One month into the process...

 Within our first month of opening our adoption savings account, starting our puzzle fundraiser and  gofundme account we have $1233.00 in our adoption savings account!

We've contacted four different adoption agencies and have received packets from each one. After some praying and talking with the people on the phone we have narrowed it down to one that we really like!! We plan to contact them soon to ask some questions and see what our next step will be. I will keep you updated.

Our Dinner/Auction that we are having this coming April just keeps growing with items to be auctioned off! As of today we have 37 items to be auctioned off!! I cannot wait to get everything setup. Once we have the dinner/auction I will post a blog of all the items and turn out.

In the upcoming weeks I plan to do some research on adoption grants. I don't know much about the topic but hoping to find some good news.

Family names from Nebraska and Washington

This week we sold 15 puzzle pieces! Only 929 to go! :-) Puzzle pieces are $10 each. We will write your name on the back and once it's complete we will frame it in double sided glass to hang in the nursery. If you'd like to buy a puzzle piece you can either click the "Donate" button that is on the right sidebar under Wilks Adoption Fund or at the end of this blog. It will send your donation securely through PayPal. Please be sure to include your name so that we can add it to the puzzle piece! You can also donate cash in person if you wish or through the mail.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers!!!

A few updates...

A week ago today, I typed and mailed a letter to local merchants telling them a little bit about our story and what our plans are for the dinner/auction this coming April. I prayed the whole time I was typing the letter, writing addresses on the envelopes and when I mailed them. I felt like I was putting myself on the line, exposing personal information to people that either I had met or not met but had never talked about our situation with. While I know some people will open the letters and toss them to the side or some might ask "why don't they just adopt through dhs"...these were hard realities that actually did happen this week. If you've read my previous blogs you know that at some point after we do private adoption we do plan to adopt through dhs. We believe that EVERY child deserves a loving stable home. I'm just not ready to take a chance of going through adoption when a few years down the road the parents decide to be parents and the child goes back to them. If that were to happen I'm not sure I'd be able to go through the adoption process again because of the pain and hurt. That is why we have chose to do private adoption first. Now that does not mean that we do not plan to try to adopt through dhs later down the road, because we do. On the bright side of some negativity, Daniel and I came home Friday evening to an envelope in the mail from a local merchant who received my letter. Inside the envelope was a hand written note and a check, plus they will be donating a gift box for our auction. Words cannot describe how grateful we were for this local merchant. It totally put a smile on my face, warmed my heart and had tears running down my face. God sure has perfect timing!


Dinner/Auction update

Within the last week we've had 10 items added to be auctioned off! Some of the items are from people whom we've never met! They heard about us through some of our friends and wanted to help. We talked with Daniel's sister and decided on the plans for the dinner. I'm so excited to start putting everything together for the event! Once we have the event I will post pictures and a list of items that were auctioned off for anyone who is interested in hosting a dinner/auction to help them with their needs. Again, I got this idea from pinterest, dinner/auction idea.

 

Puzzle update week 3

We sold 38 puzzle pieces this week!! That's more than we sold in week 1! Almost half of them came from the check we received from the local merchant. Only 944 to go! :-) If you'd like to buy a puzzle piece you can either click the "Donate" button that is on the right sidebar under Wilks Adoption Fund or at the end of this blog. It will send your donation securely through PayPal. Please be sure to include your name so that we can add it to the puzzle piece! You can also donate cash in person if you wish or through the mail. We've also created a page on gofundme.com. This site was suggested to us to help spread the word. Our link is here.

Just the left side and the bottom have been completed.
This puzzle is harder to put together than we thought so we
have been working on putting more together and ready
to add names to the pieces! Anyone wanting to help put
it together is welcome to come over!! ;-)

Being lazy while mom and dad work on the puzzle in the nursery.

 

Thank you for reading our story and helping us get closer to our dreams! Please continue to share our story and pray with us!!

New fundraiser/ Puzzle update

Over the last few weeks we have been working on ideas for our second fundraiser. I got the idea from Pinterest, gotta love that site! ;-) You can read about the idea here.

We will be hosting an Adoption Dinner/Auction at our house the first Friday in April. Daniel's sister and brother in law will be donating the dinner for us. My friend Rebecca will be making cupcakes. I've been contacting lots of local businesses, friends and family for donations. So far we have over 20 donations! Ranging from consultants, hair dressers, photographers to different restaurants. I'm still waiting to hear back from more people. I will keep you updated along the way. If you are interested in donating an item or coming to the event you can email me at senteldawn@yahoo.com or message me on facebook. Anyone is welcome to attend!

Puzzle update week 2

We didn't sell any puzzle pieces this week. If you don't know about our puzzle fundraiser you can read about it at puzzle fundraiser. So far we've sold 18 pieces. Please continue to share our story and pray with us. Only 982 to go! :-)


To Donate: You can click the "Donate" button that is on the right sidebar under Wilks Adoption Fund or at the end of this blog. It will send your donation securely through PayPal. Please be sure to include your name so that we can add it to the puzzle piece! You can also donate cash in person if you wish.

Praying and waiting



Andie, waiting to be a big sister ;-)

 

Puzzle Fundraiser Update- Week 1

It has been one week since we started our first fundraiser to help cover some of the cost of our adoption. We have put 18 pieces together over the last week! Thank you so much for your support and prayers! Please continue to pray for us and share our story. I will continue to keep you updated.

Starting with the edge pieces.

My mom requested to have a corner! :-)

Setup in the nursery.

If you don't know what our puzzle fundraiser is you can click here to read more.


To Donate: You can click the "Donate" button that is on the right sidebar under Wilks Adoption Fund. It will send your donation securely through PayPal. Please be sure to include your name so that we can add it to the puzzle piece! You can also donate cash in person if you wish.

Puzzle Fundraiser

Our first fundraiser will be a Puzzle Fundraiser. I got this idea from a girl I've mentioned in past blogs who has gone through the adoption process. I've also seen lot's of them on Pinterest (you can find anything on Pinterest)! As many of you know from reading my blogs adoption is not cheap! Different agencies range from around 22K and up towards 30K depending on things that come up during the process. All of these must be paid for upfront. We will be saving throughout this whole process and doing fundraisers to help raise money.

This is how this fundraiser works... We have purchased a 1000 piece puzzle. We are asking friends and family to buy a piece for $10 each. We will then write your name on the back of the puzzle piece and add it to the puzzle. Daniel and I have bought the first two pieces so they will start the puzzle process. We cannot complete the puzzle until all pieces have been purchased.

 

We plan to put the puzzle in a double-sided frame once it has been completed. We will then hang it in our child's room. They will be able to see everyone's name on the back who helped bring them home to us!

The puzzle we bought for the fundraiser, "Color of Love".

 

To Donate: You can click the "Donate" button below and it will send your donation securely through PayPal. Please be sure to include your name so that we can add it to the puzzle piece! You can also donate money in person if you wish.

 

I will post updates frequently on how the puzzle fundraiser is coming along. Please continue to pray for my husband and I as we make this journey to adopt and become a family of three.

One Step Closer...

I cannot believe it has been almost a year since I've written a blog! But I am so happy to announce that we are one step closer to adopting!! A couple weeks ago Daniel and I bought our first home!

This is a big step for us. Previously we were living in Daniel's great grandma's one bedroom house. We had no intension of buying a home until next Spring or early Summer. We had been going to open houses for a few months just getting ideas of what was out there, what type of home we would want and what we could afford. When we looked at this house we immediately fell in love with it! We made an offer and closed within three weeks, with a holiday thrown into the mix. God sure has perfect timing!


After lots of praying we have decided that we want to start the adoption process sooner than we had originally anticipated. This time next year or sooner we plan to officially start filling out all the paper work, doing home inspection, etc. In the mean time we will SAVE and do some fundraisers to help with the costs of adoption.

Tomorrow we are opening an adoption savings account with what we have saved so far. Daniel's dad will be on the account with us. This coming spring we plan to have a garage sale and bake sale with all proceeds going to the savings account. We will be starting our first fundraiser January 1st, look for another blog with details January 1st!

Five months later...

It’s been about five months since my last blog! Last semester was definitely my busiest since starting school but it was well worth it!

I did it! Two Bachelor's Degrees!!!

 

I spent my professional semester student teaching in a Pre-Kindergarten and third grade classroom. Both classes were totally different from each other. I’m glad I had the opportunity to teach in both classes because it allowed me to see which grade level I was more comfortable with. I was able to work with a great staff and build relationships. After student teaching I had planned to sub for different schools in the spring semester so that I could get a feel for what school or grade level I would like to work with but the lord had other plans for me! About two weeks before student teaching was over I had been encouraged to apply for an upcoming position. I interviewed the Friday before graduation. I interviewed for two different positions, Pre-Kindergarten and a second grade position. Going into the interview I knew they would ask which one I preferred and I had no idea. I prayed the whole way there asking for guidance! Halfway through the interview I knew which position I wanted and felt like the rest of the interview questions geared towards that position. The following Monday I was offered a job and accepted!!

 

The cake my mom ordered me for my graduation party!



Daniel and I at my graduation party.



 

I spent all of Christmas break being sick and working in my new room! My mentor teacher, her assistant, and my assistant helped me paint over the “jail grey” is what they called it.  It started out looking like a tornado went through it but now it looks like a real classroom!! I still have a lot of work today but it's a start!

 

I’ve been in the classroom for two weeks now and loving every minute of it! Don’t get me wrong, there have been some challenging days and I’m figuring out what works and what doesn’t. I’ve got many people that have been supportive and very helpful!  

The love of my life!

I’m very grateful for getting a job right before I graduated. Daniel and I are still planning to adopt in the future! We’d like for me to work for about a year to a year and a half and then we will start looking to buy a house. After that we will start the adoption process. Until then we just continue to pray until the day comes that we can be parents.