Fireplace Bench Project

We are slowly beginning the task of baby proofing our house before the case worker begins our interviews and inspections. There is lots to do but for our first hurdle I decided to find a way to make our lovely brick fireplace safe for little crawlers as it's surrounded with hard and sharp corners. I didn't love the idea of just putting a baby gate around it so searched my favorite site Pinterest for ideas.

Before - Mean old sharp edged fireplace

 I stumbled onto this site and discovered her brilliant idea for solving the fireplace issue - creating a bench cover! So thus began a new Saturday project for us. And by 'us' I mean, my husband. Funny how that works huh?

We went shopping at our local craft supply store and picked out the material we wanted and the foam to build the bench as well as plywood and pine boards as suggested on the blog.

We chose a faux leather fabric to make clean up easier! 

Chris (aka Superman) began the tedious process of cutting, gluing, re cutting, re-gluing, well you get the idea.

Isn't he handsome? I digress....

After he got the frame built, we began adding the multiple layers of foam to make our bench seat super comfy!

And eventually, after numerous attempts at folding the material just so, we set the bench in place and then my husband told me to stay off Pinterest for the rest of our lives. Just kidding, he didn't say that. Although I'm pretty sure he was thinking it.

Voila!

All done! I'm so happy with how it turned out. Now our future little's (and their friends) will be safe to roam and play!

(Is now a good time to mention the baby gates I want Chris to build next?)

Of Paperwork, Nurseries and Fall

FALL!! This is my FAVORITE season. I love the change of colors and weather. I love being able to get cozy with a throw blanket and slippers. There is more changing than the seasons around our house though! Here are some updates for you all!

Adoption - Well, things are progressing quite nicely! We completed our required all day training session and it was AMAZING! We are so blessed to be working with such a wonderful adoption agency. They brought in a lawyer to give us advice on the legal aspects of adoption, an OHSU Doctor to help us understand potential health problems and tons of other information that was so beneficial. My favorite part was getting to hear from adoptive families and later on in the day from a couple of birth parents who chose adoption for their child. It was breathtaking to hear stories about the beauty of adoption. Obviously the stories shared weren't without pain and difficulty, but the end result of all these people coming together to benefit this one child was just incredible to see. Lets just say my eyes were leaking all day!

In other news, as of last Monday our home study paperwork and studies are COMPLETE and mailed to the agency! What a relief that was to have done.

Now we wait to hear from the agency and schedule our interviews with the case worker! I feel nervous about this part, mostly because I'm not sure what to expect. I've had butterflies in my stomach the last several days as we've taken the next few steps. Its all becoming so real!

In other news, my family visited a few weeks ago and we decided it would be fun to set up the nursery! It may seem early, and in fact probably is quite early, but it feels good to know it's ready to go whenever we get a call someday down the road as well as to show the caseworker when he/she visits our home. Plus it was so fun to have my mom help me decorate and organize everything! She is such a huge help with all of this. We still have some things to finish, but those can all wait until later once we are closer to actually adopting. For now, enjoy some sneak peeks!

Putting together the crib we got on Craigslist! 

We got the two dressers FREE at a yard sale! 

Don't mind the WiFi thing in the window :)

I'm in LOVE with how it turned out. My mom had the idea of doing a Noah's Ark animal theme and had been saving decorations for that purpose. It turned out so cute and relaxing. I love to just go sit in there and dream about rocking a baby in there someday!

Fundraising - Well since you asked, we have raised approximately 1/3 of our adoption costs so far! I'm just BLOWN away at the generosity and love we have experienced. HUGE thanks to everyone who has donated through bake sales and through the Paypal button on the blog! I'm so blessed by every little bit. Next on the agenda is more baked goods right before Thanksgiving and Christmas! Please let me know if you would like some yummy bread or cinnamon rolls!

Well that about catches us all up I think! I want to leave you with this quote I saw the other day. It really inspired me in this season of change we are in. Our adoption agency director reminded us at our training that adoption is for the courageous. That being said, no matter how 'courageous' I may or may not be, the truth is that I feel overwhelming fear about this process almost every day. All the what if's and the complete lack of control leaves me struggling some days because God knows, I love to have everything planned and prepared down to the tiniest detail. But He is leading me into and through a season where I have to let go of the reins and let Him lead me because there is no way I am brave enough on my own to do this. And I am grateful for that, because I know its preparing me for the future. So take a moment to think about what areas of your life God is calling you to have courage in and take a giant leap with me!

Love to you all!

Update

Well hello there! I just realized I hadn't posted for a bit too long. I guess this can speak to the level of busyness happening in our home! So thought I would do a quick update.....

Adoption Process - We are still working away on our home study paperwork and studying. We are about halfway through the reading requirements to meet our 10 hours of training. I have completed The Open Adoption book by Bruce Rappaport. I highly recommend this even if you aren't adopting yourself. It corrects a lot of the misconceptions behind adoption, especially open adoption. If you are supporting a family member or friend through their adoption process, give it a read! It'll really help you know how to best support them.

Now I'm working on the Whole Life Adoption Book and Chris is working on Inside Transracial Adoption! We will update on those books when we finish them!





As for the paperwork, we have our background checks and fingerprinting completed. We are about finished with our individual autobiographies and present life sketch stories. Once those are done, we have to complete a physical with our doctor and send everything in! We have all our references letters done as well. We attend one other mandatory training in October and that completes the training portion.

Fundraising:

We have now completed 3 yard sales and a Cinnadopt bake sale fundraiser (in less than 2 months! WHEW no wonder I'm tired!) Between these events and donations via the Paypal link on the blog we have raised a little over $4000!!! We are so blown away by how generous people have been to us. We have received so many donations of items to sell and even just cash. SO blessed and in awe of how this is all working. So a HUGE thank you to those who have helped in one way or another. I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank you all enough! (baby snuggles someday maybe?) Next up, my friend Jenni will be hosting a Missing Piece fundraiser so look for that on a future post!

House Remodel:

We finally were able to get our roof replaced (thank you to those that helped!) so now our house is looking much better. Next we are working on finishing up the trim and rearranging rooms to begin setting up the nursery! We purchased a cute crib off Craigslist so things are coming together.

That's about all that's going on in our world. So much excitement and wonderful things to look forward too!

Have a great week everyone!

Kristen

Why Adopt?

We have been steadily announcing our plans to friends, family and honestly anyone who will listen! (we might be excited a tad!) Occasionally we have met with some strange responses. Some make us laugh, some make me scratch my head and some....well some just seem confused. Comments ranging from 'oh be careful' to 'oh you just couldn't get the job done so you're gonna go this route huh?' (ok moment of honesty here, but that one made me so angry) 99% of the reactions have been joy and excitement and support for us, and I'm so grateful. But it got me thinking, maybe people don't understand WHY we are adopting. So allow me to explain.....

Chris and I have been married for 5 years, and we have always planned to adopt. I was adopted as an infant and it has always been something I'm proud of. I think the courage and sacrifice of all parties involved is amazing and I greatly admire my birth mom and my parents. So we have left the building of our family to God. Thus far, we have not conceived ourselves. For a long time this was something that I really struggled with, but now I realize that its been a gift in a lot of ways. I'm not claiming that I'm infertile, or that we will never have a biological child, but for right now, God has grown my dream of having children and moved my heart to pursue adoption. And I am BEYOND delighted with this plan He has laid before me. Are we giving up on biological children? No. Are we going to seek treatment or fertility assistance? No. We have decided to be open to pursue the family God has designed for us. The method our children come to be in our family just isn't important. What matters is they fit with us, they were made to be part of our lives. I say they because we don't know how many kids our family will hold. Again, that part is not up to us. The only thing required of us is to say yes! 

We are working with Christian Family Adoptions in Portland. Currently we are in the Home Study phase. We are doing the Loving Options Infant program in Oregon/Washington states only. This option is considerably more affordable and allows us to be closer when the baby is born. There are no guarantees, but the process generally takes 12-24 months start to finish, depending on when you get matched. Once we are approved with the home study visits, we will then wait to be matched with a birth mom and go from there. 

My hope is that helps you understand the 'why' behind all this. Adoption is not a consolation prize. It is not a second option. Its not a 'well we can't have our own children so I guess this will do'. Its a we're-up-for-a-crazy-adventure. Its a yes to something so much bigger than us. There is no sadness for me. Only a fierce determination that somewhere out there, a baby is being conceived who's life we were meant to partner with. Somewhere out there is a birth mom who's courageous, selfless choice to allow us to be part of her journey will make me a mom. It will be beautiful. And messy. And chaotic. But that's just what this life is, a messy beautiful chaotic adventure and I'm so excited for what this will bring. 

So there ya have it. My goal with this blog is to be open and vulnerable with this process. So if you would, please take a moment to leave me a comment so I know who is reading this. Feel free to ask any questions about our journey and I will answer them the best I can. 

Have an amazing weekend! ~ Kristen 

PS - Don't forget to order your baked goods for our Cinnadopt fundraiser! If you are in the Portland/Salem area we will be delivering next week. You can pay via the Paypal button on the main page of the blog. Thanks again!! 

Thankful

Its been awhile so thought I'd try to write an update. Trying to get all my feelings to gather up in an organized fashion is more challenge than I have energy for, so prepare for spiderwebbing! (this is what my husband calls my scatterbrained musings)

First off, a huge huge HUGE thank you to all the amazing people who have helped with our yard sales the last two weekends. Whether it was via donating items to sell, baked goods, loaning tables, standing there selling stuff or however else, we are so beyond appreciative. In our first two weeks of fundraising, we have officially raised over $2200 towards our adoption cost. I am BLOWN AWAY! God is so good to us and the generosity of the people in our lives just leaves me speechless. So THANK YOU!

The yard sale was so much fun, even though it was exhausting. We got to meet so many great people who have been affected by adoption. They shared so many stories with us that gave us such encouragement that we are on the right path. We even had one gentleman stop by that said he came to our sale only because it was for adoption and shared his story with us about how his adoptive parents saved his life. Tears much?!

We received our approval on August 6th, and believe me we had butterflies in our stomachs! Shortly after that the emails started rolling in with all the paperwork we need to fill out. I feel like I'm in college, the University of Adoption perhaps! We have 3 books we have to read and write reports on, an all day seminar to attend and a 21 page mountain of personal info to compile. It is quite daunting, but totally worth it. Currently I am reading about the pro's and con's of an open adoption which is quite eye opening! Another post about that later though. Today we are headed to get our official fingerprinting completed then the paperwork goes in to begin our background checks.

Needless to say our emotions have been all over the place. Joy, fatigue, fear, courage, nerves and extreme anticipation don't even cover the half of it, but overall we have this feeling that all is right with our world. I've never been so confident in a decision (and terrified at the same time!) and I just know we are where God wants us to be. Its overwhelming yes, there are all sorts of unknowns and possible outcomes, but I know God is good and this will all be so worth it.

So what's next you may ask? Fundraising and paperwork!

We are gathering more items for our next yard sale, probably in September sometime. Starting next week we will be taking pre-orders for Cinnadopt (isn't my hubby clever?) My friends home made cinnamon rolls were such a huge hit we decided to do a once a month baking. If you are interested in ordering any please email me at adoptinglove@hotmail.com. We will be baking cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting as well as homemade regular bread and cinnamon chip bread. All proceeds go directly towards our adoption costs. I will deliver to the general Portland area.



Thanks again for taking time to keep up with us. We are so grateful to everyone who is involved with this process. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but in our case, it takes a village to adopt one!

Love,

Kristen