Whirlwind trip and Amazing babies!

Hi all, we are back from our whirlwind trip to Eastern Europe and met our two babies!  Oh wow, they are amazing, funny, adorable and we are so excited to make them a part of our family. We will return to their country in early Nov for court and then again in early Dec to bring them home.

In the meantime we are still about $12,000 short of that which we need to raise in order to be fully funded.  While we were there, a precious friend of mine and the ministry she and her husband founded, The Shepherd's Crook, decided to come along side of us and began fund raising on our behalf.  In less than a week, over $8,000 was donated to the children's account!  We were overwhelmed with God's goodness and everyone with us that night was in tears. 

We had the blessing of being with another couple who could have been nothing less than a God ordained appointment.  Their lifestyle, beliefs and plans for the future are very much like ours.  It was wonderful to spend time with them and talk about the mighty hand of God and the amazing journeys we call life!

The children are in two different regions/orphanages about 6 hours apart and we could only pick up one referral at a time.  We when to Katie's orphanage first, visited her, heard all about her medical needs and how she is delayed.  (She is, but mostly because of her being in an orphanage.  She'll catch up quickly once home.)  She's about the right size for a one year old which is good. Now we just need to get her some cute little girly clothes!

We then went back to the countries capital, picked up Dalton's referral, who we are going to name Hunter, and then took the over night train to his regions.  Nine sweaty hours later with very little sleep we arrived, went to our hotel to freshen up and then off to the social workers office and then to the orphanage.  We heard all about his medical needs, visited with him and then ran around doing his paperwork.  His needs are nothing that we hadn't already figured out from pictures we had received.  He's doing well though.  Wears about a size 2T.  We'll have to buy a few things for him, but with lots of good food and lovin' he should be in the size 3t things we've been saving for him.  After filing for a court date and doing some more paper running around, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. A short night's rest later we were up very early and back on the train to the capital.  One last night there and then we flew home.

It was one fast, exhausting but productive trip!  The food was great, the team was exception, the kids are beyond words and our God reigns! I'm glad we're home with our little ones here, but we sure miss our little ones there. Soon, soon we will all be together.

Here are a couple picture from our first meetings. 

 

They are amazing and we are very blessed!

TRAVEL DATES!

We received travel dates this past Tuesday.  We are to be in country on the 30th for our appointment which means we leave Saturday morning.  It's not much time to prepare, but thankfully this isn't our first adoption and we know how to prepare.

Once we have our appointment, we will board a train for Katarina's region.  We will meet her, accept her referral, visit with her and then head back to the capital.  At that point we will receive Dalton's referral and then travel to his region, meet him, accept his referral, visit with him, head back to the capital and then fly home.

After the "meet and greet", there is a committee which must review our children's file to insure that our home study and our children's files agree i.e. the ages, gender and special needs for which we are approved.  This process can take about 30 days.  Once we receive their approval a court date will be scheduled and I will return to go to court and spend some time with the kids.  Usually there is a 30 day waiting period after court; HOWEVER, that 30 days can be waived for medical reasons.  We are hoping that will be the case.  If so, I will stay until I can bring them home.  If not waived, I will come home again and wait for the 30 day period then return to bring them home.

We've not talked much about our children's special needs because we are a family which emphasizes our capabilities rather than disabilities.  But it's true that they both have significant needs and we're praying that we can get them home ASAP.  We've already spoken with our specialists and they are aware and ready to begin treatments in whatever manner that presents.

Pray for us while we are away.  Pray for those who have come along side us and are supporting us with their time and efforts.  It's been wonderful to once again see the Hand of God work miracles on our behalf.  And please pray for the financial support we need.  Adoption is very expensive.  You'd be gobsmacked if you know how much we had spent on adoption in the past 9 years.  Really though, it's not our money any more than they are our kids!  It's His money and these are His precious babies.  He entrusts us with both to do His good pleasure.  We just get to come along for the ride!

Christmas in August UPDATED!

By now you know that we have completed our paperwork, are waiting on submission in Ukraine and an invitation to travel.  In the meantime we are doing our best to amass the funds needed to complete our first trip which should be within the next few weeks.

Inasmuch we are holding some sales which will also allow you, our wonderful journey mates, to start your Christmas shopping.  We have two sales going on right now.  They are Norwex and Loving Cup Tea and now COFFEE!!

I'm a coffee lover so I'm so excited to add that we have a fund raiser for coffee with 100%, yes that 100% of the purchase price going toward our matching grant!  You can find the sale HERE

Norwex is committed to providing educational resources and supporting charitable projects that address growing concerns about harmful chemicals, plastic pollution and environmental issues. Their environmentally friendly products are microfiber cleaning, household, personal care, pet and auto products. You can find a link to the sale HERE, and 35% of each sale goes toward our adoption.  We all use these products in some form on a daily basis.  Stocking up on them through our party allows you to replenish that which you need and support our adoption.  Now if you are a tea lover, like me, you'll enjoy stocking up on this next sale.  

Loving Cup Tea sells loose leaf tea that is created from the highest quality leaves, ingredients and natural flavorings. As a mother I know what it's like to be pulled in all directions and everything seems to need your immediate attention.  I know what it's like to need just a few minutes of time to regroup one's thoughts and refresh one's soul.  Tea does that for me.  If you don't find tea soothing as I do, perhaps your loved one does.  This would make a lovely gift during the holidays for yourself or someone else.  You can find a link to this sale HERE and 30% of each sale will go toward our adoption. 

Thank you once again for supporting us during this journey to bring home our little ones.  Your prayers and financial support are invaluable.  We could not do this without you.

With love,
Kelley

Update

UPDATE

For those of you that don't already know, Dalton's family is finally able to go get him!  We've been praying for, donating to, and advocating for him for 3 years now.  We always knew God laid him on our hearts for some reason.  Now we can share that story with him someday.  Inasmuch, and because this is not our first rodeo, we've made short work of the paperwork. 

All our home study (HS) paperwork and social worker visits are complete and our home study only waits to be written in a final draft and approved by our facilitation team and primary provider. 

All of our dossier docs, sans the HS ad I171h (USCIS approval which is contingent on receipt of our final HS) are completed, apostilled and headed to the next traveling family to be handed to the team in U.  So, now we get down to some serious fund raising.
 
Right now we have a t-shirt fund raiser created especially for those of us who sometimes feel like we're herding cats.  You can find it here.
 
We also have a shoe drive.  If you're so inclined, you can always mail your good used, or new shoes to us. 
 
And of course, we have our family sponsorship page!

Once we have the final HS in hand, we can apply for grants from other foundations.

To date, in less than 2 months, we have spent approx. $10k and are allotting close to $800 a month from our family budget, but we still need help.  If you're able, can you please help by contributing, sharing and praying.  We really appreciate it. 

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

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. 



Financial Transparency and Update

First Meeting 

Financial Transparency

Because so many of you are contributing to this adoption, I wanted to be as transparent as I can be with our expenses.

Spent so far

Kisses 

To date we have spent $7335 toward this adoption and still need to raise approximately $32,000. (details below) Part of that was costs for the first trip/Match Trip, which cost a total of $3435.  This included the airline ticket, visa, immunizations, lodging, in-country travel and food. Thank you to all those that contributed! My trip was amazing and the children are absolutely precious!

What's needed
We currently have an invoice from the agency for $12,900 which includes the Step One and Step Two payments and half of the Additional Child/Sibling Cost.  Of that $12,900 we have paid $1000.  The remainder needs to be paid as soon as possible.  To raise this money we will continue our fund raisers and grant applications.  Donations are always accepted and appreciated. 

Beach day

Next Steps
Our next steps will include filing the I600a with USCIS which gives us the approval to adopt internationally.  That cost will be $815.   And, we will begin building our dossier.  

Update

 

As you can see from the pictures above, the children are very sad about my having to leave, so was I. Hunter cried every time I put him down and in these pictures, which I received yesterday, you can see the big crocodile tears running down his cheeks.  It's hard to see.  I miss them so much it makes my heart ache.  I pray for their peace and joy throughout this process and that mountains are MOVED! on their behalf to bring them home ASAP! 

Thank you again for helping pray them home, for encouraging us and contributing to this amazing journey!

With Many Blessing!

Kelley

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!

WE HAVE AN EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!

For those of you who followed our last two international adoption journeys, you're familiar with Reeces Rainbow (RR). For those of you who are just starting out on this journey, let me tell you that we are excited to once again have a family sponsorship page (FSP) through this not for profit ministry for children with special needs! When we first were matched with Clara and Hunter, we did not know that Hunter had special needs and therefore had not set up a RR account. Now that we know more about his needs, WE HAVE AN FSP, and it just went live today!

All proceeds donated to our adoption grant through RR are tax deductible and go towards the children's adoption costs. If donations are made via paypal, paypal charges a 3% fee. You can make donations via the button on the side bar or the link below:

Family Sponsorship Page

If donations are made by check, 100% of the donation comes to us. Checks should be made payable to and mailed to:

Reece’s Rainbow

PO Box 277 

Monrovia, MD 21770

Where we are on this journey

Our home study is final, and plane tickets have been bought.  I leave for Africa October 5th for our 1st of three trips.

Financial Transparency

For transparency sake, I'm going to list the costs below with those which have been paid in green.

Fee Schedule (for one child)

• Application Fee $350
• Step One Payment $5,025
• Step Two Payment $5,375
• Step Three Payment $5,375
• Step Four Payment $5,375
• Additional Child – Sibling Cost (full biological sibling) $5,000 

Additional Expenses (These are not covered in the Program Country Fees, and should be considered)

• Home Study - $650
• I‐600a Filing $720 + $85 per adult 
• Child Sponsorship $100 a month per child (on going costs until we bring the children home)
• Airline Tickets $1,400 ‐ $2,500 per ticket (1st trip purchased at $1400)
• In Country Travel Costs $165 a day
• Visa and Passport costs Est. $250 per adult 
• Visa and passport costs for children (not yet sure of $$)
• Medical exam for children
• Post Placement Reports - $900

All told that's approximately $43,000 to bring the children home.  Adoption is expensive and on top of the costs, there are mounds of paper work, months of waiting, many hours behind the scenes making arrangements and much time spent on ones knees in prayer.  Adoption definitely is NOT for cowards!  

Thanks for helping us rescue these precious children and make them a part of our family!

Many Blessings,

Kelley

We Could Buy A Pool!

The other day, I was sitting in the back yard watching our eight kiddos splash and play in the two small pools we bought from our local Fred's.  The kids were having such a blast with the four girls in one pool sitting so sweetly together and the four boys in the other pool acting like they seriously needed to splash all of the water out before they were through!  

I thought to myself "Wouldn't it be great to install an in ground pool, so they could really splash and play!"  And as I sat there a few minutes longer it crossed my mind that 1. they would all need swimming lessons so that my nerves would not be shattered every time we got in the thing, and 2. that it would cost us about $25,000 to have one built with all that we would need to accommodate their special needs.  It would take us maybe a year if we were really frugal.  Yea, we could build a pool.  But then it hit me - 

That $25,000 could save the lives of two kids!

As I continued to think on that, I again realized just how much of a good time our current 8 were having.  Would they love a pool?  Sure they would.  Would they rather have another brother and sister?  Absolutely!  So could we scrimp and save and hold yard sales to buy a pool?  Yep! 

But this year I think we'll  just take swimming lessons at the Y and save two more lives instead!  

We would love it if you came along on our journey or became a part of it by contributing to our adoption fund.  The donation button is on the right of this blog, or you can click here. It will convert many currencies for those of you who do not live in the USA.  

Thank you again for your support, love and prayers!

With love,
The Robinsons

  

Matching Grant

We have been blessed by Grafted Branch with a matching grant of $500.  This grant is to help pay our travel costs. 

We are traveling very, very soon.

 

 

Please wont you help us adopt three precious children by donating and sharing this opportunity?

 

Every dollar you donate will be doubled and is tax deductible.

 

 

THANK YOU!

 

Jode, Kelley and babies

 

 http://www.graftedbranch.org/2013/11/07/heres-to-you-robinson-family/

 

 

 



Fully Funded Indeed

I've debated whether or not to make this post. I've wrestled with whether God was through with this part of our adoption journey or was I just not trying hard enough. It's not how I had hoped it would be. Not how I had planned, but like they say, if you want to make God laugh . . .

 So as I was tallying the funds we have, how much we have spent, how much we still need, I realized that the total of our reserves will cover that which we need once we get travel dates. It's not pretty, and it's not like I wanted it to happen, but nevertheless, we have it and that's great!

 You see I had hoped it would come in big lump sums from wonderful ministries which offer grants to families who are adopting, but instead ours is coming from this family member (thank you very much) and that family member (thank you too!) and a few friends who have been precious, even in the midst of their own fund raising, to contribute to our family sponsorship page, and then there is this credit card with zero interest and that credit card with interest and this line of credit and this zero percent loan and a huge chunk, over 20k, came from selling a few things and just down right scrimping and saving as much as we could. So, although it's not how I originally thought it would happen, it's happened and we want to give God a huge THANK YOU and thank you to all our friends and family who have helped us as well. Of course, if you still want to contribute, we won't turn it down. It would mean less we put on our credit cards! =)

By the time we bring our babies home, we will have spent over 40k in adoption expenses. I know that sounds like a lot, but let me ask you this - what is the life of just one child worth? We will be bringing home three! I'd say that's priceless!

 

 

On another note, we are now number 7 in line for travel. We figure it will be around the second week of November. I'm not quite sure I'm ready for extreme cold but somehow I have a feeling it's just not going to matter!

 Many blessings.

Kel

10!



As of today we are number 10 on the list of families waiting on a court date in our childrens' country.  When I realized that, and that we would be traveling very soon, I almost hyperventilated.  Not that I'm not thrilled, mind you, it's just been a long time coming.  We started this journey last year when we committed to a precious little one in Latin America, but that was not meant to be.  Through several twists and turns we finally arrived at the door step (picture) of our sweet Caius and then Hattie.  Now we have even one more precious little one (+1 on RR) to add to our family and we couldn't be more thrilled and nervous.  Honestly, we'd be dopes if we weren't nervous.  God doesn't usually call us to do something unless it takes Him along side us to do it.  Shoot, even Moses was a bit nervous when God first told him he was about to get a bunch of kids! =)

Pray for us, please.

Thanks,
Kelley

HeBrews Coffee Fundraising

It's hard to find a fundraising effort that fits into our lifestyle and busy schedule.  But here it is! 

HeBrews Coffee

 

 

Jode and I LOVE coffee and wouldn't start our busy days without it.  When we heard of this opportunity, to sell coffee and raise funds for our adoptions, we knew it was the prefect fit.  A portion of your purchase will go to help bring Caius, Hattie and our "plus 1" child home. 

 

Now you can purchase YOUR much loved coffee and help us bring home our babies. 

 

Just click on the HeBrews Coffee link here or above and order away.  Remember, coffee makes a wonderful Christmas present for your coffee loving friends and family!  Buy a cute mug, a bag (or three) of coffee, wrap it in cello and add a cute bow. POW - easy peasy Christmas presents and you get to help rescue orphans too!

 

Thank you for loving our children home!

Jode and Kelley