Our night at Culver's, and my Thirty-One party!

So...we have been in Fundraiser-land lately.   Sorry for the very broken record here on my blog.  Even though I wish we didn't have to be there, we have been having a lot of fun!

Krispy Kreme gift certificates came first (and there are still some left), then our garage sale, along with selling some really beautiful bracelets made in Haiti through this organization.  If you are raising money for an adoption yourself, I highly recommend this fundraiser!  They sell really well, and it feels so good to be able to help Haitian people, too!  The garage sale went great, and we still have a lot left, so we will just open up our garage and do it again another weekend.

Our next event was at our local Culver's restaurant.  We just did it last night.  A portion of the proceeds from all the orders from 4 until 9 will come to us!  (They told me to come back in a few days, so I'm not sure yet how well we did.)  But, we had a steady stream of people the whole evening, we got to see many of our friends who came in to support us, and most of all, the boys loved being the food runners!  (In case you don't have a Culver's, that's kind of like servers, but all they had to do was take people's food to their tables and out to the cars in the drive-through.)  Seriously, they loved it.  When it was time to stop at 9:00, none of them stopped!  They just kept taking people their food, and Ben especially kept going until we made him leave at 9:45. :)  It was so much fun!  Here are some pictures of our evening.  We all wore red to represent our Corrie waiting for us in China...

 

They sure look official, don't they?

 

 Such prompt, courteous service!

 

 Some of our honored guests...

 

 

 Sarah being a Chinese princess for the evening

 

 

And they did take a break to eat!

 



Now, we are working toward one more fundraiser, but I think this will be the last one, and then I can blog about more interesting things.  I found out about a lady who adopted a child herself, and found that her most successful fundraiser was when a lady she knew did a Thirty-One party for her, and donated all the proceeds to her.  She decided she could be a blessing to adoptive families like that, too, and started her own Thirty-One consultant business with the express purpose of helping adoptive families with fundraising!  So,  she sent me the things I need in the mail, I'm having a party here at my house next week, and all the money she would have made as the consultant, she will donate to us.  Also, everyone can order to help us--even you!--from this website.  There is a great sale going on in July, too.  You get 31% off of any item in the catalog when you spend $31.  Awesome!  Also... if any of you out in bloggy land would be interested in helping us, YOU could host a party through me, and all the proceeds from your party would come to us, also!  (And YOU would get the hostess benefits--FREE PRODUCTS!)  Please leave me a comment if you would be interested in that.  I would be so excited if somebody would! :) 

Soooo...that's what's happening in Fundraiser-land.  I know we are getting much closer to meeting our goal--just several thousand left.  Which is much better than tens of thousands!  :) 

I'll end with this sad little story.  Corrie's caregivers posted on facebook the other day, asking everyone to please pray for her.  She has watched so many of her little "brothers and sisters" leave to go home with their new families over the years--and three of them in just the last few months.  That particular morning, one of them had left, and she was just having a hard time with it.  Always saying good-bye to the only siblings she has known, and always being left there herself.  I don't know how much she understands, or if she knows yet that she has a family coming.  But they posted that she cried all morning that day while the only daddy she has known held her.  It broke our hearts.  We love you, sweet girl! 

This was taken at Christmas-time with one of the directors at Morning Star.  I love this picture!



STUFF!

So excited, so excited!

Just a little sample of the stuff...

Our garage is full of stuff.  Our living room is full of stuff.  Our family room is.....full of stuff.  And we have MORE STUFF COMING!  :)  And it is because friends have been donating this stuff to sell in our garage sale this weekend to help bring our Corrie home!  Would you pray with us that it won't rain, because our garage won't hold all the stuff that we are selling.  It will be covering our driveway too,  and spilling over into the yard.  And, I am really excited because it is really nice stuff!!  The kids are going to be keeping the lemonade flowing and the cookies going, too.  When we had a lemonade stand at our garage sale to bring Sarah home, I think they did better than we did.  That cuteness factor does have a way with tugging at people's heartstrings... :) 

I love garage sales.  Honestly, what feels better than getting a good deal?  When I come home with bags of clothes and things that we really need (and fun things too) for only a fraction of the cost it would have been in the store, it's one of my greatest joys in life.  Humongous blessing!  AND, what's better than having a sale, (okay, the work is not so fun--but meeting people is fun!) and seeing their happy faces as they walk away with THEIR treasures they are getting for a song?  So fun.  SO FUN!!  AND...what could be better than getting great deals, giving people deals, and helping a family bring their daughter home so that there will be ONE LESS ORPHAN???  Oh, there is nothing better. :)  Blessings, blessings, blessings!

So, that's what we are doing this weekend.  I hope you have a great one, too! 

(And if you are sad that you can't come and shop at our garage sale, you can still buy some Krispy Kremes with the gift certificates you can get from our friend.  Here's that LINK.  Or, check out the Once Was Lost button at the top of my page and shop for some great STUFF, and it will help Corrie, too!)

More fundraising fun!

Hi, everyone!  I'm sorry I don't have much news to share.  One of these days I will spend some time catching you up on what the rest of our family has been doing over the past year or so.  But for now, I must tell you about the newest fundraisers we've been doing for Corrie. 

So, you all know about the Krispy Kremes.  Check out THIS POST if you don't.  Our friend who is graciously doing this fundraiser for us still has some gift cards left that she can mail anywhere in the country and they never expire.  So, if you like donuts and would like to have a part in the blessing of bringing Corrie home, you have come to the right place.  :) 

Next, I found this wonderful company called "Once Was Lost."  (Look on the right side of my blog at the top for the button.)  They have a store with fair trade items, and half the proceeds of purchases go to help adoptive families!  Proceeds also go to feed hungry children!  Our family is registered with them, so if you would like to make a purchase (and there is some cute stuff over there), don't forget to put our names in the "notes to seller" box when you are checking out.  We are listed in their "affiliates" section--Scott and Holly. :) 

AND...we are getting ready to have a garage sale.  I love garage sales.  Going and shopping at them, that is.  Having them?  Not as much.  But, I am willing to do my best to make it a great one, and friends are already donating stuff for it, so we are praying it will be a success! 

And, last but not least, we have an account set up with Project Hopeful if anyone would like to just make a tax deductible donation to help us.  Thank you!  (Soon we will have our bio and picture on the site.  For now, scroll down until you see Corrie's picture.)  Every little bit helps!

Now, a little note about fundraising... 

I know that not everyone thinks fundraising is a great idea.  I mentioned in a previous post that I really really wish we had no need to do it.  I do believe that God could just provide all the money without doing all these fundraisers.  However, I also know that God loves to use His people to do His work.  It is a blessing to give, and that's something I've learned first hand.   Please don't think we are begging, because we are definitely not.  I know that God has got this covered in one way or another, and we only want you to consider helping us if you feel like He is placing it on your heart.  If not, please just pray with us that  the whole adoption process will go smoothly, including the financial part.  Please pray that Corrie's transition into our family would be smooth and seamless, and that God would be getting things set up behind the scenes for the special care she will need when she gets here.  Thank you for visiting our blog!

And now I'll leave you with a summer treat...  How precious is this water baby??  She and Sarah (my other little fish) will have so much fun together!

(And yes, little Timothy there with her is absolutely adorable, too!)

Video of Corrie!

Look what I found... a video of the baby home where Corrie is--and Corrie is in it!  (Only for a second.  I wish she were in it longer!)  She is near the beginning in blue.  She is so precious, I just cannot wait to have her home!  (Did you read my previous post about the fundraiser a kind friend is doing for us?  And did you know it involves Krispy Kreme donuts??  AND, today was National Donut Day?  If you know of someone who might like some donuts, even if that someone just might be you, go check it out!)  And enjoy the video!  Those babies are so adorable, too. :)

Where we are in the process of bringing our Corrie home...

Hello again!  So sorry I disappeared on you right after I shared our exciting news.  It turns out that being a busy mom is tiring--and especially when you are the mom of one very chatty, delightful, precious and BUSY little girl like our Sarah. :)  So, most nights I mostly just feel like putting my feet up and vegging instead of blogging. 

But, I need to update you now because we are in the middle of the paper pregnancy.  Well, actually we are almost done with it!  And we have been watching God provide the money for this adoption in several different ways.  Amazing, really-- and that whole story will be the subject of a different blog post when it all plays out.  Part of the way God is providing is through ordinary people.  It always touches my heart so deeply when people step forward and give to meet a need.  It's humbling when the person in need is me.  I would so rather just be able to get money out of the bank and do it all ourselves, but no, we really don't have thousands of extra dollars in the bank.  We are definitely scrimping and saying no to some things that we would like to do and selling some things on ebay and things like that.  And, we are looking into some different fundraising ideas.  We plan to have a garage sale soon, and do some local restaurant fundraiser nights, and we're deciding about some other things.  But in the meantime, I got the biggest surprise the other day on facebook.  A cousin of Corrie's caregiver has loved Corrie forever, and she took it upon herself to do a fundraiser for us!  I've never even met her in person.  I can't tell you how encouraging that was to me!  I wish I lived next door to this precious lady so that we could be best friends! 

And the best part is... it involves Krispy Kreme doughnuts!!  How great is that?  It's great because they are not expensive, almost everyone likes doughnuts....and if you don't, you surely know someone who does, and it would make their day if you surprised them with some!  Anyone in the country can order from her, and she will ship you gift certificates that never expire.  Is this a WIN-WIN situation or what?  Get doughnuts and help a little girl to never be an orphan anymore!  Easy and yummy!  Are you loving this lady and this idea as much as I do? 

So, I know you are dying to know how to get these doughnuts.  Just go to this LINK and it tells you exactly how to do it.  Thank you in advance for loving Corrie with us and helping us to bring her home.  We are so grateful to everyone who can help! 

And just in case you forgot how beautiful she is, we got a new picture!

 

Doesn't that face make you hungry for some Krispy Kremes??