Month: April 2016

A Big Week

Posted on by crystalahollis

This week was probably the biggest week we have had since we started this adoption journey.

Wednesday we had our first home study visit. I was nervous and wanting my house to look perfect. I baked fresh cookies Wednesday morning so the house smelled warm and inviting. Our social worker was super sweet and we really enjoyed having her over. She walked through our house and everything checked out A-ok! She came back on Friday to do a parent training course and go over some requirements that Colombia has. It was extremely informative and inspiring.

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Saturday morning was our garage sale fundraiser! People have been donating items to us for the past month and we were abundantly blessed! Some friends of mine also helped me bake some cookies for the bake sale we were having too. It was amazing! Easton loved it, he ran around and interacted with all the people who came over. At the end of the sale we had made almost $1400.00 and we have a couple of things people are coming to buy this week. Everything (which was very little) that didn’t sell was donated to Helping Hands.

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We got to meet a couple of other families who have adopted children. They had been right where we are and were such a source of encouragement to us. We got to meet their kids and see their happy families. One family had two beautiful little girls and they bought a couple of toys from us. About an hour after they left the dad and one little girl came back on their golf cart. The little girl had opened her toy and found $2 in there. She came back to donate it to us. It was precious and really blessed us.

When we first started this journey the financial part of the adoption was daunting and imitating, but God has opened doors and we have been very blessed. We have a goal of not going into debt for this adoption, so we have been doing different fundraisers. Each one we have done has been super successful too, thanks to y’all!!!!

Thank you all for all of your support, help, prayers, encouragement and excitement for us. We love you and appreciate you all so much.

 

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a little dress

Posted on by crystalahollis

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I bought Ellie her first little dress to go in her closet. I remember the very first outfit I bought Easton, and it was always one of my favorites. I can close my eyes and see her wearing it, her hair in a braid with a little bow. Oh my! Having a little girl is going to be amazing! I am so excited for all the girly things we will get to do together. Oh boy!

Tomorrow morning, Cody and I are going to Austin for a psych evaluation that is required for our dossier (the huge file of info that goes to Colombia that shows we want to and are qualified to adopt). It was extremely difficult to find a doctor to do the testing that Colombia requires. We called 7 different doctors in the area and none of them could/would do the testing. I was getting overwhelmed and stressed out over it. Thankfully I was introduced to another mom who adopted her son from Colombia and she told me about the doctor they went to in Austin for their evaluation. I quickly called them, only to be told he wasn’t accepting new patients. I pleaded with the receptionist to talk to the doctor and let him know our situation. She said she would call me back after she talked to the doctor. Thankfully he agreed to see us, but we had to come this weekend and he would do the testing all day on Saturday. I am excited to be able to cross this off our to do list! After this, we only have our two home study visits and then we are finished with everything we have to do for our dossier! Woo Hoo! We are getting so close!

Our garage sale donations have been awesome! We have so much stuff! We have been so very blessed by friends, family and complete strangers. So many little details have come together to make this adoption possible, it is so obvious that God has his hand on this. For example, the day we joined our church, Lake Pointe, we met a lady who knew a woman  who had adopted her son from Colombia and she gave her my email address. She is the one who told me about the doctor in Austin, who knows how long it would have taken for me to find him. Another blessing was a very nice lady donated a coffee table and some blinds for the garage sale, she is from Colombia and offered to help us in anyway she could. It is truly incredible.

Our T-shirt fundraiser is going great, if you haven’t ordered a shirt yet, click here to do that now. I want pictures of everyone in their shirts to put in Ellie’s Life book. Also, I am going to make a picture collage for her room with everyone’s picture in their shirt. I want her to be able to see how many people helped bring her home.

Thank you all for your prayers, support, encouragement, love and excitement for us in this awesome time. We love each of you and appreciate you!