Auction Teaser...

YES... you are at the right place for the online auction adoption fundraiser!

BUT... the auction does not go live until Thursday, July 29, and you can bid until Sunday, August 1 at Midnight.


In order to tide you over until Thursday (JUST 2 MORE DAYS!!!) here are some photos of the AMAZING items you will be able to bid on.  And this is JUST a teaser... There is more where this comes from :)

Enjoy!

Baby Gifts

 This weekend we went camping, so our pugs had to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Stefanich.  But lucky us, because when they came to pick up our little pups, they brought us some prizes :)


The first one was for our newest addition to the family.  Its a combination of two of the Stefanich family's favorite things: The Detroit Tigers and our incoming family member(s).


A super cute receiving blanket!

Mom Stefanich said she has had it FOREVER... I'm glad she gave it to us now instead of making us wait :)

And Dad Stefanich got us a decal for our car!  (AND one for himself, of course!)  I don't know where he finds this stuff, but he is the best at finding treasures like this!

 

Gifts like this get us SO excited to meet our little ones and welcome them home!  I can't wait until I can wrap a baby in that sweet blanket and rock them to sleep.  Waiting is so hard!!  But sweet little ones are worth the wait :)

Great Things...

Great things are happening with our auction!  Its just about a week away and we are STILL getting donations!  Check out the cool little collage I made of just SOME of the items that will be in the blog....  

Here is a list of items....  (although... I seem to be constantly adding to it, and I might be missing some things!)

2 Detroit Tigers Tickets with Parking Pass
4 Detroit Tigers Tickets4 Chicago Cubs Tickts
Handmade Scarves
Mary Kay Make Up
Original Photography
Fit Band
Gift Certificate to Capscreations.com
Family Photo session with mL Photography
Personalized Cake
Handmade Cutting Board
Sock Monkey
Handmade Necklaces
Three signed poetry book by Jack Ridl
Winterization for Residential Sprinkling System (Aqua-Tec Irrigation)
Grandma Sluiter's Pig in the Blankets (My Grandma's recipe!!)

Hooded Towels

Handmade Burp Clothes

Personalized Child's T-Shirt

For the Kidz Gymnastics open gym passes

Handmade purses

And MORE!

Remember: All you have to do is come back to this blog between Thursday, July 29 and Sunday August 1 and place your bid for the items you want in the comments section!  And keep checking back to place more bids and make sure you get the items you want!!

Thanks for donating, and for coming to the auction!

Hip Hip Hooray!

Today is a day for celebration!  Yes,  WE HAVE NUMBERS!!  We are officially on the Wait List, and couldn't be more excited!

Of COURSE I sat all day staring at my phone waiting for it to ring.  I had grad class today, and I even warned my professor that I would be racing out of the room to answer a possible phone call - so she wouldn't think I was rude.

But I didn't get the call until almost 6:00pm.  I mean, I wasn't trying to be impatient or anything... but I think I was holding my breath all day waiting for the call.  I was SO afraid something would be wrong on our dossier again :)  But nothing was wrong, and we got the call, and I am GIDDY with excitement!

So here are the numbers.  I chose road signs because we are FINALLY on the (waiting) road to our little one(s)!

For Girls we are number:

For boys we are number:

And for siblings we are number:

Hooray!  We are so exciting to start the waiting :)

The other people on the wait list may have different parameters than us, and we really have no way of knowing everyone else's parameters.   You do not have to be number 1 to get a referral.  They simply go down the list and call the first person who has the right parameters for the child(ren).

We will get monthly update calls, but for the next couple of months our numbers won't change much.  the courts in Ethiopia are closing until the end of September, and no referrals go out during that time.  So we don't expect to have much news in the next 2 months... but at least we are on the list :)

Thanks for all the prayers!  We are one step closer to growing our family!

Here we go again..

Well, we got our revisions done.  FASTER than we even expected :)  My mom really came through by driving into work (where the letter was saved on her computer) on a SATURDAY, even, to make some changes to her letter.

We weren't planning on sending anything in until Monday, but when my mom called me Saturday morning asking us to meet her at the bank where she was getting her letter notarized, I got a little giddy. We met her on our way to Chicago with our friends, Chad and Alisha.

Once we were in Chicago, we had Amie (Davids sister - She lives in Chicago) google us the closest FedEx.  Chad, Alisha, and Amie waited patiently while I made my copies and filled out the address.

I should really have the address memorized by now... with all the papers I've had to send to Oregon. 

  Its so funny how many FedEx pictures I have put on this blog, but somehow we have so many markable memories that happen at FedEx... haha!  I can't wait until our FedEx memories are replaced by memories of sweet little children running around our house!  I think those pictures will be more enjoyable for anyone who reads this too!

Here we are, ONCE AGAIN, mailing our dossier corrections.  Hopefully my next post will be NUMBERS!!   Say a little prayer for us :)

*Sigh*

 So we heard back from our case worker today, and *sigh*... no numbers yet.

We SORT of figured there might be some corrections to our dossier, but of course we were hopeful that there wouldn't be.  But they are easy fixes... and we will take care of them quickly, and hopefully get on the wait list early next week!

It just stinks that we didn't hear from our case worker until around 7:00pm.  After waiting with the phone at my side ALL day!  So now its a bit too late to be buzzing around asking people to re-write, and re-notarize things.  So we will hopefully get these things done this weekend and send it out again on Monday.

Ahhhh.... paperwork.

Gojo's Again...

My sister, Amie, was home from Chicago for a few days and she came into town with my parents. The whole family had been waiting for us to invite them to go to Gojos so we arrived at the restaurant in a great mood. Unfortunately, Sam, the owner, was not working on this day. Sam is extremely nice and MacKenzie and I were hoping my family would get the chance to meet him and hear some of his stories about the beautiful country of Ethiopia.

We found a nice table under the hut and were quickly served our drinks. Amie and I ordered mango juice, MacKenzie ordered Ethiopian tea, my dad ordered cold Ethiopian tea, my mom ordered a coke (boo), and Brian and Elizabeth did not order anything because they decided to stay in Chicago and study for the "bar exam" (another boo).

For dinner we had the Family Platter and a Doro Wat Platter. Unfortunately my dad, who was sporting an Ethiopian tee-shirt, did not like the food at all! This is not surprising since he only eats meat and potatoes. When we go to restaurants he specifically tells the waiter or waitress not to put ANY vegetables on his plate. He did manage to eat a couple bites of food, which is more than I thought he would eat. He also made sure we stopped at Captain Sundae on the way back into Holland.

My mom and sister liked the food but the spices may have been a little bit much for them. I on the other hand, ate tons of food and took my dad's piece of injera to help myself to seconds.

We love Gojos because it makes us feel like we are a little closer to our children. We can't wait to make another trip with more friends and family.

-Dave

Get rid of your Junk!

We received some super fun news this week!!  (On top of our Home Study being approved and our Dossier being sent in... )

My brother Cortney and his wife Katie mentioned they would like to have a yard sale to benefit our adoption process!  They had a few items they wanted to get rid of, and wanted to send the proceeds our way.  How generous is that?!

Here they are.  Aren't they a super cute family?  That is my sweet nephew, Eddie with them.  He is seriously excited about cousins on the Sluiter side.   You can tell by his face.    :)

They scheduled it for August 14.  This date happens to be the 5 year anniversary of my father's death, and we all agreed he would love this day honored by supporting his future grandchildren.

So if you want to swing by, send me an email and I'll give you their address!!  (They are in Zeeland....Michigan.)  AND if you have some things you want to donate to the yard sale, let me know, and I will come pick them up for the big sale :)

HUGE thanks to Cortney and Katie for the yard sale!!  Can't wait :)

Our Dossier is in the MAIL!!!

The other day somebody asked me what our Dossier is.  So here it is :)  Piles and piles of paperwork.  Some are formal documents (birth certificates, marriage license, state certified documents), some are forms from doctors, police, our employers, some are letters we had to write, forms we had to fill out, letters others wrote on our behalf, photos, copies of passports, and more.   And it all had to be perfectly notarized.

Once we were at our notary's house, and something was written incorrectly, so we had to run home and re-print it.  Of COURSE I had copies of every document with us, except that one... silly me.

Here is Dave driving us to Kinkos :)  He said he has his "Stunner Shades" on.  On a side note... Alisha and Chad bought some child sized sun glasses inspired by said stunner shades, so our little one can match daddy :)  Thanks guys!

Then we made 3 copies of everything (two for the agency, 1 for us) and mailed it!  (HUGE exhale!)

I watched that little package like a hawk.  It was a little nerve wrecking to leave it there.  I wanted to ask her to personally make sure it got on the truck, but I felt that would have been a little over board.

We got in the car and fist pounded in victory :)  We decided to go to Zoup! for a celebratory meal.  My aunt and uncle own this delightfully tasty store, and it just so happened that two of my cousins, Sam and Josi were working there today!!

(Note their pure excitement over serving us... AND finding out our dossier was in the mail today!)

The food was AMAZING as always, and it was the perfect place to celebrate our mini victory.

Now we just ask for everyone's prayers that our dossier documents are all completed correctly!  We are hoping to not have to redo any of the papers, because we want to get on the wait list ASAP.  I can't wait to post about our numbers!

Home Study APPROVED!!

 Last night David and I got some wonderful news :)  I went for a run, and when I came back all red faced and sweaty David acted all nonchalant.  He was like "Oh hey... I feel like there was something I needed to tell you... Hmm... what could it be? Man, I wish I remembered!"  He thinks he's so funny :)

He got an email from our Social Worker that our Home Study was approved!  Hooray!  She said they were getting the necessary signatures and that we should get our three copies in the mail in the next week!!  HOORAY!!

So that means we will be sending our Dossier in to AGCI in the next week, and then we will be on the wait list! AH!  I cannot believe we are so close to getting numbers.  I can't even contain my excitement!!

Auction Thoughts

I'm hoping to wet your appetites for the coming auction and clear up how the auction will work.  I have already listed some of the GREAT things that have been donated to us (American Girl doll clothes, hand made jewelry, a super cute hand made sock monkey, original photography, and SO much  more!).

But here are a couple MORE fantastic big ticket items :)

FOUR Tigers Tickets (September 11 - mark your calendars!)

Section 117b Row F seat 1-4  (AMAZING seats!)

AND

PHOTOGRAPHY!!
A family session with mL Photography. The package includes up to two hours on location shooting (in grand haven and surrounding areas within a 20 mile radius) and 1-8x10 print and 2-5x7 prints (with of course the option of purchasing more).  


Be sure to check out her website!!  She has taken some GREAT shots of my sweet nephew... Here is just one example of her great work!

And just so you have an idea what to expect during the auction...

There WILL be directions - which you will be able to read before bidding :)

Each item will be an individual "post" on the blog.  In order to bid on the item, you will need to leave a comment saying your bid.  You will also need to leave your name and email in the comment, unless you have a google id.

You may rebid as many times as you want in order to make sure you get your item. You will be able to see what the highest bid is, and who made it.  So don't be afraid to big higher!!

You may also bid on as many items as you want!  I'll post the "official" directions soon so you can be prepared for you bidding fun!

Remember: The Auction runs from Thursday, July 29 through Sunday, August 1!  Put in on your calendar :)  

The Big Race!

 So I have a pretty amazing family.  And I would like to tell you about something amazing they did for us this weekend.

Some of my extended family were up at "the Cottage" this glorious weekend, and somehow the discussion of a race came up.  I'm not sure how, or who's idea it was.  I would imagine my SUPER competitive Uncle Doug had something to do with it.  So he decides he wants to race his daughter - who happens to be on the swim team.  And my aunt decides to make it a money making event for the future Stefanich children :)

She posted on Facebook and took bets for the winner.  Amazingly enough, lots of people threw down some cash :)  You can't see all the posts - there were quite a few.

And then it was time for the race.  Here is my Uncle Doug - ready to rock.

They were in the water - and OFF they went :)  They had to go around the paddle boat and back to the dock.

In the beginning, they were neck and neck.  We were all quite shocked.  But then my Uncle Doug stopped to see where Ari was, and it was all down hill from there.

And then he got tired.  But Ari did not.

So tired that he stopped at the paddle boat, and didn't go much further :)

Ari pulled into the lead, and into a victorious win :)

Hooray for Ari!!  And Uncle Doug :)  And THANK you to both of them for being willing to put their amazing athletic abilities on the line for our future little Stefanich (or two...).

It was a lot of fun to watch them, and a lot of fun to see who placed bets on who!  All in all this fun filled afternoon race raised us over $100!!  Thank you to everyone who "placed their bets" and donated.  We REALLY appreciate it!  And thanks to the Fikse's for thinking of such a fun way to raise a few bucks in a day!!

A Slice of Sunshine

Today we had a little slice of sunshine.  We learned that our Home Study has been turned into the main office for revision!  Hooray!  We've been waiting and waiting for our "Michigan" social worker to review it, and we thought it may be a while yet, but today we learned it was turned in :)

AND we got a copy of it.  Which was WAY weird to read.  Its so interesting to read about yourself and see how the social worker interpreted our interviews and our personal profiles.

But what a GREAT feeling to be moving forward!  Hopefully our dossier will be sent in soon!

Snakes, and Spiders, and Frogs, OH MY!

 I have been in this house for about six months.  Its the first house Dave or I have owned ourselves (we both had condos before we were married).  And that means its the first time we've ever had to do yard work.  Pulling weeds, mowing the lawn, trimming hedges, planting flowers, mulching...  honestly the job is never done :)

We aren't exactly good at it, but we try, try, try again.  David is allergic to fresh cut grass.  So every time he mows the lawn, he breaks out in hives and needs to shower immediately.   Lucky for me he doesn't trust me with the mower... so he compromises with his allergies by only mowing the front, or the back in a given day.

I have been pulling weeds like its a full time job.  Sad news for me... we live on a wooded lot that is overtaken by weeds behind the lawn.  And for some reason, even though I have no experience... I have HUGE plans for the landscaping once these weeds are out of my life.  I'm guessing its a 5 year project at the rate I am going.

But on to the real reason for the post...  the creatures.  We have more creepy, crawly things than necessary in our yard.  While pulling weeds with my mom, we were attacked by a garter snake.  And when I say attacked, what I mean is we saw one.

But I screamed like it was attacking.

It was vicious.  Much like this one.  AND it followed us around the house!  I saw it three times!  Or I saw three snakes.  But I'm hoping it was just one.  I tried to kill it with a shovel, but missed the first time, and then the second time apparently I wasn't strong enough because it just slithered away.  People tell me they are harmless.  And even worse... they tell me some day my children will capture them and want to keep them as pets.  Or play with them.  Or throw them up in trees (I know... that one is weird - came from Dave's cousin, Jordan.)

We also have toads.  I've seen close to 15 toads and a couple frogs.  And bugs, but who doesn't have bugs?   We also have holes.  At first I thought these were snake holes, and I panicked.  I had seen a snake, after all.  But these holes are about 2 inches wide.  Too big for my little snakes.  So after a quick google search, I realized they most likely belonged to chipmunks.

So my future children can have a blast with these creatures. They can chase things, throw them in trees, dig them out of their holes, and, if they are spiders, kill them.  But I will teach  my children from early on that there is no way these things will come in the house. As pets, as pranks, or even as science projects.  And if they do, they will hear a kind of scream that will wake neighbors and send birds flying from trees.  Because this girl... is NO fan of creepy, crawly things. 

Notarizing is My Enemy

Have you ever had to notarize something?  Because its generally a simple process.  Show your I.D. and have the nice notary public stamp and sign your paper and send you on your way.

But have you ever been adopting internationally and needed something (or MANY things) notarized for your dossier? Because its not the same thing.  Its intense.

You see, there are some rules.  For example, NOTHING may be crossed out.  And the notary needs to sign and put the date of signature.  And the stamp needs to be 100% readable with no smudges.  And their expiration date needs to be lightyears away from today.  And the stamp cannot be overtop of any other print, because obviously its hard to read.

So, you might be thinking.... "Well, Mackenzie, if you know all these rules, why don't you just make sure they are all followed when you get something notarized?"

I do my best.  I really do.  But you would be surprised how annoyed people get with you.  Like at the Sheriff's department, when you ask to have your background check redone.  They were NOT fans of me.  I had a list of 3 things they needed to change, and I know it might have been annoying for them, but I couldn't help it!  They asked me a million questions and acted like all the other families who ever came in for adoption background checks were not this difficult. And most notary publics take their responsibilities pretty seriously.  So when you start to list off exactly how they need to do it, they are not huge fans.

And then there are the people who need to get their OWN signatures notarized.  Like the doctor, or people who wrote recommendation letters for us.  I had to give my mom hers back twice.  The first time the notary signed and stamped on a separate page and stapled it together.  How could that EVER be okay?  And the second time the notary crossed something out.  The third one looks great :)  But my poor mom!  I feel so bad giving it back to her again and again.

Before this adoption, I think the only thing I ever got notarized was my teaching certificate.  And that was a piece of cake.

I want to go back to those piece of cake notarizing experiences :)

Love thy Neighbor...

David and I met some very exciting neighbors yesterday!  We are slowly meeting the people in our neighborhood now that it is warm out, and people are out and about.  We just moved into our new house in December, so really we've only really gotten to know our next door neighbors.... up until now.

It all started on a run.  Yes, I am a runner.  A new runner, a slow runner, and a short distance runner.  But a runner nonetheless.  I was running through our neighborhood and saw a man in his garage, and two boys with him.  One of the little boys had beautifully dark skin.  After that day, I tried to remember which house it was, but when I run, I am hot, and sometimes a little delirious, and couldn't exactly remember.  Plus, after that day, I never saw the family again.  I told David about the possibility of another trans-racial family in the neighborhood, but could never confirm it.

Then a couple days ago I saw the whole family outside together.  Mom, Dad, two white children, and two black children.  Of course I was running alone again, but at least I could remember the home.  Now I just had to figure out how to introduce myself and make a connection with these people without being super creepy and stalker-esque.

Fast forward to yesterday.  Running once again.  This time with David.  Would you believe this wonderful little family that I wanted to meet so desperately in a natural, nonchalant way without being super creepy was having a garage sale?  What are the chances?  So on the way back from our run, we obviously had to stop by.  We acted aloof and easy going... picking a few items (Mom used to be a teacher - so we found a few books for our classroom) and asked her to hold the items while we ran home for money.

As we walked home, we tried to think of a way to introduce ourselves and talk adoption.  But we came up with nothing.  Nothing sounded right.

So we went back to their house without a plan.  And I'm not sure what I even said, but it was something like "You have a beautiful family.  My husband and I are in the process of adopting."  And from there, the conversation just took off.  Would you believe her adopted children are from Ethiopia!?!  AND they used the same agency we are using!  We talked for quite awhile, and exchanged information, and asked a million questions, and walked away feeling GREAT!  What an amazing connection to make just down the street.

Now when we go running by their house, we wave and say hello and I get a little tingle in my heart because I feel this comforting little connection to a family that I just met, and I love it.  

SUPER Fundraising News :)

As I was searching for donations for our upcoming auction, I came across a website that sold fit band wristlets and lanyards.  They have a fit band specifically adoption themed, so I asked them to donate one to our auction.  NOT only did they donate, but they offered to help us further with our fundraising!! They are helping to support our adoption by donating 1/2 of their proceeds whenever friends or family members order from their Chosen Child line.

Read all about it at the Worthy of the Prize website.

In addition to this, if you purchase a Chosen Child necklace from Cap Creations they will donate $10 to our adoption fund when you mention our name (OR 10% of your order total will go to us when you mention us at checkout!)

Here is the BEAUTIFUL Chosen Child Necklace:

So get busy shopping my friends!  Check out these websites, and I'm sure you will be able to find something you like :)

PLUS, remember that both of these companies will be donating to our adoption auction (July 29-August 1) so keep an eye out for their products there!!

Fundraiser Coming Up!

David and I are in the middle of planning for a fundraiser.  I can't take credit for it, because I copied the idea from somebody else, but I am REALLY excited about it.  We are doing an online auction!  Right here at stefanichsteppingstones.blogspot.com.   The plan is for the Auction to go live on Thursday, July 29 and go through Sunday, August 1.  So mark your calendars!

That also means I have 1 month to round up donations for this exciting event.  My plan is to rely on family and friends and their amazing talents.  So far my grandmother will be donating American Girl Doll clothes that she HAND made (I know!!  INCREDIBLY awesome!), my cousin is doing some really great sewing for us (a hooded towel, maybe?), a friend of mine has donated some really amazing original photographs, another friend is donating her amazing cake decorating skills, and I have a few corporate donations too!  We are feeling SO incredibly blessed right now.  God really laid it on my heart to ask people for these donations, even though it is really uncomfortable.  I have been so humbled by peoples' generosity!  A couple people simply offered to donate upon hearing about our auction.  And I still have a list of more people to ask.  Everyone's enthusiasm has made it much easier to ask for donations.

But now I am opening it up to you :)  If you would like to share your talents in honor of Baby Stefanich, we are hoping you will let us know!  You can donate to our auction by emailing me at mackenziestefanich@gmail.com or by letting David or I know :)

You can also support us by spreading the word to everyone you know, and sending them to our blog on July 29!  I will send more details about the auction, with pictures of items and descriptions as we get closer to the live date!!