Fundraising

Fundraising can be quite daunting

In the past we've never been very successful at it, but God always comes through. That doesn't mean we still don't do all we can in an effort to do our part. So in that vain, below are several ways one can help our family bring these two home. Both of them have neurological diagnosis, so we're doing out best to get them home and to our neurologist ASAP. The paper trail is zooming by, now we need to raise the remaining funds. 
 
  

We now have five fundraising efforts going.

The first is our SHOE DRIVE- for every pound of good, gently used or new shoes we collect, we will receive forty cents. This is contingent upon our collecting 100 bags containing 25 pairs of shoes each.

The second is our T-SHIRT SALE. A portion of the proceeds for every shirt sold will be given to us. It's a t-shirt I designed myself. I often tell my kids they remind me a herding cats. Thus the shirt Chief Kitten Herder! It would make a fabulous Mother's Day present and comes in sizes XS to 3XL, and in five lovely colors. Here's a link to the sale

The third is via our GOFUNDME page which can be found here:https://www.gofundme.com/the-robinson-family-adoption
 
The forth is our REECES RAINBOW FAMILY SPONSORSHIP PAGE. This is a grant which is held in trust until we have completed everything and are ready to travel. You can find it here: https://reecesrainbow.org/129762/sponsorrobinson-7

The fifth is our family page through HAND OF HELP IN ADOPTION which can be found here: http://www.handofhelpinadoption.org/2019/03/robinson3.html

We have set up an account through paypal under which we will deposit all funds for our adoption. This will keep all monies raised and/or donated separate from our everyday operating funds.
We also plan to write for grants, but we're not able to do that until our home study is done. That will happen very soon.
 
Thank you again for helping us bring our little ones home!

Addition

Adding another cutie!

This little love has been on my heart for over three years, and we are finally in a place where we feel we can bring him home too!

He and Katarina are from two different regions of their country, so costs will be a bit higher.  However, it's not the first time we have adopted from two different regions.  In fact, Katarina is from the same region as Leza, Nico and Emily, and this little fellow, whose pseudonym is Dalton, is from the exact same orphanage as Mikhail.  Go figure!  =)

We're looking forward to bringing them both home and watching them grow into the amazing people God created them to be!  The rest of our children are very excited about their new brother and sister as well!  This is gonna be fun!

Here's our updated family page.

God Bless!
Kelley

Adoption Update

I wanted to give y'all an adoption update.

As of today, our home study is as complete as we can get it. Everything required from us is in the hands of the agency and we are just waiting on our final visit, which is May 3. Once that is complete it will go to our facilitation team and then to our primary provider for final approval.

Our dossier encountered a hiccup which will be easily rectified. We should have it complete, sans the home study and USCIS approval within the next week. We will be sending everything we have to Ukraine for translation by the end of next week.

Once we have the final approved home study and USCIS approval, they will be sent to Ukraine for translation and then submission to Ukraine for approval. At that point, we wait for an appointment to come review the children's files and visit them.

It's a very quick program. We hope to be there by summer's end, but we have learned to be patient in the waiting.

Thank you so much for helping us pray this through. 

Your prayers are invaluable!

Cooking with Gas

I love cooking on a gas stove. It's instantly hot, not waiting for things to warm up.  Food gets cooked quicker, more efficient.  Just like our paper chase for this adoption!

Folks, this thing is going a lot faster than I thought it would.  I'm totally flabbergasted that everything for our home study has been turned in, and that we already have 29 documents for our dossier.

In order to finalize our home study, which will then be included in our dossier, we have one more visit with our social worker.  It is scheduled for May 3.  Once that's done and the final draft is written, it will be submitted to Hand of Help in Adoption (our facilitation team) for review and then to Joshua Tree ( our primary provider that provides Hague oversight) for final approval.  That's the next step in this journey, finalizing the home study and getting it approved. 

Although we have already paid an application fee to Joshua Tree, we still need to pay the rest of their fees.  They will not approve the home study until their fee is paid.  Makes sense.  This a layer of accountability established after we finalized our last international adoption and with the layer come additional fees.  As if adoption wasn't already expensive.  I understand their role in this and I get it. 

I'm glad we know Who our provider is! 

Think I'll turn the flames down for tonight and get some sleep.  The real Cook in this never sleeps or slumbers.  He's got the watch. 

How do you eat an Elephant? UPDATE

ONE BITE AT A TIME!

Yes, an international adoption is a HUGE undertaking, and since I am a goal oriented person, I love my check lists.  They give me positive reinforcement and continue to keep me focused on that which has been accomplished and that which remains.  Each entity we deal with has their own check list and to keep up with them, I have to create mine!

In this adoption we are currently dealing with 5 different entities -

1. Hand of Help in Adoption - our facilitation team
2. Option4Adoption - our home study team
3. Joshua Tree - our primary provider that provides Hague oversight
4. Funds2Orgs - a fund raising organization
5. Reece's Rainbow - Adoption Support for children with special needs.

That's a lot of check lists!

Our most recent entity, Reece's Rainbow, and the first one, Hand of Help in Adoption, has been with us through all five of our international adoptions.  We trust them and are thankful to be making this journey with them again. 

Reece's Rainbow is a 501c3 agency that has, through grants, been financially helping adoptive families bring home their adoptive children since 2006.  These grants are created through donations from people like you and are TAX DEDUCTABLE!  Inasmuch, we are creating a Family Sponsorship Page (FSP), grant page, through them so that all donations to our adoption are tax deductible.  Basically, they hold the money until all preliminary costs have been paid - things like the home study, immigration costs and dossier preparation, submission and approval - and we are ready to travel.  If for some reason we are not able to finalize the adoption, the donated funds would remain with the child's grant funds in hopes that someone is able to bring them home.  It's a great way to keep everyone honest don't ya think? =)  I'll let you know as soon as it's active!

UPDATE: OUR REECE'S RAINBOW FSP IS LIVE!

Anyway, as an update, we have completed all the documentation for our home study and are now just waiting for inquiries to return so we can finalize the home study.  Our application to USCIS, immigrations, has been submitted and we have begun compiling our dossier.  How are we eating this elephant?  One bite at a time!

Thanks for coming along!
Kelley
http://www.handofhelpinadoption.org/2019/03/robinson3.html

God's grace and favor are AMAZING

OUR HOME STUDY IS ALMOST COMPLETE!

God's grace and favor are AMAZING!

We have encountered so much favor during our home study process.  The paper work is moving along at an amazing pace, and we are so thankful! 

Now begins the process of creating our dossier and raising the funds to complete this. 

I think I have finally allowed myself to breath and accept that this is really, finally, happening again.