Life is Like a Box of Puzzle Pieces...

Life is like a box of puzzle pieces... you never know how  the pieces will fit together until you try. Each piece of a puzzle is unique (like people); each piece has value, for without one piece, it would be incomplete; and it takes time and patience to see your efforts complete the big picture. 

For us, our life's puzzle is missing a piece -- we are incomplete! That missing piece is the child (or children) we hope to adopt. 

We've been planning something special to thank our friends, family and strangers guided by their hearts to help us through our adoption fund. We want a permanent way to honor the people who have touched our lives in this way and a way to (one day) share the stories of all the people who helped us bring him/her home. 

My beautiful sister, Andi, designed the print above for our nursery based on a quote I found online and loved. We've turned that print into a 1,000 piece puzzle, and that puzzle will hang in our future child's room. 

This puzzle will serve as a reminder of  the fact that many hearts have WISHED for, PRAYED for, HOPED for and WANTED our child to come home to us and complete our family. 

Here's the plan:

1. For every $25 donation, we will write your name on the back of a puzzle piece. You can buy as many as you wish by donating $25 for each piece. 

2. You can personalize the backs of your puzzle pieces:

• Send me a personal message to write for you
• Send me a photo of you/your family and I can modge podge your photo onto the backs of your puzzle pieces
• Send me a drawing or handwritten note and I can shrink it down to fit the back of your puzzle piece
• If you're in the DC Metro Area, you can come sign and decorate your puzzle piece yourself! 
• My email: farnumpc@gmail.com

3. For those of you helping us in other ways -- helping us organize for our adoption fundraiser yard sale, donating items to the yard sale, buying crafts through my "creating for baby" fundraiser, or giving us much needed baby items for our nursery, we will dedicate puzzle pieces to you with the proceeds from our yard sale and crafting as well. 

4. Once we have all 1,000 pieces accounted for, we will have achieved our $25,000 fundraising goal to put toward the $40,000+ costs we anticipate for this adoption!!!  (more if we take siblings!) 

5. Once the puzzle is complete and funds are raised, it will be time to transform the puzzle into a piece of art for our child's room! We will place the puzzle in a double-paned glass frame which will allow people (and eventually our child) to see both the print my sister created AND the giant family near and far he/she was born into not of blood but love! 

If you'd like to donate to our puzzle fundraiser, there are many ways you can contribute:

1. Donate through our online adoption fundraiser at: https://www.youcaring.com/baby-farnum-409586
2. Mail us your donations. Email me at farnumpc@gmail.com for our address and so we know to be on the lookout.
3. Join us to pick your puzzle piece in person at our adoption fundraiser yard sale SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19th from 8am-noon and SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20th from 1pm-5pm
4. Buy a craft through my "Creating for Baby" fundraiser and for each $25 donation beyond the cost for supplies, you can also earn a puzzle piece. 

THANK YOU for your consideration and generosity!

The Beginning of a New Adventure: Our Adoption Journey

I've written and erased this journal entry a dozen times. Each time completely different.

I began to shape the details of our special announcement, but then a lot of questions came to mind. WHAT should I share? Do I tell about the heartbreak that led us to this point so people know how serious we are about this choice and share in our excitement? HOW do I share something so exciting and precious to our family? Do I tell them how vulnerable and nervous we feel? WHEN is it appropriate to share that we've begun this journey? WHY is how we decide to share the news with family and friends so important to us?

Then the teacher in me kicked in; teach about our journey in a fun and creative way.  The advertising major in me wanted to create an awesome visual to share the good news. The effect of a decade of non-profit work took over, and I envisioned a strategic plan to make the vision a reality. The writer in me grasped to tell our story without sounding depressing.  The Christian in me struggled to express God's hand in this decision.  The wife in me wrestled with how much to share while respecting Pete's privacy and career.  In other words, every part of me was competing to express the importance of our new adventure... our adoption journey.

I took a step away from the computer for a few days, and then it dawned on me.  I was getting tugged in all sorts of different directions, and I needed to just speak from the part of me that wanted to jump for joy and scream our news from the rooftops-- the mother in me. There is no greater influence over me than motherhood. There is no part of me stronger, no voice in me louder, no piece of me more treasured than the mother in me.

So, with no special graphics, no short story, no lesson plan, but admittedly with prayer...
As a mother of one with a dream for many, I am so happy to share ...

We are adopting!

We are beginning the process of finding our "somewhere child" through adoption.  The dream of having more children has been alive and well in my heart for over 15 years, but in the past few months, the song of a child I am meant to raise and love through adoption has been whispered into my heart and most importantly into the hearts of our whole family.

We have great hope that the adoption process will work for us, and at the end of this journey, we will hold our "somewhere child" tightly in our arms and forever in our hearts as a family.

There you have it. The journey to find our child has begun. I invite you to make my journey yours and follow along as we post updates and share this new adventure through this blog.