WOW....

Well...it was beyond what I imagined.

God was faithful and pulled together our little fundraiser...despite all the work I wasn't able to do because of being so sick last week (I knew He would do it!). Friends volunteered to help and cook and provide drinks and details. Invites went out and friends brought friends.

Our little fundraiser, was a great success. The house somehow got cleaned and somehow there was plenty of room for all the vendors and their stuff. A steady flow of shoppers (sometimes it was very crowded) just kept coming. Food kept showing up. The weather was glorious so kids could play outside (cause I hadn't even considered having the basement cleaned up for playing kids - we had shoved a bunch of things down there to clear out our first floor).

so wish I could show you T's pictures - at least the party was able to see her!

 And I felt better than I had in a week.

It was a huge blessing. The vendors I didn't know before were so wonderful with hearts for the orphan and adoption.  All our daughters sold items they had made as well as several little girls from our lifegroup and church. All our vendors were kind and supportive - and fun to have here!

To top it off, I learned that morning that it was National Adoption Day. I had not had any previous knowledge of that when I scheduled the event. God was smiling down!

Many people came to the party - thank you, thank you. We sold some tshirts, lots of our Just Love Coffee, and puzzle pieces. Nearly all our Cha-ching for Ting banks were taken. There was lots of laughter and fun. I wish I had taken more pictures (and better ones - especially during the big crowds - but I was BUSY!! (and socializing of course, what I do best...). I missed a picture of cute little Bethany with her knit hats, and many of my amazing friends who baked and stayed to help. Love you all!

Despite my scheduling snaffoos, John and Jack made it back from the chess tournament to catch the end of our event. Jack was sporting his silver medal - 2nd place in his age division for his first tournament. GO JACK!

Now for the info you are here (hopefully!) to check out:

If you were unable to attend on Saturday, or live too far away (hello to all my extended family!), the following vendors will continue sales this week that will benefit our adoption. Do some Christmas shopping in the comfort of your home over the upcoming holiday. Stay away from all the mall crowds and Black Friday maniacs (oops, sorry if you are a Black Friday maniac...).

Here are all the websites and some assistance on how to order so it benefits our fundraiser. Thanks in advance for your prayers and shopping support!

Thirty-one Bags --  www.mythirtyone.com/99632    Click on "my parties," then click on "shop now" on the Julie Snell line. (If you have trouble viewing this site from Chrome - it wouldn't open the page for me - try Firefox - I had no problem opening it there!)

Silpada Jewelry --  www.mysilpada.com/carrie.richards  Click on "shop Silpada catalog," then click on "find your hostess now," then click on "continue shopping."

Do You Bake? -- www.doyoubake.com/cindyreed  Scroll down for the event - it is listed as Julie S Fundraiser. Click "shop with this event."

Miche Bags -- www.franmetz.miche.com  you will see open parties on the left - we are Julie Snell fundraiser.

Pampered Chef  -- www.pamperedchef.biz/missycooks  click "shop on line," then type in Julie Snell, then click on Julie Snell.

Blessings Unlimited --  www.myblessingsunlimited.net/missyberry  Just order, it will go toward our event.

Tastefully Simple -- www.tastefullysimple.com/web/tholleman  Click on "host a party," then click "search" under the "searching for a host or party,"  then click "select" and type in Julie Snell VA, Nov 17

Mary Kay -- www.marykay.com/kneilson4  Just order, it will go toward our event.

Premier Designs Jewelry -- if you are interested in this jewelry, check out their website www.premierdesigns.com. Contact Jennifer at bjpuff5@gmail.com. I have catalogs for local folks!

Our family thanks you so very much for your support as we get closer and closer to bringing little T home!! God bless!

Thank you...

THANK YOU - THANK YOU! 

Within one week, we have met our goal to receive our matching gift!

Within one week, you rallied around us and donated over $500 toward our puzzle, toward our matching gift - and toward bringing T home. Bless you and thank you!

With our matching gift, we now have 335 of our 500 puzzle pieces sponsored. Please take a minute to check out all the wonderful puzzle sponsors listed at the bottom of the blog.

We still have work to do. We are still selling puzzle pieces ($10 a piece). We want to finish that puzzle!

We are still selling yummy coffee - Just Love Coffee - lots of yummy free-trade choices. They would make wonderful office/teacher gifts for Christmas!

We are close to choosing a t-shirt design that we will be selling soon here on the blog.

In a couple of weeks, we will have info for our local friends, inviting you to our open-house Holiday Market. We'll have an afternoon of Christmas shopping here at our house with lots of vendors, door-prizes, and holiday cheer!

In the meantime, we are applying for adoption grants and filling out more paperwork!

Yes, more paperwork - OUR REFERRAL PAPERS!! Yes, T's actual referral arrived yesterday along with tons of other papers, immigration applications, etc. So we are sending those all back to the agency in a day along with the final agency fee! The other cool news we got this past week is that our dossier is now listed (on the China Affairs adoption website) as being "in process." Apparently our agency said this was very quick for them to already have it translated and to be working on. It seems like things are currently moving a bit faster than usual. YAY!

You may have noticed that we are now referring to our new daughter as "T." Last week we received a new form from our homestudy agency, stating that we are not allowed to put info or pictures on the internet until our adoption is final (soooo bummed about this as our placement agency had said we could post pictures as soon as we received our next China approval). This is apparently a new Virginia policy but we will be investigating it as the wording it vague and it contradicts what we were told by our placement agency. So for now, I will be going back through the blog to change any reference to our new daughter to "T."

I am so sad if it is actually true that all photos of waiting children will ultimately not be allowed on the internet. I am particularly sad for adoption advocacy sites that post info about children who are waiting or are in the process of being adopted. What a shame if waiting children can no longer be shown in pictures on the web. This is how we found T and our Ethiopian daughters. More to come on this new development.

My pictures didn't download in time right now, but be looking for a photo-full post coming soon, of our Fall fun weekend with the cousins!

AMAZING NEWS...

I have AMAZING news! An awesome friend and her family (a fellow adoptive family) have offered us a wonderful and generous gift. We are overwhelmed by this family's kindness, generosity, and encouragement to us. They have offered us a matching gift.

They will match all puzzle pieces purchased from today until the end of 2012 - up to $500.00!

If you have given to us already - thank you so much - we are humbled and so very grateful. If you have been wanting to help us out by sponsoring a piece or one for each member of your family, but haven't yet - now is the time!

The puzzle we are putting together is pictured at the bottom of this page (bottom border of the blog) and is a 500 piece, children's puzzle of the world. Each piece of the puzzle costs $10.00 to sponsor. When a piece is sponsored, the sponsor's name is written on the back of the puzzle piece. Once the puzzle is completely sponsored, our family will put the puzzle together, glue it (never tried that before), and frame it between two pieces of glass so that the names are visible on the back. This will be a visual reminder to T in the years to come of all who have shared in our effort to bring her home.

Purchasing a piece can be completed here on the blog - at the right, on the chip-in (it will take you to Paypal and can only be seen when using your computer - not phone), by check, or by cash. If you are interested in paying by check or cash, let me know in the comments here, on Facebook, in a letter, or in an email (juliesnell@picturehealth.net). If you are buying several puzzle pieces, be sure to tell me the names that you want on each of your pieces.

At this time, all our adoption agency fees are paid (the last one should be paid in another week). Now we are saving for plane tickets, hotel stay, travel expenses, visas, dr. appointments in China, adoption fees paid while in China, etc.

I will be regularly reminding you - here, on Facebook, in emails - about this matching gift challenge (hope all my peeps won't get sick and tired of me). We so want to make the most of this gift - to be able to add another $500 in donations toward the puzzle - and thus earn the $500.00 match - will get us $1,000.00 (duh, I know you can add...just wanted to write out the $1,000.00!) closer to our daughter! Please feel free to share this post link with anyone you know who might be interested in playing a part in bringing a little girl home to her forever family.

In the meantime, I am working hard on planning our holiday market open house in November, here in our home. We will be hosting up to 10 vendors here at our house for some comfortable Christmas shopping and fun fellowship. Our vendors have graciously agreed to gift us with money toward our travel expenses rather than with hostess reward products. It is shaping up to be a fun event - which will benefit our adoption fund as well as help all our kind-hearted vendors meet some new customer contacts and sell some of their goods! I'm looking forward to a full house! More details on this event coming soon.

We are constantly working around here to add to our adoption savings account. Just this past weekend we threw together a rather impromptu garage sale - so last minute. But we had lots of clothes, a few pieces of furniture, and a few other items that we decided to part with. We did well for the little that we put into this event and sold nearly everything!

I have finally gone through our basement shelves of homeschool curriculum and books and have advertised and sold nearly all I was willing to part with. A few of my baby items (handsewn baby blankets and knit hats) have been selling in a local friend's store - we received a check from them just yesterday... it all adds up.

We are continuing on with our coffee sales (coffee would make great office or teacher gifts, hint, hint) and we hope to have a t-shirt available sometime closer to  Christmas.

Thank you to you, my growing community of blog readers. I appreciate that anyone takes the time to check out what's happening here - to listen to my ramblings, and brags on my kiddos. Thank you to all who have given something to help us to reach our little girl. I appreciate you all - my friends I know in person, and the friends I know only through "blog-land." You are all special to me!

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee...

Oh how I wish I liked coffee...I have always wanted to like it but alas, I am just not a coffee drinker. I like tea...

My whole family drinks coffee. A. Lot. Of. Coffee...A. Whole. Lot. Of. Coffee.

Whenever we get together with the cousins, or our parents, or our sisters and their families, coffee is a main topic of conversation at some point. Coffee is oo'ed and ah'ed over, sought after, bought, brewed, and of course, necessary each morning for anyone to function. My one sister in law has coffee in her email address and has her kitchen decorated in a coffee theme. One of my sisters' dog is named "Latte."
My kids are even becoming coffee drinkers when they can score a cup (yes, don't judge...).

When we adopted three years ago from Ethiopia we were surprised to learn that coffee originated there. Coffee is a staple drink in Ethiopia and coffee ceremonies are a huge part of the culture. We were lucky to have been a part of several ceremonies while were there. Yes, I did try it...sadly, I still didn't like coffee. But boy, my husband did.

Ethiopian coffee ceremony while we were in Ethiopia.

After that trip, John became quite fascinated with the whole coffee process (aw heck, he was before that too). He ordered coffee beans, roasted them on our back porch (I'd pass people in the neighborhood hours later as I walked the dog, and they would say "Do you smell coffee??" Um...yeah).

A year or so ago I read about a sweet family that was adopting an adorable little boy from Eastern Europe who had Down's Syndrome. Their story and struggle to adopt him caught my heart. They were doing a coffee fundraiser - Just Love Coffee. I thought it would be a cool gift for my husband and teens to buy them some Ethiopian fair trade coffee and even some Just Love Coffee T-shirts - and it would help a family to bring home their sweet little boy. They loved their coffee and tees.

Just Love Coffee offers organic, fair trade coffee. Their small company is passionate about coffee (much like my family members...but more) but they are also passionate about helping those in need - non-profits, artisans - and adoptive families.

So I am announcing our 2nd fundraiser - we have opened a store front with Just Love Coffee!!
For every bag of coffee sold through our store, we will receive $5 toward our adoption. Their store offers other items as well - mugs, t-shirts, etc - and we will also receive a portion of those proceeds as well.

This store will be available throughout our adoption process so if you are looking for a gift for the holidays, or just some yummy coffees, just click on our button in the right column which will take you to our storefront and you can peruse the selection.

Need a cup of Joe?