BRACELETS FROM HAITI ARE HERE!

I have partnered with Apparent Project for a wonderful fundraiser opportunity!  If you are interested in helping two worthy causes at once with one low price, then here it is.

I am selling these bracelets for $10.00.  If you are not in the area, I can ship them to you for $3.00.  $5.00 will go towards my adoption expenses and $5.00 will go towards helping families in Haiti stay together and build a future.

The Story of the Bracelets

You can bless Haiti and keep families together at the same time.  You can help moms and dads who WANT to parent their children.  These Moms and dads are willing to put their hands to work in order to keep their families intact - to provide shelter and education for their children.  The Apparent Project also helps Haitians who want to go to school or start a business.  You can do all the above while, at the same time, helping us (the McIntosh Family) reach our goal of adoption.

These beautiful bracelets are made from recycled material by the hands of the Haitian people and sold to support their goal of supporting their families.  We also want to support our goal of growing our family.  Therefore, it just made sense to partner with this organization and support both our goals.

Each bracelet comes with a biography of the artisan who made it.  When you read these biographies, stories about people just trying to survive, trying to find secure shelter you will not be able to feel sorry for yourself.  Ever again.  Your children will catch a glimpse of this too.

You can purchase one by sending me an email with the following information:
Your name
Your address (if requesting the bracelet to be shipped)
How many bracelets you would like.
How you would like to pay for the bracelet.  Payment can be made by check, cash, or PayPal.

Note:  If you would like to mail a check, I will respond with my mailing address.  PayPal Payments must include the 2.9% PayPal fee and can be made by clicking on the Donate button on my homepage.

Thank you for your help!

The Decision

        Everyone comes to the decision to adopt for their own reasons. Their back grounds are as varied as can be. Some people struggle with infertility for years before considering adoption. Others know from the very start that they want yo adopt. Still others come to the decision later after having their own kids or being moved by the cause. 
      My decision was sort of a culmination of things.  I have always said from a very early age that I wanted to adopt. However,  I didn't fully understand at that time what would come and what would be involved. 
      My husband and I got married in 2007. I was 30 and he was 38. Both of us hsd previously had failed marriages but neither of us had kids.  We said we wanted kids and started trying after 2 years of marriage.  It took us another 2 years to get pregnant.
       My pregnancy was a shock to my husband, who thought he couldn't have kids due to a kidney transplant.  I had a rough pregnancy with a few scares and major swelling issues. 3 weeks before I was due I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and put on bed rest.
     My little boy was born 2 days early.  I had a hard labor and was in labor for 24 hours.   When he was finally born, he wasn't breathing. They rushed him to the NCIU. I was hemorrhaging.  Later, my doctors and I decided that it was not a good idea to have anymore pregnancies.
     At first, I was fine with having an only child. When he was two though, I started remembering the idea of adoption.  My husband and I talked about it for two more years before deciding to  pursue it.  Three months later, after a lot of research, we started the homestudy process and are on our way to adopt.

T-shirt Fundraiser

Check out our T-shirt Fundraiser. $7.00 from each shirt goes towards our adoption expenses and helps us get to our goal of raising $8,000 to take the next step to get matched with a baby/birthmother. These are super soft shirts in youth sizes as well as adult sizes. You can get T-shirts, short sleeved or long sleeved, as well as sweatshirts and hoodies.

You can order yours at:  https://www.bonfirefunds.com/mcintosh-adoption-fund-1

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/mcintosh-adoption-fund-1

Fundraiser and General Information Update

Our fundraising is off to a good start.  The Avon fundraiser was completed and brought in $196.75 for our adoption expenses.  I want to thank everyone who participated or helped with this!

The Jamberry fundraiser wasn't as big. It brought in $20.00.  Every little bit helps and I appreciate the orders.

The Puzzle Piece Fundraiser has sold 15 pieces for a total of $300.00. Whoohoo! This os a great step in the right direction.

We need to raise $8,000 by the first week of January  in order to start the process of getting matched with a baby/birthmother. Any help is greatly appreciated. I amlooking for other types of fundraisers to do now as well as promoting our Puzzle Piece Fundraiser.

Our interviews with the Social Worker  (which is the last visit) has been post-poned again due to illness. My husband has been fighting the flu...YUCK!  Hopefully, we will be able to finish that up next week.

Wish us luck!

Puzzle Piece Fundraiser Update

Every person who donates to our adoption becomes a part of our story; a piece of our puzzle.


We have selected a 750 piece puzzle; every piece symbolizing someone who helped bring our baby home.  Each piece is $20.00.   People may choose to be one piece of the puzzle or several pieces of the puzzle, and their names will be written on the back of each piece they represent.

After the puzzle is completed, we will frame the puzzle between two pieces of glass and hang it in our child's room. This will be a wonderful keepsake to see all the people who helped bring Baby McIntosh home.

Every piece in a puzzle is important.  Without one, the puzzle is incomplete.  Thank you for helping to complete our puzzle.

We need to have 400 pieces sponsored by the first week of January in order to start the process of getting matched with a baby/birthmother. Please consider donating to a good cause and sharing our story to help us get the word out.

For our puzzle, we chose a beautiful Thomas Kinkade Disney Winnie the Pooh puzzle:

How to Donate:
Write a check or donate cash and hand deliver to Kelly or Frank McIntosh

Mail a check to us (email us at kelmcintosh@yahoo.com for our address)


Or Click on the Donate button and pay securely through PayPal.  If using this option, please add 2.9% for the PayPal processing fee.

Delays

We were supposed to have our final meeting with the Social Worker today. However, we had to postpone it until next week. The Social Worker is sick.

That's ok though. This week is a busy week. My little boy had a dentist appointment today and his birthday party on Saturday.  We are also still trying to figure out how to come up with the money to sign up with the agency.  They want  $8,000 up front. This is the application fee and advertising fee.  It is actually pretty reasonable compared to other agencies.  The difference is that some agencies want it up front and others want it on the back end  (at match).

I finished up my Avon fundraiser, the Jamberry fundraiser is ending today, and I have launched my Puzzle Piece Fundraiser.  The Puzzle Piece Fundraiser should be bigger than the other two. I have 8 pieces sold so far. YAY!

The Ups and Downs of Adoption

Typically, I try to stay positive about everything, but I am quickly learning that adoption has a lot of ups and downs.  The first up: the decision to proceed with adoption and the excitement of looking forward to adding a member to your family, is quickly followed by the first down:  the daunting amount of paperwork and research to be done.  The next up is getting the paperwork done and turned in, your first visit with the social worker doing your homework goes good and you are walking on cloud nine....  Until you realize that you have a ton of work to do to get ready to sign with an agency.
That me right now, I am riding the roller coaster of adoption.  My first fundraiser, an Avon Fundraiser, went really well.  I expect to make around $195.  I just turned in all the orders and money, so I will know for definite later.  This is awesome news to me since I wasn't sure I would make even half of that.  Another positive thing,  I think I have found the adoption agency that I want to use.  It has everything I have been looking for in an agency.

Now the down, the adoption agency I want to use requires around $8,000 to sign up which covers the application fee, education, and advertising.  This amount will need to be paid with any agency that I go with, however some require it up front and some require it later at match.  At this very moment, I do not have the $8,000.  So.... the decision has to be made, do we take a loan and proceed with the adoption agency or do we go with another agency (the second pick that is a good agency, but just not as good of a fit as your first pick).

I know that adoption can cost $25,000 to $45,000.  I was hoping that I would be able to do more fundraising and apply for grants before most of that would be due.  However, you have to be signed up with an Agency to apply for most grants since they want to be able to send the check directly to the agency, which makes sense but doesn't help with the initial cost.  Fundraiser help but again, a lot of the ones that I could do (like Pampered Chef) want to be able to send the check to an agency.  On the plus side, I can do things like the Avon Fundraiser which was a success and I have started a puzzle piece fundraiser.  We will get there and be able to bring Baby McIntosh home.  It is just going to take some hard work and faith.

For those of you reading, please keep my family in your thoughts.  If it isn't to much to ask, please share our story by sharing our blog.  You never know who could see it and want to help us out.

Waiting for Home Study Approval

It has been a long week.  Last Wednesday was our first home study visit.  Since then, I have been researching national adoption agencies, creating blogs, and working on fundraisers.  We have to find an adoption agency to work with that will help with finding a match for us.  We are looking at a national agency that deals with domestic adoptions.  This allows us to search all over the US to find the next member of our family.  However, if you have ever had to research adoption agencies you will quickly realize that they are all very different.  The trick is to find one that works with your situation.  I think I have it narrowed down to two different agencies but we are still debating between the two.

The Avon fundraiser is in full swing.  We have just one week left on this fundraiser.  Remember, to get our orders in by the night of November 26th (Thursday), as I will be turning in the orders on November 27th (Friday). The products will be in in time for christmas.  Payment needs to be made at the time of order.  Please remember to add 9.25% sales tax.  If you choose to use the PayPal donate button on the blog, please add 2.9% for the PayPal processing fee.

I am will be posting the information on our Puzzle Piece Fundraiser shortly.  I am really excited about this one, since it will result in a keepsake for the adopted child.

We have our next Home Study visit on December 1st and should have our approval within a couple weeks after that.  Then we will be off and running; trying to find the next member of our family.  Wish us luck!

Avon Fundraiser

I am doing an Avon Fundraiser to help raise funds for our adoption expenses. Please email me or comment with your email address if you are interested.  I will email you a complete brochure. I can accept orders until November 27th. All orders are subject to sales tax of 9.25%. Checks or money must be received at the time the order is placed. Checks can be made out to Kelly McIntosh. You may also use paypal.

There are many fees associated with adoption such as the homestudy fees, agency fees, legal fees, and possible birthmother expences for the pregnancy. We are doing fundraisers in an effort to pay for some of these fees.