Shout Out: Meet Jay & Ileah!
Meet Jay & Ileah! I think they win the award for cutest blog title- check out their blog here to see what I mean!
"Jay and I recently celebrated our first wedding anniversary in March of this year. We met three years ago through Jay's identical twin brother John! John is actually one of my (Ileah) best friends, and since he introduced us, we have been inseparable. I remember when we started dating that I basically gave Jay the news that I was going to adopt some day, if he saw himself in my future, thats where it was headed! I had done some missions to Haiti and had cared for orphans, and had seen many die of starvation and dehydration and it appalled me! God broke me in Haiti in a good way. He broke me of myself in a ALOT of ways. I made a promise to myself and to God during that trip that I would try and change things for orphans and have been trying ever since. Jay and I had initially thought we would try for a biological child first (in a couple of years) and adopt later down the road, but God spoke to me one day saying, Ileah I have set up everything up that you need to bring home a baby NOW. I will provide. It was powerful and amazing, and scary! So I prayed about it some more and talked to Jay about it...who i think thought i was crazy at first! But I just said, "God you have me on board, if you want this to happen, you have to take on Jay!" and He did! I left the topic alone, but God didn't and within a week, Jay came to me and said, I think we should do this. So we did our research and found All God's Children to be our agency. We just finished our homestudy and dossier and just got on the waitlist at number 116!
We choose Ethiopia because 6 million orphans hit us like a ton of bricks. My heart breaks every time I look at the statistics. And I believe God is moving in that country to change these numbers. God has provided SO much up to this point, but we do need to start fundraising. Jay does not get maternity leave and I only get 2 weeks, so vacation time will be utilized for both trips and we may need to take time off work unpaid...which scares us both! But God is great and we are just following Him through this. We are holding a yard sale on Sept 29 and 30th in Hilliard, Ohio and we are currently utilizing Just Love Coffee as well. We LOVE the fact that we are incorporating coffee (something originally from Ethiopia, our sons birth country) into our fundraising efforts. Here is our storefront: https://
"Jay and I recently celebrated our first wedding anniversary in March of this year. We met three years ago through Jay's identical twin brother John! John is actually one of my (Ileah) best friends, and since he introduced us, we have been inseparable. I remember when we started dating that I basically gave Jay the news that I was going to adopt some day, if he saw himself in my future, thats where it was headed! I had done some missions to Haiti and had cared for orphans, and had seen many die of starvation and dehydration and it appalled me! God broke me in Haiti in a good way. He broke me of myself in a ALOT of ways. I made a promise to myself and to God during that trip that I would try and change things for orphans and have been trying ever since. Jay and I had initially thought we would try for a biological child first (in a couple of years) and adopt later down the road, but God spoke to me one day saying, Ileah I have set up everything up that you need to bring home a baby NOW. I will provide. It was powerful and amazing, and scary! So I prayed about it some more and talked to Jay about it...who i think thought i was crazy at first! But I just said, "God you have me on board, if you want this to happen, you have to take on Jay!" and He did! I left the topic alone, but God didn't and within a week, Jay came to me and said, I think we should do this. So we did our research and found All God's Children to be our agency. We just finished our homestudy and dossier and just got on the waitlist at number 116!
We choose Ethiopia because 6 million orphans hit us like a ton of bricks. My heart breaks every time I look at the statistics. And I believe God is moving in that country to change these numbers. God has provided SO much up to this point, but we do need to start fundraising. Jay does not get maternity leave and I only get 2 weeks, so vacation time will be utilized for both trips and we may need to take time off work unpaid...which scares us both! But God is great and we are just following Him through this. We are holding a yard sale on Sept 29 and 30th in Hilliard, Ohio and we are currently utilizing Just Love Coffee as well. We LOVE the fact that we are incorporating coffee (something originally from Ethiopia, our sons birth country) into our fundraising efforts. Here is our storefront: https://
If you haven't tried "Just Love Coffee" before- you need to! It is yummy and addicting! Once you've tasted the good stuff its hard to go back to regular coffee! Check out their store to start the addiction. :)
Love reading all these stories, Bekah!!!
ReplyDeleteIleah, we are an AGCI family too and the start of your story is so similar to ours!!! I just knew that my husband was going to say "No way" but instead he said "i'll pray" and a few week later cam back and said "okay let's do this"! So fun to meet a new AGCI family!
Absolutely! Do you have a blog Leigh? Im really enjoying learning and following other families in the AGCI family as well. Im gaining some really valuable information and growing more excited for our family and everyone else I'm learning about!
ReplyDeleteIleah- Leigh's blog is leigh-onedayatatime.blogspot.com / she's one of my very best buddies!
Deletewell clearly Bekah was on her A game yesterday :) Yep, that's where I blog! We have been home for 14 months with our little guy!
DeleteMy husband and I are also an AGCI family but in the Bulgaria program. Great blog (and Rebekah was right about winning the cutest blog title). Great ideas for fundraising! I might have to try out that Just Love Coffee. I have heard good things. Best wishes and prayers for you both. Our blog is www.moorhousesonmission.blogspot.com if you'd like to follow our story too!
ReplyDelete