Our Adoption Auction

Way back when (in June), when we were attempting to raise $35,000 for our adoption, we had ourselves an auction/dinner at our house.  I've been wanting to post about this event for a while now, because it was the fundraiser that brought in the most money for us.  I thought I would share some of the details, in case anyone wants to do something similar in their own fundraising endeavors.  We figured this auction would bring in about $2,000, but in my little dream world, I secretly hoped it would bring in closer to $5,000.

We hosted dinner in our backyard.  We asked a couple different Chick-fil-A franchises to donate food, and they were so generous to provide enough to feed 100 people!  For dessert, I made a couple different kinds of cupcakes.  We had a suggested donation of $15 for the dinner. We just left a little basket on the table next to this sign and let people drop in money if they wanted to.

 Our friend Wes is an amazing DJ, and was kind enough to offer his services for the party.

Inside our living room was the auction. We moved all of our furniture onto our deck in the backyard for extra seating, so we had a cleared out space inside.  We put together some items ourselves, but we also had lots of donations.  We posted about it on social media and asked for donations in our support letter (here is a later version of that letter, if you're interested).  Lots of people donated items and services.  I'm including a list of all the items we had at the end of this post.  I'm so bummed that I didn't get pictures of it all set up before people got there, but, as per usual, I was running around up until the last minute trying to get everything ready.  So, here it is after all the items were gone...

And here it is during the bidding...

I designed this bid sheet to put with each item.  I just wrote in the item name, the value, the starting bid, and what the bids had to increase by. The auction was open from 7-9pm.  It was actually so much fun to see people strategizing and outbidding each other.  People got really into it.

I also ended up setting up all the stuff I sell at boutiques in our dining room.  It was not a part of the original plan, but it made sense.  I just put a little box on the table in case people wanted to buy anything.  I ended up selling ALOT, so it was a good addition.

We had such an incredible turnout.  There were so many more people than we expected there, some I had never even met. People ate, socialized, stayed late, and gave generously.

At the end of the night, we announced the winners.

Then, we had all this money to count.

The Grand Total:

$7,000

Far exceeding our expectation and my wildest dreams.

Bottom line: God is good and we have incredibly generous people in our lives.

It was an AMAZING night!

Here are a few tips, in case you decide to do one of these for yourself:

• Ask for donations for the auction in advance
• Ask for food donations.  It is so much easier to not have to worry about making food.  If you can't get it donated, try to do it potluck style so you aren't spending lots of time/money preparing food.
• Invite anyone and everyone you know.  We sent out a letter and invited all our friends. We also posted it on facebook and shared about it with our church.  We even let our friends invite people.
• Delegate. Figure out the different things that need to be done throughout the night, and assign different people jobs.  Have someone oversee the silent auction.  People can direct questions their way, since you will most likely be pulled in a million directions. You can also have someone keep track of the food table to refill anything, someone to do trash duty, someone taking pictures, etc.  It would also be helpful to have someone that manages the items and money that get exchanged at the end of the auction.  We did not have someone do this, and things got a little confusing at the end....it obviously still worked out.
• If you have other fundraisers that you are doing, like selling things, consider putting that out too.

That's all I can think of for now.  If you have any questions or if you want any of the signs or bidding sheets for your own auction, feel free to email me.

And now for the list of items that were auctioned off:

• Rip Curl Clothes and Hats (we have a friend who worked for them and donated TONS of stuff)
• Trader Joe's Basket with lots of goodies and a gift card
• Set of Burlap Pillows made by a friend (you can kind of see them in one of the pictures above)
• 2 night stay at the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort and Spa
• Owl Purse with Lots of Goodies for Little Girl
• Basket of Children's Chapter Books
• 5 Different Adorable Lamps made by a friend
• Stella and Dot Bracelet
• Pilates Basket with Pilates Gear and a Gift Certificate for a Class
• Voluspa Basket
• One Hour Photo Shoot with X & V Photography (the same photographer who took AMAZING pictures of Silas that I can't wait to share!)
• Picnic/Beach Basket
• Adirondack Chairs made by Nick
• Basket of Children's Picture Books
• Caramel Cup Cake
• Quilt made by my Grandma
• Twirpy Woods Block Frame and Birdhouse
• Baby Basket with a Quilt made by Nick's mom and other fun Baby stuff
• Knit Scarves from iKnit2
• Custom Succulent Monogram Wreath
• One Month CrossFit Membership to CrossFit Tustin
  
  
  
  
  In the near (hopefully) future, I'm going to write a post breaking down all the things we did to raise the $35,000 for our adoption.  But really it wasn't us.  It was God.  How else can anyone raise that much money in 3 months? 

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Happy 2016!

 

We were a bit late with a Christmas card this year, so it turned into the New Year's card above instead. We also included an adoption announcement and letter about our adoption. Here's the letter sharing about our adoption and letting people know how they can support us....

Dear Friends and Family,

We've officially started the adoption process again! Our home study is done, we’ve been properly fingerprinted by the FBI, and our adoption profile book (just think glossy-GQ/hipster pics of myself and you’ll be close) has been submitted to our agency.  As long as the FBI doesn’t get wind of the time Silas rolled off the bed headfirst while we were in the kitchen, we should be declared “fit to parent” and well on our way to baby #2.  Needless to say we’re excited.  Mindy prays we get a baby tomorrow. I then counter her prayers with a prayer of my own for a longer timeline that will let me finish remodeling the bathroom.  And then I remind Min, “The fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much.”  As for Silas, we’re pretty sure he’s ok with the idea of a sibling, so long as it doesn’t detract him from his trains and trucks.

While Silas was napping the other day, Min and I were trying to articulate the difference between this adoption process and Silas’s adoption.  Last time we were green and had no idea what to expect.  This time, however, comes with the benefit of memory.  Adoption pushes past what is manageable and predictable, but God’s very real provision and care last time around make banking on God’s resources this time a bit more of a reality.  The preacher in me would call this faith.

This time around also comes with a clarity of conviction that we’ve grown into these last couple years.  To state the obvious, adoption made us a “trans-racial family”, which is one way of saying Silas has better hair than anything his mother and father could have produced.  Being a trans-racial family in Orange County means we stand out.  Two white-as-can-be parents chasing after a toddler with an afro makes for a peculiar scene at the beach. Peculiar as it may look, we’re convinced that trans-racial adoption is normal in God’s economy and reflects both the strangeness and the goodness of the gospel itself.  Not the thin sort of gospel that promises “heaven when you die” at the bargain price of a one time prayer and nothing else.  But rather, a thicker, Jesus-oriented gospel that really does shape how we order our lives now. This gospel says in Christ there is no dividing line or hostility between races.  This gospel says in Christ we’re all adopted.  This gospel says in Christ there is reconciliation and peace to be had in a broken world. 

That being said, we’d really appreciate your support in the following ways:

First, we would really appreciate your prayers.  Please pray for the process, for the baby, for the birth family, and for us.  The love and sacrifice required to place a baby for adoption is both heartbreaking and beautiful.  So, please pray for the birth family, and the birth mom as she grapples with this decision.  And please pray for us, that we would draw our strength from God and trust him through this process.

Second, We could use your financial support.  Adoption is quite expensive but we are confident that God will provide, as he always does. We are still amazed at how well we were provided for with Silas's adoption and know God will make a way again.  If you’d like to support us financially, there are a couple of ways you can do so.

1) We have two fundraising sites, one of which is tax deductible. Both of these sites take a small percentage of the donation, so if you prefer to mail a check, that is another option. The sites are:

            www.youcaring.com/kinnieradoption (takes about 2.5%)

            www.adopttogether.org/kinnieradoption (tax deductible & takes up to 5%)

2) You can also shop our Etsy site. We have some items available right now and will be adding more as we make new things. The site is www.findingsunday.etsy.com.

3) We are having a dinner and silent auction on January 30th in Santa Ana, CA. Anyone is invited to join us for dinner and to bid on some wonderful items. We are also looking for donations to our silent auction. If you have any goods or services to offer or just want to put together something for us to auction off, we would be so appreciative. Our silent auction was our most successful fundraiser last time around, so we are excited to be having one again.

Lastly, we would love it if you could share our story with others who you think may be interested in supporting us.  Feel free to share our fundraising sites on social media or to pass the information along to friends. We have lots of extra adoption cards that we would be happy to mail to anyone wanting to pass them along. We know there are so many people out there with a heart for adoption, and we would love for them to share in our story!

Thank you all so much for your support and love!

Merry (belated) Christmas and Happy New Year!

Nick, Mindy and Silas Kinnier

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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The Home Stretch

**right after we found out we were matched**

As we enter this last week before our baby is due (yaaaaaaay!), we are extremely busy getting things ready. It's fun and exciting, and we cannot wait until he is here. I seriously CAN NOT WAIT! I want her to go into labor now!  But, we are also still trying to come up with our last four thousand dollars for the adoption (it was $7000, but in the last week, we have gotten 2 $1000 checks and a couple other checks.....amazing!!). So, I am spending these last days pulling out all the stops to raise that money.  We have been so unbelievably blessed by people so far and are amazed at the ways that God has provided.  I can't wait to share all about our fundraising adventures someday when I have time. (For some reason, I think I will have more time after the baby comes....don't burst my bubble.)

All that to say, I thought that I would share the letter that we sent out to our friends and family.  It will let you all in on a little more of our story, and you'll actually get to hear from Nick instead of me.  He writes a lot better than I do, but let's not tell him that.  I don't want it going to his head :)

Here you go: 

Friends and Family,

As many of you already know we are in the middle of an adoption process, and as of the 24^th of July, we have been officially matched with a birth mom who is due August 25^th.  We’re mostly excited, if not a little nervous, at the prospect of being parents to our baby boy.  Mindy’s ubiquitous list of “ items I want you to build” has lately grown to include a number of nursery items, and since hearing the news of being matched, we’ve officially entered name negotiations.  George is definitely not in the running, but one Grandfather-to-be is making a case for Buster, Pablo, or Timmy (all names of our beloved SF Giants).  

For me, the idea of building a “vintage looking crib” is a sober reminder that a) yes, we’re having a baby, b) I don’t know how to build a crib, and c) I don’t really know what to do with the little person soon to occupy the crib.  In my experience, time doesn’t wait until you’re ready, and so we have the better part of a month to “prepare” for this exciting addition to our family.  

To some degree or another, you all have been aware of our journey leading up to this decision.  We decided four years ago that we wanted to start a family, but sorting through Huntington’s Disease in Nick’s family, and then dealing with unexplained infertility have made the process challenging and painful.  We’ve both known we would make our way to adoption at some point in our life, but neither of us anticipated coming to adoption by way of the pain and struggle of the last few years. On paper it can look like we’re adopting from a place of lack- because we’re dealing with infertility. However, viewing our desire to adopt as a solution to our infertility problem or as “plan B” doesn’t do justice to the fact that we’ve always wanted to adopt. We’ve never really thought of it as “plan B.”  

Perhaps we’ve been given bodies that lack something in the way of reproductive health.  We’re still finding our way through this painful struggle.  But for us, adoption has never been a solution to having too little, it’s rather, always seemed like a natural response to the ways God has been so generous with us by way of you all- our family and friends.  We’re adopting because, despite it all, we’ve come to “taste and see” some of God’s goodness.  

Why tell you all this?  I guess, because we feel the burden to tell our story right.  Because our story isn’t primarily about us or our pain and still-unanswered questions-it’s about God and the mysterious ways he’s weaving his life into ours.  We honestly feel privileged to adopt and appreciative of the ways God makes good things grow from the most unexpected places.  

The old adage “it takes a village to raise a child” applies to this process of adoption.  We need your help.  We need your prayers, friendship, and if possible, financial support.  To be honest, it’s hard for me (Nick) to ask for help of any sort, so this process has been a lesson in learning to receive from God and others.  We need your prayers- both for us and our birth mom.  Pray for us as we sort through pre-parent jitters and for continued healing and discernment through infertility.  Pray for protection, healing, and God’s peace for our birth mom, who has shown tremendous courage and selflessness through this process.  

Adoption is expensive, as many of you know, and we would appreciate any financial support you are able to give.  We have raised all but five thousand dollars of the money needed through garage sales, a silent auction at our house, Mindy’s online shops, random checks in the mail, and through the support of our family, church, and friends.  Put simply, we’re so thankful and humbled at the way the people around us have rallied to support us.    

There are a couple of ways to help us close the gap, which are all available on Mindy’s blog: www.melinda-ann.blogspot.com.  We’ve partnered with two different organizations (Just Love Coffee and The Apparent Project) that allow a percentage of every purchase to go to our adoption.  The blog also has links to Mindy’s online stores, where you can buy any number of hand-crafted goods.  You can also follow Mindy on Instagram (@melindaann and @findingsunday), where she hosts sales to raise money for the adoption. If you are buying something from Amazon, you can search through Mindy’s blog in the sidebar, and a portion of the money will go towards our adoption.  If giving straight money is your style, we have a “donate” button on the sidebar which accepts debit or credit cards, or you can just send a check.

Thank you all for your friendship, support and prayers.  In so many ways, this decision to adopt only makes sense because of the community(s) we’ve come from.  We’re excited to introduce you all to the new addition to the family when he arrives.  Blessings to you all.

Love,

Nick and Mindy

Are you still there?  Amazing.  Thanks so much for all your support.  If you are interested, I am having an instasale on instagram this Thursday at 6:00pm PST.  All the money will go to support our adoption.  Just follow @findingsunday ...I've got a lot of great new jewelry to sell!

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