Walk...walk..walk it out, School's Out For Summer & Money, Money, Money, MON-EY

Yeah so I channeled a little UNK and my love for Alice Cooper a little in that title :)  But class is officially over!  Home study class that is!  So excited to be done.  Our group was awesome though.  We laughed, we cried, and we talked about all the crazy comments/questions we get as adoptive parents.  (Believe me there are a lot!  I need to do a blog just about those so you can laugh)  But this past Thursday we wrapped up what had been 5 weeks of traveling back and forth to Nashville for class every week.  So what is next?  Well we have paper work to complete and send in.  As soon as that is done and they review it, we will do individual/get to know you interviews with our social worker.  This helps them learn who we are and be able to better understand our wants and needs and how that matches to potential birth mothers.  Then they will schedule our home visit and the joint interview.  Once that is done, they will approve (hopefully) all of our paperwork and the findings from the visit and we will be officially waiting.  I cannot express how happy I will be to get there.  Just to be done with our piece so that birth moms can start looking at our profile.  It is out of our hands at that point, but God has a plan at that point and I just settle back knowing he will get us where we need to be in His time.  Not to say I won't get ancy or impatient, but I am going to try my best to focus and keep praying for the patience.

Now for the walk.  November is adoption awareness month and today was the adoption awareness 5K in Nashville.  What a fun time!  Tonds of people came out to Centennial Park to show support and I met another adoptive mom named Misty who used my same agency.  Her son was 11 months old today.  (And adorable!)  I also met a few fellow wrestling fans who appreciated my CM Punk bow.  I had Miss Joy aka LuckECupcake to make me a bow with CM Punk on it (based on his history with adopted family members...again buy the DVD) and asked her to make it in purple, which was our agency's color for the walk.  She was so sweet to do so and it was a huge hit.  I sport a lot of her bows....for example:

From the walk today

 

 

From Wrestlemania in Miami & WWE.com & CM Punk's DVD (buy the DVD)

 

 

And lastly from Halloween as a Zombie...a little harder to see this one

 

 

 

So if you would like one of these awesome bows (and who wouldn't?) go check her out at:  http://www.luckycupcakehairclips.com/  She has flowers, bows, jewelry and just in general awesome stuff!  Highly recommend!

 

Ok now back to adoption related stuff! :)  The walk was awesome and the so were the people.  Wentdy's came and had chili and drinks for folks.  In case you aren't aware, Dave Thomas is a huge advocate of adoption and Wendy's will actually give employee's $10,000 to help them with their adoption.  Amazing stuff!  So if you choose fast food, I encourage you to choose Wendy's at least part of the time, because as odd as squareness in hamburgers can be, they are doing amazing things for families all over.  So have a frosty and tell them the zombie with the cool hairbow sent you :)

 

 

Now for the last thing in the title.  First, if you haven't, sing Money, Money, Money, Mon-ey, to the tune of the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase's theme music.  Second, let's talk money.  I have had more support in fundraising than I could have ever imagined and thank you guys so much for everything you have done, from recipes to coming to the jewelry party.  Other's have asked how they can help.  I have done 3 things...well one was already done, and it was the link to the t-shirts, if you would like one.  The 2nd is to add the Donate button up at the top of the page.  This is a paypal link and it comes straight to us.  There is a fee on our side but it is small, something like 2%, so I am very thankful that paypal is so kind with very small fees.  But for those wanting to donate, that is an easy and safe option for you to do so and I thank you for even asking to do that.  The 3rd is that my mom and I are organizing a garage sale.  We are taking any and all donations and we are going to do a big sale, which will include selling hot dogs, chips and baked goods.  I figure if you don't want our junk, you might wanna eat :)  So if you have anything you are looking to get rid of, I will be happy to get rid of it for you.  Anything not sold will go straight to GoodWill to help out other folks.  If you know me, you know I am a huge advocate of GoodWill donations, so I want to make sure I help out as much as I can.  But if you have anything I am going to try and do collections this week, so let me know I will make sure we come get it from you.  We have done well and between savings and raising money we have made a huge dent to the tune of about $4,000.  We will still need to cover about $17,000 more in fees and a lawyer.  So we will still be working super hard, including trying my hand at starting a candle making business (here's to hoping I do not burn down the house and neighborhood).  So thank you guys for supporting us every step.  I could not even begin to have done what I have done without your love, support, and prayers. 

 

The prayers have done the most, because they have seen to it that money comes in.  How so?  Well we needed a little bit more money to cover the last few dollars to finish out the home study.  We had saved up some and sold our gold jewelry and sold some wreaths I made and t-shirts, but were coming up a couple of hundred dollars short.  I really just did not want to put this on the credit card, because of the fertility treatments already being on there, so I was just praying for a way to earn it or a whole lot of quarters in the couch cushions.  Out of absolutely no where, I got an unexpected spot bonus at work.  It was tiny to most people, but it along with some savings from my couponing equaled what I needed to make the payments due to finalize the home study process.  I cried my eyes out when I got the email,  Our God is truly awesome and hears all prayers.  Thank you all for your prayers that went up.  It was a light that I needed that day and I was so thankful. 

 

So things are hoppin' and happenin' in the Sims household and there are huge smiles on our faces.  Not only because we are almost done with the home study, but because the outpouring of love and support has been amazing from ya'll. People have thanked me over and over for telling my story, and I am thanking God for giving me the chance to tell people about adoption and how amazing it can be.  I have family and friends that are in my life because of adoption that I feel so inspired and blessed by the process already, that I can't imagine what it will feel like to add a member to my own household through the process.  Pretty cool stuff :)

 

Ok this has become way more of a novel tonight and there is some Alabama football I need to be watching!  I love ya'll.  Thank you for your prayers and know I pray for you all every night.  You are awesome and I cannot say that nor stress that enough!

 

Until next time.....love....hugs.....and hairbows :)