Spring Frenzy!

Are you looking for a variety of gifts for people in your life? Well, Stacy over at My Cup Overfloweth is having a spring frenzy! There are several families (including us!) who are selling various products as fundraisers to bring their children home to their forever families!

Think Easter, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, birthdays, and` what about your child/ren's teacher to mark the end of a great year? I'm sure any teacher would love some of these marvelous gifts!

We, of course, have our tees which you can see HERE or in the sidebar. Those who have purchased them LOVE them! They are very, very comfy! The women's fitted shirts run 1-2 sizes small...so keep that in mind when ordering a fitted shirt.

The Monsterous Garage Sale!

I cannot even begin to express our gratefulness to all of those who donated items for this MASSIVE garage sale! Oh my gosh. We felt such love and support from so many people with this sale. In total about 13 families gave items to sell at the sale. What an amazing expression of love for both us and Rachel. We had 2 amazing women help with the sale as well. Dad took Friday off so he could manage Megan (or as he calls her: Chaos). He certainly had his hands full! Friday our former neighbor, Stacee, came and helped. Saturday our neighbor, Teresa, helped. We could not have done it without these fabulous ladies!

The pictures truly do not give it justice...but...just to give you an idea...

This is what it looked like when I opened the door from my house, into my garage! It looked like this for more than 2 weeks! Ugh.

This is the view looking into the garage from the outside.
Surprisingly this is actually somewhat organized...at least by my definition!

This is Friday morning before we opened. We stayed up until nearly 11pm getting everything "together". Everything (well, mostly everything) was set on tables or in their "garage sale ready" state. And no, you could NOT walk in it at all. You can't tell, but every square inch of the place had something on it! It was CRAZY!!!

Friday was nuts. And by nuts, I mean N-U-T-S! We weren't supposed to open until 8, but we had LOADS of people at 7:30. Not even everything was out yet (and I started moving it out at 5am!). We were supposed to close at 3pm, but there was a steady stream of people until nearly 5pm! And then one group showed up as we were putting things away for the next day...and yet they shopped (and bought and thankfully did NOT leave a mess).I wore my pedometer and walked nearly 22,000 steps. I was tuckered out, hot (it was almost 85*) and sunburned. But we were so blessed during the sale too. We had a sign that informed our shoppers that all proceeds were going to help us adopt from China. On Friday we had 3 separate people simply give us money to help us. And a few others that told us to "keep the change". It was moving EVERY time. But, the one that got me most was a very nice man (who Megan was BUGGING the heck out of..and he was so sweet to her) asked how much for a box of books. I said $10. He said, no...how about $20? I nearly started crying. Literally. It was so incredibly overwhelming. We sold nearly $1,000 which brought both of us nearly to tears.

Saturday was fairly slow. It was about 10 before people really started showing up, and while it was steady, it was more of a trickle than anything. I didn't figure we'd do as well as Friday (I mean, nearly half of our stuff was sold), but I did expect it to be a bit busier. About noon, we told any shoppers that everything was half price. We didn't sell a lot after noon, but some things did move (thank goodness!). At any rate, we still sold nearly $300, which is not too shabby. Although I think Dad thought it was a bit disappointing, especially when you compare it to the day before! :-)

So after clean up, we still had this left:

Its probably more than most people START with at a garage sale! But, I'm pretty much done with the garage sale thing for a while, and I really, really, really want my garage back! Its been over run with garage sale things since at least JANUARY (and some parts since before our October garage sale)! I believe we will be donating these items to a local crisis pregnancy center and safe house for pregnant women and victims of sexual violence. They have a thrift store, and I believe all those who donated items would feel that was a great cause as well.

We all got sunburned (including my scalp) today (even with sunscreen), but then it was 87* and horribly humid. Well, I guess Megan did not get sunburned, she turned a beautiful shade of tan. She even has very pronounced flip-flop tan. I'm so jealous!

T-shirt Blowout Sale!!!

We are on the home stretch to bring Rachel home! We only have 2 more steps (about 2-3 weeks each) before we receive our official approval to travel! It will likely be mid- to late April!

Consequently, we're having a...

T-SHIRT BLOWOUT SALE!!!

Adult shirts: $10

Women's Fitted shirts: $12

Kids shirts: $8

Or any 2 shirts $17
(I'll need to send you an invoice for sizes & colors)

You can click on the links on the sidebar to order your shirt(s)!!!

Thanks for your support!!!

T-Shirts

We designed these tees with all proceeds going to the Bring Rachel Home fund!

They come in light pink with brown writing or black with white writing.

Sizes (in BOTH colors) available:

Regular tee shirts $15
(they seem to run a bit big)
Small
Medium
Large
X Large
XX Large

Women's fitted tees: $17
(they seem to run a bit small)
Small
Medium
Large
X Large

Kids's tees: $10
Small (6/8)
Medium (10/12)

You can make your selection on the drop down menu on the right hand side of the page. PLEASE NOTE in paypal what color you want! Shipping is included in the price.

BBQ Bash Fundraiser

I've decided to create a website 100% dedicated to the BBQ Bash fundraiser. You can find all the delightful details (time, date, location, tickets, etc.) as well!

Check it out!!! TX BBQ BASH

We've got LOTS of great things planned!! Please come join us!!! Tickets are SUPER cheap!!!

Christmas Shopping

Are you wanting to do some Christmas shopping without heading to the crowded stores?
Or maybe you have some hard-to-shop for people on your list?

We have been blessed with an excellent opportunity to receive 25% of Scentsy product sales!

You can join the journey to bring Rachel home while shopping for some excellent products! If you are not familiar with Scentsy, it's a flameless wax warmer. The wax does NOT get very hot, but it does NOT take long to make your house smell absolutely delightful! Believe me, we've been enjoying the fragrance Pumpkin Roll for the past month or so. Each square of the bar lasts a long time (I think each Scentsy bar lasts about 30 hrs). If you are local to me, I have a sampler of all fragrances so you can try and decide which one is the one you want!

Jennifer has also offered to host a couple of giveaways as well!

1. First, the person who collects the highest dollar in sales will receive a plug-in warmer of their choice (if you want catalogs and order blanks to sell from, let me know)!
2. Then ANY PERSON who purchases $40 or more of product will be entered into a drawing for a plug-in warmer as well!

Which one do you want to be entered for?

Click HERE for more details! I hope you chose to purchase these great products! If you want to place the order with me for personal local delivery rather than online with shipping costs, email me at iluvgoldens [at] hotmail [dot] com with your order and I can submit the order for you.

The sale closes on November 15th for everyone to get their products before the holidays!

BBQ Bash Fundraiser

If you live in the Dallas area and would like to come to a BBQ Bash hosted by our good friends the Doss family, please click on the "buy now" button on the right hand side of the page. The Doss' have arranged for live entertainment, great BBQ and fun activities for the whole family at an awesome outdoor venue! We feel privileged and honored that they have decided to help us on the Journey to bring Rachel home in this way!

The ticket prices are very reasonable...so PLEASE consider joining us!!!

Nov 20th at 5pm
$12 per person
$25 for a family with kids under age 12

What a GREAT deal for GREAT evening of food and fun! And you can help us bring Rachel home!!!

BBQ Bash Tickets

1 Ticket $12.00 2 Tickets $24.00 3 Tickets $36.00 Family Ticket $25.00

Christmas Frenzy!

Stacy at My Cup Overfloweth just returned from China with their son, Solomon. She knows the struggles to raise funds when you are adopting and has created a Christmas Frenzy. She is providing an opportunity for families who are in the process of adopting and are fundraising to post their items in one place. It also provides families who are looking for Christmas gifts and want to help others an opportunity to purchase items. Head over there and see what she and others are selling. I think people have just begun adding their items, so check back frequently!

OH, and she's doing a giveaway for those who are purchasing! Don't forget to check that out, too! And maybe you can win a Christmas gift...or a special gift for you!

Drum roll, please...

The winner of the ipad is Kim T! Congrats, Kim!!! I will ship the ipad this week!!!

Thank you to EVERYONE who donated to help us bring Rachel home! We are so blessed by those who chose to donate to help us!

Ipad drawing Sunday

Just wanted everyone to know that we will draw the winner for the ipad tomorrow!!! Sunday morning I will post the winner.

You can still purchase your tickets! Click on "chip in" on the right hand side of the page.

Donate $10 for one chance to win
Donate $20 for THREE chances to win

Thank you to all of you who have joined our journey to bring Rachel home!!!

Ipad Giveaway

Only a few more days for the IPAD giveaway! Please be sure to donate for your chance to win!!!

Click on "Chip In" on the right hand side of the blog to go to paypal to securely donate to help bring Rachel home!

$10 donation gives you 1 chance to win!
$20 donation give you 3 chances to win!

Being Real...

Maybe some are wondering why we have opted to adopt from China again. And maybe even more some are wondering why we have chosen to adopt a teenager from China. I have had people ask me “why not adopt a teenager from here?” And maybe others are wondering the same question.

There are many reasons why we feel this child—YangLan (soon to be Rachel)—is the child we want to bring into our family. First, we do not want Megan to be the only Chinese person in our family. Why does this matter to us? Well, sometimes adopted children feel like they are “different” because they are the only one in their family who does “fit” or doesn’t look like someone else. Does that mean Megan will feel this way? No, but she might. And we want her to have someone who has a similar heritage as her in our family.

Second—and potentially most importantly—is Rachel’s age. See in China, on an orphan’s 14^th birthday, they “age out”. They are no longer eligible for services and can no longer live in the orphanage. For a child—age 14—who has lived in an environment where everything was done for them (cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc.), they have little to no survival skills. There are several different non-profits that offer programs at some orphanages to help children have a trade skill for when they age out. These trades may be ironing, laundry, computers, etc. And I would venture to guess that with the American child labor laws, few—if any—are able to work in factories. This leaves few other options for them to survive, prostitution being one of them.

We never expected to adopt from China again. In fact, back in 1998 or 1999 when I first felt called to adopt from China (and began praying for our daughter in China), I believed we only had one daughter in China. When we began the process to bring Megan home, I firmly believed we would only go back to China to visit—one day. However, since we got home with Megan, I’ve wanted her to have a sibling. With her continuing sleep problems, we really felt adding a child younger than Megan may not be the best solution for us. Besides, we are not getting any younger! I’m not sure if at my age I want to do the baby-thing again. I’m not saying starting to parent a child who has 13 years of history before us is going to be easy, but I’m going to venture to guess she’s sleeping through the night! LOL. However, once we truly discussed and decided to pursue an adoption of an older child, I realized all these years I have been praying for both Megan and Rachel. How amazing is God?!

I’ve also recently realized that most don’t know the story of Megan—well, the part I can share! When we shared with our friends and family that we were beginning the process to adopt from China, it was a little more than a year after Ian had died. Within about six weeks, God brought us over $21,000 to completely fund the adoption having done virtually nothing! Now, we had to wait for over two years to bring her home, but we never questioned whether we were on the right path because we knew this was God’s plan for at that time. This time, we are not questioning God’s timing because we know Rachel can’t wait much longer—she turns 14 in September! We are trusting He will handle the finances this time around, too! So, we are doing things like the ipad giveaway, selling hair clips, garage sale, consignment sales, selling t-shirts, applying for grants, working overtime, etc. to obtain the funds to bring Rachel home.

Ipad giveaway

Donate to win a BRAND NEW ipad
TODAY

Help us bring Rachel home!

Donate $10 and you get ONE (1) chance to win

Donate $20 and you get THREE (3) chances to win

ALSO:
If you donate and link this on your blog, post a comment with the link to your blog and you will get an extra entry.
OR
If you are my friend on facebook, donate and post it on your status, post a comment to this posting and you will get an extra entry!

Click on the "CHIP IN" link on the right side of the page to donate securely through paypal.

The giveaway will end on October 15th. Get your tickets NOW!

All proceeds will help us bring JiJie home.

IPAD Giveaway

YES, you read that right!!!

You have a chance to WIN a NEW ipad!

In honor of Nana's 60th birthday and my finishing with my dissertation (well, almost), we're starting the ipad giveaway on September 30th!

More details coming soon!

New Hair clips!

I've gone FRUITY with this bunch! Check them out on my blog dedicated to my hair klips .

Another Fundraiser

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we were working on some t-shirt sale options. Well, one is now ready. You can find the advertisement on the right hand side of the blog. A portion of each sale will go to our Bring Megan's Sister Home fund.

I'm also working on getting t-shirt sales set up though Show Hope, Steven Curtis Chapman's non-profit. Its not quite ready yet, but hopefully within the next week or so it will be. This one will be a bit different in that we will have take orders then place an order when we have enough. More on that yet to come.

We appreciate all your help to bring Yanglan home!

Klippies by Kris

In order to keep this blog about us and not about hair clips, I've started a new blog just for hair clips. I may occasionally post new items over here, but all hair clip info will be on the new blog: Klippies by Kris. Please check it out! I've added several new items!

More Large Flower clips

Here are some more beautiful large (4 inch) flower clips.
Each 4 inch flower is securely attached to an alligator clip. Each clip is covered with a coordinating ribbon and partially lined. All ribbon has been heat treated to prevent fraying.
The clips stay in Megan's very silky hair quite well, actually. She always gets compliments every time she wears one!

To order, simply click on "Chip In" on the right hand side of the website. In the Comments section, identify quantity and color(s)

Each clip is $5
Price includes shipping

Lavendar

Light Pink

To order, simply click on "Chip In" on the right hand side of the website. In the Comments section, identify quantity and color(s).

There is a limited selection of these flowers available.

Hair Clips--Large Flowers

These flower clips are adorable. Each 4 inch flower is securely attached to an alligator clip. Each clip is covered with a coordinating ribbon and partially lined. All ribbon has been heat treated to prevent fraying.

The clips stay in Megan's very silky hair quite well, actually. She always gets compliments every time she wears one!

To order, simply click on "Chip In" on the right hand side of the website. In the Comments section, identify quantity and color(s)

Each clip is $5
Price includes shipping

My adorable model (acting very silly!)


The other orange sold out...so here's the new one.
It does a slight yellow around on the tips of the pedals, and it's cute, too.
Orange--Large

Yellow--Large

Hot Pink--Large

Deep Red--Large

I can use a crystal in the middle of all (except the orange), if preferred

To order, simply click on "Chip In" on the right hand side of the website. In the Comments section, identify quantity and color(s).

There is a limited selection of these flowers available.

Hair Clips--Small Flowers

Have you been looking for smaller flowers to put in your little one's hair? These would be perfect! All flowers have coordinating ribbon covering the alligator clip. Each clip is partially lined and all ribbon has been heat treated to prevent fraying.
To order, simply click on "Chip In" on the right hand side of the website. In the Comments section, identify quantity and size.

My model with the 2 small flowers in:


Prices listed below:

Small white flowers (approx 2 inches in diameter)
I also have light purple (as Megan is modeling above) and light yellow.
These are small enough that you can use two.

Each $3 (includes shipping)
All of these are VERY limited


my cute model with the medium flower in:

close up of the flower:

Medium white flower (approx 3 inches in diameter)
Each $4 (includes shipping)

There are limited number of each of these available.

To order, simply click on "Chip In" on the right hand side of the website. In the Comments section, identify quantity and size.