Funding and Fundraising... ALMOST DONE!

Scott and I came home from our trip to meet the kids, and got down to business talking about the rest of our funding.  We knew his employer offers a bit of reimbursement for adoption expenses (though we're not sure if it's $2,000 or $5,000, and if that's total or per child... so we're looking at anywhere from $2,000-$10,000 being reimbursed, which is amazing!), so we decided to take out a loan to cover the biggest chunk of the remainder of our expenses.

Prior to travel, we had put in about $5,000 of personal money and raised somewhere in the ballpark of $20,000.  We came home and got the loan, then paid another $12,000 in expenses, and continued to fundraise.  We have somewhere around $1,500 in our Reece's Rainbow grant (the amount listed there includes what we had transferred to us before we traveled to meet the kids, and does *not* yet show a check that was mailed in... a HUGE gift of $1,000), and a little bit left from our loan. 

Here's what we have covered:

$3,000 - Two round-trip plane tickets
$   500 - Reimbursement to our agency for covering Tory's diabetes supplies
$   500 - Various in-country expenses (driver, gas, medicals, diapers, etc.)
$   460 - Visas for the kids
$4,460
Here's what we still need:

$2,000 - Two one-way plane tickets
$   680 - 8 nights x $85 in our apartment
$   320 - 8 days x $40 in food expenses
$3,000

I won't know an exact cost for the plane tickets until we know when we're traveling, but everything is a fairly close estimate.  I keep thinking about how much money we have left to raise, and I realize that we're $39,000 down (including the loan) and $3,500 left to go, and that over $20,000 has not come from us, but from others who have sown into our adoption.

I don't know how to raise this last bit, because I've sold everything I can sell in the auctions, and my last few giveaways have not done well.  I talked with a friend about doing an online adoption shower, so that may be our way to go for this last bit. 

Three months, three thousand dollars.  God's got this.  And...

WE'RE ALMOST DONE!!!

"When are you traveling?"

This is probably the #1 question I get regarding our adoption.  I don't mind answering any adoption-related questions, but I really wish I could answer this one with a specific date.  Of course, Scott just booked a business conference for late September, so that probably means we'll have some big adoption-related conflict!

We are now six months into this adoption, so I had to write a letter to the children's government, detailing where we are in preparing our dossier, and when we plan to submit the final copy of our dossier for approval.  This is to make sure they know that we are still moving forward with the adoption.  Of course, I wanted the letter to be PERFECT, so I spent about 2 hours writing and re-writing it.  I heard from our stateside agency that I am awesome, so I assume that means my letter will keep everyone happy!

And I got what I consider to be great news today, even though it's going to be a little more work for me.  Throughout the process, we have to get LOTS of documents notarized, then apostilled by the state.  Our foreign agency has requested that we scan over each document after it's apostilled, for them to translate.  Which means we'll save several weeks by not sending over the whole dossier for translation after we have USCIS approval.  I'm praying this means we'll travel in October, instead of November!

All this has me very excited, though I've got one number in the back of my mind: $12,000.  That's the remainder of what we need by the time we travel ($4,300 for the remainder of our first trip fees, and $7,700 due as soon as we get home).  It's a big number, but my God is a BIG GOD, and I have absolute faith that the money will be there when we need it!  


I don't have any big fundraisers planned right now, especially since I need to spend a good deal of time working on paperwork for the dossier.  If you would, please pray for our USCIS paperwork to be assigned to an officer quickly, pray for our funding, and pray for our whole family, especially the two who are waiting for us.

28-Hour Challenge!!!

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be harassing everyone about MY fundraisers, MY needs.  But when someone who is so close to the end of this journey is given a wonderful gift that would get them financially TO the end, I can't push my giveaway.  I have to push for them instead.

Mandy, with sweet Joseph

Everyone knows and loves Mandy.  A faithful daughter of God, a wonderful wife, mother, and friend.  An advocate for her children waiting in Eastern Europe, an advocate for other adoptive families, and other waiting children.  What I love most about Mandy is that she is a "Yes" woman.  When God says to go, she goes.

Just a short while ago, she was being shown that she needed to give up the idea that she was David, fighting her Goliath (a.k.a. adoption funds), and gave that giant over to God to defeat instead.  At the time, she had an $8,000 giant, so giving it up wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do.

Within days, she started receiving money.  God was melting that mountain, and we laughed that He was showing off.  She just had to recalculate her expenses, since airfare has gone up so much, and she is now $1,280 from being fully funded.

Fully funded.  Two of the sweetest words adoptive families could ever hear.  And two more sweet words are "matching challenge."  And that is exactly what Mandy heard yesterday.  She was offered a $500 match, with only ONE DAY to pull it off.  From 8:00 EST today to MIDNIGHT EST TOMORROW.

That's 10 people giving $50, 20 people giving $25, or 50 people giving $10.  What can you give?  For one day, you can double your money, and make a real difference in the lives of two little boys who are on their way home within WEEKS.  That $500 will become $1,000, and put Mandy just $280 away from the Fully Funded status.

And if you don't know what happens when she hits that, some lovely women in PA have donated a massage to Mandy, so she can take care of herself after taking care of so many others.  Let's get her there!  Click HERE to donate to the Rhodes family's FSP for them to get the match.  And let's go past $500, all the way to $780, so they'll be FULLY FUNDED.

The Golden Ticket

The record largest lottery drawing happened last night, everyone hoping they were the one with the "golden" ticket. 

I'm not against the lottery in theory, but I wish I heard more stories of people putting their winnings to good use, rather than squandering all the money on mansions, expensive cars, and who knows what else that puts their bank accounts back at ZERO.  I don't know if there's a winner, and I don't know how they'll spend their money.  What I do know is that I didn't buy a ticket.

What I've said I'd do with the money I won in the lottery has evolved over time.  When I bought my first lottery ticket at 18, I wanted the mansion, a personal chef, and to hire my hair stylist to fix my hair every day. (I have very thick hair, so I have a love/hate relationship with my blow dryer.)

I know what I would do with the money IF I won now.  As in, very specifically, I know where I would begin to sow in such a way that the money would continue to benefit many people, long after the initial money was spent.  And I do still dream of having my hair done every day.

But there were other places I needed to sow that money.  Take a look at any of the adoptive families on Reece's Rainbow and you'll see people who fundraise again and again, raising the ransom for their children who wait.  You'll see the Spitz family, whose story I just cannot do justice to in a quick blurb.  Please go read their beautiful story.  You'll meet the Rhodes family, a godly family so dear to us, especially since our stories have been woven together over these past several months.  You'll read about the Jenks family, who have been paper-chasing for so long, and are getting so close to their two children.  You'll find the Morton family, another local (to me) family finding themselves unexpectedly in the middle of an adoption of two boys, both 15 years old and near aging out of eligibility to be adopted.

Okay, I realize that it's just $5 for a ticket full of a potential $600 million.  But that's $5 that I know will benefit one of these families, versus $5 that was probably just eaten up in taxes off the top of someone's winnings.  Don't think that $1 or $5 is a big deal?  Yesterday morning, the lottery was at $540 million and by the time the numbers were announced, that number had jumped up another $100 million. 

If you'd like to put your $5 somewhere you can guarantee it's going to be well spent, follow any of those links above.  You'll even find some giveaways, where your odds will be a LOT better than 175 million to 1.  (Check back next week for a BIG giveaway here, to raise money for our foreign agency fees for Cullen!)

Two Times the Love Giveaway

These last two weeks of resting from fundraising have been very refreshing, and have given me a chance to focus on the needs of other adoptive families and the Playing Them Home event coming up in just a couple of weeks!

Now that we are sending commitment paperwork to our son's country, we'll have additional fees due upfront.  Which means that, even though we have a tax-deductible grant growing on Reece's Rainbow, we still need cash in hand now. {{{bangs head against table}}}

I'm working on a BIG giveaway, with LOTS AND LOTS of prizes!  There are 9 prizes right now, and I am so looking forward to sharing them with everyone!  (I've really been praying about a LARGE final prize, so my indecision means we're looking at early next week for the giveaway to start.)

Oh, and for those of you who are contributing to the tax-deductible grant, THANK YOU!!!  You won't be left out of a giveaway, either... I'll have one just for you!

There's This Boy...

Several weeks after committing to our daughter, Scott started looking through photolistings again.  Every few days, he'd email me a profile of an older boy, and every time I had to tell him he was looking in the wrong country.  He just couldn't stop thinking that we were bringing home a boy, too.

My friend, Mandy, her husband, Marty, and their two kids had come to our home for dinner one evening, and I mentioned that Scott was looking for our son.  The next night, I had a message from Mandy.  It read, "Here's his profile :) No pressure... bring Cullen home, please, please, please ;)".

I clicked on the link, and I saw such a familiar face staring back from the screen, so much like the face of our daughter waiting in EE.  And I knew.  I ran down to our family room with the netbook to show Scott the profile, and then I left him alone.

All along, I've given the responsibility of softening Scott's heart to our child(ren) up to God, because I don't want this to be a Chandres thing.  This is all about us following God's command, not Scott following his nagging wife's whines and pleas.

It has taken a lot of prayer, a lot of talking about whether we feel equipped to take on two more children, a lot of realizing that we're in for a BIG adjustment period.  But when we look at his photo, we see our son.  And that is enough to make us move forward.

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't scary, stepping further into the unknown.  When you choose to adopt one child, everyone thinks you're doing something great; when you announce that you're adopting two, there is less happiness, and more worry in the responses.  And that's okay.  We're not adopting to earn praises, we're adopting in response to God's command for our family.

We are very, VERY excited that we are now adopting two children; in a sense, it's like finding out at the ultrasound that you're actually expecting twins!  Of course, the kids are thrilled, but they'd be okay with us bringing home every child in EE so, as long as they're not upset, we'll take that as a good sign.

We can't wait to announce who we're adding to our family, and we'll be on the New Commitments page on Reece's Rainbow, hopefully within the next few days!  In the meantime, this does add more agency fees, about $3500, and the foreign agency wants those ASAP.  So, while I still feel weary from fundraising around $8,000 (and paying over $11,000) in two months, it is onward we go...

(And this is for my dad.)

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, 
with the cross of Jesus going on before. 
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; 
forward into battle see his banners go! 

At the sign of triumph Satan's host doth flee; 
on then, Christian soldiers, on to victory! 
Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise; 
brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.

Like a mighty army moves the church of God; 
brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod. 
We are not divided, all one body we, 
one in hope and doctrine, one in charity.

Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane, 
but the church of Jesus constant will remain.
Gates of hell can never gainst that church prevail; 
we have Christ's own promise, and that cannot fail. 

Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng, 
blend with ours your voices in the triumph song. 
Glory, laud, and honor unto Christ the King, 
this through countless ages men and angels sing.

Melted Like Wax

Once again, thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to give you all the glory!

One week ago, I wrote that we had decided to use another homestudy agency, a change that would save us $1000 and be less restrictive as we move through this adoption process.  There were actually two agencies, both with similar fees, and we were unable to decide which to move forward with.  It was a very difficult decision to try to make.

Yesterday, I wrote the blog post $937, asking for prayer as we faced a small mountain getting in the way of us moving forward with our homestudy.

I left a message with the Assistant Director of the homestudy agency we were leaning toward last week, but due to their office moving and training classes, she was not available at all last week, and very little this week.  I received a message from her yesterday afternoon, and I emailed her back this morning with several questions.  

Two hours after sending that email, Scott called me to tell me our mountain had "melt[ed] like wax before the Lord" (Psalm 97:5) in the form of a bonus he didn't know was coming.  And it's coming tomorrow!  We can't ignore God's timing in this, waiting until we spoke with just the person we needed to before having the money to move forward.

I've spoken again with the homestudy agency and with the placing agency, and we are THRILLED that we were shown the correct path to take, after much prayer over this decision.

To everyone who has covered us in prayer, thank you!  To everyone who contributed toward this fundraising goal, thank you!  We have enough to pay our homestudy fees, post-placement fees, criminal/background checks, and my passport fees!  PRAISE GOD, FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!

 

God's Provision... Again!

Today is a day I've been waiting ten days to blog about!  Only ten days, because that's when we found out that, instead of paying our foreign agency fees in two installments, we'd be paying our foreign agency fees in three installments.

We had begun fundraising for our homestudy fees when I got the call that there was a mistake with the original fee agreement with our foreign agency, and we'd need to wire 1,190 euros ASAP, because the money was due with our referral acceptance in country.

So, our homestudy fees took the back burner, and we turned our focus to coming up with $1,826, to cover the foreign agency fees and two wiring fees (one for us to wire the money to our placing agency and one for our placing agency to wire the money to our foreign agency).  And today, the wire has been made!  At the time we sent the wired funds, we had, to the dollar, exactly what we needed!  Isn't God awesome!  He provided exactly what we needed, exactly when we needed it!

We are 1,826 steps closer to our daughter, and 1/3 of the way funded!!!

PRAISE GOD!!!  

We are praying that we will soon get updated information on her development and, just as I hoped for an updated ultrasound picture during my pregnancies, I am hoping for a new picture of her!  I cannot wait to see how much more beautiful she has grown since the time her photo was taken!

I can't end this post without thanking a few people specifically for making this payment possible.  To D&J, thank you for your very generous gift for our Chick-fil-A giveaway; to S&M, B&M, and M&D thank you for giving so unselfishly your kids' clothes and toys for us to sell, and to T, I cannot thank you enough for the time you spent helping me to get everything organized and priced, and for advocating so much for our family.

Saint Patty's Day Giveaway!

If you've read any of my blog posts, you know that I've said time and time again that I am terrible at asking people for things, especially money.  So when I got a call on Monday from someone offering the prize for our next giveaway, I was THRILLED, especially since I didn't have a plan for our next fundraiser!

Up for grabs are two prizes perfect for drawing TWO WINNERS on the day when we're all thinking shamrocks, leprechauns, and pots of gold at the end of the rainbow!  (Although not snakes, since apparently Saint Patrick banished them all from Ireland.)

Prize #1 - A $100 Visa Gift Card

Prize #2 - A $50 Target Gift Card

Here's how to enter:

$5 = 5 entries

$10 = 20 entries

$20 = 50 entries

Earn 1 entry per day by sharing on facebook or your blog, just post here when you do, and I'll add your entries!

So pray for us, share our fundraiser, and donate if you can!  We're still adding to that thermometer on the right, to reach that goal of $5,182 so we can get our homestudy started!

(This giveaway is not tax-deductible.)

Update on Fees

I just got a call from our placing agency that the foreign agency needs the first installment of their fees, to cover the upfront legal expenses for the adoption.  Which means our fundraising goal has gone from $3,370 to $5,182.

I don't know how I missed that we'd pay the foreign fees in three installments instead of two, I don't know why we went from expecting to receive about $8000 next week to receiving a few hundred dollars.  I just don't know.  But I do know that my God has shown time and time again that He has everything under control, that His timing is perfect, even when we can't understand His reasons.

Today, Scott and I are "approach[ing] God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)  Will you join us there?  Will you pray for continued provision?  After receiving a donation from a dear friend today, she sent a message to me, that I ask you to consider for yourselves: "Because God said so."

I'm not good at asking for money.  I'm just not.  I got a job when I was 15 because I didn't want to ask my parents for money to go shopping.  I don't like making Christmas and birthday lists, because I feel like others will think I'm expecting to receive everything on the list.  But friends, I am humbling myself and asking you to listen and see if "God said so."

Blessings,
Chandres

Last Call for Entries!

We began our vacation giveaway on January 17, and we began our YMCA giveaway on January 26.  We are just TWO DAYS away from closing both ChipIns, and the winners will be drawn ON VALENTINE'S DAY!

As of this post, there are 1,004 entries into the Pigeon Forge, TN vacation, and there are 457 entries into the YMCA One-Year Membership giveaway!

We are SO EXCITED to make two people happy on Valentine's Day, and I'm so glad that I'm not responsible for drawing the winner!  The entries are listed on spreadsheets in order of donation received, and random.org will be choosing the winners (just making sure everything is fair!).

So, here's the last call for entries, along with a reminder about what's up for grabs! (And I even figured out how to make a slideshow!  Look under the ChipIn!)

Six Nights in Pigeon Forge, TN

3 bedroom, 4 bathroom cabin, Sleeps 8

10 Minutes from everything in Pigeon Forge

$10 donation = 3 entries
$20 donation = 8 entries
$50 donation = 20 entries
$100 donation = 50 entries

One-Year Membership to the Martinsville/Collinsville, VA  YMCA

Two facilities for the price of one!

Indoor/Outdoor Pools

$5 donation = 3 entries
$10 donation = 7 entries
$20 donation = 20 entries

Time's almost up for you to win BIG!

Faith as Small as a Mustard Seed

"'If You can'?" said Jesus.  "Everything is possible for one who believes." 

-Mark 9:23

I'm so very human, and God knows it.  I doubt, my faith wavers, and I question whether He will show up when I need Him most.  And I know I'm not the only one.  In Matthew 17 and Mark 9, even Jesus' disciples were rebuked for their lack of faith.  The guys who dropped their nets, left their lives, and followed Jesus without hesitation were rebuked for their lack of faith.  They were called a perverse and unbelieving generation. 

I think there are a lot of times when we believe so strongly that something won't work, that it just doesn't.  When our negative inner voice is telling us we're going to fail, we don't give 100% of ourselves.  I can imagine the disciples saying "I just don't know if we can get the demon out of this kid.  I mean, he's seizing, foaming at the mouth, and falling into the fire; that demon's really got a hold on him."

Even the boy's father says to Jesus "if You can."  (Mark 9:22) How many times have I said "if You can?"  Then Jesus tells his disciples "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20)

Do you know how small a mustard seed is?  Here's a visual reference:

There are many days where my doubt screams louder than my faith whispers, but it's still there.  My little mustard seed, with which God can do so much.  I looked at this $9,675 mountain and, in my humanness, said "if You can" to the Creator of the mountains. 

I saw my mountain moving because of my tiny little mustard seed of faith.  Immediately, a very strong and faithful friend started the 1 of 1,000 event to raise the money we needed.  People were giving.  Then I got a phone call that we were being given a second prize, the YMCA membership, and then we were told that donations for that prize would be matched.  We received more money.  Another strong and faithful friend posted our need anywhere she could, and immediately someone responded that our vacation giveaway would be aired on radio in Tennessee, thanks to their friend, a DJ.  And we found out we could match $2,000 in donations for the vacation giveaway.  We were even given a third prize to give away, and we're hanging onto that one until we draw for our first two giveaways.  (Stay tuned, it's awesome!)  Yet another friend started a Couponing 101 fundraiser for us.

Let me tell you what God can do with a mustard seed of faith.  He can make it grow.  He can take a tiny seed and turn it into this:

Thank You

I've said it before, and I'll happily say it again -- I love where God has planted our family!  This community, as small as it is, and as hard as it has been hit economically, is FULL of the hands and feet of Christ, people going the extra mile to do what is good and what is right. 

Do I believe that James 1:27 instructs everyone to adopt?  No.  But, but it does command us to care for the orphans.  Scott and I are being obedient to that command, and we are seeing the body of Christ move in obedience, rallying to support us financially, and that is just as much a part of that command as adopting.

I would be lying if I said that Scott and I can pull of this adoption on our own.  We're looking at a budget of around $27,000, and I'm not sure about you, but that's a little more than loose change for us.  It would take us years to save that amount of money, and I promise that, on our own, we'd be spending a big chunk on new flooring and (my personal lust) butcher block counters. 

We are trusting God to provide the money needed for this adoption, and we are seeing that provision grow each day, through the obedience and selflessness of others.  We are so, so thankful to those of you who are stepping out in faith with us, who are allowing yourselves to be used for His purpose.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.

Status, and Transparency

We sent our documents to the placing agency (again), who will be sending them to the foreign agency (again).  As long as there are no errors on the paperwork, we'll get the originals apostilled, and send them to the country!

I spoke to the homestudy agency at the beginning of the week to see when we needed to begin that part of our process.  During the conversation, I asked if there would be any issues with us adopting out of birth order; they said they do everything on a case-by-case basis, and that they would hold a special committee meeting to decide if they would work with us.  Well, we heard back today, and they felt we did our research and took our biological children's development, needs, etc. into consideration when we made the decision, so they'll work with us!

After reading a friend's blog post about the need for financial transparency when fundraising for an adoption, I quickly realized that we need an easy way to keep personal and fundraising money separate.  We're going to add all fundraising proceeds to a savings account specifically for our adoption, and any checks that need to be written will be certified and written directly to the recipient (agencies, FBI, etc.).  So, unless you hand us cash, we'll never touch the money, and even that will go straight to the savings account.

Speaking of fundraising, our BIG Vacation Giveaway is running through February 13, and random.org will choose the winner on Valentine's Day!  So check out this post to see how it works, and click on the ChipIn at the top of the page to enter!

A HUGE Thank You! to everyone who has already donated, shared, and sent words of encouragement!

Chandres