Dossier

Last week, we had an over-the-phone meeting with our adoptive specialist regarding our dossier. Since we got our fee paid (see last post for shout-out), we were able to have a conversation about starting the dossier. 

First off, if you're not suave with adoption lingo, let's talk about what a dossier is. Basically, the dossier is taking everything we've been working on the last however-many months plus a ton more information. Clear as mud, right? 

These are the documents we need:

• Birth certificates
• Marriage certificates
• Home study
• Medical letter from MD
• Police Clearance (to prove we're not smooth criminals)
• Bank statements, signed by teller
• Photocopy of last 3 years 1040 Income Tax Returns
• Passport photo pages
• Post-placement heritage trip agreement
• Recommendation letters
• Photogrpahs of family and home sans Nellie for cultural reasons
• Guardianship letter
• USCIS Approval
• Proof of home ownership, signed by assessor
• Uganda travel contract
• Adoption Learning Partners training certificates 

All of these items (minus the training certificates) will need to be Notarized and then shipped off to be State-Sealed. 

That sounds fun, right? 

We're getting all of this put together, calling the police station, calling the doctors office, calling my in-laws, hoping to get this stuff together as soon as possible. 

Our adoption specialist also dropped, what I like to call a "bomb" on us. Adam and I were under the impression that our last fee ($4,650) was the final fee before we were just waiting. 

False.

We need to also pay a country fee of $6,400 (includes payment of program administration–salaries; transportation and travel to develop, maintain, and supervise partnerships; communication: internet, telephone; occupancy rental, utilities, building and equipment maintenance; staff training and partner organization staff training; processing and assessment of partner referrals) 

So before we can submit our dossier, we'll need to pay the $6,400 fee. At first, I was kind of like, "reeeeaaaaaally? There is no way we're going to get that together by the end of the year." But then I remembered that it's in His timing, not ours. He's already provided us with so much in this journey and He'll continue to provide for this next fee. So if we don't get it together by the end of the year, that's okay! We'll get it together when we can, and it will all work out perfectly. 

Onward! 

Serious Shout-out

Can I just give a quick shot-out to all you awesome people who are reading this blog?

The last two-ish weeks, we've paid $5,550 in fees for the adoption. Mind you, we didn't have loads of extra cash stuffed in mattresses in our house. Despite going through a home remodel, plus Adam going out to work for himself (making paychecks less consistent), we knew that starting this adoption when we did was something God was calling us to do.

We didn't know how we were going to come up with the $30,000+ (and still don't completely know), but we do know that our God provides. And He is so great. And it all works in his perfect timing.

We started this process back in January of this year, with enough money to submit our application (wait, actually two applications...) and just kind of let the rest fall into place. Sure, we've definitely been cutting back this year, but we couldn't have done this alone.

From the garage sale, to the t-shirts, to the puzzle pieces (why yes, we do have pieces left) we are so lucky that so many people have asked to help us out in one way or another.

What's incredible about that all? That so far in our adoption journey, we've had to pay around $9,000. And with all of our donations, and profits from the t-shirts and garage sale, we've received roughly $6,000.

Seriously. 

We've got a long way to go, but almost 30% of the cost is already taken care of.

I know there are some people that think, "why would you pay so much money to adopt when you can have your own?" or And I don't really have an answer to that question. Just that this little nugget will be ours. This is the family that God has blessed us with. I'll be the first one to admit that it's difficult to imagine our family without a face, heck, even a gender to put with our little one. But our family is built on faith. Because God put a little picture in our minds, we have to trust in Him. Which can be so hard at times. But He makes the rules. And He brings us awesome people like you.

Hebrews 11:1 says Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. I think that sums things up rather nicely, don't you?

Keep on keepin' on. Thanks so much for taking a step of faith with us and helping our family grow.

...And It's Off!

It's off! (airplane emoji)

...(What is?)

Our I600-A has officially been shipped to USCIS. PTL

Go ahead, ask me what PTL means.

...(What is PTL)

Side note: I have way too much fun having a conversation with myself.

Praise the Lord. It's a thing I'm trying to get going. I heard a friend use it and couldn't let it go. You should start using it, too. I think I've successfully gotten my mother-in-law hooked. Or maybe she just says it to me. Can you confirm, MT?

Anyway, PTL is obviously just like saying "Praise the Lord", except more refined. You know, sometimes you just don't have enough time for the entire phrase. So you just shoot three little letters. It can even be used in texting, I'd say you could successfully use PTL anywhere you would use LOL. Seriously, think about it.

Personally, I think it has a nice ring to it.

Anyway...back to the purpose of this post: to inform you that our I600-A has been shipped off. So that means we'll wait for that to get approved by USCIS, get some more fingerprints taken, and get started on our dossier. We're told it should take about 4-6 weeks for approval.

This just means we're one step closer.

I also want to take just a moment to say thank you to all of our awesome friends and family who have contributed to our puzzle fundraiser. I never knew people could be so excited about puzzles. Seriously though, puzzles were your least favorite "toy", weren't they? That's why we'll just keep ours between glass. Anyway, your donation is why we were able to send off the I600-A right now. Which is huge.

Okay, before I start rambling about other acronyms or puzzles, I'll stop. Cheers to Thursday, which is basically Friday, which is basically the weekend, and cheers to being one step closer to baby (toddler?) Negrete.

Fundraiser #3: The Puzzle

Dun duh.

Are you ready?

Dun duh.

You've probably heard of the puzzle fundraiser (am I hearing crickets?). If not, here's a onceover.

So we bought a puzzle. It's a 500 piece puzzle and are selling (well not really selling) the pieces for a minimum of a $10 donation. So here's what happens.

• You buy a puzzle piece. Or two, or three. Heck, we'll let you buy us a whole puzzle.
• We write your name on the back of the piece.
• When the puzzle is complete, we'll frame it and put it between two pieces of glass so our child can see the names of everyone who helped bring him or her home. Or maybe it will be a normal puzzle that we put together. (Either way, they get see who was part of their journey). 

Pretty cool stuff, right? Below is the puzzle we picked out. Adam (the artsy, creative one) thought it incorporated the different parts of life and family (...or something. Like I said, he's the creative one).

So here's how you go can go about buying a puzzle piece (or two or three, or the entire thing...kidding. Am I though?) I'm really liking bullets today.

• Click on the donate button on the right (over there) to pay securely through PayPal
• Write a check made out to Adam and/or myself and hand deliver or mail it (email me at negrete.stacy@gmail.com for address details)
• Do the same thing as a check, but with cash!
• Send a donation directly to our church (this is tax deductible). For the address, go to the Donation Information tab. 
• Donate to our Go Fund Me page

So let's just say we "sell" all 500 pieces of the puzzle. That's $5,000 right there. Which is pretty darn substantial to our cause. If everyone who buys a piece decides to give $20 instead of $10, that's $10,000.

Isn't it crazy what $20 can do? Now, I don't want to tell you how to live. But what if I challenged you to cut something out of your day, or week, or month. I know this is a common example, but what if you cut out your Starbucks* run once a week (go the other six days, that's cool!), but cut out that $3 once a week. Over the course of, like 3.2454379 weeks, (okay, I'm not a mathematician) that's $10, which would buy you a snazzy puzzle piece! And you can come over sometime and I'll make you a cup o' joe**.

To those who have already donated, thank you. To those that are even considering, thank you.

*or Dunkin', or McDonalds, or DQ...you get the picture
**no pumpkin spice lattes available

Home Study Approval!

You guys! Our home study has been approved!

After having to make a few edits last week, the Bethany Global Offices have approved our home study. So now what?

Do you remember this post about the I-600A? That's next. Well, after we sign the home study to say that we approve (I guess that's important, too!).

Then, the fee. When I log in to our adoption portal (a place for message between our adoption specialists, resources, waiting children, etc.), I see a familiar, red $ at the top of the screen. With an approved home study, comes the fee. So actually, that's next.

We've still got a couple hundred dollars left to save/raise until we can pay the fee, and we know God will work in His perfect timing, per usual.

T-shirt Success

I wanted to give a quick shoutout to everyone who purchased a t-shirt from our t-shirt fundraiser. . . we ended up selling [drumroll, please] 74 t-shirts, for almost $900!

Holy cow.

I had no idea we would sell so much. Thank you to everyone who bought one (or two, or three, or four), we really appreciate it.

Unfortunately, the site is closed, so there aren't any more shirts for sale. However, if there is enough interest, we can open up the site again, it would just cost us a $50 start up fee, so we'd at least have to cover that with the shirts.

If you bought a shirt and are sitting there wondering where the heck it is, fear not. I have them and will be shipping them out this week, so expect them sometime soon.

Again, I wanted to say thanks to everyone for all of your support. Ya'll rock.

Last Call for T-shirts

This is it, folks.

The last call for t-shirts. Our pre-sale site closes this evening, so if you haven't had a chance to get on over to this site and buy one, you better do it now!

As a reminder, you can order on the site, and after it closes (tonight!) they will begin production. After the turnaround (they estimate 8 days), I will get them and give them out (if you don't live near me, I'll ship yours).

With our next fee of $4,650 quickly approaching (due after our home study report is written), these shirts are a way to help with that. We appreciate 1 shirt or 10 shirts and thank you for thinking of us (and wearing a cool shirt!)

Click here to buy a shirt!

Fundraiser #2: T-shirts

It takes a village to raise a child. ––African Proverb

Oh that's nice, and it's African, so that's fine. But what does it mean? 

Well, here's what we thought: You guys are our village. Our village for love, support, guidance, laughs, and so much more. Where would we be without our village? Who knows. But definitely not here.

It's not just now that our so called, village, has come into play. You've also helped shape us into who we are by offering the same items that I listed above (we just didn't ask you to buy t-shirts then [insert chuckle]). 

So, without further ado, let me just get to the point. Will you buy a t-shirt? We love what they represent and of course the placement of that little heart sits right upon Uganda.

These shirts are $22 and 100% of all proceeds go towards our adoption fund. There is a bit of a caviot: This site is only open until July 29, so if you want one, better do it now. Once the site is closed, they will make the shirts and I'll ship them out to those who don't live near me. Click here to buy a shirt, or copy and paste this into your browser: https://village.eightsevencentral.net/shop/it-takes-a-village/

Please consider purchasing a shirt. And tell your friends.

Blessings to you!

[While you may be familiar with the Hillary Clinton book that shares the same name, I assure you that is not what we were going for.] 

Garage Sale Success

We had our first fundraiser in the form of a garage sale this past weekend. And it was a great success!

We had some awesome support before and during the sale. Thank you to all of our friends who helped spread the word!

So, I know, you're probably like, on with it already! Drumroll, please: we made $661!

What?!

Unbelievable. I am so overwhelmed! I was expecting us to make, like, $250, tops. So the garage sale was a serious success.

I look at this situation and wonder how people can think it's a coincidence that this garage sale was such a success. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Hmm. . .

I'm praising Jesus for bringing so many people to us and put our cause on their hearts.

Fundraiser #1: Yard Sale

We've got a couple different fundraisers up our sleeves. . . and one is happening in this (that's right, this) Saturday!

We're having a yard sale this Saturday from 7 a.m.––2 p.m.

Hot ticket items (I mean, I hope they're hot ticket items) include:

• 2010 Harley Davidson (you know you want it!)
• Retro chairs
• Entertainment stand (made by my hubby)
• Book cases
• Queen headboard
• Dressers
• Books and movies
• Random home decor
• Other awesome stuff! 

You can find us at 1201 Curtiss Avenue (the corner of Curtiss and 12th Street). If you're in the Ames area, stop by, and tell your friends! 

Go Fund Me!

That seems a bit direct, doesn't it? 

Maybe you've heard of it, Go Fund Me, it's a site used for donations of all types—medical bills, mission trips, weddings, businesses, adoption, just take a look at the categories, there are tons of them. You can even search by your zip code to view any fundraisers that are in your area.

I know that it seems like I'm all for this donation thing (well, that's because I am), but it is a bit difficult to say to someone, "My husband and I decided to do this thing that costs $40,000 so will you give us money?" 

I know that 1.) We truly didn't decide to do this and 2.) This thing is bringing a child home. Giving a child a family. 

I know adoption isn't for everyone, and that's okay! But adoption is one of the ways we can live out the gospel, become more like Christ. And if you aren't able to bring an orphan into your home, I ask that you consider supporting those who can—not even just us. Take a look at some adoption blogs by doing a simple Google search. There are few people who feel called to adopt who can truly "afford" to adopt. But that is the beauty of our God! 

I tend to be a worrier. I know I shouldn't worry. It literally tells us not to in the Bible. Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." (Shout out to my Mama T for reminding me of this!)

But you know what, I haven't been worrying about the money we need to raise for our adoption. A calmness comes over me that tells me all is well. That we'll get there. And I know it may take time, but I know that eventually, we'll get there. 

I've come across quite a few adoptive families who use Go Fund Me to raise money for their adoption, and I thought, "Yeah, that's a really good idea." 

So here we are. 

Go Fund Me is very easy to use, you simply go to our page, Ugandan Adoption—The Negrete Family, click donate, and use a credit or debit card from anywhere in the world. It would also be helpful if you shared our story, so others can view the page and read about us. 

Thank you for praying and considering a donation to our adoption fund. 

The T-shirt Situation

Who remembers when I said we were meeting with a t-shirt company to look into designing shirts as a fundraiser? [counts raised hands]

So we met with Eight Seven Central, down in Des Moines when we had our first home study a few weeks ago. We gave the designer a few ideas and let him work with his imagination. He came up with a great design earlier this week and we are super excited. We've been emailing back and forth since then talking about logistics. However, yes, one of those, I checked the website today and it looks like the price per shirt went up by $2.00. (I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but when you've got to by a pretty substantial quantity, it adds up!)

So I'm kind of bummed about that, it just means we'd have to come up with a couple extra hundred dollars just to order the shirts. I've asked designer we've been working with if we could use the original pricing that we talked about originally, since we had no heads up that this was going to happen. 

What do you think? Is that weird or am I just being cheap? I guess either way, I might look into some other screen printing companies. I think you have the ability to buy the artwork from the designer, so we could still use the design we like.

Adoption Fund

Last week, Adam and I met with the International Ministry Director at our church to discuss the possibility of raising funds through Cornerstone. 

It was a casual conversation that involved questions about how long we've been involved in the church, why we wanted to adopt, etc. After about 30 minutes, he told us he would have to present our case to the council of elders and get back to us. 

[Wait time]

Adam and I have been approved to receive funds from Cornerstone and to raise support through Cornerstone. This means our friends and family (that's you–the one reading this!) will be able to give a tax-deductible donation to Cornerstone for our adoption. The church allows us to raise up to $10,000 in this fund and they will provide an additional donation after the adoption has taken place. 

If you have any questions about donating, please don't hesitate to ask! And while we would definitely appreciate any financial donations, we ask first for your prayer. Pray for our family as we prepare for a large transition, and pray for the heart of our little one–whether he or she has been brought into this world yet or not.