Before I spill the beans on our daughter's name, I want to share something else that has us very excited. (I know...making you wait is mean. Go ahead and scroll down for the big announcement, but come back here when you're done. The rest of this post is pretty cool, too. Promise!)
We've been accepted to do a really unique project to help bring Li'l Bean Home. It's called a Both Hands Project because it allows us, and a team of our friends and family, to reach one hand out to help a widow in need and one hand out to bring an orphan - our sweet Li'l Bean - home forever. This concept is taken from James 1:27, and we think it's pretty awesome.
On April 18, our Both Hands Team will help us serve a widow in our community. Before the project, our team will be working to find sponsors for our day of service. Donations are tax deductible, and 100% of any funds donated go directly to bringing our sweet girl home. (It's similar to golf-a-thon or a 5K to raise money for a specific cause; except, instead of golfing or running, we'll be serving.) Sound exciting? You can keep reading to learn more or click here to check out our project page.
OUR PROJECT
Mrs. Boggs' late husband, Frank, was full of life. He loved to sing to anyone and everyone. Friends at the local YMCA tell me they remember him coming in and making up songs for people as they worked out. Frank's death has obviously left a big hole in Sherrill's life.
Frank helped build the Boggs' house of 50+ years. This will be Mrs. Boggs' first spring without him, so our team will helping Mrs. Boggs with her spring cleaning and yard projects. We'll be washing windows, emptying gutters, and collecting sticks. We're also excited to tear out two large evergreen bushes to make room for a flowerbed and an outside sitting area. (Mrs. Boggs loves to read, so we can just imagine her sitting in the sunshine with a good book.) In addition, our team will be installing a railing along Mrs. Boggs' sidewalk and replacing her front door handle and deadbolt.
As I mentioned above, 100% of any funds donated to our team will help bring our daughter home from Ch*na. Most of you have already been introduced to our Li'l Bean. (If you haven't, you can meet her here.) Our sweet girl has Tetralogy of Fallot, a combination of four heart defects. This condition is usually repaired in infancy, but our Bean has not yet had surgery. Because of this (and because we absolutely can't wait to meet her), we are working hard to get her home as quickly as possible.
ADOPTION COSTS
Our adoption will cost between $25,000 and $30,000. Expediting because of Bean's heart condition has considerably shortened the time we have to come up with these funds. It looks like our adoption - start to finish - will only take 5-6 months. Thankfully, we are three months into our process and have already been able to cover almost half of our expenses and fees.
Looking ahead, we have a $6,000 fee due when Ch*na approves our paperwork (hopefully within the next few weeks), and then we have travel and in-country fees (these include airplane tickets, legal fees in Ch*na, hotels, travel in country, meals, trains in country, etc.). Our agency allows us to book our own travel, and we work very hard to be frugal in our planning; however, we are still expecting that these fees will total over $7,000. We're hoping that our Both Hands Project will help us raise the $13,000 - $15,000 we have left to fund our adoption.
Looking ahead, we have a $6,000 fee due when Ch*na approves our paperwork (hopefully within the next few weeks), and then we have travel and in-country fees (these include airplane tickets, legal fees in Ch*na, hotels, travel in country, meals, trains in country, etc.). Our agency allows us to book our own travel, and we work very hard to be frugal in our planning; however, we are still expecting that these fees will total over $7,000. We're hoping that our Both Hands Project will help us raise the $13,000 - $15,000 we have left to fund our adoption.
WANT TO HELP?
We would be thrilled and humbled if you'd consider being part of our Both Hands project. There are several ways you can help. Check them out below!
Serve with Us - If you're a local friend, we'd love to have you serve with us on the 18th! The more team members we have, the more we can accomplish for Mrs. Boggs. If you're interested in joining our work day, please comment on this post or contact me via FB, text, or email.
Sponsor Our Team - Any financial gift, big or small, gets us closer to bringing our daughter home. If you'd like to sponsor our team, click here for donation information. There are directions for giving online or through the mail. All donations are tax deductible.
Support Us - We are in need of supplies for our work day. If you would like to provide one of the following items, please let me know.
-Door handle with deadbolt
-Mulch
-Outdoor dining set or reading chairs
-Door handle with deadbolt
-Mulch
-Outdoor dining set or reading chairs
Share Our Project - Please help us spread the word about our project. Feel free to share the link to this post via email or on Facebook or Twitter (or some other social media that I'm too old to know about). You are also welcome to just share our family project page with a short post. (Perhaps something like, "Please take a minute to check out the project our friends, Jeremy and Tonya Wike, are doing to bring their daughter home from Ch*na!") The more people hear about our project, the more likely we are to get the support we need to bring Bean home!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post and to consider how you might be a part of our Both Hands Project. We are truly excited to bless Mrs. Boggs in a big way, and we have already felt incredibly supported in the planning stages of our project. Please know that your prayers, encouraging words, and financial gifts are genuinely appreciated. We can't wait to tell Bean how many people played a part in her adoption story!
Now the part you've been waiting for...yes, we have finally decided on an English name for our Li'l Bean. This is a pretty earth-shattering event at our house. We usually name our kids right about the time we meet them (or even slightly after). Jeremy and I completely shocked our very straight-laced Ch*nese guide when she asked for Li'l Dude's name on the day we met him, and we told her we hadn't decided yet.
I wish I could say we hold off on naming our kids because we want to meet them and see if the name fits or because we have too many good options and can't make a decision, but that's not the case. We are just the worst baby namers ever. This is how naming conversations usually go at our house...
ME: How about Lily? It's sweet and feminine.
JEREMY: It sounds like lilypad - you know, like a green plant with a frog on it.
ME: Okay, what do you think of Harper?
JEREMY: Everyone would totally think "harpoon". You don't want bearded men and whales to be what comes to mind when people think of our daughter, do you?
ME (only rolling my eyes a little): Hhhhmmmm...I'm sure everyone born in the early 1900's would totally think that, hon. Well, our other kids have really classic names; how about Nora?
JEREMY: Riiiight, I can hear the kids in her class now, "Nora's a bore-a!"
(There are times when I'm glad I didn't know my husband in elementary school. ;)
Thankfully, the name wars debates are over. We've decided to go with a classic first name (that we borrowed from my grandma) and a Christmas-y middle name (since we got Bean's file on Christmas Day). The name we've chosen is Evelyn Joy. We'll call her Evie (EH-VEE) or Evie Joy. Now if our paperwork would just move along so I could kiss those sweet chubby cheeks!
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..."
-James 1:27
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