Precious 3 Auction…

i have set up a Facebook page with an auction to help raise funds for 2 families who are adopting special needs children from Asia.

Please visit https://www.facebook.com/Precious3Auction for details on the auction. It will run from 1st Feb 2013 till 21st Feb 2013.

Here are the children and families we are helping:

JACK who is being adopted by JON and ANGELA.

Jon and Angela are working hard to bring Jack home for the medical care he needs.
Jon and Angela are working hard to bring Jack home for the medical care he needs.

i have featured Jack before. Read about the interview with Angela here.

Jack desperately needs medical care which he is not getting where he is at the moment. He has Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), which is an extremely rare skin condition; his skin can not handle exposure to UV rays and this will lead to him develop skin problems and could lead to cancer. Jon and Angela have the means to care for Jack and they want to. However, in the last month, their home has been flooded 3 times! It is no fault of theirs. The floodings are due to the poor grading of the street outside their house which is the city’s responsibility. But the city is not helping them at all and their insurance is saying the city should cover the damages, not their insurance. This latest flooding is likely to cost them US$15,000 which is an amount they don’t have lying around. All these additional and unexpected costs are eating away at their adoption funds.
They are on expedited paperwork to bring Jack home because of his urgent need for medical care. But the adoption could stall if the upcoming agency fees are not paid ASAP! Jack would be losing life-saving time if the process stalls.
Please help them by making bids on the items in the Precious 3 Auction.

ROWYN and ZEKIEL are being adopted by the SHARP family.

Rowyn awaits the Sharp family to give her a loving home.
Rowyn awaits the Sharp family to give her a loving home.
The Sharp family are anxious to make Zekiel a part of their family.
The Sharp family are anxious to make Zekiel a part of their family.

They have been featured in my Adopting Asia posts. See here for the latest update of that post.

They have all the approvals already and should be travelling to bring Rowyn and Zekiel home in less than 2 months. But they are still short about US$20,000 for flights, in-country expenses and final adoption paperwork. They have had a rather scary incident happen in their family home and they have had to go offline for a while. During this time, they could not fundraise. And now with less than 8 weeks to go, they need our help. You can read their story here.
Please help them by making bids on the items in the Precious 3 Auction.

Please also share this auction with all of your friends. The more people who take part, the more we would be able to help them.

Please do also pray that this auction will be of great help to these families and children.

Thank you very much.

syc

PS: if you do not have a Facebook account and would still like to take part in the auction, please let me know by leaving a comment below (with your email address) and i will send you a PDF document from which you can see all the items and make a bid via email.

All From Asia #02…

Asia - Satellite image - PlanetObserver
Asia – Satellite image – PlanetObserver (Photo credit: PlanetObserver)

The first All from Asia post (about families adopting from Asia) was written at the end of November 2012 and i have been editing/updating as the families update me. But the post is getting too long to be comprehensive so here’s #02 in what i hope will be a very helpful series of posts both for the families adopting from Asia and for the people who read and help in whatever way they can.

My hope and prayer is that with a central list like this, these families will get the help they need as people share this post far and wide and pray for them and of course contribute to their adoption funds. So please do share this post, do pray for these families and the little ones they are bringing home, and do contribute wherever you can.

First up, Good News!

The Jones Family is home with Xavier and Ethan!! Praise the Lord! You can continue to follow their journey at home here. Do continue to pray for them as they adjust to a new life as a bigger family.

The Campbell Family is still in country but Maya Grace is officially theirs! Praise the Lord! They are waiting on paperwork to be able to fly home with her. Do pray for them as they have suffered a great loss; their Granny passed away while they are still in country. They love their Granny so very much and are hurting and grieving. You can read about Granny’s passing and the rest of their journey here. UPDATE: 10th Jan – They are HOME! Praise the Lord!

Now onto helping more families bring home their precious ones:

The Wiehl Family, who is bringing LuLu home, have a travel date! They leave on 16 January and should be able to meet LuLu a few days after they land in country, their consulate appointment is 29 January. Do pray for safe travels and for LuLu’s heart to be ready to enter into a new family life and smooth paperwork. Now they are just a few hundred short in funds. If you feel led to contribute to make up that last bit, they would be grateful for any amount given. You can donate directly here. You can also follow their journey here. UPDATE: They have a US$300 matching grant. Their FSP needs to read US$6914 so that they can get that matching grant by January 10th. Please contribute to their FSP here. 10th Jan: They are US$500 away from being fully funded but have requested that people start giving to other families who need it more – i.e. families whose adoption would stall if they don’t have a certain amount. Please help to fulfil their very generous wish. You can look at the families listed here or others on RR. 25th Jan: They have her!! Gotcha Day was 20th Jan! Praise the Lord. Do continue to keep them in prayers as they go on to get medicals & visa for Lily and journey mercies for their trip home. 7th Feb: They are HOME!

The Baird Family, who is Nathaniel’s forever family, have their Letter of Approval (LOA), which means their paperwork can now be processed in country and they await a travel date! They are asking for prayers for quick progression through the rest of the process and prayers that Nathaniel’s Muscular Dystrophy remains slow-moving as they move to bring him home and get him on medication that can hopefully slow the progression of his disease. They now have a matching grant, dollar for dollar (as stated on their FSP), till they are fully funded. The matching dollars go to the Recce’s Rainbow Voice Of Hope fund. Their Superhero fundraiser is still ongoing. Do visit their blog, follow their journey, pray for them and contribute to their adoption grant. UPDATE: Crunch Time! They are looking at travelling early March and still have some amount to raise… please join them at Star Command’s Bring Little B Home Bash. You can buy them meals, pay for Little B’s medical exams and sponsor their plane tickets. Help them fill up the squares!

The Garrick Family, who is bringing Lana home, is finishing their home study and of course, is still actively fundraising. They now have a matching grant of US$250, which means every dollar you contribute will be doubled and once their FSP hits US$518, they will received that promised US$250. At time of writing, they are still US$198 short. Please help them to meet this amount. T-shirt sales and hand-made necklaces sales are still running, see here for t-shirts and here for necklaces and make a purchase. You can also give directly to their adoption grant here. Follow their journey here. UPDATE: The Garrick family is on Zoe Clothing Company. Buy from Zoe Clothing and they get 25% of the sales towards their adoption grant. Shop here. 18th Jan – they have a She Does Justice fundraiser too. Shop at She Does Justice (click here) and they get 25% of the sales! Go shopping please. Also check out their Puzzle Fundraiser here.

The Hemmes Family, who is eagerly awaiting to bring John home, is still waiting for I-800a Approval and praying that their dossier would make it to country in January. They have suffered a small setback in paperwork, please pray that the rest of the paperwork will go well. They are working on putting up a fundraiser soon, so stay tuned. You can follow along on their blog and you can give towards their adoption grant here. UPDATE: 18th Jan, They have I-800a Approval! Praise the Lord. Now they collect a few more documents and their dossier is off to be authenticated! Pray that all goes well. 25th Jan, their dossier is being sent off to John’s country. Now they wait for approval from that side. Do keep them in prayers. 7th Feb: Amazing NEW Fundraiser – this is a big one which you won’t wanna miss, so check it out!

The Lanz Family is Abigail’s and Jennifer’s forever family. Their dossier is Out Of Translation (OOT) and they are now awaiting their Letter Of Approval (LOA), they hope to get a travel date real soon after that. The sale of crocheted super cute animals/dolls are still on here. If you need to purchase from Amazon, consider using their Amazon Affiliate link on their blog. They also have a puzzle fundraiser – see here for details. Contributions directly to their adoption fund can be made here. You can follow their journey here.

Jon and Angela are Jack’s forever parents. With Jack’s very rare skin condition, time is of the essence in bringing him home. Their dossier and immigration process is moving along smoothly (Thank God) and would likely be expedited to get Jack the medical attention he desperately needs. But the fundraising process has not be great for them which is worrying because when the paperwork comes through they need to be able to hop on a plane and go get Jack. Their Post-Introduction Fundraiser is still going on, it has such lovely items, please have a look here and take part. Do contact me (leave a comment below) to be invited to their Flash Auctions and Giveaway FB Events. They also have a JustLoveCoffee fundraiser now, please visit the store here, every purchase helps with their adoption funds. You can read in more detail about Jack and how Jon and Angela can provide for him here. Do also click to follow their blog because once they have 45 followers they will be able to enter into another fundraising program. Even while having difficulty fundraising for Jack’s adoption, they would like to bless another adopting family. When their FSP gets to US$500, they will pick a donor who can then pick an adopting family to benefit from some lovely items they can use for this other family’s fundraising efforts. Isn’t that just so generous? Please help them to help another family, go here to contribute to Jack’s adopting grant and comment below to let us know. Follow their journey here. UPDATE: They have a new fundraiser going on – Jack’s Pals Book!! They are creating a book for Jack with pages sponsored by people like you and me who have supported them in bringing Jack home. This will show Jack how much he is loved. Details are here. Please do take part in this wonderful idea! 29th Jan – please please pray for them as their house has just been flooded a 3rd time! It is not their fault, it has to do with poor grading of the street outside their home but the city won’t help them and this is seriously eating into all their adoption funds. Please contribute to their fund, no amount is too small. 7th Feb: we have the Precious 3 Auction running for them.

The Evans Family is bringing Hylah (Molly Kate) home. They are currently finishing up their homestudy. At the moment, the estimated amount they need to raise is about US$15,000. They are trying to raise as much of that as possible through sales of wooden name puzzles, see here for the beautiful pieces you can purchase. They are hoping to host a Garage sale soon – stay tuned for that. You can contribute directly to their adoption grant here. They have asked for prayers, specifically pray that Molly would understand why she can not be home with them right now, that they can help her to understand that paperwork takes a long time and that she be patient. Follow their journey here.

The Sharp Family is waiting to be Rowyn’s and Zekeil’s forever family. They have LOA and hope to travel  in 2.5 months. The grants they have applied for have not come through. They are needing to raise about  US$20,000. They are asking for prayers that they find the funding. Pray for their little ones in China while they wait and their adjustment as they have no idea what will be happening to them soon. Pray for Mr. Sharp who will be home with their kids and for Mrs. Sharp and her friend who will travel to China soon. Their fundraising events are listed here; they are selling t-shirts, paper-bead necklaces (their kids made them) and their friend’s Etsy shop is offering them 50% of sales from lovely necklaces/bracelets. Rowyn’s Reveal Fundraiser is also still running, see here. You can contribute directly to their adoption grant here. Follow their journey here. UPDATE: the Sharp family is asking for prayers for funds to come in. Their travel is really soon. On their blog now are wonderful pictures of their daughter’s amazing artwork. They are happy to reproduce for you in exchange a contribution towards their adoption grant. See here. 13th Jan: They have a Thrity-One fundraiser now. Please shop here, click My Parties and then Shop Now under Sharp Adoption Fundraiser. 100% of Rachel’s commission is going to the Sharp’s Adoption. See here for a new blog post, telling their story in a nutshell. 7th Feb: We have the Precious 3 Auction running for the Sharp Family. As well as, all sales from Angel Crafts (sandra) on the RR Mall FB page goes to their adoption grant as well.

The Gaines Family is bringing home a little girl, they can not share her name or even her birth date but they do have a very cute picture of her on their blog. As previously stated, they are financially recovering from a failed adoption and need help with funding this one. You can help by making purchases through their Amazon Link Words, details are here. They are waiting for USCIS (immigration) approval and hope to travel in Spring to bring home their little girl. They are grateful for contributions to date but more will be needed so please consider giving towards their adoption fund on their blog.

The Robbins Family is Walter’s forever family. They travel this month to bring him home. Praise the Lord! They are fully funded! BUT… they have asked for prayers as this will be a big transition for all; most of all for Walter who has to leave familiar surroundings and persons. Pray that Walter will be ready to leave his old life and welcome a new one with great excitement and eagerness. Pray also for the 4 children who expectantly wait at home to welcome a new brother. You can follow their journey here. UPDATE: 18th Jan – Gotcha Day was Saturday 12th January!! Read about it here! Praise the Lord!

The Murdoch Family is bringing home little Corina. They have just started the adoption process and need lots of prayers. They are also in the midst of setting up their FSP so stay tuned. In the meantime, you can donate to their adoption process using the Donate button on their blog.

The Whicker Family is Song Guo’s forever family. They are waiting for travel approval and visas at the moment. They are also hoping to visit their oldest Chinese daughter’s orphanage while they are there to bring Song Guo home. They are asking for prayers for all paperwork and arrangements to go well. They have raised as much of the funds needed as they can on their own and now they are needing another US$8000. Please help them fill the gap, contribute to their adoption grant here. Follow their journey here. UPDATE: 18th Jan, they are travelling on 25th Jan and will return home with Song Guo on 7th Feb! Praise the Lord! Pray for safety during the trip and for smooth transition for all and for fast and easy paperwork. They are also asking for prayers for family members who are taking care of their children while they are gone. And do pray for Tana’s mother who has been very ill. They still short about US$2000 on funds, do keep praying that the funds come in while they are travelling. Do give towards their adoption fund if you can. 25th Jan, Tana’s mother is very ill and the doctor has said that her passing real soon so they have had to cancel their flights. Please keep them in prayer as they deal with this sorrow. Pray that the Lord bring them comfort and give them strength to carry on.

The Fristoe Family is home with Clara but will be returning to bring Feng home. Do continue to pray for them. Feng is still in need of surgery. Please follow their journey on their blog. UPDATE: Feng will be admitted into hospital on 8th January to have BT shunt put in so that she might survive the wait for completed paperwork before she can go home to the Fristoe family. Please pray for her and that the surgery goes well, pray for the doctors treating, the nurses attending to her and her nannies caring for her. 29th Jan – They have a matching grant of US$500, which means every dollar you donate now will be doubled… Please  help them bring Feng home. They have just had a really tough time with 2 of their girls in hospital.

12 13 wonderful families, all needing your help. Please read their stories and contribute a little towards their journey. You would be helping to bring together a family; to complete a family. They are grateful for any and every amount given.

If you are not in a situation to contribute monies, then please do share their stories so others can help. Do also pray for these families; pray that God keeps them all safe and healthy, God provides the funds and the paperwork and God be with them every step of the way. They welcome every prayer said.

Thank you so much for your kind attention, your generous giving and your prayers.

syc

Giveaway for the Campbells Ended… Winners are…

First order of business is to say THANK YOU to all our very generous donors. We have raised US$460 in a week. Thank you very much for caring about Maya Grace enough to contribute to the Campbells’ adoption grant.

Second, THANK YOU to everyone who has shared this post and giveaway. Visibility and building awareness is half the work.

Although we raised only a small part of the US$5400 the Campbells needed, it is still a good amount and would go some way to help them defray those costly travel expenses. And while i know that many have contributed and shared, only a handful have actually commented and made their efforts and generosity known. So my third THANK YOU goes out to those anonymous donors and advocates.

Now onto the winners:

Winner of the Semi-Precious Bracelet is Beth Baird.

Winner of the Stamped 1″ Silver Disc is Kathy Wiehl.

i will be contacting the winners via Facebook message.

Once again, Thanks to everyone who made this Giveaway a success.

Maya Grace thanks you for helping her family get to her.

Please keep the Campbell family in your prayers as they travel today to go pick Maya Grace up. Pray for safe travels within country as well as for all paperwork to go smoothly and quickly. Pray also for them all to stay healthy.

If you have missed the Giveaway but have been led to give towards this adoption, please do. It is never too late to give. Go here to donate directly to the Campbells’ FSP (Family Sponsorship Page).

You can also keep up with them as they travel on their blog. i’m not sure how much access they will have but i know they will update whenever they can.

So excited for them to start to the new year together as a family of 5.

syc