In light of the news that we are fully funded now and the fact that there are still 3 days left in our fundraiser, I wanted to change the rules up a bit. Click here to see our fundraiser post!!
So here's the deal....
If you make a donation to another RR family who has a travel date and are still in need of funds, you will be entered in our giveaway!!! Cool deal, right?! Just leave me a comment and let me know which family you donated to and how much! Here's the link to see what prizes you might be able to win by helping out these families!!
Here are some of the families that I know of who still need money and are traveling soon. I'm sure there are more. If there is another family you know of that has a travel date, and you want to donate to them, just please let me know which family.
That's how many days before Daniel and I leave for China!!!
We are so excited to meet these 2 little beauties!!!
It is hard to believe we are at this point. I know, I know!!! We work hard and pray for this day to come...and quickly! But now here we are, and even though it has been 11 looong months, it is still surreal as we book flights and pack and prepare to meet our daughters.
MEET OUR DAUGHTERS!!!
We will be meeting our little girls! Yay!!
So easy to say, but when you really think about it, it is HUGE!! Two little girls who really have no idea who we are or even possibly, that we are coming. They are going to have their whole world turned upside down.
Please pray for our daughters as they meet us and have to adjust to so much.
Please pray that God is preparing their hearts for adoption. Also please pray specifically for Ruby that she will adjust well after having to leave her foster family whom she has lived with most of her life. Not only will she be leaving them, she may already have been sent back to the orphanage to prepare for our arrival, so that is doubly traumatic.
Please pray for her foster family that they will be able to release her and have peace with what is most certainly out of their control. I know from having been a foster parent myself for 7 years that it is tough to love a child and have to let them go! I feel for Ruby's foster parents! I know it must be so hard, but yet I am sure they know it is best for her. I have been told that it would not be allowed for them to adopt her.Please pray many blessings on their family!!!! From what we know, they have been very good to our little girl.
Speaking of prayers, I want to thank you all for praying for our family and supporting us, especially during this last leg of the adoption. Thank you so much! Many prayers have been answered! Thank you to everyone who has donated!!
Also... I have some great news!!!! One big prayer has been answered! You may recall in this post I asked for prayers that our tax refund would come. We had been dealing with the IRS about this for over a year, and they were just not working with us. As a matter of fact, they were somewhat rude to Mark the last time he talked to them and assured him that they were not in a hurry to get it all straightened out. It was at that point that we felt we had no choice but to contact our local congressman's office for help. Well, guess what?! Just yesterday we received a letter from them informing us that the IRS had approved the refund and they will be mailing the check to us tomorrow!!!!! Praise the Lord!!! It will be enough to cover the rest of what we need! His timing is truly amazing!!! God has been with us every step of this journey! Every single time we needed money, it came one way or another. Every single time we questioned or started to doubt, He reassured us that He is in this completely! This post is an example of His reassurance. This adoption journey has grown Mark and I both so much in our faith. We literally started with nothing when we committed to Hailey. We did not even have enough to pay for our first homestudy visit. (Our social worker was very flexible and willing to wait for that money). Amazing. And now here we are. God has heard our prayers and answered.
I will post again soon when we have our itinerary. But for now, I need to get busy packing!!!
One more thought... If you are considering adopting, let our story encourage you. Please don't be afraid to step out in faith and go for it! You don't have to be afraid!!
I wanted to post a quick update of what's been going on here lately. I went to Denver again with Madalyn for another appointment at Children's. They were supposed to talk to us about her apnea and start desensitizing her for the CPAP. (We were told at her last sleep study that she has severe sleep apnea, so they had us drive the 300+ miles to Denver for a 2 hour appointment to learn how to teach her to tolerate it). At some point during the appt, and I'm not quite sure when, they decided to focus more on her nasal passages and changed the plan. Long story short, she is now on singulair and flonaise, and is learning how to do a nasal rinse. Yea...fun right?!! I'm thinking the cpap might have been the easier option. Lol Seriously though, I'm not joking about her medical issues. I just have to vent about it somehow. :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On a little more exciting side, we FINALLY got our tickets booked and...
WE ARE GOING TO CH*NA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We will leave here on July 13th and arrive in Hong Kong on the 14th. That is just 19 days away!!!! Wow!!!!!! I can't believe it!! We will most likely meet Ruby on the 16th and Hailey on the 18th. These dates are tentative and we will not know for sure until early next week. We really just can't believe this is happening already and we are soooo thankful to God for His amazing blessings!!!
We have been truly extra blessed with people who have helped us and supported our adoption in amazing ways! Thank you to each and every person who has donated toward this adoption! Thanks to everyone who has prayed!!!! God has been so faithful and has provided everything we have needed every single step of the way. We are still waiting on some money to come in, but we are positive it will! We KNOW that God is ABLE. He wants to bring our children home and he wants them in a family! OUR family! He picked us for these 2 sweet girls, and now we get to go and get them! Bring on those labor pains!!!
Adoption really is an amazing thing! Please Please Please consider adopting!! It is not always easy. As a matter of fact, it is really hard! But I am here to say it is so very worth it! We know without a doubt that God intended Hailey to be in our family. He talked to us through her picture, our finances, our family size, through His Word and the words of others. You name it! He showed us that she was ours. He kept nudging us gently... whispering to us. Then He put it on our hearts that we had a Ruby out there, and when we looked for her, we found her! Two more precious orphans that will soon never have to be called that again!! Ask God if there is an orphan out there He is calling you to help or adopt. Chances are very high that there is one out there! Maybe even two or more... Listen hard. Be still and know that He is God. While you are being still, maybe... just maybe, you will hear Him more clearly than you ever have before. Let Him show you which child He intends to be yours. Please. This is an amazing place to be in. It feels so good to be walking right alongside Him and know that we are right where we're supposed to be...in His will. He has prepared us for this and brought us to it. I'm so thankful we heard His call and that we get to experience His amazing blessings! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The boys have all been playing baseball this summer...even Justin. They have all had a great time and had pretty good seasons. As a matter of fact, each of them made the All Star teams for their age divisions. They will be traveling to a different part of the state in a couple weeks for the tournaments. Well, all except for Justin. His season is not over yet, and since it's just T-ball and not that competitive around here, we will not be traveling somewhere else for his games. Thank goodness!! Lol So much going on!!
Daniel hitting the ball..
League Champs for the 11-12 yr old division!!
All star announcements. I think they were announcing Daniel's name so he raised his hat up.
Dillon swinging the bat. He actually did really well for his first year and made the All Star team as well.
Samuel at bat against Pagosa Springs. This is really the only picture I have of him. And I'm not sure why.
Samuel's team waiting on their All Star announcements.
And of course Justin swinging the bat. That boy can really hit the ball! He is really loving playing and he is serious about it! Below he is sliding into home plate...just like the pros (or more like his big brothers anyway). Ha Ha
I will post as soon as I know more about what our itinerary will be in C. We hope to hear something early this week!
This is so exciting!!! We actually received this long awaited news yesterday. We've been waiting for this day for so long...like 333 days exactly! That's almost exactly 11 months!! We first decided to adopt our sweet Hailey on July 21, 2011, then received PA (pre approval) for little miss Ruby on Oct 15, 2011. And now here we are!!!!
We are going to China!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Would you please continue to pray for us during this exciting and also overwhelming time? There is so much to do and figure out now. We are still praying and believing that all the money we now need very soon will come in and that God will provide it right when we need it, just like He has throughout this whole process. God is so good!!!!!!!!! And I cannot wait to meet my girls!!!!!!!!!!
Here is the link to our Kindle Fire giveaway still going through the end of this month!!! Some great prizes there, check it out!
We have great news!!! Our Article 5 paperwork was picked up from the Consulate in C, and was mailed to the CCCWA yesterday. That means we are officially waiting on our travel approval now!!! I get butterflies in my stomach every time I think about it!
Girls, we are coming very soon now!!!
According to my awesome C facebook group where I get loads of amazing information, travel approvals are coming in about 2 weeks. (Our agency told us 2-4 weeks). They just like to be conservative I guess. But I am sticking with the majority opinion...and what I want to hear apparently.
This is so awesome and what we have been waiting so long for. Things are fixing to get even busier I think! Booking flights, packing, getting things ready for here at home, etc. Oh my!!
We are still trying to raise the funds we need. If you haven't seen our giveway already, please check it out here. We have some pretty fun prizes I think. And if you feel led, we would really appreciate any help you can give us. The Kindle Fire is pretty awesome!! And so far your chances of winning it are pretty good. We've only had 4 or 5 people entered so far!! And please consider sharing our story. If you post it on facebook or blog about it, you will have another entry into the giveaway!
We had such a great time on our Memorial Day weekend trip. We got to meet Piper's family, have fun at the zoo, got Madalyn's appt's done (the sleep study part was not so fun), see my sister and her family, and go to a wedding at at the Air Force Academy. It really was a good trip. Tiring...but good.
We have met many people in the last couple of years because of our journey with Down syndrome and our adoptions of Anna and Victoria. I am truly amazed at the friends I have met "online" and through our Down syndrome and Reece's Rainbow families!! What you can do with the World Wide Web really is pretty amazing!! There are definitely some negative things about the internet, but there are so many things that God is using for good!!
For example, a couple of Sunday's ago, one of the lady's at our church was talking about how they are using the internet to witness to and bring people to Christ!! So cool!!! Have you ever heard of http://globalmediaoutreach.com/? Well, there are a ton of awesome things happening over there helping reach people for Christ because of the internet! :) Very cool!'
Anyway, we have met some wonderful friends in the last couple years since we have become connected with Reece's Rainbow and international adoption.
Well, we had the privilege to meet ANOTHER family last weekend. An amazing family with a heart for children and orphans! Another awesome Colorado family who has been touched by Down syndrome! A large family of 14 who had a biological daughter with DS, and then decided they wanted to adopt another! Sound familiar? Our family has been so blessed by this family who we only knew via the internet.
We got to meet just a portion of their children. And they are all such great kids!! I was really impressed with how kind and sweet they were to our girls!!
I only got a few pictures of the little ones, but here they are. :)
The Dasher's have 2 beautiful daughters who have Down syndrome. Josie on the left (above), adopted from China last year. And Jillian on the far right, who is their daughter by birth. I'm so bummed I did not get any more pictures of Jillian besides this one. They are both such cutie-pies!!!
They brought little Josie home from China last year. And like us, they are in the process again to bring 2 more sweet daughters home this year! It is tough to do back to back adoptions! Visit their blog to learn more about their girls and family and leave them some encouragement on their journey as well. It is always nice to receive comments... It lets you know people are reading what you spend time to write. Lol They also have a Reece's Rainbow sponsorship page, so if you feel led to help them with their adoption, I am sure they would appreciate it. :)
We had such a great time visiting with Jillian and Josie's family!!
This one is my favorite picture!!! Notice the "daddy's" in the background looking at their girls. So so sweet!! Love!!
Okay here we go!! It's time for our big and final fundraiser!! This is probably gonna be it for us. We are getting so close to traveling and we are actually running out of time for fundraising. We honestly don't know what else we can do at this point to raise more money to bring Hailey and Ruby home. We believe God will provide what we need. We just don't know how He's gonna do it. We are believing in full faith that God is going to show up big time and help us become fully funded!!! We still need a "God sized" amount, and that is scary. But we know He is gonna provide it somehow!!
Because He loves these girls more than we do!!!
We are praying hard that we will be able to raise the remaining funds we need to travel in July. Please help us out and share this fundraiser with everyone you know. Our girls are counting on us, and we are doing everything we can to get them home!!
We have 6 great prizes that you can receive chances to win!!!
*Grand Prize - A Kindle Fire - $199 value
*A $100 gift certificate to a Beauty Salon of the winner's choice!!!
Who doesn't want a makeover for the summer?! An awesome prize donated by some amazing friends of ours!!
*A super cute homemade jewelry pouch!!
Isn't this awesome?? The actual color and pattern may vary, but I really just love this!! I know you will too!
*$50 Dollar Chili's Gift Card
This card apparently can also be used at Macaroni Grill, On the Border, or Maggiano's.
*Bath and Body Works Splish Splash Sweet Pea Gift Set plus 3 Bonus lip glosses (& a lip gloss carrying case)! - over $50 value.
This adorable tub is overflowing with Sweet Pea favorites including 10 oz shower gel, 8 oz body lotion, 8 oz fragrance mist, 10 oz triple moisture body cream and a small sponge. Three lip glosses and the lip gloss carrying case make this prize even more enticing.
Lip glosses are Limeade, Raspberry Lemon Sorbet, and Strawberry Mojito.
* A local favorite from right here in Southwest Colorado - Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Chocolate!!! - $30 value
A Rocky Mountain Chocolate assortment (8.5 oz) in a neat pine gift box from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (made right here in Durango, Colorado) and a three piece box of English Toffee. (Oh my gosh, this toffee is soooo good!!!)
Yummm...
Really...this stuff is so good, I am having to hide it from myself...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ok, so here's the deal. We are doing this a little different than last time. The more you donate, the more your entries will multiply exponentially. Don't ask me for how this works mathmatically, I don't really know but it sounds good. :)) Lol
$10 = 1 entry
$25 = 5 entries
$50 = 15 entries
$75 = 50 entries
$100 = 100 entries
$150 = 300 entries
You may use our RR FSP or the Chip-In to donate. I will be notified with either one. You can also send a check if you prefer. Just email me or leave a comment and I will give you the information. You will get a free entry for every time you share this fundraiser on facebook and 2 free entries if you blog about it. (Just tag me in the post on facebook or leave me a link to your blog so I know). This fundraiser will end by July 1st. That is 4 weeks from today. We will use random.org to generate the winners of the prizes. First name drawn will win the Kindle, 2nd name will win the gift certificate to the Beauty Salon, and so on... We will announce all the winners on or before July 4th. Good luck to all!! And may the odds be ever in your favor.... tee hee hee ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We really do very much appreciate your prayers, first and foremost! If you cannot donate anything, that is okay! If you can share about our fundraiser and help us spread the word that would be awesome!! Thank you all so much!! We have already had so many wonderful people donate and help us out and we will be forever grateful for them!!! You really will never know what this means to our family and for our little girls!!! Thank you!
On a fun note, while we were at Children's waiting on Madalyn's appointment, we ran into Piper's family!! I was really excited to finally meet Piper in person. She is such a cutie, and so is her little sister Addy!
Needless to say, we had to get pictures!
This attracted a bit of attention. Of course 4 little girls who are this cute are bound to attract attention anywhere! :)
Are these girls the cutest or what?! They are so close in age, too. They all turned three within 5 months of each other.
So fun!!
I wish we lived closer. We could have some seriously fun playdates! Plus... Piper is potty trained!! I'm thinking I need to borrow her for a few weeks to show Madalyn and Anna how it's done! :) Somehow I don't think Aimee will be okay with that, but hey...it was worth a try, right?!
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
