Coupaide Campaign

Celebrating Chinese New Year with Team Coupaide

What an amazing journey thus far, as each day passes we are one step closer and feeling overjoyed, anxious, and so in love with our baby! We have grown as a couple and feel so ready. As far as time-lines we have let them go, it is out of our hands and we will sit back and enjoy every step of this journey.  When we began, we were so naive and clueless and of course we do have so much to learn, I guess that is the journey of parenthood!

We met with the founders of Coupaide over 6 months ago and our journey in fund raising could not have been better if we planned it. We successfully raised the funds needed for Phase I, this included paperwork fees, home study, social worker and the cost of our parenting courses. We will begin Phase II of our fund raising campaign, which will help raise the funds for our hefty dossier payments, and we hope to file by the end of April. We will be asking the help of friends and family to help spread the word about our campaign and how they can help by becoming a part of Lottie Lee's Red Thread - this is done by helping invite others to participate in the Lottie Lee fund by purchasing a restaurant.com gift card.

We are celebrating tonight and thinking of the 300 plus people who joined Lottie Lee's Red Thread, this is simply amazing! But tonight we have even more to celebrate. We are so happy to share that Coupaide has designed an entire portion of their company towards adopting families and currently are helping 6 other families. Just seeing all the families who are gaining from Coupaide makes us realize sometimes life's path takes you in a direction you never expected! This alone is just so amazing! And if our fund raising was to end here we feel pretty happy where it has gone in these short months. Coupaide is making it easier for us and other families who choose adoption to afford the costs.

Thank you to all who has joined this cause, we feel proud that this can be a very successful way to fund raise, and are eagerly awaiting the next step.

Smile Pinki

With the Academy Awards on tonight we wanted to share the documentary, Smile Pinki, that won the Oscar for best documentary short back in 2008.  This film can be ordered free at smiletrain.org.  We laughed and cried, and the true story warmed our hearts.  Here is a description of the film.

When she was born with a severe cleft, everyone in her village thought it was a curse from God.  With no education and unable to read  or write, Pinki's parents had no idea that her cleft could be fixed.  Even if they did, with a household income of less than a dollar a day, they could never afford the surgery their daughter so desperately needed.

Not allowed to attend school, tormented by other children who threw rocks at her and called her Cut Lip, Pinki faced a long and difficult life filled with pain and heartache.  There were times her father thought she would be better off dead.

But one day, a social workers told them about the free cleft surgery program for the poor.  Pinki and her father set off on foot, to find the Smile Train partner hospital in Benares, India, that would give Pinki not just a new smile, but a second chance at life.

http://smilepinki.com/

http://smiletrain.org/

Lottie Lee's Tree

Several months ago while researching books about Chinese adoption, I stumbled across this children's book, called Motherbridge of Love and immediately feel in love with the poem and drawings.  The story talks about the  bond between a parent and a child. The tree in the story symbolizes the two different lives that helped create one. I found a wonderful Austin artist Paula Torres who came to make my vision a reality.  Amazingly enough she grew up and attended high school with my cousin Janine.  This huge world can be so small at times!  We absolutely LOVE the mural, and it adds such beauty to Lottie's nursery.

Motherbridge of Love

Once there were to women who never knew each other

One you do not know. The other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped to make you one.

Once became your guiding star; the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life; the second taught you to live it.

The first gave you a need for love; the second was there to give it.

One gave you a body, the other taught you games.

One gave you talent. The other taught you aims.

One gave you emotions; the other calmed your fears.

One saw your first sweet smile; the other dried your tears.

One found a home for you that she could not provide.

The other prayed for a child, her hope was not denied.

And now you ask, of course you do, The question others ask me too.

This place or your birthplace-which are you a daughter of?

Both of them, my darling- and two different kinds of love.



If you are in Austin and looking for a talented artist Contact Paula Torres
paulaliztorres@gmail.com

Be Mine

This year we spent Valentine's Day different than our usual, we cooked a nice meal at home, nothing too extravagant, just enjoying some much needed time together.  The process of adoption can be so crazy and stressful at times it seems like you can't afford to take a break and when the to-do list seems to get shorter, another long list of to-do's is added.

So we enjoyed the break and a quiet night at home was wonderful, but it didn't take long for us to start talking about Lottie Lee and how next year our Valentine's celebration will be different, but so much better. After the dinner and some champaign, we settled on the couch and watched YouTube videos of other families Gotcha days.  For those who are not familiar the term "Gotcha day" is when adoptive parents meet their child for the first time.  This is our birth and what we daydream about.  Most of the time the child is terrified and it can be a bit hectic and trying few moments as the new parents are just as scared, but honestly the sweetest moment.  I just would love to personally thank all those who posted their intimate first moments meeting their child and sharing it with families like us.  We live through these short clips, and it makes this experience so much more real for us.

We are getting closer to these moments each day,