Thursday, December 20, 2012

ORANGE You Ready for a New Robison Video Update?

ORANGE you ready? At the end of this post is the video the Robison kiddos submitted this very morning full of Christmas musical cheer! 

The Robisons need to raise $6,000 to pay the agency and program fees before the adoption is finalized. You still have time to help this family with your $1 donation &/or sharing their adoption video with your friends far and wide. As you so generously drop toys in the Toys for Tots bins, canned goods in the food pantry barrels, and coins in the Salvation Army kettles, won't you consider dropping even just $1.00 in the Robisons' Adoption fund to help bring their babies home? 

1) Follow this link to go to the Robisons' Adoption Video post.

2) Scroll to the video (look for the star) & watch.

3) Return to the original link and look for the Green Donate button under the video.

4) Click the green donate button, enter you $$ amount, enter your Paypal password, and click to send! :)

5) Have a few more seconds to spare?? Forward this post link to everyone you know, share it on FB, Tweet it, Pin it, Blog it, email it, whatever you can do is always helpful to our featured families! Thank you Give1 Save1 followers. You are doing a wonderful thing!

Now... If you are sure you ORANGE ready for an update...

Week 2 Day 3 Update from R&S Robison on Vimeo.

Monday, December 17, 2012

How About a Hobbit Robison Week 1 Update?

These Robison boys are having fun! Here is their end of Week 1 total update video--Hobbit style!Here at Give1 Save1, we know how December can be with recitals, shopping, finals, parties, cookie baking, gift wrapping, and family photo appointments. All of these are fun indeed, but these activities can fill our calendars quickly! The Robisons are in need of  a little over $6,000 to finalize the adoption process. If you haven't had time to see the Robison family's adoption video or get to know more about them, please do so by going HERE. Then, click that DONATE button and Give $1 and then share the link far and wide!



Week One Update from R&S Robison on Vimeo.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Another Video from The Robison Kiddos (Day 4 Total)


Ready for a little Country Christmas update?

If you have not had the opportunity to "meet" the Featured Family of The Week, The Robison Family, and see the amazing video that their sons put together with their friends, please CLICK HERE to see the video and learn about Embryo Adoption, hear some beautiful Christmas music and see what these kiddos did for their family! 

Oh, and while you are at it, remember at Give 1 Save 1 we encourage you to give just $1 by clicking that donate button. It takes just one more click after that and in seconds you are helping this family get closer to bringing their babies home! So hop on over to see this family. Prepare to SMILE!

Here is the promised update video for their Day 4 Give1 Save1 totals... (but don't forget to come back and GO HERE to see their Family Video)

The Robisons know that Embryo Adoption is new to most people, but Shannon and their family are available to answer any questions you may have about this type of adoption. contact them on their blog Room For More.



Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Day 2 Totals Video for The Robisons!


The Robison children have done it again! Here is another a festive & creative  update for their Day 2 Give1 Save1 Total. We knew you would love seeing this one too!

If you have not had the opportunity to "meet" the Featured Family of The Week, The Robison Family, and see the amazing video that their sons put together, please CLICK HERE to see the video and learn about Embryo Adoption, hear some beautiful Christmas music and see what these kiddos did for their family! You will be BLESSED.

Oh, and while you are at it, remember at Give 1 Save 1 we encourage you to give just $1 by clicking that donate button. It takes just one more click after that and in seconds you are helping this family get closer to bringing their babies home! So hop on over to see this family. Prepare to SMILE!

Here is the promised update video for their Day 2 Give1 Save1 totals... (but don't forget to come back and GO HERE to see their Family Video)





Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Robison Family Day 1 Total!

The Robison children made and submitted a very creative and cute update for their Day 1 Give 1 Save 1 Total. We knew you would love seeing it.

If you have not had the opportunity to "meet" the Featured Family of The Week, The Robison Family and see the amazing video that their sons put together. 

Please CLICK HERE to see the video and learn about Embryo Adoption, hear some beautiful Christmas music and see what these kiddos did for their family! You will be BLESSED.

Oh, and while you are at it, remember at Give 1 Save 1 we encourage you to give just $1 by clicking that donate button. It takes just one more click after that and in seconds you are helping this family get closer to bringing their babies home! So hop on over to see this family. Prepare to SMILE!

Here is the promised update video... (but don't forget to come back and GO HERE to see their Family Video)



Day One Update from R&S Robison on Vimeo
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Sunday, December 9, 2012

Featured Family of the Week: The Robison Family

Together over the past week, our Featured Family, the Caulks raised over $1,000 with the help of the give 1 community towards their adoption expenses! We have a new family we will be featuring from now until Christmas. In the meantime, if you would like to be one of Featured Families of the Week, please drop an email to Bonnie at onesweetworld67(at)gmail(dot)com for an application. We will be back after Christmas to feature some new families who need a little boost to bring their children home. In the meantime.....


Meet our new Featured Family of the Week....The Robison Family!




For the next two weeks, I'd like to introduce the Robison Family to you. This amazing family is hoping to complete a second embryo adoption. This is our first family we have featured that is in the process of completing an embryo adoption, so if you are confused about what exactly this is or why a family would choose this route to create their family.....check out Shannon Robison's info page here.

Rhea and Shannon Robison have been married for over twenty years and are parents to five children. The Robisons have known that adding children to their family through adoption was something they wanted to do. They first pursued domestic infant adoption and international adoption before moving to embryo adoption. Their daughter, Sarah, who was adopted through embryo adoption, was born in 2011. Now the Robison Family is hoping to add one more to their family through a second attempt at embryo adoption.

Like domestic and international adoption, embryo adoption requires a homestudy and background checks. It requires a "match" with birthparents. The journey to adopt an embryo requires much waiting, paperwork, and financing. At Give1, we'd like to help the Robison's move a little closer to the reality of adding their newest little one to their loving family by raising funds during the Christmas season.

Please take a minute to check out the Robison's amazing AMAZING video below that they put great work into. In their video they explain additionally why they have chose to advocate for those pursuing an embryo adoption.


"Well, a couple of months ago, our teenaged boys and their friends from church decided they wanted to produce a video as a gift to their family and to their future adopted brothers and sisters. They spent weeks planning and many hours filming, editing, composing, recording, eating not so healthy munchies, editing some more, and though they did not procrastinate, worked on the project until just hours before the deadline. Always smiling, even through sagging eyelids, these young men came with their Christmas offering. 
We pray that you are blessed by their efforts." ~ The Robison's



For the next two weeks we will be featuring The Robisons and we ask that our Give1 community donate $1 (or more) towards their adoption costs. You can donate to the Robison Adoption Fund by clicking the donate button below. Additionally, the Robison Family asks for prayer in this process as well as your social donation of sharing their message.


To find out more about the Robison Family and embryo adoption, you can check out their blog, Room for More Kiddos as well as their info page, What is EA?


Thursday, December 6, 2012

From Open to Closed


Just another reminder to check in and meet our cute little Family of the Week, the Caulk Family! If you haven't yet donated your $1 this week, we sure would love it if you followed the link on their post to donate to help bring home their newest little one. Next, we have a featured post from Jennifer discussing her family's pursuit of an open adoption.


When we first signed up with our agency, we told them that our preference was to have a semi-open adoption, with all contact with the birth family to go through the agency.  After we were matched with our first expectant mother, we found our views changing.  As we got to know her, we could see her in our life, texting, sending emails, etc.  Though that match failed, our feelings toward an open relationship didn't, and we changed our status with the agency.

When we were matched with Isaac's birth parents, we met them later that week at a restaurant for a long lunch.  We talked a lot, and part of it was about communication expectations.  We told them we were open to have communication with the directly, but also agreed to send letters and pictures to the agency several times during his first year.  They were in a time of transition, and were going to move states within months of Isaac's birth, so everything going to the agency was the best solution for them.

We didn't see either of them again until Isaac was born, and even then we only saw his birthfather briefly, while he stood in the hallway waiting for the nurses to take her to recovery after the c-section.  Once they went to court to have their parental rights terminated, we were able to take physical custody of Isaac, but still couldn't leave the state while ICPC was getting approved.  We talked to the social worker, and asked her to pass on our willingness to meet with them before we left for home.  They decided not to meet with us, so our next contact was the letter we sent to the agency, one month after placement.

We've written four more letters.  All of them are sitting at the agency.  Unrequested.  We'll continue to write letters, until he's 18 if we need to.  We want Isaac to know we've tried to open communication, so that he could have a relationship.  That was our promise to him the day they put him in our arms, that we would always support a relationship with his birth family.

We've found out through looking at their facebook pages that they indeed did move, called off their engagement, and his birthfather moved back home.  We've struggled with the decision to contact them on facebook through a message, but what do we say?  How do we not pry or offend them?  How do you gently try to open up a relationship, for the sake of your child?  And if it doesn't work, how do you explain it to them when he gets older? 

For now we just wait, undecided on what to do, and wonder if this closed relationship will ever be open.  


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Closed Adoption and Birthparent Tracing - Jennifer's Story

Have you taken time to meet our Featured Family of the Week, the Caulk Family? They are in process and trying to raise the last remaining funds for their domestic adoption. Please pop on over when you get a chance and donate $1 this week. (Roman thanks you.) Today's blog post comes from Jennifer and offers an adoptee's perspective into reaching out to a birthparent. A huge hug goes out to Jenn for offering us a window into her life to better understand adoption in our own families.

Growing up, I always knew that I would want to find my birthmother. Because of laws in my state I would have to wait until I was 18, but was reassured by my parents that they supported the search.

My 18th birthday came, I moved into a dorm, started college, and broke up with my high school boyfriend. I wasn't ready to bring the emotion it would take to begin the search, and possibly start a relationship. It wasn't until a year later that I was ready to begin the search.

After calls to my parent's lawyer, my birthmother's lawyer, and the state vital records office, I had a plan. My brithmothers lawyer warned me that though she hadn't talked to her in years, I need to be prepared that she wouldn't want contact at all. That was a blow, but I continued on my search.

The state I was born in, New Mexico, didn't allow me access to my records, instead they had 'intermediaries' that had been trained in confidentially practices and how to legally search. We contacted one off the approved list, Linda, and my parents paid her fee. I knew they always supported me looking for my birth family, but them paying the cost for the search showed me how supportive they truly were. After a few weeks, I received a call from Linda saying that she had found my birthmother, so I should begin writing my letter. She explained that this might be the one and only contact I'll ever have with my birthmother, and I need to put the most important information at the top of my letter (opening lines), because she might not read the whole thing.

I wrote several drafts, each one being edited by Linda for confidentiality purposes. I couldn't write "I'm a sophomore at the University of New Mexico", I had to just say I was in college. I thought that was funny, because I WANTED her to find me, why would info about me be an issue?

Every draft began the same way though I just wanted to say thank you. More than anything I needed her to know how grateful I was for the decision she had made. I didn't know much of our story, just that she was young, and had gotten pregnant by an older man, who was married and had a family. I knew she was sent to New Mexico to live with a relative while she was pregnant, and then flew back to New York. I know it caused a rift in her family. I know I was blessed by it.

Linda sent the letter, and a week or so later, she called me saying it did not go over well. My birthmother called her and was very angry she had been contacted. Linda advised me that all hope was not lost, she might calm down and change her mind. I was discouraged, but at least I could say that I had tried.

Several weeks later, I received another phone call from Linda. My birthmother had contacted her again, apologized, and asked for a way to contact me. She preferred email, so I gave Linda my address and anxiously awaited an email.

The first email came later that night, and we corresponded for several weeks over email. She then asked for my number so she could call. I remember I was walking between classes on campus when she called.

We talked for over an hour that first time. Our conversations were a lot asking questions and giving answers on both our parts. Our relationship grew, though there are still trust issues that have had to be overcome.

Going through the adoption process with our son, it made me think of the type of relationship he would have with his birthparents. Would it be though handwritten letters, or more likely, over email and FaceTime?

How has modern technology influenced the relationship with your child's birth families?


Sunday, December 2, 2012

Featured Family of the Week: The Caulk Family

Welcome back! I hope that everyone had a restful and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday with their family. I am excited to let you know that I have gotten many emails from those interested in Featured Family applications over the last few weeks. Through word out mouth, Give1 Domestic is starting to grow, which is very exciting! Now that we are off our short break, we will be introducing two new families between now and Christmas as well as some other opportunities for giving this holiday season. First up.........

The Caulk Family


Scott and Dessie Caulk are waiting to adopt an infant domestically. They have adopted once before, bringing home their first son through international adoption from Kazakhstan in October of 2012 after pursing different routes to bring home a brother for their son Roman, the Caulks got word of a domestic match. The child they were matched with is due 1/23/13!!! The family has been feverishly pulling together the funds to pay off their remaining adoption fees. The Caulks still have $15,000 remaining to raise between now and January.

Roman is excited about the newest addition of a little brother and he would like to share with you some ways you can help below....



Let's help Roman out by sharing this link to the Caulk Family Fundraiser!

You can help the Caulk Family by donating $1 to their adoption fund by clicking below, giving a "social donation" by sharing this post through Twitter and Facebook, and praying for the Caulk Family during this last leg of their adoption process.