As we are getting closer and closer to traveling to get our little girl, I thought I would blog about some things I have learned about life through our adoption journey.


1)  Things rarely ever go according to plan.  I have a great story about this.  Shortly after Randy and I got married, we decided to get baptized together.  I had this vision in my head of how it was going to go.  It was going to be quite spiritual.  Why I was even practically going to float down the steps into the baptismal.  Instead, I slipped and fell.  Right into the baptismal.  Yup..that's alot like this journey (and life). Things rarely (who am I kidding?  I should write never) go according to plan.

2)  God doesn't give everyone else your vision.  This is a tough one.  When God shows you something so amazing, you want people to see it and share in it.  Some people will get it.  Some people will want to be a part of it.  But some people won't.  You've got to learn to be ok with that. 

3) The people that God has called alongside you are precious.  Treat them like a treasure!  I am so thankful for the people who have loved us when we were unloveable, stood with us when we were unbearable, took us to lunch, dinner etc., prayed with us when we didn't know what to do and loved us through this journey.   You are precious!!

4)  Trust God to provide.  Truly this adoption has been funded in ways that I completely did not expect.  Just to add to this, we found out recently that we received another grant!  About 25% of our adoption expenses have been funded through grants.  We only have about 25% left.  Somedays I am happily oblivious to this amount that is still due.  Today was not one of those days.

5)  Sometimes it's ok to just put your arm around someone and say, "I'm sorry..that really sucks."  We don't always need big words and deep philosophical discussions. 

6)  We don't always understand what someone else is going through.  Be kind anyway.  No one needs to hear about Suzy's 36 hour labor or why Harry's adoption didn't work out.  Seriously...why does everyone want to share their worst case scenario?  Compassion goes a long way. 

7)  You won't always understand but be thankful anyway.  Don't overlook the things that appear to be small things.  That person that called you out of the blue to check on you...be thankful for that.  There are lots of little reminders of God's goodness throughout your days.  Try to find some.

8)  People really are not mind readers.  Sometimes they really don't know what you need until you ask.  Ask. Ask. Ask.  Why is it so hard to ask for help?

I know there is plenty more but these are the few that I had on my mind tonight.  Some of them are definitely not as easy as I am making them sound.  It's all still a work in progress for me.

I can't believe that we will be meeting our little girl for the first time in just a few weeks.  It's funny to think that the day we step foot into China, will be the exact same day 2 years later that we stepped into Bethany Christian Services for the first time. 

Once upon a time on a day very much like today we received a phone call.  And this just wasn't any phone call.  This was a call that would change our lives forever.  haha...sounds like a great beginning to a book or something, huh?!

We have some good news that we want to share with you.  We received and accepted a referral for a little girl in China!  Woohoo!  She is 3 years old and is super doper adorable!

Our agency says that it could still be 6-7 months before we travel but everytime they say that, I put my fingers in my ears & say "LA LA LA LA LA LA...I can't hear you."  ;)  It is our hope that we would travel and be home before Christmas.  Wouldn't that be amazing?!  It would be a Christmas miracle!

I want to take a minute to just say THANK YOU!  Thank you for all of your love & support for our adoption journey so far.  You guys have loved us, supported us, prayed for us & been there for us.  We can't thank you enough! 

Great things are ahead!

So tonight I thought that we would do something completely different.  We created a video to post on the blog.  After about 6 takes, saying "um" a lot & talking about how Frank Burns on MASH reminds me of Dwight Schrute from The Office (a ha...you see it too, right?!), it didn't post.  Boo!  Just another thing we need to figure out for the future of our blog.  We seriously need some lessons here.  :)

We have lots of good things to share with you!  First, we received a grant that we applied for!  Hooray!  That means that we are about half way there financially!  Yay for JSC Foundation!!

We had a Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser a few weeks ago which was awesome!  I am so thankful for all of you that showed up, that helped to plan & prepare & donate items to be sold at the silent auction.  Can you believe that Mom Martin's cookie tray went for $82!  Incredible!  And it's funny that both of the gym memberships went for much less.  haha!  Priorities!!  ;)

We had our 2 hour conference call with Bethany at the beginning of the month after we finished our waiting child paperwork.  After that phone call, we officially became a waiting family!  Now we just have to wait to be matched with a child.  Bethany (our agency) said that the average wait time right now is between 6-9 months (and then we travel 6 months after that).  That is the average wait time.  And we all know that there is nothing average about us.  :)  Truth is, God already has us "matched" to our child.  He knows who they are.  We just have to wait & trust in His perfect timing.  I know that sounds all spiritual but I am totally freaking out!  haha...just kidding.  Right now, we can only take it day by day.  Soon.  Soon Caylee will be a big sister.  Soon we will travel.  Soon we will be back with our precious new child.  But for now....we wait. 

This picture was taken at Staples when we were getting ready to send our Dossier documents to our agency.  Don't we look happy?!  We had finished making all of our copies at Staples and the manager offered to mail it for us UPS for free!  So nice!  Oh shoot...thank you note!  I can't believe I forgot to write a thank you note *adding that to my do to list*

We made 436 copies that night.  I've never been so happy to make that many copies!   The copier is right by the front door and I wanted to greet everyone as they came in.  "Hello!  Welcome to Staples!  I am making copies of our dossier today.  And how are you?"  After the final copy was made, Caylee and I did a little dance (Randy refused - haha). 

It was hard to send those papers on their way.  If it were possible, I think we would have taken a road trip to Grand Rapids to deliver them ourselves.  But, our agency received them in a day or two and everything was approved.  After our paperwork was authenticated, it was sent to China!  We are beyond excited. 

The next step for us is to complete our "waiting child paperwork".  But hey...what's 20 pages to do when you've already completed 200?  ;)  After that, we wait for a referral for a child.  Oh my goodness...we can't wait!!

Wanted to share with you our next upcoming event.  Mark your calendar:

April 20th - Spaghetti Dinner & Silent Auction
at Salem Ridge Community Church
441 Pennsinger Road in Greencastle  (easy to find)
from 5 - 7 pm
Dinner and auction is on a donation basis


Do you own a business?  Do you know a business owner?  Are you an artist?  A baker?  Crafty? A movie star? Rock Star?  Would you consider donating something for our silent auction?


Let us know if you would like a ticket.


By the way...yes.  I know the picture at the top is big but well...it's late & I can't figure out how to change the size.  So for now, enjoy your big ole picture of the Martins on their very happy day!  :)

So...I've been reminded a few times in the last few weeks by a certain someone who will remain nameless <cough cough you know who you are> that I need to update my blog.  It's true!  I do!  You know, I've actually written out what I want to say already but I am an over thinker.  I want it all to be "just right" before I put it out there.  But it is time to give the <cough cough> people what they want...AN UPDATE!!

So much has been going on and we have a lot to share.  Since our last post, we have had 2 fundraisers.  A 31 party with our friend Glenda offering to donate all of her commission from the night toward our adoption.  (AMAZING!).  We also had a night at Sweet Frog.  They donate a percentage of business that we were able to bring in that night.

 

It's fun to pretend that all these people were there for our fundraiser. 

 
With those fundraisers and with our tax money, we are able to  move forward with our dossier (this just means the paperwork that will go directly to China).  As a matter of fact, we are going to Annapolis tomorrow morning to get our final dossier papers state sealed!  Woohoo!  This is a huge step.  We will be able to send our paperwork to our agency on Monday.  Our hope was to have this specific paperwork done by Christmas so this is a really big deal!

I have to be honest, this process has been difficult and challenging at times.  The thought of raising over $30,000 can seem insurmountable.  Someone told me one time that I need to learn to "rest" in this process.  WHAT??  There is rest??  In this process??  Who knew!  But you know what, it's true!  When you learn to rest in God, things start to shift.

I have to tell you a great story about this...it was a particular week that we were particularly (like how I did that?) stressed about money.  How was it all going to happen?  And then this amazing thing happened..we received a package in the mail from our friends.  They are 9, 8 and 6 years old.  They had sent us all of their change to give toward our adoption fund.  It was in that very moment that I knew we were going to be ok.  Checks for $10,000 are super nice but when you get a gift from the heart like that, it is just indescribable!

 Speaking of gifts from the heart, we received another present from some other sweet friends who are 10 and 9.  They had been collecting money for our adoption and presented us with a box of what they had collected.  What a precious, sweet, amazing gift from God and from the hearts of these amazing kids!   God's love for us was revealed through these little packages with such big hearts!  We are truly blessed! 

 

 

One week ago today  we did our Chick-fil-A fundraiser. Can I just say that you guys blew us away that night! We are thankful for the people who shared our event on facebook, those who invited their friends and their mom's friends, their neighbor's friends, etc. etc. We were overwhelmed with the support. THANK YOU!

 

I have to be honest with you. It's hard to open yourself up sometimes. Especially when it's something that is so near & dear to your heart. I don't know when it happened but sometime in the past few years, we closed ourselves off some; became more guarded. There are several things that we could blame but the truth is, its FEAR! Fear says, "If you open yourself up, you will be faced with people who are critical, you will be condemned, people will ask rude questions." Fear is a tricky thing & it has this weird power to stop us right in our tracks. It keeps us from moving forward & inviting others to be part of this process with us.

 

BUT there are so many great things that happen when you open yourself up too. Like people that you don't even know coming to your Chick-fil-A night. Family & friends that believe in what you're doing and want to help. People who are adopting too & want to know about your journey.

 

So I want to take a minute to encourage you. If fear is holding you back today, it's time to give it a swift kick in the booty! If you know that God has called you to do something, it's time to move forward in that. Yes, you may get criticism, you may get weird glances but you know what's worse? Doing nothing. Now is your time my friend. Go for it!

 

 

Upcoming Fundraiser...YAY!

Attached is our Chick-fil-A Spirit Night Adoption Fundraiser flyer. It will be on January 7th from 5:00 - 8:00pm. A portion of anything you order will go toward our adoption fund. We will have the flyers at a table so please see us prior to placing your order. We can't wait to see you there! Please invite your friends!