Our I-171 Is Here!

On Friday we got our I-171 form. It is the one we were waiting for from the Department of Homeland Security. It means we passed our FBI fingerprinting and background check and we can bring an orphaned child into the USA. So, now we move forward with the Authentication phase that takes about 3 weeks. Then we can send our dossier to China. Things are moving along.

Another Successful Rummage Sale!

Before we give the totals, we want to thank some people that made this yard sale a success. First, Rachel’s parents sacrificed their garage and back shed for the past three months while we were collecting the items. They also worked very hard to sort, set up, and sell the items. Second to thank are all the generous people who donated the items. We had so much stuff to sell and about 90% of it was donated. It was incredible. We had so much that we had to store things in Chummy (Grandma and Grandpa Hadley’s Airstream), in the back yard under tarps, and on Wednesday night before the sale, our van and my parent’s truck was full. We borrowed tables, but still had no room for all the items, so we were still unpacking all day on Thursday as table space opened up. You can check out the list (sorry if we missed anyone) on the Thank You page. Third, we would like to thank Liz Lipp, Leslie Kim and Auntie Bridget Hadley for watching Sam the last three days and giving him fun things to do besides being at the rummage sale. Lastly, we would like to thank all those that came, shopped, bought and those that gave extra to the cause.

Here is the three day total: $1400! We had a great time, the weather was beautiful and the customers were, for the most part, very nice and generous. It was a lot of fun and there were a few customers in particular that made it very memorable. On Thursday before we even opened a local CAN, Wilma came on her way home from work. She bought over $150 worth of items. On Friday she brought her friend Dana back, and they both bought more. David delivered all their items, and Dana even donated a kitchen table to us. Then they both returned on Saturday morning and bought a handful of other items. We also had three men come after working the carnival rides at State Fair. They were so friendly and loved playing with the dogs, especially Opal. They made up a rap song with Opal adding the deep bark right in rhythm. They bought a lot of furniture and put the table and chairs on top of their sedan and drove home (around the block, luckily). We had several customers that told us to keep the change or just gave us 5 or 10 dollars as a donation. We were touched by the response. People wanted to know more about the adoption process, and everyone wished us luck and was so encouraging about our adoption. It helps you to remember that in general people are good. So often, we get caught up in all the bad around us. We just spent three days meeting so many nice and caring people. Thank you to everyone who helped make this a huge success and thanks to God who showed us again that he is in the middle of this journey with us.