Because of you...

Because of God's people doing unthinkable things...

Rallying around us in ways that we could have never imagined....

Standing up for us when we felt weak, overwhelmed, and defeated...

Because you said yes to making a difference...

Thank you.

Thank you for your generosity.

Love.

Encouragements.

For everything.

This is what happened.

And IS happening.

Because of you.

Fathers and DAY 7.

4 years ago, I was sitting in church.
I felt a tap on my leg and looked over to my husband handing me a folded up piece of paper.

The question had been, "In what big ways do you want God to move through you and your family?"

I'm pretty sure at that point, my answer was God putting a Jimmy John's Sandwich Shop down the street from my house so I could use that as a ministry spot and eat all the lettuce wrap Italian sandwiches I wanted.

Erik clearly was on a different level.

I looked down at the piece of paper and to my amazement, written in golf size pew pencil was one word:

Adoption.

Before any doctor's appointments, before any conversations, before any "results"... God had placed in his heart the desire to become a dad through adoption.

So I don't think it is ironic today that our Give1Save1 week is ending on Father's Day.

He makes all things beautiful in his time.

So today as we wrap up a week of ridiculous, amazing, and unbelievable blessing, let's do it in honor of all the dads out there, who hope, dream, fight, cry, passionately love, and care for their kids...

For Erik. A Dad who has loved every step of the way, even before we knew what we were getting into.

We've got $1,800 more to go. If every friend of ours on Facebook gave $2 today, we would surpass this. So let's do it. Share, post, tweet, instagram...

Let's blow the socks off of this fundraiser in honor of Dad.

Give1Save1 Day 6 and another AWESOME FREE GIVEAWAY!!

So, for real peeps. When we said you all were awesome, we weren't joking.

And due to your overwhelming support and love, we made it WAY past $4000!!

As another way of thanking you all and another encouragement for getting the word out we have decided to giveaway...

An Erik Anderson original "many faces of Erik" 12-month calendar complete with themed season pictures! He mentioned something about Uggs.

(Ok, he literally said he would disown me if I didn't write that.)


But, for real...we actually do have something for you and I think you will love it! Because I do!!! And it is not just amazing, but it is for an amazing cause too!!

So, first person to write "You hit $5,000!" (when we hit $5,000) gets this:

This INCREDIBLE Arrow Necklace is from an INCREDIBLE company called "Story Company." They do amazing work to empower people all over the world to use their skills and creativity to make sustainable business and change! Check them out HERE for more information on all of the great things they do and the awesome products they help to provide! (Even if you DON'T win this necklace, you should just go buy it...or buy everything on this site because you will be obsessed!)

And then GO! Go like the wind and share our link!! Lets make this happen! Two Days left, people!!! WAHOO!!!

Give1Save1 Day 5!!!! And a FREE GIVEAWAY!!

It is Friday!!! WHA?!

So, not that we've been slackin' but, wooooooooooooah! This week has flown by!

And we have been abundantly blessed! OVERLY ABUNDANT!! The support has come flying in through giving, through encouragement, and through crazy amounts of love!

So going into the beginning of our weekend...we thought we would add a little fun to our last 2 days!

Here is how it will work:

1. Keep spreading the word and letting people know what is happening! The more ears that hear, the better!

2. The first person to post "YOU REACHED $4,000!!" on our blog when we hit $4,000 will get a free one of these:

You better believe it!! It is an 8x10 canvas print out from The Wheatfield by Katie Daisy! I am obsessed with her and already have one of these print outs hanging in our sweet girl's bedroom. 

(Ps...you guys are lucky because when talking about "free giveaways" my husbands first idea was car washing in a speedo. You are welcome.)

So get to sharin' peeps!!!! And thank you again and again and again!! You all are amazing!! 

Here we go!!

Give1Save1 South Africa Day 3!

So...

You guys are ridiculous. Like, good way ridiculous!

Not only are people all over the world pouring out love all over this adoption process but we are leaping toward our goal and it has only been 2 full days!

We can't wait to see what God is going to do this week, because He is already blowing past our expectations!

So keep spreading the news, sharing the link, praying, talking, jumping up and down like a crazy person...whatever you have to do to keep this thing going! We want Facebook to call us and tell us to stop posting this link because it has been posted too much! :)

We can't thank you enough.

Some of our favorite people in the world helped us put together this little video for you to enjoy...

Here we go, Day 3!!!!

Give1Save1 South Africa Day 2!!

It is a miracle that I am even able to see as I type, considering we were both in tears all day yesterday with the RIDICULOUS outpouring of love and support that we were shown in just 24 hours!

Seriously people. Like for real.

It is funny how I doubt and worry and get anxious so much when God continually shows His blessing in ways FAR bigger than I can even imagine.

If God had a Twitter, he would "#BOOM" all the time.

So we are on to Day 2 of Give1Save1 and have no idea what to expect because clearly God is in the business of doing that.

Here is a little recap from of our thoughts yesterday!

We love you guys so much!! Thank you!!!

Now lets go dominate Day 2!!!

Drum Roll.....brrrrrrrrrrruuuuuummmmmmm...

I know how much you guys all hate the suspense we leave you in on a fairly good basis...
But, would you have it any other way?!

So for those of you who saw our post on Instagram/Facebook yesterday, you know we have some big news! And big news indeed!!!

We would like to announce that this week...

WE HAVE BEEN CHOSEN AS THE GIVE1SAVE1 FAMILY FOR OUR SOUTH AFRICA ADOPTION!!!!

What?!??!

This is a HUGE deal!!!!!

As many of you know, in January, we started a second adoption of a precious girl on the waiting child list at our agency. She is 6, amazing, and beautiful!

Because she is a waiting child, this whole process has gone really fast and everyone working on making this adoption happen is working hard to bring her home to us. And we can't wait. Like, literally, can't wait!

Last week, we were notified of some fees that we were unaware of that need to be paid to keep our adoption going forward (somewhat crushing but not destroying news, if you know what I mean).
When all you want to do is bring home your daughter, these kinds of things can be heart-wrenching. I sat in bathroom at church crying for a solid 20 mins before I made Erik take me home.
It was messy.
Real messy.

But God is so good and we have realized that through struggle and trials, and stolen cars (which did indeed happen the day after this news), God teaches us dependance, strength, and reliance upon him and His people to bless and care for us.
And that is exactly what has happened.

People stepping up to the plate to care for HIS people.

So now, we are asking that you partner with us this week as we pray hard, work hard, and rock the socks off of this adoption by getting those fees paid and bringing our girl home!

If you are new to Give1Save1 or not new at all, we will still give you a bit of instruction as to what you can do!

1. All you have to do is click on the link below, or RIGHT HERE or THIS PLACE or YES RIGHT HERE and watch our video to hear our story!

2. Then click on the "PureCharity Button" on the side of the Give1Save1 Blog to donate $1 or more to support our adoption journey! (This is new for those of you who donated last time to make sure that all of our money goes directly to our agency and IS TAX-DEDUCTIBLE and super secure! You will just need to make an account! WOO!)

3. Spread the Love!!! This works totally based on your generosity not just to give but to share! So post it, tweet it, instagram it, do whatever you have to do to spread the news and get people on board!

We are $7,000 away from bringing our girl home!! So thank you in advance for your love and support and walking with us for not just this week, but for so many (past and future), and making it possible to hopefully bring our sweet girl home soon!

Let's do this!

A Battle Cry.

Funny story. 

I prayed for my spiritual armor today. 

It was a joke, God. I didn't really mean that I wanted to go into battle!!

But the battlefield is exactly where I am standing right now.

Without going into much detail yet, the Anderson's have had a hard 24 hours. A lot to handle in a short span of time. Yesterday, I told Erik to bring me home and I ate a lot of ice cream. 

Some adoption stuff, some life stuff, some "car stolen in the middle of the night" stuff.

But between those heavy double breath cries and some spoonfuls of sugar, I was reminded of a friend's blog way back from last year. And a quote that she posted that made me smile at the time. 

I may not be smiling today, but I'm battle crying. 

And as ugly as it may be, I am finding more strength than I could ever imagine to fight in a battle that I prayed to be prepared for. 

Bring it.