Where we're at right now

Well, we are getting closer to sending our official application into the adoption agency but still need to meet our goal before we can. The fees all due within the first 90 days of applying are $9,440 to be exact so we want to make sure we have at least $7,000-7,500 saved before we do so we aren't in a bind to come up with the rest in such a short time.

The first set of money goes to: application fees, home study fees, social worker expenses, program fees, agency fees, adoptive parent education, and FBI fingerprinting.


As of now, we have $4,100 saved up thanks to many of you buying our shirts, coffee, Mary Kay and through donations, as well as by cutting back on a lot of previous luxuries we once spent money on. Once we have sent in our application and have our home study completed we can start applying for grants but the first $9,000 it's up to saving and fundraising to get the job done.

The cost of international adoption is extremely high but it can be done! And, just think of what comes out of it all, the chance to love someone so deserving and the ability to save a child's life...something you can't really put a price on. We are just so anxious for our journey to officially begin and even though those of you who know us, know we are a family that is ALWAYS busy, we are looking forward to becoming even busier with paperwork and things to do to bring our sweet child home.


I would also like to mention that there are so many families doing the same thing we are I would really encourage you to look at their blogs and see what their journey is as they are different but with the end goal being the same. You can find a few that I have linked down on the right column under "other great blogs".
One in particular is a family that has already adopted but are doing what we are going to be doing as well, raising money to help feed and provide other needs to children in Ethiopia. Check out their shirts they are selling (click on the "Into the Streets of Ethiopia" button in the right column of my blog)


Of course our t-shirts are still up to buy but may only be for 1 more week depending on the turn-out and it may be the last time we have them available for a little while. If you would like a t-shirt just click in the top right corner, different shirts for women, men and kids! Prices range from $15-25 depending on the shirt.

With Love and Thanks!
Joely

Why don't more people adopt?

This is a question I have been thinking about a lot lately and I would love to hear your answers. I know adopting a child is a big step and for many is probably really scary for various reasons but part of what we are trying to do with our blog and basically as part of our mission in life, is to help others that might consider adopting or maybe some who never have, understand the need and how it can be done. So my question to you is "Why do you think more people don't adopt, or why don't you?" I would love to hear your answers either by comments on here or feel free to email me.

Our church services (http://www.h2ochurch.cc/custom/index.php) for the month of July are entitled "At the Movies" and yesterday the movie clips we watched and the message that was given was derived from The Blind Side. The message and movie said so much to us and made me think again, Why aren't there more people that see need in front of them and step up to fill that need? We talked about this in our Life group Sunday night and a few of our thoughts on the answer to this were:

1. There is just so much need, it is overwhelming to know where to begin.
2. It would cost too much to actually make a difference and I can't afford it.
3. How do I know where my money is going to if I donate?

The thing that makes me so sad and anxious about these responses is that there are very easy solutions if someone really has it in their heart to take the next step to help. There is an overwhelming amount of need all over the world but every little bit does help. ""If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” ~Mother Teresa I got this quote from a new friend's website who has already adopted a child and is on a mission to help those in need in Ethiopia after seeing the devastation on a trip to pick up her child. Right now she is trying to raise enough money and formula donations to send to Ethiopia and even though there are thousands in need, if everyone donated just one can of formula or $12 it wouldn't take long to start making a dent in the problems. I encourage you to check out her website and donate if it is in your heart to do so: http://www.intothestreetsofethiopia.com/ I also have a button in the right column of this blog to click on to get to it.

Just think, you don't have to have a lot to make an impact on someone's life. It may be the change that you gather up in your purse, car, couch, nightstand, etc that adds up to $6 and instead of leaving it in those places or taking it to buy a Starbucks, it could feed a child for 1 month! For me, knowing this, has made it hard to look at frappuccinos and lattes and think "for the same price 1 child wouldn't go hungry for 1 month!"

If you have any questions or comments I would love to hear them, please tell me your thoughts, they are greatly appreciated!

T-Shirts For Sale!!!

Hello Friends and Family,
We are getting closer to our financial goal to be able to submit our official application to adopt a child from Ethiopia and are asking for your help again. We designed t-shirts and told our friends and family about them last month and are so thankful to those of you who supported us in buying one or more. We have changed up the designs slightly and added more color choices this time around, I think you will all like them even more! There are options for children, women and men and they are all very soft, and will fit almost anyone of any size. Once all orders are in the t-shirts will arrive to me by the end of July and I will get them out to you ASAP! I may be doing another contest as well to win a shirt so keep checking back over the next week or so for updates.

To order a shirt, just click on the link in the upper right hand corner of this blog. Ordering will end on July 15th to make sure everyone gets their shirts soon enough after ordering them. The women's shirts (the burnout tee) comes in a light and dark color and runs small so order 1 size up. This shirt comes in S-XL. the Men's shirt is actually uni-sex and is a very soft tee and is cute on women and men. It also comes in a light and dark color and runs more true to size. This shirt is available in sizes XS-XXL (I wear a size XS in this shirt and Jason wears a size XL to give you an idea).

The amount of money required within the first 90 days of applying is $9,440 (application fee, home study, agency fee, etc) but we are trying to save/raise $7,000 before we apply. As of now we have about $3,000 more to go to get to our goal and are hoping that through the t-shirt sales as well as other fundraisers we have (Mary Kay sales, Coffee sales and an upcoming yard sale) we will meet our goal and submit our application before the end of August.

Again thank you so much for your continued support. We have such wonderful friends and family and couldn't do this without you.

With Love,
The O'Neal Family

Heartbreaking Video Everyone Should See

So I have another video (at the bottom of this post) to share with you but this one is very VERY hard to watch so I will say make sure you have Kleenex handy to watch this (there is a happy ending though). This video was filmed in Uganda and there are more like it on YouTube if you choose to watch more. I hesitated to watch it at first because I have a hard time handling sad stories especially when it comes to children but this is the reality of what is happening in other countries and basically sums up why we have chosen Ethiopia to adopt from.

I know we have all seen the commercials and heard about how there are starving children out there. For some reason it just doesn't hit you until you see something like this. I look around at all we have and everything that we don't use or need and it makes me realize that if we took all that we have spent on these surplus of "things" that have been bought just because and instead spent it on food, clothes, medicine and support to build shelters so many lives could be changed. When Jalen gets sick we can buy medicine and take him to the doctors, we are fortunate to never have to wonder if we will be able to buy food to feed him or if he'll have a clean and safe place to grow up in.

We take so much for granted and we hear it all the time but what can be done to make a change now? We have made it our mission to cut back and save so we can provide at least 1 child with a better chance at life and hopefully in the future we will be able to help more either through more adoptions or by continuing to raise money to help fund the needs for many of these children. There are many people, churches, and organizations that are out there doing the same thing and some needs are being met because of this but just imagine if we all just gave up a little bit and passed it on to those who truly need it. I think a big problem is not that people don't want to give but they don't know how to or where to. Can you just box up your old clothes and some food and send to a random address in a third world country and hope that it will be passed around to those who need it? I don't know the answer to this but I do know there are avenues to help if you want to and it can be as easy as "googling" the words "help children in Africa" (or whichever country you choose). There are websites you can pay $10 to provide a mosquito net to prevent malaria as a child or adult sleeps, you can pay $25 to provide a water filter so one person can have clean water for LIFE! There are also people traveling back and forth doing missions and in the process of adoptions that are taking items as they go to hand out on the streets (granola bars, medicine, vitamins, clothes, etc) and I have come across all of this just by spending a little bit of time searching on the internet.

If you would like to help in anyway you can but need help figuring out how, let us know and we will try to help. I do have the Water.org link attached onto the right column of this website and will be posting more links so it is easy for anyone to find. I also have other adoption websites posted in case you would like to read what other families are doing. Some of them are pretty amazing and have influenced us as we begin our journey.



With Love,
Joely, Jason & Jalen

Mary Kay and T-Shirts Coming Soon!

Mary Kay orders are in and will be sent out tomorrow! We have extended the t-shirt ordering to go through the weekend and the t-shirts will be printed next week and shipped to me soon after so you all should be receiving your orders very soon. Thank you to all who order thus far and if you haven't ordered yet and want to, we will be running the t-shirts again in another week or two, also you can always order Mary Kay by clicking on the link I have posted in the right column of this blog.

We didn't advertise or get the word out much about the t-shirts this go-around but are planning to do so next time to hopefully increase the amount we are able to sell. Because the t-shirt orders for this time weren't too huge, they will be digitally printed on the shirts versus screen printed. If we can get more orders placed next time around they will be screen printed. To be honest I don't know what the difference will be but they should both look great! I will take pictures of all of us wearing our shirts when we get them so you can see what the finished product looks like.

Many of you have asked how you can help and honestly the best way is to just help us get the word out about what we are doing. Please feel free to email our blog to anyone you know, the best advertising is always word of mouth and we appreciate those of you who have already helped up by doing that.

Again we couldn't do this without all of your help and support.

Amesegënallô (AH-mah-say-guh-NAH-loh)
that is Thank You in Amharic (the main language spoken in Ethiopia)

And the winner is...

Congrats to Jason's cousin Wendy O'Neal in Arizona who won our t-shirt contest and thank you to everyone who participated and posted our info on your Facebook status.

There are only 4 days left to order a t-shirt that you will receive this month so if you would like one, please click on the button in the upper right hand corner of this blog.

THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us in raising money to be able to adopt a child in need from Ethiopia. Whether it has been through pure donations, Mary Kay orders or buying our t-shirts, we appreciate it so much! We are trying to raise the money that we will need to cover the costs due within the 1st 90 days of applying which is approx $9,440 and even though we have a ways to go, every little bit has helped.

We are planning on doing the t-shirt sales every month and are planning to change up the design next time around so if you aren't able to get one this time around, don't worry we will offer it again soon.

Whether you have supported us emotionally or financially, we appreciate it all! Just by spreading the word about what we are doing and passing along our website address to other friends and family means the world to us and again we thank you so much!!!

I added a list on the side of this blog to acknowledge those who are helping us achieve our financial goal to make this adoption happen, without you there is no way a typical family could afford to save a child internationally. If you prefer your name not be added please let me know.

Again, thank you indefinitely!
With Love,
Jason, Joely and Jalen O'Neal

WIN A SHIRT CONTEST!

From now until this Saturday, June 5th, cut and paste the following message into your status update on Facebook or post it to your blog:

Help the O'Neal Family promote support for adoption & raise money to adopt a child from Ethiopia & buy a t-shirt at
http://explosionsportswear.com/order-main.php?details=b3JkZXJJRD04MTAx

...and your name will be drawn to win a shirt of your choice. Make sure you comment to this post or email me at joelymelissa@yahoo.com so I know that you did it. If it turns out well, I will have multiple drawings.

Shirt sizes range from an infants size 3-6 mths to adult size XXL

Thanks for your support!