Six

Today is pretty much over so it doesn't count. 

That means in six days my sister and I will be getting on an airplane

and flying to Eastern Europe!!!

 

It's getting real folks.

 

Really real.

 

Dad keeps posting links about travel safety.

 

Mom, Dad and Mike (my brother) bought me a tablet for my birthday so that I can keep in touch

while we're there.  I should be able to blog about the trip while we're there. It will also come in handy for on the pick up trip in 4-6 mths to entertain Pete in the hotel and on the plane. And I can put lots of educational games on there for him in the future.

 

So obviously Pete is not this little boy's full/real name.

It is an abbreviated form though and I'm going to keep his first name as his middle name.

 

I will be asked at some point during this first trip what I would like to call my son in order to complete paperwork during the court process.

 

And..........

 

His name shall be called.......

 

Silas!

 

So there you have it!

Now you know!

 

Silas means "Of the Forest" which goes well with the last name Wood don't you think? hehe

 

I like it so hopefully he does too!

Growth Charts

Ever since I learned about them in my Early Childhood classes I've always loved growth charts.

There's just something about them.

I can't even figure out what it is that makes me love them so.

 

Anyways, I've plotted the height and weight of a certain little boy with Down syndrome.

The boy who I hope to call my son soon.

 

Keep in mind these are special growth charts for kids with Ds

because they tend to be smaller than typical kids.

 

So.

Height.

 

Not too bad. Lower than the 10th percentile though.

That means that almost all boys with Ds at his age are several inches taller

than he is.

But still, providing that the information I have is accurate, that's not too bad.

 

 

Moving on to weight.

Ummm, yeah....

 

That red dot is way too low.

 

Now it could be because of his heart condition.

 

Or his thyroid.

 

Or it could be because he's not being fed enough.



Or that the food they are giving him is lacking nutrition.
 

It could be that the people in charge of his care don't have time

to feed him a full meal.

 

Breaking. My. Heart.

 

Twelve days until I travel.
Fourteen days until I meet him.

For Pete's Sake

I am happy to announce that I have said YES to adopting a little 2 yr old boy with Down syndrome!

But there's a story behind this that is kind of neat and amazing.

Earlier this year I asked my agency about the possibility of getting the files of two different little boys with Ds that were listed on Reece's Rainbow.  I was told that I had to have my home study done first as well as have my letter of approval from the MB gov.  Before I got those, two families came forward and started the process to adopt the little guys.  Yay for families adopting! Disappointing for me though.

At some point in July "Pete" was listed on RR.  (See what I did there with the title of this post. Ha! So clever.)

Around this time I was also looking at the B*lgaria waiting child list and I found a child with a very brief description that sounded an awful lot like Pete. It turns out it was him as I found out later.

I still didn't have my letter of approval at that point so I didn't ask my agency about him. I decided to just step back and let the process happen so that I could be sure that I got the boy God intended for me.  I was going to wait and let the agency match me with a child.

I didn't forget about Pete though. I checked almost daily to see if a family had come forward for him.  I even posted on the RR facebook page that I couldn't get him out of my mind.  I did ask if I could see the videos and pictures in his file but then I was told that there was a family coming for him! Yay for Pete!

Then ONE WEEK after I got the Letter of Approval I got another phone call from the agency.  There was a file that the lawyer in B*lgaria thought I might be interested in.  I got on the computer and opened the file.  It was Pete!  And he's adorable! And so small! And so sweet! And his medical file is confusing.  I had my doctor look at it and even he wasn't sure what some of the things on there meant. Maybe that's what made the family who was going to commit to him change their minds.  I may never know why they changed their minds.

Anyways....I said YES! Yes I would like to be his mommy. 

Yes, even though that means different medical things that might be scary. 

Yes, even though he is two years old and is still unable to sit up on his own and only weighs 17 lbs.

 

Yes, BECAUSE he only weighs 17 lbs and he needs a mommy.

 

So now what?

Now me and my sister will travel to Bg to meet this precious little boy.

In 12 days.

Yikes!!

We'll visit with him for five days and get to know him and his needs.

And then we'll fly back home.

I won't get to bring him home on this trip.
That should happen in 4-6 mths.

Between the first and second trips a lawyer will represent me in court
and a judge will decide if I should be Pete's momma.

Then there's visa and passport stuff to do and
then I can go back to Bg and bring him home!!

Did you happen to notice my fundraising thermometer?

Yeah! Thanks to a donation from the local assembly of Believers I am....
FULLY FUNDED!!!!

I'm still going to be doing the Avon fundraiser until mid-December
because there will likely be other unexpected costs that come up at some point.
And I have a few commissioned pieces to finish up.
It won't hurt to have a bit extra.
You just never know what might happen with international adoption/travel!
 

 

 

Keep in mind that at any point in this process it may all fall apart.  Stuff happens. Countries shut down. Sometimes kids don't live long enough and pass away before their parents reach them. I still have to pass court in B*lgaria.  I don't expect that to be too difficult but you just never know. So far everything has gone very smoothly.

 

So I'm trusting God still and always.  It's in His hands and it fills me with awe that He's been so good to me in allowing me to do this.

A little bit of everything

Orphan Sunday.  Today is Orphan Sunday. 

Churches all over North America brought awareness to the

orphan crisis today.

 

Many of my facebook friends posted about it today.

Lots of people blogged about it.

 

Renee said everything I was going to say, only better,

plus a few things I hadn't thought of.

 

The fallacy of "Orphan Sunday"

 

So go ahead and read her post.

 

Another Renee wrote about how we need to say "I'll take anyone."

 

I'll take anyone.

And here's a video about love featuring some
adorable former orphans.

I AM LOVED

So there you go. That's what Orphan Sunday is all about.

Now, on to fundraising!
 

 Right now I've got an Avon Fundraiser happening.
I'm really looking for people who will be willing to take
catalogues and generate a few orders.  Know anyone who
likes Avon? There's plenty more than just makeup!

 

 

I'm also in the beginning stages of planning an auction on facebook. 

So I'm looking for people who would like to donate things that can be auctioned off.

 

It could be something you make (hats, cards, cakes).

Or it could be something you do (house cleaning, ski lessons, child care, lawn care).

Or gift cards to businesses. Those don't have to be local businesses.

Online gift cards are great too.

So if you have any gift cards laying around that you aren't using please consider donating them.

Or maybe you have a home based business and could donate a sample of your product.

 

How it will work:

I'll use the existing facebook fundraising page.

https://www.facebook.com/youareworthmorefundraiser

 

There will be pictures of the items that will be auctioned off.

 

Place your bids in dollar amounts in the comments of the picture of the item you wish to bid on.

 

There will be a set amount of time for bidding. Probably about 10 days.

 

Like any auction, highest bidder wins!

 

The winners will pay for their items plus whatever shipping is mentioned

and I'll get your winnings mailed out to you or delivered if you're local.

 

Doesn't that sound fun?!

 

Let me know if you have anything you'd like to donate!

 

One other exciting thing on my busy agenda is

an opportunity to speak to a group of 50 or so women at a

woman's night at Solid Rock church.

 

I'm looking forward to sharing what God has done through this

adoption and to open some eyes to what the orphan crisis is all about.

And then I'm going to show them why they should help and how they can help!

Please pray that I let God use me to say the things He wants.

 

I found this poster that I think I'll use in my slide show.

 

 

 

 

Hopefully it gets bigger if you click on it.  I can't seem to change it.

 

See any of those five things that you could do?

 

And just because this post is a little bit of everything

here's a picture of the wool pants I have knit for my little guy.

Hopefully the first of many knits for him! :)

 

 

 

 

Just keep trusting

On Saturday Oct 12th my friend Holly and I pulled off the biggest fundraiser yet. A home based business trade show.

We sold the tables for $20 each.

I had two of them. One for my etsy store and another for my

Usborne books.

We sold chili and a bun.

We had a bake table.

There was a raffle with prizes donated from the vendors who bought tables.

One of the tables had her own raffle going and donated the proceeds of that.

The Janzen sisters entertained us with their fiddling and had their fiddle cases open with a sign asking for donations.

It was a crazy, busy day and I'm so thankful for everyone who

donated baking or chili.

For everyone who came to help, including all my siblings who just happened to

be in town for Thanksgiving weekend.

For Holly who thought of this idea and who planned the majority of it.

For Febe and Jody in the kitchen serving chili and scrubbing pots.

For mom helping out where she could even though her feet hurt.

For Michelle, manning the raffle table.

For Janelle who played accountant and kept track of the money.

For Ester, Hannah and Trinity and what they did at their own tables.

And for everyone who came and checked it out and bought chili.

 

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!

 

We sold 63 bowls of chili!

 

And we raised a grand total of $1379!

 

We're getting so close to that $30000 mark now. 

Less than 10% of the total to go!

Less than $3000.

 

I have been doing some number crunching as I get closer to travel.

It looks like $30000 might come a little under the final total

but so much depends on what season I travel and where the Euro is in

comparison to the Canadian dollar.

So don't be surprised if my thermometer gets a little bigger.  It shouldn't

be by much though.

 

There are big, exciting things happening with the adoption progress right now.

Sometimes it's hard to breath when I think about it.

I have moments where I can't believe that God has trusted me with this task.
How can I be so blessed to be the mommy of such a special boy?

 

There are times when I'm certain something bad will happen and

it will all fall apart.

But I'm still trusting that if God wants this to happen it will.

Sometimes I feel a bit like Dori the fish.
Only instead of swimming I'm trusting.
"Just keep trusting. Just keep trusting."

 

It's alright
Everything will be okay.
Just hold tight
I'll be with you the whole way
When you're week I'll be strong
Keep going we're almost home.
It's alright
Everything will be okay 

 

 And it will be alright, no matter what happens.


Here's a picture of all the "men" in my family.
There's just one little boy missing.

 

And I'm trusting that he'll be here soon.

Triple the Fun!

There's a big, important meeting happening

in B on Sept 18th.

Amazing things are happening!

I'm down to just needing

travel costs!

 

I can hardly believe it.

 

Less than $5000 needed now.

 

So.

Here's the poster for my current fundraiser.

Three consultants.

Three awesome companies.

Three ways to get that Christmas

shopping done before the snow flies!

 

 

His Goodness

One week was all it took to raise the $500 it took to get that thermometer over the $20000 mark! How amazing is our God and the people He moves to help!

 

That's $10000 raised and saved since February when I started this blog.  Just six months!

 

I'm blown away by His goodness.

 

So depending on travel I just need about another $9946.  Maybe more, maybe less.  I won't know for sure until I have to book my travel.

 

I have to tell you, I like that nice, small four digit number!

 

The more I think about Garreth (see previous post) the more I want to get my son home fast.

 

Sadly, agencies and governments don't feel the same urgency as we do.  I've checked my email countless times this week hoping for an update.  Nothing yet.

 

Maybe tomorrow!

 

I want to share something with you that I read tonight.

 

Mental institutions are not a great place to be.

 

Pretty terrible....no, downright nightmarish.

 

Especially for people with Down syndrome.

 

They're smaller and weaker than the others.

 

Sometimes it's not the caregivers you have to look out for.

 

It's the other inmates.

 

Read what happened to Sergey.

 

Please pray for my son even though we don't know who he is yet.

 

Pray that paperwork would move quickly and that my son will never know the horror of a mental institution.

 

Pray that the funds will be there when they're needed and that there will be no delays because of lack of money.

 

Consider buying a puzzle piece and getting entered into draws for prizes.  Just 27 more to go before the next draw! I've got three rows of the puzzle already filled with names and it's looking great!  :)

 

 

Coming soon: a break down on fees and costs and why adoption costs so much.