Oh How We Love The Fall...

We had a great weekend!  Filled with lots of family time and fall activities! 

This little guy LOVES the leaves!

Especially when Daddy plays in the leaves with him!

 

His old bike was getting too small- so Ty gave him his old one last weekend in Chicago.  And he LOVES it! 

Corn maze at the pumpkin farm!

Hay ride at the pumpkin farm!

Recent Happenings!

Evan had storytime at the fire station a couple weeks ago.  The alarm even went off while we were there, so the kids got a true picture of what happens there!  He loved it :)

Ma bought Evan a soccer ball at a garage sale a few weeks ago.  He is LOVING kicking it around...  We may have a soccer player on our hands!!

Reading, Reading and more Reading...  This guy shares my love of reading and it makes me oh so happy!!  We spend lots of time snuggled up with his books :)

We made cut-out sugar cookies last week shaped like pumpkins and then frosted them orange and green.  He had a blast!  Needless to say, my kitchen needed a good cleaning after we finished :)

We made a quick trip to Chicago this past weekend to see Evan's cousins (and their parents too!).  We got to see Hailey play softball and Ty play football.  This guy sure loves his cousins!!  He's already asking when we can go visit again!

They have a golf cart that they use to ride back and forth to the high school just down the road from them.  E loved it!   And he even drove it most of the weekend (no worries, he was only steering and Drew had control of the foot pedals!)

On our way home from Chicago, we stopped at "The Choo Choo Restaurant" (one of Ty and Hailey's favorite places).  It's a diner-style restaurant and there is a train track that goes around the restaurant and back through the kitchen that delivers you your food.  Evan loved it!

Here it is delivering him his train cupcake :)  Too cute!

Family Photos

One of my best friends (Lindsey Sanders- she was also my doubles partner in high school) is a very talented photographer.  She was so kind to offer to take 3-year photos of Evan and also some family photos.  They turned out great and we're so grateful for her kindness in taking the time out of her busy schedule (she has 3 children under the age of 4) to take pictures of our little family.  These are just a few of my favorites.

Loving on his momma :)

Notice the lipstick marks on E's cheek :)

Make sure to look in the background!  She's so creative!

Love his blue eyes in this one!

Lindsey told me after we were finished that she can't wait to take more pictures when we have one more little person in our family photo...  We couldn't agree more!!  Thanks so much Lindsey!  We love you!

Biometrics Appointments- The Good News and The Bad News

Well, here's the good news first:

We received our biometrics appointments!  For those of you unfamiliar with international adoption, this is all a part of the USCIS paperwork we are waiting on in order to submit our dossier.  You submit your application, and then receive an appointment date and time for your fingerprinting.  We knew that our appointments would be at one of two places (both about 2 hours from our house) and that we would have to drop whatever we may have planned that day to make our appointments. 

And now for the bad news:

We received 2 different appointment times!  Drew's appointment is 3:00pm on a Monday and mine is at 3:00pm on a Tuesday.  Seriously?!?  So, needless to say, we will be making 2 trips...  I tell you what- this adoption stuff is not for the faint of heart!! 

And more good news:

Once our biometrics are approved, we should receive the approval form, submit our dossier, and then officially be waiting for our daughter!! 

Thanks again for all the prayers..  We appreciate the support so much!!

One Less Video

One more life touched by the miracle of adoption..  And who knows how many more lives will be touched through this new song... 

http://www.vimeo.com/15064039


You can click on the title to this post OR click on the above link and you should be able to view the video... 

Adoption Costs

This is Drew again. As many of you know, one thing we wanted to do as we go through our adoption is to provide as much information and encouragement to others that may be considering adoption. We decided we'd have an open book, and share all that we could share, because if we could help even 1 more person decide to provide a family for an orphan in need, it would be well worth our effort.

So we wanted to talk about the costs of our adoption from Ethiopia, as that is one of the most often asked questions.

There was a funny story on Jon & Amy's blog that sums up the misunderstandings and interest the people have in the financial part of adoption:

Amy was asked, by a young neighbor girl, in front of other adult neighbors,

Girl: How much did you pay for your babies?

Amy: You know sweetie, people don’t pay for babies. You can’t put a price on kids.

Girl: I heard it’s lots of money.

Amy: We paid money for a service, for people to help us find Jada and Adia. Just like your Mommy paid a doctor so he would help her have you. Does that make sense?

Girl: Yeah…So, how much was it?

I thought this interaction was so cute - and so telling of the misconception out there with international adoption. Yes, it is expensive, but it's not in any way because you are "buying" a baby.

Of our expenses with our agency, Holt, the largest portion goes to the Ethiopian Program Fee which is basically paid to the orphanage in Ethiopia. They have staff to pay for, kids to feed, agency workers to complete paperwork and assist you while you're in country, etc. If these fees weren't being paid to the orphanages, they wouldn't be able to stay open, and thousands more kids worldwide would be living on the streets, or worse yet, wouldn't survive without proper care.

Here's a breakdown of how the fees work out for our adoption:
Paperwork Fees (homestudy, agency work, post-placement, etc.): approximately $5,000
Ethiopia In-Country Fee (Orphanage, in-country case workers, child care, etc.): appr. $10,000
Travel (Ethiopia requires TWO trips: airfare, hotels, food): appr. $10,000
Various Gov't Paperwork (i-600A immigration form, Visas, etc.): appr. $1,000

You can do it (and so can we)!
For those considering adoption - I will just say this: The Lord will provide for His causes. Don't let the finances discourage you from something so amazing as helping there be one less orphan in this world. We've talked to many people who have said that they would like to adopt, but the financial burden seems to big to handle - don't let money hold you back!

There are many things that you can do:

• There is an adoption tax credit from the government
• There are many organizations that do adoption grants
  
• Many people send out fund-raising letters (which we have chosen not to)
• Many people do fund raisers, bake sales, sell t-shirts, garage sales, etc. (we may do some of these)
• There are interest free loans available (typically used as a "hold over" until you receive the tax credit the next year)

What are we doing - and what would I recommend?
Clearly, the adoption expenses are more than we can handle on our own. We decided early on that we didn't want to do fund-raising letters, even though we don't think there's anything wrong with taking that path.

But, we've had many people come up to us, completely unexpected, letting us know that they wanted to partner with us, and for that we are truly grateful and blessed. The generosity of our family, friends, and church family has been amazing! Thank you so much for your support!

Today, I'm mailing some paperwork to Lifesong for Orphans, a non-profit organization that awards matching grants to families in the adoption process (and has a special arrangement to do so with our church). A matching grant would mean that every dollar donated would be doubled (up to a certain amount) - which would be amazing. The other benefit of having a lifesong account is that any money that people donate now or in the future, will be made out to Lifesong (a 501c3 non-profit), therefore will be tax-deductible, but will 100% go to us for our adoption expenses. Anyone can set up an account like this at Lifesong and I think it's a great option for most people.

If you're considering adoption, just like we have been blessed by the support of friends and family, we know God will provide for you too. As always, feel free to contact Ashley or I if you would like more information!

Blessings,
Drew