We are in the last week of our t-shirt fundraiser! So, if you have not ordered, please click here and place your order! Remember when you order this t-shirt from our fundraiser webpage, the money we raise is being matched dollar-for-dollar by a grant we received from Lifesong for Orphans! The fundraiser ends July 20th at midnight!!
Each fundraiser we do is unique. Different people get behind you in different ways and make their mark on this path God has set us on. The first day we started the t-shirt fundraiser, we received 8 orders. Two of them were mine and Kev's, two were some family members and the other four were from people I didn't know. I looked the people up on Facebook and they were all members of the Bulgaria Adoptions page.
Kev and I are part of the Bulgarian Adoptions group on Facebook. It's specifically for people adopting from Bulgaria to share, discuss the process, vent, encourage each other and ask questions. I had posted the link on the Bulgaria Adoptions group page. People do that sometimes and I didn't think much about it... I just wanted to show them a fundraising resource that was available. I thought our shirts looked cool and the group members might appreciate them because the shirts have a Bulgarian word on them. I truly never thought the Facebook folks would buy them. That's not even why I posted the fundraiser on the webpage.
At this point, we have sold 44 of the 75 shirts we need to sell. At least half of the shirts purchased are from people I have never met. They are people who are in the same boat as us--waiting for the call from an agency saying that it's time to go meet our child in Bulgaria.
In the t-shirt design process, I had toyed around with different ideas for this shirt. I thought about making it fairly generic to appeal to everyone, I considered labeling it with #teamlayne because it's cute, fun and connects it to us. I settled on an outline of the country and I really wanted it to say "hope" in Bulgarian. I went back and forth about using a foreign language, but I saw it as a conversation starter and in my mind getting people talking about adoption is never a bad thing. When someone sees the shirt, they are going to ask "What does that word mean?"
I love looking back in time through our adoption process and seeing God's hand. I love that the idea God gave us for the shirts not only represents the hope we have in finding our child but the hope others have in finding their children in Bulgaria as well. I especially love the fact that when our child comes home they will see their country and their language being worn by our friends and family. To me it's such a simple and visible sign that our child is wanted, accepted and loved by people they will grow to know.
Jesus brings us hope. He meets us where we are without the expectation of being perfect, having our stuff together, or even speaking the right language. I can't wait for the opportunity to meet our child just as they are, without the expectation of being perfect, having their stuff together, or even speaking English. :)
I know one word in Bulgarian, but it's an important one!
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