Just Us

So, how’s your adoption going? This is the question I get almost daily, and really, I don’t mind. I enjoy explaining the process of adoption to others. If you’re not personally involved in it or connected in some way, it can be hard to understand sometimes, especially since many times it is such a long process. So, how is our personal journey going? Once again we are in a waiting period “hurry up and wait”. We have done everything on our end that we need to do at this point. Our dossier (lots of paperwork) is in Ghana, and we are currently waiting for a referral of a child from Ghana. When will we receive that information? Well, according to our adoption agency, it will be “any day now”. Which literally means it could be tomorrow, or it could be in the next month or two. Right now it is out of our hands and out of the hands of our agency and is in the hands of the government of Ghana. There are some other families that are in front of us, and once those families have been proce...

Many of you, our family and friends, have already heard about this new fundraiser we are currently doing. The great thing about this fundraiser is that it doesn't cost you any money!!! We have teamed up with two other local families also working on adoptions and Funds2orgs  to do a Shoe Drive. For the months of June and July we are collecting new and gently used shoes. We take shoes of all types and sizes. Dress shoes, tennis shoes, sandals, boots, kids shoes, adult shoes. We cannot accept flip flops or house slippers. Once all the shoes are collected and organized, the company we are working with will come pick up the shoes and pay us for them. We have a HUGE goal of collecting 2,500 pairs of shoes!!! The great thing about this shoe drive is that it serves TWO great purposes. You help us raise funds for our adoptions, and you help those that are in need get a good pair of shoes in developing nations. Two for One, pretty awesome. So, we need YOUR help to reach this goal! W...

This seems to be the mantra of many adoptive families, and the more I'm in this process, the more I understand it. In fact, this has become my go-to description when talking to friends and family that ask how the adoption process is going - "hurry up and wait" is my response. You fill out forms as fast as you can... and then you wait. You complete training in record time.. and then you wait. You collect official copies of every single certificate ever associated with your life before they're even asked for... and then you wait. Your application is accepted, you rush to fill out the next set of forms... and then you wait again. Those of you that have never gone through this process may think I'm exaggerating a bit, but really I'm not. There are so many processes during an adoption that are not in your control, so much of waiting on other people and governments. Even so, my personal desire and drive is to do everything that is in our control as thoroughly and ...

Our t-shirt fundraiser is complete, and shirts are being delivered as we speak. This fundraiser was a great success, bringing in just at $750 for our adoption! We are so excited and thankful to all of you that purchased a shirt. We also happen to be super excited about the shirts themselves and how they turned out! I have yet to get a picture of our entire family in the shirts, otherwise I would have used that picture for this post, but who knows when that will happen, and I didn't want to wait to get this thank you posted.  To all those that purchased a shirt and to all those that have supported us through other fundraisers and YouCaring donations we want to say a huge THANK YOU to you all! Having your support and knowing that you all are behind us in this decision and this journey means the world to us. We couldn't do this without all of you. Your help in raising money, your prayers, and the continuous encouraging words that we receive all help is in continuing o...

I've had several people ask me when we will be going to Ghana to get our child, so I thought I'd share just a little bit about how this adoption process works. This is by no means an extensive explanation, it is just meant to give you a simple picture of what our process looks like. The very first thing we have to do is apply to an adoption agency and get approved - Done! Then we move on to the Home Study - this is an entire process and not just one home visit - we are so close to being done with our part of this process, then we just have to wait for the report to be completed by our social worker Next we have to apply and be approved by the US government to adopt internationally - this form/application is called the I800A for anyone interested in that info :). We have been given the information to go ahead and start getting these documents filled out, but we won't be able to submit anything until our home study has been approved Next, you usually apply ...

You may be seeing several of these types of posts in the coming days as we work hard to bring in funds for our adoption. Right now we are just starting our t-shirt fundraiser. Nathan and I love this t-shirt design, and we hope you do to! We're doing this fundraiser with the help of Fund the Nations , a t-shirt company that does shirts specifically for fundraising efforts or group events (youth group, camp, etc.). My goal is to sell 100 shirts!!! This would help us raise around $1,000 for our adoption! Below you'll find all the specifics for the shirt and ordering. Brand: Bella Canvas (that means super soft and comfy!) Color: Dark Grey Heather Sizes: Youth XS-L, Adult XS-4XL Cost: $20 each (add $2 for 2XL and up) Shipping: $5 flat rate shipping up to 10 shirts (Free delivery/pick up for locals) Ordering Deadline: January 30th To place your order online, click here We will place one large order for all the shirts after the deadline of January 30th February 1st. Aft...

I've heard people call an adoption a paper pregnancy, and I believed them, but now I'm experiencing it for myself. Not a whole lot has happened since the last time I gave an update, except for paper... lots of paper. And it's really only the beginning. Some of it feels reduntant. How many times do you need to know my name and age? It hasn't changed from the last five time I told you! Some of it though is helpful. It really makes you think about why you do what you do, and it's so easy to go through life and not really stop to think about why we are doing the things we're doing. We are also getting ready for our first Home Study visit this Friday! We are excited and nervous. If you think of it, say a prayer for us. I will tell you one thing, by the time Friday rolls around, our house will have NEVER been cleaner! You think you clean like a crazy person when you're having guests over? You ain't got nothin' on me! I realize I haven't cleaned ...

It's been a long time since I've updated everyone on our adoption journey, so I believe it's time. In April of this year we applied for a second time with an agency to adopt from Korea, and for a second time we were denied. It is hard even now for me to let you in on this part of our life, to be vulnerable with our journey; my heart aches. There was nothing wrong with our application on paper, the agency just told us that there were other families currently in the process who were in even better financial situations than us that were facing some difficulties in their adoption process pointed at finances and they felt it best that we did not pursue adoption to Korea through them at this time. I'm pretty sure my heart skipped a beat, or two or three when I read those words in the email. Being denied the first time was difficult, but not exactly surprising. Being denied this second time literally felt like I'd had a miscarriage (and believe me, I know what that feels l...

One of Nathan's last pictures in his homeland This is a post from my husband that he first put on Facebook, and I feel that it's such an integral and amazing part of our life journey that I should share it here, and so beautifully written. We began a journey towards adoption a couple years ago that hit a few roadblocks. Though still patiently waiting, God has been doing some incredible things to help us prepare for whatever He has in store for us. We have built great relationships with people that have the same heart as us. My wife has began to plant the seeds of an organization/business devoted to helping with adoptive families and with orphan/adoption related issues. We have also been blessed with a host of learning opportunities, and several open doors that have helped advance our understanding of both orphan/adoption care. With all of this personal involvement in the orphan/adoption process, I have had some very personal experiences, both good and bad, because o...

...Almost. The season to begin/continue pursuing our adoption is here. If you missed my last post (forever ago in May) you can catch up here . Within the next month, Nathan and I will begin reapplication with our agency looking towards a Korean adoption. Over the past year and a half since we first were denied on our application, God has blessed us in so many ways, and I believe, made us closer as a couple and as a family. Our financial status, according to the government's standards for international adoption, should be in better standing this time around (one of those blessings from God), which was the major reason we were initially denied. We feel that we have a good amount of money saved back to get the process started (with much help from many of you), and now is the time! If you are wondering what you can possibly do to help or be involved in our journey, here are some ideas. 1. PRAY - We of course will need prayer all throughout this journey, but especially here at the b...

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven..."  Ecclesiastes 3:1 In February of this year, we had made it, we had reached our goal (at least my goal), we had raised/saved $10,000 dollars for our adoption! I was elated. I couldn't believe we had actually made it to this goal, but we had, and now it was time to start our adoption pursuit once again. In April of 2015 we applied to our adoption agency, and in May of that same year we were denied. A big reason being our income, which were we not surprised about this being an issue, but nevertheless devastated. We decided to wait a while and try again. We still felt like we were supposed to pursue South Korea at least one more time. My personal goal was to get to $10,000 and apply again. It seemed impossible to me at the time, but we did it in just under a year (thanks to all the support of those that participated in our adoption raffle and other fundraisers). So, the time had come, and I had...

My kids and I are very excited to announce the winners of our Adoption Raffle! I want to thank everyone that participated; your support means so much to us! We are so excited to have been able to raise a total of $1,243 from this raffle!! Sorry if the video is a little corny (I was trying to stress just how thankful and excited I am, but not sure how well we pulled it off). We love you all and are so grateful for you in our lives! Adoption Raffle Winners from Jennie Mayes on Vimeo . The winners are: $75 Gift Card (choice of Amazon, Target, or Walmart) - Chelsea Bradley $50 Gift Card (choice of Amazon, Target, or Walmart) - Alyssa Mayer $25 Restaurant Gift Card - Pastor Ted Middleton 5x7 Photo Wood Block from Treasure & Heart Designs - Ben and Sara Pawlitschek Congratulations to all the winners! If you haven't heard from me yet, I will be contacting you soon to get you details on your prize.

I cannot believe it! We have nearly hit the $1,000 in just a few short days!  Thank you to all of our friends and family that have participated so far. I feel like "thank you" is not enough. The support we are receiving on this journey is indescribable and humbling. I wish I could give everyone that participates a prize to show a little of my gratitude, unfortunately that is not the nature of a raffle (and would defeat the point of raising money). Please read on below for instructions on the raffle followed by an update on our adoption plans and what we've been up to so far in raising/saving funds. We are doing a raffle/fundraiser to raise money for our adoption, and we need your help!  Here’s how it works:   You pick a number (or numbers) below for the amount of money that you would like to donate   Reply to this post or message me with your number choice I’ll send you a Paypal invoice for that amount (or locals can pay with cash/check) The number that ...

I've talked to some people individually, but I wanted to give an update on our adoption status currently. We applied to an agency last April and found out in May that we were denied. The two reasons being finances and some health issues (treatable/fixable). I was devastated of course, but not completely surprised. Both of these issues we knew could be potential issues but were hoping and praying that they wouldn't be. We decided that this did not mean a closed door, just one of the many bumps along this journey. Over the past several months, the health issue has been resolved, and we have been working to save as we can and pay some bills. We plan to apply with the same agency again after our next tax return. If the second application doesn't go as planned, we are already prayerfully considering other options such as U.S. adoptions, but feel that we should continue the South Korea route unless that door becomes closed. Also in the meantime I have been working on som...

This is not our best family photo I have to admit, but it's the most recent one we have, and it's the one we submitted with our adoption application. This may not be terribly exciting to anyone else, but it is to me. We have officially completed and submitted our adoption application! This is the application to the agency. Just to give you a little time line for what we're looking at over the next few months, according to the agency information, it could take 2-3 months for our initial application to be reviewed and accepted by the agency, then another 2-3 months to complete the home study process, and then we could receive a referral for a child 3-6 months following that, so it is very possible that we could receive a referral for a child within a year! This does not mean we will receive a child into our home within the year. The way it works with Korea is that we are matched with a child relatively shortly after our home study is approved and we're approved from...

Our online auction to help raise funds for our adoption is finally here! To view the auction, click here:  www.32auctions.com/mayesadoption .  This link will take you directly to our auction. You can view items without creating an account, but in order to place a bid, you will need to create an account (like almost every other website these days) with your email address, a bidding username, and a password. Important note: once you've created an account you'll be sent an email and asked to verify your account by clicking the link in the email, then you'll be ready to bid! We have some great items available (some may have already caught some "sneak peaks"). The website only allows one small photo of each auction item, so I'm adding all auction items with their descriptions to this post so people can get a better look at each item. Auction ends November 15th. Hope you find something you like, and happy bidding! Original Wall Art: Thanks to my brother Ca...

November is National Adoption Month. I didn't know this until I stumbled upon this information about a week ago. It made me so excited because it's something I can participate in as we are waiting for our journey to take off, and because I had already decided to hold our online auction to raise funds for our adoption the first two weeks of November. What a perfect time to have this event! The focus for National Adoption Month is finding loving, permanent homes for the foster children who are waiting to be adopted. While everyone involved in any type of adoption should celebrate and raise awareness this month, the main focus is to raise awareness for the children in the U.S. foster care system that are available for adoption. While our adoption is not through the foster system, I am excited to play a part in raising awareness about adoption in general and specifically for those in the foster care system. So, I guess this is sort of a warning that there is more to come on...

We've completed our garage sale fundraiser and are in the midst of caramel popcorn sales! Check out my "Popcorn for Adoption" page if you haven't yet. Very soon, November 1st to be exact, we will begin our final fundraiser for the fall, and I am so excited about this one! We are going to hold an online "silent" auction. It's similar to a live silent auction, just done online. The way it works is very similar to an eBay type auction, except that the items available to bid on cannot be purchased from a site such as eBay. The auction will last two weeks, and each item will be available to bid on for a few days. The reason I'm so excited about this auction is because I know the items that are generously being donated are going to be amazing! I'm going to have a hard time not keeping them for myself. :) There will be something for everyone at this auction, and it comes just before Christmas! What a great way to Christmas shop! There will be on...

Nathan and I would like to give a huge "Thank You" to all those that helped make this weekend a success! Both local community members and church friends were very supportive by making their purchases of our caramel popcorn at the Bethel Sheep Festival (and at church :)). It was especially a huge blessing when complete strangers would find out the reason for our selling the popcorn and give us a "keep the change" or a couple that just made a small donation without purchasing anything. We are so blessed to have people surround us and be so supportive in our endeavor. We have been able to continue our small start to our adoption fund. If you especially enjoyed our caramel popcorn and would like to place an order at some point, maybe for a party, special occasion, or just because you like it, check out my "Popcorn for Adoption" page at the top. Just to put a reminder out there, again for the locals, we are having our garage sale on September 12-13 in Shel...