Generous people we don't know!!

WOW, we received our first donations today! Three in total and from people we don't even know!! There is so much good in the world! A special thank you to those special three people and those also who have shared our blog through email or Facebook or word of mouth. And yes, a thank you for all of the much needed prayers that have already started working! We are so blessed!

And you ask (well maybe you didn't), how is the paperwork pregnancy going? We Fedex-ed passport like pictures, pictures of us as a couple (home and family pictures already sent out), our notarized and county authenticated 797 along with a stack of checks for our dossier today. We both are taking care of our blood tests this week to follow with complete physicals again! Fingerprints done this week already. All we need are those doctor papers and the three reference letters and our part of the home study is done! We did not need the fire marshall to come in or have our water checked again along with some other minor items as our home study was done not too long ago for Anthony. We are very excited to have our dossier logged into China in March! Keep those prayers coming!!!

Moving Quickly!!!

Wow, we found out yesterday that we can use our previous 797 for the new dossier! It expires on March 20,2013....so what does that mean???? That means we all run around (including our social worker) getting our new home study completed before about February 20th-ish so there is time to get it all authenticated and logged into to China by the March 20th deadline.....so what does that mean???? That means it could potentially take 1-2 months off of our waiting time!!!!! WOW, wow, wow! We still have to apply for a new 797 but can use the old one to get our dossier logged in which is apparently really important and what gets everything else moving. All of a sudden everything is moving quickly.....and from our past experience that will come to a quick halt as we wait and wait for the travel approval (still excited about the news of saving a month or two)!

And more good news......an incredible, amazing friend at Eric's work has already begun planning our first event. Natalie is crazy amazing and has begun working with her equally crazy amazing husband on a golf tournament! As soon as we have the details, we will post them. Yeah!!!

And more good news. We applied to an organization today that will be able to collect TAX-DEDUCTABLE donations on behalf of our little guy (still need a name). This will mean that you can donate and then print out a tax form for your donation! Another yeah!!! As soon as we are approved, we will get that up and running on this blog. And we originally thought that we had to pay a $250 donation plus $25 application fee to get set up, but we don't because we are not going through them for the child match. Again, YEAH!!!!

A good day overall. And Anthony had a great day riding his bike at Freedom Park today in the 65 degree weather (we desperately needed the nice weather and more flat land to learn to ride)!

Thanks for checking in!!!

Paperwork Pregnant!

Yes, I am officially paperwork pregnant again! We had our first home study visit yesterday for the second adoption and the social worker dropped off that giant folder of papers to do......all over again!!!! The visit was much easier than the first time with Anthony's home study. I was so nervous and cleaned the house from top to bottom about five times (we had heard that social workers (not ours) comment on the crumbs in a toaster oven being a fire hazard, needless to say we never have crumbs in the toaster oven and not because of a fire). Last time for the first visit I cleaned under the oil tank in the basement. This time I woke up in the morning and said to Eric, "hmmmm, the social worker is coming today I should probably clean a little." She is very nice but we were so nervous for the first adoption. Now we know her and she knows us so it's much better and we are more at ease. So paperwork pregnant again! I guess I will be waking up nauseous due to worrying about paperwork. It just seems odd to us that we have to redo the entire home study again (well minus the fire marshall visit and a few small things) when we just did this. It would be nice to just do an update for the home study but it doesn't work that way. We are given a break on the application fee and the training fee. So.....it is $6,150 for the home study that includes the follow up visits that China requires (5 years after you bring the child home). I am going to post a complete breakdown of all of the fees as soon as I get a chance to when you see that very high goal thermometer on the blog you have a better understanding of where all of the money goes. Thanks for peeking in! I will post more later on how we picked this little cutie (although the cuteness says a lot) and the process for this second adoption! Thanks for visiting and please get the word out to help us bring him home!!!

Welcome Facebook friends!

Thank you Facebook friends for connecting to this site. We have been dying to share this exciting news but had a few things to take care of first.  We still have lots of work to do and would love for you to forward this to anyone and everyone you can think of. We are going to share as much as we can on this site and would love to not only receive donations but get the word out about adoption (esp how incredibly great it is in so many ways).

I can say that Baby Pell ( no name yet....we've been running by some pretty strong Italian names, but none picked yet) is now in a foster home and may have been placed in there at one year old. It is our understanding that children are placed in foster homes when they need more individualized attention and care. It seems that since being placed in a foster home he is doing so much better. We can only imagine how he will do once he gets home! It's amazing how much better Anthony has been doing since getting home. I looked at his pictures before adoption and they were so sad and without life or color. And now, what a difference!

Then and now!!!

We can't wait to see the two brother's smiling together and putting these orphanages or foster homes in their past!!!

Blessings to you and yours!!!!

"I have a family"

And just like that "Timothy" goes from being a new referral to having a family. Well, at least in the cyber world. There is so much to do to get our second son home from China. Lots of paperwork and lots of fundraising to help make this happen. He is too precious to pass up and is in need of a family like ours. Seeing "I have a family" brought tears (well more tears) to my eyes. Please keep us in your prayers during this process!!

The new Pellegrino's

Hi, we are the Pellegrino’s. We recently returned from China with our 4-year-old son Anthony. Anthony was one of 800 children in his orphanage in the province of Gansu. His cleft lip and palate was likely the reason he was abandoned. We only wish that his birth family could see the thriving, happy, beautiful child he has become since arriving in our home. He has adjusted so well and we thought we couldn’t be happier. That was until our heart’s ached when we saw a photo listing with yet another beautiful orphan (inserted in our family picture above & he fits perfect). We knew that “Timothy” was destined to be Anthony’s little brother. This little 18 month old has psychomotor development delays and most likely will remain in an orphanage for his lifetime due to the unknowns of his condition. He is in need of a family like ours to share the same love we have already begun to provide our first son. The cost of adopting is in the tens of thousands of dollars and with both of these adoptions so close in time, we are forced to reach out to people like you for assistance. Although we are both schoolteachers we are operating as a one-income family so Momma can stay at home with Anthony and provide him with the support he needs. This is extremely important in adoption and will need to continue when “Timothy” comes home. We are kindly asking for any personal gifts you can offer, whether they are in the form of products/services we can raffle off or use in our silent auction or in the form of a monetary donation. We appreciate anything to help bring our child home. Please feel free to contact us anytime if you have any questions. We estimate that we will meet our new son and bring him home from China in October of 2013. Thank you for your attention and may your 2013 be filled with as much excitement as ours!