Last call!! Scentsy fundraiser ends tonight!

All proceeds will go toward HH's adoption fund! If you love Scentsy and want to contribute to a great cause, now is the time!


https://scentswithadele.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Buy

A father's love

The decisions the father in this story has to make on behalf of his daughter will touch you to the core. The story is both heart-wrenching and warming.  Many parents around the globe must make these tough decisions. No parent should have to.

http://www.chinasmack.com/2009/stories/impoverished-farmer-father-abandoned-girl-daughter.html

Last days for the Scentsy Fundraiser--ends September 30 so hurry!

Time is running out to support the Tomaszewski family's adoption of Huan Huan with Scentsy consutant extrordianire Adele! Huan Huan turns 14 on January 1 and his adoption must be completed by December 30. Adele has kindly donated all September proceeds from our party with her toward his adoption. Monday will be the last day to order.
Here's the link:
https://scentswithadele.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Buy

Superkids event this weekend

Yay! We succeeded in getting a load of kids clothing hung, tagged, and transported over to the Superkids Resale event in Gresham! It wasn't near the load I had envisioned taking over but at least it is something. Superkids sells vetted clothing, toys, furniture, and other items of interest to parents, prospective parents and kids. Consignors get a percentage of sales and have the option to donate anything that doesn't sell. Win-win all the way around. There's another sale next month in Vancouver which can take items as well. Purchasers get quality items for less than retail or thrift shop prices. Sure hope some of our stuff sells! I've had ten hours sleep over the last two days and I'm feeling it. Will be working the event as well at the Tupperware booth. Always look forward to helping people. Check out the scene at the event site! The event coordinator says there were 93,000--you read it right--93,000 items brought in for this weekend's sale! All I can say is, "Wow!"

Photos from Oktoberfest 2012!

Oktoberfest auction

Hey, all you peeps coming down to Oktoberfest at Oaks Park! We will be auctioning off a nice set of Tupperware at our booth this weekend with the proceeds going to HH's adoption fund. Come on down and check it and all the other great items we have for you! Better yet, date a party with me for an extra gift! Say ooommmmpa!

Her birth mother found her

It wasn't her dream, but the author got to experience what many adopted children long for: reconnection with their past and with the family who had to make the difficult decision to place them for adoption.

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/16/when_my_birth_mother_found_me/

Countdown?!!

I spoke with a very nice supervisor at the National Benefits Center today. While HH's case doesn't qualify for expediting at this time, she assured me that our file would be reviewed in the next couple weeks. Meaning, if all goes well, we could be looking at travel authorization in as little as six weeks. OMG! Now, before anyone gets too excited, from the look of things, there are a couple of Chinese holidays that might make a couple weeks impact on the other side of the ocean. On this side, we have to pray we don't get an RFE. What's an RFE? Returned for errors. The homestudy that has to be turned in with the I800a application has to have very specific questions asked and very specific wording. Some adoptive families have had their I800a's RFE'd 3, 4, and even 6 times. Which means the homestudy has to be rewritten, re-reviewed, re-submitted, returned to the queue, re-reviewed...you get the idea. If we get an RFE, that would probably put us into late November or early December. More than one....I don't want to think about that. That would be a very bad place. Especially with our holidays and holiday closures starting then. Time is running out. Lord, bring my HH home. Remove all obstacles for him. Don't let this one go to places unknown.

Update Update Update!

We got the update on HH! He's doing really well. He got an award from his school for all of his hard work! So proud of him! His classmates, teachers, and caregivers all really like him and feel he is an exceptional person! Can't wait to bring him home!

Scentsy Fundraiser is here!

For the month of September, my friend Adele will donate all proceeds from sales at Terry's party on her Scentsy website toward HH's adoption!


https://scentswithadele.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Buy

So much to share today!

I'm not sure where to start!

As far as the journey to bring HH home, I've gotten my fingerprinting done by USCIS and sent all of the docs from the Chinese consulate to our agency. We're now awaiting approval from USCIS which is the last bit of paperwork before our dossier goes to China (DTC). Yay!

I am anxiously awaiting an update on HH. My adoption coordinator says it is very extensive and even includes some of his school work!  Last week, I got new pictures. He has grown so much since the first ones!

Miracle Man had surgery last week to reconstruct his nose and lip. He looks so good! Dr. Kuang is awesome! Very thankful for our team up at Doernbecher!

Anyone like Scentsy? Look for a new fundraiser soon!

Chills!

Did you read the Huffington Post article? The part about mom's waiting for updates? Well, we're there! I got four new photos of HH and next week there will be an update on him--even some examples of his school work! Over the moon happy! We have to wait until next week because the agency has to have it translated.

Great article in the Huffington Post!

What's going on with those adoptive parents to be?

Silver Lininings

It's been quite a week so far. I started the week with a couple cancellations at work and will be ending with one more. As a result, I thought I would take the kids to a movie on Tuesday morning. No such luck. I was expecting a call from our China program coordinator and she called while we were en route to the theater. I pulled over for what I thought would be a quick conversation. Turned out to be over an hour. Needless to say, the kids were bummed out about not seeing the show. We learned our I800a had been sent to the USCIS for their process and approval, we only needed to get one more referral in and the guardianship letter.

Oh, by the way....we have two more brand new documents we need you to submit along with the other stuff. Local police clearance. Whoa, whoa, whoa! Weren't the state and FBI clearances we already submitted sufficient? Nope. Thanks to being off work, I was able to get the document, get it down to the secretary of state's office for their stamp, over to FedEx and off to San Francisco. The second document won't get done until week after next, sigh.

On the other hand, USCIS has received the I800a, woo hoo!

Mom always said to look for silver linings in dark clouds. Sometimes, it has been really hard to see them. Lots of silver linings this week!

First fundraiser is here!

We're doing a Tupperware fundraiser to cover HH's I800a and dossier costs. You can pick up some nice things for yourself while helping us! Your order will be shipped directly to you anywhere in the U.S. Thank you in advance for your support! Here's the link:

HH Adoption Fundraiser I800

http://order.tupperware.com/coe/app/!twx$eparty_ctl.p_dispatch?pv_v=invitation_view&pv_a=new&pv_eparty=03645f165db3bb26c4954e429b38e794

http://order.tupperware.com/coe/...

Things that make you go Hmmm....

I just read a thread on a FB page for an adoption group I'd joined. It troubles me. The moderator had said not to post any fundraisers. One of the other members asked for ideas to be private messaged to her about successful ways people had raised capital for their adoptions. She wasn't advertising a fundraiser. Some folks gave her great information on what they had done and resources to look into. Others jumped down her throat and told her not to talk about fundraising at all. Period. Including the moderator. The language got pretty heated. I had no idea the topic was so controversial. Several people said that if you didn't have the funds to adopt, then you shouldn't be adopting. Other's said fundraising to adopt was demeaning. Where do you weigh in? Is it wrong to fundraise? Just because someone is raising funds that directly benefit one person, doesn't that mean you shouldn't do it? Is it better to go into debt? What about other fundraisers---Race for the Cure, MDA, etc. Should people afflicted with cancers, firefighters, the kids' choir...not ask for help in their cause. Should they just suck it up and go it alone all by themselves?

Pacific Place in the Log Flume...er, Adoption Flume

We've entered that sweet bit of water lapping gently at the log and quietly transporting us to adventures around a bend. What a great feeling!  Behind us,  the up and down roar of rushing water and clink clanking of machinery that moments before hurtled us down tall precipices, super-glued my eyes shut, and reached down my throat to tear screams out into daylight. Paperwork should have arrived at the consulate in San Francisco. Check. Email from agency confirming the homestudy has officially been approved and the I800a transmitted to USCIS. Check. Kids passports to be updated in the coming week. Check. Tupperware fundraiser set up. Check. Still need that password to post it. Hmmm. A little ripple. More fundraisers and fundraising to consider. Grants to apply for. Winter is around the next bend. The water moves faster and swiftly we will be carried to China. Swiftly, my not so little new boy will have the best birthday present ever. Us. Family.

First we scurried, then we hurried, melted a little, and, now, we wait.

By afternoon, the San Francisco Chinese consulate will have our dossier documents to authenticate. It feels so good to be at this point! Most of the paper-chasing finished! Getting that last document on Friday after so many challenges, delays, stops and starts. Thus is the adoption journey.

We traveled to Salem to get the documents verified on Monday with the plan of sending them off for authentication on the same day. We didn't count on being pointed in the wrong direction in 90 degree heat to get a money order to pay the consulate to look at and approve the docs. (Anyone hear, "I'm melting, oh what a world!"? After trudging several looonggg blocks flanked by a pair of 12-year-olds who were trying very hard to be patient, I learned we had to back track and go the other way. More trudging.

Upon reaching the cool oasis of Safeway and basking in its refreshing air while waiting for the clerk to alight from her backroom haven, she informs me: cash only for money orders. Trudge to car dragging said 12-year-olds behind with promises of McDonald's on the race home. To drop them off. To head to work. Too late to get to the store with cash. Cash. Who knew? Mffff...well, I knew--about ten years ago! But that was then, this is now. Sorry. I forgot. Like, I've only bought money orders maybe three times in my life!

Off too late from work Tuesday to get docs off.

Wednesday. Off early. Traffic. Too late to get money from bank. Think. Think. Think. Solution found. Off to get money. Off to copy and FedEx docs priority or express or whatever they call it. Docs checked twice. Return envelope inside. Money inside. Whew!

The docs should come back next week so I can turn around and send them to our agency. If all goes well. It must. Clock is ticking. I hear it reverberating in my sleep. Waking. He must come home. He must. Must.

Good news from the agency: They've almost finished the written part of the homestudy. That gets to go to the consulate as well. But they will have the adventure of sending it.

USCIS so far has been silent on the I-800a but then they may have just gotten it. It had to go through the agency first. Praying for a miracle there. Usually, it takes them 55 or more days to send back the approval. God moved the mountains for Miracle Man. God, please move them for HH!

Say what? Questions we adoptive parents hear.

What not to ask an adoptive parent!

http://www.babble.com/kid/15-things-you-should-never-say-to-an-adoptive-parent/

If you're an adoptive parent or child, you've heard at least some of these. I would include a question from the local butcher: Guess she met Mother Teresa? Ah, nope. Let's see, she's two and Mother Teresa died how many years ago? You do the math.

Can you believe? I still have not heard back from anyone at my agency about the I800a! I just filled it out the best I could and should be sending it and the $830 payment out tomorrow. Guess that's all I can do for now.

On the flip side, the financial statement has been taken care of and I should have it either tomorrow or Monday. So very thankful for that! Once that is in hand and everything had been verified with the secretary of state's office, they will go to the Chinese consulate in San Francisco for authentication. After that, I get to send the whole kit and caboodle to my agency so they can send that bundle along with a bunch of other stuff over to China's CCCWA so that body can work on things.

Then there was the required class that I was supposed to take via webinar this evening. Only they were having problems with it not working right. Which means I either have to race home from work early again next week or try to do it later in the month on the day Miracle Man has his next surgery.