I Interrupt this Blog Break with BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I apologize for my very slow blogging in the last week, but today is a day to rejoice and return to the blog!!!

First of all ===>HAVE YOU SEEN! Nanette met her goal! Thank you Patti at A Perfect Lily for your help in getting Nanette to her goal and past it. I was sort of stalled out, and my sweet friend helped me get Nanette to her goal. She was left until the very end last year, but not this year friends! She made her goal good and early! YAY NANETTE!

There is still work to be done because she NEEDS a family!!!!! Any money added to her account WILL help a family come forward for her, but more important than the money is that her family sees her and knows they see their daughter and commits to her. Remember, if you are visiting her wondering about Nanette, she was in an excellent Baby House. She was transferred recent; however, she is in a decent institution from what I have been told. However, NO institution can take the place of a family. A real, loving momma and daddy!

Next on that same note ***My Angel Tree kiddo from last year-Megan has a family!!!***

Megan has had one of the largest grans on Reece's Rainbow for a while now, but due to her region temporarily shutting down, it has been difficult for a family to step out in faith to adopt her. However, Megan's region is up and moving again, and things are expected to become more "normal" again with adopting in her region. With that news, a family has come forward for sweet Megan! I cannot wait to see who the lucky family is!!!

Back to Nanette: the giveaway ends in two days, so if you haven't gotten a chance to get in on it yet, go here to donate and then comment to enter!!!

Just $220.50 gets Nanette to her goal! Go here or here to read about the giveaway happening now until December 15th! iPad mini and $50 Target gift card up for grabs all for a donation of $10, a share on Facebook, Twitter or your blog, and/or a blog share!

Meeting the goal would be fantastic. Exceeding the goal would be AMAZING! Finding Nanette's forever family would be absolutely the best Christmas gift of all times!!! Please help us do one or both of these things by sharing her photo, sharing the giveaway and/or donating if possible!

It matters to this one!!! It truly does.

PS. Dont forget to read the following blog post here. It puts into words exactly why it is so very important to advocate, find families, and help raise funds for these precious children to come home.

iPad Mini Giveaway for Nanette!

GO CHECK OUT PATTI'S BLOG! My amazing, sweet friend has donated an iPad mini to help raise funds for Nanette! You now have the opportunity to win an iPad mini or a $50 Target gift card for your donation of $10. Click here for details iPad Mini Giveaway (and $50 Target card) for Nanette!!!

You can also gain entries by sharing on Facebook, Twitter, your blogs, and/or emailing friends and family!

This is not all about money folks. The goal is to find a family for Nanette. She needs a family so badly. I came across a blog entry yesterday of a mother who recently returned home from Nanette's country and adopting a 3 year old little girl with Down Syndrome. I want to say that it is by far one of the most telling and powerful posts about adoption I have ever read, and I have read a few (HUNDRED) blog posts about adoption. You can read that post here:  http://raisingthefabulousthree.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-ugly-side-of-adoption.html

Adoption is not always about growing your family. For so many of these children, it is about giving them a life. Not just giving them a life, but giving them their life back. I know it is long, but please consider reading this post.

Angel Tree is not just about money. It is about finding Nanette her family. It is about exposure and helping people understand just why it is so important to help rescue these children.

$339.50

Just $339.50 separates Nanette from her goal of $1,000.00 over the holiday season. It seems like so much, yet so did raising $250, and $500. I truly believe Nanette will meet her goal.

Please do not forget about the $50 Target giftcard giveaway over at A Perfect Lily! Not too many entries yet, so your chances of winning are pretty good. ANY amount donation gets you an entry to the giveaway.

Also, stay tuned. I am still working on a final "challenge" to reach the last goal. Due to recent surgery, it is questionable as to what I can and cannot do for my challenge, but I will post about it soon.

GIVEAWAY FOR NANETTE!

Hello all! It is my absolute privilege to have my sweet friend Patti, momma blogger over at A Perfect Lily holding a $50 Target Gift Card giveaway for Nanette on her blog! Just click on the link and scroll down to the bottom of her post. Any donation amount to Nanette gets you an entry for the Target gift card! Once you donate, just go comment at the bottom of that post. A winner will be drawn and announced here and at A Perfect Lily! If you have been waiting for a chance to win something, here is your chance! :-)  Nanette is worth it!

Thinking About You

Dear Nanette,
Many of the mommas who have blogs write to the children they are adopting in letter form on their blogs. While I am sadly not able to be your momma, I want to write to you today. I want you to know that each and every day, many, many times a day, I think of you.

My heart hurts knowing that you are in a new place where you do not know anyone, and no one knows you. I know your baby house was a loving place that was as much like a home as any orphanage could be, and I worry about where you are now. I have heard it isn't a terrible place, but an institution is no place for a sweet little girl your age.  It just isn't.  I also know that you must have wondered as your friends mommas and daddies came and visited, where were your mom and dad? I know that you have been held and loved by families coming to get their children, and I wish that I knew a family would come for you. I wonder if when your baby house director prepared you to move to the institution, did you think that she was preparing you for a your mom and dad to come visit? I am glad for all of your friends, held over at the baby house, waiting for their committed parents to come, but then I struggle with why you were not chosen. How, after all of this time, did no one's heart explode with love when they saw your sweet face?  I know I would come and get you in an instant if I could, but God does not seem to have that in the cards for me.

Nanette, I will keep fighting to raise your grant so that you can come home. I will keep working to ensure that you are not forgotten and that your story is heard. I will keep posting your picture and keep advocating for you as long as you still wait.

I am planning a few more things to try and reach your AT goal. We are just a little under $400.00 away from the goal. It seems like so much, yet so did $250, so did $500.00. So I just know we will get there sweetie. When Angel Tree is over, I plan to keep donating and sharing to help your parents find you.

Love you!
Your AT Warrior

Next Stunt to Help Nanette!!!

I have another crazy fundraising idea in cue!

I have to discuss it with my doctor....LOL, and be sure he is okay with it him. I am having minor surgery tomorrow, and I am not 100% sure I can do it at the end of Angel Tree due to incision healing.  However, if he okay's it, then I am totally ready for the next "crazy" stunt for Nanette!

Pies to the face was nothing compared to the next one. I am already shivering thinking about it....literally. ;-) Stay tuned. I should be able to talk to the doctor in the next few days. :-)

I'm Listening

My friend Patti, over at A Perfect Lily, posted the other day about Nanette. I did not know when I emailed Patti to check in and see how she was doing that it would lead to her feeling a nudge from God to blog about Nanette. You can read more about it here A Perfect Lily - "I'm Listening"

I am so thankful that Nanette has reached so many hearts, and I am truly hopeful that we can meet her goal as well as find her a family soon!

Failure-An Open Hearted and Broken Hearted Post from a Momma Who Met Nanette

Failure-An Open Hearted and Broken Hearted Post from a Momma Who Met Nanette
It is difficult to imagine being a parent who goes into these orphanages to adopt one child who stole their hearts and comes out loving so many. I can only imagine because it only takes their photos and stories for my heart to love them. PLEASE consider sharing Nanette's story. Please consider sharing her photo, her Reece's Rainbow profile, http://reecesrainbow.org/19203/nanette-15h . Her mom and dad are out there! Someone is this beauty's momma and just doesn't know it yet!

Here is her post from her blog  http://inmamasheart.com/2012/11/13/failure/

For the last two weeks, it has slapped me in the face every time I have opened the browser window.  It is a constant, painful reminder.

There is a blog entry entitled “Failure” in my draft folder.

For the last two weeks, it has been just a title followed by an empty box.  The emotions have always been there, but the words were missing.  I just couldn’t find them, so the cursor sat there blinking away and mocking me.

Failure.

Nanette.

Nanette wasn’t in Charlotte’s groupa at the baby house.  She was in the smaller groupa for children who needed more one on one support.  The director and therapists told us (and other families who came after us) that she had a “hard” form of Down Syndrome.  She was developing at a slower rate than the other children with the same diagnosis.  To them, though, it did not matter.  Nanette was who she was.  She was loved and valued—weak heart, cognition challenges, and all.
Nanette was transferred at the end of September, and sent nearly 50 miles across the region to an institution.  Everything and everyone that she knows is gone.

And I feel like a failure.

Before we met Charlotte, I had no idea that the staff and children who worked and lived inside those four pumpkin orange walls would latch themselves so firmly to my heart.  I just wanted to get my child out as quickly as I could.  Standing in the middle of Charlotte’s lesson on our second trip to the baby house made me realize that it wasn’t going to be as simple as “in and out”.  Love does strange things in adoption.  You come to love the children that are not yours just as fiercely as your own child.  Every time you walk through those doors, your heart ends up happy and broken all at the same time.  And you promise yourself that you can’t and don’t want to forget how that felt after the rusty gate clanks shut behind you and your child for the last time.
In March, I held Nanette close to my heart.  I kissed her and told her that she was beautiful.  I promised her that a Mama would come for her and that she would steal her Mama’s heart just like Charlotte had stolen mine.

September and the transfer committee came.

The rational part of me understands that adoption is complicated and heartbreaking.  Even fierce love and desire can’t slow the passage of time or change the rules as they currently exist.
But the not-so-rational part of me that feels like a failure is grappling with the notion that the only home that she had ever known—one filled with a staff that didn’t view children with special needs as broken or defective or wrong—is gone.  She is never going to find that place of total, unconditional acceptance again.

I cannot go back and erase what I’ve seen.  I cannot forget the laughter and contented smiles of the children I danced with, tickled, played with, and snuggled.
And I don’t want to.  For them, I risk failure…

Annalisa turns 4 in February. She will be transferred, just like Nanette.

Beckett turns 4 in February. He will be transferred, just like Nanette.

Diane turns 4 in April. She will be transferred, just like Nanette.

And failure is not an option.

Article About Down Syndrome

Here is a good little article written by a momma who adopted a son with Down Syndrome from Ukraine with the help of Reece's Rainbow. It is a short read with good information.

http://galvestondailynews.com/story/357854

If you are coming here interested in adopting Nanette, please do not hesitate to contact Reece's Rainbow for more information. The contact for new families or interested families is sarah@reecesrainbow.org. Contacting Sarah can help you find out if you will qualify to adopt Nanette or any of the other children listed with grants on Reece's Rainbow!

Pies to the Face for Nanette!!!

Pie in the Face Number 1 Pie in the Face Number 2 And just for fun (and of course for Nanette), pie in the face number 3! Stay tuned for the next goal amount and just what I will do when Nanette's account reaches it!

First Goal Met Already?!

You read that right! On day 1 of fundraising, my first goal for Nanette's Angel Tree account was met and exceeded. ;-)  Someone out there REALLY wanted to see my kids throw a pie in my face, and they will get that chance in the next day or so! I wasn't planning on things happening so quickly, so I did not purchase the stuff needed to get "pied". Just as soon as I can get to the store, I will get what I need and happily take two pies to the face to celebrate reaching the first goal for sweet Nanette!

Stay tuned for the video of the pie attack ;-)

Want to See Me Get Not 1 But 2 Pies to the Face??

Okay, so you would think with just two months to raise $1,000.00+ for Nanette, I might have had planned something big to kick off the fundraiser. Well...I planned something to kick it off.

We are going to start with the opportunity to see a totally embarrassing video of each of my children giving me a cream pie to the face! That is right! In the first two weeks of fundraising, by November 14, if Nanette's account is at $250.00 (or whenever it reaches $250.00 before that), I will fill two metal tin pie pans with large amounts of whipped cream, hand them over to my children, hand the camera to Steve and allow the girls to both "pie" me in the face. Ha ha!

This has been a popular fundraiser amongst some of the adopting families. I couldn't really figure out why at first, but then I realized that everyone loves watching a good pie in the face video. So, not only will I let them do it, but I will video it and post it here on my blog and on Facebook for all the world to see ;-)

If that doesn't motivate you to donate to Nanette, you just keep coming back to visit the blog. I am going to keep coming up with wild and adventurous and embarrassing things to do on video and/or in public. Other ideas have been hair color, rainbow hair, dressing in "decade" attire for a day knowing I will be going out into public on that day....

These wild, embarrassing things are not all I have planned to help raise funds, but I thought it would be a fun way to kick things off. Hope to post my pie in the face video soon!!

********************
On a more serious note, many people have said they do not believe that their donation makes a difference. Please know that ANY donation amount it absolutely, positively making a difference. One dollar or one-hundred dollars. Each and every single dollar matters. So please, even if all you can donate is a few dollars, if you feel led to donate it, do.  Each donation no matter how large or small is tax deductible, so you will receive the tax benefit from your donation.

To put the donation amount thing into perspective...
If 1000 people donated $1.00, goal would be met.
If 200 people donated $5.00, goal would be met.
If 100 people donated $10.00, goal would be met.
If just 50 people donated $20.00, Nanette's goal would be met.
If just 40 people donated $25.00, Nanette's goal would be met.
If just 29 people donated $35.00, Nanette's goal would be met (and each of those people would get her RR ornament. ;-)
You see what I am getting at? It does not take that much to reach this precious and very important goal for Nanette. And each and every single donation big or small is so important!!!  Please consider helping my sweet angel Nanette who was just transferred to the institution last weekend. She will find a family with a larger grant. I absolutely know it!

Transferred :-(

TRANSFERRED :-( That was the news I received just a couple of days ago about sweet Nanette.  Moved from the only home she had ever known, her baby house, and a good one at that, to a mental institution. Poor angel must have been so scared and confused. Why did she have to leave, but her friends we allowed to stay. Why was her orphanage director sad? It was because she loves each child at her baby house, and she did everything she could to keep Nanette there. However, the time came when she could no longer do that without a committed family. TRANSFERRED. :-(

A family visiting their son in Nanette's groupa just a short time ago, prior to the transfer, said she was so sweet and precious.  They were not able to photograph her too much, but here is her most recent photo.

Nanette is there on the right. Isn't she a doll?

Here are a few more pictures of Nanette over the past years at her baby house.

Can you see just how much this little girl deserves to know a momma and daddy? She is such a little love, and sadly, she has been transferred. The only good news about her transfer was that as far as institutions go, she evidently was moved to a decent one. Unfortunately, as if her chances of being adopted in country or into the US weren't low enough at the baby house, moving to the institution reduces her chances even more. :-(

Please join me in raising $ for Nanette's adoption grant fund through Reece's Rainbow.  Between November 1 and December 31, I am going to try to raise $1,000.00 plus dollars for her grant.  As of today, October 31, she has $4,436.00 in her fund. That is a great start, but an adoption in her region typically costs around $35K. These costs include travel and meals, and transportation in country. It includes fees. Lots and lots of fees both in her country and in the US.  Families are often very capable of taking care of a child, even one with Down Syndrome, once they return home, but adoption costs can stand in the way of committing and moving forward.

It is very common for people to fund raise for their adoptions! Not just adoptions of children with special needs or international adoption, but even domestic adopting families often fund raise to help cover costs. Although we are not adopting Nanette, although I so wish we could/were, raising money for her grant will make it possible for someone else to adopt her! So if you are unfamiliar with the world of adoption, fundraising and grant funds may seem foreign to you, but it is really common. Many organizations offer grants and money toward adoptions.

So please, please, please PLEASE!!!! Help me raise funds for Nanette will ya?  Stay tuned for all of the crazy things I plan to do to try and get people to help me meet my goal of $1,000 for Nanette! The donation period starts tomorrow!!! I cant wait!

My 2012 Angel Tree Angel-"Nanette"

I am so excited this year to have "Nanette" as my 2012 Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree angel! This little sweetie has been heavy on my heart for a while now, and I would love NOTHING more for Christmas than to see her grant grow at least the $1,000.00 that I pledged to raise for her this holiday season. If we surpassed that goal, I would be FLOORED!

Last year, toward the end of the Angel Tree, I saw Nanette. I saw Nanette at the bottom of the tree. Sweet girl was one of the very last children to reach her $1,000.00 holiday goal. I "bumped" her account many times trying to help her reach the next level on the tree. I stared at her photo and wondered why she was last? Why was no one donating to her? How do you see that sweet face and read her sweet description and not want to help her reach and surpass her goal?! This year, I sincerely hope that Nanette will be one of the first to the top of the Angel Tree and not the last.

What I hope even more is that someone, somewhere sees their daughter in her eyes. I hope that someone sees her sweetness and reads her story and decides to donate to her. She is currently at a baby house where the children are very well cared for and loved by their director. Many, many of her friends in her groupa have been adopted or have families working to adopt them. Yet, Nanette waits.

Please help me make it easier for a family to come forward for her. Her region is expensive. Very expensive. $45,000.00 + expensive. Why? A lot of negative people like to say adopting internationally is "buying" a child. However, I will say that so much of the money needed for adoption simply has to do with USA fees, her country fees and then travel. Think about it? Her country requires three trips. How much would it cost you to fly to Eastern Europe 3 times? Her country now requires families to do a lot of adoption training and some of it must be done in her country. So...more $ because people have to have somewhere to stay and must eat. So add country fees both ours and hers, travel expenses for three trips, and basic necessity while there, it gets pricey!

Reece's Rainbow offers grants for families to help ease the costs of rescuing these children. Unlike some other adoption grant non-profits, Reece's Rainbow holds the funds until the family is approved by their child's country and has been given travel dates. Therefore, you can rest assured that your money will not be handed over without everything being in line for the adoption to be completed. Could something come up? Absolutely. But Reece's Rainbow does the best that they can to carefully distribute the grant funds so that no money is spent unnecessarily. For a child like Nanette, a child with no family committed to her yet, the grant amount could basically make the difference between whether or not a family does commit. Seeing a large amount of money in a grant especially when a country and region is so expensive, can make a huge difference. Do families commit in these expensive regions even when grants are low. Yes. Sometimes. But, do families NOT commit because the grant funds are low. Sadly. Yes. Many families must not pursue children they love due to funds. "MY" Nanette waits, and I have very little doubt that a lot of it has to do with her grant fund being low.

For all of you naysayers and negative Nellie's who say, "You are buying children," or "A family shouldn't adopt if they don't have the funds," or "How will they afford the child when they get home if they cannot afford the adoption," keep your negativity to yourselves. Nobody is buying a child.

Families step forward to adopt for all sorts of reasons. For some it is a step in faith. A belief that God has called us to care for widows and orphans. And he has. It is in the Bible. Plain and simple. Black and white. Numerous times. The money argument....Do you have $45K laying around? I am guessing unless you are really lucky, that you do not. Would you find a way to get $45K if it meant the life of your child? Would you stop because people think you cant afford it? That is how these families feel. They fall in love with their child. After that, the mission is clear. Save them at all costs. Families humble themselves and ask for your help and donations because they are trying to rescue THEIR child. Just as you would rescue yours.

Many families have plenty of ability to care for their children once they are home. In fact, home study social workers,agencies, government officials in both the US and adopting country, make sure these families are capable of caring for their children when they come home. There are financial and insurance requirements for these families before they can even begin the process.

SO....that is that.

I am sorry this post is so long, but I will wrap it up with sharing some of the ideas I have for raising $ for Nanette.
1) You can just donate! Beginning November 1, any donations made to Nanette count toward her Angel Tree goal of $1,000.00. I will be the first to donate. You can donate ANY amount!!! There is no minimum, and all amounts help. Just think about how quickly it could add up! If just 100 people donate $10.00, her goal is met! If just 50 people donate $20.00, her goal is met. Get what I'm saying?! IF you would like to receive her ornament, you will need to make a donation of $35 or more though. :-)
2)I will be hosting a Noonday Collection party where a percentage of sales from the party will be donated to Nanette's grant account. Do not order from this link. In just a week or so, I will be posting information on how to order from Nanette's party so that the % will be donated to her grant. (Noonday Collection is an absolutely amazing company! Read all about it via the link above.)
3)Pies to the face! Yes folks!!! I am going to let the girls throw pies in my face, video it, and post them on YouTube, this blog and Facebook for certain dollar amounts we reach.
4)Hair coloring. I am willing to dye my hair for Nanette....and go out in public with it dyed! More information to come. :-)
5)Last, I may offer babysitting while my kiddos are at school. I am willing to give up my free time and my holiday shopping time to give you yours for a very reasonable price! All funds raised will be donated to Nanette!!!
6)I am starting a little side job as a mock patient for med students, and I plan on donating all funds raised in November and December to Nanette. This child matters to me. Please help me raise her grant, raise awareness, and hopefully ultimately find her a family!!!