Take Me Out to the Ballgame........

OK - so I am not going to the ballgame, but YOU could!

Fifth-Third Bank has generously donated a set of their season tickets to us to use as a fundraiser. The proceeds from this raffle will go to our FSP account with Reece's Rainbow.

Here's the scoop:

--The fundaiser starts TODAY and runs through August 31st.

--Winner will be selected at 10am on September 1st by random.org. This will ensure that the fundraiser is fair and the winner is truly random! All participants will be entered by email address, and will be able to verify their participation through the random.org website.

--One entry is $10; 3 entries is $25.

--Online entries use the Chip In to the right; chances may also be purchased in-person if you are local.

Here's the scoop on the tickets:

--They are "Dugout Boxes" with a face value of $92 EACH - total value $368.

--They are Section 132, Row D, Seats 5, 6, 7 & 8.

--They are for the Sunday afternoon game against San Diego on September 19th.

We hope this fundraiser is a HUGE success and brings us that much closer to our little girl. Spread the word! Tell people you know in the STL area! Send them to our blog. Repost this on FB, Twitter, etc. Spam people via email. PLEASE help us get the word out. This is a great opportunity to win some AWESOME Cardinals tickets at a great price.

Happy Half-Birthday Everlyn Grace!!!

Today, sweet Miss Everlyn is 2.5 years old!

We hope she is having a great day, but I doubt anyone "over there" is celebrating the 2.5 years of her life today. But we are! The kids and I plan to bake cupcakes today in her honor. :o) And we will sing happy half-birthday to her too....

God willing, this is last half-birthday she will have without a family...without a mommy and a daddy, a sister and three brothers...without birthday cakes and balloons and gifts.... We cannot wait to celebrate her THIRD birthday with her..at home...in the US. And don't you worry....there will be plenty of cake, and balloons, and gifts!!!

Happy Half-Birthday Sweet Girl! We love you and hope to see you soon!

Just wanted to say THANK YOU!

I have amazing friends and family...and I "know" some pretty cool "strangers" too!

So far the bracelet fundraiser is going well - we have "recovered" the cost of the bracelets and have made another $70ish dollars. Not too shabby! We still have a LOT to sell (we ordered 200) so let me know if you are interested!

My Chip In is no longer "stuck" - THANK YOU! I was worried there for a few weeks! :o) We sincerely appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity. Know that you are making a difference in the life of a child! It is exciting to see this number change and know that people in our lives (and even those we don't know personally) are helping to bring Everlyn into our family! She will be such a blessing to our family. Please continue to post Everlyn's button on your blog and links to http://www.everlyngrace.com/ on your blogs and FaceBook pages! Awareness is key in bringing this little girl (and others like her...waiting for a forever family) HOME!

We have a few more fundraisers planned. Eric is busy planning a golf tournament for late August in St. Louis. I will post more details soon. Also, a very generous St. Louis Cardinals season ticket holder has donated 4 tickets to a Sunday afternoon game in September...we plan to use them for a raffle. Rumor has it these are GOOD seats! One chance will be $10 --- 3 chances will be $25. We plan to sell raffle tickets from August 1-31st with the winner generated by the random.org website on August 31st. Proceeds will go to our FSP on Reece's Rainbow. More details about this raffle will be posted soon!

Want a bracelet???

They're here! They're here! The bracelets for our fundraiser arrived this morning.

Here are the details:

Bracelets read "Everlyn Grace" on one side and "www.everlyngrace.com" on the other. We hope they will raise both money for our adoption AND awareness regarding the millions of children worldwide in need of forever families!

Child sizes: Light Blue, Purple, Pink and Hot Pink

Adult medium sizes: Lavender, Purple, Pink, Hot Pink and White with Hot Pink text

Adult large sizes: Light Blue and Silver

Bracelets are $5 each - $5.50 if you need them shipped to you. Payment is via Paypal - please specify in comments which sizes/colors you are purchasing. I will be creating a "button" on the side of the blog for the bracelets. Each bracelet is individually wrapped.

Thanks for considering purchasing a bracelet. We hope this fundraiser brings us one step closer to our girl!

346.50

I think my Chip In is stuck. It has been on $346.50 for a few weeks now. I am going to challenge all of my friends in blog land to prove me wrong...prove that my Chip In is working just fine....

Could you...

--skip a Starbucks run to save an orphan's life?

--skip an Extra Value meal?

--skip a mani/pedi?

--skip pizza delivery for the week?

We are doing all of these things....not that I have time for the mani/pedi anyways, but boy it sounds nice!

So, I am just throwing this challenge out there and I pray that my online friends (and even people I do not personally know) will come through to help us save our Princess. As we get closer and closer to dossier submission and travel, your donations are crucial and appreciated more than you know. We still have about $17K+ to raise. We have more fundraisers in the works, but we still need help! YOUR help! Can you spare $5? $10? $20?

We greatly appreciate donations given so far. They mean so very much to our family...and to Everlyn!

PS - Don't forget that donations made through our Chip In go directly to Reece's Rainbow and into our "fund" there to offset our adoption expenses. Therefore, they are TAX DEDUCTIBLE to you since RR is a 501(c)(3) organization.

Just when you think you know the rules....

....the rules change. Everlyn's birth country has gotten VERY VERY picky on documents submitted in the dossier. Everything has to be "perfect +" these days. Our dossier is DONE. And while it is a wee bit frustrating, I think we are going to have to re-do one document. It could be much worse I suppose.... And I would MUCH rather re-do these things while enjoying the comforts of home, as opposed to being over there and trying to get these things done half-way around the globe. Ummmm, no thanks.

So, while we wait for our I-171H, we have more work to do. It keeps us busy. Because even with 4 kids, we weren't QUITE busy enough. ((wink))

Prayers please!!!

We need your prayers...

We are painting Everlyn's new room today. :o) We are not painters. We don't like to paint. And we aren't very good at it. But in the interest of saving money, we decided (well, I decided) to skip the professional painter and make it a DIY project. Eric is thrilled (not)! After going and picking up the Benjamin Moore paint (we need the GOOD stuff since we are terrible at this) and all the supplies...I am not sure we are saving much. Oh well....it will be "fun" right?

So, yeah....we need "painting skill (and patience) prayers"!

Update - WE DID IT! And it looks pretty darn good if I do say so myself! The pink is a little brighter than I wanted - we were planning PALE pink. But according to my (almost) six-year-old daughter, there is no such thing as "too bright" when it comes to pink! I will post pics when the room is done, or close to it. We have a bit more work to do. We need to get her a mattress and we need a few finishing touches. I am SO excited how it is coming along though!

And a special shout out to Eric, my husband and Everlyn's daddy. He REALLY hates to paint....I think his exact words as we were getting started were "I'd rather be having a root canal right now." Well, he painted like a champ, even with his buddies texting him about tee times and such. If you know Eric, you know that it was HARD for him to pass up a round of golf. So - I just wanted to send a public THANKS to him for taking time out of his busy weekend to paint a room for a little girl half-way around the world that he has never met, but has selflessly agreed to be "Daddy" to.

So - thanks Eric. LOVE YOU! :o)