I know this is a bit late. It has been a crazy busy week. School was winding down for Christmas break and we had three concerts for the girls this week. Then to top things off, I have been sick for two weeks (going on three) and the girls have been taking turns becoming sick in one way or another.
Our first fundraiser was hosted by our church last Sunday. Let me just say...it went above and beyond our expectations. God told us to trust Him. I admit, that I panicked, I doubted and I was scared that the fundraiser wasn't going to be a success. My standard for a successful event was to *hopefully* fundraise something over $500 (I was really hoping for $1000). Can you imagine our surprise when we were told that we were blessed with EIGHT times the amount that I predicted!?!?!Eight TIMES...our church raised and blessed our family with over $4000!!!!!! Our NEXT set of fees is available!!!!! As soon as we get a proposal we are ready to go :) Well, that is until we have to travel ha ha!
Thank you to all who donated items to our auction; the kids who created the art and ornaments to be auctioned and, of course, the people who bid and donated financially. We are humbled and grateful to be able to put these blessings towards this little girl's ransom! Our daughter-to-be was blessed with a BEAUTIFUL blanket that was donated by one awesome lady and bid by another amazing woman. The bidder donated it to our little one! I CAN NOT wait to wrap her up in it! It's so soft and heavy. It will be a great sensory blanket for her!
We were in total shock and disbelief for a couple of days following the news of the amount raised. We were filled with so many emotions. We felt extremely blessed and humbled and in complete awe. We also felt like fools because we got scared, because we panicked and questioned and doubted leading up to the day. We keep seeing the awesomeness of God and how He is preparing the way for his child. God put us on this path and He is definitely making the path straight! Maybe one day I will get over myself and stop taking things into my own hands; stop worrying and doubting and trust more.
“I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible. (Matt 17:20)
This verse played over and over in my head the days leading up to the fundraiser. A mustard seed is so very very tiny and I can't even come up with that much faith at times! Even when I know in my heart and have seen the proof and keep telling myself, " God has a plan, God is in control, trust God, etc", I would still hear the voice of opposition. Sometimes it comes through thoughts of doubt and fear and other times it comes through other people's words and actions.
While we wait for our paperwork to be accepted by the B government, we ask that people join us in prayer as we wait to hear the results of the grant we applied for. We *should* be hearing back with the decision in the next couple of weeks. It will be also be a huge blessing to our adoption fund! It still frustrates me how expensive international adoption is. It's just not fair to the poor children that are waiting for a family. Thank you to everyone that prays for us. Thank you so much!
Friday, December 21, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Dossier going to country
Our Dossier has taken its trip around Canada! Whoop whoop! It is being sent off to B in the next day or so (at least that is what my agency had said). I just mailed off the next fees to the agency today too. Nothing like paying over $2000 right before Christmas! Barf! Oh well, maybe, just maybe we will have our wee one here next Christmas???? You never know!
I went to the bank today to get the money order (we had to have the fees transferred to USD funds...make sense??? I don't think so either!). The lady helping me waived the bank fees once she figured out it was for an adoption. How nice was that!?!? I, then, went back to the post office (they know me there now ha ha) to have the money order mailed off. I must have sounded like a crazy lady to them. I was basically saying to the poor lady behind the counter that the envelope was a money order and asked if it was best to register mail it because it is worth a lot of money and I didn't want it lost or anything blah blah blah....ha ha! She looked at the envelope that clearly states it's to the adoption agency and tells me that the truck is out back and she'll stick it on right now (which she did as I was standing there). Wow! Nice people today! God put the right people in my path today.
Now it is time to get the fundraising pumping! Once the dossier is submitted to the Ministry of Justice in B, they will review it and may request additional documents (arg, I pray they don't need anything else from us!!!). Once our application is accepted, we will be entered into the database of adoptive applicants waiting to be matched with our daughter!!!! Oh.My.Goodness!!!! Yikes!
Once we are matched (this could be very quickly or could be a while too), we will be required to pay our agency $4700 to go ahead and proceed. So...this is the next targeted fee! It looks VERY daunting. We are still praying that we receive the grant from ABBA. It would make a HUGE dent in the $4700. Please add this to your prayers.
After the proposal fees are paid, then come the ones for the agency in B, travel, accommodations, orphanage donations, food, passport for child, etc. After talking with the travel agent, we estimate our travel to be over $6000 each trip. Yay! Factor in the B agency fees, etc this portion of the adoption process will cost around $20000.
What a scary number. I think I may need to have a piece of chocolate!
God has opened doors throughout this journey. We continue to ask for your prayers, specifically for the grant to be given to us, the paperwork to get to the right people, the forms to be good, ,all the people involved in every aspect of this journey, our family, the little girl we are waiting for, and for the fundraiser on Sunday to be successful.
Thanks!
I went to the bank today to get the money order (we had to have the fees transferred to USD funds...make sense??? I don't think so either!). The lady helping me waived the bank fees once she figured out it was for an adoption. How nice was that!?!? I, then, went back to the post office (they know me there now ha ha) to have the money order mailed off. I must have sounded like a crazy lady to them. I was basically saying to the poor lady behind the counter that the envelope was a money order and asked if it was best to register mail it because it is worth a lot of money and I didn't want it lost or anything blah blah blah....ha ha! She looked at the envelope that clearly states it's to the adoption agency and tells me that the truck is out back and she'll stick it on right now (which she did as I was standing there). Wow! Nice people today! God put the right people in my path today.
Now it is time to get the fundraising pumping! Once the dossier is submitted to the Ministry of Justice in B, they will review it and may request additional documents (arg, I pray they don't need anything else from us!!!). Once our application is accepted, we will be entered into the database of adoptive applicants waiting to be matched with our daughter!!!! Oh.My.Goodness!!!! Yikes!
Once we are matched (this could be very quickly or could be a while too), we will be required to pay our agency $4700 to go ahead and proceed. So...this is the next targeted fee! It looks VERY daunting. We are still praying that we receive the grant from ABBA. It would make a HUGE dent in the $4700. Please add this to your prayers.
After the proposal fees are paid, then come the ones for the agency in B, travel, accommodations, orphanage donations, food, passport for child, etc. After talking with the travel agent, we estimate our travel to be over $6000 each trip. Yay! Factor in the B agency fees, etc this portion of the adoption process will cost around $20000.
What a scary number. I think I may need to have a piece of chocolate!
God has opened doors throughout this journey. We continue to ask for your prayers, specifically for the grant to be given to us, the paperwork to get to the right people, the forms to be good, ,all the people involved in every aspect of this journey, our family, the little girl we are waiting for, and for the fundraiser on Sunday to be successful.
Thanks!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Fundraiser Number One
The title of this post is pretty self-explanatory. We have been blessed by a wonderful lady from our church who has set up a fundraiser for our family's adoption. She has gone beyond what we could have imagined.
The children in our church have worked sooooo hard at making BEAUTIFUL art work to be auctioned and ornaments to be sold by donation. The church foyer is decorated with all of these pieces. I can't step into the church without wanting to bawl my eyes out because of people's love. Children have come up to me and shared what they made to donate to help bring the little girl home. Some of these children "get it"! We are humbly honoured and thankful. This little girl probably will never understand the process it took to get her here but she will feel the love that surrounds her.
The second part of the fundraiser is a gift-bag auction. People have filled and donated themed gift bags (such as crafts, tools, coffee, tea, etc) to be auctioned off next Sunday following the Children's Christmas Play. These bags are AWESOME! People have donated stuff that I would love to get for Christmas :). My sister was visiting a few weeks ago and made a few of the bags (along with my mom that sent them here). What support! I am tearing up right now as I write this. This little girl, whom we don't know yet, is blessed to have AMAZING people fighting for her arrival.
Please pray for this fundraiser to be successful. Please also pray for the dossier to make it to country quickly and with no problems. God has a plan and we are honoured to be a part of it. We have felt God's presence in way's that we can't describe. I know that there are people that read this blog that don't understand the whole "God thing" and we have even been asked to tone down the "God stuff". We can't do it though. Once God is the focus of your life, you view life differently. Things that seem hopeless have hope. Things that are impossible become possible through Jesus. God has called us to adopt; to take a leap of FAITH. To put our full trust and obedience in Him. He never said it would be easy. Some of the trials we have had, we have come out with a better understanding of why it happened that way (sometimes it takes a looooonnnngg time to see it mind you).
Thank you to all who are supporting us, whether it is by your words of encouragement or listening to us rant, or by praying for us, or by providing to the auction, or financial contributions/donations. We are grateful for all the support.
The children in our church have worked sooooo hard at making BEAUTIFUL art work to be auctioned and ornaments to be sold by donation. The church foyer is decorated with all of these pieces. I can't step into the church without wanting to bawl my eyes out because of people's love. Children have come up to me and shared what they made to donate to help bring the little girl home. Some of these children "get it"! We are humbly honoured and thankful. This little girl probably will never understand the process it took to get her here but she will feel the love that surrounds her.
The second part of the fundraiser is a gift-bag auction. People have filled and donated themed gift bags (such as crafts, tools, coffee, tea, etc) to be auctioned off next Sunday following the Children's Christmas Play. These bags are AWESOME! People have donated stuff that I would love to get for Christmas :). My sister was visiting a few weeks ago and made a few of the bags (along with my mom that sent them here). What support! I am tearing up right now as I write this. This little girl, whom we don't know yet, is blessed to have AMAZING people fighting for her arrival.
Please pray for this fundraiser to be successful. Please also pray for the dossier to make it to country quickly and with no problems. God has a plan and we are honoured to be a part of it. We have felt God's presence in way's that we can't describe. I know that there are people that read this blog that don't understand the whole "God thing" and we have even been asked to tone down the "God stuff". We can't do it though. Once God is the focus of your life, you view life differently. Things that seem hopeless have hope. Things that are impossible become possible through Jesus. God has called us to adopt; to take a leap of FAITH. To put our full trust and obedience in Him. He never said it would be easy. Some of the trials we have had, we have come out with a better understanding of why it happened that way (sometimes it takes a looooonnnngg time to see it mind you).
Thank you to all who are supporting us, whether it is by your words of encouragement or listening to us rant, or by praying for us, or by providing to the auction, or financial contributions/donations. We are grateful for all the support.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Another Raw (humbling) Day
There are many people reading our blog now. It is really weird. People in the process of adopting, people looking into adoption themselves, friends, family, strangers, people from our church, people from our community, people whom we may or may not know. Sometimes it is hard to do this blog because we are generally VERY private people. A good friend of mine had mentioned that I write things here that even she didn`t know about me and our family.
This blog was started for many reasons. One of them was to keep friends and family in the loop, another was to journal for other adoptive families. Part of journaling is to share the raw, deep feelings and emotions. If we sugar-coated everything about this process, other adopting families may view their hardships as uncommon and specific to them.
Today was a day that I was being tested. I am ashamed to say that I was losing this battle. I shed tears. Not a pretty sight. I think there is just so much build up of anticipation right now.
Our dossier is still taking it`s trip around Canada getting authenticated and notarized by all the fancy-schmany government people. I am tired of it being in Canada! I want this puppy (the dossier) to be in Europe already! I am impatient, I know...I`m working on it.
We had a minor scare with the grant folks today. They told us we were missing all of our references (three people had to fill out a one page form on us). Yikes! Turns out, they had the wrong family. Phew! That would have been a hassle to gather those forms again.
Our first ever fundraiser for our family`s adoption is in less than two weeks away. Although we have had some positive feedback, I am really quite nervous about it too. I feel like there have been a couple of stumbling blocks and confusion about how it is going to run and I am honestly quite nervous that it could flop. I want that fairy godmother moment... the one where she waves a magical wand and makes everything little detail just perfect. Ahh...wishful thinking :)
I am having such a hard time accepting that it is OK to fundraise. I feel like people are judging me and I don`t like it one bit. When I get like this, I have to remember that we are not raising funds for ME...we are raising money to free a child from the bondage of her orphanage walls. This child DESERVES people to fight for her. She is God`s child every bit as much as I am! She DESERVES to be loved and cared for and have a mom and dad who are willing to step out in FAITH for her! She DESERVES a church family to grow up with. She DESERVES to go to school and have sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins who love her, she deserves to play freely and try different foods and activities! God made her! God put her here for a PURPOSE! SHE HAS A PURPOSE!
And so, when things don't work in our favour, I get scared. I freak out. I get overwhelmed and emotional.After my epic temper tantrums about how this all sucks, I realize that I am taking this adoption back into my hands again. I am not being patient. I am not trusting in God, that He has a plan and a purpose for all of this. And so, I pray.
Today, my daughters and I joined hands together and we prayed. Literally, within minutes, things changed. The paperwork for the grant wasn't missing anymore.
This evening, I made a comment to a friend about the money involved. I said something to him along these lines: "I still need close to $30 000... is it just going to rain from the sky?!?!??! (lots of sarcasm in voice)". I got back home and there was a message on our machine about someone wanting to donate to our adoption. SERIOUSLY?!?!?!? Umm...sorry God. I didn't trust You... I feel like a tool.
Ten minutes after that call, I found out I won an awesome fancy cake that I am able to use as another fundraiser! How cool is that!?!?!
Prayer... Powerful. Useful. Required. Needed.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
Thank you for those who prayed for us today when we asked. Thank you to those who are praying for us when we don't.
This blog was started for many reasons. One of them was to keep friends and family in the loop, another was to journal for other adoptive families. Part of journaling is to share the raw, deep feelings and emotions. If we sugar-coated everything about this process, other adopting families may view their hardships as uncommon and specific to them.
Today was a day that I was being tested. I am ashamed to say that I was losing this battle. I shed tears. Not a pretty sight. I think there is just so much build up of anticipation right now.
Our dossier is still taking it`s trip around Canada getting authenticated and notarized by all the fancy-schmany government people. I am tired of it being in Canada! I want this puppy (the dossier) to be in Europe already! I am impatient, I know...I`m working on it.
We had a minor scare with the grant folks today. They told us we were missing all of our references (three people had to fill out a one page form on us). Yikes! Turns out, they had the wrong family. Phew! That would have been a hassle to gather those forms again.
Our first ever fundraiser for our family`s adoption is in less than two weeks away. Although we have had some positive feedback, I am really quite nervous about it too. I feel like there have been a couple of stumbling blocks and confusion about how it is going to run and I am honestly quite nervous that it could flop. I want that fairy godmother moment... the one where she waves a magical wand and makes everything little detail just perfect. Ahh...wishful thinking :)
I am having such a hard time accepting that it is OK to fundraise. I feel like people are judging me and I don`t like it one bit. When I get like this, I have to remember that we are not raising funds for ME...we are raising money to free a child from the bondage of her orphanage walls. This child DESERVES people to fight for her. She is God`s child every bit as much as I am! She DESERVES to be loved and cared for and have a mom and dad who are willing to step out in FAITH for her! She DESERVES a church family to grow up with. She DESERVES to go to school and have sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins who love her, she deserves to play freely and try different foods and activities! God made her! God put her here for a PURPOSE! SHE HAS A PURPOSE!
And so, when things don't work in our favour, I get scared. I freak out. I get overwhelmed and emotional.
Today, my daughters and I joined hands together and we prayed. Literally, within minutes, things changed. The paperwork for the grant wasn't missing anymore.
This evening, I made a comment to a friend about the money involved. I said something to him along these lines: "I still need close to $30 000... is it just going to rain from the sky?!?!??! (lots of sarcasm in voice)". I got back home and there was a message on our machine about someone wanting to donate to our adoption. SERIOUSLY?!?!?!? Umm...sorry God. I didn't trust You... I feel like a tool.
Ten minutes after that call, I found out I won an awesome fancy cake that I am able to use as another fundraiser! How cool is that!?!?!
Prayer... Powerful. Useful. Required. Needed.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
Thank you for those who prayed for us today when we asked. Thank you to those who are praying for us when we don't.
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