Day Two of G1S1 fundraising: Getting to know the Moorhouses

This post is part of a series for our fundraising week at Give One Save One.  If you haven't checked out our video and given your dollar yet, please check it out HERE!!

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As we raise money this week through Give One Save One and our You Caring site, we know some new folks will be visiting our blog, so we thought you'd like to get to know us a little better:

GETTING TO KNOW JEREMY:

 

Statement: Hey, I'm Jeremy and I would like to say thanks for checking out our adoption blog! We are in the process of adopting a little girl from Bulgaria and cannot wait to bring her to our home. I am married to the beautiful young lady who runs this blog and we have a knucklehead of a dog, featured below.

Age: 33

Profession: Copy Editor
School: Appalachian University + Southeastern Seminary

Favorite thing about his wife: Beautiful, intelligent, and just her heart for the Lord

Favorite food: Steak, baked potato, corn on the cob and Caesar salad.... on Monday after a long day at school there is nothing quite like a pizza

Dream vacation: The Pacific northwest, also the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone....possibly on a motorcycle : )

Team(s): Florida State!

Secret talent: Not to brag but I'm pretty good at pancakes....Shelly likes them .... I hope Ivelina will also!

Favorite way to spend a beautiful day: Hiking, tennis, basketball, working in the yard

Favorite article of clothing: Appalachian State sweatshirt (Shelly hates it...haha)

Future aspirations: Serving the Lord through missions, maybe church planting (still working out the details)
Favorite Bible Verse: First one that came to mind ... 1 John 4:4

Thing I'm most looking forward to about being a tate (dad): Sharing the love of Jesus Christ with our first child.

GETTING TO KNOW SHELLY:

Statement:  I am Shelly, the primary contributor to this blog, wife of Jeremy, future mom to Ivelina, teacher, cook, seminary student, and owner of Miss Josey featured below!
Age:  knocking on 30 (this Feb!!)
Profession:  Part-time developmental English/Reading teacher + tutor
School:  UNC-Greensboro + Southeastern Seminary
Favorite thing about her husband:  His dashing good looks... oh, and just how he loves me and is my best friend every day through the glorious and the mundane
Favorite Meal:  pintos and cornbread  (for real y'all)
Dream Vacation:  we've already been on some great ones, but I'd have to say I'd still like to take a tour of all the major national parks out West (Yellowstone, Yosemite, Tetons, etc)
Team(s):  don't care... I usually read while the game is on
Secret Talent: I'm really good at finding awesome parking places and I make a mean Thai stir fry
Favorite way to spend a beautiful day: playing tennis or going on a long walk
Favorite Article of Clothing: my Ashley Judd jeans...no jeans fit me like her brand.  So sad I can't find them anymore.  Also, my scarf made out of socks!
Future aspirations:  to be a mom really, to home school, to work in Christian missions in some capacity
Favorite Bible Verse: 1 Cor. 10:31

Thing I am most looking forward to about being a mama:  oh gosh, where to begin!!  Watching Ivelina see and do things for the very first time.  That's got to be exciting!  Teaching her about the Lord! Bedtime stories, Christmas morning, VBS, you name it, I'm looking forward to all of those "firsts". 

GETTING TO KNOW JOSEY:

Statement:  I'm the dog of the house.  I'm spoiled.  I look mean, but I'm just a chicken on the inside.  I am attached to both of my owners, but my favorite one is Jeremy!
Age: 7
Breed: Doberman Pinscher
Profession:  guard of the house and keeper of my dog bed
School:  PetSmart Training School grad 2007
Favorite thing about her owners:  when they give me any kind of attention and especially when they take me on outings
Favorite Meal:  My Science Diet is ok, but I really love it when they cook pancakes, eggs, and grits and give me a little sample! I like licking out the empty peanut butter jars too!
Dream Vacation:  oh to go to a squirrel park where I could chase those little guys all day long.  A cat farm would be pretty fun too!
Secret Talent:  locating a Kleenex in my mom's purse within .1 seconds and eating it before she can ever get to me to take it away
Favorite way to spend a beautiful day:  long walks with my family. I also like wrestling with Jeremy and going hiking and "swimming"
Favorite Article of Clothing:  I am anti-clothing but I love my warm blanket
Future Aspirations:  to one day break out of my kennel, and to finally catch that oppossum that I see in my yard sometimes
Dislikes:  baths, the kennel, cold wind, bikes, the vacuum cleaner, the suitcases, the vet, and when Shelly & Jeremy have to go to work  =(
Thing I am most looking forward to about having a little girl in the house:  I will always have someone to play with and I'll have some new toys to steal  ;)

Thanks for reading!  Remember to visit our fundraiser, watch our video, and support us with your dollar.  Every dollar is being matched!!

I have been getting lots of questions about how much our adoption will cost, so I wanted to do a blog post to address some of those questions, especially since we are getting ready for another fundraiser raffle happening SOON!  

Our adoption is estimated to cost between 30K and 35K depending on the time of travel and any unforeseen decreases or increases in government costs.

In this post, I just want to focus on our first set of fees.  To me, the fees seem to be broken down into four stages.  I will blog more about the other stages when we get ready to cross that bridge.

1.)  Contracting stage

2.) Dossier stage

3.) Travel #1 stage

4.) Travel #2 stage

We are currently in stage one.  We have applied to AGCI and have been tentatively "approved," but we have contracts pending.  We cannot send them in until we have the fees needed for the contracting stage.  Here's the break-down of our first set of fees and what they will be used for:

$300 - - - - application fee - - - - PAID!

$3,000 - - - - - Agency service fee - - - - - Due

$1,000 Bulgaria Program fee - - - - - - Due

$212 - - - - - - Adoptive Parent Educational Materials - - - - -  Due

What does all this mean?  Our agency is made up of social workers and case managers, and they have to make a living too.  We will have several people doing lots of technical stuff for us.  The agency will be a phone call away to field any questions or concerns we have, and they handle all the legal stuff that we are no where near qualified to handle ourselves.  The agency fees & program fees pay for their services and overhead costs.  Jeremy and I will receive an adoptive parent workbook and admission to an online course that will help prepare us to be the best adoptive parents we can be.  Of course, we must pay for these materials as well.

Our deadline for completing this contracting stage is Oct. 2, 2012.  We hope to have $4,212 and our notarized contracts all ready to mail in by that date! 

At this moment, we have acquired $2,044 and we still need $2,168 in order to meet our goal.  That's a lot of extra money to locate in about a month's time, but we know it is not impossible!  

This weekend, we will be starting yet another exciting raffle via our blog.  With your help, this raffle could dramatically help provide the needed funds for us to complete stage one of our adoption.  I'm not a math person at all, but I was doing some calculating tonight and I deduced:

• If 50 of my Facebook friends purchase two $5 tickets (yay!) that would equal us raising $500!

• Now, that would be awesome, but if those same 50 friends shared the link to our raffle on their Facebook page or blog, and it resulted in just one other faithful person buying 2 tickets of their own, guess what?  We raise $1,000!  That's half of our remaining goal!!  All it would take is $10 and a share on Facebook...simple really!

I really don't think this scenario is unreasonable, and with God, we know that all things are possible.  Sometimes BIG things are accomplished by a lot of people each doing a little something.  Please be praying for our upcoming raffle.  Please pray that our child is safe right now and that he or she is being taken care of.  Please pray for God's speed in this process.  We know His timing is perfect, but we would hate for our adoption to be delayed because of a measly missed deadline.  Please be on the lookout for our raffle to start this coming weekend, and consider how you could be a part.  

 

Thanks so much, and for all those people who have been wondering what all this money is for, I hope this post has helped answer your questions.   

-Shelly

 

So many questions

I have gotten SO many different questions & reactions lately wherever I go when I tell someone that my husband and I are adopting.

I know building a family through adoption is different, so I expect and invite any types of questions!  I try my best not to get my feathers ruffled when people ask me tons of kind-of-personal questions because I really do want to educate people about adoption as we learn about the process ourselves.  I hope that other families are inspired by our story to consider adoption or some type of orphan care.  There truly are so many children in need in our country and around the world.  We cannot bring all of them into our family, but we can bring hope to one.  My prayer is that maybe someone reading this is considering adoption.  Maybe God has placed that bug in their heart, and they will read our story and be educated and be encouraged and ultimately decide to take this step of faith.  Maybe someone else will decide to change the life of one orphan!  So, please ask away!  I'll try my best to answer candidly and honestly. 

Now, to address some of the reactions....

Reaction 1:  "Aww.. how sweet!"
Yes, children are sweet, but from what I have read and what I have heard and what I have experienced so far in our short time in this process, adoption is not sweet.  It's grueling, it's frustrating, it's a test of patience and faith, it's expensive, it's emotional, it can be heart-breaking, but sweet?  Yes, it'll be sweet when we finally see a photo of our child (after 2+ years of waiting) or get to hold his/her hand or get to bring him/her home or get to tell him/her that we (and Jesus) love him.  But, that sweetness will be tempered with healing our child's broken heart, helping him or her leave their culture and the only home they have ever known (the orphanage institution), teaching them a new language so that we can communicate, creating a bond that was not automatically placed in them at birth, and battling who knows what kind of baggage he or she might bring to the table.  Sure, there will be sweet moments, as with any parenting experience, but adoption is not for the faint of heart.  It's not always sweet and rosey as many may think.  And we are not saints for doing this!  I pray that God strengthens us for this task that He has set before us and that we will be obedient.

Reaction 2:  "I want to adopt one day too!"
If you believe that God has spoken to you about adoption or orphan care, watch out!  If you have a tender spot in your heart for children in need of families and children in need of care, God can use you in a mighty way!  Get ready for a fun ride!  He may indeed call your family to adopt, but many orphans will not be adopted.  The Bible calls us to visit orphans and care for those in need.  If you're one of those people saying, "I think I would like to adopt...one day," be careful.  Don't keep putting that "one day" off until tomorrow.  Seek God and ask how He wants you to respond to the orphan crisis in our world today.  Seriously consider whether now might be the time God wants you to act!  Maybe God is calling you to adopt, or maybe He wants you to go on a mission trip where you can care for orphans.  Maybe He wants you to sponsor a child or support a friend's adoption (click here).  Maybe He wants you to volunteer with foster children in your community or become a mentor to a child that doesn't have one.  The possibilities are endless....so pray, but don't just keep saying you'll do it "one day."

Reaction 3:  "Cool, when do you get to pick out your baby?"
A large percentage of adoptive families do choose to adopt babies.  It's understandable indeed.  But, Jeremy and I are choosing to adopt a slightly older child.  Bulgaria just happens to have many more older children than they do babies that are ready for adoption, so it's a perfect fit for us!  We did get to specify an age range on our adoption application, and we chose boy or girl up to age seven.  Most likely, since we are open to an older child, we will (most likely) be placed with one.  There is a great need for families to adopt older children, and we wanted to be a part of fulfilling that great need.  Everyone assumes, we'll be bringing home a baby, and that's okay.  We could.  But, most likely, not.  Secondly, we will not get to "pick out" our child.  We will not be flipping through an orphan catalog, choosing the cutest one we see to bring home.  We will go through the long process with social workers of deciding what types of special needs we feel we can best handle.  Several social workers will be working for us Stateside and in Bulgaria to choose a child that they feel would benefit by being in our family.  But, our agency is child-centered, not parent-centered.  They will strive to meet the needs of the children looking for families, not meet our every wish as we look for the perfect child.  Yes, we hope our child is as beautiful and as healthy and as smart as possible, but we understand that this is not like picking out a car or a puppy.  This is a child.  If I were pregnant, I would not get to choose the hair color, eye color, skin tone, IQ, athleticism, or academic ability of my child.  It's the same with our adoption.  We want God to choose our child for us, and we trust that the social workers we will work with will consider what kind of parents we will be and will help place us with the perfect child for us! 

Reaction 4:  "Oh I'm sorry, can you not get pregnant?"
First, please don't apologize.  We are happy to be adopting, and we are so excited!  I feel just like I am expecting in the "normal" way (except for the lack of morning sickness).  No one would apologize to a pregnant woman now would they?  Additionally, no doctor has told us that we cannot conceive a biological child.  I have never been pregnant, never miscarried, so one day, we may end up with biological children.  It's really up to the Lord.  I have taken our difficulties in getting pregnant as a giant hint that God wants us to act on a desire that's already been on my heart for so long.  As a blogger friend of mine once said, "Infertility does not lead people to adopt.  God does.  He just sometimes uses our circumstances to do it."  Click here to read an older post about our personal reasons for adopting. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!  I really like talking about adoption!