Ladybugs are a symbol of good luck to Americans who are adopting little girls from China.
I made this third pair of mother-daughter ladybug bracelets to donate to a raffle to help a woman who adopted a special needs child from China.
Her name is Jen, and I met her through my new friend Collin, who also has a Chinese daughter.
Jen has a Web site and two blogs, and she's on Facebook, raising money to pay her family's adoption expenses.
She says an earlier drawing went toward the $5,000 orphanage fees they had to take with them to China, and any funds raised now will go to pay the $10,000 that the trip to China cost.
Apparently, Jen put all of this on her credit card, and now is fundraising to pay it off.
You know, I'm a bit shocked by that "orphanage fee." When my ex-husband and I adopted Older Son in Japan, it was expected that we give a cash gift to the orphanage, and--this being Japan--someone told us how much was expected, but I think it was more like $500 or $1,000. Now, granted, that was 25 years ago, but $5,000 sounds outrageous to me.
In any case, back to Jen's story. She and her husband have two biological children, ages 17 and 20, and two adopted daughters, both from China.
Back in 2005, when Jen was waiting to adopt her first Chinese daughter, Olivia, she started a sewing business to raise money to pay the adoption expenses. She made little dresses in ladybug-print fabric, and created 250 dresses that first year.
She also has a family blog: Storming the Castle
And a Web site about the journey to China to bring home Natalie: Natalie's Web site
I'll be mailing the bracelets to Jen tomorrow, and then I need to ask her to give me the link to the online raffle so that I can post it here. In the meantime, if you have any questions, e-mail me and I will forward your message to Jen.
Photos: @ Monica Strasen 2010.
Design and text: @ Jeanne Sather 2010.
Actually, those costs are very reasonable for an adoption from China, which is very expensive. All told, we spent twice that to adopt our daughter (although we traveled with a lot of people since we chose to bring my then-4 year old son as well and my brother and mother came to watch him while we were with the baby). The bracelets are beautiful!
Posted by: Beresford | 02/12/2010 at 05:50 AM
thank you so much jeanne!
I have a link over www.flyawayhomeclothing.blogspot.com and soon will have it on my other sites as well.
yes, $5000 to the orphanage is really stinky! It was only $3000 when we adopted our first daughter 3 years ago.
Posted by: jen | 02/12/2010 at 12:53 PM