Adoption T-Shirt

Adoption tshirts are one of my favorite things to buy from people! I have a few that I wear regularly that I bought to help families fund raise. All that being said, Kevin and I decided to start our own tshirt fundraiser! All proceeds will go directly towards the cost of our adoption.

We are selling these custom shirts for $25 each. The phrase "He will cover you" comes from the Bible verse Psalm 91:4, which has been our prayer for our baby. We pray that his/her refuge is found in the Lord at an early age.

If you would like to order one, you can message me or Kevin or email me at ung.carly@gmail.com with your size. We hope to put in our first order in 3 weeks.

 If you would like to give/purchase a shirt via our West Tennessee Heathcare site (it's tax deductible) you can do so here: www.wthfoundation.org/give 
Steps:
1. Enter in the amount you wish to give
2. Under that, where it says Designation, click Enter Fund Name
3. Type Ung Adoption
4. Where it says comments, designate what size shirt you would like or if the money is for puzzle pieces.
4. Fill out the remaining info. They ask your address so they can send you a receipt for you tax deductible gift. :)


Our puzzle fundraiser is still going on, too. You can read about it in an older post.  We are loving having the visual of the support we have received as we write names on the back of puzzle pieces. I look forward to the day where we can show our child the names of the people who helped bring him/her home. If you would like to have your name on a puzzle piece and a purchase shirt, we are doing a $35 combo!

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions! Thanks for reading! :)

Baby Furniture

A few weeks ago Jay and Kari, a couple who we have become friends with though our community group at church,  asked us if we were interested in their baby furniture. They were planning on redoing their son's bedroom and were gracious enough it offer his furniture to us. We ended up getting it from them this past weekend. It is such a blessing and we absolutely love it! So, we now have a crib for the baby to sleep in as well as a dresser that we will use as a changing table. It still boggles my mind that we have baby furniture in our house. I find myself walking into the nursery to just look at it!

Also this week, the chair that my parents bought us as a gift came in. It glides, reclines, and swivels! We are pretty pumped about it! I picked it out online and never saw it in person until it arrived. It is the perfect size and is super comfy.

In less than a week, we went from zero baby furniture to having all the big furniture for the nursery! Now, we just need the smaller items and the baby who will use it all! :)

Please continue to pray for Kevin and myself, our baby, and his/her brave birth mama in the upcoming weeks and months.

Pro Life In Word and Deed

Today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. There have been so many thoughts running through my mind lately on the sanctity of human life and being pro life within the Church. Pro-life is a phrase that seems to be thrown around in the Christian circle, but our actions do not always reflect such a seemingly strong conviction found in the Church. I believe Christians are to be pro-life not only with their words but in deed as well. The word part comes easily, doesn't it? But the deed part is where we seem to fail. How awesome would it be if the Church was known to be a safe place for women who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy? Or if Christians were known as people who prioritized adoption and adoption was a norm, instead of being a topic only discussed when infertility is a reality. (Side note: It has been so sad to me how many people assume we are adopting out of infertility....really, it breaks my heart. Adoption for us, is a calling. Not a Plan B. I like to think if more women realized their babies were valued by believers, maybe they wouldn't be so quick to abort.)

I encourage you, if you are pro-life, to reflect on if your deeds and actions match up with what you say you believe.

I could write about how being pro-life is so much more than just being anti-abortion,  but now is not the time or place for that. (If you would like to talk about it, please let me know!) What I do want to offer you is some suggestions for how you can be pro-life in deed.

1. Give your home. If you are someone who the Lord has called to adopt or be a foster family, do it. I am by no means an expert on adoption, but I would love to talk to you about what I do know about it and how my family has been radically changed through the blessing of adoption and foster care.

2. Give your resources. I by no means think everyone is called to adopt or foster, but I do believe every believer has responsibility to care for orphans in some capacity. Your capacity may be your resources. Maybe you can financially support someone who is going through the adoption process. Maybe you can help meet a physical need of a foster family. Maybe you could support the single mother who chose not to abort her baby. The needs are there when you open your eyes to see them.

3. Give your time. Get involved and volunteer your time at pro-life clinics and ministries. For my Jackson friends, Birth Choice is an awesome ministry. For my friends in Memphis, Life Choices is a great place. Or maybe you could become a respite care family for foster families so you can babysit/watch their babies. They need breaks, too. Or maybe you can invest in the life of the single Mama and be there to listen and support her as she navigates motherhood.

This is by no means an exhaustive list on ways to be pro-life in deed, but I pray it is a launching point for you as you reflect on being pro-life in deed.  


**Disclaimer: I am aware that chances are,  there are ladies within my circle of reach who have aborted babies . If you are one of those women, please know you are so loved and that there is grace, comfort, and forgiveness in Jesus. If you need a listening ear or someone to walk along side of you...please let me know. :) **

Home Study Paperwork...Complete!

This past week we wrapped up gathering/filling out all the necessary items for our home study. When we ran a master copy of all we had gathered and filled out for our home study alone, it totaled 63 pages...not including the reference letters we have sent out or the Autobiography Forms that we emailed to our case worker a few weeks ago. (Those totaled 18 pages between the two of us!) We have had physicals, had every possible background check run on us, been fingerprinted, and filled out paperwork on basically every aspect of our lives! Ha!

The next step of our home study is going to be this Thursday (January 19th.)  Our caseworker will come to our apartment and double check our paperwork, interview Kevin and I together and separately, and look around our apartment to make sure it is suitable for a baby.  After our initial visit, we will have one more visit where we go over more infant and trans-racial adoption training. (Kevin and I have already been knocking out the training we can do on our own.) Once all that is complete, our case worker will write our home study, and we will have another step of the process complete!

Puzzle Fundraiser (Coming to you today thanks to a snow day!)

As you may already know, adoption is not cheap. However, it is well worth  the cost. We have faith that the Lord will provide for what He has called us to do. If you feel led, we would like to invite you to walk alongside of us in this process and financially support the adoption of our baby.

We are super excited to announce our fundraising puzzle! The puzzle we have chosen to use has the verse Psalm 91:4 on it, which says, "He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings you will find refuge." You can purchase puzzle pieces for $20 each. You can buy just one, or multiple puzzle pieces. As puzzle pieces are bought, we will write the name(s) of the purchaser(s) on the back of the pieces.

If you would like to give via our West Tennessee Heathcare site (it's tax deductible) you can do so here: www.wthfoundation.org/give 
Steps:
1. Enter in the amount you wish to give
2. Under that, where it says Designation, click Enter Fund Name
3. Type Ung Adoption
4. Where it says comments, designate what size shirt you would like or if the money is for puzzle pieces.
4. Fill out the remaining info. They ask your address so they can send you a receipt for you tax deductible gift. :)

If you are not comfortable using the site, you can also write us a check and we will deposit it for you! :)

We ordered our puzzle in mid December and it came in this week.

We have been puzzling in the evenings after work...and were pumped to have a snow day today because it allowed us to finish it! I don't think I will ever do another puzzle that has pretty cursive or a white background EVER again...but it turned out beautifully! I am really, really excited about it because my prayer for our baby is that he/she will truly find his/her refuge in the Lord at an early age. I am also pumped to have a visual to show our child of all the love and support that he/she had from the beginning.

Tia and Uncle Kevin's Child

     Our niece Kate is trying to warm up to the idea of  us getting a baby....and her no longer being the only grandchild. She sobbed when we announced it to my family...it was hilarious. During our Christmas Vacation, Kate named two of her Shopkins backpacks Tia and Uncle Kevin. This morning, Patrick sent me a text with the Shopkins pics and Kate's quote, "Tia and Uncle Kevin's child." I could not stop laughing.

We love this girl!

Uncle Kevin and Tia

"Tia and Uncle Kevin's child."

We're Adopting a Baby!

     On Christmas Day (while on family vacation in Orlando with the Silas side), Kevin and I publically announced that we have begun the adoption process. While the announcement may have been a surprise to some, it has been discussed and prayed about for a long time now.

     I (Carly) have wanted to adopt long before adoption was a norm within my family. I remember God laying it on my heart as a young teenager. Since that desire was laid on my heart, my immediate family has grown by two through adoption. Our niece, Kate, was adopted in 2011 and my brother, Brandon, was adopted in 2013. So, to say that we love adoption would be an understatement.

     Kevin and I have had discussions about  adoption since early on in our relationship. But well over the past 6 months or so the discussions became more serious as we talked and prayed about starting the adoption process and the logistics of it all. The researching of adoption agencies and consultants as well as brainstorming housing options then began.

     Due to Kevin’s job, we have lived on a college campus our whole married life. We originally had planned on buying a house before starting the process, but the Lord closed (really slammed..ha!) that door, which has turned out to be a blessing. At the beginning of Christmas Break, we “upgraded” our housing from a two-bedroom teeny tiny apartment to a three-bedroom, much more spacious apartment/dorm room. It really is spacious and we have it looking rather “homie.” While Kevin was negotiating our housing (first to move off campus and then to move another apartment on campus) we knew we were trying to secure more space for a baby, yet our families had no clue (or so we thought) that is why we were trying to move. We also began contacting adoption agencies and consultants around November to start applications and gather information… I really struggled with keeping it all a secret.

     Originally we had planned on going through the same agency that my niece was adopted through. However, they have not seemed to have many placements lately. Over Thanksgiving break, I was mentioning the agency and getting more information from my sister. She confirmed what I had already heard and mentioned a consultancy group that she had heard about, Faithful Adoption Consultants. They are known for placing babies pretty fast. They in and of themselves are not an agency, but network with over 60 agencies across the country. Kevin and I immediately began researching them and set up an initial phone conference. We talked with a lady on the phone who answered a lot of our questions and immediately felt at peace with going through FAC. They are a faith-based group with a heart for the gospel and showcasing the gospel through adoption.

     On December 17^th, we announced that we are adopting to our families. I made super cute onesies for both sets of parents. My Mom later added it to her mantle…she is only slightly excited. Ha! They also begged to tell their friends, but we were mean and made them wait until Christmas Day when we announced it publically. But now, the cat is out of the bag for all to know. J

     So, you may be wondering where we are in the process….

FAC has already recommended somebody to do our Home Study. We have been in contact with our assigned case worker and have begun the seemingly overwhelming process of completing our Home Study. We hope to have our portion of the Home Study completed in January and have it finalized sometime in February. Once our Home Study is completed, we will make a profile book and FAC will start distributing it to expectant Mamas. Once Home Studies are completed, FAC has an average wait time of 4.5 months, but sometimes it is faster. Eeek!

     I am going to do my best to update the blog as the process continues. (I promise it won’t always be nearly this long!) But in the meantime, we ask that you cover us, our baby, and the brave expectant Mama and her family in your prayers. There is a very real possibility that our sweet baby is already growing and developing in her womb.