Adoption Update

So, we have been quiet the past few months about our adoption due to the busyness of the move to North Carolina. Here is where we are at now:

Our home-study was approved on March 4th. We then had to do an annual update almost two weeks later. That was a fee of $375. Then an additional $150 to get clearances updated.

Today, we met with our new social worker and did another home tour. Which cost $500.

In between then and now we have been matched with a birth mom five times. Each time has been a "no". Or as I would rather put it, "not yet".

It has been rough waiting these past few months. Most days are easier than others, but when those rough days come, they hurt. When people ask me what the waiting is like, I always respond with this: "It's like waking up on your due date. You could have your baby today..but maybe not. That's every day until it actually happens. And that could be as long as 4 years or as short as one day."

If any of you know me, you know I despise talking about money. I don't like asking for donations or fundraising. But I will say that the outpouring of donations for our adoption is the only way we could afford this. When I say every dollar counts, I mean it. Currently we are up to date on all fees, with the exception of two. And that's because of our donations and saving every penny we can.

The next fee is $4,000 which is the matching fee.For when a birth mother selects us. And the final fee is the placement fee. Which is $16,000.

So that leaves us with a remainder of $20,000. Pocket change, right?! Thank you so much to everyone who has been vigilantly praying over us during this process. Also, to those of you who have donated, thank you it means SO much to us.

If you would like to donate, please feel free to click the link below.
paypal.me/gunnarkallstrom

-Brooke 

The last 6 months

A LOT had happened in the past 6 months since our last blog post:

•Our home study was finally APPROVED on March 4th. 

•We've had four "no's" so far 

•We moved from Alabama to North Carolina in May.  

Today we had a home study meeting with our new social worker. She visited our home for about 30 minutes, interviewed us, updated some paperwork  and toured our house. We also paid a $500 fee for the home study update and relocation amendment since we moved from Alabama to North Carolina. 

We are in the "waiting process". They said that this would be the hardest part and it definitely is! 

These are essentials when a social worker comes to inspect your home (or so we thought, she actually didn't even check for them..) 

                                       *Our puzzle fundraiser is still going on.*

If you would like to buy a puzzle piece (or more!) please click here ---> donate

Reminder of how this works:

We have 1,008 piece puzzle. Each piece is worth $10, which makes the entire puzzle worth $10,080. Every piece will have the donors name on it. After the puzzle is complete we will double side frame it and hang it in the nursery so our child can see who helped bring her home.* We've currently sold 247 pieces and there are 761 still available. 

We are SO incredibly thankful for all of your support, emotionally and financially! We couldn't do this with out your help.


-Gunnar

Puzzle!

Hey guys!

It's been awhile since I've written anything. The process has been going well, we are waiting for our home-study and our profile to be approved. Hopefully that will be done by the end of the month or January at the latest.

We have a new fundraiser! It's a puzzle!

Here's how it works:

There are 1,008 pieces to the puzzle. Each piece is worth $10. Which means the puzzle will end up raising $10,080!!! 

When you buy a piece (or more) we will write your name on the back of the puzzle piece(s).

Every week, We will show an updated version of the puzzle coming together with all of the wonderful names displayed.

Once the puzzle is completed, we will reveal the picture on the front! 

Lastly we will have the puzzle put in a double sided frame and it will hang in her nursery. So she can see who helped bring her home :) 

If you would like to donate please click here, or feel free to send it via PayPal - email me for more info!

Thank you for all of your love and support!

Brooke

Television Interview

A few weeks ago a public relations worker with gofundme.com contacted me and said that she wanted to share our story with the media. And so of course I said yes. About a week later, I was on my way home from work and received a call from a television reporter who wanted to run our adoption story on the news. They were doing a piece on how thousands of people have used crowdsourcing to help fund adoption and IVF. He was very adamant about filming us that very same day, and so we agreed. It was a mad rush to get the house cleaned and then of course he showed up 45 minutes early. We were interviewed for about 15 minutes and then right before he left he said that our story would be aired that night at 10 o'clock!!!

If you would like to watch the interview here is the link ----> 

http://m.waaytv.com/videos/?clipId=11898873&autostart=true

We all had our turn to be interviewed. Here is a picture of Blake from behind the scenes. 

Thank you for all of your prayers and love!

If you would like to donate, click here!

Gunnar

Prayers for Birth Mom

During our adoption conference, we were able to hear a Birth Mom speak. Her story was absolutely incredible! One thing she focused on were prayers, we could pray for our future Birth Mom. Here is the list she gave us:

Prayers for Birth Mom

God Puts Her in the Right Place at the Right Time

Her Safety

She Knows God's Unconditional Love

She Follows God's Will

She Finds Peace

She Has a Strong Support System

Healthy Pregnancy & Safe Delivery

She Knows She Made the Right Decision 

She Chooses the Right Parents

She Continues to Grow and Achieve Her Goals

Her Future Family

Such wonderful things to keep in mind while praying for our Birth Mother. I can't wait to see what God has in store when our stories meet.

Thank you for all of your prayers and love!

If you would like to donate, click here!

Brooke

Adoption Conference

Whew!

It has been a crazy couple of weeks, but we are back in the swing of things and have A LOT to post. Hold on to your seats!

On our way to the conference!

The weekend of August 8th, we were able to attend an adoption conference/workshop that was required to complete our home study. It was truly an amazing experience. We learned so much I thought our heads were going to explode. It was an emotional, exciting and informational weekend.

We were able to meet other couples that were also in the adoption process. When you are in the middle of it, it really feels like you are completely alone. But when we walked into that conference room and saw over 200 other people on the same boat, it is such a relief. Everyone in there was just as scared, excited and nervous as we were. There were people from all walks of life, all different backgrounds but all of us were on the same journey and had the same goal, to bring our baby home.

Throughout the weekend we attended a series of workshops, which were smaller groups and we discussed different topics that applied to our adoption journey.

The first night we got to hear an adoption story from birth to adulthood. Which was amazing, mainly because it was about our social workers supervisor, Christy's adoption. She was adopted as a baby and her parents told their story. It was amazing to hear how they told her she was adopted even before she could communicate. When she was a baby/toddler they would love on her and say "my darling adopted daughter!" Such a wonderful idea, because even before she knew what the word adoption meant, she knew it was associated with love. They also made sure that they always spoke about her birth mother with love, even celebrated her on Mother's Day.  They urged us to make sure we keep our adopted child's story, their story. and not to tell anyone until the are old enough to hear the full story. The last thing we would want is for our daughter to hear something about her birth mother or about her story from someone other than us. So we have decided that the details of how she came into our family until she is old enough to hear it from us.

The next morning we were able to hear from a birth mother that used Lifeline to place her son for adoption, when she was a teenager. It was a tear-filled testimony. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. It really brought us a lot of perspective. We learned how and what to pray for our birth mom, and how to treat her during the process. It was incredible to hear her story, and we truly learned a lot.

We did it!!

It was a great weekend, it was so informative and we left there feeling like experts on adoption! Plus since this was an overnight thing, we had to leave Blake with a friend of ours and he did great for his first sleepover!! Words can not express how thankful I am to have friends willing to help us that way. We were able to make it a little weekend getaway, too which was awesome. And of course we got our traditional treat, Krispy Kreme donuts :)

Thank you for your love and prayers!

If you would like to donate, you can here!

Brooke

3rd Adoption Interview

We are officially 75% done with our home study!! WOOHOO!!

This morning we had a meeting with our social worker, Meagan. It was basically about attachment and parenting. Which is something we are already doing, since we have Blake. She wanted to know what our philosophies on parenting were. We talked about discipline and reconciliation, and how we would parent our adoptive child. We told her that we get on Blake's level and correct him, and use time-outs. We were hesitant to talk about spanking, which anyone would be with a social worker sitting in front of you. We are honest so we told her that spanking is a last resort, and we warn him before and pray with him afterwards. She said that is perfectly normal and we are doing it the correct way and as long as we keep it up he will be fine. However, with adopted children spanking could be an ineffective punishment and can be a trigger for them. Especially if they were older when they came in our family, or if their Birth Mom used drugs or alcohol while pregnant. So she suggested a "time-in". Instead of sending the adoptive child to their room we sit with them on the couch so they don't feel unwanted. Such a great idea!

It was a very easy meeting. She told us that we are doing everything right, and to keep doing so! It was such a relief. Plus hearing a social worker say that you are doing a good job parenting is pretty much the best compliment you can get! We have one more meeting with her, which will be sometime next month. That meeting will take place in our home and will be about four hours long. She will go over creating our profile and get to meet Blake, which he is super excited about!

After our meeting Gunnar and I treated ourselves :)

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

If you would like to donate please click here!

Brooke