Just Amazing!

First off, let me just say, I had no idea just how exhausting a yard sale of this magnitude could be!  I'm not a complainer, so I'm going to drop this in a minute and never re-visit it, but for those out there that are thinking this yard sale thing looks like easy money.....think! again!  You will earn every penny.  Was it worth all the lost sleep and pulled muscles?  Yes!  Because every dime is going to help bring Asher home.  But, I would not do this just for fun, I tell you!

All that said, our yard sale fundraiser on Saturday was AMAZING!  Just amazing!  Of course, it started weeks ago, when we began taking in donations.  It was exciting to see the stuff coming rolling in and know that it was going to bring in cash for our fund!  Then Friday was spent getting a little bit organized.  Isabel made signs for her concession stand.  That girl loves a chance to guilt people out of their money sell something for a good cause and she knows it's hard to refuse a little cutie like her little self! 

The boys hauled folding tables and set them up around the drive and walkways.  We moved our cars and brought out some of the larger things and then covered them with tarps to protect them from the dew.  Friday night ended around 1:00am on Saturday for Paul and me.  Saturday morning?  Yeah, that came way too early!  5:15ish.  Even the three older kids were up by 6 o'clock.  There was a garage and two rooms full of stuff to get out!  Everyone worked.  But, it wasn't fast enough.  Is it ever?  The yard sale that was advertised to begin at 8:00am, had it's first official customer at 6:45am!  She bought just about all the wood furniture.  Loaded it in her truck and drove away before we even had the other half of the stuff out of the house! 

If these pictures look like they were taken in the dark, 

it's 'cause they were!  I tried to snap these before that lady ran off with everything.  You know, I wanted to document how much stuff we had.  But, here she was buying it all up.  Thank Goodness!   



We had so much that we were stashing it in the garden!



Yes, someone donated tubs and trash cans.  And they sold!

Most of what you have just seen, is gone.  SOLD!

And yet, we have a curious amount of stuff still piled high in our garage and sunroom that did not sell yet.

The grand total from the yard sale (insert drum roll)

$1330.87

Not in my wildest dreams did I expect to reach $1000, much less exceed it!  Especially after all our "big ticket" items walked off before 8am and we only had about $200 to show for them.  Only God could  have done the math on Saturday!  Some how, some way, He pulled it off! Paul is still scratching his head, trying to figure out HOW we could have made that much money on the stuff we had and still have a garage full. 

Well actually, he's not.  We gave up trying to figure it out around 11pm, when we collapsed into bed on Saturday.  We have also taken in another $100 in cash donations. 

Fundraising




Update Fundraiser Thermometer Here

Not so scary now, are you little thermometer?   HA!

As for the big guy over there in the right column.  Well, I made some adjustments to that guy.  I had a few of my figures wrong because I had too much coming at me at once.  I've sorted out the agency stuff with the agency.  I had one fee too low and Asher got a grant attached to him from my agency {YAY!} so the agency fees worked out to be $200 lower than I had planned.  That is always a nice mistake!   Then a friend helped me see that the travel fees were estimated too high.  She booked all her own travel last time she went, about a year ago and will help us this time.  So the BIG thermometer is updated to show the total of what we need from now until Asher is home.  And it shows what we {with your help} have raised to be sent in and applied to those fees!   

Provision

What does this look like to you?



Dumpster diving?

Moving day?

Cleaning out the attic/garage/playroom?



Savage?

Aftermath of a horrible storm?

No. no. no. no. no. no!

This guys?

Is two rooms of God's provision.

What?  I know it looks like a big ole mess right now.  But, what you are looking at is the selflessness of friends, family and neighbors.  These people rummaged their attics/garages/playrooms and donated the things they could part with.  For some, like my mother-in-law, it was a difficult task!  To part with her things.  But, they are all doing it so we will have the funds to bring Asher home.  And I can not tell you how thankful I am.  To the men at church that called with TVs and power tools.  To a high school friend that offered an 80 gallon fish tank.  To the homeschool mom with a toddler bed and beautiful child's vanity.  To Paul's aunts and cousin that filled the Monster Van to max capacity with their donations!  To my dearest friends and other members of their extended families that came up with so. much. stuff! I can't say thank you enough!

We will hold a pretty large yard sale on Saturday as a fundraiser and what does not sell then will be driven to my sisters house three hours away for a second attempt in a few weeks. 

This next part is as much for me as for anything.  While we are raising money for this particular leg of the journey, I can't look at that thermometer on the side.  I'd be lying if I didn't say that I have a mini panic attack every time I see it.  So I'm going to break it down to a manageable bite for me!

We got an invoice from our agency.  We owe $5730 total right now.  While collecting donations for our yard sale, we also received some cash donations that I have not sent in yet!  Plus, the kids and I added to it so that it would round out.  Yes!  The kids.  The boys gave of their hard earned dog walking money....yes, my boys get paid, by two different families, to walk and play with their dogs during the day.  You know, since we don't "go" to school.  And their owners do.  And Isabel?  She cracks me up, but that kid has a heart of gold, I tell you!  She went door to door asking for change and cash to "Bring Asher Home".  I so did not know about this!  I never do.  And this is not the first time she has done it.  She raised over $25 for Pet Helpers waving cars down as they past our street....and also dog walkers, joggers and cyclists are not safe from her!  That was what she raised before Parker came in and asked if I knew "my daughter" was standing on the street corner.  Come again?  "She's yelling and waving a can around like a lunatic!"  Okay.  She gets that from her daddy's side!  Just sayin'.  She brought in almost $20.  Can't fault her for standing for her causes! 

 Anyway, this is the thermometer I will concentrate on for today:




Fundraising

Update Fundraiser Thermometer Here

Okay, so that is still a little daunting. But, there is no mountain big enough, y'all!

Pop Culture?

This weekend the hubby and I spent hours running around town collecting items that people wanted to donate to a yard sale fundraiser we will be holding next weekend!  It was really awesome to get a phone call or email and hear what people were willing to hand over, all to help bring Asher home! 

But before this started, Paul took the boys to a local farm for a service project.  They joined the homeschool version of student council and will be doing numerous service projects throughout the year.  Good stuff! 

Paul ended up with a load of boys and they headed out to the farm where some slave labor painters were needed!  It was very Mark Twain-ish.

Dirt country roads

 Fence painting.

Big old oak trees.

Did I mention the fence painting?



And then we got a little surprise.  The mom that is the advisor for the student council went to her car and unloaded seven jugs of pop tops.  Turns out she is also a Girl Scout leader and her troop had a fundraiser for us.  Without us even knowing about it.  They collected all these pop tops.  Just for Asher.  So sweet.  I can just imagine all those little girls drinking soda after soda to collect all these tabs.  Can't you?  No.  LOL!  I hope they didn't drink all those soda by themselves! 



When Paul got home with these, I googled to find where we might turn them in.  Well, I got more than I bargained for.  I found this 

I bet you didn't know you needed this!  Yes folks.  That is in fact a purse, well a messenger bag actually.....made from the tabs of soda pops.  And y'all, that puppy retails for 180 buck-a-roos!  Pop Tops?  Check it out Escama if you don't believe me. 

What about this?  Pop top belt anyone?  Flexible and ecological! Only $70 at Novica. 

What if you found this under the Christmas tree.  Now imagine, it's not from your 5 year old,  but from your sweetie!  Who paid $20 for it! 

Prom anyone? 

So I got to thinking.... I've got enough tabs, I could make an afghan, y'all! 

Or maybe not.

But, maybe I should make belts.

Anyone for a pop-top belt?

Why?

Why do I put myself through this?  Why did we take a leap of faith, yet again, into the unknown?  Why did we subject ourselves to prying eyes and invasive questions?  Why spend countless hours chasing down documents, filling out paperwork, reading books, researching, crunching numbers and being interviewed?  Why? Knowing we would have to put ourselves out here in faith that God would provide for this adoption as He did for Claire's.

Because there are children without families in the world.

We are a family that wants more children.

We have an empty bed....and if we didn't, we'd get one!

Because he is worth it!

This video was taken of our sweet Asher in the early spring by the staff of our agency.  We originally fell in love with just the pictures of young Jun'an.  By the time we saw this video, we were committed to Shan Yi, but it was the video that did Paul in.  He was finally able to see what I saw in this child.  I cried the first time I saw it and then thought to myself, well now I know he will get a family, who couldn't fall in love with him now.  But, he was still not snatched up.  Apparently, he was waiting for us.  He waited 8 months on that list.

Break Down Part 2

In which I explain to you that in adoption we do not buy our kids, but we do pay fees to get them home.  Please do not ask an adoptive family how much their child cost!  This is offensive.  And hurtful to the child.  Can you imagine being asked that in front of the child and knowing that your child is processing that information.  Thinking, what am I, a doll? a toy? a piece of meat?  You bought me?  Like you buy groceries? 

We pay adoption fees just like anyone that has a baby pays the doctor, the hospital, the nursery, the mid-wife, the doula.  Many of the fees are legal fees required by the US as well as China for an adoption.  Some of the fees are for services rendered......like the service of translating my English paperwork into Chinese....or the service of getting me to all my appointments in China on time and with someone to speak for me, in Chinese.  Some of the fees are for the actual travel.  None of the fees are to buy a child.  

When we adopted Claire, we spent a total of $26,526.00.  Yes, that is a lot of money.  But, one of my preemie twin biologically children cost me more in medical bills than that adoption.  And, the money was not all due at once.  We started our adoption in 2006 and completed it in 2008.  The bulk of the fees were due at the end, but over $7000.00 had been paid in the first year. 

With this adoption, it will be a little different.  First, because it is most definitely not going to take 2 years to complete this adoption!  We are on track to complete it well before the one year mark!  But, that means we have less time to come up with the money.

And this brings us to the reason our dossier has not left for China yet. 

We have completed our paperwork and it is on it's way to our agency.  But, they will be unable to send it to China until we have paid the fees necessary to do so. 

So, do you want to see what the fees look like for an international adoption?  Too bad.  You get to look at them anyway.

We have already paid a little over $6100.00.

• $1300.00 in agency fees
• $830.00 for immigration services fees (USCI$)
• $3085 for our homestudy (this includes all our post-placement fees)
• $85 for vital records
• $130 to pay the courier in Washington
• $429 for all our state and country certifications and authentications
• $50 for required adoption education
• $206 in shipping postage
• a few miscellaneous fees

What do we have left?  To be honest, we have three categories here.  There is a total that we need for our dossier to go to China, a total that we need to secure our travel and a total that we will need to take with us to China. 

Our immediate need is to pay $5300 in agency and China program fees left and $630 in fees to China.  We have $1000 to put towards this and there is a possibility that there is a grant attached to Asher's file.  I was told this in an email today.  It is being checked on and someone will be getting to me soon!  We are also having a yard sale with donated items next week.  I know this will not bring in the thousands that we need, but I have to start somewhere, right?  I am toying with the idea of an online raffle too.  And, my mom found some art that I might be able to sell for a nice profit, providing I can find the right buyer. 


After that, we will need to pay for all our travel expenses in advance.  That includes our international flights, all our in-country travel, hotels and guides.  The estimation for it is $11,000, but it could be more or less and we won't know until then!   We will also need to pay our $600 post-placement bond at this time.  The bond will be reimbursed in increments every time we turn in one of three post-placement adoption reports that are required.

The final amount is money that we have to take with us to China for various expenses and includes document preparation, legal fees, a required orphanage donation fee, medical exam for Asher, vaccinations, visa fees, food and miscellaneous things needed in Chin@.  The total amount we will need to take with us to China is $10,000.00. 

That's a grand total of $33,704 for this adoption.  A little more than when we adopted Claire.  But, there are more regulations in place now and travel is more expensive. 

What are we going to do about it?  First of all, we pray.  We know that God's heart is for the orphan and we are following His will by taking this leap of faith in the first place.  It would have been nice if we could have started this adoption with $33,000 in the bank and then agreed to it.  I don't know about you, but that isn't the way God has worked in our lives.  He keeps requiring us to leap first.  To show we have faith that He will come through on behalf of the orphan.  So we did....leap that is.  And now we pray for peace and wisdom. 

Second, we are going to have several fund raisers.  Right now I am putting together two yard sales in two towns using items donated by family and friends.  Like I said before, I know this will not bring in thousands of dollars, but every little bit will help.  God can bless the yard sale, you know! 

Third, I am going to ask you to pray for us.  Will you?  If you feel led, please by all means, donate to help bring Asher home. I am so thankful for those that already have. You have no idea!  But, I know everyone that happens along here can't.  And that is okay! 

What can you do? The most important thing you can do, pray for us!  I know that our decision to adopt is the right one.  It will always be the right decision for us.  But, it does get a tad stressful.  Pray for our peace, pray for our wisdom and that we hear God's directions for us, whether He wants us to wait or do something.  And pray for our sweet Asher boy.  I feel that he is safe and generally healthy and loved where he is at.  But, I don't know these things for sure.  Pray that he is being cared for and that he is being prepared for this transition into a forever family.  And finally, pray that this mama doesn't go crazy waiting!  Seriously.