Matching Grant!

Some of you have asked how you can contribute to our adoption. We were excited to learn this week that we have been approved for a matching grant (up to $4,000) through the organization Lifesong for Orphans. If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution that will be matched to help us bring our boys home, checks can be made out to Lifesong with "Kinnell - 1264" in the memo. The address is Lifesong for Orphans / P.O. Box 40 / Gridley, IL 61744.

Adoption #2

Just got an e-mail that our paperwork is in hand and our case is being submitted to court today (ie our attorney requests our case be heard by the courts). Praise the Lord! We hope to hear about when our court date is in about a month. This means we still hope to bring the boys home by late July, but of course, that can always change.

Remember too that our fundraiser is tomorrow night. See below post for more info.

Beautiful Sunday Morning

Saturday Night Hairdo

Dress Up!

One of our faithful blog-stalkers, Sarah, contacted me to say she had some dress-up clothes and toys that her daughter no longer played with and wondered if our girls would want them. The answer, of course, was YES! So thanks, Sarah for being a faithful blog reader and knowing our girls love to play dress-up.

Essie is really into dalmatians right now so the dalmatian costume was a big hit. It even had a tail on the skirt-too cute!

One Week From Tonight

is our fundraiser at the WGM Center in Wilmore, 5-9pm. This is a casual, come and go, get-together. Please stop by, enjoy some food, sign up for our door prizes and of course, do some shopping! If you can't make it to the party, you can shop on-line for Uppercase Living products and it will still count towards our fundraiser- http://katy.uppercaseliving.net/Home.m. You can also see view Pampered Chef' catalog on-line www.pamperedchef.com but you will need to order through me to have it count towards our fundraiser. If you need more details, please see our post below. Thanks for all your support!

Heading for the Hills

Today Amy's work took her to eastern Kentucky and a home study appointment with some friends of ours, so the girls and I tagged along to enjoy a beautiful spring day in the hills.

Chloe & Essie in Red River Gorge

Nada Tunnel

Essie & Chloe overlooking the Red River

Devil's Canyon

Essie & Ronald McDonald

Natalie, Essie, Kaitlyn, Chloe, Nicole

We Need Your Help!

Join us for AN ADOPTION FUNDRAISER & help bring Isaiah & Micah home!

Tuesday, April 27th 5pm‐9pm

WGM Student Center, 420 College Ave., Wilmore

As you may know, the Kinnell family is hoping to travel to Ethiopia this summer to bring home our 7‐year‐old, Micah, and our 10‐year‐old, Isaiah. We have been working to raise funds to cover the expense of an international adoption. We still owe $11,000 to our adoption agency plus we anticipate $5,000 in travel expenses.

A group of kind ladies have generously donated their time and profits from the sale of their products to help us! Bev and Dana from Premier Jewelry, Katy from Uppercase Living, Jackie from Pampered Chef, and Jen from Mia Bella Candles will be showcasing their beautiful products! We will be hosting an Open House on April 27th. This will be a casual party so stop by as your schedule allows for shopping, visiting with friends and enjoy some refreshments! These ladies and I will be available to help answer questions, play with the various products, etc. We are beyond blessed to have such generous and precious friends! Thank you Bev, Dana, Katy, Jackie and Jen!

If you can’t make it for the open house, let me know and I will be happy to bring you a catalog to shop at home and you will still be entered into our door prize! Also, you can peruse the online sites for Pampered Chef and Uppercase Living to find items you would like to purchase, then contact Amy (amykinnell "at" yahoo) to make an order.

We have set a fund raising goal of $2,000. If everyone who receives an invitation purchases $20, we will easily meet our goal! If you happen to have friends or coworkers who would be interested in these great products or helping our cause, please bring them along or ask for a catalog. Don’t forget Mother’s Day, graduations and weddings are just around the corner! All orders, big or small, add up! So anything would be greatly appreciated!

Our hearts are so joyful as the time to bring the boys home grows near, but we desperately need your support! Hope to see you there! Thank you!

Sunday Best

No word from ET still, just anted to share a pic of the girls in their Sunday best (sorry the sun was so bright). I also tried staightening the girls hair a bit, but it didn't last.

Adoption #2: Nothing to Report

A lot of you have been asking what's the latest with the paperwork on our boys. We are still waiting for some paperwork on the 10-year-old. We had hoped that it would be available last week, but the man who went out into the boonies to get the last needed papers has not been heard from since. TIA. Fortunately, it seems that the deadline for being submitted to court has been moved to later in May, so at this point we should still be in good shape. Keep praying!

Happy Easter!

Chloe (pink/orange) & Essie (green/blue)

Special thanks to our friends Sara, who made the dresses, and Keyth, who made the bunnies.

Grandpa & Meemaw Neild

Essie finds the basket that the Easter Bunny hid for her.

Chloe

New Princess Tiana t-shirts from our Easter baskets!

The girls loved all the fun of Easter - coloring eggs, dressing up, and finding Easter baskets, but they have also learned the reason why we celebrate Easter - that Jesus died on the cross for us and then rose again to prove that He can give us life. We had a joyful celebration at our church this morning, proclaiming that "HE IS ALIVE!"

"I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth." ~ Job 19:25

Adoption #2 Update

Just found out from our agency that Ethiopia has extended the deadline and cases now must be submitted before May 21st. They did caution us that dates in Ethiopia often don't match US dates (since they have a different calendar) so that date might be a little off, but at least we have a little more breathing room. I still won't breathe easier until our case has been submitted. Plus I'm just ready to have our boys home.

When we told the girls about their brothers in December, we told them they would not be home until it got warmer outside. The other day the girls and I were watching the weather and I started cheering when they said we were expecting warmer temps all week. Chloe said, "Now Micah and Isaiah came home?" I just about broke into tears. Instead I said, "no, Honey, it has to get MORE warmer." Here's hoping we still get the boys home during the summer.