Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!! And the chicken goes to...

First off, let me take a beat again to thank the Mercer family for providing the prize for this week's giveaway.  What a blessing.  Secondly, I want to thank everyone who donated.

I went into this giveaway thinking we would raise $500 or so.  Secretly hoping for about $900 (approximately the cost of one child's one way plane ticket home).  But God had other plans.

I was worried that no one would donate and it would be awash in just folks sharing.  Nope.  I think maybe three people shared who didn't also donate?  And most people donated above the minimum donation of $10.  And it wasn't all just my close buddies donating.  Old friends came out of the woodwork.

At one point, Sloan saw me writing a name on a big stack of tickets.
He said, "Who is that?"
"Oh, just a guy I made out with in high school after Young Life..."  
"Just how many people that you've kissed donated?"
"In this contest?  (Pause) Two."

Husbands love that kind of generosity. Whatever. That was awesome.

Strangers also donated.  I used to make fun of Sloan for his obsession with the Jay Mohr Sports show  (like he gets on air and talks and has his tweets read on air so much that he is in some type of club and we've won gift cards).  No more.  Some of his fellow "Twitter Hat Trick Club" members donated. And donated big time.

All in all there were 493 entries.  We raised $1787.50. Which is basically 10 days of our hotel stay.  Or both kids plane tickets.

So who won?  Without further ado, I give you the video whose working title is "Maybe not get on video in your pajamas..."

So in case you're too lazy or the threat of seeing me half asleep is just too much for you to bear...

THE WINNER IS ELIZABETH STEVENS!!!!

I could not be happier for my college roomie and sorority sister, ET.  (Yes, we were ET and EJ.  People loved us.)  Lest you feel bad for not winning, know these free chicken dinners are going to a family who serves our country.  ET's husband is a Marine pilot.  And when I want to pout because my husband travels, I remember ET and I shut my mouth.  In my memory, they've lived in San Diego, Texas, back to San Diego, and are now in Virginia and her husband has done several tours overseas.  And never have I heard her complain.  Mainly I just see her loving her three young kids, serving in her church, and kicking butt at CrossFit.  But it just makes me so happy to give it to a family that serves our country.  Because not only do our service men and women deserve our gratitude, so do the wives, husbands, and kids who share them with us.  Who pray and wait for them to return home.  I wish I had nuggets to give to them all.

So Elizabeth Stevens, you're our winner!  Congrats!  I'll get these in the mail to you this week.  xoxo

CFA Giveaway

We have been so blessed to know and be known by the sweet Mercer family.  Their oldest girls have babysat our kids and their youngest two kids are playmates for Henry and Grace.  We think of them as family.    We even had the treasure of double dating with our eldest nephew Anderson and their daughter Makenzie.  And if you ever try to tell Grace her yellow clad Princess Barbie is Belle, she will quickly tell you that no, it’s her “Miss Kenzie bah-bee.”  They pray for our adoption process because they know first hand the stressors of international adoption, their youngest two being adopted from Guatemala just prior to the country’s adoption shutdown.

Why am I going on and on about how awesome they are?

Because they have gone and donated a YEAR’S WORTH OF CHICK-FIL-A  for us to give away. What?  You know those 52 #1 meal cards that people camp out for before a store opening?  Yeah.  Those.  It’s over a $300 value!!!

So how do you win these?  Here’s how:

DONATE to our adoption fund through our WEPAY account in the left hand sidebar.  (Right above the awesome fundraiser shirt that you totally need…or, you know, just click the embedded link.)

FOR $10 you get 2 entries.

FOR $25 you get 7 entries.                  

FOR $50 you get 15 entries.

 You can also share for 1 FREE ENTRY PER DAY until the raffle closes on Friday, June 21, 2013 at 5pm ET.  

So share on Facebook!  If you share on Twitter—tag Sloan to track it (@VaGamecock) and use the hashtag #phillipsadopt.  If you share on Instagram—tag me (@ejphillips) and also use the #phillipsadopt hashtag.  If you pin it to pinterest, same deal—mention me in the comments @ejphillips.  No more than one free entry a day (so that’s a possible 5 free entries), but you will still get major props from me if you blast it from all of your social media outlets or share on your blog 4 million times a day. 

The winner will receive 52 #1 meal cards.  They will be issued with our local CFA’s name on them (Brandermill/Hull Street), but are usable at any US Chick-Fil-A.  They will also come with a certificate of authenticity from Todd Mercer in the event the winner should run into any problems. 

In order to coordinate the donations and social media shares, we will be doing this raffle old school style: names written on pieces of paper and drawn from a box.  The winner will be drawn by Henry by 10 am on Saturday, June 22, 2013.  I will upload what I’m sure to be an adorable video of this event.

But wait?  Elizabeth, aren’t you scared that no one will donate and everyone will just share for their 5 free entries.  Yes.  I’m actually petrified of that.  Because we have travel expenses to raise.  And we are looking at AT LEAST $8000 in airfare.  Between $1500-$3000 in hotel expenses.  And then we also hope to have about $4,000 walking around cash for the three weeks we are in country for food, fabric, gifts, taxi fare, tips, etc.  And none of our in country expenses can be made on the credit card.  So folks, donate.  Get your friends to donate.  Share.  Share again.  

And then win some chicken. 

Repeat after me: God is not surpised, God is not surprised...

The above has been my mantra as of late.

Soooo...remember how I told you that we had some time before we travelled.  That I was content to wait until the fall without even a remote possibility of travel this summer.  No looking over my shoulder, constantly checking my email to see if the embassy was scheduling things for us.  A little breathing room to have date nights and do some last minute nesting and much needed fundraising...

Well, maybe not.  Or maybe so.  We just. don't. know.

The US now recognizes Charlie and Mollie as our next of kin.  So the next steps are an investigation to insure that they meet US definitions of orphans (this is to insure there has been no child trafficking and ethical practices in the adoption--a time consuming but necessary step).  After that, they get a visa.  Then we go pick them up.  Then we wait a bit for their home country's gov't to do some things and we come home after a 2-3 week stay in country.

The embassy has offered us an opportunity to do something at the end of June which could mean we would travel this summer.  Or not.  And we may not even be able to the thing which they want us to do no matter how hard we try.  (Sorry if this is cryptic, but it's complicated.  Just know that several people's schedules need to align for a meeting at which we aren't needed in order to conduct our orphan investigation.) So there are A LOT of variables.  Will we be able to find the party needed to go to the meeting for an interview about our children's past?  Will we be able to raise the funds needed in order to pay for that person to fly 1,000 miles to even get to the embassy?  If that person goes to the embassy, will the Embassy be able to finish our orphan investigation then and there or will they still need to travel to our kid's hometown in late August to finish the investigation?  When our agency asked what the likelihood of further delays after this meeting would be, they answered in broad generalizations--much like a doctor would when asked by a sick patient "Hey, am I going to live?"   

If they are satisfied at the interview, the next step is an embassy appointment.  Our attorney will take our kids to this for us and also to their embassy medical appointment.  If those things check out, then our kids would get their visas to come home to America.  And then we would travel about 10 days later.

So if you are confused, welcome to the club.  There are a lot of us waiting Congolese adoptive parents here.

This also means a couple other things, a shortened timeline to travel means I need to get packing.  I need to start stock piling new monetary bills.  (Because we have to pay for everything in country in cash.  Like everywhere.  For three weeks in a hotel.)  And all of the bills need to be new and crisp.  And we have to have paid our agency's bill completetly.  We have to pay to fly the necessary party to the meeting.  Oh, and our agency doesn't take credit cards.  So basically, we don't have the luxury of just putting the last minute details on the credit card, which is a blessing and a curse.

So pray for us.  Jesus knows our needs and has not brought us this far to leave us hanging.  We know that.

And you can buy a tshirt.  Or seven.

And don't forget to bookmark our search page with Amazon.  Just by buying off the link in our sidebar, we get between 4-7% of your purchase.  It's win-win.  I'll give a shout out to the best purchase.  So far, the item to beat is a Hen Apron. 

And in the next week or so I'll be putting together a super fun raffle for a year's worth of Chik-fil-A.  I'm just sort of hammering out the details now.

This has been a marathon.  And I am not a runner.  So I'll say I'm weary of the fundraising. But I'll limp across the finish line to get my babies.  Charlie has the biggest smile on the planet and I can't wait to be the cause of his smile.  And Mollie?  Well, let's just say in every picture she is wearing jewelry.  So I'm packing some nail polish to paint her piggy toes.  So if I seem like I'm whining about the cost, forgive me. This is nothing in comparison to the cost my Savior bore to adopt me.  Nor it is even a smidgen of the blessing that has been bestowed upon us. 

Charlie and Mollie, already you have taught me endurance.  You have enlarged my heart.  You have taught me of my Father's yearning for me in ways I never would have guessed.  Thank you.