Christmas greetings

Today I have been doing what many other women do on Christmas Eve; baking and completing the last minute preparations for the big day tomorrow. As I go through my day I can't help but let my mind wander to how thankful I am to have two beautiful and bright daughters. I don't stop there as I feel as if there are two family members missing from our home today. We still have yet to meet the boys due to more bumps in the adoption process. I don't understand how I feel so close to the boys when I truly do not know them yet. I don't know if they like the crust cut off their toast, or if they even like toast. All of the little things which a mom knows about her children.
We initially found out about the boys a year ago on December 17th. I showed Chad the picture of the oldest brother, and from that moment on we made a vow to give him and his brother a family. Chad's commitment to the adoption has never wavered; he has been the wind to keep my sailboat moving forward. We were both initially very disappointed in late November when we were informed we would not be traveling to Siberia until the beginning of 2011. We have had the time to let things sink in. I have thought of the families which are traveling to Siberia this month so that they can pick up their children to have them home for Christmas. These families have been waiting just as we have so I wish them all a joyful Christmas.
So today, I wish our boys in Siberia a Merry Christmas. We know that they will be with us next year. Imagine, they have never celebrated Christmas as we do here. It will be quite an experience.
As far as a timeline, we expect to travel to Siberia in late January; we don't care it will be bitterly cold and the roads will be treacherous. We will get to meet our boys!!! We will officially sign our intent to adopt and come back home. The entire trip will last about a week. We will spend only about eight hours with the boys during the first trip. We will then return home to wait AGAIN for our court date. The second trip will culminate with court where we will be granted the adoption decree. This trip typically occurs about three months after the first trip. The boys will have another birthday before we are able to bring them home.
Merry Christmas.... and hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2011.

Thanks and Giving

We were truly blessed with a bountiful Thanksgiving this year. We spent the holidays with both the Lydic and Gipson families; eating great food and way too much of it! The boys are on Chad and my mind's more than ever. We were truly hoping to be in Russia by now visiting with the boys. Last week our coordinator in the region of Russia we are adopting from emailed our agency to let us know we unfortunately will not be able to travel for our first visit until early 2011. We were terribly disappointed to have yet another bump in our path. After we had a few days to process through the news, we realized that we had forgotten a very important thing. This was that we are not in control of how our journey unfolds. This has been determined by God and we must continue to put our faith in Him that things will come together exactly when and where he feels they must. So, we took a deep breath and realized the importance of recognizing the joy of this time of the year and how important it is that we be available to celebrate with our girls. Callie asked last night about the magic of Santa Claus, and if he disappears back up the chimney if the dogs see him. She was concerned our Great Dane would scare him away with her lumbering size. Apparently, Callie saw fit to let everyone at church know she would like a kitty for Christmas; we will have to disappoint her in this regard. However, I am sure she will be well taken care of in the gift department with all of her grandparents, aunts, and uncles! We have been fortunate to be able to refinance our home in Cameron to assist in paying for our adoption expenses. We were reluctant to have to seek loans for our adoption as we have saved and fundraised for all monies thus far. Refinancing made the most financial sense from an interest rate point of view. Security Savings Bank has been such a wonderful institution to work with; they truly embrace their motto.. part of your community, part of your life. Our loan officer saw my determination and passion, that's for sure! We continue to stay busy as most people this time of the year. Chad and I continue to coach Samantha's sixth grade basketball team. I think the girls are having fun and it is nice to see them begin to progress in their fundamental skills. If they start to set picks during their offense, I will be one happy coach! Yesterday I spoke with my friend Anna D. about starting up our club volleyball program in the next two months. I know coaching takes a lot of time, but I do enjoy the kids and seeing how athletics helps instill important life skills. I am hoping Anna and I can find a coach so I may step into more of a role as the director of the program. Callie has her first Christmas program at school this week; they are including the Pre-K for the first time this year. This past weekend we went shopping for the girls' Christmas dresses. Callie is very opinionated already regarding what type of dress she wants to wear! She definitely knows what she likes. Now that Callie is five, she feels an adjustment in her bedtime is appropriate. After some discussion, she determined a bedtime of 8:29 instead of 8:30 was fair. Sam has happily agreed with the arrangement, although she has a huge grin on her face every time we talk about it! Samantha is a great big sister for Callie (most of the time), and I think Callie will enjoy having the new role of big sister soon. We hope everyone enjoys the holiday season. I will be posting fun videos on Facebook soon, so check them out.

Adoption pregnancy

This week I have been thinking about our upcoming events with our adoption. In many ways, the emotions I have been experiencing are very similar to my feelings during the last few weeks of pregnancy with the girls. For those women whom have been pregnant maybe you can relate. I'm just ready to be done with the process, but anxious about returning home from Russia with the boys. The whole thought process can be quite overwhelming if I think about it too much! The differences would be that with the girls I was able to slowly learn about their little personalities, and to meet their needs was fairly easy. You know, change their diaper, feed them, rock them. When we come home with our little guys they will already have their personalities formed. Their wants and needs will be so much more beyond eat, sleep, and use the bathroom! I am confident between Chad and myself we will parent the boys and be successful as we have been with Sam and Callie. I am also sure that there will be times we struggle as parenting is a wondrous and challenging task. As I longingly look at items for the boys while shopping, I am reminded to slow down and appreciate our family RIGHT NOW and take a deep breath as we prepare to make some big changes.

Applebee's fundraiser results

I wanted to thank everyone who purchased tickets or donated to our Applebee's flapjack fundraiser which we held on October 9th. We raised just under $900 towards our continuing adoption costs. The manager at Applebee's was tremendously helpful and everything went very smoothly. Once again, our family and friends came together to help us execute a successful fundraiser. Some of my current and prior children and families I have worked with in therapy attended the event. Seeing all of the people there really warmed my heart and helped me think about the wonderful community we will bring our boys home to so that they may grow and thrive. As of this date, we have raised via fundraising and saved about fifteen thousand dollars. Our agency has informed us that the in region coordinator expects the Ministry of Education to send our letter of invitation to travel to see the boys in late November. We would be more than happy to give up a turkey dinner to spend Thanksgiving with our boys! Please keep us in our prayers as we continue in our journey to Russia.
Many exciting things continue to happen in our families. My grandfather and father participated in the Honor Flight earlier this month. My 85 year old grandfather remained awake from 4am when they left until 11pm when they returned! Both my dad and grandpa had an amazing time sightseeing in Washington D.C. My dad's birthday is this week, and my grandpa will turn 86 in two weeks. Callie is the next to celebrate her 5th birthday on November 17th! Jessica and Matt continue to work on their wedding plans. Jessica is currently in training for her new position as a foster care caseworker. Matt was recently given a promotion in his job, which they are both very excited about as they look for their first apartment together.
Tonight I began searching online for warm boots for our trip. The orphanage is in Siberia and it will be quite cold with a lot of snow on the ground. I want to find something warm that is fashionable so I can wear here at home for work. We have also begun to accumulate items to take with us on our trip to donate to the orphanage. Today I walked by the preschool at the university and the children were playing outside. I stopped and watched several little boys driving the small cars around the playground and I became teary-eyed as I thought how close we are to meeting our boys. I have felt many of the same emotions I did when I was pregnant with Sam and Callie. We have looked at the pictures of the boys since last January, and our "pregnancy" is definitely "overdue"! I hope the next time I post I will have more exciting news to share!

We are close now!

Since my last post, we have been busier than ever with our everyday lives and adoption preparations. Samantha and Callie began school, with Sam being at the junior high building and Callie at Pre-K in Alexis. Callie has been pretty tired by the early evening! It shocks me to think Callie will be turning 5 in November! Sam has some pretty exciting news to share; we have begun using a new insulin pump which allows her to not give herself insulin injections several times per day. With this pump there is a pod attached to her body which administers the insulin. The best part is that there are no tubes attached to her body and the system is as close to painless as can be. I am so proud of how she is learning to take care of her diabetes. This semester at WIU I have taken over as the undergraduate adviser which I have enjoyed as I am able to work more closely with the students. I am currently teaching two courses as well, and supervising in the clinic. I miss having a full caseload of families personally, but enjoy seeing the students be successful as students and clinicians. I continue to work with a few families as I don't think I will ever stop being a therapist myself! Chad continues to work very steadily thanks to the good weather. Sometimes we wish he had a whole weekend off but that extra day on the paycheck can make a big difference too! Now to the adoption update....
We received very EXCITING news last week. Our dossier has been received in our region in Russia. The coordinator there has contacted our agency to let us know the boys are definitely still available for adoption and we will be traveling soon. The coordinator is working on acquiring firm travel dates for us. In a lot of ways the reality of our much anticipated plans is setting in for us. I find myself thinking about things like "next time I do this we will have the boys" quite a bit. We continue to hope to have the boys home for Christmas. Our fundraising efforts continue as well. Our local Applebees in Galesburg has agreed to allow us to hold a "Flapjack Fundraiser" on Saturday, October 9th from 8-10am. We are selling tickets for $5 each which includes pancakes, bacon, and juice/coffee. We will be able to keep $4 of every ticket sold. We are very thankful for Applebee's commitment to their community. We are also hoping to be chosen as a grant recipient next month as we are being reviewed by one of the granting agencies we applied to a few months ago. Finally, Chad and I have made an appointment with our bank to see about additional financing options we may have to complete our adoption. We are a bit overwhelmed at the amount of money we will need easy access to during our trips. I cannot imagine traveling to a foreign country with so much money! It is good to know we have a great agency of people in case we hit a problem while we are in Russia. It is also a relief to know we have a wealth of friends of family supporting us here in the US as we travel. I would like to end this post with an experience I had last week. I have been waking up Chad in the middle of the night as I have been talking in my sleep. We determined I must be feeling anxious or stress from the lack of control I have over our adoption process. Chad encouraged me to have faith as this will come together for us. Since he told me to "have faith" I have slept soundly (no 3am talking in sleep) which he greatly appreciates!

Results of our FINAL adoption fundraiser yard sale

This past Friday we held our final yard sale in Galesburg. Once again, our family and friends came through to help us out. Our friend Marlene Johnson allowed us to use her garage for our sale. My mom packed up and helped haul items to Marlene's. My friend Angi loaned her folding tables. My sister Jessica got up at 6am on her day off from work to help me run the yard sale. It was a very HOT day, but we earned $350 for the day's efforts. It is a comfort to see our total inch towards our next goal. Tomorrow I will travel to Springfield to apostille all of the necessary documents. On August 1 I will send our first dossier to our agency with our check for $6000. They will review our documents to make sure everything is in order, translate them, and forward our dossier to Russia! It is exciting to be able to cross items off of our list! While we await for our official referral of the boys, we will continue to work hard to save for our first trip to Russia. We will need to cover our expenses for travel (flights alone will be about 3200) and then pay the agency fees for that portion of the process ($6000). We have applied for two grants so far and have heard back from one that we did not meet the criteria for their program. I am completing a third grant application and hope to send that one out soon. Chad and I are considering our options for adoption loans as I don't think we will have much time in the next few months to complete new fundraisers. We will continue to collect aluminum cans. We are waiting for the price of aluminum to go up; right now it is at 35 cents per pound. We would like for it to get closer to 50 cents per pound again and then we will haul our bags and bags of crushed cans to the recycling center. Currently the girls are enjoying some time with their dad. I am trying to keep my days busy since I am "flying solo". I have been continuing with my private speech therapy practice and exercising. We started painting our fence as well. Chad bought me a spray paint gun but it is no longer working so I am doing it "Tom Sawyer style" with the paint brush. We will go on a short weekend vacation to Des Moines before school starts. I return to campus on August 17th, and the girls go back the following week. Callie will attend preschool at United this school year. She is so EXCITED to ride the bus with Sam. Chad has been working six days a week; he has worked more this summer than last and we are thrilled about it. He thinks his crew will be working well into December. Summers really do fly by, don't they? Thanks again to everyone who continues to keep us in your thoughts.

I know, another yard sale.... but we have so far to go!

I know, I know, we are going to give it another round now.... I have been talking about yard sales for months and didn't we just have one? Our sale of July 4th was immensely successful. But, we still have a LOT of really nice items as well. So, if anyone continues to have items you would like to get rid of, we will have a sale on Friday July 23rd in Galesburg. We are finalizing our items for our dossier. Our social worker should be mailing our FINALIZED home study tomorrow. Although we have already received one denial for a grant, I am hopeful that the other two grants we are applying for will possibly see fit to offer us some money. Either way, we are committed to completing our adoption. Chad and I enjoyed the beautiful day today by completing yard work. There is something to be said about completing something which takes manual labor; I think it is seeing your hard work come to fruition. We shoveled gravel into our driveway to help even it out. It was hard work! However, after we were done, it looked so much better. The best part was not having to drive around the "potholes" when we pull into our driveway. We then attacked the fence and tested out our new paint sprayer. I hope to complete painting in the next two weeks. Keeping busy helps us not think so much about how difficult it is to wait for things to move along with the adoption. And of course, the girls help with that too! My next post may provide further details regarding when we will travel to Russia! Thanks again to everyone for your support!

One Amazing Day

I can not believe I have been blogging for six months! I have many things to share as today has been full of nice surprises. First off, here is an update of our fundraising efforts. This past weekend we held our yard sale on Cameron Days. We made a little over $800 on Saturday and Sunday. I am so appreciative of our family and friends whom donated items to our cause. We had so many items to price and place onto tables neatly and I think it really paid off. Amanda and Chad Maleug came by Saturday morning and helped set up. Jessica met me early Saturday to get things rolling; her Goodwill experience was a big asset in helping me price unusual items. Jaimey and my mom also came by to help set things up. Jaimey hung out with Chad and I most of the day on the 4th at our sale. Although we sold a LOT of items, we still have many items left. Chad and I decided we would take some of the more desirable items to a friends' house in Galesburg for a yard sale there to see if we can sell more items. Once we do that we will probably donate the items to our different charities locally. We were so tired at the end of the day! We spent the 5th lounging around in the morning and then went to Chad's parents in Little York to swim in the afternoon. Today I returned to work at WIU feeling exhausted. I became reenergized upon receipt of an email from Susan our social worker. She had received an email from DCFS asking her to add additional information to our homestudy. She completed the requested information and faxed it back. Susan felt this was a sure sign our homestudy will be approved by DCFS very soon! I am excited to be able to submit our homestudy with our grant applications. This afternoon we were blessed to receive a wonderful donation from a family. I am overwhelmed with gratitude to this family as they saw our need and felt strongly enough to support our adoption to make such a contribution. I do believe that God is leading us on this journey and it has been difficult for me to not question the direction we are following. Giving it up to God can be such a challenge for a Type A personality! We received a much anticipated phone call this evening as I prepared dinner. Dr. Ladage from Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis called me to provide us with a consultation on the medical records we have received for the boys. I had been nervous to hear her opinion, as I knew it could include negativity about the medical history. Fortunately, Dr. Ladage stated that she did not see any diagnoses that caused her to become alarmed. She gave me specific ideas to use when we visit with the boys to acquire further information for her. When we are visiting the boys in the orphanage she will consult with us again as we will receive their full medical history. Once we return with the boys she can complete a full evaluation of their development as she is an international adoption pediatrician. It is nice to know that we are linked with professionals whom can provide us with support when we are in Russia. We hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Thanks again for all of the prayers and support!

4th of July

We had a wonderful turnout last week on Friday for our "More on 34" yard sale, making a little over $300 in one day. Unfortunately, Chad and I both unexpectedly had to work on Saturday so we were unable to have it on that day too. This week we have been moving items from our garage to the Tin Shed here in Cameron to prepare for this weekend's big yard sale. Back in January when we formally began the adoption process, I had imagined holding a yard sale on Cameron Days because there are so many people here in town. We are really hoping the weather holds out so we can have a lot of people stop by the sale and add to our savings for the adoption. We are continuing in the "Waiting Game". DCFS still has our homestudy at this point. Apparently there is only one person in charge of reading all of the homestudies for families in Illinois. The turn around time has been rumored to be six to eight weeks. I have our grant applications completed but must send a copy of the homestudy with them. Thus, everything is waiting until we receive the approved homestudy from DCFS. Until then, I have been doing a lot of reading and researching on parenting techniques with internationally adopted children. It has been very interesting, and has caused me to consider doing my own research in this area. I have also been attempting to learn some simple Russian phrases to use while we are traveling and also to help communicate with the boys during our visit to the orphanage. Samantha attended church camp where she received the "Positive Attitude Camper" award. While I was picking her up, three different camp counselors approached me to state how helpful and bright Sam was and they enjoyed getting to know her. Someone even said Sam was very responsible in managing her diabetes! Callie missed Samantha quite a bit, but didn't waste any time enjoying being an "only child". Callie enjoys being the center of attention, that is for sure! Samantha celebrated her 11th birthday today; it was a momentous day as she woke up with her first zit on her chin. She asked me to wait until she is sound asleep and then pop it for her! She surmised that since she is such a sound sleeper she wouldn't feel it sting. We are still hoping to travel to Russia in September, but I will not be holding my breath either. Our adoption has been like playing dominoes, one misstep and everything seems to fall apart. You don't lose the game, just have to reset the dominoes and start over. We hope to see some of you at Cameron Days this weekend! This is my favorite time of the year!

Garage sale part deux

Our next yard sale is on June 18th and 19th. If anyone has any items they would like to donate, please let us know. We are hoping there will be a great turnout for the Cameron yard sales that weekend! We have been working hard to complete our dossier. Chad and I have completed online courses regarding international adoption and we have been notarizing several documents for our dossier to send to Russia. We are fortunate that Chad's bank (Midwest in Monmouth) notarizes documents for FREE for customers. We have been in three times already and will probably be in several more before this process is over. Thanks to Connie for all of her help with notarizing! Today I returned to campus to meet with students for our summer clinic. I will be supervising Monday through Thursdays in the mornings. We are thankful I was able to do this to help us continue our saving efforts. I am beginning to get pretty concerned how we are going to financially pull all of this off; the dollar figures I look at seem unattainable. We are praying that the grant applications I completed this week will be successful. I know there are so many other families who apply for the grants as well; I would not want to be on the committee to decide who gets the grant and who does not. Chad and I remain optimistic that we will continue to find ways to make everything come together. The faces of the boys on our refrigerator are extra special incentives to think of extra ways to scrimp and save! OK, so this is where we are at NOW in the process. Susan, our lovely social worker, has completed our home study report and forwarded it to DCFS. They have to approve it then we can send it to the federal government who will then give us the green light to adopt "officially". The homestudy report will also accompany our dossier to Russia. Once our dossier gets to Russia, it will be reviewed for accuracy and then we will be invited to travel to our region in Russia to meet the boys. Anna, our worker at our agency thinks we will travel for our first time in September. Let's pray that the weather stays dry so that Chad can work as much as possible... his overtime pay is AWESOME! The girls had a great Memorial Day weekend since the weather was superb. They were able to swim in Nana and Papa Mike's pool with their cousins and aunts/uncles. The girls truly are blessed to have so many people in their lives who love and care for them. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as well as the two little boys who have yet to know us.

Results of Yard Sale

Yesterday Chad and I FROZE at our garage sale! Thankfully we had a couple of space heaters to make things bearable early in the day on Saturday. We had several people come and make large purchases. Jaimey placed our signs on the interstate, which got several other customers to our house. We completed the two days with a profit over $200 dollars! Thank yous go to Amanda and Chad Maleug, Stefanie Gipson, my family, Laura and Gail Strope, Lynn Ewing, Mandy Fisher and Amanda's best friend. They all donated sale items or helped get ready for the yard sale. As for an update with our adoption, we have crossed several other items off of our list. This week we received our fingerprints from the FBI. Chad completed his physical, and I will complete mine this coming week. This week is Finals at WIU so I hope to focus on completion of our dossier. We hit a small snag in the testing of our water. We hope to solve this problem in the next few days as this will be the final component for our dossier. Before summer school begins in June, I will have our dossier finalized so we may begin the notarization process. Following notarizing our documents, I will fax them to our caseworker at the agency so she may review they are in order. Once they are approved by her I will drive them to Springfield for apostillization. The last piece will be getting our clearance by the US Government certifying we have met the criteria for adoptive parents. This is based upon our homestudy and other documents we submitted. Please continue saving aluminum cans. Also, if anyone has items you would like to donate for our future yard sale, the next one will be on June 18th and 19th. Stay in touch as things should move along more quickly at this point (we hope but in adoption who knows!).

May Yard Sale

We are working hard to get ready for our yard sale next weekend (May 7 and 8). Tomorrow Amanda and Chad (Chad's sister and brother-in-law) and Stefanie (Chad's other sister) are coming over to help us price things and clean out the garage. Many people have donated things for our sale and we are hoping to continue to receive more donations in the next week. We had our last official homestudy visit with our social worker this week and by next Monday we will have everything DONE. The next step is to review our homestudy report with our social worker and then forward all of our documents to our case worker at the adoption agency for review. We must get all of the documents notarized and once our agency approves our documents, I will drive to Springfield for them to be apostilled. Apostillization is a process in which the state government certifies that the notarization is valid. So many steps to the process! We hope to submit our dossier (a fancy name for all the paperwork) to Russia ASAP... of course with a large price tag attached! If you are wondering how you can help, here are some ideas. Either donate or BETTER YET shop at our yard sale! Collect aluminum cans and we will come get them from you! Praying for us is great as well (and may well be what we really could use)! The US delegation met with Russia yesterday and determined it was necessary to convene an "expert panel" to determine ways to protect Russian children following adoption. Adoptions are continuing in Russia as you read this, and we are optimistic we will be able to eventually meet our boys and bring them home. My sister Jessica is now engaged to be married to Matt Cargill. They will have a June 2011 wedding in which I will be the matron of honor while Sam and Callie will be junior bridesmaids/flower girls. My niece Christian will also be in the wedding. Jessica is hopeful the boys will be here by then so that they may be in the wedding as well; they will be the first boys of the Lydic family!

UPDATE

We continue to wait to hear from the Russian government if there will be any changes in the adoption process. Due to the volcanic ash in Europe's airspace, the US delegation was unable to fly to Russia for their meeting last weekend. They are scheduled to meet in Russia on April 29 and 30. Chad and I are feeling more upbeat as adoptions continue to move forward in Russia. It is particularly exciting that one family from our agency received their invitation to travel to Russia in early May. We continue to meet with our wonderful social worker to complete our homestudy process. On Friday Chad and I met with the psychologist to review our results. As we expected, she highly recommended us both as adoptive parents. We also took over 140 pounds of cans to the scrap metal place in Galesburg. We earned $74 dollars; thanks again to everyone for saving their cans! We will continue to do this. I have to admit I am getting a bit overwhelmed by the large amounts of money we are working to save. I cannot imagine traveling somewhere with thousands of dollars strapped to my body! We are holding our first GARAGE SALE on May 7 and 8. Please let us know if you have donations or better yet stop by as you may find something special you have been looking for! I am wrapping things up for the semester at WIU. Chad is expecting to get called back to work any day. Sam and Callie have field trips in the next few weeks and then they will be out of school for the summer.

Adoption Situation in Russia

Hello everyone. I know, it has been a LONG time since my last post. We have been quite busy with our everyday lives as well as completing tasks for our homestudy. We have been very lucky to choose a wonderful social worker whom is completing our homestudy this month. Chad and I have also had our psychological assessments completed at WIU. They were interesting to say the least. Our bowling fundraiser netted over $200. A big thank you to everyone whom attended and assisted in the day. For those of you who may be wondering what exactly is going on with our adoption plans due to the media reports regarding Russian adoption, here is the scoop. At this time (4/16/10 at 1:35) Russia HAS NOT closed to adoptions for Americans. I have cyberfriends whom are currently in Russia completing their adoptions today. However, nothing is certain at this time regarding the continuance of adoptions via Russia. Next week government officials will be meeting to discuss changing current agreements between Russia and the US to protect the children being adopted. Our social worker feels that Russia WILL suspend adoptions in the near future. I spoke with our caseworker at our adoption agency this afternoon to see what the agency's take was on the current state of affairs. She felt that adoptions will proceed without an interruption after the meeting takes place next week with some changes in the current agreement. I asked what will happen IF Russia does suspend or close their adoption program. If this does occur, we will be assisted by the agency in determining another country and moving forward with our adoption there. The worst part of the situation is not knowing, and then thinking about the boys we are hoping to adopt and what may become of them if we are unable to become their parents. We ask for everyone to be thinking of us during this time as we may have to make some very important decisions in coming weeks.

Home study

Today Chad and I had a phone conference with a social worker regarding our home study. LOTS of paperwork is to be completed in the next few weeks. I have to write a list of all the things we need to complete so I don't lose my mind trying to think of everything that needs accomplished. On Sunday we will have our Gipson Family adoption Bowlathon in Galesburg at Northgate Lanes from 2 to 4. This event was to initially be held in February, but the bowling alley unfortunately had a fire. We will earn a portion of every game bowled as well as the shoe rental fees. Chad's mom Jackie is making burrito pie and we will also hold a bake sale so please bring your appetite! Next week I will be on spring break from WIU but think I will stay busy gathering the necessary documents for the home study and CLEANING the house for our home study. Last weekend Chad and I went hunting for scrap metal (thanks to my dad) and loaded up quite a bit of aluminum siding to take in to the recycling center along with our many bags of smashed cans. We hope to see many of you on Sunday!

TACO DINNER RESULTS

I am snowed in again this morning! We have had an intense winter thus far. My birthday was this past weekend, and my dad wrote in my birthday card how the weather was similar this past weekend to the day I was born. I was encouraged to cancel our taco dinner (which was yesterday) due to the weather, but I decided since we already pretty much had the meat ready (a big thank you to Jackie Gipson) to go ahead and hold it. I am glad we did, as we earned a little over $800 dollars. Jan Winbigler won the 50/50 raffle. I would like to thank the following people who helped us in our dinner including my Mom (decorations), Jaimey (cleaning and helping with kids), Jess (decorating and serving food), Dad (50/50), Grandma Argyle (brownies), Grandma Jackie Gipson (made rice AND cooked 20 pounds of taco meat!), Grandpa Mike Gipson (ran back to Little York in a blizzard to get the hard taco shells), Aunt Stef Gipson (donated food items and helped serve food/clean up after), Aunt "Loony"Amanda Maleug (helped with food), Uncle Chad Maleug (entertained our brood), and Samantha for selling raffle tickets. As you can see, this was truly a group effort. We also appreciate all of you for donating cans and money to our efforts. Alan Otten from Cameron put our fundraiser on his sign in his yard. The final THANK YOU goes to Chad. He helped me stay on track and not get too worried about pulling it off; he sensed when I needed a breather and would give me a big hug and held on tight. We learned the downfalls of having fundraisers in the unpredictable winter months of Illinois. As for an update, we are awaiting to hear the dates to schedule our home study. After we complete the home study, we will be able to apply for grants. According to my fundraiser budget, we can just about cover the costs of the adoption itself with our savings/fundraisers, but the cost of travel is the area I am hoping the grants may cover. Many more people apply for grants than are available, so this is by no means a definite for us. Please send positive thoughts and prayers our way so that we may be awarded a few of these grants. I understand many of you wonder when exactly we will travel to Russia to bring the boys home. I wish I could give you a specific date, or even a specific month; we are simply unable to do so for many reasons. The biggest reason is we do not know how long the different steps of the process will take as there are so many different people and government institutions involved. You can believe we complete the paperwork as quickly as possible. At this point we are ahead of the game, and waiting for everyone else to catch up. We do know we will receive a telephone call from our adoption consultant and told to pack our bags and be ready to leave in the next two weeks for our first trip. I believe this could happen in the next three to six months. Please stay tuned as we will be rescheduling our bowling fundraiser to be in March as the bowling alley is opening next week!

TACO DINNER

I am writing this morning quickly before we head out to a full weekend of activities. I am SO HAPPY to be able to share with everyone the news of sending our application fee and necessary paperwork via FedEx yesterday. I don't think I have ever written a check that large before! It was gratifying to know how hard we worked to save the amount in such a short period of time. I had a coversation with the employee at the Fed Ex store yesterday. He sensed the anxiety I was experiencing in entrusting such an important package to him. He then said "hey, you are the woman who is adopting from Russia!" That helped me relax and realize the package will reach its destination. Today Chad and I will be returning to Behr Recycling in Peoria to take more cans. Then we are headed to Sam's Club to purchase supplies for the Taco Dinner next weekend. Unfortunately, County Market in Monmouth was unwilling to donate food to us for our fundraiser. The manager stated we did not meet the store's criteria of qualifying for food donations. He told me that although the store realizes many family's are experiencing hardships they are unable to donate to families. I then stated that this was not because we couldn't afford groceries, this was to help pay to bring two little boys home from an orphanage and give them a forever family. So, we are asking our friends and family to PLEASE attend our Taco Dinner to help support our efforts. It is on Sunday, February 21st from 4 to 7. We will be serving hard/soft shell tacos, spanish rice, drinks, and dessert. If you are unable to attend, we are having a raffle as well. We would love to hear from you if you would like to donate. My email is CheriGipson@live.com. Happy Valentine's Day!

February 2010

This month is a BIG month for us! We are holding our Gipson Family Adoption Fundraiser Kickoff on February 21st. Join us for a taco dinner at the Cameron fire station from 4 to 7! I am preparing to send our initial payment with application soon, which will allow our agency to notify the orphanage we are officially seeking to adopt the boys. This is a very important step, as it will keep the boys together in the baby house until we can complete the adoption and travel to Russia to get them. Besides the fundraiser this month, both the boys are celebrating their birthdays. I wish we were able to celebrate with them, but it is refreshing to think that this year will hopefully be the last they celebrate in the orphanage. Chad and I will celebrate our one year wedding anniversary this month as well as my birthday. I am asking my family to forego buying gifts for my birthday but rather contribute to our adoption fund. Samantha has begun her basketball season. She plays every Saturday morning at the school. Callie continues to attend preschool in Monmouth. She can't wait to ride the big school bus next year with Sam. We continue to collect cans and take them to the recycling center. We hope to take in some scrap metal this month that Dad had lying around. We hope to see you at the Taco Dinner!

Siberian winter weather

Wow! Today's weather reminded me of the weather we may face if we go to Russia during the winter. I hope everyone was safe today. We have determined our Gipson Family Adoption Kick-off to be a TACO DINNER. It will be held on Sunday, February 21st from 4 to 7pm at the Cameron Fire Station. We ask everyone for a free will donation for an all you can eat taco bar. In conjunction we will hold a 50/50 raffle and will be selling raffle tickets until the dinner. Don't worry, if you are unable to make it to the dinner you need not be present to win the raffle. I hope we see everyone there at our Kick-off! People may bring their aluminum cans to the dinner as well. On Monday Chad and I took seven bags of crushed cans to the recycling center in Peoria. We recycled 74 pounds of cans! Thanks again to everyone who donated their cans. Every night when I lay my head on my pillow I think of the boys and wonder if someone kissed them goodnight. It makes me sad to think about them sleeping in a large room with many other children. On the other hand these thoughts keep me striving to bring our little guys home. Stay tuned, I will post more information as it becomes available. Please call or email if you have any questions about the upcoming dinner.

February Fundraiser

We have to cancel our Bowling fundraiser due to the fire at Northgate Bowling alley in Galesburg. I apologize, as some of you have probably already received your flyer. We are currently planning a TACO DINNER to be held at the Cameron fire station for later in February instead. I am hopeful everyone will be able to attend and bring their appetite. Tonight Callie and I crushed cans for almost an hour. Please continue saving them for us and pass it on to others. Today I was talking to a friend at her office and a coworker overheard us discussing my plans to pick up her cans this weekend. The coworker actually had a garbage bag of cans in her car she had planned to take to the recycling center that same day. She happily donated the cans to us instead! As far as an update on the adoption, we have received new pictures of both boys. The agency has presented us with the contract and so I am busy filling out more paperwork. I have a friend that referred to the endless forms as a "paperwork pregnancy". I am beginning to understand why! Samantha has her first basketball game this Saturday. Today was my first day at WIU; I felt more like a student than professor. It is hard to speak to my former professors as a colleague and not a student. I am sure I will get used to things soon. Thanks again to everyone for the wonderful support in our endeavor!

Yet more information!

We are snowed in today. Not a bad thing, except I need to work on Saturday now, which isn't my favorite thing! I was happy to receive an email today from the agency with newer pictures of the older little guy. He had a cute little smile in one of the pictures. I have had my good friend Sue (who is a pediatric PT) look at the pictures and she has shared with me her expertise on the medical issues the little guy faces. We are confident that most of these may be addressed successfully here in the US. At this time the agency continues to attempt to retrieve more information on his younger brother. We have been handing out flyers for our upcoming Bowling fundraiser on February 7th. Please consider attending our event to share in the fun and help us with our cause! I am hoping to speak and meet with our pediatrician soon with the medical information we have received to get her professional opinion. I understand how it is tough for some people to understand why we would be willing to adopt a child with known medical diagnoses. I think for many people it is a fear of the unknown. Of course, we all dream of our children being healthy and "perfect". I guess I look at it that if Sam were to live in another country and be in an orphanage, she would be considered special needs as well. Her diabetes and ADHD would keep potential families from adopting her. I wouldn't have changed my mind during the pregnancy if I knew she would later receive these diagnoses. It is a complicated issue to say for sure. Thank you for everyone's well wishes and prayers!

More information

Today I got to spend the day with Callie as she had tonsillitis. Fortunately, she is feeling pretty well and has not complained much of her throat hurting. I have been working on planning the Kick-off fundraiser that will be held next month. Flyers should be mailed out in the next few days. We are holding a Gipson Family Adoption Fundraiser Kick-off at Northgate Bowling Lanes on Sunday, February 7 at 2:00. Bowling is regular price; the manager has agreed to give us a portion of the profits for those bowling with our group. We will also hold a 50/50 raffle and Bake sale so bring a few extra dollars and your sweet tooth! If you would like to attend, send me an email at CheriGipson@live.com or you may text/call. UPDATE: I received an email from our agency regarding the brothers from Russia. The agency has been working hard to acquire medical information on the boys. If everything works out right, things may move much more quickly than anticipated. This makes me quite nervous as my budget allowed us a year to save! We keep saying it will all work out if it is supposed to; God has a plan. I just wish he'd share it with me! : )

First entry

I have decided to begin our adoption blog on the first day of 2010. I woke up this morning feeling exuberant that we would find our boys this year, if not bring them home by the end of the year. I am writing this blog with the intention of keeping our friends and family members updated on the current status of our adoption journey. I would like to begin by getting everyone up to speed. In October I began to think about adoption. I have a friend who adopted her daughter from Khazakstan a year ago, which made me realize it can happen. I spoke with Chad about the process of adoption. He agreed it was something worth checking out, as we had not had much luck getting pregnant thus far. On Columbus Day I met with a very helpful social worker in Galesburg. She gave me a lot of information to review. It seemed we needed to make the first of many decisions. Do we want to adopt? I have to admit, I felt myself pulled toward adoption, but after talking everything through with Chad we decided to seek medical treatment for infertility. In November and December we both had what seemed several pints of blood taken for fertility testing. I had a couple of medical procedures as well. We found out that although we could possibly conceive via the process of IVF, I would have to receive daily injections of several medications and monthly infusions of medication as well. In December the medical bills began to arrive. Although the insurance company had told us all fertility testing was covered, the bills told another story. One blood draw we had was $3,000! We were upset to say the least. The same day we got the 3K bill, I received an email about a child with cleft palate who needed a family. I called Chad in tears and told him how I felt we were being compelled to adopt. He agreed it was our path to take and so I became obsessed with researching adoption options. I sent requests to multiple adoption agencies for both domestic and international adoption. I spoke with adoption consultants from several agencies. I presented the information to Chad, and we decided international adoption was the path for us. We have determined the agency we will use to pursue our adoption. To be honest, we are still undetermined on the country we will adopt from. The reason for this is that we have shared with our adoption consultant our desire to adopt a boy or possibly brothers. We have also decided we would be willing to adopt a child with special needs. When I state "special needs" that is a very broad term, especially in the adoption arena. Many children are labeled special needs because they have a minor correctible condition. We are awaiting more information on two boys (brothers) from Russia. We found out about them about two weeks ago, but due to the holidays the agency has had difficulty acquiring recent medical reports and updated information. I found out yesterday the adoption worker in Russia is actually having to travel to the orphanage, pull the files on the boys, make copies, and then fax to the agency here in the US. The orphanage is in a somewhat remote region of Russia so it may be quite a journey for the worker. In the meantime, I am working on our adoption budget and the fundraisers we will need to complete to pay for everything. We sent out letters to our close family and friends detailing our first two fundraising ideas which include collecting aluminum cans for recycling and holding a garage sale in July. This past week I spoke with the manager at Northgate Lanes. He agreed to allow us the usage of half of the lanes and will give us a portion of the cost that each person attending our fundraiser will pay for bowling and shoes. We have been fortunate to be so blessed! Sam and Callie are aware of our efforts and each helps in her own way (Sam is helping distribute letters and collecting cans while Callie prays for the "little ones" in the orphanages at bedtime). Please stay tuned for further posts as updates happen. I want to end with a "Thank you" to everyone who has voiced their willingness to collect cans; we really appreciate it! Happy New Year!