It's a......

BOY!!!!!!

It's official we have been matched!! The baby is due at the beginning of May and is going to be born in Colorado. This situation came about very much as a surprise and is happening very quickly. I can't share a lot of details on line but he is healthy and is going to be born by c-section.

We have had to take a loan out for a large portion of the fees but still have a lot more to go. We need another large amount right now but are trying to postpone it a little bit longer.

We have some fundraisers scheduled in March and are working on some more in May. These are the ones scheduled as of right now:

March 1st Chick Fil A at Duncan from 5:30-8:30
You HAVE to tell them that you are there for our adoption fundraiser or we will not get credit for the sale.


March 22nd Fuddruckers on Woodruff Road from  5-8
At this one we get a percentage of all sales during this time


March 31st  Pizza Inn in Duncan from 5-8
We also get a portion of all sales during this time period


One of our needs, besides funds, are air miles that we can use for plane tickets there and back. IF you would have any that you would like to donate we would greatly appreciate it.

 Remember to check out our you caring page and donate if you can. There is also a link to a Paypal account if you would rather do that. WE believe that God has called us to adopt this baby and if I can be honest, I don't know how we are going to get enough money to do it in just 2 months. I do know that my God can do anything and He is asking us to take a leap of faith so that He can be glorified through it all.

Youcaring page
https://www.youcaring.com/hopepoteat-1033623

Baby number 2

I haven't used our blog since right before we brought Sadie home. I inundated everyone with pictures and updates through Facebook. So our baby girl that I wrote about has gone from this:

                            


To this:

It is unreal how fast that happened. She took my breath the moment she was born. I never realized that my heart could love someone so incredibly much. We had actually discussed adopting our second child when Sadie was two but felt too overwhelmed financially. Honestly we don't feel less overwhelmed but can't stop but feel that God has laid this time on our heart to start growing our family.
Here are some of the thoughts that go through my mind as we start:

*How are we going to raise that much money again?!?!?
*We have a child, how am I going to be able to devote as much time as I did with Sadie to fundraising?
*Will people feel led to donate like they did with Sadie since we already have a child?
*What if people think that we should be happy with the child we have??

I know that the answer to most of those questions are God is in charge but my human nature brings serious doubt to the forefront of my mind. We do believe that God has called us to adopt again and very specially at this time. It doesn't make much sense but God just asks us to trust him. This is very hard for me (more so than Chris) but I am doing it.  We have already raised $7,000 but will need much more in order to adopt. We have an upcoming fundraiser at Pizza Inn, March 31. I am also working on some other fundraisers right now so I will keep you updated.

I also want to share our youcaring page for anyone would like to donate. Please share our blog post on Facebook also.

https://www.youcaring.com/hopepoteat-1033623

Less than a week!!!

As you can tell from the title of the blog we are less than a week from going to West Virginia to meet our baby girl. We will be leaving January 2 because our birth mother is supposed to be admitted into the hospital January 3 and induced January 4th in the morning and we don't want to miss anything!! Our birth mother had her last doctor's appointment today but we haven't been able to talk because something is wrong with her phone. She was able to call the attorney's office and let them know that. Hopefully I will be able to talk to her tomorrow!!

I am washing everything and packing it up to get ready to leave. Up until today our housing arrangement was up in the air while we were in West Virginia. We weren't sure if we were going to have to pay for a hotel room or what. God blessed us with a friend here that was able to contact a pastor who is going to let us stay with his family. They have a room above the garage that they are going to let us stay in. Praise the Lord!!!

Hopefully the next time I will post it will be after I am a mommy and I will be able to show everyone the sweet baby you have been praying for!!!

We are still $1700 away from the amount of money the attorney needs. He would really like to have it before we leave but I told him there was no way. If you would like to donate you can use PayPal or mail us a check. We are having checks go to my parents house. !28 Coldspring Drive Spartanburg, SC 29301.

Thank you again for all each of you have done whether by praying or donating or both. God has blessed us immensely in so many ways and we cant begin to express our gratitude to Him and each of you!

Last Fundraiser (I hope!!)

We are gift wrapping again for our final fundraiser. This is how we started our fundraising last year and hopefully this will be how we end it!! :) Here are the prices:

Holiday Gift Wrapping

Pricing Guide

                                 Simple/Kids:                       Elegant:

Small                            $1.00                                 $2.00

Medium                        $1.50                                 $3.00

Large                            $2.00                                 $4.00

Oversized                     $3.00+                               $5.00

Simply/Kid wrapped gifts include wrapping paper, small plastic bow, and gift tag.

Elegantly wrapped gifts include wrapping paper, bow made from tulle and raffia, and gift tag.

Your contribution is going directly to adoption costs!

For more information contact:

cdpoteat@bellsouth.net      or       864-431-9944

She's almost here!!!!!!!

Sorry for the delay in posts, our computer is on the fritz. Our visit to West Virginia went PERFECTLY!! Our plan was just to take out birth mother out to dinner talk for a little bit and take her back home. It went better than that!! She really enjoyed spending time with us and we enjoyed spending time with her. Every time we offered to take her back home she said, "No, I like spending time with you guys." We were able to share of story of where God has brought us to over the last 5 years and tell her how special she is and always will be to us because of the gift she is giving to us.

She has been going to the doctor like she is supposed to. She actually went today and sent me a text about how it went. She said YOUR DAUGHTER'S heart beat is 140. Oh that made this mama's heart so happy to see YOUR daughter. She has another appointment next Thursday with an ultrasound. Sadie is measuring big so the doctor's not sure if she's just big or they have her due date wrong. As it stand rights now, our birth mother will be admitted into the hospital January 3rd and be induced January 4th. So Sadie should make her arrival on January 4th, her daddy's birthday!!!! I think it will be so neat for them to share a birthday.

We are only 5 weeks away from getting the best present of our lives. We are so excited we can't stand it!!!!

We are only $2,150 away from raising all the money we need. I am planning on doing another gift wrap fundraiser like I did last year. Oh and also since the last time I wrote we had another fundraiser at Pizza Inn and raised $1,100!!! I can't believe how tremendously God has blessed us!!

Things are going good!

Everything has been going very well with our birthmother. I have talked to her about every week and a half. It is starting to get easier for us to talk about things (phew). I hate the akward silence. She is still going to the doctor and everything is checking out well.

We are actually going to visit the birthmother the weekend of October 27th. This will give us an opporunity to hopefully make things a little more comfortable and just continue to get to know each other. Each time I talk to her she reminds me of how ready she is to have this baby and give her to us :) She is a constant reminder to her of how she had been violated and treated with no respect. I also remind her that at the same time she is a blessing to us because she is carrying our FIRST child. She is taking care of her and protecting her while I can not. She will never know what  blessing she is and how much love I have for her.

Recently during one of my prayer times I was telling God how I know that even though I would have gladly taken the baby from California I know that His timing is perfect, even when it doesn't seem like it is. I would have had such disdain for the other birthmother had she actually placed her baby with us that there was probably NO way I could have humanly loved her because of such the hard time she had (and probably would have) given us.

How perfect is MY God that He knew that and He wanted me to have a love for the birthmother of my child. That even when I wanted the other baby so desperately He knew that that was NOT His best for me. Why would I have ever wanted that? I am so thankful for a God that can meet our needs, calm my heart, and love on me the way no one else can do. I can't wait to see what my God has in store for Sadie Grace!!

Sugar and spice and everything nice...

It's official we are matched with a LITTLE GIRL!!!!!! We received a phone call Thursday, August 30 telling us about this baby, then we had our conference call with the birth mother September 3rd.

 Things were very different this time the birth mother was told about us but didn't get our portfolio. She only talked to us. The last time the birth mother was given two portfolios to pick from and then we had a conference call,then we found out the next day that she wanted to use us. This time our conference call lasted 5 minutes whereas lat time it lasted 1 hour, and we found out that night that we were matched. Here is some of. The background on this situation: this is the birth mother's 9 pregnancy. She only has two children living with her AND she has already adopted out one of her children using the same attorney and adoption agency we are using right now. Sadly for her a man forced himself on her and that is how she got pregnant so she is very eager to for someone else to have this baby. She is located in Huntington,West Virginia and Sadie Grace (our chosen name) is due January 7th. The birth mother has been going to the doctor and taking prenatal vitamins. She also not done drugs or alcohol.
If you would like to know how you can pray for us here's how:
1. We still need $4,000 for the adoption and possibly more if we have to do another home study. Pray for guidance on what to do for fundraisers and that God would touch people's heart to give.
 2. We would like to find someone to stay with (like we had in California) so to avoid the cost of a hotel room.
3. Pray that there will not be any snow on the ground when we have to leave Togo get her since we will be driving.
4. Pray for our birth mother as she prepares to give her child to us.