Trucking Right Along...

First off, we'd just like to thank everyone again for your involvement and support in our photo shoot raffle over the past month! We are so excited that our dear friends, Gwen and Dustin, won the drawing and think it perfect timing for a photo session for their family, with a little baby girl due just around the corner! Be sure to check out the video posted on the blog entry below of the drawing! When all was said and done we were able to raise $395 to go towards our adoption fund! We would like to specifically thank Liz at Still Moments Photography for thinking creatively and generously in helping us fundraise to bring our baby boy home! Liz, it speaks volumes of your character and heart for taking on a crazy family you didn't know to support their process of adoption just because you felt lead to! Joshua and I are blessed to have met you and partner with you in this journey! 

Side Note... I forgot to mention we got this for completing our dossier!

The next thing on our agenda to take care of is our USCIS Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition. (Sounds like a lot of important mumbo jumbo doesn't it?!) IF you're wondering what purpose it serves, as was I, according to the USCIS website, it's "To classify an alien orphan who either is, or will be, adopted by a U.S. citizen as an immediate relative of the U.S. citizen to allow the child to enter the United States." (So yeah, I'd say it's important stuff!) The filling fee for this application is $670 and then it's $80 per person (Joshua and I) for biometrics. The good news is, WE ALREADY HAVE THAT IN SAVINGS (thanks to our last yard sale and raffle)! Wahoo! So as soon as I can get on this, I'll get it mailed out and then we'll wait to hear back, hopefully with an approval, and we'll receive our I-171H, Notice of Favorable Determination form! I'll keep you posted when I get that sent out. 

I've also been working on two of the three grant applications we are applying for! The Room for One More Child application was all online and I already sent that out last week and will just have to wait to hear back from them. I'm still working on gathering all the documents needed for the application for a  Show Hope grant. I've submitted the online portion of the application and have 30 days to gather the remaining required documents and send them in, in order for the application to be reviewed.  We're praying that no matter the outcome, if we receive any grant money or not, that ultimately these organizations would be blessed for all they do to help adopting families! We trust that God knows the remaining financial need to be met and that He's going to provide for it one way or another. We just want to do our part in pursuing every avenue possible to make that happen! 

I thought this was fitting picture for the title to this blog entry (o; 

We have come so far in the past five months in tackling this financial hurdle! God has been so faithful to provide in some awesome, unique, creative, and unimaginable ways! God has used so many of YOU and we have already raised over $15,000! This is just crazy amazing to me!!!!  The remaining amount of funds we'll have to come up with are the fee due upon acceptance of our referral, which is $4,500, and our travel expenses for the two trips (budgeting for airfare to cost $8k total + travel expenses = $10k?). For those of you who have traveled to Ethiopia, let me know if that sounds about right? The good news is, we have time to come up with these expenses! While our wait time is somewhat up in the air, it's probably fair to say we have at least a year before our referral. So we plan on continuing to fundraise, praying that if it's God's will we receive some grant money, and trust, trust, trust- that He funds His callings! 

So that's where we're at for now! Continuing to be amazed at His goodness and faithfulness! P.S. we're still waiting to hear our official wait list number for November, but I'll be sure to share as soon as we hear!