The Book Has Arrived

Today we received our profile book in the mail. The book contains photos of our lives, friends, families, town and more. This will give potential birth mom's an bit of an idea if who we are. This is one of the final pieces we needed to complete stage one. Soon we will mail this off to the agency, along with the first check and some more paperwork so we can be listed as potential adoptive parents.

In other good news we did a little bit of calculating and figured out that we are half way to our second payment. This will be what we will pay when we get matched with a birth mom. The third payment is due when the process is over. Right now though we are glad to almost have the first payment and step complete.

We want to thank you all for your continued prayers. Also want to remind you that the Lullaby CD is still for sale. It makes a great gift for new or expecting mothers. www.indieheaven.com/artists/russellmartin

Thanks again!

Russell and Meagan

The Next Step

I shared in an earlier post about the cost of adoption. I mentioned that our first goal was to raise the money required to list our profile with the adoption agency. This way our book and profile can be shown to prospective birth mothers. I told you about the Hopes Prayers and Lullabies cd that I wrote to help raise money for this process. I wanted to raise the first payment, $1750, by selling this CD. In the middle of December I wrote to you saying that we had 50 more CDs or about $500 more to go, and that I wanted to raise that by the end of 2010.

I am glad to report that today we reached that goal. We have a few finishing touches for our book and then we will mail it, along with the first check off so we can be listed. It is a great feeling and an awesome time, yet I know there is much more work to do.

Someone asked me what happens now. Well, once we are chosen by a birth mom, and agree to be the adoptive parents then we will have our next payment of $5000 due. This could be at any time from a month, to a year or more. This means we will need to continue saving, and raising money for when this happens. I am glad to say that we have received some donations to apply to that payment, so we are on our way.

How can you help?

1. Keep Praying
2. If you have bought a CD tell your friends about how they can get one and how you like it.
3. If you have not bought a CD, buy one.

Thank you all for your support as we travel down this journey.
We'll keep you posted!

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Russell and Meagan Martin

50 CDs Away

I sat down and did a little math to figure out that we are closer than we thought. When I originally came up with the idea for the Hopes Prayers and Lullabies CD I wanted to sell enough to pay for our first payment of $1700. Thanks to your generosity we only have $500 to go, that's about 50 CDs.

There are several ways we can get to 50 CDs by the end of the year.

1. Someone could buy 50 Cds to give to all their friends.
2. 10 of you follow this blog. If you got 5 friends each to buy a CD then that would be 50
3. 314 of you follow Hopes Prayers and Lullabies on Facebook. If 1/6 of you bought a CD that would be 50. If you each bought one that would be half way to the second payment.

So if you know of someone who would like a CD tell them to go to http://www.indieheaven.com/artists/russellmartin and buy one. If you have a website or store for children's clothes, toys, games etc..., and would put up a link or put some CDs in your store, let me know. If you could send out a tweet, email or facebook message to your friends, letting them know about our story and this CD, please do. As always continue to pray.


P.S.
Some one asked me what would happen if all the sudden the Lullaby CD went viral, and we sold enough copies to cover all our expenses. What would we do? First I'd faint. But after that, we plan to put the extra money from the CD into an adoption fund for the next couple who wants to adopt. 

Free Concerts and A CD

When we first posted our news about adopting I mentioned something about a CD I would be doing. Here is the rest of the story.

For the past several years I have recorded several CDs. When I start the process my goal is to write music people like, that has a biblical message, and that is heavy in the use of the Piano.

I think have done a good job of the first two.. but it always seems that the songs that get chosen for recording are based on the guitar.... I wanted to change that.

This summer I am offering churches, youth groups, house bible studies and anyone else who will listen, a free night of music and worship. This will include congregational worship, original songs, and instrumental piano. The thing is, I'm leaving the guitar at home. Just me, the congregation, and a piano (or keyboard).

The entire evening will be recorded. At the end of the summer, or maybe early fall, I will collect all the recordings and compile them. Then I'll choose 10-15 of the best instrumental pieces for an instrumental piano CD.

When the CD is finished it will be made available for sale. The majority of the proceeds will help us in the adoption process. A portion of each CD, however, will go to help raise awareness about adoption, and to help others with the process.

If you are interested in helping you can do so in 4 ways:

1. Pray- Pray for us as we begin this journey, pray for families considering adoption, pray for children waiting to be adopted, pray for this CD and what God has in store.

2. Host a night of worship- My goal is to line up 15 worship events. These can be large church services, youth groups, retreats, or even home groups. My goal is to finish recording by the end of August. There is no cost for the event, I am only asking for a love offering to help with travel expenses.

3. Buy a CD when they come out. I’ll let you know when.