Update: Our Colombian adoption has turned into Our Chinese adoption!  Please follow us at teamtompkins5.blogspot.com.

With Love,

Leisha

Will It Happen???

To shorten an otherwise lengthy story:  We postponed our Colombian adoption plans in part because I felt uneasy about my agency, the wait times for Colombia, and the fact that I now work as a therapist and don't feel I could/should take 4-6 weeks off.  I have a friend who works in fostercare, who has been trying to recruit me into that...only because she knows how badly I want another child!  I sent in all the paperwork, and now it's time for training. They want us to come for training, which is 1-1.5 hours away.  Mostly it's been on nights where the kids have other activities going on, such as my husband coaching our son's little league team.  They said they could come to our home and do the training, and then said they were too busy.  My heart aches.  I know our child/children are out there somewhere!  It saddens me to look at the pink room decor sitting in the closet in the empty bedroom.  God, please tell us what to do next!!!

Leisha

Saving and The Big News

#1 - I got my dream job, counseling children at an outpatient clinic.  This will go a LONG way towards helping with adoption costs!

#2 - SEVERAL people have come to me offering donations for the yard sale. THANK YOU.  I could not do this alone...emotionally or financially, ha ha.

#3 - We are going on vacation.  Some people forgo vacations while raising money, but we rarely take vacations and with me starting to work full-time soon, we decided we need to do this.  So, we're doing Colorado on a budget.  Maybe I'll blog about it when I return.  My grandmother lives in Durango, so we won't spend much money on entertainment...with my colorful family!

#4 - In Adopt Without Debt, a lady feeds a family of 6 on $75 a week, including paper goods and cleaning products.  How?  I tried, but I spent $120 last week and $127 this week.  However, I had some birthday money left over which was supposed to be for a new phone (kid dunked my iphone in water, killing it).  I found a $40 phone on ebay and I transferred the rest into the adoption fund.  It hurt, but then it felt so good! 

I can't wait to hold my little girl!

It's Offical: We're Approved!

Now that we are approved (as of June 29, 2011), we have decided to begin an adoption-only blog.  We are planning to adopt a 5 year old girl or 0-7 year old sibling girls from Colombia. 

Next steps:
     1)  As soon as our social worker returns on Monday, make an appointment to begin home study!
     2)  Get the word out about our garage sale, soliciting donations from kind family and friends.  =)

I will be adding a PayPal or ChipIn button, info. on our financial progress, and fundraising goals.

We are SO super excited!  God is good!