::Handmade Bits & Pieces::

Yay! Our Etsy shop, Bits & Pieces by Brooke, is now officially launched online! The website is www.etsy.com/shop/brookesbitsandpieces. Currently we are selling infinity scarves and statement necklaces. We will be adding different handmade items over time. We will leave our Etsy shop open throughout our entire adoption process. Here is the quick preview of the handmade items below:

 

There are more items in our shop so check it out to see what appeals to you! :) We are excited since we already got our first customer within twenty minutes after launching our shop via Etsy.com! Yay! 

Much love!

Brooke & Brian

::Fundraising for Adoption::

Again, we want to sincerely thank you for those who purchased the Shine On tees! We raised a total of $1,136.74 towards our adoption! We also want to thank those of you sent donations directly. We are truly humbled by the support!

Some of you asked us about where we are in our adoption process.... Keep in mind, in the adoption process, it is not like a "Here is the huge chunk of money that you will have to pay and you can just pay it off as you feel like." It is more of a "Here is the amount you owe, pay it and we will move to the next step."

At this stage, we are working towards setting up a home study appointment. There are several fees involved due to international adoption requirements. Here are the break down of fees: $350 for out of state home study review (our adoption agency is in California), $1400 for home study here in Texas, and another fee to satisfy the country of Colombia's requirements. (Where's that money tree people speak of?!)

We are going to work hard and try to bring in as much money as we can. There are plenty of ideas for ways we can raise some extra money. We are currently working on our own fundraiser via Etsy.com selling handmade accessories and 100% of money earned will go towards our adoption. We will share more information once our Etsy store is launched as well as other fundraising affiliations. So exciting!!

Keep on shining! 

Brooke & Brian

 

::Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference.::

We have to say- we are blown away by the amount of love and support from you guys! We are beyond humbled by your generosity. It was nice to see a variety of friends and families purchasing our tees! Some of you even asked us about purchasing the tees after the deadline.  With a lot of T-shirt requests, we may host another T-shirt drive closer to the end of our adoption journey. Thank you so much. 

Please do snap a picture of you wearing the "Shine On" tees- we would like to start collecting photos of our supporters for our adoption journey photo album! We are certain that our to-be-adopted child(ren) will enjoy seeing the support that brought him/her home!

There will be other fundraisers coming up really soon! We are still working with a crowd-funding website, AdoptTogether, that does direct tax-deductible donations with our agency; once that is all set, we will share how to donate.  Again, this could not have happened without you, so..   

::Adopting one child won’t change the world, but for that child, the world will change::

The first time we looked at the scary, ridiculous amounts of $15,000- $40,000 for adoption, our jaws dropped…. but hey, the cost of adoption should never stand in the way of giving a child a forever home with a loving family, right?

Read Huffington’s post about the cost of adopting:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/babblecom/how-much-does-adoption-really-cost_b_1669424.html

"Don’t be discouraged. It’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock."

After doing research on fundraising for adoption, there was a glimmer of hope.  Brian and I became inspired by a Michigan couple who reached their adoption goal of $35k in 4½ months and adopted a boy from Russia! They reached out to their community to make it happen. The couple emphasized that the donations were solely for the orphan, not for their “personal” causes.  We told ourselves, if they could pull it off, then we would try to do the same!

It takes a village to provide a home for a child.

Their successful story included a lot of creative fundraisers such as an online silent auction, pancake breakfasts, garage sales, 5k fun run/walk, movie night, T-shirt drive (we are already doing that!) and restaurant fundraisers. We definitely need to think outside of the box to reach our adoption goal like the Michigan couple did.  Of course, we will make our own contributions throughout the adoption process.  We are currently reading "Adopt Without Debt" by Julie Gumm to give us even more ideas through our journey.

Once we are home study-approved ($1,400!), we would then be eligible to apply for adoption grants to cover some of the remaining expenses.  With those fundraising ideas, we are definitely feeling very hopeful to bring a child(ren) home! 

One last thing, several of you asked me about direct (tax-deductible) donations- we are currently working on setting up an account with Heartsent (our adoption agency) where you can donate directly.  Once it's all set up, we will share the information with you! :)  

We are truly humbled by your support and generosity for those who purchased tees from our adoption T-shirt drive.  Keep shining on! :)

With much love..

Brooke & Brian

::Shine on for a Good Cause!::

Shine on! It's our very first fundraiser for the adoption process! 

Our 10 day T-shirt drive just launched right now at 

http://chromebuffalo.com/a/cb?drive=259 

You can see the stellar tees below in the picture. It's $22 per tee and we will get 50% from the sales. I think the design's really cute!?

For this drive, the funds will go towards the first part of the adoption process: the application and home study fees. However, there are four major adoption fees and we would like to focus one part at a time. There will be other fundraising opportunities in the future that you can be a part of as well! 

A t-shirt (or two) for a good cause! :) 

ox

Sipeks

P.S. If you plan to purchase a t-shirt, please take a picture of you wearing it and send it to me. We would like to show our soon-to-be-adopted child for those who supported this journey! :)

::The Beginning of New Chapter::

We have decided to expand our family by adopting a Sipek!

Another dog, you ask? No, no. This time, we are ready to adopt an orphan (or two!) in South America. We are excited and enthusiastic to start this blog as a way for our families, friends, and other people to be a part of this story and be up to date with where we are in our adoption journey.

This is only the beginning of our expectedly long adoption process. We have been keeping in contact with an Adoption Agency in California with our expressed interest in adopting Deaf orphan(s) in Colombia, hopefully. The coordinator of the agency claimed that she feels truly positive with our case and believes that we will be able to bring a fortunate child or two to our forever home. There are several Deaf orphans available in Colombia, which is the main reason why we are aiming for Colombia.

Meanwhile, we will need to do a lot of fundraising to provide a forever home for the child. We will eventually keep you posted with our upcoming fundraising events with the breakdown of fees for our adoption to give you a clear picture of what is involved. With your generous help, our family can become whole. 

Overall, we are feeling very hopeful and excited to begin our adoption journey! :)

ox

Sipeks