Fundraising Update

I finally had time to sit down and calculate all of the totals from fundraisers and donations.  We just hit the $5,000 mark!  Praise the Lord!

Here is a very simplified break down of where it came from:

Walrod jewelry sales over the course of 4 months = $400
EBC November Fundraiser Meal = $2,100
Donations = $990
Clothing drive fundraiser = $1,600

Grand Total = $5,090 raised to date!! 
towards the end goal of $45,000

Thank you all so very much!!  

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions:

How long will this process take?  International adoption is usually a very long, complicated and expensive process.  Our best guess (based on what we know right now) is that we hope to travel to China to adopt the children in late summer or fall of 2016.

How many children are you adopting? Two  (we have three biological children and we have adopted internationally three times)

How old are the children?

We pre-approved to adopt a boy age 3 and girl age 4.

Are the children related?

They are not biologically related that we know of.  However, they are originally from the same city. 

Why does adoption cost so much?  The short answer is that everything about the adoption process is intended to help reduce child abuse and trafficking.  Since these travesties are on the rise worldwide, more and more rules, regulations and systems have been put in place to help reduce the risk.  All of these things require the involvement of professionals on both sides of the ocean.  We have a complete list of all our expenses and it is available for anyone who is interested.  We aim to be completely transparent about the fundraisers and expenses.

What are their special needs?

This is generally private information but we can share some details to help you understand their needs a little better.  The girl has some issues with her eyes and language development.  We actually have more questions about her needs at this time.  We will not know the extent of her needs until she is home and examined by a team of specialist. 

The little boy actually has a brain malformation.  His condition is most commonly misdiagnosed as Asperger’s syndrome.  We also will not know a whole lot more until he is home.  

January Clothing and Shoe Drive Fundraiser

In January, I was able to find a semi-local recycling company to work with us for a clothing and shoe drive fundraiser.  We had so many people, friends, family, community members and folks we did not know get really excited about this fundraiser. With everyone's help, we rocked the socks off of this fundraiser!

So many of you have been excited to hear how we did.  The recycling company had to make three trips because we had so much stuff!  Drum roll .... the total weight was 10,890 pounds.  

The pay out per pound is better than we've ever done with other garage sale fundraisers.  It was work, but not nearly as exhausting and time consuming as the garage sales.

Besides, I don't think we can do anymore garage sale fundraisers ...at least not just our family.  My two main "pack mules" for the last adoption in 2008 are no longer available.  One retired from that job (Paul) and the other one (Landon) joined the military. He decided the military was easier than working for his mother! :)

We honestly have been so overwhelmed at how excited and vested so many people have become in not only this fundraiser, but our adoption process as a whole.

Thank you ALL from the bottom of our hearts.  We could never have done this without you.  I cannot mention all of your names here, but you know who you are.  Please know that we love and appreciate each and every one of you!

AND YES, We plan to have another clothing and shoe drive in April so start saving your stuff and tell all your friends.

Home Study Approval!

January 20, 2016 is when our home study was finally approved.  Praise the Lord!  He is GOOD and HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER!

Now what is next?

Well along with running a family, a business, fundraisers, church involvement etc. etc. it is now time to start working on our Dossier.  This is the set of documents that will represent us in China.

The biggie for this set of documents is to fill out the I 800A, which is what we file with the USCIS, (US Citizen and Immigration Service). This will cost $975 which is for the application fee and three sets of finger printing.  Anyone 18 or older residing in the home must be finger printed.  Since our 19 year still lives at home and attends KU, he has to be finger printed with Paul and me.

These finger prints are then put through and cross checked with the FBI database.  This helps the officials make sure adoptive parents have a clean criminal record.

There is always a big question mark as to how long this part of the process could take.

They could send us a notice with an appointment time in a week or two or six plus weeks.  Obviously the longer they take to process the application, the longer we have to wait.

Once we get this clearance and the documentation to prove it, this info will go along with our dossier to the Sec of State office in Topeka for authentication.

After that is done, then the dossier will go to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.

The Chinese Consulate in Chicago conveniently does not accept mailed in applications, so we will have to hire a courier service to physically walk it into their office one day and then return to pick it up a few days later.  I guess if we did not want to hire a courier, we could just take a leisurely drive up to Chicago and back for a few days.  

OH, and we can start applying for adoption grants now that our home study is done.  YES! and OH NO! when will I have time!

So much more to the process, but that is all for now.
Thank you again for following our journey and mostly, thank you for your prayers!

Documentation Frustration and Extra Costs but......

There is a whole lot more to tell about this issue, but I really don't have a ton of time to go into all the details.  However, if you remember from one of my previous post, we ran into some documentation delays. We were able to resolve the issue but it costs us an extra $400 we were not planning for.

One day after the $400 cleared our account, we received an anonymous gift for $400.  God is ALWAYS FAITHFUL providing just what we need when we really need it.

He is usually never early ...at least not in our lives anyway.  BUT HE is never late ...He is in control.  Even when we feel desperate and out of control ...HE IS IN CONTROL.

Thank you Lord Jesus!

January 2016 Puzzle Fundraiser Update

I feel ashamed that we are not caught up with the puzzle pieces this like we should be.  We have been so busy working on a Clothing and Shoe Drive Fundraiser that we have not had time to actually put any more pieces of the puzzle together. We have received some more donations and I will try to post an over all total of donations as soon as I can.  I plan to share updates on the clothing and shoe fundraiser results as well as some new and exciting new fundraisers we are working on.

Thank you for all of your support and prayers!

January 7, 2016 Update

Walrod Family Adoption Update

January 7, 2016

Thank you all again for all of your prayers and support!  We have been eternally blessed by you!

Here is an update on our adoption process and some answers to some frequently asked questions.

Process update:

We thought that our home study would have been completed by the middle of December.  However, we ran into a bit of a paperwork snag.  We needed some documentation that we thought was already taken care of, but alas it was not. Since it was so close to Christmas by the time we found out, the people who need to help with the documentation were out of the office until after the New Year.  This essentially put us a month behind which is a huge disappointment and difficult to handle going into Christmas. 

We have resolved to trust in God’s timing even when are hearts ache with the thought of another holiday missed with our little ones.  We’ve shed a few tears over not even being able to send them anything for Christmas.  We won’t lie …this is REALLY HARD! 

However, God is driving the bus!  We may have to change a few flat tires here and there, but HE is still driving the bus! 

Funding update:

We had some additional donations come in since our last update.  Total raised to date is just over $2,900!  Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  We still have a very long way to go, but we try to focus on all that HE has provided, not one what is yet to come.  HE IS FAITHFUL!  Always and forever FAITHFUL!  Please pray that we meet our next funding goal which is still $2,100 away. 

Frequently Asked Questions:

How long will this process take?  International adoption is usually a very long, complicated and expensive process.  Our best guess (based on what we know right now) is that we hope to travel to China to adopt the children in late summer or fall of 2016.

How many children are you adopting? Two  (we have three biological children and we have adopted internationally three times)

How old are the children?

We pre-approved to adopt a boy age 3 and girl age 4.

Are the children related?

They are not biologically related that we know of.  However, they are originally from the same city. 

Why does adoption cost so much?  The short answer is that everything about the adoption process is intended to help reduce child abuse and trafficking.  Since these travesties are on the rise worldwide, more and more rules, regulations and systems have been put in place to help reduce the risk.  All of these things require the involvement of professionals on both sides of the ocean.  We have a complete list of all our expenses and it is available for anyone who is interested.  We aim to be completely transparent about the fundraisers and expenses.

What are their special needs?

This is generally private information but we can share some details to help you understand their needs a little better.  The girl has some issues with her eyes and language development.  We actually have more questions about her needs at this time.  We will not know the extent of her needs until she is home and examined by a team of specialist. 

The little boy actually has a brain malformation.  His condition is most commonly misdiagnosed as Asperger’s syndrome.  We also will not know a whole lot more until he is home. 

It just came to a point for us when reviewing waiting child profiles that we prayed, “Just show us which one is our child.” And then it really doesn’t matter what the papers say, what the doctors say or the diagnosis …this is our child and we will do whatever we need to do.  We will just do the thing, trust God to meet all our needs and carry us through whatever trials lay ahead.  It is a very humbling and scary experience.

We desperately covet your prayers.  Thank you ….a thousand times again! Thank you just seems so inadequate!