Thanks for your support in our auction!

What a blur the past several days have been!  We hosted an auction on Facebook that ended on Saturday night at midnight.  Unlike auction boards, someone had to be up to pull the plug on the thing when it was time for it to be over.  That someone was me.  Messages and questions followed, as did documenting some things for a few hours after that  (just in case Facebook ate the messages over night!)   The next few days were a total chaos of sorting out bids, packing boxes and weighing them, sending bidders their notices, mailing.... wow.  It was a LOT of hard work, but when all of the items are claimed we should have an additional $1000 in our adoption account.  I'm thankful to those who donated items and to those who purchased them!  Thank you!

Fail

It is one of those low mornings.  I feel like I've failed our girls.  During this entire process I have been on high alert, a step ahead, on the fast track, always aware that our girls are in an orphanage and need to come home ASAP.

I haven't understood this last phase of the process very well, and so I THOUGHT we were still within the guidelines when our I800 was not back yet.  Yesterday the lights came on in this thick noggin and I realized that we were SUPPOSED to get a confirmation, likely about two weeks ago saying that immigrations had received our paperwork.  Well, our check cleared two weeks ago, so I KNEW they must have them and I just didn't worry about it.  (me, imagine that?)    I wanted our immigrations officer to actually DO her job and not just answer questions from anxious people.  

I sent an email early this week.  When I did that during the I800A process someone answered me within the hour.  This time, no response.  It finally got to me yesterday and I spent much of the afternoon calling the office and listening to a recording saying to leave a message. (which I did once.)  I later found out that because of a snow storm in their area they closed at 11AM.  I spent the afternoon calling an empty office! (head slap)

So, here I sit waiting for their office to HOPEFULLY open this morning so I can get some answers.  We must be lost in their system somewhere for it to be taking this long.  This, the "predictable" phase of the process where we don't have to actually do much but wait for our government employees to move the papers around... so they say!  I hate the thought that our girls may have to wait at least two weeks longer  because I didn't understand and then bug someone to follow up on our paperwork. 

We are more than half-way there!

We have passed the half-way mark in raising funds.  Take a look to the right (you may need to scroll down a bit) and look at the thermometer.  Doesn't it look good?  Thank you to everyone who has purchased from our fundraisers or given donations, and most importantly prayed for us. 

Where are we in the process?  We were told to expect our receipt of notice from the USCIS in the mail in one to three weeks.  Well...in this the "predictable" phase, we are at three weeks tomorrow.  The office that handles these things was shut down this morning due to the snow.  Here's hoping they got it off in the mail before the storm hit!

We are still being cautiously optimistic for travel in late April.  I cannot wait to get our girls home!

We added a TENTH category to our auction!

We've had some really neat things donated to our fundraising auction - nearly 500 of them!  A late incoming donation of editing/proofreading (and no logical category in which to list it) made adding a TENTH category necessary for professional services.  So, here they are again.  I hope you'll click on these links and check them out.  Thank you for your participation and happy bidding!

Adult and Teen Clothing
Arts & Crafts, Scrapbooking, Stamping, Cake Decorating
Books, Movies and Music
Children's Clothing, Newborn through girls size 20
Gifts
Girly Stuff: Jewelry, Bath Products, Hair Services
Home Decor
Household
Kids Toys and Books, Homeschooling Items
Professional Services

Fundraising Auction

Family and friends have come together to organize an auction to help us get the two little princesses home.  We’re excited about all the treasures to be found!  Please check out our auction on Facebook .  Click through the various categorized photo albums to see pictures and information about each item up for bid – we have a little bit of everything. From high-quality kitchen equipment, to professional service packages, to one-of-a-kind handmade crafts, to gift options, to clothing from newborn through plus sizes. Some items are brand new, and others are gently used.  Everything is in very good condition - no junk!  We hope you’ll find some good deals – all the while knowing the proceeds go to help the little princesses in this adventure.

The bidding will begin on Sunday, February 17  and end on Saturday, February 23 at midnight EST. To bid, just go to the photo of the item you wish to bid on and type the dollar amount into the comment box. To raise a bid, comment with a higher amount. It’s as easy as that!

There are nine categories, each separated into its own photo album in our auction:

Adult and Teen Clothing
Arts & Crafts, Scrapbooking, Stamping, Cake Decorating
Books, Movies & Music
Children's Clothing, newborn through girls' size 20
Gifts
Girls Stuff: Jewelry, Bath Products, Hair Services
 Home Decor
 Household  
Kids Toys & Books, Homeschooling Items
Professional Services

We will of course be happy to arrange local pick-up when possible, or combine your purchases to help you save on shipping.  Thanks for taking a look!

Praises

About a week ago we hit a rough spot in the process when we discovered our back up plan for financing the adoptions had fallen through.  If you've noticed our tracking thermometer over in the right side border of the page, you'll see that the amount we still need is pretty tremendous.

I will be brutally honest here: it often takes my head awhile to catch up with what my heart knows, so I was a scared, depressed mess for about 24 hours. It didn't help that we had some people shedding their doubts on me saying, "ARE YOU SURE you are supposed to do this? After all, you don't have the money, it might be a sign." SIGH.

I have debated this post with myself for quite some time.  I don't like for my blog to focus on the finances a whole lot.  Yes, they are needed, but that really isn't what it is all about.  However, some WOW GOD stories need to be told.  He has moved on the hearts of His people this week, and I would be remiss if I didn't share the story.  I don't want the rocks to have to do my job of singing His praises!  (see Scripture at the bottom of the post if you aren't catching my reference.)

First thing last Friday morning, a friend stopped by the house with an envelope that "someone" wanted us to have. She wouldn't say who, only that it was NOT her.  If it was one of my readers, thank you! Inside was $300 cash.  Remember the number.  It is significant later.

Another friend had given us some vintage magazines to sell.  Our Ebay auctions ended, and when the dust settled we received about $100.  This is also a significant number.

A check from the mother of a dear friend arrived in my mailbox, and remember when I was grumbling about jury duty?  My "wages" of $15 arrived.  Hey, a little adds up to be a lot!  And all of these things from Friday become very significant later in the story.

You would think that the happenings on Friday would have reassured me that God was moving in this situation.  But alas, I'm a little slow and that weepy mess of a doubter visited me for the weekend when the back-up plan fell through on Saturday.  I spent some quality time with the Lord on Sunday, and when I woke up on Monday morning, I knew it was time to stop my stewing and just move on to whatever plan D was.

Generally I check my email, Facebook, etc. first thing in the morning.  And a nice "good morning" was awaiting me.  While I was sleeping, someone (again I don't know who) donated $1000 through our Reece's Rainbow family sponsorship. (that is the link to the right)  Later that day another $20 appeared in that account. God wasn't finished yet.  Someone else sponsored a puzzle piece.  Yay God!

I got a call from a family member and a friend with offers of a workable plan D backup plan.  (So thankful for this!  I didn't have a clue!)

Later that same day, this is still on Monday,  we got notice from our agency that it was time to apply for our Chinese visas.  While we had gotten a large donation through our RR account, those funds aren't available to us until shortly before travel.  We had just scraped together everything we had for Jennifer's additional immigrations fee, so we wondered HOW to get this together quickly.  Believe it or not, with all the drama of the weekend we had forgotten about Friday, and that envelope with $300 cash in it. And the $100 from the auction.  And the checks in the mailbox.  Guess what?  It is pretty much exactly what we need to apply for our visas!

I think that is enough to qualify as a WOW story, but God wasn't done.  On Tuesday the kickoff for 40 to Forever began.  This is a Lenten emphasis with devotionals, give-aways, and fundraising/awareness for forty orphans.  Our girls are among the participants.  Friends rallied around to help us meet a Facebook "sharing" challenge.  My sister-in-law ended up winning the drawing which allowed her to choose which child received the $200 prize in their adoption account!  

On Wednesday a friend handed me a check to sponsor several more puzzle pieces.  Not done yet... 

On Thursday we received a phone call letting us know that we had been awarded a $2500 grant!  If you have been counting what has happened over the past week, that is over $4100!  We have watched our "funds raised" thermometer rise steadily all week and it is very encouraging. We are still a long ways from "there" but God has shown up big time this week to still my anxious heart and encourage me that we are on the right path. 

Luke 19:37-40
When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"

"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

When is it advantageous to have an extra fee?

Because we are adopting two unrelated children at the same time, we had an additional immigrations fee thrown in.  It was several hundred dollars and I didn't think I would find it to be advantageous.  But guess what?  The check cleared our account today so we KNOW that immigrations has at the very least opened our paper work.  Nice....

Kind of nervous...

I just sent letters to our daughters who are half way around the world.  I introduced our family to them, and sent photos of us and their new home.  I hope they like us!

The Little Princesses Have a New Kitchen!

I'm really excited to have a "new" adorable kitchen play set for our little princesses!  It is sturdy and should stand up to years of use.  If you are just joining us, here is the short scoop: Big sisters' play sets had sharp edges.

Our model

We needed a low budget but high quality replacement.  A friend shared a photo of an idea she saw on Etsy.

Our kitchen

The story:  I went to Goodwill and purchased an ugly, old entertainment center - on clearance of course!  It is a bit smaller than the model kitchen, but fits the area we have available just perfectly.  We found many of the supplies we needed to transform it in our garage or at the thrift shop.

 A little sanding, a lot painting, and adding little details gave us a darling toy that will no doubt see many years of happy play!

For some of you, that information is enough.  Others have frequently asked me about this project. For my friends who have have been wondering how we did it, here is the to-do list:

1.  Find an old entertainment center (the uglier the better! )

2. Remove any glass doors that came attached to the thing.


3. Lightly sand the entire piece to remove the finish, just so the paint will stick.

4. Paint in your chosen colors.  I sprayed it with gray primer then red spray paint. 

5. Attach a back to the piece...yes this SHOULD have been step  three but.... I guess I needed the opportunity to get the paint out and do parts over again.

6. Have your hubby (or some other handy person) cut doors for the refrigerator, the oven and any cabinet space you set aside.  I used "chrome" spray paint to make the appliance doors look like stainless steel. Attach hinges and hang the doors.  Oh, and if you use some magnets on the doors it helps them to stay shut! 

We chose to use the smaller section under the refrigerator for the oven and the larger area under the stove for cabinets - even though that is pretty unconventional.   The princesses' Daddy thought they needed the larger space for storage. 

7. Use your imagination for the details.

Here is what we did:

The refrigerator handle is a dowel rod and the ends are from a toilet paper holder we found in the garage.

The oven door's window is Magic Mesh (from my scrapbooking supplies) outlined in black paint left over from another project. We are still auditioning random things from the garage to be an oven handle!




 The sink is a stainless steel bowl found at Goodwill.  That was the BIG MESS picture you saw a few days ago.  A hole had to be cut in the "counter" area so the bowl would fit down inside.  You can use any faucet you find lying around.  Since we had recently moved, we didn't have the stash we used to have in the garage, so had to put out BIG BUCKS (ahem .. $10) at Walmart for the faucet.  It was one of the priciest things in the whole kitchen.  The burners were made from Magic Mesh with glittery felt glued on top.  The stove knobs are pot handles detailed with a Sharpie marker.

Ethan made the "window" from little scraps of wood and some photos that I printed of our back yard.   The curtains are fabric our oldest daughter had on hand, and Ruth sewed for us.

Those of you who have been in my living room - now the play room - have seen the AWESOME light from IKEA that hangs in there.  Of course, the little princesses needed an awesome IKEA light too... Check this out as a 99 cent after Christmas clearance sale.




Inside the oven is a rack of some sort that we found in our (real) oven drawer. You can see lots of tasty things baking on it now.

Inside the cupboard doors are drawers to keep the dishes organized.  It was a drawer unit discarded from the bedroom reorganization a few months ago.  Fits perfectly!

I'm going to say that the play room is pretty much finished now, and just in time!  Since we received our LOA, we get to send a photo book and letter to our girls.  I really wanted to include a picture of this room for them.  Here it is!

Note the awesome IKEA light!

I got the idea to take pictures of the toys inside the bins then tape a picture to the front of each bin.  This way the little princesses can find what they are looking for.  Thanks to big sisters before them, they have Little People, Potato Heads, My Little Pony, Littlest Pet Shop,  and of course, Barbie.

I hope they like it as much as we do!

LOA!!!

The all important LOA!!!  I totally wasn't expecting it today, but I received the call from our China case manager that our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) or LSC (Letter Seeking Confirmation) (it is known as both) had arrived!!! There was a big rush to get them signed and back to her in time to get copies of them and our I800 into their express mail today.  These documents sent to the USCIS  apply for approval to adopt Abigail and Jennifer specifically.  Our case manager said approval takes 1-3 weeks. 

We in the adoption world are always looking forward to that next step.  According to China Adoption Online, here is what happens after the I800 is approved:

What Happens Next

• If you haven't already, please call or send an email to find out if your I800 has been approved. Once you know that your application has been approved, you are ready to move on to the National Visa Center! 
• After approving your file, your officer will mail your approval to the National Visa Center by 2nd Day UPS Air. However, the approval isn't always mailed out the same day it's approved, so applications can take up seven days to arrive at NVC. Upon receiving your approval, the National Visa Center (NVC) will enter your information into their computer system. 
• Within 1-3 business days, the NVC will "cable" (basically emailing/sending electronically) your file to the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China. This is approval of your visa petition.
• Upon doing this, the NVC will then mail you a letter stating that your petition has been forwarded to the Embassy. Your agency needs this NVC letter in order to proceed with your adoption! Unfortunately, this letter can take up to a few weeks to arrive in the mail. So instead, ask the NVC to email you the letter as a .pdf attachment. 
• After you have received I-800 Approval and have been cabled (and gotten the NVC letter), it's time for your Article 5 letter to be issued by the US Embassy. This is a step that you don't have to really DO anything about, but it is helpful to know what is going on. Once you have emailed your NVC letter to your agency, they will forward it to their in-China representative.
  The in-China rep will take the NVC letter to the US Embassy in Guangzhou along with your DS-230 application and Parental LOA. The US Embassy only allows representatives to drop off the paperwork on certain days. (Article 5s are picked up and dropped off on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.)
    Why is my paperwork going to the consulate?
  The consulate needs to review your new child's visa application (the DS-230), make sure it meets the qualifications for an immigrant visa, and then signs off that everything is in order for the adoption to be completed. This is called the Article 5 letter. You cannot obtain custody of your child until the Article 5 letter is issued!
  The consulate takes a standard two weeks to complete this process. If your paperwork is dropped off on a Tuesday, it will be picked up from the consulate by your agency rep two Tuesdays later.
  Once it's picked up from the consulate, it will be delivered directly to the CCCWA for Travel Approval!   

So........ if you actually understood all of that, you are one ahead of me at this point!  Fortunately our agency will walk us through all of this, and it seems we don't really have much "to do" but wait.  The wait is predicted to be 8-12 weeks now.  We are getting close!

Now we get to send them a letter and pictures of their family and their new home.  I hope this is welcome news to them.  We are crazy excited but realize that it has to be a super scary thing for them.  If you think of them, please pray for our little ones as they process this news over the next several weeks.