Mark your calendars...

for the 2nd Annual Dash for Adoption! (Can I just point out that last year's post about the race being a success was the same day that Cohen was born!) Last year Robby and I planned our first 5k race to raise money for Cohen's adoption. We wanted to hold the race at a nearby state park and the park only had one free weekend so we planned the whole thing in just three weeks. We were even on vacation one of those weeks! It seemed like such a crazy thing to do, but it turned out to be a huge success and showed us God's hand in Cohen's adoption.

Several people have asked us if we were going to have the Dash for Adoption this year... I assumed because we are busy enjoying Cohen we might not try to pull it off this fall, but Robby was ready to start planning. We originally said that this year we would put all the proceeds in our church's adoption fund to help another family who is adopting a child, but then we started looking into adopting from El Salvador...

Here's the letter we wrote to friends and family:

Looking back to this time one year ago, Robby and I were finishing the necessary adoption paperwork and planning a 5K race to help with the adoption fees. Little did we know that our son would be born just two days after the race! This past year has been an unforgettable journey that has taught us so many lessons. Most importantly we have learned to trust in God’s perfect plan.

While we would love to adopt another child from Guatemala in the future, adoption is uncertain at this point because of the Hague Convention. Guatemala must make some changes in the way they handle adoptions and this is likely to take a while. Because of this we are looking into adopting a child from El Salvador, another beautiful country in Central America with children in need of loving homes. The children in El Salvador without families live in orphanages and are usually eight months or older when they are adopted. The process to adopt a child from El Salvador is a much longer process averaging from 16-24 months so we plan on beginning soon!

Please join us for the 2nd Annual Dash for Adoption on November 10th at Briar Hill Park. It will once again be a 5k run/walk with prizes for the first three men and women. We also plan on having lots of door prizes as well! We hope you can support us in some way – through prayer, spreading the word about the race, or participating. Email me at lori_beth27@yahoo.com for registration forms and flyers and feel free to pass these on to anyone who might be interested.

Love,
Robby, Lori, & Cohen