Winners!

Oh, my goodness... just entered all of the shares, donations and picked winners from random.org. Drawing the numbers was one of the funnest moments of my life! Right up there with announcing them! Here they are!

iPad mini- Gregory Jones
Kindle Fire HDX- Luke Bell
Tassimo- Jeff Kerchner
$100 Amazon gift card- Kimberly Kremer
$100 Amazon gift card- Jason van Brackel
Cookies and bars- Danielle Dryburgh
Vera Bradley set- Christine Nichols
31 Perfect Party set- Rachel McCready
31 Hang-up Home Organizer- Heather Burdeaux
$50 Target gift card- Becki Kerchner

Guys, thank you SO MUCH! Your donations, shares and just LOVE have been amazing. Our account as of this moment is $10,192 and I just cannot believe it! Our $10,000 matching grant has been met! Thank you to family and friends for donating these amazing prizes. We are the most blessed and just plum lucky family in the world.

A weight is lifting.

I want to thank all of you who have given so generously to help us bring Tolia home.  In addition to the many donations by our friends and family, we received a very large donation this week. We do not even personally know the couple who donated! One of my friends shared our giveaway, and one of her friends read about Tolia and decided to make the donation. That is utterly amazing to me. We are grateful and humbled.

We received another large donation this past week, from a wonderful family we met in the adoption world...so generous and touching. To even explain exactly how we know them is complicated, but here is the post where they talk about it. (This donation is held by a different nonprofit, Project Hopeful... also an utterly awesome organization.)

Then, tonight, we received very exciting news of a generous donor (unreal, really!) who will match ALL donations to the Reece's Rainbow account for Tolia given before December 31st, up to $10,000. Right now our account is at $6425, which in itself is SO thrilling....just amazing. If we can add $3575 between now and December 31st, our match will be met, and our account will be at $20,000! That will essentially make Tolia's adoption fully funded, when we also count the money we have saved, and have received in the Project Hopeful fund.

This is a tremendous development, and we thank all of you who have helped us so far--your help is being doubled!  Please do share this news, and help get the word out to others who may want to donate. As we've already seen multiple times, even strangers have donated to Tolia's fund because they've seen the giveaway shared on their friend's Facebook page. Thank you, all, for being so patient with us...I know we have asked so much already, and we really do hope to put this fundraising to bed shortly!

Thank you, God, and thank you, friends and family. We Warners are a VERY blessed family. Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Super-good news, someone won a prize, and how much is this going to cost, anyway?

Hello, there. I have several things to talk to you about today, but let me start with some great news that we heard today. According to our in-country adoption facilitator, our dossier has been verified, confirmed, and registered. I'm not EXACTLY sure what all of that means, except that they didn't find any errors, red flags, discrepancies... yay! Our facilitator said that we will receive our invitation to travel toward the end of this month. Further, he predicts that it will be in early to mid-February that we depart for our first trip. I am SO EXCITED. We were able to share the good news on facetime with Tolia today, and he was so happy. 

Today is the 12th, and you may remember that we had a little guessing-game going, and Ginger, you won a copy of The Grace Effect. Congrats, Ginger, and thank you everyone for playing! 

Our giveaway has been going so well. The love that you guys have shown us through sharing the giveaway and donating to it, has really made us feel so loved. Thank you! Some folks have asked us how much we expect the adoption to cost, and what the components are the financial components. Allow me to do my best to show you what expenses we've had so far, and share an estimate of what expenses are to come. 

So far, we've had direct adoption expenses of about $4000. I say "direct", because I'm not including hosting expenses in that total, though they are related and have been important to our adoption and family bonding (the three hosting trips have been about $8000 total).
Some of the expenses that are behind us (again, about $4000 so far):

Home study (where a social worker thoroughly checks us and our home out)
Criminal background checks
Child abuse clearances
USCIS (immigration) application
Fingerprinting
Notarization
Apostilling
FedEx
Other documents (birth certificates, marriage certificates)

Expenses to come:
Adoption facilitator fees $10,000-14,000 remaining 
Airfare for two trips: $3000-5000
Travel in-country: $1500-2000 (trains, taxis- we'll be traveling back and forth from Kyiv to Tolia's region frequently)
Hotels: $2000-3000
Food: $1000
Orphanage donation: $1500
Child's medical exam: $200
Passports: $200
Other: $1000

So, we have remaining expenses of $20,400-27,900. That estimate is cobbled together by recent families' costs and our own facilitator's estimates, taking into account our own family's unique situation and variables. We expect to be in-country for the first visit anywhere from 10 days- 3 weeks.  The second trip, for our court date and picking Tolia up, will likely be 2-4 weeks. Jude and I will probably return home immediately after court, and Dave will stay in Ukraine with Tolia, during the mandatory 10-day wait period, then will pick him up, and take him for medical exams, to get his passport, and I don't know what else. Lots of paperwork! 

Thanks for reading... I hope that that didn't give you a headache like it gave me! ;) Another look at our giveaway:

An iPad Mini! 

A Kindle Fire HDX

The Bosch Tassimo Single Serve Beverage System 

$100 gift card to Amazon

ANOTHER $100 gift card to Amazon!

An amazing assortment (more than pictured) of cookies and bars made by

 a real-deal French (well, her pastries are French, she is German and Irish, mostly)

 pastry chef. Oui oui! Will accommodate dietary restrictions. 

This GORGEOUS Vera Bradley set- 

the Signature Print Travel Bag & Slim Cosmetic Case

in Venetian Paisley, and it's even more stunning in person! 

The Perfect Party Set from 31 Gifts

(I have one of these that I won in an 

adoption fundraiser last year, and I looove it)

The Hang-Up Home Organizer from 31 Gifts

AND A $50 Target gift card 

A reminder of how it works:

1) Donate to Tolia's super-secure, tax-deductible adoption fund. Don't be alarmed, his pseudonym on there is Sasha. No worries, that is definitely our Tolia! For every $5 donation, your name will be entered into the drawing to win one of these prizes. Donate $10, get entered three times. $25 donation earns you 9 entries, and a $50 donation earns you 20 entries. I could go on. Any other large donation, I will come up with an appropriately insane number of entries for you, never fear! Once you have donated, leave a comment on this post with your donation amount, and let me know if you'd rather it not be published. 

2) SHARE this blog post. On Facebook, Twitter, or your blog. Facebook and Twitter shares get an entry, sharing on your blog gets three entries. See, you can win something for nothing! Amazing, huh? Just comment to let me know how you shared it. 

On Friday, December 20th, we will draw winners, let you know immediately, and ship these items to you STAT! I'm a nerd, and just worked out the math of your likelihood of winning a prize, and you're AT LEAST 30,000 times more likely to win a prize in this giveaway than in winning the Powerball. Great odds at winning a prize, my friend. I've won lots of times from similar adoption fundraisers. (Not to mention EVERYONE wins EVERY time they donate to an orphan's adoption)

Thanks for reading, sharing and donating, friends! 

Giveaway Announcement

Hello, friends! I must start off with an exclamation point like that, because I'm very excited about this post and the incredible prizes that are on the line! So, as I said recently, fundraising kind of has to happen. However. There is a way to make it win-win-win. This is how it will work. We have prizes. I will get to those in a minute. Okay, how about now? Here they are: 

An iPad Mini! 

A Kindle Fire HDX

The Bosch Tassimo Single Serve Beverage System 

$100 gift card to Amazon

ANOTHER $100 gift card to Amazon!

An amazing assortment (more than pictured) of cookies and bars made by

 a real-deal French (well, her pastries are French, she is German and Irish, mostly)

 pastry chef. Oui oui! Will accommodate dietary restrictions. 

This GORGEOUS Vera Bradley set- 

the Signature Print Travel Bag & Slim Cosmetic Case

in Venetian Paisley, and it's even more stunning in person! 

The Perfect Party Set from 31 Gifts

(I have one of these that I won in an 

adoption fundraiser last year, and I looove it)

The Hang-Up Home Organizer from 31 Gifts

AND A $50 Target gift card 

Firstly, thank you family and friends for these donations. You. Rock. I love you guys. Thank you for loving Tolia and loving us! 

Second, this is how YOU, dear reader, can get one or more of these items in your hot little hands!

1) Donate to Tolia's super-secure, tax-deductible adoption fund. Don't be alarmed, his pseudonym on there is Sasha. No worries, that is definitely our Tolia! For every $5 donation, your name will be entered into the drawing to win one of these prizes. Donate $10, get entered three times. $25 donation earns you 9 entries, and a $50 donation earns you 20 entries. I could go on. Any other large donation, I will come up with an appropriately insane number of entries for you, never fear! Once you have donated, leave a comment on this post with your donation amount, and let me know if you'd rather it not be published. 

2) SHARE this blog post. On Facebook, Twitter, or your blog. Facebook and Twitter shares get an entry, sharing on your blog gets three entries. See, you can win something for nothing! Amazing, huh? Just comment to let me know how you shared it. 

On Friday, December 20th, we will draw winners, let you know immediately, and ship these items to you STAT! I'm a nerd, and just worked out the math of your likelihood of winning a prize, and you're AT LEAST 30,000 times more likely to win a prize in this giveaway than in winning the Powerball. Great odds at winning a prize, my friend. I've won lots of times from similar adoption fundraisers. (Not to mention EVERYONE wins EVERY time they donate to an orphan's adoption)

************Update 12/14/2013: We now have a $10,000 matching grant! This INCLUDES the funds already in our Reece's Rainbow account. If our account reaches $10,000 BY DEC. 31, the fund will DOUBLE, becoming $20,000! And our adoption will basically be fully funded! Please share and give! (The giveaway, however, will still end on Dec.20th so that we can get folks' prizes to them by Christmas)***************

Thanks for reading, sharing and donating, friends! It's all for this boy...

Good news

Just a quick update to let you know that our dossier was submitted yesterday to the State Department on Adoption and Children's Rights (SDA), November 14th. This past week, it was being translated by our adoption facilitator's team. It is a great sign that the facilitator's team found no problems with it, and didn't ask for any additional documents or corrections. They are extremely careful and only want to submit perfect documents, so we are very hopeful that the Ukrainian government will find it (and US!) up-to-snuff. 

From here, we will wait approximately four weeks to hear if the SDA has approved our dossier. If it is approved, we should receive an invitation to travel shortly after that! So, sometime in the New Year... likely end of January (any of my adopting friends feel free to tell me if that's ridiculously optimistic) or February, we should be going to Ukraine! 

In the meantime, we will get to have Tolia home, for Christmas hosting! We are so thrilled to have this opportunity to spend some more of the "waiting time" with him in our home, in HIS home!

Christmas 2012. I'll have to take a similar shot this year for comparison; he has grown so much! 

So, just to make this waiting time a little fun, I'm going to steal an idea that has been used as a game at many baby showers. I'm going to take guesses for when the next part of this process occurs (hearing if our dossier was accepted). Whoever guesses correctly will win a book that we really like, called The Grace Effect, by Larry Taunton. It follows one family's journey of adoption from Ukraine, but also weaves in philosophy, theology, and a bit of Ukrainian history. It is a great book! Leave a comment with your guess (remember, typical range will be 25-35 days from now), and I'll let you know who guesses closest and wins the book! 

Why fundraise for adoption?

Now, we haven't actually had anyone ask us this question, but I know that adoptive families do sometimes get some questions about fundraising, so I thought I'd share our reasons and thoughts on the matter.

One, there is a need for children to be adopted. I don't think there is too much doubt about that. Estimates for how many orphans are in the world are generally in upwards of 100 million. While many countries have programs in place for orphans (orphanages, foster care), most do not come close to the benefits and protections provided by a permanent family. 

In Tolia's country, when kids age out of the orphanage system at age 16, they are considered adults at that point. They have two options. They can strike out on their own, looking for work in their country or other European countries, or they can go onto a technical school. Orphans in his country, even ones with great grades and bright minds like Tolia, do not have the option to go to college. If they do choose technical school (which is outdated, bleak and provides little opportunity for future vocational success), they are still considered adults, and have almost no guidance, still very little food, and still lack the love and protection of parents and family.

What's worse, in addition to the poor likelihood of GOOD things in their future, there are many BAD things that happen to these vulnerable teens when they age out of the orphanage system. 

• In Eastern Europe, less than 50% of the orphan population will live to see their 20th birthdays 
• Of the orphans that survive their 20th birthdays, 50% will end up in organized crime, drugs, or prostitution
• One in six will commit suicide by their mid-20s. 

Others are tricked or kidnapped and sold into other types of slavery. 

In our family (and as you can imagine, in most adoptive families), we will turn ourselves inside out to make sure that he has every opportunity for good health, excellent education, love and safety. 

We absolutely can afford to parent Tolia, and even if we have no help financially, we will somehow find a way to adopt him, even if it means going into debt. However, we would like to avoid that, of course. He will have college in just a few short years, and we would like to be in a position to really help him as much as possible with that! We have cut our expenses in every area we can think of, and I have taken a work-from-home job to help pay for the adoption, as well. Dave has accepted almost every overtime offer sent his way (and I know that we're extraordinarily lucky to have that; we know that most incomes are pretty static). We are doing everything we can to tackle the financial "mountain" that is international adoption, and pay for as much of it ourselves as possible! We are so thankful for what God has already done to help us pay for our expenses so far.

Also, we know that many of our friends, family and members at our church just love him, and believe so much in the cause of adoption, but for various reasons can't adopt, or don't feel it's the plan for their family right now. That's totally fine! Many in our circle have expressed their desire to care for the orphan, and this is one way to do that. 

You are not compelled to participate in any fundraiser we have (I promise we love you either way!), but if you feel led, we are thankful. And I cannot emphasize enough how much we appreciate the moral support of our friends and family. It is so moving to hear the words of support and get encouraging emails and messages on Facebook. We can feel your love for Tolia and for our family. :')

Just a quick "rundown" of what we plan for fundraisers. We just want to let you know in advance, so you can see if there's one that is especially appealing to you, and know if you'd like to save your support for that one. 

• Our 31 fundraiser, going now through Nov. 15. All online. Click on the link, go to "My Events", and select Joy's Adoption Fundraiser. Thank you, Becky G! 

• Soon, we will have an ongoing puzzle fundraiser. We are having a 300-piece puzzle made of our family picture. You will be able to "buy" a piece of the puzzle for $10. We will write your name (or your child's name, husband's name, favorite pet's name, etc.!) on the back of the piece. When the puzzle is complete, we will double-frame it in glass, so Tolia can see all of the names on the pieces, and see everyone that helped bring him home. (Donations for this one will be tax-deductible, received by our Reece's Rainbow account.)

• We will have two blog giveaways. One on this blog, and one on Dave's, The Flatpick Apprentice. Each will have great prizes for those who donate or "share" the giveaway on Facebook, Twitter or their blog. Seriously, super-pumped about these; the prizes are going to rock! These giveaways will likely take place in December and/or January. (Donations for this will also be tax-deductible, through our RR account.)

Thanks so much, guys, for even taking the time to read this. It shows that you're interested in Tolia, our family, and I'd guess, have concern about vulnerable children, in general. Please, stay in touch, keep following our story, and pretty please KEEP PRAYING for our sweet Tolia while he waits, and pray that we can bring him home SOON. 

All About Tolia

Our summer with Tolia is almost over. He returns to Ukraine on Friday. In spite of our hope and plan that he will be coming to America permanently, and soon, the thought of his impending absence kind of makes my stomach hurt. 

I want to share about him a bit. So let's get started.

He is fourteen. There are some things that make him similar to most fourteen-year-olds here in America. He likes to stay up late and sleep late (as he is doing now). 

Okay, he's actually sleeping in his queen-sized memory foam-topped bed right now, but this is the only picture I have of him sleeping. I suppose I could sneak in his room and take a picture of him, but he might find that creepy if I woke him up accidentally...

He loves adventure and taking risks.

Yup, he made it to the top.

The super-scary roller coaster he went on with Dave at Hershey Park
(Confession: I was jealous that I wasn't the one who got to take him on.)

He loves to eat. Fruit, red 40-laced frozen treats of all manner, steak, eggs, pierogi, ham, beef jerky, RAW onions- just for a snack. He asks almost every day for a frappucino. Sometimes, I just can't say no. 

Could you say no to this face?

In other ways, he seems so much younger than American 14-year-olds. Sometimes he wants to get to do the same things his younger sisters are doing.

 And that's okay with me. After all, most of these things he missed out on. He has child-like wonder about things that I certainly take for granted. For instance, the daily mail. He loves to run out and see what's inside the mailbox. He brings in the bills, the circulars, and occasional correspondence from people we actually know. He eagerly asks me questions about everything he brings in. "What's this?", he asks, holding up an envelope from Geico. I attempt to explain what auto insurance is. He pores over an advertisement from a local car dealership. He loves cars. He asks if he can scratch off the circle to see if we won $1000 off the car of our choice. He does it with joy. And yes, we won. "Can I have Moostong (Mustang)?"  I smile. "Maybe someday, honey."  And he REALLY loves opening packages that are delivered. He always asks if he may open something before he does. When we give him the go-ahead, he smiles hugely and softly says, "Yayyy." He doesn't seem too disappointed when it's something mundane, like running socks for Dave. 

Sometimes, it makes me feel like I have TWO sweet baby boys. 

He loves his baby brother and is very tender-hearted toward him. He cannot bear for him to cry. If I am trying to finish up some kind of task, and Jude becomes fussy in his jumperoo, or having tummy time, I will of course, say, "Okay, Jude, I'll be right there... just a minute."  Well, if I don't get him in short order, Tolia picks him up, lovingly saying, "Jude", and carries him around. He is immediately pacified. 

Jude's first time in a big pool. 

Sometimes it hits me how lucky Jude is compared to Tolia. He is given everything he needs, and most things he wants. And God-willing, he will have that most of the days of his childhood. 

I'm not sure if Tolia received 100+ kisses a day from his mom and dad. I hope so. I don't know if he was lovingly nursed whenever he was hungry, and received relatively timely diaper changes, as Jude does. I don't know if there were presents under the Christmas tree when he was a young child. I don't know if there WAS a Christmas tree. While Tolia's life now isn't bad compared to other Ukrainian orphans (he is in a "good" orphanage), it's nowhere close to being the life of a child in a family. 

I would sort of expect that that would make him jealous or resentful of a pampered and coddled baby like Jude. It doesn't, though. 

And feeding Jude his first solids. 

More about Tolia:

He loves and enjoys America very much. 

His first time "down the shore". 

Last night, we watched "Seal Team Six" about the mission to take out OBL. He was so relieved when the Seals survived the crash helicopter landing, and cheered when they completed their mission. "That was good movie". 

He loves animals.

He is handsome.

He fits right in with us.

Hibachi. His "best" (favorite) restaurant.

He is VERY smart, and can build or assemble anything. He loves to figure out and fix things. 

The boy is REALLY good at finding things that the rest of the family loses.

The tablet that we've been missing for a year. He spent most of the summer looking for it
and was SO triumphant when he found it last week. (And we were grateful!)

He LOVES his dad and lives for when he has time off. 

                           

                                                I can't remember what the pouting was about. 

Though he says that I'm his favorite, too. (It's okay with me if Dad's really #1, though.)

We love him a whole lot. Pray for all of us but especially him as this time of separation begins on Friday.