Hello Family and Friends,

I want to start by saying thank you all for your prayers and support. During the last month and a half, Ethan and I have seen God do some amazing things in our life, and it is only because of all of you. When we launched our adoption plans we felt like we were standing at the bottom of a giant mountain needing God's help to even start climbing to the top. Well, a month later and we know without a doubt that God is holding out hands and helping us climb. And he is using all of our family and friends and to do it. Ethan and I do not feel like we are climbing this mountain by ourselves...we have a village following behind us and for that, we could not be more grateful. 

This past week Ethan and I had our second orientation meeting with our agency. We received the first half of the application process, a very long parent questioner to fill out, and a long list of legal paperwork we need to provide to the agency. It is quite overwhelming but I am confident that with lots of planning and organization we can get it done in the next few weeks......and if you know me you know how OCD organized I am...lol. Therefore during the next few weeks, we will be buried deep in paperwork. 

We are almost done returning all our pop cans. As of this moment, we have raised $647 just in pop can money and with cash donations, checks mailed to us, and donations to our blog, our own savings, and items we have sold we have raised $5748. We have set up a separate bank account where all this money goes so we can make payments directly from the bank to our agency. And we are so excited to say that we have enough raised to start the long home study and application process. 

Again, thank you to our village and the Holland community for showing up, for walking behind us, for holding us up in prayer, and for every financial and pop can donation. We have a few more truckloads of cans to return yet and will update everyone with a new total by the end of the week. Ethan and I are so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful friends and family who create such a strong adoption village. You are a blessing and we pray that in return Ethan and I can be a blessing to others. 

Here are a few specific things to continue to pray about and ways that you can continue to be involved in our journey. 

1. We are in the begging stages of planning a pancake breakfast/ fundraising event for the month of January. Please keep a lookout in your emails and Facebook for event details and ways you can help with this event. Please pray specifically that God will bless this event and show us in a big way. By January we hope to have a lot of our home study process complete and will be raising money for the court fees and adoption cost once we have been chosen by a birth family. 

2. Current open fundraisers for the Holiday season:

We have a long-term coffee fundraiser that will extend to the end of March through the Gobena Coffee company. Through this campaign, we get 50% of each sale and the rest goes to support orphans around the world. Therefore you are not just supporting us but you are giving to a great cause and helping children around the world. 
Check out the following link for great coffee, hot Cocoa, coffee mugs, and teeshirts. There are some great Christmas gift options for family and friends or those people who want to get a gift but just don't know what to give them....like teachers and neighbors. 
https://my.gobena.org/stories/niemeyer-adoption-fundraiser/?id=702

3. We are selling Christmas ornaments that a wonderful friend's father-in-law made for us to sell. Pictures will be coming soon. They are $10 an ornament and we get 100% of the profits and you can buy one directly from us. 

4. Prayer needs:
- Continue to pray for our process as we start the paperwork and move forward with the home study process. 
- Pray for the pancake breakfast...specific that we will find a place to have it as churches and many community-building won't allow fundraising events to be hosted in their building. Pray that God will lead us to the right building for the right price and that God will lead us to sponsors and companies that might be willing to match our fundraising goals or donate supplies needed for the event. 

So sorry this was kind of long...thank you all for walking behind us and for taking the time to read our blog. We will be working on our fundraisers and sending out more information in the coming month. 

We love and appreciate you all!
Ethan and Val Niemeyer