SOOO close but a green monster is in our way!

 Tomorrow I leave to head to Ukraine to bring our boys home. My husband has been there the past week getting most of the final paper work in order. If all goes well, we will be on a plane Wednesday morning and home Wednesday evening. There is only 1 thing standing in our way: the money to book our plane tickets. We have a flight picked out, the only flight leaving Kiev that day. I really hope that we do not get stuck in Ukraine :( Please share with anyone that you think may help by donating to our FSP so that we can fly home Wednesday with our boys. We need it to read $14266 to book our tickets. 

Here are some great pictures of the boys taken at the orphanage:

Silas

André

So Much To Say...

We have returned home from our first trip Friday evening. I will try not to be too lengthy in this post. There is so much to share! I was unable to blog in country due to the website being in another language and I had no clue how to fix it.

The biggest news is we are bringing home TWO boys! On the RR website, the child listed as "Orion" is our second boy. His name is André (we kept his given name), he is 3 years old and has Down's Syndrome. Please do not be fooled by that awful picture! He is the happiest, lively little boy! Seriously, I have so many pictures that I can not use because he would not stay still long enough to take a picture so they are blurry. 

And of course we are bringing home our Silas, which almost did not happen due to a paperwork error. When we arrived at our DAP appointment, we were told there was a problem and he was unavailable. A doctor saw him while the director was on vacation and accidentally changed his medical code, making him unavailable. But our amazing team was able to have everything straightened out and our little boy will be home soon! I shared our story with Julia Arnold Nalle and she did a wonderful job of telling it in her blog which helped us raise a large portion of the money we needed for the adoption. She is an amazing writer and has such a beautiful gift! It is my story that I lived and her words are so much better than mine. I truly admire her gift to write so beautifully. Silas is the sweetest little boy. He is very small for his age. He will be 5 at the end of this month and is the same size as my 17 month old :(

We were in country for 24 long days. Court was delayed due to the sick leave of the only person in the country that can approve court dates. But we finally had court last Thursday and we were granted adoption of these two wonderful boys! 

We are still in need of funds. We thought we were fully funded then ran into a couple of extra expenses and realized we had forgot to account for a few expenses, such as our apartment while in country. We greatly appreciate anyone who can help us complete the process of bringing these boys home by donating to our FSP. 

 Stephen will leave on Sunday to start paperwork such as changing birth certificates, applying for Social Security  Numbers, and applying for passports. I will return to Kiev a week later to help with Gotcha Day and the flight home :)

Now please enjoy some pics from our trip :)

Wonderful News!

 We awoke to a very generous donation to our FSP this morning of $7500! This is so exiting! The donor(s) is anonymous. But I wish that I could tell them in person how grateful we are and give them a HUGE HUG!!! We were getting so scared. This was the most amazing thing that could happen, one week before we leave. God is GREAT!

 We also have several advocates rallying for us through social media, and we want those people also to know how much we appreciate you! It truly makes me so "warm and fuzzy" inside to know how many people love our little boy. Every single one of you that has advocated for our son are so very special to us. Thank you all so much!

Those advocates have generated another $155 dollars just since I saw the FSP earlier today! Just to give you an idea of how fast money is being raised: I left the house at 11 for Tage's doctor appointment, dropped off his prescriptions, took him to the Church's pumpkin patch as a get well present :), picked up prescriptions, came home and it jumped that quickly!

We are also still selling the DISCOUNT CARDS and our "team" has also managed to get more of those sold than we have :)

 One week from today we will be boarding a plane, literally! It is now 2:14. Our flight is at 2:21 next Monday!!! We can not wait!

 In other news, Tage is sick :( We just returned from the doctor. He has an ear infection and his asthma is giving him trouble. He should be back in school Wednesday. 

We Urgently need help!

We leave in only 1 week & still need to raise $10,000! Please we need your help. You can help us by Saving money! I am not kidding. We are selling discount cards for $20. They are good nationwide at over $300,000 locations! There is also a bonus $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate. Please share this fundraiser. You can pay on the company website or you can donate to our FSP but please be sure to email me your address so that I can email you a card. I am getting so nervous that we will have to delay. If we delay, we would be the first RR family ever to delay due to lack of funds. Also, our baby would likely be transferred to an adult mental institution! WE WILL NOT LET THIS HAPPEN! 


I also have some other news. Today I chatted with someone who met my Silas earlier this year!!! The good news is he is a happy little boy, responsive when spoken to, drinks from a bottle, and can play in a walker! Just think how he will progress with therapy! Some not so good news is his size. I was shocked! She guesses he is fitting in 18 month clothing, 24 month at the most :( He will be 5 next month and fits in the same size as my 1 year old. This makes me so sad. It also makes me more determined to raise the money I need to get my little boy home. Please say you will help!

2 weeks! Save money by Saving Silas

We leave the country in two weeks!!! We really need help fundraising for the trip. We have to sell these discount cards! They really are an awesome deal & you will save money with these cards. There are 2 payment options. Pay at the company website at http://xtramanteam.com/reecesrainbow.aspx or pay on our FSP so that you can receive a tax deductible receipt, just be sure to send me your address!

DAP Appointment Received!

This morning at 6:39a.m. we received a phone call from the wonderful Nancy Cunningham Thornell. We received our DAP appointment! We leave the country October 15, have court on October 17 and meet Silas on October 19!

It was a very busy day today, it felt like a roller coaster. We were both very busy with work and Tage was ill today but we were able to book our flights.

We booked our tickets and now have a little over 2 weeks to prepare. The biggest preparation is money. We are still selling the discount cards and must sell a lot! Please help us by sharing our fundraiser. These cards will save you lots of money and will Save Silas! The discounts are amazing and the bonus restaurant.com gift certificate is worth more than the card itself! ANYWHERE you go in the country there are discounts! Major name brands in dining, shopping & recreation. PLEASE help us bring Silas home! Discounts that come with the cards and how to purchase the cards can be found HERE  If you prefer to pay for a card by donating to our FSP  just send me an email once you have done so & I will get the card out to you ASAP

DISCOUNT CARDS!!!

Hello there! I want to remind everyone that we are still selling these amazing discount cards. Many people have asked, and YES they are good NATIONWIDE! No matter where you go, there are discounts available! The discounts are at restaurants, department stores, specialty stores, movies, golf & so much more. Please share this with friends & family!
Here are some of the discounts available:
Macy's 15% off
Aeropostale 20% off
AMC Theaters $6.50 tickets
Office Depot 50% off
Smoothie King 50 cents off
Disney World buy 4 days get 1 free
Men's Warehouse 50% off
Edible Arrangements $5 off
Coldwater Creek 10% off
French Quarter History Tour BOGO
Mardi Gras World $3 off admission
Naturalizer 10% off

There is also a bonus Restaurant.com gift certificate that comes with these cards!

Help us bring Silas home and save you money at the same time!

Discounts can be viewed and cards can be purchases HERE

THANK YOU!