Expired...

August 7th came faster than we realized which resulted in our home study expiring after one year. To update the home study it requires another joint interview at our home, updated references, financial info, health forms, and another OSBI background check. The estimated total to update the home study is $750.00. Our joint interview is scheduled for Monday August 31st. It's so hard to believe that we started our adoption process over a year ago and we are still waiting to be matched. The time has flown by but at the same time seems like it's taking forever to be matched. We are being very patient while waiting for God's timing. We know it will happen at the perfect time and just trying to enjoy every day as it comes. We have been in contact with our agency throughout the summer as they wanted us to pray about certain situations with birth moms and if we wanted to be considered. We do know that our profile has been shown to birth moms in a few different states this summer. All times our profile had been shown this summer the birth mom picked a family that was closer to their state. Our agency says this happens often, so hopefully someone from Oklahoma will want to pick us! Soon! 

The second week of June we did a Painting Party which helped us raise $220! It was a lot of fun! 

All the ladies minus two!

My Painting 

The last weekend in July we had another Bling Fundraiser with jeweler Jennifer Culp and we are still waiting to see what we raised from that. She is estimating close to $400.00. I will update on this once I get a total. 

Our Puzzle Fundraiser is still going on. We have sold a total of 806 pieces!! Only 194 pieces left! 

Week 73 sold 2 pieces!

Week 74 sold 3 pieces!

Week 75 sold 2 pieces!

Week 76 sold 3 pieces!

Week 77 sold 2 pieces!

Week 78 sold 4 pieces!

Week 79 we didn't sell any pieces. 

Week 80 sold 9 pieces!

Week 81 sold 2 pieces!

Week 82 sold 2 pieces!

Week 83 sold 2 pieces!

Week 84 sold 5 pieces!

Week 85 we didn't sell any pieces.

Week 85- we are getting so close to just having the heart left!!

Please continue to pray for us and share our story! We need all the prayers we can get! Thank you for following our adoption journey. I will continue to keep you updated as things happen. 

Spring Garage Sale

On March 7th, I posted to Facebook that we were accepting items for another garage sale to help raise money for our adoption. A week later we picked up our first load. Thirteen weeks later we had items donated from over 20 families and friends. That is double the amount of donations we had from the year before! Throughout those thirteen weeks I priced every single thing that was donated and sorted it as it came in, my loving husband helped pick up items and unload them. I sold a bunch of items on Facebook. Our garage was so full we could not park in it and even had items inside the house. We were still picking items up the night before the sale! At times I wanted to give up because pricing became so overwhelming. I sorted every piece of clothing and took most of it to a consignment shop where we would get more money for it. At one time I even broke my toe from running in the garage while it was raining because I had to park outside... my husband would love to tell you that story some time! ;-) During the two days we were open with the garage sale we had plumbing issues and couldn't shower or use the bathroom at our house, thank God for Daniel's dad who came to help with that! The city had also recently passed a new "rule" that you couldn't hang up signs for your garage sale unless they were on your property where the sale was being held. So all the signs we had posted were taken down. We were able to have the information in the paper and I also posted on a local community page about the sale and it got a lot of attention. In the end God made what seemed like huge difficulties look like tiny specks in the bigger picture. We were so incredibly blessed with this sale! Not only financially but friends and family that came to help, people who donated extra money, neighbors whom we hadn't met before offering to help pack up the left overs and help load it all up and the people who took the left overs as donations for other great causes. We are so thankful for everything this garage sale brought our way especially meeting new neighbors...maybe just not the broken toe (I'm not getting all my steps on my Fitbit anymore)!

The garage the night before

Left overs to be donated 

Left overs to be donated & my sweet neighbor in the orange helping!

Left overs to be donated, only half of what is on the trailer is our stuff.

Overall we raised $2435!!! That is almost double what we raised the year before!! We sold $905 on Facebook, on Friday we raised $1,015 and on Saturday we raised $515! Plus we sold 2 puzzle pieces!! 

Miss Bailey came with her mom to bring
more sacks and bought two puzzle pieces! :-)

We could not have raised that amount without the giving hearts of  people donating items, helping with the sale, coming to shop and donating extra. We do not take for granted how much God has blessed us with our adoption process. We have got to meet some amazing people along the way and will have some great stories to tell our future child one day. Thank you all for continuing to support our adoption and share our story. Please continue to pray for us as we head into month ten of being on the waiting list to be matched with a child. 

Adoption/Fundraiser Updates

My plan was to have this blog out to you at the first of May, I had it typed and ready to go except I just needed to add photos. While I was waiting to add photos  I sent our agency an email early in the week just asking how things were going and heard back from her towards the end of the week. She said things in the office have been busy for them since they have merged with another agency. She said that our profile had been shown the week before but the birth mother picked a family that she felt a little closer to her physically....which is a bummer but if I were in the birth mother's shoes I might have done the same thing. The next week we received another email from our agency so then I was waiting on news so that I could add it. I was hoping it was going to be major exciting news but at this time we are still waiting to be matched. Our agency had contacted us and was wanting to show our profile to an African American birth mom in KY who was due with a baby boy in September but wanted to make sure we were still open to our decision of any race/gender of a baby. Of course we said "yes". We feel that a baby is a gift from God no matter what the race/gender is of the baby. So our agency mailed our profile book to the agency in KY because they were suppose to be meeting with the birth mother the following week. However the agency in KY met with the mother before our profile book arrived and she chose someone else. Since then I've been working on updating our profile book from Shutterfly and plan to have five more copies made and send to the agency so that they will have a copy at all five locations since their merge with another agency. It's been a month of lots of emotions!


Our agency is getting ready to launch a website that can be used by friends and family to donate to our fees that will go directly to the agency in our name. This would be another way for people to help with our adoption and know that it is going to the agency. Once the website is up and running I will post a link.

We are still working like crazy to get things ready for our adoption garage sale. I've been selling stuff on facebook that will make a little more money. I try to price and sort items as they come in. We have so much stuff that neither of us can park in the garage. This is a good thing! :-) So far we've made $465.00 from selling items donated for the garage sell on fb. We are so grateful to everyone that has donated items so far.

Last year we did a canvas painting party and raised over $300. I've had several people ask me about doing another one so I contacted the lady and she agreed to do another fundraiser for us. The event will be held on Saturday June 13th at 6 o'clock. The cost is $40 with 50% going towards our adoption. Money is due a week before the event. If you are interested in joining us or have any questions please let me know.

We still have our puzzle fundraiser going on. We have sold 770 pieces! Only 230 pieces left!! That's not many!! Pieces are $10 each if you would like to buy one. We will write your name on the back of the piece. Once all pieces have been purchased we will get the puzzle framed in double sided glass and hang in the nursery. I can't wait!! :-)

Week 65- 2 pieces sold!
Week 66- 0 pieces sold
Week 67- 5 pieces sold!
Week 68- 4 pieces sold!
Week 69- 2 pieces sold!
Week 70- 20 pieces sold!
Week 71-2 pieces sold!
Week 72- 5 pieces sold!

Week 64 vs Week 72!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers! Thank you so much for all who have been a part of this journey with us. I will continue to keep you updated!!

Waiting...

Probably one of the hardest parts about adoption is the waiting game. Waiting for someone to look at your profile, waiting to be match, waiting to hear from your agency.... I'm not a very patient person and like to know every detail and plan- that doesn't work out so well for me ;-)

As most of you know from previous posts, our adoption agency does not normally tell us if someone has looked at our profile unless there is something to consider about the birth mother. A couple weeks before spring break I had contacted our agency to let them know I had sent the papers for Gracie to be included in our profile. We talked for a few minutes on the phone. She let me know that our agency had recently merged with another agency who had offices in different states. This would allow our profile to be shown to more families. We talked about how we are close to our one year with the agency (August). After the one year if we have not been matched we will have to pay a "small" renewal fee. She mentioned that she had recently come into contact with a mother who was looking for a single family and a closed adoption. She said would plan to show her our profile because her requests met our profile. She said normally she would not tell us but since she did we would hear something in a couple weeks of the mothers decision..... a few weeks later and we haven't heard anything. This could mean the birth mother chose a different family or maybe she is still considering her options. Either way, we are still waiting.

In the mean time we are still working on our puzzle fundraiser and gathering items/pricing them for our adoption garage sale this coming June. We have sold a total of 730 puzzle pieces in 64 weeks! We are thrilled we continue to sell pieces.

Week 60- 2 pieces
Week 61- 4 pieces
Week 62- 5 pieces
Week 63- 5 pieces
Week 64- 4 pieces

Only 270 pieces left! If you're interested in helping with our puzzle fundraiser you can read more about it here, Puzzle fundraiser. You can also donated on our gofundme account just click the link, gofundme


We are still accepting items for our garage sale. So far we have had donations from 12 people! We still needs lots more items! If you or anyone you know is interested in donating items for our garage sale please let us know and we can come pick them up. Our adoption garage sale will be the first weekend in June.


Although I hate the waiting game on getting news of a baby I know that all things are possible with faith. I know that in his time we will get the most perfect baby for us. It may not happen today or tomorrow but I know he has a perfect plan and is allowing us more time to prepare for the arrival of our precious gift from above. We would really appreciate it if you would continue to pray with us. Thank you so much!!

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!

November Updates...

The last time I updated you we were on week 42 and had sold a total of 641 puzzle pieces. Over the past month we have sold 23 pieces. That brings the total number of pieces sold to 664! Only 336 pieces left!!

Week 43- 8 pieces
Week 44- 4 pieces
Week 45-5 pieces
Week 46- 6 pieces

We are one month away from it being one year since starting this fundraiser. I never imagined we would be this far into our adoption process so soon. Last December when Daniel and I had purchased our first home I had written in a blog that we had our first goal accomplished (buying a house) and our second goal would be to start the adoption process a year later.  Little did we know God had bigger plans for us and we started this fundraiser less than a month after buying our house and we had our first interview with the agency four months later.  We have so much to be thankful this year and have been blessed by many friends and family...even people we have never met before. I don't think you will ever truly know how much you all mean to us. We could not have gotten this far without your support and prayers.  Thank you thank you!!


A big thank you to my mom, Jamiel, Erin, Rebekah, The Jantz, Kathy and Dixie! Thank you all for buying puzzle pieces over the past month!!


If you would like to purchase a puzzle piece or two ;-) you can read more about this fundraiser on my blog. puzzle fundraiser Pieces are $10 each. There is only 336 left!!

Over the past week or so Daniel and I have been filling out paper work for adoption Grants. We have one that has already been sent in and three others waiting for reference letters. We plan to look at more throughout the month. Some of the grants we wont hear back until February or June, others just vary. Some of the grants we have had to pay a processing fee or make a small donation. So far they are ranging from $10-$50.

I will continue to update you monthly on the adoption process unless something comes up sooner. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Thank you again for all your support and prayers! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!

More sock monkeys ;-)

Our first Christmas in our new home :-)

Very thankful for my mom who continues to support me!

Ten months later...

The last time I updated you we were on week 37 of our puzzle fundraiser. We have sold a total number of 641 pieces since week 1! TOTALLY AMAZING!

Week 37- 4 pieces
Week38- 2 pieces
Week 39- 14 pieces
Week 40- 7 pieces
Week 41- 2 pieces
Week 42- 4 pieces

Every time we sell a pieces it is always a special time and has a special meaning. Week 39 I will never forget, Daniel and I were at a Christian Concert at one of the local churches with a family from church. We happened to run into an old friend from when we were in high school that we had not seen in years (we've been out of high school for 10 years). After saying hi, how are you...she went to her seat. A few moments later she brought some money over to me and hugged me and said "this is for puzzle pieces, I've been wanting to get some for awhile, I love following your story on fb". This totally made my night! Not only did I get to see an old friend but I have a great memory I will get to share with our future child. The next evening at house church one of my dear friends had a huge smile and handed me a jar full of change and said "this is for puzzle pieces". Love her to pieces!!! Another special moment and great story to share with our child about someone who means a lot to us that is just as excited as we are about wanting to become parents.

We are so blessed to have these amazing people in our lives. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for purchasing puzzle pieces- mom, Jamiel, Erin, Rebekah, Nichole, Jim and Carol!!

If you would like to purchase a puzzle piece or two ;-) you can read more about this fundraiser on my blog. Pieces are $10 each. There is only 359 left!! Puzzle fundraiser info.

We have received paper work from our adoption agency and are gathering other documents so that we can apply for grants. I will keep you posted! 

Sneak peak of the nursery

Sneak peak of the nursery