We've been busy the last month!  On July 8th we received a call that we had been matched with a birth family, and on July 10th Morgan Angela Rhodes was born in Anderson! We brought her home on the 13th and it has been crazy around here!  Two kids is a HUGE adjustment but things are going great! 

Morgan was 4lbs 15oz when she was born and dropped to 4lbs 9oz by her first week appointment.  She is a good eater and today at her 5 week appointment she weighed in at 7lbs 9oz!

We just want to thank you all for your support and all you have done for us!  We are going to keep this blog open because not only will be be paying adoption expenses for some time (and possibly more fundraising) we also plan on adopting again down the road!

Just checking in!

We are still patiently waiting for any news, and ready at any time!  Many more couples have dropped off of the list, and we are being told that many of the birth mothers are choosing childless couples.  We are confident that when the time is right we will get a call!

We are doing great chipping away at our adoption loan, and we have some ideas up our sleeves for some upcoming fundraisers to help us lower that financial burden!

I (Jordan) possibly have my first wedding cupcake order, and have heard some great feedback on the wedding programs and stationary that I did for a couple of weddings late last year.  I'm looking forward to my next projects.

That's about all of the updates that I have for now, we hope to be updating sooner than later!

January Update

All of the waiting couples listed before us at the agency are off the list, so while that doesn't guarantee that we will be next, we think we will be getting a call very soon! 

We reached our goal with our "100 Nests" fundraiser in just over a month, and we added an additional $1,194 to our loan payment last week - just from the sale of the pendants.  We have already sold more pendants, and have some ideas for future fundraising.  Things are going well!

We really planned for Christmas this year and it wasn't difficult for us to get back on track financially after the holidays were over.  Both Klif and I have been doing exceptionally well watching our money, and we've made some minor adjustments to make it even easier.  The temperature in the house went down, the cable was cancelled, and we are doing really well sticking to the grocery budget and meal plan.

For now it is just continuing with saving and fundraising, and waiting for that call!

Quick update!

I'm not going to lie, I've been getting a little disheartened lately.  We haven't heard anything from the agency, and not one of the prospective parents listed on their website has dropped off in months.  Today I was very excited to see that at least 4 families in our category are no longer on the list!  I am really excited for these families!  The families have either been given the amazing joy and task of caring for a new life, or they have chosen to go another direction.  I sincerely hope that it is the former, and that all is going smoothly!

At the same time we are pretty excited that this could mean our time is coming near.  It is not a "first-come, first-serve" situation - our birth mother will choose us because of how she feels we will raise her child.  We could be the next couple chosen by a birth mother, or it could be months down the road.  We are just excited to see some activity!

"100 Nests"

I'm back already!  Just wanted to let you in on a little holiday fundraiser we just started!  I have been working hard making bird's nest pendants, and they are now available to purchase.  They are $10 each, and our goal is to sell 100 of them of this holiday season to raise $1,000.00 for our adoption fund.  I have a number of pendants already made, or I can make them with custom colors (think birth stone colors, team colors, etc.).  I can also ship up to 5 of them for just $2.  Check out the pictures below -

If you are interested just get in touch with me and we can work out the details.  They would make a great gift or stocking stuffer!

Wow, we've been busy!  So here is what has happened since I last updated in June (wow, didn't seem that long ago!)

We have completed ALL of our paperwork, visits, and requirements.  We are now simply waiting on a call!  Yay!

We took out a personal loan for the remainder of what will be due when placement happens.  That way, we are not held back by just money.  We are definitely still fundraising, we will just be paying back toward the loan instead of stashing it in savings.

So now we are just back to our normal day-to-day lives, knowing that any day would could get that call and be heading to the hospital. 

We have a holiday PNO and my work craft fair coming up to help with more fundraising, and I'll be trying to keep this up to date better!

BIG news!

What a day!

It started with my setting my snooze alarm an hour late.  Hooray for an extra hour of sleep.  Once I arrived at work, I was greeting by an amazing email - starting July 1st, we are no longer a business casual company - jeans every day!  It's the little things that make us so happy.  :)  

Here's where it gets really good.

I was walking from one building to another when I ran into my department manager.  He's a level above our team managers and is often busy with more important tasks, so he's often in and out of the office.  He just happened to ask how the adoption process was going, and I excitedly told him that we were just continuing to do fundraising and whatever we could, and that we were currently only about $40 away from our first milestone - the $5000 mark - which is when we would actually sign on with the agency, start paying fees, and start the process rolling.  We talked for a brief moment as we were heading back to our department, and he asked me to stop by his office when I had a chance.  When I did, he handed me an envelope with $40 dollars in it, and was very excited to help us reach that major goal!  I immediately went back to my desk and called the agency!

We now have our in office interview and home-study class scheduled for the middle of next month, and our check for signing on with the agency will go in the mail tomorrow!

The lady at the agency said that this was perfect timing because they have a seminar next week (this is what we went to last June) and the office interviews and home-study classes will surely fill up after the seminar.  She also told me that they currently have more birth mothers than they do adoptive parents.  She said that they have 5-6 mothers that are due in September/October, and while she knows they won't all place, there are some that have no adoptive parents to place with.

Can we financially be ready for that?  We don't know.  But we are going to continue to do fundraising, as well as now explore other financing options.  We are looking into no/low interest adoption loans, grants, and worst case scenario, we have more than enough credit available for the parts of the process that are finance-able.  I don't want to use the credit cards if possible, because we have worked SO HARD lately to pay them off/down, but it is really nice to know that the option is there.  Once an adoption is finalized, we will get $5000 in adoption assistance from my work that can help pay for any high interest debt we may end up with.  In addition to the assistance from work, if we are able to adopt this fall, we will have a quick turn around with tax credits which would cover most, if not all, ofthe remaining debt.

So where do we stand?  We currently are $12,000.00 away from our goal, and we now are contemplating moving UP our goal date, instead of moving it back.  Keep us in your thoughts and prayers, let us know of any helpful information you might have, and bear with our fundraising efforts over the next few months.  We are so excited about what's coming up!