We have received our pre-approval letter!

As of this morning, December 28th, we received our pre-approval letter from China!!

Our next steps are to fill out our I-800 and Article 5 paperwork while we wait for our LOA (letter of approval) from China (2-4 months).  After the LOA is received, we will file for our TA (Travel Approval).  After that is approved, we will travel 4-5 weeks later.  This entire process can take 4 - 6 months!

Please pray for a grant that will be going to review mid January.  So far we have been denied all grants due to the lack of funding from the adoption organization we appled to.  Each adoption organization replies that they do not have funds due to the lack of donations and support.  Please pray that we received this grant in January.  We applied for this grant back in the Spring of 2012.  They only review applications that receive referrals. Since we now have a referral, they will look at our application.  With the approval of this grant, it will help us tremendously in the remaining $10,000 we are trying to raise before traveling. 

What a great Christmas present...a referral and pre-approval!!!  Thank you Jesus!

We have a referral!!

At 1:30 AM on Sunday, December 23, 2012, we officially received a referral for our little Melanie!

It was approximately 8:00 AM when Jason woke me up to tell me that we received our referral through email.  What excitement to see that email from Simi at Living Hope!!  I could not look at her picture yet because I wanted to make sure it was for real.  Jason read her file to me...and said she was precious.  It was amazing to see the love of a father who finally gets to see a picture of his little girl he has waited so long to see.  Just to think...this little girl was hand picked by God just for our family.  It was so hard not tell Cohen since he has waited SOOOOO long to see a picture of his little sister.  So we contacted our pediatrician to understand the medical file, did our letter of intent and sent it to Simi asap.  For those of you wondering...that is why we walked into church 45 minutes late! 

As of today, me and Cohen both were introduced to our little Melanie's picture.  She is precious!  Melanie currently is 15 months old.  We have called and texted the grandparents and some family (Ya Ya/Pa Pa, G & Pa Pa, Aunt Mary, Dan, etc.).  And of course I had to video tape all the phone calls that Cohen made them to the grandparents!!! 

Please pray for our little Melanie!  Pray that she will be safe and to prepare her for the transition into her forever family (us).  Pray that we get pre-approved this week...that is a BIG deal and will "almost" make it official.  Please pray for the remaining $10,000 we need to raise within the next four to six months (before we travel)!!! 

Thank you....  Thank you to ALL that have prayed for us through our adoption process these last 14 months.  Thank you for all the support through fundraisers and donations!!  Thank you!!!!!  She is almost here!  Praise God...he is Jehovah Jirah!

What an awesome Christmas present!!!  Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas 2012 donations!

We have been so blessed this Christmas season with adoption donations!!!

Between December 16 - 22, we have received over $600 in donations.  These donations have come from family, Christmas gift wrapping ($132), and contacts from Tiffany's email. 

Thank you Jehovah Jirah!  In a season where we set aside a time to celebrate Christ's birth...the celebration of our Savior coming to rescue us...He keeps providing! 

We have raised over $20,000!!! Praise God!

It is official...as of this week we have raised a total of over $20,000 for our adoption fund to bring Melanie home from China!!!!! Praise Jehovah Jirah! 

We have been fundrasing since October 1, 2011...14 months and over $20,000 raised. The majority of those funds have already been paid out during step 1 and 2 of our adoption process.  We are currently in step 3.  Step 3 are the funds to be paid to China, the orphanage, visas, and the last remaining expences. 

We had a nice surprise this week from Amanda Love.  We raised $20 more than anticipated from our Origami Owl and Scentsy Open House fundraiser.  It brought our total to $466.  Thank you Amanda Love!!!  Thank you for EVERYONE that ordered.  What a blessing!!!

This week I received two gift wrapping orders.  Thank you Regina Gammon and Jennifer McKay!!!  I will still be gift wrapping all the way up until Christmas Eve....

Thank you Tiffany Curtis!  Tiffany is the principal that works with Jason.  She was so kind to volunteer to send out a letter to many people in the Metro School System telling them our adoption story and challanging them to help her bring in $1,000 for our adoption fund.  Tiffany came up with this idea on her own and presented it to Jason.  The letters have been sent out and so far we have received $150.  Thank you Tiffany and those that have donated!

There have been several cookbooks purchased over the past two weeks.  It looks like we have around 20 left.  They are GREAT for those last minute Christmas gifts!!!

Please pray for our "Help Us Adopt" grant application!  We should hear back ANY day as to whether we were approved for this adoption grant.  So far we have been rejected from all our grant applications due to the lack of funds in the foundation or organization we applied to.  We have two outstanding...Help Us Adopt and Gift of Adoption.  Help Us Adopt made their decision on Dec. 15th (today) and Gift of Adoption will not approve without a referral. 

Please continue to pray for our little Melanie over in China.  We do not know who she is yet... 
Please continue to pray for our referral so that we can see who our little Melanie will be and start preparing for our travel to China. 
Please continue to pray for the remaining adoption funds required.  We still have around $10,000 to raise before we can go get our Melanie. 

Holiday Bazaar and Christmas Gift Wrapping!

This past Saturday, December 1st, I participated in the Village Holiday Bazaar at DuPont Hadley Middle School in Old Hickory, TN.  My mom attended with me to help out!  Not only did we get some great Christmas gifts from other vendors, we made $175 for our adoption fund.  My wonderful friends, Lisa Herman, Elizabeth Peden, Heather Hotmer, Jennifer Allen Smith, and Mandy Gabers baked cookies and goodies to sell at our table.  They were all a hit!!!  Jason and I stayed  up till 2 AM the night before making gift baskets with our cookbook and baking goodies.  Needless to say...we are basket making experts!  I also baked some muffins, pumpkin bread and banana bread. 

Since the Holiday Bazaar we sold two more baskets, more cookbooks, and received a donation!  Praise God!

Right now I am offering Christmas Gift Wrapping for a donation to our adoption fund!  I have the boxes, paper, ribbon, and tape....ready for the wrapping to begin. 

This Friday, December 7th, Lisa Herman is having an Open House featuring Thirty-One, Pampered Chef and Origami Owl vendors.  A portion of the product sales from Pampered Chef and Origami Owl will go towards our adoption fund to bring Melanie home from China!  Lisa is an awesome friend!!!!

Please continue to pray for our little Melanie in China!  We do not who she is...but God does.  Pray for her safety and needs to be met.  Please also pray for our adoption process.  We are waiting to be matched with our little girl! 

Scentsy and Origami Owl Fundraiser Results

Great news...we raised $447.80 from our Scentsy and Origami Owl Open House Fundraiser held on November 13th.  What a great fundraiser!!!  Thank you to EVERYONE that ordered and thank you to Amanda Love for conducting the fundraiser. 

There are three more adoption fundraisers during the month of December!

1.  This Saturday, December 1st, I will be participating in Holiday Village Bazaar at DuPont Hadley Middle School (where I use to be a 7th grade Lang. Arts teacher).  I will be selling our adoption cookbooks.  Also...some great friends are making baked goods to sell at the Bazaar. 

2.  December 7th, an awesome friend of mine Lisa Herman, is having an open house at her home.  10% of the Origami Owl  sales will go toward our adoption fund. 

3.  During the month of December, I am offering Christmas gift wrapping for a donation to our adoption fund. 

Adoption status:  We are currently waiting on a match/referral from China.  Our Dossier has been approved and we have a log in date. 

Please continue to pray for our adoption process, Melanie's safety/health, and our adoption fundraising.

AVON fundraiser results

We are excited to have raised $30 from our AVON fundraiser.  Thank you Ashton Gilbert for organizing the fundraiser and everyone that ordered.

Over the last few days, we have been blessed with donations to our adoption fund.  We received a $100 donation through our Lifesong for Orphans account.  We were handed $20 from a sweet lady from church.  Today, we received a $5 donation from a sweet friend.

We have also sold many more cookbooks through personal orders and also Hendersonville Produce.  Thank you to everyone that has purchased a cookbook!!! 

We will be having an Origami Owl and Scentsy Open House Fundraiser next Tuesday, November 13th.  If you would like to attend or place an order, please contact me at 615-289-6178 or karlamtaylor@hotmail.com.  They are GREAT Christmas gifts!!!! 

Our LID - Log in Date - in China is 10/26/12

Praise God!!!  We have a LID (Log in Date)...it is October 26, 2012.  This is the date that China approved and logged in our paperwork. 

So what does this mean?  It means that we are now able to receive a referral. 

What is a referral?  A referral is when our agency sends us a picture and file of a little girl that  matches our requests/guidelines from our application (minor/moderate special needs)...ages, etc. 

Starting in November we are elgible to receive a referral from the shared list.  A shared list is the new released children elgible for adoption that have special needs.  Our agency will match us with a child and send us an email.  This process could take one month to several months. It depends on how many other families are in front of us that are requesting the same guidelines. 

After we are matched, we will travel to China to get her within 3 - 6 months.

Please pray that we are matched with the exact little girl God wants us to have for our family.  Please pray for Melanie and her safety, shelter, food and needs to be met while we wait for our chance to go get her. 

Please also pray for the remaining $11,000 to come in for expences.  We are selling adoption cookbooks for $10 and will have one more fundraiser before the end of the year.  The other fundraiser will be Nov. 13th.  It is an open house for Oragami Owl and Scentsy.  If you would like to place an order please email me at karlamtaylor@hotmail.com.

If you are looking for a way to help your 2012 taxes, you can make a tax deductible donation to our fundraising fund with Lifesong for Orphans.  It is a way to help your taxes and bring Melanie home.  If you are interested please see details below or  email me at karlamtaylor@hotmail.com.

Lifesongfororphans.org
Click Give
Click Give a donation
There are options to send a check, pay via credit card, pay via paypal (paypal includes fees).
Please include our family number so that our adoption fund gets the credit.  Our family number is:  "Taylor/2866".
You can give anonymously or with your name. 
Thank you!!!

Our DTC (Date To China) is Oct. 19, 2012!!!

Great news!  Jason's birth certificate was authenticated.  So that means our entire Dossier was authenticated in the US before the deadline!!!!!  Our Dossier was sent to China today!!!!!!!  This means that China will receive our Dossier on Monday, October 19, 2012!  Praise God!!!  Please God put your hand of protection on our Dossier.  We pray that all the documents go where they need to go and things go smoothly with receiving our LID (Log In Date).  We could start seeing a shared list as of November!!!!  Can you imagine...we may be able to see our little Melanie's picture before Christmas.  What an awesome Christmas present.  Cohen may not be able to get his Christmas gift to see his sister in person, however, he may be able to see her face!

We had our Discovery Toy fundraiser last night.  It was a great time and was able to raise $72 for our adoption fund!!  Thank you Lee Anne Young for hosting our party!!!  Thank you for everyone that placed an  order.

Today, we received two donations from sweet family friends.  Each donation was $100 for a total of $200.  Thank you!!!

We sold 10 cookbooks in the last two days!

Our neighborhood is having a community yard sale tomorrow.  Four of our neighbors rented clothing racks. This raised $60 for our adoption!

I also sold some items on Girlfriends Trading Post this evening for our adoption!!!

In the last two days, our adoption fund raised $457!!!!!  Thank you Jehovah Jirah!

Cookbooks at Hendersonville Produce!

Today, I was able to sell our adoption cookbook at Hendersonville Produce during CSA pick-up hours.  Thank you Regina Gammon!!!!  In just three hours, I sold 12 cookbooks!

During my time there, I was able to meet many great people and see some familar faces.  I received many words of encouragement and luck.  Through this adoption adventure, I have learned that the adoption world really is so small.  Today, I was so encouraged by the adoption stories that I heard from those families that had also adopted.  Some had grown children they had adopted many years ago while some had recently adopted within the last seven years.  I felt blessed when a mom showed me the picture of her little girl from China that she had adopted back in 2005.  Then there was this little girl that touched my heart.  As she approached my table, while her parents picked up their CSA, she asked what I was doing.  I told her that I was selling cookbooks to raise money for our adoption and that we were adopting a little girl from China.  With excitement in her eyes and joy on her face she said, "I was adopted from China".  Oh the day when someone can look my own daughter in the eye and she can say those same words...."I was adopted from China".  I thank that little girl for the encouragement she she gave me today. As I sat there and had a conversation with her for those few minutes, she gave me encouragement to keep pressing on so that one day I can look my Melanie in the face and say welcome home!  Thank you Lord for the encouragement and support you sent me today!

We sold the door!

Praise God we sold the door!!!  Our sweet friend Vivian Miller donated her beautiful solid wood door with side lights and transon to us to sell for our adoption fund.  Today, we sold the door unit for $600!  Thank you Vivian for your generous donation!  Thank you Jehovah Jirah for bringing us Mike and selling the door! 

This weekend we sold a total of 24 cookbooks!  Praise God!

Adoption Cookbooks have arrived! Dossier paperwork update...

The Adoption Cookbooks have arrived (three weeks early)!  Thank you G&R Publishing!

The cookbooks are filled with 250 awesome family recipes...some even from secret family recipe vaults.  They also include our adoption story and why we are naming our little girl Melanie.  Linda Stacy, Melanie Stacy's mom, was so kind to send Melanie's favorite recipe and a hand written recipe from Melanie.  These are included in the cookbook.  In the back of the cookbook, you can find kitchen craft projects for kids.  Our dear friend, Leanna Baker, designed the cover!   You do not want to miss out on this cookbook.

The cookbooks are $10 if ordered through us.  Please email us at karlamtaylor@hotmail.com if you would like to place an order.  Put cookbook order in the subject line. 

So far we have sold 30 cookbooks and many more orders to fill next week!  Get yours before they are gone.  They are great for Christmas gifts...for family, friends, co-workers, and teachers. 

Our consignment sale is still for sale.  Since our last post, we have rented our racks to four people for their yard sales.  We have three more people renting them next week!  This will have brought $105 for our adoption fund!!

Our Dossier...
As of today, we are only waiting on one document to be authenticated in NYC.  Once our agency receives this document, they will send the entire Dossier to China.  Once China receives the Dossier, we can start receiving referrals within three weeks!  We are so excited to finally see a picture of our little Melanie that God has picked out for us. 

Current Fundraisers...
AVON - our AVON fundraiser will conclude this coming Monday, Oct. 15th. 40% of the products sold will go to our adoption.

Discovery Toys - our Discovery Toys fundraiser is going on right now with a party at our home to show the products on Thursday, Oct. 18th at 6:30.  We will close the fundraiser on Friday, Oct. 19th.

Scentsy - Our Scentsy fundraiser will start in November.

Adoption cookbooks - $10 each

Clothing Rack rental - $15 each

Prayer...
Please continue to pray for our family during our adoption process.  Pray that God has His hand on our Dossier paperwork and gets it where it needs to go with no complications.  Pray for Melanie...for her safety, her health, and those that are taking care of her.  Pray for our adoption finances.  God has been our Jehovah Jirah in providing $17,500 of our needs so far.  we are still needing approximately $13,000 more to complete the entire adoption process. 

Fundraising Results - Pampered Chef and our Dossier

Great news! We received our fundrising amount for our Pampered Chef fundraiser that took place over the last couple weeks.  We raised $210!!!  Thank you to everyone that placed orders!!!  Thank you to Jennifer Miller that hosted a fundraising party.  Thank you to Olivia Ogle for doing both fundraising parties!  Thank you Lord for providing!!!! 

Well one of our deadlines for our Dossier to get to China is this week!  Please pray that our paperwork gets to China this week and gets that date stamp!!!!! 

This week will conclude our AVON fundraiser!  If you need AVON let me know! 

I just found out that our adoption cookbooks will be arriving next week!!! 

Our last adoption grant application was mailed last week!  Please pray that we get approved!!!

Thank you for everyone's support, encouragement, and prayers!  Thank you Lord for providing - Jehovah Jirah!

Two donations!

This week again is filled with blessings.  We received two donations!  One donation for $30 came from a sweet friend and $100 came from one of Jason's co-workers.  Praise God!!!

Avon Fundraiser begins!

It amazes me how God keep providing!  This past week we raised $106 for our adoption.  $91 was from a local consignment sale.  Thank you Justine Gamble for allowing me to include my items!!!  $15 was from renting our clothing racks.

Last week we had two pampered chef fundraisers.  My sweet friend Jennifer Miller had one at her home Tuesday, September 18th.  The second one was at my home Friday, September 21st.  Both fundraisers were successful.  I do not know the official totals, however, I do know that the sales were over $1,200.  15% of sales will go to our adoption fund!!!

For the next two weeks, we are having an AVON adoption fundraiser.  40% of the sales will go to our adoption fund.  Attached you will find a PDF of the items available.  They are at a discount from the regular catalog.  All orders can be given to Ashton Gilbert at ashtonlgilbert@gmail.com .  If you would like to get some great AVON items, please place your order by Friday, Oct. 5th.

Our Discovery Toys fundraiser will be later in October.  Currently, we are still having the Xango fundraiser where you can purchase meal packs for starving children and 30% goes to our adoption fund.  Please read the previous blog for details.  Also, people can make a tax-deductible donation to our adoption fund at Lifesong for Orphans.  Please see previous blog for details.

Today, I received the final PDF file for our adoption cookbook.  It looks great and has some amazing recipes...even secret family recipes!  They should be in by the end of October.  Great for gifts!!!

I found out today that our grant application with Hope of Adoption was pushed back another month.  Our application will not be reviewed until late October.

Tomorrow, I will be mailing in our adoption grant application for HELPUSADOPT.ORG.  We have been denied all of our adoption grant applications due to lack of funds.  Please pray that we will receive this grant!

Please continue to pray that our Dossier arrives in China before our paperwork expires!!!

Dossier and Fundraising Update!

Great news! All of our Dossier paperwork has made it to Living Hope Adoption Agency!  We had one missing piece and it arrived Monday.  All of our money arrived, including the fundraising fund from LifeSong. 

I have to say...LifeSong is a well organized and is excellent in their communication!  We requested our adoption fund to be sent to Living Hope.  Within one hour they cut the check and sent it!  Amazing!  I wish our entire adoption experience would be that easy.

So the next step:  Our Dossier goes to Washington for authenticating, it gets translated into Chinese and then off to China!  Please pray for God's hand to be on our paperwork.  We have a deadline in October that our paperwork has to be in China.

Fundraising Update:

We made $86 at a yard sale a couple weeks ago and $30 from renting our clothing racks.  That is $116 just this week!  Praise God!!  I have some clothes and kids items in a local consignment sale this week.  Thank you to Justine Gambel for letting me put my items with hers...you are a great friend!  Pray they sale.  All profit goes to adoption!

My sweet friend Jennifer Miller hosted a Pampered Chef party last night as an adoption fundraiser for us!  Thank you Jennifer!  The sales were great.  Thank you for everyone that came out and ordered. 15% of those sale will go to our adoption.  When we know the final number we will post!

This Friday, Sept. 21st we are having a Pampered Chef Adoption Fundraiser at our home!!  They have a new catalog and have some great stuff.  GREAT for EARLY CHRISTMAS shopping!!!  If you would like to place an order support our adoption:  Go to pamperedchef.biz/oliviaodle under host "Karla Taylor" or call our Pampered Chef Consultant, Olivia Odle, at 615-478-0698. Have your order shipped to us and save at least $2 on shipping fees! Please place your order by Friday, September 21st!  Thank you Olivia for doing both of these fundraisers for us!!!

We are also having an AVON fundraiser going on!  You can order from a selection of items....all $10.  40% of all sales go to our adoption fund.  Please contact Ashton Gilbert to place an order (ashtonlgilbert@gmail.com or 615-579-0064). Please order no later than Oct. 6th.

Adoption Cookbooks are ordered!  They will be in around mid to late October.  Great for Christmas gifts!  The price will be $10 each.  Email me to pre-order yours...karlamtaylor@hotmail.com. 

We are also renting our clothing racks to raise money for our adoption.  Our consignment sale, That Consignment Sale, is for sale.  So while we are finding a buyer, we are renting our racks for $15 each.  There are 13 metal racks!  Rent one or all.  Email me at karlamtaylor@hotmail.com if interested. 

You can purchase meal packs for starving children around the world.  Xango will donate 30% of sales to our adoption fund.  The meal packs are $50 for a small pack and $100 for a large pack.  If you are unable to purchase an entire pack, you can make a contribution to a pack.  We will combine the funds to purchase a meal pack. Visit www.teamdivine.org to view a short video on this project. If you have questions or would like to participate in this amazing opportunity please contact Melissa Taylor (615-415-5575 or melissa.taylor@bellsouth.net).

You can make a tax-deductible donation for our adoption!  It will help your taxes and help us bring Melanie home.  This is through Lifesong for Orphans.  If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation toward our adoption process. Please see the two options below:
a. Visit www.lifesongfororphans.org. Click "Give". Click "Make a donation". Click "donate by credit card". Under purpose enter: "taylor/#2866"
b. You can send a check to: Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744...please enter "taylor/#2866" on the memo section
* "Taylor/#2866" has to be entered for our adoption fund to receive credit.

On October 18th we will be having a Discovery Toy Adoption Fundraiser.  You can purchase wooden, durable, safe and fun toys for your kids, for gifts....great for Christmas!  Details to follow on how to order or attend the fundraiser. 

Does anyone know a musician, a musical group, or comedian that would draw a crowd that would be willing to donate their time for an adoption fundraiser?  We are wanting to do a dinner and concert as an adoption fundraiser.  Email me at karlamtaylor@hotmail.com if you know anyone!

Praise God for our Dossier update!  Praise God for friends and family that have been supportive in our fundraisers and donations!  Continue to pray for Melanie in China!!!

We sent in our Dossier today!!!

What a fabulous day!  I feel a weight lifted off of me!!

Today, I mailed our Dossier to our adoption agency - Living Hope!!!  They should get it by 10 am on Monday.  Praise God!!!

The journey today started with printing the last two documents and double checking to make sure we had all of our papers and pictures ready to go.  Then, we took a picture of Cohen holding the Dossier and posted the GREAT news on Facebook.  Cohen was so excited!  At first he thought we were leaving with the paperwork and would return with Melanie in two weeks.  He is learning the art of patience during the process just like us.  Cohen is ready for his baby sister to come home.  Then all three of us prayed over the Dossier.  We prayed for God's hand to be on the paperwork everywhere it went...from Tennesse to PA, to Washington, and to China.  We prayed for Melanie to be well taken care of and to meet her needs before we able to meet her. We praised God for what he has provided!

So off to UPS I went...  First, I stopped by the bank for the Cashier's Check.  Second, I stopped by Walgreens to pick up the rest our six family pictures that were required.  Third, the final stop to UPS.  I have been in there so often for copies, mailings, overnights, and fingerprints, that they recognize me and ask about how the adoption is going.  It was so amazing...the entire UPS store, customers and employees, rejoiced with us when we told the regular employees that we were finally sending in our Dossier.  What a sence of support and rejoicing on such a remarkable moment in this adoption timeline!  My heart was full and content.  I felt like I could cry with happy tears of joy!

What a blessing of a day!  Thank you God!  Step 2 complete...now the adventure of Step 3 (our final step) begins. 

Please pray for the last amount of funding to come in!  We have five fundrisers through September and the first of October.  They are an adoption cookbook, AVON, Pampered Chef, Meal pack with Xango, and tax deductible donations with Lifesong for Orphans.  In October, we start a Discovery Toys fundraiser. 

Praise God we are sending in our Dossier!!!!!!

Just moments ago I received an email from Lifesong for Orphans....we just received an anonymous $1,000 gift!!!!  Thank you to whomever you are anonymous giver.  We thank you and greatly appreciate your gift.  Praise God!!!  We have exactly enough funds to send in our Dossier!!!!!!

We had a successful Pampered Chef catalog party yesterday at Jason's work.  There were $250 of orders.  We receive 10% of sales for the adoption.  Thank you Dodson Elementary for your continued support!

We are still waiting on the closure of our consignment business (That Consignment Sale) to officially know the exact amount of money we can transfer to our adoption fund.  We pray for the quick sale of the business!!

Next step...

• We have requested the $1,200 that has been sent to Lifesong for Orphans to be sent to our adoption agency. 
• We will send in all of our Dossier paperwork and $5,000 to our adoption agency this week. 
• Once our agency receives the paperwork and all the monies, it gets authenticated in Washington and then off to the Republic of China!
• We could get a referral within 30 days that China receives our packet!
• Once we receive and accept a referral...we will travel in 3 to 6 months!

We are starting the third and final stage of fundraising!  It looks like we will need to raise $13,000 to complete the adoption process.  Below are the upcoming fundraisers.  An email and facebook message will be going out within the next two weeks requesting participation.

• Adoption Cookbooks!!!  Approximately $10 each.  Option for hardcopy or digital. Ordering them in September and they will be available mid October.  Great for Christmas gifts for family, friends, teachers and co-workers.  Approximately 50% of purchase price goes to our adoption fund.
• Pampered Chef party - Friday, September 21st - taking catalog orders!!!! 10% of orders go to adoption fund.
• Online or Check donations to our Lifesong for Orphans account (Taylor/#2866) - Lifesong for Orphans, Attn: Jane, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744 or www.lifesongfororphans.org .  100% goes to our adoption fund (unless doing a paypal donation...there is a small percentage fee).
• Meal packs with Xango - you can purchase a small meal pack ($50) or large meal pack ($100) that will go to a child/family in a third world country.  If you cannot purchase a meal pack, you can donate money toward a meal pack.  Xango will donate 30% of donations and purchases to our adoption fund. 

This weekend (September 7-8) we will be participating in a large multi-mom yard sale.  All of what we sell will go to our adoption fund!

We are sending in a new application for an adoption grant within the next two weeks.  Deadline in the first of October and we will find out if we receive funds mid December. 

Thank you for your prayers and participation in our adoption adventure.  We give God all the praise!  He is our provider!  Jehovah Jirah!!!

Grant and fundraiser update! Prayers needed...

This week holds good news and not so good news for our family and the adoption.

That Consignment Sale (the consignment sale I started to raise money for our adoption) had its 2012 Fall/Winter sale during the week of August 16-18.  Our adoption fund raised $120 through this sale.  Because we are needing to come up with the funds to send in our Dossier and hopefully we will be traveling to China before the 2013 sale would occur, we have decided to sell That Consignment Sale.  We pray from the sell of the our business, we will be able to send in our Dossier and put the remainder in our adoption fund for the next $12,000 we will need to raise before we travel.  This was a hard decision because I LOVE my consignment business.  However, bringing Melanie home from China is more important!  Please pray that we sell our business quickly and for the amount we need to move forward and then some!!!

We did receive some great news from Lifesong for Orphans (our adoption fundraising account).  A family that is friends to us, has donated $200 to our adoption fund.  Thank you and Praise God!!!

We did receive some bad news this week and lost a four-legged member of our family this week.

We had to make the horrible decision to put down my cat Briley on Tuesday, August 21st. Briley was my main coon cat of 13 years that I rescued off of Briley Parkway 13 years ago this month.   He has been ill since May of this year and was suffering tremendously.  After multiple tests, vet visits, and being a nurse at home, we are not exactly sure why Briley got sick so fast.  It was narrowed down to either cancer in his abdomen/colon area or some sort of serious intestinal blockage.  I know he is not suffering anymore, but that was the single hardest decision I have ever made in my life and it has broken my heart.  I miss him so much!

The other bad news we received this week is in regards to our grant application to Show Hope.  We received a letter today stating that we were denied a grant from Show Hope.  This again is a huge set back because we were praying for this grant to send in our Dossier.  Earlier this year, I had contacted both Mary Beth Chapman and Stephen Curtis Chapman's booking agents to have them do an adoption benefit for our adoption.  We were turned down by both booking agents and strongly encouraged to apply for this grant.  Another door closed...

We have also heard back from the Gift of Adoption Grant program.  After our grant application was pushed back another month, I contacted them and asked why this keeps happening.  They pretty much said that if we do not have a referral or a travel date, we will not receive a grant.

We do have a few adoption fundraisers coming up...

1.  Adoption Cookbook - Monday is the deadline to email me recipes for the cookbook.  karlamtaylor@hotmail.com.  Unfortunately, we only have about 25 recipes.  In order for us to order the cookbook, we will need over 100 recipes.  Send us your recipes!!!

2.  Yard Sale - I will be participating in a Children's Yard Sale with a group of moms on Friday, Sept. 7th and Saturday, Sept. 8th.  Everything I sell will go to the adoption!!!

3.  Adoption Pampered Chef party - On Friday, September 21st, I will be having a Pampered Chef Adoption Fundraiser.  It will be at my home, but you can place a catalog order!

Please pray for an email that I will be sending out the first week of September.  Some people have asked how they can help in the adoption process.  We will be sending out an email of four different ways people can help with our adoption expenses.  It will include the cookbook, the pampered chef party, a way that you can purchase meal packs for orphans while 30% will go to the adoption, and our fundraising account with Lifesong for Orphans where people can donate a tax-deductible gift.

Please continue to pray for our adoption.  It seems like we are running into many road blocks.  We still believe that God is in control!!!

Show Hope and Gift of Adoption grant update and fundraiser next week!

Well we just found out from Show Hope that our grant review as been pushed back another month.  We will not know anything until the first of September. 

We also just found out that the Gift of Adoption grant review has been pushed back until September.

Grant update:
Gift of Adoption grant review is in September - pray we get approved!!!
Show Hope Grant review is in the next two weeks and we will know some the first of Sept. - pray we get approved!!!

It looks like it will be another month before we can send in our Dossier paperwork.  There are deadlines to adoption paperwork (Dossier) getting to China.  They have to be within a specific window of time or we have to do them over again...or get an "update".  This would delay our adoption process even more.  Please pray for the funding to come through so we can send in our Dossier. 

We are having our Children's and Ladies consignment sale next week (Aug 16-18) - That Consignment Sale.  The reason we started the sale was to raise money for our adoption and hopefully continue it after Melanie arrives for extra income.  Please pray that we raise the remaining $1200 needed to send in the Dossier with our consignment sale next week!!!!!!  Come shop for some great Children's and Ladies items....clothing, accessories, toys, equipment, books, costumes, coats, and more!!!!  I know that it may seem easy to raise this money with our sale since it has been successful, however, the expences with having a small business drains a large portion of the proceeds.  This is thanks to all the rules and taxes put on a small businesses.  Please pray that this sale is a HUGE success and we can send in at least $1200 to get Melanie home!!!!

So we need prayer for funding to come in and a successful consignment sale fundraiser!!!

YoGo Mix Fundraiser results!

The results are in! We had our YoGo Mix adoption fundraiser in Hendersonville  during the week of July 16-22, 2012.  YoGo Mix is donating $50 to our adoption agency for our adoption process.  Thank you to everyone that supported us in this fundraiser!  Thank you to YoGo Mix.

We are somewhat closer to our goal to send in our Dossier.  After our personal contribution, selling a bookshelf, and the YoGo Mix fundriaser, we still need $1,240 to send in the Dossier.

One of our next fundraisers is our consignment sale:  That Consignment Sale.  The sale dates are the week of August 12 - 18, 2012.  The other fundraiser will be a cookbook.  I will be asking friends and family to donate their favorite receipes to put in a cookbook that I will be selling this Fall to raise money for our adoption.

There are also three items on Girlfriend's Trading Post (Facebook) that we are selling to raise money for the adoption. A tall bookshelf, a new wedding dress that someone donated to us, and the Your Baby Can Read DVD and book combo set.

Keep praying!!  We have faith that God will provide!

Still keep praying...this week's fundriaser!

Well it is official that we will not be receiving the matching grant from Lifesong.  They called last week to say they would keep the file open hoping to get money for us.  Tuesday they called and said there was no money to give us!  Bummer!!!  They were kind to set up a fundraiser account for us so anyone that wants to make a tax deductable donation to our adoption can do so.  If you are interested, please let us know.

Keep praying...we should hear back about one grant by the end of this month and the other in August!

This week is our Yogo Mix fundraiser!!!  Go to Yogo Mix in Hendersonville (Streets of Indian Lake) between July 16-22 and they will donate 25% of your purchase to our adoption.  Just hand them a flyer!  You can get a flyer by emailing me at karlamtaylor@hotmail.com.  There is even a coupon for a free yogo mix yogurt on the flyer for you to go next week. 

Thank you for your continued prayer and support!!!  Cohen prayed the sweetest prayer today...Please God bring Melanie home for Christmas! 

We need prayer!!

Well it has been over a month since my last post.  I am understanding more and more that hurry and wait concept in the adoption world.  Hurry to get paperwork ordered, signed...and then wait.

We are definitely in the waiting part of our adoption process!!!

The US has approved (I800A) us to adoption outside the US.  Now we are waiting on adoption grant approval.  We have applied for three adoption grants.  One is a matching grant where the organization will match donations up to a certain amount, while the other two are regular adoption grants (they donate the money for your adoption and it does not have to be paid back).  Below is the update on our grants:

The matching grant was scheduled to be approved a month ago.  However, it is still in the review stage with no known approval date.

The ShoHope grant will be approved during the month of July. 

The other grant was to be approved in June and has been postponed until August.

Please pray for these grants to be approved.  We are needing $2000 to send in our Dossier so that we are able to receive referrals from China.  We know that God is still in control and pray for His will.

Our next fundriaser will be the week of July 16 - 22.  YoGo Mix in Hendersonville will donate 25% of the purchase price of anyone who brings in a fundraiser flyer to our adoption agency.  Please email me if you would like a flyer karlamtaylor@hotmail.com.

The USA has approved us to adopt outside of the states!!!

Praise God...today we received our letter that we can adopt outside the USA.  The USA government has now approved us to adopt.  Praises!!!!!  This is a HUGE step in getting our Dossier submitted. 

Praise God...we have officially received 1/2 of the monies needed for our adoption ($15,000) from donations and fundraising!!

We have now received feedback from two of the adoption organizations where we have applied for grants.  The organization for the matching grant (Lifesong for Orphans) will be finalizing how much they will match within the next week and a half.  The other organization will be reviewing our adoption grant application after June 15th. 

Please pray...we need $1,500 to submit our Dossier!!!!!  We know that God will provide!!! 

2nd Adoption Yard Sale and Dossier Update

We have been truly blessed this weekend in regards to raising money for our adoption process!!!

Saturday, May 12th we had our 2nd Adoption Yard Sale.  This sale was somewhat smaller than our 1st one in October of 2011.  Our community only allows two "community yard sales" a year...one in the Fall and one in the Spring.  Eventhough we had a little rain, we raised $325 for our adoption!!! Praise God!  We have decided to do one more adoption yard sale this Fall.

We also received another blessing...a donation of $100 in the memory of my Uncle Terry Beams who recently passed away.  Thank you God for always providing...Jehovah Jirah!!!

Dossier update:  We are still waiting for the USA to give us approval to adopt outside the country.  All paperwork is complete...we are patiently waiting on the approval.

Grant update:  As of this week, we have applied for three adoption grants.  Two of them are grants that would come from an adoption foundation.  The third is a matching grant. The matching grant allows people to donate to this organization, for our adoption, and the company will match their gift up to $4,000.  We are still awaiting approval of these grants.

We appreciate all prayers, donations, and help with our adoption process thus far.  Please continue to pray!!!  Please pray for the grants to be approved and the amounts needed to fulfill our goal.  Please pray for Melanie and her birth mother.  There is a very good chance that she may be born at this time.  Please pray for her safety, health, and for her daily needs to be met.  We know that our God is in control!!!  We give Him all the credit for the blessings of this adoption process!!!  We ask Him for His continued provision, discernment, and hand of protection.

Dossier and Grant Update!!!

There are a few new updates on our Dossier and Grant applications!!

Dossier:  Yesterday, we received notification that we have made it to the next step of our I800A approval.  We have our "homeland security" fingerprint appointment coming up in the next two weeks.  So we know that our I800A application will not be approved until after that appointment.  It looks like we will not be able to submit our entire Dossier until the first of June at the earliest.  Eveything that we have requested to process our Dossier is in and ready to go...except that I800A approval from the USA that we can adopt outside the country. 

Grants:  Last week we completed all the required paperwork to apply for the Show Hope Adoption grant.  We barely made the overnight deadline on Saturday!!!  However, it was confirmed that our appliation packet made it to Show Hope in time for their deadline!!!!!  Please pray for God's will on receiving this grant!!! 
Tomorrow, we will be submitting an application for an adoption "matching grant".  This is where people can give a tax deductable donation for our adoption and they will match the amount up to $4,000.  It will take between 4-6 weeks for this approval.  Please pray that this approval process takes place quickly!!!!  We still have more monies to raise before we can submit our Dossier. 

Thank you for all the prayers on our adoption process!!!!  Pray for Cohen...he thought that he was going to get his little sister Melanie for his birthday.  He cannot wait for her to be here so that they can play and show her how to do everyting!!! 

April Fundraising and Dossier Update!!!

Since our last post we have had three adoption fundraisers!!!

Tuesday, April 10th we had a "Giving Back" night at the Chili's in Hendersonville.  We had a group of family and friends support us and had a great time hanging out.  Chili's donated $100 to our adoption fund at our adoption agency (Living Hope in PA). 

The first week of April we concluded our Yankee Candle Adoption Fundriaser.  This week we found out that we raised $350 for our adoption!!!  We had a lot of support with this fundraiser and many friends and family received some great items for themselves and gifts for others. 

Last night, we concluded our Spring/Summer consignment sale (That Consignment Sale).  Many friends and family donated items to sell at our sale for our adoption.  We raised $125 from those items under our ADOPT consignor number.

So in the month of April, we have raised $575 for our adoption!!!  Praise God!

Where we are in the adoption process...

Right now we are in the middle of our Dossier process.  This week we received our receipt from the US that they have received our I800A paperwork and it is going to the second step (Hague) in the approval process.  From what they sent us, we should be receiving approval from the US to adopt outside the US within the next 14 days.

We are in the waiting process on finalizing our Dossier paperwork.  The Dossier is the large pack of paperwork required to send to China.  We have requested all of our paperwork from the required location and are waiting for them to be processed and finished.  Once the required paperwork is collected and sent in...we can get a referral!!!

This week we will be applying for grants and a matching grant program. 

Please keep our adoption process in your prayers...pray for Melanie to be safe (if she is born) and her birth mother.  We desire God's timing!!

Chili's Adoption Fundraiser Night!!!

Tomorrow...Tuesday, April 10th is our Adoption Fundraiser at Chili's Bar & Grill in Hendersonville.  Eat at Chili's between 4-10 PM and 10% of your purchase will go to our Adoption Fund at our Adoption Agency (Living Hope in PA).  You will need a flyer to turn in with your receipt for our adoption fund to receive credit.  Jason and I will have flyers for you at Chili's! 

Hope to see you tomorrow night!  Chili's (218 Indian Lake Blvd, Hendersonville)

Our Home Study has been finalized!!!!

Great news!!!  Today, we received a FedEx package with our finalized Home Study in it!!!! 

Our I-800 application goes into the mail tomorrow!!!! 

We can now apply for adoption grants!!!

Thank you Karen from New Beginnings!!!!  We could not have done this without you!!!

Thank you Jesus for making ALL OF THIS possible.  You ARE in control!!! 

Today is Good Friday because Jesus willingly died on the cross for our sins...  What a FABULOUS day!

Our Dossier Paperwork has arrived!!!

We are so excited to report that we have officially started our Dossier process!!!!  It arrived Friday, March 23rd.  Bring on the paperwork...and more paperwork...and more paperwork!!!  You get the idea...there is a lot of paperwork!

Any day now...we should get that fabulous phone call that our Home Study has been finalized. 

We also found out that we raised $120 from the Thirty-One Fundraiser that we had in February.  The check should be arriving soon!

Right now we have a great fundraiser going on!!!  We are having a Yankee Candle fundraiser.  40% of the sales go to our adoption fund.  You can visit   http://www.yankeecandlefundraising.com/springCatalog.html to see the catalog.  If you would like to place a Yankee Candle order, please contact me at 615-289-6178.  The deadline for this fundraiser is April 8, 2012.  These candles are great gifts for Mother's Day!

Our next fundraiser is a Chili's Giving Back Night at the Hendersonville Chili's on Tuesday, April 10th.  10% of your purchase price goes to our adoption agency to help with China International adoption costs.  A flyer is required for our fundraiser to receive credit.  I will be posting the flyer sometime at the beginning of next week.

Another big fundraiser we are having is through our business, That Consignment Sale.  This is our small business where we have two seasonal consignment sales a year.  Many people have donated ladies and children's clothes, including home decor to be sold at our sale under the consignor number ADOPT.  Anything sold under this consignor number goes directly into our adoption fund...100% of the sale!!!  We raised over $200 last November at our Fall/Winter sale for our adoption fund. 

We are excited about our updates and the fundraisers going on during the month of April!  Please continue to pray for our Dossier process to go smoothly, our Home Study to be quickly approved, for our Melanie in China to be safe, and for the continued monies to be raised and donated.  We are so thankful for how God has truly provided during this process!!! 

March Update...things are moving right along!!

Fundraising update...we received $100 from the Skate Night at Sumner Skate Zone that was sponsored by Support Adoption Foundation.  Thank you for everyone that came out on Feb. 23rd!!!  Today, we sold a donated item to our adoption for $20. 

Feb. 9th, we had a Thirty-one party through catalog orders and at our home...as an adoption fundraiser.  The party brought in $1,449 in sales and was a huge success!!  We are still waiting to see how much was raised toward our adoption fund. 

Our next fundraiser is starting in two weeks.  We will be selling Yankee Candles for our adoption fund!  The fundraiser will run until the first week of April.  This will be a catalog fundraiser...the catalog has scratch and sniff tabs!  These Yankee Candles are the perfect Mother's Day gift.  Orders will arrive the first week of May...perfect timing for Mother's Day!  Our adoption fund receives 40% of each product price! 

Mark April 10th on your calendars!  It will be our "Giving Back" Night at Chili's in Hendersonville.  Bring your family and friends and Chili's will donate 10% of your meal/drink purchases to our adoption agency (Living Hope Adoption Agency) to assist in our International Adoption Fees to bring our Melanie home from China!

Where we are in our adoption process:
1.  We have just completed additional adoption trainings requried by our adoption agency.
2.  Once our social worker receives the training certificates, she will finalize our home study.
3.  Next step....lots of paperwork...completing our Dossier and applying for adoption grants!

Prayer Requests:
1.  Please pray for Melanie.  She may be born at this time.  Please pray for her birthmother and that if she is born that she is safe, for her health, and those that take care of her. 
2.  Please pray for adoption funds to continue to be provided.
3.  Pray for our adoption process to go smoothly...home study finalization, dossier process, and grant application approval. 

Thank you for supporting us through your prayers and participating in our fundraisers.

Skate Night - Thursday, Feb. 23rd - Adoption Fundraiser

This coming Thursday will be our Skate Night at the Sumner Skate Zone in Gallatin.  It will be our adoption fundraiser sponsored by Support Adoption Foundation.  We will be their host family!!

$5 Entry Fee - $1 piece of pizza - $1 drinks
Time:  5-8:00 PM

Support Adoption Foundation will be selling International products to benefit their foundation and our adoption fund.  A portion of the entry fee, and pizza & drink sells will go towards our Adoption Fund.

Oh Happy Day!!!

Well there is great news and great news!   More donations and great agency news!! 

We received donations from family friends and the fundraising check from our Chili's Night on January 23, 2012.  The total of new donations and fundraising to our adoption fund this week is $270.  Our total raised/donated thus far is $13,565.  Almost half way to our goal.  Praise God!

The other great news is about our agency.  To make a VERY long story short...we are staying with our adoption agency.  I know from our last post that this is a surprise, it was for us also.  However, after a personal phone call from the President of the agency on Feb. 8th (a few short hours after our last post and the terminaton email we sent), our eyes were opened, things were explained, apologies were made, and "ALL" the concerns and issues were completely resolved.  This agency has great integrity and customer service.  They have gone above and beyond what was expected to resolve our concerns and rewrote the contract.  The agency also appointed a new social worker to us that has already been in contact.  Our contract and first installment goes in the mail today.  Jason and I feel a complete peace about staying with Living Hope and having them help us bring Melanie home from China! 

Our Thirty-One fundraiser on Thurday, Feb. 9th was a success!!!  There was a good turn out at our house for the party.  My aunts Kathy and Patsy came in from KY, and my mom and friends were there.  There were MANY outside orders received from friends that could not make it to the party.  The party closes Friday, Feb. 17th and should then find out how much we made for our adoption fund.   

Our next fundraiser will be next Thursday, February 23rd at Sumner Skate Zone in Gallatin.  The times are 5-8.  $5 admission and $1 for a slice of pizza.  The event is organized by Support Adoption Foundation and we will be the host family.  A percentage of the entry fee, pizza, and international items sold will be donated to our adoption fund.  Bring the entire family!!!

"Return to your starting gates...."

Today we will be returning to the "starting gates" of the adoption process...again!!!

That's right...we sadly terminated the relationship with our adoption agency.  This decision of ours came after prayer, counsel, and attempts from our adoption attorney to resolve the issues.  Back in January we thought God was calling us to the agency.  Unfortunately, after starting the process,  there has been a few red flags that have come up regarding their contract and communication policy.  Sadly, they have not resolved these issues.  They have a great reputation and we personally know others that have adopted from them more than once.  For some reason, God has closed this door. We wish the best for the agency.  Fortunately, we had not paid our first installment to the agency.  We are VERY considerate on how we handle the adoption fund monies.  We know that many families have sacrificed to make donations to bring Melanie home. 

So where do we go from here? 

There are four agencies, ranging from Seattle to San Fransisco to Michigan, that we have again narrowed the search down to.  It is amazing the number of recommended agencies we have received!!!  Everyone wants us to use their agency.  We will be contacting these agencies, requesting their contract before applying, this week.  Once our adoption attorney has reviewed the contracts and we have "interviewed" the agency...we will post our decision.    Trust me...there will be much prayer and research before the next official decision.  We have learned a lot from our last experience.

We are excited about our next two fundraisers coming up this month!  This Thursday, Feb. 9th, we are having a Thirty-One party at our home from 6-8.  10% of sales go to our adoption fund.  If you would like to place an order or attend the party email me at karlamtaylor@hotmail.com.  We will close the party on Friday night (Feb. 10th).  Our second fundriaser of the month is Thursday, Feb. 23rd, at Skate Zone in Gallatin.  It is across from Kroger Marketplace.  $5 entry fee, pizza, skating, and an opportunity to purchase product made from third-world countries. A portion of the proceeds will go to our adoption fund, while a portion goes to Support Adoption Foundation.  We will also have two fundraisers in March...stay tuned for details!!! 

Within the last week, we have had two donations to our adoption fund.  What a blessing!!!  Thank you to those families and their sacrifice for our Melanie.

We are still waiting on feedback from Chili's regarding the "giving back" night for our adoption on Feb. 6th. 

Please continue to pray for our adoption process.  We need wisdom and discernment as to which agency to go with.  Please continue to pray for funds to be provided.  We have been so blessed and are greatful!  God is Jehovah Jirah!!!!

We feel blessed...and still patiently waiting!!

We feel so blessed!!!  The Chili's Fundraiser night was fabulous.  There were 27 families that participated and we had so much fun visiting with everyone.  The funny thing was that from the hours of 4:30 pm - 10:00 pm, I counted only 6 families in the dining area that were not with our group of supporters.  We feel blessed to be loved and supported by so many people.  Within two weeks, Chili's Corporation will let us know officially how much money we raised.  Many people that attended requested that we do this again.  Also, the management staff at Chili's invited us to do this again.  We will let you know if we decide to do another Chili's night!  Thank you for everyone that took time out of their busy schedules to come eat at Chili's and support our fundraiser. 

Our next adoption Fundraiser will be Feb. 9th from 6 - 8pm at our home.  We will be having a Thirty-one party.  10% of sales will go to our adoption fund.  If you are not able to attend, we are accepting catalog orders.  Thirty-one just came out with their new 2012 Spring catalog and February is the first chance to order these new products and patterns.  Please let me know (karlamtaylor@hotmail.com) if you would like more information or would like to place an order!

We did have two blessings over the last week.  Two precious families donated a total of $300 to our adoption fund!!!  We are truly grateful.

Update on our adoption process:
1.  We are in the final days of having our home study report finished.
2.  We were approved by our adoption agency and sent in our Special Needs Application.
3.  We are patiently waiting on our agency for some feedback.  At this time, our adoption attorney is in contract negotiations with the agency.  We pray that our agency will get back with us promptly and with news we desire to hear!

Please continue to pray for our contract negotiations to go well and our adoption fundraisers to be a success!  God has GREATLY blessed us in the area of donations and fundraising success.  We are close to being half way to our goal.  God is so good! 

January 2012 Fundraiser - Chilis in Gallatin

We are excited to announce that our January Adoption Fundraiser will be January 23rd!!!  Below are the details:

Location:  Chili's Gallatin (600 Village Green Drive)
Date:  Monday, January 23, 2012
Time:  Anytime between 4 PM - 10 PM
*bring in flyer*

Invite friends and family!!!  Chili's will donate 10% of what you spend on your meal to our Adoption Fund.  Just bring in our flyer and give to your server on January 23rd. 

*Please email karlamtaylor@hotmail.com to request a flyer.  You are welcome to make as many copies of the flyer as you want and pass out to friends, family, and co-workers.  This is a great opportunity to eat great food with your family and friends while helping us raise money to bring Melanie home from China! 

It looks like we have been approved!!!

As of last week, we completed our required Hague China adoption training (12 hours).  We were determined to get it done.  It only took until 3:30 AM one night!  I have to say it was pretty interesting to find out about how our little Melanie may see our world when she arrives.  We are excited to make the adjustments and to include some Chinese art and culture in our home.  Cohen and I plan on attending a Chinese New Year celebration at the local library this month.

So today, I talked with Linda at our new agency.  We are excited to hear they are sending us their contract to sign.  That means it will be official...we are approved!!!  Tomorrow, we send in our Special Needs Application and Special Needs Medical Check List.  

Our home study social worker, Karen Nixon, is working so hard to complete our home study.  Once we get that document, we can start applying for grants and working on our USCIS I-800A...which means a lot of paperwork and notarization. 

At this time, we are working on our next set of fundraisers.  They range from eating out with your family, mother's day gifts, to feeding hungry children around the world!!  We will keep you posted on our next fundraising event!!!!

Please continue to pray for funds to be provided, paperwork to flow where it needs to go without complications, and our little Melanie that may have already been born.  We are excited to meet her!

4th and last Home Visit complete!!!!

Tonight, we met with Karen Nixon from New Beginnings to finish our 4th and final home visit of our home study process.  We met at Panera Bread in Hendersonville.  Karen has been wonderful to work with during the Home Study Process!  She has been a wealth of information and encouragement...and she knows her stuff.  We recommend Karen and New Beginnings for Adoption Home Studies!!!!  They were awesome!!!  If anyone needs a Home Study...let us know...we will give you Karen's information! 

It was such a blessing to be able to pay the remaining balance of our home study and our six post placement visits.  Yes...China is now requiring six post placement visits.  It will be neat for Karen to come out and visit us for six years and see Cohen and little Melanie grow up! 

It is official...we have decided on an adoption agency!!!!  We are going through Living Hope Adoption Agency in PA.  They were recommended to us by a family friend.  After talking with them today, I felt complete peace with them being our agency during this process.  We send off our application tomorrow!!!

We feel so blessed!!!  Continue to pray that things will go smoothly with minimal bumps in the road!