Just one more.....

I have a few things to update on here, first the fundraiser. We held our Tastefully Simple Fundraiser party on Sunday the 24th. It was a huge success - we has $250 dollars in pre-orders alone. The deal was we would earn $10 for every $100 sold, that is the standard reward for Tastefully Simple. But if we reached $1000 in sales, it would be bumped up to $15. As of this moment we have earned $150 from the party. We still have a few outside orders trickling while our consultant is out of town so we could get a little more!!! It was a huge success. We also received some donations from family and friends to add to that making our fundraising efforts closer to $200!!! But there is another wonderful piece to the puzzle. I have a friend from my working days in corporate America, she's a great friend. She stuck with me and supported me throught our infertility treatments and helped me through some really rough times. She introduced me to her mother, who also supported us and became friends with us. I might have mentioned Sara before actually, since she's the one who helped with the house remodeling :) Anyway, Sara and her mother, Jackie, experienced alot with us throughout treatment and then with my rocky pregnancy. It was Sara who held my hand the day I was rushed to the ER and thought I was having a miscarriage. She is a great friend, and so much love comes from her and her family. Jackie is such a caring and thoughtful person that she offered to book a Tastefully SImple party and have her earnings be donated back to us!!!! It was/is such a kind gesture and one of pure selflessness - I have no words that can even explain how much that touches my heart. So at the end of AUgust I will have a second fundraising update to share.

Now onto other things - we are waiting for just one more piece of paper to complete our dossier. There is an Orphan Officer in Chicago (yup AN, as in 1) who is in charge of reading and approving homestudies for Immegrations. We are waiting for that approval and we are so underway. I plan on overnighting the papers to Seattle in order to make the process move as quickly as possible. Then we will have to wait about 2-4 months before hearing if we have been "initially approved" by Thailand to adopt one of their children. Then the real waiting begins - timelines change all the time, but at this point it looks like nearly a year before we will be matched with a child (the referal). So we've got some time. Can you imagine how cool it would be to have the job title Orphan Officer? I think I would like that job - reading about all the people taking the time and making the efforts to go on this journey. Although, sad too because I'm sure a lot of the stories are from people who have been on a long journey already. Going through this has rekindled my interest in Sociology - I'm not sure what I'll do with this again found interest, maybe just read some interesting books, maybe take a night class....I'm not sure. But eventually my kids will be grown and I'll be forced to join the working world again and I think I'd like to do something in the social services. Does that sound crazy?

Sometimes I feel like I don't know who I am anymore - like with every life focus I loose who I was and become something new. I can't figure out if that makes me adaptable or means I really have no idea about who the core of me is. Perhaps this is the journey I was meant to take to find that out.

Fundraiser

We are planning a fundraiser - I know it sounds weird and like we are begging for money, but this is a great one. We are having a Tastefully Simple party and a percentage of the total sales will be given back to us in a check. SO people are not giving us money, they are just buying products for themselves and therefore helping us out. I've had some fundraising ideas in the past but they have been shot down by some people, saying it was like I was asking for handouts. I don't want that. This way it's all like a normal party - with maybe a little more insentive to buy if you were doubting something. There is no additional mark up on the products, there is nothing extra added, so for the party goers it's like a normal Tastefully Simple party.

It's a long way before we are done with this process and the money issues hang over my head. Someone I love, please win the lottery soon!!! Or better yet, someone who loves me! :)

I wish I knew how to post pictures here because we have some great ones from when we went to the Taste of Thailand. The dancers' costumes were amazing and it was so great seeing all those Thai people.

Not a lot to update - we are going to have a phone meeting with the director of the Thai program at WACAP sometime next week. I'll write more about that when it happens. For now.....we are still waiting for two more pieces of our dossier before we can send it in for review and translation. So we are still looking at a few more months before it hits Thailand. Then the real waiting begins.

Exciting step...

I just received an email newsletter from the Thai coordinator at WACAP talking about the program and updates. We have never received this email before and in the section referring to the Thai Red Cross it mentioned welcoming a new family to the program! I think that must be us!!!!!! We are in the Thai program - officially!!!!!! Yippy!

I nearly had a breakdown recently when I thought I might have to start our dossier collection completely over again, but Josh, the wonderful 5/3 banker, saved the day. It was a mistake/misunderstanding on my part in reference to things being notorized. But Josh did everything for us and we good to go! We are waiting for one form that will be send once our fingerprints are processed by the FBI :) and we need to take a few more pictures of the house.

Thanks for everyone who has sent me project requests. I'm working on something for soon to arrive twins and have found a few more cross-stitch projects for personal use. Plus I found a great pattern book with a Thai design on it (major long term project). But there is still a long wait ahead of us, so please.....if you need/want anything let me know.

Another great thing on the horizon is we are hosting a fundraiser on July 24. We are hosting a Tastefully Simple party and a percentage of the sales will be given back to us in cash instead of free product. The products are great and there is nothing added to the costs, so if you like it and want to buy some why not help us out at the same time??? :) If anyone is interested in ordering or attending the party let me know. I haven't send out the invites, so some people reading this might be on the list already.

I'm in a really good mood about everything right now, I hope it lasts!