Showing posts with label newspaper article. Show all posts
Showing posts with label newspaper article. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Another newspaper article ...
We had another article written about us and our adoption ... this time in the Bull Run Observer. There is not an online link, so I'll try to type it up in my spare time. ;)
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Touched by our community
After the article about our family was published on Thursday, we found our community reaching out to us. That was such an awesome feeling. I never really know what to expect from people after they learn our child has Down syndrome ... and that we are adopting another child with Down syndrome.
On Thursday afternoon, I got an email from a local mom who wanted to donate some stuff for our garage sale. She learned about us through a friend who had seen a post on a local mom's group about our story and our garage sale. I was touched in two ways ... one because someone {whom I believe lives a street over, but I do not personally know} was nice enough to post to local moms asking them to support us ... and two because a local mom went out of her way to drop off some donations.
A bit later, an older gentleman knocked on my door. I honestly thought he was going to ask if he could shop early. I opened the door and he said, "Well, hello there darling. I read your story in the paper and I was so touched by it. I have some things I want to give you for your sale." I about cried ... this man was so sweet, so genuine. He gave us a lawn mower, coffee pot and a toaster oven.
So, if you are reading ... thank you so much to those of you who have reached out to us from our community. It means more to us than you will ever know!
On Thursday afternoon, I got an email from a local mom who wanted to donate some stuff for our garage sale. She learned about us through a friend who had seen a post on a local mom's group about our story and our garage sale. I was touched in two ways ... one because someone {whom I believe lives a street over, but I do not personally know} was nice enough to post to local moms asking them to support us ... and two because a local mom went out of her way to drop off some donations.
A bit later, an older gentleman knocked on my door. I honestly thought he was going to ask if he could shop early. I opened the door and he said, "Well, hello there darling. I read your story in the paper and I was so touched by it. I have some things I want to give you for your sale." I about cried ... this man was so sweet, so genuine. He gave us a lawn mower, coffee pot and a toaster oven.
So, if you are reading ... thank you so much to those of you who have reached out to us from our community. It means more to us than you will ever know!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Our Newspaper Article
There is an article in the Washington Post today about our family. The article speaks about our adoption of a child with Down syndrome and our garage sale that we are having this weekend. I am so impressed with the reporter and the article in general. If it helps just one person understand why we are doing this or why we have been touched so much by Down syndrome, then our job is done. Yay!
A Garage Sale in Bristow for a Little Girl in Russia: The Balsises' Daughter Has Down Syndrome. They Plan to Adopt Another With the Same Disorder.
There is nothing out of the ordinary about the stereo systems, clothes, dishes and lamps that Kyle and Bethany Balsis of Bristow hope to sell at their garage sale this weekend. But what they plan to do with the proceeds is help cover the costs of adopting a young girl with Down syndrome from Russia.
The couple's main reason for adopting a child with the chromosomal anomaly is equally surprising. They already have one. Since the younger of their two children, Peyton, was born with Down syndrome 2 1/2 years ago, the couple have considered her a blessing, saying she has changed their perspective on what is important in life.
"There are other things out there besides a job and material things," said Kyle, 34, of what his daughter has taught him.
Bethany, 33, described her daughter as "very outgoing," recalling a recent family outing to Chili's. Peyton stopped by every table she passed on the way out to wave and say hi.
"She does stuff like that all the time," Bethany said.
Before Peyton was born, Bethany said, the couple had planned to have three children. But she got interested in international adoption after reading on the Internet about the treatment of children with Down syndrome elsewhere in the world.
In Russia, Bethany said, they are often abandoned at birth because society does not accept them. If not adopted by age 4, she said, many end up in institutions.
"It's stuff like that that makes you want to do your part, no matter how small it might seem," Bethany said.
She and her husband soon decided to help one of those children and began the adoption process in May.
The couple plans to file the paperwork in a few weeks, then travel to Russia in late September or October to meet the child they are paired with. They will return to Russia for the official transfer of custody. They said they hope to have the child, whom they plan to name Addison, home by Christmas.
The process is not cheap. The adoption agency will waive its fees because the Balsises are adopting a child with special needs, but they have to pay the Russian agency and cover the costs for food, travel and interpretation. Kyle estimates that the whole process will cost them close to $20,000.
"At the end of the day, it's all worth it if you can get a child out of where they shouldn't be and get them in a home," he said.
Raising a child with Down syndrome entails difficulties, Bethany said, but she worries about many of the same things other parents do.
"What does everybody want?" Bethany said. "They want their child to be accepted into society."
The couple said they hope to create a warm environment, in which all their children will be loved and supported. They see their 4-year-old son, Mason, doing his part.
"The whole Down syndrome issue is over his head," Bethany said. "He doesn't even know his sister has Down syndrome. To him, it's just his sister, and that's how she is."
Mason has been asking when his new sister will arrive, she said.
The Balsises' garage sale will be from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. All proceeds from the sale, and all other contributions, will go into an account to help pay for the adoption and are tax-deductible.
For more information, see Bethany's adoption blog at http://dreamingonanangel.blogspot.com
A Garage Sale in Bristow for a Little Girl in Russia: The Balsises' Daughter Has Down Syndrome. They Plan to Adopt Another With the Same Disorder.
There is nothing out of the ordinary about the stereo systems, clothes, dishes and lamps that Kyle and Bethany Balsis of Bristow hope to sell at their garage sale this weekend. But what they plan to do with the proceeds is help cover the costs of adopting a young girl with Down syndrome from Russia.
The couple's main reason for adopting a child with the chromosomal anomaly is equally surprising. They already have one. Since the younger of their two children, Peyton, was born with Down syndrome 2 1/2 years ago, the couple have considered her a blessing, saying she has changed their perspective on what is important in life.
"There are other things out there besides a job and material things," said Kyle, 34, of what his daughter has taught him.
Bethany, 33, described her daughter as "very outgoing," recalling a recent family outing to Chili's. Peyton stopped by every table she passed on the way out to wave and say hi.
"She does stuff like that all the time," Bethany said.
Before Peyton was born, Bethany said, the couple had planned to have three children. But she got interested in international adoption after reading on the Internet about the treatment of children with Down syndrome elsewhere in the world.
In Russia, Bethany said, they are often abandoned at birth because society does not accept them. If not adopted by age 4, she said, many end up in institutions.
"It's stuff like that that makes you want to do your part, no matter how small it might seem," Bethany said.
She and her husband soon decided to help one of those children and began the adoption process in May.
The couple plans to file the paperwork in a few weeks, then travel to Russia in late September or October to meet the child they are paired with. They will return to Russia for the official transfer of custody. They said they hope to have the child, whom they plan to name Addison, home by Christmas.
The process is not cheap. The adoption agency will waive its fees because the Balsises are adopting a child with special needs, but they have to pay the Russian agency and cover the costs for food, travel and interpretation. Kyle estimates that the whole process will cost them close to $20,000.
"At the end of the day, it's all worth it if you can get a child out of where they shouldn't be and get them in a home," he said.
Raising a child with Down syndrome entails difficulties, Bethany said, but she worries about many of the same things other parents do.
"What does everybody want?" Bethany said. "They want their child to be accepted into society."
The couple said they hope to create a warm environment, in which all their children will be loved and supported. They see their 4-year-old son, Mason, doing his part.
"The whole Down syndrome issue is over his head," Bethany said. "He doesn't even know his sister has Down syndrome. To him, it's just his sister, and that's how she is."
Mason has been asking when his new sister will arrive, she said.
The Balsises' garage sale will be from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. All proceeds from the sale, and all other contributions, will go into an account to help pay for the adoption and are tax-deductible.
For more information, see Bethany's adoption blog at http://dreamingonanangel.blogspot.com
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