We are BACK!

Whew, it's been a busy few months! We've been home with Wesley for a little over 4 months now. If you've been following me on instagram you have had a front row seat to his adjustment to our family.

Simply put: he's amazing.

We are incredibly grateful for him. He's such a gift to our family and there could not be a child who fits more perfectly into our crazy house.

I'm setting out on some new endeavors since we've been home. One of those is speaking! I LOVE talking about adoption, motherhood, marriage, homeschooling. I know everyone is so surprised by this. Ha! So I figured why not turn this into a real thing? I'd love to come talk to your Mommy & Me groups, church groups, book clubs, family groups, conferences, events, you name it.

There's a little contact form to the right of the blog where you can email me directly and we can set something up!

I'd love to offer the first 3 people who book a time for FREE! :)

Let's get talking, shall we?

Email Updates!

FRIENDS!

We leave in THREE days!! Yikes!!

Go here to sign up for updates! You'll get emails from us and get to follow along on our crazy journey in Korea!

https://mailchi.mp/dc1316fc80ed/farns-fam-adoption-updates

Love you all!

I've loved you since forever

This book. I’ve heard about it. It’s been recommended to me time and again. I haven’t allowed myself to get it until I had more assurance of a date to meet our boy. Having something more concrete in place for the future is powerful. It gives me something solid to stand on for our future. 

Even with a date, it’s so scary to walk into the unknown. The “what ifs” that consume my mind at times are just too powerful. I’m a pro at forging forward and keeping myself busy. It’s good sometimes but there is power in listing the “what ifs” and acknowledging that I have zero control over some of them. Letting go of those and saying them out loud almost takes the zing out of their pervasive hits. Finding the ones I can control or will be able to handle in the future is equally powerful. 

I say all of this because this part of our process is really hard and really scary but really beautiful and really sacred. 

I get to have another kiddo. 

I get to be a mama again. 

The beauty. 

The undeserving grace in that is tremendous. 

It’s an honor I get to do this. 

It’s been a difficult road leading to this point, and I’m sure there are many difficulties that lie ahead. But I’ve got to stay in the headspace that allows me to sit in awe and wonder. That our people have helped make our family’s dreams come true. Our people have helped tear down barriers and bust down walls standing in our way to get to our babe. 

And to remember that I really have loved this boy from the moment I laid eyes on his sweet picture. The phenomena of falling in love with him across the ocean and thousands of miles is not lost on me. It’s breathtaking. 

I have no clue what my feelings will be when we meet for the first time. Or when we have to say goodbye to him for a few more weeks while the waiting continues. But the “what ifs” can have no hold over a bond created by love half way around the world. 

The feelings are real and raw over here in these last few weeks before we leave. I’m ever so grateful for the friends who reach out to check on my sanity and emotional state. If you guys aren’t careful, I might actually cry in front of someone. And that would just be the end of things.

Three weeks until we leave and just 25 days until I (hopefully) get to hug this boy of ours.

If you’d like to follow our journey in Korea, please subscribe to our email list on the right side of the blog. From now on we’ll have to stay in touch via email and we’d love to journey with you!

Whirlwinds

This week has been a whirlwind of news, events, celebrations, and crazy happenings. 

P's birthday was Thursday so much of the week was spent prepping for that in the midst of our new adventure in HOMESCHOOL! Little did I know what fun was in store for the week besides P's bday celebration!

About two weeks ago my friend called to tell me that her school raised money just for a family adopting. And with the help of AdoptTogether, we were the family they selected. On Wednesday we got to meet the kids and teachers who donated and thank them for their support. How crazy that a school our kids don't even attend raised money to support our family?! I just can't believe it. 

Then, on Wednesday night, I laid in bed with P as the clock ticked over past midnight so I could sing her happy birthday. We laid there talking and giggling and she quickly fell back asleep. As I snuggled with my seven year old, I had this overwhelming urge to pray for protection for her, C, our house, our family. I think I laid there praying for protection for half an hour. I'm super good at worrying so going to sleep was difficult that night. 

We woke up very early Thursday morning to some scary happenings. Our car, garage, and at least 6 of our neighbors' cars were broken into overnight. All of our car doors were wide open as well as the garage door. The garage door remote that was in my car was also stolen. TERRIFYING. 

Thank goodness the house was not broken into and the items stolen from us are easily replaceable and we have insurance. But the feeling of being invaded is so yuck. But our family was very clearly protected. No one was hurt and nothing permanent was damaged. More gratitude.

We shut the doors, went back into the house and celebrated our oldest's birthday. It was the ultimate test of my ability to "fake it til I make it". We made cinnamon rolls, gave her presents, and enjoyed a couple of hours together as a family. Then P and I went to volunteer for a little while at Children's Hunger Fund and on to a little birthday tea together. 

Steven and C spent the day at Lowe's, on the phone with insurance, and filing police reports. Poor guys. Not nearly as fun.

By the time we were on our way to dinner to celebrate P, I was completely emotionally spent. Right as we pulled into the parking the garage Steven got a phone call from Vickie, turned it on speaker phone and handed it to me. I was beyond confused. She and my dad were at an event to tell my mom's story and her love for adoption. She then told me she was with Denise Lopez (of http://everydayministry.net/) and that Denise wanted to speak to me. Once Denise got on the phone, she explained that she was on stage in front of 500 women at an event and she had an update on our adoption grant request. While on speaker phone in front of all these women, Denise told us that our family has been awarded a grant for our adoption that will tremendously help with this urgent $10k due on November 30th. I was beyond surprised. I don't think I've ever been more speechless in all my life (just ask Steven, he can attest to this truth). 

Just the fact that they chose us and my whole family conspired to surprise me on P's birthday was phenomenal. And after such a scary morning. Whew. ALL THE FEELINGS. Every one of them. I haven't stopped crying tears of joy. 

These two babes of mine were very excited to celebrate such exciting news! 

And that means the $10k due November 30th is down to $3,783. I mean. You guys, it's so awkward and humbling to ask for financial support. This has been a season of launching two businesses (you know: very little income, lots of side jobs, becoming an uber driver, and tons of hustling to make ends meet) and lots of expenses; so, to be loved and carried and supported by our tribe is such a beautiful picture of humanity. Grateful, humbled, honored, astounded, and completely changed by you. 

On Monday, I will make the request to AdoptTogether to send any extra money in our account to our adoption agency. We are hoping and praying that this small gap of $3,783 will be filled just in time for the Nov 30th deadline. I've asked for far more than I deserve, but if you have felt any desire to help us bring our boy home now is the time. The finish line is close. The end is in sight. 

He will be in our arms so soon, but this money hurdle must be jumped first. Your love and support is making my family a possibility and I just can't begin to express how grateful I am for that. 

We are SO CLOSE. If you even have $1 to give, please follow this link and your donation will still be tax deductible. 

Seriously, I cannot thank everyone enough. Our family is growing because of you!

Finish line is close, folks! *UPDATED*

Ok, friends. We are soooooo close to finishing this fundraising business and hopping on a plane to get our little one. Obviously, I don't have a date, but paying the fees is a big hurdle.

Good news: Our friends and families helped us raise over $20,000!!!!!!! WHAT?!?!? That's freaking insane. I can hardly express my gratitude, it's huge. You guys are amazing, we are so spoiled rotten. From the very bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!

Fun news: We only have $16,000 left to pay (plus some travel expenses when we get The Call). So we thought we'd have a little fun with this last bit.

So here's our idea. We're gonna "kickstarter" this thing. Different donations equal different prizes.

Here's the breakdown:

$25 donation gets you a hand drawn caricature created by P or C (most likely P, C doesn't really sit that still for that long) 

$50 donation gets you personalized outgoing voicemail message by C 

$75 donation gets you an ice cream date with P and C (LA residents only) 

$100 donation gets you a personalized 8"x10" print from my shop (you choose quote, style, color) 

$150 donation gets you an ice cream date with P, C, and the little one when we're all home together (LA residents only) 

$500 donation gets you a copy of our adoption photo album once things are finalized 

$1000 donation gets you a framed family photo once things are finalized 

GRAND PRIZE: $16,000 donation (like if you literally fund the whole thing), we will visit your home first (obviously, once adoption is finalized and we have settled into a routine as a family of five)

Once you've donated here, send me an email with the best way to reach you to discuss how to arrange your prize incentive!

We cannot thank you enough for all of your love and support during this crazy fun journey! We are eternally grateful!!!

Let's get this babe home!!!! Here's one last picture of P and C in their workspace where your prizes will be made. ;)

Not so good news

So, we got some disappointing news today about the little boy we're adopting. He's ok and we are still able to adopt him, but I can't disclose details at this time. 

We are working to get the home study updated (since we moved we have to update the homestudy) but of course, that’s thrown a delay in getting more paperwork submitted. 

Needless to say, I’m very frustrated and sad for him. The largest hurdle is paying the final $26k and with all the incredible fundraising my friends and family have helped with we are well on our way to being fully funded! We are waiting to hear (after August 8th) about a large grant for our family, but we've got to jump out in faith and do what we can to quickly pay the fees to get him home to us.

Please say a little prayer for him and if you feel so inclined to help support us financially in this, every $5 counts! Link to our profile is here: http://adopttogether.org/families/?fundraiser=farns

We are so incredibly grateful for all the love and support!!!

All the good news!

Friends!

It's been a whirlwind of fun for us the past few weeks for sure! I wanted to update all on what is going on and all the crazy fun changes!



It started with some danger in our old neighborhood. We loved our old house and enjoyed where we lived but over the past six months or so, things got kinda scary. Lots of shootings and police-involved activity. Now, I'm not easy to scare in that respect, but when we were stuck inside the house and couldn't leave because of a shooting that required multiple ambulances, firetrucks, and police cars (some actually parked in our driveway) that was the last straw. It felt unwise to continue to live there.

bye old house!

So we started looking and we walked through one house (yes, ONE!) and fell in love. Oh my gosh, it was crazy how amazing the house was and I was convinced there was no way we'd get it. It felt like far more than we deserved. But we persisted and within a month, we were moved in! And on top of getting to live in a MUCH safer space, we live near horse ranches (hello Oklahoma girl) and we are saving money by having our offices in our house as well as having a renter. I mean, it's just amazing. We are so grateful for the peace of mind and the fun and joy this house offers. So sorry for the terrible quality video, my tech support/film maker is out of town right now so this is what we get.

We also submitted {nearly} all of our paperwork to legally finalize our match with a certain little one and the clock has started for us to for real get to bring that one home. I'm so, so excited. And terrified that we forgot some major piece of paperwork or won't have the funds to finalize things. Moving so suddenly put a huge wrench in our finances but we took a giant leap of faith and felt that it was what was best for our family's future. But yikes, faith is freaking scary. We are over halfway to our fundraising goal but there are big chunks of change due in the next few weeks so if you're in need of any prints already in my shop or anything custom made, now's the time to order! Click here to order or create something custom together!

Let's get this babe home to us!

So that's where we're at in our journey. So many details to continue to stay on top of but there's just so much more swimming to be done (not so much by C, though. anyone want to come teach him what he refuses to learn from me!?)!