On June 27 our Dossier was mailed to China and on July 3 it was logged into the Chinese Children’s welfare agency for translation and review!! This is great news and we could not be happier for this huge step forward towards getting Ellie home:) We were told that it typically takes between 6-8 weeks for translation and review to be completed and a letter of acceptance to be obtained. That takes us to sometime between August 14 and August 28….not that we are counting or anything! From there we will begin to plan travel and complete some additional paperwork along the way. There is definitely a lot of “hurry up and wait” in this process but we are so thankful for each step forward.
Along with this great news we also just learned that we were granted a $300o matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans. This is amazing and an answered prayer! Now when people choose to donate, their dollars are matched up to $3000, which allows us to double our fundraising to $6000 if we hit $3000!! Also, with this grant we get 100% of donations. With some other donation pages they take a percentage out of the money raised so we are very thankful for this new option! If you would like to be a part of this matching donation feel free to visit our page at: https://mystory.lifesongfororphans.org/stories/gods-plan-becomes-plan/
We are also patiently waiting to hear back from Show Hope, as we applied for a grant through their organization in April 2019. We knew when applying that it takes about 90 days for the review process. We are approaching that 90 day period quickly and pray each day for grant approval! We are applying for about 7 other grants as well as we wait to get our letter of acceptance.
Along with grants we also continue to work on fundraising…..yes, socks are still available for purchase both from us directly and online at:
https://go.wehelptwo.com/campaign/?campaignid=1835
We have sold 263 packs online and over 200 packs in person since we started this campaign. That’s $9 for every pack sold…..so awesome! We have appreciated everyone’s orders as it has helped tremendously with our adoption fees.
We are also continuing our partnership with Clara Cookies this month. They have generously offered to give us $10 for every box of cookies sold for the month of July. We have already been blessed with approximately $900 raised with a goal of $2000 before the end of the month! We were able to volunteer in cookie baking with other Clara Cookie volunteers this past week and it was so fun. If you haven’t yet, feel free to order some at: https://www.claracookies.com/ You might get some cookies we actually helped make;)
Rebecca Cruttenden, adoption fundraiser extraordinaire/founder of Clara Cookies and Team Orphans, has been amazing to work with and submitted an article in our local paper talking about our story and the cookie and sock fundraisers, as well as the upcoming Cookie 5k and we ended up on the front page!
We will have a table at the Cookie 5K with socks and Clara Cookies this Saturday July 20. This is a great event put on by Team Orphans where every dollar raised is donated to adoption grants provided to adoptive families through Bethany Christian Services. There is still time to register and come see us this weekend. Check out the race details at: https://www.teamorphans.com/5k/
I saved the best for last! For the past 2 years we have participated in the Down syndrome Association of West Michigan’s Step Up for Down syndrome walk alongside another family. However, this year Ellie will have her own team, “Ellie’s Entourage!” We are so excited to have an opportunity to be a part of this event in this way, as it has played a role in our family’s story from the start. If you are at all interested in registering to be a part of our team feel free to do so at: https://dsawm.ezeventsolutions.com/StepUp/ElliesEntourage
We’d love to have a huge team of people representing Ellie! We know we have so many praying for us and supporting us in various ways so how awesome for all of us to come together to represent Ellie in such a large way before she is even home!! So, come join us on September 21 at Fifth Third Ballpark in Grand Rapids, MI. If you have any questions about the event just let me know. We can’t wait to have her with us for next years event. PS…..we already have a team of 10+ people……how much bigger can we get?! That’s a challenge;)
We are praying that the next update we give is of more funds raised, grants approved and talk of travel plans!!! And as always we cannot begin to thank everyone who has been a part of this journey so far……we have an army of prayer warriors right alongside us and we talk daily about how blessed we have been, how God has shown us those walking this Earth as his hands and feet to help others and how much faith we truly have! When we reflect back on each step we can recall the anxiety and uncertainty but we also and more readily reflect on God’s promises that have been revealed, reminding us frequently that we serve a mighty God and he directs our path!
Gard Family Adoption Adventure 