I have been debating posting this, but I thought I would give any reader a chance to be in on what is going on in our adoption and the opportunity to bless both us/our trip and the orphanage where Simon lives.
We are leaving on march 22 for our first visit to Simon's orphanage and I plan on bringing with me several items and if you know me, you know that I normally don't just go out and buy things. :) There are several reasons that I have become a "bottom feeder" in our culture. (meaning I just take what others don't use anymore...as opposed to picking out my own things) First and foremost I think being the youngest child in a middle class american family has helped a lot. I was very used to getting hand-me-downs growing up so I am not super particular about my stuff. Secondly, I have seen some poverty in my travels and I have realized that humans can live on very little. Because of this, I have seen that the majority of Americans have a lot of STUFF. And you know what, most of it we don't even need. Even as a bottom feeder I have to clean out my excess stuff on a regular basis. :) So the point of my saying all this is, I could go out and buy all the the stuff I am hoping to take or I could give you all the opportunity to open your closets and share your stuff with Simon and his orphanage. Then I could use the money saved to help support other adoptive families and make our own donation of needed items in Simon's orphanage.
Do I even need to explain why I am asking for help? I don't know. I guess I feel like I have already asked you, my friends and family for so much, you have already helped me raise over 27,000 towards Simon's adoption!!! But you know our story isn't over yet, and I know that last time I said I was going to this orphanage and wanted some donations, the flood gates of heaven opened and we ended up donating $400 of diapers to the orphanage, 75 plus pounds of formula and then had $2,700.00 left over to donate to the medical fund for the kids. Why should this time be in any different?
Here is what I am hoping to bring from your closets: (don't buy any of these items...see next list if you have money :) )
-plastic rings (the ones you can hook on each other and make a chain, could be hooked on cribs/strollers) I hear the kids like these and they can not be purchased in country.
-small toys that light up and make music (ones that hold battery power for a long time would be great) Just a few of these, I don't know how they will be received for sure.
-little mirrors/baby toys to hook on cribs (need to be mostly plastic or material that can be cleaned)
-crinkly books, with BASIC words or no words (since they can't read english anyway)
-sensory books, where there are little parts to touch and feel.
-ladies fashion scarves (I am hoping to bless the baba's and the staff with these, so if you have a nice one that you could donate that would be great.) I already have 30 that were generously donated by a close friend, thank you AGAIN!!!
Here are items from your closets that I just need one or two of to play with Simon with. I would love to leave them with his Baba so that she can continue to play with them with him. As I have been thinking of developmental toys that would be good for him, even though I don't really know where he is at developmentally)
- I would love something like a melissa and doug fill and spill, if someone has one they don't want anymore. I would like to play with Simon with one of those. (I know this is really particular, I need something packable/collapsable that he can put items into and take them out again)
- small stacking cups.
-beach ball and some baloons
-a bag for all this stuff to go in that will be good for Baba to use to keep items together.
(We should be able to use Ishmael's toy supply to provide the rest of the toys I am bringing. I hope to to a blog post that explains everything I am packing, just for you to know, if you are interested :))
Here is what we could use money for:
-buying diapers while we are in country
-asking what the orphanage needs and purchasing items in country (could be linens, food, clothes, who knows??)
- buying kids board books in country (I would love to have a book collection for babas to use with kiddos on their visits. I think showing them how to sit with child on their lap and read to them would be wonderful for these kids and their development emotionally and mentally.)
-If I have a lots of donations that we want to take with us, we will need money to pay to bring another bag of luggage with us. (but I might just limit what we take to fitting in our personal luggage so we don't have an extra cost, especially if we can buy the items in country.)
For our personal use/packing: (here are items I will need to borrow)
-2 med-large backpacks for Jon and I to use as carry on bags. I *think* we have all our other luggage covered.
-additional memory cards for our camera. (we were BLESSED with an ipad for christmas, so we can blog on our trip!!! We will be taking some pictures/video with that to post for you all back home but we will also take our camera to guarantee, quality photos. We will have no way to transfer our precious photos and videos from our camera to make room for more. If you are techy and have other advise let me know, but I was thinking we would just bring a view memory cards for our camera and switch them out as we fill them up!)
- a camera, to be honest I am not really trusting our camera to take great pictures. :) If someone has one they would like to loan us, that is light weight, small, easy to use and takes quality pictures quickly, that you would TRUST us with...we would love to borrow it. If not we will do with what we have and I am sure it will be fine. (jon keeps telling me it will be fine some I am probably just worrying needlessly:) )
Thank you so much for reading this. Please let me know if you have items you would like to donate. If you need my contact info please comment here with your email and I will contact you. Otherwise, I would think most of you are friends with me on facebook or have my phone number...just contact me that way! (It would be awesome if all donations came pre-cleaned/ready to go for the kids, because I am a little overwhelmed already with packing :) )
Again, thank you friend for all you have provided for us and for these kids. Please keep praying for Simon and for our family. Also please pray for other kids in his orphanage to get families, pray for the director to have everything she needs to protect and care for these children. Pray for those working and the orphanage and their Babas to have a deep love for these kids and a teachable spirit as they adjust to the new directors new policies. Pray too that we will get to see and touch other kids while we are there, and that we will be an encouragement to other adoptive parents, orphanage workers and Babas while we are there. THANK YOU.
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