I haven't been very good at updating the blog recently. We created a private Facebook group and have been posting on that with more frequent updates.
Last week we got some great news, we passed court! This means that in 30 days (well 25 now!) we'll legally, in the eyes of DRC, be Emily's parents! Our facilitator and lawyer are working on the next steps on their end and our main job right now is waiting. Seriously... waiting is ROUGH. For those of you who have been pregnant, imagine that this is week 32-34 of your pregnancy... READY to be done and have your child. Except, you don't have the reassurance of the child being nice, safe and comfy in the womb. They are instead on the other side of the world, getting 1 meal a day, don't have a bed to sleep in, and no one to love on them. In my professional opinion... it sucks.
But we do have some things to check off the to do list while we wait, which helps. We're in the middle of an auction to raise money, next Friday night we're hosting a Parent's Night Out. The last weekend in September my awesome friends are throwing me a baby shower to help me raise money. They are awesome. I'm blessed with a few groups of great friends and hopefully this will be a fun afternoon to have them all in one place celebrating Emily! :) At the end of the month I'm also participating in a craft show to raise money and next month I'm *hosting* a craft show to raise money... so, lots going on!
A couple other things on my to do list- vaccines, paperwork, preparing to pack and finishing touches of Emily's room.
Our facilitator says I could travel in 6 weeks or sooner if things go REALLY well, so keep praying things go smoothly. So excited to have Emily home soon!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Upcoming Fundraisers
We have a ton of fundraisers coming up! It's seriously crunch time. We've got about 3 months (prayerfully!) until I travel and that doesn't leave much time for fundraisers. We've got about 5 fundraisers planned.
On September 5th I'll be dropping off a bunch of great things off at a local consignment sale. I've received some generous donations from a few people of children's clothes they were no longer using, and I've been busy sorting, hanging and tagging all of those things.
On September 10th I will kick off our 3rd Facebook Adoption Auction. The donations have been rolling in and I've got a ton of GREAT stuff to auction! We could always use more though, so don't be shy about donating :) A HUGE thank you to those who have already donated!
On September 21st (a Friday) from 6-9pm we'll be hosting a Parents' Night Out. For $10 per child you can bring your child (ages 2 months & up) and have a date night while supporting a good cause. The children will need to eat before being dropped off. We are using the children's space of Connect Rome in the mall for this event.
On September 29th Floyd Hospital is hosting a craft fair I will be participating in. If you'd like to see any of the things I've been selling on Facebook in person, come check it out! It's September 29th from 9am to 5pm at Harbin Clinic, Tony E. Warren, MD Cancer Center- 255 West Fifth Street.
On October 13th from 10am-2pm we are hosting a craft fair at Connect Rome in the mall. If you're interested in participating it is $25 for a table plus a donation for our raffle. You will keep all of your profit. If you're interested in participating, you can email me- saragentry@gmail.com or send me a message on Facebook.
We're also still selling tshirts and all the other things listed on the Facebook album, so feel free to keep ordering that in the meantime.
More than anything, we could really use your prayers that these fundraisers go well. We're still a long way from where we need to be. And time is ticking away. 3 months seems like a long time when I think about my little girl sitting in an orphanage, but when I think about the money aspect, it seems like a short time!
On September 5th I'll be dropping off a bunch of great things off at a local consignment sale. I've received some generous donations from a few people of children's clothes they were no longer using, and I've been busy sorting, hanging and tagging all of those things.
On September 10th I will kick off our 3rd Facebook Adoption Auction. The donations have been rolling in and I've got a ton of GREAT stuff to auction! We could always use more though, so don't be shy about donating :) A HUGE thank you to those who have already donated!
On September 21st (a Friday) from 6-9pm we'll be hosting a Parents' Night Out. For $10 per child you can bring your child (ages 2 months & up) and have a date night while supporting a good cause. The children will need to eat before being dropped off. We are using the children's space of Connect Rome in the mall for this event.
On September 29th Floyd Hospital is hosting a craft fair I will be participating in. If you'd like to see any of the things I've been selling on Facebook in person, come check it out! It's September 29th from 9am to 5pm at Harbin Clinic, Tony E. Warren, MD Cancer Center- 255 West Fifth Street.
On October 13th from 10am-2pm we are hosting a craft fair at Connect Rome in the mall. If you're interested in participating it is $25 for a table plus a donation for our raffle. You will keep all of your profit. If you're interested in participating, you can email me- saragentry@gmail.com or send me a message on Facebook.
We're also still selling tshirts and all the other things listed on the Facebook album, so feel free to keep ordering that in the meantime.
More than anything, we could really use your prayers that these fundraisers go well. We're still a long way from where we need to be. And time is ticking away. 3 months seems like a long time when I think about my little girl sitting in an orphanage, but when I think about the money aspect, it seems like a short time!
Friday, August 17, 2012
Updates and the Facebook Group
Hello all! I haven't had much to update about in the last month or so, but recently there's been a few big decisions made that I wanted to let everyone in on.
First, I'd like to let everyone know that we started a private Facebook group to keep everyone posted on the adoption. It's completely private, so it allows for a little bit more disclosure than we're giving on our public Facebook accounts and the blog. If you'd like to be added to the group, please don't hesitate to ask. When I made it I only added family, so if you want in, you have to ask! We want to make sure everyone who wants to stay updated is updated, but if you only want to know the BIG things, you can stick with regular facebook and the blog :)
Another update on the fundraising front- we currently have a couple fundraisers going on. I'm making custom framed "lists", they range from $5-10, so if you're interested in one of those, let me know. I have some samples pictured on my facebook, but will be cranking some more out soon! We are also still selling tshirts for $15. Here's what our shirts look like- there are lots of tshirt color options, with a white, handpainted Africa and a heart over Congo. You can comment here to order or message me on Facebook!
On September 10th we'll kick off another big fundraiser- our 3rd (and final!) Facebook auction. If you have anything you'd like to sell (a service you offer, a product you sell, something you make, etc.), let me know! We've got a great list of stuff growing, but can always use more!
And last one, we're currently encouraging everyone to save their change. We've been putting all our change into a milk jug and every month or so we cash it in to our bank where we have our adoption account. On the night of September 8th we're having a "change drop off" (location TBA) and would love to fill that milk jug up and maybe have to start a new one! If you work somewhere that would allow you to put out a change jar, here's a sign you can use (or feel free to make your own)-
First, I'd like to let everyone know that we started a private Facebook group to keep everyone posted on the adoption. It's completely private, so it allows for a little bit more disclosure than we're giving on our public Facebook accounts and the blog. If you'd like to be added to the group, please don't hesitate to ask. When I made it I only added family, so if you want in, you have to ask! We want to make sure everyone who wants to stay updated is updated, but if you only want to know the BIG things, you can stick with regular facebook and the blog :)
Another update on the fundraising front- we currently have a couple fundraisers going on. I'm making custom framed "lists", they range from $5-10, so if you're interested in one of those, let me know. I have some samples pictured on my facebook, but will be cranking some more out soon! We are also still selling tshirts for $15. Here's what our shirts look like- there are lots of tshirt color options, with a white, handpainted Africa and a heart over Congo. You can comment here to order or message me on Facebook!
On September 10th we'll kick off another big fundraiser- our 3rd (and final!) Facebook auction. If you have anything you'd like to sell (a service you offer, a product you sell, something you make, etc.), let me know! We've got a great list of stuff growing, but can always use more!
And last one, we're currently encouraging everyone to save their change. We've been putting all our change into a milk jug and every month or so we cash it in to our bank where we have our adoption account. On the night of September 8th we're having a "change drop off" (location TBA) and would love to fill that milk jug up and maybe have to start a new one! If you work somewhere that would allow you to put out a change jar, here's a sign you can use (or feel free to make your own)-
On to the update...
Over the last month I've been thinking and praying about traveling early to Congo. The normal timeline for adoptive families goes like this (a few smaller steps are left out to make it easier to understand):
-pass court
-submit I600 to US
-receive approval from US
-apply for child's visa
-travel (you'll be there for about 7-10 days)
If you travel early it looks like this:
-pass court
-travel
-submit I600 to Congo and apply for child's visa
-wait (you'll be there for about 3-5 weeks)
The reasoning behind wanting to travel early is that it cuts 2+ months off of the total wait time to bring Emily home. This may not seem like a "good enough" reason to stay in Congo for so long to some people, but to us we can't get her home soon enough.
The biggest negative is that Andrew can't take this much time off of work, so he won't be going. He could go for a week or so, but since I'll have to be alone for so long anyway, we're just biting the bullet and I'm going by myself. This will save us over $2,000... airfare, extra food, extra visa, extra vaccines...
This is our perspective- we have a child that is alone, in terrible conditions, and she doesn't even know that we're here. She doesn't know she has a family that loves her and is doing everything possible to get to her. When I leave, it will break my heart to have to leave Alexis and Kaitlyn, but they'll be fine. They'll have plenty to eat, they'll have more than enough toys to play with, they'll be with people that love them and care about them, they'll get tucked into a bed every night, and they'll know (even if they have to be reminded) that they have a mommy that loves them that will be home soon. Emily doesn't have any of that. And we have the ability to make that a reality just a *little* bit sooner, so we're doing it.
Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for this. We still have what seems like FOREVER to go until it will be time to travel. We are hoping to go to court (our lawyer will do this for us) soon and then after that we'll have to wait 30 days for CONA (Certificate of non-appeal). After we get this, Emily will officially be a Gentry in the eyes of the Congolese government! Praying everything with court goes smoothly. Your prayers are SO appreciated!
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Happy Birthday Alexis!
It's my oldest daughter's 4th birthday today, Happy Birthday Alexis!!!!
This morning I "interviewed" her (thank Pinterest! ;) )
- What’s your name? Alexis!
- How old are you? 4
- What makes you happy? um... playing games
- What makes you sad? um... in the dark
- What is your favorite color? pink and purple
- What is your favorite toy? um.... *scratching head* my favorite toy is the bath toys
- What is your favorite thing to do? make necklaces
- What is your favorite tv show? Veggie Tales
- What is your favorite thing to eat? noodles
- What is your favorite outfit? this outfit! (pointing to her outfit of a tiedied pink/purple shirt and purple leggings)
- What is your favorite game? um, the slide game. What’s the slide game? Shoots and Ladders? uh huh! Shoots and Ladders
- What are you really good at? um....... matching cards
- What do you and Mommy do together? um, clean the dishes sometimes. We just do that sometimes.
- What do you and Daddy do together? play games
- Where is your favorite place to go? um... Ihop (where we’re going for breakfast)
- What is your favorite animal? um... giraffes
- What is your favorite song? Rainbows (Rainbow Connection)
- What is your favorite book? Daddy’s Girl
- Who is your best friend? Mary-Jane!
- What is your favorite drink? Coke (for the record she doesn’t have Coke except maybe a sip of our’s here and there)
- What do you like to take to bed with you at night? um.... blankey. My blankey.
- What do you want for dinner on your birthday? um... *hitting face* a sandwich!
- What do you want to be when you grow up? um, a cupcake maker
- What would you do if you had a million dollars? um, buy stuff
- What do you think will be the best thing about being 4? um.......... doing tricks
Love that little girl!
And just in case your wondering... she had a rainbow art party, and she helped decorate the cake. The inside was a Pinterest project!
Monday, July 16, 2012
Introducing...
We have a new referral!!!! I'd like everyone to meet Mima. She's 2 years old and A-DORABLE.
We won't know until the end of July/first of August "exactly" how old she is (what side of 2). Our facilitator is traveling for the month of July, and she doesn't trust her assistant to do age evaluations, so she will let us know soon.
We are planning on changing her name, but keeping Mima as her middle name. Andrew and I don't have very similar taste in baby names and this is the third girls' name we've had to come up with! Right now the choices are Hannah, Natalie, and Michelle. I really like Abigail, but Andrew doesn't like it unless we can call her Abby, which I don't mind, BUT I don't want to name her something with the intent of calling her something else. Our conversations about names sound very similar to Ross and Rachel on Friends- "veto, veto, veto, veto..." And then someone chimes in "Is it just me, or is Veto starting to sound really good?"
We'll update again when we have a name for sure and know more about our little girl.
Recently we've been working little by little getting the room ready. I've started a Pinterest board of ideas. I'm planning on keeping the paint the same, but painting the bed to better match the room. We'll be moving Alexis and Kaitlyn to bunk beds soon. Crossing my fingers that's not a big mistake!
It's a little hard getting excited about Mima. Of course after what happened with Elizabeth, I'm a little guarded about getting excited, or buying things for her. We've got a couple things that I bought on sale for Elizabeth that I have to find time to return, because I'm sure they'll be to small for Mima. But today I worked some more on her room and cleaned out the closet some more. It's looking pretty good now :)
In the next couple of weeks we've got some fun things going on around here. Alexis's birthday party is this Saturday and her birthday next Tuesday. Then on Thursday we hit the road for a little vacation. Andrew's grandparents live in Mississippi and have a little cabin at a fairgrounds and the fair is that week, so we're going with some of his other family and cramming in the cabin. We've never done it before, and I think the girls are going to have a lot of fun! The day after we get back from Mississippi, Alexis starts preschool!
I'll also be updating with some more fundraising coming up soon. We're still recooperating from the concert and yard sale. They both took a lot of work, so taking a little break and then we'll be at it again! LONG way to go!
Monday, July 9, 2012
Heartbroken
I really struggle even writing this.
Andrew and I got some bad (for us) news tonight.
I checked my email and saw I had a new message from our facilitator with the subject line "Elizabeth", immediately my heart dropped. It was late in the day to be getting a message from Congo. They're 5 hours ahead of us, so to be getting an email late in the day when I wasn't expecting anything, I feared the worse. It is not uncommon for children to pass away while waiting in an orphanage.
Thankfully, that wasn't what the email said.
Instead, it said "Elizabeth's case is not going to be able to be processed." and went on to explain that a biological relative of Elizabeth has claimed her. What this means for us is we will not be adopting her and she will be going to live with them.
While this is great news for her- she has a family! It is (selfishly) terrible news for us. We love her, we were getting her room ready, I have a photobook ready to send to her with her picture in it, I have been calling her my daughter for a month. Heartbroken.
International adoption (or really adoption in general) is full of uncertainties. We are thankful that Elizabeth has a family, even though we are sad to lose her.
We are certain that God has a plan, and even though we don't know what it is right now (and we hate that), His will and timing is what is best for us, for our family and for our little girl (whoever she turns out to be).
Thank you for your continued prayers.
Andrew and I got some bad (for us) news tonight.
I checked my email and saw I had a new message from our facilitator with the subject line "Elizabeth", immediately my heart dropped. It was late in the day to be getting a message from Congo. They're 5 hours ahead of us, so to be getting an email late in the day when I wasn't expecting anything, I feared the worse. It is not uncommon for children to pass away while waiting in an orphanage.
Thankfully, that wasn't what the email said.
Instead, it said "Elizabeth's case is not going to be able to be processed." and went on to explain that a biological relative of Elizabeth has claimed her. What this means for us is we will not be adopting her and she will be going to live with them.
While this is great news for her- she has a family! It is (selfishly) terrible news for us. We love her, we were getting her room ready, I have a photobook ready to send to her with her picture in it, I have been calling her my daughter for a month. Heartbroken.
International adoption (or really adoption in general) is full of uncertainties. We are thankful that Elizabeth has a family, even though we are sad to lose her.
We are certain that God has a plan, and even though we don't know what it is right now (and we hate that), His will and timing is what is best for us, for our family and for our little girl (whoever she turns out to be).
Thank you for your continued prayers.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Our benefit concert
We had a great turn out for our benefit concert on Saturday! We had a table set up to sell some crafts (magnets, hair clips, t-shirt scarves/necklaces and our t-shirts). We also had pictures of Elizabeth set up so people could see who they were helping!
The girls did some cool dance moves for everyone while the bands were playing.
Our girls! (minus Elizabeth...)
We still have lots of t-shirts available. They're $15, or 2 for $25. If you want one, just let me know. If I don't have the size/color you want, I can get it. If you're local and you want a shirt, we'll have them available at our garage sale THIS Friday and Saturday!
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