5 For Hope

5 from 4,000 Update

We found a very special envelope in our mailbox this afternoon when we returned home from M1's basketball game.  A former colleague of mine (who remains a very dear friend) had sent his family's contribution to 5 for Hope.

Thanks to their generous donation, we have added the equivalent of 40 people to our 4,000 and now our number stands at 310.

How awesome is that?!

VERY awesome. 

Thank you so much!

We are in cleaning mode this weekend...heavy duty cleaning mode!  Our first home study appointment is Tuesday night!

It's Friday!

We're checking lots off our list today!

My husband had the day off work today and graciously agreed to volunteer at our daughters' school Book Fair this morning.  I was supposed to volunteer Thursday morning, but school canceled.  Given that the PTO relies on the Book Fair to raise money for books and supplies and I am an officer, I thought we should pitch in and help today.  I had to work, though!  So, Brian manned up and braved the onslaught of eager readers who came two classes at a time throughout the morning.

Our PTO President, who is also a good friend, fellow Mom and reader of 5 for Hope, joined our 4,000 today.  She and her family take our total to 269.  Then, a friend from law school who is still working on her education gave us $5 too!  We now have 270 of our 4,000!  Amazing!  And, we added one more Facebooker to our group to take our total to 96!

We also had an appraisal done on our house for the purposes of our home equity line of credit.  We are hoping the combination of a new appraiser and having my husband there to lead the tour will squeeze out a couple thousand more in value than the appraisal we had done for our failed refinance idea.  Fingers crossed!

Speaking of fingers...Brian went to the police station today to be fingerprinted for our home study.  I plan to go next Thursday morning.  Because these are done electronically, I'm worried I won't be able to give good prints.  When I was a judicial extern at a federal court, I tried several times to have my prints taken electronically only to be ink printed by a federal marshal when the clerk gave up trying! 

You can cross your fingers and send up some prayers for two things this coming week:  1)  the above-referenced trip to the cop shop and 2)  I have a job interview next Friday morning at 9 a.m. for a job that I have wanted since I was in elementary school.  No pressure!

My mom is in town this evening to help with home study preparation.  I'm glad she doesn't have a blog...the stories she could tell! 

$5 from 4,000 Update

I am up to my eyeballs in grant application paperwork.  I'm trying to have everything completed BEFORE our home study is done so that once it is, we are off to the races.  I may be leaving blank the sections that ask about my employment as the job news seems to have perhaps perked up a bit today.

Our Facebook group boasts 95 members!   

Today, we heard from our friends, a family of five, and each one gave us 5.  Thank you!  That takes our official number to 265 of our 4,000.  How awesome is that?!

We continue to gather paperwork, check off home study requirements and pool our resources to keep moving toward our goals.  We are happy you have decided to come along and be part of our journey!

We Have Lift Off!

I received an e-mail today notifying us that the adoption agency received our initial pile of paperwork and that they have opened our file. 

We have a file. 

There is now a spot reserved in the filing cabinet for US.  Woo Hoo!

I sent an e-mail to long lost friends and relatives on my contact list yesterday.  I wanted to share our good news regarding the adoption.  So many of them have replied with words of encouragement and updates about their own lives.  I wish I would have sent the e-mail ages ago! 

One of those long lost friends provided the equivalent of 4 more people for our 4,000.  Thank you!

Tasks on the Master Task List continue to bite the dust.  M1 took on a couple projects in her bedroom and then assisted my husband in cleaning the guest bathroom.  M1 made the mistake of saying, "I like cleaning toilets!"  Hmmm...very interesting!  Today, M2 will tackle her play kitchen and the toys that surround it.  She's a good helper too.

Although the credit union's initial reply to us proved disappointing, we're still going ahead with our plans to open the home equity line of credit.  It's discouraging that we have lived in one place for over nine years, we have paid our mortgage (and our other bills) on time every time, and we have less than half the equity available to us we would have had even a year ago given the downturn in the market. 

We are not deterred, though!  We're confident we will find more folks to join our 4,000 and M1 knows her bracelet business will be a success.  We are also filling out tons of applications for grant programs, interest free adoption loans, etc. in the hopes that the Lord will reward our perseverance.  We are also holding out some hope that our tax return will provide some wiggle room for us to put even more of our own savings toward the adoption than we already have. 

We appreciate your continued support through your kind words, prayers and hopes for our adoption's success. 

Stay tuned for regular updates!

Child Proofing...

Preparing to welcome an almost kindergartener into this home is interesting.

I have welcomed two baby girls from scratch and have done a fairly good job with them so far. 

As we prepare ourselves and our house for the home study, however, I realize that I may need to ask even more questions of the adoptive parents I'm connecting with so I can make wise safety choices. 

In the safety audit for our home study report, many of the requirements are followed with the caveat:  "as the age of the child requires" or "as appropriate for the age of the child."  I understand that if this were a domestic adoption of an almost five-year-old for whom English is her first language and a Western experience is common, this might be an easier task.

For us, though, we're dealing with someone who has not been exposed to a lot of commonplace household items and for whom English is not yet a comfortable thing.

With my from scratch daughters, I was a matter-of-fact parent.  The girls, even pesky little M2, did not get into things.  It only took one or two times of me explaining the difference between 'fun bubbles' (those in the tub or the ones blown outside) and 'acky bubbles' (those in a bucket full of cleaning solution) for them to understand the difference.  To this day, either one of them may be heard referring to a bucket full of water and Murphy's oil soap as 'acky bubbles.'

With M3, though, I know we will be surprised in some ways.  Like, I'm sure she will be more self-sufficient than we will imagine given that she is likely responsible for herself and maybe even for assisting some of the tinier kids in her orphanage.  She may be able to bathe herself proficiently, dress herself without much help and help with some household things.  But, we will likely be surprised at her interest in some things that we consider mundane, but that could be dangerous to her...like electrical outlets, fresh smelling cleaning products, and even small toys that resemble food.

This could be an interesting process...I hope I'm up to the challenge!  If anyone reading this has suggestions, I'd love to read them in comments! 

Dusting Off the Blog

Oh, my!  Nothing like a little touch of salmonella or stomach bug or whatever-it-was to slow things down to a grinding halt!  I woke up Friday morning with the definite understanding that something was not right.  I spent the rest of the day in bed and am only now resurfacing and plugging in.  E-mail piles up fast!

Since last report, we've had the equivalent of five people join our 4,000 which is very exciting.

One of our newest additions is a mom of one of M2's classmates.  Another is an adoptive mom whose adoption journey has touched us deeply.  The adoption of her son coincided with our serious talks of adoption from Ethiopia and I have very much enjoyed reading about their joys and struggles on her adoption blog.  I sent her an e-mail to that effect and I cannot properly put into words the impact her story has had on ours.

Our package to M3 is on its way to Washington State to be packed for the journey overseas.  I had to laugh when I saw that Ziploc stuffed to the gills because but for military care packages, I might not have thought it possible to put all those things in one bag!  We hope she will be surprised!

The home study preparation has hit a little glitch given my inability to remain upright over the past couple days, but we'll manage.  My mom has offered to pitch in this coming week and she's tireless when it comes to righting the wrongs of clutter and disorganization.  Thank goodness for Mamaw!

More updates for the week ahead, I'm sure!  Stay tuned!

May the Home Study Begin...

It was not long after I published our update earlier today that I received a call from our Social Worker.

Our first meeting is scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, February 3rd.

You must know the next two weeks will be chock full of cleaning, organizing and probably a fair share of freak outs. 

Luckily for you, you can tune in and watch it all unfold from beginning to end.

I think we're painting M2's room this weekend.  So, the disarray will be worse before it is better.

I better practice my deep breathing.

5 for Hope Update

Things continue to chug along merrily with the $5 from 4,000 campaign.

Our Facebook group now boasts 88 members.  That's terrific!  If you're on Facebook, but you haven't joined, it's easy enough.  Just type 5 for Hope into the search box on Facebook's homepage and you'll find us.  If you are on Facebook and you're already a member, invite some of your friends to join too.  It would be fun to hit 100 by Valentine's Day!

We had an equivalent of 3 people join our 4,000 last night.  A fellow blogger and friend added 5 for Hope to his blogroll and some of his readers are finding their way here, reading our story and deciding to join the 4,000.  Outstanding!  That puts our number at the equivalent of 251 strong!

The paper chase continues as well.  I've been playing phone tag with our social worker, but I'm determined to not let my cell phone leave my sight today so I can snatch it up when it rings.  We have our agency application filled out and we've put together the $600 necessary to send it tomorrow.

We are shifting around some finances and squeezing our budget to see how quickly we can gather the $1500 fee necessary for our dossier assistance via the agency to be satisfied.  We've started gathering some of the documents, but the preparation of all of the materials to go overseas takes big time resources and effort on the agency's part.  So, $1,500 it is and we're going to find it--if you could send up some words to the Big Guy, that would be wonderful.  He usually knows where we should look.

Sweet M1 keeps saying, "If only my beads would hurry up and get here, we'd be set!"  She's very excited about HeartBead and we're excited for her.

If you volunteered your 5 hours of service at our new President's suggestion and you're taking Starbucks up on their offer of a free tall coffee today, why not chat up your fellow coffee drinkers in line.  You could share the news of 5 for Hope and check off some minutes from your five hours!

Thanks again for your continued support.  It means the world to us!

$5 from 4,000 Update

Coffee break time...

I find that 'break time' for coffee idea funny as I am a constant coffee drinker.  If it's here, I'm drinking it.  No break necessary!

We have had the equivalent of 9 people join our quest for 4,000 taking our total to the equivalent of 248 people.  A fellow military spouse send $5 for each member of her family and then last night, I received a wonderful message from a friend out West that made me smile.  Thank you, ladies!

I wonder who will be #250 in our 4,000?  Maybe we should make a commemorative t-shirt or something?

M1's business plan for her beading fundraiser is taking shape.  My mom offered to be M1's initial financial backer.  This news was met with a flurry of activity and excitement.

I couldn't resist bidding on (and luckily winning!) the glass heart beads in this photo.  M1 has decided to place one heart on each bracelet/keychain/etc. 

She's also working on her "motto" for her business (as she calls it).  She has some terrific ideas.

We're also going to work on creating an extra special, fancier version of M1's bracelets for a fund raising raffle.  That will allow us to combine in person and virtual fund raising...how fun!

Thanks again for your interest and your support of our dream to bring M3 home! 

To Ethiopia, With Love

The time has come to assemble M3's care package and send it across the country so that it can travel across the globe with the NGO director who will be seeing our girl in a couple weeks.

I had fun wandering around Target checking things off my list.

First, the practical.  It's my understanding that in the orphanage, the only clothes that are not community clothes are the undergarments.  And, I imagine each child has a limited number of those as it is. 

I bought the biggest pack of underpants I could find (nothing sparkly or glitzy or bikini, mind you...good grief) and I hope M3 will be able to share some of her unders with her friends. 

I would hope she is home before she would need the next size or new ones.

Another suggestion from the NGO director was sunglasses. 
I consider those practical as well.  Although kids love to don sunglasses, in Ethiopia I'm betting the sun shines a bit more in January than it does where we are.

I found a cute purple pair of sunglasses that have Hello Kitty on the earpieces. 

So sweet and I bet she likes purple.  At any rate, the purple will go nicely with her dress. 

It was amazing to me to see some of the sunglasses meant for little girls.  Talk about too big for one's britches.  I thought the Hello Kitty was just right.  No sparkles or bling at all.

I also wanted to make sure she had some new crayons and a notebook in which to use them.  Because of space restrictions, I found a smallish notebook.  I also chose washable crayons...just in case! 

I hope she is able to share her crayons with her friends, if she wants to do so.

I also cannot wait to see (if she is able to hang on to the notebook) what she draws or writes on the pages of her notebook.  Maybe she will be like me...I love a fresh, clean notebook about as much as I love anything.  I'm all about school supplies!

I also wanted to include something soft and cuddly in M3's package.  The girls both volunteered any number of small, fuzzy and cute little somethings, but nothing seemed to fit.  I knew I would know the perfect soft cuddly when I saw it.

I made a point to visit the baby section of the toy department because I know many of the softest and smallest toys can be found there. 

I wasn't disappointed! 

I snatched this little guy up immediately after spying him on the Carter's rack.  He is super soft and squishy.  I love the little red heart detail and the little red necktie.

I think this wee bear will be a perfect ambassador to Ethiopia on our behalf. 

We are also permitted to send along something specifically for the other children who are waiting to find their forever families.  I wish I could send any number of things and I will work on gathering needed items to take with me when I go to pick up M3. 

It seemed, however, to be the underlying suggestion that the families send something fun for the kids who do not yet have prospective parents to send them a gallon-sized bag of love from the States. 

The girls and I discussed what might be good and sidewalk choice was the runaway winner.

I know that at our address, sidewalk chalk is something we always welcome as a gift.  I'm sure there are lots of concrete areas in need of some brightening at the orphanage.  I hope the kids can take these pieces of chalk and create something beautiful...or, if they have no more artistic skill than I do, at least have some fun trying!

And, finally, our photo books.  

This is the opening page in the book.  The pages that follow feature photos of the girls, individually and together, as well as photos of my husband and me with the girls and together.  We even tossed in individual shots of Henry the chocolate lab and Annie the golden retriever.

I had an idea that I'd hoped would work so that in the "Meet the Family" book, M3 would also be able to see herself as a part of the family before she actually meets us or comes home. 

I bought a 99-cent travel mirror at Target and then requested that my husband dismantle it so I was left with just the actual mirror.  He was successful in his quest. 

I found some cardstock that is similar to the photobook page's background (albeit with flowers rather than hearts) and adhered a properly sized piece to the back of the last photograph.

I will secure the small mirror to this page with hot glue (I will be careful!) and then put M3's name underneath it (as I did with the girls' individual pages).  I will either handwrite it or I will use some of my scrapbooking sticker stash.  I have some stickers in a similar font to that printed in the photobook so either way, it will look nice.

This package will be headed to the post office by mid-week.  The girls want to make some artwork to include first. 

This week, our goals are to schedule our meetings with the homestudy agency and submit our official application to our adoption agency. 

Big steps!