Adoption Fund Goal Met!

     Thanks to friends who organized and prepared the goodies for an Adoption Fundraiser Bake Sale we were able to finish up our Adoption Fund goal. We were so excited! We were so grateful for all the time, energy, and sharing of baked goods on our behalf. We were especially grateful to Amy who organized it all. What a blessing to have such friends and family!  As we have walked along in this journey it has been amazing to see how God blessed us through friends, complete strangers, and family. Thank you so much to all!
     Month by month we wait for our family to expand. Thankfully my Neil is the most patient man I have ever met. He encourages me when I am feeling impatient or discouraged that's for sure. We have had several adoption opportunities comes and go. It's best to realize the door to our children will open when it's meant to be. All we can do is knock and wait. We are in that waiting spot at the moment. Waiting to see if we will be chosen for an adoption situation. It's really kind of breathtaking to realize how our life could change so swiftly when the time comes we can adopt. In a biological birth you know for 9 months this little life will be joining your family. In adoption you wait and wait some more, depending on your situation of where/when/type of adoption you choose it can take years. Then a day in time arrives and this child/children arrives in your home. A new chapter in life begins.
    Through what I consider to be a trial in my life I am very blessed with friends and family who encourage me. I know God's timing is perfect and He must have children who are meant to be our children to share our love, life, and home with. I look forward to meeting them! We love them already...
   
   
   

Living While We Wait

                                                    Neil and I celebrating my birthday.

While we wait to welcome a child into our home life must go on. A life that is focused on the Lord, focused on each other, and focused on preparing our hearts and lives for the doors God will open for us. Trying to have a biological child has been taxing both emotionally and financially. There is always the hope that “this month” we will be pregnant. We have had that hope for over three years, still no child. Infertility hurts. It’s hard, it can be lonely, and painful in ways you didn’t think of or know existed when this journey unexpectedly began.

 We chose to walk down the path of adoption, as we had always planned on doing. God seemed to lead us to a wonderful small Christian adoption agency. There we are waiting for a birth mother/father to choose us. We began working with them in February. Still we wait. We have no idea how long we will wait. It could be a year, two years, three, or more. I recently read of a couple who waited for six years before they were able to adopt. In my heart I was crying, “Oh please Lord, don’t make us wait six years!”

What are we doing while we wait? We are living life. Living to the fullest, and learning patience in God’s perfect timing while we do so. We are saving the rest of the money needed for an adoption. With every dollar we add we are so grateful for the generosity of other's who have blessed us! We are adding the finishing touches on our home remodeling. (Painting and more painting is needed.) We are decorating two rooms in our home. One a boy’s room, one a girl’s room as we dream of the children who may live in them one day. In the meantime our nephews and nieces are able to use them when here. 

We are enjoying each other and growing in our marriage. We desire to serve the Lord together and be a blessing to those around us. We are enjoying all the times spent with our family and friends. We are delighting in our little nephews and nieces and all the days and times we spend with them. We enjoy drives on Sunday afternoons, stopping in a park for a walk on occasion. 

We are so happy for any friends or family who are able to welcome a new child into their home. We are very aware of the great blessing God has just bestowed on the family where that baby has been born. We are thrilled for the family who has been able to adopt a child and welcome them into their hearts. We are busy, we are happy, we are living in the present, and yes, we are waiting. One thing the last years have taught us is, we must live.

We don’t want to live our lives in constant anguish, or bitterness, or tears because we haven’t been able to have children. We are human, both of us. We have our times of tears, the moments of asking God why. The fears that we won’t “measure up” to whatever birthparents are looking for and we will never be chosen to be the family for a child. We daily hope that maybe “tomorrow” will be the day we get a call saying we have been “chosen”, yet with each passing day a new tomorrow begins.

 Something we have learned in this journey is of our heart’s great desire to have children. We talk and pray for the day God will bless us. You learn how precious something is to you when you can’t and don’t have it. There's nothing wrong with hoping for and longing for the day when we will be parents. The day when a child will bring such joy to our hearts. Yet, God is and must be our greater desire. We are living for Him, and because of that we can wait. We can learn to be patient. We can learn to have hope. We can learn to have peace in our stormy moments of fear and impatience. We can learn to be thankful for all the blessings and gifts God has bestowed on us. We can learn that God is love and to trust that He knows His plans for our lives.

So if you are wondering what we are doing. We are living while we wait.  

Adoption Fundraiser Thank You

Our youngest niece, Deborah, who is named after Jennifer's Mom. Isn't she beautiful! Our nephews and nieces can't wait to have cousins. They are trying their best to be patient. :-)

The Adoption Fundraiser through The Modest Mom Blog was amazing. Thank you!
In total there was $1, 816.00 donated during the fundraiser! What a great blessing. We wanted to thank each and every one who has participated in the adoption fundraiser at The Modest Mom Blog. It has been a blessing and encouragement to read the comments that were shared. For those who have walked this path before, or are walking this path now, our hearts are with you. 


We really appreciate the prayers being offered. We greatly appreciate those who shared a financial donation. Each and every donation was a great blessing and we were so excited by this. Thank you to all! Thank you to our sweet sister/sister-in-law who had it on her heart to begin this adoption fundraiser on our behalf. We want to thank each company that donated an item for this adoption fundraiser. It was wonderful to see your willingness to help and share.

We are choosing joy daily and desiring to be patient as we wait. We are looking forward to the day ahead when God brings a child to our home. We don’t know when that will be, but we have some love 

to share when that day comes. Thank you to all for helping us reach for that day.

Blessings,

Neil and Jennifer Allen

Adoption Fundraiser with over $700 in Prizes!

From Jennifer Allen~
My sweet sister who blogs at The Modest Mom blog has asked a number of businesses to take part in an adoption fundraiser on our behalf. I was overwhelmed by those willing to take part in the fundraiser! Caroline was very excited as well. So thank you for all who were willing to donate for the fundraiser. Thank you to all who will take part in the fundraiser. We appreciate you!


The Adoption Fundraiser can be found here.

My Mother Dear-Part 2

You can read My Mother Dear-Part 1 here.

                                  My Mother, Deborah, holding a newborn granddaughter.

(Later in life she wanted to be called her legal name Deborah instead of Debbie.)

     After high school graduation Debbie entered into some wrong paths. Debbie began to feel disgusted with who she was and what she was doing. She would pause to reflect upon her life, not happy with the direction she was going. Debbie didn't know what was causing her uneasy heart. Debbie soon realized what it was, it was Jesus knocking at the door of her heart asking entrance in. She had a longing to leave the "old ways" of her life behind her. Debbie left them behind and never looked back. At that point Debbie was 21. In a matter of months she was married to a man who had very recently become a Christian himself. A new life was beginning to unfold.

     Debbie desired greatly to walk with Christ. She would open up God's Word and treasure the truth she was reading. She read that God wanted her to train up her children in His ways. This was a responsibility she took very seriously. As long as Debbie could remember she had wanted to be a Mommy. As a little girl her greatest joy was being "mommy" to be her younger sisters and to her dolly. She loved children!  By this time she was expecting her first child Jennifer. (That's me!) Debbie was trying to learn as fast as she could so that she could begin to teach her baby girl. In the next six years there would be a little boy born, Jason, followed by a little girl, Caroline. 

     In the years that followed our Mom threw her heart into being the best mother she could be, with the Lord as her guide. When she got sick with Lupus at the age of 39 she realized she had a lot of  head knowledge in her walk with Christ, but lacked in trusting completely in Him. Mom had a lot of vision for the pathway that she wanted her children raised. She taught us we must learn to depend on Jesus. There is not a single person on this earth that can meet our needs in our trials. There is not a single person on this earth who would even be able to recognize all that we are dealing with inside when we are in a trial. But God knows us, and He knows everything about that. We were taught many things by our mother. We were taught by her words, and we were taught by example. This was our eternal heritage from our mother. 

     These are examples of what I believe my heritage from my mother was. My "Mother Dear" as I called her was very faithful to give us a heritage of faith. She gave us the example of a woman who desired a true walk with Christ. Our heritage is having a mother who had a faith in God our Creator. Our heritage is having a mother who was a sinner, but would weep and repent of her sins. Our heritage is having a mother who chose to follow her God until the last breath she had on this earth. Our heritage is seeing our mother trip and fall and stumble as she served her Lord, but by the grace of God she got back up and continued in the race. Our heritage is of a mother who saw everything that God created for our eyes to see, our ears to hear, as a direct gift from God and a choice blessing for life. Mom spoke many times how God had taught her of His ways through His awesome beautiful creation. Finally, we have a heritage of a mother who did suffer in the flesh with many afflictions, but she continually cried out to her God. She cried for deliverance and comfort with a desire to learn the lessons God was teaching her in the midst of the trials. She was assured that her God would never ever leave her. She was assured He had a perfect love for her. She was assured that He filled her cup with an overflowing sweet treasure of God’s amazing grace. 

When my Mother's life ended at a young age this was the song on her heart to her God:

If I could sing a thousand melodies,
I would sing and never cease, how great my God
I'd sing of love, His wisdom, might and power,
Each day and passing hour I'd sing of Him


If I could sing of God's great love for me
Like one great symphony my song would be
I'd sing of Christ and all He's done for me
Throughout eternity I'd sing of Him


I'd climb some mountain high
I'd sing into the sky
Till heaven and earth would hear my song
If I could sing a thousand melodies
I'd sing and never cease, how great my God
Amen.

     My mother was beautiful to me. My mother was precious to me. I owe the fact that I can't remember a time that I didn't know the name of Jesus and want to live for Him to my Mother. I'm grateful beyond words for the life she lived. The decision of one 15 year old girl, to choose life for her baby instead of an abortion, gave me my mother. That was the bravest and most unselfish decision I believe my Grandma ever made.

She chose Deborah, a beautiful gift from God. She chose Life.

   

Nursing Patterns for Sale

BD 1001 Nursing Sewing Patterns

                                                      BD 1002 Nursing Sewing Pattern

                                                      BD 1003 Nursing Sewing Pattern

I have three different nursing sewing patterns for sale. These 3 patterns were designed by Angela Coffman of Blessed Designs. She has decided to switch from physical patterns to digital to be spend more time with her family and less on shipping. She graciously gave me the rest of her physical sewing patterns to use to raise funds for our adoption. If interested these are the patterns I have:

Blessed Designs pattern BD1001 a nursing shirt, and 2 dress pattern styles sizes XS-XXL
( I have 260 of these)

Blessed Designs pattern BD1002 a nursing shirt, jumper pattern sizes XS-XXL
( I have 360 of these)

Blessed Design pattern BD1003 nursing hoodie styles pattern sizes XS-XXl
( I have 80 of these)

All patterns were printed by McCalls and have fabric needed, sizing, notions, etc printed on the back. All pattern envelopes and pattern pieces are standard McCalls pattern sizing.

The patterns are available for $3.75 each plus shipping. They sold retail for $11.99

If interested please email Jennifer at: allenadoptionjourney@gmail.com 

We can accept payment by check or PayPal. 

Tears and Hope

One of my favorite baby photos of our niece Olivia.

I ran across the link to this video about infertility. I thought it was a lovely video that gives those who don't deal with infertility a chance to glimpse the heart and emotions of those who are traveling in this difficult journey. While I don't relate to every trial shared, it brought tears to me eyes. For those longing to have a child, yet unable to, the wait for God to bring children is difficult and seemingly never ending. Watch Tears and Hope to help see through the eyes of infertility.