Well let's start with some GOOD news!!!
The freedom bells rang a little louder for our family this morning when we found out that we had progess in our adoption FINALLY!!!
We got our signature and were submitted to court.
We should get assigned a pretty fast court date since there had not been signatures in nearly 6 weeks.
I am secretly hoping court is next week :)
We should be booking our travel to bring our boys home in a couple weeks YAY!!!!!!!
We should have them home in mid to late August FINALLY!!!!
Just because they are so so cute
I was so excited when I got the news then a little bit of panic set in.... We still need just over $3000 to be fully funded. We need our FSP (
http://reecesrainbow.org/48978/sponsormitchell) to read $17000 by the time we have court in order to have enough in their to pay for our airfare. Then it needs to read $18615 for us to be fully funded :) I know we can do it, but I just hope my babies do not have to wait a second longer than needed.
We have been doing a lot of local fundraisers. Some have been VERY successful
while others have Bombed :(
Recently we have been selling sodas and glow bracelets during fireworks.
The 4th of July was actually our 3rd time doing this and we also were able to sell drinks during the parade this morning also. We started our morning at 7:30 am (which is when I saw the email saying we had a signature ;) about 8:30 or 9 am we started walking to all the area people were sitting. We told them we were adopting and sold drinks which many people were excited about.... It was HOT. We walked around for about 2 hours. We got back to my Brother in law's house (it is along the parade route) to wait for the parade to end and restock. Right as the last of the parade went by we grabbed our wagon and coolers and started out again. I found a spot by the opening to the park (when tons of booths were set up) and sold drinks as people got there. We made decent money towards our adoption which is great!!
While we were talking to people we met a guy who had served a mission in our boys' Country. It turns out he goes to church with my bro in law. He says he has 4 other friends that also speak my boys' native language. He has offered to translate and speak to the boys to offer familiarity for them when they get home. This may seem simple, but it is a huge blessing to us to have met this amazing person.
After fundraising for hours, we let the kids do a couple of activities before we headed home to rest.
This is me. I think we walked about 5 miles :( I was beyond tired, but I will do anything for my kids!
FYI I have a cute sunburn everywhere except where that lanyard is and where my glasses were
Oh and while the girls got their nails painted for free, my dad joined them :P
Wow I am so so proud.
We only got to be home for about an hour before we had to re stock, run to the store for things we were out of and get back to it. We did get to enjoy my nephew's birthday for a couple hours, but it was also outside and this mama was hot and not meaning sexy here people.
The birthday boy :) I swear he thinks the whole world is celebrating his birthday :)
At about 8:30pm we headed back out selling glow sticks and drinks. Right as we were getting ready to leave this lady comes by walking her dog and sees that we are raising money for our adoption. She begins to tell me her story. She got pregnant and 16 and decided to give her daughter up for adoption. Later in life when she wanted children, she chose to adopt. She has 2 adopted children. I felt blessed to have met her and heard her story. Then right after she walked away we had just started selling and a lady stopped and bought a couple drinks. She told us she had adopted her daughter and would pray for us. Her friend that was with her walked over and gave us $20 as a donation. What a huge blessing. Then the selling began.
We walked and walked and walked and walked.
We learned a lot of lessons today. One of them is never ever ever judge people by their looks. Some people who barely spoke English would walk up and do their best to buy stuff AND tell us they would pray. Or they would wish us luck. That means so much. Bikers, gay people, straight people, kids, adults, those with special needs, short, tall, cowboys...... A LOT of people from many backgrounds came together today for a cause..... my boys and I love each of them.
I had one man come up to me. A soldier. He asked me if I had traveled to the Country my kids were from. I told him that I had. It turns out he served over there. Did some training etc. We talked for a few minutes on how we both loved the Country and in that moment I felt a little closer to my boys. I had not ever met anyone in person that had been there and today 2 people share in my love for a beautiful Country that will always be special to me. Afterall, it is where my boys come from.
We walked easily another 5+ miles, but some how God did not let me get tired or feel the pain until we were done. We arrived back to my bro in law's house 5 minutes before the fireworks started. Wow then the pain started setting in. My sun burn was starting to blister. I realized I had blisters on my feet. I was sore from head to toe (literally). It didn't matter. The day was perfect and I would do it all again if I had to. I am thankful I don't have to, but I would do anything for my kids. ALL 5 of them.
Now onto the first. My oldest daughter is on the autism spectrum and has always hated fireworks. For the first time ever tonight she watched a portion of the fireworks without having her ears plugged and covering her head. She actually enjoyed them. You may not get how huge this is, but it was huge for her. She still did some rocking and other things, but I am just fine with baby steps.
Of course the finale was like the best ever and had like 20 fireworks going at a time and she melted into tears, but she lasted most of the display :)
Here are a few pics of the kids. I forgot my camera and my phone died :(
A huge thank you to everyone who has helped us get this far by sharing, donating and praying :)
