Fundraisers, fundraisers, fundraisers!

We had our photo shoot fundraiser this past weekend, and it went better than we could have expected! The weather had been SO rainy the entire week leading up to it, but the rain held off until about 15 minutes after our last session ended! Thank you God!

My talented friend (and Mama-to-be!) Sarah donated her time and skills to our cause. We set up 14 mini sessions. Each family had a 20 minute slot, paid $50, and gets to have all of their (edited) photos on a CD to print! We were fortunate enough to be able to use The House Of Refuge as the location, and it couldn't have been a more perfect spot! We were able to be on the beach, without having to be ON the beach. This way we could still utilize the gorgeous setting, but skip out on the sand factor and enjoy the air conditioning between sessions. Mrs.Preggo photographer was especially thankful for that part :) Our sessions ran from 10am-12:20, and then we took a 3 and 1/2 hour break while the museum was open, and resumed sessions from 4-6:20. It worked out nicely because we got to leave and enjoy a delicious lunch at Benihanna. 

Sarah posted a sneak preview of some of the pictures on her Facebook page, so you'll have to check them out!! (https://www.facebook.com/pages/SJC-Photography-Sarah-Curtis/331412960849) Here is one of the Brinson side of our family (minus the parent in-laws). We made these chalkboard signs (I made Sarah write on them with her good handwriting!) that said "Growing In Our Hearts". The best way I can describe to my little nieces and nephews about adoption is by telling them that Auntie's baby is growing in our hearts, instead of Auntie's tummy. Sophie (my 4 year old niece) loves to "kiss" my baby and "talk" to it by talking into my "heart". She always tells people that Auntie's baby is in her heart. SO adorable. 

We can't thank Sarah enough for all she's done with this project, and because of her and our wonderful models, we raised over $700! We are so grateful! If you ever need family pictures done, this is the girl to see! She's quick, affordable and creates beautiful photos. 

As we wrapped up that fundraiser, I got a very unexpected (but awesome!) message from a girl who had read our story from a friend who had shared our blog. She said that she was so touched by our story that she wanted to help in any way she could. She sells Mary Kay cosmetics, so she offered 100% of her profit from any of our friends and family that ordered this week to go directly to the Baby Brinson fund! I was so blown away, that a perfect stranger would want to help us in such a generous way. As it turns out, we are connected in about 7,232 ways, LOL. God is cool like that :) So I get to meet her tomorrow and I am excited to get to meet the face behind this! Here is her site, so if you need any skin care or makeup, now is a great time to shop! http://www.marykay.com/baten

The next fundraiser on the list is a Cut-A-Thon!!! We are tentatively planning for Sunday, August 11th (most likely). The girls (and guy!) from Shears of Joy are donating their time and skills to help us raise money! I am so excited about this!! We will probably be doing some raffles and other fun stuff, so keep your eyes out and mark your calendar! A great way for you to get a good haircut for a good cause :) I have been slacking on getting the word out there on this one, so I need to get with it before it gets any closer!

That's a wrap on the fundraiser news for now! Whew! I feel like I am bombarding people with fundraiser after fundraiser...but don't worry, soon I'll be bombarding you with pictures of my adorable child :)

Quick update on the process: We have one more quick meeting with the social worker, to finish up a little bit of paper work, and then we just wait for our Homestudy (that's all the paperwork, meetings, background checks, bloodwork, etc...) to get the final stamp of approval and then we WAIT! I pray we won't have to wait TOO long, but I know that God's timing is way better than what we can hope or imagine, and in His time, the perfect baby, our baby, will join our family. (Feel free to remind me of this when I get anxious:)

The World's Biggest Garage Sale!

To say our garage sale was a success is an understatement! We are completely overwhelmed and humbled by the amount of items donated, the man hours our friends and family put into pulling this off, Mandie's hospitality, opening her home to all of this chaos for over a month, and for the shoppers who came and supported our cause!

We spent over a month collecting donated items, organizing and pricing them and preparing for this gigantic beast of a sale.

As the sale was getting closer, and donations were pouring in, we came up with the idea to do a presale for the friends and family who have supported us, prayed for us, and donated. We wanted them to have first dibs on the goods, and also wanted to be able to spend a little time with them. This turned out to be such a fun night! Despite the torrential downpour, we had a fabulous turnout and so many people were able to come that were not going to be able to come Saturday. I am so not a morning person, so a night time garage sale was right up my alley! We "opened" for about 3 hours, and during that time, we raised just about $1,000! We were blown away!!! Most everyone who shopped paid over and above what the stickers said, and graciously donated their "change" that they should have gotten back. Boy did it add up quick! 

The next morning we got started at 5:30 (UGH! Did I mention that I'm not a morning person?). We hit the ground running! We had 50 foot of tent set up in the driveway full of stuff, the entire garage packed, and the back porch was our "clothing department". We had well over 1,000 items of clothing, at least 500 books, a couple hundred DVD's, more toys than we could count, and housewares coming out of our ears! By about 10 min to 7, people started showing up . From then on out, it was a constant flow of people! Our friends Brittany, Ashely and Reggie came and set up a tent with hot dogs, baked good, snow cones and popcorn. How cool is that?! That seemed to be a favorite among our shoppers!

We decided to pack up around 1ish. We started the final tally on cash and it was $2,784 (presale and day of)!! We were completely blown away!! This went way beyond our expectations.

A couple of months ago, my adoption buddy Karen (http://smithfamilyimport.com/) and I sat down to brainstorm fundraising ideas. The garage sale was the big joint one we decided focus on first. Sitting at The Blue Door coffee shop, with our sweet little nieces (Sophie kept calling it a "tea party" with her "friends"...her "friends being Karen's nieces, who she was too shy to speak to), we took notes and on my piece of paper, I wrote down $2,000. I was claiming that we would make $2,000 to split at our garage sale. I was being very ambitious with that number, but figured it wouldn't hurt to put it out there. Well, God had a lot to teach me with that number...

My goal was $2,000 ($1,000 each). When someone asked me what number they could specifically pray for, that's the number I gave them. The sales from the garage sale added up to more than that, roughly $2,800. We split it down the middle equaling $1,400 each (WOW!). After things settled down, I opened a few cards that people had come by and dropped off for Richard and I. Little did I know, those cards contained checks and cash in them. I counted those up, and the total of that was $675. WOAH. So, we had our $1,400 from our half of the sale, and an additional $675 in personal donations....bringing us up to right over $2,000!!! I feel like God was showing us a few different things here. He was showing me that if I pray with an expectant heart, He will deliver. He was showing us that His provision is beyond perfect, and goes exceedingly above what we can ask or imagine. Most importantly, He was just reaffirming that HE'S GOT THIS. Anytime worry creeps in, I need to cling to this. 

But wait, it gets even better...Richard and I talked about it and decided we wanted to tithe 10% of our profit. $200. Part of me felt a little sting, to be honest. But we both felt it was the right thing to do. Roughly 30 minutes later, someone very generously pledged a $200 gift (which I received in the mail a few days later!! THANK YOU!!!). Brings us right back to $2,000. Obviously this is not all about math equations and numbers, but about God showing His hand here, teaching us and reminding us that this is His plan. It's always been His plan. He has the finances worked out, He has our baby picked out...He knows all of the details. This isn't about us. Of course, we are reaping the benefits by expanding our family, but it's about so much more. It's for His glory. It's about reaching people for Christ. It's about the body of Christ, His church, coming together. That has been one of my favorite things so far. Seeing how people have rallied around us, donated, prayed for us, and supported us. People that have been a big part of our lives for years, new friends, people we are really close to, and the ones who take you by surprise with their encouragement and donations. This precious baby, a stranger to us right now, is already well loved and prayed for before he/she is even here. We want to be a blessing to this child, and we are already being blessed beyond measure by the process, and can't wait to see what is in store next!!

Application approval, Home Visit and Miracles!

First of all, we got a letter stating that our application was approved! Woohoo! This is just saying they approved our application, and will move forward with our homestudy, not that we are officially "approved" and waiting to be matched. Nontheless, we were thrilled :)

Now, we had our home visit this past Saturday, and we even lived to tell about it! Of course, everyone tells you not to be nervous and that it is no big deal. So I took their advice and didn't worry one bit! I wish that it was that easy! I was nervous, and felt a little overwhelmed leading up to it, but held myself together, for the most part. One mini meltdown was just par for the course in my opinion! I think because we were running around like crazy people trying to pick up donations for our yard sale, organize that stuff, prepare for our home visit, complete paper work, and squeeze in trying to celebrate my mother in laws, father in laws and hubbys birthday, as well as Father's Day, it was just a bit much. Oh yeah, and the work thing.

Anyways, the caseworker showed up right on time and began her inspection. She made us feel so at ease and just kind of looked around and took notes about the set up of our house. Believe it or not, no white glove test! (Which, BTW, we would have passed with flying colors! I don't think my house had ever been that clean! Ha!) That lasted all of about 5 minutes, and then we sat at the table and chatted, went over paperwork, and she gave us our homework (MORE paperwork). A lot of the time was just spent chatting in general, which made us feel so much more comfortable. She was there around 2 and a half hours, but it didn't seem like it was that long at all. She told us that we gave her some ideas about how she wants to remodel her home in NY, and that she wanted me to decorate. I'm sure they are trained to say this sort of thing to put you at ease, but it made me feel better, so I'll take it :) Of course, Misty (our dog) decided that it would be a prime time to vomit all over the floor. Poor pup! Richard cleaned it up right away and the caseworker seemed amused by it. Hey, one thing had to go not according to plan, and I guess this was it. Oh well, no biggie!

 
I can't even express the gratitude we have for all of the people who have donated items for our yard sale. We have more than we could have imagined, and it is so humbling to be on the receiving end of this. I can not thank everyone enough for their donations, and I have been trying to stay on top of thank you cards, so I hope I haven't missed anyone! Bear with me :) 


My friends have been collecting, and organizing our items. We are hosting it at our good friend Mandie's house, and thankfully for me, God made her OCD and she has been organizing this mountain of items like a crazy person! She just can't help herself, and I'm not gonna fight her on it! Our other friends have been troopers, braving the heat of the garage to deal with our mountain as well. I don't know what I would do without their help! Thankful doesn't seem to even describe it!

I have made it known that our belief is that this journey we are on is a total God thing. This was never something that was part of "our plan", but God planted this seed and we are going at it full of faith that He will make a way, even when there seems to be no way! I can't even describe the feeling of watching and knowing that God is moving in big ways to make His plan come to life. I don't like this to be all about money, because at the end of the day, this is about bringing a child into a forever home and expanding our family. BUT, I just have to share the way that God has led people to give in ways we never would have imagined.

We set up a savings account designated for adoption funds only. We raised $412, through loose saving loose change and a side job or two, before we mailed our application. Our application fee was $400. We paid that, and had $12 left over in that account. We were hoping that the yard sale would raise enough to pay for part of our homestudy. That fee is $1,800. Well, in the past two weeks, that account has gone from $12 to over $1,400!!! And we haven't even held our yard sale.  One very generous couple has felt that God has led them to give their tithe money to us while they are currently between churches. Someone else cashed in an investment, and out of that, gave us an extremely generous donation. Others have mailed checks and put cash in the jar that sits on the counter at the salon.  God's provision is perfect and He is faithful! 

This past weekend at church, Pastor Todd spoke about miracles. He talked about how sometimes God takes us the long way around, because that will make our miracle all the more rich. He teaches us lessons along the way, puts people in our paths that we would have never come across otherwise, and helps us form our testimony. He talked about how we need not to despise the journey, because during that time, we come to know Jesus in a way we never would have experienced otherwise.  He said "Sometimes the greatest disappointments in life are just a setting for the biggest miracle of your life." WOW. WOW. I just had to share that because I feel like it is so fitting to our story. And so many other stories of people who are on all walks of life and going through all different things. I am posting a link to his sermon, and I highly encourage you to watch it. It was a perspective I hadn't thought of before. 

Pastor Todd on Miracles <---- Enjoy :)

Well, that was quick!

We sent our application into Children's Home Society one week ago. During the last week, I have completed my "Life Story" (its a lengthy question and answer type packet) and all of the other paperwork that I currently have. Richard is about 1/2 way done with his "Life Story". I spoke with our caseworker yesterday, and they received it and we are moving forward (officially!). She told me that she wants to come do our home visit in the next TWO WEEKS, before she goes on vacation. I have no idea why, but for some reason, I thought there would be a lot more time in between the application and a home visit, so I froze up a little and got nervous. I don't know why I want more time, but for some reason, I was so scared! We need to put carpet in our guest room (future nursery), but other than that, there isn't anything major that needs to be done before we are baby ready. She assured me that the non carpet would not be an issue, and that she isn't even looking at that sort of stuff. Just making sure that we don't have any dangers in our home (pool without a fence, exposed wires, making sure we have a fire extinguisher and proper smoke alarms). I would be lying if I said I still wasn't freaking out   a little nervous. Now, I am just waiting to hear back from her to schedule the date. I need to keep this verse at the top of my mind "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6. 

Other than that, we are just focusing on our fundraising events that we have coming up.

• We have our BIG garage sale coming up June 29th in Stuart. This will go to support Richard and I, and Karen and her husband Matt as they go through the process as well. We are so humbled by peoples donations. I have been picking up items from people for the last two weeks, and have quite a few more stops to make! We have a wide variety of items, ranging from baby toys and clothes, adult clothing, dishes, books, furniture, household items and much more. THANK YOU to everyone who has and will be contributing!!! Now we just have to pray for cooperative weather :)

•  Karen Smith (her and her hubby's blog is http://smithfamilyimport.com), and I are organizing a super fun event called a Quarter Auction. If you haven't ever been (or even if you have!) to one, you will want to make sure you don't miss this!! Basically, you purchase a paddle (like an auction) at the door, and sit at a table. In the middle of your table there is a bowl. There are numerous vendors auctioning off all sorts of items. They stand up front, tell about the item they auctioning off, and how many quarters they are asking for it (usually 1-3 quarters per item). If you are interested in that item, you put the amount of quarters they asked for into the bowl on your table and hold up your paddle. Then the announcer draws a number from a basket and if it matches your paddle, you win the item! So you can potentially win some great items for very cheap! Oh, and you will be supporting a great cause :) We are planning, as of now, for Thursday, July 18th. Start saving your quarters!

• Sunday, July 21st, I am hosting a day at The House Of Refuge for people to come have mini photo sessions. My sweet friend Sarah Curtis is donating her time and photography skills to take the pictures. We had 14 slots available, and filled them all!! The sessions will last around 20 minutes, the cost is $50, and you will get a CD with print rights of your pictures. 

So, mark your calendars! I am so thankful to everyone who is helping these events happen behind the scenes!! I wouldn't be able to do any of this without all of the support and prayers from my sweet friends and family!

One step closer!

Last Tuesday we met with the caseworker from Children's Home Society, and it went great! She answered all of our questions, was very patient with us, and made us feel really comfortable. After leaving the meeting with her, we agreed that we wanted to move forward with applying to the agency. She sent us home with a ton of paperwork to fill out and the beginning parts of homestudy. They included forms for us to get fingerprints, physicals, background checks, questionnaires about the types of disabilities/issues that we are wiling to take, and questions to help us write our "life stories". {the life story is around 75 questions, regarding everything from our childhoods, dating life, parents marriages, our marriage, and anything in between, and we each have to write our own}

I anxiously filled out our application and couldn't wait to start the rest of the paperwork! I completed the first portion that needed to be mailed (the application), and once that was sent, the rest of the process would begin. And then I let it sit...all week...I couldn't figure out a reason to why I hadn't dropped it in the mailbox. I was busy all week with my family in town, but the hard part was done. Then, on Sunday and church during worship, I realized that I was having trust issues. I was not believing God when He said He will make a way. I doubted His faithfulness. I thought there was no way possible that we could raise $17,000. That somehow, it just wouldn't happen. Once I realized what was holding me back, I was quickly able to bring back to focus the fact that my God is the provider, He is faithful, and that He wouldn't have called us to this if He wasn't going to make a way. I need to trust that, and not just say I trust it. I need to stop looking at the amount of money, and focus on why we are doing what we are doing. We ultimately want to create a family and to bring glory to God. 

Which brings me to tonight...we got our application notarized, stamped and took it to the post office to send it off! We are so super dorky cool that I made my sister take pictures of us dropping it off. I looked at it like our equivalent of a picture of our pregnancy test :)

So as for now, we just continue the homestudy process (all of that paperwork I mentioned, and a few visits...oh, and a whole lot of money!) and wait for approval. This could take a couple of months, so please pray for patience along the way while we await approval :)

We have been saving our coins, and my dad gave me his bucket of change too, along with some other money we just randomly scrounged up, we had $12 over our application fee in our special baby savings account. God is good like that!

Baby Steps (ha...ha....get it?)

Since the last update, we have made some progress. I am quickly learning trying to learn that every single, little, step in this process is a step toward bringing a baby home. It is so heartwarming the people that come out of the woodwork when they hear you are adopting. I have met some new friends, and been given the name and numbers of at least a dozen people from friends that have friends who adopted. I have had the privilege of meeting some of these women in person, talking with some on the phone, and emailing a few back and forth. I still have a few more on the list to reach out to, and I can't even begin to tell you what a blessing these people have been so far. I am starting to get the sense that the adoption community is pretty open to share their stories, and pretty tight nit. 

We have been praying and talking it over between ourselves and amongst friends and family, and other adoptive families and we think we have reached a decision on how to proceed. We are pretty sure at this point that we want to go with a private adoption. I know we mentioned foster adoption in the beginning, but after prayerfully considering it and finding out more information about it, we just don't think it's right for us at this time. In the future, we definitely want to revisit this option. At this point, we want to start a family and raise a child from infancy. This is why private adoption is looking like the most viable option for us, since adopting through foster care will most likely be a much older child (average age 8). I was really struggling with this at first, feeling very selfish, but then realized that we are still saving a child from a situation that could be less than ideal.

There are two basic ways you can go about a private adoption. One being through an attorney and one being through an agency. After some research, we are leaning more toward an agency. You pay a little bit more, but your funds are more secure (ie, if you have a failed adoption {the birth mother decides to keep the child}, your agency fees are still applied toward your next match...as where a lawyer typically bills hourly, from what I am understanding {please correct me if I am wrong})

Which brings us to my LEAST  favorite topic when it comes to adoption. MONEY. To be frank, it costs a crap load of money. To the tune of $15,000+. It can go way, way up (to around $35,000) from there, but the agency that we are seriously considering is about $17,000. I don't know about you, but we don't have an extra $17,000 laying around. We will be scrimping and saving and fundraising to achieve our goal of becoming parents and making a beautiful life for a child. 

As of right now, we are saving up for our application fee, which will be followed by our homestudy. Each step has a price tag, and fortunately, it is not due all at one time. 

We are pairing up with my friend Karen (her blog is http://smithfamilyimport.com/index.html) and her hubby to have a gigantic yard sale. They are currently in the process as well! We would love to collect items to sell at our event, and as of right now, we plan on having it June 29th. If you have any items that you would like to donate, please let us know and we would be happy to pick them up and take them off your hands! :)

I am also saving in small ways, such as not spending any coins. I know it sounds absolutely ridiculous, but I cashed in $80 worth of coins yesterday! It adds up quickly, and I didn't miss it one bit. I think I will also start doing this with $1 bills as well. 

Karen and I have another fundraising idea in the works, which will be a ton of fun for everyone, so you will have to stay tuned on this one! 

I am going to need a lot of help with fundraising ideas, so if you have any brilliant ideas, please share! 

The last thing I want to say is, I am completely humbled and blown away by peoples generosity. Every donation and gift add up. Tonight we received a phone call that someone is donating a very large item for us to sell. We are so humbled and honored and moved that this person is doing this, and as hard as it is to accept such a large gift, we know that it means a lot to this person. You know who you are, and we love you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your unbelievable generosity!! 

We know that God  would not have put this on our hearts so strongly if He wasn't going to provide a way for it to happen. God knows we don't have $17,000 laying around. And He also already knows our precious child. He knows the hows and the whens. We are putting one foot in front of the other, and having faith that He will pave the way. As my sweet friend Mandie said tonight "GOD isn't done yet!! This is just the beginning!!". I know by obeying His will, we will be immeasurably blessed! 

What next?

I want to be honest with people about the journey, and the emotional roller coaster that I am sure we are about to jump on . I hope that by being honest about my feelings, fears, confusion and doubts, that it will help someone else not feel so alone if they ever decide to adopt. I am so fortunate to have the best support system in the world. People who are eager to hear every detail of the process, people who encourage, advise, guide and pray for us. People who will listen to every question, fear and moment of excitement.  Our families are nothing less than supportive, and our friends are behind us all the way.

 That being said, I wanted to update everyone on how our orientation class went. I wish I had some solid answer to this! I honestly feel more confused after the class, and I know this is just the beginning, so I'm sure this is normal. I know that our Creator holds all of the answers, even when it seems so unclear to me. As many times as I say this, and as many times as it's said to me, it is hard for me let go of control. The fear of the unknown can be crippling at times, and it doesn't have to be. God is ALL knowing and has a perfect plan, so why is it so hard to let Him handle it? This is an area where He needs to work on me for sure :) 

When we started reading and learning about adoption, and exploring all of the different avenues, we thought we had a clear vision on how to go about it. We knew from the get go that we wanted to do a domestic adoption. We thought that a private adoption would be too costly, and that we wouldn't be able to raise the funds to pay for it. So we quickly pushed that aside. Then, we thought we would adopt from foster care, thinking that we could get a baby (under 1 year of age) this way. It is very low cost (or even free), and there are a few incentives from the state when  you go this route. The child gets free medical care, free dental care, the adoptive family gets monthly stipend, and the child's in state college tuition is paid for. We figured this was the most feasible approach for us financially, so it seemed like a no brainer. Wrong.

We went to Place Of Hope in Palm Beach Gardens for their foster and adoption orientation class. They partner very closely with my church and I have heard great things about them. I was so delighted that it was a faith based child welfare organization and couldn't wait to dive right in! We showed up (10 minutes late, of course) to the class and I was prepared with my notebook to start taking notes. In the first five minutes, we learned that Place Of Hope can no longer process adoptions there due to some contractual changes within the county. They can still place foster children into homes and I believe they can still aid you in adopting from foster care, which was great news to us! That was until we realized that we can't use them as our agency due to the fact that we live in Martin County, and they are in Palm Beach County. DUH. I don't know why I  didn't think of this.

Then he started talking about the average age of children that are up for adoption in the foster care system, and the age is much higher than we anticipated. The average age is 8. There are much younger children in the system, but a lot of times they are attached to a sibling group. At this time, we don't really feel like we are equipped to handle more than one child.  There are obviously other circumstances where there are infants and younger children available, but I get the impression that the infants are placed in a temporary home (foster) and have a long waiting period of investigations before they are available to be permanently placed. Foster adoption was starting to sound like lesser of a clear choice than when we initially started.

He talked about the number of children in Palm Beach County alone that have been removed from their homes. Situations so volatile, that they have to be physically removed.  500 kids at all times are in need of a bed. 500 kids don't know where they are going to be sleeping. Who they will be living with. Who will love them. WOW. The verse Isaiah 1:17 kept coming to mind "Learn to do right; seek justice.  Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless...".

On one hand, I wanted to start my MAPP (Model Approach to Partnership and Parenting, which is required to foster/foster adopt) immediately and take in all 500 kids. The thought of these children feeling hopeless, unloved, used, abused, hurt, terrified, worthless, alone...just breaks my heart. Sitting here typing this, tears welling up in my eyes, I want to reach out and hug each and every one of them. 


On the other hand, I want to start a family with my husband. I still have the desire to bring home a baby, days old and start from there. To raise this child from infancy to adulthood. This is where I feel so conflicted. I feel selfish in so many ways a way, knowing that there are children out there right now that need homes at this very minute. 


It raises so many questions on what route to pursue. Is private adoption really so far out of reach? Is foster adoption still on the table, even if we aren't likely to bring home a baby? Can we just win the lottery and buy a ranch with a 30 bedroom house and take in 60 kids? ;) If only! 


I was able to talk to Jenny this morning for a little bit, and she is a wealth of knowledge and encouragement, so that helped me sort out some thoughts (more than she even realizes!). Jenny is a mama to 5 (3 biological and 2 adorable adopted twins) and she gave me some great contacts and a place to start locally. I would love some prayer for guidance and clarity as we attempt to move forward  :)