Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Adoption Fundraiser ??

This might be a long post - so please keep reading!! :-)
I haven't mentioned much on the blog about our next adoption....I think because I kept telling myself it wasn't ever going to happen. I was pleasantly surprised yesterday though when we received an email from our agency telling us that China had *finally* sent out referrals for the remainder of February '06 dossiers. That's right folks.....2006!
We were logged in March 7, 2006 -- at the time, we never expected that the wait would expand to nearly 3 years for a referral (at the time we submitted our paperwork, the wait was only 6 months). Now we're at the point where we can actually start believing we will receive a referral. We have only 7 LID's (log-in dates) to go -- this could still take a couple of months, but hopefully we'll have a picture of our new son/daughter by March of 2009.

OK...now to the good stuff. :-) We're thinking of doing a fundraiser or two to help with our final adoption costs. China has just increased the orphanage "donation" fees, and the cost of airfare is really high, so we're a little short on finances. I completely understand that we're in a recession right now, so I know money is tight for everyone out there, but every little bit we can raise will help tremendously. Here's what we're thinking of doing via our blog....please feel free to email me and let me know if you'd be interested in any of this...or let me know of any other creative fundraising ideas! :-)

** raffle of a lovely quilt (100 good wishes or another pattern - machine sewn and quilted)
** raffle of a Wii game system, or a Wii Fit
** raffle of a gift card to WM, Target, etc.
** raffle of an autographed basketball from the '94 UA championship team
** sale of baby quilts (I have some lovely patterns)...only problem is that these are really time-consuming for me

We're also thinking about these things here locally...a big garage sale fundraiser, selling our boat, and selling a big Barbie collection. I've also seen many other families use a "chip-in" system on their blogs, but am not sure how we'd fare with that.

OK folks...let me know what you think! We need all the help we can get, and are open to suggestions!

6 comments:

Just Wedeminute said...

OMG! 3 years later! That's quite a wait. I'm so excited for you. You could also make a scrapbook and raffle it off...I would be interested! Love and prayers!!!

Howard and Kim said...

The fundraisers sound great. I need to get something going myself. You know, I'm only 3 months (log in dates) behind you. :)

I am so excited for our next group of families, and I truly hope you are in the next batch of referrals.

Kim H

Kay Bratt said...

Congrats on getting a little closer. From what I've seen, you will have the best response if you raffle big ticket items like the Wii...and you can use the "chip in" to do it. I am not sure how, but I've seen it done on many blogs. Good luck...

Anonymous said...

WoooooHoooooo! Lois! You are so close! For fundraising ideas, Matt thinks the basketball (lol, no surprise there). I think any kind of a raffle sounds like a good idea. I also like the previous comment about a scrapbook, although that may also be time consuming for you. You have a great gift in that area, though. And a lot of us don't share that talent, but wish we did! In fact, some of us still have our China pictures in a box instead of in an album! :(
In any case, we want to participate in whatever you decide to do to fundraise!! Keep us posted!
Tanya

Jill and Rick said...

Okay,it's been so long that I truly did not remember that you guys were part of the March group. I'm sorry! Oh my goodness, I can only imagine how excited you ALL are getting!

& I haven't been here to visit in a while - love all the Christmas posts. What a sweet idea on the "making of gifts" for your name exchange. Reminds me of a 7th Heaven episode I watched recently.

I love the idea of the quilt raffle and the Wii Fit(since our girls just got their own Wii for Christmas, ha!)

Shoot me an email if/when you start the raffle and I'll be glad to share your blog link in any way that you'd like.

Happy New Year!

Jill

Unknown said...

I'm so glad to know you are getting closer to your son/daughter! 3 years wow...I have some friends who are waiting too. It's so hard on them.

I'd definitley be up for a raffle. We don't have a Wii but I know I will be needing stuff from WM and Target when we move ;-)

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