We're moving up the waiting list!

Well, on the "unofficial" list of our agency's yahoo group, we are now 6th in line for an infant girl referral. This does not take into account families that we may not be aware of that are not a part of this group, and thus we can not really use it to estimate our referral date, but it is still exciting to move up the list!

It is very helpful and encouraging to read the posts of all the families who are different stages in their adoptions. I am seeing both the joys and the difficult trials that we may face in the days ahead and am asking the Lord for grace upon these families who are walking a few steps ahead of or behind us as well as upon our family during this process. It still amazes me that we have our entire adoption costs almost completely covered!

Speaking of adoption costs, there is a wonderful family that have adopted a baby girl from Ethiopia and are now starting their second adoption for an older child. They are the Gibsons and they are having a great t-shirt fundraiser as well as a Christmas Give Away that ends today. I think I might have to buy a t-shirt myself. I really like them, and it would be a great way to give towards another family's adoption. I would encourage you to check out their blog. They are trying to make it an inspiring and encouraging resource for those who are considering or already on an adoption journey of their own.

I will attach the link where you can buy an awesome adoption t-shirt and/or enter to win: Christmas GiveAway Adoption Blog

We received a $3000 adoption grant today!

We have some exciting news! We received a letter in the mail today saying that Show Hope is awarding us a $3000 adoption grant! We are so thankful to the Lord for His provision through this ministry. We are now within $1200-4500 (depending on travel costs) of having our entire adoption provided for. It is so exciting to be able to echo and now speak as our own testimony what we have heard and clung to as we began this process--The Lord provides miraculously for adoptions! Thank you for your prayers. We are so encouraged as we wait upon Him to bring us the daughter he has picked out to be a part of our family.

Help us Fund our Adoption by Joining Blastoff!

The blastoff network has officially launched! Here is the link to my homepage: my.blastoffnetwork.com/devontarr! The first day the invitation service was activated, so many people were trying to log on that their load balancer for their services exploded and everything was down for the better part of a day. I'm sorry if you were trying to join at this time and it wasn't working! Things seem to be up and running great now and we hope that people will be excited about joining even though it's brand new and people haven't heard of it. Pizza Hut is going to start marketing it soon on all their pizza boxes, so the word should begin spreading fast. For those of you who are reading my blog for the first time, the Blastoff Network is a new internet company offering a customizable homepage where you can do lots of fun things and save significant money when you shop online from over 400 major retailers. Also, when you share the network with your friends, you get a small percentage of anything they purchase through the site and of anything their friends purchase up to the 10th degree of separation. This means if people begin to understand how significant this could be and join through you or someone that can be traced to you, a large network can be built that might yield some significant extra income.

We are going to use anything we make from this to complete our adoption! It has been over a month since we sent in our dossier to Ethiopia, and we are 9th in line in our agency (that we know of) for a baby girl and 20th for a referral in general. We are still expecting to receive our referral sometime next summer. Our desire is that we would have everything taken care of before the courts close next year, but we trust the Lord's perfect timing to bring Brielle (the name we have chosen for her) into our family!

Blastoff is Launching Oct. 22nd!

We just got word that Blastoff is launching in two days Oct. 22nd at 12 noon central time! This is exciting because it means that you will now be able to go to my blastoff homepage at my.blastoffnetwork.com/devontarr any time after 12 noon Oct. 22nd and sign up to get your own homepage so that you can start sending it to all your friends. If you are interested in knowing more information, please send me an email at devon720@yahoo.com Pizza hut has a contract with Blastoff to start marketing it on Oct. 27th, so there will 5 days before any one else is able to start marketing it to get the word out first.

As far as our adoption goes, we are now one month into the wait since our dossier made it to Ethiopia and are excited at how fast it seems to have gone. We have been brought much to do and accomplish during this wait which we trust will help the time seem faster than it really is. We are having fun being part of our adoption agency's yahoo group for families in process of adoption from Ethiopia. We are seeing what the needs are to pray over and rejoice in everyday. There is a real community fostered in this way that we are excited to be a part of!

Another Blastoff Update! (and the FCF camping trip)

We just got back from the first annual Forerunner Christian Fellowship campout. We had a great time at the Castle Ministries lodge and grounds about 45 min. outside Knoxville. The kids had such a fun time, they cried when we left. Thankfully the rain cleared up before we got there yesterday and we had a sweet time of fellowship, worship, talent shows, grilled burgers and hotdogs and smores around the fire. I'm so thankful my Mom who was in town from Reno, NV for Kendra's birthday got to come as well!

As far as Blastoff is concerned, they are needing to delay the launch date, hopefully for the last time. They are needing a few more days in working with all the major email companies to prepare them for the volume of invitations coming and are making sure Blastoff invitations are fully SPAM compliant. As soon as I hear an exact date, I will post it here. For now, keep telling your friends and family it is coming and feel free to email if you have any questions at

devon720@yahoo.com

Blastoff Date Changes!

The date that you can sign up for Blastoff is now Oct. 12th. You will still have two weeks to tell all your friends before it goes public on Oct. 26th. We're sorry if you tried to join and it didn't work earlier. We had our first conference call with the other families who are adopting from Ethiopia from America World and are "waiting." It made everything even more "real" and we are so thankful for the Wonderful experience we have had with our agency and everyone we've been working with. We could not be more thankful for the way we are being cared for during this process. We are still expecting a 9-11 month wait for a referral, which would put us in June-August of 2010. It will be fun to see what the Lord has, and in the mean while He is bringing us plenty to keep us busy during the wait. Our daughter Kendra is turning six this week and we are so thankful for her life. She prays every day for her "sissy" to have enough food and be protected in Africa. She is so excited that each "step" of this process brings us one step closer to her.

Help us Fund our Adoption by Joining Blastoff!

We have much praise on our lips to our AWESOME God! He is continuing to pour out funding and resources for our adoption, and we are so thankful! We have now surpassed the amount that was needed for us to send in our paperwork. Also, our dossier was officially shipped to Ethiopia last week so we are officially "waiting" and trusting the Lord to bring a referral for our daughter in His time.

One of the ways we believe the Lord is going to fund our adoption and perhaps more ministry ventures is through an opportunity that has been presented to us by a partnership between an established top 100 company, Prepaid Legal and a brand new company called Blastoff communications. Blastoff is a huge internet marketing company that is going to offer people a free homepage where they can keep their social networking sites like facebook open and customize music, videos, and designs on their homepage. There will also be a link to a "mall" and other needed services such as airline, internet, tv, phone, etc. where people can earn cashback and will be able to see any promotionals that different vendors are offering. There are over 300 big name companies that are already participating such as Walmart, Target, Starbucks, Bestbuy, Travelocity, etc. You will also get a small percentage of whatever anybody you share this with buys up to the tenth degree of separation. This means you can be earning commission off of potentially thousands of people. The vendors have agreed to pay a small percentage of money from each sale to each person who is in that 10 degree line of referral. To get a better idea of what it is you can go to blastoffnetwork.com and you can check out my homepage at ppl.blastoffnetwork.com/devontarr Prepaid Legal, of which I am now an associate, has the exclusive rights to market this free website for two weeks before it goes public on Oct. 12th. This means that on Sept. 26th at midnight (12am Sept. 27th),

you can access my homepage and sign up to get your own. You can then send invitations to all your friends to join and then they can send it to their friends.

There is absolutely no-risk to this, because it's free, and even minimal amounts from people shopping online can add up. If you are interested or have any questions you can email me at devon720@yahoo.com Once this goes public, due to the viral nature of how quickly it can spread there will not be the same opportunity to grow a large network. My heart is that any money that comes from this would be used to see the gospel spread and families provided for.

There are several legitimate news articles regarding this opportunity. I will try to post a link if you are interested.

Remember, if you want to, go to ppl.blastoffnetwork.com/devontarr on Sept. 27th, sign up and start spreading the word. I hope it blesses you too!