Heather and Blaine

This is my cousin, Heather, and her husband, Blaine. Like us, they realize the only way they can become parents is through the miracle of adoption. (Also know as the expensive world of adoption.)

Picture taken by Mariah Parry Evanson

Heather is not only my cousin, but is one of my dearest friends. She had helped me celebrate the highs and mourn the lows of adoption. I want to see her dreams of mother hood come true.

My cousin, and one of my very dear friends, is trying to raise money for their adoption. They just started a website where you can learn more about them, upcoming fundraisers, and make donations. Please visit their website, Help Our Dreams Come True, and help in what ever way you can. Adoption is so expensive, lets help their dreams come true.

For Patrick

Yes, you read that right. I am making a PINK blanket for a little boy named Patrick. Why does Patrick need a pink blanket? Actually, he doesn't. What Patrick needs is a life-saving small bowel transplant.

I met Patrick's parents through one of my infertility support groups. I remember there was an email that came through about a little boy in Michigan needing a family. A short time later Emily emailed the group to say they were adopting the little boy. I was so happy for them.

Patrick was born with Short Gut Syndrome. You can go to his website HERE. It is estimated that his transplant will cost well over $500,000. His family has insurance, but it won't cover the full cost.

On May 1st his family is sponsoring a concert and a silent auction to raise money for the transplant and associated costs. That is where my pink blanket comes in. I am going to put together a few packages to donate to the silent auction. To me it doesn't seem like much, but to his family, every penny will help their little boy.

To learn how you can donate for the silent auction go HERE. Or leave a comment and I will help you get in touch with his family. If you don't have anything to donate to the auction, but still want to donate money, they have a donation link HERE.

Some of my friends and a bit of their stories

I met Kelly on Adoption Voices. She is such a neat person. Yesterday she was featured on Studio 5 and their efforts to raise money for their adoption.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Oh, and she has amazing blog HERE.

I met Emily through 2ofus4now.org. They adopted a beautiful boy. I loved how she said "Some may think we gave our baby a gift by adopting him, but the reality is that he is giving us the ultimate gift by being our son.” Wow Emily, it can't be said any better than that. To read more of their story and how they are raising funds for their sons transplant surgery, go HERE.

Our fundraising efforts

Can I be frank? Adoption is expensive. Nasty rumors aside (I still haven't confirmed them), we need about $6,000 for our agency fees. Then when we can finalize we will need another $2,000 to finalize. Sadly, we are no where near those two amounts. Personally, I blame the college student, but he's gotta do what he's gotta do to better his life for his family.

This summer we had a yard sale where we raised just over $400. But our efforts didn't stop there. I also have a PayPal button in my side bar to the right where people can donate. (Thanks Wendy!)

Recently I vamped up my efforts and I am now an official seller on Ebay. A great friend (thanks Kelly) pointed out that fact that we need to decide what is more important in our lives; our big campers we only use a few months of the year OR the child we so desperately want. While I don't have a big camper or boat to sell, I have other valuables. Two weeks ago I started selling my barbie doll collection on Ebay. My efforts are slow and easy, I only list a few a week. But in those two weeks I have made almost $500. I hope to increase that amount to at least half of what we need for our adoption fees. (I just need to figure shipping rates out because they are KILLING me!)

Want to donate? I've already had one friend send me her doll collection, she won't even let me reimburse her for shipping (thanks Christine, and if you change your mind, I'll pay you back.) I'm so glad for my infertility and for the friends I have made.

Not wanting to count on Ebay alone, and because this is so easy to do, I also set up a coffee shop. Yes, me, the non coffee drinker, now sells coffee. Check it out HERE.

It's a great way for the coffee drinkers in our lives to get their caffeine fix AND contribute to our adoption. Its a Win - Win situation. They have different flavors and packages to choose from. It cost us NOTHING to set up with them and each month they will send us a check for the sales from the previous month. We have a savings account set up just for adoption funds and we will hope that between this and other money raising efforts we can be able to cover the costs of our adoption when a situations does come up.

And now I step off of my fundraising soapbox and hope to see my efforts (and preaching) pay off (literally).

Worthy Causes

I really an behind in my support for some friends in the adoption world. They are always in my prayers but I wanted to do a highlight for a few friends of mine.




The R House is in the midst of a contested adoption. They have started an Etsy shop with handmade adoption jewelry to help raise money for the court cost.

My personal favorite that I will be ordering soon.You can visit her Etsy shop HERE.

Patrick is a precious little boy who will turn 1 on Halloween. (Wouldn't that be the best birthday ever!) He needs a transplant and his family, friends, and neighbors have a few ways you can donate money to cover their costs. Their family was in the Tribune today. To read more on that story go HERE.

Yard Sale

This weekend we had a yard sale at my mom's house to raise some money for our adoption. We made about $350 dollars. I would have liked to have made more, but the week before I kept having nightmares that we would only raise $30 so I guess we did pretty good. We only had my clothes, but they sold pretty good. One lady actually thanked me for once being her size. I thought my books would sell better than they did. I only asked $5 and I thought that was a deal since they are about $12 new. Josh couldn't believe I sold some books, but I would rather be a mother than have a large book collection. Besides, I kept my absolute favorites (which is still a TON of books). My family donated quite a few things to the yard sale. Thank you so much! My mom even sold her trampoline and donated the money to us.

My brother likes to tease his cat. His torment on Friday was to have a sign taped to him. He wasn't sure what to think about it. John said he wouldn't really sell him, not even for $200, but I would have! Well, maybe not, but only if the offer had been a lot of money.