Provisions of the Best Kind, the GOD Kind

I truly wish I could share every single blessing God has orchestrated throughout this journey.  I've tried along the way, but I feel like I haven't done God justice in this department!  I had to share a few of the most recent ones, though...

I think it's safe to say, first of all, that money is tight.  We are saving every penny we can for this adoption.  We already basically lived paycheck to paycheck, but now it's pretty much day to day.  It's life.  We've accepted it for this season.  But, it's been difficult for sure.

First, a group of ladies at my church who do a bible study together were praying about what kind of ministry project they could do together this spring, and ended up choosing to bless our family!  They planned an Adoption Celebration and shared a list of needs for our upcoming trip with our family and friends.

 Visiting with family and friends

The celebration was this past weekend and it was A-MAZ-ING!  We had over 50 guests, fabulous home-cooked Chinese food, and we were blessed with many needed travel items, along with enough cash to get most of the rest of what we need!

We still have people contacting us saying that they weren't able to come, but still want to help.  It was a fun celebration with like-minded friends and family, and I am very grateful this group of women blessed us like they did.  I know how much time, energy and money went into this celebration!  We are so thankful for them.

 We asked guests to fill out 'good wishes' or prayers for Frannie and Finn.

My mother-in-law plans to make a 100 Good Wishes Quilt for each of them.

Look at all the fabulous stuff we were blessed with!!

Another story comes out of my last blog post #AdoptiveMomFailure.  I had mentioned that I hadn't been able to buy my kids new sheets.  Seems like a silly thing to be bothered by, but I remember buying a new Winnie the Pooh crib sheet for each of my new babies.  It was a mini, unplanned tradition.  Now, my kids each have one set of sheet from Grandmama from a few years ago, and my sheets from when I was  little girl.  This includes Lion King, Winnie the Pooh, Pocahontas, and yes..... 90210 sheets!  Amusing, but after 20+ years they are quite tattered.  Sheets are just low on the priority list after underwear, shoes and coats!

Anyway, I had three different women contact me about sheets after my post!  One was an adoptive family who had switched to bunks and had two sets of full sheets.  We have two full/twin bunks and expect to co-sleep on them with Frannie and Finn!  She had a girl set and boy set, pillow covers and quilts included!  And guess what....the girls sets matches our entire girls room!  Only God.  She said she had been holding onto them wondering what she would do with them and decided she must have been hanging on to them for us! 

Another lady is a local mom of a number of little ones who had a few sets of twin sheets she was holding onto.  She, too, thought we must be the reason she had hung onto the sheets so long.  So, now we have nicer sheets to put on the kids' beds!  Such a silly thing, but God cares, and it was neat how it all came together.

Another cool story...  I saw on Facebook that a church family was doing a garage sale  She has a son a little older than Finton.  I messaged her to see if she had any 3T/4T boys clothes in the sale so I could come by.  She said she did but she happened to leave those boxes of clothes accidentally at home.  What are the chances?  She generously gifted us those clothes stating she must have left them behind for a reason.  We are really short on 3T stuff and the clothes were perfect!  Just a few months ago another church family had gifted us with a ton of 4T clothes, too!  God has taken care of us even in all these little details!

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. 

Philippines 4:19

I seriously could keep typing all night!

I'll end with one more story.

One of my daughter's best friends dances with her weekly.  The dance program is a good 30 minute drive away, and since I had two girls in class on two different days, this friend's mom offered to take my daughter weekly to save me gas money.  She did this for about half the year and then her job changed, and I started taking her girls to dance every other week for her.  It's rehearsal week and we are tag-teaming taking the girls almost every day.  Tonight she gave me a little note to thank me for taking her girls to and from dance.  She also gifted us with a gas card.  She had no idea that this week we had planned out our meals, spent the rest of our money and truly didn't have enough gas to drive to and from dance this week.  But, God did.  Such a small, small detail in our every day lives.  But, He knew and He cared and He provided.

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 

John 14:1

I know He's trying to teach me.  Teach me to let go.  Trust.  Give it all to Him.  Lay my burdens down.  The enemy knows my weaknesses and He's putting up a good battle in my heart.  I am so stressed over finding Miracle nursing care and figuring out this last $12,000.  I honestly can say I haven't let it all go yet.  I am trying to balance trusting God while still doing my part.  And I'm walking all over His toes in the process.  But, I'm trying.

Funny thing is, in the midst of this nursing chase, Miracle's bouts of seizures, fundraising and travel plans that are all stressing me out, we've been contacted by three different grant agencies.  We were awarded a $2000 grant already, had an interview for a $4000 matching grant today and have an interview scheduled for a $3000 grant on Monday!

God is just reminding me over and over that He has gone before me.  He has this taken care of.  He knew our deadlines for funds before we did.  He knew our nurse's schedule before they did.  It's so hard to let go in my humanity.  But when I think of how big He is, I feel so silly for holding on so tightly.  I'm trying, I really am.

 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, 

because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 

1 John 4:4

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family!  

They are so appreciated and needed at this time. 

#AdoptiveMomFailure

I feel like I live out this hashtag daily.  Seriously.  No joke.

I'm going to be very vulnerable in this post.

I had so many ideas on how glorious adopting would be.  The ideas have definitely changed over the course of our 10 year journey.  I always thought we would work in a group home or do foster care for years.  That our kids would just become one of us before it was ever 'official.'  I never imagined I'd be looking to beautiful Asian eyes or traveling half way around the world.  But, all those are exciting differences and welcomed changes!

It's the others I wasn't prepared for.

I thought the months leading up to our adoption our family would be so close knit.  The kids are super excited and we talk often about how life will be different soon.  But, my kids are going through a mean streak right now.  Between arguing with each other, being lazy about chores and mama's extra stress...let's just say this isn't the heavenly realm I had envisioned our new kids would be walking into.  I am so thankful Mr. Prince and I have been close and in tune through this last year, though.  I might have had a mental break down by now if we hadn't!  And we are tackling the attitudes with our kids and praying things will turn around here soon.

(The Empowered to Connect Adoption Conference we just attended this past weekend gave us so much to work on.  And we've already seen changes in our kids in just 3 DAYS!  Praising God for that!)

I started a bible study in the summer and I still have yet to really pick it up again.  I thought I would be seeking and growing so much through all this, but it just looks so different than I had imagined.  My closest moments with Christ right now are the secret tears I shed every few hours as I think about and pray for my kids across the world, see a beautiful Asian child, watch my kids fighting, look at my to-do list, worship in the car or reflect on this journey.  I feel like an emotional basket-case.  And I spend my days thanking God for his provisions, begging him for mercy during our transition and constantly giving this journey back to him.  Because, truthfully, I want to control it.  And I know I can't.  But, I still catch myself trying.  I feel like a child asking over and over again for a puppy from mom and dad.  And I feel him every.single.day reminding me that He's here and He has gone before me.  He is my comforter more than anything these days.  My friends might be worried about me if I shared all my thoughts with them daily!  So glad God is there for my in my secret moments.  My faith and trust have been deepened even more through this journey.  I may not be doing some in-depth study, but I'm growing more than ever before in much more life altering ways!

I also had all these great ideas for handmaking a backpack for Frannie (fabric already purchased), crocheting a nesting bowl set for Finn (yarn purchased), making fun t-shirts that say big brother/sister and little brother/sister in Mandarin, and making cloth books of our family to send to both kids.  None of these projects are even started and there is no way they will be completed.  I also wanted to paint my living room and put up some collages of the kids, include Frannie and Finn.  Ugh.  I did make some cloth fortune cookie ornaments for family with their title (aunt, uncle, grandma, etc) on the 'fortune' for Christmas this last year, BUT...I got the flu and never even finished the ones for the kids or me!  I just has all these things I wanted to DO.  And since I'm drowning in bills, paperwork, flight schedules, homeschool, grading and fundraising.....it's just not gonna get done.

I had actually planned to induce lactation for my kids to give them breastmilk (not nurse them).  It's really important to me that they get something I wasn't able to provide them as infants, and I think it will help with immunity, gut health and the transition into a new country with new foods.  With less than two months left and already feeling too busy, I can't add pumping 6x a day into my schedule.  (I didn't originally include this in my blog post, but I know that others need to hear this as well.)  This has been a very emotional decision for me.  I am thankful that a few people have offered to donate some breastmilk this summer so I can still offer them an awesome immunity boost.  But, this was a huge let down for me.

I thought I could afford new sheets for the kids.....I can't.

I thought we would be done fundraising by now.....we aren't.

I thought the wait would be easier considering I've already been 'waiting' for years.....it's harder.

I thought I would be so organized with all this crazy paperwork.....I'm not.

I thought we would finish homeschool early.....we won't.  We may not even finish all I had planned...

This journey looks so different from what I had imagined.  And all the details I'm stressing over now will be forgotten in 3 months time.  But, that doesn't mean they don't weigh on me now.

Adoption is hard.  And I haven't even DONE it yet!!

I told my little brother-in-law the other night to just consider me 7 months pregnant, because that's how I feel.  Uncomfortable, about ready to burst with emotions at any moment, stressed, nesting, planning, preparing...  Watch out!

Not sure I had anything really important to share.  I know those other adoptive families out there will get where I'm coming from!

Please continue to pray for us.  Pray for the funds to come in, for our children's attitudes to continue to change for the better, for traveling to China, for Frannie and Finn's transition.  We really appreciate the prayers, thoughts, encouragement and scripture that has come in over the last few months!

I could meet my babies in less than 60 days.  It's surreal!!

The Process Continues...and things are about to get REAL, people!!

So, here we are at another huge step!

We just got our official MATCHED paperwork (LOSC/LOA) from China and we just submitted some paperwork (i800) to immigration (USCIS) for permission to bring home Frannie and Finn.

The process moves quickly from here!!

1.    i800 Approval will come around 4/20 and we will get it by snail mail

2.    We will receive a GUZ number a week later (4/27) which just means our case has been assigned to Guangzhou, China

3.    With this number we can contact the National Visa Center and request a PDF showing that our file has been forwarded to the Embassy in Guangzhou around 4/28 or 4/29

4.    My agency will then send the PDF to their in country staff.  This allows them to drop off our offical documents at the US Consulate and our Art 5 process begins.

5.    The Art 5 process always takes 10 business days, so drop off would be on 5/4 and pick up on 5/18 ideally.

6.    Once our Art 5 is picked up, our paperwork is sent to the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA) in Beijing and our Travel Approval (TA) wait begins!  This wait is currently around 7-14 days, average being 10-11.  So, we are hoping to receive it on May 27th or 28th at the latest.

7.  Our travel dates will be either June 4th-27th or June 25th-July 16th.  Finton's turns THREE on June 19th, so I would love to make it there while he's still two!  But, there is a slim chance that will happen.  The Dragon Boat Festival is the week of the 22nd, so that's right in the middle of our original travel plans.  They will not allow you to meet your children that week, so we have to get our kids either before that week or after.  I'm going to do my best to get there as soon as I can, and ultimately leave the timing up to God.  He knows what's best for everyone.


And all this mumbo-jumbo means is....I'm going to meet my babies in 64-85 DAYS!!!!  


We still have around $10,000-12,000 to raise.  We are still waiting for our grant applications to be processed, but many of those we may not hear about until June!

Soooo....  I'm going to start begging.  :)

We still have 66 pieces of our puzzle to be sponsored.  So far we have 33 pieces sponsored for a total of $776!  This is awesome!  But if the 66 pieces left were to be sponsored, it would raise us $4274 MORE!

We are going to double frame this puzzle for Frannie and Finn.  On one side they will search for many traditional Chinese items for fun, and on the other will be a list of names of sponsors who helped us get them home!  It will be such an awesome keepsake!

We need help and we are nearing the end of this part of our journey.  A journey that has brought me to my knees more times than I can count.  I am in such a vulnerable position asking others to help us adopt, but I know that I know that I know that I know this is God's Will for these kids and our family.  So, I hope our friends and family see this as helping God's plans and not just our own agenda.  I will be forever grateful for all those who have helped us thus far, and all those I know will step up to help us reach the finish line!  THANK YOU!!!!

Pieces range from #1 to #100 and pieces already sponsored are #1-21, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 33, 35, 40, 42, 50, 60, 76 and 100.  Payments can be made to mommykellogg@hotmail.com or a tax-deductible donation can be made HERE (sending a check avoids the 3% fee).  Please comment or message me on Facebook to let me know you have donated!!

Thank you for following our journey!!

How to Raise $44,000 in 10 Months

I'm excited to get this post down and just stare at God's faithfulness!

This has been an amazing year of watching God so intimately involved in our lives, down to the smallest details.  It's been a year of faith testing and a bold year for my personal walk with God.  See, if you don't know our story, you should go back and read THIS post.  It's been a long journey.  10 years from its very beginning.  And we are here...almost ready to bring home two beautiful children.  It's way beyond the dreams we built 10 years ago!

We never expected to have to raise money for an adoption.  We planned to adopt through the foster care system, which is virtually free.  Well, God had other plans.  And when he started leading us toward China last spring, we were both pretty overwhelmed.  Mr. Prince makes less than $50,000/year teaching.  An adoption from China is around $35,000.  We stepped out in faith when we sent our Letter of Intent for Frannie in May...and when we received our PreApproval, we both had a peace.  We knew God would take care of the finances.  But, that didn't mean we had any clue how!

Prior to starting our homestudy, we had a little money set aside....
$2500 saved from our tax refund
$4500 collected from an accident settlement
--------TOTAL: $7000

While we were waiting for our PreApproval, we did a huge garage sale that many of our friends and neighbors donated to.  It was very successful, so we did it again in September at a friend's house.  We raised $2400 between the two sales!  Once we received PreApproval, we were told we would get the $5025 that Reece's Rainbow had raised for Frannie's adoption!  Our adoption agency also had a $2000 grant for Frannie!

$2400 Garage sales
$5025 Reece's Rainbow
$2000 Adoption Agency
--------TOTAL $16,425

We had HALF of our adoption expenses laid out within a few months of our PreApproval!

Our homestudy took much longer than expected, but God had a plan.  You can read more about why that was delayed HERE.

I tried hard to organize a dinner auction last fall, but it was very stressful and I had little help.  Between midwifery school, paperwork and planning this auction, it was easily the most stressful time of my life.  I was starting to get sick, my hormones were all over the place and I just needed a break.  I quit midwifery school and put aside the dinner/auction for a few months.  October and November were pretty quite and I was grappling for fundraising ideas with no luck.

We decided this would be the perfect time to add another child to our adoption!  :)  Our estimated expenses went from raising $35,000 to $50,000+.  Thankfully God made it very clear this was His plan, or our humanity might have talked ourselves out of it!

Mr. Prince got a $1700 bonus from work in November we put toward the adoption.

In early December I remember we had purchased an extra Ivy Asian American Girl Doll when she was being discontinued last summer to be used for a fundraiser.  So, we launched a give-away for Christmas.  Two little girls had a wonderful surprise on Christmas morning and we had raised another $420 for our adoption!

We launched a puzzle fundraiser in December as well, but only a few close friends purchased pieces.  We quickly raised $500, but knowing the puzzle could potentially raise us $5050, it was slightly disappointing.

On Christmas Eve we were contacted by a family who had found our family profile on Reece's Rainbow, an advocacy site for children with special needs (LINK HERE).  Their children had chosen our family to receive the money they raised all year long for an orphan on Reece's Rainbow!  They donated $1000 on Christmas Day!!

A few days later, a church family contacted us and donated $1260 from their family business profits.  It was a very overwhelming week with the holidays!!

$1700 Work Bonus
$420 American Girl Doll give-away
$500 Puzzle Fundraiser
$1000 Reece's Rainbow donation
$1260 Church family donation
--------TOTAL $21,305

After a few more people donated to our auction I had put off, I realized in January that we had winter items that really needed to be auctioned soon, or no one would want them.  I still didn't have the help I needed to plan a big dinner/auction, so I hesitantly launched an online auction and planned to have it running for 20 days.  We had about 20 items, mostly coupons and a few handmade items, but I didn't expect a lot of profit from it.

Well, in that 20 days I collected over 80 more donations!!  It was a crazy 20 days of living on Facebook (my poor kids), but that auction raised us over $4000!  It was the most amazing experience having that many people, most of whom didn't know us, be so generous.  We raised another $400 for our puzzle during that auction, as well. 

$4400 Online Auction
$400 Puzzle Fundraiser
--------TOTAL $26,105

8 months after we started this process, we had raised HALF the funds to bring home two children from China!  It was quite shocking when we talked about it.  And we had such a peace that God was going to take care of the rest at this point.

It was February, so when we did our taxes we allotted some money from our tax refund for the adoption: $6900.

I had found these amazing kantha quilts from India and sold those in our auction.  There was more interest in them, so I ordered more and we made an additional $350 from those.

I also did another give-away for a Keurig and Kantha quilt and made another $220.

$6900 Taxes
$220 Keurig/Kantha quilt give-aways
$350 Kantha quilts
--------TOTAL $33,375

In March, a college friend and fellow church member donated $2000 to us.  It was the largest, most generous gift we have been given and it came from the most unlikely source.  It was such a blessing to us.

Mr. Prince got an accident settlement in the amount of $750.  I promise neither of these accidents were our fault!  LOL!  But, God turns the bad into good, right?  ;)

We got a deposit back from a therapy company of $1000 in March, as well.

I had been babysitting full time during the day and in the evenings for many families since December.  I even babysat for 8 kids on Valentine's Day!  All my babysitting so far has earned us around $3000.

I've also had 8 doula clients since last June, with two more due in May, and that has raised us $3300. 

A co-worker of Mr. Prince also has been running an ongoing Thirty One fundraiser for us for a number of months now.  Any orders that come in on behalf of us, she gives her percentage to us.  We have raise $525 from that and $100 from a Mary Kay fundraiser, too.

$2000 College friend
$750 Accident settlement
$1000 Deposit refund
$3000 Babysitting
$3300 Doula clients
$525 Thirty One
$100 Mary Kay
--------TOTAL $44,050

Now, I've found out recently that we need to budget more for flights in June and July, so $56,000 is a more reasonable estimation.

BUT....we have somewhere between $10,000 and $12,000 left to raise!  And almost half of the amount was raised in just a few months!

Isn't God so amazing?!  He has helped us RAISE almost as much as what my husband earns in a year!

We also recently applied for 14 grants.  I am secretly hoping the rest of the funds come in these grants because frankly, I'm exhausted.  And I don't like asking people for money, even if it is for a good cause.  Will you pray with us?  We should hear back from all of them by the end of June.

We do have lots of puzzle pieces still left, too!  So, if those are all sponsored, we would have an additional $4100!  Please contact me if you are interested in sponsoring a puzzle piece!

(Pieces range from #1-100 and pieces already sponsored are #1-21, 24, 27, 28, 30, 33, 35, 40, 42, 50, 60, 76 &100)

So, there ya go.  How to raise $44,000 in 10 months!

(Tip: Do not attempt to do this alone.  God's involvement is the key to your success!)

Updates, Updates, here they come!!

So, I've been advised to update my blog often for the benefit of those following our story.  It's really hard to find time right now, but I'm going to do my best!  I really enjoy blogging and look forward to sharing it with our children when they are older, too.

So, I'll be updating on our adoption process, financial status and the preparations for our children.

We are coming around the last bend of the process now!  We submitted our Letter of Intent (LOI) to adopt Frannie Joy in late May 2014 and received PreApproval (PA) 6.19.14 to adopt her and PA to adopt Finton 10.23.14.  We will likely be in China exactly a year after PA!

It's been a whirlwind of a year, yet still seemed like a looooong year.  To have children half a world away from you is just... emotional.  I love these children I only have a handful of photos and 30 second video clips of.  Yet, I really have no idea how they act on a regular basis, what their interests are, how they will react to our family or... anything. It's an odd place to be right now, but my focus is so much on paperwork and packing...it's hard to even focus on some of the emotional part.  It just sneaks up on you when you see an Asian mom kissing her toddler.... or a little girl with Down Syndrome... or a 2 year old little boy playing with a ball.  Then, it rips your heart out.  And all you can do it pull up a photo or video and... wait a little longer.  Sigh.

We will be getting our official Letter of Approval (Letter Seeking Confirmation/LOSC/LOA) in the next day or so.  That is basically a letter from China that is officially MATCHING us with Frannie and Finn. They PreApproved us before, but now that we have proven who we are and they have accepted our dossier, they are officially matching us.  It's one of the most exciting steps in the process!!  We had been specifically praying since December that we would receive this letter BY April 1st so that we could travel in June.  I had also planned to have our dossier to China in late December, but that didn't happen until late January.  It was a long shot to still get LOA by April 1st, BUT...God!

We should receive our LOA in the mail tomorrow, April 1st!!!

So now the process gets a little confusing and overwhelming for me from here on out.  There are lots of steps every 2 weeks or so until travel.  Travel plans are entirely up to me, so I have lots to research. I hope to book flights soon because travel in China is super expensive in June/July due to the Dragon Boat Festival and summer.  My mom is going with me and thankfully her schedule is flexible.  Mr. Prince will stay home with the other 5 kiddos.  I'm thankful I have many adoptive friends on Facebook and tons of China Adoption groups, but the information is still overwhelming to process, honestly.

But, it looks like right now my travel options are June 4th-26th or June 25th-July 17th.  We are trying to decide if me coming home while Mr. Prince and 3 of 5 kids are at summer school for 2.5 weeks is better or worse than me coming home the day after summer school is over.  I'm a little concerned the two littles might be overwhelmed with all the kids home, all the time, from the day they come home.  But, I also don't want Mr. Prince to work for so many weeks before he's off for the summer.  I think my older 4 kids will have a very hard time allowing us to cocoon them, so maybe it's best they are at school for a few weeks...?  I just don't know yet.  We homeschool all year, so summer school is only a summer thing for us.  But, it might be a good tool to use as a buffer to help the kids bond to me as Mom first.  Still thinking on this...

I think I'll post another blog about our finances and preparations later this week.....

I'll leave you with photos of my babies.....

Check out our Adoption Timeline on the right side of our page and read more about our family!  

You can also donate to our adoption by using the donate tab at the top of the blog!

Many Blessings!!  

We Need YOU!

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'  

Acts 20:35

I know everybody is asked to donate towards a ton of fundraisers each year, so I personally am being challenged by being in the position to ask people for money.  I seriously hate it.

BUT....

Here we are.  We are bringing home two gorgeous children from China next summer and need to raise around what my husband makes in a year.  It's slightly overwhelming, but we are sure this is God's plan for these children to be a part of our family.  And because of that, I'm asking YOU to help.

Frannie and Finn

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James 1:27

The neat thing about this fundraiser, is it allows everyone to give what they are able.  $1?  Great!  That's one less dollar I have to ask for!  $2?  You just sacrificed your evening Pepsi for an orphan!  $5 is a Starbucks coffee sacrificed.  $20 for our family would be eating PBJ for dinner instead of Little Caesars.  Others are able to give $50+ because they have the extra income or God's tugging on their heart.

Regardless, ANYTHING helps.  Seriously.  I've said this before, but if every one of our Facebook friends gave even just $1, we would have over $1000 and no one would be out more than $1!

The reason why I've launched this Puzzle Fundraiser is to help us get our dossier paperwork to China (there is a large fee to send it) and to give my biological children something to do and look forward to. 

If 100 people would sponsor each puzzle piece, we would have $5000!

 

  

We have puzzle pieces labeled between $1 and $100.  If you sponsor a piece, your name gets written on the back of the puzzle and you donate that amount toward our adoption (PayPal button at the top of the blog or tax deductible donations can be done at http://atwakids.org/.  Just be sure to tell them it's for the Kelloggs!).  The few who have donated so far named a part of the puzzle, and we told them the dollar amount because each piece is already labeled.  You can donate with a friend or group as well!

We plan to frame this for Frannie and Finn, and it will be a special reminder of the many, many people who have helped them come home!

Of course, you can donate any amount...this is just for fun!

I know there is a general thought out there that "If you can't pay for an adoption, you shouldn't be adopting."  Well, it's a lot different caring for and affording children on a day to day basis.  But, coming up with an extra $45,000-50,000 in a year is hard for anyone to do.  Even those families who make twice what we do, are doing fundraisers for their adoption because they live on their income.  We have made several adjustments to our income to save money, like getting rid of cable and our house phone to name a few.  As a family of 7 living on one income, we already live pretty frugally.

Then, there's God.  And since He told us to do this knowing what income we have, we are trusting Him to move hearts to support two orphans to find a forever family.

And you'll be happy to know, even on our modest income, we ourselves have around $22,500 (including a $7000 grant) to put toward this adoption already!  That was ALL God.

We thank everyone who steps forward to help us bring our babies home.  And everyone who continues to pray for this process. And everyone who has supported our family this far.  We have an amazing group of friends and church family!

And because we don't want to continue to ask the same people, please share this blog to your friends and family!  We know there are so many others out there who would love to donate toward orphan adoption.  And we will have more fundraisers coming!

Just post a comment below or email me at mommykellogg@hotmail.com to tell me what piece you want to sponsor!  

Thank you!

http://atwakids.org/

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. 

Psalm 68:5

And then there were....SEVEN?

Kids, that is!

Let me explain...

I probably will make little sense considering my emotional state right now...

But, I can't stay quiet about God's faithfulness in leading us!

If you want the short version...we just got the approval to adopt a second child from China!  If you don't already know, we had previously been approved to adopt a 4 year old little girl from China.  Now we are adopting both her and a 2 year old little boy!

If you want the very looooooong version.....keep reading.  :)

Let me start back on September 6th.  I was scrolling through some China Adoption sites on Facebook and came across a photo.  Generally, I love just looking at these sites, praying for these kids and watching their parents step forward one by one.  This little boy's eyes just drew me in.  I was actually confused because he was in a pink coat, yet the name read TEDDY.  Come to find out, an adoption advocate was looking for him, but thought he might be locked with a family interested in him at the time.  Apparently a few families has asked the agency that had his file a few weeks before to release it, but no one could find him since then. I asked my agency to look for him on the shared waiting child list, but they had no luck.  They said they would keep their eyes out.  The little boy had just turned two and had albinism.  Besides the color of his skin, he was a typical toddler!  We probably didn't have enough identifying information to search for him effectively.

Fast forward a week and I'm doing an Adoption Fundraising Garage sale at the home of some very generous friends of ours.  An older couple just about fell over when they saw my posters about Frannie, the little girl we have already been match with, being from Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.  Their son-in-law grew up there for 7 years and his grandparents still lived there.  They were so excited to share their daughter and son-in-law's contact information with us.  The next day their daughter came by to meet me!  She was so incredibly sweet!  They had a 4 year old boy born in Taiyuan City, lived there for 4 years, visited Hohhot many times and were also in the process of adopting from China!  She offered to translate paperwork or videos any time we needed it during the process.  She was so encouraging and too kind.

Fast forward another week.  On September 19th I get a message from my agency contact that they found TEDDY and we would have 72 hours to decided if we wanted to ask China to adopt him.  Someone had posted they saw him on the shared list and my agency responded right away to get the information needed!  

Whoa.  Heavy.  

I had asked for his file, but I really wasn't prepared to actually have the option to move forward with him.  I was a little shocked, yet excited.  Though, my initial instinct was that Mr. Prince would say no and I've just wasted my agency's time.

I looked up a ton of information about albinism, added myself to Facebook pages for parents of children with albinism, emailed a few parents and learned all I could before Mr. Prince got home.  We talked a lot throughout the night about fees, adjustments, finances, etc.  It was after 11PM when an adoption friend of mine was messaging me who is adopting two children from China.  She had named her kids Eden and Ezra and were were talking about their special needs.  I love both those names and thought the matching 'E' is sweet.  All of a sudden "Frannie and Finn" popped into my head.  Finn, or Finton, was the name we would have named Miracle, our 5 year old, had she been a boy.  While Paul and I talked, I looked up the name meaning for kicks... and stopped in my tracks.

Finton: Irish meaning "fair-haired” or could mean “white fire"

I just laughed.
And then I looked at Mr. Prince in shock. 
Then I covered my mouth.
Then I asked him if he wanted to know what I just read.  He said yes, hesitantly...
But, a smile grew across his face, too.

Of course I'm battling the "Is this a sign from God" thought.  I kept wondering HOW we would know in 72 hours whether or not to move forward with this little boy.   Was this it?  If not, it was kinda freaky!!

We actually sent TEDDY's file to the Chinese couple who offered to translate videos and paperwork that night.  We knew they may not be available, but it was worth a shot!  We were curious what these nannies were saying to him in the video and how he was responding.

I asked many friends to pray the next day.  A couple who had adopted two siblings from another country dropped off some bunk beds for us that morning.  Who better to pray for us than someone who has been in this exact situation, right?  They were happy to pray for us.

Then I ran into another lady picking my kids up from a program for kids with siblings with special needs.  We had met these two Chinese girls at a park earlier in the summer.  My kids got along well with them and wanted me to meet their dad.  I gave him my number for his wife to call me.  She did mid-summer, but I was so busy I forgot to return her call!  Oops!  Well, one of her daughters was at the program and Angelica Pickles, my 8 year old, had given her daughter my number again!  We chatted for a while and I asked her to pray for us as well.  She had adopted an infant 10 years ago and a 7 year old two years ago from China.  She was very happy to pray for us and asked for me to keep in touch.  Very cool.

I also talked to my mother-in-law that afternoon.  See, my mother-in-law had 4 siblings with albinism.  They had a rare recessive condition called Chediak-Higashi Syndrome, which included partial albinism and immune suppression.  They all died young, by the age of 8, from infections.  She told me they all wore glasses and they used a petroleum-like salve to protect their skin 50+ years ago.  One had photophobia, another shook his head to focus.  It was neat to hear more about her experiences with her siblings.  Part of the reason I felt an immediate connection to this little boy was because albinism was in Mr. Prince's family.

Later, I got a voice message from the Chinese couple that they had reviewed the files and were excited to share with us what they heard.  In fact, TEDDY was in the exact city their son was born and the city they lived in for 4 years in China!  What are the chances the two cities they were familiar with were the two cities the two Chinese children we had chosen were from?!  She called me and told me TEDDY seemed to follow his nanny's commands well, had good fine motor skills and didn't seem to have some of the typical orphanage behaviors.  The paperwork didn't have anything hidden in the Chinese that wasn't in the English.  They said there is a fast train between the two kids' provinces, therefore a cheaper mode of transportation if we ended up adopting them both.  She even said she had seen TEDDY on an advocacy site and thought he was adorable and prayed for his family!  She asked to pray with us right on the phone and prayed for clear confirmation or walls so that only God's Will would stand firm.  My heart was full when we got off the phone.

I had been talking to Mr. Prince through percentages all along: 0% means not submitting paperwork, 100% means submitting paperwork to try to adopt TEDDY.  I was pretty much 100% by midday, but I was set that Mr. Prince had to be on board as well.  I wasn't gonna steer this boat alone!  He had been a 55% the night before.  It wasn't long after our phone conversation with this couple that he told me he wanted to submit our Letter of Intent for TEDDY!

Then, I got another email from the Chinese couple that night.  TEDDY's Chinese name pronunciation and meaning! 

Get this...  His name means 'Healthy' and 'Exceptional or Unique'!

I LOVE it!! 

Well, Happy 33rd Birthday to ME.... the next day we submitted our Letter of Intent on September 21st!

On my birthday at church, God truly blessed me.  It was a baptismal service.  I love spending an entire morning singing praise as we watch people profess their love for God and acceptance of Christ's sacrifice!  But today, I watched two little girls who were adopted internationally when they were toddlers, along with their older brothers, be baptized together.  Oh, my heart!  The gravity of the opportunity to bring home a child (or children) and teach them about the love of Jesus that they may not have had to opportunity to learn about in their home country, was heavy on my heart.  And honestly, I just cried.  Not only did those girls get baptized, but another little girl my daughter's age, who is the grandchild of a domestic adoptive family, was baptized that day as well.  The generations that are affected by one couple's willingness to bring in an orphan just broke my heart that day.

We have been called to something much greater than just providing shelter or even love to an orphan.  We have been given the opportunity to lead these children to a Savior and eternal life!

There is nothing more important in this world.

We have been called.  And we have said YES to that calling.  That doesn't make us saints.  In fact, sometimes I think God is crazy for choosing us.  But, if He calls us, I believe He will equip us. 

I talked with a number of families who had adopted or birthed children with albinism over the next few days.  They had nothing but encouragement for us!  Their children all seemed to be doing great with very few adaptions for every day life.

We were peaceful and expectant.  In my heart I could truly say that I was willing to accept, with gratefulness, both a yes and a no.  Obviously a yes would be the step we needed to bring this little boy home, and God would just need to have our paperwork accepted and provide the extra adoption funds.  A no would tell us that this was not the child for us, possibly that we aren't supposed to adopt another child from China (right now).  But, above all, I would know early in the process that I was just bringing home one child so I could let that hope go in my own heart.  As long as there was a possibility, I wasn't going to stop looking and praying for that second child.  My heart had been, for a long time, to adopt a boy/girl sibling group through foster care.  So, the prospect of bringing home two from China was so exciting to me.  But, ultimately, no matter my heart and desires, I wanted God's Will for our family.  I have no desire to bring home a child not intended for our family and try to raise him on my own strength.  So, I was happy to allow God to make this final decision.

The evening of my birthday I asked Mr. Prince how he was feeling about our decision and his only reply was "100%."  :)  He then shared that, although he still had some concerns about finances, mostly long-term, his concerns didn't really matter because if God is calling us, we have to respond with a YES!

Our hearts were united completely.

Less than two weeks later, our homestudy draft was ready to review.  On the paperwork they approved us for one child, a girl under the age of 5.  I was a little confused, so I called the social worker.  The agency had decided, internally, that they weren't comfortable approving us to adopt two kids at the same time.  They said they knew we could likely handle it, thought we were great parents and were happy to support us in an adoption after Frannie had adjusted.  They just weren't positive the transition with two with special needs into a family of 5 biological children, one having special needs, was going to go well.  They needed to be confident, but weren't.  We asked for a reconsideration, but we got a 'No.'

I was crushed.  We felt so sure!  What does all this mean?

Tears, lots of tears.

About 20 minutes after I got off the phone with my homestudy agency, my adoption agency called me.  In so many words, they said they didn't think our homestudy agency made the right decision.  They said they have the unique perspective of seeing these children in Chinese orphanages and they were confident we could do this well.  They said families like ours with lots of experience with special needs are like gold, and they think these two children's needs fit in well with our current family.  They said they could pull our Letter of Intent for this little boy, or we could wait and see what China says.  They said I have the option of obtaining a second homestudy that states we are approved for two kids if we get Chinese Preapproval.  I thanked them for their kinds words and got off the phone.... and cried some more. 

I was really confused for most of that evening.  But then I started to think about, had we gotten this news of only being approved for one kid prior to finding this little boy, I would have simply succumb to the circumstances.   But, we fell in love with this little boy before I knew there would be a road block!  And because of that, I almost felt more confident that God could, and would, work around this obstacle.  We decided over the next few days that if China gives us Preapproval, we would pursue another homestudy to get approved to adopt two kids.

While we continued to wait, I made some phone calls to find another homestudy agency that might approve us for two kids.  The social worker I spoke with was so king and encouraging.  He said because we had a stay-at-home parent, he didn't feel the fact that we had 5 kids, one with special needs and were adopting two at once sounded unreasonable.  He seemed to understand the perspective of an orphanage and seemed to hear my heart in our short conversation.  He couldn't promise an approval for two, but he didn't see any red flags at the time.  We had a back-up plan.

And then we waited.

Our last Preapproval for Frannie came 25 days after we submitted our Letter of Intent.  25 days came.  26...27...28.  It was a long, hard wait.  29...30...31...

Day 32, October 23rd, yesterday, we got an email from our agency....we received Preapproval to adopt TEDDY....or as he'll be known to us...

Finton 'Finn' Scott Kang Te Kellogg, 2 years old

(Don't let the pink coat confuse you!)
You can see a video of him HERE!

You know where the name "Finton" came from, but his middle name "Scott" is from his great uncle who also had albinism (and it's a family name on both sides)!

Needless to say, we are so excited to bring this little boy home along with Frannie Joy!  And the circumstances and confirmations received were more than enough to PUSH us to step out in faith!  And we know God will be faithful in bringing in the finances because this is His plan!

 Frances "Frannie" Joy Yu Tang Kellogg, 4 years old

You can see 3 videos of her HERE!

After weeks of waiting for our Preapproval and our homestudy, being frustrated in the long wait, God spoke clearly about how His job works.  He knows best.  He is the Great Organizer of our lives.  I got the message this time...

That same day we received Preapproval, I also got a phone call from our homestudy agency.  Our homestudy was ready!  It was to be notarized in 24 hours and they were confirming how many copies I needed.  I debating telling them about our Preapproval while we were on the phone, but I do much better with such confrontations through writing.  I decided I would write them one last petition letter later that day for reconsideration considering our Preapproval.  It would save us $2100 and a number of month in the process. 

Well, before I got a chance to write that letter, our adoption agency called us to say that they had petitioned our homestudy agency themselves!  They thought it was in everybody's best interest for us to be approved for 2 and continue to work with this agency that knows us and loves us.  The social worker agreed to continue a 'discussion' prior to the notarization the following day.  My adoption agency asked us to write a letter about our plans to provide for these two children and include the resources we have to support us.  We sent it later that night, and we waited....again.  Thankfully it was less than 24 hours this time! 

Well, we were told today that our agency is willing to work with us throughout this adoption process to it's completion, and is going to approve us for 2 children!  Only God could have orchestrated our Preapproval from CHINA and our homestudy from INDIANA to culminate into this discussion!  And it's just one more of MANY obvious confirmations that we are following God's plan to grow our family!

Needless to say, this is going to be an expensive endeavor.  But, our God owns a cattle on a thousands hills, right?! (Psalm 50:10)  We know he will use other people, fundraisers and organizations to bring these two children home to us!

If you feel prompted to support our family to adopt these two adorable children, we are launching our next fundraiser today!!

We have puzzle pieces you can purchase to help us make a Chinese puzzle for these two kids to play with.  It's an I SPY type puzzle where they look for traditional Chinese items within the puzzle.  We think they will LOVE it and it gives a little excitement and fun to our fundraising (especially for our bio kids!).

Each puzzle piece is numbered between 1 and 100.  You choose the piece you want and donate that dollar amount, or we can randomly draw one or more pieces for you!  When the puzzle is complete, we will have raised $5000!  You can combine your donation with a friend, as well.  We will be writing names on the back of the puzzle pieces so we have a keepsake of those who donated toward our adoption in this way.

To donate, locate the Paypal donation button on the top right corner of our blog.  You do not need to have a Paypal account to donate.  Tax deductible donations can be made at http://atwakids.org/.  Just be sure to tell them it's for the Kelloggs!  You can email me at mommykellogg@hotmail.com if you have further questions.  If you want to donate any amount, feel free!

I'll update this blog regularly to show which puzzle pieces are still available!

Thank you so much to everyone who has continued to support us as we venture out into this crazy adoption journey!  It has been a ride, for sure!!

(If you want to hear our whole adoption story, you can read it HERE and HERE.)

Please, PLEASE share our story on YOUR Facebook page or blog!!  If everyone who reads this gives just even $1, we will have thousands immediately!!  

God is good, ALL THE TIME!