We have not posted anything in a while and I think a lot of that is because it feels like we are just king of waiting right now. We submitted the necessary form to USCIS in November and it can take a couple months to get back - once we get that back, we will be ready to complete the final steps (certification and authentication of the remaining documents) in order to submit our dossier. We did get our fingerprints done for USCIS last week, so it feels like there is a bit of progress in that area.
Our fundraiser of selling Meaningful Mixes (jars of soup and cookie mixes) is in full swing. We sold many in church this past Sunday and we are getting a lot of orders from people in my office. From an emotional perspective, it is challenging to fundraise because we know things can be difficult for others financially and we try not to really have any expectations and just be thankful for any and all support that we receive. Once again, as with our previous fundraiser, we feel so incredibly blessed by all those who care about us and support us. Through rolling out this fundraiser, we "announced" our adoption to my office (Jen's) and everyone has been so caring and supportive - I feel very honored to be working with such great people.
If anyone is interested in placing an order of mixes, feel free to respond with a comment to the blog and we will be happy to make some jars for you. We are selling chicken noodle soup mix, beef chili soup mix, love soup mix (a soup with beans and noodles), chocolate chip cookie mix, snickerdoodle mix, peanut butter cookie mix, oatmeal M&M cookie mix, and s'mores bar mix (our personal favorite:-)). Each jar is $7 and all of the proceeds go towards our adoption costs. It is truly a labor of love because it is a lot of work, but they are fun to make and we love how they turn out and the results help us on our adoption journey!