55 Weeks Later...

It's hard to believe it's been one year since we started our first adoption fundraiser. We have come a long way in our adoption process within the past year. We wouldn't be this far along without the prayer, support and help from so many friends and family. It brings so much joy to my heart to know that our future child is already loved by so many.

We started 2014 with our first adoption fundraiser, our Puzzle Fundraiser. We have raised $7,000 from this fundraiser. We still have $3,000 to raise with it. I got the idea to do this fundraiser from a woman who did the same fundraiser to help fund their child's adoption. Each piece is sold for $10. We then will write your name on the back of the piece. Once all pieces have been sold and the puzzle is complete we will frame the puzzle in double sided glass so that our child can see everyone's name on the back. It sure has come a long way in the past year. If you're interested in buying some pieces you may click at the right of this blog to use paypal, you can use our gofundme account or pay in person. We only have 300 pieces left to sale and I have no doubt that we can get them all sold!

The first pieces put together

Week 55

The next fundraiser was our Dinner/Auction. The fundraiser was held at our church building. We had such an amazing turnout. This fundraiser was such a blessing for us. We had over 80 items donated that were auctioned off and Daniel's sister and brother in law donated the dinner. We raised $2,826.00 with the dinner/auction. A few days later we had our first meeting with the adoption agency and started all the paperwork.

Just some of the items from the auction

We also had a mascarathon fundraiser during the month of May. My good friend Neely Turner, a Mary Kay consultant donated her profits for a month for every mascara we sold. We raised $227.00, including a check from a guy friend who wanted to help us even though he doesn't wear mascara. ;-)

Also during the month of May we were working on having an adoption garage sale. Over 15 families donated items for our garage sale. We raised $1,535.75! This was one of biggest fundraisers we had! We had such a great turn all three days we were open. We barely had anything left. We are planning to have another one this coming spring.

In June we had a canvas painting fundraiser. 50% of the profits went to our adoption fund. We raised $320.00 from the fundraiser. It was a fun night with family and friends.

All summer we worked on the paperwork for the adoption agency, had our home study and separate interviews. on August 7th we became "Paper Pregnant". Since this time we have just been waiting to get a call from the adoption agency saying they have shown our profile and a birth mother/family has picked us to be parents. This is probably one of the longest waits!!

Daniel and I after one of our meetings with the agency.

Our adoption book that birth mothers/families will look at.

During the month of August we had a Bling fundraiser with Jennifer Culp, an independent consultant for Premier Designs. We raised $275 with this fundraiser.

During September we had an Usborne Books fundraiser. My friend Besty is an independent consultant with them. We raised $30 and I was able to pick out some books for my classroom.

The books Betsy donated for the auction.

Over the past 55 weeks we have done 7 different fundraisers, one that we are still working on, our puzzle fundraiser. A year ago I would never have imagined being this far with our adoption process at the agency or having that many fundraisers. God blessed us with amazing friends and family who have helped support our adoption and some who have volunteered to do fundraisers with us/for us. Because of YOU, we are $12,694.00 closer to adopting. We are almost half way to our adoption goal!


The past 55 weeks have been a blessing adoption wise and in others ways. In between life and all the fundraiser stuff we spent lots of time with family and friends, went to Nebraska for a family wedding, went camping with family, my mom took me on a cruise, we celebrated another anniversary, celebrated birthdays, I took a big step of faith and had dinner with my dad, we were invited to our first OSU football game, I got to see my high school best friend whom I hadn't seen in 10 years, spent Christmas with my brother, we got a new puppy, my cousin had her first child, we got to spend one more year with Andie before we had to say goodbye, we added some new family members and said goodbye to loved ones.  About a week ago we said goodbye to Daniel's granny. She was one of the sweetest and kindest ladies I've known. We will miss her greatly.

We will never forget Andie. Not a day goes by that I don't miss her.

Granny and I at my bridal shower.

 

Granny at our wedding.

Granny, Christmas 2014

Our new puppy we got for Christmas, Gracie Ann

Laura and Robbie's first child. So precious!

We continue to pray each day and wonder if our profile has been viewed yet. The agency said that the estimated adoption process is 1-2 years. We have been on the waiting list for 6 months so far. We did receive an email from one of the grants we applied for. They said they won't look at our application until we have been matched. I'll continue to update you as we get more information and will try to update you once a month on our puzzle progress or any other fundraisers that we might do. Thank you for following our story and being a part of our adoption process. Have a blessed day!