puzzle picture # 3

Well we are moving along slower then I anticipated but we are moving. We almost have the outside done and then we can move onto the inside. it is a really great picture about different kinds of families I can't wait for everyone to see it. But there is only one way for that to happen. "buy" puzzle pieces by clicking on the donate button to the right

US

 Us

      Welcome to the Stults family: Dan, Jenny, and India! Dan and I have been married for twelve years and our daughter India is five years old. Dan is a counselor and I (Jenny) am a stay at home mom. We have lived in the great Pacific Northwest our whole lives and we love it here. There is a unique history and culture in the northwest that we enjoy being a part of, not to mention the opportunity to experience nature.  We are frequent hikers, especially if there is a waterfall involved, and we love camping, playing in the snow, or spending the day at the beach.  If for some reason we aren’t able to do that there is still a grand adventure to be had at a nearby park, which we do frequently.  One of our favorite things to do is explore antique stores or search for hidden treasure at a thrift store. Its lots of fun to see if we can “out-treasure” each other and India loves it too, although her treasure is generally a stuffed animal. We have a great love of history and cultures of all sorts and love finding places “off the beaten path” such as ghost towns or little family diners and finding unique experiences to be a part of like visiting pirate ships and searching for fossils.  If we need a more relaxed time we can always spend the day at the movie theater; that way we’ll be prepared for the yearly Academy Awards party with our family and friends. 

    
     We spend a lot of our time with our enormous family on both sides, who almost all live in the area. Dan has five
     brothers and I have two brothers and three sisters and we each have our parents. We are all really close and all
     love each other greatly.  In this day and age it is unusual to have a family that is so big and so close as ours both
     are and we are very grateful for them. We celebrate birthdays together; have dinner together every week and
     every now and again even travel together.  We have a church family too that we are very grateful for and enjoy
     serving with.  We have fun working with the youth group and help in the Sunday service as well, serving
     communion and Dan even preaches every now and again.  India runs around and is the cutest little four year old
     in the whole congregation (it helps that she’s the only four year old.) We love our church family and are grateful
     to have found a loving home with them. Every Sunday I have ladies ask me how our adoption is going and when
     will they have a new baby to love on.

    Our love story began in high school at church camp. It turns out we went to the same high school and the same
    church, but at the time our youth group was so large we didn’t realize that we almost knew each other. He says it
     was love at first site but it took a couple months to convince me. After being friends and then dating for a couple
    of years we got married, too young, too foolish, but too in love not to. The two of us went off on the adventure
    of college together and received our undergraduate degrees from Boise Bible College. In college we meet some
    of the best friends of our entire lives, two of whom became India’s godparents. After college we moved back
    home to Oregon and Dan went to school for a double masters degree in counseling and divinity. In 2006 we
   accomplished one of our lifelong dreams and went on a three-week tour of the holy land. It was the most
   amazing experience to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.  Traveling to foreign places and cultures has been a
    rewarding experience for both of us and one we plan to continue with our children.

 
   In May of 2007 we were blessed with our first child, India. She turned our whole lives upside down and it was
   fantastic. It was also hard, to be sure, but somehow we discovered there more love, strength, and perseverance
   than we’d ever known. One of the great mysteries of parenthood so far is how we could add even more love
   than already existed into our little family, but that’s what happened. Another mystery is how well we functioned
   on so little sleep, but we managed to do that too!  India is four years old and has such passion for, well, everything.
   Some of her favorite things are climbing and jumping and wearing princess dresses, sometimes all at the same
   time. We recently moved her up from a toddler bed to a twin bed and as we were setting it up she ran around in
   circles screaming, “I love my new bed!”  She really enjoys monsters and ghosts and pirates too, such a unique
   combination! She goes to preschool several days a week and loves it, and loves it even more when mommy or
   daddy are the parent helper.  India enjoys having a big family too, with lots of cousins her age to play with.  She
   loves to rhyme and sing songs she has made up. One time her and Dan sang an impromptu opera, which was one

 of the funniest   and most adorable things I have ever seen.  She cannot wait for a baby brother or sister and 

talks about it often,
  gng on and on about how she will help take care of it and sing to it when it cries.

  Even before Dan and I got married we knew we would adopt someday. It wasn’t even a discussion really, we
   both just knew. To us it was simple; there were hundreds of babies that needed to be loved, why wouldn’t we
   love them, at least some of them? We truly feel that our family was meant to be built in this way, that it is a calling
   from God.  Even though India is the love of my life and has been since the second she was born I did not love
   being pregnant. In fact it was just the opposite, I hated being pregnant. My body and mind did not respond well
   to the pregnancy; I was sick 24 hours a day and soon felt that I was not myself.  At 30 weeks I went into preterm
   labor and was rushed to the hospital.  After I was stabilized I was moved to another hospital with a neonatal unit
   where I stayed for two weeks.  Even after I returned home I was on bed rest.  I had been sent home with the solemn 

warning   that another pregnancy would likewise be high risk, perhaps higher risk than this one was.  This was a 

scary,
   painful time for me, Dan, and our whole family, but it was a sure sign also that now was the time to follow the
   tugging on our hearts that God had long ago placed there, to build our family in a different way.  Having a little girl
   who wouldn’t understand such a difficult ordeal, but somehow does seem to understand the idea of adoption in a
   way that is beyond her years makes the calling even more sure.

  So this is us, a family of adventurers and explorers, of movie buffs and history geeks.  Our hopes and dreams
   include leading a life of contribution to our family, our church, and our community, surrounded by nature and
   thanking God everyday for the peace and contentment He has provided us.  And, of course, we dream of
   adopting a child and experiencing that great adventure of love and caring with all the trials and triumphs that come
   with us. 

Prayer

I just wanted to remind everyone (especially me) that none of this is possible without God.  I have known since I was very young that I was going to adopt someday. This is one of very few things in my life that I have known without a doubt, without thinking about it or considering it, Ive just known I was meant to do this, that God wanted me to. The same is true for Dan. However God  and I are not in agreement as to timing. We were mentally ready to have another baby two years ago. Last year at this time I believed it would be a matter of months before we were placed with a baby and certainly before India's 5th birthday last May. Obviously God disagreed with us, only He knows why. We are starting to get very discouraged. People ask me for news on the baby and I say nothing, we have no news, no progress, it kinda feels like nobody wants us. And so I think we could really use some prayer. Here are three things we would really appreciate prayer on;


1) Pray for the birth mother (and father) that she finds peace in this extremely difficult decision, and that she finds us.

2) Pray that we do not get discouraged while we wait for a birth mother to choose us.

3) Pray that we raise the remaining $8,561 needed for the adoption very very soon. I have applied for several grants, pray that they choose to help us.

Thank you everyone for your love, support, and prayer.

puzzle picture #2

Slowly but surely our puzzle is coming together

puzzle day 3

Day three of our puzzle fund raiser and we have 25 pieces and have rounded a corner. I love the picture, if you want see what it is "buy" a piece for $1 and help us adopt a baby.

Puzzle Time

Hello everyone. I am sorry I haven't written in a long time. For one there has been no news to share. For two the fall and winter was very much preocupied with my grandfathers illness and death. It was very hard on our whole family and very stressful, but he is at peace now.

So lets move on to baby news. Well there hasn't been any, at least not any involving a baby. It has been a year since our home study, a year we have been waiting for a baby. Our last fundraiser was a raffle that raised $503. We are very blessed, we only have $8,561 left to raise. And so I am on to our next fundraiser.

I have bought a puzzle and am naming it "Every family is different" For every dollar donated to the baby fund (you can donate by clicking the donate button to the right.) I will add a piece to the puzzle. I will post a pictures as people donate so we can all watch the puzzle come together.  I think this is a great idea because it only takes a dollar (of course you can buy several pieces if you like)  and we all get to build something togther. I also thought I would write the name of the people who donated on the back of each piece just for fun. It is a 750 piece puzzle so at the end we should have $750 dollars. Thank you once again to all the friends and family who have supported us through this whole process. And please share this with all your friends. Maybe they can spare a dollar as well.

OK! READY! SET! LETS MAKE A PUZZLE!

This is the first picture: all the pieces in a big old pile waiting to be connected.