Medical Training

Brandy and I have successfully completed our required CPR and first aid training.  We are now ready to help save a life of any age.  We are now qualified to deal with choking, syncope, cardiac episodes, bleeding, stroke and apnea.  We can also properly operate an AED.  If any of you reading this blog have not taken a CPR and basic first aid class, I highly recommend you take one.  We took ours through the Red Cross.  The life you save one day might be someone you love.

Poked and Prodded

Today we both go for our adoption mandated physicals.  We have a few pages of various tests that the doctor has to run on us as well as check our eyes, ears, blood pressure, etc...  We only have a little more paperwork to get prepared then we can do our home study.  One step closer to becoming parents.  If anyone is interested in checking out the medical form, here is a link to it.  Medical Form

Yard Sale!

Our first major fundraiser is in the works.  We will be holding a yard sale on June 30th at our home.

If you are looking to get rid of some stuff that's been cluttering up your house, we will gladly take it off your hands!  We'll even pick it up!  Just send either of us a message and we can coordinate.

We're also planning on a bake sale during the yard sale so if you have culinary skills, we can use them!

We'll keep you updated with all the details as we figure them out.

Family and Friends Information Letter

Today we emailed our family and friends information letter.  I have posted it below so everyone could read it.

Dear Family and Friends,

We are writing this letter to let you know that Brandy and I are seeking to adopt a child.  Many of you know of our plans so some of this information may be a repeat.  Here goes with the last 4 years of our life in Cliff's Notes style.

Around 4 years ago Brandy and I decided that it was time to become parents.  We tried to conceive for many months without success. We soon came to the conclusion that something was wrong.  We sought the expertise of a reproductive endocrinologist who confirmed our suspicions.  We had problems conceiving due to biological issues affecting both of us.  We had hoped that only one of us was the problem, and that the solution would be something simple, but nothing could have been further from the truth.  Both of us had issues that called for medical intervention.  Our doctor told us that the only hope for us to conceive was in vitro fertilization (IVF).  IVF is quite expensive, costing around $15,000 per cycle.  We tried 2 cycles and both failed.  Due to the cost and the toll that the IVF meds took on Brandy's body we had to come to the realization that we would not have biological children.  We were both sad and angry with the hand life had dealt us.  Even with the most advanced procedures medical science had to offer, we could not have a biological child.  We completed our second cycle around 1 year ago.  Needless to say, 2011 was a rough year for us but gave us time to think. 

Now let's jump to present day.  It's 2012 and we've had an entire year to do some soul searching.  We had both pretty much come to terms with being a childless couple.  I can't remember how it came up but we got to talking about adoption.  Neither of us had really seriously considered adoption as an option because we were both convinced that we were going to have a biological child.  Long story short, we started investigating adoption.  After several weeks of checking out what adoption entails and talking to several local agencies, we decided to adopt.  You heard me right.  We want to adopt a child.  We found a local agency that deals specifically in pairing up a newborn with an adoptive couple.  They will help us locate a birth mother who wants to place her child with a loving couple.  We want to be that couple.  We have submitted our application to the agency and in 12-18 months we'll have a newborn.

Here's why you're receiving this letter.  WE NEED YOUR HELP.  The cost of a domestic newborn adoption is around $25,000.  The several rounds of IVF we did were very financially taxing leaving no money left for adoption.  We are asking that friends and family donate to the noble cause of helping us become parents.  We have put together a blog documenting our journey and also acting as a landing zone for our fundraising efforts.  The blog's address is http://newsonnix.blogspot.com  (“News on Nix”).

We welcome you to read our blog, share it with friends and help us fund raise. You may also make a monetary donation if you feel so inclined.  We have a donation button on our blog at the top right.  We know that everyone may not be able to contribute.  Some of you reading this letter may simply be interested in hearing about our progress and learning more about what couples must go through in the IVF and adoption process.  We welcome you to check out our blog as often as you like.

Please feel free to share this letter with anyone would be interested in checking out our blog or helping with our adoption efforts.  Thank you for your interest during this exciting time for Brandy and I as we anxiously anticipate growing our family over the next 12-18 months.

Sincerely,

Eric and Brandy Nix

Just Love Coffee Fundraiser

In addition to our jewelry fundraiser, we are also using Just Love Coffee to raise funds for our adoption.  We know there are lots of coffee lovers out there and if you buy through our storefront, a portion of the proceeds will help to build up our adoption fund.

Visit the link below to go shopping!

https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/nixadoption/ 

First fundraiser!

I am knitting and selling these necklaces as our first fundraiser.  This is a cable knitted necklace knit by yours truly!  

This is a unique piece that would make a great gift. I'm charging $20 for a solid color necklace, $23 for a twist color necklace, $12 for a solid color bracelet and $15 for a twist color bracelet.  For the twist I can do team colors or any 2 colors from the solid color choices shown in the drop down below. Shipping is $3.50 for up to $100 ordered. Please use the paypal form below to place your order!  Thank you for helping us to raise money for our adoption.

Place your order below:

Item Desired

Solid Color Necklace $20.00 USD Twist Color Necklace $23.00 USD Solid Color Bracelet $12.00 USD Twist Color Bracelet $15.00 USD

Solid Color

White Green Purple Blue Red Pink Orange Black Brown Yellow

Twist Color (if twist selected from item dropdown)

No Twist Green Purple Blue Red Pink Orange Black Brown Yellow

Fingerprints

We had to take a trip to the police station this morning.  No, we're not criminals, we just had to get our fingerprints done as part of this long process.

$20 and 15 minutes later we can check one small thing off of our list!  Of course I took pictures.