AUCTION TIME!!!

You can browse the auction here: Bring Kora Home Auction Facebook

If you do not have Facebook and see something you love you can contact me via email at elizabeth.g.hoos@gmail.com and I'll get your bid in.

We are trying to reach $3,000 to pay off our Dossier payment so we can get the court process started!

Share with friends :)

My favorite pieces are:

Greatest Gifts day #1

I'm going to do a 5 day post about the gifts we've been given.

Day #1: The Gift of infertility

Say what? How can I say this has been a blessing??? When I was a kid everyone always asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I always replied, a mom. I've wanted to be a mom since I was a little girl... It's literally the only true ambition I had outside of being a professional goalkeeper. When I was young, the dream of being a soccer player inspired me to be a better person. I wouldn't trade the hours and hours of pressure training and broken bones, ambulance rides, and tears cried over tough losses. They've made me who I am today, fearless. Now the dream of being a mom is shaping me even more. Sanding down the imperfections and building in me the ability to love our kids unconditionally because we've had to fight so hard just to bring them home.

So, when infertility struck I took it by the horns and fought. Until I realized one thing: I would rather parent a child who needs parents, then spend years trying to bring one into the world. I have come to believe God knew we would find our children through adoption and we were too stubborn to realize it so he had to slap us with a 2x4 for us to get the picture. Now that we have a face and a promise of bringing our girl home I am more confident in this then ever before. Kora was born to be our daughter and we were created to be her parents. God sets the lonely in families.

My message to all you who experience infertility is simple. Listen. Listen to that voice in you that says you have the room in your heart to love a child not of your flesh. Listen to the support you have in any decision you make. Listen to that small voice at night when you are crying yourself to sleep that there is another way! Listen, and take action. Fight for a child who needs to know what love and a family is.

So that's my blessing for today. The gift of Infertility. Without the diagnosis we would never have started our journey to Kora. We would never have seen her sweet face. We would never be able to physically experience the overwhelming feeling of God adopting us into his family. Such beauty from ashes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWHJ6-YhSYQ This is the video that I saw that truly changed my mind... I hope it impacts you in a deep way.

Blessings

Our Facebook auction is almost all prepared for. We've got people donating things from A-Z and it's beautiful the way God's providing a great sale. I have noticed in our adoption journey there are times of great happiness and times of serious frustration, but all through there intertwined with everything is the blessing we are about to receive.

Holidays are a tough time in our house, but for me especially. I long for the day when the person waking me up before dawn to open presents and eat Mercer County Grits is under the age of 18 (Kevin....). Some moments I hold it together and am truly happy, some moments I'm a complete wreck. I think this Christmas will be more moments of me holding it together than of me losing it. This Christmas I am reminded in a tangible way of just how blessed we are, by our church, friends, and family. This Christmas there is only HOPE in the future! We don't know how long it will be until Kora is home. We don't know how many Christmases it will take to have her home and waking us up before dawn. But we have hope that it WILL happen!

This Christmas as you tuck your babies in on Christmas Eve and pray with them, pray for our baby who goes to bed without knowing her mommy and daddy are here just waiting to bring her home. Pray that God will hold her close and let her know she is being loved by hundreds of people half way around the world just waiting to meet that really adorable face (have I mentioned she is crazy adorable?!?!)! Pray that the time will come QUICKLY when we get to tuck her in on Christmas Eve.

Here's how you can bless our family this Christmas:

• Donate an item for our Facebook auction (needed by December 30th)
• Take a look at the preview album of our auction HERE and see something you can't live without ;)
• Pray for us (and let us know you are, it's one of the most encouraging and uplifting things you can say)
• Consider ways YOU can help children without families this Christmas. A quick google search brings up THOUSANDS (that may be a bit of an over exaggeration) of ways to help orphans here in the USA and all over the world!

Thank you to all you who have blessed us IMMEASURABLY! There is no better way for us to thank you than for us to fight to bring our daughter home! So fight we will!

How can we bless you?

My kitchen table

This has been the state of our kitchen table for about 2 years now... I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel! It truly has been easier the third time around... All those forms are completed! Now we are just waiting on the money to submit them! We are so thrilled to finally be done with this part of the paperwork (yes, there's still more...)!!!

We need $890 to submit the I-600A and get the USCIS side of things going (that's our immigration office).
Then we need $5,000 to get the dossier to the DRC and get it translated and started in the offices there!

So far we have $345. We just paid the big payment of $11,397.50 thanks to a bunch of you awesome people and all of our savings!!! YAY! So I know we can get this done!

We have lots of fundraising opportunities available and we've applied for about 15 grants. We're praying we can get this money raised up by my birthday on February 24th. We're really excited to get through the court process in the DRC as quickly as possible so if we get this raised up faster then YAY! So that's my update. I am currently compiling a blogpost with all our fundraisers in one place for a one stop shopping experience! I'll link it here when it's done :)

Thankfulness

Thankfulness is something it's easy to have on the inside for me but I rarely ever show it on the outside. So, today I am going to write down 28 things I am thankful for. (In no particular order)

1. Kevin. Tomorrow is our 5th wedding anniversary. We've grown up together and continue to grow each day. I am so thankful God had us cross paths!
2. Our daughter. Even though Kora is halfway around the world I am already so thankful for what our journey to her has taught me about myself and others. I wouldn't want to find parenthood any other way!
3. My house. Knowing people who don't have a home makes me appreciate mine that much more.
4. Honduras. My family there have taught me to be joyful in heart ache and ever encouraging. 
5. Jamaica. The laid back lifestyle is contagious and I still hold on to it a lot bit!
6. Haiti. Met my good buddy Nat Thomas through Haiti and I wouldn't be the same without him and his pretty wife Brenee :)
7. Good friends. There's nothing like an adoption that will show you who your friends are, and we are blessed with some great ones!
8. Food. Cause I love to eat. Our freezer is always full and our cabinets always stocked.
9. Pets. Nothing like a dog to cheer you up on a bad day!
10. My job. I LOVE caring for these kids, even if they drive me up a wall I love them each so very much!
11. Family. My family has been there for me through it all!
12. In Laws. I always say I have the best in laws, but you know what? It's so true! 
13. Engineering. Because without it we wouldn't know some of the best people in the world! (see #7)
14. My "sisters". Because blood may not connect us but inside we know we were meant to be! 
15. Lists. I am a list maker, in fact, I make lists of my lists (<- True fact)
16. Ice Cream. Whether its a liquid or a solid doesn't matter when you are enjoying its frozen goodness!
17. Clothing. Because I am cold all the time!
18. Cloth Diapers. They've helped me meet amazing people and are helping bring our daughter home!
19. Sewing. Without Serenity (and season 2) I would be an emotional mess! I sew to calm myself down.
20. Facebook. Because instead of talking to myself I can talk to stalking acquaintances! LOL
21. Journals. Because Facebook doesn't listen very well and my journals do.
22. Writing. I suck at punctuation but LOVE to write!
23. My relationship with my savior. Because I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for the hope I have in Christ!
24. British Television. I may be a little obsessed with QI and Doctor Who. 
25. Firefly. Because Firefly.
26. My church family. They've helped my scars heal and gave me a place to feel at home again!
27. Soccer. The game that shaped my life and gave me purpose early in life. A passion that will never die. I'm still a goalkeeper at heart (and in my brain...)
28. YOU! You've read my blogs and been there for me when times were uncertain. Some days it felt like we'd never be parents and now that dream is coming real and you've been there to see it happen! So thank you! 

So there you have it, 28 things I am thankful for! That was easier than I thought it would be! I still have more! HAHA!

Have a great Thanksgiving! Praying we are a family of three by next Thanksgiving!

At Peace

You don't realize the weight of worry and anxiety you have in your life until it's gone. We sent our acceptance payment ($10,897.50) today to our agency. Such a huge weight has been lifted off my chest. When I saw that number standing in the way of us and our daughter the worry set in. I knew if we didn't come up with it quick we stood a good chance of losing our little Kora to another family. We did it, we payed it and she is ours officially officially, but not yet officially x 3 we have to pass court for that... The feeling of peace swept over me as I corralled the babysitting kids in the bank when I made the wire transfer to our agency. Peace in finally being able to put that payment behind us, and peace knowing that our daughter's paperwork is going to start to get gathered up and processed along with ours. We're a family in our hearts, soon on paper, and then in reality. Reality could not come soon enough!

I also think it's pretty cool how so many complete strangers can have impacts on our adoption and they don't even know it. That sweet girl at the bank who asked me about our adoption and got so excited to see a picture, the teller who gave the kids stickers so they would stop running around like wildebeests who also got really excited to see Kora's picture, the lady in the parking lot who smiled at me so compassionately as I dragged two toddlers kicking and screaming to the "magic school bus" at the bank, they all had an impact on this mama's heart and won't ever probably really know! So today I am thankful for the weight of 10k lifted from my shoulders, and the compassion of strangers that gives me the strength to keep fighting to bring our daughter home!

What To Expect When You're... Accepting?

Just wanting to keep everybody updated on the finances for our adoption of our little Kora. So many of you have donated to us in the past that we feel the need to keep you in the know of where we are with getting our sweet Kora home. In total her adoption will cost us $22,000 pre travel. The breakdown of that is as follows:

• 11,397.50 PAID on 11/27/2013!! WOO HOO!!!!
• 9,875 in fees to the agency and to the DRC
• 1,000 in a post placement agreement deposit
• 500 for registration fee (paid already)
• 22.50 for bank wiring to DRC
• 5,075 for dossier translation and submission
• 4,060 after adoption decree
• 3,000 in fees
• 1,000 in orphanage donation
• 60 bank wiring to DRC
• 4,162.50 when we get our travel date
• We're thinking $8,000 for travel, but that's a VERY fluid number. 

We are working on some fundraising still. Here's our plan (never seems to go as planned though...), we will be getting a low interest loan for the first two payments (referral acceptance and dossier) so that we can get the ball rolling on her case in the DRC. We will then be doing fundraising and grant writing to hopefully pay off the loan and then some before the adoption decree and travel fees are due. Then hopefully more fundraising and possibly a no interest adoption loan that can get us the remainder needed for travel!

Here's the fundraisers we have in the works:

• Diapers (plumberbums.storenvy.com)
• Craft Shows with all my handmade goodies
• An auction in the beginning of January (accepting items for this!)
• A Spring Fling here at our house, going to be a big party with games for the kids (and adults...), cornhole tournament, a doggie kissing booth, raffle, face painting, balloons, and more!
• Parent's Night Out's return monthly in January!!!
• I'm still babysitting and Kevin will be doing odd jobs on the weekends for a donation (when he has time)
•  Another (I KNOW) garage sale this spring (unless anyone knows of a free venue to do one indoors)
• Hoping to get approved to do a Both Hands Project with Lifesong For Orphans
• Christmas cards and ornaments

Things you can do to help:

• Donate items for us to sell at garage sales
• Collect items for our auction (new products, can be anything really!)
• Someone who can write to stores and ask for donations (gift cards or products etc...)
• Spread the word about our fundraisers, in particular the auction, spring fling, and parents night out. 
• Come over and help us clean our house (partially kidding here...)

With working about 80 hours a week, with a home daycare and a sewing business, things can get crazy. So if I don't answer/return calls please know it's not me ignoring you because i'm rude (although......). It's because I just don't have the time, text or email me instead as I can do that all the time pretty much (although it may take a day to respond sometimes). 

As always, pray for our little Kora.