2 Ways to Help!

Today I'm going to roll out just 2 of the fundraisers that we'll be doing for our adoption. But first, let me share a brief breakdown of the cost for a China adoption.

This is a simplified version (if you want the detailed, line-by-line version you can go here)

• Submit Application to Adoption Agency - 250.00
• Application Accepted (1st agency fee installment) - 2,213.75 
• Fingerprints and Other Fees - 1,000.00 
• Home Study - 2,000.00
• Completion of Home Study (2nd agency fee installment) - 2,213.75 
• Dossier Sent to China (3rd agency fee installment) - 2,213.75.00 
• Referral Accepted (4th agency fee installment) - 2,213.75 
• Miscellaneous expenses including visas and other paperwork - 1600.00 
• China Adoption Agency Costs Wired - 9,400.00 
• Travel to China! - 7000.00

There will be a few other fees mixed in there are are not included but that will give you a general idea of where all the money goes.  It's not for the faint of heart!  To date we have paid the 1st agency fee and are about to pay for the home study so we are well on our way!  The next major expense will be another agency payment.

I have been researching different fundraising options - there are so many ideas out there!  Our church has indicated that they are willing to help in our efforts and we are so grateful for that!  There are 2 programs to tell you about today.

1.  Just Love Coffee Roasters 

I've seen this on several adoption sites and think it's really neat!  Those who drink coffee are pretty passionate about good coffee so here's your chance to get the finest Fair Trade, Direct Trade, organic, and shade-grown coffee beans while helping out.  Simply go to our page anytime (https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/masseadoption/) and place an order.  A portion of every sale (it varies, but about $5 per 12 oz. coffees and $3 per 10 oz. coffees) goes directly to our adoption fund!  Easy right?  And you can share our page with your coffee-loving friends and family!

2.  1x1 Project

This is something I've seen on other adoption fundraisers.  It's just a really neat spin on the puzzle idea.  Yesterday I bought a 20"x24" canvas and divided it into 1" square - 480 of them! We're asking our friends, family, or anyone who wants to be a part of bringing our daughter home to buy a square for $20 (or as many squares as you like!).   If you are local and would like to write on it or paint, just let me know.  If you are "away" then you can either send me your squares (any paper will do - make it colorful and add your name!) or I can paint them.  Once every square is sold we will have raised over $9,000 and will have a beautiful piece of art to hang in her room as a reminder of all who contributed her adoption!

If you like donate a square or squares simply leave a comment below and make your donation through YouCaring link on the side.  I'm super excited to see this finished project, I just know that it will be a lasting work of art as well as a testimony to God's provision and faithfulness!

That's all I have for today.  I'm working on a few other ideas and I'm sure as we move along in this process we will add ideas and projects.  We are extremely thankful for each and every donation and all the prayers being said for us

First Steps

Good morning!  I keep wishing that I could post some big update, but I think the reality of this process is going to be a one-two day flurry of activity followed by lots of waiting.

Yesterday  I was able to mail our contract and other documents to the adoption agency along with the first installment of agency payments.  Once they receive that we will set up a phone call with our social worker, my husband and myself to go over everything, the whole process, any questions, etc.  We needed an updated family photo to send with the packet - here it is!

Our next step is to get our Home Study completed.  I've contacted the only (yes, the only!) Hague accredited agency here in the Maine and hopefully we can get that started early next week.  This part is a bit intimidating for me, having someone come and examine your house and life is scary, we all value our privacy so much, don't we?  But the positive side is that it's a great push for me to declutter, destash, clean-out and get things in order!  There will probably be a yard sale (lots of clothes!) in our future and/or lots of trips to Goodwill!

The other thing I have been doing is investigating different fund raising options.  There are so many great ideas out there!! For now, I'd really like to focus on maybe just 2-3 major fundraising options - try to stay focused and not too scattered.  I hope to be able to post about those very soon so people who wish to help will have options!  Once our home study is completed we will also be able to apply for various grants which could be a bit help!  I'm looking forward to seeing how God will provide!

The Process

The rush is on to collect documents, contract with a home study agency, schedule appointments and start gathering funds!  I've been told that the process we are in can take from 12-15 months so there is a LOT to do in a short amount of time.  I also know, from reading and talking with other adoptive families, that there will be a lot of "down" time - time when we just need to be patient and let the process, well proceed!

Our first step will be to send some paperwork to our agency and coordinate our phone call with our social worker.  She will be filling us in on all the time frames and things to expect.  We've also contacted an agency to do our home study and, of course there is paperwork to do for them!

You may have noticed the funding widget on the left - yes, we are humbly asking for financial help to complete this process.  There is no way our family could privately fund such a huge undertaking - no way!  But we know our God is so much bigger than we can even imagine and He knows the outcome of this even now!  Did any of you ever sing the Sunday School song, He Owns the Cattle On a Thousand Hills?  I've been singing this song all week as I think about the huge amount of money necessary.  Our sovereign, all-powerful, loving Lord will provide all that is needed to accomplish is purpose!  Take a look at our page on YouCaring.com and thank you, thank you, thank you for any way you can be involved!

I want to say a HUGE thank you to all of you, our friends and family, who have sent congratulations, prayers and best wishes to us as we begin this journey!! Your encouragement and love has meant so much to us - it's so amazing to see how this child already has such love from all of you!! We are truly blessed!

"The" Answer

Tuesday afternoon I emailed the agency just to ask if we could expect to hear something soon.  Thankfully I received a phone call right away that confirmed what we had suspected last week - we were accepted!  Our case worker had been assigned and she would be contacting us tomorrow to start the process!  WOW!!  We were SO excited!!

When the phone call came Wednesday (incidentally, on my birthday!) it was such a joy to speak with our case worker!  It feels "real" now, it's really happening!! Now there is so much to do . . . more on that later.  For now, we are thanking and praising God for the answer to our prayers!

. . . and waiting

It's been over a week since I posted last and it seems like a lot has happened . . . but not the one thing we're praying for  - Acceptance!  On Wednesday of last week I received a call from the adoption agency that our application had been received, reviewed and as far as they could see we looked good.  The only thing we needed now was the Chinese waiver.  I understood that the China program director would submit the waiver and let me know in the next few days if we had been approved or not!  WOOOSH!  So exciting!

Friday came and we still had not received a phone call, however, we did receive a few emails from the agency with the China manual, a welcome letter from the executive director and some other information - was this our acceptance?  It wasn't clear to me so we continued to wait.  Monday came and went . . . God is certainly working on my patience already! :)  I have been praying a lot and asking God to clearly show us His will.  Will it be yes or no?

the beginning . . .

What if . . . we adopted a child? Really? Seems a but crazy at this stage in our lives I know. After all we have 5 children who are finally to a semi-independent stage (and by that I mean they can mostly dress themselves, use the bathroom (no diapers!!!) and get their own lunch!), we're in our mid-40's, we certainly don't have the funds needed to adopt, and life seems pretty stable right now.

This has been our thought process for over a year now as we consider this strange feeling (calling?) God seems to have placed on our hearts. It's something we have talked about on and off over the years of our marriage but after attending a Steven Curtis Chapman concert 2 summers ago the feeling has been stronger. During the concert they show a film about the Chapman's Show Hope organization. They speak a lot about adoption and all the thousands of children that need forever homes. It's heart wrenching! I was ready to get on a plane! Instead we've spent this time talking, reading various things about adoption, praying, and waiting . . . for what? I guess for clear sign? for it to be the perfect time? for the money to magically appear even though we've never even told people we were considering adoption? Ha!

It seems that everywhere I look these days I hear of someone adopting or see adopted children - it's everywhere! And God continues to fill my heart with a desire to do something!  Finally, we took a first step. Shouldn't we at least talk to someone and see if it was even possible for us to adopt, I mean would we even qualify?? That would be a good place to start.

I started by searching online for different foreign adoption agencies. There are so many!! How do you pick? I started clicking on sites, seeing all the "waiting children", those ones with special needs - the most important need being a family to love and care for them forever!

A few days later I spoke with a woman from an international adoption agency. She was so nice and explained a lot about the process and adoption in general, but as we continued to talk she determined that we would not be able to enter their China program as we had certain obstacles to China's requirements. Really? How sad that was to hear! She started talking about Bulgaria and the needs there. I felt like that was something to consider but our hopes for a sweet little girl from China seemed dashed.

Fast forward several days, I was still searching the internet, looking for other options, other countries, trying to find more information but I didn't find much that looked promising.  I began looking into Hong Kong as an option?.  I did another internet search for agencies who worked with Hong Kong and came across LifeLine Children's Services.  They had a Hong Kong program and it appeared that we may qualify so I contacted the agency with the question - does HK have the same restrictions as China?

After a day or so, I was contacted by a wonderful woman from LifeLine who began to discuss the HK program with me.  We talked about requirements, restrictions, the health of the children available, etc. As we talked further I asked her about the China restrictions, was there any way we might qualitfy?  Much to my surprise she said that they do sometimes obtain waivers for families that otherwise meet the requirements.   What joy - what hope!  I began to think about the possibility again.  We would need to submit our application to them, along with the $250 application fee and wait to see if we would be accepted - that would be our first step, that would give us an indication of God's path for us.

I excitedly told my family and we began to pray and hope again. So it looks like we'll be submitting an application soon.  For now, praying, trying not to get hopes too high, waiting  . . .