Man life was different 2 years ago. Do you ever fe Man life was different 2 years ago. Do you ever feel like you miss something but you also don't want it back? I love our life now, too. We don't currently have any toddlers in the house (for now) but I love who my kids are, I love who Josh and I are, and I'm content with that. Sometimes I wish I could revisit these moments tho..
#ad Do you ever worry about what's happening to yo #ad Do you ever worry about what's happening to your skin under your mask but you just try not to think about it because you're just trying to do your part and be a good citizen?? I know I've noticed breakouts where my mask rests on my face and I was so excited when I found a fix.. 

Shikō Beauty Collective (@shikobeautyco), an online marketplace that just launched in the US (!!!) is a go-to for all things Japanese skincare. Their products highlight what Japanese traditional beauty is about: what we put on our skin and body contributes to our overall health. 

INMASK SALON With Mask Point Pack (Sittori), available at Shikō Beauty Collective, protects skin from breakouts, and most importantly, those caused by frequent mask-wearing. 

INMASK SALON With Mask Point Pack (Sittori) not only protects skin from breakouts and makes wrinkles and pores inconspicuous, it also fits to your face perfectly to care for the eyes, nose, and chin. 

INMASK SALON With Mask Point Pack (Sittori) can even be applied while wearing a face mask to maximize its use and self-care benefits OR over makeup! The heart-shaped mask is not only cute, but verrryy practical. 

Hit the link in my bio or stories and use code CHELSEA15 for 15% OFF all Shikō products! @shikobeautyco #ShikoPartner #myshiko
In this adoption process, we're in the education p In this adoption process, we're in the education phase and it's teaching us a lot about parenting as a whole. A lot of things I've felt or suspected but are now being confirmed by the experts ha. 

For example, we can think of kids like a bank. They need affection deposits all throughout the day. And then if/when you ask them to do something they don't want to do (aka make a "withdrawal") they need to have a full account or they're going to start to break down. It happens with kids who have experienced trauma but I think it happens with all kids to be honest. 

I've known for a long time that our kids go to bed easier at night when I've been more intentional during the day, but that doesn't mean I make that happen every time. 

I'm thankful that there's so much research that has been done on child development and we're now in a situation where we're required to study it. Personally, I love learning about this stuff!
Happy birthday Evy! How is our YOUNGEST already FO Happy birthday Evy! How is our YOUNGEST already FOUR?? We had such a fun day celebrating our girl 💕
Since moving to SC, all we've wanted to do is sh Since moving to SC, all we've wanted to do is show it off to our friends and family! 2020 was for sure not the year for that... 

BUT I recently met Samantha (@samantharaisingwildflowers), a mom of 3 gorgeous girls from Tennessee, and I get to show off SC to her virtually!! Samantha and her family LOVE the outdoors which is perfect because we spend so much of our time exploring outside. SC definitely has the weather for it! 

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be sending Samantha a care package of some of my favorite local SC goodies as well as sharing with her some of our favorite things to do & outdoor activities right here in Greenville so she knows some great spots to hit when she and her family are able to visit #yeahthatgreenville. Stay tuned!

#discoversc #ad #sc #southcarolina
The other day I suprised Josh with this necklace. The other day I suprised Josh with this necklace. Usually I wear jewelry that represents the kids but this time I wanted something that was a symbol of our love - of our promise to each other. I was suprised that when he saw it, he gave me a hug and said he really liked it. I could tell he really meant it. I didn't realize that it would mean that much to him. Thank you @relleryofficial for this beautiful piece that reminds me of my best friend ❤️ (swipe)

Shop Rellery's new Heartful collection and use my code CHELSEA10 for 10% off!
#myrellery #gifted #ethicalfashion
A month ago, I couldn't drop this girl off for an A month ago, I couldn't drop this girl off for an hour on Sundays at Sunday school. BUT - since being in preschool the last month, yesterday she walked into Sunday school, put her hand on another little girl's back, said hi, and sat down next to her. Now I'm starting to be kinda jelly of her social confidence 😆
Guys. I finished the paper work 🙌🏼 Now I can Guys. I finished the paper work 🙌🏼 Now I can only hope it's all correct 😅 Honestly such a weight off, though. I've been trying to train myself to just start the things that overwhelm me because I have a bad habit of putting stressful things off for weeks and feeling the weight of it the entire time. I highly recommend NOT doing that 😂
I felt pretty convicted recently because I was rea I felt pretty convicted recently because I was really dragging my feet getting the last few adoption documents in (bc I was overwhelmed by the complexity of them).But I realized that every day longer it took me to turn it in, it could literally change who we are matched with and the fate of our family & son forever so..
I'm determined to get this paperwork done tonight! 🙏
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Adoption, Family · March 18, 2021

Why We Chose to Adopt Internationally

Why we chose to adopt internationally

The other day I recorded about 30 Instagram stories about why we are adopting internationally. I saved them all and was going to post them later, but when I went to go back to them the audio was about 2 seconds later than the visual. Ugh. Anyways, I’ll try not to take too long to explain it. 

I’ll first say that we were/are open to all types of adoptions. We knew that adoption was something that God called us to, but we didn’t know how that would look for us specifically.

We first thought about adopting through the foster care system.

We were told adopting through the foster care system is essentially free. In fact, you even get a stipend for doing that. The thing with doing it that way, though, is that it’s not an actual program. You would sign up to be a foster parent and be placed with a child, then if the child’s case opens up for adoption, you can adopt them. It’s very not clear cut. The goal with foster care, as it should be, is reunification of the child with his/her parents. That process could be years. You could be parenting and fostering this child for years before knowing if the child can live with you permanently or not. That is something Josh and I are definitely open to in the future and we’ve talked about doing that down the road… but for our 3rd child, for us, especially me, I wanted to have him/her; I wanted to know that our next child was going to be ours. I didn’t think I was emotionally ready to not know if that child was going to be able to stay with us or go back to their parents.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR ADOPTION FUND

We then looked at adopting domestically.

If you don’t know what adopting domestically is like, you are matched with a pregnant mother and you kind of go through her pregnancy journey with her – depending on what stage she is in of her pregnancy when you are matched. You most likely will pay for her medical bills and some other things. Adopting domestically is typically less expensive than an international adoption. The whole process takes about two years, ending with a baby the age of a newborn. That to me, was very exciting; to walk with a pregnant mother and support her through her journey, and I was excited to have a newborn again. But – Josh and I sat and talked about it and realized that in two years’ time, David is going to be 8/8.5. We weren’t sure if we wanted to have that big of an age gap between our oldest and youngest. Ultimately, the age gap is the biggest reason why we decided not to adopt domestically. 

Then we started looking at adopting internationally.

We looked at different international programs, and they are all very different and have different rules. For example, if you adopt from Colombia, you or your spouse would have to be Colombian. Another example, certain countries won’t let you adopt any children under the age of 7. The tricky part is that they tell you not to – or highly encourage you not to – disrupt your own children’s birth order. With David being 6 right now and being the oldest, they encourage you to not bring a child into your home that would take the place of being the oldest or the second oldest, for Evy’s sake. 

We found our country’s program, and to be clear we are allowed to say what country we are adopting from but are choosing not to. We have heard stories of others who tried adopting from this country who had an extremely large following on social media (like, in the millions) and they were so public about their adoption that they were told they were undermining the country’s mission of promoting domestic adoption (within their country) that they ended up being denied for their adoption. That said, we are erring on the side of caution and are just not naming the country. Though, it will become obvious later because we will have to make two trips there and we will probably document it. You will eventually find out but for now, we are keeping it on the DL. 

Why did we choose this program?

We chose it due to a lot of things. We were told it was predictable and safe, they have excellent health care, excellent education, AND a faster process. It takes about 2 years, which is pretty quick for international adoption. We were told he would be between 18 months and 2 years when we can take him home, which is the perfect age. Essentially, the child is a newborn right at this moment. We will actually be able to find out who he is in about 3 months from now, we think. Don’t hold me to that, but that’s what we think and are hoping.

After we are placed with a child, we will get monthly updates. I’m hoping in about a year or so we will be able to go and pick him up. One of the things about this country, they have a lot of very healthy children available for adoption. That’s what we felt we could take on at the moment rather than bringing home a child that was special needs. With me working and everything, I just don’t think we could take that on. Culturally, being a single mother is very taboo in this country, and being disowned by their families is a big risk, (which is of course very sad and we wish this was not the case).

This country is trying to promote domestic adoption, so for the first 5 months of the child’s life they are only allowed to be adopted internationally. After that, their case opens for international adoption. We’ve been told to expect a 99% chance of being matched with a boy. There is this idea that girls are a lot easier to take care of than boys. I think there is a lot of fear around adoption in this country where they don’t know if they will love the children like their own, or that they may be difficult to take care of. This is why the country is trying so hard to promote domestic adoption. This seems to be the perception of the whole process from within the culture. We were told the girls are most often adopted first and the boys are “left over”, which is why we will most likely be bringing home a boy!

The last thing I will mention, is that something that we loved about this program was that most of the children get to live with foster parents before they get adopted. This is really cool because they learn to create healthy connections with a primary caregiver, which is not something that’s always easily available if they grew up in an orphanage setting. I don’t believe we learned about that until after we had already signed up for this country, but it was very exciting for us. All that being said, there is a lot of need all over the world, whether it’s within our own country or other countries that maybe don’t have as great of programs. Josh and I are very open to those in the future, but this program worked very well for what our family is ready to take on at the moment, with me working and already having two small children. We are huge fans of adoption in any of its many forms. We are excited to go on this journey! If you have any questions you can DM me and I will try to answer them. 

Click here to donate to our adoption fund

In: Adoption, Family · Tagged: Adoption, adoption announcement, adoption fundraising, adoption gofundme, adoption journey, adoption story, damon adoption, gofundme, hope to adopt, international adoption

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Hi! I'm Chelsea and we're the Damon's. We spent the last two years in WA state paying off student loans and just bought our first house in SC! I love a smooth black coffee, Josh's first love is the Seattle Sounders. Our kids are huge dorks and constantly make us laugh and we all love spending as much time outside as possible.

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Man life was different 2 years ago. Do you ever fe Man life was different 2 years ago. Do you ever feel like you miss something but you also don't want it back? I love our life now, too. We don't currently have any toddlers in the house (for now) but I love who my kids are, I love who Josh and I are, and I'm content with that. Sometimes I wish I could revisit these moments tho..
#ad Do you ever worry about what's happening to yo #ad Do you ever worry about what's happening to your skin under your mask but you just try not to think about it because you're just trying to do your part and be a good citizen?? I know I've noticed breakouts where my mask rests on my face and I was so excited when I found a fix.. 

Shikō Beauty Collective (@shikobeautyco), an online marketplace that just launched in the US (!!!) is a go-to for all things Japanese skincare. Their products highlight what Japanese traditional beauty is about: what we put on our skin and body contributes to our overall health. 

INMASK SALON With Mask Point Pack (Sittori), available at Shikō Beauty Collective, protects skin from breakouts, and most importantly, those caused by frequent mask-wearing. 

INMASK SALON With Mask Point Pack (Sittori) not only protects skin from breakouts and makes wrinkles and pores inconspicuous, it also fits to your face perfectly to care for the eyes, nose, and chin. 

INMASK SALON With Mask Point Pack (Sittori) can even be applied while wearing a face mask to maximize its use and self-care benefits OR over makeup! The heart-shaped mask is not only cute, but verrryy practical. 

Hit the link in my bio or stories and use code CHELSEA15 for 15% OFF all Shikō products! @shikobeautyco #ShikoPartner #myshiko
In this adoption process, we're in the education p In this adoption process, we're in the education phase and it's teaching us a lot about parenting as a whole. A lot of things I've felt or suspected but are now being confirmed by the experts ha. 

For example, we can think of kids like a bank. They need affection deposits all throughout the day. And then if/when you ask them to do something they don't want to do (aka make a "withdrawal") they need to have a full account or they're going to start to break down. It happens with kids who have experienced trauma but I think it happens with all kids to be honest. 

I've known for a long time that our kids go to bed easier at night when I've been more intentional during the day, but that doesn't mean I make that happen every time. 

I'm thankful that there's so much research that has been done on child development and we're now in a situation where we're required to study it. Personally, I love learning about this stuff!
Happy birthday Evy! How is our YOUNGEST already FO Happy birthday Evy! How is our YOUNGEST already FOUR?? We had such a fun day celebrating our girl 💕

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Man life was different 2 years ago. Do you ever fe Man life was different 2 years ago. Do you ever feel like you miss something but you also don't want it back? I love our life now, too. We don't currently have any toddlers in the house (for now) but I love who my kids are, I love who Josh and I are, and I'm content with that. Sometimes I wish I could revisit these moments tho..
#ad Do you ever worry about what's happening to yo #ad Do you ever worry about what's happening to your skin under your mask but you just try not to think about it because you're just trying to do your part and be a good citizen?? I know I've noticed breakouts where my mask rests on my face and I was so excited when I found a fix.. 

Shikō Beauty Collective (@shikobeautyco), an online marketplace that just launched in the US (!!!) is a go-to for all things Japanese skincare. Their products highlight what Japanese traditional beauty is about: what we put on our skin and body contributes to our overall health. 

INMASK SALON With Mask Point Pack (Sittori), available at Shikō Beauty Collective, protects skin from breakouts, and most importantly, those caused by frequent mask-wearing. 

INMASK SALON With Mask Point Pack (Sittori) not only protects skin from breakouts and makes wrinkles and pores inconspicuous, it also fits to your face perfectly to care for the eyes, nose, and chin. 

INMASK SALON With Mask Point Pack (Sittori) can even be applied while wearing a face mask to maximize its use and self-care benefits OR over makeup! The heart-shaped mask is not only cute, but verrryy practical. 

Hit the link in my bio or stories and use code CHELSEA15 for 15% OFF all Shikō products! @shikobeautyco #ShikoPartner #myshiko
In this adoption process, we're in the education p In this adoption process, we're in the education phase and it's teaching us a lot about parenting as a whole. A lot of things I've felt or suspected but are now being confirmed by the experts ha. 

For example, we can think of kids like a bank. They need affection deposits all throughout the day. And then if/when you ask them to do something they don't want to do (aka make a "withdrawal") they need to have a full account or they're going to start to break down. It happens with kids who have experienced trauma but I think it happens with all kids to be honest. 

I've known for a long time that our kids go to bed easier at night when I've been more intentional during the day, but that doesn't mean I make that happen every time. 

I'm thankful that there's so much research that has been done on child development and we're now in a situation where we're required to study it. Personally, I love learning about this stuff!
Happy birthday Evy! How is our YOUNGEST already FO Happy birthday Evy! How is our YOUNGEST already FOUR?? We had such a fun day celebrating our girl 💕
Since moving to SC, all we've wanted to do is sh Since moving to SC, all we've wanted to do is show it off to our friends and family! 2020 was for sure not the year for that... 

BUT I recently met Samantha (@samantharaisingwildflowers), a mom of 3 gorgeous girls from Tennessee, and I get to show off SC to her virtually!! Samantha and her family LOVE the outdoors which is perfect because we spend so much of our time exploring outside. SC definitely has the weather for it! 

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be sending Samantha a care package of some of my favorite local SC goodies as well as sharing with her some of our favorite things to do & outdoor activities right here in Greenville so she knows some great spots to hit when she and her family are able to visit #yeahthatgreenville. Stay tuned!

#discoversc #ad #sc #southcarolina
The other day I suprised Josh with this necklace. The other day I suprised Josh with this necklace. Usually I wear jewelry that represents the kids but this time I wanted something that was a symbol of our love - of our promise to each other. I was suprised that when he saw it, he gave me a hug and said he really liked it. I could tell he really meant it. I didn't realize that it would mean that much to him. Thank you @relleryofficial for this beautiful piece that reminds me of my best friend ❤️ (swipe)

Shop Rellery's new Heartful collection and use my code CHELSEA10 for 10% off!
#myrellery #gifted #ethicalfashion
A month ago, I couldn't drop this girl off for an A month ago, I couldn't drop this girl off for an hour on Sundays at Sunday school. BUT - since being in preschool the last month, yesterday she walked into Sunday school, put her hand on another little girl's back, said hi, and sat down next to her. Now I'm starting to be kinda jelly of her social confidence 😆
Guys. I finished the paper work 🙌🏼 Now I can Guys. I finished the paper work 🙌🏼 Now I can only hope it's all correct 😅 Honestly such a weight off, though. I've been trying to train myself to just start the things that overwhelm me because I have a bad habit of putting stressful things off for weeks and feeling the weight of it the entire time. I highly recommend NOT doing that 😂
I felt pretty convicted recently because I was rea I felt pretty convicted recently because I was really dragging my feet getting the last few adoption documents in (bc I was overwhelmed by the complexity of them).But I realized that every day longer it took me to turn it in, it could literally change who we are matched with and the fate of our family & son forever so..
I'm determined to get this paperwork done tonight! 🙏
I woke up feeling grateful today. Grateful that th I woke up feeling grateful today.
Grateful that the sun is out and the weather's getting warmer.
Grateful that Evy was kicking me in bed. 
Grateful to know Josh would be home from his workout soon and we'd get to talk. 
Grateful for fun projects at work.
Grateful that our sweet neighbors dropped off hand me down bikes for the kids that they were so excited about. 
Aaand grateful that it's Friday.
All the things ❤️

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