This week has been a great one for
David and me. We had Easter break so we had Monday off from school, and then I
had a field trip with my class, and both shortened our school days
considerably. Having so much free time has left a wide opening in our lives to
research, think about and plan for our adoption. We’ve had a big jump in the
people that are following us on Facebook and on this blog which is totally
exciting, and just a little bit scary. We’ve had so many people asking
questions about our adoption, but even more than that have felt totally
supported! I have experienced students that have such kind hearts and their
parents that stand behind them or are being the paradigm of examples of
kindness.
Last week, I wrote about a lady who
bought two jars of the cookie mixes at the VERY last minute of the Easter
Brunch. On Wednesday I found out that she is a close friend of the family of my
student Joon, whom I also tutor. She gave one of the jars she bought to Joon’s
mom, who made them for a snack for him during tutoring. We shared the snack,
and after tutoring Joon’s mom bought another
jar of mix! I was so blown away by
the kindness of these sweet people; God must have orchestrated all this to
encourage our hearts, and it definitely did! There was also another student who
had bought the mix Saturday with his own money, then he brought the cookies
into school to share with the other students! His mom showed me her bracelet,
so proudly, and told me how it totally suits her! Man, I love my class! I love
the students and the parents who raise them!
On a more logistic note, we think
we have decided on the agency we would like to apply to; MLJ Adoptions, INC.
They work with expats, they have experience with adopting from Bulgaria, they
respond quickly, they have a great, detailed website, and overall didn’t make
me feel bad for being young. The person who works with parents adopting from
Bulgaria has a blog and has actually adopted herself! Her name is Lydia Tarr,
which makes her feel like family! They told us we could start the process of
applying 6 months in advance of me turning 25, but I don’t think we will apply
until a little closer to the New Year (2015). That should give us time to get
the money together for the home study, and hopefully money for after that. Once
we get started on this process, things will start happening rapidly. Since we
want to adopt a sibling group, and we’re open to ages 0-10 chances are we will
have a referral pretty quickly (as I was informed by the agency I contacted).
We’re looking at expenses anywhere from $27,000-34,000, most of which we will
have to scrape together in a two year period, starting now. We’re starting to
sell the cookie mixes, and I think the interest has been peaked for the foreign
community. I have also begun selling some sketches and my hemp creations! Our
adoption fund is up to almost $800!
Our next fundraiser is going to be…
Drumroll please!
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| One of the quilt squares - Choose a Color triangle if you want! |
Quilt Squares! Ok… this is how it works: I have a bunch of
quilt squares from fabric I bought and cut in the USA. Each triangle will cost
$5, and you will be able to either write a message yourself, tell me what
message you would like on it and I will make it for you, or choose to leave it
blank. I will then use the squares to make two blankets for our children. I
will also buy more fabric, up to the amount of fabric requested by you! I will
make more blankets, and I will leave any extra blankets made at the orphanage when
we go to meet/pick-up our kids! You get to help orphans all across the board! I’m
so excited about this fundraiser! All you have to do to buy one is get to one
of our Adoption representatives!
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