Jaxon and Sebastian

Meet Jaxon and Sebastian they live in another country right now in an orphanage where they were abandoned by their birth parents because they have Down syndrome.
Jaxon (6) has lived in this place for six years not knowing the love of a family he is the size of 2 year old. He spent the first 5 years in a crib all day and can not walk or talk.
Sebastian (3) has been there for three years and is much like an infant he can not yet sit or hold his head up without support, He is the size of a 9 mo old.
We have met these boys, loved on them and seen what they can do when loved. We know once they get home into our family they will learn so fast and they will thrive, all they need is the love of their family and that is us.
We are so close to bringing them home we just need $8,400 more to be fully funded we have already spent over $16,000 so far. With your help we can get the rest that we need to go and get them and bring them home. Big or small it all adds up. Can you help us? Here is a link where you can make a tax deductible donation http://reecesrainbow.org/48525/sponsornine-2
We also take checks and of course cash. Thank you so much for your support and helping us bring these two sweet boys home.


May God Bless you

The Nine Family

TEN for $10

10 FOR $10.00 For OUR Boys! We Are Reaching Out To All Our Friends In Hopes that 10 Of Our Friends will Donate $10.00 To Help Bring The Boys Home. That Donation is a Tax-Deductible Donation Made To our Reece's Rainbow Family Sponsorship Page AT: 2http://reecesrainbow.org/48525/sponsornine-2
THEN We Would Ask That You Pass On Our Story & Need For the 10 For $10.00 To Ten Or More Of Your Friends To Keep It Rolling In Hopes 10 Of your Friends and 10 of each of their friends Could Help Us Bring The Boys Home.We still need $8,427.68 to be fully funded. It sure will add up if we get a bunch of friends of friends donating $10. Thank You! 

From Daddy

By Mike Nine

I just wanted to let everyone know that we still need about $$8,784.13 until we are fully funded to bring our boys home... We have saved and raised $6,800 from donations, garage sales, fundraisers and money that we have set aside each week. So we need your help to raise the last $$8,784.13. Anything you can give helps whether it is $5 or $1,000 every little bit helps. And just think you are helping to bring these 2 little boys who have never know what it is like to be loved my a dad, mom, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts/uncles and cousins home to that unconditional love... 

I know some of you don't understand why we would travel to Bulgaria to adopt 2 boys with Down Syndrome and severely delayed.. I don't completely understand it either but I do know God spoke to Katrina and I to step out in faith and take these two boys that were given up by their parents because they were different. But God doesn't see them any differently than he sees us and he loves them just like he loves you and I.

They are my boys no matter what their physical issues are and I love them with all of my heart just like my other 8 kids.... They are going to be a blessing in our lives and God is going to use them to touch people just like he has used Vahnya and Livy..

Who would have thought that when Katrina and I got married 22 years that God had this wonderful plan in place for our lives.

Jaxon

Update on our expenses and what we still need

Update on our expenses and what we still need
Expenses Paid up to now
$425 homestudy update
$25 RR application fee
$3500 agency AAC application fee
$40 FBI finger prints taken
$36 FBI background check
$40 to apostille documents
$31 in all for shipping for documents, checks, ect.
$55 online 2 hour class for special needs.
$20 Amanda fingerprints
$40 medicals copay for Mike and I
$16 FBI letters to be  apostilled
$18 shipping for FBI letters
$975 USCIS
$90 apostille of dossier documents
$15 Josh fingerprints
$30 apostille fees for medical letters and I-800A
$10 apostille fee for a document we had to redo
$40 shipping documents for dossier
$2400 flights for mike and I
$1000 hotel and food in country
$460 boys visas
$720 USCIS I800 for 2nd child
$360 USCIS I800A to add a child in the home $360
$40 finger prints
$67 police background check
$40  copay for medical exam
$60 apostille fees for last stage documents
$500 Hague certificate
$5000  program fee to agency AAC
 Total already paid $16,056.00

We will need $4,500 for our third agency payment
  another $5,720 for our 2nd trip.flights hotel food
so we need $10,220
as of now we have $7,328.67  in our FSP (Family Sponsorship Page) $$5,756.95 was already given   to us for the first trip from our FSP so we have $1,571.72 left
 and we have  $342 saved from donations, sales, fundraisers and money we have set aside each week.  We have $1,913.72 total for our adoption
leaving $8,306.28 to be fully funded.

If there is anyone out there that needs to make a tax deductible donation for this years taxes you can do that by donating to our adoption. You will get a tax receipt from Reece's Rainbow  to claim it, please think about donating to our adoption and help us bring our baby boys home, Here is where you can donate

http://reecesrainbow.org/48525/sponsornine-2

TWO

wow so much to update sorry, I will have to come back and post about our trip and visits with the boys when I have more time. But wanted to say we are adopting two boys Sebastian and Jaxon here are some pictures of them.We hope to go back for them in September.

we are here

We are here,it is so pretty.it was a long flight we are tired but got some good sleep last night and are going to be picked up to go to sebastians city at 11:00 so excited.

we went to the mall to exchange money.I have never seen such a huge mall and it had in it a store that was like a walmart it even had some of the same things in it like the shoes I just got from our walmart back home not sure the name of this place but it everything if I had known that I would have just waited till we got here to buy our shampoos and stuff. we got some crackers and some water.
  Our driver is Fullip he is a young guy only 20 reminds me of Josh. He is a sweet kid and think we are going to get along great with him,he will go with us to each visit and translate for us he even stays in the same hotel with us so if we need him he is always there.
Can't wait to see our little guy,not sure if we get to see him today or not.
here are a few pictures it is so pretty here.

Happy Birthday Sebastian

Happy Birthday to our sweet little boy who is 3 years old today.We love you so much and we are so sad you have to spend this birthday without us but next year we will have a huge party for you.I don't know if they did anything for your birthday today or if it was just another day but we were all thinking about you we love you sweet boy. Happy Birthday !

MOJ

Our File is sitting on the MOJ'S desk just waiting for him to sign it and give us our date. We still  need $1200 to go on the trip to go and see Sebastian. You can help us by donating to our FSP or send us a check or paypal to nine@clear.net or cash is good too :)  Thank you.

Our Dossier was submitted to the MOJ, Ministry of Justice in Sebastian's country yesterday! :) :) :) :) So now it could be 4 to 8 weeks to our first trip the trip where we get to go an meet him. we still need funding for this please help us if you can you can donate to our FSP http://reecesrainbow.org/48525/sponsornine-2 or send money thru pay pal or check just email me if you need the address. 
Wow it is strange to think that in just a few weeks we will have our boy in our arms.

Good news

Good news! Our documents are out of customs and are in the hands of our Attorney in Sebastians country.  It did require  a customs fee of around $65 that we will have to pay  but at least they are in the hands they need to be..and our dossier could be submitted soon. The thing is we need funds we need about $4000 to make sure we are all set for the 1st trip to go and see our boy.
Please help us if you can. You can donate using our chip in here on the side of this blog or you can donate to our family page on Reece's rainbow here Donate to help bring Sebastian home it all adds up and all helps.
thanks you!

Down syndrome

 Sometimes I forget that everyone else is not surrounded by Down syndrome,That my child may be the first child they have ever met that has DS, That the looks or misspoken words are just from not knowing.
  I am surrounded by down syndrome, my little man has Down syndrome, I see it all day long. Not only him but most of my friends on facebook are parents of children with DS or they are advocates for Reece's Rainbow. Most the blogs I read are about children and Families that have DS in their lives. I see picture after picture of cute little kids with DS  all day long. So it is just so normal to me, as normal as Vahnya having red hair and brown eyes, it's just him.
  It's so normal to me that now I don't see it if that makes any sense. Sometimes I forget Vahnya has Down syndrome and I wonder when we go out if people notice it or can tell. I forget and then someone will say something or smile at him in that knowing way and I remember. 
  Down syndrome is just part of  my life I forget that it is not part of everyones lives. I wish it were the world would be a much happier place.
I can't wait to welcome into our lives another little boy who also has Down syndrome.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/us-bulgaria-government-idUSBRE91J09J20130220

How this will affect our adoption timeline is uncertain at this point, so please pray that adoption will continue to move forward with no additional delays.

a couple fundraisers to help bring our boy home

A sweet friend Debbie Marks is doing a fundraiser for us she asked Christie Taylor to do a sentsy party for us and Christie is donating all of her  full commission to our adoption. Here is the link to go shop.
Scentsy party


we are also doing an auction it ends tomorrow so you still have a day to bid here is the link for the auction 
Auction 

a little set back

Some not so good news we got yesterday.a value of $50 was put on the package of documents our last documents to complete or Dossier's. Mike shipped them Fedex and didn't know that he should not put a value on them, when it asked for a value he just put $50. Since it has a $50 value listed, they are holding the documents in customs and requiring a customs fee. Last time this happened with a family, it took about a week for them to be released. They won't deliver any documents if there is a value on them :(We are now waiting to find out what happens next. 

Update on Expenses and how much we still need to be fully funded.

Expenses Paid up to now
$425 homestudy update
$25 RR application fee
$3500 agency AAC application fee
$40 FBI finger prints taken
$36 FBI background check
$40 to apostille documents
$31 in all for shipping for documents, checks, ect.
$55 online 2 hour class for special needs.
$20 Amanda fingerprints
$40 medicals copay for Mike and I
$16 FBI letters to be  apostilled
$18 shipping for FBI letters
$975 USCIS
$90 apostille of dossier documents
$15 Josh fingerprints
$30 apostille fees for medical letters and I-800A
$10 apostille fee for a document we had to redo
$40 shipping documents for dossier
$2400 flights for mike and I
$1000 hotel and food in country
$460 boys visas
$720 USCIS I800 for 2nd child
$360 USCIS I800A to add a child in the home $360
$40 finger prints
$67 police background check
$40  copay for medical exam
$60 apostille fees for last stage documents
 Total already paid $10,556.00

Expenses before first trip still need to be paid.
$500 Hague certificate
$5000 first program fee to agency AAC

We will need $4,500 for our third agency payment
  another $5,700 for our 2nd trip.flights hotel food
so we need $15,700
as of now we have $1,246.77 in our FSP $$5,756.95 was already given from our FSP  to us for the first trip and we have  $5,521.75 saved so we have $6,768.52 in all
leaving $8931.48 to be fully funded for our adoption.

If there is anyone out there that needs to make a tax deductible donation for this years taxes you can do that by donating to our adoption. You will get a tax receipt from Reece's Rainbow  to claim it, please think about donating to our adoption and help us bring our baby boys home, Here is where you can donate

http://reecesrainbow.org/48525/sponsornine-2

We got our approval letter I-800A  from the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) . This means we have been approved to adopt a child from Sebastian's country woohoo!
We took it today and got it notarized and Mike sent it in the mail tonight to the Secratary of State to be apostilled. We should have it back by Monday and can send it to our Adoption coordinator in Sebastians country so she can translate it and submitt our Dossier to the MOJ for a date to go meet Sebastian.
This is exciting we are getting so close. .

But we still need funds please help us, you can donate to our chip in here on the blog or  our FSP here FSP
Thank you! :)

It has been a little bit since I updated . We went and got our fingerprints done for the USCIS on the 14th now we are waiting for our i-800a letter and after we get that we get it notarized and send it to be apostilled then we send it  to be submitted with our dossier. We are getting closer but it feels like in slow motion. We still need to raise the money for our agency fees we need about $5,100 we have a butterfly auction going on right now but it isn't doing so great. I have found a bunch of things around the house and also have a couple people donating things and I'm going to do a big auction I hope this can bring in some money. The girls an I got a table at the doll show on Feb 2nd where we are going to sell Monkey dolls that I made as well as some of my collection of dolls and of course butterfly clips we hope to make a few $100,we gotta have this money before our first trip.
 Ok so that's all I want to talk about money I want to tell you that another mom who is adopting from Sebastian's orphanage got to see him and hold him here is what she said.

Katrina, I did get to see your sweet boy on the day we were taken throughout the whole orphanage.  He is in a room with babies .  He caught my eye immediately and as I gazed down at him in his crib (it was rest time), he made good eye contact in spite of a few institutional habits he was displaying.  Katrina, he has the most beautiful eyes I think I’ve ever seen.  Just gorgeous!  I asked to hold him and they said yes, so I picked him up and told him he had a mama and daddy who loved him and were coming for him.  He was soft and melty in my arms and it was so hard to put him down and walk away again.  I’m so glad you are motivated to move quickly to get him, as he’s not receiving the stimulation he will get from you in order to progress like I KNOW HE CAN.  What a precious boy, and it was a true privilege to see and hold him!

I would guess he’s wearing a size 9 to 12 months right now.  I’d guess him to be about a year old knowing he has Ds and not knowing his age.  Don’t forget to take a measuring tape on your first visit to get all his measurements to help you with clothing for him.  I don’t know whether he’s sitting up but I wouldn’t count on it.  He probably gets a bottle because he was in with the babies, but that’s just my very best guess as I didn’t see them feeding him.  I saw babas feeding other little ones with bottles while holding them, and they were his size.  So that’s my guess, but you’ll find out more when you go on your first visit.  They are great about answering questions about your child!  The diet has changed, and the director has a menu plan made up weekly and has strictly forbidden the use of added flour or sugar.  It is still mostly carbs, but it’s at least real food!  All the kids with Ds I saw were on the chubby side because of the carbs, but once they get home, their diet will improve to include more protein and veggies so no harm done!  I’m so glad I got to see your boy, Katrina!

It was so wonderful to get this email I am so happy that another mommy got to hold our boy.

My Sebastian baby I am missing you today.
 Not sure if it is because three of my mommy friends are in your country right now and I have been seeing their pictures of them with their boys.
Or if it is because your Aunt Christy just had a baby that I got to sit and hold for over an hour yesterdsy . 
Or  if it is because I had four babies to take care of in my childcare today that all wanted me at the same time. Or if it is because we went to our Down Syndrome play group tonight and met some new babies.
Or if it is because the Lord is keeping the desire to be your mommy strong in my heart so I can bond with you in this way.

What ever the reason is I am missing you today. I am wishing I could hold you in my arms and let you feel how much I love you. Soon Baby Soon!

donations for the orphanage

I would like to start gathering some donations to Sebastian's orphanage they are in need of one piece outfits  and things that are easy to get on the kids who are less mobile. Slightly bigger sizes for the bigger kids would be good. Footed PJs for the cold months, onesie-t-shirts, Socks, the bigger bibs for the kids learning to feed themselves....slip on shoes, . They do not need to be new but  should be in good condition no stains or  holes. It would also be nice to have some new things if you feel like shopping. If you have anything you would like to donate let me know.

FINGERPRINT Appointment!

We got our notice from the USCIS (U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services) of our date and time for our fingerprints to be taken for the i800a Application to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country.
It is on the 1-14-13 at 1:00. we sent the application on 12-14-12 .so it didnt take long at all . 

This is a big step one that can take along time so happy we got this but now we need funds more then ever please help by donating to our chip in. Any amount helps it all adds up :)