T-Shirt Orders

We placed our first shirt order yesterday and as soon as they are received, we will be sending yours your way. We are excited to have this design out and about and so thankful for each purchase as the proceeds go directly toward our adoption costs (somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000.00).

When they arrive, we will have a few extras to sell on-demand as well (we have both the US and the Africa designs coming). If you didn't get your order in, it's not too late. If you'd like for me to hold you one of these when they come in, feel free to email me at movedtomove@gmail.com. We will be ordering more but not until I have enough to order 24 at a time so, once this initial order is complete, it may be a while since I can't order them one or two at a time.

What's happening over here?

We're trudging right along and making great strides (sort of).

There are just some things that can't be rushed.....one of those is the current InterCountry Adoption Seminar that we are (independently) doing online. We have found that our agency is extremely thorough in educating adoptive parents along the way and, though I believe that that is absolutely best and I know that I will be thankful in the end, sometimes I feel as if we're getting nowhere.....fast.

We are mostly done with the written exercises that were part of our educational requirements (mostly, not completely). We have the seminar that we are doing now plus one other (that we haven't yet registered for) and two books (purchased and begun) to read before all of these requirements are fulfilled.

At the same time, since we completed our home study visits, our Social Worker is working to complete our home study report (which becomes part of our dossier) and I am working, as well, on required document/processing for the dossier paperwork. Some of the paperwork required in the dossier was also required for the Home Study so those are in order but there are others we're starting fresh on; others we had for the Home Study but didn't require notarization....the same paperwork with notarization is required for the dossier so we'll double-back and do those again.

It's likely that no one (but me) cares about all of these details but, just like childbirth, I know that someday I will forget how stressful this was and this will serve as a reminder of the work that was involved.

The EXCITING thing that's happening is that, today, I am placing our first shirt orders. The orders have been trickling in and we are anxious to have those first buyers out in the community wearing our shirt; raising awareness about the orphan crisis that is a reality. If you've been thinking you'd like a shirt, NOW is a great time to order to be certain that we have your size this time around. We will order more in the future but your wait will be longer as we have to have at least 24 to place an order.

Youth Sized Shirts

The shirts are now available in Youth sizes also. Unfortunately, they cost the same to have printed so the price is the same as the Adult shirts.

The sizes are as follows:

Youth Small - 6/8

Youth Medium - 10/12

Youth Large - 14/16

Youth Extra Large - 18/20

If you are ordering Youth sizes, simply choose the Pay Pal button on the left side bar for the version you're choosing (Africa, Asia, US) and choose the size in the drop down box (it actually says Adult Small, Adult Medium, etc.).....when you get to the checkout, leave a comment that you are ordering a Youth sized shirt and it will notify me accordingly.

Happy Shopping! : )

Our Shirt(s)

We are so excited to offer our adoption shirts to you.

The shirts are a normal, unisex fit 100% cotton tee. They are currently available in Adult sizes (S, M, L, XL and 2XL). I have not been given the prices for Youth sizes but many of you have asked, so as soon as I have that ironed out, I will update the site and make the Youth sizes available as well.

The shirt contains the message that God has laid on our hearts....the reason we are adopting....the verses that have spoken to us. I shared earlier here about the shirt idea. It's all God's.

They are available in three (back) designs for three different adoption regions. The front of each shirt is the same with the "Why Adopt?" text in a coordinating color with the back design.

The first shirt is our Africa shirt. The shirt color is Ivory and the back design is done in earthy browns, mustard gold and a medium/dark red.

The next shirt is for those of you who have adopted or are adopting domestically. A shirt done in shades of blue and green, printed on a bright white t-shirt.

Lastly, we have a shirt for all of you China, Taiwan, India, Korea, etc. adopters. A shirt portraying the continent of Asia on the back. This shirt is done in some fun colors....yellow, orange, grey and teal.

The t-shirts are $25.00 each including shipping/delivery. It will take approximately 3 weeks for shirts to ship. To place your order, find the Pay Pal link on the left-hand side of the blog that goes with the shirt version that you desire (Africa, Asia or US); click on that link and order away. If you prefer to pay in another manner, we'd be glad to do that as well. Simply email me at movedtomove@gmail.com. If ordering through Pay Pal, please don't forget, at the end of the checkout process, to leave your mailing address and email.

Again, these are Adult only prices....I will update the site just as soon as I have word that the Youth sizes are available.

A Home Study and More

The process of adoption, as it should be, is long and sometimes hard. It's filled with LOTS and LOTS of paperwork, lots of check writing and various baby steps down the path to the ultimate goal of bringing an orphaned child into what is to become their forever family.

We had our first home study appointment/visit/interview this week and it went very well.

Just to be transparent and help others understand exactly what all of this entails, here is what our journey has looked like thus far:

• Choose an agency. There are many out there and much to consider but we believe we have found in ours, Lifeline Children's Services, a perfect fit for our family.
• Apply to the agency.
• Receive approval and packet of information regarding the Ethiopia program. This packet includes lots of information about our child's birth country as well as many, many forms that will be completed, oftentimes notarized, etc. In addition, there are educational requirements and did I mention forms?
• Because our agency is out-of-state, we needed to find and apply with a Home Study Agency as well. We chose Adoption Assistance, Inc. and applied with them. They also require lots of paperwork (some of the paperwork is the same as the agency's and, thankfully, we are able in some instances to kill two birds with one stone).
• Next, we had lots of signing and initialing to do to make our agreement with Lifeline official.
• We began reading two required books, "The Connected Child" and "Adoption Parenting".
• We had our first (of two) home study appointments with Adoption Assistance. Our Social Worker met with us here in our home and spoke with us collectively as a family and independently. She also toured our home and made sure that we met some basic safety/security requirements for our future addition.

And in case you're wondering just what kind of forms I'm talking about, there are things like letters from your employers and your bank, health forms from your doctors, recommendation letters, copies of utility bills, birth certificates, marriage licenses....I even had to prove that the dogs are up to date on their shots. Then there are things like questionnaire's, family trees, community trees, autobiographies, written testimonies, etc. It's a long but necessary list and it felt really good to get the first installment of those out the door.

And now we're working on installments number 2 (for Lifeline) and 3 (for our dossier) side by side.

I'll keep you posted.

Oh...and t-shirts will be on sale by week's end. Exciting!

Coming Soon

I am absolutely not exaggerating when I say that God dropped a t-shirt design on me out of the clear, blue sky. We were not talking about fundraising; we had not discussed t-shirts AT ALL but, all of a sudden one day, I had a very clear picture of a t-shirt design in my mind.

Some very talented people have helped/are helping me bring the idea to life and I couldn't wait to post a picture of the initial design.

The verses that you see on the back are verses that have spoken (very loudly) to us regarding adoption and God's plan for our family.

In addition to the design shown here (for Africa), there are additional designs underway. Soon, you will be able to place your order for this Africa shirt as well as another for the continent of Asia (for those China, Taiwain, Korea adopters) and another for domestic adopters with an image of the good old USA.

Stay tuned for these designs and how you can order.