We have an exciting opportunity for you to help with our adoption AND get an awesome prize in the process! Check back on Monday for the details... But just to whet your appetite, here's a sneak peek.
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I have had several people ask me recently what is included in our adoption process and how far along we are... so I thought I would try to take some of the mystery out of the world of international adoption. Well, at least adoption from Ethiopia. We are by no way experts; we're learning as we go. And I know to expect the unexpected, delays, and the like. So, even though we know what is supposed to happen, we are not getting our hopes up for a flawless journey.
It literally took several years of praying and thinking and reading about adoption to finally decide as a family to "let's do this!" We did look into domestic adoption in Canada (when we lived there) and the US, but God closed those doors for our family. So, international it will be. The next step was very daunting. It is the step of looking at countries to figure out which program is a good fit. Requirements for each country are different in such areas as age, income, number of children in the home, ages of adoptable children, length of stay in the country, etc.... When people ask, "How did you choose Ethiopia?" I like to say that Ethiopia chose us. Or God chose Ethiopia for us. I can't really tell you, other than that. The details surrounding an Ethiopian adoption fit our situation better than any other country available to us. After deciding on Ethiopia, we had to find an agency that could facilitate our adoption. You can find much information to start with on the U.S. Department of State intercountry adoption website. Next up, home study. We had four visits with a social worker in our home, answered countless questions, and filled out detailed paperwork about our backgrounds, family, beliefs, etc. We also had to have physicals and criminal checks done. Our first home study visit was on September 8th, and we had our completed home study in our hands by December 14th. By the 18th, our home study and some other documents were on their way to USCIS (Citizenship & Immigration) along with our "Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition." They'll give us a fingerprinting appointment, then once we get USCIS approval, we can send all our documents (dossier) to Ethiopia. At that point, we will wait (don't know how long?) for a referral of a child. We are requesting a girl between the ages of 0-4 so that we don't mess with birth order. This adoption will require 2 trips. On the first trip we will meet our little one and finalize the adoption with the Ethiopian court. Then, we will return home for several weeks (months?). When we return, we will get our child's exit visa, and bring her home! God has provided little by little for this adoption through the generosity of friends & family, through our personal savings, people using our amazon link, sippy cups of change, Just Love coffee, and through little things like my etsy shop! Now that our home study is done, we can also apply to the many organizations that offer grants to adoptive families, such as AbbaFund. Each step of the way there is a new fee due, so we are updating our "fundraising thermometer" on the side bar to show an approximate round number that this adoption will cost, travel included. We're going to say $30,000 (although in reality, it's going to be a bit more). Hope this post was helpful in understanding a bit of the journey we're on. We're still excited to see how God will lead, provide, rescue, and show His glory through this adoption! Do you love coffee? Does someone on your Christmas list love coffee? Here's an idea that is win-win-win. If you buy some Just Love Coffee from our storefront, your gift recipient will have a coffee lover's dream delivered right to their doorstep for Christmas, you can cross another task off your list, our family will get $5 per bag toward our adoption, and you will be supporting a wonderful company that also gives money toward helping communities in Africa have clean water. So, in addition to helping our family to adopt, 5% of all sales of Just Love coffee go to Charity: Water through the Coffee to Water program. In this way, this company is also trying to prevent children from becoming orphans in the first place. Just Love Coffee also purchases only organic, shade grown, coffee beans - Fair Trade Certified. So, you can feel good about the product you are buying! Will you consider giving the gift of love & coffee this Christmas? Mmmm, love & coffee - the perfect blend. Just Love.
Here's a little bit of what I've been working on... I'm having a table at my first craft fair next month, with all proceeds to go into our adoption account! I have always wanted to be a vendor at a craft show. I'm looking forward to it! For you locals, mark your calendars for Saturday, December 1st. You can find 4onemore's booth at the Wallenpaupack South Elementary School PTO Craft Fair from 9:00-3:00. And after that craft fair, I will be listing new items in my etsy shop! Check it out for unique Christmas gift ideas...
Do your clothes make a difference? This shirt helps bring an orphan home: The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. Psalm 145:8 We are excited about a new opportunity to raise funds for our adoption! Just this week, we heard about Once Was Lost, a store powered by Storenvy, an online store system and marketplace. And we are their first featured family! A whopping 50% of the proceeds from this online store go to an affiliate family. As you checkout, just leave our name in the note to seller box. I really love the selection on this site. Once again, here is a great place for finding gifts for those hard-to-buy-for-people. And don't forget to pick up something for yourself while you're at it :)
You can help by spreading the word, even if your budget doesn't allow a purchase right now. We would be so grateful for your help in this way! As we near the end of our home study process (only one visit left!), we are getting to the waiting part of the journey. In the next month or so, we hope to send our documents to Ethiopia. And when that happens, we will wait for a referral. We have no idea how long that will take. As we wait (and pray for this little one!!), we will be applying for as many grants as we can to help offset the costs of adopting. But we know God has called us to this, and He will provide. And so, today is the grand opening of my Etsy shop! This is just a little way of doing what I enjoy and trying to raise money for our adoption at the same time. And so, all proceeds from this little shop will go directly to fund our adoption. Thanks for passing the word along. Maybe you will find some sweet Christmas gifts in the shop! Come on in and browse... We've got rustic and upcycled... We've got encouragement... "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." I Corinthians 13:13 We've got vintage Christmas... And we've got baby... There's more to come, so I hope you'll stop by 4onemore on Etsy and share the news... that every dollar spent helps bring a little one home from Ethiopia!
Yes, I know, it's difficult to wrap our minds around the fact that the countdown to Christmas has begun. Especially when summer vacation is still fresh in our memory. But, the truth is that Christmas is just 97 days away! Okay, now that you're hyperventilating, I want to help you out. Everyone knows that planning ahead and shopping early takes a lot of the stress out of the season. So, why don't you consider getting that head start and helping our adoption at the same time? Here's some ideas for you... shop on amazonIf you shop on amazon through our link, we will receive a small percentage of the purchase price. Every little bit helps, and if you plan on shopping on amazon anyway, why not just use our link? Feel free to pass it on to family and friends who might be interested. And not to be left out, our Canadian friends and family can use our amazon.ca link here! buy from just love coffee roastersJust Love Coffee Roasters supplies fair trade organic coffees from all over the world. This would make a great gift for the coffee drinker in your life... or the person who has everything. You just can't find coffee like this in the grocery store. And for every bag you purchase through our storefront, we receive $5 toward our adoption. This company has a great story which you can check out here. Thank you in advance for your help & support!
Yes, we have written our first big check for this adoption process. We contracted with an agency in Texas that has an Ethiopia program. Soon we will write another check for our home study, which will be done by a local agency. And so it begins.
We are thankful that God has placed adoption on our hearts. And we are thankful for the ways He is paying for it. Our parents' yard sale last month. Several random gifts from friends. Change from sippy cups. Sales from our JustLove Coffee Roasters storefront. And to let you know where we are in the process, check out the fundraising thermometer on the sidebar. As of today, we have $947.48 toward our agency fee of $4950. Can't wait to see what God will do! Thank you to all those who have given, prayed, and encouraged! You are a part of His story in the life of this little one. Okay, we are so excited to share this website with you. It is called Give1Save1, and it is a place for people who want to use their money to bless others in the adoption process. Every Monday, they feature a new family who is adopting. It is a chance to be generous with as little as $1! But that money will add up when hundreds or thousands of people get excited about helping these families. We have begun following this site and donating, because it is just so exciting to see what your little $1 a week will do. And no, we don't know any of these families personally. But isn't that so cool that families are being blessed by total strangers?
$1 is so small. Yet, it can be used for such good. Go ahead, skip coffee out tomorrow and make it at home. There's your $1. Or use a coupon at the grocery store. There's your $1. So easy. By giving $1 each week to their featured family, you are helping to change lives. And you may never know the full impact of your giving. Okay, this fundraiser is the best. Because you get to shop on amazon (which you know you do anyway), you get to buy whatever it is you were going to buy, and a small percentage of your sale price will be kicked back to us for our adoption fund. Please feel free to pass our special amazon link on to family and friends... the more people that use it, the more our adoption expenses will be helped. How do you know if you have the right link? It will show part of our blog name in the initial click-through link: maro4onmo -- a.k.a. "MAking ROom 4 ONe MOre." Thanks for being a part of our adoption story in this way. UPDATE: We have just set up an account with amazon.ca for our Canadian friends & family to use! Thanks for asking!
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