Bringing Hope Home: Ari and Ian (kinda)

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Ari and Ian (kinda)

My baby boy turned 4, and we had a great pool party for him. It was wonderful, but we sure missed Ian being there.

So.....we made sure he could see all the fun.

My little four year old surf monkeys. I love em.

2 comments:

Good ThanksOctober 20, 2010 at 2:20 AM
I hope you don't mind me commenting to you.

I've watched Reece's Rainbow site for months now, and prayed and prayed that the Gorgeous Ian would find a forever family, his little face was a stand out to me.

I'm so thankful for you, and will be reading with joy from today on.

Love and hugs all the way from Australia.
Colleen

www.caringbridge.org/ne/kaitlyn
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GretchenOctober 22, 2010 at 1:39 PM
Colleen,

Wow! Thanks so much for commenting! It is great to have worldwide friends for Ian! I visited Kaitlyn's site and all I can say is that God is very mysterious and wonderful - Ian's middle name "will" comes from a child who had the same diagnosis. Will won his wings in 12/09.
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Ian's adoption Timeline

To view our DETAILED TIME LINE in its entirety, please click HERE

Updates for the last two months only appear below:

4/5/11 We met Ian in his country for the very first time!

4/5/11 Get the news that Ian is headed for heart surgery, eye surgery, and another in-patient surgery, were given the option to refuse surgery in his native country, and we did. Please pray for our Ian.

4/5/11 Friends the Fillmores post about Ian on their blog.

4/13/11 Friend Julia Nalle posts about Ian and our Hope for Ian Necklace fund raiser on her blog, very moving post.

4/17/11 Friend Julia Nalle posts about Ian again, to help us raise money to get him home.

4 18/11 Front page story in my hometown newspaper, The Racine Journal Times, about Ian. Thank you to Amie Miller, Hero of Hope for Ian, and Lindsay Fiori, the reporter, as well as Mark Hertzberg, the photographer.

4/19/11 Friend Lorraine Patterson, Chrissie's mom (the reason we found Ian), posts a beautiful plea for Ian on her blog, in memory of the one year date of Chrissie's heart surgery. The posted all week about Ian!

4/25/11 Received a grant of $1,925.00 from Golden Dawn Adoption Assistance, which paid the match fee's at Hand in Hand, bringing our Hand In Hand fee's balance to ZERO. Praise God! Since being home, God has lessened our financial burden to bring Ian home from a needed $18K to only needing $13K. $5,000 in 14 days since we met Ian. Many thanks are due to fellow adoptive and RR families who have blogged about Ian and our very special Hope Necklace fundraiser, and to all of the families and individuals who have donated to help us answer God's calling for our lives.

4/25/11 Friend Jennifer Dove posts about Ian on her blog to help us raise money.

4/29 & 5/1/11 Massive Hope for Ian yard sale is a success! Over $1500.00 raised for Ian, thank you to all who donated items for the sale and for my mother and grandmother who helped with childcare before, during, and after the week long preparations for the yard sale.

5/4/11 Gift for Adoption Grant submitted - Please PRAY, this could be the last big chunk of what we need to bring Ian home this summer.

5/10/11 Our adoption agency informs us that we will be required to complete a Homestudy update. This is very sad news as it means another $1,000.00 to do that, and countless hours lost from work and home getting our hands on difficult to obtain documents and reports. This also means further delay in getting Ian home. We press on, but this news is very challenging and disheartening.

5/15/11 Our court dossier is sent to Ian's country. We already know we have three errors that need to be corrected. We will attend to those and await word on what else will need to be fixed before we can be issued a court date.

6/14/11 Our new FBI clearances arrived, and our Homestudy update is ready. We are still waiting on a court date, we have no news. God is moving the financial mountain, and we have almost enough for the court trip, fund raising the last bit now for getting Ian home.

7/14/11 Trip #2, court date in Russia, Ian's adoption is approved! He can come home!

7/26/11 Gift for Adoption approves a $5,000 grant to complete our fundraising! Goal of $41,000 raised is met!

8/14/11 GOTCHA DAY! trip #3 to bring Ian home!

8/24/11 Ian came HOME, forever.

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Ari and Ian (kinda)

2 comments: