Puzzled - Our First Fundraiser

Edit:  I have set up a "donate" button on the side of this blog for those I do not know personally, or who want a quicker method to donate.  If I do not know you, I won't be giving out my home address.  However, since I know 99% of you personally, it shouldn't be a problem. :)  No matter what method you use, please tell us how you want your name written on the back of the puzzle.  Thank you!


I saw this cool fundraiser on a lot of blogs in the last year. I kept the idea in the back of my mind until the day when we would start our next adoption. Here’s how it works:


We have purchased a 500-piece puzzle. We are going to ask people to donate a gift of $10 for each piece they would like to sponsor. You can sponsor as many pieces as you would like. We will write your name on the back of each puzzle piece, so we can be reminded of all the people that blessed us in our journey for our next child.

This is not tax-deductible. We hope to have an opportunity for tax-deductible gifts after we hear back about a matching grant we are applying for. You can e-mail me at kristinmo77 at yahoo.com for my home address, if you don’t already know it.

When the puzzle is all done, we will hang it above our child’s crib in a two-sided frame. It will not only show God’s faithfulness, but also the love and support of so many people coming together.

I had the type of puzzle I wanted in mind when I was looking, but I couldn’t quite find it. So, of course, I settled on what I like – cats. I’m weird like that.

Anyway, when I ordered this puzzle, I didn’t know it had a velvet backing on each piece. It’s impossible to write names on the back with velvet. So, I spent an hour or so and took the velvet off of all 500 pieces. Then Evan and I put it together over a couple of days. But, our very last piece was put in by the big brother.

We are not really selling puzzle pieces. Your name on the puzzle piece will just be a visible reminder of your support. We hope that one day our child will look at the puzzle and realize how God used so many other people to put the pieces together of the adoption. We hope that our child will realize that he/she and our family are prayed for and loved.

Please do not feel obligated to give. But, do feel obligated to pray. Thank you!

A Different Kind of Financial Issue

After writing my series on finances, this post may seem ironic or hypocritical. I feel like it is neither. I feel like it is a completely different issue all together. This isn’t about our everyday expenses. I almost didn’t want to post my financial series for this reason. I never wanted anyone to think that I had ulterior motives. My heart’s desire was to honestly help those struggling financially find some freedom.

With that said, this post will be no big deal to some of you. In fact, it is not a surprise and something you fully support. To others, you will not like it. I fully understand.

I have a dream and I kind of touched on it one of my previous posts. One of my deepest prayers is that one day Evan and I will be able to save up enough money to give to people who want to adopt. I have heard a lot of people say that they would be interested in adoption. The problem is that not a lot of people follow through with that thought. Adoption isn’t for everyone, but for those that are called to adopt, finances shouldn’t be the reason not to do it. Sadly, financial concerns are a big barrier.

Adoption is not buying a baby or a child. Adoption fees should be neatly spelled out and include things such as court costs, attorney expenses, and administrative fees. Think about how much you would have to pay the hospital to birth a baby if there was no medical insurance. If you are a believer, than as believers we are called to “take care of the orphans”. This could mean adoption. It could mean supporting ministries. It could mean prayer. Or it could mean helping families that want to adopt with the cost.

Nicholas’ adoption turned out to be very expensive. We constantly had to redo paperwork. Also, that unexpected third trip to Russia didn’t help. But, God took care of us. We had a few generous donations that made our adoption possible. We are forever grateful to those people for helping us bring Nicholas home. Because of those people, we have no debt from that adoption. It was paid in full.

With that said, we do not have a lot of excess money lying around for this adoption. Couple that with the months of Evan’s unemployment and we are finally in recovery mode now. We can take care of a child’s everyday needs, but coming up with large sums of money is something we cannot do alone. We feel like this is the way we are to grow our family right now. It is unfortunate, that adopting a child is so expensive, but we feel like it is an area that is acceptable to ask others to help us.

We do believe that God can take care of any of our adoption fees. We’ve obviously seen Him do that last time. But, this time, we are going to do a couple of things different. I applied to grants last time, but I am going to try and apply to some matching grants this time. That way if people feel led to help us financially they can contribute and get a tax deduction.

We also are going to try and do a couple of fundraisers. We believe that any amount is a blessing. This adoption will probably cost a third or a fourth of Nicholas’ adoption. But, when you see the overall amount, it can be very overwhelming.

Helping us financially is nice, but there is something else that everyone can do for us. Please pray. We had so many prayer warriors last time and I know it helped us get through all the trials and hurdles. If you feel led to give, then we thank you. But, if you don’t or can’t, just keep us in your prayers.

So, I am going to be putting up a post about our first fundraiser very shortly. Please prayerfully consider joining us in this process. We don’t take anything for granted. We know how hard it is to give, especially in a bad economy. So, we thank you for considering helping us bring home our baby. Remember, we don’t feel like any of you are obligated to give. Give only if it something you feel led to do. Thank you!

Ready for Wednesday

Do you ever feel like an octopus? Like you actually need 8 arms to get everything done? I spent a couple of hours “multi-tasking” like a crazy woman today. It’s just been a tiring day all together. I’m not even going to go into the drama from this morning, since I don’t really want to relive it.


But, we returned my mom’s van this morning and then headed to get Nicholas’ haircut. He had about seven weeks of growth. We like to keep it short because he sweats pretty easily. So, here it is:


Hair Today . . . .

Gone Tomorrow . . .

This afternoon I had to order our birthparent profile books and have them shipped to our agency. They were reviewed and no changes were needed. I spent so much time on them that it is nice that they liked them. Our agency will actually be having a new birthmother in soon, so ours may be shown.

I guess this is what the roller coaster ride of domestic adoption will feel like.  Will the birthmother like our profile? Will she want to meet us? Will our photo book even arrive in time? One thing it did do was make me realize I have a post I need to put up. I will do that tomorrow or Thursday.

In the meantime, I'm ready for this day to be over.  It has been mentally draining.  Unfortunately, I still have more to do.  Back to the laundry, the e-mails, the child, the paperwork, the newsletter. . .

Swimming Success

Well, Nicholas finished his first session of swimming lessons. It was ironic that the pool experienced some technical problems on his last lesson. The pool broke when we had originally signed up for lessons last year. This time, half the shallow end was one depth, and the other half was a different depth. Therefore, they had to spend most of this class sitting on the wall, blowing bubbles while waiting their turn.


Nicholas did a great job though! We even received a little report card. He did pretty well for a beginner, but my favorite part is that the teacher wrote that he is “a pleasure to have in class”. I’m sure she put that on a lot of the kids', but I think he did a pretty good job of listening.

He loved swimming lessons so much that he wants us to sign him up again. The spring/summer sessions start in a month or two, so we may have to keep him going.

Ready for his last lesson

Ready for the big jump

Nicholas and I have my mom’s van today (she’s not even out of town), so we get to start the week off leaving the house. This really starts my week off right. In fact, I think we are going to be out of the house the first three days of the week.  Can I get an "Hallelujah"!?!

Joining the Land of the Living

Wow! I didn’t have the flu bad, but it sure kicked my butt. I was probably really sick for six or seven hours. After that, I was just drained and had lost my appetite. While I did shed a few pounds, I definitely would prefer another route for weight loss. My appetite is slowly returning though. In fact, I managed to just eat a cookie, which says a lot.

Thankfully, Nicholas is fine. That kid has a pretty good immune system. Other than colds, he is rarely sick. Now I’m not ruling out the fact that he may have been a carrier for the flu bug, but I’m thankful that we’re the ones that got it, not him.

My mom let us borrow her van today, so we could get out and enjoy the sunshine. You would think it would be easy to know where to go since we don’t get out much during the week. We ended up just walking around a store. I had no errands I needed to run, In fact, almost all the things I need to do this week are at my house, since I spent most of the week resting on my couch.

Nicholas’ birthday is in a few weeks, so I’ve been trying to figure out what we should get him. He was extremely blessed at Christmas time with several new toys. Toys are really what he does not need. However, most four-year-olds want toys. So, while he would like almost any toy we would give him, we’re trying to get creative.

I thought about getting him a hand-held learning game, but I don’t think I’m ready to start him on a video game addiction. A little boy at church lets him play his DS or on his dad’s phone sometimes and Nicholas is enthralled. He doesn’t want to stop playing. He actually broke out in tears a couple of weeks ago when his friend didn’t want to share any longer.

So, I decided against getting him any electronics. And, just in case I had my doubts, here he is today at the store:

He did not even know I took his picture.

Tomorrow is Nicholas’ last swimming lesson. He’s come so far. I actually feel like I have seen some major improvement. Also, because it is the last lesson, we will be allowed to take pictures! Then, Evan and I have a hot date with our accountant. I’m looking forward to it.

Well, I have some newfound energy, so I’m off to do the laundry.

Happy Valentine’s Day?

Nicholas worked hard to make some Valentine’s cards for various family members last week. He even took the time to write some of his letters on his own. He also wrote “Poppy” too, which blew me away. He really acts like he has no interest in handwriting. I guess he just wants to do it when he feels like it.

I guess you can take my picture

This morning we surprised him with a card, candy, and “cool car”. He was a little disappointed that I made him wait until lunch to eat his chocolate though.

What?  I can't eat it now?

Today has been quite memorable though for other reasons. Last night, Evan was at youth group when he started not to feel well. After several trips to the bathroom, he decided to come home. He ended up tossing his cookies several more times last night (sorry for the image). To make matters worse, he didn’t sleep much last night. Unfortunately, I am a light sleeper so I didn’t sleep well either. I know every time he tossed and turned.

Needless to say, he did not go to work today. We’re hoping and praying that he will feel well enough to go in tomorrow.

Evan mustered up a smile for the picture

But, there has been a fun twist in our story. I felt a little nauseous most of the day. It was nothing too bad. I thought it was my sinuses. However, as the evening went on, the feeling got stronger and stronger. Right after Nicholas went to bed, the feeling became reality. This was the first time I have been this sick in over 10 years.

Evan, who is 24 hours ahead of me, still feels miserable, but he is functioning a lot better than he was earlier. So, watching television with a trash can between us is as romantic as it gets in this house. At least we’re together, right?

I don’t want to leave you on such a gross note, so how about some good news? The director of our agency wanted to have a conference call with us this week. It is the last step before you can be matched. Well, Evan’s work schedule is not really flexible enough for scheduled events. Thanks to today’s illness, he was able to pull it together so we could have the call.

Our profile is now being reviewed as well. And, I noticed that we are on the website now! So, things are really moving along. The director reaffirmed what we already know, our wait could be quick or it could be long. You just don’t know.

So, that’s the latest and about as much as I can type right now. Please pray for us. Nicholas does well for short periods of time, but two parents out of commission at the same time is not easy for anyone!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Remember

My mom and I have been talking a lot this week about remembering. Remembering what? Well, our sermon last week at church was about how many of us remember the wrong things. We remember all the times people hurt us. We remember all our troubles. We often forget God’s faithfulness. We forget Him.


Well, lately I have been worrying about some things and some of it has to do with our current adoption. It seems that I have forgotten how he took care of Nicholas’. Nicholas’ adoption was so difficult and hard, but God never left us. He took care of the finances. He took care of Nicholas, in general. But, now that we are over a year and a half removed, it is easy to forget these things.

On Wednesday afternoon I asked our agency what I could do to get this last piece of paper. They suggested I call the State and leave a message (you can’t reach a human easily). I was told I may have to do this multiple times. So, I called Wednesday afternoon and even mentioned that this was all we needed to complete our home study. The next day our agency sent us new fee schedule. They are expanding their services, which will be great, but it also means that some fees are going up in some areas since they would be handling them rather than a third party. The adoption will still cost the same, or maybe even a smidge less, but seeing the numbers sent me into a tailspin.

So, I was talking to my mom on the phone this morning and she reminded me – once again – of Nicholas’ adoption and how God knows what we need and when we need it. Less than an hour later, my cell phone rang. It said “Restricted” so I almost didn’t answer it, but I felt like I should. It was our social worker calling to say that our results were in and our home study is approved!

This is like being done with our first trimester! I think God knew I needed this today. I felt like he said, “I hear you. I am in control, but here is a reminder.” I let the social worker know that I should have our birthparent profile to them Monday or Tuesday. I want to sit down with Evan to take another look at it this weekend.

So, I think by the end of the month we should be ready for birthparents to see our profile. It’s exciting and scary at the same time. We could be chosen very quickly or it may take many months. Waiting for the home study to be approved was nothing. Now the real waiting begins!

I know it will be hard for me, but I am going to try not to forget who is really in control.  I'm going to try to remember all God has done for us.  Through the good and bad, He is always here.  That's something I want to remember.

Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program

Thank you for all the kind comments about my financial series. It was actually really hard for me to write, so I appreciate all of the encouragement. I know some of you missed your Nicholas posts, so we’ll now return to those for awhile. I can’t promise though that God won’t lay another topic on my heart. It seems like I am always learning something. I feel like when we share with others, we let them know that there are others who are dealing with the same things as them. Or, we can possibly prevent them from going through some of the struggles that we did.

I actually haven’t felt like writing much the last few days. It’s not that we haven’t done anything because our weekend was actually pretty full. It’s just that I think I have some cabin fever and have grown a little melancholy. The sun seems to be peeking out right now, so maybe that will help a little.

As far as school goes, we’ve been doing the same thing, so there really isn’t any need for too many pictures. I plan on doing some Valentine’s Day activities later in the week. One thing that I decided to try for fun one day is to make sentences out of his sight words. He loves this activity! He asks me every day if he can do “sentences”. At first, I thought he said “sandwiches” because he wasn’t sure of the word. But, after sounding it out a little better for him, he’s got it down.

Practicing his sentences

We went to an indoor playground this weekend with some people from church. We all had a pretty good time. Nicholas saw a boy from his Wednesday class there. I hear about this particular boy all the time because supposedly this boy doesn’t share or hits him in class. They got along pretty well on Saturday though.

He was trying to get my nose.

We haven’t heard anything on the adoption front, but I think I may have our profile done. I want to give it a day or two before I look at it again to make sure it is how we want it. I think I’m going to have to be bold and ask our social worker if they can contact the State of Ohio to get our last piece of paper for the home study. At first, it wasn’t bothering me that it was taking so long, but now I think my patience is starting to wear out. So, hopefully we can give someone a nudge in the right direction.

Well, tonight I get a couple hours out of the house. I’m really looking forward to it. Evan had a meeting early this morning, so he asked if he could leave early. So, he’s putting Nicholas to bed and I’m out of here! Hopefully, that will give me some renewed energy for the rest of the week!

Even Miss Saver Has Money Issues

So, I’m good at saving. I seem to have all of our finances in order, for the most part. But, I have a huge area that I need to change – my heart. Money, specifically, Evan’s overtime, has become my idol. Evan’s overtime is my part-time job. We have a set (reasonable) amount we would like him to average each paycheck. He hits it or exceeds it more times than not. But, I can get myself worked into a frenzy if he doesn’t meet our “quota”.

After having God take care of all our needs time and time again, I still worry. This has nothing to do with Evan needing to work more. This has nothing to do with me needing a job. We have enough money. It’s almost like I get greedy. I want to stockpile as much money as I can to gain some false sense of security. I really have come to realize lately that I have put my trust more in Evan’s overtime than in God. That is a huge area that needs to change.

Second, I hate when big bills are due even when we have saved the money. This goes hand-in-hand with my first issue. We save for our car insurance. The money is in our savings and allocated for it, but I hate writing that check. I like to see my savings account grow. I don’t like when money leaves. It’s greedy, on my part. It’s a part of life to have to pay bills, or for unexpected situations to arise. That’s why you plan for it.

Ironically, the cry of my heart is to give a lot of money away. If I don’t work through my heart issues then that dream won’t really work. I want to give to those in need. I want to support ministries and missionaries. I want to bless my children and grandchildren like we have been blessed. My parents always taught us about having an “open hand” in life. You have to let things go and give them to God.

So, instead of clenching my fists every time a fear or worry comes my way, I am going to have to consciously open my hand. The goal is to live within your means, give, save, and spend within reason. Matthew 6:24 says, “’No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.’” There needs to be a healthy balance. I need to be responsible for how I handle my money, but I am not to dwell on it to the point where I put it before God. If we are being good stewards of our money, then we have to trust that God will take care of us. Worry shouldn’t be an option when I know that God is in control.

I’m not saying that it is wrong to have lots of money. I’m saying it is wrong to think about it all the time. I think it is wrong to get upset over every check that is written, even though you have the money. If all money is God’s money, then we have to think about how He would want us to handle it.

I never wanted to write this to act like I have it all together. I’ve gone over budget before. I’ve wondered where the money would come from at times (like when Evan’s unemployment went on and on). I feel like I needed to write this series to not only help others, but remind myself of money’s place in my own life. It is important, but does not need to be a constant worry and a source of anxiety, if I am a good steward of it. I’m still learning and am constantly convicted. I hope one day that my hand will remain open as a natural reflex rather than a daily struggle.

 
 
If you missed it . . . Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

Our Financial Goals

I think it is good each year (or more frequently) to make a list of your financial goals. Evan and I sat down and talked about what we want to do this year.

1. Pay off the car (Like I said, this should happen in the next couple of months).

2. Save up 3-6 months of expenses in our emergency fund.

3. We are eligible for Evan’s 401K now at work. We want to begin contributing to this once our car is paid off.

4. Begin saving for another car.

5. Save for home improvement expenses.


We also have two goals that seem too big for us. We have to trust God for all of our finances. However, these are ones where I’m most excited to see Him work (because these are two areas where I can tend to struggle with worry the most).

1. Fully-funded second adoption

2. To be able to move in a bigger house (more than 2 bedrooms) in the next year or two.



By making goals each year, it allows you to see how well you did financially the year before and what you can do differently this year. It opens up communication between spouses. It can also be fun to cross items off your list. Don’t be rigid though (this one is for me). It is okay not to meet all your goals. Life happens. There may be road blocks. And, sometimes your values change. Just make them reasonable.

What are some of your financial goals?


Finally, our last post will be about me and my money issues. Just because you can save money doesn’t mean you have a healthy relationship with money.

 
 
If you missed it . . . Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3