Big Jump

I thought I would take an opportunity to explain the big jump in our adoption fund thermometer.  The bulk of this jump ($5000) is from our own personal money that we transferred out of Kathleen's personal account today.  Looking forward we feel we will of course be able to come up with more to contribute, but probably not in such large amounts.

Nothing to do with anything, other than just to share a recent cute
picture of our youngest boy so you feel like you are getting more
for your visit.

Other than the adoption itself we have other expenses to consider to start putting money away for.  We are will hopefully be able to cover the bulk of the leave that we will need to take when Kellin comes home with paid leave, as I have a lot of sick time I will be able to use.  However, we know that we will have to take at least some of it unpaid.  Added to that, we are sure there will be some medical expenses when Kellin first comes home as well.  Finally, our current largest vehicle seats 5, so we will need to get something bigger at some point.

So while we are doing really awesome making progress towards our goal, we also realize the hardest part is yet to come.  We of course have some great fundraisers coming up, that we will share more details of as we near the date, so you don't forget.

We just ask that you keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and consider helping us if you can, as we are not out of the woods yet.  If you have any cooking talents and you would like to make a pie or two for our fundraiser coming up on July 27th, that would be a great way to help us out!

Another (Small) Connection to Our Son

Last night I had the privilege of speaking over the phone with someone who visited Kellin's orphanage last year and was able to meet him.  Some of what she had to say was heartbreaking, but it was also reassuring to hear that she felt his orphanage was a good one (although not at all set up for helping a blind child) and she felt that the caregivers wanted to help Kellin but just didn't know how.  She also described him as "sweet."  Awwww.  Don't get me wrong; she feels that his need to get out of the orphanage and into a family is urgent, due to the fact that he is not thriving because no one there is trained to provide care that would encourage growth and independence for a blind child.  Her impression was that he spends the majority of his time in his crib and is basically treated as a baby, rather than as a toddler who should be allowed to play and explore.  Still, I welcome any tidbit of information and any tiny connection we can make to our precious son.

Fundraising is going full force!  Our AMAZING nine-year-old daughter has raised almost $1500 with her "Koins 4 Kellin" fundraiser and she continues to get containers of spare change back regularly!  These are, for the most part, containers filled with coins and sometimes a few dollar bills.  She has received a couple containers back with larger donations; however, the lesson here is - never underestimate the impact of a small donation!  Every little bit truly, truly helps.  Our fundraising thermometer is slowly but steadily rising.

A wonderful woman at our church is coordinating a fundraiser for us on Sunday, July 27th from 10-3.  Although I don't know all the details yet, I know that food and Bingo are planned, so if you live locally, please consider joining us that day for some food and fun.  Mark your calendar!

A heartfelt thanks to everyone who has prayed for us and our son, voiced their support to us, and donated toward our adoption.  I have heard many stories of families whose decision to adopt was met with rude comments, disapproval, and lack of support, even from their families.  We have experienced NONE of those things!  Our extended family and community are truly wonderful!

T-shirts are in!

The t-shirts we are selling are in!  If you ordered one from us, you should be expecting to here from us within the next few days to figure out what the best way would be to get yours to you.  Other than the 5 for our family, we had 35 people order one.  Thanks to the very generous donation of the shirts from Bagy Jo Too we will make $700 from this fundraiser once all the money is collected!

The shirts came just in time for Kathleen's birthday.  Since this post will be going on top of Kathleen's earlier post, I just want to remind everyone that she has challenged everyone to donate 3, 4 or 34 dollars to our adoption fund for her 34th birthday (which is Monday).  Because of course what we all want most of all is Kellin home with us!

Birthday Bucks

My birthday is coming up!  One week from today, I will turn 34.  So who wants to help me celebrate by donating to our adoption fund?  Can you donate just $3, $4, or even $34 to help us bring our son home? Even small donations really add up to a huge difference!

In other news, we are headed to get our fingerprints done for our USCIS application on Wednesday.  One more step forward!

Funds Vs. Expenses

We just paid out the biggest chunk we have had to do so far for processing fees.  This has brought our expenses to date very close to our total adoption fund.  I just want to make it clear, the thermometer is not a pot of money sitting around, it included money that we have already spent.  We do have some money in our separated personal accounts waiting to be transferred over, but we are waiting to see how much it is going to take to fix our roof before doing so. 

If you are at all considering helping us out there are several ways you can do so:

• Donating to our fund on Reece's Rainbow - you can use the link on the banner to the right or mail a check to:
• Reece’s Rainbow
  PO Box 4024
  Gaithersburg, MD 20885 
• Make sure you indicate the check is for Kellin Kehoe if you do it this way.

•  A friend at our church is putting on a fundraiser for us. Food and Bingo!
• Epiphany Lutheran Church in Eagle Lake
• July 27th
• More Details to come!

• We will be holding another garage sale on August 15th and 16th again at Epiphany Lutheran Church in Eagle Lake. We have a lot of donated items to help us out. 

• If you live in the Grand Forks Area, Ferguson Books and Media is putting on a used book sale for us sometime this summer, more details to come.

• If you live in the Mankato Area, you can be sure to come out to the Pizza Ranch this fall for our fundraiser night - more details to be shared at a later date.

And again on our own we are cutting back our own spending on non-essentials like going out to eat, we have not gone out to a restaurant  since we started the process.  So at the end of each month whatever money we have left unspent goes into the adoption fund.  Also money that we make beyond our normal teaching contract is all going to the adoption fund as well.

We really appreciate all the help we have already received from family members, friends, and people we don't even know!  It is amazing the out-pouring of support that has been given to help us get Kellin home!

PAPERWORK!!

A big step forward in our adoption process today - we sent off our packet of dossier documents to our adoption agency!  This is a BIG stack of papers and photos that we have spent the last two months gathering and filling out (sometimes going through more than one draft to get the information right).  If we did everything right, this packet should contain everything we need for our dossier to China, except for the USCIS approval which is still in process.  In order to get that approval, we need to be fingerprinted (AGAIN) and we received our fingerprint appointment in the mail yesterday.  It is scheduled for next Wednesday.  Once that is done, we wait for our USCIS approval (which can take 1-2 months), and then our dossier is ready to go to China!

Just to give you an idea of the amount of paper we sent off today, here is a picture of the papers and pictures laid out on our dining room table.  Keep in mind that a couple of those papers are actually piles of papers, not single pieces.  Oh, and this picture doesn't even show the papers that the adoption agency already has (background checks, letters of reference, home study).

We also had the privilege of sending off a care package to Kellin this week.  We were able to send him a blanket and a toy, along with a letter and camera (with film) for his caregivers.  We hope that they will give the gifts to him, and that they will use the camera to take more pictures for us.

Storm Damage

The last thing you want when you are saving money for something that is really, really important.  An unexpected expense.  This evening while we were eating supper there was a bang and the sound of broken glass as we were heading downstairs to take shelter from the storm.  After the tornado warning was up, I came upstairs to survey the damage.  A busted skylight from a fallen limb.

Remembering to always look on the bright side of life I am focusing on what is really important.  First and foremost, everyone is ok!  I know unfortunately not everyone gets to come away from a storm able to say that.  Also, life has been filled with plenty of good unexpected events as well.  We have had individuals unexpectedly step up to help us in enormous ways.  We just received a few sizable donations that we were not expecting, one of which is not on the total yet because we are waiting for the check to be received by Reece's Rainbow.  We got our appointments to be fingerprinted for the USCIS that I wasn't expecting quite so soon.

And of course, every day I get the unexpected moments with my family and friends that make life so much fun. And as always, just can't wait for Kellin to be home to share in it with us.