A Heartbreaking Reminder

This is Josie.  Josie was born in January 2012 into a very loving family in Haiti.  Only a few months after she was born, her mother got very sick and sadly, died.  Her father tried to take care of Josie by himself, but he was very fearful Josie would also become very sick and need medical care he couldn't afford or provide.  Josie screamed for hours and hours, and was inconsolable - he didn't know else to do.  So he made the heartbreaking decision to take her to the orphanage.  As a parent, he couldn't allow her to die without the medical attention she needed, and there was no other alternative.  When she got to the orphanage, the pediatrician noticed she was having seizures.  She also had other medical issues, but it couldn't quite be determined what was going on with baby Josie.

Josie was the first baby I held when we arrived at the orphanage in Haiti.  She needed help holding up her head, but otherwise seemed fine.  Throughout the week we were there, she was a very typical baby.  She watched everything and everyone around her with bright wide eyes and smiles.  The day we left Haiti, Josie was having trouble breathing.  We learned later that this was the start of a lot of sickness for Josie.  She developed pneumonia three times over the last 3 months.  She spent a lot of time with one-on-one nanny attention and eventually got to return to the regular baby room.  She was eating well, and growing both physically and developmentally.  She was even trying to imitate sounds and words!

Last weekend, Josie died.  She was playing and smiling on Thursday, and on Saturday night she couldn't breathe.  She was rushed to the hospital nearest the orphanage, but they weren't equipped to help her.  She was put on oxygen and transported to a second hospital, but passed upon reaching the second hospital.
Josie was very, very much loved and adored by the nannies and staff at the orphanage.  She received constant care, and her medical needs were always attended to.  While it was unclear what was causing her seizures, or what was causing her to grow so sick so suddenly, she was cared for to the very best of everyone's abilities in Haiti.  I have absolutely no doubt of any of this.

We will never know, but I am willing to bet that the resources here in America could have helped save Josie.  She was just 9 months old, and never should have had to go through those 9 months without the medicine she needed, or the therapies to help her little lungs.  Haiti is the world's poorest country, and it's impossible for me to imagine the medical attention she had access to there is equivalent to what she could have accessed here.
Having said that little boast of confidence for America, I feel we as Americans have so much to learn.  We may be richer than Haiti, but we are poor in a lot of areas.  God gives us so much, what are we doing with it?  The love Josie received in Haiti could not be matched here, because there she had unrelated caregivers willing to snuggle her in at night, make her laugh during the day, and hold her sweet little hand throughout the night while she lay in a hospital bed trying to fight for her life.  We weren't there, but those nannies and doctors were.  They have so little, but give and give of themselves every day.  I know she was well cared for.  But it breaks my heart to know that had Josie been adopted, she may still be alive.

Some may say, Josie is just one baby.  She is just one orphan.  Thousands of children died today.  But Josie is Jesus' child - Jesus' precious daughter.  And so are every, single, one of those orphans out there.  She is just one tiny example of the thousands of children who die EVERY HOUR of starvation and sickness.  Every one of those are God's children, and He calls us to do something about it.  There are over 2.7 Billion professed Christians in the world.  If only 8% of those adopted just ONE child - just one....there would be no more orphans.  NO MORE ORPHANS.  
I may have mentioned that statistic before, and forewarning - I will probably mention it again.   Because it is so incredibly baffling to me that there IS HOPE - that is just not that many people who have to adopt before there are no more orphans.  Yes, future generations would have to keep up that adoption rate for this to remain true, but the example starts here.  

If you have ever felt called to adopt, please please pray that God will use you, and open your hearts to this calling.  God says it right in His word - we are instructed to care for the orphans.  There are many ways to care for the orphans...but if you feel called to bring one home and call your son or daughter, please follow that little voice inside of you.  I have so much information I can give you about domestic or international adoption - just ask.  It can seem like a daunting and lengthy process but I promise you, God's callings are not always pain free.  However, the end goal is a beautiful gift from Him, and you would never ever regret it.

My heart aches for Josie's sweet father who has lost his wife and now his baby daughter.  My heart rejoices that Josie is with Jesus now, sleeping in His arms completely healthy.  Then my heart aches again for all the orphans left in this world with no home, no family, and such little resources to help meet their needs.  Some children literally only eat 1 meal every other day.  1 meal every 48 hours...  We have enough to overeat at every single meal.  Don't let that guilt you're feeling make you go into a hole and pretend the problem is bigger than you and that you can't make a difference.   Together all of us can make a difference.  Please pray for anything you feel moved to pray for.  Then listen to what God is asking you to do with this information.  I'm a stubborn listener sometimes, and I allow my own feelings of selfishness and feelings that I deserve more to cloud my vision.  I know the sinner that I am, and I'm so very thankful for the grace Jesus gives me, and the many opportunities I have to see my sin and recognize the need to do more.  Josie is one of them.

The Humbling Position we Find Ourselves In

When Sam and I made the decision that I would not be going back to school, we realized we had some savings built up that was intended to be used as a cushion for incidentals during school (i.e. moving expenses, Sam not finding a job right away, our house not selling, paying for 2 mortgages, etc.).  Since it wasn't going to be used for school, it seemed perfect to use as a start to pay for the many adoption costs. 

Up until now, we haven't discussed the costs very much.  Each country is a little different, but on average, to adopt one child internationally is $30,000.  Now before you let this number scare you and cause you to never consider adoption again, let us tell you about a few options. 

First, doing some agency shopping helps this number to go up or down.  Some agencies are more expensive, while others keep their fees on the more conservative side. 
Second, it is important to do some research on what this money is going towards.  A lot of agencies use some of the fees to go towards the orphanage your child is staying in, and puts a lot of focus on giving back.  We felt this was important, as this is something we too would like to do but lack the connections to do so independently. 
Third, there are a lot of scholarships and grants available to adoptive parents.  Depending on the level of special needs you're willing to adopt, whether you're adopting siblings or not, whether you're adopting older children, etc., there are grants available from various organizations specific to those types of children.  For example, if an organization feels strongly towards advocating for adoption of children with Down's Syndrome, they offer grants to families adopting a child with Down's.  This takes some research, but is well worth it when you're talking about a small home's worth of costs. 
Fourth, there is an adoption tax credit.  The year you bring your child/ren home, you get a tax credit for roughly $13,000.  This will help tremendously to pay back some fees you've already had to pay for, or help with the initial costs of bringing children home (plane tickets, for one example). 
Fifth, and this is the humbling position this post is labeled after, there's fundraising. 

Fundraising is a very uncomfortable position to be in.  Rarely is it a pleasant experience to ask for money, and it almost always results in guilty and unworthy feelings.  After doing some calculations, Sam and I concluded we would have to come up with the extra money needed for this adoption somewhere, and some friends who are familiar with adoption suggested fundraising.  We had already started making sacrifices to save money for our adoption, such as not going out to eat, out to movies, not making unnecessary trips into town, and no extra spending in general.  We don't need new clothes, shoes, etc.  And we certainly have a lot of food in our cupboards that need eaten before we go buy more.  However, even with the extra money we are able to save each month by cutting out these small extras, we came to the uncomfortable decision to try fundraising. 

Sam's dear sister, Calley, graciously agreed to be our Fundraising Coordinator and help us with this feat.  We listed out ideas, and came up with some pretty creative ones.  We won't do them all, but with the prospect of some fun activities, it became a tiny bit less uncomfortable...a tiny bit.  We are humbled by the number of people who have already offered to help.  You know who you are, and we cannot express how appreciative we are for not only your emotional support, but your financial support.  Fundraising for yourself is a very difficult thing to do, especially when this was a decision WE made to adopt.  It wasn't anyone else's decision, how could we possibly ask others to help us with it?  It leaves you feeling very selfish, unworthy, and greedy.  I can only hope these feelings go away, because we are realistically left with little options outside of fundraising.

Our first fundraiser has come and gone, and while I had every intention of posting before it happened, we were too busy getting it ready to go.  This one had a dual purpose.  Since Haiti, we've felt pretty strongly against "stuff".  People all over the world live with less items total in their possession than we have in one room of our house.  Their "house" consists of a tarp to serve as a roof, and dirt to serve as a bed.  We value stuff way too much in America, and it quickly consumes our thoughts, money, and homes.  In an effort to downsize, we decided to have a yard sale fundraiser.  We mentioned to family and friends that if there was anything they wanted to get rid of, we would take them as donations to sell at the yard sale.  We imagined we would get some extra stuff, but we never quite imagined what God had in mind!!

Donations came pouring in, from both family members and friends, and we were shocked at how much stuff we had for this sale!  You'll see from the pictures below how incredibly large this sale was.  Calley donated most of her house it appeared, with clothes her kids had outgrown, toys her kids went through and picked out to sell (so sweet!), household items, baby items...You name it - She brought it!  We also received generous donations from several other family members and friends, including Kristi and Dana, Cathy and Rex, Dale and Geneva, Rachel, Angie, my Aunts and Grandparents, James Potter (Sam's boss), Amanda Nash (my coworker and friend), Kristi's neighbors, and Mesha and Steven (friends who just moved to Clear Lake).  Even my niece Reignah pulled out a couple of books, stating "These are so you can buy your kids!"  Haha!  In an effort to assure people we are in fact NOT involved with child trafficking, please know we are not buying our children, contrary to a 4 year old's perspective.  :)

With all of these wonderful donations came hours upon hours of sorting, labeling, pricing, and cleaning of items.  Thankfully Dana and Kristi (Sam's brother-in-law and sister) agreed to let us use their 3 stall garage!! We can in all honesty say, we NEVER could have done this yard sale without their garage and driveway.  We would have lined the streets at another residence, and while I'm sure they were very ready for their garage back, they were so extremely generous in letting us take it over for 3 weeks!  Even with all of that space, we quickly accumulated more things than we had space to sort.  So, each night, we'd pull out all the big items into the driveway so we'd have some walk space to sort the clothes, toys, shoes, and household items.  Then we'd pull them all back in each night.  Sam's sisters Calley and Kristi spent SO SO many hours helping us get ready for this garage sale, and we again, could NEVER have done this without them!!  We could shout THANK YOU from the top of  mountain and it wouldn't be enough to repay them for their generosity and dedication to helping us with this sale.  Each night the entire week before the sale, we were out working until at least 1:00 AM to get everything ready to go.  The last night, while Nikki (Sam's sister) diligently made signs to hang up around town, we completed the finishing touches.  I think we finally went to bed around 2 AM, only to be up 4 hours later to pull everything out for an 8:00 start!  Exhaustion was a common feeling by the end of the week, but I would do it all over again if I had realized the magnitude of God's love for His children and the ways he would show it through this event!

One side of the garage - kids clothes and shoes

Back of garage - electronics and accessories

Other side of garage - toys and household items

Right outside of the garage - the start of the big items

Down the driveway - both sides were lined with big items!

Coming up the driveway - there are things everywhere!

We absolutely never could have anticipated the outcome of this sale!!  Not only did we get rid of 75% of what you see in these pictures, but we met wonderful adoptive families and extremely supportive fellow community members!  Monetarily, a little math is needed to realize the impact of this sale.  Not only was this sale profitable, but it covered, to the dollar, the fees we have already had to pay.

$3,200 for agency fees, $250 application fee, $200 processing fee = $3,650 fees we've paid to date
$36 for newspaper ads, $14 for posterboard and markers = $50 expenses for garage sale
Garage sale profits = $3,700

Only HIS work...

The thought of fundraising leaves you feeling selfish.  Actually raising funds leaves you with an overwhelming feeling of humility.  The hours spent, the donations given, and the outcome this had brings me to tears.   Our children are so incredibly loved already, and I am one proud and amazed Mama.  I should never be amazed by the stunning and unexpected outcomes our God produces - He is a mighty and amazing God.  But I also hope I'm never so expectant that I miss this feeling of pure awe in Him...

We cannot say enough thanks to all of those who supported this event.  For those who donated items - THANK YOU!  For those who donated time - THANK YOU!  And for those who purchased items, gave donations, and provided a smile of support - THANK YOU THANK YOU!  

I hope this reaches some of you who came to the sale Labor Day weekend.  We handed out "thank you" cards to everyone who came, explaining a little about our adoption, and inviting them to this blog.  We hope they have come to share in this journey with us - your prayers and ongoing emotional support for our 2 beautiful orphans, and all the orphans of the world are invaluable!  

As you can see to the right, Sam and I have set a fundraising goal of $10,000.  We are scrimping and saving everything we can to come up with the additional $20,000 that's left for this adoption.  We want our kids home, and if that's what it takes - so be it!  After all, these expenses are going towards the investigations in the country to make sure our children are "true orphans" and there isn't a birth parent or birth family able to raise them (after all - staying in their culture and country is the first choice).  The money is also going towards our wonderful agency who is helping us every step of the way.  The remaining is simply travel costs.  Our round trip plane tickets will be around $4,000, and since we are likely bringing home children over 2 years old, we will have each of their one-way plane tickets as well to bring them home.  We will be in the country for 1-2 weeks, so there are added expenses there.  Long-story short (yeah right - as if I can ever tell a short story! ha!), we have to do more fundraising.  :(  

We will continue to post about upcoming fundraisers for anyone who is interested.  For now, our next fundraiser will be an ongoing one.  As you can see below - we are selling adoption t-shirts.  This also has a dual purpose, as advocating for orphans has become a strong passion of ours.  There are 147 MILLION orphans in the world.  There are 2.7 Billion professed Christians in the world.  If only 8% of those Christians adopted, THERE WOULD BE NO MORE ORPHANS.  

That equates to roughly one family in every church.  One family.  We want to bring awareness to these children, and we want to encourage and love and pray for anyone who can support adoption in any form.  Perhaps you have also considered adoption.  Perhaps you want to financially support an adoptive family.  Perhaps you can offer daily prayers for the orphans of the world.  Every bit of help is needed and a blessing!

If you are one of those families who has considered adoption, please contact us.  We had NO idea what to do when we started, and we were literally going on nothing besides faith.  If we can adopt - anybody can adopt.  And if it feels daunting, look at it this way.  In 2 years from now, we will know nothing different.  Our children will be ours...They will be in our home, and they will be ours to hug and kiss and tell bedtime stories to.  We will spend many days playing at the park, and baking cookies, and having water fights outside.  We will get to sing Christmas carols together, and snuggle in for movie night.  We will get to praise God, every day, for the blessings He has given, and together with our children, we will say daily prayers for the orphans who still need homes.  This will be our reality, and the details between now and then are only details.  For it is all God's plan, and He will provide for anybody wanting to adopt.  He has a plan for each one of His orphaned children, and that plan could involve you.  As our shirts say, Will You Save One?

Even if you personally cannot bring an orphan into your home, you can wear this shirt and advocate for these orphans.  Because for every person who sees your shirt, that could be the one person God intended to reach that day with His message to adopt.  What a beautiful impact you could have!  

Adoption T-Shirts!!

NOW ON SALE FOR $15 EACH!

Black t-shirts, either v-neck or regular collar, in sizes Adult S-XL.  You can order by paying securely with paypal (button on the right), and either put in the comments what size and collar type you want, or you can contact us directly and let us know what sizes you would like.  We have all of the shirts, and will mail them directly to you once you order!

The image above was designed by Laura and I to try and capture the enormity of so many children in Africa who have no home and no one to take them in, as well as to help others find the courage and willingness to adopt.  The shape of Africa is made up of lots of children names in order to show this (even though a few hundred names or so hardly captures what millions would look like).  It also has the statement/question, "Over 50 Millions Orphans, Will You Save One?" to help inspire others to step out of their comfort zone and help those in need.  The last highlighted portion is Matthew 18:5 which is Jesus saying "And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."

We hope you all like them as well as their message.  If you are able and willing to support our cause, please purchase one and know that you are helping us to be able to realize our dream of having those two wonderful kids home with us!