Update!

Wow!!! Life has been *crazy* the last couple of weeks! First I would like to say thank you to everyone who has entered the gift basket giveaway! It ends tonight at midnight! From now until then, your $5 donation gets you TWO entries, and as always reposting the link to your facebook page, twitter page, or blog gets you a free entry. You can find the giveaway HERE if you're interested. :)

So back to everything that has been going on lately!!! I was so busy prepping for our homestudy that I put everything else on the backburner. We had the homestudy on Sunday, and like everyone else has told me, in retrospect, I was a crazy woman for no reason! It was no big deal (stress wise) our social worker could not have been nicer, and my kids LOVED her. She even scratched Jack's back for him so he either has a new best friend, or a girlfriend...not sure which way he means it when he says "where Loooooa go??" (Laura)....in short, it was a good day. We stopped to snack on this spread that I put out since our homestudy was scheduled around lunch time.

The social worker seemed to love the goodies, not that that would have any bearing on our report, but it's always nice to make someone feel welcome in your home. Other than the homestudy, we also had a little mini photoshoot! It was awesome and I can't say thanks enough to my sweet cousin Amber for taking our dossier family pictures for us! That is another thing I can check off the list now! Dossier pictures are DONE! We had to have a picture of:

the front of the house

the back of the house

2 of the backyard

2 of Natasha's room

4 of the interior of the house

3 of the neighborhood

2 of the family

PHEW!! That was a lot of pictures but their done and I think they came out ok...here are a couple I loved from our photo session...they aren't our dossier pics, but they're keepers <3 Thanks again Amber!



We also secured a slot at the March 2, 3, and 4th flea market here in town. I've been busy crafting so we would actually have stuff to sell! That is one of the stipulations, you can't just have a straight fundraiser (i.e. just sit out a donation jar) you have to sell something! So, I've been making these hair bows to sell.

They are so fun to make!! I love it and it's really relaxing too, so that's a bonus. When I run out of ribbon for the bows, I'm going to make prayer rocks. My friend gave me one when I was sick and I thought it was so sweet. It's a little "reminder" to say your prayers, etc. I thought I could put a little spin on the note attached to them for people to remember to think of/pray for Natasha to come home quickly and safely. We have a few other crafty things we're going to be doing too, so it should be fun!

Special shout out to my friend Alison. She has been AMAZING through all of this. She has gotten stuff done, stuff I didn't even think about doing! She is fundraising, and getting donations and making crafts and just RIGHT THERE when I need help with all this because honestly, fundraising is a JOB. It's the hardest job I've ever had aside from being a mommy! There is so much work involved so anyone who thinks that us adoptive momma's who fundraise to bring our babies home are just getting handouts, please know that that is NOT the case...we break our backs for these precious angels, and they are SO WORTH IT!! Thank you Alison for loving Natasha like your own. <3

Another shout out for my friend Natalia. We just met but she is one of the nicest people, she has been so helpful and has given me so much support, and has come up with amazing ideas to help bring in funds for Natasha. I appreciate it so much and I hope we stay friends for a long time, and that our girls become friends too! Thank you so much, it means the world to me!

Oh! We picked a venue for our big fundraiser!! It's really cute, it isn't fancy, or flashy, which is what we wanted. It has a bar in the center of the room where we can do our Disney themed mocktails, there is like a "VIP" section with couches and comfy chairs, there are diner style tables and chairs, banquet style tables...it's really funky and fun. Plus there is a 60 inch flat screen tv mounted on the wall so we can play....you guessed it....ALICE IN WONDERLAND during the event. It's going to be SO FUN. We've come up with some really cute games and raffle ideas. Here are some pictures of the venue!

It has a lot of potential and once we get it decorated, it's going to look amazing!!! Plus it was in our price range!!! Whoo hoo! Alison is working on getting corporate sponsors to cover the fee so that would be even more awesome! We have had lots of places/people donate items for the auction, it's been amazing. Everywhere from Disney World to NBC/The Biggest Loser and a million places in between have stepped up to help bring Natasha home. Baby girl you are LOVED!!! Check out what Marci from Biggest Loser Season 11 sent!



That was the only season of TBL that I ever watched so this means a lot to me since I feel like I "know" many of the people who autographed the book. :)

homestudy. Here is today's "one step closer"....

I got that in my email this morning, printed it out, and I can send it off to our social worker and have all the paperwork for the homestudy DONE!

So, there you have it! You're all caught up and I promise not to take 2 weeks to update again! Don't forget about our craft auction! It ends on March 22nd, our girl's bday! You have plenty of time to get your bids in, There are tons of cool things, just scroll through the blog to see them and comment on the post you want to big on.

Take care everyone!

Love,
Cilla