Jewelry Fundraiser Update!

Hey y'all!!  I have every intention of sharing more about our trip to Ethiopia!  I got started on Day 1 and haven't made it past that.  We have been busy over here!  I do want to share about the rest of our trip though.  It is coming soon!  For today I want to share about an awesome fundraiser that we just had!

We have been working on ways to raise money for our last trip to Ethiopia for a little while now.  Our first trip cost WAY more than we anticipated.  Apparently, we flew during the "high" season.  So, we knew that God was going to provide the last trip but we weren't sure how! :)  So, I had a thought one day that I actually don't wear a lot of the jewelry that I own.  I love jewelry, I really do but I tend to stick to a couple safe pieces that go with everything.  Then, I thought well, I could sell some things and use it to donate to our last trip fund!  That's pretty much how it started.  Just me staring at my excess and thinking, "I don't need this....I need to get to Ethiopia." 

So, I made some teasers and got some advice about sales and shipping from Ivey's Momma and from Kate from The Adopt Shoppe. 

Then, I made a cute ad for my sale using my Rhonna DESIGNS app!  I posted it and many of you shared it!  So thankful!

I had all of my pictures of items ready and I had priced everything.  Brian made me a spreadsheet (I am completely illiterate at Excel...so much that he posted on facebook about how i called Excel "the place where you make graphs and use math and stuff.").  Anyway, the day of the sale I was ready to go.  At 4:30pm I went to a local neighborhood to help interpret and invite kids for an after school program that our church does.  We were there talking to people and having a great time and I looked and realized it was 6:30pm!!  Somehow we finished everything in time and I came straight home and managed to post everything pretty close to 7:00pm EST.  I was SO amazed at how many people were buying things!  Everything in the store except for maybe 1 or 2 items sold within an hour, maybe even 45 minutes!!!!  I COULD NOT believe it!!!  YOU ALL have helped in a huge way to help us get to our baby girl!  The amount that we made was around $350!  That would pretty much cover our guest house fees for our housing while we are in Ethiopia!  Seriously, y'all are SUCH a blessing to us and our family!  I can't tell you how grateful we are that you would support us and our journey to bring our baby girl home.

Keep praying for the US Embassy to process her case quickly.  It has been 7 weeks since we passed court in Ethiopia and 3 weeks since our case was submitted to the Embassy.  Our agency told us that almost all the agencies are seeing a SLOW DOWN right now because of new paperwork that was instituted on Sept. 1st.  Thankfully we don't have to complete that paperwork because we were submitted before that but since they are now processing new stuff plus the old style everything is slowing.  :(  We were really hoping to get to Ethiopia this month.  There is definitely still a chance so I'm still hoping!  

OH, AND I have one more amazing fundraiser coming up to finish this whole adoption journey out!  God has been working on this one for 3 years, seriously, 3 years!!!   That's the same amount of time we've been waiting to bring Lucy home!  I am SO excited!  STAY TUNED!!

 

Kindle Fire Fundraiser Raffle

We have been on the wait list to adopt a little girl from Ethiopia since October of 2010.  We started at #93 on the list and today we are #8!  That means that any day soon we will receive a referral and we will finally see the beautiful face of our daughter!  With that referral comes the cost of flying to Ethiopia twice!

So, we are hosting a Kindle Fire HD 7" tablet Raffle to raise funds for our adoption!  Each ticket costs $5 and you can purchase them through Paypal through the link over there to the right OR you can buy them in person from me or Brian!  The raffle will end on November 9th and I will let random.org choose us a winner and I will announce it on Saturday morning, November 10th.  Then, I will order the Kindle Fire HD and have it shipped directly to the winner.

I didn't mention before but if you donate, then you can get one free entry for sharing this!  Just leave a comment below with a link to show that you have shared it after you make your donation!

 ALSO, there will be a runner up as well!  The runner up will be announced the day after and they will win a $20 gift card to Target!  Who doesn't want to win a reason to go wander around Target??

Thanks you all!!  We can't wait for the day we can share the news of a referral with you all!!  

Scentsy Giveaway!!

Since we are fundraising with Scentsy this month to help with our adoption, I thought I would do a little giveaway!  I have a wall plug-in that my mom bought me a few years ago and I love it!  It fills up a room with the scent and it's not overwhelming.  I love that I can just turn it on and off and that I don't have to smell the yucky soot from blowing a candle out.  They are only $20 each and the great thing is that the actual scents (the Scentsy bars) are only $5 each!  Each Scentsy bar lasts a long time too.  Yesterday, I did a little overview of some of the scents and I gave some of my favorites.  You can check it out here.  The key to our fundraiser is making sure to purchase from the right site!  This is the link to our fundraiser: 
https://jsoriano.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Buy?partyId=91247126 

So, I did say something about a giveaway, didn't I??  Here is the deal!  I am going to give away a Scentsy wall plug-in and a Scentsy bar of your choice!!  That's a $25 value!  All I need you to do is help me out by sharing this giveaway and fundraiser!  You can enter the giveaway by following Rafflecopter's directions below!  It's super easy but make sure if you leave a comment you also include yourself through Rafflecopter cuz that's how I'm keeping track!  You can earn entries like this:

1 required entry:  Go to the link, click on Plug-In Warmers on the  left.  Then, leave me a comment telling me which plug-in you like the best!
1 extra entry:  Tweet about the giveaway linking this blog entry.
1 extra entry:  Share the giveaway on facebook linking this blog entry.
2 extra entries:  Make a purchase from the link I provided.

                                                                                                                                                           

This giveaway will end on Friday, June 29th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FUNDRAISERS!!

We have two fundraisers going on so I thought I needed to share them on here!  One is local to where we live but the other is open to ANYONE!!

I'll share the one open to anyone first!!  My BFF from growing up (you know the one that knows way too much about you and still loves you anyway?) sells Scentsy products.  Just in case you don't know, Scentsy warmers use a low-watt bulb to melt specially formulated wax slowly, maximizing its fragrance time.  There is no wick, no flame, and no soot!

My friend is practically giving up her commission and donating to our adoption!  Anytime you purchase ANY Scentsy product during the month of June using THIS link, then it benefits our adoption fund!  Sweet, right??  Oh, and I am so lucky because I actually get to carry around her big 'ol bag of scents.  I have been whipping them out and smelling them and sharing them.  I'm gonna share some of my favorites with y'all!  I WISH you could smell them too!  If you live near me, then I can definitely bring them by to you but if not, I hope you will take my advice. :)  There are several different categories, so I'll share a couple favorites from each one!  The actual Scentsy bar is just $5 and the warmers range in price from $20 - $40.  There are also other products available including Layers, their line of Scentsy perfumes, lotions, etc.

SPRING & SUMMER
Two Harbors:  I love this one!  Meyer lemon and lime with sweet vanilla and amber.  It just smells like Summer time.
Jumpin' Jelly Bean:  This one is sweet and smells a little like candy with a hint of apple and pear.
Mums and Marigolds:  Oh, this one smells like my grandma's backyard when I was little.  It's exactly what it says.  Sunny and sweet!

FAVORITES
Camu Camu:  This smells so tropical and fruity but it's not overwhelming with coconut.  It's a good blend!
Luna: I'm not sure how to describe this one but I love it!  It has jasmine and sweet pea and sandalwood too!  This one is available in their new Layers line of shower creams, lotions, body spray, etc.

CORNER CAFE
Mochadoodle:  Oh my.  This one is sooo yummy!  It smells like coffee, cocoa, and caramel all in one.

SPA 
Be Still: This one is calming and makes me want to relax.  It has light mandarin, soft violet, and creamy sandal tree.

SEVEN SEAS  
Havana Cabana:  Pineapples, oranges, bananas....it makes me want to get a daiquiri and lay out in the sun.

ROMANCE
RU N2 Me:  Hah, the name is a little silly but this is a new scent.  It's sweet but woodsy at the same time.  It's described as "warm pink pepper, deep woods, and bright cassis."

SCENTSY MAN
Sharp-dressed Man:  This smells fresh and clean.  It has eucalyptus, basil, and lemon.

Here are a couple warmers that I think are so pretty!  Oh, and the little lamb is scented!  You can choose from little stuffed animals and place a scent in them to sweeten up a room or car!  So here is the link again to our fundraiser!  You have to purchase from this link or it will not go toward our adoption. 

https://jsoriano.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Buy?partyId=91247126

  

Last Day to Order Shirts, Ornaments, etc.!!

Today is the very last day to order any Ordinary Hero t-shirts, ornaments, or coffee and tumblers to benefit our adoption! If you're interested, head on over to:

http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com/

Don't forget to click the "Add Special Instructions to Seller" button and add our name!

Thanks so much for your support!!

Ordinary Hero T-shirt Fundraiser!!

Oh goodness! This is so cool and such a blessing! A wonderful non-profit, child advocacy organization called, "Ordinary Hero" is supporting adopting families this month since this is National Adoption Month! They are giving our family (and other families that signed up too) $10 of EVERY SHIRT that is purchased for the month of November!! Every shirt is $24.95 (that includes s&h) and they are all SO COOL! This money will go directly to our adoption agency where it will be waiting to help pay for our referral fee when we receive the referral for our daughter!!
So, just go to http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com/ and go to the RIGHT SIDE BAR of the blog. You will see all the different options for shirts. When you click the shirt you want to add our name to the Special Instructions Memo Line. Look for "add special instructions to the seller" Ad. Click on the blue "ad" and put our name so we'll be credited for the shirts. It is hard to see this sentence if you are not looking for it. It mostly appears under the address portion.

So, would you help us sell some shirts??? Facebook it, blog it, email it, and give them as Christmas presents....BECAUSE here is the even cooler thing:
They are going to match the amount given to the top three families who have the highest shirt sales. So let's say we sell 50 shirts...weg et $500 toward our adoption. If we fall in the top three, that will be doubled to $1000!! Isn't that craziness?! Wow, so yea, we need your help selling these shirts for this month!
So here are the shirts! Different designs and colors. There are women's, men's, infant, toddler, and kid sizes too! Go to the blog and check it out!

THANK YOU!!!

Wow!

I'm headed to bed but I had to post this! Brian and I just finished our daughter's puzzle...thanks to all of your help! It's so beautiful and I'm so excited to get some puzzle glue and then frame it! We wanted you all to know that it was such a blessing writing each of your names on the back of the pieces. We also included some special messages that we want our daughter to know! I'll post a picture of the back and everything after it's framed.

Also, remember yesterday I told you that God provided all of our dossier fee AND all but $100 of our USCIS fee? Well, guess what?? After today, it's ALL covered! I'm not kidding! Brian and I are so overwhelmed by your generosity and love for our daughter and our family.

Thank you SO SO much!

His Love is Extravagant!

I know you are all anxiously waiting to hear about whether we were able to reach the $200 that we needed! I want to tell you that YES because of your generous hearts we are there! We spoke with our agency today and they said we can overnight our dossier tomorrow so that our package will arrive early Monday morning! They will review it to make sure everything is in order with our paperwork and then they will assign us a NUMBER ON THE WAITLIST! I am so excited about that! I can't believe it!

Now, for the EVEN MORE AMAZING NEWS! Two nights ago, Brian and I prayed and cried, unsure of how to pay for the last amount of the dossier fee and wondered how we were going to pay for the USCIS (Immigration fee) that is to come RIGHT after turning in the dossier. We just decided to take ONE thing at a time and pray for the $200 to get that dossier fee taken care of. We decided we would worry about the $800 fee for USCIS afterwards.

Can I share with you that because of your LOVE for our daughter and adoption and your generous hearts that GOD has covered the $200 that we lacked AND ALL BUT $100 of the USCIS FEE! I'm serious! THAT IS INCREDIBLE TO ME! When we ask God for one thing, He has something much bigger in mind!

So, THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS! Also, a special THANK YOU to the mysterious doorbell ringer! A few hours ago, I was putting pieces in our puzzle (which I am trying to quicky finish up so I can show you all a picture!) and the doorbell rang. Brian went to the door and there was an envelope taped to the door that said "God Bless" on it. Inside was a donation to our adoption! We have no idea who this is from but we are so grateful to all of you that have prayed and supported our adoption so far!

God's love and plans for us are SO extravagant and better than we can see!



Love,
Brian, Angela, and Isabel

10 People!!

Okay everybody, we have to send in our dossier by FRIDAY (that's right, THIS FRIDAY). That is the end of our 6 month deadline. This is way exciting; however, we are still short on the money that we need to send in. We have fundraised and fundraised and searched and saved and we are still short $200. So, I realized today that if only 10 people bought a puzzle piece for $20 then that would be enough! We would be able to send it in.

Would you consider helping get us on the waitlist by buying a puzzle piece for $20 so that we will be closer to meeting our daughter and she will be even closer to having a mommy and a daddy, to not going to bed at night wondering if a family will come for her???

We would love to fill up that beautiful puzzle with more names of people that helped to give her a forever home and were part of our family's adoption journey.

If you want to participate, please click on the puzzle picture link or click below right here in this blog post.

We know that God has provided for every need so far in our adoption process....so far he has provided right at $15,000! We know that He can provide this last $200!

"In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I

lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."

Psalm 5:3

Check out this cool fundraiser

I have been so bad not to share this amazing giveaway with you guys but I wanted to share it before it ends today! The family that gave us the idea for doing our puzzle fundraiser has created A Family Affair Fundraiser. Lots of families (including our's) donated an item to be given away to some lucky person! In order to enter you just purchase one of their puzzle pieces for $10 or 3 for $25. Then if you blog about it or Facebook about it you get another entry! This is a gracious family that has encouraged us and other families with fundraising ideas!

Go check it out!
http://thisshubinclan.blogspot.com/2010/09/fund-raiser-puzzle-update.html

The, I PROMISE later this evening I am going to tell you about our GIVEAWAY!

WOW! MIL GRACIAS!

What a fun night! If you couldn't make it then you missed out! We had so much good food, an awesome band, a cool place to hang out, and wonderful Silent Auction donations!
You all helped us raise $1,140 to help us get closer to getting on the waitlist!!

We wanna thank a LOT of people!

Burke Street Pizza The owner, Howie, was so so nice to donate 3 XL Pizzas and a TON of wings! They even carried it across the street for us! If you haven't been there to eat, then you need to. There is one location on Burke Street and another on Robinhood Road in a shopping center.
La Botana We have been going to this Mexican restaurant for 4 years or so now. We love it. They have good traditional Mexican food and then of course all of the good 'ol combinations that you sometimes just really crave. Anyway, the owner, Rigo, donated a RIDICULOUS amount of chips and salsa (like 5 GALLONS!). So, if you would like some salsa, please bring a container over to our house and we will give you some! If you haven't been to La Botana they are located in the little shopping center on Hanes Mall Blvd. next to the movie theater and Walmart.

Thank you to all our friends and family that made food and brought it too! And a special thank you to Brian's mom that managed to pick up the GIGANTE bag of chips and container of salsa and run to the Dollar Store to get bowls and extras that we totally forgot! Thank you to all the businesses and friends that donated items for our Silent Auction. I'm still so humbled that people have given soo much to our adoption. Thank you to the Old Winston Social Club for allowing us to use such a great location for our fundraiser! You need to go over there sometime, it's a great place to hang out.
Thank you to our friends in the band (Gene, Chase, and David) and to Mitch (the master of the sound!).

Thank you to all of you that came and supported our family's adoption by just showing up, by bidding in the auction, by buying t-shirts or coffee, and being awesome! :)

A special thank you to my photographer/decorator/organizer/amazing friend, Meredith! I could NOT have done it all without you! You are sooo gifted! I'm so glad that you are my friend. I love your generous spirit and heart for adoption.

And of course a HUGE THANK YOU to my sweet Maw Maw that took our Isabel home for bed and played with her ALL DAY while we got ready!

God is SO good to continue to provide for our adoption! We are blown away and affirmed by each of these fundraisers!

Go.Seek.Love shirts

I know that I've shown you all a picture of the t-shirts that are being sold to benefit our adoption but I really wanted to focus on the words from the new design t-shirts. They are so powerful and I just love them and feel soo fortunate that our family was chosen this month to receive 100% of the profits from all the t-shirts sold at http://www.goseeklove.com/

So, check it out. The background is a traditional Ethiopian-style cross and here are the words:

Love

God

each other

those who hurt you

the fatherless

the outcast

the unloveable

those who are different

the weak

without condition

because God loves you.

Seek

the Kingdom of God

and you will find

peace

justice

righteousness

mercy

diversity

the lost

the good of others

without stopping

with all your heart

Go

to all the world

without looking back

where it's not safe

boldly

with intent

now

Silent Auction Feature #5: Blowing Rock Condo!

Today's Silent Auction feature was donated by a sweet couple. It is a 3 night stay at their condo in downtown Blowing Rock. Seriously....in downtown Blowing Rock! Do you know how beautiful it is in Blowing Rock in the fall? Well, let me just remind you.

I have a special love for Blowing Rock because I went to college in Boone at Appalachian and I even did part of my student teaching at Blowing Rock Elementary School. I LOVE driving up there and just hanging out for a day so this 3 night stay sounds wonderful!

The condo is only 0.9 miles from Main Street and it's easy to walk to. It is a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo with 1 king bed, 2 twin beds, and 2 full futons. It is beautiful and relaxing. We stayed there this summer and had the best time. There is so much to do in Blowing Rock: Hiking, fishing, canoeing on Price Lake, driving along the parkway, shopping, and visiting fun restaurants. I figured I'd throw in a picture of Kilwins Icecream just for fun!

Can't you just smell the fudge and waffle cones??

And here's one more picture!

So, if you're interested in making a bid on this, come out on Thursday night between 7 and 8:30pm to our Silent Auction at the Old Winston Social Club! If you can't make it that night but you're still really interested then just shoot me an email (angelahunt1023@yahoo.com) and let me know and we'll let you make a bid too!

Silent Auction Feature #4

If you live in Clemmons, NC then you have probably already been to Hip Chics Boutique but if you haven't then you need to go! It's a cute little store tucked away in a shopping center. They have really unique and fun gifts. Jewelry, baby items, tote bags, gorgeous aprons, stationary, teen and kids' items, and lots more. They were so sweet and donated one of their top-selling items to our Silent Auction!

It's a Large Lime Market Tote. Their website description says:

Perfect for picnicking, tailgaiting, shopping, or as your favorite carry all. Used to tote just about anything, this item is one of our best sellers! Want to make it personal? Add a unique monogram, just the right finishing touch. Our market tote also features a collapsible and removable frame. Ideal for easy care and storage. Dimensions measure 18" x 11.5" x 9"

Isn't it cute? Imagine it with hot pink monogramming! I might have to get one for my classroom!

The Concert/Silent Auction is less than a week away!! Are you coming?!

Silent Auction Feature #3 US Capitol Tour

I've been trying to feature an item in our Silent Auction each day but I got a little distracted yesterday announcing our t-shirt fundraiser. But seriously, aren't those shirts cool?? You can always click the link to the side that says "Go.Seek.Love." and it will take you right to the site.

So, Silent Auction Feature Number 3:

A Behind the Scenes Tour of the US Capitol with NC Rep. Virginia Foxx. This is different than a typical Capitol tour that can be requested by anyone. It really is "Behind the Scenes." The tour can include up to 7 people.

The United States Capitol is a monument, a working office building, houses an important collection of American Art, and is one of the most recognizable symbols of representative democracy in the world.

If you or someone you know is interested in making a bid on this item, please let us know. The starting bid is $100. We are taking bids for this Tour before the actual Silent Auction as well. All proceeds from this bid go directly to our adoption fund.

Go.Seek.Love!!!

I'm ready to announce our exciting news!! I have been holding in this news since the beginning of May! Yeah, you heard me right. So here it is!

Some of you may have heard of "Go. Seek. Love" t-shirts and the sweet family that started making them. They adopted and experienced the love and generosity of others while fundraising. Even after the adoption of their son was finalized, they wanted to continue making the shirts and supporting other families in their adoptions by helping them! Back in April or May, they announced that they would begin accepting applications for families to partner with them. We decided to apply and guess what?? THEY CHOSE OUR FAMILY TO PARTNER WITH FOR 1 WHOLE MONTH! They partner with one family per month and during that ENTIRE month, 100% of the proceeds from selling the t-shirts go directly to our family's fund.

So, originally they assigned us the month of October which at the time sounded great! As we started getting closer and closer to finish our dossier and homestudy....we realized that our timeline was to have it ready and finished by the end of September/beginning of October. We started planning our Silent Auction and Concert. We started selling fair trade coffee with Just Love Coffee Roasters to get ready to turn in the big chunk of money. Then, just last week, I got a surprise email! The Go.Seek.Love. family said they wondered if we would be interested in switching to September instead of October. Are you kidding me?! I instantly wrote back and said, "of course!"

So, that is why I'm announcing that for the ENTIRE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER, we are partnering with GO.SEEK.LOVE!! They have fabulous t-shirts in all sizes and even cute onesies!! AND....THEY JUST FINISHED A BRAND NEW DESIGN!! It's gorgeous!! Here is the women's one!

Here is the men's new design:


And of course, they still have the original design (with the orange Africa at the top) available in Men's, Women's, Children's, and Baby Sizes!

Go check out our site and buy some shirts!! We will have some available at the Silent Auction too!

http://www.goseeklove.com/September_Hunt.html

From there click on the T-shirt fundraiser and you'll see all the shirts and prices!

Isn't this amazing news?!?

Silent Auction Feature: RayLen Vineyards!

Today I went to pick up one of our Silent Auction donations and I was so excited to receive it. RayLen Vineyards is super close to where we live so this afternoon Isabel and I drove down the winding road through the grape vines to pick up a way cool donation. We were able to see the grapes hanging on the vines!

So without further ado...here is today's Silent Auction feature!

A 2008 Yadkin Gold White Wine (a blend of Chardonnay, Viognier, Pinot Grigio, and Riesling)

2 Beautiful RayLen wine glasses

A RayLen bottle opener

A RayLen foilcutter

A certificate for 4 people for complimentary tastings of award-winning vintage wines

and a tour of the winery

See! I told you that we have amazing items in our Silent Auction! Another reason that you need to be there on Thursday, September 9th from 7-9pm. It's at the Old Winston Social Club downtown on Burke Street!

Don't forget to check in tomorrow because I have some REALLY EXCITING NEWS!!