We’ve now officially been on the waitlist for two months. The hard part about adopting two kids is that we are given no estimate on the amount of time it will take to get a referral. It could come tomorrow… or it could be another six months. It’s hard to wait when you don’t know how long the wait will be. People ask me all the time if we’ve heard anything about the kids… I wish… honestly, we won’t hear anything at all until we are actually introduced to the two little ones who will be our children. So trust me people… when we hear anything we’ll tell everyone…

We got a check in the mail yesterday for $2,000. Friends are good… God is great!

Is this shameless or what?!

“Adoption isn’t the best option, not even close…it’s the 5th best option”. I have been hearing this phrase more and more lately. No one should argue that adoption is the best option for kids. We desire familial love and care for every kid under the sun, whatever race, whatever religion, whatever continent…but we know that just isn’t always the case.
 
It’s hard living in this broken, busted up world. We live in the reality that God already reigns over all, but we drink equally of the reality that our world isn’t yet fully restored. I struggle daily between these two. I see dirty and wrong things being restored, but we also see beautiful things being tainted.
 
We press on in the reality of the “already, not yet.” 

So, for our kids… best option would be to stay with their birth family. Second best option would be to stay with relatives, third best option would be to stay in their country and their community, fourth best option would be to be adopted by an african american family somewhere, fifth best option is… us.

Sometimes the first four options don’t work out… for the ones that don’t get one through four… we’re happy to welcome you to the Briggs Family! And more than anything we want you to know that you were OUR first choice!

~Alan and Julie

Alan and I were incredibly blessed at our adoption fundraiser dinner this past Friday night. We were blown away by the friends we have who would work early and late and several for long hours helping us with this event. Then we were blown away by the turnout and the generosity of people with their check books. We had about 60 people show up and overall we raised $1,500 that night. This far exceeded our expectations and we’re so blessed. We’re well on our way to $20,000 raised. We can’t believe how good God is and how good our community is. Thank you so much for all you’ve done for us and our future kids. Now we just have to wait and find out who they are…

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!

Last week one of Alan’s friends asked him to do a painting he could use as a wedding gift. All he said was it needs to be black, white, and grey, and have a guitar in it. This is what Alan came up with:

Personalized paintings make great Christmas/wedding/birthday gifts. If you want to do something unique and special this year consider contracting a painting. All the proceeds go straight towards our adoption. If you’re interested in having Alan paint something for you contact us at juliebriggsis(at)gmail(dot)com. Or call Alan’s cell at 719-271-5866.

So… we’ve now officially been waiting one month. One month down… who knows how many to go…

Also, we’re hosting a fundraiser for our adoption… here are the details… hope you can make it!

When?

Friday November 13th 6:30 PM

Where?

Dub Euro Upper Lounge 3958 N. Academy Blvd. (Accross from Vanguard Church)

Who?

Anyone interested in supporting our adoption…who RSVP’s!!!

Why?

To raise money & awareness for our adoption

How much?

$15 per person

We have been accepted to the wait list, and are waiting to find out who our kids will be. This process will take a few more months but we still have a lot of money to raise. We would love to have you attend, eat dinner with us, peruse homemade & Ethiopian art (available for donation), and hear more of our heart for our Ethiopian adoption. We are preparing a gourmet meal for each person so you MUST RSVP.

- RSVP to juliebriggsis(at)gmail(dot)com by Nov 6th

Hope to see you there!!

Alan and Julie Briggs

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

When he sells this…

To buy one of these…

Goodbye mountain bike… hello cruiser…

Today we have been married for two wonderful years. Many people asked how the first year of marriage was… “did you fight a lot? was it hard to get used to living with a boy/girl? was it difficult to mesh two lives together?”

Honestly, I can say that our first year of marriage was the best year of my life. It was a different kind of adventure than I’d ever had before. I’d tell people “I get to live with my best friend and have a sleep over every night.”

I’m not saying we’ve never had a disagreement and we don’t get on each other’s nerves sometimes… but overall the last two years have been such a blessing and I don’t know of anyone else I would have rather spent them with.

AL, I love you more than you know and you love me more than I deserve… here’s to the rest of our lives!

(Only three years until Massanutten!)

I love you, happy anniversary!

Julie