Fundraising

Matthew 21:22  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.

If you don't know our story you need to read how this all started here:  From the Beginning.
As you can see we were not planning for this adoption so we weren't financially prepared for the money it cost to complete the process. However, we know that God has a plan and Lucy is meant to be in our family. When we adopted Madison we paid for everything and did no fundraising. Allen felt strongly about asking others to help pay for us to have a child. However, with this adoption God has truly showed us that sometimes you must seek help from others. We weren't prepared for the large fee that we must pay for the orphanage donation or the travel expense that we will have to pay to go to China. So we have started doing some fundraising to help cover our cost.
I did a flip flop fundraiser with my school and a few others in the spring and raised $800. My school did a wonderful BBQ luncheon and raised an amazing $1000! We have had various friends and family send us money and so far have probably raised a little over $2500 in all! This is an awesome amount of money and we are so blessed to have so many generous people around to help us.However, we still have a large amount of money to accomplish our goal. We are currently doing another fundraiser with the same company I did my flip flop fundraiser with in the spring. You can order items online and they will be sent directly to you  and we will get credit. Here is the site:

 Flip Flop 2 Adopt

If you purchase any items just make sure you click on A.Dunn adoption at check out.
 We are also planning a Pizza Inn fundraiser in July and  a possible really cool fundraiser with a talented friend coming soon! 
I am sure God intends on us using our story to speak of how faithful He is and how we are blessed immeasurably more than we ever could have imagined! I honestly can't wait to see how He uses us to tell and share our story with others!

Surprise!

Well who knew last night I posted an update and got up today to an email with more good news!


Referral and Letter of Acceptance Received-completed February 2012
Hague Home Study -Completed March 2012
File for I-800A with USCIS-March 2012
I-800A Approval-May 21, 2012
I-800 Provisional Approval Received-Received June 18, 2012
Receipt from National Visa Center-Received June 27,2012
Consulate Package sent to China-Waiting-This sitting at our adoption agency ready to be sent out tomorrow! YAY! 
Article 5 letter issues by Consulate -Waiting
Travel Approval Received-Waiting
 We are most likely looking at the end of August or early September travel. Even though it looks like we are close each step takes a long time! The Article 5 letter will take 2 weeks and then the wait for TA will begin. That can take 4 to 6 weeks. However, some people are getting TA in like 14 days! So we just don't know. The good thing is all the paperwork is pretty much complete and now we just wait! 

One Step Closer

One more thing can be checked off the list for waiting!
Referral and Letter of Acceptance Received-completed February 2012
Hague Home Study -Completed March 2012
File for I-800A with USCIS-March 2012
I-800A Approval-May 21, 2012
I-800 Provisional Approval Received-Received June 18, 2012
Receipt from National Visa Center-Waiting
Consulate Package sent to China-Waiting
Article 5 letter issues by Consulate -Waiting
Travel Approval Received-Waiting

We still had have wait ahead of us but one more step closer!

Care Package Pictures

I got pictures of the care package that was sent to Lucy. Here are the actually items that she is sending to her. Apparently, they will deliver this in the next few days. I was able to find out she is living with a foster family which is great news!We got the pictures before she got the package!

We are hoping to get this camera back when we get her. Hopefully they will take some picture of her with her foster family so we can have them for her.

The cute pj's she will be getting!

Her blanket!

The whole package that includes our letter to them, candy for the family and a baby doll! I find it interesting that the baby is blonde haired and blue eyed! She looks like Madison! Especially since Madison has been playing with an Asian baby we have! Haha!

Updated Pictures!

We got updated pics from our care package! We found out these stats:
height:68cm
weight:8kg (17.6 lbs)
head:41cm
chest:41cm
foot:10cm
teeth:0

I looked this up on American charts and she is in 12th percentile for weight and 3rd for height. We are expecting her to be small for her age. We are so excited to see her not all bundled up! 

Love the pigtails!

Love!

 

We compared her picture to Peyton's baby picture and they have the same nose! It is so funny how that happens!

 

Small Update

So our waiting checklist hasn't changed much but I did receive notice that our I-800 has been received and is waiting on approval. It is at least another step closer. We also decided to send Lucy a care package. We sent her this package:

This is through a lady named Ann at Red Thread and she will hopefully get an updated picture to us as well. We really debated doing a care package because our agency she was so young she probably won't know we did but we know! I have heard lots of good things about her services from people on our FB group and feel good about her handling the task for us.
It makes me feel better to know we have done something for her during this long wait. Plus we can hopefully get the camera back when we get her and have some picture to share with her in the future. I was also able to send a letter and ask some questions about her.I am hopefully to hear something back and have an idea about her likes and needs.I hope I will have some updated pictures to share soon!