessing. Take a little step of faith. Just see what happens.
http://reecesrainbow.org/60992/sponsortannehill
 NOVEMBER 28 UPDATE!
AND SPEAKING OF OUR GREAT PROVIDER...THE TANNEHILLS ARE FULLY FUNDED!!!!! 

November-National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month so I'd like to spend a little time discussing ....adoption.
I'd love to write a happy feel good post but this just isn't it. Honestly as a Christian it's just embarrassing. So if you want to avoid conviction, go ahead and check out now.

I said in my last post that I would spend some more time addressing the question "why adopt?"

Honestly, its pretty simple. There are an estimated 132 million orphans in the world. We are a family. We have a home. They have neither. Adoption is the answer. It drives me crazy that adopting families have to spend so much time defending their decision to adopt, especially amongst other Christians!

Really? Have we all forgotten how we were saved? Were you born into the family of God? Or maybe, you were broken, unwanted, alone...and Someone saw value in you. Someone was willing to risk His own pain, discomfort, vulnerability...was willing to give up riches, to pay the ultimate price...all so you could be...ADOPTED.

  ^"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12

  "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father."For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children."  Romans 8:14-16

  "But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father." Galations 4:4-6


 There are some common traps we Christians fall into. The first is that our calling is insignificant(just a mother, just a teacher... )  We envy those with "greater" ministries- because we were called to stay at home instead on moving overseas or called teach a Sunday school class rather than preaching to the multitudes. We forget that we are all part of a bigger picture and our job is to be the very best_____ that we can and do everything with excellence as unto the Lord.

 However, the even greater trap is that because we were called to be ______ we are exempt from other ministries. What a great job the enemy has done...and we let him. We have convinced ourselves that taking care of the orphan is someone else's calling, so much so that there are an estimated 132 million orphans in the world!!! That's just embarrassing! But but but... Look at our church! The sanctuary is overflowing! Look at this community event we put on! See how we donated to the food bank and pray for this missionary and volunteered in this fundraiser?... All while the most vulnerable are left helpless because we are too scared to step out of our comfort zones. Because we are so caught up in material things that we can't possibly pay the ransom for a lonely hurting child? Because we are too busy, too tired, too old, too young, too poor, too ....disobedient, selfish???



So if you are waiting to hear the call, here you go

  "Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed." Psalm 82:3

  “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40

 "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." James 1:27

" So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." James 4:17

Please visit our Family Sponsorship Page to see where we are at in our adoption journey.