News, News & More News

First the exciting news! Michael and I wrapped up our popcorn fundraiser today and it did better than we’d expected! We raised almost $1,000 and sold 115 bags of popcorn! That’s amazing! A huge thank you to everyone that purchased and sold popcorn for us! You guys are the best!

Now for the bad news ~ We received a call from our agency and they have decided to look for another family to take the boys. Since the orphanage is closing, they really need someone that has the funding ready to go and that is not us. I did not take the news well at first, but then I realized that this was an answer to prayer. I was extremely stressed about how everything was going to work out by July or August and how we were going to raise that much money so quickly. We wanted to do right by these boys and even considered taking out a loan, but something just didn’t sit right in our spirit. We knew from Dave Ramsey that we shouldn’t go into debt, but we were also talking about 2 precious little lives. We decided to pray over the matter and wait as long as we could before we made a decision. Within a couple of weeks, we received the phone call, so we know that this was of God even though it is hard to let these boys go!

So what does that mean? Good question! Michael and I have decided to use the time to better our circumstances so that we are in the best place possible when our kiddos arrive. Basically, we are searching for a new job for Michael that will boost our income and also shopping for a new home. We know that we need more room than our apartment can provide and it would be better for the kids if we move before they come rather than making them go through another adjustment after already going through so much turmoil. As far as the adoption is concerned, we are going to continue fundraising like crazy. Once Michael has a new job, then we can finish our home study and start applying for grants. Our agency has also encouraged us to research countries that are open to U.S. adoptions and to choose our top 3 based on the criteria that is most important to us! We can go anywhere we want because we can do the home study through our agency and then work with another agency for the placement of our kiddos, so that has been fun. I’ve been daydreaming about how beautiful our children’s country will be and seeing their smiling faces for the first time! Even though we are not adopting the boys, we are still hopeful to adopt a sibling group, but it could be boys or a boy-girl group since we will have more bedrooms available.
It has been a roller coaster ride, but we know it will all be worth it in the end! God is continuing to mold and shape us into the parents that He wants us to be. We can’t wait to see what He has in store for us!

Love you all!
Carey & Michael

P.S. Please continue to pray for the boys in Ukraine! Pray that our agency will find them a forever family that will love them to the ends of the Earth. Thanks guys!

POPCORN FUNDRAISER!!!

Hey Friends & Family,
Michael & I are happy to announce that we are launching a popcorn fundraiser starting April 1st to April 20th! We need people to help us sell as well as buyers of this delicious product! If you are interested in helping us sell or purchasing popcorn, please shoot an email to togethermc@gmail.com and we will get you setup to sell or take your order! Thanks!

Adoption Cost

Many people have asked how much our adoption is going to cost & I have to admit that it feels a little heartless to talk about money when we are talking about two precious little boys’ lives, but the financial pieces is a huge part of adoption. So here is the breakdown.

Background Checks           $140
Adoption Fee                       350
Passports                              300
Home Study                       1950
Document Processing        1500
Agency Fee                        6000
Post Placement Fee              350
Program Fee                     21000
Travel (Est.)                       3000
Fees not covered                4410 
Estimated Total           $39,000

Our first payment is due ASAP! We need $2,740 to cover the background checks, adoption fee, purchase our passports, and start our home study. If you would like to support us & change two precious boys’ lives forever, check out our fundraisers at www.purecharity.com/granicasadoption and www.bonfirefunds.com/granicas-adoption-adventure. Thanks!

Little Adoption Update

We met with the adoption agency earlier this week & the meeting went very well! The boys are living in a private orphanage that is closing in October, which is why the agency has been working so hard to find families for the remaining children. ECAS has no idea what will happen to the kids once the orphanage closes, but hopefully we won’t have to find out! We also received more information about the cost involved with the adoption & it’s going to run us about $38,000 to $39,000. They said about $32,000 for the agency fees & $6,000 to $7,000 for our travel expenses as well as fees not covered in our program cost. Many people have asked us when the money is due & ECAS has payments due at various times throughout the process with the remaining due before we travel.

We have setup several fundraisers & are planning to apply for grants once we have the home study completed. Pure Charity is a 501C that accepts donations on our behalf & then sends the funds directly to our agency to ensure that every dollar we receive goes towards bringing our kids home. If you would like to make a donation, please check it out at www.purecharity.com/granicasadoption. We also just launched a t-shirt fundraiser, which is really fun! For every top you buy, Michael & I receive a $10 donation & we are hoping to sell at least 100 shirts! If you would like to check out the sweet t-shirt that we designed, please visit our fundraiser at www.bonfirefunds.com/granicas-adoption-adventure. If you would prefer to make a donation by check, you can send them to 708 12^th St. SW #301, Forest Lake, MN 55025. Lastly, we ask everyone to lift our adoption up in prayer! There is a great deal of unrest in the Ukraine & we are asking God for protection over our boys. We also need a lot of items to fall into place to make this happen, so prayers are greatly appreciated!

Adoption Reboot 2.0

Many of you know that Michael and I have been trying to adopt children from the foster care system for over a year now, but what you don't know is that our mission has changed in a BIG way! After a devastating blow in October, we came to the realization that maybe adopting from the foster care system was not what God intended for us right now. So, we began earnestly seeking God's wisdom and direction.

On New Year's eve, we attended a prophetic service and received a word from God that He was going to bless us with kids, but that we needed to get our blueprint right. We didn't know what that meant exactly, but God is good! A couple weeks go by and some friends received amazing news that they had been matched with a little boy in Uganda! While catching up, we found out that their organization had 2 brothers that they were trying to place! After a lot of prayer, we have decided to adopt these two precious little boys from the UKRAINE! You read that right! We are adopting from the UKRAINE!

Michael and I never pictured ourselves traveling outside North America, but we are so blessed to be on this adventure and cannot wait to love on these brothers! But we cannot embark on this journey alone! We need everyone's help to bring our boys home! Stay tuned for more information on how you can help!