It's there!

It's there, it's in his hands, WOOHOO!! Yes, my dossier was delivered and signed for by my facilitator. He has it now!! I can breathe a HUGE sigh of relief knowing it arrived safely. Thank you everyone who prayed for it's safe arrival!!

Invitation and update

Next Wed., May 6th, from 5pm- 10pm, Chick-Fil-A is hosting a spirit night fundraiser to help us raise some money to bring Patrick home. This is only at the Murfreesboro location, here in TN. So, anyone who lives relatively close, I would love to see you there! I will post a reminder next week.

Also, the church's garage sale/ bake sale/ car wash/ cookout will be May 9th. I will post specifics about that soon also. The times are 6am- 12 noon.

And, as always, if you want to make a monetary donation, follow the link to the side to either donate tax free through Reeces Rainbow, or click on the chip-in button and donate directly to me to help pay for on going adoption expenses.

Our dossier is offically in Patrick's country, it hasn't been delivered to our facilitator yet, but it has cleared customs, so it is getting closer!!!!

Go Baby Go!!!!

My dossier has already been to and left Paris, France. Can you believe it is moving this quickly?! GO GO GO!!!!!!!

Monday (yesterday)

Hours of driving: 15

Miles Driven: 607

Money spent on gas: $60

Drinks and food: $40 (mostly caffeine!)

KY Apostille office: $5

Sumner county certifications: $50

Rutherford county certifications: $44.25

Davidson county certifications: $21

TN Apostille office: $56

FedEx: $136.34

Knowing I am another HUGE step closer to bringing Patrick home: Priceless!!

I've got the golden ticket!!!!!

You know that song on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? It has been in my head since I got the mail today. I got the golden ticket in the mail, aka I171H approval letter!!! This is what I've been waiting on, this is THE approval letter from USCIS. This is the absolute final piece. Tuesday is IT! My dossier will be on the Fed Ex truck then plane headed for Eastern Europe. Please start praying with me that it arrives quickly and safely in the hands of my facilitator and that the SDA will extent to me a quick invitation to come to there country and bring Patrick home.

The phone rang!!!!!

and who was on the other end?? The congressman's aide that I talked to the other day. Our USCIS application was approved at 1:30 yesterday!!! That is the LAST piece of our dossier!! We're comin' Patrick!!

Shout Out and Fundraiser

A HUGE thank you to RC Cola for donating 5 cases of soda for us to sell at the garage sale/ bake sale/ craft sale/ cookout, thingy.

Also, for all you Middle Tennessean's....Chic-Fil-A, here in Murfreesboro, will be hosting a spirit night for us on May 6th. If you go and order ANYTHING and mention "Shupp family adoption", we will earn 15% of those sales. This will go from 5pm-8pm, so go get you some chicken!!!

Mother's Day and Turning 30!

As you all know, Mother's Day is just around the corner. What some of you may not know is that my birthday is the day after mother's day. And, it's a big one, I'm turning 30...soooooo long 20's (insert tears here).

So, here is what I want for mother's day/ my birthday.....I. WANT. MY. SON!!!!! This is the perfect chance for you to help. Instead of spending money on a gift or even a card, before making a cake or taking me to eat, please consider making a donation instead. Bringing Patrick home is the most important thing to me right now, so what a perfect thing to do for my birthday!!!

Next Tuesday

Anyone up for a road trip?? I am getting up at the crack of dawn, or earlier, and driving up to the northern border of KY to get one, yes one piece of paper Apostilled. I then plan on coming back into town and going county hopping to get all my TN documents county certified, I have 3 counties to visit. I might go ahead and get all my TN stuff Apostilled as well, we'll see. I'm still just waiting on one piece of paper, but I have let go of that, and hopefully the congressman's aide that I spoke with yesterday can get the ball rolling for me. So, I will be out of pocket next Tuesday, maybe I can get hold of a GPS for that day?

I have been having a hard time lately with the waiting portion of the adoption journey. I find myself daydreaming about the day I can hold Patrick in my arms, and how good his face will feel against mine. I'm amazed by the amount of love I am feeling for this child that I have never met. I've experienced life growing in me. I have born 5 children. When you are expecting, you are filled with love so early on, it's amazing. The whole time you are pregnant, you are bonding with this baby; the baby hears your voice, your heart beat, you feel its movements. It's an incredible journey. I NEVER thought adoption would work the same way. In January I started filling out papers, and more papers and more papers. It has been a labor of love. Patrick has truly grown in our hearts, and it's hard to describe the feelings I have for him. I dream of him at night, I think of him when I am awake. I wonder if he will like his bed, his room, his new siblings. I wonder if he will be a mamma's boy or a daddy's boy (hoping for a mamma's boy). I wonder if I should buy him toys now or wait until he is home. I think about the groups of friends he will make and the difference he is going to make in peoples lives. I wonder about how his hand will feel in mine. Will he like to be held and snuggle, or will he be the independent type? What will his first word in English be? Will he like his new name or wish we kept his birth name? My mind is constantly thinking about him and wondering about him. I pray that time flies quickly and he will be in my arms soon.

It's Garage Sale Time...AGAIN!!!!!

My church is hosting a garage sale, bake sale, craft sale, car wash, cookout on May 9Th. We are still working out the details, but I want to ask everyone to help out by either donating or shopping....preferably both!! I will be posting again soon with all the details....and all you local people better be there!!!!!!

I want to send a big thank you to my Sunday school class who listened to me sob my way through my adoption testimony yesterday and continues to shower me with support. I am so blessed to be a part of such an amazing group of people....THANK YOU!!!

Join Me

I e-mailed my congressman today. Please pray that he is able to help me get our USCIS approval faster than fast.

The Waiting Game

I haven't updated about the adoption in a while. That's because there is nothing to update, my dossier is complete, and I am still waiting on USCIS approval. There's really nothing else to say or do, just wait.

As soon as we receive approval from USCIS, we can mail our dossier packet to Eastern Europe. I just need that one piece of paper from Memphis. Please pray that it comes quickly!!!

We are needing less than $5,000 at this point. To be exact, we need about $4,500...so if you have any fundraising ideas, please share...or, if you just want to donate, you can share that way as well :)

We are hopefully just weeks away from travel, we are all so excited and anxious to meet Patrick and bring him home. Our family needs prayers more now than ever, as we prepare to leave our kids at home for several weeks and travel to the other side of the world to meet the son we love but have never met.

There are still things that need done around here to prepare for his arrival. 1) We need to paint his room, it is still pink and purple from when it was the girls' room 2) we need to get him a twin sized mattress, sheets, pillow, blanket and a bed rail 3) get some age appropriate toys for him 4) spend extra good quality time with other 5 to prepare for our departure!!

Oh yeah, and we need to start getting our packing list together....that one scares me!!!

Lemonade Award

Amy gave me this Lemonade award a while back, and I honestly forgot to post it, OOPS! So, I am playing catch up.

This award is for those who show GREAT ATTITUDE and/or GRATITUDE! If you are given the award, then put the logo on your blog or post. Next, nominate at least 5-10 blogs which show GREAT ATTITUDE and/or GRATITUDE! Be sure to link to your nominees within your post. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

1. Jenn

2. Laura

3. Renee

4. Gillian

5. Joann

6. Elisabeth

Did you notice?

Did you see the chip-in button? Did you see that instead of needing to raise $15,000 or even $9,000, we only need $5,000 more? Did you see that? How awesome that I have such wonderful family and friends that have helped me get this far!


THANK YOU GOD!!!!!

Success

We had WONDERFUL weather yesterday for our garage sale. We had an excellent turn out of people, and overall everyone I talked to about the adoption was very supportive. Many people gave more than they spent, resulting in us raising almost $700 and still have a garage full of stuff to sell. So, we will still be having a garage sale next month through the church!

I got only one negative response yesterday. It was the first time I had received, direct/ to my face criticism of the adoption. The sale was set up by donation only, I marked no prices on anything, and just "haggled" prices. Most people were more than generous. One lady, however, when I was explaining why we were having the sale said to me "why in _ _ _ _ would you adopt a child like that, especially if you don't have all the money already; why burden us?" I looked at her and simply replied "when God tells you to do something, you do it, PERIOD", she was pretty quiet after that!

So, anyone still wanting to make garage sale donations, I am still taking them, as we will do this again. For everyone who donated time, money and items for the one yesterday....THANK YOU!!

It'a garage sale time!!

Oh, I hope this weekend brings good weather!! This Saturday is my garage sale, well yard sale. My garage is so full!! I am very excited and blessed by everything people have donated for this sale. The sale will be in Hermitage, at my dad's house. This worked out great, because he lives in a wonderful garage sale neighborhood!!! I posted an ad in the paper and on Craigslist as well as contacted the church across the street from his neighborhood for advertisement and donations. If you follow this blog and live in the Nashville area or know anyone who does, leave me a comment with your e-mail (I will NOT publish it) and I will send you the address and any other info you need.

Pray for a good turn out, we NEED the money!!!!!