Fundraising

So this whole adoption thing is so crazy and way bigger than us and way bigger than the child we will bring home. It's making us step out in faith and truly live the gospel unlike anything we have ever done before. For us right now this is our big YES to God. Fundraising is tricky because on one hand it can be so effective in alleviating a huge burden of this whole process which is the enormous cost but it can also be messy and uncomfortable.

People often ask me why it costs so much and when I lay it all out and explain where the money goes throughout the whole process it begins to make sense. (please feel free to ask me about it if you are curious and I will at some point post about this as well for those who are considering or interested in this whole adoption process)

I truly believe we are meant to share this story of adoption that we are living right now and part of that is allowing others who feel led to walk with us participate through fundraising options but at the same time I totally get and understand feeling like you just can't give. I Get It, you will not hurt my feelings, I have read, heard first hand and battled myself with the whole gamut on responses to fundraising and that is why we thought about it & feel we have found a good balance for us and what we are comfortable with.

We plan on doing a few fundraisers throughout this process but most importantly we will be pinching our pennies on this end and getting creative with what we already have. We have also started a list of places to apply for grants. Here is our plan at this point and one opportunity that was presented to us and we will be starting now (#4 below).

1- Garage Sale
2 - T-shirt fundraiser because who doesn't love a T-shirt!
3 - Noonday trunk show - mostly because I have been dying to have one and now I have a reason to :)
4- Chosen Marathon in Tampa FL

The Chosen Marathon is one that was brought to our attention because a friend of mine who is amazing and runs races on a normal basis is running this marathon in November in Tampa, FL. Yes, I live in Indiana but we have a good friend who lives in the area and I actually have quite a few other connections there as well so we decided to go ahead apply and sign up as an adoptive family team. The Chosen Marathon uses the ABBA Fund as their accountability partner and we have applied through them.

So if you are a runner (or not a runner) there is a 1/2 Marathon, Full Marathon, Kid Fun Run and Sleepwalker (for those who want to register as part of our team but won't be running) Prices go up for registration towards the end of June so check it out now. When you register online we are in the drop down options under TEAM...chose "Heinekamp Family Adopts" .... VISIT HERE to register.

Happy Rainy Wednesday and just because I didn't post on Mothers Day or share any photos yet, here is one of me and my little ones on Sunday. So grateful for the blessing they are in my life!! I mean seriously, Garrett's goldy locks and Lydia's smile...I just won the frickin kid lottery!!