Apr 17 2014 0 Commentby writekara@gmail.com

Thank-you! T-shirt campaign a success!

Posted in Adoption, Fundraiser, T-shirts, BeTheGood

Thank-you so much for your incredible support of our t-shirt campaign! It closed on Sunday night and we blew our goal of 50 shirts out of the water. In just two weeks, we sold 87 shirts and raised $1430! It’s truly amazing what a network of friends and family can do!

I spoke to our Booster campaign manager and designer at the start of the week to fine tune our design and ink colors. As of yesterday, they were off the printer and should be shipping soon! A few people have asked about purchasing shirts after the deadline. This isn’t possible but we might consider one last, fast campaign just before we travel.

And about that…

We’re getting closer! Our fingers are crossed that we’ll hear good news about our next steps any day. When we do, we’ll let you know!

Apr 10 2014 0 Commentby writekara@gmail.com

50 days-50 shirts

Posted in Adoption, Fundraiser, T-shirts, BeTheGood

Today makes Day 50 of our wait for the Letter of Approval (LOA). The LOA is likely the most important adoption milestone to achieve because it means that China has reviewed our entire dossier. The wait for LOA varies….alot! Some people get approval in as little as 30-something days. Others wait more than 100! We are hoping to receive our LOA any day. 50 already feels like much too long. Once we receive LOA, the next stages seem to move much faster. Most people travel between 8 and 10 weeks after they receive LOA. IF we receive our LOA by the end of April, we’re hoping to travel some time in July.

Our sights are also set on another 50 and that’s reaching our goal of 50 t-shirts. Our campaign closes in just 4 days! If you’ve already ordered, thank-you so much. If you’ve shared our campaign, we also truly appreciate it! If you have any other networks or haven’t shared yet, please help us spread the word. We’re just THREE shirts away from 50!

Here’s the link to our Booster t-shirt campaign: https://www.booster.com/ayersadoption

Apr 05 2014 0 Commentby writekara@gmail.com

T-Shirt Referral Contest: Let the Games Begin!

Posted in T-shirts, BeTheGood

Our Booster t-shirt campaign has sold more than 30 shirts! We have just 10 days left until the campaign closes and we would love to blow our goal of 50 out of the water. The most exciting part of selling more shirts is that as the numbers rise, Booster charges less to print per shirt. That means that more money from each shirt will go towards Eli’s adoption fund. In sharing this with a friend-who wishes to remain anonymous-she suggested a contest to bring our campaign home with a strong finish. She donated a 25$ gift card for the winner and we couldn’t wait to kick it off.

Here’s how it will work:

1. Share our Booster page with your friends and networks asking them to join our campaign by purchasing a shirt.

2. Ask them to say YOU sent them in the comment section of the Booster page. If they forget (or would rather not write a comment), no worries! They or you can contact me after their purchase via email (writekara at gmail dot com) or our FB page.

3. Keep sharing until 4/14 when our campaign and the contest ends.

4. I’ll tally the sales and the person who referred the most will be mailed their Amazon card on 4/15/14.

One final note-I see a few people who were already referred! These count as well. If you referred someone and they didn’t mention it in their comment, just let me know and I’ll get yours counted.

We hope this is a fun way to help share and promote our campaign. We know your friends, your networks, and your contacts are important to you and we truly appreciate your willingness to help us share our story and our goal-to roll Eli home!

Mar 31 2014 0 Commentby writekara@gmail.com

T-shirt fundraiser launched

Posted in Adoption, blogging, Fundraiser

While we anxiously await word from China, we’ve been busy! My family and friends in Frankfort threw us a beautiful adoption sprinkle and I’ll catch up this week with pictures. Just today, we hosted a shower for my newest nephew-to-be. We’ve also been working on over a dozen adoption grant application-oh and working and keeping up with a very energetic sister-to-be. In the midst of this, there’s big t-shirt news! We’ve launched our first Booster campaign and could use your help. From the start of our journey to Eli, this quote has been meaningful to us. We finally took the plunge to make it into a t-shirt. Booster campaigns are a way to crowd-source t-shirts. We need to sell at least 20 to print but have set our goal to 50. We have just a couple weeks to meet our goals and then the t-shirts will be printed and shipped. Can you help us by sharing this link? To meet our goal, we’ll definitely need to widen our circle. We know so many people who live their lives with this intention so we hope it will be fitting for a wide audience.

Ready to check out our t-shirt?

Here the link to our campaign: https://www.booster.com/ayersadoption Join us in sporting this reminder to BE the change and please share this link with your networks. We cannot say thank-you enough…but we’ll try!

Feb 24 2014 0 Commentby writekara@gmail.com

LID and Fundraising Update

Posted in Fundraiser

We reached another milestone this week! Just in time for Adam’s birthday, we received word that we are officially LID, which means our dossier paperwork is Logged In to China’s system. Our Logged In Date (LID) is 2-18. Now for the next big wait. Our ultimate goal with this part of the process is the Letter of Approval (LOA). Along the way, we’ll hopefully hear when we are Out of Translation (OOT) and have been reviewed. The total LOA wait can range from around 40-100 days. As Eli’s 7th birthday nears, we are especially hoping for a fast one.

Since we’ve completed the majority of our official adoption paperwork, we’re now focusing on grant applications. We applied for a grant from Help to Adopt in the fall but were notified that we were not among the recipients. We have a growing list of grants to consider now thanks to the help of other adoptive parents and their suggestions. I’m working on knocking those out. The requirements for the grants differ widely. All require the same basic demographic information but many also request detailed financial, residential, employment, and spiritual histories. Gathering our information gave me a good opportunity to run the numbers and provide a fundraising update to Team Eli:)

Here’s what we’ve done so far:

Joe’s Social Media Matching Grant Campaign: An amazing family friend, Joe Hall, offered a generous matching grant in conjunction within inviting his friends in the social media world to contribute to our tax-deductible Adopt Together account. By the end of the year, Joe’s campaign raised $5634.

Puzzle Piece Fundraiser: We kicked off our adoption announcement with the start of puzzle piece fundraiser. Since then, 345 pieces have been claimed! Some of these donations came directly through our PayPal donation link ($1865). Others were part of Joe’s matching grant campaign. I plan to continue writing the names of people and organizations who donate-even if it’s part of a different fundraiser-because I love the idea that Eli will someday know how many, many people helped bring him home. As of tonight, we have 155 more pieces available.

Bravelets: We introduced our Bravelets campaign when we were officially DTC. They are a bit pricey but there was no cost to sign up, no time limit associated with sales, and the process was pretty easy. So I created a profile and chose some colors to represent our campaign. We haven’t sold any at this time but there’s no harm in keeping our campaign open.

TOTAL RAISED SO FAR (as of 2/23/14): $7499

Sales of Personal Items: While not a fundraiser, we thought it was an important enough part of the process to share that we-like many families pursuing adoption-have also sold some personal items to raise money for fees. In addition to contributing savings, we’ve raised around $5000 from these sales.

We’ve also been running the numbers on what fees and travel expenses are ahead. We’ve made some incredible progress and still have a ways to go. We’re not a family that minds hard work and remain committed that adoption isn’t only an option for wealthy families. Finances are something we typically keep much more private but I’m also choosing to share in hopes that this transparency will give prospective adoptive parents-including those with disabilities-an idea of what to expect. I’ve learned so much about this process from the blogs of other adoptive parents that I also aim to pay that gift of knowledge and experience forward. If you don’t have upwards of $25,000 set aside for adoption, it’s still possible. If you believe it’s not though, you are probably right. Our experience has been a test of faith, creativity, and a reminder of the need to BELIEVE. The best is yet to come!

Feb 15 2014 2 Commentsby writekara@gmail.com

We are DTC!

Posted in Adoption

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we received some fantastic news! Our dossier (the GIANT package of documents) is officially officially DTC or Dossier To China. This means the documents were processed through all channels of authentication on the US side and are now on their way to China. This is a huge step in the adoption process and we hope the rest of the several steps to go move quickly.

What’s next?

Our next acronym target in the language of adoption is to be LID (Logged In Date). This means that our dossier has been received by the authorities and logged into their systems. We would love to see this happen in the next 10 days or so.

How’s Eli?

We wish we knew the answer to this question each and every day.

While we can’t request any new updates right now, we have been doing our best to get to know Eli in other ways. For Valentine’s Day, our family celebrated by eating a Chinese buffet. The food choices were labeled so it was a good way to try new things and try to remember what we liked. One of Eli’s profiles said that steamed buns are among his many favorite foods! We all had a chance to try those and other foods on Eli’s favorites. The steamed buns were not quite as adorable as the pig ones pictured here but they were still tasty. Even Hannah gave them a whirl!

Another piece of important mail also made its way to China-and even Eli’s province-today. We’d nearly given up hope on the care package we sent at the very start of the year. It typically takes a little under two weeks for packages like this to reach our courier. We’re guessing that the mail was delayed or slowed even prior to the Chinese New Year holiday. After over 4 weeks, our package showed up an

d the kind woman who serves as a go-between added the items we requested (a bag with a note that includes Eli’s picture and a note labeling it as his personal property and a USB drive for pictures the orphanage may have taken of him over the years). We also sent a Bengals fleece shirt, a ninja turtle t-shirt and toy, a slinky, a tiny Iron Man toy, Eli’s dinosaur from my Aunt Kate and Uncle Glen, tea for the nannies, and suckers for other children in Eli’s room or foster home. Our note was signed from friends in the United States. We’re working on our official introduction to Eli, which will include a book of pictures, when we receive Letter of Approval (LOA).

contents of care package

We hope the package makes it to Eli but we know it’s never guaranteed. Some orphanages keep the packages-including picture books that introduce families-until the day the child is adopted. Others take pictures and videos as the child opens them! Hopefully, Eli will get our package sometime in the next few days and he, his friends, and nannies will like it.

Thank-you all so much for your support and encouragement on our journey. I hope we have more good news to share soon.

Kara

Jan 20 2014 0 Commentby writekara@gmail.com

Dossier out the door

Posted in Adoption, Fundraiser

In the midst of a all the snow Friday, our family made the trek to Columbus to get all of our dossier documents state sealed. This is a HUGE step in adoption.

What is a dossier?

The dossier is a set of documents used to describe our family to the foreign courts. Our homestudy is part of the dossier but there are around 19 other pieces!

What’s in a dossier?

Our dossier included birth certificates, our marriage certificate, letters from our employers, financial forms, police clearances, medical forms, our homestudy, passport pictures, additional pictures of our home, our immigration approval, and a letter of our intent to adopt Eli.

How is a dossier prepared?

Completing a dossier is yet another reminder that it takes a village to adopt! Several parts of the dossier required us to rely on someone else to help us with its completion. Small hiccups can be pretty nerve wracking because Eli is on our minds day and night. We don’t want him to miss out on any more opportunities. We know a school year is ticking by and we’re just….eager. Collaborating with so many through the process has also reminded us how grateful we are for others time and attention. We know paperwork isn’t fun…for anyone. These forms are generally more complicated too because most have to be notarized-or signed in front of a notary. After this step, Adam took every document to (3!) different county offices to confirm our notaries were the real deal. AFTER that, we headed to Columbus for our state seals. None of this can be done in too much advance because some documents must be no more than three months old by the time they are processed in China.

After we admired our shiny, gold state seals, we headed STRAIGHT to the post office and overnighted our dossier to our agency. They will help us obtain federal seals and then, it will be off to China!

What’s next?

Adoption is alphabet soup. There’s always a new acronym to look forward to….Right now, we are waiting to officially be DTC (Dossier to China). After that, we’ll be waiting to hear our dossier has been translated. The entire 40+ page document has to be translated into Mandarin. THEN, we’ll be waiting for the ever-coveted Letter of Approval (LOA)…there are many more steps, but we are making progress!

While we wait and wait…we’re reminded that Eli has been waiting much longer…for a family, for a home, and for a future. Other orphans-especially those with disabilities-are doing the same. I found a quote today from Helen Keller that was perfect timing…We hope Eli remains brave and we’ll work on the patient part.

Introducing another next step…

In celebration of completing our dossier, we’re launching a new fundraiser. You can now purchase Bravelets to help us bring Eli home. Bravelets are bracelets, rings, and necklaces with the inscription “Be Brave”. Everyone can use the reminder and we loved having the opportunity to select colors specific to our cause. The support and love that so many have shared as we fundraise has been incredible. In the next few months, we’ll try to offer some options where you, too, can get something awesome in return for your support. Bravelets are the first of a couple things we have in mind!

We’ll receive $10 for each Bravelet purchased from the Bravelet page we created. We have several options. Just make sure you are within our page if you’d like to support our cause. Here’s what your page should look like and here’s the link: https://bravelets.com/bravepage/ayers-adoption

Please share our Bravelets page with your village. We appreciate your help, support, and purchases. So much!

Jan 12 2014 0 Commentby writekara@gmail.com

Amazon Store Now Open

Posted in Adoption, blogging, Fundraiser

Update: Since publishing this post, I realized that the footer widget doesn’t work well. Instead, I set up our own Amazon store. This allows me to add more of our favorite items and categorize them. You are actually shopping through Amazon….just with a link that let’s them know we shared the product with our recommendation. Visit our store here.

Polishing the blog tonight in preparation of a few exciting things to come. It seems each day brings more items on our adoption to-do list. While still juggling our jobs, we’ve done something each and every day this week. On Friday, we got a few more items notarized and had our blood taken for our doctor to complete the last (fingers crossed) medical form. In addition to the paperwork, we’re also finalizing plans for additional fundraisers. Unfortunately, we were not selected for a grant that we’d been very hopeful to receive for a few months. The news was disappointing but just instilled a greater clarity that we are meant to pursue different avenues in our journey to bring Eli home….we were meant to be more creative, to reach out to more people, and to work harder. He’s worth it….and then some.

I’ll launch a couple of more formal items in the coming days/weeks, but I’ve also added a widget to our footer with a few of our current Amazon favorites. We *love* children’s books around here. My child psych background paired with Hannah’s love of reading since birth means we ~~analyze~~ enjoy a large number of books. Each week or so, I’ll share some of our favorites in the footer below. Some are related to adoption, disability, emotions, self-regulation, and learning about the Chinese culture. Other books and toys are just for fun-those are important too! The widget should be a fun way to share recommendations while also earning a small commission if you decide to purchase by clicking on our links.

Interested in checking out our first installment? There’s everything from bugs to our favorite Llama books! Just scroll d-o-w-n to check out the Amazon widget in the footer.

We wish you a wonderful weekend and if you are from the Midwest, hope you, too, are enjoying the great thaw!

Kara

Jan 03 2014 0 Commentby writekara@gmail.com

Building a History

Posted in Adoption

It’s amazing to me that Eli lives almost exactly on the other side of the world. Yet, our weather is shockingly similar. Right now, it feels like just 1 degree here in Cincinnati. In Eli’s province, it’s also freezing-just a tad colder (at -1). I’m starting to understand the sentiment “living in two time zones” as I frequently find myself checking the weather where Eli lives and thinking about what he might be doing. Does he have warm clothes? Is he giggling with friends? Sleeping well? Eating something he loves (which we’re told is nearly everything)?

At this point, we are somewhat used to not knowing…there are so many things we will never know. Harder yet, there are pieces of Eli’s history that he will never know. What would it be like to know nothing of where you truly came from? What would it be like to know even your birthday was very unlikely your actual date of birth? We feel it’s our obligation to track down everything we can so that someday-we can give Eli each and every bit of knowledge we know about his past. Many other adopting families share this desire and one of them pointed me in the direction of a man who locates the finding ads of abandoned children.

What are finding ads?

Since around 1999, China has been placing pages of finding ads for children who have been abandoned. It is illegal to place a child for adoption in China so families often desperately enact plans to leave their children in a very public place-in hopes they will be found as quickly as possible. Some children are left with notes, money, or even family momentos. Due to the threat of legal action, there are typically no ties to the birth parents. The finding ads are intended to give family members one final chance to come forward and reunite with the child. After the ads have run, the child is issued a certificate of abandonment and can then be adopted. This single piece of paper seals their status as an orphan while opening their future to the possibility of adoption.

Was an ad placed for Eli?

Just a few hours after submitting my request, I received a response from the man who locates these newspaper ads. Eli’s ad has been found! It will include what we believe will be the earliest picture to date (and likely that we will ever have) of him. Even in our 6 inches of snow, we’ll definitely be checking the mailbox diligently because we can’t wait to see his sweet face. Most importantly, I’m excited to have this bit of Eli’s past to share with him. In scanning his files for the necessary information, I also located the public place in which Eli was found on a google map. We’re not permitted to share his province or finding location. The spot is just about an hour from his orphanage though so I’m hopeful we’ll be able to visit (or may even have to for paperwork) when we travel.

It’s hard to admire a bustling, urban area from the pixelated screens of Google Maps. Still, it’s so easy to see that Eli’s homeland is beautiful. Even in populated areas, there are rounded green areas with twisting sidewalks and smooth lines of waterways. There are tall buildings and long rows of smaller houses. I plan to take as many pictures as I can but I have a feeling even Eli will appreciate my aerial Google view of his homeland someday…at least I hope so.