Meet Jessica, your gonna love her!

I'm so excited about today! Y'all really happy dance kind of excited! Jessica, darling amazing Jessica is blogging today! She and her hubby are in the process of adopting and I asked her to share some of their story here today! I hope you love her and her little family as much as I've grown to love them!

Hi Sassy Friends!

I'm so excited to be hanging out here today! A little history about our family, Travis & I met in a "love at first sight" moment in a sales training room in the spring of 2001. We had both moved to Charleston, SC in the fall of 2000. Travis had lived in Virginia his entire life, and I was born in Ohio and moved here after I graduated from college in Indiana. Two years later, we were married in historic downtown Charleston.

We loved our time working together. Travis is still in sales; and I've been in various positions at our church for the last eight-ish year. I'm pretty much a stay at home mom at this point; but I still get to work on some specific projects and tasks for the church. We are the parents to two amazing little boys, Austin James, aka AJ, (just turned 5..sniff sniff) and Justus Reed, aka Baby J, (15 months). I don't know what else to say. We're pretty real. We're not perfect. Life is a bit messy and we are just dump trucked by God's grace and love on a daily basis.

Have you always wanted to adopt?

Pretty much! The first week that Travis and I were dating, we both realized we had a connection to hoping to adopt a child one day. I think we both thought this child would be a little girl, too. One of my BFFs who I met in college had been adopted as an infant from S. Korea. One of my closest child hood friends had also been adopted domestically as an infant. Travis had also dated a girl who had been adopted from S. America. God used both of those relationships to knit into our hearts a desire to adopt a child. I think in 2001, we just thought someday we'd have an extra $25,000-ish dollars lying around somewhere.

Fast forward to this past summer, through various circumstances, God confirmed in our hearts that the time to start the adoption process was now. It wasn't the best time financially; but God said it was time. We prayed a lot and said "Yes! Let's starting walking this path!"

In the middle of that, after reading some pretty amazing books on adoption, we realized that God is really laying on our hearts to fully grasp our identity as children of God. Too really "get", that we are all adopted as heirs to the God of the universe, that we get the inheritance of our Father. Somehow in the midst of that, we feel that God is telling us that this adoption journey is not just about us; but that we are being called to somehow be involved in orphan care as a whole. We don't know what that looks like yet. So, we are a bit freaked out and completely excited at the same time!

What has been the biggest struggle in the process?

Well, we are still at the beginning stages of this process. But, I think initially our first struggle was to trust God for the finances. We started off with about $200 in an account. Not even enough money to cover the application feeds. (We have raised/saved about $7000 and that means we have raised 25% of the funds!) I also really struggled with choosing an agency and just getting all the information. We weren't as fully connected to an adoption community at the beginning, so we really didn't know where to start. We kept hearing "do your research" on agencies; but we didn't know what that looked like. We did finally pick a great agency; but just recently realize that their program for the country we feel called to might not be the best match for us anymore. So, switching gears and starting more paperwork over again has been a bit challenging. It's mainly just the fact that it takes time to track down all of this paperwork and all of our old addresses and write up autobiographies, etc. Right now, our only challenge is just the process itself. However, we know there is a lot more to come and that the real challenge will come when our sweet little girl comes home. I was eager to get moving and wish we were further along; but God has really given us peace now on the pace we've been moving.

What has surprised you the most about adopting?

Well, very early on, we had a couple negative reactions that were a bit surprising. However, most of our friends and family have extremely generous and supportive with words, their time and finances. But, the real surprise has been the support from people we don't know very well. God just keeps knitting our family into the hearts of people we barely know. We've received several checks in the mail from people we barely know that have felt that God told them to support us. We also have been so surprised and humbled by the fundraisers that happen for us when we don't even have to do anything. That keeps knocking us back on our behinds and knees in humility and just praise to God. We love the new friendships that God is giving us through this.

If you could give any advice what would it be?

Well, I don't feel very qualified to be an adoption expert at all. However, another surprising aspect of our journey so far has been the fact that I've had at least a dozen conversations with other friends who tell me they've always been interested in adopting and are eagerly watching our journey. They have shared that they always thought you needed a lot of money. So, my advice is to not allow fear to slow your family down. If you believe God is leading your family into adoption, don't allow fear to stop you. Start walking and trust him for the finances.

Thank you so much Jessica for taking the time and sharing with everyone! You guys can follow her blog at Bamboo & Pluff Mud.

There are some great ways to help Jessica in their fund raising process! Just Love Coffee has an amazing story; you can buy some really amazing coffee & part of it money goes not only Jessica's adoption fund but, some other really amazing places, take some time to check them out!

Adding to the coffee theme, you can buy a knitted coffee cup sleeve from The Fontenot Four, part of the proceeds go directly to Jessica's fund

And finally... The Sassy Shop who me? ;). I'm selling adorable Tree artwork. Totally customize-able with the quote "I Carried You In My Heart", a name, or any other quote. All the proceeds from these pieces go to the adoption fund!

So have a great weekend guys & Happy New Years! See ya'll next year.