Upcoming Fundraisers!

I will be quick with this post, but I want to make 2 fundraiser events known. November 18th and 19th we will have an indoor yard sale at our house, with everything from Christmas decorations to baby clothes! It starts at 7 AM and we will be in our sunroom with heat!!

The second event, which coincides with the yard sale and continues on until February 1st, is a raffle. We are raffling a Joovy ScooterX2 double stroller in lime green. Raffle tickets are $5 a for 1 or or 3 for $12. This is a high end stroller, valued at over $230! Definitely don't miss the chance to win this awesome stroller!

Here are a few pics of what it actually looks like, color and all:

That is all for now-- I hope to hear from you all soon!

International or Domestic?

International or domestic adoption. For a while, my husband and I debated this subject. He was in favor of domestic, but I felt led towards international.
Personally, I believe either one is a great choice, but I do believe it is a personal choice, as to which one is better for your family. The 2 processes are alike, yet they are quite different. We looked into both options, so we are familiar with domestic adoption as well.  As for the process of a domestic adoption, there are quite a few different ways of going about it. With international adoption, you can either go private or through an agency, but it is definitely recommended to go through an agency, due to the complicated requirements of the US and the adoptive country. We, of course, are going through a great agency, which is imperative with international adoption, especially in Russia. There are many things that can go wrong, so you always want to have an experienced, reliable agency to take care of things.
Unfortunately, there can be some tension between those who choose to adopt internationally and those who adopt domestically. To me, we are on the same team, but we just go about it differently. Also, as I said earlier, each family has to make that decision for themselves since they are both so unique. I am definitely not opposed to adopting domestically, it just didn't happen to be the route we felt we wanted to go. I know some people might say that we should adopt from our own country, to take care of our own orphans first. However, God created all of us equally and the orphans in the US are just as deserving as the orphans abroad-- whether it is in Russia, Ethiopia, China, wherever. When we started this process, we were open to adopt from wherever God led us-- we looked into domestic, we almost went with Ethiopia, but ultimately God led us back to Russia.  Keeping with America World's view on adoption, adoption by design, adoption is not Plan B for us. It is God's Plan A for our life. God has designed for our child to be born in Russia, and that is where we will go!

"This is the Great Adventure!"

Just a Little Discouraged!

Hello All! Today's post is not about any particular adoption details, but it is just something I have been struggling with lately. I don't know exactly what caused it to come about, but I have just felt so discouraged, which is terrible since we have only began our journey.  Lately, I feel so discouraged that I just want to throw up my hands and just say, "I Quit!!" But, then I am reminded that we have been called to something much higher than that.

I work as an independent consultant to (hopefully) help foot some of the many expenses we are about to, and already have, encountered. It is merely an experiment, to see if it works. If God wants me to do this to help with the costs, then there is no stopping Him. However, if He has something else in mind, then I am okay with knowing that I will have to pick up and move on to whatever the next 'thing' is.  I am unsure, especially this early in the game, of whether or not this is 'it,' but it has been a rough road, let me tell you. I haven't even been doing it for very long, either! It seems like all the 'friends' I had before I began seem to run for the hills when I mention the company, or doing a show. It is like they think I am perpetually trying to sell them something and can't see beyond the fact that I am a salesperson, to raise money for our adoption, no less. There is much more to me than this job, and I am just doing what I need to do so we can fulfill what God has called us to do! If people don't like what I sell (that is perfectly fine-- just don't be rude about it) then they can tastefully decline, for whatever reason, I understand. It just really hurts when people avoid me, for whatever reason!  Believe me, I would prefer to have a job where I don't have to be the dreaded salesperson, but in this economy, and I know that is part of it (no sense in being rude, though, people!), there are really no jobs to be had. So, I am doing what I can to contribute to our adoption fund by being a consultant. I am willing to try anything in order for us to be able to go to Russia and bring our son home! So, believe me, if that means selling whatever it is, I am going to be doing it! And, hopefully, something that I sell will appeal to you! :)

I really do hate being negative, and this is part of why I wrote this post. I wanted to get out all the negativity and be able to put a perspective on things-- to be able to focus on the positive things that are happening and block out the negative. There have definitely been people who have showed an interest and have supported us in our venture, and I am so grateful to those people who are willing to stick by us and support us any way they can; whether it is by prayer, verbal support/encouragement, or donations. To those people who have showed their support, I have been so moved to their outpouring of love, and I am so grateful for that! I really do feel blessed to have those people in my life; I just pray I can learn to focus on the positive, encouraging ones and be able to keep moving forward, on our path God has laid out for us.

Please keep us in your prayers, as always, but in particular this week since we are all seeming to experience a high degree of discouragement and negativity. This is not the last of our discouraging times; there will be many more! We just need to keep our eyes on the prize.....
 Thanks for your support

Details!

So, since last post was just a brief overview, I figured I would throw in some details now that Cay-Cay is asleep. And I can actually think. 3's are so much fun, but definitely mentally exhausting!
Anywho-- details. Of our adoption.
We have picked an agency, of course, and that is basically what we did back in April. We put in a deposit and application to America World Adoption Agency, or AWAA, and their website is here. You can find all kinds of great things there-- I know, I am there everyday! They have a blog as well, which tells about their different happenings for all of their programs. You can also look at all the different countries and programs they offer. They also have great resources for different cultures, financing adoption, and adoption stories. So, if you are thinking about adoption yourself, visit this site! It is truly great.
As for the details of our process, we are of course waiting to pay the program fee to get this going. After that is our homestudy and an approximate wait time of 4 months to a referral! This is very fast, and hopefully it will go quickly for us as well. After we get a referral, we will make our first trip to Russia to meet our little one and accept the referral. Then, about a few months later, we will go back to bring him home! Once again, this is just a basic outline of what happens-- trust me there are many more complicated details....!  We hope to be able to start our home study by January, the Lord willing, so with this time line, hopefully we can bring our little boy home by next Christmas! We are taking every single step in prayer, and if you are reading this, I request that you would keep us in your prayers as well. We need lots of support from friends, family, and church, so there is no such thing as having too much help! If you are interested in helping with our adoption, whether with fundraising, prayer, or in any other way, let me know! I would love to hear from you.
My email is allisonburkhead@gmail.com.

Thanks Everyone!

Our Russian Adoption Journey: The Beginning

Well, after a long blog silence and a question as to whether I would even return to blogging or not, I am back.

This past year has been quite a rough one, to say the least. I have preferred to keep our troubles under wraps, but now we have been moved in a different direction. To start at the beginning, in August 2010, we began trying for our second child. With Caylen, our first and only, we fell pregnant on the first month. It would be true to say that we had our hopes high that we would become pregnant quickly again. That obviously didn't happen! To make a long story short, there have been some suspected problems, but even before there was a suspected problem, I felt my heart being tugged toward international adoption. I had no idea what country really, and we knew that it was expensive, but felt that if God wanted us to adopt, then He would find a way.

Fast forward to April 2011-- we decided that we would move forward with the process, and see how it goes. We put our application in for Ethiopia and paid the first fee (of many). Right away, doors began closing left and right. Ethiopia actually looked like they might close, or almost close, their international adoption process. So, we decided to wait. I decided to close the whole door myself-- why adopt when you still might be able to have a child of your own? I decided to try my way again. God, all the time, was showing me that he had something more planned for my life than what I could ever come up with.

September 2011: After so many failed and frustrated attempts at having another biological child, I began to feel that strong tug again-- the pull to international adoption; much like I had felt before, but even stronger. My desire to add another child to our family had become stronger than ever-- so strong that I felt like I would go to the ends of the Earth for another child. I was ready to do whatever I needed to do to bring our child home--wherever he or she is.  After much deliberation, we prayerfully decided on adopting from Russia-- Moscow to be specific. The children in this group are all Eurasian boys from 10 months to 2 years, and I am so excited and looking forward to bringing our little boy home! The only obstacle? Money. It takes a lot of money to adopt, especially from an Eastern European country. How would we ever be able to come up with the money to bring our little boy home? Well, we (mostly meaning I,haha) did much research on fundraising, grants, and finding other creative ways to bring in money. To start off, and since this process will be long and expensive, there will be many other fundraisers along the way; we are going to have an indoor yard sale on November 18th and 19th. I have also became a Pampered Chef Consultant to help contribute to our adoption fund. We will be planning on many others, such as selling t-shirts and such, to help cover the many costs and fees for this adoption. Our first fundraising goal is to be able to pay our first program fee for Russia, which is $2700.  At the moment, we have been able to raise a little over $1000, so we are on our way. I will be keeping a fundraising thermometer on my page to keep track of our progress.Thank you for visiting our page-- I hope you keep up to date with our exciting Russian adoption adventure!