Adoption Acronyms - Take Your Choice

On May 20th, we were notified by our adoption agency, Wasatch Adoptions, that the China Center for Children's Welfare Activities had issued us our "Letter Seeking Confirmation" to adopt Kyle.  We know this in the "adoption circles" as a Letter of Approval/Acceptance.  LOA, LSC, L-whatever.  This means that China, after reviewing all of our paperwork, has made the official determination that we are approved to be Kyle's parents.  And that is a reason to celebrate!  Woo hoo! 

For those interested in numbers, we got a 28-day LOA, which is considered really fast - way outside the norm.  Perhaps it has something to do with this being a dossier re-use (which means that some of our paperwork from Zack's adoption is being used for this adoption) but there were many families who got May 16th letters.

We are on to the next step, which is another round of Homeland Security Approval.  After that, there is some visa/immigration processing for Kyle and then our final wait for Travel Approval.  Unless we run in to difficulties, we should leave for China in 6-8 weeks.  I'm calling the end of July. 

Zack's room is 90 percent ready to be a shared room.  Whether Zack is any percent ready to share is something that remains to be seen. I have a few more things to buy/hang up/rearrange, but we are nearly there. 

We got updated measurements on Kyle yesterday - he weighs 24 pounds and is 33 inches tall.  He is about 2 inches shorter and 7 pounds lighter than Zack.  If the measurements are correct - which might not be the case - Kyle is small for his age, but not alarmingly so.  All reports and photographs evidence a very healthy and happy child. 
We met Zack for the first time on August 26th 2012 - we're reasonably sure that we will meet Kyle before the 1 year mark.  We'd really like it if our boys' "Family Day" was around the same time. 
I was just thinking how things had changed for our family in the space of a short time.  Lee and I came to England in early 2011 as "empty nesters".  Laura has come back home and by the end of the year, we will have two new little birds!  Life is good and we are ready to be a "party of 5"! 
If you could keep our fundraising efforts and our grant applications in your thoughts and prayers over the next few weeks, we would appreciate it.  We've got some substantial expenses to shell out over the next month and our grant applications are probably a month plus from being up for review.  We have our two local fundraisers in early June that we are hoping are successful & we have our necklace sales/restaurant gift card sales still going on.  We will make it through...but the dollar signs are overwhelming.  All of the scrimping and scrambling will be worth it when we get that little guy home, though.  

So...are you ready to see our handsome little man?!?  I thought so!  Introducing Kyle!

Fundraising Rollup

It has been a little more than a month since we’ve started on our journey to raise funds to pay for the remainder of Kyle’s adoption.  We have applied for grants through Show Hope, Gift of Adoption, the JSC Foundation, Lifesong for Orphans and Frank’s Fund for the Fatherless.  We have received confirmation that our applications are being processed from everyone except for GOA and we are hoping to hear something from them soon.  Frank’s Fund has told us that they would be giving us a small grant in June that we hope will offset the cost of airfare for one of us.  We are very thankful for their support.  You can read about their organization below.  I admire the woman who runs this foundation very much.  The Lifesong grant is a “matching grant” where our ability to get funds depends on the donations of others.  This is pushed through the church community with the hopes that families in the church community will contribute to the adoption, therefore benefitting us while raising awareness about orphans around the world and the adoption process.  I’m really praying and hoping that we will get some good news!

http://liveyourloveloud.org/index.html#/franks-story/

I’ve put all of my Thirty-One commissions directly in to our adoption account – order some bags, people!  They’ve got really fun prints for summer – who doesn’t want a beach bag with a flip flop pattern?  My website is on the left of this page. 

We’ve had some marginal success with our Jubilee’s Jewels fundraiser and the CoupAide gift cards – see links below.  I am still hopeful that the necklaces will sell a little better than they have been, but I think that is because the meaning behind the pieces/parts of the necklace are so intensely personal to me.  The message of the necklace represents who we are, and I would love to see all of my loved ones wearing this. 

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

http://coupaide.com/deal/robbins-adoption-fundraiser/

We are doing a couple of events in our community in June that we are hoping will be the “biggies”.  We’re doing a bingo booth at our local country fair and we’re also doing a “Ladies Night” in our village.  A wonderful friend with lots of fundraising experience is helping us put this all together.  Basically, we rent a public venue (which the Sismey family has so graciously gifted us) and set up “vendor” stalls with products that appeal to women – bags, shiny stuff, cosmetics, hair/nail services…you get the idea.  We charge each vendor a small fee to participate and ask that they consider donating a raffle prize.  We then advertise the event (we are in the advertising stages now) and sell tickets.  For three pounds (that’s about 5 bucks), entrants get a glass of wine and some nibbles.  We sell additional drinks and raffle tickets and hope people have a good time.  We’ve had a lot of donations so far, and a couple of vendors who have offered to donate portions of their commissions to our funds, which is so very nice.  It promises to be a fun evening and I’m very nervous and excited about it all at the same time. 

http://www.facebook.com/events/129035243957719/

It was a struggle to get to the place where we were comfortable with adoption fundraising, and I am still not to that place, honestly.  I don’t think I ever will be.  Lee and I have lived our entire life centered around service to others, in some way, shape or form.  We have always gotten a lot of satisfaction and enjoyment out of giving to our community and to helping others – it is how we met and try to live out the concept of servant leadership every day.  It is very humbling to be in a place where we’re accepting the generosity of others for something so personal as adding a child to our family.  I only hope that those who have contributed or will contribute will feel enriched and blessed by being a small part of our journey.  For those who contribute by wishing us well, asking about our process, saying prayers for us and providing moral support as we wait to become a family of five – thank you.  No price tag can be put on those contributions. 

So…that is where we are with the fundraising and ways you can contribute/support if you would like to do so!