April Happenings! :)

April has certainly been our most eventful month so far! First, and most exciting, we got pre-approval from China to adopt our precious Gia!! :) So as long as we finish the adoption process, she's ours! If everything continues to stay on track, we'll be bringing her home this fall! If you're not already, join our group on Facebook for lots of pictures of our girl, but I'll do a picture post soon on here too! We have a lot of unanswered questions about what her care will entail, but she has already brought us so much joy!

Also this month, we held our big yard sale, which was a huge success! It was a LOT of work, but seeing how much support we have from the local community was so heart-warming and encouraging, that the work was so worthwhile, far beyond the boost to our adoption fund! We even had several customers (who we had never met before) insist on giving us donations beyond what they were spending on stuff! :)

Finally, we sent off our I800a application to USCIS, and this approval is the last document we need for our dossier! Today I sent off 12 documents to our agency so that they can begin to review them, so hopefully by the time we get our I800a approval they can toss it in the pile and mail everything off to China right away! :) So we are finally at the end of all the fees and postage associated with sending 13 documents all over the country to get them certified and authenticated to China's standards!

Here is our savings and fundraising progress so far, it's a little nerve-wracking now that we have a deadline of this fall, but we still have high hopes of getting a grant or two! We heard back from one grant organization, who informed us that they currently have no funds for awarding grants, but they will post our profile on their website for us, more details to come on that!

Adoption expenses left to pay, carried over from last month: $23,885
Paid in April: $450 (dossier preparation fees)
Left to pay: $23,435
April fundraising:
Yard sale: $1,058.50
Just Love Coffee: $49
Necklace donations: $500
Donation from the Moore family: $100 (thank you!!!)
Stella & Dot earnings: $182.60
Savings account for Gia: $11,426.42
We have $10,118.48 to go! SO close to breaking that $10,000 mark! :)

For fundraisers this month, we still have our coffee fundraiser going (and we'll continue to keep that one open until we're fully funded), the website is www.justlovecoffee.com/hoffmann
Our May fundraiser will be a Partylite Candle online show, thanks to Holly Rafferty!! :) She will be donating her commission, 25% of sales, to our adoption fund! Just visit her website, www.partylite.biz/holraff, and then search for me, Leslie Hoffmann, for your hostess! I LOVE smelly stuff in my home, so I will be posting lots of suggestions in the Facebook group! ;) I've ordered from Holly before, and Partylite products are amazing! In addition to candles and beautiful home décor items, they have melts that I use in my Scentsy warmer, and I have officially been converted!
Thank you so much for all your support! This journey has become even more meaningful now that we've been matched to Gia, and we are so very grateful for our generous friends and family! <3

Meet Hoffmann Baby #4!

We got our pre-approval today!! This means that she's OURS!! Meet our beautiful daughter, Gia!

March Savings and Fundraising!

We didn't have any fundraisers in March, but Nick and I are scrimping and saving so we're still making progress! And I have TEN grant applications ready to go as soon as we get our copy of our home study, which was finalized on the 31st!! :) The only fee we paid this month was $125 that goes to the Chinese government along with the Letter of Intent for our girl! We should be getting Pre-Approval (PA) from China SOON, which means she's ours pending completion of the adoption process! We'll have another fundraiser launching as soon as we get PA, selling coffee! If you're local to Savannah, we're also still collecting items for our yard sale, which will be on May 3rd!

Adoption expenses left to pay, carried over from last month: $24,010
Paid in March: $125 (Waiting Child Program service fee)
Left to pay: $23,885

March fundraising:
Donation from Atkinson family: $100 (thank you SO, SO much!)
Necklace donations: $40
Stella & Dot earnings: $153.43
Savings account for Mei Mei: $11,222.67

So we only have $12,368.90 to go!!! And we have about 6 months to get there! :)