We are Elizabeth and Steven Fox. We are currently in process to adopt a 7-year old daughter from China! We have been working on paperwork since last December and hope to travel to China in December 2017 to meet Sadie and finalize the adoption. China has many requirements of parents to complete the adoption. We have poured our hearts into homestudy visits, financial statements of worth, adoption online courses, medical appointments for each family member, application paperwork, criminal background checks for six states, you name it! Steven even furiously lost 55 pounds in five months to lower his BMI so we could meet China’s extensive requirements! One thing that has gotten through this all is the knowledge that Sadie is WORTH it!
Most domestic and international adoptions are very expensive. We anticipate our adoption expenses to be between $32,000 and $35,000 (final costs depending on the purchase of our international flights). We have been doing everything we can to pay for adoption costs, including small lifestyle changes like discontinuing our cable and going out to eat less, to larger financial changes such as taking out a loan to cover major up-front adoption expenses.
We are humbling asking our family and friends to help us in one area of the adoption cost. We are required to make a $35,000 rmb (approximately $5,500 usd) orphanage donation to Sadie’s orphanage in China. This money is a “pay it forward” for the children who are left behind and will be used to support the needs of children who may not ever get the chance of a “forever family.”
In the process of raising funds for the orphanage donation, we hope to also create Sadie a “Bai Jia Bei” or 100 Good Wishes Quilt. This is a traditional gift given to Chinese babies and their parents in Northern China. Often the squares of fabric are from clothing worn by families and friends and represent the good wishes and luck of the people who wore them. We think this is a great tradition and would like to make a Bai Jia Bei for Sadie to help honor her Chinese culture. The squares do not need to be from old clothing but can be scraps or newly purchased material - what ever cloth you like. Feel free to pick out cloth because it is pretty to you, or maybe donate cloth that is special to you for some reason. We can’t wait to see all the colorful squares for the quilt!
We would love to have each person sponsor their quilt square with a monetary donation that we would put together for our final orphanage donation. If 100 people sponsored one square each for $50, we will meet our $5,000 goal! Our country has experienced so many disasters in recent months, both natural and man-made. We understand that many people have given extensively to various charities and the donation funds may be a little low. We also welcome pairs/groups of people to sponsor a square if you feel led to make a smaller donation. We just ask that anyone who contributes financially also contribute a “good wish” on the letter you send in with your quilt fabric. If your children would like to contribute their own squares and blessings and wishes, that’s great too. Similarly, if you feel led to donate a monetary amount beyond the $50/square, we would be so very grateful. If we raise enough funds beyond the required donation fee, we will use remaining money to help towards our in-country fees to complete the adoption.
We would love to have as many of you as possible contribute a square to our quilt if you are able. We think it will be a beautiful treasure and keepsake for Sadie and a wonderful way to welcome her into our family and country. We also hope that we can bless many children at her orphanage through our fundraiser.
If you are interested, here’s what we would need by November 20th :
A quick email to Elizabeth letting us know that you would like to participate so we can follow up with you as needed! [email protected]
One 8” x 8” square of 100% cotton material (washed and ironed before cutting the square to allow for shrinkage).
Along with your quilt square please include a “wish” which could be a prayer, poem, thoughtful quote, Bible verse, original thought, or whatever you choose on a piece of paper along with your name.
On this piece of paper with the wish and your name, paste a small square of the fabric (can be about 1” x 1”) that you’re sending for the quilt. This small swatch will help us to identify your fabric within the quilt. The piece of paper can be as simple or as fancy as you’d like to make it and will be kept in a scrapbook for Sadie to read. We know that she will love to read the blessings from each of you and find the fabric you’ve contributed within the quilt. If the fabric has special meaning to you, please include that information on the paper as well.
You can either give the fabric and "wish" paper to us personally or put it in the mail. You can submit your tax-deductible donation to our "Adopt Together" webpage. Your help will make this a wonderful keepsake. 2802 West Pebble Beach Drive, Missouri City, TX 77459
We hope that by inviting you into this process, you will see yourself as part of the community we hope to build around our child as she grows up. We also humbly ask you for prayers for our family and our new daughter during the adoption process and the months after!
