An Abundance of Gratitude

Happy Fall, All1 I can hardly believe we are nearly to Halloween! This was a jam packed month full of loan applications, fundraisers, and a whole lot of love from our community. Looking back on the highlights from September and October, I'm overwhelmed with gratitude at the amazing humans who continue to show up in really beautiful ways for us. I can never repay you for this kindness.

Halfway There Fall Festival

This month we celebrated our Halfway There Fall Festival. While it was rained out, we did enjoy our pop-up tent beer garden, amazing raffles, and the opportunity to give the love back to our friends, family, and community who have made this year possible. Thank you to all who joined us in-person and the folks who celebrated with us in spirit. A friend, Paula from Florida, made it her goal to finish her baby bottle donations by the party. What a delight.

Honestly, if we could throw you all another party every month in gratitude, we would.

We loved seeing you and we do still owe the littles in our lives a bouncy castle.

Special Thanks to the AMAZING humans who donated items for our raffle:

• Callie Goodwin, Sparks of Joy Co.

• Barbara Gale, Yogi and Tarot Reader

• Maggie McDowell, Artist and Entrepreneur, SpazWorks

• Nicole Kirwan, Amazing Knitter and Friend

• Kelly's Cakes, Crafts, Creations, Halloween Cookie Kits

We raised over $500 from our raffle ticket sales at the Halfway There Fall Festival.

Yard Sale

Never doubt the power of selling your stuff randomly in your yard. We met a few new folks, played PS4 Games in the front yard, and heard adoption stories from the greater community. A gentleman stopped his car on our very busy road to tell us his adoption story and to lend us support. Special Thanks to Chris for all his support in helping us run the yard sale and to Nessie for tolerating humans in the yard. Honorable mention to the Dunkin Donuts and Free Coffee for folks stopping by. We do still have a few items if folks are interested (Thule Rack (for Jeeps), Arc Trainer Fitness Machine). We raised $491.

Adoption Profile DONE

Thanks to the wonderful talents of graphic designer and entrepreneur, Alissa, we have a beautiful profile book which reflects our personalities, our passions, and our life together.This book is viewed by birth families when selecting a family to place their child. Special thank you to Alissa for her never-ending patience with multiple rounds of edits and to Neile from Adoption Resources for her support, expertise and insight.

Fundraising Made Possible

We are just over our halfway goal --having fund raised over $43,000. Between working multiple jobs, friends buying sweatshirts, the bottle banks collecting change, and miscellanous fundraisers, raffles, and donations from every corner of our lives, we are one step closer to financially affording our adoption.

When we set out on the adoption journey late last year, our goal was to reach the $60,000 of anticipated adoption expenses by December 2023.

What's Next?

We are closing our October with one LAST CALL for Adopt Squad clothing. We have added NEW sweatshirts to the store. Order SOON.

We are wrapping up our fundraising efforts and are shifting focusing to financing the adoption along with taking on more consulting projects.

We are continuing to work with our AMAZING team of adoption attorneys and agencies, both in Massachusetts and Florida. We had a run of great profiles and birth families into the Fall but unfortunately have not yet matched with our birth family. Waiting is H-A-R-D. This emotional rollercoaster is challenging but know that we cannot wait to celebrate this joy with you and are so very grateful for the progress we've made to get here.

Thank you to our families, friends, neighbors, colleagues, random strangers, and community at large for being in our corner.