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!!!