Giveaway for our girl!!

I've posted about our giveaway here. The deadline to enter is July 4th. I may be doing away with this blog only because most people visit my other, and because this adoption is in fact "family stuff" I want to include the happenings on our family blog, too. We'll see...stayed tuned.

But in the meantime, hope on over and check it out. Here is what we are giving away-


In Him,
E

Woohoo!

Well, a hesitant but confident WOOHOO!! We have some fighters on our side- Praise God!

I am unable to elaborate on what is happening with our adoption at this very moment. Prayerfully, we'll have some terribly exciting news in the next few days. I will tell you that this week has been filled with a roller coaster of emotions. We are having to change homestudy agencies after having 95% of our paperwork finished. At least now we know what we're doing and can just transfer information. But what a pain. In the end, it's for the best, I assure you!

God is in control, God is in control, God is in control. That's what I have been repeating all week. Here is the face that has pushed me forward and kept me fighting the entire time. I just have to post it again! Oh, how I love this girl! How is it possible that I'd give my life for her and don't even really "know" her yet?

Ruslana, we're trying and fighting. Hang on, little one! We love you!
In Him,

E

We're here

Just a quick update- we need prayers. Satan is trying to unravel our dreams yet again and we cannot let him win! Please, pray for understanding and peace.
In Him,
E

FLIP!

I LOVE these handy little video cameras. While visiting my brother's family this week, I had an opportunity to fiddle around with his. I will say that when I first laid eyes on it I was quite skeptical. But, my oh my, I have been proven wrong.
The quality of video is fabulous! The ease of use- well, let's just say that if I can use it anyone can.


And look at all the terribly cute colors it comes in!!

So, here's the deal. We hope to be giving away one of the jewels soon. Yes, you heard me right- AND the winner may even to pick the print of his/her choice. There must be close to 576 choices!! We need to raise funds QUICKLY and hope to host a giveaway for some fantabulous items right here on this cute little blog. Well, maybe the blog isn't so cute but the girl it's all about sure is!

What do I need from you? Your thoughts. Check out the Flip Video site. I can't tell you how super cool they are. Oh, and I almost forgot- you see how small they look? They are that small (only 3.3 ounces!), but not so small that they are hard to use! I'd say around 4-5 inches by 2-3 inches. But I could be wrong.

Have a blessed weekend! And again, thanks for praying for our girl!

In Him,

E

HELP!!!

Okay, technically savy people- I need help! Don't laugh. I would love for this to be Ruslana's button, but....I don't know how to do it! Oh, and ignore the 2nd and
3rd pictures- they were examples and I have no idea how to get them off of here.



I'm thanking you ahead of time. Also, I'm working on a short version of our story- the blog would be almost 13 pages long if I wrote the long version!
In Him,
E

Real quick...a HUGE praise

Can I just say to the world that GOD IS AWESOME!! Since our official announcement about 24 hours ago, we have received so many encouraging words. And not only that, but 5 people have contacted us about donating to our yard sale and our daughter has received more orders for her pottery!! Woohoo! God is good! Now we just have to get moving to get our girl home. More tomorrow- I just had to shout a big THANK YOU!
In Him,
E

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