Supporting the Henry Family during July and AUGUST!!!

We have decided to extend the July family into AUGUST! All the support we get from our Chosen Child wrist bands will go directly to the Henry family! They have been anxiously waiting for their little boy that they got to host during the month of July! They are preparing more paperwork and their dossier to the country! Lets support the Henry family!

 

Here is a little more about them from Ryan, the Father:

Linda and I have been married for almost 11 years and from the begin we knew that we wanted to have a big family. While struggling with fertility issues we researched into international adoption. We have been blessed to have 3 amazing children Caden who is a sports loving 8 year old, our 6 year old fashion designer Libby, and Lexie our little entertainer who is 4. We learned about New Horizons for children through a friend who had hosted. It is a hosting organization that exists to show the love of Christ to orphans from Latvia, Ukraine, and China. A side benefit to the program is that it exposes these children to families in the United States. We honestly went into to hosting thinking that we would advocate for this child to be adopted. We were open to adoption but it just didn't seem like the "right time". Little did we know that this child was going to change our hearts.

You can follow our journey at: http://thehenryswish.blogspot.com/

Or if you would like to donate directly:
http://www.opendooradoption.org/Content/Default/1/17/16/about-us/an-open-door-charitable-fund/how-to-donate.html

How are the ways you can help support them? There are two ways besides going to their site, the first is by buying a chosen child band at our shop. They come in all different colors and great for teachers and for your keys!

Also you could buy a chosen necklace from Cap Creation site who have been great supporters in this mission.

We love being able to support each family and have the Henry family join our mission. If you would like to have a fundraiser with us, contact Julie Steed at worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com we have September, October and November open for your family! 



Supporting the Besancon's through June!

We have decided to continue to support the chosen child  Besancon family through the end of June!! We were delighted to hear that the original June family "The Kramel's" received all of their money to bring their child home! Please continue to support the Besancon family during their journey!

We are John, Kelli, Quinn, and Caroline Besancon. John and I have been married for 8 years and have two sweet children: Quinn, an energetic and train-loving little boy who is 3 years old and Caroline, a joyful and sassy little girl who is 1 year old. God has been developing in us a heart for adoption since before we were married and we are now in the process of that journey! After much prayer and research, we feel God is calling us to domestic adoption. We love that we may have the opportunity to be an option for a birth mother to choose life over abortion and that we may have the opportunity to share the gospel with our child's birth family. Just as we are adopted by God through Christ, we are excited to share that love with our future son or daughter. We have been in awe of how God has provided exactly what we need each step of the way through this process already. As we continue to fill out the (never-ending!) paperwork and pray for our future son or daughter and his/her birth mother, we are so thankful for this opportunity to share our story and take part in this fundraiser.

How can you help and support them? There are two ways:

1. Buy a Chosen Child Adoption Band {wristlet keychain} from the Worthy of the Prize STORE.

2. Buy a Chosen Child Adoption Necklace from Cap Creations.

We love how each of our families get supported each month by our followers! If you have any questions or would like to be a family in August or September, E-mail Julie at worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com!!!!

About the Author: Julie Steed is the director of Worthy of the Prize Orphan Ministries. She runs both the Chosen Child Adoption Ministry and the Orphan Ball Ministry. Julie has a BA in Psychology and is working towards her Masters in Counseling, hoping to become an adoption counselor someday soon. Julie is married to C, a College Dorm Director.

The Willis Family!

We have an awesome opportunity every month that we support a family during their adoption! We have chosen the Willis family for APRIL! Here is a little about them:

 We are adopting!!!

So who are we? Kenney and Janice Willis - we have been married for 16 (almost 17) years and we have 2 wonderfully silly awesome boys, a precious amazing lil 19 month old girl waiting for us in China & one crazy cat :)

We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for our family through this adoption journey. We have already met amazing people during this journey and our faith in the Lord has grown through our dependence on Christ for our every daily need. We are still fundraising for our funds to finish our adoption of our "lil bit" waiting for us and we would be so appreciative of your support and prayers.
Claiming
~ Proverbs 3:5-6 & James 1:27

Want to know how you can help! You can buy a Chosen Child Band from our website! They come in all several colors and two different sizes for men and women!

Or you can buy a Chosen Adoption Necklace from Cap Creations!!

If you have any questions about our Chosen Child Adoption Family or would like to become one of our families! Be sure to e-mail: worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com

Coming Soon: April Chosen Child Family!!!

Today begins the day that you can start buying chosen child bands for the April Family that we have chosen as our adoption family to sponsor this month! Their all about me blog will be coming soon!

You can have  a sneak peak into their personal blog: http://sunshine-and-grace.blogspot.com
They also have a shop on etsy you can check out!! http://www.etsy.com/shop/Sunshine4Grace


Stay tuned this week to find out more about the WILLIS Family!!

Supporting the Chosen Child March Family

One of the best things about Worthyoftheprize is the ability to support so many great causes! We are lucky to support the Law family for the Month of March! They need your help! Ways that you can support them is by going to our SHOP and buying a chosen child band! Another way is by going to Cap Creations website and buy a necklace! Here is a little about the March Family: The Law's in case you missed it before-- We are a family of 5 soon to be 6. Andy and Christine Law and our three children Colton, 11, Aiden, 8 and Lyndsey, 4. God has led our family to international adoption, specifically China. We have preapproval for a sweet 2 year old little girl we plan on calling Gabi. Gabi has bilateral nerve deafness and has received cochlear implants. We believe she is receiving language training also. Why we chose adoption: Our simple answer is that God put adoption on our hearts many years ago and through a series of events in our life we believe he is telling us NOW is the time. We believe we have another child out their waiting to call us mommy and daddy or MaMa and BaBa. Through much prayer and research we know Gabi is supposed to be our child and we are so excited to bring her home as quickly as possible. We are rescuing Gabe, we are honoring God, and our faith is growing every day through this journey. Our days are filled with running our children to various activities, volunteering at church, school, and in the community, and doing life with other families at our church through Sunday School and Small Groups. Most recently my husband coached Upwards basketball and I coached cheerleading for our churches Upwards program. Our kids are involved in soccer, basketball, football, cheerleading, gymnastics, and dance. My husband and I also work full-time. We are anxious to bring Gabi home and ask for prayers as our dossier is awaiting approval in China. Our children are so excited to have a new little sister. They draw her pictures and write letters to her. Our daughter has special toys set aside to share with her sister, and says a special prayer for her every night. We are in the home stretch and are hopeful we can bring Gabi home in early June. If you have any questions or would like to be nominated to be a chosen child family contact worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com

Meet the LAW family!!! Our newest Adoption Family!

For the month of March we are going to support the Law family!
Here is a little about their family:

We are a family of 5 soon to be 6. Andy and Christine Law and our three children Colton, 11, Aiden, 8 and Lyndsey, 4. God has led our family to international adoption, specifically China. We have preapproval for a sweet 2 year old little girl we plan on calling Gabi. Gabi has bilateral nerve deafness and has received cochlear implants. We believe she is receiving language training also. Why we chose adoption: Our simple answer is that God put adoption on our hearts many years ago and through a series of events in our life we believe he is telling us NOW is the time. We believe we have another child out their waiting to call us mommy and daddy or MaMa and BaBa. Through much prayer and research we know Gabi is supposed to be our child and we are so excited to bring her home as quickly as possible. We are rescuing Gabe, we are honoring God, and our faith is growing every day through this journey.

Our days are filled with running our children to various activities, volunteering at church, school, and in the community, and doing life with other families at our church through Sunday School and Small Groups. Most recently my husband coached Upwards basketball and I coached cheerleading for our churches Upwards program. Our kids are involved in soccer, basketball, football, cheerleading, gymnastics, and dance. My husband and I also work full-time.

We are anxious to bring Gabi home and ask for prayers as our dossier is awaiting approval in China. Our children are so excited to have a new little sister. They draw her pictures and write letters to her. Our daughter has special toys set aside to share with her sister, and says a special prayer for her every night. We are in the home stretch and are hopeful we can bring Gabi home in early June.

Ways you can help the Law family is by buying chosen child band that come in several colors from our online SHOP. Or by going to Cap Creations website and buying a chosen child necklace!

We are so thankful for the response our followers give to our adoption family and find it a JOY to be a part of this journey with them! If you would like to nominate and be a chosen child family contact worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com.

If you would like to follow their blog here it is: http://lovemakesafamily2012.blogspot.com/

About the Author: Julie Steed is the director of Worthy of the Prize Orphan Ministries. She runs both the Chosen Child Adoption Ministry and the Orphan Ball Ministry. Julie has a BA in Psychology and is working towards her Masters in Counseling, hoping to become an adoption counselor someday soon. Julie is married to C, a College Dorm Director.

Choosing Adoption

Good Evening!

This month we have had a wonderful reponse with the Bernard family as our Chosen Child Adoption Family! Wanted to let all of our bloggers to know how thankful we are to be blessing this family! You can still purchase a Chosen Child band! Go to our shop!

We will be having a new family for March! If you would like to fundraise with Worthy of the Prize, please contact worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com!

About the Author: Julie Steed is the director of Worthy of the Prize Orphan Ministries. She runs both the Chosen Child Adoption Ministry and the Orphan Ball Ministry. Julie has a BA in Psychology and is working towards her Masters in Counseling, hoping to become an adoption counselor someday soon. Julie is married to C, a College Dorm Director.

Finding Love in Adoption

As many of our followers know, we support a family each month that is going through the adoption process! Last month we had the Bernard Family join us, they shared their story of their precious Katie who they are adopting from China! We decided to extend their month into February!

How can YOU show love to the Bernard family? There are two ways:  All of the proceeds from the Chosen Child fit bands will go to this family (they would make a great teacher gift for valentines day) Go to our shop and buy one!

The second way you can support this family is by going to Cap Creations and purchase a necklace here!

If you missed reading about the Bernard family here is a little more about them:

"Paul and Shecki have been parenting a long time, starting with their 7 biological children.  In 2010, they adopted their daughter, Hannah, from China.  They knew before they left that they would be back someday for a Chinese sibling for her.  Now they are paperchasing for Katie, age 2, who shares Hannah's special need of limb differences, and has club foot, as well.  They hope to travel in May or June.

 Here is their blog. They would love to have you follow along on their journey!

If you are going through an adoption or if you know of a family that is trying to do fundraisers to support their adoption be sure to contact Julie at worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com

About the Author: Julie Steed is the director of Worthy of the Prize Orphan Ministries. She runs both the Chosen Child Adoption Ministry and the Orphan Ball Ministry. Julie has a BA in Psychology and is working towards her Masters in Counseling, hoping to become an adoption counselor someday soon. Julie is married to C, a College Dorm Director.

January Chosen Child Family!

Start off the new year with supporting our newest adoption family THE BERNARD'S!!!! This family is really growing and is getting ready to add one more to their family! Here is a little about the Bernards:

"Paul and Shecki have been parenting a long time, starting with their 7 biological children.  In 2010, they adopted their daughter, Hannah, from China.  They knew before they left that they would be back someday for a Chinese sibling for her.  Now they are paperchasing for Katie, age 2, who shares Hannah's special need of limb differences, and has club foot, as well.  They hope to travel in May or June.

 Their blog is:  http://grtlyblesd.blogspot.com/  They would love to have you follow along on their journey!"  

I had the chance to ready over their blog and it was really moving to see how much love they already have for Katie. I encourage  all of our followers to go to their blog and read more about their precious Katie!

Ways that you can support is buying:

 

 A Chosen Child Band for your wallet or keys from our store  or you can buy a Chosen Child Necklace from Cap Creations and they will donate also to this family!

This is a picture of their precious Katie they are waiting to join them soon!

If you are interested in being a 2013 Chosen Child adoption family please e-mail worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com to find out more information!

December Adoption Family: Comstock

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear! Another way you can spread Christmas cheer is buying a beautiful Adoption Chosen Child Key Chain to support our New December Family the Comstock's!

Here is a little about our new December family the Comstocks!

We are the Comstock family.  Our family consists of Mitch, Jill, and our 10 year old son Dylan.  We have been in the process of adopting a brother or sister for Dylan from Ethiopia for 17 months.  We are currently on the waiting list and are anxiously waiting for our phone call!  Our family definitely lives by Philippians 4:13.  “I can do all things through him who gives me strength!” Without God’s guidance and strength this is a journey that we never would have started. Now it is a journey we could not imagine not being part of our lives!  We would also like to say thank you to everyone who has supported us not only financially, but through your thoughts and prayers.  We know that God has a plan for our family and that our next child is waiting in Ethiopia to meet us!  Thank you and God Bless!

 You have till December 31st to purchase these Chosen Child wrist bands from our Shop and all the proceeds will go to the Comstocks! You can also go to Caps Creation and buy a chosen child necklace!

Thank you for all that you do for our Chosen Child Families! We have served over six families this year and already looking forward to help many more families in 2013! If you would like to be considered to be a  Chosen Child Fundraiser Family, please contact us at  worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com

Adoption Awareness Linky Party!

November is Adoption Awareness Month! And since we have a big passion for adoption around here, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get the word out about our Chosen Child Adoption Ministry, as well as other fabulous adoption related causes around the web!

With the holidays approaching, you have a great opportunity to buy gifts that "give back" and help adopting families, who are desperately trying to raise the money they need to bring their child home!

For every Chosen Child Adoption Band {wristlet keychain} or half loop that you purchase here in our shop, we donate the entire proceeds to our adopting families! They make great Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers, particularly for moms, teachers and college students who always have their hands full and have to carry their keys with them!

And for every Chosen Necklace you purchase over at Cap Creations, she will donate $10 to our adopting families! What a beautiful gift this would make for anyone on your list!

We are also willing to sell any of our products to adopting families at half price. They can then turn around and resell them at whatever price point they choose, keeping the profit for their adoption!

Find out more about these opportunities here. And if you are an adopting family looking for ways to raise money, contact Julie at worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com. We support one family per month and have openings for December 2012 as well as 2013 months. We would love to help your family fundraise!

We recently had a family contact us about hosting a donation birthday party. Their adopted daughter was celebrating her 1st birthday and in lieu of gifts, they decided they would ask guests to bring a donation (if they felt led) to our Chosen Child Adoption Ministry!

I had nothing to do with it; she simply contacted me to let me know what she was doing. It was a total God thing and that one little party raised almost $900 for our ministry!

The party was coordinated by one of our sponsors, The Fine Line Market, and what is even more incredible is the fact that these 2 amazing ladies want to help me find other families to host donation birthday parties in our honor! So if you would like to join the new trend in birthday parties (maybe you have already brought your child home and want to help other adopting families) by giving back in lieu of gifts for a child who already has more than they need, contact me at worthyoftheprize.erin@yahoo.com and we will get your little one set up with a fabulous party for a fabulous cause!

Now it's your turn! Help us spread the word about adoption, a worthy cause and one of the ways God is taking care of the 147 million orphans in this world!

Please link up (or leave a comment with) any adoption related post. Make sure you link directly to your post and not to your general blog. Here are some ideas of topics you might want to link up to this party:

-the story of your adoption journey or your adoption fundraisers
-shops and products that "give back" to adoption
-adoption ministries and organizations that support adoption
-resources for adopting families and those considering adoption
-helpful tips and encouragement for adopting families

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. {John 14:18}

Linking up with:

About the Author: Erin Vick Franklin is the founder and director of Worthy of the Prize. Erin has a BBA in Marketing and Management from TCU and a Masters of Christian Education in Church Recreation from Southwestern Seminary. She is a published, award-winning author and poet. Purchase her book Worthy of the Prize Sports Camps: A Church's Guide to Implementing an Effective, Community-Reaching Christian Sports Camp to be used as an outreach tool for your church or mission organization. Erin is the wife of A, a Worship Pastor, and a work-at-home-momma to 2 crazy little boys, a and e.

National Adoption Month: The Koss Family!!

It is the first day of November! What a Beautiful Day the Lord has made!  The month of November is known as National Adoption Month! I am excited to announce we have a new family for the month of November to feature for our Adoption Ministry: The Koss Family! Here is a little about them:

Hi!  We are the Koss Family from Portland, Oregon: Marcus, Becky, Katrina, Josiah, and Kelsey.  God has taken our family on an amazing journey since January 2011, when He awakened us to the immediate importance of caring for orphans.  In May 2011 we were welcomed into a group of waiting families for a little boy from Ethiopia through All God's Children International.
While we patiently wait for God's timing, in the delivery of our new
son, He has continued to align our hearts towards His with the
creation of an adoption ministry, completion of the first Orphan
Sunday event held at our local church, and leadership of a new
missional community group.  We are hoping our referral will come next
Spring or Summer, and in the meantime we work diligently to continue
raising the required funds to complete our adoption.  Thank you for
taking the time to read about our family, if you would like more
information, you can check out our blog at:thekossfamily.blogspot.com.

During this month you can buy these cute Chosen Child Fit bands at our shop they are $10.00:

or you can go to Caps Creation and buy an adorable necklace.

Please continue to help our Adoptive families through buying one of these items and praying for them as they continue with the up’s and down’s of their adoption journey!

Julie

ATTENTION: If you are interested  or know of someone who interested in doing a fundraiser for their adoption, e-mail me at worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com we have December 2012 open and 2013 Months available!!!!!

About the Author: Julie is the Worthy of the Prize ministry assistant and the director of our Chosen Child Adoption Ministry. She keeps things organized and running around here, basically keeping the rest of us in line! Julie has a BA in Psychology and is working towards her Masters in Counseling, hoping to become an adoption counselor someday soon. Julie is married to C, a College Dorm Director.

June Adoption Family: The Dalton's!

I am so overwhelmed by how much the families have been supported each month!! The families so far have been very thankful for all that our fans have done for them! I hope you join me in welcoming the Dalton's as our new June Family. All the proceeds from our Chosen Child Fit bands will go to the Dalton family.

 Here is a little about them:

"We are Mike and Leslie Dalton. We have been married for a year and a half. Since before we were even married we have been discussing adoption, both domestic and international. We both knew we would go down this road at some point in our marriage. What shocked us was how early into our marriage that God had called us to it. Over the last several months God has been making it clear to us that this is our path. Since we began back in March, we have already experienced the typical up's and down's of the adoption process. Through this we are being strengthened for that very special day when we finally get to bring our sweet little baby home.

 Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.
Love,
The Dalton's"

If you would like to follow them on the journey you can follow their blog @ http://buildingafamilygodsway.blogspot.com/

During this month you can buy these cute Chosen Child Fit bands at our shop they are $10.00:

or you can go to Caps Creation and buy a  adorable necklace.

Please continue to help our Adoptive families through buying one of these items and praying for them as they continue with the up’s and down’s!

Julie

We still have a few months available if you are interested in doing a fundraiser for your adoption please e-mail me at worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com

About the Author: Julie is the Worthy of the Prize ministry assistant and the director of our Chosen Child Adoption Ministry. She keeps things organized and running around here, basically keeping the rest of us in line! Julie has a BA in Psychology and is working towards her Masters in Counseling, hoping to become an adoption counselor someday soon. Julie is married to C, a College Dorm Director.

We welcome the Dyer Family as our May Adoption Fundraiser

For the whole  month of May I am so excited to announce our newest family we will be sponsoring through our Chosen Child Bands is the Dyer Family. 

(Our names are Matt, Amber, and Brock Dyer. Matt and I have been married for 9 years this summer.  Our son is seven years old and looking forward to officially calling himself a 2nd grader in a few weeks.  Even more, he can’t wait for the title of “Big Brother”.   We were selected on March 30th by an expecting mother who is due at the end of this month in a neighboring state.  After seven years we don’t really have any baby stuff left around the house and are on a mad dash to prepare for the arrival of our newest blessing.  After two surgeries, a hysterectomy, two failed rounds of IVF with a surrogate, and a broken heart we are so happy to be building an open adoption relationship.  While my husband was attending the police academy last summer, several things fell into place for us and we were accepted into our agency.  We feel very strongly that this is the road we have been lead to after all of these years.  Things have moved very quickly since then and it’s been a roller coaster of emotions!  I’m nervous, excited, scared, and about everything in between.  On behalf of the three (soon to be four) of us, we thank you so much for allowing us this opportunity.)

Here are a few ways you can help the Dyer family:

Buy a Chosen Child Adoption Band at our Store

Or

Go to Caps Creations to buy a Chosen Necklace

We are so excited about the Dyer Family and how quickly these past few months have gone for them and the upcoming arrival of their little bundle of JOY! All the proceeds from the month of May will go to the Dyer family! 

Julie Steed

worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com

April Adoption Feature: The Collins Family

Happy April!

My name is Julie Steed, the new Adoption Director. I am so
excited to write my first blog post and to introduce the first family that the
proceeds from our {Chosen Child} Fit Band sales will go to for the entire month of April. 

 

Here is a little about the Collins Family:

We are KC, Sandia, Caedmon, and

Oliver. KC and I have been married for 6 years. We have 2 amazing, high energy

boys: Caedmon is almost 5 and Oliver is 3. We are in the process of bringing

our daughter home from Ethiopia. We do not know anything about her yet, but we find ourselves praying for her constantly. We officially started this

"paper" journey in July of 2011. Though, it's something that has been

in our hearts for a long while. God has been so faithful to us throughout this

entire process. We are constantly amazed at His provisions and blessings. It

makes this wait more bearable knowing that God is for us. Our entire family is

so eager to have her home. Our boys talk about her all the time - always

wondering when she'll get here. We are so thankful for the opportunity to take

part in this fundraiser and we would like to thank you all for your help ahead

of time. Again, thank you and may God bless you.

Our blog: Selah: The Art of the Pause

And here are a few things that you can do to help the Collins Family raise money for their adoption:

1. Buy a {Chosen Child} Fit Band from our Online Shop

2. Go to Cap Creations and buy a Chosen Necklace.

PLUS, as a bonus for the month of April... if we get to 530 blog followers by the end of the month, we will double the Collins Family proceeds! So please click "Follow" through GFC {top left sidebar} to help this sweet family!

Go here to read more about our {Chosen Child} Adoption Ministry and about how YOU can help this family bring their child home!

We are so excited about joining them on this new adventure and life-long commitment that they are making!

By the way, we still have openings for adoption families. If you are interested fundraising with us, please e-mail me at worthyoftheprize.julie@yahoo.com.

Julie

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. {John 14:18}