Reece's Rainbow

I feel a little funny not mentioning Reece's Rainbow on the blog yet. I can tell you that single handedly, it has been one of the biggest influences on Derek and I's decision to adopt. Spend five minutes on their site and tell me it didn't give you heart palpitations looking at all the sweet faces needing moms and dads. 

Www.Reecesrainbow.org

Right now they have their Angel Tree fundraiser going on, so if you feel compelled to help but don't know how, make a donation to the child of your choosing! We often make small $5 donations to our "favorite" kiddos (but really, how can you choose?). It's not much,  but I can tell you that I would be THRILLED to receive $5 from a complete stranger who wants to support our adoption. That's why I love RR so much. 

We aren't using Reece's Rainbow to fundraise for our adoption. Hong Kong doesn't allow public listings of their waiting children, so they aren't listed on RR. I'm still HEAD OVER HEELS for this organization and have met some great people affiliated with it. There's even a family from Newton who fundraised with them and is picking their little one up as we speak. It makes this momma soooo happy to see the waiting children being advocated for. RR is giving a voice to those who would otherwise remain quiet. I can't think of a better organization to donate to this holiday season if you are having a hard time deciding! Well, I guess I can think of ONE! Our first family fundraiser is in full swing and we would be so grateful if you supported us by buying a raffle ticket (or ten :-). 

We hope you'll check out the RR website, as every person who views their site is a potential donor, mom, dad, or advocate. We aren't just passionate about OUR little one we hope to adopt, but all orphans still waiting on their mom and dad to bring them home. 

FUNDRAISER NUMERO UNO

The time has come. The reality of how expensive adoption really is has hit us, and it has hit us hard. Tomorrow we launch our first family fundraiser. We are cautiously optimistic about the success of our fundraiser, but we hope to raise about $2,000. That amount equals about half of the total fees that are due to our agency in the next few months. 

It is so difficult for me (Michelle)to put our family out there and depend on others to help us achieve this enormous goal. Derek and I don't like to have to depend on others, so admitting the fact that hey, we don't have $17,000 extra sitting around to fund our adoption is a hard pill to swallow. I know that we aren't alone, though. God has led us to where we are right now and we have faith that he will walk alongside us until baby Embry is home. We have supported several other families that we've never even met on their adoption journey (through Reece's Rainbow), and we know there are other families out there like us that will support us however they can. We truly believe people are good, and that's what will get us through this process.   

The plan for our fundraiser is this: sell raffle tickets to our friends and families for baskets that have graciously been donated to us. Tickets are $5 a piece, or 5 for $20. The first week of December we will draw the winners of the baskets from the pool of tickets we've sold. The baskets are all "gift" themed and would make great christmas presents! This fundraiser will cost us a total of ZERO dollars, unless we meet our goal of selling 450 raffle tickets. If we sell all 450 tickets, we will draw an additional winner for a Kindle Fire HD. We will be buying the Kindle out of our own pockets, so that would be the only thing we would pay for for the entire fundraiser. See? God is already good. Even if we only sell 50 tickets, we will still be that much closer to being fully funded. We are setting our goal high, and whatever happens, happens. 

Here's a sneak peak at just some of the baskets up for grabs:

Toddler headband and necklace, made by Michelle's sister Maegan Kater

Snowman themed gift basket donated by Gloria Embry

Basket of Salon products, donated by Shear Elegance Salon

Hand-made hat and scarf made by Marilyn Koehn

Premier Designs set donated by Kelli Schrag

We'd just like to give a million thanks to those who have donated baskets. Your generosity is overwhelming to us. We had two donations from people we don't even know. That really speaks volumes to this community we are a part of. Our child is already blessed in that they will be raised in a community of people who loved them before they were even home. Humbling.

I can't end this blog post without giving a huge THANK YOU to Derek's mom, Gloria. From the moment we told her we we wanted to adopt, all she has asked is "How can I help?". She has been so amazing in getting this raffle together and pushing me to get things going. There's something special about that spitfire Grandma "G"! 

Now... wish us luck in our first fundraising adventure!

Part One: Approved.

So. Real things have been happening in the Embry Adoption world. Real, exciting things. We submitted our official application to the agency and received word this week that it was APPROVED. What does that mean? It means a whole lot more paperwork for Derek and I, and it means a whole lot of fundraising needs to happen STAT. 

We have 90 days to complete this second application, and when we do, we owe $400. The agency then has 30 days to approve the second application, and GOD willing they do, we will owe our first set of agency fees and the home study fee. That's where real, scary numbers come into play.

We plan to do a few fundraisers throughout the course of our adoption. We are really taking a leap of faith that we will be able to do this with the help of our families, friends, and this great community we are a part of. Here's some food for thought:

"My friends, adoption is redemption. It's costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed him." -Derek Loux

So why would we want to do this? To put a humungous financial strain on our family? To completely exhaust all of our energy and savings into something that may or may not work out? Because we KNOW that there is a child out there that is waiting on us to come get them and bring them home. To our home. To their home. We don't know HOW we know this, but we couldn't be more sure of it. We refuse to let money stand in the way of giving our child a family. 

With that said, this is a call to action to YOU! Our friends and family. Our biggest supporters. We ask that you keep us in your thoughts during this process. We need all of the support we can get. Not everyone can adopt (although I totally think everyone should at least CONSIDER it!), but you can help in some way or another. If your thing is praying, pray! If it's donating, donate! If it's advocating, advocate. If you don't really have a "thing", then just be there for us. We have never needed your support more than we do right now.