Surrounded by Great Friends

Hey everyone!  We don't have any new adoption news to share at this point.  Our paperwork is either:

A) Still on it's way to Claudia's country
B) Being Translated
C) Being looked at, or
D) On it's way back to us (ok, this one is a long shot... wishful thinking)

Anyway, we have had some time to breathe, relax and work on some more grant applications.  We will be going on a mini vacation to the Adirondacks with Jason's parents for a few nights in about two weeks and are very excited about that.

Right now our auction is going good, we are up to about $700.  If you want to bid, don't forget to get your bids in by THIS Friday night at midnight CST, the auction is HERE.

My friend Alicia has been a tremendous help during our entire adoption process.  She has been one of our biggest advocates and now she has gone a step further.  Alicia has got a T-shirt fundraiser started now.  The shirts will be $15 plus shipping (if you need them shipped).  They come in men's or women's styles and the print comes in two different colors.  You can choose LOVE to be written in either hot pink or neon blue.  Below are examples of the hot pink.  The t-shirt color is charcoal grey.  Convo me if you would like a shirt or leave a message on the Facebook page for the shirts HERE.

Showing a womens and a mens style!

Give Away Does NOT End Tomorrow!

Hello all!  I have so much to blog about, and I will do it soon, I just need to get my thoughts together and organized!  So for now I wanted to let you all know that:

***TOMRROW IS NOT THE LAST DAY FOR OUR GIVE AWAY***

That's right , so if you have not had a chance to enter yet, don't worry, there is still time! Click here:
http://www.prayingclaudiahome.blogspot.com/2012/06/give-away-continued.html 
AND make sure to leave a comment that you shared/donated to be entered to win one of these great prizes:

An herbal neck wrap and eye wrap set from Comfy Creations http://www.etsy.com/listing/50940291/herbal-neck-wrap-eye-pillow-set-hotcold

A 5 pack sampler set of Honey Tea from Honeyteathyme shop is here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/honeyteathyme?ref=pr_shop_more,

A spa pack including: Sugar scrub, lotion, a candle and bath salts in a DELICIOUS Vanilla scent from Rustic Ridge Creations, Shop here: https://www.etsy.com/people/kimberlygoddard1

$25 Target Gift Card

Tutu

Photo Credit

Custom Made Emma Skirt

$50 Amazon Gift Card

$25 Gift card to the Cheesecake Factory

Photo Credit

Hand made little girl’s Pillow Case Dress in any size 2-6 (Several colors and styles available)

Kisses From Katie

Package of 3 vintage sewing patterns (your choice out of a huge collection)

A hand made scarf purchased in South America (we will purchase and bring back to ship to you)

Kaleigh is the one running the give-away and she is currently in Latin America with her family as they adopt TWO precious little girls.  This is super exciting but has also made the logistics of shipping the items in the give-away difficult so we are extending it for a short period of time instead of making people wait a super long time to recieve the items!  I will update you soon when we figure out when it is going to end.  Sorry for the confusion!

Pushing forward

Hello my friends.  I know it has been a while since I have posted anything.  Things have been very busy around here.  Jason has been putting in 55 hours a week at his job and just picked up a second job to top that off.  I can't wait until this adoption is paid for and Claudia is home so that I can see my husband regularly again!  I have been doing quite a bit of pet sitting over the last few weeks to earn some extra cash :)

Next week is our yardsale!  Please keep this in your prayers as we are still about $2800 away from being able to submit our dossier.  Praying for a miracle.  The sale will be June 21-23, if you are in the area feel free to stop out and help support us.  On Friday of next week my friend is throwing a fundraiser for us by selling her Arbonne products and donating her profits to the adoption.  How awesome is that!?  We also still have the puzzle fundraiser going and could really use some more names to put on those pieces Click HERE!  The give-away will run until the end of the month Click HERE.

As far as the adoption goes we are still waiting for our FBI background checks to come in.  We had our Psych eval done and are waiting for that to be approved by our agency and sent to us.  We had our biometrics fingerprints done for the USCIS and are awaiting their approval.  I also have to get my paperwork to our Doctor to be signed and sent back to us.  Once this is all taken care of we have a bunch of papers to be notarized, certified and then Apostilled so that we can send them off to Claudia's country.  It seems like a lot but really we can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

My birthday is tomorrow, I get to share it with all the wonderful fathers out there for Fathers Day this year.  It would be such a blessing for me and Jason, the soon-to-be father, to see our donations grow tomorrow and through the upcoming week.  Please consider donating to our FSP HERE or to our Chip-in on the Right-->.  Use your donation to get something for yourself  through the give-away, purchase coffee or purchase something from this blog or my Etsy shop.  So many ways to give and also get something in return. 

We have had so many people bless us thus far through our journey.  We are amazed at the generosity of complete strangers, acquaintances and friends.  We hope you will continue to pray for us and follow our journey through to the end.  We hope that our story will be a blessing to others and even an inspiration.  We just want God to use us to further His Kingdom and do His will.

Prayer requests: Please join us in praying for the following: Claudia's health and safety, our paperwork to come in quickly, for financial blessings, that the officials in her country will find favor with us, and for safe travels.

I will update you all when we hear back from those we need to hear from and of course let you know how the yardsale went!

Application and Payment DONE for Psych Eval

One more step forward. 

I just submitted the paperwork and payment for our Psych Evals.  We take our MMPI-2 tests on Monday, have our interview later in the week and then our psychologist writes up our report, has it Certified and will send it back to us!  So happy to have finally found someone to do it AND she seems like an excellent Psychologist with TONS of Adoptive parent evals.  If anyone else is having trouble looking for a licensed psychologist, let me know, she can do them for just about anyone in the US and sometimes for other countries!  Convo me for more information.

My mom took me out to lunch today, it was so nice of her.  We went out to the local Chinese buffet, the food is never great but for whatever reason, I love it! Anyway, I am not one big on fortunes  but...

Quite true, although my family includes so many more than my biological family!  I can't wait until Claudia can join this family and be a part of our home:)

On another note, another thing happened today:

Kaleigh is such an awesome friend.  On top of the giveaway HERE, she is hosting a puzzle fund raiser HERE!  Kaleigh has purchased a lovely 500 piece puzzle!  You have the opportunity to "buy" a piece of the puzzle for just $5, your name will be written on the back of your piece.  Once each puzzle piece has a name written on it, it will be assembled , framed and given to us to hang in Claudia's room.  You can be a permanent part of her journey and she will get to see the names of all of the generous people that helped to bring her home.

Here is what the puzzle will look like completed

Here is an example of what the puzzle pieces will look like with your name put on them!

As  always, thank you for your prayers and support.  We are working hard to bring this beautiful girl home soon!