Steps to Sofi- Asya's story Part 3

When we contacted Children's House International to inquire about adoption, we were so amazed by the reception we got.  I emailed Nina Thompson, a caseworker at CHI, asking about little girls with Spina Bifida.  Within a few minutes I received an answer, and a couple of files.  Emails started flying back and forth as we fell in love with Asya immediately.  

One of the obstacles was the cost of adoption.
We were floored at the cost and we didn't have $35,000 laying around in a bank account.  We didn't think that should stop this journey, and when Nina told us we could fundraise for the adoption, we blindly started doing so.  We never thought twice, we knew we were supposed to be Asya's parents, and we knew somehow we would get the money. 

We had many fundraisers, many from our local businesses.  But by far the most successful fundraiser we had was our shoe drive.  One night, I was on google, searching for fundraising ideas when I saw the ANGEL BINS website.  I filled out a contact form, and the next day received a phone call from one of the account managers.  She told me we could collect shoes of all sorts as long as they were matching and without holes in the soles....and she said we needed to collect 5000 pairs to raise approximately $3500.  I thought that was a great idea, so we decided to do it.  We started the shoe drive on Januray 3, 2013.  We appealed to everyone on every form of social media.  We had drop off spots in every county we had friends in.  Our Spina Bifida community rallied and collected shoes.  And all of a sudden our little shoe drive took off.  You can read the blog post thanking everyone HERE.  It tells how many counties, states, and the grand total!  Once that shoe drive was completed, we knew that this adoption was being helped along my a divine hand.  

As we shared Asya's story, she became Sofi to us.  Sofi Rose. And in October of 2013, my dear friend and I traveled around the world to meet the beautiful girl with the soft brown eyes.

 Our lives would never be the same.

Stay tuned for Part 4

Shoes for Sofi...a miracle

Dear Life,

In December, when we announced our Shoe's for Sofi shoe drive, I somehow knew we could reach our goal.  I don't know how I knew this, but I had faith that it would not be a problem.  In December, we got to 1000 pretty easy, but then we went on Kumaka's wish trip, Christmas and New Years happened, and we pretty much began anew on January 1st.  We started talking alot about it in January, a few of our friends started sharing our posts about the shoe drive and all of a sudden the shoe drive took on a life of it's own.  People kept asking me what I would do if we didn't get the whole 5000 pairs.  I knew that somehow they would come in.

Boy did they.  Every day I looked out my window.  And this is the craziness that started showing up:

This is Arizona >>>>

There is a dining room under all of those shoes.

Last week, every day the mailman, FedEx, and UPS drivers all brought shoes.  There were bags at my doorstep every day.  I had friends at my house every single day helping me to match and count shoes.  It was like manna from heaven...only shoes.

We went from 5000 on Monday to 12508 on Thursday. If I didn't witness it, I wouldn't have believed it.  It was truly inspiring to see how many people love us, and want to help bring Sofi home to our family.  

"24000 pairs of feet marching to help bring Sofi home."   

by Nina Thompson

Children's House International 

(the amazing case worker who introduced us to our angel) 

When our goal was 5000, we were expecting to get a check for $3500.  We surpassed that goal and then some.  Our agency will receive a check for $9422 next week.  THATS HUGE.  It's a miracle.  That will cover ALL of our agency fees, and some of our fees to the other country's agency.  That is truly miraculous.  This is what it looked like on Friday when they came to pick up the shoes:

Haulaway kindly donated TWO 21 foot bins to put our shoes in (which was a Godsend because our garage was way too full)

This is how it went:  We helped throw bags of shoes in the boxes...that yellow thing in front was a scale.  It weighed the box when it was full.  We did that 25 times. 

These ladies were at our house EVERY day last week...counting...banding....and watching miracles happen.  We could not have finished everything without them.

This is the Angel Bins Truck....we FILLED it to the brim!

This is the big truck that brought those bins to our house.

And this is the truck that took our shoes away.  

This is where we send our thanks to all of you...even if you donated just one pair...or if you shared the story with someone....or if you just prayed for our princess.  God heard...and through all of you He delivered big time.  

From California:

Azusa

Bakersfield

Buena Park

Burbank

Calabasas

Camarillo

Canoga Park

Cardiff

Carlsbad

Cerritos

Chino

Chino Hills

Corona

Cypress

Fallbrook

Fountain Valley

Huntington Beach

Irvine

La Mirada

Ladera Ranch

Lake Forest

Lakewood

Lancaster

Long Beach

Newport Beach

Norco

Northridge

Oceanside

Orange

Palmdale

Phelan

Placentia

Porter Ranch

Reseda

San Diego

San Marcos

Santa Ana

Seal Beach

Signal Hill

Simi Valley

Tustin

Valencia

Vista

West Covina Tulare

West Hills,

Westiminster

Whittier

Woodland Hills

Shoe Drives:

Sowers Middle School

Vista View Middle School

Walker Junior High

Avio Anaheim Club

Ada Harris Elementary School

Montessori of Malibu Canyon

The Way of No Way Academy of Martial Arts,

Pi Kappa Phi's at CSUN

All Over the United States:

Winston Salem, NC
Denver, CO

Delta, CO
Fort Worth TX
Meridian, ID

Limerick, PA

Philadelphia, PA
Westminster MD

Atlanta, GA
Woodstock, GA
Marrietta, GA
Vestavia Hills, AL
Hoover, AL
Glendale, AZ
Fort Wayne, IN
Berne, IN
Indianapolis IN
Huntertown, IN
Lewis Center, OH
Hillard, OH

St. Clairsville, OH

Canal Winchester, OH
Ridgeland, WI
Clayton, WI
Hillsdale, WI

Louisville, KY

Wheeling IL

Forest Lake, MN

Gila Valley, AZ

Provo, UT

Meridian, ID

Buffalo, NY

THANK YOU!

Christmas Shoes for Sofi

Dear Life,

We are wracking our brains trying to come up with creative ways to fundraise money to fund our adoption to beautiful Sofi Rose. 

 The fees are crazy expensive...everything costs so much money.  But none of that matters to us...all that matters is bringing home our sweet girl...and having her be a part of our forever family.  I'm sure that some of  you are wondering what all of that money goes towards!  Well...here goes:




PROGRAM FEES PAID TO our adoption agency in the US

Application Fee (PAID) $700
Agency Fee $6500
P.A.R. (Refundable) Deposit – $500

FOUNDATION FEES: 3rd PARTY FEES PAID THROUGH agency – FEES DIFFER BY FOUNDATION

FOUNDATION “A”: 1000 EUR due at match, (PAID)  1000 EUR (PAID) due at dossier submission, 4000 EUR due prior to 1 st trip, (1000 PAID)
2000 EUR due prior to 2nd trip
 (We've had $3000 euro granted us in Europe thankfully, which goes towards this).


Additional Expenses incurred by family:

HOMESTUDY/DOSSIER EXPENSES:

Home Study Estimate $2250 (ALMOST PAID)
Post-adoption/Post-placement Report Estimate (requirements and cost varies from state to state) ($300-$1000)
Adoption Education Internet Courses ($30-$50 each)
CIS Filing fee $720
Fingerprint Charge (2 @ $85 each)
Passports (2 @ $170 each) (PAID)
Document notarization (cost varies) – estimate only $500

PRE-TRAVEL EXPENSES:

2 Trips - Round Trip airfare for 2 adults (@ approx $1000-$1500 per person, per trip) estimate
only $4000 +
Child’s one-way airfare (cost varies, estimate only) $500 +

IN-COUNTRY EXPENSES/FEES: Estimates will increase due to daily exchange rate for USD to EUR

Lodging and meals (2 people – 5-7 nights each trip) – estimate only $100 - $200/night $1000+
Medical for child’s Visa – estimate only $100
Child’s U.S. Visa $230
Incidentals (amount varies depending on family desires and tastes) varies

CRAZY, right?  That is why we appreciate all our friends, family, Spina Bifida friends, strangers, have done so far.  We have far to go...but we are confident we can do it.  Our big fundraiser at the moment is the collection of used shoes.  We are collecting gently used, wearable shoes.  They can be any shoes.....dressy, casual, flip flops, childrens, mens, womens, babies, cleats, etc.  They cannot have holes and they must match.  That is it.  We have seen a huge amount of people willing to clean out their closets and give us their shoes.  Many people are SHIPPING their shoes to us.  AMAZING.  IF we can get 5000 pairs of shoes, we can EARN 3000 dollars.  Awesome, right?   

Thank all of you....may your holiday season be amazingly beautiful.