Piles of paperwork

The overwhelming amount of paperwork!! There is a common saying in the adoption world that if you stop doing paperwork than you stop being pregnant.  It is very true!! Everyday you are pregnant you have to take care of that little one living inside of you.  When you are adopting the only way to get closer to that little one, the only thing you can do to keep the process moving, the only thing that is a constant is PAPERWORK!! We are at a little bit of a stand still with paperwork as we wait on Agencies, Government, NBC and the MOJ.  Standing still is way to hard for me so in order to feel like we are still progressing forward I have dove head first into Fundraising mode.  I have been amazed at how hard it is to fundraise when you are not a Nonprofit but that is NOT going to stop us.  I have been busy making flyer's, letters, announcement cards, yard sale signs, and much more.  Today I went a viewed a venue for the Night Out Event!! It is perfect and the lady who owns it is so great.  I am excited to get started planning that event.  Our 5k/10k run is coming along nicely.  We are almost ready to start collecting business sponsor for the t-shirts.  The yard sale pile is growing almost daily thanks to such amazing people.  We have had two WONDERFUL people purchase coffee on https://justlovecoffee.com/loveoutloud.hawley.  We are truly blessed to have such amazing people surrounding us and supporting us through this journey. THANK YOU!!

5K/10K RUN

Found out that the Latah County Fair is on Sept 7th so that wont work for our fundraising event.  New date will be Aug. 24th!!! More details to follow....

MILES!!!

WE ARE SOOO AMAZINGLY BLESSED!!!
We have received our referral.  Our dear son Miles Svetlev Hawley will be joining our family. He was born on June 25, 2010 which means that our boys will be exactly 1 year and 12 days apart.  What a fun month June will be for our family!! He is beautiful!! We are hoping to be able to post a picture soon.

We have always been open to children with specials needs.  The Lord blessed us with Miles who is autistic.  He is nonverbal and has developmental delays.  Early intervention is key for autistic children.  We are eager to meet him and so excited to be his forever family.  WE need to get Miles home in order to get him the medical attention he so desperately needs.  The great news is that YOU CAN HELP!!

Here is how we plan to get him home:

**YARD SALES: Please donate anything and everything you do not need or want!! We will sell it and the money will help us to bring our son home.  We will hold yard sales on June 1, June 8, June 22, and June 29.  If we still have donations rolling in and have stuff to sell we will continue into the month of July.  Still working, still having donation roll in then we will KEEP GOING!! :)

**Night Out: We are shooting for Sept. 7th.  We will hold a HUGE night out.  There will be food, drinks and karaoke.  We will have a silent auction, a presentation, and a TON OF FUN!! This night is aimed at allowing adults to fellowship and enjoy each others company while raising money for the adoption and to educate others about the need and process of adoption. It will be a casual event.  If you have anything you would like to donate to the silent auction, please contact me 509-595-8803.

**5k/10k Walk or Run: Also happening Sept. 7th.  There will be t-shirts and a discount for early registration. This event will take place in Pullman, WA.  Please come and support our precious little boy!!

https://justlovecoffee.com/loveoutloud.hawley- Please visit our Store Front.  You can bring Miles home one sip at a time!! We wanted to do something that allows our friends and family that are not local an opportunity to participate.  Visit our site, order your coffee, and save a life!!!

**Pancake Feed: We are going to partner with our local Applebees and host a Pancake Breakfast!! More to come on this.  Tickets will be available soon....

**Last but NOT least:  If anyone feels it in there hearts to help us in our efforts to bring this beautiful little boy home you can donate to our adoption fund by sending a check to our adoption agency.  They will apply that money to our outstanding balance.  Below is the instructions.

All God's Children International
Attn: Soojin Parks
3308 NE Peerless Place
Portland, OR 97232
***IMPORTANT: in the notes section of your check write- HAWLEY FAMILY ADOPTION***

Our accomplishments thus far...

Pay to the Order Of	Date	Discription
AGCI	11/20/2013	Sent in prelimanary Application- Our journey begins!!
AGCI	12/12/2012	Application
Adoption Learning Partners	12/27/2012	Online Training
ANB	1/9/2013	Orientation and Webinar (application Fee)
ANB	1/10/2013	In Person Training
ANB	1/16/2013	International Pre-Adoptive Home Study Fee
Gas	1/19/2013	Family meeting with Case worker in Plummer
ANB	1/26/2013	Lunch at Training
Gas	1/26/2013	Gas to Boise for Training
AGCI	2/19/2013	1st Agency Service Fee
AGCI	2/19/2013	Orphan Care
AGCI	2/19/2013	Home Study Review (non-AGCI HS)
AGCI	2/19/2013	Eyes wide open book
Amazon	2/21/2013	Books
Gas	3/2/2013	Heidi's meeting with case worker in Plummer
IDHW	3/6/2013	Idaho Background check- Heidi
IDHW	3/6/2013	Idaho Background check- Jason
Medical	3/7/2013	Homestudy medical exam- HIV and TB Test- Heidi
Medical	3/7/2013	Homestudy medical exam- HIV and TB Test- Jason
Latah County	3/11/2013	FBI Fingerprinting- Heidi
Latah County	3/11/2013	FBI Fingerprinting- Jason
State of WY	3/12/2013	Wyoming Backgroung Check
Gas	3/16/2013	Jasons meeting with case worker in Plummer
FBI	3/28/2013	Cashiers check to send to West Virigina for FBI Background check
USPS	3/28/2013	Mailing in Eyes Wide Open Booklet, Home Study and FBI Fingerprints

First Meeting of Home Study

Yesterday we had our first meeting with our case worker for our Home Study.  I can not even begin to describe how nervous we were.  We felt the need to prove we are a normal family even though we are far from normal.  I am not sure we want to be "normal."  In my opinion, we are a loving happy family but we don't have all the answers.  We will give it our best shot, do the research, put in the time and energy but I can promise that we will make mistakes.  We were afraid this would count against us but the meeting went well. A lot of paperwork to sign, questions to answer and items to add to the "To Do List." We were given a number of books to read, classes to attend, and tasks to complete.  Overwhelmed- yes! Excited- YES!!  Progress- YAY!!!

I come from a large family... That is a little bit of an understatement.  I am one of fifteen.  I can honestly say that I am not looking to have a family that size but my best friend in the entire world is my little sister.  I have no idea where I would be without her.  That is one of the main motivations behind our adoption.  I struggle with the thought of not being able to provide my son with the opportunity to have a relationship like the one I cherish with my sister.  I understand that the relationship my son will develop with his siblings may or may not be as great as the one I have with my sister but I am determined to at least provide the opportunity.  I love Kolby with all my heart and want to give him the world- I think that is typical of any parent. :)

We think we may see a flicker of light at the end of this tunnel...

As many of you know, we began our adoption journey when our son was only 6 months old. He is currently coming up on his fourth birthday in June. The point of this blog is to help us document our experience.  I am hoping to find blogging as an outlet for my thoughts, joys and frustrations. If you become a follower- Great!! If this ends up being a venue for me to rant and rave- EVEN BETTER J Our goal is to documenting a period of my life that has brought so many sleepless nights, tears, and unbelievable heartaches but in the end I believe it will be one of the best experience of my life.
Since we began this process we have gotten declined applications one after another:

• Kolby is too young
• Jason and you are too young
• You don't own your house
• You are both self employed
• You need a higher net worth

So in the last few years a lot has changed. All three of us are older :), we bought a house, I work full time as a Training Coordinator, Jason works full time farming and we sold our Espresso Shop and now have a higher net worth.  We got final approval from our adoption agency for the Bulgaria program.  We start our home study this week and head to Boise at the end of January for some education classes. Finally feeling like we see a dim flicker of light at the end of the tunnel....