Lots of emotions!!!

Ok, so by now I am sure you know that we have started fundraising our way towards our little one's adoption by selling Uganda beads!!!! Click here to see our post and find out how to get yours today! I know some of you are wiped out from back to school shopping and writing all of those checks to your school!!! I know, I am too! Just know I will be selling these for a while, so I have them when you are ready- No worries!!! We have ordered more beads this week, which means they are moving!!!!Yay!!! I have even sold 12 sets as GIFTS for Christmas!!! So hats off to you who are knocking out your Christmas lists! They are very ORIGINAL gifts so keep it in mind! If you have ANY ideas on how we can sell more of these, will you please send me a message? I need to be in front of people-- maybe if you have a booth opportunity at your elementary fall festival or church? anything like that- please let me know!!! We will travel by car to share our story- just let us know if you have any ideas!!! (paynegina1@hotmail.com)

Thanks already to those of you who posted our links to our blog on your facebook page and blog pages! Yay! We had 300 views the day we started fundrasing!! That is wonderful!!! :) Thanks to those of you who have bought your beads! Please keep wearing them!!! If your necklace doesn't look good with your outfit today, remember to wrap them around your arm as a bracelet!!! PLEASE, when you start collecting your compliments tell them about us and if you know them take their order for us!!!

I have been so happy to reconnect with some friends from high school and college that I have not spoken with in some time!! :) It is sooo great to catch up and thanks for all of your support!!! So awesome to see my NEW friends getting behind us too!

I love the pictures you are all sending to my phone of YOU wearing your beads!!!Keep them coming!!They so make me smile!!! We are so grateful for the support of ALL of our friends and ALL of our family!!! Thank you all soo much!!!

Thanks to those of you who are sooo creative and are printing out our fundraiser blog post and passing around and posting at your work place! What a great idea!!! I have one friend who is selling a bunch for us like this-- I am getting ready to ship her some beads and I can't wait to see how many she sells when she OPENS her box of beads at work!!! She works with a whole lot of women and that is sooo our target audience!!!:) Thanks Kathy!!! :)




Thanks to those of you, who continue to support us and those of you who will in the future!! I LOVE this fundraiser opportunity, because it touches sooo many people. We initailly started fundraising for Katie in Uganda by having a yard sale for her in our neighborhood. We were so impressed that this little girl from Brentwood, who went to Ravenwood HS, was doing so much for the children in Uganda, Africa! We weren't even thinking about adoption at this point, we just loved her heart and wanted to help HER. I read one of Katie's posts on her blog that changed MY heart forever. God has worked so fast, placing us front and center on this adoption journey! We have been to Africa, seen this beautiful county and have heard the cries of his children there. I miss Africa so much everyday.(I will save that for another post.) We know this is HIS plan for our family! It's crazy, but I am so glad to follow him and I beleive HE wants us to spread the word about the orphan crisis that exists in this world. You can read here how Katie taught these beautiful women how to make the Uganda beads. She changed their lives forever and with every bead purchase YOU continue to provide an income to these women. You allow us to collect a portion of our sales to go towards my son's adoption and half of the money goes back to help fund Katie's feeding program! You help 3 different causes at once with your purchase! I am so happy to be able to continue to bless Katie with our fundraising efforts!!




We have A LOT of fundraising to do. Here are a few ideas we are tossing around. Bead sales, garage sales, consignment sales, family t-shirt sales and raffles. We have had a few friends mention holding fundraiser parties for us too! For those of you wondering HOW MUCH this adoption will cost, brace yourselves. It will be around $30K. Yes, I said that right. We are looking at possibly a late Winter/early Spring homecoming for our little guy, so that is a LOT of money to raise in a short time!! God keeps telling me "more than enough". My husband texted me those words yesterday too, so I believe that he is hearing that from him too. We beleive he will provide "More than enough".

Here are some ways you can help if you want to.... donate to our adoption fund- we have a paypal link at the top of our blog. BUY some beads for yourself and your friends, tell your friends, help us sell some beads!! If you are about to toss out or goodwill any clothes, toys,furniture or other items would you PLEASE consider doanting to our garage sale? We will hopefully have that in October.

If you are creative can you throw out a tshirt design idea if you have one? All we know is we want the continent of Africa on our shirt... that is all we have.. we need help!!!

If you have a business or know someone who does who could donate some goods or services would you send ideas our way? We would love to do an online raffle or online silent auction.

If you have any car connections will you let us know? We would LOVE to get a car donation that we could raffle off....that would be so awesome!!!

If you know someone in the MUSIC industry that would like to help us with a charity concert or an autographed "something", that would be amazing!!! So many ideas, so little time! If you want to help please call me and let's talk! 615-516-4401

So last night was a tough one for me. You see, ever since we got back from Ethiopia, we have been busier than a bee. We are living in mountains of paperwork, trying to get "paper ready" once the courts open in October. There is sooo much paperwork. We wake up everyday and tackle another piece of paper/task on our list. We have been dealing with homestudy visits, more doctor appointments, TB skin tests, ordering birth certificates, sending those off to get seals from the Secretary of State, collecting tax info, collecting employment letters and reference letters,... there is just so much more to do. It has kept us really busy, in addition to our kid's carpools, and yes, we both work outside the home. Last night, I was a little teary and Philip picked up on it immediatley. I am tired and I miss my little guy. All I have is a few pictures and a few videos of him, and my memory of spending a little time with him. I have already memorized them. I know this is progressing at record lightning speed and I signed up for this, but my heart is breaking for that little boy who is sitting half way across the world in his new orphanage. I wish I could hold him and tell him I am coming. He is so little, what is he thinking? His whole world changed the day before I met him. He was brought to this orphanage and I wonder what he thinks is happening to him? Oh, my heart just breaks, and breaks. I miss him and love him so much already. This is going to be emotional for me and I realize I have been so covered up in paperwork that this has been a distraction. I know others wait so much longer than us, so I dont want to complain. I just want this paperwork to be DONE, I want it submitted to the courts and to pass on the first try, and I long for our first travel date so I can SEE him again. Today, I am praying for patience. I know there is a lot to do to get him home and that needs to be my focus, but it's hard. God has been so faithful; and I know all things are done in HIS time.