Immanuel Needs a Miracle

When I started this journey three years ago, I called this my faith adoption thinking I would name the little girl I would adopt something that meant faith. Boy, was I wrong. Pun intended. This has been an adoption testing my faith at every turn. Folks who've been on this journey with me  know the long hours I have put in to raise funds via work, selling Tupperware, making crafts to sell at bazaars, and my fundraising efforts through organizations such as Reece's Rainbow, Go Fund Me, and Bonfire funds. People have graciously donated to both of the first two funds for which I am forever grateful. I've applied for foundation grants and was very, very grateful to receive one grant which will cover a third of the mandatory orphanage donation fee.

Immanuel needs a miracle now.  Funding fell through for my plane tickets--there's a long story there of what happened and didn't happen while I was dealing with a crisis due to actions of a bus driver at my kids' school. Airplane tickets now are $2700 and above, and rising.  I have to get to China by December 28th. There's no budge room, not even a little. I have to get Immanuel on December 30th or he loses his chance for a family forever. This weekend, when I should be making final preparations, cleaning house, and finishing up stuff from work,  I am now in crisis for this child. I am his last hope. I cannot, will not, let him down.

Donations to either Reece's Rainbow or Go Fund Me are needed now. Word needs to be spread beyond the base of folks following the journey here and on FB. Make Immanuel's dream of a family come true this Christmas.

Ginger on a Mission

So incredibly grateful for this support! You have got to go check out their designs! So beautiful! Thank you thank you thank you!

 

Ginger on a Mission is feeling lead to help a specific family racing against time and would like to donate 75% of our sales to the Terry Tomaszewski family as they need to get their aging out boy by January 1st! This is a desperate situation as in Immanuel's country, he will lose his chance to be adopted on that date!

Please consider donating or purchasing from our site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/GINGERONAMISSION and specify the Tomaszewski family. Read their story here: http://reecesrainbow.org/67597/sponsortomaszewski

 

 

Little bits of this and that

We received article 5 approval this week. Travel has been pushed back to December 26th with a potential consular appointment on December 30th, the last day we can possibly go. It is both a relief that the date has been pushed back and a worry since there won't be any budget room. Fundraising from all sources has jumped to nearly $2,000 for which we are extremely grateful and thankful. I'll get to work a regular work schedule for the next two weeks--weather permitting.

Got to wondering about slacks, socks, shoes, and gloves/mittens for our boy. Are there companies which make apparel for children who have limb and digital differences?

Hope you all rest easy this night in peace and comfort, and may that peace and comfort be extended to those without.

Calling all superheros!

You don't need a cape, the ability to leap tall buildings, or a special automobile. This t-shirt will make you a hero and empower you to give Immanuel a family,  enable him to walk, and inspire others to become superheros too! This shirt will only be available for a short time so hurry and get yours today! Quality short, long, and hoodie styles available. More information at the link below. For every shirt purchased, $15 will be donated to Immanuel's adoption. We must order 50 shirts for Bonfire to print them up and make a donation. Oh, and for every 10 shirts on an order, they will give you one free!

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/find_a_fund?s=Immanuel





Closing out Go Fund Me fundraiser

Hello everyone! Just a quick note that I will be closing out the Go Fund Me fundraiser this coming week to fund our visas. Thank you all for your kind support, it has been greatly appreciated! After this week, donations can still be made to our family support page on Reece's Rainbow, bids made on the Facebook auctions, and t-shirts ordered via Bonfire Funds (more on that one later in the weekend, so check back!). We will travel in the next couple weeks to bring HH/Immanuel home. I can't wait to post his picture so you can see this wonderful young man!

Links to Reece's and Go Fund Me are on the sides of this page. Here's the link to the current auction on FB:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-Immanuel-Home-Fundraiser/1395942303981634

Share, grab, click, search..

Just wanted to say that it is fine to share our blog! There's also a grab button for our Reece's Rainbow family sponsorship page. If you're looking to purchase items via Amazon, kindly begin your search through the portal on the left side of the page. Searches and purchases through there generate contributions to HH's adoption as do clicking on the ads. Also check the fundraiser tab for new fundraisers. The t-shirt fundraiser via Bonfire should start soon. Once we get 50 shirts sold, they will print them up for us. Also, for anyone who sells 10 shirts, there's a reward! How cool is that? Remember to check out the Tupperware fundraiser too! And if you're able and of a mind to, kindly donate to help bring him home. If you're not able to donate, sharing, clicking and searching are ways you can still help.

Your support--whether it is reading, commenting, prayers, grabs, shares, clicks or help with fundraising--it's all good and greatly appreciated. Thank you ever so much!

It's official, we're live at Reece's Rainbow!

Do you know about Reece's Rainbow? It is an advocacy group for children with Down syndrome and other special needs. The group supports families whose children have Down syndrome and assists families in raising funds to adopt children with special needs.

HH qualifies both because he has missing digits and part of one of his legs and because he will age out soon. Donations to our personal Paypal account won't be tax deductible; However, those made via our Reece's Rainbow Family Sponsor Program donation box will be tax deductible. We will be holding some giveaways very soon. In addition to the giveaways, you can help by sharing on Facebook, your blog, emailing, tweeting, or even leaving a comment. If you feel moved to make a donation, know that Reese's Rainbow accepts checks as well as donations via Paypal. Paypal fees mean that not all of a donation goes to the intended family whereas a check completely goes to the family.

You can read our Family Sponsor Program page and learn more about Reece's Rainbow at the following link:

http://reecesrainbow.org/sponsortomaszewski

You'll find the donation box in the sign bar.

Keep checking back for news about the giveaway!

T-Shirt design and campaign slogan

Hey everybody! Need your input here. I'm going to sell t-shirts as a fundraiser and need help with design ideas and a slogan. There's a company that will print up the shirts and donate the proceeds to Immanuel's adoption fund. I'd like it to be something that pulls folks in and makes them want to know more and join the cause. So far, I've come up with this: Joyful Journey Adoption 1) Warrior 2) Army 3) Member or 4) Supporter. I like Warrior best since it is a battle to get through all the requirements, set-backs, changes, paperwork, financial hurdles, etc. And it is also a battle to advocate for children who so much need the love and support of a family because no matter how good their child care centers or foster families are, they're simply not a permanent home. What do you think? After reading my family's blog and our journey, what would you suggest? What ideas come to mind for you? Please leave a comment with them. Thank you so much!

First round of grant applications and more fundraiser stuff

Got one pre-app in tonight, another application finished and ready to go, a third one printed but not filled out (11 pages long). References alerted. Also looked at t-shirt slogans and graphics for that sale and fundraiser. Didn't really like any of the ones already created so I'm going to have to design one myself. That will be part of tomorrow's project.. I'll be at a holiday craft bazaar at the end of the month and an lining up some more for both the fundraiser and Tupperware. I'll post the t-shirt fundraiser as soon as I get it up and running. Hopefully by the end of the week? We'll have to sell 50 shirts or more before they'll print them. Should make really nice holiday gifts for people!

I800a approval

Hey, all! Exciting news! We received our I800a approval on Friday. I'll have to race around this coming week to get it notarized, verified and off to the consulate to be authenticated! This is the last document for our dossier. If I can get courier service to handle it that should shave a week off the turn-around time for the trip to the consulate. Then it will head up to our agency to be translated and sent with the rest of the documents to China. I'm thinking we should be DTC in two to three weeks if all goes well and LID should follow thereafter. We simply have to travel by the end of the first week in December--say prayers for us, okay? Everything has got to go without any delays or bumps from here on out or HH will lose out on getting a family and it is just not acceptable for that to happen! Remember too, to click through and make a donation to his adoption fund--any amount greatly appreciated.

Hopefully, I will have more exciting news by the end of the week--stay tuned!

Donations are tax deductable via our Adopt Together grant fundraiser

You may have notice a new button on the left side of the blog labeled Adopt Together. They approved our account late last night. This is a 503c corporation which offers grants to adoptive families. Funds donated get pooled and the grant amounts received may be more or less than what is donated via each family's page depending on need, availability, etc. Requests for grants are reviewed monthly. The button will take you directly to our page there just like the Go Fund Me button takes you to our page at that website. The difference between the two is that our family gets everything donated to our GFM page but donations there are not tax deductible. The funds donated via Adopt Together are tax deductible but our family doesn't necessarily get all funds raised. Both organizations fund for causes in addition to adoption as well.

Kindly, donate via either site as you feel best suits you. All donations are greatly appreciated! There is also a url which can be shared in emails since the button doesn't like being shared: adopttogether.org/adoptimmanuel

Please share our story and encourage others to donate. We have so little time to bring HH home before he ages out and is lost!

Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back

The totals came out today and I made more than I thought from consigning at Superkids! Oh, happy day! During Superkids, I came down with 'the bug' and have been out sick from work all week so far--not much of it left!!

At the beginning of the week, my adoption worker informed me we do not have until December 30th to finalize HH's adoption; We have until December 23rd. I know, you're thinking. "big deal." Well,  each part of the process takes x amount of time and without any expedition the whole thing should take 5-6 months, not three. Right now, we're waiting to be assigned a caseworker with the National Benefits Center who will hopefully approve our I800a on the first go round. Next week, it will be 60 days since the old I800a hit the lockbox at NBC. I was updated today by one of the officers there that we should expect to be assigned our worker during the coming week. That is slightly longer than the average has been over the last year and if all goes well. The paperwork has to get sent to me, then go to the Chinese Consulate, back to me, then to our agency who has to have it and all of our other documents translated. That part should take about a month to six weeks. Then everything gets sent over to China for an approval which takes a few weeks. That puts us at the end of November. We then have to file the I800, get article 5, arrange to travel, get to China, spend two whirl wind weeks there while stuff gets processed there and come home. Do you see why I'm so concerned?

In other good news, NBC, and other bodies affecting adoptions are not impacted by the government shut down. I was sooo relieved to learn that! I have a bunch of necklaces almost completed for Friday's fundraising tent at First Friday but no knitted hats finished. I also have the preliminary application for the first grant just about completed. I should be able to send that in tomorrow.

Last call!! Scentsy fundraiser ends tonight!

All proceeds will go toward HH's adoption fund! If you love Scentsy and want to contribute to a great cause, now is the time!


https://scentswithadele.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Buy

Last days for the Scentsy Fundraiser--ends September 30 so hurry!

Time is running out to support the Tomaszewski family's adoption of Huan Huan with Scentsy consutant extrordianire Adele! Huan Huan turns 14 on January 1 and his adoption must be completed by December 30. Adele has kindly donated all September proceeds from our party with her toward his adoption. Monday will be the last day to order.
Here's the link:
https://scentswithadele.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Buy

Superkids event this weekend

Yay! We succeeded in getting a load of kids clothing hung, tagged, and transported over to the Superkids Resale event in Gresham! It wasn't near the load I had envisioned taking over but at least it is something. Superkids sells vetted clothing, toys, furniture, and other items of interest to parents, prospective parents and kids. Consignors get a percentage of sales and have the option to donate anything that doesn't sell. Win-win all the way around. There's another sale next month in Vancouver which can take items as well. Purchasers get quality items for less than retail or thrift shop prices. Sure hope some of our stuff sells! I've had ten hours sleep over the last two days and I'm feeling it. Will be working the event as well at the Tupperware booth. Always look forward to helping people. Check out the scene at the event site! The event coordinator says there were 93,000--you read it right--93,000 items brought in for this weekend's sale! All I can say is, "Wow!"

Photos from Oktoberfest 2012!

Oktoberfest auction

Hey, all you peeps coming down to Oktoberfest at Oaks Park! We will be auctioning off a nice set of Tupperware at our booth this weekend with the proceeds going to HH's adoption fund. Come on down and check it and all the other great items we have for you! Better yet, date a party with me for an extra gift! Say ooommmmpa!

Scentsy Fundraiser is here!

For the month of September, my friend Adele will donate all proceeds from sales at Terry's party on her Scentsy website toward HH's adoption!


https://scentswithadele.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Buy

So much to share today!

I'm not sure where to start!

As far as the journey to bring HH home, I've gotten my fingerprinting done by USCIS and sent all of the docs from the Chinese consulate to our agency. We're now awaiting approval from USCIS which is the last bit of paperwork before our dossier goes to China (DTC). Yay!

I am anxiously awaiting an update on HH. My adoption coordinator says it is very extensive and even includes some of his school work!  Last week, I got new pictures. He has grown so much since the first ones!

Miracle Man had surgery last week to reconstruct his nose and lip. He looks so good! Dr. Kuang is awesome! Very thankful for our team up at Doernbecher!

Anyone like Scentsy? Look for a new fundraiser soon!

First fundraiser is here!

We're doing a Tupperware fundraiser to cover HH's I800a and dossier costs. You can pick up some nice things for yourself while helping us! Your order will be shipped directly to you anywhere in the U.S. Thank you in advance for your support! Here's the link:

HH Adoption Fundraiser I800

http://order.tupperware.com/coe/app/!twx$eparty_ctl.p_dispatch?pv_v=invitation_view&pv_a=new&pv_eparty=03645f165db3bb26c4954e429b38e794

http://order.tupperware.com/coe/...