God's Blessings From A Dinner

We're sorry we haven't posted on the blog since our adoption dinner back in February!  For those of you that came to our dinner - we so appreciated having all of you there celebrating with us and learning more about our adoption of Joshua into our family.  We had a blast and were so excited to share the evening with us.

We're especially thankful for our caterer, Dean Hamilton, the head chef from Timber-Lee Christian Center, who graciously drove from WI and gave his time and talent to prepare our entire meal for us!  Thank you Dean for your gracious heart and support of our adoption!  I don't think anyone left hungry, but many left asking for recipes and leftovers (can anyone say, "cheesecake"?).

We also wanted to say a special thank you to Pastor Mark Balmer and his family for joining us and sharing their hearts about adoption with us.  We were not only encouraged by your own journey of adoption, but how you reminded us of God's heart for adoption and our call to respond.  Thank you!

As a result of the dinner, many of you chose to partner with us by committing to pray or financially support us.  We love, love, love your partnership and are honored by it!  We created a prayer/support card for you that gives you specific ways you can partner with us - you can download a copy here.  (If you would like to partner with us through prayer and/or financial support, you can learn more about that too.)

Because of your generosity, we were able to raise over $4,000 from your gracious donations.  Wow, we are blessed!  Thank you!  Combined with others who were unable to attend that evening but gave financially in other ways, we've been able to raise over $5,000 to help us with Joshua's adoption expenses.  We are so thankful for your generosity and support!  Thank you!

In the next day or two, we'll post a little bit of video of us sharing our testimonies from the dinner, but we first just wanted to just say a heartfelt THANK YOU for your support at our dinner and your partnership - in prayer and financial support.  We continue to be encouraged and amazed by our great and mighty God and how he's guided us in this process.  To God be the glory!

E
(on behalf of Jill, Nathan, Brooke, and Joshua!)

Lifesong For Orphans

Early on in our adoption process while we were still researching and exploring options, we discovered an organization called Lifesong For Orphans.  Although not an adoption agency, we quickly discovered the unique and critical role they play in helping advocate for orphans and make adoption possible.....and we were excited to explore partnering with them in our own adoption process.

Lifesong is a non-profit organization that exists to bring joy and purpose to orphans worldwide.  They accomplish this in a number of different ways - encouraging churches and individuals to be actively involved in caring for orphans, offering financial and administrative support to those in the process of adopting, and partnering with orphanages around the world to provide food, resources, education, Christian training and discipleship, and medical care to children.

We've had the opportunity to get to know Lifesong over the past few months and are excited about their desire to walk with us through our journey of adopting Joshua into our family.  Specifically, they've offered to come along side us and help in our financial support raising and receiving any financial donations for us (see a letter here).  The great news is that every donation that they receive is tax-deductible and will be used 100% towards our adoption expenses, with nothing being taken out for administrative or overhead costs!  They have been blessed to have all of their administrative and overhead costs underwritten by another partner, making more resources available to help orphans and those in need.

If you'd like to learn more about Lifesong, check out their website.  They have a great ministry and approach to caring for orphans that is exciting to see and be a part of.

If you feel led to partner with us financially, you can donate to our Lifesong account online using the "donate" button on the side of our blog or send a check payable to:

Lifesong For Orphans
PO Box 40/202 N. Ford St.
Gridley IL 61744

*Please write "Preference for Groezinger #2318 Adoption" in the memo line of your check.

Stay tuned for more to come as we partner with Lifesong in our adoption journey!

Coffee With Joshua

If you know me at all, you know of my love for all things Caribou Coffee and espresso drinks, in general.  I attribute this love to Jill, who introduced me to coffee while we were dating (yep, the things we fall for).  Funny thing is, I'm still not a regular 'black' coffee guy, just one who likes my coffee made from 2 shots espresso, milk chocolate syrup, a few pumps of toasted marshmallow syrup, whip, and marshmallows with chocolate shavings on top (I just described my favorite drink at Caribou:  the Campfire Mocha - tastes just like a s'mores out of the campfire.  Amazing!)  One of the things I look forward to is when I can have a coffee chat with Joshua at Caribou.

Having had great conversations and discussions of my own at Caribou with others, I look forward to the day of being able to sit across the table, me & my Campfire Mocha, Joshua with his.....fruit smoothie (?), and having some good discussion.  Until then, I wait with anticipation.

Given our love for coffee and our love for Joshua, Jill and I thought - "why not combine the two together?"  Alas, Coffee with Joshua was born!

As a way to help raise some additional support for our adoption, we've partnered with Just Love Coffee Roasters to help out our cause.  With every purchase made from Just Love Coffee using our unique link (here or on the sidebar), a portion of the proceeds - starting at $5 for every bag of coffee sold - will be applied to our adoption fund to bring Joshua home.

Just Love Coffee is a family business in TN that has a great heart for families who are in the process of adopting.  Giving back to these families is one of their values and desires (along with hand roasting some good, fair-trade coffee).  Check out all the variety of coffees they offer and tell us what you think!

In short - if you're a coffee lover....consider having your next cup with Joshua in mind and help us move one step closer to bringing him home!

Adoption Dinner Update!

Hey Friends and family -

We're getting excited about our upcoming adoption dinner next Saturday night and wanted to put out a last reminder call and invite to anyone who hasn't responded to us yet.

You're invited to join us for a great dinner and short time of hearing from us about our adoption process and where we are currently at in the process of adopting Joshua.  We'll also share a few ways that you can support us as we continue going through this journey of bringing Joshua home.  Click here to read more about the details of the dinner.

We're also excited to have Pastor Mark Balmer from Park Hills EFC in Freeport, IL join us (Eric's home church).  Mark will be sharing a message about God's heart for orphans and our response to it.  Not only is Mark the lead pastor at Park Hills, but he's also an adoptive dad, with his wife and children feeling called to adopt two children from Ghana a few years ago.

We've got an exciting night planned, and don't want you to miss out!  We still have room at the table for you - so please let us know if you can join us.  You can email, call, or leave a comment below this post and we'll reserve a seat for you.  We even have a few specific areas we could use some help in for the dinner (set up, clean up, etc) - if you'd be interested in helping us in this way, we'd love it!

See you next Saturday!

Tony Dungy, the Super Bowl, and Adoption

Pop Quiz:  What do Tony Dungy, the Super Bowl, and adoption all have in common?

The Answer:  They're all coming together today to help advance the cause of adoption around the world!  Read on....

With the Super Bowl being played today in Indianapolis, where Tony Dungy coached the Indianapolis Colts for a number of years (and has his own Super Bowl ring from coaching them to a win in 2007), it's the best combination to highlight Coach Dungy and his desire to raise awareness of adoption to the millions of people that will be watching the game today. 


Being an adoptive dad himself, Coach Dungy has partnered with The Adoption Journey Project to help raise awareness of the current orphan crisis and to encourage families to consider adoption.  The 30 second PSA will air on the electronic billboards at Lucas Oil Stadium as people arrive to watch the game, and has the ability to reach an even broader audience through the website and video links.  For people or churches who want to take it even further, there are a number of online resources and follow up discussions that can help people think through their own response to adoption, begin the journey themselves, or support others who are in the process.

Check out the 30 second PSA version below (and a separate, extended version available to download or show at your own party or event):



Here's a separate, extended version of a video by Coach Dungy and his wife talking more about the orphan crisis and call to adoption.


Super Bowl Winning Coach Tony Dungy Halftime Video for AdoptionJourney.org from Adoption Journey on Vimeo.

Enjoy the game!

Diversity Is.......

This past Tuesday night we attended an awards ceremony that honored a number of students in our district who participated in the annual "PTA Reflections" program.  This is a nationwide program in many schools that encourage students to use their artistic talents in drawing, writing, dance, music, or photography to reflect a certain theme or idea.  Teachers at Nathan's school encouraged students to participate and Nathan wanted to write something for this year's theme, which was "Diversity Is....."

Nathan, receiving his medal from his principal

We received word a few months ago that Nathan's writing piece was chosen to advance to the district level and was later given "Honorable Mention at the District Level" (an honor only a few received).  He was invited to attend this ceremony on Tuesday to receive a certificate and medal from his principal and our School Superintendent, as well as have part of his entry read.

Although we know Nathan is very excited about having a little brother join our family soon, it was really fun to see him express it in his writing and to see how it fit so well with the theme of diversity.  Here's what he wrote:

Diversity is great!

Diversity is different people.

Diversity is being friends with Joy from China.

Diversity is good!

Diversity is adopting my little brother YS from South Korea.

Diversity is great!

Diversity is speaking a different language like Spanish or Tagalog.

Diversity is cool!

Joy is a good friend of Nathan's who he originally met in preschool, and still gets together with for playdates.  Tagalog is the language spoken in the Philippines, and, thanks to our dear friend Rachel who is currently a missionary in the Philippines, Nathan's learned a few fun Tagalog phrases and songs too!

Congratulations on your accomplishment, Nathan!  We're proud of you!  Diversity is cool!

P.S.  We recently just announced our upcoming adoption fundraising dinner to help us raise support to bring Joshua home.  Click here to read more about it and to RSVP - we'd love to see you there!

Adoption Dinner!

You're Invited!

We're hosting an adoption fundraising dinner to help share the excitement and joy of having Joshua join our family.....and we'd be honored if you would consider joining us!

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012

5:30-7:30pm

at 
Grace Bible Church

398 Eggleston Ave., Elmhurst IL

After enjoying dinner together, we'll share our own adoption
story and hear a message about God's heart for orphans.

Although there is no charge to attend, we will be receiving 

freewill donations to help support our adoption expenses.

If you are able to attend, please RSVP (in the comment section below) by Feb. 17
with the number of adults and children (under 10) that will be attending.

We hope you can join us!