Nick and I had our first meeting with our social worker last Friday and it went splendidly superb! We met with her at our house right before we moved on Saturday, so the apartment looked pretty crazy. I thought it was going to be a short visit, but it ended up lasting a couple of hours (it felt like no time at all though). We went through all of the paperwork that we needed to finish, and what type of adoption classes would best fit our needs. After getting all of our questions out of the way, she started asking us a few questions about how Nick and I met, why we want to adopt, ect. Just by talking with our social worker, we found so many things in common. It was crazy cool.
After the meeting I felt so relieved, like this huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I mentioned that we just moved, and we are actually downsizing a bit to save money for the adoption. This was a concern after realizing that our living space needs to be baby ready now for the home study, and we just signed a one year lease to a new apartment. Our social worker reassured us that it is just fine, and that the space will be enough for our baby (YAY!). It is really nice to know that someone else is on our side through this process, and is willing to assist in anyway they can to see us succeed.
This is just another step in the process that reassures me that this is God's plan, and He will help us overcome any obstacle that we will face.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Yard Sale = Sucess
After putting up many flyers and
getting the word out as the best we could (Facebook, Craigslist, and word of
mouth), our yard sale turnout was amazing!
*The flyers we posted.
*Us by our signage. Nick can never take a normal picture....
*Our yard sale from the sidewalk. We had a table and boxes set up on our lawn too.
We decided to set our yard sale goal a
bit high ($800), because we wanted to stretch our expectations for the sale and
see what our God could do. Even though we had a few big items, we
lacked quite a bit of smaller/regular yard sale items. Still, we ended up
raising $788! Woohooo! The money made from the yard sale will be
directed to helping pay for the rest of the home study program
(approximately $1700 due).
I just want to take a moment and
recognize all of the wonderful friends that Nick and I have made in
Baltimore. Thank you for your donations of items, time, and money! A
special thanks to Brian and Victoria for all of the wonderful items that you
donated for the yard sale. Ashley, with your bottles of water and baked cookies,
you were at the yard sale in spirit. Dan, for lending us the table that helped
keep our yard sale items off the wet ground as well as the items you donated. A
large thanks to all our friends that came out and supported us by buying items
and donating to our cause: Angela, Kimi, and Jon.! Everything that
you all did helped make it a big success, and it would not have been the same
without you. Thank you so so much! And of course, a sincere thank you to all
our neighbors that stopped by and contributed to the success of our yard sale.
The first meeting with our social
worker will be this Friday. We will be going over all the necessary
documentation required by the agency to go ahead with our adoption. Our home
study has official begun!
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Fundraising like crazy!
With the large numbers looming ahead for how much this adoption process will cost, Nick and I are trying to do as many fundraising things as possible! We are having a garage sale on July 13th. We are hoping and praying for a good turn out! Our goal is going to be $800, which is very possible! These funds will help us get through the home study process that we just got accepted into! The agency that we are doing the home study with is called Adoptions Together. Since our adoption agency (Children's House International = CHI) is not located in Baltimore we are having to do the home study with them. We need $3000 for all of the interviews and such with the home study (pre and post adoption) before this process can be completed, and $1900 of that upfront to get the process started before our application can move forward with our agency (CHI).
So please pray that God meets and exceeds our needs! Keep our garage sale in your prayers, and pray for favor that we exceed our goal of raising $800!
For those of you that are not located in Baltimore, MD, you can help us by buying coffee (if that is your thing), mugs, and apparel from Just Love Coffee Roasters. A percentage of what you purchase will go to help fund our adoption!
Here is the link: https://justlovecoffee.com/nickandeliserichard
All of this information is also available in the "How you can help" tab on the top of our blog page.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
So please pray that God meets and exceeds our needs! Keep our garage sale in your prayers, and pray for favor that we exceed our goal of raising $800!
For those of you that are not located in Baltimore, MD, you can help us by buying coffee (if that is your thing), mugs, and apparel from Just Love Coffee Roasters. A percentage of what you purchase will go to help fund our adoption!
Here is the link: https://justlovecoffee.com/nickandeliserichard
All of this information is also available in the "How you can help" tab on the top of our blog page.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
Thursday, June 20, 2013
What now?
After being accepted into the adoption agency's program, a lot needs to happen before we can send our application overseas. Even though the process can take 2-3 years before we actually get our child(maybe longer, maybe shorter), a lot is happening now.
The next step is finding a home study program (they make sure we are not crazy, interview us, see our home, do background checks and what not). So far we have a couple programs in mind, but $3,000 or $5,000 is not something that we were expecting to have to pay immediately into the process, but nonetheless now is the time! We knew that the over all cost would probably be about 25,000-30,000 dollars, but we figured it would be more spread out over the couple of years. But the overall start up costs will be about $6500 to get our application to Bulgaria.
Let the fundraising begin! haha We are already planning a yard sale and a bake sale is in the mix too, so that should be exciting!
Please, please, please keep us in your prayers throughout this process, that God would provide and pave the way for whatever he has planned for us.
The next step is finding a home study program (they make sure we are not crazy, interview us, see our home, do background checks and what not). So far we have a couple programs in mind, but $3,000 or $5,000 is not something that we were expecting to have to pay immediately into the process, but nonetheless now is the time! We knew that the over all cost would probably be about 25,000-30,000 dollars, but we figured it would be more spread out over the couple of years. But the overall start up costs will be about $6500 to get our application to Bulgaria.
Let the fundraising begin! haha We are already planning a yard sale and a bake sale is in the mix too, so that should be exciting!
Please, please, please keep us in your prayers throughout this process, that God would provide and pave the way for whatever he has planned for us.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Our Application is approved!
Our beautiful journey to adopt has begun!
Nick and I found out on 6/17/13 that our application for adoption has been approved! This is when the emotions started to overflow. I am scared, excited, anxious, super happy, over joyed, and nervous. I keep thinking what about the money? We do not have enough money. BUT, we are not doing this because we are ready and extremely financially stable. As Nick always says, we will never find the "perfect" time to raise a kid because no matter what things happen and life changes.
Adoption really is such a beautiful thing and it mirrors what Christ did and does for us daily.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father."For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. Romans 8:14-16
Adoption is something that Nick and I knew we wanted from the very beginning of our marriage. Nick specifically knew way earlier on in life than I did (this is something that he has wanted since he was a teenager). And if not now, then when right? Even though I feel overwhelmed by emotions sometimes, I know that this is something God wants us to do.
This is His situation.
He is our provider and He will get the glory.
Nick and I found out on 6/17/13 that our application for adoption has been approved! This is when the emotions started to overflow. I am scared, excited, anxious, super happy, over joyed, and nervous. I keep thinking what about the money? We do not have enough money. BUT, we are not doing this because we are ready and extremely financially stable. As Nick always says, we will never find the "perfect" time to raise a kid because no matter what things happen and life changes.
Adoption really is such a beautiful thing and it mirrors what Christ did and does for us daily.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father."For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. Romans 8:14-16
Adoption is something that Nick and I knew we wanted from the very beginning of our marriage. Nick specifically knew way earlier on in life than I did (this is something that he has wanted since he was a teenager). And if not now, then when right? Even though I feel overwhelmed by emotions sometimes, I know that this is something God wants us to do.
This is His situation.
He is our provider and He will get the glory.
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