It's Humbling

In 12 days we need to be booking our plane tickets. In 26 days we should be on that plane.

We are still $900 short.

This process is a very humbling experience. This morning I had a small tantrum right in the middle of the floor on Facebook. A stomping, kicking, ugly-cry kind of tantrum. And then I took a nap. Or tried to. Instead as I lay in bed holding my head that was pounding with a migraine while God reminded me of something. That it isn't about me. It is about B and all of YOU. 

I really need to thank a lot of people for the funds we have raised so far. If it weren't for you, we would not have raised $2,100 so far!

To Kyle Marsh, artist behind the ASL FAMILY artwork.

My good friend Hevel, who lives in Isreal, donated the Kindle. He has now made a new offer to the Kindle winner! (see #3 of his quick takes)

A thank you to Kim for donating the Scentsy basket.

To Marsha for donating the facial exfoliator. (If you haven't seen these things, they're quite awesome!)

My good friend Ronai contributed the Signing Time pack of DVD's. She is also graciously hosting an Origami Owl fundraiser.

I know there are MANY people who donated funds without entering any of the give aways. I cannot thank you enough. I would like to thank each one of you personally, but because some people prefer to contribute anonymously, I'll not be given a list of contributors. Please know I am grateful to each and every one of you.

To those who took the time to write out a check, put it in an envelope, lick it, seal it and put a stamp on it, then get it in the mail, I thank you. I honestly don't know the last time I put an actual piece of mail in the mail box, and I truly appreciate your effort. I know that as you did, it was with OUR family in mind. It is different. I know you prayed over that money and it wasn't easy to give away.

To my online friends who have shared our story, written words of encouragement and love to us, called when they knew I was feeling discouraged, I cannot thank you enough. Most of you have been, are currently or soon will be in the adoption process yourselves and I know you "get" the stress involved.

And still, there are more of you. There are people reading who contributed to our previous adoptions in the form of monetary contributions, prayer and support. You have seen us through. You prayed with me when I was feeling afraid. You have helped me 'think out loud' when there has been a problem to solve. You have helped me teach my children. You have loved them right along with us. You have accepted them. You have joined me for coffee at my table, you have commented here or on Facebook. Always there for us. You've always been there.

Thank you. To each and every one of you. Thank you.

(please note, if you arrived her via networked blogs, links to fundraisers buttons may not work. Log out of networked blogs and go straight to http://myianna.blogspot.com/  links to the fundraisers are on the right sidebar.)

Spring "Family" Fundraiser

Welcome to our FAMILY fundraiser! 

We're adding one more Spring to our family! Little "B", who is 9 years old, will be joining us in April 2013, which means we don't have much time. Thanks to a very generous friend, we only have $3000 left to raise! We're teaming up with Project Hopeful to raise the last little bit of money we need to cover our in-country expenses. Project Hopeful is a 501c3 organization and all contributions are

tax deductible.

This fundraiser has raised:

!!!Fundraiser ends March 15th!!!

For every person who contributes $10 to Project Hopeful in our name, your name will be entered to win the following items: 

American Sign Language 
"FAMILY"

Charcoal print 24 inch wide  x 13 1/2 inch print: $150 value

This is the ONLY print of the original piece  you can read the story behind it here.
Wouldn't this be GREAT with all your family pictures surrounding it? 

Scentsy Easter Basket

Includes: 

 Scentsy Easter Egg Warmer (full size), 6 scent bars: Huckleberry Sage, Neverland, Lotus Cove,   Mandarin Moon, Lemons and Berries, Happy Go Lucky, and 2 room sprays

Huckleberry Sage, Lemons and Berries: Value $70

Signing Time DVD set

Includes the following DVD's: Nice to Meet You, Happy Birthday to You, Move and Groove, 

My Favorite Season, Going Outside, Days of the Week,

My Favorite Sport. Also includes the music CD from this volumeValue $140

And FYI, for all you Signing Time lovers in the TC metro area, Rachel will be coming to Maple Grove April 27th!

REDEFINE Marco Exfoliator

By the makers of Proactive, the Redefine Marco Exfoliator 

is part of their new product line for adults. Includes rechargeable MARCO exfoliator, MARCO Exfoliator cooling gels, Charging Base, AC adapter, User guide, Quick start guide, Tip cleaning brush, Spare exfoliation filter, Spare filter pads, tweezers. Value: $279

To participate, use the Project Hopeful button located on my right sidebar. 

Every $10 is one entry
Enter as many times as you like! :-)
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

• Please make sure to leave your contact information with your entry to Project Hopeful. 
• Names will be drawn by a Project Hopeful representative.
• Names will be drawn for prizes in this order 1) "FAMILY" print 2) Scentsy Easter Basket 3) Signing Time DVD set 4) Redefine Marco Exfoliator
• I will only ship within the continental United States. If you enter to win from outside the continental U.S. you are responsible for shipping costs. 

Fundraising

If you're coming here from reader, I have some widgets added to the sidebars.

On the left side is a list showing where we're at in the actual adoption process, another list showing what's been paid so far, and a thermometer showing where we're at with the financial side of the adoption. On the right sidebar is a chip-in button. (THANK YOU to those who have been so generous so far!)

A friend of mine, a fellow adoptive mom, recently posted something about adoption fundraising that I really liked. A lot of people did, really.

When a family seeks help in raising funds for an adoption, it's not like asking people to pitch in toward a new boat, or help pay for a vacation. What they are doing is committing to heal, with God's help, a child who has suffered the profound damage of being unwanted and unloved. They are obediently living out the command given in James 1:27 to care for the orphan, clothing the gospel of Christ's redemption in flesh and blood and now. When they ask for the body of Christ to come alongside them financially and prayerfully, they are giving us the opportunity to be a part of the miracles God works through obedience. ~ Ashley Paradis Moreno

I don't think people who aren't involved with the adoption community realize what it takes to adopt. A family may be fully financially capable of supporting another family member in the house, (We certainly can!) and they have to pass the US income requirements to adopt, but coming up with a huge chunk of change to pay for the expenses of an adoption is a very different thing. Like Ashley stated above, we're not going out and buying a boat to play with. We're not taking a fancy vacation or buying a big screen T.V. Once we were matched with our son in December, all the luxuries came to a screeching halt.

Many of the families I know have had to raise tens of thousands of dollars. I can't even imagine having to do that when we're swallowing hard at an adoption under $13,000!

Which brings us to where we are today. We have to raise approximately $4,000 before we can travel to bring B home. Although we don't have an exact date yet, ( we won't set a date until we get our final approvals) we do know we have approximately 8 weeks to raise the last of our funds.  I have a very unique fundraiser coming up very soon! If you know anyone who uses ASL (American Sign Language) in their home - families who are deaf, or with kids who are deaf, or kids with other disabilities who are lacking in verbal language so they're signing instead, anyone using ASL - they will love this fundraiser!

I'm hoping to have it up in the next week. I'll need help spreading the word when I finally post it! I'm not one of those BNB's (Big Name Bloggers) with a huge following who can raise thousands of dollars with a single post. We're not a popular name in the adoption community and most don't have a clue who we are. We don't have some big crisis surrounding our adoption which gets everyone screaming from the mountaintops.  We're just a family trying to get our son home. But we do know that God has this. He knows every penny we need and he'll make sure we have it. He did for both Axel and Asher's adoptions.

Now, just because I can hardly stand it,  here's a bit of a teaser for you. This is the picture we received on Christmas Eve. I wish I could show you his face. He's incredible!