Fundraising - Be part of her story

International adoption is expensive. Like stupid expensive! Unfortunately, this reality keeps so many amazing couples from taking the steps to adopt. There is a page in our adoption packet that makes me shiver every time I glance at it! Even as I type this and think about the upcoming payments, I am getting anxious! When we first made the decision to adopt, one of the things that we wrestled over was whether or not we would do any fundraising. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to. There aren’t many things more humbling than asking other people for money! Honestly, it sucks! It’s uncomfortable. It’s vulnerable. The more we have talked about it though, the more we understand that it isn’t about asking people for money, but asking them to be a part of our story. Our daughter’s’ story, in how she got to come home. So, we are so excited about two fundraising opportunities!

The first one is a Puzzle Fundraiser. It works like this: 1. We had a 500-piece puzzle created. 2. We are “selling” edge pieces for $10 and middle pieces for $20. You can choose to buy 1, 2, 3, or 10! There is no limit! 3. To purchase via PayPal, click here or you can email me (backjess@gmail.com) for our address and send a check in the mail. 4. Once you purchase a piece, we will write your name on the back of one of the puzzle piece(s) and send you a picture. 5. Once every single piece has been “sold”, we will put the puzzle together and hang it in a double-sided glass frame for Cheyenne’s room so that she can always look back and be reminded of who had a “piece” of bringing her home!

I can picture us sitting down with her, reading the names to her and explaining that these are all of the wonderful people who loved her before they even knew her. These are the people who brought her home. Isn’t that the cutest?!?! I just love it! I will keep the blog updated with progress on the puzzle and a list of amazing donors. So, our goal with this Puzzle Fundraiser is to sell all 500 pieces which will raise over $9,000!!!! That will take care of our upcoming Airfare, Hotel Accommodations in China, and other travel expenses. How amazing would that be?!?! We’d be honored and humbled to have you be a part of this story.

The second is a Tee Shirt fundraiser. Here's what the Tee Shirt looks like:

There are multiple color options available. You can buy one for yourself (and a friend) all while helping our cause at the same time. We get over 50% of the proceeds for every shirt sold. To buy a shirt simply click here.

Want to help us bring Cheyenne home from China!? Then please help by participating in one (or both) of these fundraisers.. The other amazing thing that you could do to help would be to spread this! Share it with your family and friends. Thank you! We love you! Kevin and Jessica

Merry Christmas

Last night as Kevin was upholding our annual tradition of reading the Nativity story to our boys, I was mixed with emotion. First and foremost I was feeling incredibly blessed. I get to be the wife of a wonderful man and caring father. I also get to be the mother of two sweet and caring boys who know the TRUE meaning of Christmas.

Next my mind wondered to Cheyenne. It was about 10:30pm our time, so that means it was already Christmas morning where she is. I was sad to know that she would not be experiencing the spirit of Christmas the way we had and will continue to have over the next couple of days, with food and laughs but most of all with the unconditional love of a family. Sure, to her, the other kids in the orphanage are probably like family. Also, based on pictures they just sent us, it appears as if they have some of their own ways of celebrating Christmas...but a forever family is much different.

Then, I was hopeful of 2017 and not only Christmas but of all the "firsts" she will have with us.

Now, it's about 1:30pm on Christmas Day. Our boys had a blast opening their gifts and I am taking a break from our busy cooking schedule in order to write this blog. I know that Christmas is over in China and Cheyenne is probably fast asleep. I wonder if she got to make any Christmas wishes.

For me, my Christmas wish for her is that she will stay healthy and warm until we get to bring her home!

DTC, LID and Contact with China!

Sometimes through this adoption process, it seems to our family and friends that we are speaking a different language. While we are learning to speak Mandarin (well Kevin is anyway), we do not intend to confuse our family and friends who like to keep tabs on the progress we're making in our adoption journey. So, I'll try to explain it in real English!

On 11/23/16, we received the perfect Thanksgiving present. We learned that our Dossier was on it's way to China for official review. This is summarized by "DTC". Dossier is just a fancy word for our packet. The packet is our whole life on paper. It contained our home study (see previous blog for all this entails), our employment references, three of our other references, our financial status, medical documents, police checks, abuse registry checks and many photos of our family and daily lives. All of these items had to be notarized by a local notary, certified by the State of Ohio (I'm BFFs with Dave at the State Secretary's office now) and then authenticated (which just means verifying what the state has already certified) by the Chinese consulate in New York City. It was a long drawn out process, so when the packet is complete and FINALLY sent to China, it is the first real milestone, hence the DTC celebration.

The next major milestone is called the LID. Once China receives our Dossier, they log it into their system and begin translating all of it and reviewing all of it. When they log it into their system, this signifies official receipt and they issue you a "Log-in Date" otherwise known as "LID". For us, this date was 11/28/16. In our case, this was a particular important date because we were obligated to get our Dossier logged in by 1/10/17 in order to stay locked in with Cheyenne. If they did not receive our Dossier by 1/10, they would have released her file back into the adoption world for another family to find her.

Now that our Dossier is being translated and reviewed, we are (impatiently) waiting to receive our "LOA" (Letter of Approval). This would be the next MAJOR milestone. The letter of approval means that China has officially blessed our Dossier and has formally approved us to adopt her. We already received a pre-approval when we started the process. I'm hoping that speeds up this process. We are at the mercy of the Chinese government and there is no rhyme or reason as to how long they take to approve Dossiers. Some are approved in a couple of weeks while others take months. I'm praying for an early Christmas present! I believe another reason the LOA is so important is because that's when China will tell her that she is being adopted. This is what I've been told, but today our case worker told us that we can begin emailing their China rep to begin the notification process.

I emailed the China rep right away. He told me that he will buy her a cake and a stuffed animal and deliver to her along with a photo album of all of us. He will then tell her she is being adopted and present her with these items. I've asked him to video record it or at least photograph it but I haven't heard back from him yet.

The wait is excruciating, but today we got a little relief. Not only was I given permission to reach out to their China rep to begin the notification process, but we also received updated measurements and three new photos of her. She is now just over 4 feet tall and weighs about 58 pounds. Here are the pictures they sent:

I love this one with her hair down. This is the first time we've seen her with her hair down. Isn't she beautiful? And check out the little scrape on her knee...I bet she plays hard and will give the boys a run for their money!

For now, we will continue to wait... Please continue to pray for all of us.