Thursday, January 30, 2014

Koprowski Update!

As of this morning, we have raised $80 for the Koprowski family!
 
Thank you everyone! We can do more... Don't you think?!?
 
Share their story and give others the opportunity to be a part of this family's journey too.
 
 

 
 
 

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Neighbors

This past spring, our family moved across the state for my husband's new job.  We were excited to be near a big city again, and all the fun that would bring us, but were sad to leave 'home'.  We have moved four times in the nine years we have been married, but that place was the one that has felt the most like home.  I know that is because that was where we grew our family.  I remember where I was sitting in our home when we got the call we were matched the first time, the room that we held each other and cried because the match fell through.  There was a door in that house that was closed for years, because it was our nursery, and sat empty.  I know the street I was driving on when I got the call about being matched with Isaac's birthfamily, how I rushed to my husband's office because I was close, so I could tell him.  The doors that we walked through when we got back home with Isaac, showing him his home, his room, that was no longer empty.  Where we were surrounded by friends that cried with us through the pain and loss, and were joyous with us in the happy moments that seem to equally come with adoption.  We made several close friends there, that became our family, with Isaac calling them his Aunts and Uncles.  How would we leave this place.  The place where we had grown our family, with our boys, and the extended friends?
                
The day we closed on our house was a dreary, rainy day.  Perfect for the mood where we would say goodbye to that house, the house that we built our family in.  We took one last picture of us on the front porch with the two boys, put the keys on the counter, and drove away, our vehicles stuffed to the gills with everything that we 'lived' with after the movers had packed us up.


As we moved, and began to get settled in our new home, we started venturing around the neighborhood.  I was up to my eyeballs in boxes and packing paper, but I tried to leave the chaos at least once a day to take a walk around the neighborhood.  We met the family behind us, who has a daughter that just graduated from high school.  She is adopted, and has a very open adoption with her birth father and siblings.  It was nice to be able to have a common topic to share across the yards.  As the summer moved on, an new family moved in right next to us.  We introduced ourselves, and through the first conversation, discovered that their little seven year old was adopted. 


I would have never known how I connected I would be to our neighbors this quickly, the bond we would all share in common.  Though none of our adoption stories are similar, we do share one thing in common, the amazing process that has brought us our children. Though this place still isn't 'home' like our last city was, it's getting there, one friendly chat at a time.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Welcome the Koprowski Family!

Can you believe that January is almost over?!?
 
Let's end it on high note and help our next amazing family bring home two sweethearts from the DRC!
 
The Koprowski family started down the path to adopt from Africa in February of 2013. They knew when they committed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo that they were putting their hearts and money on the line, but with so many waiting children there, they knew they had to. Shortly after, a 3 year old little girl on the waiting child list stole their hearts. What is better than one less orphan? Two less orphans! (Shameless plug for their Facebook page) The family has also accepted the referral of a 4 month old baby girl!
 
 Did I mention they have two boys and two girls already at home?
 Some would call them crazy, but as an adoptive mom of six total children myself,
I like to think they are normal.
 
 
Here is where you come in.
 
See those empty chairs in the photo above? Let's do what we can to help this family fill them!
 
Checklist to help the Koprowski's
 
1.   Watch their video to get to know them more.
 
 
 
3. Share their video EVERYWHERE on Social Media!
 
4. Repeat #3 multiple times this week until all your friends are considering blocking your emails, post, pins, or until all of your friends share the video too.
 
5. Collect all your change this week and donate again. This one is a challenge from my kids. They started an adoption change jar to help bring our sons home and now we are using it to help our Give1Save1 families each week!
 
Easy enough? Good.
 
Time to bless this family's socks off!
 
 
 
Desiree

 
 
 


Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Duvall update

The Duvalls have just over $200 that have been given to them so far.
That's awesome! 
But...
WE CAN DO SO MUCH BETTER.
Right?

Let's blow up our newsfeed.
Let's spread the word to everyone we know.
Asher needs us to rally around his family.

Here is my challenge.
If you gave $1 can you double that today?
If we double our $1's and spread the word then we can bump them over the $500 mark.

That would be phenomenal!!!!!!
Let's do it!








Monday, January 20, 2014

The Duvall family!!

I'm happy to introduce you to the Duvall family this week. They have the sweetest little video. It's short so take the two minutes to "meet" their family! They have the most. adorable. kids. They are adding to their family a new son, another brother, Asher.

Asher is six years old now. I remember the ache in my heart when I realized how long my son had sat in an orphanage. Six years is a long time to sit and wait. Do you know how aware these kids are that they are waiting to be chosen? I'll never forget the day that my son asked me what took me so long to get to him, never. Asher sits and waits. There is paperwork, and more paperwork, and ridiculous government bureaucracy, fees to be paid, fundraising to be done, and in the middle of that is one family whose hearts are aching to bring home their son.

We can't help with the paperwork, or the bureaucracy (if you know them personally take a meal to them! Give momma a night off from cooking) but we can help with the stress of fees looming over their head. We can end their fundraising right here, right now. We can tell the world that Asher matters! Who is with me?!?

(Ahem, where is my podium when I need one.)

Please, go check out their blog. They are selling super cute tshirts as well. 


Donate on their blog!
On the left hand side is a donate button 
that will take you to paypal.
Family Blog

Here is the link for 
paypal.

And here is that video with those crazy cute kiddos.

give 1 save 1 video from Carly Duvall on Vimeo.


Be blessed today, My Friends.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Welcome the Nicely Family!

Hi there! Hope you had a fabulous weekend!

I love waiting child adoption, so I am super excited to introduce you to our family of the week - David and Kim Nicely and their twin daughters Kathryn and Olivia.



The Nicely family will double from 4 members to 8! The Nicelys saw a waiting child sibling group of four children (2 boys and 2 girls) in an email from their agency and fell in love! They have been working hard to complete the adoption process and are almost finished now! They hope to travel to Poland to meet their children and bring them home in February or March. You can follow their adoption journey at: http://nicelyfamilyadoptionadventure.blogspot.com

I love the video they created together and I know you will too!



You can help the Nicely with their adoption fees and travel expenses! Here's how: Donate a $1 to the Nicelys' adoption fund. Click here to donate on paypal. If your really feeling generous, you could donate $4 since the Nicelys are adopting 4 children! We could have Give4 Save4 this week instead of Give1 Save1! Then, share about this fundraiser for the Nicely Family on Social Media!


Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Gyorffy Update!

Good (freezing cold) morning!!  Quick update from the Gyorffy fam!!   They are having an AWESOME week already---thank yoouuuuu so much!

From Raegan's blog.....
"...I went to bed last night knowing that we were only $91 away from the halfway point.  All night I had dreams of giveaway entry slips falling into our snowman bowl. (only appropriate)  When I awoke this morning, we did it.....we crossed the 1/2 mark to our goal!
That's right, friends! We are over $2500.  That's one round trip plane ticket and one ONE WAY (!!!) ticket fully funded....."      Read the rest on her blog......and be sure to enter the giveaways!!
                                                         
                                                                     



Sunday, January 5, 2014

Welcome The Gyorffy Family!

Happy 2014!!

 Happy New Year to you!  It's good to be back with a family to feature on the blog to start things off right.....
How did you spend your holidays? Traveling? Staying home? A little of both?  Who's ready for "normal" to return?? Me!! Me!!

 If you're new here, this is how it works:
1) We feature a family on our blog for 1 week who is currently adopting.
2) We ask you (and you, you and you) to give $1 AND to share their story with your social media friends!  
3) The money goes either straight to the family via Paypal.  Never to us. Paypal is our BFF!
4) That's it!! It only takes a few minutes of your time to give and it makes a huge difference to our family of the week.

Time to meet our family of the week.  The Gyorffy Family (Michael, Raegan, Mallaney-8, Max-5 and Theo, who, sadly, passed away in 2012) is preparing for their 2nd and 3rd adoptions.  They are adopting a 4 year old little girl and 2 year old little boy from Uganda and hope to travel by February.  That's next month!  You can learn more about this sweet family on their BLOG. 

Let's watch their video.  Get ready to give to the Gyorffys.


The Gyorffy Adoption Journey from J K on Vimeo.

Hear from the Gyorrfys.....

We began our adoption journey in March 2013, with the intent of bringing home two children. We were matched quickly to a sweet little boy, Zeke (age 2) and a precious daughter, Leona (age 4). They have been waiting in the orphanage for a family for a long time, and we cannot wait to bring them into our crew! We are waiting on a court date, which will determine our travel timeframe. We hope to leave no later than February 2014.

This is our second international adoption. Our first brought our third child, Theo, into our family. He joined us forever in February 2011. Theo brought us so much joy and happiness! We knew we wanted to add to our family again through adoption; however, shortly after joining our family he was diagnosed with Leukemia. He began his fierce battle in June 2011, and passed away after a long and hard fought fight in January 2012.

Despite his illness, Theo was an incredible blessing to our family. We have grieved deeply the loss of our son. However, we look forward in hope to the future, knowing that two more children will join us. Although the pain of missing our son will not be assauged by our newest additions, there is joy and hope in our future. And we cannot wait.

Okay, time to get your dollars ready!!! DONATE HERE through Paypal.
Thanks so much for stopping by to support the Gyorffy Fam! We are looking forward to a great week and great kick off to raising funds for adoptive families this year!

Blessings!
1Timothy 6:18