To those who have given their support:So here we are... You would think that something as simple as making a blog post about how grateful you are for everyone's ongoing love and support would be simple. All you need to do is express your gratitude and then post it. Yet, here I am... I honestly couldn't describe how far short a "thank you" would fall from the truth of it. My wife and I knew that the road we chose would be rough, anyone who has ever been involved in the adoption process will tell you how taxing it can be mentally and physically. While it is a blessing, it doesn't come without its costs. We knew that if we wanted the family we were ready for, we would have to get serious and start working towards it now. Going into it we knew that most people did fundraisers and other things to help raise money towards their adoption, so we did the same. My wife and I picked up extra shifts/off-duty and picked out a fundraiser.
I remember when Mary Jane and I got that first box of Haitian bracelets. We got sent 150 of them, and we were so nervous and excited. Could we sell that many? Do we honestly even know 150 people? Regardless of the answer, all we could do was try. Admittedly the idea of fundraising made me a little uneasy. I had never been in a position before where I had to rely on others for so much support. We were about to ask people to help our cause, a cause that was immensely personal to us, but why would others really care? I thought that maybe a few family and friends would reach out and support us, but that would be about the extent. Maybe I was just blind or jaded, but I know now what I was. I was wrong. You, ALL of you. Family, friends, acquaintances, strangers... everyone. Showed me how wrong I was. We sold all 150 bracelets. Then we sold 150 more, and 150 more after that.
I will tell you that I don't know 450 people. But I know that there are 450 people out there who care about my wife and I, and that it is impossible to express how much love that makes us feel. From buying bracelets, shirts, helping with garage sales, donations, help at work, ect... everyone has been awesome in every way you could imagine. The countless messages I have received from people I haven't seen in years, or barley even knew in passing, offering their support and prayers. In every fundraiser that we have done, we have had strangers come up to us and offer their support and beyond. What do you say to something like that? Thank you? No. It is so much more than that, it means so much more than that. I could sit here and grapple with the words forever trying to express how grateful we are to everyone, and what it all really means to us, and I have no doubt that I would fall short of my mark.
Going into this process, the journey that comes with major decisions, I didn't know what it would be like or how it would change my wife and I. We have only been on this road for two short months. Yet even after a few steps on a much longer road, we are completely different than when we started. It is impossible to be the recipients of so much love and support and not be affected. Know that you all are appreciated in a way that goes beyond a simple thanks, it is in the wake of your support and by the weight of your generosity that we are able to move towards bringing a child into our family. We are grateful for you and everything that you have done for us and our future child. Thank you.
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I wanted to take the time to put that letter out there for those who have helped us thus far. Heaven knows that they have earned it. I also wanted to just let everyone know where we are at in our adoption process. Almost two weeks ago we finished the legal portion of our adoption, meaning that we are now simply waiting to be chosen as an adoptee family. I should really say that I am waiting, and my wife is impatiently waiting. Nevertheless we still grateful for the process. We finished our third adoption garage sale this week, 95% of everything in them was donated and they all went great. I would like to say thank you to my sister-in-law Erica and my mother Joycelyn for letting us use your garages/driveways for an entire weekend and sitting out with us while we were there. Another person who came to us and offered a helping hand was Amber Smith.
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| Fun Run Event |
Amber was kind enough to reach out to us and offer to host a fundraiser event for our adoption. She arranged and setup everything, all we had to do was show up. We just had the event last night at Fun Run, and it had a great turn out, we hope everyone had a good time and your kid(s) got extremely tired afterwords. Amber, thank you for taking your personal time and resources and setting up an event for us, it is more than we deserved. Our shirts have shipped! So if you ordered a shirt from our bonfire page then hopefully you will be getting it soon or have already received
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| Adoption Shirts |
