Excited for next Fundraiser

Some of you know, and some of you don't that I am a planner. I love to have and be working toward a goal. I have to be making progress toward something. I guess you could say I am a little bit of a control freak.

Well, I am so excited to be in the throws of planning our next fundraiser! It does take the cooperation of family member, so of whom are out of state, so I don't know how long it will be until I am ready to launch it.

Let me tell you, it is a really cute idea, and will help us out so much. I hope you all are anxiously waiting on the edge of your seats just like I am! I hope to be able to fill you in on it quickly. Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers! We

feel so blessed to have you all as friends and family.

Confused

     Justin and I know that adoption is for us. We have no doubt of that. We want a family more than anything, and have felt for most of our marriage that adoption was in our future. Now that we are finally here I have been doing A LOT of research. We had been set on international adoption. We loved the idea of being able to help orphans around the world, and we liked what we thought the process of international adoption was. We started looking into countries and quickly landed on Ethiopia. We were so excited about the prospects of adopting from that beautiful country and the beautiful children there.

Picture from Google

     Next came the task of deciding which agency to go through. I looked into many online and also talked with friends and neighbors who have and are currently going through the process of international adoption in Africa. We have heard the name of one particular agency come up a few times and really felt as though they were a reputable agency, which you have to be really careful when adopting internationally. One of our neighbors is currently adoption through this agency from Ethiopia. I contacted this agency and was excited to work with them. However, I learned that the only country we would qualify for would be Bulgaria, because they stopped taking applicants for Ethiopia a month ago, and everywhere else you need to be open to children six or older, we had set 5 as our limit. We found this really frustrating because we had looked into Bulgaria before settling on Ethiopia but the other agency we are considering said not to adopt there because they are taking years to give referrals.

     The more I look into it is appears that it is going to take 3-4 years to get a child AFTER we apply and we don't think we will have to $30,000 - $40,000 for another 4 years. That means this process would take 8 years. I am sorry, but that is so overwhelming. We were thinking that if it takes 3-4 years then we could apply now and raise the money while waiting for a child, however most of the money is due within the first 6 months of applying.

     Honestly, I have no idea right now what God wants for us. I am trying to gather as much information as I can so I can take an informed decision to Him and ask if it is what He wants for us. However, the more I look into it the more it doesn't feel right. Is that because it isn't what we are to do right now? Do I need to forget about and agency and country and just try to save $30,000 before I even look into it? I feel bad asking people for money when we don't have something set for them to contribute to, so that doesn't feel right. Maybe we should be looking into domestic infant adoption. We would really love a baby, and that is looking more and more like an impossibility through international adoption. We could look into LDS Family Services again. The issue we have with domestic infant adoption is that there is no guarantee of a child. We could spend years and and lots of money campaining and marketing our selves and then nothing come from it. I probably need more faith. I know God has a plan for us, and he has promised that we will be parents. I just don't know how or when.

     I am a planner, and a doer. If I am not making progress toward my goal I have a hard time with it. Not knowing what direction we should go right now is really hard. I will just keep praying that the Lord will guide our path and lead is to the child or children that need us and are meant to be part of our family. In the mean time we do KNOW that we are going to adopt, and will need the funds to be able to do so, so please keep your eyes and ears out for our next fundraiser!

Success!

Our garage sale was the first garage sale we have even had. I had no idea how much work it would be. We started organizing the things we would be selling Friday night. My sister Stephanie brought her boys over and we got to work. After a few hours my sisters Kaylynn and Kendra came over to help as well. We took a much needed break for pizza dinner and swimming fun!

I love being able to spend time with my nephews and can't wait until our kids are able to play with them too. Family times is my favorite thing to do.

Bright and early Saturday morning Justin and I started pulling everything out of the garage. At 9am the sprinklers decided to go off. I was not happy the the HOA planned and 8 am garage sale and didn't turn the sprinklers off. The grass was soaked as was two thirds of the driveway. Luckily the sun came out and things dried up rather quickly.

After some very generous friends, and a lot of community members we were able to raise $670! We are a tenth of the way to our application costs! We also met some neighbors just down the street who are currently adopting from the country we are looking into. They were so helpful giving us a realistic look at what adopting from the country currently looks like. We look forward to getting to know them better at the street 4th of July BBQ and being able to share with people going through this same process. I have already been able to see God's hands in this process. We feel so blessed to have Him guiding this process and bringing all of the wonderful people into our lives. We truly can't wait to share this with our children.

Two Days Left

Originaly Posted: June 20, 2013

Our first fundraiser is just two days away! We have been busy getting stuff pulled together. I know we are getting at least three deliveries of donations today after work. Poor Justin gets to deal with all the stuff while I am at my second job.

I took a second job working at the pool in our neighborhood for the summer to earn money for the adoption! I got my first check, and as soon as I figure out how to add a goal thermometer to my “OUR PROGRESS” page I will update you all.

I took this one day at the pool. Not a bad job to have. I even had time to make that fundraise let while at the pool yesterday! I look forward to seeing you Saturday!

Begining Our Adoption Journey

Originaly Posted June 18, 2013

   After a long hard road of infertility treatments we are so excited to start down the road to adoption. We know this will be a long hard process but we are so excited. We know the God has children for us, and they are somewhere in this world. It is our job to do what we can to find them. For that we need your help. We are just starting out. We are still researching agencies and countries, but we know we need a lot of fundraising to get the funds we will need. I am so excited for our first fundraiser. It will be Saturday June 22, 2013 at our home. We are doing a garage sale! I am so overwhelmed by the love and support I have already received from friends and family. People are donating time, goods, and love. Everyone please come and check out all the fun stuff we will have! I am excited to see some friends I haven’t seen in a while, and those I see every week. I can’t promise that this blog will be very exciting in the beginning, but I will try to keep you all updated with the goings on. Feel free to follow our journey, leave your comments, and enjoy!