Good News!

FINALLY! We have lots of good news :) Here is a snippet of what we have been up to for the past month :)

On June 15th, our last piece of paperwork was sent to our son's country.  Once the dossier is sent, you have to wait for it to be translated and then submitted. Once the dossier is submitted, you have to get verbal approval and written approval. Then, you get travel dates. At the beginning of July, we were under the impression that our dossier was still being translated, and we were praying for it to be submitted. On July 3rd, we received an e-mail that our dossier was not only submitted, but that we also had verbal approval!! We jumped a whole step forward! The last thing that we needed was to receive the written approval. This step can take a few weeks. However, we got written approval on July 15, only 12 days after verbal. As you can see, things were moving FAST- a lot faster than we expected. On July 20th, we received travel dates for the week of August 23-29th.  Though we had been praying for dates to be almost a month sooner, we have complete peace in God's timeline :) Many people have asked if we get to bring our son home on this trip. Unfortunately, the answer is no. We will wait another 4-6 months after the first trip until we can bring him home. During this time more paperwork is completed and the adoption will be finalized. Thank you everyone for your prayers!!! We are SOOOOO excited to meet our son. I keep dreaming about him every night :)

In preparation for our trip, we have been gathering some toys and books for us to play with and read to our son while we visit him each day.  We are also going to throw him a little belated b-day party (hence the balloons). 

We will also be bringing some clothes in different sizes so that we can get a better idea of where he is size wise. I can't wait to dress the little guy!!

For some MORE good news... We are around the fully funded mark! We met (and exceeded) our goal of $20,000!!! THANK YOU!!! For those of you who are curious, any money that goes over our goal will go towards medical costs or unexpected travel costs, etc. Again, it is very hard to actually give an exact cost for the adoption. But, we know that most of it is pretty much funded! Yippie!!! We honestly cannot thank you enough for all of your generosity, support, prayers, and love. This boy has so many people who love him already :) 

Speaking of our boy... I know I said we would be announcing his name on the next post. However, we actually might announce it when we are in country with him, since that will be very soon!!!            (I know a lot of you already know his name, hah)

***If you would like to follow our journey while we are visiting our son, please find me on Facebook, as we will have a private Facebook group!***

THANK YOU!!!

Saying "YES"

I apologize that it has been a few weeks since our last update :) We were working hard to get the Barn Dance Fundraiser organized. We are truly humbled with the amount of donations, support, and love that our friends, family, and community showed us with for the fundraiser. We had close to 40 different auction items and 30 different raffle items that were ALL donated to help with the fundraiser!! Michael and I cannot thank you enough for all of your help in bringing our son home. 

When we said "YES" to God's call to adopt in February, we literally couldn't have even imagined how God was going to open the floodgates of provision and support. Our hearts are overwhelmed as we watch God's plan unfold. Daily we talk about how saying "YES" to something so unknown and unplanned is the absolute BEST thing we have ever done. We have seen God provide in ways we couldn't imagine and we have been connected with so many amazing people. Our marriage is stronger, our faith is stronger, and we pray bolder prayers than we ever have before. Our passion for adoption and the fatherless has grown tenfold. Overall, this adoption has been a crazy awesome lesson in trusting and surrendering to God's call to our lives. HIS plan is more amazing than anything we could ever dream for our family.  Michael and I spent some time during our anniversary dinner last week discussing our lives and the direction we are headed. Both of us are filled with so much joy as we want to continue saying "YES" to whatever God calls us to. We want to raise our children to remember that God's plan may not always seem "safe" but it is SO good. 

What is God calling you to say "YES" to? What is holding you back? GO! Say "YES"! Your life will forever be changed and your faith will increase more than you can imagine! 

Whew, can you tell I am passionate about this!? Anyways, thank you again for the overwhelming support and love. God is using each and every one of you in mighty ways. For those of you who would like some updates, here is where we are in the process:

On Monday our i800a approval (basically the US saying we have pre-approval to adopt from another country) was sent to the adoption country where all of our other dossier paperwork is waiting. Our dossier must be translated and then submitted. Upon submission, we wait for a verbal and written approval, which will then allow us to get travel dates for trip one. Will you partner with us in praying that we can travel at the end of July/beginning of August?  On paper, this doesn't really seem possible.  However, throughout this whole process, God has shown us that he is in the business of making the impossible, possible. There are a few reasons why we would love to travel at this time: 
1. It would fall near his birthday (and who doesn't want to celebrate their son's birthday with them?!)
2. It would be ALOT easier for our jobs
3. Uhhh we want to meet him!!! haha

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT, GENEROSITY, ENCOURAGEMENT, LOVE, TIME, EFFORT, & PRAYERS!!! YOU ARE BRINGING AN ORPHAN HOME!!! 

Stay tuned....we will be announcing his new name on the next blog post! 

June 13th Barn Dance and Silent Auction Fundraising Event

We would  LOVE to have you join us at our huge fundraising event!!! Please come for a night of fun!

The evening will include dancing, food, drinks, raffles, silent & live auctions! ALL proceeds will go towards bringing our son home! 

WHEN: June 13th 6pm-10pm

WHERE: 17313 Cherry Tree Road, Noblesville, IN 46062

COST: $10 per adult & $5 per child

QUESTIONS? E-mail mmperry611@gmail.

Auction Items: 

7days/7nights stay at Mylin Villa in Estero, FL

Professional Photo Shoot by Tricia Forman Photography

Bob & Tom Experience

Golf Round for 2 at Prairie View

Boutique Outfit from Pretty Cute Things

1hr Massage from Tracy Rupp

1hr Massage from Shrout Chiropractic

4 Sets of 5-STAR Dance lesson packages

1 Week of Private Swim Lessons at Mylin Swim School

Essential Oil & Diffuser

Golf Analysis by Golf Tech

Hair Salon Basket with product and service

Month of Yoga

Mary Kay Basket

Week of Horse Back Riding Lessons

5 Archery Lessons

AH Collection Girls Night Out

1hr Evening Cruise with wine/cheese for 4 people on Eagle Creek Reservoir

 Signed Picture of Jeff Saturday

Ningxia Red Chrome Collection Kit 

Jewelry

2 Pairs of Designer Sunglasses

Kate Spade Purse

***MORE ITEMS TO COME

Raffle Items:

$25 Biaggi's Gift Card

1 Dozen Cake Pops

$20 Delaney's Gift Card

Butler's Nursery Hanging Basket

2 $25 Whole Foods Gift Gards

2 $25 McKenzie River Pizza Gift Card

Homemade Pies & Cheesecake

2 Car Wash King Booklets
$50 Beauty Brands Gift Card
$50 Noah's Animal Hospital Gift Card
Pink Children's Suit Case
Blue Children's Suit Case
Hand-drawn portrait from Jane Zeronik
Signed Picture of Jeff Saturday

***MORE ITEMS TO COME

Making Progress!

Here are some updates for everyone!!!

1. The Garage Sale was a HUGE success! We were able to raise almost $1,400 towards the cost of our adoption. Thank you to everyone who donated items & tables, sorted items, and shopped! We still have an entire garage full of stuff, so we plan on having another sale this summer :) For a few days we felt like hoarders! It was amazing how much stuff was donated to help us out!

Michael & my dad organizing the garage (the entire driveway was covered with stuff)

Our garage was packed full. We also filled our neighbors garage with stuff, too!

My mom helped sort clothes

This is basically what our whole house looked like!

Boone just laid in the piles of stuff (I'm sorry, we really love our cat...)

These are our church friends, Laura & her hubby Jason. They bought an entire car full of stuff!!

I am kicking myself that I didn't take more pictures of everyone who was involved in the process. For everyone who helped out & came to the sale, THANK YOU!

2. Shelley, the AMAZING go to person from our adoption agency, contacted me last weekend and let me know that all of our apostilled documents made their way safely to her. She sent everything in to our adoption country to be translated.

3. Our USCIS application was received. We are waiting on Biometrics dates (fingerprints) and then it should be a few weeks (maybe more) until we get the pre-immigration approval. Once we get the approval, we will send it in and our entire Dossier will be submitted. Then....we wait.

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MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!

We are having a HUGE Barn Dance/Silent Auction for our adoption fundraising. The raffle prizes and silent auction items are AWESOME. Come on out for a night of fun! 

WHEN: June 13 6pm - 10pm

COST: $10 per adult and $3 per child

WHERE: 17313 Cherry Tree Road, Noblesville, IN 46062

NEED MORE INFO?: E-mail me at mmperry611@gmail.com 

*Find me on Facebook and I can add you to the event. We have more details posted.*

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PRAYER REQUESTS:

1. Please continue to pray for a quick timeline for our adoption. We would LOVE to be able to travel on trip one at the end of July/beginning of August. We recognize that this may not look possible on paper, but God is capable of anything :) We trust his timing. 

2. Please continue to pray for our fundraising! 

3. Most of all, please pray for our son-  may he be held, loved, nurtured, and comforted. May he know deep down that his mommy, daddy, family, friends, and even strangers are fighting hard to bring him home. 

4. Pray for the many many children who do not have forever homes yet. Pray that families will feel led to adopt!!

God continues to amaze us with his provision and the people he is bringing in our path. We met some amazing neighbors during our garage sale. Many of them had personal stories of adoption and were quick to donate to the cause. We are truly humbled by the generosity of our friends, family, and even complete strangers. All glory goes to God! We pray that our adoption story can bring people to know God personally. Some may think this is a crazy journey- but we wouldn't want it any other way. It has been amazing how God has shown us that if we just say "YES" to his call, he will guide our every step. Our trust and faith have grown exponentially throughout these past three months. 

God Moves & So Does our Paperwork :)

As I write this today, my heart is just smiling at how God really is involved in even the smallest details of our lives. Here are a few ways that he has been answering some of our specific prayers over the past few weeks:

1. Michael and I are having a HUGE garage sale during our neighborhood community garage sale in Cherry Tree Meadows (off of 171st & Cherry Tree Road) on May 15-16 (8:00am-? both days). We have been asking people for item donations, as all of the proceeds will go towards our adoption. We've been blown away by the generosity of our friends, family, and co-workers. Last week, my friend prompted me to post our garage sale and donation request on our work advertising page. The day I posted the donation request I received the following e-mail:

"My family and I have been collecting garage sale items in our house throughout this year.  Our neighborhood garage sale is this weekend, however, due to sports schedules we will be unable to participate.

I've been praying for an opportunity to use these items toward a good use, as I did not believe I should take them to goodwill.  Only 2 days of praying, your opportunity has been offered :)"

Isn't that so cool?! I love how the Lord works! We have been so humbled that people we don't even know are willing to donate their items towards our garage sale. Thank you so much! As of now, our garage is COMPLETELY packed full with furniture and garage sale items. We have started to fill up our friend's garage, too. Thankfully she lives in the same neighborhood! Please come out and shop!!! We will have the updated pictures of our little guy at the sale, so you can also see what he looks like now! (Sorry, we can't post these on the internet)

2. A few weeks ago our fundraising was going a bit slow. We had some bigger costs coming up with the USCIS application and started praying that God would provide us with a donation every day for at least the next week. Our fundraising started to take off the day we began praying for more donations. We did in fact receive donations every day for that week. Thank you for donating! We are almost 1/4 of the way towards our goal!

3. We were praying and asking others to pray for my passport to come in, as we needed it for our USCIS application and dossier paperwork. My passport came in three days before we were given the notarized copies of our home study. PERFECT timing! We were able to send in our USCIS application on Tuesday of last week and our Dossier paperwork the following day. I love how God is moving and reminding us that HE is in control. HE gets all of the glory for this adoption. HE will provide, even with the smallest need. He just wants us to ask and to come to him with every little detail of our lives. Sometimes he may not answer how we want him to, however, he promises that if we draw near to Him, then he will draw near to us. We are totally in awe of how he has been moving in our lives with this adoption :)

Thank you again for all of your support, encouragement, prayers, and donations. We could not do all of this without YOU! I will be posting pictures of some of the items for our garage sale soon if possible! Please come out and shop!!

SILENT AUCTION & BARN DANCE JUNE 13th

HUGE FUNDRAISING EVENT!!!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR JUNE 13th 6pm-10pm. 

$10 Per person

Barn Dance with FOOD, a SILENT AUCTION, and RAFFLES!!!  

More information to come SOON! 

Maggie's Passport is Finally HERE!

Thank you to everyone who was praying for my passport to come!! It finally arrived in the mail today :) Can you tell that I am a little excited?!

For those of you wondering why we needed my passport to get here, I have to send in a copy of my passport with all of our Dossier paperwork. 

Here are the next steps we will be taking in the adoption process:

1. We will send in Dossier documents to be apostilled (higher form of notarized) hopefully on Monday or Tuesday of next week. We are waiting to get the notarized copies of our home study. 

2. Once everything is apostilled, it will be sent away to get translated!

3. When we get our notarized home study next week, we will also submit our USCIS application to get immigration approval for our little guy (can take up to 90 days). The USCIS approval is the last document needed for the Dossier. 

4. After all Dossier documents are in country and translated, they will be submitted for approval. This can take a chunk of time.

5. Once we are approved, we will be given travel dates for trip one. 

Overall, we are definitely looking at a few months before we will get to travel on trip one. Again, we are praying that everything can go quickly, as we would love to be able to travel at the end of July/beginning of August to be able to celebrate our son's birthday with him. Will you pray that this could be a reality? Though it seems like that could be somewhat of a stretch to travel so soon, we are praying and asking for others to join us in prayer for that specific travel date window. We understand that nothing can be predicted or expected with adoption, so we are not getting our hopes up for any specific travel dates. However, we will still continue to pray :) 

Thank you to all of you for your support and generosity with helping us bring "Royce" home. We are hoping to hit the $5,000 mark soon with fundraising! That will help us to be 1/4 of the way towards reaching our goal! In terms of some fundraising events that are coming up:

1. HUGE garage sale on May 15&16 at our home in Noblesville. We are taking item donations for things to be sold in the sale. All proceeds will go directly towards the adoption. Please e-mail me at mmperry611@gmail.com if you have any items you would like to donate. 

2. Barn Dance/Silent Auction June 13. Stay tuned for this fun event. There are going to be some AMAZING items in the silent auction!

3. Our T-shirt sale is still going on until we sell all of the shirts. We need to sell about 50 more t-shirts in order to hit our goal of 75 shirts sold. If we sell 75 shirts, ALL of the money will go towards our adoption, and we do not have to pay for the cost of the shirts. WOW! That's $1,500 directly towards the adoption! Will you consider buying a t-shirt? They are super soft :) If you are interested, check this blog post about how you can get one! 

Thank you again! We love all of you and can't wait to bring our son home to such an amazing community of people. We couldn't do this without you!