December Update

Today marks the last day of A Beard For A Baby and we are so sad to see it come to an end! Many of you know that 2012 was a difficult year for us....but 2013 has brought with it much joy and blessing and ABFAB is a huge part of that! A bajillion thanks to everyone who has participated in and given towards this little fundraiser of ours. We are humbled, overwhelmed and filled with gratitude for all that the Lord has done through you.

We just sent out our final update, which you can read here. Or, for a condensed version, check out the bullets below:

• In the past 6 months, the Lord has brought in $25,025. We are thrilled to announce that our adoption is now fully funded!!!
• Bearded Gospel Men gave us and fellow Beard Grower, Philip Hatter, shout outs! To read their posts about us, click here and here. BGM helped us get our start back in May and we were stoked to be highlighted by them at the end of this gig as well. We love you, BGM!
• We're having a party! Join us as we celebrate the end of ABFAB and Moses' 1st birthday. He will still be in Korea on his birthday but we can think of no better way to honor his life and acknowledge all that the Lord has done in ABFAB than by celebrating with you guys. Details below!

• Jordan McClinton raised the most funds this past month (and overall!) He wins the prize of his choice and we are oh so thankful for all of his help.
• For more dirt on who raised what, here is a glimpse at the Beards who raised the most:

DJ Hofmann (who doesn't really count since it's his fundraiser and all, but it's still fun to say how much his beard is worth): $8386.33

Jordan McClinton: $1462.70 

Luke Damoff: $1204.95

Matt Tonne: $969.12

Sean Bryant: $942.34

Luke Baublet: $781.06

Tim McKnight: $769.50

Michael Head: $712.80

Lee Bertram: $649.14

Justin Wendorf: $618.92

Asher Pirtle: $603.33

(Of course, we are beyond grateful for every single Beard Grower, no matter how much was raised. We receive every donation, no matter how big or small, as the Lord's provision and thank each and every one of our guys for all that they did to help us fund our adoption!)

That's all for now! 

Much love,

the Hofs

Beards Of The Week | Casey Beaver and Phillip Bleecker

Hey, hey! It's Wednesday! This week's Beards are Casey Beaver and Phillip Bleecker. Read below to meet & love them, and consider supporting one of their beards in this final week of ABFAB!

DJ and I used to work with Casey and really like him a lot. He is a great guy: super genuine, kind, respectful and polite...in a way that stands out above most. He is always eager to help in whatever ways he can and has such a servant's heart for the Lord. So, we were of course thrilled when we saw him sign up to be a Beard Grower! What a joy it has been to have him be a part of our journey in bringing Moses home.

This has been an exciting year for Casey, and I'm talking about more than just being a Beard Grower. He and his wife, Cheyenne, just had their first baby, Zoey, and she is just a doll. She's a cute baby and an ABFAB mustache model all in one. See?

As you can see, he has one heck of a beard and it's still growing strong. Don't let it be in vain! You can support his beard here and help bring Moses home all in the click of a button. Go do it now... you will make Casey's heart (and ours) oh so happy.

Phillip Bleecker just joined our team in October, but we have loved having him on board beard. He and his wife, Carissa, are especially near and dear to our hearts in that they too are in the midst of their own adoption journey. We have continued to feel so humbled and loved by all the men on our team who are fundraising for their own endeavors and yet are also willing to partner with us in ours.

In fact, Phillip and Carissa have their own adoption fundraiser going on right now and it's one of the more creative ones I've seen out there. For just $30 a month, you can join their Pie Of The Month Club where you get a pie and the proceeds go right into their Baby Bleecker fund. We just signed up and received our first pie a few days ago! Triple Chocolate Pecan Pie. With homemade brandy whipped cream. It was no joke ya'll. To say that it was delish just doesn't quite do it justice. All that to say, you should get in on the club. You won't regret it. Do it now!

Phillip still needs sponsors too, so if you would like to support his beard, you can do so here.

Only four days left and one more beard to highlight.... my very own DJ. I'm a little biased but since he's my favorite, I saved him for last. Check back next Wednesday for his BOTW post!

Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll.

with love, 

the hofs

T-Minus 7 Days Until The End Of ABFAB!

We are officially a week away from the end of ABFAB and we cannot even believe it. What a whirlwind the past 6 months have been. We have had so much fun, been connected to so many wonderful people and have seen the Lord provide in ways that so far exceed what we could have hoped or imagined. In the past 6 months, He has raised nearly $24,000 for our adoption and we have just about $1,000 left to go until we are fully funded. What?! That's crazy talk, and yet it's true. Praise be to God for all that He has done!

And so, in honor of having just 7 days left and $1,000 to go, here are 5 great ways that you can get in on the ABFAB fun and help us meet our goal:

1. Sponsor a Beard Grower! Take a look at our bearded men here and support your favorite one!
2. Buy a t-shirt! We have plenty left, and PS: they're super comfy. 
3. Buy a beard comb! They are $10 and oh so handy. We have these available upon request.
   
4. Consider donating American Airline miles to our fund as we will be required to take two trips to Korea.
5. Last but not least, please come to our ABFAB bash on December 6th! We will be celebrating the end of ABFAB and our son Moses' first birthday with coffee and live music by some pretty great folks. There is no entry fee, but we will be accepting donations towards our adoption fund. Details are here: 

That's all for now! Know that we love you and have been so blessed by your interest and participation in this little adoption story of ours.

See ya'll on the 6th!

with love,
the hofs

 

  

Beards Of The Week | Sean Bryant & Steven Pirtle

Yo, yo ABFAB friends! It is Wednesday and as always, we wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our wonderful facial haired friends. This week's Beards are Sean Bryan and Steven Pirtle!

 

There are so many great things to say about Sean. He is the bomb.com. But seriously, in non 90's language, Sean is really great. I first met him because he serves in the Children's Ministry at The Village and he has one of the greatest servant hearts I have ever seen. He is super eager to serve, always willing to fill in and help, goes above and beyond in his role, and is passionate about teaching young guys about Jesus. He has been such a blessing to our ministry and his role and presence there is invaluable. So.... we were of course excited when he signed up to grow a beard for us!!! Not to mention, Sean made it fun. He was our one and only guy that managed to pull off a Beard Buy Out. What's that you say? Yes, someone bought his beard. They were tired of looking at it and were willing to pay a very generous amount to get it right off of Sean's face. So $500 later, Sean's beard was sold and the Beard Bank grew. Leave it to Sean to keep things fun and interesting! We love Sean and are super thankful to have him along on this crazy, whirlwind and oh so fun journey towards meeting our son.

Ladies and gents, this here is Steven Pirtle! We don't know Steven super well in that he attends The Village Church's Dallas campus, but we have some mutual friends and it was one said friend, Anne, who convinced Steven to join our team. And boy are we glad that he did! Steven kept things fun in that he wasn't in this alone, but made it a duo by participating alongside his two year old son. Yes, that's right.... father and baby, bearding together. You can meet his counterpart here. It has been a pretty amazing thing to watch and we loved seeing what Steven and his wife, Heather, would come up with each month as they figured out how to make Asher's beard grow. We have only met Steven once, but we loved him and his sweet family. They are sweet, kind, and compassionate folks; their hearts were genuinely soft towards our journey towards parenthood and they were beyond eager to help us bring our little boy home. We could not be more grateful for them and their help in our adoption.

Steven still needs sponsors, and it's not too late! We have a week and a half left so any donation towards his beard, no matter how big or small, will help us reach our goal of having our adoption fully funded by the end of ABFAB! If you want to support Steven's beard, you can do so here.

That's all for now. Stay bearded, ya'll. 

love,

the hofs

Beards Of The Week | Roy Smith, Mason Huemmer & Scott Allen

Hey, hey.... it's Wednesday! We have just 2.5 weeks left of this gig and 8 bearded fellas still to highlight. For this week, we are stoked to introduce you to.... Roy Smith, Mason Huemmer and Scott Allen!

Roy Smith.... such a fun dude to have on our team. We have never met him, but he works with DJ's sister, Amanda, which is how he got word of ABFAB back in June. Roy lives in Pearland, TX and works for Adcetera Marketing and Advertising Firm. When asked why he wanted to grow a beard to grow our family, Roy jokingly said that Amanda would break both of his arms if he didn't! But on a more serious note, Roy believes that every child needs the opportunity to be loved and nurtured and he recognizes that not every child gets that opportunity. He was eager to help give a child a family and a home and we were thrilled to have him on board. Every picture he sent in was as fun as the one above and like the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words"... Roy's pictures spoke of fun, spunk and pure awesomeness. He had to quit ABFAB a few months back but he was faithful to recruit sponsors and was still a huge part of our journey to bringing Moses home. We are thankful to have Roy be a part of our story!

Mason Huemmer!! We know Mason from church. DJ first met him through the Missions Department at The Village and more recently I have gotten to know him a little bit because I work with his wonderful, beautiful, and really fun fiance, the lovely Melissa Ball. We don't know Mason super well, but you just can't help but be drawn to him. He's a lovable guy with a kind and respectful disposition. Not only that, but he has been such an avid Beard Grower. He got a bunch of sponsors in super early and even won June's prize! He was pleasantly surprised when we gave him a bottle of beard tonic, because he was expecting a beard tunic, which PS: would have been a totally weird prize to give out. Nevertheless, he worked hard to help raise our Moses Money and we are eternally grateful for all of his help.

Here's another fun story about Mason, and one that made me gain a lot of respect for him. Back in September, he made plans to propose to Melissa. Not wanting to have a grungy beard in the engagement pictures that they would cherish forever, Mason not only trimmed, but went above and beyond by contacting all of his sponsors ahead of time to see if they would still continue sponsoring him post-trim. They were all so eager to agree. He trimmed for that day, their pictures turned out great, and he's been growing back it out every since! 

More recently, Mason was super excited to be reminded that the fundraiser does in fact end on December 1st.  He thought it ended on the 31st and the look on his face when he realized he had one less month to go was priceless! Mason isn't the only guy tired of growing, so encourage him to grow on by sponsoring him! He only needs two more sponsors. Would you consider supporting him?

  

Last but certainly not least is Scott Allen! DJ and I have worked and been friends with Scott for 6 years. He is the Technology Systems Administrator at The Village, otherwise known as the office hero who comes to save the day when printers jam and computers break and technology makes me want to pull my hair out. Yes, he is that guy who knows and understands the world of computers, pulls all-nighters to fix servers, and basically makes our world keep going. 

But, more than a co-worker, Scott is our friend and another adoptive parent.... and one that we look up to at that. Scott and his wife, Amanda (whom I just adore), have 5 children, two of which came into their family via foster adoption. Their family is just beautiful. They were one of the first interracial families that I ever encountered and their heart for orphan ministry bled over into ours. We watched as they adopted their first two children, attended court when it was made official, and understood foster care better because of them. They have a big family, a fun family, and a colorful family and watching the Allen clan has only made me desire much of the same for us.  Scott and Amanda are in the process of adopting their 6th child and I ask that you pray for them as they embark on what can often be a long process filled with ups, downs and uncertainties. 

Scott has been such a fun Beard Grower to have on board. As pictured above, he has donned the friendly mutton chops. He has had fun with ABFAB and allowed his sponsors to vote on the beard style that they wanted him to wear. Friendly Mutton Chops won and lots of hearts were happy when he walked into work sporting that on his face! Another fun story: Me and Scott don't know who did this, but we came into work one day and someone had changed the name plate on his door. It said, and still says to this day:

 

It doesn't get much better than that, and whoever did this was awesome. Chad Farmer, was it you?!

Scott still needs sponsors too! To support his beard, you can leave a donation here.

That's all for today. Stay bearded, ya'll!

love,
the hofs

An Adoption Story | Hymns for Selena

Though DJ and I do not know Josh and Angela Walker well, we have many mutual friends and attended church together for several years. Throughout our entire acquaintance with them, we knew about their pursuit of bringing Selena into their family. Though it has been a long journey and is still not over, it is not one that is without hope. The Lord is faithful and His heart for the fatherless shines through their story. Their journey is one that shows perseverance and a determination to continue pursuing this little girl even when the adoption process has lingered for more than five years. Their journey is one of partnering with believers a continent away to care for a little girl until they can bring her home. Their journey is one of trust in the Lord, even when it's hard. And, it is one of singing and rejoicing... even in the waiting. Please watch this video and read their story below and consider partnering with them in their efforts to bless Selena and the Echeverria family. Your donation, no matter how big or small, will be such a sweet gift for them. Thank you for your consideration!

SINGING...EVEN IN THE WAITING

We, the Walkers, are truly honored to be able to share our story with this whole "beard" community. We actually love beards. I would have one if my company wasn’t so strict about facial hair. But we are not here to talk about beards, but to tell you our story. It's actually very close to the heart of what this beard blog is about: adoption. We love it that Courtney and DJ are adopting and that they have put together this grassroots effort, through this blog, to raise support and to bring together a community around such a beautiful thing as adoption.

Our story is a story of adoption too, and like the Hofmanns, international adoption. Ours begins five years ago when we went to Guatemala on a mission trip with our church, The Village. Angela and I were two years into our marriage, had just purchased our first home and had no kids at the time (only our first dog, Molly). Many people say that mission trips do more for the attendees than the people you serve, and I think this is often the case. For us it really was. We served most of the week in Huehuetenango, Guatemala at a local orphanage. It was a great week and all the kids were super cute and loveable but there was this one child that stood out to us. Angela met her in the baby room, and just like a magnet was attracted to her. Her name was Selena. We thought she was a baby because of how little she was, but she was two years old. Angela and I loved on her and made her smile as much as we could that week. By the end of that week we felt like God was doing something more with us and Selena. It's hard to explain to others, but when you know God says, in his Word, that he has a heart for the orphan and then you connect with one in a particular way, something special happens and you want to be obedient to what God is doing. That's how we felt. We didn't know anything about international adoption (or parenting at all!) but we knew that God had called us to pursue Selena. We looked into the adoption process and found out that Guatemala had recently closed their international adoption doors. There are different reasons for that, but we were unable to apply and start the process. We were saddened, but we knew God had called us to pursue Selena and we said we were going to do everything we could think of for this child while we wait for adoption to reopen.

Angela & Selena

That was over five years ago. In those five years we have only fallen deeper in love with Selena. I didn't tell you yet, but Selena has special needs. She has cerebral palsy, and a huge orphanage is no place for a child with special needs. She needs devoted time and attention, and she had become very ill at the orphanage. It’s a very long story, but we were able to, early on, move Selena out of the orphanage where she lived for 3 weeks prior to our first visit and into a foster family: the Echeverrias. Mimi, Nufito and their son, Junior. This family also fell in love with Selena through God ordained circumstances bringing them into Selena’s life shortly after us. They have cared for her these past five years and love her as their own. They have agreed to care for Selena for as long as it takes for adoptions to reopen, and boy did God pick one amazing family to do so. Mimi has been a mother to Selena. Because of her, Selena knows what it’s like to be loved like only a mother can. She has devoted every waking minute to Selena and has worked tirelessly to get Selena all the help she needs to thrive. We cannot say enough amazing things about this family. They are our family and we love them so very much. We visit Selena as often as we can and we are always amazed at how much progress she has made over the years. There is so much life in her now that wasn’t there before. We, the Walkers, have in essence partnered with the Echeverrias to provide them with whatever Selena needs, however we feel that this family deserves more. They deserve to be blessed in a very special way…

The Walkers with Selena and the Echeverrias

Fast forward five years and Selena is now seven. That’s wild to me, and the Echeverria family is still loving her like crazy, and Selena is getting so big. We have two kids of our own now and Molly (our dog) is still hanging in there. We moved to the Houston area now and last Spring I had the idea of putting together a music record that would be for a specific purpose. I have been a Christian since I was young and have played bass in church for a very long time. During that time I’ve met a lot of worship leaders and traveled around and met some very talented people. So my idea for this album was to use 10 hymns that I had rewritten and ask ten of my friends to guest feature on each hymn. We would put together the best album we could and give it away for free on NOISETRADE and connect people to Selena’s story. If people were blessed and encouraged by her story and the music and moved to leave a tip then we would give all of it to Selena and the Echeverria family. It was an idea that I would have never imagined had turned out so beautifully. We are really proud of it. The hymns have such a powerful message and have been very encouraging to our family throughout this process. I’ve just seen God’s hand in all of this and we are excited to invite all of you into the joy of this story.

Selena and the Echeverrias

We’ve created more content over on our website, www.hymnsforselena.com, and you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on our progress. Thank you for hearing our story and go download the album and consider giving something to bless this amazing little girl, Selena and the Echeverria family. We love her and are still waiting. But we will sing… even in our waiting.

An Adoption Story | The Harrisons

It's Friday! I love Fridays because they are our Guest Blogger days and there is nothing more encouraging, humbling, challenging and real than sharing people's personal adoption stories. Each and every one of them has been a blessing to my heart and is a testimony of the Lord's faithfulness, goodness, provision, and sweet Fatherhood. This one is no different. It is my absolute joy to introduce ya'll to Kimmie and Grant Harrison!

Though I have never met Kimmie, I have been surprised to learn that we actually have several mutual friends (Stephanie McKee, Becky Hall and Katharine Elkins to name a few!). Each time I told one of these friends that we were adopting from Korea, every single one of them pointed me to Kimmie and told me that I just had to get in touch with her. And boy, were they right! The Harrisons are adopting through a different agency than us, but their journey has looked much the same and Kimmie has been such a sweet encouragement to me in this season. Her and Grant are just a few steps ahead of us in the process, yet they are still waiting for their little boy to come home too. Because of this, she has been able to relate to me in a way that is unique; a way that few others have been able to. She is not yet on the other side of adoption where all the paperwork and waiting are blissfully forgotten about. She is still in it (and has been doing it longer than me), so she is quick to relate, encourage, and offer up scripture to bless me in my own season of waiting. She is faithful to check in on me, ask questions about our process, and share in our excitement over getting matched with and receiving pictures of Moses. I cannot even tell you how much of a joy it is for me to hear updates about her son. Each time she sends me pictures of him, I literally sit in front of my computer and squeal with delight. There is just nothing like walking through this process with someone else; it bonds you together in such a special way.

We have never met in person, but Kimmie is so much more than just my email friend. She is a sweet sister in Christ and has been such a Godsend to me. For the Lord to connect us through our adoptions is just so sweet, personal, and loving of Him. He did not have to give me the gift of this friendship, but I am beyond thankful that He did. 

For those of you who are either in process or considering adoption, I pray that this story is an encouragement to you. Kimmie writes with such raw emotion, yet her hope is steadfast in Christ. She is real and transparent and honest about what this process has been like, even in the nitty gritty, and yet her story is a testimony of what it looks like to cling to the Lord in the unknown. Be blessed, friends! 

Kimmie, I love the fact that our boys are in Korea together and pray for their homecoming to come hastily. We love you guys and are praying for you this week!

“My endurance has perished: so has my hope from the Lord…But this I call to mind, and therefore, I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.  The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”
Lam. 3:18, 21-25 

There is such value in one’s story.  I am amazed by how the Lord shows that to each of His children.  Our story is none more important than another’s, and my prayer is that I am able to fully give testimony to all the ways He has been evident, faithful, and good to us in ours.  His Story has sustained our own daily, really moment-by-moment.  Truly the gift of life guiding us in our journey to a new little life.

Our journey to adoption seems to have begun long before we were even aware.  The ways the Lord works on our behalf without our knowing is something I am constantly amazed by.  Sometime in the beginning of our journey of going to the Lord on behalf of our longing for a child, the Lord gave me Romans 4 to cling to.  He showed me the testimony of Abraham’s faith and how “without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about 100 years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.  Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.” Although the Lord had not given me the promise of having a child by way of natural birth, I still could cling to the promises of who He was and His word to be faithful to His people. I had begun to live out for myself the truth of Mark 9 as I cried out “I believe…help my unbelief.” Longing to trust He had a plan and He was leading, but still having days I struggled to believe. Yet, His faithfulness is true.  He was pruning and developing our family tree in ways we could not have known.  Asking us to have faith when we could not see.  And continuing to sustain us with His Word, allowing us to truly experience the fact that,  “blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”  He was pruning and being the true Vine, bearing fruit in us, and allowing us to realize the reality of John 15 that apart from Him we can do nothing. We were at His mercy to fulfill our longing to have children.   It was a temptation to look at our journey to having children as a drought; dormant; barren.  However, we stand in awe of Him who has sustained and allowed us to see that He was forming a child for us all along.

The Lord brought us to international adoption from Korea in March of 2012 after having walked through an intensely difficult season wrought with the pain of infertility.  We began our paperwork that spring and soared through the next several months of waiting eager to see what God had in store for us on this new path.  We experienced the richness of His love throughout the summer as we had an outpouring of support abound.  It was an extremely refreshing time, especially following such dark days in our struggle years prior.  We sailed into the fall and then we were matched with a precious little 6-month old boy on October 17th of last year.  Our Lyle.

Here we are a little over a year later and can say that our weariness is showing in our days of waiting as we have yet to have the privilege of bringing him home.  Throughout my journey with infertility, the testimony of Abraham was mightily used in my life to encourage me to hold fast to the faith God had given me.  I was striving to be commended for my faith as I attempted to walk the path of infertility well.  As we were lead into adoption, I still had these Hebrews 11 faith heroes as my example.  Yet, as we get further into the unknown of our wait and our longing for our son, the days seem to get increasingly more difficult.  I continue to say that the Lord has made Himself mightily known in our struggle, but that does not diminish that this has felt like some kind of fight.  Where I once longed for the Lord to build much in me, I am realizing that all along I merely needed to make much of Him.  Where I clung to verses of simple faith being rewarded, I now am yearning for the truth of His power being made perfect in my weakness.

We have watched our son grow over the course of the last year through 3 videos, 3 written updates, and 8 sets of pictures.  The Lord has given us such a profound love for this child.   We have not even experienced the fullness of joy in this union and yet I cannot express how we have experienced God’s love in these days of waiting.  We have been given a timeline of roughly 6 months until we could have a court date in Korea.  We have learned to hold these timelines loosely, but we are thankful that each day is one day closer.  I’m thankful for the Lord’s revealing to me throughout our journey that His times of waiting are not merely times of passivity.  He has used this time to prove Himself trustworthy, faithful, loving, gracious, and Sovereign.

Each day I wake up and my mind drifts to a land an ocean away.  It is an honor to serve a God that has chosen to show me in the most intimate way that He truly has the whole world in His hand, even my precious little 18 month old.  What a gift God has granted us through the beauty of adoption.  We will wait as long as He asks us for it is my greatest privilege to walk this road with His presence so rich for the great blessing of mothering this child.  I have never experienced the miracle of carrying a child in the way a pregnant woman would. But, I believe that what God is doing in my family's life is nothing short of such.  We await the day we can share with A Beard for A Baby folks a picture of our precious son with his momma and daddy!

For to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Eph. 3:20-21

Beards Of The Week | Daniel Gaston, Larry Hehn & Mark Hoffmann

Hey ya'll! It's Beard Of The Week Wednesday and we're posting this blog from the beautiful land of Robbers Cave State Park! We are cabining with some friends, but no matter how far from home we are, our Beards are always on our minds. And so, it is my pleasure to introduce you to this week's Beards... Daniel Gaston, Larry Hehn, and Mark Hoffmann!

 

Daniel is our newest Beard Grower, having just joined the team last week! I got an email from him in the middle of the night expressing such eager interest in being a Beard Grower and we were thrilled to invite him on board.  Really guys, it's never too late to grow a beard for us and though Daniel's only in for the final month, he has both National Adoption Month and No Shave November in his favor.... and he's working hard too! He had his first sponsor in like 5 minutes, ya'll. 

We really don't know Daniel that well at all. In fact, we only know of him because we are friends with his sister and brother in law, Caitlin and Clint Crawford. I have worked with Clint for the past 6 years and Caitlin was the one who so generously donated the Beard Tonic incentive from her shop, Austin Street Apothecary, back in July. Clint and Caitlin are pretty great and I can only assume Daniel is too. He is super excited about ABFAB and eager to help us out, and we love him for that! Welcome to the team, Daniel!

Daniel still needs sponsors! You can support his beard here.

Larry Hehn is the Beard Grower who made made ABFAB international! A born and bred Canadian, Larry first found out about us via Bearded Gospel Men. He signed up and has been an eager participant since. Though we don't know him, we love him. We have gotten to exchange several emails with him and have been able to encourage one another in truth and pray for each others' families. Such a sweet little ministry ABFAB has turned out to be!

From the start, we asked our guys to send in bios and to tell us why they wanted to grow a beard for our family. Here is what Larry had to share:

Larry Hehn is an elder at Bramalea Alliance Church in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
He has worked in production and inventory management for decades - buying, counting, manufacturing and moving all kinds of stuff - but his true passion is writing. He blogs at Christian in the Rough. He has been married to Monique, a truly awesome lady, for the past 23 years, and they’ve been blessed with 4 children.

Larry sees this Beard-A-Thon as a really good reason to do something he’s always wanted to try but never got around to – seeing just how long he can grow his beard. He is honored to be part of this worthy cause, and to help it become an international event. Larry is very pleased that something as simple as growing a beard can help bring a young family together.

Although he doesn’t usually refer to himself in the third person, he had an absolute blast writing this bio, and wishes DJ and Courtney all the best in their adoption quest!

We love you, Larry! Thanks for all your are doing to help bring Moses home.

Larry in still in need of some sponsors as well. Help him out by supporting his beard here. 

 

Mark Hoffmann! DJ and I love Mark! We have worked with him the past several years as he is one of the Middle School Ministers at the The Village Church Flower Mound Campus. Mark is brilliant- he loves the Lord and is a studier of His Word. We could talk to him for days and be both amazed and educated by all that he has to say concerning the things of God. He is 26 years old, yet walks in much wisdom. We don't hang out a ton, but DJ and I have both been blessed by the few serious interactions we've had with him and know that our church staff, body and Student Ministry are blessed by his pastoral presence.

Not only that, but Mark is pretty dang hilarious. We just spent last week with him at our annual Staff Retreat and he emcee'd our lunch time festivities. Talk about cracking up. This guy had the whole staff (all 150 of us) rolling in laughter. Also, if you ever need someone to host your Spelling Bee, Mark is your man. He might botch the word and give an incorrect sentences to define it, but you're sure to have a dang good time. 

Mark still needs sponsors, too! If you want to support his beard, you can do so here. 

That's all for today, folks! 

the hofs

October Recap

Hey there Beard lovers!

We just wanted to send a little recap your way to summarize all that the Lord has done in October! You can read more in the newsletter we just sent out, but below is a simplified version:

• October brought in $3,100 with the total amount raised so far being $22,300. Guys, we can't even believe it. When we first started this fundraiser, we were hoping it would make $6,000. The Lord has nearly quadrupled that!!
• We only have $1838 left to go until we meet our total goal. What?!! Crazy. And also, super doable. That comes out to roughly $60 per day. Which is the same things as one sponsorship a day for the rest of the fundraiser. Looking for someone to sponsor? Head on over to our Growth Tracker and pick your favorite bearded fella! Sponsorships can be made here.
• Speaking of the Growth Tracker, it hasn't been updated yet. We are still waiting on a few new pictures,  but we'll get it up for ya soon. Check back in the next few days to see those oh so glorious beards.
• Luke Damoff won the October prize.... a personalized Lil' Beard handmade by fellow Beard Grower, Philip Hatter! Way to go, Luke! You are going to enjoy that Lil Beard for forever. 
• Beauty For A Baby was a huge success as well. You can read more about it here. 
• November's prize is a personalized toiletry bag for men. There is only 30 days left until they can shave and I am sure they are counting down the minutes. It won't be long before they pull out those dusty ole' shaving supplies and they'll need somewhere trendy to keep them when they do. Enter in this awesome bag. Hello! Help your favorite Beard Grower win! 

That about sums it up for now! We just wanted to share the highlights with you and rejoice in all that the Lord has done. Thank you guys for all that you are doing to help give Moses a family and a home.

With love,

the hofs

An ABFAB Halloween

Each year, Adcetera, a marketing agency based in Houston, hosts a pretty amazing pumpkin carving competition. It's always a big deal, with lots of time, effort and creativity going into the contest. They even put up a website, Batcetera.com, to show off the goods and provide online voting. It's pretty great stuff and you can and should visit the Pumpkin Gallery to view the past 13 years of creative pumpkining.

DJ's sister, Amanda, not only works for Adcetera, but also happens to be a huge fan and avid supporter of A Beard For A Baby. She has created business cards, post cards, ABFAB stickers and the like for our Beard Growers and even connected us with a vendor to print our t-shirts. Like I said, she's an avid supporter, and ABFAB is what it is in large part because of her. And so, for this year's Adcetera Pumpkin Carving Competition she created an ABFAB themed pumpkin and we would love to invite you into the fun! The pumpkin with the most votes wins cash money and Amanda has graciously offered to donate her winnings to our adoption fund should her pumpkin win. 

We love Amanda's pumpkin theme on so many levels. First and foremost, we love that she is using her creativity to help bring our little pumpkin home. This fundraiser has been full of people using their God given talents to pour into our baby's homecoming and that is such a sweet thing for us to sit back, watch and receive. Second, she is advertising our fundraiser, showing off our Beard Growers, and pointing people to our website. We could always use more sponsors and love her help in widening our audience. Above all, we love the sweet imagery of the baby pumpkin being brought from Korea to Texas in a little basket across the waters.....

Oh, did we not tell you? We have a name for baby Hofmann and as suggested above, his name is Moses! Moses John Hofmann to be exact. This little boy's name is one of the sweetest parts of our adoption story to date and is evidence of the Lord's very present hand in this journey. We would love to tell you more about how He gave us the name so be sure to ask about it some time as we are so, so eager to share it with you.

But back to the pumpkin competition... Want to vote? It's simple! Simply click on the image below and vote for her pumpkin, titled "Adopt-kin Baby Moses". Please vote now and help us get $150 more dollars towards bringing our son home.

Also, just a little warning that some of the pumpkins may or may not be a little racy.... I may have even gasped out loud at one or two :) Such is the world of pop culture and pumpkins. Have fun and thank you for voting!

Happy Halloween,
the hofs

Beards Of The Week | Gray Wilson, Jayme Andujar & JD Warren

Happy Wednesday, ya'll! We have three BOTW men to highlight again this week and we are more than happy to introduce you guys to {{drum toll, please....}}: Gray Wilson, Jayme Andujar, and JD Warren!

 

Gray is another one of our Beards that we have never met, though we love him and are excited to have him growing for us! He lives in Marion, VA and is a full time student and part time lifeguard. Gray's aunt and uncle have adopted four children and through them, Gray has learned a lot about the plight of orphans as well as international and domestic adoption. The Lord used this exposure to give Gray a heart for orphans and a desire to help them any way he can. In fact, through researching Eagle Scout Projects, Gray found out about a foundation that provides schools for orphans in Zimbabwe, Africa. Immediately wanting to help, he drafted up a project. However, it was denied due to a rule that requires that physical goods be sent rather than money. As we all know, being a college student has it's financial strains, and Gray was unable to afford the shipping costs associated with the project and therefore had to put his efforts on hold for the time being. However, he then heard about our fundraiser and wanted to help as much as he could. He said that it was easy to grow a beard and was eager to do so for us... and he's done a great job! Gray still needs more sponsors so if you would like to support his beard, you can do so here.

Our relationship with Jayme goes way back. We have worked with Jayme for the past 6 or so years, as he is one of the Custodians at our Flower Mound Campus. Jayme is great, ya'll. He is fun, hilarious, hard working, and quirky, loves his family, and has one of the greatest servant hearts I have ever seen. He works heartily as unto the Lord and always does it with a great attitude. Above all, he loves Jesus and people and I have seen him serve The Village Church in a number of capacities. He is a great blessing to this place.

Here is what Jayme said when we asked him why he would want to grow his beard for us:

I have a deep appreciation for The Hofmanns. Personally, having watched them grow through the miscarriages burdened my heart with a deeper joy in The Lord that is rooted in the hope of God's everlasting love for us. Believing they have ascertained the blessing of that love through His Holy Spirit, adding a child to their home would continue to refine them in God's Love for each other, the baby, and everyone they come in contact with. If my beard can help, then let's do this!

Jayme still needs sponsors so if you would like to support his beard, you can do so here.

JD Warren is one of our "Stranger Beards" though he is actually not too far away from us. He lives right down the road in Ft. Worth, TX and come to find out, we even have some mutual friends! Sadly, we do not know too much about JD, but we are grateful for him and thank the Lord for using him to help bring our little boy home. And, we always get a kick out of the fun pictures he sends in and are so glad to have him on our team. JD still needs sponsors so if you would like to support his beard, you can do so here.

We love our Beards and hope you do too!

Have a happy Wednesday ya'll. 

with love,

the hofs

An Adoption Story | The Payne Family

It is our pleasure to share with you the Payne's adoption story. Brad and Caprice are long time members of The Village Church, and Brad even serves as one of our church elders. Though we did not initially know them very well, we knew of them, crossed paths at church, and had several mutual friends. They have a beautiful family and because two of their children are adopted, we were eager to get to know them as we embarked on our own adoption journey. I recently began emailing with Caprice and had lunch with her and was so encouraged and blessed by their story. It is one that drips with evidence of God's faithfulness, sovereignty, provision and grace. Keep reading to meet and love Brad, Caprice, Darrin, Abby, Kailey and Holly Payne.

Soon after Brad and I floated down the aisle of holy matrimony, we began dreaming of exactly what kind of offspring we might produce. Would they look like dad or more mom? Would they be smart, athletic, outgoing, artistic or a quiet thinker? These and other exciting questions seemed endless, as were the moments that passed as we sat silently stunned in our doctor’s office nearly six years later.

After several years of doing virtually everything medically affordable, morally acceptable and physically possible, our dreams shattered around us. We would never see exactly what the combination of our love and genetics would produce. One of our deepest desires had been squashed. If it is true, as Proverbs 13:19 directly says, “A desire accomplished is sweet to the soul,” then a desire unaccomplished can produce severe bitterness. And on that day, bitterness was knocking loudly at the door of our souls. Fortunately, we never answered that knock.

As one chapter in our life came to a close, a new chapter of adoption began in January 1999. Our emotions were everywhere: exciting, intimidating, overwhelming, and scary were a few favorites. Starting the journey, we were faced with some major decisions. First, will we go domestic or international? Next, is an agency better for us than a private lawyer? From there, closed, semi-open or open adoption?

So we prayed, read books, and rested heavily on the providence of God. We decided on a semi-open, domestic adoption with an agency that ministers to the birth family pre and post placement of their child. We wanted the birth parents to be given the opportunity to receive counseling and support as they navigated knitting their hearts back together. We were hopeful of what the Lord might do.

The Lord saw fit for us to go another route in the adoption process with the dreaded words, “open adoption.” My worst fear was becoming a reality as I assumed co-parenting to be my destiny. I was not happy! God was about to teach a lesson on trust.

This all came about by us telling a friend about our desire to adopt. We were told the more people that knew you were adopting, the better... and we would heartily agree. Our friend Shelley had a family in her home group with a pregnant teenage daughter. This 14 year old initially wanted to parent, but decided to put her son up for adoption. Shelly mentioned us, and she seemed interested. But weeks passed and life moved that conversation to the back of my mind. We were still focused on the two agencies we had signed up with and finishing all the paper work.

Then it happened, Shelley called and asked if she could give more personal answers to this family asking questions. I replied, “o...k!?” I’m not quite sure what she said to them, but in no time I was talking directly to the birth grandmother. The next day, I met with the soon-to-be- mother and grandmother. I was not prepared. I did not have one of my scrapbooks with all the glowing letters from our friends and family that told this birth mother how fabulous we would be if she chose us as her child’s parents, so I brought a photo album so she could see our house and what Brad looked like, since he was out of town. This 14 year old was quiet and pretty, holding a sonogram picture of the son she was carrying inside her young womb. I was scared to death. This is why I wanted the safety of a semi-open adoption. I am ok with communication, but not face to face! Thankfully I didn’t scare them away and when Brad got home we met again.

We were put on the fast track of getting signed up with her agency, getting a home study done and all the necessary forms filled out. The baby was due in December. Four months to get to know more about open adoption, what it truly was designed to be, and learning to trust God with our hearts and those of the birth family. It was emotional, rewarding and incredibly terrifying throughout the process.

Darrin Paul Payne was born December 6, 1999 at 2:38 pm. I was in the delivery room and even cut the cord (open adoption at it’s best!). Brad was in the waiting room. Then, came the longest 48 hours of our lives: The amount of time we had to wait to see if our young mother would stay true to her plan for her son. She did, but God had another test of trust for me. She wanted to take him home first, so we gave her our car seat and said, "we will see you in a few hours." Gut wrenching! All went well, and Darrin ended up in our home that evening.

Three years later we adopted a beautiful daughter whose birth mother found us on the agency’s website. Abigail Caprice became my 33rd birthday present, since we brought her home the day after my birthday.

Our family was complete... we thought. God felt not; he surprised me at my 35 year old well check with a 13 week pregnancy! What? A girl should know if she was pregnant, right? Kailey Jewel was born April 6, 2005, a true surprise gift. Now, our quiver was full. Well...another surprise came along when I was 37. Holly Rose came into the world on August 21, 2007!

  

God is awesome in His sovereign hand and often unusual timing.

Beards Of The Week | Anthony Cavallo, Brady Goodwin & Caleb Simpson

Hey guys! It's time for the Beard Of The Week post, and you're in for a treat because this week we are highlighting three of our men! With only 5 weeks left of our fundraiser, we need to start doubling up to make sure all of our men get showcased....lucky you!

This week it is our absolute joy to introduce to you Anthony Cavallo, Brady Goodwin, and Caleb Simpson.  Keep reading to meet these guys, see what they are up to, how they have blessed our adoption journey, and how you can help.

Anthony is one of our original "Stranger Beards".... We do not know him personally, but were delighted to have him sign up to be a Beard Grower when he found out about us from Bearded Gospel Men. He has been such an encouragement to us. His excitement over Beard Growing and participating in ABFAB has been evident from the start. Early on he made it clear that he was working hard to get people excited about and eager to sponsor him in this endeavor and that was a joy for us to witness.

Anthony lives in Berlin, NJ. He is a butcher by trade and has a heart for evangelical and youth ministry, both of which he is involved with at his church. When asked why he wanted to grow a beard for us, he expressed a personal compassion for and understanding of struggling through infertility and was eager to jump on board to support us in our adoption. And of course, as you can tell by his picture, he clearly has a love for beards!

Brady Goodwin is a fellow staff member at The Village Church, though we actually do not know him all that well due to working for different campuses. But.... that doesn't mean we don't love him! We are beyond grateful for the role he is playing in our adoption journey and cannot thank him enough for growing his beard to grow our family.

Brady works as the Recovery Groups Minister for our Dallas Campus and is married to Aimee. He has been awesome and has worked hard to get his sponsors in; He even won our August incentive! He raised so many funds that month that he won himself a fancy little Beard Comb. We are stoked to have Brady on board and love having him be a part of our story.

Caleb Simpson is an old acquaintance from college. Though we did not know each other super well, we had a lot of mutual friends and our paths often crossed. However, after college, we both moved to different cities and I hadn't seen him since. I actually am not too sure how he even found out about ABFAB, but it was so fun for me to see his registration form come through and felt like a blast from the past!

Based on his picture, Caleb is clearly fond of beards. He has even started his own business called Bearded Bros, which sells organic, mostly raw, gluten free, vegan friendly and delicious snack foods. As if that isn't awesome enough, Bearded Bros just launched a new campaign to expand their product line to include seasoned/sprouted nuts and seeds!  You can purchase Bearded Bro's snacks here or help fund their nut and seed endeavor here.

Each of these boys still needs sponsors, so consider supporting their beard today! Doing so will not only make them happy but will help give a precious little boy a home. You can sponsor a Beard here.

Stay bearded,
the hofs

Beauty For A Baby Recap

Two weeks ago we had our Beauty For A Baby Fundraiser and it was a blast! We cannot say enough how amazing it has been to see the body of Christ gather around us and offer their time, gifts and talents to help bring our baby boy home. We truly could not do this without the support of others and time and time again we are blown away by the efforts of our friends and community. The bride of Christ is a really beautiful thing.

This fundraiser in particular all started because my friend, Meghan Tabari, who is a hair dresser, had initially thrown out the idea to cut hair in exchange for adoption donations. One idea led to another and before I knew it, it was a full out fundraiser and a really fun and successful one at that! Meghan recruited a couple of girlfriends to help and it turned out into a full on salon day right there in here home! Meghan and Trina Holleman cut hair and Michelle Davis did manicures... all.day.long. They were amazing. I can't even believe it.

As if that wasn't enough, my friends Julie Stephens and Amber Dion also contributed in ways that are so unique to them. Julie is the most phenomenal cook I know so without thinking twice about it, she made Korean food for all the ladies. It was really great... lettuce wraps, kimchi, pot stickers, Korean pears, cinnamon punch and these really amazing Korean almond brittle cookies.... she did it all. Amber, who is super crafty and talented made bows and headbands and set up shop selling Bows For A Baby, which PS, are super cute. She was also our photographer for the day and took the pictures below so check them out!

It was really sweet to have a bunch of girls come to hang out and just be together, all in the name of girliness and adoption. My closest friends were there as well as some ladies that I love, but just haven't seen in a while. The fact that they would give up their Saturday to come hang out and help bring our boy home was really sweet to me. And, several of the women who came have adopted themselves so it was encouraging to talk with them, hear their stories and glean wisdom. I really loved it.

Overall, the day brought in $863 which is incredible and we praise the Lord for His generous provision! Thank you, thank you to everyone who helped and everyone who came out. It was a great success and a ton of fun and it is all because of you.

The lovely ladies who made this day happen! Michelle Davis, Meghan Tabari, Trina Holleman, Julie Stephens and Amber Dion

Michelle, who does an AMAZING job with the gel nails, by the way.

Trina, cutting sweet Kenadi's hair

Yes, Meghan even busted out the wax. Ya'll, I'm not ashamed to post pictures like this online. She was legit and did a great job!

Me and Amy! She drove all the way from Wylie to be there.... and was not the only one who drove more than an hour to come. I feel beyond blessed by that.

Modeling Amber's bows with Meghan's son, Jack.

Jenni, showing off her blue nails.

Some more of the sweet faces who came, Jen and Isla. 

So much love,
the hofs