Why fundraise?

Lot's of people have asked why?
Why adopt if you can't afford it?
Will you be able to care for your kids since you are asking others for money?
Don't you hate asking others for money?

Here is a blog that actually helps explain this a little bit http://www.myoverthinking.com/2012/06/overthinking-fundraising.html

Kelly is the author and she says:

"If you can’t afford to adopt, you shouldn’t be doing it. You shouldn’t use a child to play on people’s sympathies to give you money. If you wouldn’t fundraise to buy a house or your car, you shouldn’t do it for an adoption either."

But, see, a child isn’t a house or a car. And, not having $20,000-$45,000 in a savings account doesn’t disqualify you as a good parent—thankfully. And, actually, I’d venture to say that most families raising funds for their adoptions are not standing on street corners with cans and a picture of a malnourished child wearing a tent sign saying, “Help bring my baby home.”

Our family has the means to care for all of our children. We aren't rich, not even close, our daughter is going to college and she will be paying for it on her own.

We stepped into this adoption by listening to God, and trusting that He would answer with the funds we did not have. We knew that if He didn't provide then we wouldn't be able to do this. And He has... He's provided every single cent.

Through friends who offered to help with a grant, to RollStone foundation who offered us a grant because our boys are older and have been waiting for so very long, to tax refunds, to sales of craft items made and sold on Etsy.com, to our most recent venture which was a yard sale in 105 degree weather. He's provided everything we needed.

We have saved and scrimped... and then life happened and Don had to have surgery and when you own your own business you don't have much in the way of personal leave pay. :)

So much of what we saved and scrimped was used to pay bills while he was out of work for 6 weeks.

So..... we had to humble ourselves and ask for help.

Asking for money for almost anyone else is easy, helping raise funds for charities that are close to our hearts is a piece of cake... but it different when you have to ask for yourself. It makes you vulnerable, leaves you open to remarks like the one above.

But this isn't about us.

It's abour our boys. The ones that waited in an orphanage for more then 3 yrs before we found them.

The ones that I met in June 2011 and promised I would be back to get....soon.

The ones that send us letters and tell us they miss us so much and can't wait to see us.

The ones that are now legally ours, yet 8000 miles away, going to bed alone every night without our hugs and kisses.

That's why we have the Gaines Family Un-Shower

We thank you on behalf of our boys ....Some day we will be able to share with them the love and support that has come from the most amazing friends, family and even strangers that have helped make it possible for 2 less orphans to be in a family...

The Gaines UnShower

The Gaines' are having an Un-Shower...

So the thing is that we are getting ready to welcome 2 teenage boys into our home through the miracle of adoption and ya just don't see people having showers for teen aged kids... instead of presents that would be used at a baby shower we are asking for help in bringing them home.
Our process has been long and wrought with obstacles but we are now in the home stretch and getting ready to actually bring them home.

The boys we are adopting have both been waiting for more than 4 years for a family to call their own. I (Andrea) first met them in June 2011, while on a mission trip, and then was able through the genorosity of a Christmas gift to visit them again in November when things with their paperwork were not moving. I traveled again for our court date which we passed on May 4... and now all that's left to do is bring them HOME.

We had a little wrinkle in life in the last month that took most of what we had in savings and we now need to ask for help in the expenses to bring these boys home. Don, aka Dad, had to have surgery on his neck that has put him out of work for 6 weeks. It wasn't a planned event but we know God will provide as he already has in a huge way!! He has already provided for every penny we have needed so far and we know He will continue.

The expenses look like this:
Airfare for 1 adult: 2000.00 (Andrea is planning to travel alone since there is so much money still needed, but if God sees fit to allow Don to come then this will be doubled)
Airfare for 2 children to come home: 2000.00 (1000.00 each)
Embassy Fees: 720.00
Guest House, Car, Food and incidentals: 500.00+

Each donation helps, 5.00, 10.00 .... 100.00 :)
We know that not all people are called to adopt but we are all called to do something... could this be your something?

SO far we have raised $1500! But we still need another at least 4000... TOTALLY DO-ABLE with you and God's help!! - UPDATE only 1800 left!!!

Just click on the button below to help our boys realize a dream and come home!!!





The picture above is me telling A that I will be back to get him SOON... this was taken in June 2011.. will you help me keep my promise?

And here is a little more back ground into our story….
We were a family of 4. Two parents, 2 kids and a dog…the kids were teens and life was comfortable.

Then God had other plans. He shared the story of adoption with us through Steven Curtis Chapman’s family. We decided to move forward…after many mountains were moved we were able to move forward with the first adoption of our N at the age of 2 years old in December of 2006.

While we were there we fell in love with the people and the country and decided we needed to go back.

Two years later we began the process of adopting our second son who had been a waiting child for more than a year. He became very ill while in the country and wasn’t expected to make it. Our pediatrician gave us the grim news after reading his charts from Ethiopia that he wouldn’t live. We gathered in the living room as a family to pray.

E survived but his road to health was hard and long. When we landed in the states after only knowing him for 5 days we spent the next 12 in isolation and then many others with Dr’s and surgeries. But he’s healthy and strong and hardly ever ill any more now.

Last year in January we decided to take the leap one more time…only this time we knew there were 2 more, and that they would be older kids. I, Andrea, had been to Ethiopia leading mission trips and I knew that the older kids were the ones that needed the love and homes…since the littles are usually scooped up first.

Through prayer God helped us choose A and B, not related boys through the agency that we had used for E’s adoption.

I went to meet the boys while on a mission trip in June 2011 with my daughter and mom, dad stayed home to take care of the other boys, cause he’s good like that. 
Final paperwork was filed to get the boys submitted to court in July …. Then ….. nothing.

November came and in a desperate plea I asked for a Christmas gift to go back to see the boys and see why our papers weren’t moving.

We were told in December that both boys needed to have their files completely redone which could take months.

Those months stretched to May 4, 2012 when we were given the rights to parent both boys in Ethiopian Court. Almost a year to the time I met them for the first time.

In the mean time we found that Dad, needed to have surgery … this has taken a huge toll on finances we had saved for our return trip to bring both boys home in July (our hopeful time frame) … so we are asking for help from those that cannot or choose not to adopt but want to help in some way to bring them home.

So that’s where we are… and why we are asking…

Thank you for reading! Thank you for sharing! Thank you for Giving!!