The Final Piece

The final piece of our paperwork puzzle has been delivered! Our "golden ticket" that I have mentioned before, in it's apostilled glory, is on it's way! It's on a plane right now enjoying peanuts and pretzels and maybe an in flight movie if it's lucky! It should arrive in Susan's country in the next few days and then our dossier will be complete and submitted. The rest of our dossier is already in her country, hopefully getting translated, but as soon as this final piece of the puzzle gets there, we are one step closer to receiving our travel date. We are still waiting to hear if we have been approved to adopt from her country but I am told that no news is good news. That approval can take a few weeks or more and then our dossier approval can take another few weeks or so. Once we get a travel date we will get only a couple weeks notice then we will be on a plane enjoying peanuts, pretzels and hopefully an in flight movie if we're lucky! Still hoping for September! So with that said, once again I need to put in a plug for our fundraisers. You may see a lot of reminders in the next few weeks but please understand it's because we are in need of a lot of help! Can you hear the urgency in my voice? With the rate that this summer has flown by, September will be here in a flash! The generosity and support that we have received so far is incredible and we will be forever grateful. Let's keep it going!

Our first order of business is another Yard Sale! Due to the overwhelming success we had last week, we are doing it again. Same time, same Bat channel! Saturday July 21st, 8am-1pm. 1248 Bullion Street (5810 So.) in Murray. We are still accepting donations for stuff so if didn't have a chance or want to drop stuff off then please do. Then stop by and join us for hot dogs!

Our next order of business is a SAVE THE DATE. Saturday August 18th we will be hosting a LUAU! In conjunction with that we will also be doing a Hawaiian Getaway Giveaway! We have been offered a week's stay in Hawaii (Big Island or Kauai) to giveaway. We are in the process of finalizing details but we will be selling tickets for this event very soon. Your purchase of a ticket will include dinner and dessert, entertainment and an entry to win the week in Hawaii, (flights are not included). The week in Hawaii will include your lodging for calendar year 2013. This will be a night to remember and we are really excited to pull it off. So once again, SAVE THE DATE for Saturday August 18th! You will also have a chance to donate for additional entries.

Next, don't forget about our online auction, Auction For A Princess. We have many, many things for sale and would love to see every item with a bid. We will be adding even more stuff as people are still offering to donate. There is a lot to look at but please take the time to browse then place a bid to help our princess. We would also ask that you share it with your peeps! It truly is Christmas in July so why not get a jump start to the holiday season? Bid, bid, bid!

Also, Stampin' Up with Maxine Conrad. For any orders placed in July, Maxine will donate her comissions to our adoption fund. Stampin' Up is a great place to buy paper, ribbon, stamps, embellishments, etc. for crafting and scrapbooking. If you haven't had a chance please visit her website stamptothemax for ideas. Lots and lots of cute stuff!


Then lastly, our continuing fundraisers are the $22 "Bloom" necklaces and the $30 pocket watch necklaces. By purchasing one of these you are helping our Susan bloom and helping children like Susan who are on borrowed time. I would like to introduce another necklace that my same dear friend who created the "Bloom" necklaces, created. This one is a gem! It has a Matroyshka doll charm with two colorful beads and a small stamped disc that reads "UBiT" (цвіт) in Ukrainian which means bloom or flower. Of course the characters in the Eastern Europe alphabet are different than ours here so we were unable to match the "U" exactly but you get the gist of it. I am really tickled with how they turned out. There are 4 styles to choose from and the color and size of beads may vary. This is a necklace that is certain to turn heads because it is so adorable so buy one today at $25 to help our little flower! (To purchase any necklace please use the ChipIn button and leave your mailing information.)

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Alrighty I think that is it! Yard Sale, Auction For A Princess, Luau on August 18th, Stampin' Up and necklaces. Phew! Any support is appreciated! You have no idea how this journey has opened my eyes! I always knew that there were good people in this world but I am continually amazed at how good! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I love to see my children see the goodness all around. They are excited to have a baby sister to love and protect. To teach how to dance and play. To help her know what it means to have a family. This will all be possible because of you. Every night as we kneel for family prayer, I love to hear my children pray for Susan. Sometimes it's the only thing our 3 year old Kate will say. I sometimes interupt her and tell her to pray for other things as well but then realize that it is what is important to her, that Susan is safe. I love to hear Kate say, we are going to "dopt" Susan. She often asks, "When are you going to dopt Susan so Grandma can come watch us?" Very soon Kate, very soon. Susan is so loved and we can't wait to love her even more!

An Auction Fit For A Princess!

It's Christmas in July! After many late nights and long hours, the online Auction for a Princess is finally finished and ready to go live. We may have a few stragglers/items appear in the next few days or week but for the most part it is done, finished, complete, ready! So let the bidding begin. This is definitely something that needs to be shared so many people will have a chance to look, bid and buy. So please tell your friends, neighbors, family, co-workers an help us get the word out. Please let them know that it is for a great cause! We are so close to bringing our princess home and need all the help we can get! All of the details, rules and disclaimers are listed on the auction but let me explain it right here, right now. It will run for 21 days and end at midnight on Aug. 5th. We have so many great items, over 100, so there is something for everyone. Please take the time to look even though there is sooooo much to see. Just scroll down then hit "older posts" and you will be able to view all items. There are 3 pages total to look at. To place a bid please leave a comment below the item you are interested in with the amount of your bid and your first name and last initial. Think gifts, Christmas, birthdays, weddings, etc. Before you have to go out and buy a gift please take a look at our auction first and know that your purchase will benefit Susan coming home! It really is an online store and we would love to see every item with a bid. Highest bid wins so make sure you are checking back. Bids can increase by $1 increments. Payment can be made to our Reece's Rainbow donation account or you can mail a check or hand deliver cash to the address listed on the auction blog. Because this auction is a fundraising event we will not be able to cover shipping costs, however I can give you a quote before you place a bid and it will be exactly what the USPS would charge. (Just remember and take into consideration that if you were to purchase the item from an online store or eBay then you would pay for shipping anyway.) We hope you will understand. Please send or deliver your payments by Aug 12th.

I want to give a shout out to all those who have so generously given items for this auction to even allow it to exist. Thank you, thank you! If you have questions about an item or something else, please send me a message. Now that the auction is done and live, maybe I can get to bed at a decent hour. Oh my weary eyes! Maybe it won't feel like my husband and I are ships in the night, passing. Oh how lucky I am to have the husband that I have! He is my lighthouse!

Have fun and let the shopping and bidding begin! To enter the auction blog, click here, Auction For A Princess.

10 Things That I Learned.......

.......while preparing and holding a yard sale.

1. My kids definitely have way too much! Talk about over indulgence! Holy smokes we had a lot of clothes! If I could collect a dollar for every item of clothing that we pulled out of the attic, our adoption would be fully funded!

2. I am emotionally attached to the clothes that were in the attic. It was hard letting go especially of the baby, baby clothes knowing that Susan is our last. Why can't they stay itty bitty forever?

3. Maternity clothes are really, REALLY comfy! I pulled out some pants and tried them on to reminisce how comfortable they are. They were so comfy that I decided to keep them for every day wear. In fact I'll share a little secret, I even wore a pair today, however I was constantly pulling my pants up so I decided it's time to let them go too.

4. People buy the things that you think wouldn't sell and the stuff that's left is the stuff that you  assumed would have gone first. One man's junk is another man's treasure for sure!

5. Even at a fundraiser people offer you a dime for everything, big and small. So you tell them why you are doing the fundraiser hoping they'll want to pay a little more, they seemed touched and you see a glimpse of hope, but then one second later they still ask, "So will you take a dime?" ha ha!

6. There are so many generous people too! Not only did we have several donations of stuff, including a whole storage unit of stuff, we had many people who would say, "Keep the change!" There are so many amazing people in this world. Many within our own community. Thank you all!

7. Hot dogs are a hit! Even at 10:30 am, the smell of a grill draws people in. We sold several hot dogs, people were just gobbling them up! Thanks Amy for standing over a hot grill to provide lunch to our fellow yard sellers.

8. You get very distracted when the yard sale is at your home and you're in charge. People are asking questions left and right and you really don't remember what you are doing. My oldest son could have told me that he was getting his nipple pierced and a tattoo and I would have kindly agreed. Thank goodness we had grandma and others around to watch the kiddos.

9. When you pray for something you had better be prepared for the answer. The weather forecast predicted rain today. Even last night it got a bit stormy and windy and I was worried that we would have to postpone. I prayed that we would have good weather at least until 1 pm when the yard sale ended and after that it could pour buckets if needed (which we do need living in a desert). Well morning came and it was beautiful. It was overcast and the sun peeked out to kiss us every now and then so it was absolutely perfect for a yard sale. We were blessed with this good weather up until 1pm, even 1:20 so we got a bit greedy and decided to keep going because we still had traffic. Well at 1:30 it starts to sprinkle and even then we thought that it would blow over, but it didn't. It actually started down pouring (buckets) and we were rushed to shove things back into the garage. Luckily through another tender mercy my best friend and her sister and their families arrived just as we were rushing to get stuff out of the rain and they saved the day. Lots of stuff got really, really wet, but it could have been worse had we not had their help. So I guess my point is, God answered my prayer and held off the rain until 1 pm like I had asked but we should have been satisfied and accepted His will and started packing up at 1 pm. Now our garage smells like a swamp but it's all good!

10. You never know what to expect when your holding a yard sale, but one thing holds true. The friends and family who come together to help is priceless. We could not have done it without the help of people showing up without being asked and just getting to work. We could not have done it without the generous donations. We could not have done it without grandma and others looking after the children so we could bargain and barter. Thank you, thank you! I was also reminded of how wonderful my husband is who reassured me that he would be able to unload the garage with only the help of our son. I sometimes forget that he is Superman! And who woke up at 6 am to hang signs. I was reminded of how wonderful and responsible my oldest boy is who also woke up early to get to work without any complaints. He too is another Superman in my life! I was filled with joy to see my little ones digging through boxes thinking they were helping when really they were just trying to acquire more junk! And my heart smiled when I saw the constant traffic of people who were there with even with their 10 cents to support our cause. We even had a couple of blog followers come! We had a very successful day! We raised $1700! Amazing!

We had such a successful day today that we have decided to do it another weekend. So if you have stuff we'll gladly accept it. It would be so wonderful to raise the same amount next weekend! We still have a lot, but new stuff would be nice for a little variety. We also have brand new sunglasses and reading glasses for sale. One of my dear friends donated hundreds of pairs of new glasses so there are many to choose from, both kids and adults sizes. Thanks J! And of course we'll be grilling hot dogs again. So drop off your stuff and stop by next Sat. the 21st for another fun filled, hot diggity dog day!

Once again many many thanks to those who made this day possible! We're getting closer! We feel blessed and know that the Lord has His hand in this. Just yesterday a friend reminded me that once we do all that we can do the Lord will step in and do the rest. I have always known this, but it was a nice reminder and I know that through Him all things are possible!

Golden Ticket

Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! We had heard that the average time to bring a child home from Susan's country is 7 months but that it is also possible to happen in 4. It still may be early to celebrate but we may be able to do it 4! As much as the paper chasing was time consuming and frustrating, it all came together pretty quickly. We only had a couple of snags but those were always resolved pretty quickly too. Once I mailed the docs to the USCIS (United States Customs and Immigration Services) and had all of the other docs apostilled at the state capital, remember the $650 bill, a huge weight was lifted. Now we just play the waiting game, but even that has been easier than I thought.

We were given a 75 day waiting period to receive our approval from the USCIS. I knew that once they received our application, then we would get a letter notifying us of our fingerprinting appointment. Well our application was received on June 18th. We received our fingerprinting appointment letter a couple weeks later and our appointment to get that done was scheduled for July 17th. We were told that we should walk in and have our fingerprints done sooner than our scheduled appointment, so we did on July 5th. When I returned home I called the USCIS to let them know that we had already taken care of them and at that time I was told that our file still hadn't been assigned to anyone and that it could still take 75 days. 2 days later I received a phone call and heard the best news ever! We got approved! Our "Golden Ticket" came in just 2 days after our fingerprints! Such a tender mercy! What this means is that we now have approval from the United States to adopt one child with special needs. "Sweet pea, that is you!" We immediately had our "Golden Ticket" notarized, sent it to our adoption team to make sure that it was good to be apostilled, then I went to the capital again today to have it apostilled. Once I receive that in the mail in a couple of days it will be sent to Susan's country and our dossier (packet of all of our docs that is waiting in her country) will be complete. Hopefully they are in the process of  submitting our first set of docs, to match us with Susan, then we will be submitted to get approval to adopt Susan. Once we get that approval we will get a travel date. We still have 6 weeks or so to wait but if everything continues to run smoothly, we will possibly be travelling in September. Mark and I will be celebrating our 16 year anniversary on Sept. 6th and I cannot think of a better anniversary trip. We came together in love, hoping one day to grow our family and Susan will be the icing on the cake with a cherry on top! I really hope that it works out that we can travel in September. Prayers please!

What this really means is that we have 6-8 weeks to get fully funded. I have faith that we can do it. Heavenly Father didn't bring us this far, didn't lead us to this point to not have it work out. Susan is one of his precious children who has a chance to be saved! We have a chance to save her and we will! We have a few fundraisers that will take place in the coming weeks and we would love you all to stop by, participate and support us.

1. YARD SALE/FUNdraiser! It will be held this Saturday the 14th, 8 am-1 pm. We have been blessed by so many donations to make this happen. The garage is chuck full of stuff that people have dropped off and donated. Thank you neighbors, family and friends! We will be selling hot dog lunches so if you're not interested in shopping then stop by for a dog!

2.Online Auction! Christmas in July! I will post more details very, very soon but we have loads and loads of brand new stuff to auction. Over 75 items and counting! It will go live very soon and will last a few weeks. There is something for everyone. Think gifts, Christmas, birthdays, weddings, etc. It's an auction fit for a princess, our princess!

3. Stampin' Up with Maxine Conrad. Stampin' Up is a scrapbook, crafty, card making, stamp business with the cutest stuff ever. Paper, stamps, ribbon, fabric, embellishments, whatever you need to create the cutest gifts and crafts. Maxine is a demonstrator for Stampin' Up and has offered to donate her commissions for the month of July to any of our friends, family, followers who place an order with her. Please visit her website by clicking here stamptothemax . Check out her ideas and specials and place an order today!

4. Don't forget the Bloom Necklaces for sale. $22. And the Pocket Watch Necklaces. $30.

5. Save the Date! AUGUST 18th from 7-9 pm. We have something very special coming up on August 18th. More details to come but it's a night you won't want to miss! Think date night, food, entertainment, music, trip giveaway! ( I had you at food right?)

Lots of FUNdraising coming up and we couldn't be more excited! We are ready to bring our princess home. It takes a village and you my friends are the village! Our account hasn't moved in weeks. Please do what you can to support us and remember our Reece's Rainbow donation button is always open, 24/7. You may not be able to make the yard sale or order Stampin' Up but you can donate and know that you are making a difference. In less than 2 months, we may be able to hold our baby girl in our arms and tell her that she is loved, not only by her family but by the many people who had a hand in bringing her home!

Before I head to bed let me leave you with a quote that really touched my heart today.

July's Offers and Deals

We have had several dear friends who have stepped forward and have offered to help with our fundraising efforts. This post is to introduce to you one of those offers. Maxine Conrad is one of our English friends. She grew up in Hull where Mark is from and she and her family are very close friends. She moved here to Utah in 2001 and became a Stampin' Up demonstrator to make new friends, never imagining that she would actually make it a career. She loves everything Stampin' Up has to offer and has even earned a few trips to Hawaii and the Carribean. She has a heart of gold and has offered to give us her comission for any items purchased during the month of July. Stampin' Up has so many cute things, ideas, stamps, paper, fabric, ribbon, vinyl, digital scrapbooking, gifts, card making supplies, scrapbooking supplies, etc. So any orders placed in July by our friends and followers will help with our adoption. Just click on this link,  stamptothemax  and let the ordering begin. If you have any questions, you can also email her, maxine@stamptothemax.com. Her other contact info. is also on the link. She does many card making workshops and other project workshops so contact her to book a night where all of your friends can come toegether and craft!

Here is a sample of projects and ideas.

Bag O' Chocolate

Card

Fabric Flower Headband

Sweet Treats Bag

Scrapbook Page

Journal

 Place an order today! It's win win situation! 

Click on this link to get started. stamptothemax

What About Now?

Happy July to you! Happy July to you! Happy July to everyone! Happy July to you! I cannot believe that it is July already. Half of the year is already gone. Do you remember when you were a kid and the school year seemed like it would never end and the summer holiday lasted forever? For that reason alone I miss being a kid. Now that I have kids the days just seem to fly by and I can't even keep up with what grade my oldest is in because it all just seems to run together. My goodness, school has already been out for almost a month and it feels like we have done a lot of nothing. It doesn't help that all last week we were sick. Stinkin' colds and infections! Hopefully we're on the mend and we can enjoy the hot weather and enjoy this upcoming holiday. Parades, fireworks, picnics, pool, bring it on! It's fun to think that this time next year, Susan will be celebrating with us. Very soon she will be able to enjoy all of the holidays that we enjoy! I really hope that she will never have to celebrate a birthday alone. If all of the stars align she will celebrate her first with us!

We have made lots of progress with our adoption. At the moment all of our paperwork including our dossier is on it's way to her country. Usually you don't send your dossier until you have your "golden ticket" from the US but we were told to go ahead and send it now. That way when we do get our approval letter our dossier will be finished with translation and it will be ready for submission. Once our dossier is submitted and we get approved, we will get a travel date. We may travel as soon as September. Did you hear that? September?  If that is correct then we have a lot of fundraising to do and we cannot do it alone. We need your help even more than ever! If we get a travel date in September and we are not fully funded, I don't even know what will happen. I've said this before and I'll say it again, we have the best friends, family, community and co-workers and with their friends, family, communities and co-workers we can reach our goal and be fully funded by September. Please, please help us make it happen. Please, please share our story with your peeps. Please, please share our blog link. Please, please do what you can to help us bring Susan home.

I am usually one who doesn't care what other people think but over the past couple of weeks I have wondered if people think to themselves "Here she goes again!" when I post a new blog post on Facebook. I also wonder if there are people who feel that if we don't have enough money to adopt, then why are we? Everyone's situation is a little different so let me share ours. We don't have $30K just sitting in a savings account for a "Maybe We'll Adopt Some Day" fund. Adopting Susan was not a decision that we had made years ago, to even allow us the time to save money. We felt the need to do it now and there is no reason why Susan has to to wait years until we can afford to do it. She shouldn't have to sit in an orphanage any longer than she needs to. She is one of the lucky ones who only has to lie in a crib for not even a year hopefully while others lie in cribs for the rest of their lives. We have found her at an early age where we can help her now and get her started in the early intervention programs that are offered. Even though I have felt in my heart for years that I could adopt and love another child as my own, I never imagined that she would be a little girl who has Down syndrome who waits in an orphanage because she wasn't "normal", a baby who needs our love now! It took a while for my husband to feel the same way and now that we have committed, we don't have years to decide what to do, we have made the decision to act and there is no time to waste. We are saving a child from a life that she should never have to know and offering her the love and gift of a family. It is the hardest thing to ask for donations but I really hope that more people will begin to understand and become aware that these children are worth friends, family, communities and co-workers coming together to raise thousands of dollars so they can feel valued and loved. It takes a village to raise a child and that same village can raise money for that child I just know it. I'm just about to come off of my soap box but before I do I just want to ask, "What about now?" What about today? We have to do today what we can do now! So if that means that maybe you can brown bag your lunch this week and apply what you would have spent for lunches and donate it to a good cause then do it! If it means that instead of just ignoring my latest blog post you acutally take the time to read it then share it with a friend then do it! If it means that you only have $5 and you think what difference will $5 make, just do it! Donate $5 and know that you are making a difference. If you have thought about donating but just haven't had the time to figure out how to do it, just do it! Or if you are kneeling at your bedside saying your prayers and you think "Who can I pray for today?" please pray for Susan and our family. We need prayers as much as we do the money! If we can be touched as we watch a commercial about mistreated animals while Sarah McLaughlan sings "Be the Answer", then surely we can be touched when we see and hear about children who are rejected because they were born with an extra chromosome and help those families who have decided to rescue one of these children. Look at these faces and tell me you're not touched.

Alexander

Artem

Daria

Hope

Megan

Michael

Morgan

Vasilisa

Some of these chidren have waited years, Susan doesn't have to. The families that are coming forward to rescue these children are "The Answer" for them to not have to endure life in an institution. These children and families need you now! Susan needs us and we need your help to bring her home possibly in the next 2 months. We need your help today! Thank you for taking the time to read my post! Together we can make a difference! I will post very soon a few of our fundraising ideas for the upcoming months. One of them will be a yard sale on July 14th. If you have items/furniture that you were going to get rid of please hold onto them and we will gladly take them off of your hands. You can drop them off to our home on Friday the 13th. Also we will be having an upcoming Online Auction and are looking for donated items for that too. New crafts, clothing, giftcards, home decor, art, jewelry, you name it, we want it! Thanks again! God Bless!