As you can see, I've added a thermometer to our page. Because Eric is typically shy, and indifferent, I felt I should point out that he named the thermometer. He was so proud of himself too! He's such a goof ball, but that's why I love him.
I will update "the kiddie pool" as the funds come in, sometimes it's hard for me to keep all the fundraisers straight, but it will be close to accurate.
Thanks again to everyone who has helped us, whether with money, and more importantly emotional support. I don't think there will ever be a way I can repay you!
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Missed the announcement!
I was looking through my other blog posts, and I realized in the very first post, I said we were adopting from Ukraine. Which when I wrote it, was correct. What I failed to mention on every post since then, is that we've switched countries, which I am sure all of you know already, especially if you've seen our t-shirt.
That being said, I was up really late one night researching for our Ukrainian adoption, and ended up on a blog about Serbia. It was totally random that this particular blog should have shown up in front of me, I took it as a sign from God, e-mailed to find out some more information, and here we are adopting from Serbia.
Leah has been such a great help, and what once looked like a gigantic mountain we could never climb, is now a much smaller, gigantic mountain, that we are on our way up!
Here is a link to the first post I read, the one that changed everything.
http://gardenofeagan.blogspot.com/2012/01/serbian-adoptions-411.html
That being said, I was up really late one night researching for our Ukrainian adoption, and ended up on a blog about Serbia. It was totally random that this particular blog should have shown up in front of me, I took it as a sign from God, e-mailed to find out some more information, and here we are adopting from Serbia.
Leah has been such a great help, and what once looked like a gigantic mountain we could never climb, is now a much smaller, gigantic mountain, that we are on our way up!
Here is a link to the first post I read, the one that changed everything.
http://gardenofeagan.blogspot.com/2012/01/serbian-adoptions-411.html
With death, comes new life.
My Grandma died on Sunday. It was perfect for her, sad as it is. She was 88 and had failing kidneys. She got to see most of the family first and she got to die exactly how she wanted to; in her sleep, in her own house. Despite the family feud that's been going on for years, we all came together to help her stay in that house until her dying day.
I think my dad and his sister are having a pretty hard time with everything, you can tell it's wearing on my dad. He's doing a fantastic job keeping things together so far though, all things considering. And really, how do you just pack up 88 years of stuff? How do you decide who gets what? All I know is Grandma is in a better place, with no pain or suffering.
A week before she died, I got to sit down with Grandma and tell her we were adopting. She's been waiting to find out that I'm pregnant. Holding on to one last baby quilt that she made eons ago. Go figure that no one can find it now! I think she was excited for us.
A midst all the sad chaos, good things have been happening with our adoption. Aside from a little bump with the finger prints (the officer forgot to sign the sheets), things have been moving along. We finally got a date for our home visit. Eric finally got some paneling so we can finish one of the rooms in the basement (so we can move other stuff down there and have our child upstairs next to our room). I feel really good about our timeline. The t-shirts are done (previous post) and I've been selling puzzle pieces like CRAZY at work! Most of all, for once in my life I feel really supported by everyone in my life. It's a good feeling. I'm glad everyone is just as excited as I am.
It's hard to be sad when the adoption things are going so well, but then I don't think Grandma would want us to be too sad either. They always say, "With death, comes new life"...
I think my dad and his sister are having a pretty hard time with everything, you can tell it's wearing on my dad. He's doing a fantastic job keeping things together so far though, all things considering. And really, how do you just pack up 88 years of stuff? How do you decide who gets what? All I know is Grandma is in a better place, with no pain or suffering.
A week before she died, I got to sit down with Grandma and tell her we were adopting. She's been waiting to find out that I'm pregnant. Holding on to one last baby quilt that she made eons ago. Go figure that no one can find it now! I think she was excited for us.
A midst all the sad chaos, good things have been happening with our adoption. Aside from a little bump with the finger prints (the officer forgot to sign the sheets), things have been moving along. We finally got a date for our home visit. Eric finally got some paneling so we can finish one of the rooms in the basement (so we can move other stuff down there and have our child upstairs next to our room). I feel really good about our timeline. The t-shirts are done (previous post) and I've been selling puzzle pieces like CRAZY at work! Most of all, for once in my life I feel really supported by everyone in my life. It's a good feeling. I'm glad everyone is just as excited as I am.
It's hard to be sad when the adoption things are going so well, but then I don't think Grandma would want us to be too sad either. They always say, "With death, comes new life"...
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
T-Shirts!
We are selling t-shirts to help us with funding. I have added a "buy now" button to right margin. The price is $20.00 for youth sizes and $25.00 for adult sizes. Shipping is already included in that. We also have to collect all the orders before we can actually order the shirts, so keep that in mind. Starting today, we will sell until Sept. 30th. I will place our order on October 1st, and then as soon as they arrive I will ship them out to everyone. Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts!
Thank you for your support!
Just an added note, the Quote on the front: "A mother and a father's love knows no boundaries, Not Blood, Nor Distance, Nor Governments, Nor Money. We will cross oceans and move mountains, to bring you home." is my original work and is protected under the copyright law.
You need my permission to use is, so please ask before you do.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
God does answer!
So, for a little while, especially last night, I was thinking to myself, I wish I knew someone who would be willing to donate a portion of their earnings from their sales. (From something like Pampered Chef or Sentsy or any of those home based businesses) I see it all the time for other families adopting. I wanted to ask, because we all know someone who has a home business, but having been that person in the past, I didn't feel right asking, I just wanted someone to be moved to do it on their own.
So, I wake up this morning, check on our auctions that we are having. Spend some time with my mom and my youngest niece and nephew. As we are walking to JC Penney I get a notification on my phone for the auction page. I stop and open it and here, a wonderful young woman has invited us to be a part of her mission. She has an Etsy store and is giving 50% of the sale price to families who are adopting! For those of you who doubt, God really does answer, and He really does open doors. I never specifically prayed for this to happen. So yes, God answers our prayers, even when we don't know we asked for something!
If you want to help us out, when you order please put our blog name in the message area during check out. If you are an adoptive family in need of another form of fundraising, check out the page and send her a message.
Here is her Etsy store
http://www.etsy.com/shop/GINGERONAMISSION
and here is the Facebook link
https://www.facebook.com/Gingeronamission1206
So, I wake up this morning, check on our auctions that we are having. Spend some time with my mom and my youngest niece and nephew. As we are walking to JC Penney I get a notification on my phone for the auction page. I stop and open it and here, a wonderful young woman has invited us to be a part of her mission. She has an Etsy store and is giving 50% of the sale price to families who are adopting! For those of you who doubt, God really does answer, and He really does open doors. I never specifically prayed for this to happen. So yes, God answers our prayers, even when we don't know we asked for something!
If you want to help us out, when you order please put our blog name in the message area during check out. If you are an adoptive family in need of another form of fundraising, check out the page and send her a message.
Here is her Etsy store
http://www.etsy.com/shop/GINGERONAMISSION
and here is the Facebook link
https://www.facebook.com/Gingeronamission1206
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Exciting!
Today is an exciting day! Our puzzle fundraiser is slowly taking off, and we got an e-mail from our social worker! She is ready to start our home visit, we however are not.
We have a little bit of sorting left to do, and we want to get rid of the garage sale stuff. I figure we can be ready in about 3 weeks. There is also the fact that we are currently $600 shy of what we need to start this step. When my next paycheck comes we will only be $200 short, so that's my fundraising goal for the next few weeks. $200 is a nice small number and I know we can find it!
At this point in the process we are trying to avoid credit cards and loans, I know it will come to that eventually, but for now we want to have the money we need upfront.
I'm actually just so excited. So far everything is going so well right now.
Thank you God for making this easy this time, it really just must be the right time now. I just can't wait to bring our little one home!
We have a little bit of sorting left to do, and we want to get rid of the garage sale stuff. I figure we can be ready in about 3 weeks. There is also the fact that we are currently $600 shy of what we need to start this step. When my next paycheck comes we will only be $200 short, so that's my fundraising goal for the next few weeks. $200 is a nice small number and I know we can find it!
At this point in the process we are trying to avoid credit cards and loans, I know it will come to that eventually, but for now we want to have the money we need upfront.
I'm actually just so excited. So far everything is going so well right now.
Thank you God for making this easy this time, it really just must be the right time now. I just can't wait to bring our little one home!
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Another fundraiser
We decided we would try having auctions on Facebook to raise funds.
Here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/olsonadoptionauction
Here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/olsonadoptionauction
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Fundraising!
As I am sure you can imagine, once you commit to adopting, you tend to think about it A LOT! This tends to make you spend a ton of time on the internet researching, joining different groups, planning what the child's room is going to look like, looking at photo-listings (even if you know that you won't be adopting one of the children on the photo-listings), learning more about the country you are adopting from etc. At least that's what it's done for me. My poor husband has to deal with a slightly obsessed woman right now!
Anyway, while spending all this extra time on the internet as I have been, I found out about Puzzle Fundraising, and I thought to my self, "Self, that's a pretty cool idea!" So that's what we are going to do!
So, for those of you who don't know what this could possibly be, let me explain. What will happen is we will decide what price to put on the individual puzzle pieces. Then generous people like yourself will purchase said piece. You or my husband and I, will write your name on the back of the puzzle piece. When the puzzle is complete we will hang it in our child's room so they can see all the wonderful people who helped them come home!
When I found out about this, I thought it was a fantastic idea! I've seen a wide range in what people asked for each piece, but since our adoption will not cost as much as what other's have to come up with, we are just asking $5 per piece. The money we collect, if we sell all the pieces, will help us with 1/2 the cost of our home study. So roughly $1200. As we sell pieces, I will post pictures of the puzzle being completed.
Thank you so much for your kind donations. If you personally know us, we can arrange a meeting where you can actually pick out your pieces, and if you don't know us, there is a donation button at the top of this page. Also for those who feel extra generous and give larger amounts, I will let you pick out extra pieces! Remember this is going to help us pay for 1/2 of our home study, and will bring us one step closer to holding our child in our arms for the first time!
Anyway, while spending all this extra time on the internet as I have been, I found out about Puzzle Fundraising, and I thought to my self, "Self, that's a pretty cool idea!" So that's what we are going to do!
So, for those of you who don't know what this could possibly be, let me explain. What will happen is we will decide what price to put on the individual puzzle pieces. Then generous people like yourself will purchase said piece. You or my husband and I, will write your name on the back of the puzzle piece. When the puzzle is complete we will hang it in our child's room so they can see all the wonderful people who helped them come home!
When I found out about this, I thought it was a fantastic idea! I've seen a wide range in what people asked for each piece, but since our adoption will not cost as much as what other's have to come up with, we are just asking $5 per piece. The money we collect, if we sell all the pieces, will help us with 1/2 the cost of our home study. So roughly $1200. As we sell pieces, I will post pictures of the puzzle being completed.
Thank you so much for your kind donations. If you personally know us, we can arrange a meeting where you can actually pick out your pieces, and if you don't know us, there is a donation button at the top of this page. Also for those who feel extra generous and give larger amounts, I will let you pick out extra pieces! Remember this is going to help us pay for 1/2 of our home study, and will bring us one step closer to holding our child in our arms for the first time!
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