Adoption Update #7 - Immediate Need

We've signed our contract (Praise God!) with Lifetime Adoption Center and now we need our Homestudy completed so we can actually bring a baby home!

The total cost of our Homestudy will end up being around $8,000.  We need $2,000 of that to get us started and get our Homestudy report completed.  We are resting in God's perfect timing and provision as we wait for Him to provide...and we have NO DOUBT that He will!  Joyful in that!

We have 300 chocolate bars left out of our original 3,024!  Would you like some delish chocolate and help us get one step closer to reaching our $2,000 immediate need??

Thank you!  We praise God for who He has used to get us this far!  The Body of Christ is beautiful and we are beyond humbled to be a part of it, due to God's gift of grace and mercy in our lives!

Adoption Update #6 - Contract Time!

You know that feeling when God opens a door that you thought was closed for awhile longer??  That feeling of excitement, humility, PRAISE, and in awe of God?  Well, that's what we're experiencing this evening.

Today God opened the door for us to sign our contract with Lifetime Adoption Center at a huge discount!  A $6,000 discount!  We jumped at the opportunity.  So after electronically signing our contract and emptying out our Adoption Fund, we are now officially a "waiting family".

Last week we took a step of faith and decided to start our homestudy in order to apply for grants to help offset our adoption costs, and today God provided us this discount (equivalent to receiving a couple of grants!).

We still have much more money to raise and we'll continue to sell our delish chocolate bars to help with that.  Chocolate anyone?!  :)  Our fundraising goal is still $20,000...of which we have already received $8,000!  This $8,000 went directly to Lifetime Adoption Center. (To see a breakdown of our adoption costs, click HERE.)

So now we work to get our homestudy done, prepare our 50+ "Dear Birthmother" packets to show how fabulous we are (insert gleaming smile!), and wait to be "matched" with our birthmom.  This is now the busy phase!  Tons of paperwork and mailings!  All totally worth it!  :)

We're one step closer to meeting the next child God has planned for us and we're thrilled.  Completely thrilled!

Adoption Update #5 - Moving Forward

After much prayer and lots of research, we have decided to move forward and get our Homestudy completed!  God has beautifully provided the money needed for this first step and we are excited!

There are tons of grants available to waiting adoptive families to assist in the adoption costs.  But, you must have a current & approved homestudy.  So once our homestudy is complete, we will fill out as many grant applications as possible and see how God might provide!

If you are interested in adoption, here are some available grant options that we've discovered.  I will add to this list when I come across more.  These are both Christian and non-Christian foundations.  If you know of an adoption fund that's not listed here, we would love to know about it!  Please comment below or email us at sweetdreams.tami@gmail.com!  Thank you!

Show Hope
Gift of Adoption Fund
Cade Foundation - Supporting Families Overcoming Infertility
Karen Kingsbury's One Chance Foundation
Affording Adoption
Help Us Adopt
iAdopt - An extensive list of different grant & loan programs
Rescued Adoption Fund
JSC Foundation
Because of Isaac

Adoption Update #4

I just got to change the amount on our fundraising thermometer...see it there on the right??  I am moved to tears this morning as I reflect on this huge blessing!!

God used a blessed couple to double...yes, DOUBLE, the amount in our Adoption Fund!!!  This dear couple saved up this money just to present it to us & all for GOD'S GLORY!  This gift is totally from God!  We are speechless, moved to tears, humbled, joyful, and excited!  God is working and we get to watch His plan unfold!!

We now have $7,000 in our Adoption Fund!  Only $6,500 more til we can sign our contract with Lifetime Adoption Center if that's what God has planned for us!

"'For I know the plans I have for you', declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you 

and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

~  Jeremiah 29:11 ~

Creativity with Chocolate Bars!

Here and there we are hearing stories from our friends as to how people are responding to our adoption story via our chocolate bar sales!  All for God's glory!  And this story is no different!  Read on...

A friend of ours, who lives in Alaska, bought 50 chocolate bars from us (what a blessing!) and she made 50 copies of our adoption flyer and attached them to each bar.  She then had her kids hand them out at their high school as an anti-abortion message!  Creative!  I love it!!  :)

Will you join me in praying for those high schoolers and that if God wills, their lives be changed because they ate a candy bar with a message attached?

When we first started our fundraising, the impatient side of me wished we could get a loan and quickly move forward...in MY timing!  But 1,000 times over we've been blessed by waiting on God's timing.  We are blessed every day by a story, a candy bar being bought, a check arriving in the mail, and having strangers bless the socks off of us!  It's slow and I have days where I struggle with trusting in God's timing as we ache to hold ALL our kids.  But God is leading and we are following.  If God leads us to take a loan out, then we'll obey....but for today, we wait on God to use others to provide & be a precious part of our adoption story!

As of today we have $3,400 in our Adoption Fund!  Praising God!

Adoption Update #3

I have a confession to make....I'm sitting here procrastinating on making dinner, typing this post, and eating a delicious chocolate bar!  Did I get my work-out in today to justify the calories?  Nope.  How many calories can I burn by typing...typing really fast??

This is where we need your help:  Please help our adoption fund get FAT instead of us!  :)

Chocolate Bars are just $2.00 each so if you'd like one, or two, or a bunch...just let us know!  If you're local, we'll deliver and if you're not, we'll mail!  :)  All donations go directly into our family Adoption Fund.

Out of the 3,024 chocolate bars that we started with (wow...never did the math until now!) we have only 396 left so sell!!!!  We have the most AMAZING family & friends who have generously helped us sell the previous 2,628 bars!!  The money is starting to come in and our Adoption Fund now has $3,108.  Once all the bars are sold and all the money has been collected, our account should hold over $6,000!!  What a BLESSING! (Our choc bars are being sold in these states:  AK, WA, CA, NV, CO, TN, WI)

We will still need $14,000 more to reach our $20,000 goal!  We know in God's perfect timing (& provision) that we will get there!  We pray for our future children daily and can't wait to meet them and hold them.

Three weeks ago we had our first Dine & Donate restaurant night in northern California at Mary's Pizza Shack.  yummy!  It was a fun night of seeing dear friends and meeting new ones.  THANK YOU to all of you who were there and to those of you who did take-out!  Of the families that came out to support us, Mary's Pizza donated 20% of their bill to our adoption fund.  The total:  $143.00!  We are blessed by every penny!

Still to come...a Reno Dine & Donate night TBD!

P.S...and on a personal side note:  If you ever hear of or know of a birthfamily who is choosing adoption for their precious child, please tell them about us. We would LOVE to adopt their child!  We are fundraising to go through an agency, but we are open to whatever avenue God has planned to bring home our children!!

Thank you!

Blessings

It's amazing to me how the Body of Christ works.  We're all sinners and yet by the grace & forgiveness of God through Christ's death on the cross we are new creations!  We are brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are working together to do the work of our Father, to glorify Him with our lives, to reach out & love on & minister to the lost.

This morning I'm reflecting on the selfless love we are receiving from the Body.  Old friends, new friends, and even those we don't know are helping us in our efforts to raise money for our next adoption.  We're humbled, blessed, & feelin' oh so loved upon.  All this is for God's glory!  We pray that our lives are a witness of Christ and that through our story, some may come to know Him.

The donations we are receiving with our chocolate bars are above and beyond.  Some are paying $20/bar, some are donating and not taking any bars, some are buying a box or two worth, many have volunteered & are selling the boxes for us!  Blessed, blessed, & blessed.

We recently had our Santa Rosa "Dine & Donate" night at Mary's Pizza Shack!  20% of around 50 families orders will be donated into our adoption fund!  We should receive the total check in about a month.  THANK YOU Mary's Pizza Shack & THANK YOU to everyone who attended!!

Again I say, Blessed, Blessed, & Blessed!

We are still a long way from our goal, but we joyfully rest in God's plan.  If you're craving chocolate after reading this we still have plenty of yummy goodness just waiting for you!  :)  Choices:  Krispy, Caramel (our favorite!), & Almond.  If you're local, we'll deliver!  And if you're not, we'll ship!

Thank you!

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!!

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...

What Does God Have In Store For Us This Year?!

Happy New Year!  It is the second week of January 2012 already...I can't believe how fast the holidays flew by (like they do every year)!  We are praising God for all the blessings in our life and one that has been abundant these last couple months is our small home-based business!  God surprised us by having someone (thank you to who ever you are!!) put our Door Muffs on Pinterest.com just before Thanksgiving!  What an unexpected financial gift that has come along with that!  Over 16,000 people have viewed our sweet lil' door muffs (that we designed ourselves!) and over 70 have been purchased...along with quilts and burp cloths!  The orders keep coming every day and I am busy sewing and mailing!
 I just love it and feel so shocked and blessed by God's provision, which came at the perfect time!  If you feel like checking out our Store, here's the link: Sweet Dreams by Tami - Online Baby Boutique

Adoption Update # 2.5....only half an update because there is not much to update.  So Christmas came and went and as you might have guessed, I did not find a baby in my stocking this year!  :)  We are mailing out more fundraising letters each week and are waiting for God's perfect provisions!  Yesterday we received $250 to put in our "Baby Fund" from two wonderful and generous friends.  We are so thankful and blessed by every penny!  So we keep on waiting and trusting and moving forward with the life God has for us right now.

The running tally for our "Baby Fund" is: $1,680....with $18,320 to go!  We are also praying and waiting to see if we receive a grant from Lifetime Adoption to help lower the cost to sign our contract with them.  We are hoping to find out this week!

We have no idea what God has in store for us this year!  But we know it will be amazing...even if there are bumps and turns that we wish we could avoid....because God is the Lord of our life and He alone has planned our steps...where ever they take us!  Our eyes are turned heavenward and we trust and serve and love our God!

Thank you for your continued thoughts, prayers, and encouraging words!  They mean the world to us!

Adoption Update #2

Christmas is just three days away and oh how I'm hoping that I find a precious baby in my stocking this year! :)
  
Our hearts are aching to meet our children and our arms are aching to hold them.  The last few weeks have been emotional for me with the ups and downs of waiting....and choosing to make the conscience choice to turn my heart and desires over to God every second of the day.   God is FAITHFUL and the little boy playing next to me is the perfect example of that!  Colin brings me (us!) so much joy and fills my (our!) heart to overflowing with thanksgiving to God for making the three of us a family!!  Really, what more could I want...and if God chooses not to give us any more children then I am extremely happy with the beautiful little family God alone has created.

God has given Dustin and I an overwhelming desire and love for children, so we continue to wait and see what glorious plan He has for our family!

For God's GLORY we were given $1,000 to add to our "baby fund" this past week raising our "baby fund" to $1,430!  We are praising God for what He is doing in His PERFECT timing!  We have $18,570 more to go to reach our $20,000 goal.  In the next couple of weeks we'll be mailing out more letters to our friends asking for their help in reaching our goal if God wills.  So keep an eye on your mailbox!  :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

All our love,
Dustin, Tami, & Colin

Adoption Update #1

So today I sit here thankful for all God is doing in our lives.  His plan is perfect and we are (trying to) patiently wait for His perfect timing!

We are praying constantly for our future children and also that God will protect the birthfamilies and beautifully weave our paths together.

We have raised $430 towards our $20,000 goal.  We praise God for every penny and for our amazing friends and family who have helped us be one step closer to our goal!  We continue to pray for God's provision and to joyfully wait to see what God has planned.  We know it's gonna be amazing!

Growing Our Family

To All Our Family & Friends,

We are moving forward with our next adoption!  Our original hopes were to adopt within our city through our Social Services department, but God has closed that door. We have now decided to go through Lifetime Adoption Center (again!) to bring our baby home.  

After two years of waiting on God's perfect timing, we are more than ready to fill our arms with more children and brothers/sisters for Colin.  We rest fully in the fact that God knows who our children are and how they will come to be ours. We know God hasn't said, "Oh yeah, Dustin and Tami (with a smack to the forehead)!  OK, where's that baby?"  :)

The beautiful story of how God will bring this baby to us is just beginning and we need your help.  We are humbling asking for your support!  The cost will be above $20,000 which is why we are coming to you with this request.  Our desire is to have as many kids as the Lord sees fit to bless us with and adoption happens to be the only mechanism for this to happen.  The cost of adoption is great and we are unable to do it alone.  God amazingly provided all that we needed 5 years ago to bring Colin home and we trust that He will do it again in His timing.

Will you also please pray for the birthfamily?  Pray that God would graciously give them a peace and a confidence in their decision to lovingly give their baby a better life (with us). Please pray for wisdom and patience for everything we'll face along the way.  Pray for spiritual and physical protection of the birthmom and that she might come to know the Lord, if she doesn't already.

Any gracious donations can be made here on this blog via our Paypal "Donate" button, on our facebook page via our Fundrazr "Give" button, or directly to us.  You can reach us through email at sweetdreams.tami@gmail.com.

We deeply thank you for your love, support, care and prayers.  God has blessed us with amazing friends and family.  Thank you for being a special part of our life.

Dustin & Tami & Colin

The Beauty of Adoption

Today Dustin and I will be attending our first orientation (with the county) to start the process of bringing home our baby(ies)! This will be our second adoption and we can hardly wait to get started!  To read our story and how we came to be adoptive parents, click here.  The process includes an interview, an application, gathering referrals, background checks, fingerprinting, classes, and a homestudy.  The adoption process is never quick and easy, but ALWAYS worth it!

During my quiet time with the Lord today I spent a long time praying and committing this entire adoption process to God.  I have already spent many, many hours praying for this baby and all the babies God has planned for us. I pray that God prepares us for each other.  I pray they feel happy, safe, and secure in this beautiful family that God alone is creating. I pray for all our children's (whoever they are!) salvation in God's perfect timing and according to His will...that no matter what it takes, they accept Christ.  I pray for wisdom for all parties involved in this adoption...and wisdom as we continue to learn and grow as parents.  We'd appreciate your prayers for us if God ever puts us on your heart/mind.  Thank you.

Being an adoptive family has really opened my eyes to the AMAZING and eternal gift that God gives each of His children through our salvation - our faith in the gospel, in the work of Jesus Christ - God's Son - and His selfless death on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  Through our faith in Jesus Christ, we become a child of God.  He adopts us as His own.  We become an heir who gets to walk with Him here on earth and who gets to accept the riches of being an heir - eternal life with God!

Ephesians 1:3-8a "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has 

blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,

that we should be holy and blameless before Him.  

In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ

to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely 
bestowed on us in the Beloved.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness

of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,

which He lavished upon us."

I am a child of God.  Dustin is a child of God.  We thank God every second of every day for His grace and forgiveness and blessings in our life!  

As Colin, and all our children, grow up and can understand more and more of their beautiful adoption story, we can't wait to make the connection between our adoption in Christ and our adoption here on earth as a family.  Our children won't stand out because they are adopted.  Our family (Lord willing) will stand out because we are all adopted into God's family.  

Adoption is beautiful in every way and we can't wait to have our children see how proud we are that God picked each one of us to be a part of this earthly family, and Lord willing, eternal family as children of God.