Where The Money Goes ~

I realized that this blog, one of my therapeutic & creative outlets, has become all about our adoption road.  No apologizes!  Adoption is awesome!!  Praying for, preparing for, and working hard to raise $$ for this road is almost all consuming right now in all 3 of us....hence the adoption "overtake" here!  :)

Our road has been bumpy lately and I am longing for the day when our next child is home with us and I can mentally get back to posting fun things like recipes, pics of the fam, & the excitement of life itself!  So for now, Thank You for supporting us right where we are.

Our heartache from earlier this month (if you missed it you can read it HERE) is hitting Colin harder now and it breaks our hearts.  Almost every day in tears he says, "I miss my brother and I want him to come back to us." etc. etc. It has made for some wonderful talks about God and trusting Him and waiting on Him.  It has also put more determination in our hearts to do what we can to raise the necessary funds to bring home the baby God has planned for us...and the rest - we wait on God for.

The adoption road is long, emotional, hard (at times) and expensive and unless you've been through it, it's hard to understand what's involved.  So, I thought I'd write it out.  :)

The goal we are trying to reach is $20,000 and that is most likely the minimum that we will need.  See here:

(These steps are in order.)

* Homestudy - $8,002.50 +/-
-Breakdown:
     -Home Visit & Report:  $1,900
     -Background Checks/Fingerprinting:  $102.50
     -Birthmom Counseling/Consent (req'd in NV):  $2,800 (+ $500 if birthfather does this separately)
     -Online Courses (NV req'd) & overnighting paperwork fees:  $200
     -Post Placement Visits (total of 6 - NV req'd):  $1,800
     -Interstate Contract (if birthmom lives in another state)  $700

* Lifetime Adoption Center - $15,997
-To sign our contract with them and start getting shown to birthmoms.  This price includes our returning family discount ($1,000).  Once we get closer to signing, we will apply for a grant that could give us up to $2,500 towards the cost.

* Lawyer - $3,325 - $3,425

* Lawyer for Birthparents - TBD
-If our birthmom lives in another state

* Birthmom Expenses - TBD
-Anything from clothes to hospital bill

* Travel Expenses - TBD
-Airline travel, hotel, food, rental car/gas, etc. if baby is born in another city/state.

So we pray for the children God has planned for us through our hours of paperwork, fundraising, phone calls, and home visits.  We do all of it for God's glory!

To see how you can help us reach our goal and bring us one step closer to meeting our child, HERE is our current fundraising plans!  THANK YOU for your generosity and prayers!

Fundraising in Full Swing!

Thank you to all our family and friends for being such a special part of our lives & loving us & supporting us & praying for us!

We have 5 different ways you can help us reach our fundraising goal of $20,000 if God so moves your heart!  (We currently have $2,570 of that already raised - Praise God!)

1. Adoption Prayer Bracelets (click here)  - A physical reminder to pray for us and all families touched by adoption.  $3.74 of each sale goes towards our Adoption Fund!

2. Door Muffs - for your generous donation of any amount, we'll mail you a door muff as our "Thank You"!  Please list your fabric & ribbon colors at time of donation.
     

3. Reno & Santa Rosa Restaurant Nights!  Come enjoy a night out and support us at the same time!  A portion of the sale price of your meal will go towards our Adoption Fund!  Date, Time, & Place to
be announced SOON!

4. Candy Bars!  Now who doesn't enjoy a good candy bar?!  :)  Each bar is just $2.00 and we'll mail it right out to you!
OR, you can volunteer to sell a whole box (144 bars) for us!  Please email us with your candy bar order!

 5.  Donation Only - Thank you for your generous donation!!
       

**Donations can be given through our Donate Paypal buttons or mailed to us directly.
(Email us to get our home address: sweetdreams.tami@gmail.com)**

Thank you for being such a special part of helping us bring our next child home!!

New Day, New Mercies

Lamentations 3:22-25
"The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.  'The LORD is my portion', says my soul, 'Therefore I have hope in Him.'  The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him."

A feeling of excitement has entered my heart....excitement for what God is going to do next in our life!  Every day, every trial, brings us one step closer to the plan God has for us.  Our hope is in Him as our eyes & our hearts are focused heavenward.

Heartache...

These last 7 days have been an emotional roller-coaster for our family....I first imagined this post would be one of surprise and excitement to all our friends, then the roller-coaster immediately (and unexpectedly) dropped and turned our "ride" into complete heartache...

A week ago exactly we got a call, totally out of the blue, asking us if we'd like to adopt a baby boy who would be born in just 2 days.  And what do you think our answer was?  "ABSOLUTELY"!  So we sat down with the birthfamily the very next evening and talked through all the adoption details, how sure the 14 yr.old birthmom was with this decision (100% was the answer we got over and over), how best to protect the birthmom from bonding with the baby, why these decisions are made before the post-pardum emotions hit, the legal side of things, etc. etc.  It was an amazing evening full of honesty, love, understanding; even joy - on our part - as we plan the quick arrival of our child.

I was invited to go with the birthfamily to the last doctor appointment the very next morning, which the doctor told her to walk right across the street and get checked in - the baby was going to be induced right away!  I was there, just the birthmom and myself, for about 3 hours getting her checked in, gown on, iv's in, heart monitor beautifully beating away the heart beat of our son....

After a long and exhausting, yet joyful day, this beautiful baby boy was born at 11:00pm.  The three of us couldn't get to the hospital soon enough the next day to meet him.  It was an amazing, yet awkward, time of meeting our son.  God had beautifully answered our 3 year long plea for a child...at least that's what we thought at the moment...

The very next day began the sudden turn of events...without giving you any details, the birthmom has decided to keep the baby.

Our heart is aching.  We held this baby, fed him, changed his diaper, stroked his hair, took pictures, and even named him.  And now he is gone from us.  The tears continue to flow, our heart continues to break, and we are planning a tough conversation with Colin as to why his brother won't be coming home.  The pain of loosing our son is great...but God's grace is bringing us peace in the midst...

We rest in God's grace today, and everyday, and trust His plan completely!  There's a bigger battle going on - a spiritual one - and I've been reading this verse constantly the last couple of days - Exodus 14:14 "The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent."  God is GREAT and His plan for us is GREAT.  We place ourselves in His arms and are comforted by His love.  Our faith is strong and unbreakable.

So now, as I pack up the bassinet, clothes, carseat, baby bottles, and formula, I am praying for our child - the one God will bring us in His perfect timing.  We are asking if God wills, to have this child come into our home as soon as possible.  Our heart aches for more children and we know that that ache is from the Lord.  So we wait.  We wait, knowing that God is fighting for us.  We wait, knowing that God is working, even when we can't see it.

We are $2,000 closer to our goal to be able to sign a contract with Lifetime Adoption Center.  Will you please help us?  We still need $18,000.

We would appreciate your prayers as we put our pain in God's hands to ease it away the way He desires.  Now we add "1 failed adoption" to our list of trials God has graciously allowed us to go through to grow us closer to Him and to hopefully use it to minister to someone else hurting.

On a side note, when we were asked to adopt this baby, Dustin brought me home beautiful white tulips to celebrate.  And it was very fitting that yesterday, those tulips wilted...