A "piece" of the puzzle

It has been MONTHS since I have sat down and written. Some because we have been busy loving

life, but also because I cannot find the words to write some of the time. We have taken the last months to grieve the loss of our girl. We are not over it, I don't think we ever will be. We still talk about her often and love her so much it hurts. We celebrated her birthday last week. It was a beautiful evening with just the 5 of us remembering her and our time at the shelter and how God has worked in our lives to get us to this point of adoption. We imagined that we would celebrate her birthday all together here in Wisconsin this year. We talked about how special it would be last year at this time... God had other plans though. God has (and IS) written a beautiful story through us getting to this point. Not without heartache and not without many questions, tears, and doubts, but also with so much grace, and laughter, and happiness, and love, and so much encouragement from our tribe. You see, nobody said this road would be easy and nobody said it would be pain free, life is messy sometimes... BUT, God told us to do something, so we are going to do it even through the pain and the heartache. Then, hopefully, there will be happiness and tears of joy and so much LOVE on the other side of all of this! We do not know His plan, but we trust Him and His plan, and we will continue to move forward.

Family Update, in case you are wondering...

 Isaac finished up his soccer and basketball seasons and had a blast doing both! He was Captain Hook in the 8th grade play and did an AMAZING job!! All while making the A honor roll first semester!! That boy. We are SO proud of him. His first year back into public school with a crazy busy schedule with sports and a lead roll in the play and making the honor roll. He sure brings a lot of light and laughter into our home. We are in the super awkward teen years so that is where most of the laughter comes from HAHA! #sorrynotsorry! :) 

Carter also played both soccer and basketball and loved being connected with his friends a little, while still home schooling. He is doing very very

well and loves working at his own pace. He is also excited to join his brother and his friends at Sturgeon Bay public school next year! He has spent a lot of time on the ice,
 fishing and has even tasted his work. He loves being outdoors at every chance that he can get! He will be doing clay shooting for school starting next week and he cannot wait! C just turned 13 a few days ago so I am guessing more awkward teen moments coming up. Now with 2 teens lol.

Mady has surprised me with school this year. She usually needs a little more encouragement to stay on task and get her work done but this year she has owned it! She loves both Math and English and continues to excel in

both. She just got done reading the book "The Secret Garden" and we have loved talking about it out loud together. She is planning on doing both softball and soccer starting this spring and summer and is excited to do both. Who knows what next year will bring with school, she is still on the fence about homeschooling vs. public school yet but we will keep praying about what that all looks like for us next year.

Adoption: We don't have any new updates, really. All of our paperwork is where it needs to be and now we are just in the waiting stages of it all. We are approved for ages 2-14 and up to a sibling group of 3. They will randomly match us when the time comes, however, we were told a few weeks ago that because of our time spent at The Children's Shelter of Cebu, we would not be allowed to be matched with any children from there. Why? We do not know. We can choose to be mad and upset and angry (which we are) or we can choose to continue to trust the process and move forward (which we are). We knew the chances of being matched with a child from CSC were slim but it is sad to us to know that it isn't possible (according to the PH government, with God all things are possible so we are excited to see how this all shakes out!! :) ).

We do have a super fun fundraiser going on right now. If you haven't liked our Schulz Family Adoption page on Facebook yet, please do so. That is where we will post any updates as we get them and also post where we are at financially as we raise the last of the funds needed for our adoption. If you are not on FB this is what the fundraiser is all about...

*This is how the fundraiser works*

1. We have a 1000 piece puzzle, “Be the Change...”.

2. We are “selling” each piece for $20. You can buy 1, 2, 3, or 10! There is no limit!

3.To purchase/sponsor a piece you can send money through our paypal account (https://paypal.me/jakepamschulz), mail a check (PM for address), or donate on facebook using the “donate” button. (or the "shop now" button on the Schulz Family Adoption Page)

4. Once you purchase/sponsor a piece (or pieces), we will write your name on the back of the puzzle pieces you “sponsor”. 

5. As the puzzle pieces get sold/sponsored, we will begin putting the puzzle together. Once every single piece has been “sold”, we will glue it together and hang it in a double-sided glass frame for our childs room so that they can always look back and be reminded of who had a “piece” in bringing them home!! 

The picture below is what the puzzle will look like when it's completed. We have been blessed by having 182 puzzle pieces sponsored so far!! Only 818 more puzzle pieces to sponsor and the puzzle will be finished and we will be completely funded!! Yay! We cannot wait to share the finished puzzle with everyone! God bless you all. Love, The Schulz family 

**For those of you curious about the expense breakdown**

~Application Fee: $350 (PAID!) 
~Home study/Wisconsin Social Worker fee: $6,500 (PAID!) 
~Dossier/US Processing Fees: $7,000 (PAID!) 
~Adoption Program Fee: $13,360 (due when we accept a match, could be anytime now!!) 
~Travel Expenses: $5,000-$10,000 (The amount for this will depend on when we travel, how many travel, and what is needed during travel)
~Post Placement: $2,000-$3,000