Puzzle progress

Here is our puzzle so far! The pieces in the box are already purchased. The up-side-down ones are available. We still need to get 218 pieces sponsored, which is about 20 per week if we want to get it done before we travel! Just $5.30 gets your name (or a friend or loved one's) on a piece. You can sponsor as many as you like, have a quote, or greeting written on it, all of the members of your family, etc. Lots of big blocks of pieces left if you want a big space. And if you purchase at least 2 pieces or share our fundraiser, you will be entered in our give-away!

To purchase a piece make your donation to our Reece's Rainbow grant (tax deductible!) or PayPal (not tax-deductible). 

Since the weather is warming we will be reopening our Porch Store! If you have anything you would like to donate to it, just let us know. Our big sale will be the 3rd weekend in May! We are also starting a can/bottle drive. There will be a large drop off container in front of the house. Just stop by and drop them in! 

Ok now for a financial update. We still need a significant amount before we can go. Hubby has sold stock, gotten a bonus, and we have some funds from our tax refund (though some has to go to some fencing and such for the horses). This still leaves us about  $3-4k short to just get Jacob home (including our plane tickets). If we add a second child we will still need another $4-8k on top of that. That is a lot of money obviously. I know God is bigger than that though and we can chip it away little by little!

**update 4/6/13 - We have 211 left!
**update 4/30/13 - We have 206 left
**update 5/2/13 - 196 left to get sponsored!!

The First Give-Away Winner is...

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Melissa Hart!!  Congrats! You get your choice of prizes - Here

The next winner will be drawn when our Reece's Rainbow Grant reaches $600!

Adoption Process update

Life right now sort of reminds me of a roller coaster. The part we are doing right now is the slow 'click click click' as you get pulled up the hill. Sometimes it doesn't feel like we are getting anywhere, even though I know we are. The time is going so fast and so slow at the same time. It feels like yesterday that we sent the commitment papers in to Reece's Rainbow, but also feels like that was forever ago. In three short/long months we should be traveling to meet our little one(s)! We still have a lot to accomplish in that time and I know it will go fast. 

We have our Homestudy draft almost ready to finalize. Ben & I went and got our fingerprints done for our second background check yesterday. Those will be mailed in today and take 3-5 weeks to get back. If I had realized that we needed this I would have done it earlier. The Homestudy only required us to go to the local county building and have a quick search done. Oh well. It will all work out in God's perfect timing. We just ray that they will take the shorter time to get back. We should be filing out USCIS paperwork very soon for our immigration approval. The health forms have been an absolute PAIN.. I am so thankful that the ladies up at our doctor's office have been so good about it all. They are all very excited about Jacob. The receptionist said she thinks he looks like me. Funny how that works out. We certainly did not plan that out at all. 

Yesterday I ordered two photo books online from shutterfly. These are filled with pictures of our family, home, and town, to show the people who work in the country where Jacob will live, and the kinds of things we like to do. We ordered two so that one could be left with an older child (if we add a second), and we would still have one to show judges, workers, nannies, etc. Then when we come to visit them in the orphanages we can show them pictures, and maybe some of the faces and places will be a little more familiar. 

Coming home will be a shock no matter what we do though. Most of these kids have not been outside the orphanage walls since going in. In the not so great places they may have not ever left their crib. No amount of photos is going to prepare them for riding in a car, on a train, in a plane for hours and hours, etc. This is why it is so important to avoid the huge welcoming parties at the airport when new kids come home. It is exhausting and overwhelming. We plan to lock ourselves away in our home with just our family for a bit while we recover and start to adjust to the new normal. Since we should be home in August, I hope we can do some smaller meet and greet get together type things in September or October after we have bonded as a family. And for my church friends, don't expect to see us at church for a couple weeks. It will all just depend on how we are doing. 

How you can pray for me today: That I would stay focused and press on with everything that needs to be done. It gets tiring to do the same paperwork over so many times!! I also need to get the house ready for our family Easter gathering this Sunday and work on art stuff. Also, please pray for clear guidance for us, and for Jacob to get the attention and love he deserves while we wait to go get him. Thx!

(Jacob at 16 mos)

Homestudy Draft is here!

We are currently working on getting the completed Home Study tweaked and ready to finalize! This is sort of a summary of our lives, family, and home. It gives the government a picture of us and that we have been found suitable to adopt. Having this portion nearly done is exciting! The next hurdle will be USCIS immigration approval. When we have the finalized Home Study we send that along with *more paperwork* to USCIS and some money (a good chunk actually), and then wait for our approval. Most of our dossier paperwork is ready and waiting to be reviewed prior to being appostilled (certified) by the state. So the big job that is taking center stage again is funding.

We have not mentioned it publicly but we are seriously considering bring two children home. It will cost additional funds if we do this ($5-12k) but not as much as if we did two fully separate adoptions ($25k each). We would not consider this if we had not felt like we were being prayerfully led this way. In the beginning I had absolutely NO intention of trying for 2. But God does big things in hearts and lives and we are trusting him for his clear guidance and provision.

So with this, I am working on planning our big fundraisers for spring. I am hoping we can get some church support to help us with it as fundraising events are a LOT of work. We have some sweet gentle attention loving critters here that would love being part of a petting zoo, so perhaps that will be something we will do.

Who wouldn't want to pet these sweet creatures?

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!

We have printed, scanned, copied, signed, and notarized enough paper in the last two weeks that I think we may have used up a few trees all on our own!  Things are still moving through though, slowly. We got our passports last week. Hubby's pic looks ok, mine looks like I am a transparent redhead. Alright close enough to reality I suppose. :P

I have been working on a lot of artwork stuff with the studio lately, so that is why things have been quiet. That plus all of the doctors visits we have done to try to get all of our paperwork there done. I need to go back one more time to get the doctor to sign some things and get them notarized. The social worker has all of our documentation now so we should be getting the home study draft very soon. When that is done we just have to get fingerprints done, immigration approval, all of the forms need certified by the state, then it all goes over to Jacob's country for them to approve and send us our invitation to travel. We are still likely traveling in July.

We have sold 14 of the 252 puzzle pieces, so still LOTS more to go! If I can get 11 more sold I will post a picture of the puzzle so far. <grin>

There has been a change with the Reece's Rainbow donation button though. Reece's Rainbow is no longer able to cover the 3% PayPal fees. You can write a check or send a money order and we will get all of that but in order for us to get the full donation you intend us to, you would have to add some to cover the fees.

We are still planning to have a large garage sale next month (probably towards the end of April) so if you are local and have anything you want to get rid of, feel free to bring it by.

OK I have to go get moving for the day. A few of us Michigan RR gals are getting together for lunch today and I have not even showered. Ha.

Puzzle Piece fundraiser!

I ordered the sweetest custom puzzle for Jacob's room, and it arrived today! For those that are not familiar, the pieces are available and you purchase a piece by donating. We will write your name on the piece and when all of the pieces are purchased the puzzle will be assembled and framed between 2 pieces of glass. Then it will be hung in his room and when we flip it around we will see the names of all of the people who donated to help bring him home! For a $5.30 (30 cents is the 6% paypal fee they deduct, if you pay in person you do not need to add this) donation to our Reece's Rainbow Grant Fund you get one piece. If you would like a message written on them I would recommend purchasing a couple as the pieces are not very big. I will apply the donations towards our give away as well so you are entered if you buy at least 2 pieces! This is a 252 piece puzzle and will help us raise over $1250 for our little guy!

*Update - 3/12/13  Fourteen pieces sold so far! Just 238 to go! :)
*Update - 3/18/13  Twenty Eight sold, 224 to go!
*Update - 3/19/13 Thirty sold, 222 to go!
*Update - 3/26/13 Thirty Four sold, 218 still available!
*Update - 4/6/13 Forty one sold, 211 to go!

For details about our Give-away -Click Here

Donation link for mobile users (and also updates quicker if you would like to make sure we got the funds) http://reecesrainbow.org/52513/sponsorkroll 

Other ways you can support us:
Shop my Etsy Shop 
Shop my Studio Page
Shop our Porch Sale
Order a custom baby/toddler quilt or minky snuggle blanket
Donate items to our garage sale in April/May or volunteer to help work it!

Awesome news!

When I first found Reece's Rainbow and started learning about the kids, a couple caught my heart.  One of them was Jacob. Another was Emmitt. I wrote about him in the first post on this blog. My heart has been so heavy for Emmitt these last few months as this is his last year before he has no chance at a better life. Today he made it to the My Family Found Me page! This is such wonderful news that when I saw it, I could hardly hold back my tears. Praise God!

http://reecesrainbow.org/1399/emmitt

Please continue to pray for him that the adoption process goes well for his family so he can come home!