Our Adoption Necklace

So.  I'm not super comfortable with the idea of adoption fundraising.  A friend of mine in the adoption community suggested I get in contact with her friend Stacy Richards, who was in the business of designing fundraising pieces for adopting families.  I went on her site, liked what I saw and contacted Stacy at Jubilee's Jewels for details.  The deal was that I would help design a necklace that would be sold on Stacy's site.  I would of course be free to direct people to her site.  For every one of "my necklaces" she sold, an agreed upon portion would go to our family's adoption fund.  Too easy, right? 

Now, I have never considered myself a jewelry designer.  I will say that Stacy's "style" is very in line with what I like.  I gave her some ideas of things I liked and then I was asked to give three words that describe our family and our adoption.  I laughed at that.  Obviously Stacy didn't know me very well because brevity...well, that just isn't my thing.  But...coming up with three words to describe our family was surprising easy.

#1:  Community. 
This means many things to me.  This means the place where I live, sure.  But it means much more than that.  Being in the military means we are transient for most of our career life.  We're not in our same home town.  We're not near our family.  This means friendship takes on an extra special significance...and we have made (and said goodbye to) many great people over our combined 46 years of service.  Yeah...I know that's a lot.  Yikes.  Community means my military community and the people I serve with every day.  I may not personally know all of them.  I may not like all of them...but they are my community and that is an important part of my life.  And last...the adoption community.  There is a special bond amongst parents who make the choice to adopt, especially those who choose to adopt internationally.  If you don't know this first hand...TRUST ME when I say endless months of paperchasing, waiting, nail biting, stress eating and talking in crazy code words like dossier, apostille and lockbox bonds you to people you've never met and offers a very unique sense of community. 

#2:  Service. 
A large part of my identity is tied up in my military service. It's a "subculture" if you will that I've been immersed in for the past almost 23 years...yeah...I know.  That's a long time and I'm old.  Actually, I like seasoned better.  Service to my country and service to others is...well, it is who I am, at least its a lot of who I am.  But when I say service, I don't just mean that.  I am who I am because of my experiences serving my country, sure.  But I also am who I am because of my committment to serving my community.  I've always been a volunteer for some sort of something throughout my adult life.  I've taught Sunday school, been a Girl Scout leader, helped build playgrounds, painted schools, organized bake sales, yard sales, burger burns, walked dogs who live in the animal shelter...you name it.  I've done it for free.  That's just me and things like that and the people I've gotten to meet doing things like that are part of what makes me who I am.  Many of you know I met my husband while taking part in a fundraiser for a professional organization.  What I said about community and service, Lee could have also written, with the exception of my nod to the adoption community.  I think he thinks we're all a little nuts. 

#3:  Family.
This doesn't really need much of an explanation, but family is at the center of service and community. I could say something fancy about the circles on the necklaces representing life...but I really just liked the look of circles and I liked the symetry. 

So...this is my necklace.  I'm not creative, except sometimes with my words and ideas.  The red white and blue crystals were Stacy's idea...but they look awesome.  It's a tangible thing I can hold in my hands and wear around my neck that is special to me and it represents who I am and what I hold dear. And maybe, with a little luck, this necklace will play a little part in bringing Kyle home this summer.  We make $12.00 off of each necklace.  $1,200.00 is roughly ten percent of what we still must pay, but instead of looking at that as a drop in the bucket, I look at it as "every little bit helps".  I hope we sell a ton.  I would love to walk around my community and see these little disks with these three little words etched on them. 

Here is the link to our necklace.  I love it.  I hope other people love it, too.  We're in a place in Kyle's adoption where all of the paperwork is done and we wait.  And the waiting isn't easy.  I thought it would be, the second time around, but it's not.  Seeing the link to Stacy's website with "my" necklace and my family's story was the kick I needed to have today. 

If you support us by buying one of our awesome necklaces, please tell me that you did so that we can tell you thank you.  Thanks, as always, for reading our story.

http://jubileesjewels.com/adoption-fundraising/service-family-community