The Bracelets are here! - UPDATE!

THERE ARE ONLY 75 BRACELETS LEFT :)


After a short customs strike in Haiti we were finally able to get the bracelets shipped to us!

They are $8 a piece and you can either pay to our Reece's Rainbow FSP at http://reecesrainbow.org/61334/sponsoraschoff, to our Paypal account jojocurtiss@yahoo.com, in person with cash or check! Make sure if you pay on RR to please forward me your receipt.

Also, I will ship the bracelets to you for a small shipping fee: 1-6 $3, 7-12 $6, 13-18 $9, 19-24 $12...

Let me know if you have any questions!

jojocurtiss@yahoo.com (where to forward your receipt).

HK Process and where we stand...UPDATED 3/3

1. Pre-appoval: COMPLETE
2. I800A & Dossier: COMPLETE
3. Home Study and Dossier Screening: COMPLETE
4. Matching (takes about 8-12+ weeks) COMPLETE
5. I800 COMPLETE
6. Legal Procedure (6-8 weeks, done in HK)
7. Pre-Departure (4-6 weeks, HK prepares passport & visa and we prepare for our 4-7 day trip)

It's A BOY!

We cannot share any photos of him (for 6 months after coming home) but we have been pre-approved to adopt a 1 year old in Asia! He is adorable with squishy cheeks, big eyes and has a little something extra. We are so excited to share the news, hopefully Leo John will be home soon.

 

If you can help in anyway please contact one of us at calicolmonkey@gmail.com! We will set up a link on this page as well to make tax deductible donations to help us bring him home.

Changes

We are sure if this is good news or bad news but right now we are exploring some different country options because of some changes in Colombia. We had word last week that Colombia is making some changes to it's program. The reason is actually a good thing, Colombia's economy has become more stable allowing more domestic adoptions to happen within the country. Here's the scoop, right now there are over 4,000 foreign families waiting to adopt, 600 Colombian Nationals and not a ton of kids waiting. So, in order to send in your paperwork to adopt you would have to be open to special needs. Which we are but there is such a backlog of people waiting that it could be several years until we get a referral.

This is a tough decision to make because obviously our hearts are in Colombia but we want to keep a lesser gap in between 2 children. We still plan on going back to Colombia and visiting but for now we want to expand our family by 1 more child. There are also many families that are greatly affected by this because of another program they were in shutting their doors and moving to Colombia's program. Please keep these families in your thoughts and prayers as they have yet another hard decision to make.

We are still planning on having a Fundraiser Garage Sale this summer so if you have any donations for the sale, raffle or silent auction please let us know.

Thank you all for your great support :)
Ted, Jodi & Kayella

Donations

We are getting one of our first fundraisers underway and we are looking for donations. If you have any items laying around your house collecting dust that you are looking to donate...we are your people. Our first event will be a garage sale and are looking for some "beautiful junk" to add to it. Please let me know if you have anything!

We are also looking for any donations for a raffle drawing.

Thank you all for your support!

Why Are We Fundraising?

The truth of the matter is that adoption is expensive.  The money all goes to good use, whether paying the salaries of all the people involved or funding assistance programs for birth families and adoptive families or even putting money back into the orphanages that care for the children.  With our first adoption we covered all of those expenses.  Sure, some of that money came back to us through the adoption tax credit and adoption assistance from Ted's work, but that was all after the fact, we had to come up with everything up front.

Now, as we prepare to get back into the adoption process we are finding it much more difficult to raise the funds while also raising a child.  We very much want to grow our family and so we are turning to fund-raising to come up with a portion of the costs.

So how much does an international adoption cost?  The answer is pretty shocking, here is the breakdown:

Application: $500
Home Study: $2,000
Program Coordination: $6,000
Post Placement Supervision: $1,500
Country Fees: between $8,000-$16,000 depending on what program we enter
Post Placement Reporting: $300
USCIS Filing: $720
USCIS Biometrics (fingerprinting): $170
Dossier: $925
Child Passport: $50
Child Visa Exam: $75
Child Visa: $230
Airfare (per person): Approx $1,000-$1,500
Lodging: Approx $6,000
Attorney in Country: $2,800
Departure Tax: $150
Re-Adoption: $500-900

Total: $30,920 - $39,820 

Once the adoption is finalized and our family is complete, we plan on paying your generosity forward to others in similar situations.  Adoption is a great gift but it just so happens to also be very expensive. There are many people out there that would jump at the chance to adopt one of the thousands of waiting children, if not for that expense and we would love to see all of those kids find forever families.

Thank you all for your support!

We decided to kick up our blog again and make some changes!

While meeting other mommies and daddies they decided to start helping advocate for children that still don't have families of their own! You will see some children listed on her that are in need of their own mom or dad.

The first little one that we will be listing is Monet. Beautiful Monet is currently diagnosed with Profound Bilateral Neurosensory Hypoacusis, and has had meningitis and encephalomalacia, contributing to her partial deafness (which would be beneficial to cochlear implants) and form of epilepsy (last one noted when she was 3 months old, controlled by medication).   Full medical and social history available. Please let me know if you would like more information on her and I can get it to you. Here is some info about adopting from Monet's region...

Single heterosexual parents may adopt

No family size restrictions

Both parents must travel to the country and stay until completion of adoption — approx 5-7 weeks (one parent may leave after a week or two)

Estimated total cost $21,000-24,500

She does have a small grant on Reece's Rainbow

Please let me know if you would like any more information on Monet!


Mommy and daddy have decided that I am ready for a brother or sister. They keep asking if I want a baby and I tell them "no." They have to start working on getting a bunch of paperwork together that they have been calling a "dossier." I will just plan on going along for the ride and play nice with the baby! I think they just want to get out of the Minnesota weather and visit Cali again. We have seen some beautiful little ones but we need to make sure that I stay the oldest child in the family and that there is about a year gap in between the new baby.

We have met many adoptive mommies and daddies and have got to talk a lot about our story. In November we celebrated being together as a family for 1 year. It is amazing how much has happened during that time. We will talk a little about what has happened since our last post...

Bike ride this past fall!

 

In the fall I transitioned to the toddler room and I love it! I get to go outside twice a day, do art projects, play with my friends, learn new songs and get loved on by all of my teachers.

Me sleeping on a cot for the first time, I am a ROCKSTAR napper!

Doing my favorite thing, coloring!

Waiting patiently for lunch

In November we celebrated one year as a family and we hung out for the day at the Mall of America and made a Build A Bear monkey, we named her Cali (of course)...

...and the monkey gets blamed when my room is a mess!

Of course, December was busy with mommy's 30th birthday, my school Christmas program and Christmas. We even got to go to the Hollidazzle because the weather was pretty nice. Mom and dad decided I should move into a toddler bed since I was becoming quite the monkey.

My cousin R and I!

Mommy, daddy and Me at the Hollidazzle

 

Sleeping in my toddler bed the first time

January I turned 2! I had a birthday party with lots of cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents there! I also had my tonsils and adenoids removed and a new set of ear tubes put in. I got to spend two nights in Children's Hospital.

2nd Birthday pics

2013 Cali jersey pic

Yum! Birthday Cake

In the hospital

 

In February I started walking...and have not stopped! Mommy and daddy also jumped in the Polar Plunge again along with uncle Jason and my BFF Krystal (who surprised me as dressing up as the Cat in the Hat)!

Using the treadmill at therapy to learn to walk! Didn't take long.

Most recently we have been spending time spring cleaning the house, going to the zoo and walking everywhere! I love to dance and to do actions to many songs. I have quite the vocabulary and sign language that I love to show off. Mostly I like to "Shake a tail feather" and "Single Ladies." I am quite funny and LOVE to be the center of attention to everyone.

At the Shrine Circus

Watching the Twins game

At the Zoo with the baby farm animals