Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we're almost at the end- we are having our LAST garage sale on Friday (5/30) and Saturday (5/31)!
We still have a ton of great stuff and a BUNCH of new stuff (especially baby stuff!) that's been recently donated. We have promises of even more big-ticket items on the way in the next few days as well, so mark your calendars! We are priced to sell- we will be pricing clothes and books by the bag, so there will be some REALLY great deals to be had. Even better, I will stop bugging you with garage sale-y posts!
1. If you have items to donate, please schedule this with us ASAP- we would love love love more donations, and we'll take anything up until the end.
2. We need grocery bags- over the last month, we've given out more than we've taken in, so we definitely won't make it through the weekend.
3. We need help manning specific areas, handing out bag, etc.- we have had INCREDIBLE helpers, but we're going to be (hopefully) very busy and we would like to get this squared away sooner rather than later.
4. We need to borrow tables, if you have them. The ones we've been using won't be available on Saturday.
5. We need SHOPPERS! Each time someone drives by without stopping, I am absolutely shocked- we have everything under the sun, so I can't imagine what they're not finding. Come see for yourself :)
HUGE thanks go out to everyone that has donated, purchased, encouraged, and helped at these events- we are so looking forward to being done, but it has been an enormous blessing! Please contact us if you're looking for anything specific or if you'd like to donate/help. I'll include Paul's Craigslist post later so you can see photos to the best of our abilities. Hopefully we'll see you on Friday and Saturday, 8 am -3 pm!!!
Updates: Our home study is undergoing some small revisions and is then being sent to our placing agency in Minnesota- one more step forward! Thank you for your encouragement and love- we love you all!
5/25/2014
5/18/2014
Support
It's been a while since I posted, mostly because May is a pretty hectic time of year for teachers and things have been bonkers.
Even more than the school year coming to a close, however, we have been busy fundraising- a task we could in no way accomplish on our own. Pictured is a group of friends we've gotten close to over the years- and while there are a few people missing, we're thankful to have this particular group of friends because they have been SO supportive in a variety of ways. This group (including a few notable others not seen here) have gone over and above with their outpouring of love for us and Baby J, so they're getting a dedication post. :)
These friends have helped at every.single.garage sale (and they've donated more than half of the stuff we've sold), they've donated financially, they've prayed for and encouraged us, they've brought meals and treats when we were exhausted, they've been our cheerleaders- there is nothing that hasn't been done by at least one of them. They've organized garage sale previews, listened when we were stressed, kept a good sense of humor when we've been down, and even started gifting for Baby J. (I also think two of them are going to paint the nursery for us- if you've ever seen me paint, you'd know what a huge blessing that is- we can't afford to replace the carpet.)
I mention this now mainly because we're in a holding pattern- we have had 3 of 5 garage sales and our garage is still PACKED- so we're trying to do what we can and raise funds with what we have in the meantime. Unfortunately, Paul works many Saturdays, and so thankfully, we've had these friends coming to help price, sell, and cover the sale throughout the day. We would definitely have not been successful without them, and we love them for it. We're waiting for our home study to be reviewed by both agencies, which means that we can't apply for grants yet, and so the focus has been on the sales in order to reach the fundraising goal for our next bill. (We need a completed home study to apply for most adoption grants.)
This is important to us in part because we know that not everyone is going to adopt, but everyone can support adoption in different ways. We have had a LOT of support, and we could write blogs for the next decade about each person that's helped us, both inside this group and outside, but these guys have been almost as involved in the fundraising process as we have been! We are so encouraged by people that help even if it's not their passion- because they've shown us that they're passionate about families in every sense of the word.
Updates:
I wish I could say that there were major updates, but we are just waiting for our home study to be approved. After that point, we will have more to share and hopefully a clearer view of the estimated timeline (although even that is a guess).
Until then, thanks for everything! Come visit us next Saturday (5/24) and the following Friday/Saturday (5/30-5/31) for our last garage sales- there's new stuff coming in every day! You're welcome to donate stuff as well if that comes up. Thank you and we love you all!
5/04/2014
Let's Talk About It
We knew that adopting- and writing a blog about our adoption- would open us up for conversations, both good and bad. Talking about adoption is simultaneously my favorite thing AND my least favorite thing. While it's something we're obviously super passionate about and some of the conversations are uplifting and lovely, there are also a lot of times when the conversation is at best untimely, and at worst, super offensive. Mostly, though, they're somewhere in-between… good and weird and slightly uncomfortable but worth it… kind of like adoption.
We are always happy to have these conversations, even the awkward ones. Most are pretty great, and we're glad that people care enough to ask. These are some of the common ones, good and bad.
Convo #1: "Can you have your own kids?" First of all, my adoptive kid(s) will be my own. Also, yes, let's have the infertility conversation in this group of people, Ms. Perfect Stranger.
Convo #2: "(laughing) You're not going to adopt from Africa, are you?" (Yes, this was actually said to us. Really.) There are variations of this too, all making jokes about international adoption before people realize that we are, in fact, adopting internationally. There's no good way to respond to this, either, because there's so much that we want to say, but it's falling on deaf ears. Also in this: super racist comments that people don't think are racist. Yikes.
Convo #3: "Do you have kids?" This is no one's fault, but it's rough. I get asked that A LOT, and there was a time when it would have been worse, because we didn't know if we'd ever have kids and it's not the kind of question that a stranger expects you to cry about- but now, it's awkward because I don't know how to respond. I'm not pregnant, so we can't say yes yet, but we also are going to have a baby in the nearish future, so…………….? How do we respond? Yes? No? Sort of? I heard one adoptive mom that proudly adopted the term "expectant mother", but it's still a strange feeling. Especially with Mother's Day coming around, I'm not sure how to answer, but it comes up a lot.
Convo #4: "So do you have your baby yet?" I have a student that asked me this THE DAY AFTER he found out I was adopting. This is one of the funny ones- he clearly has no idea what's going on. Oddly enough, though, Paul's been asked this too- and not by children- and it reminds us that not everyone has gotten to see this process before. We probably said the same things before we watched our friends Chad and Courtney adopt, because we didn't know, but it still makes us laugh.
Convo #5: "When will you have your baby/ when are you leaving?" If only we knew, friend.
Updates: Our home study is being written right now! This will still take a bit to be finished, but we're done with education hours ad stuff for the moment.
Our garage sale yesterday was rained out, but our garage is filled to the max again, so we're having it next Saturday, rain or shine. Anyone interested in helping hang clothes on Friday should let me know- we're trying to stage as much as possible in the garage, so we'll be borrowing ladders and brooms to create makeshift clothes racks. We have TONS of new stuff, thanks to a handful of donations that have trickled in and an ENORMOUS donation from our amazing (former) neighbors- they let us raid their garage because they're downsizing and couldn't take everything with them. Join us next Saturday (10th) from 8am- 2pm!
As always, we love you and we're so thankful for your support!
We are always happy to have these conversations, even the awkward ones. Most are pretty great, and we're glad that people care enough to ask. These are some of the common ones, good and bad.
Convo #1: "Can you have your own kids?" First of all, my adoptive kid(s) will be my own. Also, yes, let's have the infertility conversation in this group of people, Ms. Perfect Stranger.
Convo #2: "(laughing) You're not going to adopt from Africa, are you?" (Yes, this was actually said to us. Really.) There are variations of this too, all making jokes about international adoption before people realize that we are, in fact, adopting internationally. There's no good way to respond to this, either, because there's so much that we want to say, but it's falling on deaf ears. Also in this: super racist comments that people don't think are racist. Yikes.
Convo #3: "Do you have kids?" This is no one's fault, but it's rough. I get asked that A LOT, and there was a time when it would have been worse, because we didn't know if we'd ever have kids and it's not the kind of question that a stranger expects you to cry about- but now, it's awkward because I don't know how to respond. I'm not pregnant, so we can't say yes yet, but we also are going to have a baby in the nearish future, so…………….? How do we respond? Yes? No? Sort of? I heard one adoptive mom that proudly adopted the term "expectant mother", but it's still a strange feeling. Especially with Mother's Day coming around, I'm not sure how to answer, but it comes up a lot.
Convo #4: "So do you have your baby yet?" I have a student that asked me this THE DAY AFTER he found out I was adopting. This is one of the funny ones- he clearly has no idea what's going on. Oddly enough, though, Paul's been asked this too- and not by children- and it reminds us that not everyone has gotten to see this process before. We probably said the same things before we watched our friends Chad and Courtney adopt, because we didn't know, but it still makes us laugh.
Convo #5: "When will you have your baby/ when are you leaving?" If only we knew, friend.
Updates: Our home study is being written right now! This will still take a bit to be finished, but we're done with education hours ad stuff for the moment.
Our garage sale yesterday was rained out, but our garage is filled to the max again, so we're having it next Saturday, rain or shine. Anyone interested in helping hang clothes on Friday should let me know- we're trying to stage as much as possible in the garage, so we'll be borrowing ladders and brooms to create makeshift clothes racks. We have TONS of new stuff, thanks to a handful of donations that have trickled in and an ENORMOUS donation from our amazing (former) neighbors- they let us raid their garage because they're downsizing and couldn't take everything with them. Join us next Saturday (10th) from 8am- 2pm!
As always, we love you and we're so thankful for your support!
4/22/2014
Spring Cleaning
As I'm sure everyone with kids can understand, we're in purging mode. Thank goodness for garage sales, because it's spring cleaning!
There's something cathartic about getting rid of things, and I have a hard time believing that so much of this stuff fit in our house. Even beyond that, in light of the things that we'll be needing- and babies need a LOT of stuff- I'm in awe of what we thought we needed, what has made it with us from house to house.
Many of you know we had a garage sale two weekends ago- and it was extremely successful. For a last minute venture, we were thrilled to make over $1200! Thank you SO SO SO much to everyone for the donations and patronage- it made such an enormous difference. A special thanks to Tim and Kiersten, Courtney, Brennon, Jimmie, Rob, Jenessa, Katie (and Jorie), and Adnan for their efforts selling our things- they were pricing masters and helped to set up and cleanup so the process went smoothly.
All that said, we still have many things, and we are having another sale on May 3rd! Any additional donations of your goods are welcome and appreciated- we are happy to take your junk! We will keep having sales until everything's gone, so we expect to be professionals by summer. New stuff keeps coming in, so keep checking back. We'll also be trying to post what we have on Craigslist and Ebay in one easy to view format, but we're working on it. And by we, I mean Paul- he's the greatest.
So, visit us again for another Saturday sale- May 3rd at 8 am. Thanks for your support!
Updates!
On THURSDAY, we have our (hopefully) last meeting with our social worker- three cheers! She is lovely, but I am happy to move past this- it's an awkward phase. She'll be doing the home inspection during this visit, so we have spent a LOT of time cleaning. We've also begun baby proofing, and ironically, we've had to make an evacuation plan since the state requires that we have one posted. Yes, even for a baby. (If you were one of the people we told that we'd be meeting at the beginning of May- surprise! We got bumped up. Yay?)
After our last meeting with our social worker, she will write up our home study, which may have to go through revisions; that could take several weeks, but it will be sent to our placing agency in Minnesota, and then we'll move on to the next step, which should be getting things ready to submit to the US government and the Marshallese government.
Another good thing about being close to done with the home study is that we will be able to start applying for grants! This, hopefully, is where we'll get some more funding, and we haven't been able to apply because our home study isn't complete. I've been stressing about this because generally, the waiting is done AFTER the home study- waiting for your referral, then waiting to travel, then waiting to travel again… but in our program, it looks like the waiting will be significantly shorter. (I like to think it's because we waited so long to join the program in the first place.) We will probably still feel like waiting even a week to meet our baby is excruciating, but this also means that we'll need to work on funding pronto- we can't move on to certain steps of the process if we haven't paid for the steps we've already taken. Urg.
Another plug for Just Love Coffee, which we have been thoroughly enjoying. Our favorite has been the Costa Rican blend, but we've been trying something new each time we order. Thanks for your support!
I'll try to do a follow-up post soon, after we finish our meetings. Until then- thank you for your support and love! We love you!
There's something cathartic about getting rid of things, and I have a hard time believing that so much of this stuff fit in our house. Even beyond that, in light of the things that we'll be needing- and babies need a LOT of stuff- I'm in awe of what we thought we needed, what has made it with us from house to house.
Many of you know we had a garage sale two weekends ago- and it was extremely successful. For a last minute venture, we were thrilled to make over $1200! Thank you SO SO SO much to everyone for the donations and patronage- it made such an enormous difference. A special thanks to Tim and Kiersten, Courtney, Brennon, Jimmie, Rob, Jenessa, Katie (and Jorie), and Adnan for their efforts selling our things- they were pricing masters and helped to set up and cleanup so the process went smoothly.
All that said, we still have many things, and we are having another sale on May 3rd! Any additional donations of your goods are welcome and appreciated- we are happy to take your junk! We will keep having sales until everything's gone, so we expect to be professionals by summer. New stuff keeps coming in, so keep checking back. We'll also be trying to post what we have on Craigslist and Ebay in one easy to view format, but we're working on it. And by we, I mean Paul- he's the greatest.
So, visit us again for another Saturday sale- May 3rd at 8 am. Thanks for your support!
Updates!
On THURSDAY, we have our (hopefully) last meeting with our social worker- three cheers! She is lovely, but I am happy to move past this- it's an awkward phase. She'll be doing the home inspection during this visit, so we have spent a LOT of time cleaning. We've also begun baby proofing, and ironically, we've had to make an evacuation plan since the state requires that we have one posted. Yes, even for a baby. (If you were one of the people we told that we'd be meeting at the beginning of May- surprise! We got bumped up. Yay?)
After our last meeting with our social worker, she will write up our home study, which may have to go through revisions; that could take several weeks, but it will be sent to our placing agency in Minnesota, and then we'll move on to the next step, which should be getting things ready to submit to the US government and the Marshallese government.
Another good thing about being close to done with the home study is that we will be able to start applying for grants! This, hopefully, is where we'll get some more funding, and we haven't been able to apply because our home study isn't complete. I've been stressing about this because generally, the waiting is done AFTER the home study- waiting for your referral, then waiting to travel, then waiting to travel again… but in our program, it looks like the waiting will be significantly shorter. (I like to think it's because we waited so long to join the program in the first place.) We will probably still feel like waiting even a week to meet our baby is excruciating, but this also means that we'll need to work on funding pronto- we can't move on to certain steps of the process if we haven't paid for the steps we've already taken. Urg.
Another plug for Just Love Coffee, which we have been thoroughly enjoying. Our favorite has been the Costa Rican blend, but we've been trying something new each time we order. Thanks for your support!
I'll try to do a follow-up post soon, after we finish our meetings. Until then- thank you for your support and love! We love you!
4/06/2014
Out of Control
I never thought that I was a controlling person, but apparently I was wrong- and the last few weeks have proved it.
As the teacher of 75 walking hormone fiascos, I thought I was used to accepting that I couldn't control other people, or circumstances. I also thought that I had "figured it out" a really long time ago- or at the very least, when we decided to adopt. Once my body started to go haywire, I realized that there were things out of my control, and I was done learning the lesson, right? Oh brother.
That gem is me, at approximately 2 years old, pretending I was pregnant. My mom was pregnant with my sister, and I went around with a baby in the front of my dress (or stuck in a nightgown, as pictured). I knew I wanted to be MY mom (obviously, because she's awesome), but I also knew that I wanted to be A mom. I never remember a single moment in my life when I didn't want to be a mom- I even broke up with a guy in high school because I thought he'd be a terrible dad. That was an awkward conversation, let me tell you. In all of those moments, the idea that we wouldn't be able to get pregnant never, ever, ever occurred to me. Talk about something you can't control.
Time to make some adoptive parents laugh- I somehow thought adoption would be easier in the sense that we'd have more control! I jinxed us big time. Not only did we give so much of our control to people we don't necessarily know (our home study agency, our placing agency, social workers and lawyers in RMI, people writing our referrals, people conducting background checks, and so on), but we also have had to trust the timelines of other people.
While I was visiting family in California, we had a paperwork snafu and I couldn't do anything about it. I felt utterly helpless. We have a bill due once we are finished meeting with our social worker, and we're still $3k short. We were waiting and waiting for a phone call, only to find out that it had come in to the house line we rarely check and don't usually give the number to. URG! Can't we hurry it up? Can't everything just go smoothly? Can't we just bring our baby home, for Poe's sake?!?
Really, this is the tip of the iceberg, and I still find myself startled by how out of control we feel- shouldn't we be used to this by now? At the same time, it's so good for us in the long run- such a painful, but good, way to grow. But is it a bad sign that I feel out of control before the baby's even home?
Updates/ opportunities to help:
We've been assigned a social worker, huzzah! It's the last major step for our home study. That's our update on that front.
SUPER SHORT NOTICE! We are having a garage sale THIS upcoming Saturday at 8 am at our place- 13350 Sw Village Glenn in Tigard. Be there or be square! This will be the first garage sale of several probably, but we've got some pretty great stuff. ALSO, a friend came up with a great idea- $10 buy-in for a Friday night preview of the goods! Send Paul or I a text if you're interested.
We're still selling Just Love Coffee, and we've been getting it ourself- it's delicious! I absolutely recommend it.
Thank you again for everything- your love, support, excitement, and well wishes all mean SO MUCH.
As the teacher of 75 walking hormone fiascos, I thought I was used to accepting that I couldn't control other people, or circumstances. I also thought that I had "figured it out" a really long time ago- or at the very least, when we decided to adopt. Once my body started to go haywire, I realized that there were things out of my control, and I was done learning the lesson, right? Oh brother.That gem is me, at approximately 2 years old, pretending I was pregnant. My mom was pregnant with my sister, and I went around with a baby in the front of my dress (or stuck in a nightgown, as pictured). I knew I wanted to be MY mom (obviously, because she's awesome), but I also knew that I wanted to be A mom. I never remember a single moment in my life when I didn't want to be a mom- I even broke up with a guy in high school because I thought he'd be a terrible dad. That was an awkward conversation, let me tell you. In all of those moments, the idea that we wouldn't be able to get pregnant never, ever, ever occurred to me. Talk about something you can't control.
Time to make some adoptive parents laugh- I somehow thought adoption would be easier in the sense that we'd have more control! I jinxed us big time. Not only did we give so much of our control to people we don't necessarily know (our home study agency, our placing agency, social workers and lawyers in RMI, people writing our referrals, people conducting background checks, and so on), but we also have had to trust the timelines of other people.
While I was visiting family in California, we had a paperwork snafu and I couldn't do anything about it. I felt utterly helpless. We have a bill due once we are finished meeting with our social worker, and we're still $3k short. We were waiting and waiting for a phone call, only to find out that it had come in to the house line we rarely check and don't usually give the number to. URG! Can't we hurry it up? Can't everything just go smoothly? Can't we just bring our baby home, for Poe's sake?!?
Really, this is the tip of the iceberg, and I still find myself startled by how out of control we feel- shouldn't we be used to this by now? At the same time, it's so good for us in the long run- such a painful, but good, way to grow. But is it a bad sign that I feel out of control before the baby's even home?
Updates/ opportunities to help:
We've been assigned a social worker, huzzah! It's the last major step for our home study. That's our update on that front.
SUPER SHORT NOTICE! We are having a garage sale THIS upcoming Saturday at 8 am at our place- 13350 Sw Village Glenn in Tigard. Be there or be square! This will be the first garage sale of several probably, but we've got some pretty great stuff. ALSO, a friend came up with a great idea- $10 buy-in for a Friday night preview of the goods! Send Paul or I a text if you're interested.
We're still selling Just Love Coffee, and we've been getting it ourself- it's delicious! I absolutely recommend it.
Thank you again for everything- your love, support, excitement, and well wishes all mean SO MUCH.
3/23/2014
The Little Things
A lot of people have been asking us how things are going, and we're so thankful for the care and concern that people have been showing. The problem is, there's not much to talk about- nothing remarkable, anyway. What we've been finding is that everything right now is small- but those small things are actually pretty big when they're all put together. The little things have been special moments that make all the difference. Here are a few of my favorites:
1. Our friend works at our Oregon adoption agency, and she was the one to call and tell me we had been accepted. Having someone we love and that loves us deliver the news was a precious moment- not life altering, but wonderful.
2. There are quite a few adoptive families at the school I work at, and my students are excited. I've been able to have some really great conversations with students in adoptive families and their parents- families that can empathize and rejoice over the little things.
3. Our nursery has turned into a hoarder's paradise. People have donated SO MUCH stuff that we've been selling on Craigslist and Ebay- and it's helped us a ton before we even get to the garage sale. Not only are we purging our own house (it's unbelievable how much we have to get rid of), but we have been able to go through everyone else's stuff and it's more fun than I would have thought! To be honest, Paul gets virtually all of the credit for this- he has been the one spearheading this campaign. He is way more organized than I am, and the way that he's been attacking this is just incredible, and I'm so fortunate to have him to work on this.
We've also gotten to meet some really interesting people through Craigslist (obviously), but also people that we're so glad to be passing this stuff on to. We met a grandmother that was fostering her grandkids, and bought both twin mattresses because the kids had been sleeping on the floor. She was ecstatic that we gave her the sheets to go with it, and we got to see her grandkids- the cutest children we had ever seen. As she left, she asked us to email her when we brought the baby home, so she could give us hand-me-downs.
Another couple came to look at the couch and saw a bunch of things from a recent delivery of stuff- and this guy's eyes went wide. As it turned out, the couple had just moved here and had brought almost nothing, so they spent the next hours going through boxes and picking out decorations, rugs, dishes, pots and pans- they pretty much got their entire house stocked up, and they want to come back when we have the garage sale.
We have also been really forthcoming about why we're selling everything, and more than one person has given us more than we were asking because they're excited that we're adopting- these gifts and support from strangers are a blessing that we're never sure how to accept but we're so excited by them.
4. We got our first baby gift. I was telling a friend about this thing I had seen and really wanted, and she texted me the next day to say it was on its way. How special this moment was, she'll probably never know- it was one of the random, beautiful reasons why I love her, and there's something in the nursery closet that is actually for our baby.
5. I'm visiting my family this week, and it might be the last time I do this alone. Talk about weird realizations- there have been a bunch of small things where we say, "this might be the last time before the baby," and actually processing that information is insane and beautiful and it's weirding me out.
6. (an update) We are being assigned our social worker! This means we have a few meetings with him/her and then we're done with our home study, which is equal parts exciting and terrifying because we have a $6,000 bill due as soon as we complete the home study.
I'm sure every family that's expecting their first child says the same thing- the little things are important and seem to make all the difference. We're learning that as we go along, as we sell every bit and bauble that comes our way. There is no item we've had donated that's worth $40,000- we're getting there through $5, $20, $100 items that are selling. The little things mean a whole lot, and we could not be more grateful. Thank you! We love you all so very, very much.
1. Our friend works at our Oregon adoption agency, and she was the one to call and tell me we had been accepted. Having someone we love and that loves us deliver the news was a precious moment- not life altering, but wonderful.
2. There are quite a few adoptive families at the school I work at, and my students are excited. I've been able to have some really great conversations with students in adoptive families and their parents- families that can empathize and rejoice over the little things.
3. Our nursery has turned into a hoarder's paradise. People have donated SO MUCH stuff that we've been selling on Craigslist and Ebay- and it's helped us a ton before we even get to the garage sale. Not only are we purging our own house (it's unbelievable how much we have to get rid of), but we have been able to go through everyone else's stuff and it's more fun than I would have thought! To be honest, Paul gets virtually all of the credit for this- he has been the one spearheading this campaign. He is way more organized than I am, and the way that he's been attacking this is just incredible, and I'm so fortunate to have him to work on this.We've also gotten to meet some really interesting people through Craigslist (obviously), but also people that we're so glad to be passing this stuff on to. We met a grandmother that was fostering her grandkids, and bought both twin mattresses because the kids had been sleeping on the floor. She was ecstatic that we gave her the sheets to go with it, and we got to see her grandkids- the cutest children we had ever seen. As she left, she asked us to email her when we brought the baby home, so she could give us hand-me-downs.Another couple came to look at the couch and saw a bunch of things from a recent delivery of stuff- and this guy's eyes went wide. As it turned out, the couple had just moved here and had brought almost nothing, so they spent the next hours going through boxes and picking out decorations, rugs, dishes, pots and pans- they pretty much got their entire house stocked up, and they want to come back when we have the garage sale.We have also been really forthcoming about why we're selling everything, and more than one person has given us more than we were asking because they're excited that we're adopting- these gifts and support from strangers are a blessing that we're never sure how to accept but we're so excited by them.
4. We got our first baby gift. I was telling a friend about this thing I had seen and really wanted, and she texted me the next day to say it was on its way. How special this moment was, she'll probably never know- it was one of the random, beautiful reasons why I love her, and there's something in the nursery closet that is actually for our baby.
5. I'm visiting my family this week, and it might be the last time I do this alone. Talk about weird realizations- there have been a bunch of small things where we say, "this might be the last time before the baby," and actually processing that information is insane and beautiful and it's weirding me out.
6. (an update) We are being assigned our social worker! This means we have a few meetings with him/her and then we're done with our home study, which is equal parts exciting and terrifying because we have a $6,000 bill due as soon as we complete the home study.
I'm sure every family that's expecting their first child says the same thing- the little things are important and seem to make all the difference. We're learning that as we go along, as we sell every bit and bauble that comes our way. There is no item we've had donated that's worth $40,000- we're getting there through $5, $20, $100 items that are selling. The little things mean a whole lot, and we could not be more grateful. Thank you! We love you all so very, very much.
3/06/2014
Doing Pretty Well
A few days ago, a guy came to the house to buy something we listed on Craiglist, and when he came in, he said, "Wow, you guys are doing pretty well for yourself." (I wasn't there- Paul says it was endearing, but it sounds snarky to me; make your own judgements.) As Paul was telling me the story, I looked around and started to protest- almost everything we own is secondhand, or was a gift, or…or…
That night, we were finishing up one of our online education classes, this one about international adoption and things to be prepared for, including lists of things to bring. One note on the list was that we would have to bring clothes- obviously- but one recommendation was to bring something that we can change the baby into immediately, because we will need to return their outfit- their one outfit- to the orphanage.
I remembered reading something similar when we were looking into a Samoan program- one of the program requirements was that you send a box of age-appropriate clothes when you accepted the referral of your child, because the child would not be provided with additional clothes beyond the minimum.
I don't know why something about baby clothes set me off, but I couldn't think about anything else, and I still sort of can't. One single outfit could be the only thing a child wears during their time in an orphanage. I don't know what our program requires yet, and it will likely be different because our baby's going to be in foster care instead of an orphanage, but still- it's common enough that this note was in our international adoption training. I don't really have words, so I will just say- I am thankful for this dose of perspective.
Updates:
DONE with paperwork AND our education hours! There was sooooo much good information, and I'm thankful we've completed it. We also got our final background check in- thankfully, the FBI has confirmed that we're not criminals. As soon as the paperwork we mailed in is processed, we can begin meeting with our social worker! Huzzah!
We are continuing to sell donated things- thank you SO much for all of this! We are still running fundraisers through Just Love Coffee and when you follow this link to Amazon. We also have set a tentative date for the craft fair- so look for more info on that soon!
We love you all, and we'll post again soon.
That night, we were finishing up one of our online education classes, this one about international adoption and things to be prepared for, including lists of things to bring. One note on the list was that we would have to bring clothes- obviously- but one recommendation was to bring something that we can change the baby into immediately, because we will need to return their outfit- their one outfit- to the orphanage.
I remembered reading something similar when we were looking into a Samoan program- one of the program requirements was that you send a box of age-appropriate clothes when you accepted the referral of your child, because the child would not be provided with additional clothes beyond the minimum.
I don't know why something about baby clothes set me off, but I couldn't think about anything else, and I still sort of can't. One single outfit could be the only thing a child wears during their time in an orphanage. I don't know what our program requires yet, and it will likely be different because our baby's going to be in foster care instead of an orphanage, but still- it's common enough that this note was in our international adoption training. I don't really have words, so I will just say- I am thankful for this dose of perspective.
Updates:
DONE with paperwork AND our education hours! There was sooooo much good information, and I'm thankful we've completed it. We also got our final background check in- thankfully, the FBI has confirmed that we're not criminals. As soon as the paperwork we mailed in is processed, we can begin meeting with our social worker! Huzzah!
We are continuing to sell donated things- thank you SO much for all of this! We are still running fundraisers through Just Love Coffee and when you follow this link to Amazon. We also have set a tentative date for the craft fair- so look for more info on that soon!
We love you all, and we'll post again soon.
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