October is National Down Syndrome Awareness month!

We have added the 31 for 21 button to our blog. We will try to blog every day in October to spread awareness about Down syndrome...assuming we have a decent internet connection while traveling.

And we are SUPER excited to be meeting and adopting our new daughter during Down Syndrome Awareness month. Perfect!

The kids were delivered safely!

The kids are safely in their "new home" for the next month. Elliston was up before the sun came up and my sister got to change her first dirty diaper in 5.5 years...before 7am. :o)

Now, I have a LOT to do! I am getting a haircut and brow wax this afternoon....gotta look good when I meet my girl, right? Then it's off to the doctor to get some drugs for this "sinus funk"...gotta be healthy when I meet my girl, too!

I am trying to enjoy these last few days at home....even though I have 1001 things to do and my mind is racing! In the meantime, I am loving packing up all of this toddler-sized PINK!

Please continue to pray for us...and for Everlyn!

The kids are off to Virginia tomorrow!

My Dad and I are driving the four kiddos to meet my sister in West Virginia, and she will drive them the rest of the way to her home in Virginia. They will be staying there for the next 4 weeks or so. They are so excited about visiting their cousins (and aunt and uncle too I bet).

We will be Skyping with them to stay in touch. They have also started a blog to document their "journey" as they wait for Everlyn to come home. You can follow their blog if you wish....

Waiting For Everlyn

Please pray that we travel safely and that the kids have an enjoyable visit with their cousins...and don't miss Mommy and Daddy too much (although missing us a little would be appreciated!)

While We Wait......

I love this and wanted to share.

http://reecesrainbow.blogspot.com/2010/09/while-we-wait.html

In less than 2 weeks....

...we will be getting on a plane to travel half-way around the globe to meet our little girl! Wow. I have SO much to do the next couple of weeks....my head is literally aching just thinking about it: making arrangements for the kids, packing for them, getting them to my sister's in Virginia, last minute paper chasing for documents that need to be hand-carried, creating our family photo album to show to people in Ukraine (facilitators, baby home director/staff, the judge, etc), packing for us...... Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

We also need to raise more money for our trip. We had a garage sale this past weekend and earned a few hundred dollars. We are also doing a "Thirty-One" catalog party that ends 9/25. (Let me know if you need anything!). If you are willing and able to contribute to our adoption fund, please use the Chip In at the right. During this process, I have always felt awkward about "begging" for money. But, I now realize that we could use help from our friends and family to help bring Everlyn home. The cost of this adoption is around $25,000. We like to think of it as her ransom....and we will gladly pay every penny to rescue her!

Flights have been booked!!!

That makes it feel a little more "real" huh?

We are flying out of St. Louis to Chicago....then to Duesseldorf...then to Kiev!

I have so much to do and so little time to do it! 17 days....... :o)

We have our travel date!!!!!

OMGosh! I cannot believe it! Just 7 days after submitting our dossier, we have been given our travel date!

We will be flying out of the good ol' USA on October 3rd. Our SDA appt is on October 6th at noon! This is the appt where we will get our "official referral" for Everlyn! Wow......

My birthday is October 12th. I will likely get to spend my birthday (or at least part of it) with my girl! I cannot think of a better gift!!!!!

Thanks for the prayers! Keep praying...your prayers are powerful and have helped us so much on this journey!

YAY! God is so good!!!!

A blanket for our baby

Every "baby" needs a blanket, right?

All of our kids have a fleece knotted blanket I made for them. I just finished Everlyn's blanket! I think it turned out really cute!

If only I could sell these things to raise $$ for her adoption! Or maybe I could......

Preparations are underway..........

We have started thinking about our trip....the things we need to bring, the things we need to do before we travel, etc. No - we don't have a travel date just yet, but will hopefully know something by the end of next week.

Today I went and got some luggage since we didn't own any....well, nothing that would work anyway. (We only had a couple of carry-ons). I got a pretty good deal, so I am happy about that. Then I decided to start packing some of Everlyn's things...just for fun. Man oh man....her "stuff" takes up half of my large suitcase! LOL! I might need to re-evaluate. I guess the items we plan to donate to the orphanage and the facilitator gifts will have to go in Eric's luggage...and I bet they take up half of it! I need to take a class on "packing light"! But I have found so many cute things for her...and I don't know her exact size so I have a range of sizes in both clothing and shoes....therefore, I have quite a bit of "stuff" I want to take.

Veteran adoptive parents...help me out here! How many outfits do I need to bring? What sort of toys did you pack? Sippy cups? Diapers? Things to keep the kiddo busy on the flights? I feel like I need so much stuff! :o)

We are having one more fundraiser for sure....another yard sale. We have some things left over from our last one and we have added some new "stuff" as well. We hope to make another $1000 or so....

We still have a TON of bracelets to sell as well, so if you are interested, please let me know. I will ship them for FREE! :o) You can see pics here: http://torescueourprincess.blogspot.com/2010/07/want-bracelet.html

We appreciate all the support we have gotten along this journey from family and friends. We can't wait to meet our little girl and introduce her to the world as our daughter!

There is power in prayer!

We have learned that our dossier was successfully submitted to the SDA today! :o) Thanks everyone for your prayers! Keep praying that things go smoothly from here.....