::Surprise!::

Happy New Year!

Pigs are flying and worms are growing ears.  The unthinkable has happened. 

YES! After receiving an unexplained infertility diagnosis and "trying" to get pregnant for a long time, we received confirmation that we are expecting. Then a heartbeat.

This. Is. For. Real. 

It took us a while to digest and process this amazing news. We were kind of in denial for a while because it was..... seemingly impossible? The news didn't sink in after several blood tests to confirm completely... yes, we are expecting a little Sipek this July! Happy times in the Sipek household! 

Waiting for the entire three months was the longest and hardest for us to keep mum and to assure that were no pregnancy complications.  We are very excited and filled with joy about our little peanut scheduled to arrive this summer.  The first time we saw our little one through the sonogram, it didn’t hit us as much as the second sonogram where there was a very CLEAR image of our adorable baby waving his/her legs and arms. We even saw the umbilical cord. We heard the heartbeat. It was surreal. Naturally, we cried with joy. It finally sank in by then.

Are we still adopting? ABSOLUTELY! We have invested so much time and emotions throughout the whole adoption process and we are more than happy to expand our family with more children. The more, the merrier! We notified our adoption agency about our pregnancy news and they were very supportive and elated about the news.  We officially made the country switch from Colombia to China and got updated information about our process for China’s requirements. We did find a Deaf boy from China and we will need to wait until our home study is updated to meet the criteria for China such as broadening the child’s age range to give us more options for available orphans. There are some additional fees that we have to pay to renew the contract with the China program. Overall, we are still very excited and enthusiastic!

We have heard some amazing adoption stories where couples got pregnant during the process or after. In their stories, there were some subtle implications where people asked, “are you excited to have your own children?” as if adopted children would never be their own?  We will love our children equally and it doesn’t matter if they were adopted or biological.  They all will be our own. We just happen to be fortunate enough to go through both processes.  We are so thankful for this.  We do not want to discount the importance of adopting because we are pregnant, but rather to celebrate the idea of us becoming parents and giving our children-to-be our love and care. To us, an adopted child is no less special or wanted than a biological child. We cannot wait for our baby to be born and to bring another child home.  That’s the ultimate gift for us.

We hope that the year of 2015 will bring each of you peace, joy, and happiness.

Cheers!

The Sipeks

::outcome of our adoption auction::

We want to share with you all about the outcome of our adoption online auction via Facebook. We figured the auction would bring in about $900, but in our little dream world, we secretly hoped it would bring in closer to $1,500. :)

The grand total of the online auction was $1,697 including a few surprise donations! Far exceeding our expectation and our wildest dreams. We want to sincerely thank the bidders & winners for participating and supporting! The auction was fun and intense, especially in the final hour! We are fortunate to have incredibly generous people in our lives! It was an amazingly successful auction!

Of  course, we want to give SPECIAL THANKS for the donors' generous support and their willingness to be a part of our journey! 

Here is a list of awesome items that were auctioned off:

• Pop Chart Lab: The Very, Very Many Varieties of Beer poster
• Freshly Picked: a pair of moccasins 
• Puj: Puj Flyte compact infant tub 
• Sprinkles Cupcakes: A gift certificate for a dozen freshly baked Sprinkles cupcakes
  
• Heather Ruiz from Jamberry Nails: a stylebox
• The Sprouted Arrow: a toddler black sparkle infinity scarf
• The Posh Pea Boutique: a bib & burp cloth set
• Karina Pedersen from Stella & Dot: two necklaces and a pair of earrings
• A Beautiful Mess: a signed copy of their book, "Happy Handmade Home"
• Julie Hochgesang: Thousand Origami Cranes
• Fiksu Design: Custom Stenciled Art
• TrendyBubs: A custom pair of leggings
• Rantz & Danon Teeters: Distressed/Shabby Chic Wooden Candle Lantern
• Kerri Clark Designs, LLC.: A 25-photo session with Kerri Clark Designs
• Sora Designs: large hexagon hoop earrings
• Kassapanola Handmade: handmade pillow cover
• Hello Apparel: a tee shirt
• With Love Accessories1: aztec earrings set
• Haven Paperie: set of 5 beautiful cards
• Bumblesoaps: a gift basket
• OhSugarButtons: a necklace
• Rochella Jones: two jars of homemade strawberry jam
• CrochetGallery: chunky crochet slouchy beanie hat
• bink & boo: a pair of baby booties
• Megan Burgess (donated by Rachella Shepard): "Guard Your Heart" artwork
• HandmadeByJennn: a crocheted chunky wrap
• mimosa by m.e.: ASL sign language custom name bar necklace
• Housebroken: a tee shirt
• CakePop Envie: a dozen of cake pops
• The Fickle Felt Tree: a 5ft garland
• Dyan Sue Kovacs from Premier Designs: "It's a wrap" bracelet
• Lucy Darling Shop: a "Every Little Thing" art print
• Kelvin & Marlene Etkie: 8 lbs. of organic venison & pork meat
• Brooke's Bits and Pieces: a southwest burnout scarf & a clutch purse   
• Jessica Schmidt: three homemade bath salts with dōTERRA essential oils

Since this was a huge success, we are seriously considering about possibly hosting some kind of an auction dinner in the spring. Meanwhile, we still have our on-going fundraiser via Brooke's Etsy shop which will continue to fund our adoption process. Last week, we received a letter from USCIS with their approval for us to adopt in Colombia! However, we still have to go through some changes if we are still interested in switching countries.  So. Much. Red. Tape!

We will blog again soon to show you the breakdown of the prices and funds that we have raised so far... and where we are right now with all of our expenses. 

Again, thank you for your generosity! We are humbled. :)

Much love, 
Brooke & Brian

::World Adoption Day!::

Today is World Adoption Day.... the first ever worldwide celebration for adoption!

You can check it out at http://www.worldadoptionday.org/ for further information. 

Where? 

All over social media and anywhere else you choose to celebrate! Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Instagram, Pinteres, while shopping at the mall, or lounging on a lazy Sunday afternoon– anywhere you connect with people near or far. 

What can you do? 

Draw a smiley face on the palm of your hand, and share your love for adoption on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, or Instagram. Tell the world why you think adoption is awesome! When you post, invite people to join us in celebrating #WorldAdoptionDay by: 

1. Tagging someone who has adopted, is adopted, or is adopting in the photo or link 

2. Posting an open hand smiley face selfie on exactly 11/09/14 using the hashtag #WorldAdoptionDay 

3. Make a #WorldAdoptionDay donation to a family who is in the adoption process 

(find us via Instagram at BrookeATX)

oxox,

Brooke & Brian

::Adopting A Sipek Auction::

Our first adoption online auction begins tomorrow at www.Facebook.com/AdoptingASipekAuction! 

We are very excited with many awesome items for bidding! The holidays are coming up and this would be a great opportunity for you to grab some goodies! All proceeds will go towards our adoption. Please spread the word! :)

Check out some new additional items below. You can check for further information on our adoption auction page!

Adoption Auction rules: 

To place a bid in the comment box on Facebook under the specific item you want, put dollar amount (no cents). Bids will only go up in dollar increments. Feel free to bid in dollar increments of your choice ($1, $5, $10, and so on).  Please keep checking on your specific item to outbid if you wish.

Must pay invoice within 24 hours of receipt. We will contact you via Facebook message—this is IMPORTANT to check your message box. If you haven’t paid within 24 hours, the item will pass to next highest bidder.

Method of payment: PayPal to BrookeASipek@gmail.com. If you have any questions, please contact us. 

 The bidding will CLOSE on November 2^nd at 4pm CST.  The auction page’s privacy will be turned on to prevent any further bidding. We will contact the winners.  

Have FUN! This is for a great cause, which is to bring a child home with us! Let’s not tarnish its purpose by being upset at lost bids, by a sending harsh messages, etc.

 

Have fun bidding!! :) Good luck!

oxoxo

Brooke & Brian

::Auction Items Preview::

Auction Updates:

Check out some of the amazing items that we have so far for our upcoming auction via Facebook on November 1-2! We are still gathering more donated items; if you are interested in being a part of our adoption auction, you can contact us at SipekAdoption@gmail.com! 

Our adoption auction link is at www.Facebook.com/AdoptingASipekAuction

Here's a SPECIAL thank you for those who donated towards our adoption! 

Freshly Picked

A Beautiful Mess

Pop Lab Chart

Sprinkles Cupcakes

Sora Designs

Fiksu Design

TrendyBubs

The Sprouted Arrow

Kerri Clark Designs

Julie Hochgesang

Rantz/Danon Teeters

Heather from Jamberry Nails

The Posh Pea Boutique

Your generosity is very much appreciated!

::love will move mountains::

Brooke speaking here:

I'm going to be frank here because I just want to show you the other emotional & raw aspect of the adoption process. 

I had.... let's say, a mini emotional meltdown a while ago. 

We received some disappointing news that the surgery didn't go well due to many post-op health complications with the little boy we were rooting for. Thus, we are not a suitable family for him anymore. Our hearts sank. It was VERY disheartening for us. I think I took it a little bit hard, because I had high hopes on that little boy.  I fell in love with the picture of the adorable boy, especially with his cheeky dimples. I kicked myself for having high hopes and I kept preaching to myself, "don't have high hopes, don't have high hopes!" Because anything could happen... like this situation. It's like when I want something badly, I absorb and soak in the entire experience, which is difficult for me to hold back and take it easy. I even questioned myself if the doctors in Colombia were as good as the doctors here in the United States? I felt like the surgery ruined the whole process for that little boy. I was mad. I was upset. We were this close to lock on this little peanut. We are more than ready to be parents. 

Back to square one.  I feel hopeless. Seriously, what's our next step?

"Difficulties are opportunities to better things, they are stepping stones to greater experience. Perhaps, some day you will be thankful for some temporary failure in a particular direction. When one door closes, another always opens, as a natural law it has to be, to balance."

True. We'll look at this experience as a stepping stone (fingers crossed) to something greater. It's difficult to stay optimistic because we do not have many who could relate with our experiences. However, we had a recent discussion with our adoption agency for their honest opinion on what we should do next. They are the experts in this field. We have waited for a year and nearly three months. Is there something we need to change? Our criteria? Should we look into adopting from another country? Our agency emphasized that Colombia is already a SMALL country to begin with, thus the amount of available Deaf children is slim. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. 

We are between a rock and a hard place. 

We talked with families and close friends about this situation and about possibly making a decision. What's the decision? It's looking more and more likely that we'll look into adopting from China. Our agency sent us several files on Deaf orphans there and we felt a glimmer of hope for us there. The orphans are ready and waiting. The country switch will not affect our expenses or lose our investments. Our agency is willing to transfer everything to China. There are some things we need to check with but this seems like our next move at this point.

There are a lot of buts. I'm thinking like...but we've invested in Colombia so much, especially with adoption fundraisers. Colombia puzzle, Colombia t-shirts, Colombia this and that. I feel like I'm a traitor for willing to consider about switching countries. Brian made a valid point, "It's all about giving a child a home no matter from where."  My mom pointed it out that those are just materials. We could look at those as stepping stones to guide us to somewhere else to reach our goal of giving and bringing a child home. We could easily transfer all the puzzles that people donated for Colombia to a new China puzzle. The shirts represent an important aspect of our adoption journey that it didn't work out, but it steered our direction to something greater. True. Although, I'm still having mixed feelings. It's difficult to consider this because I was truly mind set on Colombia with my whole heart and then... it didn't really work out the way we wanted it to be. I think I'm still struggling to grasp the fact that some things are not meant to be.  Like I mentioned, we are between a rock and a hard place. 

We will update you all with what our decision will be soon. 

Your thoughts and prayers will be very much appreciated. 

Much love, 

Brooke & Brian

::Donated Auction Items NEEDED::

Homemakers, Etsy shop owners, crafters, boutiques, store companies.....

Interested in helping? We are currently seeking for donated auction items and if you are interested in being a part of this amazing story, feel free to e-mail me at SipekAdoption@gmail.com with the following info: image of item, item description (with measurements if applicable), retail value, and your shop details so we can share the love! Gift cards are also acceptable! 

Once we gather enough auction items, we will announce and post the date of our "Adopting A Sipek Online Auction" on Facebook. :)

We will be sending out our adoption donation request letters to stores/boutiques to see if they will be willing to provide assistance as well! Wish us luck! 

Thank you! 

Brooke & Brian