You've got mail...

Received this email today from our agency:

Hi Candice,

We got both results from the FBI checks today.  Looks like we are ready to move forward.  I'll let the caseworker know so she can schedule your home visit.

YAY!!! So excited! #onestepcloser

Update on #teammiksovsky & T-SHIRTS!!!

Things have been pretty crazy around here lately! It's wild how we have gone from everything being slow and taking forever to everything moving so fast! I'm sure we will be back to everything be slow and taking forever again as soon as we complete our homestudy! Oh the roller coaster that is adoption!

Sooooo... exciting stuff is happening! My "0.0 I don't run" hubby has completed the first 10 days of half marathon training with me! Woo Hoo! Way to go Jason! And of course, he's faster than I am! You seriously rock my face off! We currently have 4 people officially registered for the race:

But, we have about 13 that have all expressed interest and/or are dedicated to running and just haven't paid yet! So, shout out to Jenn, Michelle, Charlotte, David, George (my father-in-law), Jennie, Tammy, and random guy from my RunJunkees Club on Facebook! And then, my parents are supposed to sign up as "sleepwalkers", meaning they will pay the registration fee and then sleep! Ha! As long as they are there with the kiddos when we cross the finish, they can sleep all they want! Although, if it's up to Max and Emma, they will be up at 7am on the dot! Y'all that's over $1400 going toward our adoption if everyone registers! And often ABBA will award more than what was raised! Still, I would LOVE to see more peeps added to our #teammiksovsky! I just started running with a women's running group hoping to maybe get some sole sistas to join us ;) But for reals, if you or someone you know is a runner and looking for an awesome race to do this fall, please share our team info! I will love you forever!!! 

In other news.... we have started pre-orders for this totally rad adoption shirts!

ORDER YOURS TODAY!!!! Here's the link! Buy one for your friends and even your kids! They're awesome, right?! BIG thank you to Keight Duke from Put Up Your Dukes for the design idea and for letting us use it! And to Blake over at Big Frog Custom T-Shirts for bringing our vision to life! We have two styles to choose from, either a standard crew-neck tee or a ladies v-neck, and both are made of super soft, tri-blend cotton from Bella/Canvas! Super pumped about these shirts y'all and can't wait to order them so I can wear mine all the time! Every person who buys a shirt or registers for the race will also be a "piece" in our adoption puzzle, literally and figuratively! I haven't ordered the puzzle yet because I am crazy indecisive and can't decide on the photo to use. I have these two options:

Which I LOVE both of them, but then I was also thinking of taking a photo in front of the "I love you so much" sign on the side of Jo's Coffee shop on SoCo, 

with something like this:

or this

maybe with all of us, or just the kids in the chairs... I don't know, like I said, I am crazy indecisive! I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on which one we should do!   

We are 10 days away from our training!!! Eek! I'm so excited! I am praying that we are able to schedule our homestudy for sometime that last week of August or early September - so my prayer warriors, please help us in that! It's difficult to pray for things like this because I KNOW God's timing is perfect, but at the same time, we have to have our homestudy completed and turned into the people at the Chosen Marathon for Adoption by September 25th, so it's a pretty tight timeline and it's making me a little anxious! 

So, that's pretty much where we are with things right now, but I am looking forward to updating you soon with news of an ever growing team for the Chosen Marathon, and massive amounts of t-shirt sales ;) Thank you all so much for your continued support! 

-Candice 

I am not skilled to understand...

What God has willed what God Has planned...




*Understatement*




Gosh where to start??




So, I haven't really told many people, mostly because I don't want to get my hopes up or spread false hope to our friends and loved-ones, but a very old (old as in from a long time ago) and dear friend got in touch with me a few weeks back and offered to carry our baby for us. This was a total shock. After I picked my jaw up from off the floor, I told her that this was a huge decision and that I really thought she should think about it and pray about it before going forward with anything. Since then, my stomach has been in knots, and I've all but completely chewed my thumb nail off (it's a thing, read about it). Currently, she is still thinking about it and talking with her family about their thoughts and feelings about it. She also will be making an appointment with her doctor to make sure it's even a possibility, since she has had a few previous C-sections.




So... there's that. I have basically been praying non-stop that the Lord would close a door for us, or make our path known to us, because I am driving myself crazy trying to figure out what He would have us do!

I received the following compassionate (please note sarcasm here) email from our adoption coordinator last week (I had emailed him asking for an update on the February Training Class that he said we had a 50/50 chance of getting into):

Hi Candice, The class is still full and we do not expect opening it up.  Sorry Jerry Snider Operations Director / Adoptive Family Caseworker

Well... now I have to figure out if this is a door closing or just God telling us the timing isn't right. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like this guy is kind of a jerk. He never once emailed me to touch base, I always had to email him, wait several days for a response, and when I received one, they have always been very short and without any sense of empathy at all. And this guy is an adoptive dad too, so you would think he would understand and empathize with prospective adoptive parents. Anyway, I'll stop complaining now. The point is, we did not get into the class, and the next one is not until August. Just a re-cap... you don't officially "start" the adoption process or official "wait time" until after you have completed this training. So... door shut??? Who knows. Like I said (well actually Aaron Shust), I am not skilled to understand, what God has willed, what God has planned.

In other news, we submitted our pre-application paperwork to Loving Hearts Christian Adoption Agency here in Austin. And this is pretty comical... they also only have 2 state mandated adoption training classes a year, and wouldn't you know, they have one in April... on the day that I will be in Fredericksburg on my sewing retreat. Seriously? I get away maybe twice a year, unbelievable! You have no idea how much I have been looking forward to my girls weekend sewing retreat!  Ugh, I'm just so sick to my stomach, even writing it makes me feel like I'm going to throw up.

In the midst of all of these shenanigans, I felt it on my heart for a long time to try and re-connect with my best friend. We kind of stopped talking to each other in 2009, partly because we lived in different cities, both had our own lives, we were embarking on our very first IVF, I got upset about something stupid and she has always been a gold medalist in stubbornness, it's all so dumb. Anyway, long story short... she's pregnant! With their first child! A baby girl due in May. She even invited me to her baby shower next month and I am sooooo excited to see her and talk to her, it seems to be the only thing getting me over the crappy couple weeks referenced above. My head is buzzing with all sorts of cute things I want to make for her and baby, hello pinterest!

So yeah... sorry for all the word vomit and randomness of this post, that just seems to be my life these days - you don't even want to see my house! Anyway, if you read this and you pray, I would appreciate any prayers for a calm heart and for the Lord to reveal to us the path in which we should follow. Until then, we will praise him in the hallway.

Yup. That's all I got. Have a great weekend!

-Candice

Putting it out there...

Creating a life and delivering a dream for our family. That's exactly what you'd be doing if you choose to be a surrogate/gestational carrier for us.

While on my 8 mile training run today, it occurred to me that I need to stop dancing around what I want to say and just be vulnerable and put it out there. So, here it is. We want you to carry our baby!

I'm not sure who or where you are, but I am hoping that our story touches your heart and inspires a

desire in you to selflessly help us complete our family. Trust me, I realize what an enormous request this is, and believe me, I never thought I would ever have to be put in position to ask, but I knew that if I didn't take a leap of faith and put it out there, I would always wonder.

Of course, I know that there are agencies out there that arrange these types of things, however we just don't have the money to finance the $60-100,000 to go that route. We have some financial resources that we can provide, but not much, and depending on what your insurance covers (IVF procedure for frozen embryo transfer), we would have more to offer.

We would like to begin the process in the next year (sooner the better), but we are completely reliant on God's will and His timing in all of this. We also plan to continue with the process to adopt domestically, but will continue to pray for God's guidance every step of the way. So on that note, we would also ask that you spread the word that we are looking to adopt an infant domestically, so if you or someone you know is pregnant and looking to go the adoption route, we just ask that you please keep us in mind :)

If you would like to learn more about our infertility journey and what has brought us to where we are now, please feel free to read here. Even if you don't feel the Lord is calling you to carry our baby, you can still help us. Please, please, please share our story and this blog with everyone one you know, and tell them to share it too - this would mean more to us than you will ever know. You never know where the answer to your/our prayers may lie.

Together...

figured I'd stick with the theme ;)

 

 

Again, please SHARE, SHARE, SHARE! Spread the word (and the blog) like wild fire! And pray for us, for someone to carry out baby and/or the birthmother of our child. We love you all and thank God for you and your support every day! Please feel free to email me anytime: themiksovskys@gmail.com

 

God Bless,

Candice & Jason

Adoption Puzzle Fundraiser

In case you missed it, here's a recap of our big announcement...

Family is so important, we all know that. I always  smile when I think about how awesome our God knits families together. Every family is different and unique.

 

This is our family:

 

 

 

SURPRISE! WE'RE ADOPTING!!!

 

We are so thrilled to be able to share this exciting news with all of you! And as fate would have it, November is National Adoption Awareness Month!  

You can feel free to read all about our infertility story and how the Lord has lead us to adoption here, here and here. Now, as you may know, adoption can be very expensive (about $20,000), which was one of the major factors that deterred us from exploring the option before now. In order to raise the necessary funds for our Domestic Adoption, we are starting an Adoption Puzzle Fundraiser (in addition to the wreaths for sale in my Etsy shop).

 

You have the opportunity to be an important piece in our adoption journey by donating and/or purchasing a puzzle piece/s. The puzzle piece/s purchased will have the name of the person/family donating written on the back. As people/families purchase puzzle pieces, the Adoption Puzzle will be assembled. I will be updating my blog with the progress of the puzzle as it is formed.

After the puzzle is completed, we will frame it between two pieces of glass and hang it in our baby's nursery. This will be a wonderful keepsake for our son/daughter to see all of the people who were part of bringing him/her home.

 

Each piece of the 500 piece puzzle is $10. Feel free to buy as many pieces as you want! All you have to do is click on the "Donate" button at the bottom of this post to make a secure donation via PayPal. OR, you can wait until December 12th and click here to be directed to our secure fundraising website to make your donation (our profile will not be active until after our orientation with the agency December 11th). All donations made through AdoptTogether are tax deductible! Please be sure to list your name/family in the "Donation Details" section so we know whose name to write on each puzzle piece, or provide that info in the comments section on this post if donating via PayPal. You can also mail a check if that's what you would prefer, just email me at themiksovskys@gmail.com and I can send you our address.

 

Will you please pray for our family during this process, and more importantly for the birthmother of the precious child that God has waiting for us? And would you please consider supporting us and being a part of our child's "God Story" by helping us bring him/her home?

 

Here is the breakdown of where your donations are going:

 

Pre-Application Fee  -  $250

Orientation Fee  -  $250

Pre-placement Assessment Fee  -  $500

Home Study Fee  -  $1500

Approval Fees  -  $4500

Matching Fee  -  $5500

Placement Fees  -  $6000

Miscellaneous  -  $1500

 

*Our adoption will be through Generations Adoptions, please feel free to visit their website to learn more about Domestic and International Adoption.

 

Even if you can't contribute financially, there is something even more important that you can do for us. Please pray for us and share our blog and family profile (will add link to this once it is complete) on Facebook and Twitter and help get other people to join in our journey. Your love, prayers and support mean more to us than you will ever know!

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18


 

Guess What?!?!?!

Family is so important. I always smile when I think about how awesome our God knits families together. Every family is different and unique.

 

This is our family:

 

 And we have something we'd like to share with you...

 

 

SURPRISE! WE'RE ADOPTING!!!

 

We are so thrilled to be able to share this exciting news with all of you! And as fate would have it, November is National Adoption Awareness Month!  

 

 

You can feel free to read all about our infertility story and how the Lord has lead us to adoption here, here and here.

 

Now, we need your help! Can you please pray for us as we go through this journey?  And more importantly, for the birthmother of the precious child that God has waiting for us? 

We will be updating the blog in the coming weeks on other ways that you can help us, but for now we only ask for your love, prayers and support, it truly means the world to us!

 

To date, we have submitted our application paperwork to Generations Adoptions, a Christian non-profit adoption agency, and are eagerly awaiting our orientation on December 11th! We are hoping to adopt a baby through their Domestic Adoption program, but are always open to other possibilities. We cannot wait to expand our family and give Max & Emma a new little brother or sister!

 

Let the journey begin...

Long time no see...

Has it seriously been over 2 weeks (almost 3) since my last post?! Holy crap! Life has a way of getting in the way. I won't bore you with the semantics, but here's a little run down of the last 3 weeks...

-I started subbing for elementary, and I LOVE it!!!!!
-I threw Max and Emma's 3rd birthday party at our house, Choo Choos & Tutus, so cute, I'll have another post about all the deets later.

 

 

 

 

 

-We went to Funky Town (Ft. Worth) for about 5 days for my cousin's wedding and Jason's work, and also got to stay at The Great Wolf Lodge for the kids' birthday (Thanks Gram & Poppy!)... so fun!

 

-I was sick (sinus infection), Jason's birthday, more subbing, soccer practice, soccer games, more subbing...

-Halloween...solo

-Jason left for Tampa on business, I took the kids to Mimi and Poppy's (yes they have two Poppys)
-Printed out adoption paperwork and joined Jason in Tampa on Saturday

Yup... it's really happening!!!!

view of the bay from our hotel room

 

I got my toes in the water fire, a$$ in the sand :)

 

Yup... this happened... and it was sinfully delicious!

Didn't venture into the water, but the weather was awesome!

 

 

-Came back home Monday night (sitting on a plane for several hours after running almost 10 miles, um not so much a good idea)

And here we are! I am a about a week and a half away from Half #2, and I gotta tell ya, the second half of my training has been plagued with sickness and injury, to the point that I have had to kiss my dreams of a sub 2 half goodbye :( womp womp! I know I will PR, and am now aiming for a goal time of 2:10, so I'm trying not to beat myself up too much about it. It is what it is. Between my sports hernia, a sinus infection, and recent torrential downpours here in Austin (like 15 inches and massive flooding), it has made getting my runs in a bit difficult. I was able to get in 9.5 miles along the bay while in Tampa, so there's that.

not a bad little view!

My pace wasn't great, but when you haven't run much in about 5 weeks, what can you expect, you know! I took Tuesday off, and got in 3 miles at the gym yesterday, and 6 miles today, so that's progress.

Goals for the next week and half:

Friday - 4 miles
Saturday - 12 miles
Sunday - off
Monday - strength train
Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - off/strength train
Thursday - 6 miles
Friday - 5 miles
Saturday - 3 miles
Sunday - 13 point freakin 1 baby!

I'll probably take a couple days off and pick back up on Thursday. For my marathon training, I am sticking with Hal, and am going to jump right on into his Novice 1 Marathon Training Schedule at week 9. I am going to tweak it just a little to add in 2 extra weeks so that it will take me right up to race day!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Candice