Another Update

I know, you can't believe it! Two updates in one week! Score! Yesterday, our I800 provisional approval came in the mail. In English, this is the document we were waiting on from USCIS to move forward with things in country for the boys. Now, we can file our second stage dossier documents and wait for a court date! It is such an emotional journey. Having your life and the life of your children rest in the hands of others. We're so thankful they have been competent and efficient  hands. We're praying for more of the same on the other side of the ocean.

Another thing I want to address is our finances/fundraising. I had a comment left here on the blog from Beth. I didn't post it in the comments, because I wanted to address it here in a post. Beth was asking about all the donation boxes on the blog and what they mean. It's a little confusing for me sometimes, too. The fundraising ticker at the top of the blog is what we still need and what we currently have towards that goal. To make it simple, that's the one you should use to see where we are in relation to our goal.

I'm happy to tell you about the chip-in and Reece's Rainbow donation box, too. Okay, the chip-in is set up to deposit into the Reece's Rainbow account. It just doesn't happen automatically. There's a couple days worth of delay on that. The reason then for the chip-in is so I know who is giving. If you make your donation directly to the Reece's Rainbow box or our Family Sponsorship Page (these are the same) those donations are anonymous and I don't have access to the donor's information for giveaways, etc.

I know our Reece's Rainbow grant says it has over $6,000 in it, but most of that money was already spent on our first trip to see the boys. That's the reason for the ticker at the top of the blog, so we're all on the same page. I guess, I just needed to catch everybody else up. The total on the Reece's Rainbow grant does not decrease when we withdrawal money. I have to check with Michelle (at Reece's Rainbow) to know how much we have in there (exact dollar). I do my best to keep up with the amount, but I double check with Michelle every once in awhile to make sure I'm doing it right and haven't missed anything.

The goal on the chip-in is just whatever number I plug in there. It won't allow donations over the set amount, so I usually set a large number ($5,000). We do get donations handed to us from time to time and I try to add them into the ticker at the top immediately. Those donations are kept in a completely separate bank account and that bank account has a third party on it for accountability. We knew going into this adoption that if we were fundraising we needed to be 100% transparent with you.

If you notice money growing in the chip-in, but see that the ticker on the top of the blog hasn't moved, it's because I wait for the chip-in to close and add the entire total at once. It's just easier to keep up with. I hope all of this makes sense. If you have any questions, please, don't hesitate to ask. We want to keep you in the loop and we want you to know where your donations are going. Every dollar given has gone and will go to bringing Joseph and Samuel home. We do need $6,000 before court and then travel money for our second trip. That's the number on the ticker at the top of the blog. Once, we hit that $9,500, we will be done!

Thanks for plowing through all of this with us.

Blessings,
Mandy