Welcome!!

Well, here we are- can any of you believe it?! I will use this blog to share our adoption story and keep everyone updated on our progress.

I want to first share a bit about our girl. You could probably guess that she is blessed with Down Syndrome. And yes, I said blessed. Ruslana is 4 years old and living in an Eastern European orphanage. Unfortunately, society looks down upon those with any sort of special need- the reason for so many orphans with Downs, Spina Bifida, club feet, cleft palate, etc. The process in Eastern Europe is to allow these special needs orphans to remain living in "baby houses" until the age of 4. Sometime soon after their 4 birthdays, they are sent to institutions unless adopted. Some institutions are better than others but the harsh reality is that many, many of these angels die within their first year there. This is due to lack of staffing, food, medical care and above all else- LOVE.

Ruslana is just past the age of transfer. Her name is on "the list" to be transferred, so we must work quickly. We were told yesterday that we realistically could be traveling as soon as early September. WHAT?!! Do you realize that it is already June? So, it is time to get busy!

Currently, we are in the midst of our homestudy. We pray that we can complete it VERY soon and begin compiling our dossier. The sooner we can get our dossier submitted, the sooner we can get our travel date- which means....our angel can come home!!!

But, this leaves us little time to raise the additional funds we need. We have faith in God that every penny will be available as we need it but that does not mean we can sit back and just wait for it to happen. We must work and sweat to spread the word.

*We are applying for several grants.
*We have already cut personal costs- not buying anything other that necessities. Period.
*We are selling personal items.
*Our sweet, sweet oldest daughter is working her fanny off selling her pottery in hopes to get her sister home. She has raised over $400 so far! Feel free to check out some of her amazing work and order if you'd like. Most of her work is custom, so don't be shy about making requests. Just email me at nogreatergiftmom@yahoo.com, and we'll get back with you in 24 hours.
*We had a yard sale in May and raised over $1600!! Woohoo! Since that sale was so successful, we have decided to host another at the end of June.
*Handsome's mom works for Kodak and has donated several brand new digital cameras. We will be hosting a raffle on our blogs very soon. We may even be able to raffle off a Nikon D80. I LOVE my Nikon and this would be so cool!
*T-shirts and reusable grocery bags. We are torn. Should we spend the money to help raise money? We desperately want to raise awareness for all orphans. T-shirts would allow each of us to be LOUD without saying a word. Hmmm....
*And we'd LOVE to host Cow Patty Bingo here on our property. I having been waiting for an excuse to do this and what better excuse?!!

So, that's it in a nutshell. I hope to have a button up soon so that we can more easily share our story. I will also be working on trying to write a shorter version of our journey to this point. We are truly amazed at God's faithfulness! When we look back, we see his fingerprints everywhere.

To learn more about our family, feel free to visit our family blog here.

In Him,
E