A little Update…

Hey Everyone!!! I hope this post finds you all doing well. We've had a VERY busy last couple of weeks and I’m excited to share with all of you!!

A few weeks ago I wrote about some fundraisers we had coming up and let me tell you they are/were amazing!! Our dear friend Shelly started a puzzle fundraiser and it is going great. The wonderful part to this fundraiser will be the awesome picture puzzle of Baby C we’ll have to hang up in her room as a great reminder of all the wonderful people who helped us bring her home!! I also talked about our online auction that my friend Beth was putting together for us. Well, we started it on a Saturday and closed it on a Monday morning and it brought in over $1600!!!! This far exceeded our expectations and we are so extremely humbled by the support of everyone who participated!! I am still in awe of the complete kindness we have received from complete strangers...We are working hard on nailing down a place for our big fundraiser and should have that ironed out next week!! We really can’t wait to celebrate Baby C!!

The other week we also celebrated David and Misha’s Birthday!!! It’s crazy to think our sweet Misha is 5 already!! He has blossomed and grown so much over the last, almost, two years and next school year he’ll be in Kindergarten!!! I can’t believe the little boy we brought home from Ukraine is getting ready to head to off to big kid school!! We decided to keep birthdays low-key this year and do a joint birthday dinner and cake for Daddy and Misha, which worked our perfectly for us. During this time we also found out our oldest son, Ryan, made the minors division for little league. We are so proud of him and can not wait for this baseball season to start...only a little over 5 weeks until opening ceremonies and games starting...but who’s keeping track, right?! ;) 

Other then that we are hard at work with adoption papers and planing our big fundraiser!! Oh wait , I almost forgot...Something else that happened of the last few weeks is we were finally talked about in a anti-adoption forum ran by trolls!! Hahahaha...I’m sure some of you are thinking “What the hell, how can you laugh at this” but I can it’s almost like a right of passage when adopting..we had some trolls leave nasty comments during our adoption of Misha and I am expecting many more this time around. And to be honest the things they say are so far from the truth it’s hard not to laugh...I welcome them talking about us because all it’s doing is getting the word out about our adoption...And just in case the trolls swing in to read this post I have to let them know, our adopted son DID NOT damage/ruin/hurt our family in any way, if fact he has made us closer as a family, he has brought the best out in all of us and has blossomed into the most amazingly wonderful little boy....I’m not sure what went wrong in your lives that you have to bash others but just remember Karma is “B” and she’ll find you in time!!...And here’s something I’ll leave the wonderfully lovely trolls with: William Shakespeare once said~ “Love me or hate me, both are in my favor...If you love me, I’ll always be in your heart...If you hate me, I’ll always be in your mind.” So to you trolls, thank you for reading and giving us a good chuckle!! 

I hope you all are having an amazing week!! I’m off to work on our home-study and dossier papers!! 

Love Ya,

  Melissa

It's Fiesta Time!!

WHO’S READY TO PAAARRRTTTYYY????? 

GREAT NEWs….We have a date for our BIG, HUGE, AMAZING fundraiser!!! Save the date for MAY 10th 2014!! We will be having a “Cinco De-Laney” themed fundraiser...we have plans for a taco bar, chips~n~salsa, margaritas & beer (along with non-alcoholic beverages), and loads of fun to be had....tickets will be $30 and include 2 drink tickets. We are planing a wonderful silent auction filled with lovely gift baskets, week vacation to a surprise location, and may other wonderful items!! We are still working a location and will hopefully be decided on one within the next week or two...Tickets will be on sale soon and if you’re local to the sacramento area we’d love to see at our fiesta to celebrating bring home Baby C!!

A little something about some AWESOME fundraisers!!!

Hey, Hey, Hey Everyone!!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week, I know we sure are!! I also hope that if you reading this from one of the states that is dealing with the crazy cold weather that you are staying warm and cozy and out of the cold!! This week has been a busy one...the boys started back to school and David started some of his “honey do” projects that we’ve been talking about getting done. But that’s not what I writing about tonight...this past week I have seen the true kindness, generosity and support come in from complete strangers and some of my closest friends and I blown away by it all...If you are new to the adoption world the first thing you should know is most adoptions are funded through fundraisers...some are financially able to adopted without raising funds but we are not one of those lucky few...our reality is we do not have 20 or so thousand dollars sitting in our back pocket just waiting to be used...we need help to bring our sweet Baby C home and this is why we have to fundraise. This past week, two of my dearest friends have begun to start and plan some seriously awesome fundraisers for us. And these ladies are so amazing for taking the time out of their busy lives to help us get our girl home!!

So here is the FIRST actual fundraiser of our adoption....One of my dearest friends Shelly Ray (whom some know is the reason we adopted Misha) has started a puzzle fundraiser...$5 dollars buys you a piece to a puzzle she has had made up for us and she will write any message on the back of the piece from you to our sweet Baby C....once it is completed and placed in Baby C’s room we will have a beautiful reminder of how much love was put into her coming home!! :)) If you would like to participate in this fundraiser here’s what you do: FIRST click here--> Our FSP (it links you to our Reece’s Rainbow page where you can donate)… Second click here--> Shelly's Facebook and send Shelly a quick note that you donated to our FSP (the link from Reece’s Rainbow) and whatever message you want on the puzzle piece. Thank you in advance for helping us...it means more then words can express that we have your support!! 

Our SECOND fundraiser is being put together by Beth Herrington (whom most will remember was my partner in crime while we finalized our adoptions in Ukraine together and is family to us.). This auction is set to begin next Saturday the 18th @ 9am...it will be an online auction (via Instagram) and has some seriously AMAZING handmade/made with love items...For example a wonderful lady has made and donated fabulous scarves, hats, dresses for girls and outfits for boys, and the list of her goodies goes on...and I literally just received a text from Beth of a photo from another amazing lady who is making a hand-stitched sign with one of my favorite sayings (*hint..it has to do with Ohana). The way this auction will work is we will post pictures to a specific profile on instagram and each picture will be listed with a starting bid and it will be a bidding war until the auction closes 48 hours after it starts!! Once the auction closes we will send invoices to all the winners and once the invoices have been paid the item will be sent to you. I will post the link to the auction here on the blog aaannnddd on my facebook page here --> My Facebook     . 

The THIRD fundraiser we are working on is going to be a BIG one....our plans are in the beginning stages still buuuut clear a space you calendar for the BEST Cinco De Mayo party you’ve ever experienced!!! Our plan is to hold it on either the first (5/2 or 5/3) or second (5/9 or 5/10) weekend in May. We have ideas of a taco bar, a bar filled with beer and margaritas, chips-n-salsa, and all things Cinco De Mayo related!!! Definitely stay tuned for more details in the next few weeks!!! 

I want to thank you all for taking a few minutes out of your night/day to read this and a BIG thank you to anyone who participates in our fundraisers... your help can not just be summed up with a simple thank you, it means so much to us to have family, friends, and complete strangers helping us get our sweet Baby C home to her family who is very excited for her arrival!! Your generosity truly is wonderful!! 

Love, 

Melissa

Happy New Year….and a kinda big announcement!!

HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! We hope you had a wonderful time ringing in the new year, as well as, a wonderful Christmas!! We hope that 2014 is full of happiness, love and good-times for you and yours!!

Our Christmas was very relaxing and spent with both our families. The boys enjoyed being spoiled by the grandparents and David and I enjoyed just relaxing and of course eating!! David and I brought in the New Year with a date night to celebrate our ninth wedding anniversary, a great way to close out 2013!! A big thank to you my in-laws who gave up their night to watch the boys who had so much fun playing games and watching movies!! 

Now that 2014 is upon us David and I are looking forward to the excitement that is ahead of us. Misha will be turning 5 in a few weeks, Ryan will be turning 9 in a few months (his last year in the single digits), lots of little league games coming this spring and summer fun to be had!! I am so looking forward to the fun times 2014 has in store for us!! 

OK...Are you ready for the kinda big announcement??...Are you sure??...Ok, here it is:

David, The Boys and I have someone VERY important we’d like you all to meet. For right now I’ll refer to her as Baby C (until we decided on a name)...her listing name on Reece’s Rainbow is “Chava” but that is not going to be her forever name. Baby C is 4 months old and has Down Syndrome and is currently stuck in an orphanage in Eastern Europe. And the BEST part is she is going to be joining our family sometime this summer!!!! We are super excited to be adding another child to our family and I am excited to bringing a girl into my world full of boys!! 

We hope you all will join us on our exciting journey to bringing her home...I know we sure are excited to get the adventures of 2014 started!!!! Happy New Year Everyone!!!