The Winslow Family at Grace Abounding Farm: Wish everyone could have an Aunt Elaine! What a treasure she is!

Monday, March 30, 2015

Wish everyone could have an Aunt Elaine! What a treasure she is!

Aunt Elaine and Uncle Ron came to visit us in June of 2012! What a blessing!

Who is this wonderful woman? And why does everyone need one of her?...Let me tell you! She is the sister of our twins Edward and Elisha's former foster Mom, Ruth! Got it?? I know, I know...it's a bit confusing, but anyway...For 1.5 years Edward and Elisha lived with Ruth and Peter as foster children. They were 10 years old when they came here. Aunt Elaine, Ruth's sister lives in Ohio, and immediately fell in love with Edward and Elisha while they were with Ruth.

When Aunt Elaine heard they were coming here, she asked what she could do to help out, and she gave 200.00 so that Glenn could build some cubbies in the girl's room for them instead of a closet, and also to buy a bed for Elisha! She is VERY generous!

Fast forward many years and she has just poured out love and attention on us as a family! She LOVES to send us care packages! Just LOVES it! And...as you can see above...they aren't just plain ole' packages, either! She takes great pains to decorate them and she is super creative!

Losing my Mom 3 years ago this coming August was soooo difficult for me and for all of the kids. God gave us Aunt Elaine and her gift giving and creativity to help us with this! She is such a blessing! She LOVES to stuff her care packages with as much stuff as possible! She also LOVES tape! Both things my Mom loved to do as well!

What are in the care packages?? Oh my..you name it! Books, t-sets, socks, socks, and more socks, chocolates, lollipops, candy, pencils, erasers, oh and did I say books?? She LOVES books, blankets, clothes, and other really cool random things. She is a frequent shopper at her local Good Will store and they must LOVE her there! Take a peek at some of our wonderful blessings over the years!!!

We love you Elaine and we thank God for you daily! You are such a blessing and encouragement to us! You are a gift from God! This blog post is dedicated to you!

And so that is why we wish you ALL could have an Aunt Elaine!

Love

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Joshua 4:6--When our children ask.."What do these "stones" mean?" we will tell them! "God is good!"

8/6/2014 WE ARE HOME!!
6/23/2014--Our adoption was made official in Bulgaria Court! Welcome Jeremiah Albert Erol Winslow and JoyAnna Yanka Deneva Winslow to our family!!! Yay!!
2/25/14--Received our written referral today, and our travel dates! We'll be meeting JoyAnna on the 17th or March! Praise God!
2/11/14--Received verbal referral for JoyAnna! Now awaiting the Minister's signature for the written referral! Please pray for that to be soon! Last time it was 3 weeks in-between!
1/16/14--Offically added our daughter JoyAnna to our adoption! A Blessing From the Lord!
1/15/14--Received our 1-800 approval!!!
1/6/13--Received word from Bulgaria that our precious Zoey was with Jesus in heaven. Now she is more joyous than ever!
12/6/13-12/18/13--Took our first trip to Bulgaria and met and loved on our Zoey and Jerry! Wow!
11/21/13--Received our travel dates for our first trip to Bulgaria to meet our kiddos! Praise the Lord!
10/31/13--Received this email today: Your dossier was officially approved and the verbal referral issued yesterday at the IAC meeting!!! Now, you are waiting on the signature required on the referral so that you can receive travel dates. As long as these signed within the next few weeks, you will for sure travel before the end of the year. Toni's goal is to have you there in December, possibly sooner if the signature comes quickly.
8/23/13--Glenn and I had our physicals today and met our soon to be new family Dr.! Yeah!! We also sent the bulk of our dossier priority mail to our agency, too! Praise the Lord!
8/22/2013--TODAY WE RECEIVED USCIS APPROVAL!! HOORAY! WE'LL BE MAILING OUT OUR COMPLETE DOSSIER TOMORROW!! PRAISE THE LORD!
8/2013--Rejoice with us! We have been approved for a $1,200.00 adoption grant from the Rescued fund! Thank you Jesus!
July 11th, 2013--we go to our longly awaited finger print appointment. Glenn, Me, and Madelyn. Now it's off for USCIS approval! Please pray!
June 24, 2013--We received our longly awaited finger printing appointment from homeland security! Glenn, Madelyn and I will go to the NH office in Bedford on July 11th! Just a couple of weeks away! Hooray! Thank you Lord! One step closer to our babies!
June 4th, 2013--Picked up our notarized homestudy! Praise the Lord! Went to our state house and got one copy of it apostilled which will be sent to our placing agency, and then to Bulgaria for approval by the ministry of Justice there! Please pray! Sent another copy along with a treasurer's check and our i-800A paperwork to immigration in Texas! Please pray for a speedy immigration approval and fingerprint appointments for Glenn, Me, and Madelyn! Then, we can get approval to schedule our first trip!! Praising the Lord! Rejoicing!
May 31st, 2013. HOORAY! PRAISE THE LORD!! Our homestudy is FINALLY done and ready to be signed! It should be signed today, June 3rd! Then we can send in our USCIS immigration paperwork for approval and proceed toward our first trip! Rejoice with us! Thank you for your prayers!
March 18, 2013. Finally received updated homestudy and emailed it to our placing agency! We are praying this is the final revision needed!
February 23rd, 2013--Our placing agency sent the changes that need to be made to our homestudy back to the homestudy agency! Hopefully it will all be completed by next week!
February 22, 2013--We learn that our homestudy is complete! It was sent to our placing agency for review on February 15th! Thank you Lord!
February 12, 2013--We receive word our homestudy is almost complete. We fax our FBI checks to homestudy agency!
February 10, 2013--Dear friends begin a Go Fund Me page for us!
February 6th, 2013--We receive our apostilled FBI reports back from Washington, DC
February 4th, 2013--Received our renewed passports in the mail.
January 25th, 2013--We send our FBI checks to Washington DC to be apostilled.
January 24, 2013--Received our criminal background checks from the FBI in Virginia.
January 14, 2013--We sent out our passport renewals.
January 13, 2013--Glenn and I have our passport photos taken for our renewal. A real date!
January 5th, 2013--We have our first visit from the social worker who is doing our homestudy!
December 21st, 2012--We go to our local police department and get fingerprinted. We mail them to the FBI in Virginia
December 20th, 2012--We meet our newest friends in the Lord...The Pressler Family!
December 14th, 2012---We fax copies of all documents to our placing agency!
December 13th, 2012---We are featured on a local radio program and talk about our adoption!
December 7th, 2012--We bring completed contract to homestudy agency with money, and we go to our state house and have adoption documents apostilled. Our Reece's Rainbow account is approved!
December 5th, 2012--Our placing agency tells us about Edward, and a private donor who will give a large donation if a family includes him in their adoption. We say..."YES!!"
December 4, 2012--We say "YES!" to Zoey and commit to her. We send the $3,500.00 commitment fee!
November 29th, 2012--We find out about the need for a family for Zoey. We pray! We receive a call from a dear friend who says..."Did you see the post about Zoey?? I think she is supposed to be a Winslow!"
November 28th, 2012--We found out that Theodore was matched with the other family! We cried and prayed.
November 21, 2012--God provided us with a homestudy agency only 1/2 hour from our home that was willing to take all of our previous homestudies and compile them to help complete our new homestudy!
November 23rd, 2012--Began other fundraising efforts--to include the Winslow Warmer from the Dutch Candle Company! Thank you Jon!
November 15th 2013--Completed interview process with About A Child agency!
November 13th, 2012--$3,500.00 goal reached!!
October 20th, 2012--We received our first chip in donation!
October 20th, 2012--We set up a chip in fund to raise money for the commitment fee for one child of $3,500.00
October 15th, 2012--We contacted About A Child Agency and put in an official inquiry about Theodore!
October 13, 2012---After Adeye had put out a plea for several children...we prayed..and then we stepped out in faith and said "Yes" to Theodore!

Our prayer to the Lord and other Winslow Prayer Requests!

*Please pray for God's will in our family in 2013 *Join us in praying for our newest additions coming this year to our family. Handpicked by God! Zoey and Little Eddie. They are from Bulgaria. What an amazing journey God has us on! *As you know, my Mom is in heaven now after a 12 year battle with cancer. We miss her so much! Please pray for my Dad, David, and his adjustment to being without his life partner of 50 years. Please pray, too, for all of us as we adjust to life without my beautiful Mom. It truly will never be the same! Pray that we will grow closer to the Lord during this time! *Please pray for continued carpentry work for Glenn. *Please pray for our daily homeschooling. *Please pray for our married daughter Brittany and her husband Christian and their 2 old daughter Marlena! We are praising the Lord they live in NH, now and we get to see them more often. Pray for them as they just welcomed their newest addition, Annalie Beatrice yesterday...October 5th! Everyone is doing great! *Please pray that we would all grow closer to the Lord and strive to walk closely with Him each and every day.

Our Favorite Read A-louds!

We LOVE to start our day each day with a read a-loud. It's become a tradition in our homeschool. I read each morning after breakfast. We have read some of the best books this way. It started 10 years ago at the beginning of our homeschooling journey. We started with Anne of Green Gables, the complete edition. That took many years to read. Since then, we've read many other wonderful books. Here are some of our favorites from this last year:

Christie's Organ

The Exact Truth by: Isabella Alden

First Impressions of God by: Ann Wells

The Cheerfulness Character Book

Godliness is Great Gain

Wisdom and the Millers

Storytime with the Millers

Two Roses

Walking with The Living God

Even Donkeys Speak

The Long Winter

The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

Little Daisy and the Swearing Class

Godliness is Great Gain

The Bible in the Wall

Tampering With Temptation

The Bulletproof George Washington
Wandering May

We also like to try and read one chapter of Proverbs each day making us read the entire book of Proverbs each month. What a wonderful gift of wisdom God has given us in the book in the Bible!

Current read aloud: The Weed with the Ill Name
(from the Grace and Truth book series)
We are now reading the Then and Now missionary stories. We loved reading Hudson Taylor and are now reading George Muller. Such amazing stories of strength and provision from God!

Monday, March 30, 2015

Wish everyone could have an Aunt Elaine! What a treasure she is!

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