We are the Frisbie family. We are as fun as our last name. Although life has tossed us around a little bit (did you catch the joke? Hehehehe) we still love to laugh, be outdoors, game, and thoroughly enjoy geek culture. Together with our boys, it is a rough and tumble, busy kind of life, but we felt like something was missing. So, this is our story:
Over 6 years ago we decided to place our twin boys into a Chinese immersion elementary school. Neither of us knew Chinese, but we knew we wanted them to learn a language and Chinese seemed like a good fit. Over the course of their first year in Chinese, we became immersed in the beauty of the Asian culture. We hosted 3 students from Taiwan and loved it! When the opportunity arose for Brittany to start teaching children in China through VIPKid, she was eager and excited to learn even more about China's beautiful heritage and connect with people from China. Around the same time that Brittany started to work for VIPKid we both started talking about the missing feeling we had in our family. Over several months of discussions, Isaac brought up adopting a girl, specifically a girl from China. Within seconds of Isaac bringing it up Brittany was searching for information on Chinese adoption. We were in the process of building a home at the time, and after looking at the requirements we knew it might take some time to meet the list that China outlines. But the thought lingered, and we decided that once our home was built we would make adopting a girl from China a priority. To help with this in November 2018 Isaac also started to teach for VIPkid. He too has fallen in love with our friends in China.
Barely over a year after moving into our home, we decided to call CCAI, the agency we decided to work with and try to get a gauge of when we could realistically start the process. Much to our surprise, we realized that we actually could meet all the requirements. Within a week we had our application in, and on March 15th, 2019 we received our acceptance letter from CCAI. By May we had saved enough for the first agency fee, and then we got our official dossier packet and started the crazy paper chase. We were blessed along the way to find ways to save money and pay the fees for all the documents that needed to be verified, authenticated, and sent around the country. We also were able to save enough to pay for the home study and get that process completed. It was a busy summer with lots of extra hours working for VIPKid and working getting fundraisers up and running. With the home study completed, we were able to access the agency's waiting child profiles. Occasionally, every week or so we would look at the list for our daughter to appear, not really expecting anything to happen very quickly. We were set to play the waiting game, and just save money as we waited so we would be prepared financially when the time came in about 1 1/2- 2 years’ time.
Like life usually does, it brings something unexpected. On October 1st, Brittany, avoiding doing the laundry decided to jump on and look at the waiting child list, even though she had just checked it on the Sunday before. There on the page was a beautiful little girl that fit he age we were looking for. Brittany immediately called Isaac and told him to look at her and watch her videos. Isaac just as quickly responded said, "Brittany I want her to be our daughter." Within an hour, CCAI had sent us her file, by the second hour we were on the phone with several doctors and family members with a medical background looking at her medical history and diagnosed disability. By the 3rd hour, our family doctor graciously got us in to see him despite his full schedule. By the end of the 3rd hour, around 1:30, we had called CCAI back and said we wanted to adopt her. We told the boys and they had a mixture of excitement and confusion because they too had expected it to take at least another year. It was a whirlwind of craziness, needless to say, laundry did not get done that day, but it was the day we found our daughter!!!
Now comes the daunting part, with paperwork done and sent to China we must squeeze 1-2 years’ worth of saving and fundraising into 4-6 months. We are hoping to be in China by April so we can bring her home before she turns 3. This is where we need help.
Lulu has brain dysplasia. This is a medical condition that will require ongoing speech and physical therapy. We know that by bringing her home she will be able to receive excellent specialized care. Your donations will help us bring her home so she can get the care and therapy she needs.
The total cost of the adoption with fees and trip to China in about $40,000. We plan to bring our twins with us to help with our daughter and experience the culture and language they have spent the last 6 years learning. So far, we have paid almost $15,000 toward these costs. We also have several other fundraisers that we are working on.
In August we held our first fundraiser a bake sale and were blown away by the generosity and how well it did. We raised $1600 selling baked goods. We also started to look at other ways and are currently collecting shoes for a shoe drive fundraiser. We did another bake sale fundraiser in November and earned $1500, with several other bake sales planned around the different holidays. In January, we also plan on offering pieces of the puzzle of our life with our daughter to those who donate to our adoption journey.
It is a very exciting time in our life. We are so excited to travel to China and pick up our beautiful daughter. We are thankful for all our friends and family's support and help. We thank you for reading our story and donating to help us reach our financial goal!
