Friday, July 29, 2016

Summer Updates




Wow! It has been a whirlwind summer for sure!  A few updates to share...

We have accepted an offer on our house and if everything goes as planned we will be moving in early September!

Also, God has once again provided just what we needed with some extra income opportunities this summer and we have moved forward with our home study!  Between selling our house and working on the home study, we can't even begin to count how many times we have signed or initialed pieces of paper this month!!

So what's next?  We still have several documents to gather and complete for our home study file.  We are hopeful that we will be settled in a new home well enough to complete our home visits with our social worker, and subsequently finish the home study, by the end of September.  From there we will continue preparing our dossier (all of the paperwork that goes to Ukraine) with our adoption agency.

To finish out the summer we have 3 fundraisers coming up!  We are still selling our adoption t-shirts for a few more days.  This has not been as successful as we had hoped for yet, but we are still hopeful more orders will come in these last few days.  Please let us know if you would like one!  We will also be collecting water bottles for recycling at a large event one weekend in August.  Lastly, our most recently scheduled fundraiser is a partnership with Burgerville on Friday, August 19th from 4:00-8:00 where they will donate 10% of all sales during that time to our adoption expenses.  So save the date and be sure to plan a dinner at the Heights Burgerville that evening (7401 E Mill Plain Blvd., the one near Andresen).  And if you dine-in, we will be your servers! :)

Sunday, July 10, 2016

T-shirts for a Cause!

Question: Who wears t-shirts?  Answer: Everyone!
We have an exciting new fundraiser starting now that everyone can enjoy!  We are selling these awesome t-shirts, designed by Fund the Nations specifically for us, that will support our adoption in a HUGE way!  Adult small-3XL sizes are available for $20 and a portion of that will come right back to us and our adoption fees.  We will collect orders and payment through August 3rd.  After that we will submit the entire order to Fund the Nations and within a week or so your shirts will arrive!  You get an awesome shirt and we get to build our family.  Pretty awesome right?!  Not only that, but after our little one comes home they will be able to see all these people wearing "their" shirt that helped to bring them home.  We would love for as many people as possible to join in on our journey, so let us know what size you would like us to order for you!  Comment on this post or e-mail us at stephanie.zander90@gmail.com. Please feel free to share with others too and let them know how they can be a part of our journey by buying a shirt!


Thursday, July 7, 2016

Let the Paperwork Begin

We have been working on an overwhelming amount of paperwork for the beginning part of our home study this week.  We've been told this is barely the beginning of so much more paperwork to come!  This week we also found out the entire cost of the home study is due upfront before we can move forward anymore. So for now we have to stop and wait until we have the funds to make the payment to our home study agency. During these first few months of our adoption journey we have been truly blessed financially through fundraisers and the generosity of some people.  Additionally we have been blessed with some extra income opportunities this summer.  Yet, the reality is we still have a long ways to go in funding this adoption.  The total cost of our adoption will likely be close to $30,000.  So far we have been trying to take it one payment at a time, but now our payments are getting bigger and closer together, and the financial stress becomes more real. 

Unfortunately the sad reality is that many families are so scared of the cost of adoption, that it prevents them from ever pursuing adoption, which in turn prevents children from having families.  Many people think they should be able to do it all on their own.  Some would even go as far as saying if you can’t afford it, you shouldn’t do it.  To be honest there have been times when all of those thoughts have gone through our heads.  We don’t know exactly why God has called us to adopt (especially right now) but we know He has, and we believe it will truly end up making a difference not only in our lives and the life of the child that we are working for, but in many other lives as well.  The reality is we can’t fund this adoption on our own.  The more I read about other adoptive families’ journeys the more I realize that that’s okay.  In the end, we believe it’s going to allow us to see God work in ways we can’t even imagine right now.  It’s going to give others the opportunity to be part of adoption.  And it’s going to raise awareness about the great need of advocating for orphans and children everywhere.


We would love if you would consider making a financial donation on our YouCaring page: Growing in our Hearts.  No amount is too small when it comes to bringing our little one home and becoming their family.  We are so thankful that so many of you are part of this journey with us!