Current Events

That smirk though!

Four times now I've tried to finish this post on current events, only to have our "happening now" suddenly become old news. I've decided though I'm just going to go with what's happening exactly right now! 

In case you missed the big news, please meet Jet (Jordan Ezekiel)!
Let me tell you a little bit about him, if you're interested (and of course you are)! He is 15 months old (tomorrow) and post-operative for major congenital heart defects--more surgery or other medical interventions may be needed but we won't know that until we see the doctors here. We were matched with him at the beginning of March and received an unexpected update this past week along with another earlier in the month. It's rather strange actually, because all we know about him--his likes, dislikes, and personality--can be condensed into just a few short sentences. It seems like our boy doesn't like dolls and is afraid of strangers, introverted yet affectionate. He's a big fan of snacks--vegetables and bananas and mashed apples and stuffed steamed buns. My personal favorite is that he "does not like orange." I'm not sure if they mean the color or the fruit, but there will be no orange in this house--flavored or otherwise. Derek liked the "when he cries, he does so very loudly and sometimes he has a quick temper." Sounds like a toddler! Most importantly though, he is healthy and is receiving phenomenal care at a private foster care facility, which we could not be more thankful for.

Recently, I was speaking with someone right after we were matched about how important prayer was and is during this whole long process. They were under the sincere impression that our prayers have been answered--and that it was no longer necessary for prayers for us and Jet. I'd like to say I handled my response with tact and grace, but in reality I laughed, a lot, and may or may not have questioned their sanity.

Being matched is not the end my friends. We are ready to meet our son, but there are so many things that need to be accomplished before that can happen. We thank you for the prayers thus far that have been said for Jet and for us, and we continue to ask that you'll remember all three of us in the coming weeks and months, especially in these specific concerns that have been on our hearts lately:

1) Paperwork. There are still some immigration and travel/visa that need to be completed, and we ask that you'd pray with us that everything goes through successfully and also patience on our end. Mostly, for patience. Here are the remaining steps, and timelines, if you're interested:

• Article 5 Drop off (this coming week): Article 5 is letter issued telling China we're eligible to adopt Jet and that he can enter and permanently reside in USA.
• Article 5 Issued (two weeks after drop off)
• Travel Approval (two days to three weeks after Article 5 is received): The CCCWA (China)'s formal invitation to travel to complete the adoption. 
• Travel to China (10-21 days after TA)

2) Finances, also known as the touchy subject. We're getting down to crunch time when the majority of our expenses are coming due. We ask for prayers that we're wise in our spending and in our saving and to know our priorities. We're still selling puzzle pieces to help cover the cost of our airfare, which you can learn more about here. Please, please pray with us that the remaining pieces will be sold and for people to want to get involved.

3) Jet. Knowing that he is afraid of strangers and the major changes that he will be going through in the coming weeks and months hurts our hearts. At some point before we get him, he will be moving from his foster care nanny, with whom he has spent most of his young life, to the Social Welfare Institute (SWI, or orphanage) of the city in which he was born. As you can imagine, this would be overwhelming enough, but add in the fact that he will then meet more strangers who will take him to the other side of the world and overwhelming turns to traumatizing. Remember, as uncomfortable and nervous and out of our element Derek and I will feel, we know what's going on. Jet doesn't, and so we pray that his adjustment and transition to being a part of our family will be as smooth as possible.

If you have any questions, at all, please ask! We'd love to answer them--or try to. We're not experts by any means. Thank you all, again, for your support and for caring about our little family of three. I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but we could not do it without prayer. Thank you.

Success!

Eleven families donating, even more helping, months and hours of prep work and stress and clutter and (let's be honest) a chaotic mess of a house and garage finally paid off this past weekend for the garage sale to help us raise funds for our adoption. I won't bore you with (a lot) of words, but we are thankful for each person who came out and helped--however much or however little, it was greatly appreciated!

Without further ado, photos.

(Scroll all the way to the bottom for the grand total, if that's what you're looking for.)



The sign didn't go up until about 10, and even though we were technically not opening until noon on Friday, people were here at 8:15 to shop. I forgot the cardinal garage-saling rule of "If the garage is open, the sale is open."


Believe it or not, the above two photos were taken late Friday morning, after a lot of stuff had already cleared out. We were super busy pretty much from the get-go, so Derek was only able to snap a couple of quick photos.

We had some very professional lemonade stand help, who took "no thanks" quite personally. They really moved a lot of inventory! The beautiful sunny weather we had both days helped as well, as it did get quite warm just sitting in the sun. We did finally put a canopy up, which was super helpful!

My parents were able to come down for the weekend and got a lot of pricing and other stuff done that there was no possible way we would have had time to do. Plus, they brought an additional two carloads of items to sell, which was awesome! Derek's mom also worked pretty much all winter making scarves to sell at the garage sale too--big hit!

Shana and I were ready bright and early again on Saturday while Derek got coffee, ice, and a few other errands that I can't remember. Basically, sunscreen was a must! Have I mentioned the beautiful sunny weather yet? Perfect day for a garage sale. Fun fact, shortly after we took these photos a man came and bought pretty much all the chocolate chip cookies that my friend Jessica made--to share with his dog.



Friends of ours came by early afternoon on Saturday to help us pack up. Considering the amount that we started with, three (ish) carloads to Goodwill really wasn't that much leftover!

I've said it already, but we could not have done all of this without the help and support from our friends and family. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your prayers, your time, your help, and...your stuff. After all was said and done, the final tally (including around $200 in donations) was $1,765! It was amazing to hear how many people who purchased items who also had adopted and a few donated money because adoption is so close to their hearts. One lady even told her extended family to come back the next day, and they also donated! Ah-mazing.

We couldn't be more amazed by how God worked everything out--from the multiple nearby neighborhood garage sales to the weather to the amount of traffic created by the church and school down the street--it was all arranged by Him. I will admit to worrying (a lot) this week about bad weather and things not selling, but clearly that was all in vain. We in fact had hoped for around half of what we actually raised, so we are beyond thrilled to have reached almost 25% of our end goal of $7500.

We took it easy today to recover from the busyness of our week off (and one of us is recovering from a bad sunburn.)

(Spoiler alert, it was not me.)

Tomorrow, everything will start to go back to normal. In two weeks, Derek has his graduation in Madison, and then we will just slowly be preparing for the start of our home study. Thank you to those of you who have purchased puzzle pieces as well! We are grateful for every single person who is working with us for our little person on the other side of the world!

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Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever, Amen.--Ephesians 3: 20-21

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It's Almost Here!

Hard to believe, but our garage sale is this Friday and Saturday! And it looks like the weather will be awesome! So, so thankful for that!

So far, eleven families have donated--not just one or two items, but car loads full! Every time we think we are done, we get a call or text from someone saying they have this or that and it turns out to be boxes worth! So very thankful for each and every one of you, whether you are donated items, tables, baked goods, or time! To say thanks doesn't really begin to cover how we feel, but please just know we couldn't do this without you!

My super cool sister made us this flyer to post/send out: 

Isn't it great? It's hard to fit everything on there but just so you know, we pretty much have everything from wool socks to fishing reels to 8-track tapes to our own small purse store!

Seriously, ask us if you're looking for something in particular. We probably have it. (FYI after the garage sale because I'm paranoid I will probably take down the flyer from here, but wanted to post so people would know where the garage sale is happening!)

Once again, I'm just going to post what we need in the next couple of days:

-As always, prayer. Prayer that we remember it's not about us and everything we've done, but to give God the glory for whatever the outcome is--and to be thankful, for whatever that outcome is. Every little bit that we earn ultimately is not for us, but it's for our son/daughter somewhere on the other side of the world. 

-We may possibly need another couple of tables. It's hard to know until we actually are able to set everything out. I know we're getting a few more tomorrow, but we really just don't know! 

-If anyone is available, we probably will need a couple of people on Saturday. The weather looks like it will be really nice, plus it is our neighborhood (and another nearby neighborhood) garage sale weekend so I am thinking it might be busy. Maybe. Hopefully. We'll see. 

That's all I can think of for now. Thank you to everyone again! Hopefully we will see you sometime this weekend! 

#pieceofthefamily

Now we can explain this #pieceofthefamily business!

Ok. As previously discussed, we need help to bring our child home from China. (By the way, cannot wait to not say "our child" and actually start using their name.) 

Many of these things I've mentioned, but here are a few more details. I'm kind of a list maker, so here is what we're doing so far:

1) Most importantly because it's most immediate, we are having a garage sale on May 1 & 2! I'm not broadcasting the whole thing online, because, you know, posting our address for the whole world to see isn't too smart. But, I can tell you, we have a lot of stuff! If anyone wants to donate still, you can drop it off and wedge it in the front door or else we will be home all next week to prepare. Things for sale include electronics (computers, TV, cables, etc.), kids items (toys, clothes), housewares (linens, frames, etc.), books, movies, clothes, and more. 

Most specifically needed: tables and a non-rainy day! If you have tables we can borrow, please let us know. And if you could pray for a nice day, we would appreciate it! Thank you everyone who has brought us things and offered to help so far, we are so grateful! We will have a couple postings locally, so you can check out more details there or ask one of us! 

2) If you happen to find the time, try googling ways people funded their adoption and you'll be amazed at the creativity! Then, if you're like me, realize you could not do even a fraction of that and feel very woe is me. To reassure yourself that you can still do some crafty things, on a whim you decide to crochet a blanket. Your friend catches you doing it and insists (INSISTS) that you make lots and she will sell them in her shop. You roll your eyes, because you never really planned on being a crocheting lady, but do it anyway because you're a tiny bit scared of her. You make a few, give her the first delivery...

Unrelated, D got a camera for graduation. 

and BAM! Within 24 hours, most of them have sold. Moral of the story: I have a new side job, and sore fingers. It's not much, but every little bit helps! 

3) #pieceofthefamily puzzle piece fundraiser (get it?):

• We bought a 252 piece puzzle (here if you want to see the picture)
• One piece is $20
• When you purchase one piece (or however many), we write your name on the piece.
• Once all the pieces are sold, we will have raised over $5000 toward our adoption! 
• After the names are written on all the pieces, we will frame and hang it in the nursery. That way, we will be able to show our son/daughter how many people loved him/her and helped bring them home! 
• If you're interested in this, please let us know. We haven't started selling any pieces yet, but hope to sell all 252 over the next year or so. 

4) #pieceofthefamily benefit: Honestly, I'm not really "in charge" of this one. I know I keep saying it, but all I know for sure is that it is August 15. Ladies, mark your calendars because there will be all sorts of vendors, trunk shows, etc.! August is wayyyy far away, and I'm not really focused on it yet!

Most of these things we weren't planning on doing, at all. It's really sort of crazy how God just sort of drops things in your lap! For example, I never planned to crochet, or do any sort of craft thing, at all. Now I am. And more amazingly, people are buying them! We never really had to ask people for donations for the garage sale, at all--friends and family just brought stuff or told us what they were bringing! I talked to my friend about how I didn't know how we were going to come up with the money, and she said "ok, I'm doing a fundraiser for you, and here's when it will happen." Friends, family, acquaintances--they were ready to help and we had no idea what we even needed. We still don't, most of the time. 

Both of us are just amazed, as in jaw-dropping, eyes bugged out amazed at how things are coming together. By no means do we anticipate this whole adoption thing to come so easily together, but the way we feel affirmed in our decision to adopt is indescribable thanks to our family and friends! 

Pun Intended

Get it?

We've sort of danced around the subject now for awhile, but since we've found ourselves answering this question a lot recently we thought here would be a good place to address it.

Adoption is expensive. Different types and countries cost different amounts, but our adoption to China will be around $31,000. (There are a couple things in there that are variable, such as travel and in-country expenses that we can guesstimate but can't predict an exact number.) We've been blessed financially, and both of us consciously work hard to use the gifts we've been given wisely, but we've been humbled enough to realize sometimes that isn't enough and we do need help. After looking at the timelines and praying/thinking about it the last six months or so, (and hearing from countless friends and family members who want to help), we've set our goal to raise $7500. That number will actually cover our home study ($2500) and most of our travel fees (airfare and in-country expenses).

This was not an easy decision to make, and honestly...it's super awkward. We really struggled with whether or not to ask for help, how much to ask for, and how to ask. And when people ask what we need...we really don't know what to say. Some extremely wise friends, who also adopted internationally, told us that if people want to help then let them, because to turn away their help would be to turn away God's prompting in them (I paraphrased).

So, what does this mean for you? Honestly, we aren't asking you for money. We're asking that you pray with us that people will help support us in this journey--and if that means financially, great! If not, there are other ways and that's just as great! But, ultimately, we now have an answer for what our needs are.

In an effort to be completely transparent, you can find a list of the fees and such here. If you have specific questions for us, just let us know.

How do we plan to achieve this? Click here to read how.