. Hello! Welcome back, and thank you for reading. Where are the questions?? We did not receive a single question on our last blog, really, ask anything!
What you've missed: All we can say is WOW. Our family, our friends and our community really showed up. As some of you may know, we decided to hold our first fundraiser at the end of September. We held an adoption fundraiser garage sale, and let me tell you, it was a huge success. So many of our family members, friends and our community donated items to be sold or came to shop at the sale. We were blown away!! We raised over $2,000 alone in one weekend. We plan to hold another garage sale fundraiser in the spring, so keep us in mind when you are doing your spring cleaning! Next, we launched a fundraiser that we were really excited about, the Bonfire shirt campaign. YOU GUYS! We sold 3x our goal, selling more than 150 items for this fundraiser and raising over $1,200 along the way. We can not thank you all enough for buying, donating and sharing our efforts. HERE IS THE IMPORTANT PART! Shirts have shipped! Some of you have already received yours. If you do not mind your photo being shared on social media, please send us a picture of yourself wearing your shirts. You can text or send us a picture over Facebook messenger if you do not have one of our numbers. So, we've raised over $4,000 so far with the help of the yard sale, the shirt campaign, cash donations via Venmo, and get this-we participated in a PAID sponsorship on social medias for a water bottle company called The Coldest Water, which raised over $150 for our cause. We have also been saving money from selling items on marketplace! Now, what's next? What are we going to do with all of this money. Well...here is what you have helped raise so far will pay for! We are going to submit our application to the adoption agency: $425 Then we will need to complete an Initial Consultation: $375 After that, we will begin the home study process: $2,700 These three steps will equal $3,500. We will have about $500 left to put toward the next phase. Here is what we have left to pay for after the above steps: AKA the big expenses Program Fee: $6,300 Match Fee: $5,500 + birth mother expenses (hospital, legal, etc) Placement Fee: $13,500 Post Placement Visits: $1,200 So, this means that although we have raised a large amount already, we still have over $26,000 left to go. Does anyone have any fundraising ideas? Let us know! HOWEVER! Here is how you can help at no cost to you. If we are able to connect with a birth mother on our own, the adoption fees will be cut in half! This would turn the adoption into an agency-assisted adoption, which means that we will not have to pay for the Program fee and the Placement Fee will be cut to nearly 1/3. The total cost of our adoption will go from over $30,000 to just about $15,000. How can you help? Share, share share! Share our story and our blog posts. Talk with everyone you know. Ask if anyone knows of anyone who may know someone who is thinking about placing their child for adoption. Use word of mouth and help us find our next missing piece! Honestly, just tell anyone and everyone. Post on your social medias, and then ask your friends to share the post. You just never know who might see it! We have no preferences on sex or race! In the meantime, we just want to continue to express our gratitude for everyone who has helped us in some way, shape or form so far. You all are amazing. Also-ask us your questions! We know there is something you want to know about this adoption process! We will keep you updated on the next steps as we complete them over the next few weeks and months!
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Welcome! Many of you are probably asking, "What's with the "oh wow" in everything?" Well, great question! The idea of an "Oh Wow Moment" started many years ago when Anna and I first met. This isn't a term that we invented, but it is a term that we have kind of turned into our life motto. An "Oh Wow Moment" is simply a moment in time when you stop and think to yourself, "Oh Wow..." It could be anything. Your Oh Wow moment could be something really big, or it could be something very simple and small. It could be discovering a new favorite flavor of ice cream, "Oh wow, I LOVE this mint mocha chip!" It could be your graduation, "Oh wow, I did it!" It could be your first trip to the beach, "Oh wow, the ocean is so pretty!" It could be the moment you lay your eyes on your child for the first time, "Oh wow, they're perfect!" It could be the moment you get the call that you were chosen to be a child's parents, "Oh wow, it's actually happening." Everyone has different Oh Wow moments, and that is what makes the idea of an Oh Wow so universal. One thing we try to do as a family is to stop and notice even the smallest of Oh Wow moments. For example, today we went for a hike, and Levi was splashing through the puddles with his little rain boots on. I remember thinking, "Oh wow, he will never be this little again. I just love watching the wonder and joy in his eyes." Sometimes I watch as Levi races his toy cars all around my hardwood floors and think, "Oh Wow, I remember the days when I would DREAM of this day." The more you practice noticing Oh Wow moments, the more obvious they will become! One huge Oh Wow that has become of this idea is how much we have been able to grow this platform over the past several years. What started as a simple idea for an Instagram handle turned into a platform where we have been able to help educate the public on a variety of topics, spread kindness and acceptance, and share our journey to becoming a family. Oh Wow, we have been featured in major platforms including Love What Matters, Same Sex Parents and Fertility IQ. We have grown our social media accounts to over 70, 000 followers, and we have been able to hear the stories of many families like ours, or those who hope to one day have a family like ours. Oh Wow...we might actually be making a fraction of a difference in the world. So, this blog is going to serve as a platform to take you along on our journey to our next big Oh Wow. We are on our way to our second adoption, and we can't wait to share the ride with you. We will *attempt* to post weekly. Whether we have an update, answer a question from one of you, or just share some things that are going on in our lives, we hope that you will follow along with us. If you would like to checkout our social medias for day to day updates or some of our smaller Oh Wow moments, you can find our Instagram and Tiktok by clicking on the link below! flow.page/ohwowmomentsmamas Also-PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ask us your questions in the comments. Do not be shy!! (Almost) nothing is off limits! We are looking forward to your questions! -S |
AuthorsHello! We are Sarah and Anna, and we are inviting you to come along on our journey to adoption! Archives |