BIG! REALLY BIG!

monday morning I was not even out of bed and I got the call. we have to be in the country in one week. one week from monday. that means only a few days from now we will be flying to the kids country and hopefully meeting them by the end of next week. We have an appointment to receive the official referral and permission to visit on weds the 10th of dec. We are working hard to get everything organised at home for our absence as well as prepare ourselves and for our needs as we travel. big exciting stuff. busy busy time! I cant wait to tell you all that we met our kids! I feel like I already know them because I know a family who adopted their friend and spent time with them. they were kind enough to share a lot of info with me about the kids. It is not the same area we went to for our other kids so this is a whole new adventure!

big news!

Our dossier has been submitted to the country the kids are in! Now we wait for invitation to travel. Very exciting! Now if we could agree on names!!

Almost ready to submit our Dossier

We are waiting for one more elusive document and we will be sending the rest of our dossier(papers) to the country where the children reside. I say Children because, in case you havent been following, we also decided to adopt a boy close in age to Damaris. We have decided on a name for Damaris but have not come to agree on a name for the boy. I am very much wanting one name, Eric is very much wanting another. Unfortunately neither of us cares much for the name the other has chosen. I am about to put the names in a hat and whatever comes out is his name. haha.  Our giveaway just added some new items. Please check them out and help us raise funds to bring home our children!!  They are beautiful loving children(we have heard from those who have met them) They deserve a family of their own.

Giveaway!

Edited: since only 2 people donated for the giveaway I will end this giveaway and change to an auction on another page that will be noted here when it is complete. I am currently in Ukraine with the children. 



We are a large family already. We have 12 kids between us. His, Hers, and OURS! Most of our kids have various special needs. We have committed to caring for another child with special needs. A young girl with a physical disability is in a far away country in an institution with no chance at a future, simply because she does not walk. We are also adopting a boy with special needs. We are doing everything we can to fund their adoption into our family. Many of our children are also from far away countries where they were not valued because they were not in perfect health. We have lots of great prizes to give away in this event! here is how it works. For every $5 you donate to our sponsorship fund (to the right, reeces rainbow) you get 1 chance to win the great prizes below. If you SHARE this page and COMMENT below you will also get 1 chance in the drawings to win these great prizes. You have to comment below to be entered as Reeces Rainbow can not share with me how much someone donated.  You can also email me at katieostar@yahoo.com  I do have more great prizes to add! Come back often to see what else you could win!

 wooden paper dolls. Brand Melissa &Doug

 wooden paper dolls. Brand Melissa&Doug

 wooden paper dolls. cute! Brand Melissa & Doug

 crystal pendant and earrings. beautiful!

gorgeous bracelet value 169.99

  beautiful blue crystal necklace value 99.99

 beautiful simulated periodot bracelet value 79.95

1 Direction DVD

Thanks to Christie Carter Friedland

8 pound weighted blanket with silk binding

Thanks to Kathy Ulrich Anderson

72 cd/dvd holder

Thanks to Christie

digital photo viewer

Thanks to Christie

Dvd of GamePlan

Thanks to Christie

Margarita basket!

Thanks to Christie and friends

Moose Oil Lamp

Thanks to Christie

hair brush and accessories from PHI

thanks to Christie. 

whats new pussycat?

our homestudy is finally finished. Many of our documents are finished. we have not yet been invited to biometrics with immigration. We met our goal for tshirts and then some! Thanks to everyone who bought one, or seven. The name battle continues. If I like a name, Eric doesn't. If he likes a name, its a name I don't like. No matter what name we come up with it doesn't really suit her. I don't think her given name even suits her. The kids are all getting in on the name game. Not a day goes by that someone doesn't toss out a name for their "new sister".  Molly, Juno, Jorah, Katherine are all possibilities. I LOVE Jorah. but eric isn't sure. Bayla or Bay I also really like. I have a running list that changes all the time. right now I am on page three of the list. I add names I like whenever I see them. then I go back and think about them again and cross off those I don't like. I keep thinking at some point there will be only one name left. Some days I throw my hands up and say whatever! call her whatever!

Last chance on tshirts!

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/bringing-hope-to-damaris


help us bring home a little girl from a far away country! We are nowhere near goal on this fundraiser. Every single tshirt brings us closer to getting her home!

HUGE giveaway! tons of prizes!!

giveaway to come! watch this space!

Fundraisers~!

you can buy a tshirt to help us bring home our girl  https://www.bonfirefunds.com/bringing-hope-to-damaris


you can check out our auction at https://www.facebook.com/bringinghopetodamaris?ref=br_tf

if you just want to donate you can use the link to the right or you can donate at
http://www.gofundme.com/b8er6o


it takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a village to raise the ransom of an orphaned child. You are helping to bring this child out of poverty, giver her a family of her own, medical care, and most importantly a FUTURE!  I will soon be hosting a giveaway so watch for that here too!

Update

We have gathered many documents. Many of them are not right and will need to be redone. The country our girl is from is very specific on how papers need to be.  We got our BCA background papers last week and they did not include the JR part of Eric's name. That will need to be redone. homestudy is in final stages. some other documents were not completed to the high standards of the country. Like our marriage certificate. But MANY of our documents ARE done and ARE approved. Now to get them ALL finished and apostilled(state seal). then our dossier will be ready to fly to our child's country. Meanwhile our dishwasher stopped working and now pours water onto the floor and into the basement instead of down the drain. We are working on several fundraisers. It costs approximately 24,000$ to adopt ONE CHILD.  We have an online auction of sorts over at facebook.com/bringinghopetodamaris   there is also a donation widget on this page to the right if you feel so moved. My other fundraisers are still in the works but I will list them when they are up and running. We have TEN children, 9 of which live with us and will for many years to come. Adopting another child is a leap of faith. An expensive one at that! Won't you help us? This child will never be allowed to bloom and blossom in her country due to her disabilities. She won't go to school. She won't go to the movies. she won't go on vacation. she won't know the love of a family, brothers and sisters. We are literally pulling this child from the clutches of death. or a life that is worse than death.

update

I600A resent with proper amount of money. signed and notarized a bunch of documents. notary wrote wrong date on several and those need to be redone. Will have to try and get those done again asap. and still waiting on the medical forms. then it will be off to be apostilled. Homestudy is almost finished. Need to send payment to them. Then homestudy will join our I600A at immigration services. When I600A is approved we will get a document in the mail, have it notarized and apostilled and then ALL the documents will go to the country of the child's birth.  They will be translated and filed and after that we just wait to hear we are invited to travel. Although it doesn't seem like much is left to do, it is difficult to get everything lined up. In order for the I600A to be approved we will have to get fingerprinted. The place they do that is about 3hours away. the place that does the apostille(sec of state office) is also about 3 hours away. My husband works most days so finding a day when he is able to go somewhere and sign in front of a notary is not easy. finding time to reprint documents is not easy either with all the kids wanting attention and dinner and having appointments, etc. It is much harder this time to get all the documents done. The dossier(group of documents) is an easier list to obtain than it has been in the past but actually getting it done has proved a challenge. But I like a challenge. Onward and upward. forward ho!

paperwork

and more paper work.  I sent the I600A in and it was returned to me because I sent the wrong amount of money. so I have to send that again. I picked up our marriage certs. planning to get the medical tomorrow, try and get the home owner page too. Tuesday we will sign a boatload of papers in front of a notary. Eventually we will be fingerprinted by the government to be sure we have no background in crime. When all our papers are signed notarized and apostilled(state seal) it will finally cross the sea to the far away country where the child we hope to call our own resides.  Adoption is an expensive venture. Raising a child is expensive but you have the cost spread out. Adoption requires a large sum in a short time. I thought I would write down some of the costs involved in international adoption so people can get a better idea why adopters fundraise. Most people don't have the kind of money necessary to adopt just laying around the house. It runs into the tens of thousands.  so here is the breakdown of some of the costs.

I600A  $720
fingerprinting for each adult over 18 in the home(even if not the adopting parent, we have a 19 year old in college still living at home. he will have to be printed also) $85 per person
Homestudy $2000
translation and facilitation in country (not including travel and cab fees or a place to stay) $9500
airfare $4000
Passport for adopted child varies but can be several hundred dollars.

this is just a partial list of costs. there is postage, each document needs to be apostilled by the state and some states charge several dollars PER DOCUMENT! it adds up fast! We are thankful for every penny donation we have gotten or may get in the future. We are already raising kids with special needs so it isn't easy to throw around that kind of money.

Welcome to our place in the sun.

We are already parents of ten but our family is not yet complete. We are working towards adopting a young girl in a country far far away. She has physical limitations and her future in her own country is not bright. Unfortunately if not adopted she will be housed in an institutional setting for the rest of her life. She will not go to school. She will not learn the love of a family. She will not grow up to be a productive member of society. Follow us on our journey. We also have an auction on facebook. Damaris is a name used by the group that identified this child for adoption. Damaris is not her real name. We have not decided on a name for her so we are still referring to her as Damaris online. Our auction is at https://www.facebook.com/bringinghopetodamaris  New items are being added. Adoption is expensive but the rewards are so worth it. How can someone look at a child and say money is more important than you? I can't. We can afford to add another child to our home. We can feed them clothe them access medical care for them. But getting them home is an expensive endevour. We are working hard to raise funds to bring hope to Damaris. Will you help us?   

As our adoption progresses I will update this page with the details. Please check out our facebook page and share it.