The Packets Are Out!

Wanted to provide another update...

We received our FBI clearances in the mail on August 21 & 22....it took a month. SO, not too bad for a federal agency. ;) At that point, I spent time putting our packets together. Tracie, our consultant, had talked with us back in July about agencies that they work with and which ones she would recommend us sending our information to. So, we decided to send them to 2 agencies and 1 adoption attorney, all in Florida. They work with agencies in other states, but Florida is the closest and would be easiest for travel purposes and to help cut down on the travel costs.
The packets consist of a copy of our homestudy and 2 copies of our profile, along with a cover letter from us. So, I got them all ready to send...and then we waited. Like I mentioned in the last post, Rachel started school and Josh started a new job pretty much right at this same time. So, we made the decision to wait about a month before actually mailing them out. It's so hard to know how things will go...we could be matched really quickly, or it could be a while...who knows? So, on Sept. 23rd after I picked up Rachel from school, we headed to the post office. Now's it's sort of out of our hands. We'll wait to hear from these agencies and when available situations come up that they think might be a good fit, they'll let us know. We'll have the opportunity to learn about a birthmother who has made an adoption plan and we'll decide if we'd like to have our profile presented to her. If so, we'll wait to see if she picks us and ultimately be matched!
We're excited to finally be at this point of the process and anxious to see what will happen next. We are trusting the Lord to work out all of the details and the timing!

A Progress Report...and Changes!

Just wanted to take a few minutes to provide another update on the adoption front.

During the month of June, I spent time working on our profile. This is like a photo album/scrapbook that tells all about us. This is what will be presented to potential birthmoms that they'll look through in order to learn about our family, ultimately deciding if they want to choose us to adopt their child.

I used a software program that our consultant Tracie recommended called, "myMemories Suite" by Polaroid. I love to scrapbook, but this was obviously all done on the computer. It took me a little bit to get used to the program and then to come up with the pictures and text, answering all of the pertinent questions that needed to be included. This is a service that our consultant can provide, but since I'm so familiar with scrapbooking, I felt confident that I could do it, and save some money. My goal was to complete it by the end of June, and I wasn't too far off. I sent it to Tracie to look over around July 4th and once I'd had a few days to tweek it, we got them printed. A big thanks to the UNCG Print Shop for printing them for us!

So, our next task was to get our fingerprinting done and sent to the FBI and SBI for clearances. We should have done this a while ago, but kept putting it off because we had to take time off work to go to the Sheriff's Department together. Anyway, we've gotten our clearance back from the SBI and are still waiting on the FBI.

Once this comes back, I'll put together packets to mail out to the various agencies that Tracie is recommending. We'll be sending them copies of our homestudy and profile. This will sort of be the official start to bringing our next child home. It will involve us learning about birthmoms and situations and deciding if we want to present our information...and then if so, waiting to be matched.

We also have plans to do at least 1 more fundraiser this fall. We've been continuing to save money this summer, but still have more that we'll probably need to raise prior to getting matched. We would appreciate your continued prayers and look forward to sharing more in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, we've got plenty of other things going on! Rachel starts Kindergarten next Monday, August 26th. She'll be attending Gibsonville Elementary School. And the other big news is that Josh is starting a new job! He'll be leaving the Dean of Students Office at UNCG and going to work at Elon as the Director for the Office of Student Conduct. While this move is a little bittersweet, he's excited for this new challenge and looking forward to new opportunities. I'm an Elon Alum, so I'm excited to have more opportunities to go back to campus. SO...this fall is going to bring lots of change. We're confident that the Lord is walking with us and will continue to guide our steps throughout this adoption process. We trust His perfect plan and timing!

Matching Grant Deadline...We Got It!

Today was the deadline to have donations sent in to Hand in Hand Christian Adoption for the Matching Grant we received. We are excited to announce that we raised the needed funds to get the grant matched, and even exceeded it! We needed to raise $2,500 to get $2,500 from Hand in Hand...and as of today we had gotten donations totally $3,170. So, that will allow us to now have a total of $5,670 to be used for our upcoming adoption expenses. We are so thankful that the Lord provided this grant and are so blessed that family and friends have been willing to give. We are grateful!! This isn't something we could do on our own and it's such a blessing to be able to have others walking this journey with us.
Our next step is to complete our profile with hopes to start presenting to birthmoms later this summer.

Adoption Matching Grant!

Several weeks ago we applied for a matching grant with Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. And last week we found out that we got it!! We are so excited to be able to share this good news! The award amount is for $2,500 and if we can get that matched, then we'll have $5,000 to put towards our upcoming adoption costs. Wow!!
So, the important part is that we need help from family and friends--donations to help match what they are going to give us. AND...we have 6 weeks to raise this support. May 24, 2013 is the deadline to have donations sent in by and they have to be sent to Hand in Hand directly. They will keep us posted on our progress.
Another key part is that our name cannot appear on the check, but that our name IS listed on the outside envelope so they will direct the donations to us. All donations are tax-deductible.
So, we would love to have your help!! Any amount will make a difference and will help us in meeting this goal of $2,500. And ultimately, it's not about this small goal...it's about our big goal of being able to provide a home to a child. It's about being apart of God's bigger plan for our family.
Asking for help certainly isn't the easiest thing to do, but we know that God wants to use others to be a part of this story and we are humbled by so many that have already been so gracious to not only pray, but to give of their finances.

Thank you SO much!
Love,
Josh, Anna & Rachel

Here's the letter we've written that provides more information, along with the address of where to send any donations.

Grant Award Letter

Adoption Update...

We've gotten asked a lot lately...so how's the adoption process going? Well, we've been working on some things sort of "behind the scenes" and wanted to take the time to provide an update.
When we started researching various things related to adopting, one thing I was interested in was--can we find a way for our family and friends to be able to donate to our adoption and it be tax-deductible? I really wasn't able to find anything initially. However, once we started working with Christian Adoption Consultants, our caseworker Tracie invited us to join an online private Facebook site that is made up of other adoptive families. It was through this page that I was able to find families that had in fact found these resources.
So, after looking further into this, applying, setting up a profile, etc. we are happy to announce that we have a site with Adopt Together.

AdoptTogether.org is a non-profit funding platform helping families raise money to pay for adoption costs. 

Our specific page is located at: www.adopttogether.org/thegreens

So, if you would still like to partner with us in our fundraising, you can now do so and it will be tax-deductible. Of course, we have left the PayPal link on our blog, but this is another option that we think some may be interested in.

Any monies they receive on our behalf are held until we need them, and then we fill out a form to have them released to us for adoption-related expenses.

We are excited about each step we are taking to move us closer to bringing another child into our family. Thanks again for your love and support!

Raffle Fundraiser Winner!

And the winner is...Ben & Monica Mann!!! We hope you guys have a great time on your date night!

A huge thank you goes out to everyone that bought raffle tickets and supported us through this fundraiser!!

With your help we were able to raise $2,375. Wow!! We are so excited and are thanking the Lord for these funds that will go towards our overall goal!!

We are SO grateful to have friends and family playing a part in God's plan to bring another child into our family!

We also want to express our sincere thanks to Tonya Miller of Embassy Suites, as well as Tad & Rachel Engstrom of MJ's for their donations of the prizes. They helped make this all possible!!


(Sorry for the delay in posting this! We announced the winner via Facebook and email on Feb. 1st...but I've just been slow in getting this on the blog!)

Tracking Our Progress...

I don't know about you, but I'm a visual person. So, we've now added a fundraising thermometer on the side to help us track our fundraising progress. But first, I wanted to tell you what this amount represents...

Now that we are working with Christian Adoption Consultants, we have been advised by our consultant Tracie that we need to have about $15,000 in hand before we can start applying with the agencies that they work with and presenting our profile to potential birthmoms. She also advises that at that point we have a good idea of where the rest will come from. But for now, we want to focus on saving and raising the $15,000. This seems like a more attainable goal rather than putting the entire amount out there.

So, our raffle is under way and it's going great! I'm going to wait and announce the total raised at the end. But, it's not too late to still buy a ticket...or maybe even a few for your chance to win a great date night package. The deadline to buy tickets is January 31st.

Also, we've already started collecting items for a yard sale that we're planning to do in May. Plus, we have a few other ideas that we are working on...

Josh and I are going to sit down soon and come up with some deadlines and goals because that's just how our brains work. Although we willingly recognize that God is in control and we are trusting Him to provide for this adoption...we still feel like setting some goals will help us keep pressing forward.

Once again, we are SO grateful for the prayers and support thus far...I just can't express this enough!!