the kindness of strangers

I received a comment today on a blog I wrote months ago.  Thank goodness blogger emails them to you, otherwise I would have never known!  In it a very kind and wonderful person named Stephanie offered to host us Scentsy party and to donate 100% of the profits to Danny's adoption fund!!!  I can not tell you what this means to me!  Since I received the message we have been emailing back and forth to get everything set up.  As soon as I know more and Stephanie has it set up I'll be back with more info.

Praising God for his provisions, and the kindness of strangers!

our Grant took a jump!

I was just sitting here thinking about how it's been weeks since our grant moved....but I was wrong!  It has moved sometime in the past week or so from $290 to $340!!!!  It's great to know that we are $50 closer to getting Danny home.  Every little bit helps, friends!

PS: Have you seen what our friends the Rhodes are doing? I'm resorting to guilt here people!
Click the link below to find out...
$13 and 1,000 people can make a HUGE difference!

we wait...

Having been asked where we are in the adoption process a number of times lately I wanted to give you all an update.

We are waiting.  If you have even the slightest inkling of who I am you know that this is far and away the hardest thing for me to do...ever! Not a good waiter...actually I was an excellent waitress, but I do not easily succeed at waiting in life.

What we wait for right now are our FBI background checks, medical statements to be completed, and we need to find our 401k statements.  That last one is the easiest, so I guess I need to not be lazy and get them printed!

Once we get all these things handled we can send them to our social worker and she will finish our home study.  The home study will go to our agency for certification and then to the USCIS for approval.  When we receive approval from USCIS (the state department) we will hopefully get to go meet Danny!  This is the day we eagerly await, however it might still be 3-4 months before we receive this approval.  Please pray it moves faster than that!

In the meantime we are going to start working on our next, and hopefully last, fundraiser.  We are planning a dinner and silent auction to take place in October.  If you, or someone you know, would like to make a donation to the auction or the dinner please contact me directly.  As soon as we have made some headway in planning I will post a specific list with what we need.

Thank you so much for loving us!

garage sale recap, now with photos!

We had a very busy (hot) day last Saturday hosting our garage sale fundraiser.  As I'm sure you have all heard by now we raised $1,845!!!  We are overwhelmed with love for our friends and family who helped us, the donors who are supporting us financially and the folks who came and bought!  Here are some pictures from Friday as we were sorting and getting ready, and Saturday while we were selling.  Enjoy!

Crazy full garage, Batman!

Sorting Party!

Crazy Boys!

That's a lot of stuff.

Needs no explanation.

Even John Wayne wants to Bring Danny Home!

Early Saturday morning.  Wow!

Hi Mom!

Serious kid.

That baby is not for sale Phil!

Garage Sale Super Heros!

a MILLION thanks!

Wow!  We are overwhelmed by the amount of love we were surrounded with today.  Remember when I told you that God was using fundraising as a way to humble me?  How HE is!  I am humbled beyond belief.  There are not enough way to thank everyone who has turned up to help and donate it the past 24 hours.

The Muscle:
Crystal, you have been my rock through all of this.  Not only did you set about organizing this garage sale you workED with back breaking determination so that it would be successful.  $1,845 dollars later YOU have made a huge impact in our lives and in Danny's future.  Thank you.  We love you.
Clarissa, Christine, Mom, Phil, Amy, Jeremy, Emily, Kourtney, Jesse, Elizabeth, Donny, Aunt Sarah, (am I forgetting anyone? If so I am so sorry!) thanks to each of you.  You worked hard Friday and Saturday.  Most of you are sunburned, you sweated all day long, your feet probably hurt, I could go on.  Thank you.  We love you.
Taylor, Anna, Eva, Will, Drake, (Anna's other friends who showed up to help)  you guys totally rocked the lemonade, water, cookie stand! Thank you for your enthusiasm to help Danny out.  You kids are awesome sales people!
Mary, Jimmy, Mya, Lea, Danika, your family is our inspiration.  Without you there is no way we would have ever considered bringing Danny into our lives.  You show us what it is to love one another and be loved.  I am so thankful you are on this journey with us.  If you've ever wondered in your travels and moves why you are somewhere I hope you no longer wonder about San Antonio.  You were meant to be here, in our lives.  God blessed us the day He sent you here.  Thank you. We are eternally grateful.


The Donors:
I will honor what I believe your wishes are, but I want to say thank you.  You know exactly who you are, and just so you know there is another jewel awaiting you in your crown in Heaven.  You are loved.


Everyone Else:
We are just getting started!  I realize that the money we made today is a lot, and we are so thankful (if you can't tell!) But please remember this is a drop in the bucket.  We need to come up with approximately $22,000 to bring Danny home.  We are just shy of 10% of the way there!  Considering we are 10% of the way through paperwork I think we are doing pretty well!  Lots of ideas are being kicked around for our next big event.  We are thinking about doing a dinner at some point this fall...when it's not 106* outside anymore!  We may also do t-shirt sales, and we will definitely have duckies for sale soon since they didn't get here in time for today's garage sale.  Please don't forget that if you make your donations to our Reece's Rainbow Family Sponsorship Page they are tax deductible.  Should you want to make a large donation please consider mailing a check to Reece's Rainbow to save them the paypal fees.

One more time....THANK YOU!!!!

full stop & ideas

While we wait for our FBI back ground checks we are at a full stop with actually moving the adoption process forward.  This is more than a little frustrating for me, so I remind myself that God is in control and I am not! As we wait we are going to work on the garage sale, which will be held on June 18th.  Remember all proceeds will go directly towards Danny's adoption, and if you would like to donate items we will happily come pick them up.  (Within a reasonable distance!)

Another thing we are working on/thinking about is future fundraisers.  Here are some ideas we have come up with, we would love input!

1."Duckies for Danny" not entirely sure what this entails, but it sounds cute!
2.Naming Rights: we are thinking about selling tickets and the winner gets to help pick his new name.  (Daniel will continue to be part of his name, but he needs a new middle name)
3. Dinner: bbq? mexican? including a silent auction?  really want to do this, but logistics/time/cost are big issues.
4. HELP!!!  This is where we ask you for your ideas.  What sort of events would you attend? How much would you be willing to pay for a dinner? Is there something here I am missing?

Thank you in advance for your help and ideas.  You know the saying "it takes a village to raise children" the same is true in adoption!

nuts. doNUTS!!!

My fabulous friend Crystal is helping (totally doing) coordinate the garage sale.  Which by the way is slated for June 18th at our house.  Volunteers anyone?!?! (hint, hint)

When I say Crystal is doing the garage sale, I mean she has driven it from the very beginning.  This is why I love my friend:  today she sent a very nice message to a bunch of her friends asking for items to sell, which she will be picking up over the next few weeks.  (Have you noticed how expensive gas is?  This is a huge gift!)

About 4 hours after the initial email went out I got another message from her....Krispy Kreme is donating donuts for us to sell at the garage sale!!!  DONATING DONUTS. Total awesomeness!

I wish I had time to tell you all the other amazing things my sweet friend is doing to help us.  Just know I have an angel helping me out right now.  :)

Thank you wonderful amazing Crystal!  You are a most giving and loving human being!

calling all spring cleaners & junk collectors

We have decided to have a garage sale (ooops, need to tell Wes this) to help raise some funds for the adoption.  The date is up in the air at this point, but I will gladly begin to take donations.  Probably looking at mid-June so you have a month or so to get us your stuff.  Or if you REALLY love us you can hold onto your donations until closer to the date!  Not looking for anything in particular, just what you want out of your house.  I agree, Goodwill and Medina Children's Home are fantastic places to take your things, but wouldn't it be nice to know where the cash is going for once?

Call me or email me with any questions.  Help us fill up our garage...and drive our neighbors crazy!  :)

fundraiser #1

My cousin's wife is a CPA by day and art student by night (yay Jing for following your passion!) and has volunteered to help us fundraise! She has set up an etsy shop and is calling her first project "Hearts for Danny."  Jing is very generously donating all of her profits to Danny's grant through Reece's Rainbow.  I really hope that you will support Jing in her artistic endeavors.  Wouldn't it be awesome to tell people that you have an original work from her first show?!?!? I'm telling you all now, Jing will be FAMOUS one day!

Check out the etsy shop here: Sweet Scorpio Designs

Just as a side note Jing is in the middle of finals and has started the store off with 4 paintings.  If you want to order custom work you can, just send her a message on the Etsy site.  Watch out, this girl can burn through some canvas and paint when finals are over!

$123.35

That's how much it cost to send our first packet to the country that shall not be named!  Do you understand why it's so important to fundraise for adoptions now?  I sure do!

Fundraising is something that is very difficult for me.  As most of you know I am in sales and have a marketing degree so asking people to spend money isn't too hard for me...when it's my job and I have a product in exchange.  Adoption fundraising is tough!  I feel like I am asking people to give me money and I have nothing to give in return.  However my heart has realized something: this is the ultimate in advertising!  

Reece's Rainbow doesn't have much (if any) budget for advertising.  Essentially they rely on adoptive families to do it for them through blogging, t-shirt sales, garage sales, auctions, etc.

God calls His followers over and over to care for His orphans and widows.  The statistics are amazing....if 10% of American families who call themselves Christians would adopt 1 child this year we would give more than 1 million orphans homes.  What a calling!  What a cause to fundraise for!

So we will fundraise.  My prayer is that each of you will consider the things we do for fundraisers and maybe give up a cup of coffee to help us out if you feel compelled.  If you want to help another RR kid please do so!  I don't want to limit your ability to help God's children!  How about these cuties?

Phoebe: One of my favorites.  She is beautiful!



Vilis: Has a HUGE grant right now, and is part of RR's 555 Warrior Project.  The goal is to raise another $5,000 for him!

How I wish I could add them to my family.  But if one of you, my wonderful readers, decides to bring them home I commit to help you fundraise!