One final fundraiser ...

I know I've said it before and I'll say it again ... we have been truly blessed by the support that we have received thus far ... for that, we are forever thankful. Over the past few months, we have held a few different fundraisers in an effort to help offset the tremendous costs of our adoption. We will be traveling to Russia again in less than one week, thus our final fundraiser.

Late last week we learned that Kyle's employer decided to cut the schedules of all salary employees by one day, meaning he is now only being paid for four days a week instead of five ... effective this week. Normally we would not even share this sort of thing with others, but it has significantly impacted us at an very bad time. Additionally, we learned yesterday that we have now have an additional and substantial cost related to our adoption that was completely unexpected.

A few of you have indicated a desire to help us directly. So, in our final fundraising effort, we have created the below donation button. For anyone who does not wish to use paypal, our mailing address can be found at the top of this blog. I personally hang my head low, as it is not my personality to accept from others. Typically, I find myself to be the one that gives to others. Alas, for Addison's sake, I must set my pride aside and accept your incredible support ... I am truly humbled by all of you.

We have been blessed to have been given some great products to support us in our adoption journey. We will be giving these things away randomly to someone {more than one person, actually} that has supported us on our journey. Take a look at what you could soon be holding in your hands ...

Petunia Pickle Bottom Girl Gift Set {$136 retail value} ... includes 3-pc swaddle blankets, 3-pc onesies and 3-pc socks.
Baby Cakes $100 gift certificate ... get great products for babies, toddlers and moms.
And I am desperately trying to find one other special prize, but I've sort of been limited in store stock. ;) Check back, because I'll post about it here if and when I find it.

This post will remain "active" until we return home safe and sound with our angel. Please pray for us as we travel and more importantly, pray that the Court will see fit to waive our 10-day waiting period!

Much love to everyone!

One special family

{Miss Masha}

Coming in to our adoption, I always knew that adoption was expensive ... but good grief, I'm not sure I realized just how expensive it is. As you know, we have been doing a lot of fundraising to help off set our costs ... and we have lots more ahead of us.

I would like to introduce you to a very special family who in the process of trying to adopt Masha, a little girl that has Down syndrome from overseas. They have had some major hurdles to jump to bring their angel home. These hurdles have been very expensive and they almost had to walk away from their adoption because of it. So far, they have remained committed to bringing this little girl home.

In an effort to off set some of their adoption expenses, they are holding a $5 raffle for a pretty awesome prize ... a Dell Mini Inspiron Laptop ... pretty cool, eh? I know many of you are probably sick of hearing about raffles, but I figure if I can put out $5 to help a family that is doing a great thing ... and get a chance to win a laptop ... then why not? Click here to read more about the laptop and for information on how to purchase a raffle ticket.

Thank you for helping this great family!

{More} Garage Sale Days

Today we had another garage sale to raise more money for our adoption. We did well ... better than I thought we would do actually! We received a good amount of donations since our last garage sale and I was finally able to bring some of our stuff out. We received so many donations for our first sale, that I never had enough time to go through our own stuff. So ... we had a great day! Many thanks to my mom, Kristie and Casey and Shay for your help with yet another garage sale ... I couldn't have done this without you!

PS ... We made $900 today!

Fundraising. Fundraising. Fundraising.

We are having another garage sale this Saturday, September 20, from 7am - 3pm. If you are local, please stop by to say hi!

We also will have raffle tickets available at the garage sale for anyone who would like to purchase a raffle ticket. If you are not familiar with the raffle, click here to read more. The raffle prizes are now valued at over $2,000 ... pretty awesome for just a $5 raffle ticket! ;)

Oh my gosh ...

We're not quite sure how to express our gratitude quite yet, but the girls over at The Mom Crowd launched an incredible fundraiser for us today. For every $5 raffle ticket that is purchased, your name will be entered into a drawing for a ton of awesome prizes {see the slideshow below}. The prizes that have donated are valued at over $1,500 ... whoa! Click here to check it out!

We are getting close!

I just received word that our dossier has been shipped off to Russia and is expected to be filed on September 8. Yay! Assuming it will be accepted, we are expecting to travel to meet Addison 2-3 weeks after that, so basically the end of September. Whoa ... breathe, breathe, breathe.

I knew this moment was going to sneak up on me, but I didn't realize it would be so fast! I am throwing myself into super mega fundraising mode, because we still have a long way to go. We feel so blessed for the support and donations we have received thus far ... thank you!

Whirlwind

This weekend was such a whirlwind for me. I was pretty stressed out about the garage sale ... feeling a lot of pressure in light of the press that we received last week. Good pressure though I guess, if there is such a thing. Now that the weekend is over and our garage sale has come to a close, the emotion is rising to the surface. My aunt sent me some more pictures of our fabulous day yesterday that brought me to tears and I wanted to share ...

L-R: Uncle Tom, Aunt Sherry, Dorothy and Melinda ... thank you to Tom and Sherry for all your help setting up, organizing, helping customers and spreading awareness ... thank you to Dorothy and Melinda for doing the bake sale, helping customers and spreading awareness as well {now I just have to share with everyone that I had never even met Dorothy or Melinda prior to this weekend ... they both work with my aunt and had planned the bake sale to help support us ... isn't that awesome?!}

L-R: My mom and my cousin, Debby ... thank you so much to my mom, who has helped me so much with everything for this garage sale, from pricing to set up to the keeper of the money to promoting awareness to clean up ... you have been a tremendous help and a stress reliever! And to Debby, thank you so much for organizing the lemonade stand(s) and for helping with everything from making tees to pricing to helping customers to spreading awareness to folding and organizing clothes ... your support means more to me than you could possibly know!

L-R: My mom, my sister Kristie and Mason ... to Kristie {and Casey} - thank you so much also for everything you have done ... making tees, making those dang signs, pricing, organizing, helping customers, spreading awareness, clean up ... all of it - thank you so much for all your help!
L-R: Me {lovely picture, eh?} and Jodi ... Jo {and Shea}, thank you so much for all your help as well this weekend ... pricing, helping customers, helping me try to figure out how to fold a dang tent, hanging signs and getting yelled at by the cops and most importantly, promoting awareness ... we love you guys!L-R: Uncle Tom, Ella, Maddy, Kyle and Payton ... to Maddy and Ella - thank you for having such a successful lemonade stand! We appreciate it SO much ... you have got to be the best lemonade girls ever! {I have to tell everyone that the girls were sort of being run out of town by the bake sale on the other side of the driveway, so they started delivering the lemonade to shoppers ... Maddy delivered the lemonade while Ella walked next to her with a sign around her neck that said something to the effect of "Lemonade - We Deliver". It was so stinkin cute and it was even better after their mom figured out why the lemonade tasted like coffee and they were able to dump that batch. Who mixed the lemonade in the pitcher that had stored coffee beans?} L-R: Ella, Maddy and Mason - aren't they cute?!

And last, but not least, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Shay and Jeremy. Somehow I have zero pictures of you, but I appreciate your help with everything on Saturday and Sunday ... pricing, organizing, hosting the donut/juice/hot dog stand on Sunday, clean up, helping customers, promoting awareness and for buying a lot of baby clothes ... we appreciate it tremendously!

I hope everyone had as good a weekend as I did. All of our hard work paid off and I can't wait until Addison is here to prove it. Thank you also to everyone in the community who supported our garage sale ... we appreciate it so much!

Garage sale {day two}

We had day two of our garage sale today and even though it was a lot slower than yesterday, we still made around $500. We are so happy and feeling so blessed! It is amazing how many people have been touched by adoption in their lives. Thank you again to everyone who supported us this weekend!

Our garage sale {day one}

Well, day one of our garage sale is over and it was a huge success! We were open from 7am - 3pm and we only had one person who came a bit early. It didn't take long for the crowd to gather ...


My aunt and two lovely ladies from her work had a bake sale with baked goodies, drinks and snacks. People loved it! Maddie and Ella also had a lemonade stand ... both were a huge success! My sister, Kristie, and my cousin, Debby, made tshirts that said "Help us bring baby Addison home from Russia" for everyone working the garage sale ... it was such a great idea because people knew exactly where to go with questions ...

Thank you SO much to my mom, Kristie and Casey {thank you for making the signs, too!}, Shay and Jeremy, Jodi and Shea, Sherry and Tom, Melinda, Dorothy and Debby and the girls for all your help today and in setting up for our garage sale ... there is no way I could have done this without you!

Oh, one other thing ... I'm sure you are wondering just how successful our garage sale was? Well, we made about $2,000 ... isn't that awesome?!

Our friends and family

We put a plea out to our friends and family asking for donations for our garage sale. I wasn't sure that we would even get anything ... boy was I wrong! We have gotten so much stuff, some even from people we don't even know. That is just awesome. I pretty much think we have the best friends and family ever. Yesterday, we spent the entire day with my mom, sister and brother-in-law going through all the stuff we have gotten ... and we still are not done.

I do have to give a shout out to our friends, the Corcorans. A couple years ago, they moved over an hour away, so we don't get to see them as often as we like. Nonetheless, they have always been present for anything that we have ever had for the kids {i.e. Payton's buddy walk, birthday parties, etc}. This weekend, they make the trek to our house to drop off their donations for our garage sale. They pulled up and this is what I saw ...


Note that this picture was taken after much of the stuff had already been unloaded. They brought us SO much stuff and we are so thankful to them. We are so thankful to everyone. When we figure out how to thank you, we will let you know!

And the winner is ...

There were 231 raffle tickets purchased ... that means we raised $1,155 ... holy cow!! How else can I say it? Wowza! Yahoo! Yipee! THANK YOU!


Okay Mason {he wanted to show you his cool Batman shirt}, I know all these people want us to get on with it. Reach into that big bowl ...

... and pull out a winner! Who is it?!

Thank you again to everyone who participated in our raffle. This has made a good dent on the fees we currently have due to our agency. That is just awesome, you don't even understand. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Fundraising {A Couple Things}

First of all, I would like to say that I am absolutely humbled by the support we have received throughout this process. When we started this process, we were not necessarily out looking to adopt. However, after learning of the all the kids internationally with Down syndrome and the horrible conditions that some of them were in, we became determined to help. The most important thing, however, is that we would not be able to do this without your help. So thank you!

Garage sale ... we have scheduled our garage sale for next Saturday, August 23. We have already received so many great donations and they continue to come in. If anyone has anything they would like us to pick up locally, let us know and we can schedule a time. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated to our garage sale ... the generosity is overwhelming!

Raffle ... we have one day left in our $5 raffle to win a $100 gift certificate to The Polkadot Platypus! The raffle has done very well so far ... we only have a little ways to go before reaching our goal. I know we can make it! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has participated ... again, the generosity is overwhelming! To enter, click on the chipin below. If you would like to buy a ticket but don't have paypal, send me an email letting me know that you will be mailing your payment.



Tax-deductible donations ... we have an account set up through Reece's Rainbow that accepts tax-deductible donations. That money will be disbursed to us when it is time for us to pay that big chunk of money {which is pretty much soon ... yikes}. Donations can be made through paypal by clicking here or by mailing checks {include a note saying you want to donate to The Balsis Family and include your email address} to:

Reece's Rainbow
PO Box 2055
Dacula, GA 30019

Direct donations ... if you prefer that your donation come directly to us, you can send your donation through paypal to bethanybalsis@mac.com. Many of you have asked how you can donate since you do not have a paypal account. Donations can also be mailed to:

Balsis Family Adoption
PO Box 61
Washington, VA 22747

Once again, thank you so much for all of your support ... we cannot wait to get to Russia and share our journey with you!

Touched by an angel

Yesterday I received a phone call from my friend Carmen. Carmen is mom to Jaemen, who happens to have Down syndrome ... they live in Colorado. I met Carmen through a Down syndrome forum, as crazy as that sounds. She has become one of my best friends ... we have that "Down syndrome connection".

Carmen has a friend, Jennifer, who I loosely know from Reece's Rainbow. Jennifer is mom to Cadence, who also happens to have Down syndrome. Cadence celebrated a birthday this past weekend and in lieu of gifts, Jennifer asked that donations be made to our family to help bring Addison home. How cool is that?! I got a bit teary eyed and had the chills after Carmen told me this yesterday ... I am just in awe of people's generosity!

So to Jennifer and Cadence, thank you so much for your support! Maybe Cadence could take Addison to prom some day? ;)

Our Raffle {Update}

As of today, we have raised $490.50 for our raffle ... and that doesn't include the pending paypal payments that we have! That said, I have doubled our goal ... to $1,000. It may be very unrealistic, but I'm excited to see how close we can get. I still can't figure out why the chipin widget isn't updating like it should be. We are truly humbled by everyone's generosity to help us bring Addison home ... truly humbled. Thank you so much to everyone who has purchased a raffle ticket {or tickets} ... you will be hearing from us personally after the raffle is over. :)

Gift of Adoption Grant {Boo}

I just received an email that said we were not selected for a grant through Gift of Adoption. They said our financial need was not great enough ... really, have they seen my bank account?! So much for extra consideration being given to families adopting children with special needs! This is upsetting to me, although I understand there are many families trying to get grants ... I'm trying not to sound like a sore loser. I'm not sure what to do next, other than continue trying to raise money the traditional way ... I'm trying to stay encouraged.

We are about half way through our first raffle ... and I think we have raised about $379 so far! The chipin widget in the sidebar isn't updated yet, because some donations are still pending in paypal. Thank you so much to everyone who has purchased a raffle ticket {or tickets} ... we are truly blessed to have your support in trying to bring Addison home! We still are hoping to meet our $500 goal for the raffle, so if you would like a raffle ticket, click on the chipin widget in the sidebar. :)

Raffle {Bring Addison Home}

We are moving into full force fundraising here because ... well, we are getting really close and somehow we have to get to Russia! Our first raffle is for a $100 gift certificate to ... you guessed it ... The Polkadot Platypus! What a fabulous online boutique, don't you think? We have set our goal at $500 and we will be ever so grateful if we meet that goal. For every donation of just $5, you will get one ticket entered into the raffle. The more you donate, the more tickets you get. Click on the ChipIn widget in the right sidebar.

Ahem ... to my fellow blogging buds ... hook a girl up? :) I would be ever so grateful to all of you that would put our ChipIn widget in the sidebar of your blog. Addison will give you one {or two or three} big wet kisses for it when she comes home!

We have the best family ever

Yesterday, Mason and I were on our way to Backyardigans and my cousin, Debby, texted me this picture ...
These are her two girls having a lemonade stand for us during a neighborhood festival. It brought me to tears, to say the least. Yes, I am very emotional when it comes to anything Addison.

Maddy and Ella ... thank you so much for the money you raised for us!

Sponsoring Our Adoption

Many of you have asked where you can sponsor our family by way of a donation to help us bring Addison home. For that, we are very grateful. We now have our family sponsorship page set up at Reece's Rainbow, which accepts tax-deductible donations for our adoption. Once we are ready to travel, the donations will be disbursed directly to us from Reece's Rainbow.

If you would like to donate via a tax-deductible donation, click here.

Fundraising

We are ready to start fundraising for our adoption. Adoption is a very expensive process and while our agency has waived their fees due to us adopting a child with special needs, we still are probably looking at close to $15,000 in expenses. I'm looking for ideas of how people have fundraised in the past ... help!