"My Crazy Adoption"

If you've never hopped over to the blog "My Crazy Adoption", it's a great place to stop in! Kari Gibson (daughter of Gary Smalley) and her husband adopted little Zoie from Ethiopia last year, and are in the process to adopt again.

She's created a website that touches on everything from recipes to adoption, and is a great resource!

I love her "Simply Love" t-shirts they're selling as a fundraiser...esp. the men's t-shirt, which says "Man Up. Protect and Love the Fatherless." The back of the women's t-shirt says "If you are a Christian, then orphans are your thing." We'll be sporting them before too long! (If you all knew a secret code that Mark didn't know, I could tell you that I'm buying them now while they're available and saving them for our Mother's Day and Father's Day gifts this year, but I don't know a secret code. So shhh... don't tell, and maybe he will forget that he read this).

Fun!

We just received our first check from our Just Love Coffee fundraiser store! It wasn't much, but more than we had before...we're grateful to those of you who have started buying coffee from us!

I must say (and I can be unbiased here b/c I have no control over the product whatsoever) that it is some seriously.good.coffee.

If you haven't tried it yet, check it out! www.justlovecoffee.com/milligan. Our adoption fund receives $5/bag of coffee sold, $9/sampler. Every bag of coffee brings Karis one step closer out of an orphanage and into our home!

The storefront still appears that you have to join the coffee club, and you don't...you can just purchase ala carte. If you purchase some, leave a comment to let us know how you like it!

So far our my favorite is Selam Tsehai, but Ethiopian Sidamo is on its way right now (despite my best efforts over the past 12 years, Mark is still not a coffee drinker)!

They have also just added an espresso blend, there are green beans for those who like to roast their own, and all coffees can come either whole bean or ground. There are also a few samplers if you're not sure which one you'd like to try first!

Another great note is that the Swiss Water Decaf is not treated chemically...it is very hard to find a naturally decaffeinated coffee!

So head on over to make sure you have all the coffee you need for Christmas entertaining, and enjoy knowing you're helping create one less orphan in the world!

Read For Orphans Results are in!

Well, mostly, that is!

We are just blown away by how God has used the lives of kids (and their super-supportive parents AND friends and relatives who did the sponsoring!) to bless our daughter in Ethiopia by helping to bring her home. Blown. Away.

The results are trickling in, and I have some "sort-of" tallies...as in, I've been informed of total amounts earned, & checks are still arriving, but I don't yet know how much each child has read in order to award some Amazon gift certificates (though I just found an awesome website with great Ethiopian kids books I wish I had known about to award with instead)! If anyone else participated that I don't have recorded here, please leave me a comment or drop me an email!

So, in no particular order, here's what I know:

Times Five kids:
Jordan...raised $58
Christian...raised $82.50
Adam...raised $73.50
Eden...raised $60
Maria...raised $118

Friend of the Times Five gang, who helped us despite never even meeting us before!
Hannah M...read 40 books and raised $68

From our church:
Jordan L. from AK...read 20 chapters and raised $200
Dakota L. from AK...read 24 chapters and raised $150

Our nieces and nephews in PA:
Walter, Lesley, Laura, Katie, and Ethan M...raised $450

And the siblings trying to bring their sister home:
Andrew...read 39 books and raised $194
Jacob...read 41 books and raised $166.40
Anna...read ? books and raised $10 (not sure if reading books to herself while on the potty counts, or her shortened attention span during bedtime stories with the boys...but Grandma M. sponsored her anyway)! :)

Can you believe it?!?
16 kids working together raised $1630.40!!!

God's workings never cease to amaze me. We are continually humbled by the outpouring of love and graciousness by those around us as we make our way through this new territory.

To all of the kids who gave of their time and efforts in seeking out sponsors and in READING, we just want to say THANK YOU!!!

To those parents who helped record and tally and collect...THANK YOU!!!

To the faithful sponsors who were willing to put a high price tag on a simple activity because of the cause...THANK YOU!!!