Praises, updates & prayer requests

For those who prayed, helped and supported our

TWO LESS JOY FEST

 

 

THANK YOU!

 

It was a wonderful evening of celebration & joy

 

 

awesome worship,

 

 

sweet fellowship,

 

 

nice variety of great entertainment

 

 

baked goods... oh the yummy baked goods...

 

 

and yes, praise the Lord we raised a lil' over $1,700 to help bring Kai Joseph & Eli home

 

 

But really we were blessed beyond dollar figures, and have been told many who attended were touched by God also.

Photography for the night was donated by a dear friend Celeste Sisemore and so I have been waiting for pics to be able to post. I have a bunch now, so I will post them all at bottom for your enjoyment.

 

 

We had so many baked goods donated, that we held a bake sale with the left overs and we raised another $186.83.

 

 

That is nearly $1900 combined...

Praise the Lord!!!!!

 

And the update is that we are officially WAITING for

 

That's right... Our ARTICLE 5 has left the building.

 

Which brings us to prayer requests...

 

We still needs funds to be able to travel.

 

We still have not heard from Show Hope concerning our grant application. So please join us in praying we receive a blessing from Show Hope.

 

We have lots of fundraisers still going on. Please share with all your friends. Because if everyone purchased something from our fundraisers, or donated to our Chip In or Reece's Rainbow...

 

Unfortunately we do not have figures of how much we need. I wish we did, but we don't even really know. Our agency says after we get TA they will be able to process our travel invoice.

But if I figure the estimated amounts in our travel book, for two provinces and three weeks in China. We need between $25,000-30,000. Praise the Lord we have about $9,000 now. But that's not enough.

We are trusting God. He called us to adopt these two boys and we believe He is going to send the money we need to bring them home. Our family is working, saving, scrimping, doing anything and everything we can to make it happen. But we do not have $16,000-21,000.

 

PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!

 

We are praying & trying to expedite in province process, to shorten the trip and lessen the costs. We are also hoping there is a misunderstanding or something on these figures. And for cheap airfare and hotel costs.

 

It's very humbling to be in this position. But God is in control. We know that we can not take credit for anything. He is providing the way he wants to. So we thank you all for your help to bring our boys home and we continue to pray God bless each donation/gift/help ten-fold, in Jesus name!

 

 

Sherry & family

 

Dickey's donated icea tea

 

Many people donated baked goods: ECCHO moms, That Church family, friends from Shreveport, LA
and even Catering By Yvette, http://www.facebook.com/#!/CateringByYvette

 

 

Pastor Bobby Rutherford Jr was MC for the eve

 

 

 

Whitney Rutherford started us off in beautiful worship

The Lacy Family entertained us with gospel bluegrass

 

 

Corsicana Cloggers were awesome!

 

 

 

This is what happens when you give "Bubba" freedom with the mic....

You end up crying in front of a crowd of people...

My wonderful hubby shared his daddy's heart for our boys

 

Evan Edwards shared his testimony & worship, accompanied by Leah White

  

  

 

Corey Thedford & the Broken Soulz were AMAZING!
http://www.coreythedford.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Care pkgs, new pics & TWO LESS JOY FEST tonight

Eli Oct 2012 is 4' 3" tall

Look at that smile!

 

 

He likes Transformers.

Classmate, Eli, Menmen (foster brother) & classmate

 

We're told he is excited about us coming soon.

care pkg we sent Eli

 

 



Dad's Skittles idea must be a hit with Kai.

Kai Joseph's turn for care pkg







Reading our card and family pic.



Tim Baker (founder SFCV) & Kai Joseph making his classic goofy face.



 

 



 

Look how happy he looks these days.

 PLEASE PRAY THE BENEFIT TONIGHT BE A HUGE SUCCESS & GLORY GOD!

Fundraising in overdrive

We are going to China to bring our boys home NEXT MONTH!

That means we need lots more money to get there and get back.

Please pray for God's provision and maybe do a little shopping...

So here is a list of our current fundraisers:

Scentsy Party until Oct 29th & the consultant is donating all her commissions, so we get 25% of all sales to help bring the boys home.
https://sparkleandshine.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Buy?partyId=108958746

Thirty-One Party until Oct 29th & the consultant is donating all her commissions too, so we will get 25% of all sales for this party also to help bring the boys home.
http://www.mythirtyone.com/carissasanford/
Then click My Parties
Then Sherry Patton or Thirty-One Fundraiser for Kai & Eli http://www.mythirtyone.com/shop/catalog.aspx

Avon Party until Oct 29th & the consultant is donating all his commissions on sales for this month to help bring our boys home. I don't know what the amount or percentage is, but so grateful for the help.
http://rickybrown.avonrepresentative.com/

This beautiful necklace hand made by Stacy Richard, Jubilee Jewels, created especially for our adoption will earn $11 to help bring Eli & Kai home for each one sold.  http://jubileesjewels.com/adoption-fundraising/faith-believe-necklace

Adoption Bug & Show Hope t-shirt fundraiser earns $7 per shirt to help bring our boys home.  http://www.adoptionbug.com/adventure4eli/

Just Love Coffee raises $5 per bag of coffee sold to help our boys come home. https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/adventure4eli/

We also still have LOTS of puzzle pieces needing sponsors. Every $5 donation sponsors a piece. You get your name or whatever you'd like written on the back, so Kai & Eli will see who helped bring them home. Donate: http://adventure4eli.chipin.com/in-country-legal-fees 

And since the cooler weather is back, we are breaking out the scarves left over from the winter fundrasier. These are hand knit and beautiful. We’re asking donations be $10 per scarf, plus S/H ($3.50 for one & additional $1.50 per scarf). http://adventure4eli.chipin.com/in-country-legal-fees


M & M Green (approx 92” x 5 ½“)

Angel White (approx 84” x 5”)

Brilliant Blue (approx 84” x 5”)

Passionate Purple (approx 84” x 5”)

Sky Blue (approx 76” x 5”)

Olivine Green (approx 72” x 5”)

And finally, for those that just want to give and want to receive a tax deduction, please visit our Reece's Rainbow Family Sponsorship page http://reecesrainbow.org/42289/sponsorpatton

MOST IMPORTANTLY, I ASK YOU ALL TO PRAY!

Our TWO LESS JOY FEST is next Sat Oct 20th and we have been running all over town passing out flyers and trying to organize things to make it a great night to glorify God & help our boys home. And everyone is invited...

Thank you all, to God be the glory,
Sherry

Drum roll...

Our Article 5 is due to be picked up on October 23rd.

Yay!!!

According to the email from our agency: "You will usually get TA between 10-14 days after. So you are looking to receive TA somewhere between the first and 2nd week in November (estimated)."

We are still BELIEVING that God will provide speedy TA (travel approval).

Some from our agency have seen TA as quick as 6 days lately. So not only are ALL things possible with God, but it's happened recently.

So we are going to China NEXT MONTH!  :)

This short update is brought to you in the midst of MASSIVE fundraising efforts. Please be praying God continue to provide ALL the needed funds to get to China.

We have a benefit night of music & entertainment coming up & we need prayer for good turn out and it will glorify God, advocate for orphans and raise money to bring our boys home.

Blessings,
Sherry

Godspeed



This is a Patton blog, it had to reference super heros at some point.

We have been cabled...

 and computers of course too, right? ;)

Yep, got out pdf letter from National Visa Center today

We received our I-800 approval on 9/26 and are now passed the US side of the steps.

Next step: our adoption agency sends all our paperwork to Guangzhou, China by Fri, delivered Mon; their contact drops off our Article 5 at the US Embassy, earliest will be Tues.

Then we wait exactly 2 wks (only part of the process that we KNOW the wait), after which  
time it gets picked up and sent onto Beijing to the adoption affairs office.

Then we WAIT for the last approval... travel approval called: TA

Once we we have TA, we schedule our consulate apppointment (last stop in China)

and book plane tickets.

Keep praying folks... we need more favor and more money. But our God is able!

Little news on the boys...

We sent gifts to Joseph (Kai) with a family adopting one of his little friends... Henry.

Here is what Henry's mom posted on their blog after giving the gifts to him -

"...we gave Joseph the gifts we brought from his family and although he loved the clothes he kept having me read the card that came with it that said he was loved and that he should keep up hope. I told him his family loved him very much and would be there soon and he tucked the card safely inside the sweatshirt and smiled"

Gretchen told me -

"Joseph is going to be so happy to see you. He had me read your note over and over :) then tucked it safely away"

  *I wrote wording for the note before he was told he had a family and we were it...

 But he knows now! :)

BATMAN! 

 More super hero stuff...

Thank you Gretchen & Hill family for the pics!

Joseph with his friends Henry & Elizabeth

  I was told by SFCV staff member -

I saw him... He was wearing the sweater-shirt you got for him, he was pretty proud and told me "my mama got me this!”

Look at him being a good big brother... We are so blessed to call him son!

And last but certainly NOT least... Eli

Today marks 11 months since we first saw his cute face and his adorable self on that advocate video. (see his youtube video on left side of blog)

Now he is in Grade 1 and hard at work on his math homework.

  

He is also learning to write his ABC's in... English!

Wow! Pretty good for just being introduced to the American alphabet. I can not wait to get this boy home and see how smart he is!

 

Look how proud he is... We are blessed to call this boy son too!

 Won't be long now boys...

 

We are BELIEVING we will be in China

NEXT month...

Wow, just typing that feels soooo good.

 

Again, Thank you everyone! We can not say it enough...

Thank you for the prayers, the support and the help, the pics and the encouragement.

We still have LOTS of money to raise. We are waiting to hear back from Show Hope about if we are blessed with a grant from them. In the meantime, we still have lots of fundraisers going on.

In His Joy,

Sherry