Hello from Team Thunderpuss!

Welcome to Team Thunderpuss, a little blog we’ve put together to keep everyone up to date about ongoing changes in the Bonnie and Robert household, as well as our plans for the future.

A little more than a year ago, we began trying to start a family. The time felt right to bring a child into the world and share with it all that we have and all that we are. Then this spring, we learned from our doctor that most of the roads to biological childbirth were closed to us. It was a trying time, during which we weighed a handful of alternative routes, but today we know which path to take.

We’ve decided to pursue international adoption. Of the options presented to us, we feel this one speaks the most to our own personal values and beliefs. We believe this is the shape our family and our love is meant to take. Over the months ahead, we plan to cut back on expenses and save the funds we’ll need to follow this road through to the child we’ve dreamed of.

As many of the costs associated with international adoption are high, we also plan to hold a fundraising event in a few months. We’ll share more information in the months ahead, but we think a “Love” themed art show will be most appropriate, given the wondrous allotments of love and talent among the people we hold dear.

As we travel this path into the future, we thank you all for your love and support. In time this path will converges with that of another — of a very special child meant to be a part of this family’s love.

Sincerely,

Bonnie and Rob

(Team Thunderpuss)

Love nest

This beautiful piece of art titled “Love Nest” was donated to our fundraiser by our friend Marilyn Cole. Our buddies Dave and Becky bought it for their home!

Since our February fundraiser, Team Thunderpuss has been quietly saving money and working a little bit on our house in preparation for our upcoming adoption home study. We have chipped away a little bit on the mountain of paper work that comes with this endeavor and will keep working toward that for the next several months. This moment, Robert is writing on the essay portion of the assignment and I am procrastinating the task of making a list of every place I’ve lived since I was 18.

Since part of the home study is a home visit, we also worked a little on our house. In the fall, we put a lot of work into the interior and back yard, but the front looked pretty sad. Last weekend, our sweet friends Ben and Michaelle came to help us with landscaping, and I’m proud to report that the front yard now looks amazing! Our house no longer looks like a sad foreclosure, and has been turned into a home.

We thank everyone for their continued love and support as we get closer to our bigger family. It sometimes seems like tiny steps, but it is happening!

-Bonnie (and Robert)

Thank you!

Dear Friends,

Thanks to everyone who came out Saturday night to celebrate Bonnie’s birthday and offer such warm support for us as we continue to grow our family. Outside it was a cold, wet February night, but the event space was downright toasty with great music, wonderful art and your positive energy. We greatly appreciate everyone’s contribution to the adoption fund and hope you all had as wonderful a time as we did. Stay tuned to the blog for continuing updates on our progress.

Love,

Team Thunderpuss

This February: Bonnie’s Birthday Bash Fundraiser!

Who is turning 40 and loves to dance? This gal! Please stop by to take a silly photo in the photo booth and dance with me.

My friend Brian will be spinning some funky grooves. We’re also going to have a small art auction to raise funds for our upcoming adoption.

If you are an artist, and you’d like to donate a piece, please email me bonheath at gmail.com. If you’d like to send us a donation, please paypal to this same address. Come on out and cut a rug!

Date: Saturday, February 18, 2012
Time: 8:00pm until 1:00am
Place: Kirkwood UCC, 2033 Hosea Williams Dr., Atlanta, GA 30317

If you’d like to help us out, here’s what you can do:

* If you’re an artist (or an art aficionado), donate a piece to our art auction. The more the merrier!
* Donate to our adoption fund at the email address listed above.
* Drop by during the art auction to socialize and bid on something wonderful for your living room.
* Stick around or drop by later for some dancing fun! The DJ will be drawing forth wonders from his basement of vinyl grooves for this party and it should be a blast.

We hope it’s a positive, fun-filled night for everyone. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

- Team Thunderpuss (Bonnie and Rob)

So, what’s next?

We have a beautiful new privacy fence! Many thanks to my family for their help over Thanksgiving weekend.

We are settling into our new place in Kirkwood. After unpacking, hanging art and getting Biscuit acclimated to the new digs, it’s starting to feel like home. Robert has a seven minute walk to the East Lake Marta station, so we sold my old Toyota to save some money on the insurance and upkeep for that car.

Everyone keeps asking what’s next in our journey toward adoption. We have been researching adoption agencies. Other than that, the answer is save money! We have a long way to go before having enough cash needed to our adoption. So, we’re being really careful with our funds and starting to build up our coffers again after our recent home purchase. I’ve been picking up a lot of freelance work and delivering for our CSA, Vegetable Husband on Wednesday nights. Every little bit helps!

In early February, we are going to have an adoption fundraiser and birthday party for my 40th. We’re going to have a few art items for a small silent auction and enjoy some music and dancing courtesy of our buddy Brian Hardy who has generously agreed to DJ for the shindig. We’ll post more soon about the fundraiser.

Robert and I are so thankful for our supportive friends and family. We couldn’t do this without you.

-Bonnie

Trials and tribulations of buying a foreclosure

For us, a new home is one of the first steps toward building a family. We were looking for a better neighborhood, decent schools and a location a little closer to our friends and church. We’ve found renters for our current home and after some house hunting discovered a cute foreclosure in Kirkwood.

The house needs work, but it’s nothing that can’t be done in a few weeks before we move in. It’s a few blocks to a Marta station so Rob can walk to the train, and it’s a short walk to Bessie Brahnam Park in Kirkwood. Also, with today’s excellent interest rates, this house is going to be a good investment for us.

We’ve been under contract for several weeks now, and had NO IDEA buying a foreclosure would be such a trial. We’ve had to deal with a seller and selling agent in another country which made communication very difficult. We had to jump through special financing hoops. Now, we are waiting for the company who checks the titles for leans and back taxes to give us the OK. We’ve pushed closing back three times now.

We keep trying to think positively about moving forward with this house because we think it could be a great step in the right direction for our family.