Olive Tree Fundraiser

Please check us out on Olive Tree! Molly is coming home at peak travel season and while we are incredibly blessed to get her home and to medical care that she so urgently needs, airfare is outrageous! Please help us! I hate begging but at this point have little choice. God called us to her and I know he will provide!

I bought the boys these t-shirts last year for another family's fundraiser and love them! I will take a picture of them in them and post it later. My dear friend, Pat suggested I sell them as her kiddos need new ones. So, I found the fundraising site for them and many other great things and signed us up!

Later today I will post our other new fundraising project. Today is the last day for the necklaces on Craft Cafe and we are still doing jars of change! We may also have one less one that I am working on. God will provide and get Molly home!

Necklace Fundraiser last days!

Friday is the last day to order your "it matters to this one" starfish necklace. $10 goes to our adoption agency to help us pay Molly's ransome(orphanage donation)! Please consider buying one if you haven't. If you have already bought one or two or fourteen (thanks, Mom and Jim), thank you doesn't it say it adequately!!! Joy's etsy shop is on vacation while she prepares for a big doula convention that she is a vendor at. She is beyond fabulous for helping us!!! But you can still buy it at her Craft Cafe shop.

One Less = One More Daughter

We were incredibly blessed on the morning of the 4th of July to get an email saying we had been awarded a grant from One Less Ministries in the amount of $500!!! http://onelessministries.org/ Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We are trusting in God to help us come up with the last of the funds we need to go get Molly! Sounds like we could be on our way in August!

Jars for Change

We are kicking off our second fundraiser! We are calling it "Jars for Change". With your loose pocket change you can change Molly's life. Who doesn't have a little pocket change at the end of each day? For the month of July put your spare change in a glass mason jar or other container and at the end of July cash it and donate the money towards Molly's adoption!

If you want a sticker, please let me know and I will happily send you one. And when you are all done you can either send the money to us via PayPal using my email tanyabaer@yahoo.com or mail it to us and make your check payable to us or our agency, WACAP. The Baers, 16970 Laurelin Court, North Fort Myers, FL 33917

This is from the flyer we made up to go with the jars here locally:

We are excited to announce that we are adding one more child to the Baer family. This time, we are adopting a little girl from China. She was two on June 7th and shares Matson’s date of birth and Oliver’s congenital heart defect. Seemingly chosen by God for our family. Yes, we will have “identical twins” to keep us on our toes. Qing is her name now and we are keeping our tradition of using it as her middle name. She has some pretty complex medical needs that will require lifelong medical care, much of which is not available in China. In her province of China, 80% of children with her medical condition do not live till their fifth birthday. Here in the US she will live a long and full life. We received approval from China on June 20th to adopt. We expect to travel to China in August or September.
We made the decision to follow God’s call to change the life of one more child on our 13th wedding anniversary in January. We both knew God had a plan for us and that we had to follow. It has not been an easy journey but at every turn He has given us every indication to put more trust in Him and keep following! That being said, we have gone in to this adoption not entirely knowing how we were going to afford it. We have paid all of our adoption agency fees from our savings and have applied for a couple of grants to help fund our travel expenses. However, we may be tapping in to investments to pay them. We are seeking assistance from friends and family with help paying for the orphanage donation of $5,600 that is required by the People’s Republic of China to finalize her adoption. Many people in the adoption world call this “ransom” to free our children from the life of an orphan.
We continue to trust God that He will help us to fund the remaining portion of Molly’s adoption and free her from the life that she would face in China. We have created a fundraising project we are calling “Jars for Change”. Your pocket change each day can change Molly’s life! By placing your lose change in a glass jar you can help us pay the orphanage donation that will give her a family and a chance at life! Please consider participating in Molly’s adoption so there is one less orphan in this world! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

God's blessings!

Starfish Necklace Fundraiser

I helped design this necklace, the Starfish poem means much to me. I like to think think everyone can make a difference in the life of an orphan, by some means. It doesn't mean everyone has to adopt a child. Befriend a child in foster care, sponsor a child, be a guardian ad litem, support people adopting through prayer, etc. The list is long.

You can buy it here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/102576260/hand-stamped-necklace-charity-for-reeces

The Starfish Poem
As I walked along the seashore this young boy greeted me.
He was tossing a stranded starfish back into the deep blue sea.
I said, "Tell me why you bother. Why waste your time this way?
There's a million stranded starfish. Does it matter anyway?"
And he said, "It matters to this one. It deserves a chance to grow.
It matters to this one. I can't save them all, I know.
But it matters to this one, I'll return it to the sea.
It matters to this one, And it matters a lot to me."

-Poem adapted from the story "The Star Thrower" (or "starfish story") by Loren Eiseley (1907–1977), published in 1969 in The Unexpected Universe.

Introducing Molly Qing

We received our Letter Seeking Confirmation, better known as LOA, on Thursday! It was a huge surprise! We are now anticipating travel either late August or early September. Lots and lots to do! These are the photos we received in March, I think they are from November when her file was done by her orphanage so that she would be eligible for adoption. Not sure we will get anymore before we travel, highly doubt it! Can you see how tiny her little hands and feet are? We think she is about 20lbs. So, she is just a tiny little peanut. The little cloth shoes are precious. Wonder what she will come to us in???? Praying for all to go smoothly from here. Lots to do, money to come up with, travel to plan, childcare for the boys to figure out. God's got, right?

Moving slow but hoping we speed up!

This post is for Missi's birthday! Happy birthday Melissa! We have been moving at a snail's pace or so it seems. Our immigration application was submitted without our home study, very unusual back on April 23rd. Our home study was supposedly a few days behind. However, somehow it still hasn't arrived to us or our placement agency. I am hoping it gets here tomorrow along with our fingerprinting appointment for immigration. We will then walk in on Monday to the USCIS office here in Ft. Myers to get our fingerprinting done. As soon as they clear and our home study arrives to immigration (by Tuesday) we should get our approval. For China authentication of your dossier is a two step process, for Russia it is just one step. Once the secretary of state certifies each document (apostille for Russia) it is then sent to the appropriate Chinese consulate. Our birth certificates are all done. Mine had to go to Chicago and Don's to NYC. Crazy stuff! I wanted to share that I truly feel Molly is our God chosen daughter! Not sure if you are aware but we chose her name before we knew anything about her. The name is from the boys. Olly is from Oliver, who changed our hearts to love the orphans of the world. M for Matson who's adoption tax credit is paying it forward and bringing her home. She has Oliver's congenital heart defect (ASD) and Matson's date of birth. A weee bit heaven sent:) God is good! Matson has moved to Oliver's room and is on the bottom bunk! Tonight they were both sleeping at about 8:10! Fourth night and Matson has napped 3 days in his bed! We are on our way. The crib came down today and Brynn will take over Matson's former room on Saturday. Once she goes back to school in August we will tranform it in to Molly's room. Can't wait! Saturday morning Stephanie graduates from the University of South Florida!!! So proud of her! She is about to start looking for a real job and in July her lease is up so who knows where she will end up. NYC with her sister? Carolinas? Ft. Myers? I think Michelle would love to have her as would we! Brynn is doing awesome at school last final tomorrow and then she meets us with us in Tampa for graduation. She told me today "all A's this semester maybe"! Boy is that girl making her mama proud! She has only proven that the F's were from lack of effort, not that we didn't know. Oliver has kindergarten orientation on Monday night! And I am investigating part-time preschool/daycare for Matson in the fall. Molly is going to need some time with me and Matson needs some other kids to keep him busy! Eventually the two of them will each go a little so they can each have mama time:) Hope everyone is well! Life is busy!