Q: Could you share a little about your family?

A: Hi. I am Stefanie, wife to Chris and mama to 12 going on 13. I might even call No Hands But Ours my baby, too. We have four biological children and eight children from China – our daughter Esther passed away in China before we could bring her home. Clementine, our littlest (at home), joined our family 15 months ago, and can’t wait to be a big sister. Okay, she might just be excited to have someone to refer to as her “baby”. But we are all counting the days until we get to bring home our teeny-tiny caboose, Miss Magnolia.

Q: Can you tell us about your fundraiser?

A: We created Known By Heart to help raise funds to bring Magnolia home. Magnolia is 23 months old and has a complex heart defect: tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia. And yet she is perfectly made and perfectly known by her Creator. We are offering Known By Heart as a way to tangibly express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who partners with us in this adoption adventure.

Additionally, we have committed to give 20% of the proceeds from Known By Heart to Morning Star Foster Home and the incredible work they do on behalf of orphans in China with broken-hearts, just like our Magnolia.

Q: Where are you in the process?

A: We were matched with Magnolia on 10/14/15, DTC on 1/12/16 and LID on 2/3/16… so we are now almost one month into the LOA wait. We are hoping to travel to bring her home in late spring.

Q: How has the fundraising been going?

A: The response to Known By Heart has been amazing. The adoption community is truly incredible, we are so thankful to be surrounded by such support, generosity and love. So far, over 1250 shirts have been ordered and $31,600 (minus $12,500 in t-shirt expenses) has been raised to fund Magnolia’s adoption. Our dream would be to raise the total amount needed to bring her home – an additional $8,400 – but we are simply trusting Him and doing all we can to be found faithful in the process.

Q: How can someone participate?

A: We have tried to make it as simple as possible, but it is a two-step process. Because we have not set a dollar amount, each donor can choose how much they would like to donate.

1. Complete the short order form that allows you to select the color(s) and size(s) as well as enter your shipping and contact information.

2. Go over to our YouCaring site and make your donation… and then you’re all set!

All orders will be shipped by March 20th, in plenty of time for Easter. The last day to pre-order is tomorrow, Wednesday, March 2nd, so this effort is coming quickly to a close – we are excited to see what the Lord is going to do!

Q: Anything else you’d like to share?

A: First, I want to thank everyone who has chosen to love on, support and encourage our family. Over the years I have been blessed to become friends with so many in the adoption community, and those friendships have been a balm to my weary soul more times than I can count. So, to everyone who is part of the story God is writing in our family, thank you, thank you, thank you.

And last, I would like to encourage other adopting families in their fundraising. Adoption fundraising isn’t easy – it’s time-consuming, anxiety-producing and oh-so-humbling. But I believe the Lord can use it to prepare hearts and lives to make room for a new child. It helps to clarify what’s important and what’s not-so-important. We’ve had to restructure our priorities several times over the years in order to follow the Lord’s leading and, although some of it was difficult at the time, it has all been good. I do miss HGTV (Fixer Upper, anyone?) and the occasional vacation, but anything we’ve given up we’ve received back a hundred-fold. God is faithful.

P.S. If you’re a fundraising family, be sure to read the post Kelley wrote recently. So good.
P.P.S. If you’re a fundraising family and would like to be featured on NHBO, get in touch with us here.