Baby #3

Today, something rare happened... My 5 year old was watching a movie quietly downstairs and my little 3 year old fell asleep in my arms. I had a half hour of total quiet. I used the time to focus on praying for my children. I prayed for both of my current children and then it hit me - in a way it never has before - my third child could, more than likely, already be born... I don't know what he/she is experiencing during these early days/months of his/her life.

Here I was-  holding my little girl in my arms praying thankfulness that my little miracle baby survived her first few days of life before we even knew that she was terribly sick or just how sick she was. I was praying for her current days - thanking God for her strong will (yes, this is something I am (sometimes) thankful for), her smarts, and her encouraging nature. And also praying for her future - her heart, her health, her marriage... All the while I am rubbing her back and looking at her scar and my mind immediately goes to baby 3. Where are you? Who is loving you? Where do you sleep? Who holds you? Who comes to you when you cry out at night? What scars are you coming to us with? Oh baby, I can't wait to be your mommy and to give you so much love.

Being a parent is such a gift --- sooo much work -- but such an awesome gift. Baby #3 will be such a HUGE gift to me, but it saddens my heart so to know that it is tearing another mommy's heart apart. And it saddens my heart to think of babies and older children who are parentless - who seriously have no one to rub their back, rock them in the middle of the night (these days 4 times a night), pray for them endlessly... I can't wait to bring baby #3 home. I will come to you, baby mine. Soon.

John 14:18 "No, I will not abandon you as orphans--I will come to you."

Amazed

As I sit writing this, I am just amazed. I am amazed at God's perfect timing. One minute, I'm sitting in despair, feeling like I need to be 3 places at once and not able to comprehend a way to make it to any of them. That very moment, someone comes to my door to drop off a meal - simple enough - but then offers to take my kids as long as necessary for me to get to the most important place I need to be at the time and also relieve me of the stress of being those other two places.

I stress about not being able to make it to our fingerprinting appointment because my husband is in the hospital and we get a new appointment date that is far enough in the future that I can rest easy in knowing he might even be able to pass through the metal detectors on our way through security for the appointment without crutches. PREFECT timing.

I am crying on my way to work, wondering how I am going to be able to keep this going with a husband and a mother that can't walk or be on their feet for any significant length of time. Just a few days later, I am offered a position that provides the flexibility for me to work from home frequently, spend WAY less on gas money, and be able to help my family out as needed for the next several months.

We look at my husband's foot on Sunday and just cry out to God in prayer that night for healing. Bandage comes off Wednesday and even the doctors are AMAZED at how much better it is looking.

God's timing and provision is SO amazing to me tonight. I am humbled. I am grateful. I am moved. I am blessed.

Family Happenings

     Our little baby turns three today!! I can't believe the past three years have gone by so fast!! She is a very special little girl - full of spunk and lots to say (all the time). She keeps us on our toes, but in a good way! We have total confidence in her ability to use all these gifts God has given her in BIG ways some day! That's awesome!!

     I also want to give a bit of an update as to what has been going on with our family here lately. It's been hard to keep everyone in the loop, and I apologize for that. About three and a half weeks ago, Jaden's big toe on his right foot started swelling up and becoming quite painful. I made him a doctor appointment on day 3 of these symptoms and the doctor said it looks like and sounds like a classic case of gout. He gave him a blood test for gout and some sent him home. While the symptoms did say gout, we had some trouble understanding why. Two days later, the blood work came back neg for gout and they sent him in for an x-ray at 9:15a.m. At 11:45a.m. they called to tell him everything looked normal on the x-ray and wanted to send him to a podiatrist the following week. Well, by that time he was in excruciating pain and a huge blister had formed on the bottom of his toe (yep, within 2 and 1/2 hours - crazy!!). He went in to urgent care and she immediately realized it was infected. She squeezed out as much of the infection as she could, put him on 2 antibiotics and he came home. By that night at 8:00p.m., the pain was getting worse and the redness was traveling up his foot even further. We took him in to the ER for some iv antibiotics and came home a few hours later. He kept his foot up but continued to be in horrible pain the next two days. On that second night, Jaden started becoming real lethargic and falling asleep in a chair on-and-off and he became nauseous  He developed a temperature, so off to the ER we went yet again. In the ER, they drained as much of the infection as they could yet again (ouch!!!) but said that the infection was too far for him to go and that Jaden would need surgery to remove the rest of it. He was unsure, at that time, if it had reached the bone or not. The following night, they did surgery. Thankfully, the infection had not reached the bone and they felt that the surgery went pretty successfully! We were very relieved. Come to find out, Jaden had gotten two staph infections through a bad case of dry/cracked/Athleits's foot. One of them was a super bug that was resistant to the first round of antibiotics they had put him on - thus the infection continuing to get worse and worse. We are so thankful we took him in when we did, or the outcome could have been much, much worse.

    Jaden is recovering slowly. I can't believe bad an infection can take you down like that!! He still can't wear a shoe, has to walk on crutches and keep his foot elevated. We have received meals, and prayers and cards from people. A group of people (some of whom we had never met before) came and raked our leaves for us! It's been amazing and we are truly humbled and blessed by everyone's thoughtfulness.

    More updates later in the day -- the morning is getting away from me -- I've got lots of birthday activities to tend to today! ;)

October Update and That's My Pan! Fundraiser

Just writing to give you a quick update on our adoption.

As of November 6th, we have been on the waitlist for 18 months. The rumor is that we should anticipate a referral around Christmas or maybe end of January. That means we would be traveling for the first time in Jan. or Feb. and bringing baby home in maybe April or May! That’s not long! We are so excited. Our friends are currently in Ethiopia meeting their son. We can’t wait to get together with them when they return and hear all about their travels and see some pictures.

Here is a break down of what is going on, financially, with the adoption.

Step                           Cost                Date Paid   Due Date
Application Fee – LSS $420.00        10/25/10
Application Fee – Holt $300.00         10/27/10
Home Study Fee – LSS $2,780.00 1/14/11
USCIS                          $890.00          2/2/11
Program Fee – LSS          $1000.00 5/20/11
Remainder of Prog Fee      $750.00 Upon Referral
Dossier Fee – Holt          $3,000.00 5/6/11
Dossier Update Fee – Holt $255.00  6/28/12
Program Fee – Holt           $9,890.00 saved Upon Referral
Post Placement Fee – LSS $1,300.00         Upon Referral
Trip 1 to Ethiopia           $8,000.00 (estimated) Upon Scheduled Travel Date (have $400 in the bank for this)
Trip 2 to Ethiopia $8,000.00 (estimated) Upon Scheduled Travel Date

FUNDRAISERS

Just Love Coffee: $5.00 to us for each bag of coffee sold www.justlovecoffee.com/TheThomas. This fundraiser is on-going until we travel to Ethiopia to bring our child home – And the coffee is DELICIOUS!!

Lifesong for Orphans: Make a tax deductable donation. We have been told that they will continue to accept donations in our name up until we travel to bring home our child. Make checks payable to ‘Lifesong for Orphans’. In memo section: ‘THOMAS #1855 ADOPTION’. Send to Lifesong for Orphans  PO Box 40  202 N Ford Street  Gridley, IL  61744.

Adoption Bug T-Shirt Fundraiser:
You can order t-shirts from this site: www.adoptionbug.com/thomasadoption. You can order and pay on-line and the t-shirt(s) will be shipped directly to you. We make anywhere from $5-$10 (depending on the t-shirt) per shirt sold toward our adoption. Check it out! They have some cool, high-quality shirts for sale! This fundraiser will be on-going until we bring our child home.

Pampered Chef Batter Bowls: These make great Christmas gifts! I am selling pre-made Batter Bowls with the following recipes inside: Celebration Cookie Mix, Hearty Minestrone Soup Mix, or Cowboy Chili Mix. They are $20 each. You can add a medium scoop to your order for $17. I will assemble them for you and put a pretty bow around them with cooking/baking instructions on a gift tag. Let me know ASAP if you'd like to order one. They make great co-worker gifts, teacher gifts, or neighbor gifts, etc. ;)

That’s My Pan! Fundraiser: These also make GREAT Christmas gifts. You can browse online (http://www.thatsmypan.com/) but will need to contact Jennie to order. Please see the attached price list for accurate prices. Orders due Nov.26th, 2012.

PRAYER REQUESTS
- Finances to continue to come through and successful fundraisers.
- Patience and faith for both of us in this process.
- Jaden working on recording his first album (all proceeds earned to go toward the adoption). He is working hard. He has begun the recording process but it is taking longer than anticipated.

Thank you all so much! We are very blessed by each of you!

The Thomas Family

I want my family/friends to read this.

I want my family/friends to read this. We are preparing our hearts for this - here is a little perspective for you too.

Guest Post by Jen Hatmaker

This morning, I got a panicked email from my dear friend who just had the fast-forward button pressed on her adoption. They are now throwing jackets and socks and toys and granola bars into suitcases and paying through the nose for tickets to Ethiopia to go fetch their two new daughters.

What hair products do I bring?

What food should I have in the freezer?

How are we going to talk to each other??

Am I going to be able to pull this off?

Please, please tell me this is going to be okay. 

We are only six months home with our two Ethiopians, ages 8 and 6. So we’re clearly experts (sarcasm). All at once, it seems our panicked overseas trip was a million years ago and one nanosecond ago. In preparation, I read all the books and joined the online groups and went to the conferences and logged in to the podcasts. I obsessed over all the things I was supposed to obsess over: their names, their hair, their language, their food, their shoe sizes, their bedding. I read blogs and articles and became fake BFF’s with Dr. Karyn Purvis (in my head). I drove everyone mad with my myopic perspective, which was: “We’re adopting. There is nothing else.” We theoretically readied the house and everyone who lived in it.

Then we actually got them and brought them home.

Whoa, Nelly.

I mean, WHOA, NELLY.

Remember when you were pregnant with your first baby, and you registered for ten-thousand pieces of baby paraphernalia you read about in Consumer Digest, and then you birthed the actual baby and realized the “wipe warmer” dried out your wipes, the Diaper Genie was actually a complicated piece of crap, all those 0-3 month dresses were useless because she hardly made it out of her filthy onesie, and she actually had visceral hatred for the $150 baby swing? And what you really needed to know was how can I get this dadgum baby to sleep and can someone help me understand what is happening to my nipples, for the love of Moses??

This phenomenon applies to adoption as well, folks.

Sure, you need to direct some energy to the details, so here is a quick summary:

Hair: wide tooth comb, water bottle (hair must be thoroughly wet before you comb through it each morning), crème (thank you, Lord, that the $60 Miss Jessie’s Baby Buttercream is too heavy for my Remy and the best stuff is the Shea Butter for $5 at Target). If you have a boy, shave it short and worry with it later. If you have a girl, get it braided before you leave the country and worry with it later. (You are going to have WAY bigger fish to fry when you first get home.) I took a hair class called “Brown Babies, Pink Parents.” Could you die?

Skin: Don’t even play with some silly vanity lotion from Bath and Body Works. Their skin will actually mock it and kick it in the face. Go big here: Eucarin Aquafor, Arbonne for Kids, Cetaphil. Every morning. Every night. Ask around for suggestions. I put this question out on Facebook and got 187 responses. I wish I were kidding.

Food: You are going to have good luck with whole foods. Our littles didn’t even know what processed food was. They eat like sane people in Ethiopia, meaning, well, real food. You know, that was grown. Our kids ate eggs, avocados, tropical fruit, beef, chicken, sweet potatoes, and stuff like that until I figured out how to cook some of their favorites. Your son can eat ten avocados a day for three weeks and live. Um, I’ve heard.

Language: Please believe me, this will not be the struggle you think. God hardwired children’s brains to acquire language, and acquire it quickly they do. We had flip cards of common Amharic words we used at first, but communication developed so easily and quickly, we were yammering along in no time. Although I do miss the theatrics and charades we used at first. You have not lived until your husband acts out “how to wipe correctly.”

Clothes: Please don’t spend (or let your friends spend) a ton of money on clothes before they get home. 1.) Their sizes are quirky. 2.) They grow and gain weight so quickly once you get them. Like, freakish growth. 3.) They have a FASHION OPINION. My daughter, five when we brought her home, turned up her nose at half the darling things in her closet and absolutely refused to wear them, and I was all you were in an orphanage two weeks ago, Miss Project Runway! Just get a few basics and fill in the gaps once they are home.

Now. Onto the real business.

Dear one, it is not the shoes and skin and hair and food you need to devote the most energy toward: It is their heart. No matter what age your child comes to you, abandonment runs deep and the wounds are severe. Broken biological attachment breaks something in our children, and it is the work of the heavens to fuse it back together.

Your child will come to you scared and alone and ashamed and insecure. At best. Our darlings were loved and held and nursed when they were babies, Jesus be praised, so they learned healthy attachment when it mattered. The pathways were formed, and we are finding them again together, day by day. We are learning to tap into the deposits of trust and security they once enjoyed, though they were so brutally interrupted.

But even with this potential for healthy attachment, our first two months home were difficult beyond words. Our kids were terrified. And who could blame them? They found themselves in a foreign land speaking a foreign language with foreign people who ate a lot of cheese (note: dairy products = no). They were sad and scared and overwhelmed and lost. We kind of all were.

Here are some tips that helped pull us through the mire. These things matter:

Stay home. I mean it. Stay the heck home. Cancel your calendars. Pull out of everything you’re involved in. Temporarily quit your small group and your Bible study and your volunteer position at church on Wednesdays and your gym classes. Katy, bar the door. Circle the wagons with your little family and hunker down. Do not take your newbie to Target. Do not drag them to public places. Do not spend two hours in the car running errands with them. Keep the moving parts to an absolute minimum.

Keep visitors at bay for awhile. Your child doesn’t know you yet. A lot of revolving faces simply reinforces the notion that people come and go, and he is alone. Yes, these people love you and love your child. They are thrilled he is home and care so deeply. You know that. He doesn’t. Tons of smiling, oversized, touchy strangers constantly in and out make for a nervous, insecure child. Our friends left dinner on our porch and texted us. Our parents chomped at the bit waiting, while we worked our way through the early storm of transition. God bless them.

To that end, prepare your family and friends in advance for this very important attachment plan: No one touches, kisses, holds, or meets the needs of your new one except you and your spouse. No one. Tell them in advance and explain why. Your child needs to learn right away that you are his mother and father. YOU ARE. You will meet his needs. You will hold him when he cries. He belongs to you, and you are forever. He is coming from a multiple-caregiver situation, so if twenty strangers hold and kiss and feed him and rock him in his new environment, nothing has changed at all. He will struggle to attach to you because you are not his sole caregiver. This principle is not permanent, but it is so necessary at first. Tell your family and friends to give him a “high five” and that’s about the end of it for a bit.

Know this: Those first few weeks and months will more than likely be difficult. They might be downright disastrous. You will struggle through feelings and emotions you didn’t know you were capable of. You will cry. They will cry. They may absolutely spaz out actually. You will wonder if your life is ruined or if happiness will ever return to your home. Beloved, IT WILL. It so will. They are grieving and processing and transitioning. It’s just hard – on them, on you, on the bio kids if you have them. There is no magic formula that will skirt your family around this chaos.

But you will emerge.

Your child will learn to trust you. God will begin to mend the broken pieces. He can do this. He is big enough to put a heart back together. You will discover love bubbling up in the cracks, transforming you from this clunky, awkward, uncertain group of people to a family. You’ll watch as her real self emerges, peeking out from behind the fear and loss. You may even realize that like an idiot, you though she was shy, and she is actually a firecracker (Jen raises hand). Your son will start to sing again, and he may become the adorable soccer star you’ve always dreamed of (Jen raises hand).

Then one day, you have this day; it’s just a day. The kids, all five of them – the three bio kids and the two newest Hatmakers – all go to school and come home competing for space to talk about how fun Dr. Suess Day was and the Million Minute Read project they are doing so their librarian, Mr. McCarthy, will shave his head, and they walk in and dump their backpacks where I told them not to and grab a snack, teasing each other. Then ten minutes later, their friends start knocking on the door like they always do, racing to the trampoline and inventing some sort of Dodge Ball Trampoline Game that will make at least two kids cry, but I’ll ignore it because I told them no crying if you’re going to roughhouse. Then I sayhomework and they are all aw, man, but in they come, sitting at the table, doing math and reading English words and writing English sentences and saying, “I know about to and two and too now, Mom. Is easy for me.” And we eat dinner, seven of us around the table, playing “high/low”, talking about our days, and the new eight-year old says his low was when his big brother got hurt, and that makes me melt just a bit. Then an hour later, I’m tucking them in with kisses and snuggles and the little one, with an arm snaked around my neck, prays Dear God, tank you for my mom. She’s a cute mom. She’s my best mom. And for all my family. And for Texas. Dear God, amen. And the brown brother prays Tank you for my friends and dis good food. Tank you for mom who cooks dis good food. Help us be kind. Amen. And they drop right to sleep, safe in their beds, no nightmares for months now. And I come downstairs and look at my husband and think:

We’re doing it. We’re a family. God made us into a family.



You’ll get there too, dear one. God will make a family out of you yet. Stay the course. May God continue to bring beauty from ashes in our stories, giving the world a picture of grace and redemption and healing.

All His mercy and goodness to you today.

Waiting...

Someone just asked me if I am holding my breath every time the phone rings incase it's 'the call' we've been waiting almost 17 months for. I have not been holding my breath yet, but ultimately, I'm about to start because that call could be coming any time in the next 2-5 months-ish?!?!

Moving Forward

Hello Family & Friends,                                                                                                                             

Just writing to give you a quick update on our adoption.

As of September 6th, we have been on the waitlist for 16 months. In the past few months – there has been lots of good news out of Ethiopia!! There have been a lot of families on the wait list that have been given a referral (medical information on a child). In fact, just about a month ago, a family we know that is exactly 4 months ahead of us on the wait list received a referral! That means we could be getting a referral ourselves in just 3-6 months?! Whew! SO exciting. My heart starts racing every time I think about that day!! I can’t wait!

Here is a break down of what is going on, financially, with the adoption.

Step	Cost	Date Paid	Due Date
Application Fee – LSS	$420.00	10/25/10
Application Fee – Holt	$300.00	10/27/10
Home Study Fee – LSS	$2,780.00	1/14/11
USCIS	$890.00	2/2/11
Program Fee – LSS	$1000.00	5/20/11
Remainder of Program Fee – LSS	$750.00		Upon Referral
Dossier Fee – Holt	$3,000.00	5/6/11
Dossier Update Fee – Holt	$255.00	6/28/12	7/6/12
Program Fee – Holt	$9,890.00	saved	Upon Referral (have $6,000 in Show Hope Grant for this).
Post Placement Fee – LSS	$1,300.00		Upon Referral
Trip 1 to Ethiopia	$8,000.00 (estimated)		Upon Scheduled Travel Date (have $385 in the bank for this)
Trip 2 to Ethiopia	$8,000.00 (estimated)		Upon Scheduled Travel Date

FUNDRAISERS

• Just Love Coffee: $5.00 to us for each bag of coffee sold www.justlovecoffee.com/TheThomas. This fundraiser is on-going until we travel to Ethiopia to bring our child home – And the coffee is DELICIOUS!!
• Lifesong for Orphans: Make a tax deductable donation. We have been told that they will continue to accept donations in our name up until we travel to bring home our child. Make checks payable to ‘Lifesong for Orphans’. In memo section: ‘THOMAS #1855 ADOPTION’. Send to Lifesong for Orphans  PO Box 40  202 N Ford Street  Gridley, IL  61744.
• Adoption Bug T-Shirt Fundraiser: You can order t-shirts from this site: www.adoptionbug.com/thomasadoption. You can order and pay on-line and the t-shirt(s) will be shipped directly to you. We make anywhere from $5-$10 (depending on the t-shirt) per shirt sold toward our adoption. Check it out! They have some cool, high-quality shirts for sale! This fundraiser will be on-going until we bring our child home.

PRAYER REQUESTS

-          Finances to continue to come through and successful fundraisers.

-          Patience and faith for both of us in this process.

-          Jaden working on recording his first album (all proceeds earned to go toward the adoption).     

            He is working hard. He has begun the recording process but it is taking longer than     

            anticipated.

Thank you all so much! We are very blessed by each of you!

The Thomas Family

Movement on 'The List'

A few families who submitted their adoption paperwork on 1-3-11 and 1-14-11 and are also adopting from Ethiopia through the same agency just got their referral. We are about 4 months behind them... You know what that means? We could be 4 months from a referral and about 6 months from meeting new baby for the first time. Yeahhh. That's good news!!!

July Update (a few days early)

Just writing to give you a quick update on our adoption.

As of July 6th, we will be on the waitlist for 14 months. We received a pretty disappointing letter from our adoption agency just a few days ago saying that, because of lots of changes in the adoption process in Ethiopia, the wait times have continued (and are projected to continue) to get even longer. Just a few months ago, they were saying probably about 14 months wait time. Now they are saying probably much longer. They really have very little idea as far as projected wait times, so this is just their best guess at this time. I am trying to be patient, but I have to be honest that it is pretty difficult to do that.

Here is a break down of what is going on, financially, with the adoption.

Step	Cost	Date Paid	Due Date
Application Fee – LSS	$420.00	10/25/10
Application Fee – Holt	$300.00	10/27/10
Home Study Fee – LSS	$2,780.00	1/14/11
USCIS	$890.00	2/2/11
Program Fee – LSS	$1000.00	5/20/11
Remainder of Program Fee – LSS	$750.00		Upon Referral
Dossier Fee – Holt	$3,000.00	5/6/11
Dossier Update Fee – Holt	$255.00	6/28/12	7/6/12
Program Fee – Holt	$9,890.00	saved	Upon Referral (have $6,000 in Show Hope Grant for this).
Post Placement Fee – LSS	$1,300.00		Upon Referral
Trip 1 to Ethiopia	$8,000.00 (estimated)		Upon Scheduled Travel Date (have $65 in the bank for this)
Trip 2 to Ethiopia	$8,000.00 (estimated)		Upon Scheduled Travel Date

FUNDRAISERS

Just Love Coffee: $5.00 to us for each bag of coffee sold  www.justlovecoffee.com/TheThomas. This fundraiser is on-going until we travel to Ethiopia to bring our child home.

Lifesong for Orphans: Make a tax deductable donation. We have been told that they will continue to accept donations in our name up until we travel to bring home our child. Make checks payable to ‘Lifesong for Orphans’. In memo section: ‘THOMAS #1855 ADOPTION’. Send to Lifesong for Orphans  PO Box 40  202 N Ford Street  Gridley, IL  61744.

Adoption Bug T-Shirt Fundraiser

You can order t-shirts from this site: www.adoptionbug.com/thomasadoption. You can order and pay on-line and the t-shirt(s) will be shipped directly to you. We make anywhere from $5-$10 (depending on the t-shirt) per shirt sold toward our adoption. Check it out! They have some cool, high-quality shirts for sale! This fundraiser will be on-going until we bring our child home.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• -          Finances to continue to come through and successful fundraisers.
• -          Patience and faith for both of us in this process.
• -          Jaden working on recording his first album (all proceeds earned to go toward the adoption). He is working hard. He has begun the recording process but it is taking longer than anticipated.

Thank you all so much! We are very blessed by each of you!

The Thomas Family

Home Study Updated

Our new social worker (still with Lutheran Social Services, but this part of the state) came out the other day to do our updated home study at our new house. It went well. Each of the kids just blurted out, "Mom, I love you." to me about 3 times each while she was here -- and I didn't even have to pay them!! :) And Drew pulled his little sister around the family room by her ankle (seriously, this was a first) in front of her. But, I'm pretty sure we passed none the less!! :) Jaden and I had the chance to once again explain the reason we decided to adopt and the reason we decided to adopt from Ethiopia. As I told our social worker, I have seen many people, over the past 20 months since our application was approved, decide to adopt from a different country instead of Ethiopia. But, we have just become so attached to Ethiopia - I just can't imagine switching. There is no doubt I think about our next baby and Ethiopia many, many times a day. Anyway, it got us excited all over again. She has no insight into what the time table may be for us, but she did say this happens with international adoption. They aren't lying when they say it isn't for the faint of heart. A friend of ours who have been waiting about 17 months knows another couple that just got a referral after waiting about 17 months. We have been waiting 14 months as of July 6th. At least we are (hopefully) on the tail end of the waiting! Anyway, just a quick update. :)

June Update

Just writing to give you a quick update on our adoption and to tell you about a GREAT fundraiser we have going on.

As of today, we have been on the waitlist for 13 months. We haven’t received any updates from our adoption agency in some time now. I am a member of a yahoo discussion board of couples adopting from Ethiopia through Holt as well and one of them said Holt told them it could be another 6 months to a year of waiting… This is not something I fully understand and it’s really got me down lately. One couple, adopting from Ethiopia as well but from a different agency waited 27 months for a referral (and then you still have about 5-6 months before bringing your child home).

Here is a break down of what is going on, financially, with the adoption.

Step	Cost	Date Paid	Due Date
Application Fee – LSS	$420.00	10/25/10
Application Fee – Holt	$300.00	10/27/10
Home Study Fee – LSS	$2,780.00	1/14/11
USCIS	$890.00	2/2/11
Program Fee – LSS	$1000.00	5/20/11
Remainder of Program Fee – LSS	$750.00		Upon Referral
Dossier Fee – Holt	$3,000.00	5/6/11
Program Fee – Holt	$9,890.00		Upon Referral (have $6,000 grant and an additional $3715 in the bank for this).
Post Placement Fee – LSS	$1,300.00		Upon Referral
Trip 1 to Ethiopia	$8,000.00 (estimated)		Upon Scheduled Travel Date
Trip 2 to Ethiopia	$8,000.00 (estimated)		Upon Scheduled Travel Date

FUNDRAISERS

Just Love Coffee: $5.00 to us for each bag of coffee sold  www.justlovecoffee.com/TheThomas. This fundraiser is on-going until we travel to Ethiopia to bring our child home.

Lifesong for Orphans: Make a tax deductable donation. We have been told that they will continue to accept donations in our name up until we travel to bring home our child. Make checks payable to ‘Lifesong for Orphans’. In memo section: ‘THOMAS #1855 ADOPTION’. Send to Lifesong for Orphans  PO Box 40  202 N Ford Street  Gridley, IL  61744.

Adoption Bug T-Shirt Fundraiser

You can order t-shirts from this site: www.adoptionbug.com/thomasadoption. You can order and pay on-line and the t-shirt(s) will be shipped directly to you. We make anywhere from $5-$10 (depending on the t-shirt) per shirt sold toward our adoption. Check it out! They have some cool, high-quality shirts for sale! This fundraiser will be on-going until we bring our child home.

PRAYER REQUESTS

-          Finances to continue to come through and successful fundraisers.

-          Patience and faith for both of us in this process.

-          Jaden working on recording his first album (all proceeds earned to go toward the adoption). He is working hard. He has begun the recording process but it is taking longer than anticipated.

Thank you all so much! We are very blessed by each of you!

The Thomas Family