Let's clear the air...

I want to be sure that we are all clear on something. It was brought to my attention while reading an article on adoption. There was a line that read something to the affect that children do not want to be projects. Adoption shouldn't be viewed as a missions project.

Can you see where I'm going with this? Our blog title.

I want to clarify that from the beginning the "project" in our Minus 1 Project has NEVER been our child, but the means to which our family would work, sacrifice, save to bring our son/daughter/sister/brother home.

I sincerely hope that no one has come across our blog and thought otherwise.

If I had a dime for every time I heard, "We would love to adopt, if it didn't cost so much", well, let's just say, our fundraising would be complete. :) We certainly had financial concerns when starting this second adoption. I think most families do. That is when we began thinking of projects that we could do as a family to save and earn money to complete this adoption. A challenge, if you will, to show people you don't have to be rich and famous to adopt.

I started reading blogs and seeing what others were doing to fundraise. It was then that we decided to start a blog and try our hand at selling the idea of "got love? adopt.". Like every good blog, we needed a catchy title and that is when we came up with Minus 1 Project. Our blog would document all of our little projects, from an empty orange juice container for change to a neighborhood bbq, in hopes of inspiring other families to get up, get out and work some projects to make adoption a possibility for their family.

Again: the projects are what we have done to fundraise, not the little one our family's hearts are dying to see.

Over the last year and half, we have been amazed at how our project has grown. Our orange juice container still sits on our counter and collects our spare change

but we now have a inventory notebook and order log to keep up with. To say we are a bit amazed would be an understatement. We are humbled by the hundreds of people, many in the midst of their own Minus 1 Projects (adoptions), that invest in ours.

Through this post, I hope you see my family's heart for adoption. Adoption has changed us. It has changed our priorities and what we thought were our needs. This child, even though we have yet to see him/her, is the drive behind every project we do, whether big or small.

He or she--is worth it.

(And "Minus 1 Project" is a bit more catchy than Apisas Plus 1...although I'd love to have a blog title change in our very near future! :)