Ella's Puzzle Fundraiser!

Ella's Puzzle!

My first fundraiser is upon us, and it is a fun one!

My dear, sweet, talented friend Candace* made this beautiful image for me.  I wanted something that was a reminder to both Ella and me of how we became a family.  This is an outline of China (for the geographically challenged out there), and the heart is over the city where Ella was born.  I think Candace did a beautiful job, and I am so excited that this will be hanging in Ella's room for years to come!

Here is where you come in!  This image is printed on a 500 piece puzzle.  I am "selling" each piece for a $5 donation.  For your donation, your name will be written on the back of the puzzle piece, and you will also receive a 4x6 print of the puzzle (as a small token of our thanks!).  Of course - you are welcome to buy more than one piece.  If you choose to do so, just let me know if you want your family name on each piece (for example "The Willis Family" on every piece) or names of individual family members on each piece you purchase.

You can buy your puzzle piece by clicking the yellow "Please Donate" button on the right hand side of the blog; after you donate, please just let me know your preference on what to write on the puzzle piece (if I don't hear from you I'll just write your family name!).  You can also contact me about making other arrangements if you prefer not to donate online.

EDITED:  Here is the link to the fundraising page as well:
Kim's Adoption Fundraising Page

My goal for this fundraiser is to have it completed by December 9, which is Ella's first birthday.  This fundraiser will go toward paying my first agency fee of $2500.

I will be posting updates as we assemble the puzzle (we being myself and some friends and family!).  Once it is completed, it will be framed (hopefully in one of the "floating" frames so both sides would be visible) and it will hang in Ella's room.  I am really looking forward to the day that I can tell her about all of the people who helped to bring her home to her family.

I am so very thankful for the many ways people have offered to help bring home my sweet Ella already.  Thanks for considering being a part of our story!

*Candace is an extremely talented graphic designer.  She did not ask me to promote her work, and generously donated her time and effort to design this work for Ella.  If you are ever in need of graphic design work, please consider her.  Thanks!

Meet Ella Claire!

Ella (An Chu He) at about 3 months old!

Here she is!  This is my girl!  I am so excited to finally tell everyone about her and show you her sweet face.  If you are reading this, this means I have pre-approval (PA) from China!  The next steps for me are really big and hopefully will go very quickly.

Ella's first birthday is December 9.  My goal is that this is the first and only birthday I miss.  I am going to be having two or three main fundraisers for this adoption, the first of which I will explain in detail in the next post.

For now I just want everyone to appreciate the most awesome smile in the entire world (literally)!

So then this happened.

I was driving to church in the rain on November 6 to work nursery.  I had not had a very good day.  (In fact, it was one of those days at work where I thought, no way, no how, I cannot go home to children.) It was dark outside, and at 6:22, and my phone rang. (For the record, it was not a poetic moment where I registered that.  I went back and looked at my phone log!)

About a week or two before, my friend Laura, who used the same agency and adopted from China, said, "Oh I think you're going to be matched quickly."  She warned me that agency phone calls only come from a 303 area code and that the agency only calls with a referral.  Well the phone number that came up was 303.  I got excited/nervous/terrified then thought to myself, oh, remember those telemarketer calls you got from Colorado earlier this week?  It's probably just that.

It wasn't.

My agency was calling to talk to me about a little girl.  I think I may have started to laugh and cry all at once while they got ready to talk to me about her.  She's from Anyang, she was born last December, she has spina bifida...could they send me her file.

Yes, please!

I went on to church but could not concentrate.  I opened the email just enough to see her face (it's precious) and read a little bit.  I went in and tried to pull it together.  Luckily, there was only one baby that night.  We usually have between 8-10.  My wonderful co-nursery workers sent me home (with no clue of what was going on!).  So I got to come home and read some more. She's lovely.

I requested an update that has yet to come (it most likely will, it's just slow coming sometimes), but after a week of serious prayer, discussion with medical professionals and my family, and soul searching, I said yes.

I am so excited.  And nervous.  And terrified. :)

Surprise! (And some background...)

Well as the address of this blog says, I am adopting from China.

(I will wait while you pick your jaw up off the floor.)



Now.  I know that to some people this comes as a total shock, and that others are yelling, "What took you so long?"  So here's just a little  kind of long background on how I got to this point.

When I was 20 years old, I met a friend named Whitney.  Her parents had, just before I met them, adopted a little boy from the Ukraine.  They had room in their home and their hearts and wanted to add to their family.  Their children were all in their late teens/early twenties.  At the time I was obsessed with Russian culture and so found the adoption of their son fascinating.  I tried to talk my parents into adopting (they laughed at me).  So adoption was tucked away in my heart, as something that I might consider someday.

Fast forward a few years...I was 25 and not married.  I have wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember, and without the prospect of a husband on the horizon, I started bargaining with myself.  When I'm this old, I'll adopt. When I get to this point in my life, I'll adopt. When I was 25, I said, "Oh, maybe if I am 30 and still single."  I loved meeting friends who had adopted and getting to understand the process.  It's such a beautiful thing, adoption, and I loved learning more about it.

At age 30, I had just finished my Master's degree and was beginning my third year of teaching.  In the back of my mind I acknowledged my old promise to myself, but decided to push it off a few years.  Well, if I am still single by the time I am 35, or maybe 40, then I'll consider it. I was just getting established on my own, and so I really was in no place to adopt.  But it was always a someday.

In 2011 I transferred schools from where I had been teaching to where I teach now.  I met my now dear friend Laura on one of my first days on the job and found out she was in the process of adopting.  I got very excited and said, "Oh, I hope to adopt someday."  Laura was very kind to answer questions I had. At the end of that school year, after bombarding her with questions throughout the year, Laura offered to meet me one day for dessert to answer any questions I had.  My questions mostly circled around how I could adopt as a single, if I was right to adopt as a single, and what types of children were available to me.  This conversation was a big blessing to me, but still, I sat and waited.

In May 2013, I attended the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit 9 in Nashville.  I was still very committed to the idea of "someday," but also knew that my heart would be changed leaving that conference (and it was).  On the last night, we were challenged to write down something we would do this year, be it working in orphan care, praying for others, giving financially, or adopting.  I wrote down "DO something."  I had been thinking and praying for so long and letting fear stop me in the process.  (Which - I will address some of my specific fears in a future post!)  And yet I waited five more months.

In the beginning of October, I told a friend of mine that I thought I had decided on a country.  Later that same week, another friend asked me when I was going to start this process.  I said, "Well, I think I want to adopt from {Country A}.  I wish I could adopt from China, but I just don't think I would qualify."  She encouraged me to talk to an agency and just ask the questions.  So I did, that Friday evening. The agency I spoke to (who I am working with and they've been nothing but wonderful so far!) encouraged me to fill out a pre-application, and they'd look at it and let me know.  It took me another week to get moving, but I finally submitted my pre-application and Medical Conditions Checklist to an agency that works in China to adopt from China's Special Focus program.  I submitted that on October 22 and received an email that I was waiting for a referral on October 23.

So where that left me was waiting for a referral call (a call to look at the file of a specific child).  The way my agency works with single parent applicants is that they match you with a child from the Special Focus list, then get approval from China, then do the crazy, infamous paper chase.  The reasoning behind this is that they don't want you to be financially committed and then be told that China will not approve you for whatever reason.  But my agency feels very confident that, because of the flexibility of the Special Focus program, I will be approved without a problem.  So I settled in for a 6 to 12 month wait for a match.