What a week it has been.
Friday we received word that we would be able to travel in October to meet our daughter and bring her home. Friday was a day of celebration. The other days of the week were not so full of celebration.
We knew a week ago that we were going to cut it close to be able to travel in October. To be honest, I never even thought it was a possibly. My countdown said "work ready" date and then "meet Shelby" date. Meet Shelby was in November. This seemed like the more realistic date of travel and I couldn't get my hopes up. Then.... we kept being told that October was an option. Our first cut off date passed and we didn't know. October was still in the cards. The next cut off... the same. We repeated this and started to get excited for October!
Wednesday this last week people on our exact path received their travel approval and we didn't. If we didn't receive it by Thursday we would be delayed until November. Let me tell you, Wednesday was a hard day. I was so incredibly happy for these other families but I wanted to travel with them! I wanted our Travel Approval. I doubted, I was angry, I was anything but patient and calm. I was NOT trusting God's plan.
Luckily for me, God doesn't loved me based on my ability to trust and be patient. I have the best support around me that encouraged me and talked me out of my tears. Who prayed for us and Shelby.
Thursday I woke up and was more calm. I was ready to be told we weren't going until November. I "got over" myself and accepted whatever plan was for us. Thursday as soon as our agency opened (11am our time) I received a call that our Travel Approval came through!! We aren't official just yet. We need to schedule our consulate appointment. That can't be done until Friday because of the time difference. So, we anxiously wait another 24 hours. Again, if we didn't get this Friday we wouldn't have been able to travel until November.
Friday morning, as soon as the agency opened, they called and we got the appointment! WAHOO. So we are officially traveling October 11th. Tickets are purchased!
We will meet Shelby the 16th and she will be with us for the remaining part of the trip!
We are thankful for God's plan. We are thankful we get to travel in 10 days! We are also thankful that through our doubting, God still does marvelous things!
HERE WE COME SHELBY!!!
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Which countdown?
The countdown has begun... but which one?
We are currently caught up with paperwork and just waiting for our travel approval to come through. IF and only IF that paperwork comes through in time next week, we will be traveling to meet Shelby in less than 3 weeks.
If the paperwork does not come in this next week, we will not be traveling until November.
How do you countdown to two dates? Its been confusing for sure. We count down to our "be ready to go" date and our "this is the furthest it will wait date". Right now our ready to go date is 20 days and our furthest date is 55 days.
20 days seems like we will never be ready and 55 days seems so far away.
We are nesting.
*Starting to put Shelby's things where they go-- her toothbrush is even ready for her!
*Setting up the nursery-- it is so peaceful and Mara loves to sleep there.
*Creating a packing list
*Gathering our paperwork-- luckily they give us a paperwork packing list
Those are all things on our agenda these next few weeks.
Biggest on our list.... WAIT! There is very little planning that we can actually do until we know when we will be leaving. I. AM. A. PLANNER! God knew this when He called us to adoption. Planning has helped us complete paperwork and fundraisers. It has helped us stay organized in chaos. Being a planner is not helping us now!
But truly right now we are just in chaos. There is anxiously waiting and chaos. We are also filled with butterflies of excitement and nerves that I have never felt before. Over all of those feelings, we are filled with more love for Shelby than we knew was possible. More love for each other than we knew was possible. And so much hope for the future.
We will be updating our Facebook page while we are gone. "Like" us on Facebook at Creating the Campbells. Because of limited wifi use we will not be blogging until we are back. I will be sure to post again to let you know when we leave!
Sunday, June 18, 2017
We are MATCHED!
So much has happened since I last wrote.
Thank you to everyone who bought tickets, grilled chicken, cooked, and helped us hand out chicken at our fundraiser! We are so thankful. With the money raised we reached our next milestone!
Surprise: We are adopting from CHINA!
Remember all of that paperwork that are ran around collecting and getting notarized, certified, and authenticated?!?! We sent it all to China!
Once our paperwork was logged we had a "match" call with our agency. The call was to explain the match process. During that phone call we reviewed our medical check list. Adam and I felt great after this call. We were so happy to finally have our paperwork in the correct county. We put dates in our calendars for 6 months from now. Dates to remind us to renew our paperwork. Dates to remind us to check in with our agency. We were told the matching process would take about 8 months.
Fast forward 7 days...... Michelle got a phone call. WE WERE MATCHED!!!! Shocked and crying, not knowing what to ask or say, Michelle hung up and immediately called Adam. And then we got the email. The file. The picture. The statistics. We saw Shelby Jane for the first time. We were even able to watch a video of Shelby. We fell in love.
Once we received the file, the work began.
We had Shelby's file reviewed by three sets of doctors. Shelby is a 20 month old, beautiful little girl, who is now our daughter. She is a blessing to us already!! Shelby has a genetic blood disorder that requires blood transfusions. Luckily for us, CHOP in Philadelphia has a fantastic clinic that will help us with the best treatment plan for Shelby!
After everyone completed their review of the file we were able to write our Letter of Intent. Our letter of Intent was mailed to China!!!
This means....
*We are waiting for our Letter of Acceptance
*We will travel in October or November to meet Shelby and bring her home with us!
*We will be paying our orphanage fees in July
*We still have to raise/save around $13,000
*Prayers are welcome for us and Shelby Jane!
During our fundraising efforts we were given a $2,500 matching grant! Any money given through the link below will be doubled (up to $2,500). All of this money will go towards our final costs and help us go get Shelby.
https://www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate/
Select: adoption
Be sure to include our family number (6870) and names.
Feel free to share our page or blog. Have questions about this process? Questions about Shelby? Questions about money or financing? Ask!
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
It has been months.... months since I have blogged.
Here are some updates of what is going on around us right now.
We are getting closer. This process seems so long and work intensive sometimes but we are making progress. Each little step is really a big step in the right direction. While we have not completed the next big step of sending our Dossier we are a lot of little steps closer! All of our documents are gathered, all are notarized, all are certified by the state, and as of moments ago they are all being mailed to the consulate to be authenticated.
Having our lives paperwork in someone else's hand is nerve wrecking! We have been blessed with so many people in our lives who love us and often carry us through when we are overwhelmed.
Just today at UPS as I am overnighting everything we have worked so hard for these last 6 months... the lady (who knows us really well at this point) was a breath of fresh air in her comfort to me and care of our documents. And the stranger at UPS that said they would be praying over a safe delivery and quick process for us reminded me again that we are no alone on this journey.
Baby Campbell's village is so big already!
What is next? We wait for our documents to be returned. (Hopefully by the end of next week) Once they are in our hands again we add some other paperwork to it and mail it off to our agency. They will eventually send our Dossier. I am not sure how long they take to process all of the paperwork.
In the meantime.... blessings continue. We have friends and family who are planning and executing fabulous fundraiser for us. I have them listed all below:
Adam and I have been blessed by the Nelson family long before we realized this was the path for our lives. They have continued to support us in every way and have surprised us again with an amazing fundraiser. The Nelsens own the Glass Lounge in Harrisburg PA. They, unknowing to us, had a puzzle made with out announcement picture. For the entire month of April they will be selling puzzle pieces ($2.50 each) so that everyone can literally help us build our family. For each puzzle piece that someone purchases their names will be entered to win a $50.00 glass lounge gift certificate. The puzzle has already been started. I will post updated pictures on our Facebook page as the month continues. If you'd like to help us build our puzzle you can send payment to The Glass Lounge at 4745 North Front Street Harrisburg PA 17110. (be sure to include fundraiser on the memo) You can also call (717)255-9919 to do it over the phone with a credit card. But the best way would be to go eat a delicious meal and put the puzzle piece on yourself!
Michelle's parents and Adam will be doing a yard sale fundraiser on April 29th in Hershey Pa. If would like to rent a take for $20.00 to set up your own yard sale or have any donations for us to sell, please contact us at creatingthecampbells@gmail.com.
Adam is still selling candy bars for another fundraiser. If you have a place of work or social gathering that you think you'd be able to take a box with you, please let us know. We still have about 10 boxes that need homes and candy bars that are ready to be eaten!
Family photos are back!! Marta has so graciously volunteered to do another photo day for us. The photos will be taken at Fort Hunter on May 13th. The cost is $80 per 30 minutes and $150 for an hour session. You will get all pictures on a DVD and have rights to the pictures! 1/2 of the money goes directly to help bring baby campbell home! This is a great opportunity to get "mommy and me" or generation photos done for mothers day gifts! If you'd like to sign up please email creatingthecampbells@gmail.com.
Thank you all for going on this wild ride with us. We can't wait to see what doors open next!
Here are some updates of what is going on around us right now.
We are getting closer. This process seems so long and work intensive sometimes but we are making progress. Each little step is really a big step in the right direction. While we have not completed the next big step of sending our Dossier we are a lot of little steps closer! All of our documents are gathered, all are notarized, all are certified by the state, and as of moments ago they are all being mailed to the consulate to be authenticated.
Having our lives paperwork in someone else's hand is nerve wrecking! We have been blessed with so many people in our lives who love us and often carry us through when we are overwhelmed.
Just today at UPS as I am overnighting everything we have worked so hard for these last 6 months... the lady (who knows us really well at this point) was a breath of fresh air in her comfort to me and care of our documents. And the stranger at UPS that said they would be praying over a safe delivery and quick process for us reminded me again that we are no alone on this journey.
Baby Campbell's village is so big already!
What is next? We wait for our documents to be returned. (Hopefully by the end of next week) Once they are in our hands again we add some other paperwork to it and mail it off to our agency. They will eventually send our Dossier. I am not sure how long they take to process all of the paperwork.
In the meantime.... blessings continue. We have friends and family who are planning and executing fabulous fundraiser for us. I have them listed all below:
Adam and I have been blessed by the Nelson family long before we realized this was the path for our lives. They have continued to support us in every way and have surprised us again with an amazing fundraiser. The Nelsens own the Glass Lounge in Harrisburg PA. They, unknowing to us, had a puzzle made with out announcement picture. For the entire month of April they will be selling puzzle pieces ($2.50 each) so that everyone can literally help us build our family. For each puzzle piece that someone purchases their names will be entered to win a $50.00 glass lounge gift certificate. The puzzle has already been started. I will post updated pictures on our Facebook page as the month continues. If you'd like to help us build our puzzle you can send payment to The Glass Lounge at 4745 North Front Street Harrisburg PA 17110. (be sure to include fundraiser on the memo) You can also call (717)255-9919 to do it over the phone with a credit card. But the best way would be to go eat a delicious meal and put the puzzle piece on yourself!
Michelle's parents and Adam will be doing a yard sale fundraiser on April 29th in Hershey Pa. If would like to rent a take for $20.00 to set up your own yard sale or have any donations for us to sell, please contact us at creatingthecampbells@gmail.com.
Adam is still selling candy bars for another fundraiser. If you have a place of work or social gathering that you think you'd be able to take a box with you, please let us know. We still have about 10 boxes that need homes and candy bars that are ready to be eaten!
Family photos are back!! Marta has so graciously volunteered to do another photo day for us. The photos will be taken at Fort Hunter on May 13th. The cost is $80 per 30 minutes and $150 for an hour session. You will get all pictures on a DVD and have rights to the pictures! 1/2 of the money goes directly to help bring baby campbell home! This is a great opportunity to get "mommy and me" or generation photos done for mothers day gifts! If you'd like to sign up please email creatingthecampbells@gmail.com.
Thank you all for going on this wild ride with us. We can't wait to see what doors open next!
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