I’m working on a project and looking for families who have completed a domestic or international adoption without using any form of debt (even interest free loans).
If that’s you, would you be willing to fill out this questionnaire and email it back to me within the next 4-5 days. It doesn’t take super long but the more information you can provide the better. (The email address is on the form.)
If you’re going to do it, please comment below as well.
Thanks – you guys are the best!
We are Kenny and Catherine Besk. We have 2 daughters, Maizie (7) and Lucy (4), and we are waiting to bring our son Matthew home from Ethiopia. I (Catherine) am a stay at home mom, and Kenny is in law enforcement. We met working at a Christian children’s camp, and we’ve been married for 11 years.
We began our adoption journey in May 2010. It has been a long, incredible journey. We have been forever changed. We have a referral of a little baby boy, who was born on the 4th of July. He has club feet, and will have surgery when he gets home.
We have done almost every fundraiser known to man, and had a lot of fun doing them. We had the karaoke fundraiser that is in Julie’s book, “Adopt Without Debt.” That was our most fun fundraiser. We’ve had 3 yard sales, a benefit concert, a harvest festival (totally bombed), photo session auctions, a “Tag the Bag” event, and good old support letters were our most successful.
With the extended timelines, we have had to re-do paperwork time and time again. We have been fully funded at times, but as the process stretches on, more fees are added. We have enough money raised to go for our first trip, so we are trying to raise the last $3,000 for our second trip fees. Now that we have seen his face, everything feels so urgent.
In September of this year we had a referral of a two-year old boy, and before we could get a court date, he passed away. We went to Ethiopia to lay him to rest. We thought our adoption journey was over, but God stirred in our hearts to press on and continue with another adoption. Never did I imagine we would be getting a baby. Our girls are over the moon with excitement. We will always love and honor our son that we lost, and we are forever grateful that we were given the chance on this earth to love him. If you would like to read more about our precious boy and our journey, you can go to this link. It’s the only blogpost my husband has written out of our 117 posts, and it is the most powerful.
Our very last adoption fundraiser (we’ve said that before) is going to be the classic puzzle fundraiser. You can buy a piece of the puzzle. We will write your name on the back and then when it is all done, we will frame it in a clear frame, so we can always see the front and the back. We have purchased this 100 piece puzzle. You can purchase a piece of puzzle for however much you decide you’d like to give. You get to pick your price. All you have to do is go to our blog and click on the “Donate” button. It will take you to our PayPal account.
www.beskfamily.blogspot.com
As an added incentive, and for a little extra fun, once the puzzle is completed, we will put everyone’s name who donated into a hat, and pick a winner of $100! For sharing our link on your Facebook page, your name will be added to the hat for a second time. *If you would like to be added to the raffle without making a donation, please contact Catherine through her blog.
Thank you for taking the time to read about our journey to our son. We are beyond thankful for the love and support that we have received. We cannot wait to step foot off that final plane and run into each other’s arms a family united!
Part of the series “30 Things I Know About Adoption.”
Christmas is 2 days away so this is my reminder to parents of adoptive kids.
Holidays are hard!
It seems weird, I know. It’s gifts and food and fun family time. What should be so hard about it?
For us, I always wonder if it conjures up specific memories of when we got them in Ethiopia. We met and brought the kids back to our hotel on Dec. 22nd. Spent Christmas day in Ethiopia and flew home on the 27th.
Regardless, it is what it is. I try to be understanding of the melt downs or grumpiness. Realize that their expectations might be set very high based on what they think Christmas should look like.
You may find it necessary to pull back on all the festivities and keep your Christmas more simple – everything from the decorations to the gifts.
But my best advice? Keep YOUR expectations low. Don’t try to make it a picture perfect holiday, just make it the best that it can be.
P.S. This applies to birthdays, mother’s day, father’s day and generally every other big holiday as well. I think mother’s and father’s day are even harder.