Financial Update

 The Purdy's fundraiser raised $263 and the magazine fundraiser has raised $154 so far!! Along with the other money I have saved and raised through the silent auction, card sales and donations we are at a total of $15,605!!!

That means I have less than $20,000 to raise and save!! I am so thankful to God for his provision-He has provided the money for each payment that was due and I am trusting He will continue to do so. Thank you for allowing Him to use you. I cannot wait to tell my son about all the people who helped me raise him ransom.

Thank you for loving my son and supporting me on this journey. Words cannot describe how thankful I am to each of you.

Home Study and Dossier Update!!

On Sunday, I met with my social worker (my last trip down to Victoria!) and the meeting went really well! On December 8th she will come and do our home inspection and finish up the educational aspect of the home study. After that she will write the home study, send it to the Executive Director and then send it back to me for a proof reading and then we will all sign it and it will be ready to go!


Now onto my dossier. I have started to collect the items that I need to collect for it and my hope is that it will be ready to go early in the new year. It was looking that it may take into the new year to find a specialist to complete my psychological evaluation but today I got a call and it looks like it will be complete by the end of this month.

My dossier checklist includes:

_____ Original Home Study (Expected to be done at Christmas)

_____ Hague Approval Letter (Agency will apply for this)

_____ Birth Certificate (Ready to Go)

_____ Original Criminal Records Checks (Will be doing in the next couple weeks)

_____ Medical Evaluation (DONE)

_____ Psychological Evaluation (Should be done this month)

_____ MCFD Prior Contact Check (DONE)

_____ 6 Family Photos

_____ Photocopy of Passport (Ready to Go)

_____ Immigration Pre-Approval (Will be applying in the next couple weeks)

Things are falling into place and God is providing each step of the way. The next fee I am saving for is my Bulgarian Agency Fee of $11,000 to $14,000 (waiting to hear the specific amount). 

Praise and Prayer Requests

• Praise God for providing $12,710 (over a 1/3 funded)!!!!!
• Providing a Psychiatrist to do my evaluation
• God would continue to watch over and care for my son
• That He would prepare my heart and mind for the months ahead
• That my pre-approval to adopt from Immigration would be processed and not lost in the system
• That God would bless those who are coming alongside of my and my future son 
• That God would provide my next fees. 

Thank you for journeying with me. I am blessed! 

Much love,

Heather 

Kisses From Katie

If you are ever looking for a good book to read that will inspire you Kisses From Katie is a book I highly recommend. Katie is a young women who went to Uganda on a short term missions trip and it stole her heart. She went back to Uganda for a year to teach and through that time God planted dreams in her heart and she still lives there today. She is the founder of Amazima and is a mom to 13 daughters that she has adopted in Uganda. She continues to give of herself each day to serve and love those around her. She is truly inspirational! 

I would love to share some quotes from her book that have challenged me. 

"My family, adopting these children, it is not optional. It is not my good deed for the day; it is not what I am doing to 'help out these poor kids.' I adopt because God commands me to care for the orphans and widows in their distress. I adopt because Jesus says that to whom much is give, much will be demanded and because whoever finds his life will loose it but whoeverlooses his life for my sake will find it."

Update

I am half done my home study process and we are on track to having our last session on Dec 6th or 7th.  Then my social worker will write up a home study report and my agency will approve it.

When you are adopting you have the option of waiting until your home study approved before you pay the next fee and start collecting the parts of your dossier. Or you can do them at the same time so that you are able to submit soon after the home study is done. I will be making my next payment this week so that I can start the process of gathering all the parts of my dossier. Paperwork has a time period that it is good for and so once it passes a specific time frame you have to get it redone and so my goal is to have to not have to redo things...as redoing papers and documents means more expense I have to pay.

On Sunday, Aiden saw me holding one of the little guys who comes to our house for respite and he asked Mom "Did Heather get her boy from Bulgaria?" I am excited to see him understanding that I am adopting and that he will have a nephew from Bulgaria! I cannot wait to introduce them to each other.

Grateful

Tonight as I have started to write thank you cards I am overwhelmed with a sense of thankfulness and praise to God. When I said yes to God and started this journey I knew I could not do it alone but I did not know that you would support me so well. Thank for you giving of your hard earned money and for making this adoption possible. I pray that God will bless you 100 fold.

I am up to having $9650 raised and each gift of money I receive my hearts overflows with more gratitude to God. He is a faithful God who provides each step of the way.

Thank You!!

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to my Silent Auction and Dinner. I am so thankful to each of your for your support and for coming alongside of me. We raised over $2860!!!! Together with other donations and personal savings I have my next payment of $5500 ready to go. I am so thankful!

So my number of $35,000 needed is now down to $26,450!  I almost have a third of my adoption funded; I just need $3116.67 to reach that goal!


A HUGE thank you to:

Josh and the Tribe at RSDK




To check out the RSDK Apparel go to HERE


Black Rock Resort in Ucluelet


It is located on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It is a perfect place to go for a weekend away.

For more information go HERE


Pacific Surf School in Tofino












To book a surfing lesson go HERE


Thank you to The Quality Resort Bayide for hosting the evening!












For more information go HERE


Thank you for Emily at My Little Nest



For more information check out My Little Nest on Facebook!

I would also like to thank:
Prancing Pony
Ivy Cottage
Petal and Kettle
Curves
Lighthouse Gift Shop
Bea's Nest
Wilde and Sparrow
Soak Essentials
Simply B Images
Rachel Bosch Photography
and many others who donated items.

I couldn't have done it without you!

With deepest gratitude,
Heather

Hosting a Silent Auction for your Adoption

I hosted my first silent auction. I have never been to a silent auction and so it was a first for me and I would say that it was a success! We raised over $2860! I thought that I would share the details of how we organized it in case it can be an encouragement or help others who are adopting.

Booking a venue:
We booked the event at a local resort and so we paid $20 per adult and $10 per child to the resort and I sold the tickets for $30 for adults and $10 for children. I only had two children attend and so with 63 adult tickets sold I profited $630 before the auction earnings. That price included a pasta buffet, dessert, coffee, tea and punch as well as all the linens and they clean everything up after the event. As well, the resort donated a gift certificate to the auction!

Inviting people:
My sister designed nice invitations on the computer and we mailed them to friends and family who live within 2 hours of our town along with a letter talking about my upcoming adoption.

Facebook is a great tool. We created an event on Facebook and invited anyone local. As well, we put signs up at the local mall and a grocery store. If you attend a church that is adoption friendly I would suggest asking them to put it in the bulletin.

Obtaining Item for the Auction:
I was overwhelmed by the amount of items I received. I received around 100 items. I emailed friends, family and acquaintances who have businesses and had a very positive response. As well, I emailed companies in a neighbouring city that has high tourism traffic and my sister went to some local companies and asked them to donate items.

I received:

• $500 to a resort on the West Coast of the Island
• two surfing lessons
• many gift certificates
• flowers
• pictures
• photo sessions
• games
• movie night baskets
• along with so many other items

Setting up and running of the Auction:
Make sure that you have enough tables so that the items are not too crowded. We had 8 large rectangular tables and could have used 10. We placed the tables around the edge of the room.

We made bidding sheets for each item and placed it in front or beside each item. We made our own sheets similar to this one.

The rules were:

• highest bidder wins
• must start at minimum bid
• have to pay by cash or cheque

We allowed throughout the night specific times for people to bid and then we closed the tables in 2 groups. If I was to do it again I would have closed the tables in four groups. As bidding closed my family would use a sticky note to place in the item with the winners name and the amount of the winning bid. When the whole auction had closed they tallied how much each person owed and they gave them the amount as they left at the end of the evening.


We also had a kids table where they could buy the items at set prices. I had items for .25, $1, $2, $3,$4 and $10.


Program for the Evening:
5:30 Bidding on the items and mingling
6:10 Supper with a pianist playing
6:50 Bidding
7:00 Quiz on Bulgaria with prizes (below)
7:15 Two minutes to finish bidding on specific tables and then close them
7:20 Name the Eastern European Countries on the blank map quiz with prizes (I gave them a list of countries that they had to identify)
7:35 Finishing bidding on remaining items
7:50 Closed bidding and my family started tallying how much people owe.
7:55 I shared about the adoption journey I am on, why I have chosen to adopt a boy with Down   Syndrome from Bulgaria and how people can get involved.
8:10 A friend prayed for me and I thanked everyone for coming. People paid for the items they won on their way out.



Lessons learned:

• ensure you have adequate time to set up
• recruit help
• provide table games that involve minimal marking or get a teacher friend to help you!

Bulgarian Quiz

1.      What is the population of Bulgaria?

a.      6.9 million

b.      1.2 million

c.       7.3 million

d.      4.3 million

 

2.      What is the name of the Bulgarian President?

a.      Rosen Plevneliev

b.      Vladimir Putin

c.       Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta

d.      Petar Stoyanov

 

3.      How many kilometres is a direct flight from Vancouver to the capital of Bulgaria?

a.      9,307

b.      7,910

c.       11,909

d.      12,082

 

4.      What is the average high temperature in Bulgaria in October?

a.      10°F

b.      18°F

c.       21°F

d.      32°F

 

5.      What is the national flower of Bulgaria?

a.      rose

b.      tulip

c.       snowbell

d.      fire lily

e.      iris

 

6.      When did they become a member of the European Union?

a.      1999

b.      2005

c.       2007

d.      2011

7.      Which of the following is words is Bulgarian?

a.      картоф

b.      barabulă

c.       кромпир

d.      馬鈴薯

e.      תַפּוּחַ אַדֲמָה

 

8.      What is the name of the capital?

a.      Dobrich

b.      Burgas

c.       Nis

d.      Plovdiv

e.      Sofia

 

9.      What is the predominant religion?

a.      Eastern Orthodox

b.      Anglican

c.       Muslim

d.      Catholic

 

10.  What is the currency called?

a.      pounds

b.      lev

c.       euro

d.      forint

 A couple other questions to include would be:

• Which of the following is the flag of Bulgaria?
• Which countries border Bulgaria?