Current financial aspect

Hello everyone!!!

Nic and I would like to update everyone on where we are with our adoption from a fundraising standpoint as well as where we are in the process and how those two go together.  Currently we are in the process of beginning our home study as well as completing the paperwork for our dossier.  I have updated our fundraising total to reflect the money we need to raise by December 2013. We chose December because once we submitted our first installment program fee, we were given a time line of 4-6 months to complete our dossier and home study. December will be the 6 month marker. Just a reminder, the dossier is the paperwork we have to compile, along with our home study that will be sent to Ethiopia. I understand now why the time frame of 4-6 months is given!!! There is so much to do! We have begun working on getting our paperwork together. Rather than looking at everything all at once, we have decided to work on a section at a time. This has made the total process seem less stressful. We know God has his hand heavily in our adoption and we know he will help us through the paperwork as well as providing financially. At this point, I would like to give everyone a break down of the $13, 889 we owe by December:

$300 initial application fee
$139 adoption class
$2500 1st installment program fee
$2000 2nd installment program fee
$800 translation of dossier
$1000 post adoption deposit
$150 courier fee
$4500 1st half of international program fee
$2500 estimated home study fee

In addition to the fees mentioned above, there will also be fees for background checks, finger printing, notarization, certification and authentication. However, I did not include those fees at this time as I am unaware of the costs.

I know the financial aspect of our adoption can be frightening to some, but we cannot put a price on a child's life. The reward of saving a child from a life of poverty and disease far outweighs everything else. Also God creates all things, so $26,000 to $36,000 is but of a spec of sand to our Lord. He is an amazing God and thru his strength and the prayers and support of our friends, family and strangers we can accomplish anything!!! Thank you!! God bless!!!!

The Paper Chase begins...

Hi Everyone!!

Just wanted to share with everyone that we have been assigned a case worker for our adoption.  This will be the person who will help us through the remainder of the adoption process.  We received our first email from her today with A LOT of attachments.  We are now in the what AWAA calls the "paper chase."  This is where we begin the process of the in depth paperwork and preparing our Dossier that will be translated and sent to Ethiopia.  It is a lengthy process.  They say on average it can take any where from 4-6 months just to get this paperwork completed.  Since we just received the email this morning from our caseworker, we have not had time to review everything in depth.  Once we have gone through everything we will update everyone with more details. :)

Thank you again for your continued support and prayers.  Have a wonderful weekend!!! 

An Update to Amazing not to Share!!!

I know I already updated our blog today but I was recently informed of something that I felt like I had to share.

As some of you may know, my sister in law Chami has been helping us raise money for Amira.  She has been selling bracelets from Haiti as well as the Believe bracelets I was selling.  She had placed several of these bracelets at local stores in her home town as well as sending them off around the  USA.  Needless to say, she has been helping us out a lot to help us get where we need to be financially.

Before we could submit our first round of paperwork (the paperwork I sent in earlier this week), we had to write our agency a check for $2500.  To raise that money, in addition to selling the Believe bracelets, I have been selling pretty much anything that I can find in our house that we can do without - mostly focusing baby and maternity clothes.  However, even after selling what seems like a ton of clothes, we were no where near our first goal of $2500.  

I know some of you may be a little confused at this point because as you read in my earlier post from today, our paperwork has been submit, received and processed by our agency.  What I didn't mention in my post earlier today was that we received a check from Chami for $2500 earlier this week.  It is because of her selfless and abundant gift that we were able to continue forward in our adoption process sooner than expected.  After opening the envelope, which was written out to our daughter, I called Chami immediately.  She told me she had sold quite a few bracelets and not to worry about the money.  She told me, and I quote, this is where God laid it on her heart to put that money.  At this point, I also want to mention again that Chami is planning on moving to Kenya August 27th and has her own fund raising she needs to do.  She is an amazing, loving, caring, selfless, giving woman (and the list could go on and on).

Just when you would think this story couldn't get any more amazing....I received a text from Chami today.  She told me that she had received a check in the mail from a friend in another state who was helping her raise money for our adoption by getting donations and selling bracelets.  I thought wow how awesome!!  We don't even know this girl and she is helping us bring Amira home!!  But it gets better.  When Chami sent us the check for $2500 she knew that she had 1 week left to turn in the money she owed for the Haiti bracelets that she had shipped to her.  After sending us the check for $2500, she did NOT have the funds to cover the money that she owed for the bracelets in Haiti.  The agency cashed her check TODAY.  $2500 gone from Chami's account.  Even though she had insufficient funds in her account, Chami mailed a check to Haiti TODAY for the money she owed for the bracelets.  Can any one see where I am going with this?  The check she received in the mail from her friend TODAY was for $1000....which is the EXACT AMOUNT she owed for the bracelets in Haiti!!!

Does this give any one else the chills and tear up like it did to me???  Chami stepped out on a huge leap of faith and God stepped in and provided!!!  I wanted to share this with everyone because it is amazing how God's hand is truly in this adoption.  He is holding out his hand waiting for us to grab and hold on tight!!!  I know this process is not going to be easy.  I know raising 3 children is going to be far from easy.  We are going to have 3 children under the age of 5.  Hard...yes.  Impossible...far from it!!!  The road may be long and bumpy but our guide, the Lord, will be there to help us when we stumble and pick us back up on our feet again.

Thank you again for your support, words of encouragement and prayer!!!

We will come to you...

We are happy to announce that our paperwork has been processed and we are officially in the Ethiopian Program with America World Adoption. :)

Our next step will be placement with a case worker. This individual will be the person who will guide us through the remainder of our adoption. He or she will tell us what needs to be done and when. He or she will also be the person we contact if we have any questions. 

In addition to being placed with a case worker, the next phase of Project Ethiopia will be our home study. America World is in the process of creating an Indiana home study agency but the construction is not complete. Therefore, we were given a few agencies that America World works with for home studies. 

At this time, we are waiting to hear from our case worker before we proceed with our home study. We want to ensure that we are fully prepared for our study before they travel to visit us. Another reason we are waiting to complete our home study is because we will owe an additional $2500 at the time the study is done. We are not worried about the funds because we know that God will provide.  His provisions will come in his perfect timing. Patience, patience, patience!! :) 

A fun side note, I spoke to our pediatrician about how we can prepare Jaxon and Evelynn for the arrival of their sister and she suggested we start talking about her now. She also has suggested we order books and give visuals. They are very smart children and they are going to realize that Amira does not look like them. So as a start of introducing them to the reality that their sisters skin is going to be a different than theirs I have bought a book called The Magical Friendship Garden. It is a story about a little girl who was adopted from Ethiopia and her family's great love for her. It will be a great visual to show them that love should not be associated with how we look or what country we are from but is much deeper than that. Color is only skin deep and we are all created equal in God's eyes. I am looking forward to reading this book to them. I am also working with my sister in law Chami to put a photo album together or her previous trip to Kenya where she served in an orphanage.  Living in Chesterton, my children have not been overly exposed to people of other races but I want them to know there are lots of different kinds of people in the world. As our pediatrician said, exposure will be the best way to prepare them for the wonderful gift Amira will be to us. 

We are continually grateful for your prayers and support during our journey !

It's Official

Well today was a big day for the Ayres' Family for Project Ethiopia.  Today we submitted our first major round of paperwork and first payment of $2,500.  This is big news because once America World Adoption Association (AWAA) receives our paperwork, we are officially in the Ethiopian Program!!!  We are truly excited to be moving forward in our adoption process. :)  After AWAA reviews our paperwork and submits it in our file, we will be matched up with a case worker.  This is the person that we will be communicating with throughout the remainder of this process.  He or she will answer any questions we have and help line us up with our next step, which is the home study.  As of now, I do not know much about our home study, other than the fact it will cost an additional $2,500.  However, I can't imagine that the home study will be very difficult to pass as far as the inspection aspect - we are at an advantage by having two toddlers so everything is pretty much kid proofed already.

We are hoping to hear back from AWAA within the week and once we do I will be sure to post an update.  Thank you all again for your words of encouragement and prayers!!

Fundraising Site

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to do a quick update to let everyone know we have created a fundraising website.  On this site, there will be ways that people can donate toward our adoption and it will also be where I will keeping a break down of what we have raised so far, what we need to raise at the moment, the total we need to raise overall and what the money goes toward.  Thanks again for your continued support!!! :)

http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/project-ethiopia/59809

So grateful... :)

Hello everyone! Not much has really changed since the last time I have written as far as updates on fund raisers but I wanted to put a message out there to say how overwhelmed I have been by the kindness of others for our little girl to be. People have been so amazing to show their support. We have received donations for the garage sale, people have offered to host and have already hosted parties in our little girl's honor, people have changed their plans for their own events in their lives so we can have more people attend our fund raiser and so much more!!! Not to mention the words of encouragement and prayer!!! I can't emphasize how much these things mean to us! I want to personally thank everyone for EVERYTHING they have done for us and our little girl!!!

In addition we have come up with another name for the running for our little girl....Amira Capri. Amira means princess in Swahili. If anyone knows me well they know I call my little Evelynn princess all the time. I loved this name so much because soon I will have two princesses in my life. I can't wait to meet you little girl of mine!!! You are loved so so so much!!!

Update from the Ayres

I apologize in the lapse of time between this blog and my last blog.  We have been enjoying the beautiful weather and spending much of our time at home outside playing with Jaxon and Evelynn.  We are so happy for the change of weather and grateful for all the beauty that comes along with spring. Yesterday I took both the kids to a nursery to show them all the colorful and beautiful flowers.  This trip had great intentions for an educational and spiritual experience, but it turned into me trying to keep Jaxon from picking the flowers and Evelynn from eating them. Ha ha kids will be kids. :) 

We have a few updates since I last wrote. First, Nic and I have decided to update our paperwork to adopting a daughter between the ages of 1-3. This wont be official until we speak to our case worker but i still wanted to update everyone on this change.  Charlotte Capri is the name we are calling her right now. We are anxiously (yet patiently) awaiting her arrival over the course of the next two years. All in God's time. Second, we have been working on a lot of fund raising. Here is a list of a few things we have going on:

1. We are selling believe bracelets - not only do we receive a profit per bracelet but part of the proceeds used to buy the bracelets are sent to Africa to supply clean drinking water for the people there. A win win situation!!!  My amazing sister in law, Chami, has also been selling bracelets from Haiti. These bracelets also send part of the proceeds back to Haiti to help with their living situation. 

2.  We are working with Bob Evans to pick a date where they will donate a certain percentage of their profits to our adoption for individuals who bring in a flyer. More to come on this fund raiser.

3. We are still collecting ink jet cartridges and old cell phones. They will be recycled and the proceeds used toward the adoption. 

4.  We are hosting a combination garage sale and corn hole tourney in June at New Life Wesleyan church in Chesterton. If any one wants to donate anything for the garage sale or tourney, please let me know. More info to come on this as well. 

Right now as far as the process we are at a stand still. We have a set amount we need to fund raise before we can submit our next round of paperwork. $2,500 to be exact. Once we submit the paperwork we will be matched with a case worker who will set up our home study. We have our house kid proofed so I'm sure this will be a relatively simple task. We will owe an additional $2,500 at that time. Then it is on to more paperwork!  This is what will be translated and submitted to the Ethiopian government. 

We know God will provide our financial needs. He has already open doors to the several opportunities mentioned above.  We are not asking for monetary donations but if anyone would like to make a monetary donation toward our adoption, please make checks payable to America World Adoption and the Ayres family in the memo.  However, Please do not feel obligated to donate. Our God is faithful and he will help us through every aspect of this journey!!

We continue to ask for your prayers for strength, courage, and wisdom. We are excited to be following this path God has led us to!! There have been more miraculous signs from the Father himself showing me this is his will!  Thank you again for your words of encouragement and prayer!!