Week of progress and surprises!

This week was one of progress! We feel accomplished and motivated.

This week we had our first fundraiser. Laura, a great friend of mine, held a younique fundraiser for us. Thank you to everyone who purchased and made the fundraiser a success.

We also had an anonymous donation on our GoFundMe page this week. This was a first for us! Thank you to everyone who continues to share our page and donate to baby Campbell.  https://www.gofundme.com/qzvexyks

Our prayers have been answered and we found a physiologist that will do our evaluation for us under Adam’s insurance. We are scheduled to go April 27^th!   Please pray that this appointment goes well!

This week Adam finished his blood work and we are waiting for the results to officially have the medical report signed! He also completed the financial statement that we need to mail in.

We started our adoption trainings online. We honestly were a little put back by the types of trainings that need to happen. We know that these trainings are in place because bad things have happened. There are bad people that use any system for their own benefit. We just don’t process life that way. Our hearts are good… they are full of so much love. We are saddened to read some of the trainings because they seem like common sense or things that just wouldn’t happen. The truth is, there wouldn’t be trainings without a reason. We also had a training on having a biracial family, or as the called it a conspicuous family (one that stands out). We have been and will continue to pray for the community around us to embrace our child into their lives without degrading their heritage or negating their culture and beginning.  We are looking forward to the day that we are accepted by a county and can begin our research into the cultural norms, language, parenting, etc and hopefully continue some of those traditions with our new baby! We don’t want to adopt a baby and make them conform to our culture. We are really looking forward to celebrating both!

On our list for this week is to draw a map of our home and write up directions. We also are going to complete ALL of the adoption trainings by Sunday!

Our next fundraiser will be May 21^st. Our church does an annual FunFest which is a free family day with lots of events and food. We will be doing a bake sale during the FunFest. I invite you and your family to join is from 10am-1pm at 1215  Fishburn Rd. Hershey. Stop by and say hello! If you would like to help bake a treat to sell please contact my mom, Jane Kratz, at janek4pink@comcast.net or let me know!

When we got home last night we found a very generous donation that was sent to us by two people we dearly. This put us ½ way to our goal for the home study. Adam and I stood in the middle of the kitchen speechless at how much love you share with us. Thank you just doesn’t seem to be enough.

Where are we?

The question we get asked so often is "Where are we?" Everything that we are doing is behind the scenes right now.

First, we are fundraising! This will be an on going process. We have been blessed so far with amazing friends who opened a GoFund Me account for us.

https://www.gofundme.com/qzvexyks

We feel so blessed each time we get a notification that a donation has been added to our account. We are blown away by donations given on the GoFund Me account and handed to us in person. We can not begin to thank each of you enough!


I mentioned, last week, my fabulous friend Laura is doing an online Younique fundraiser for us. Laura is so graciously donating ALL of her proceeds to us! The party will end on Saturday. If you are interested, I have provided the link below! Feel free to share the link with any of your friends or family.

https://www.youniqueproducts.com/LauraGuenther/party/3894592/view

Upcoming fundraiser: My mom and I will be organizing a bake sale for the FunFest at our church in May. More dates to follow!

Second, we are checking things off of our home study list. Our current progress is listed below!

Adam FBI Clearance (waiting for return, finger prints are taken)
Adam Child Abuse Clearance 
Adam PA Clearance 
Michelle FBI Clearance  (waiting for return, finger prints are taken)
Michelle Child Abuse Clearance 
Michelle PA Clearance 
Michelle FL Clearance 
Adam and Michelle Phycological Evaluation (continuing our search to find someone to do this... its proved harder than expected! Please pray we are able to find someone with knowledge on how to do this paperwork and accepts our insurance!)
Adoption Trainings (Starting THIS week!)
Draw a Map of the home and provide directions
Copy of Adam's Birth Certificate
Copy of Michelle's Birth Certificate 
Copy of Marriage License 
Adam Personal Data Form 
Michelle Personal Data Form 
Financial Statement
Adam Medical Report (Going Thursday!)
Michelle Medical Report 
Adam Blood Work (Thursday)
Michelle Blood Work 
Adam TB Test 
Michelle TB Test 
Adam Employment Verification 
Michelle Employment Verification 
Duty of Disclosure Form 
Adam Residence From 
Michelle Residence Form 
Direct Service Fee Form 
Household Compensation Form 
Corporal Punishment Form 
Medical Conditions Checklist 

PHEW! As you can see we are working diligently to complete the paperwork needed to turn in to our social worker. Once everything is turned in we need to pay for our home study. Many of the things on this list have already costs money (hundreds of dollars). Everything needs to be notarized also! The fundraising will help pay for our home study.


Please, continue to ask any questions you may have. We might not always have the time to answer it right them but we will absolutely answer it! We want this process to be explained for all people, not so that you know all that we are doing necessarily but, that people understand the process. We also want people surrounding us know that it may seem like we are just waiting right now, but we aren't... not yet. We have heard this is a hurry up and wait process. We are still in the hurry up part of our home study. When everything is turned in, we wait for the home study to be scheduled!

Until then... let the hurrying up and fundraising continue!

Blessings through Beauty

Thank you! Thank you everyone who has helped us already! We are early in this process and are so blessed by you. Last week I announced our GOFUND ME Account that our friends Karyn and Jessica set up for us. I have listed the link below. At the same time we complete our paperwork towards our home study we also are trying to raise money to pay it. The cost is around $3,000. After our home study we are able to apply for grants and scholarships to help off set the cost of the adoption as well as continuing to fundraise.

https://www.gofundme.com/qzvexyks

This past week, one of my best friends from high school offered to do a fundraiser for us! Laura will be donating 100% of her proceeds to baby Campbell. Laura is beautiful inside and out and helps stay looking beautiful with the makeup line Younique. Laura started selling this line because of what they stand for and how well they work. Laura has always been the type of person that cares so deeply for the people in her life, her family, her coworkers, and her friends. We feel incredibly blessed to have her and Greg's love, prayers, and support through this process. (xoxo)
A little about Younique:

"Younique's cosmetics development processes utilize scientific research to ensure that our products contain high quality ingredients that enrich and nourish the skin. The result is a beautifully efficacious product that is safely compatible with virtually every skin type.  Younique begins by looking to Mother Nature for the inspiration behind our cosmetics. Our in-house scientific team then formulates a product that honors that inspiration while delivering cutting-edge cosmetics. Our goal is to provide healthy, clean, and pure cosmetics."

Laura has a Facebook page which I would encourage you to "like". Laura's Pretty FABULASH Beauty Bash. If you would like to start browsing her webpage is Prettyfabulash.com. When the party is open I will be sure to post it on Facebook. If you would like to be given the link privately please comment below and I will pass it on. Remember to share the link with your friends and family!

This week we sent in our first official packet into Holt International. We are not waiting for all of our clearances to come back and for Adam's physical. Over the next month we will be completing our online trainings that are needed for our home study.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!!

I know many of you have been asking about where we are. We are plugging away. This week Michelle had her blood work and TB Xray test. We also applied for all of our clearances (thanks to a wonderful donation from a family we love). We are going to get our fingerprints taken today and then we wait for them to come back. This is another hurry up and wait part of the process.

I had mentioned, last week, that a Go Fund Me Account https://www.gofundme.com/qzvexyks has been set up in our names. We were extremely surprised and blessed by two great friends who created this for us. It was unexpected and we are so grateful. We sit in amazement every time someone helps us. We are reminded how great our support system is over and over again.

We want to explain what is next. Once this set of paperwork and the evaluations are completed our next step is the Home study. This will cost around $3,000 (plus mileage). The home study is just that, a social worker will come to the house and talk to us. The reason they do this is to ensure that a child will have a safe, happy, healthy place to come to and call home. This is all done for the safety and wellbeing of the child.

To some this might seem ridiculous. Although the paperwork is long and tedious and the cost is high, we understand why this is being done! My mind doesn’t even work this way but…. People have adopted for purposes NOT the same as ours. This world can be cruel. With these checks and balances in place, children are safe. We are happy with that!

If you live in central PA you have heard of a story about a girl named Tori. Tori went to be with Jesus yesterday. Part of my job places me in situations that are full of joy and full of sadness. While I never worked with Tori, I know therapists that did, friends, and have followed her parents amazing Blog. A fear of parents as they get pregnant is the same fear of parents who adopt. What if…..? Fill in the blank.  I am just not ready to write that Blog yet.

Tori, there are some awesome kiddos that were waiting for you. They are ready to dance, run, sing, laugh, and play.  I imagine you playing tag with Jesus, sitting on his lap, and the sparkle in your eye that will remain in the hearts of everyone who followed your story. 

I have attached Tori’s blog for everyone to read and be aware of what they can be doing in their state to change legislation.  http://thebrackbills.com/2016/03/27/victoria-ruths-last-hours-and-the-hope-of-heaven/

Brackbill family, I am reminded daily of your strength, your love, your faith. Thank you for sharing Tori with us! We have prayed, and will continue to pray, for you and your family.

Where? What's next?

Hello!

Thank you everyone for your overwhelming support this last week! Your prayers mean so much to us!  As you can imagine this week has been the beginning on a rollercoaster ride. We are surrounded by so much love from our family and friends. I was surprised on Monday by two amazing friends who wrote letters of recommendation for us and who started a Go Fund Me account. More information will be shared about that soon. Then today, as I was writing this blog the doorbell rang and it was a sweet package from another dear friend who sent baby Campbell his/her first book (among other things). This week, I have cried, laughed, smiled, and been overwhelmed with the love people have for our baby and us.  Thank you so much! As we continue this journey we ask for prayers for us, for baby Campbell, for God’s path to be clear, for Holt International, for the birth families of baby Campbell and for the people that will be loving and taking care of our baby until we can be together.

We have been asked many questions in the last few days and we are going to take the next couple weeks to answer some of those questions.

Where are you adopting?

We do not know where we are adopting. We chose a few countries that we are looking into. Different counties have different requirements. For example, some countries require 4-6 weeks of travel time. Other countries require you to be married for 5 years and both parents to be over the age of 30. There are a lot of things we need to look into for each country. We aren’t at the point of doing that quite yet. First we need to finish our home study. That brings us to the next question.

What is your next step?

We are currently completing all of the requirements to have our home study. A home study is when a social worker reviews all of our paperwork, comes to look at and approve the house and area that we live in, and meets us to ensure that the baby will be going to a safe, healthy, clean, happy family. Before the social worker comes our files need to be reviewed. We have a laundry list of things that need to be completed before our files are reviewed. To give you a look into what we are working on I have included the list. All of these things cost money and take time. Once they are completed we will have our home study. Next week I will be answering questions about money and what each payment goes to.

*Adam and I both need to have updated clearances for our home study. (FBI, child abuse, PA and Michelle needs FL)

*We both need to have a psychological evaluation completed

*A map of our house and directions needs to be created

*Copies of legal documents (birth certificates, marriage licenses, etc.)

*We each have about 50 pages of questions to answer about our past, parents, family, marriage, and how we want to raise children.

*Financial paperwork (fee schedules and household compensation) and personal data forms

*We both need to have physicals done with blood work and TB tests

*We both need to have our employment verified

*We have other forms that need to be signed about legal things and finances

*Residence forms need to be filled out with every address we have lived at since childbirth

*We need to complete training courses

*And finally, we needed to select what medical conditions we would be willing to “accept” in a child so that if/when we do get approved we can be matched with a child!

PHEW! That’s a long list and everything takes time and planning. So this is where we do a lot of behind the scenes things and try to hurry as quickly as possible to get to the next step. There is of course cost involved in each of these things so we are unable to do them all over night J. We have been told to expect between 4-6 months from the time you start the paperwork until it is finished for this step. We know that in God’s timing everything will be complete and we will be eager and waiting for our journey to continue!  The reason I am sharing this isn’t to overwhelm you but to help share where we are without having to repeat all of those steps and overwhelm ourselves over and over. 

Please do not hesitate to ask us questions. We will do our best to answer them in person and on the blog for everyone to read. We are so happy to have you along for this amazing journey we are on to find our baby!

Have a blessed day!

Michelle, Adam, and baby Campbell

Welcome to our adventure. We are excited that you will be joining us along our way! Let us begin by introducing ourselves.
Adam is 30 years old. He was born on Long Island but moved to the Hershey, PA  area around 3rd grade. He works at a heating and air conditioning company and is currently in transition from service to sales.
Michelle is 29 years old. She spend the majority of her schooling in Carlisle, PA. She attended college in St. Augustine, FL. She works for a school for the deaf and teaches infants and preschoolers.
About us. Michelle was home visiting her family and met Adam in Hershey on Christmas Eve at Church. Adam pursued Michelle from afar for the first part of their relationship. Upon graduation, Michelle moved back to PA to be with Adam. Quickly they knew this was forever and a few short months later, Adam asked for Michelle's hand in marriage. Of course she said YES!  A little over a year later they were surrounded by friends and family on the most beautiful October day to join in life together! Not long into their wonderful marriage Michelle began noticing some things that needed medical attention. Long story short, at this time, it is not in the picture for Michelle to carry a baby. Michelle and Adam bought a house in Palmyra, PA (right outside of Hershey) and added Mara (our amazing puppy) to the family but, our family isn't complete.
Through this process we both knew that adoption was the path that God was calling us to. We are currently pursuing the process for international adoption and are open to any doors that God may open for us. We are blessed to have the support of our families, friends, and church as we begin this amazing journey to create our family. We know that God has his hand on us and is guiding us along our way.
This journey will be long. Our expected time frame is three years. We are in the beginning stages and are preparing the multitudes of paperwork, tests, evaluations, trainings, etc that are needed for our home study.
Thank you for going on this crazy, wild, love filled ride with us!