Ramblings

Many people have asked how the fundraising is going. Well, hopefully we will be able to report at the end of September that it's going well. We have not gotten any more responses from businesses, good or bad, and that's ok with us to be perfectly honest. Perhaps they can't help right now, aren't interested in our cause, or disagree with us, but are polite enough to keep their comments to themselves. We're working on themes for the baskets which is actually kind of fun!

We've gotten donations of items for us to sell at a yard sale. Originally I thought we'd have another huge one like we did this past June. But it was incredibly hot, and an awful lot of work, and we required a lot of people, tables, and a big area to hold it. I thought what we would do is have a bunch of smaller sales that Archie and I could manage on our own without asking for a lot of help from others to run. I've had someone important to me say things like "the big one was too much work", they didn't "want to do it again" (which is fine, and heck if we're being honest, even I don't want to do it again, but I also want to get the money together to bring home another child), and then when I talk about doing the smaller ones I hear that "you won't make as much money." Well, I guess I'm darned if I do and darned if I don't. That's just how it's going to have to be. Maybe if we're lucky and do really well, we can raise as much as we did doing the smaller ones over a period of time. We have to try. We just do. And we're open to other suggestions if anyone has ideas for how we can raise more money toward our adoption.

Anyway, I just sat down and looked at my schedule to see when we could have another sale, and it's looking like mid to late October which probably in all reality, is not going to be ideal. What I may do is post the big stuff on craigslist, things like furniture, etc., and someone on one of the fundraising groups I am on posted about selling books online through a website which I will have to go back and check out. I have quite a few boxes of books in my basement at the moment. Our one room we had to store all of these things is now full, so I have to figure out how I'm going to get in there to take pictures of everything to list them on craigslist. But at least that can be done on my own time and before October!

It's funny, as I sit here and think about how we had things planned, they've not really gone totally according to plan. The person who is helping us put together our bingo and giving us guidance told us to find businesses to sponsor baskets/bags, etc., which hasn't happened really. I mean, we've tried to find businesses to sponsor baskets and bags, it just hasn't panned out. If we had gone with Bethany Christian for our agency, we would have had to start our homestudy and forked out a big chunk of money right about now for that, and then we wouldn't have been able to have our basket bingo at the end of September because the money that we've had to use for that bingo would have paid for our homestudy, and thus there wouldn't be a BINGO planned for September. As it turns out we chose Catholic Charities, and don't need that money yet until January, and thus are able to have this fundraiser which will hopefully bring us that much closer to our goal.

I've really thought about this, and it is so true that what our plan may be and what God's plan may be sometimes just aren't the same. I fully believe God has it in his plan for us to welcome another child into our family, but obviously it isn't the way we thought. It was never meant to be "naturally", and while he blessed us with Jack through IVF, our second child wasn't meant to come to us that way either. This way that God is leading us isn't easy, emotionally, financially, it's just not, but we're rising to the challenges presented to us, and I honestly believe that is all part of the "plan". I am sure that there will be many more things happen along the way that we plan differently than he does, but I am sure that as we look back at what our plan was, and how things have actually occured, we will see that it was for a reason. Much like our choice of agency seems to have been for a reason, and how that has helped us be able to continue to raise more toward bringing home this next child.

I have found that I am learning things as we go through this process. I have to learn to push those negative comments out of my thoughts and ignore them because they don't help. I feel like I have to do that for my own emotional sanity. Just like with the letters. I have to just remember that it's not helpful, the letters, or other comments, and just stop thinking about them because it doesn't help me be upbeat and positive. I am learning about adoption reform. I am learning about the trials and tribulations that go along with open adoption, and trying to learn from other's experiences in an effort to hope our family can avoid some issues later. I am learning to put my trust in God, and to have faith that things will work out as they should.

As an aside, Archie and I were talking the other day about emails I had received inviting us to come to different churches to see if we felt any of them were a good fit. He said to me, "I thought we'd chosen a church." This was news to me as we have tried churches, he has told me he liked them, and when asked to go back to them all of a sudden he's not interested. It turns out he really likes the church my aunt goes to, and I liked it as well. So, I'm happy to report that I think we've found a church. Thank you to everyone who extended offers and told us about their churches, but it seems that we may be staying put now!