Would You Like A KINDLE FIRE?

Why is it that whenever you are trying to save money for something, something always comes up and the money you thought you were going to save has now gone towards something else? Seriously. If all goes right and our next notification from China comes when we are hoping it does (by the way, with adoption there is NEVER a rhyme or reason for when things are processed...some wait 30 days for the next "step" and others wait 100 days...it's crazy), we will be traveling to China in 3 short months.  This is exciting, right??  Yes, very much exciting because we cannot wait to bring Brayden home!  We've been very blessed by a grant and some help from some amazing friends and family with a couple fundraisers. However, we are still short pretty much the amount of money we need to take in cash to give to his orphanage and get his passport, medical exam, etc. (about $6000).  AND... we received notice that we owe $4000 from my gallbladder surgery and today our car decides it doesn't want to work right and is going to the shop tomorrow.  Are you kidding me??  Why now??  So now we are having to come up with a couple more ways to raise some money in a short amount of time.  We have decided to raffle off a couple items to start and see where it gets us.  The first one we will be doing is a Kindle Fire.  On the Kindle Fire you can read, use apps, play games, listen to music, watch movies, and surf the web.  I wish I had one!  So you can enter the drawing by donating to our adoption fund.  $5 for each entry or $20 for 5 entries.  You can donate by clicking the donate button on the right or the chip-in link.  We will then put your name in the drawing to win the Kindle Fire!  If you cannot donate right now (and even if you can donate), PLEASE HELP US OUT BY SHARING THIS BLOG POST ON YOUR FACEBOOK OR TWITTER!  The more we can get this out to people, the greater chance we have of meeting our goal.  I am still confident God will continue to provide every penny we need to bring Brayden home because he is our son and is meant to be here!  Thank you friends for all your help and prayers, we appreciate you!

Happy 12th Birthday Brayden!

I didn't get around to posting yesterday but yesterday was Brayden's 12th birthday!  Spent the day wishing he was home to celebrate it...going to just have to be a fantastic 13th birthday for him!  We ordered a package to be sent to him which includes some English/Chinese comic books, some candies, and a camera so he can take pictures with his friends.  Thanks to Ann and Red Thread China for putting the package together.  She is also translating a letter from us to him and will get updated measurements so we can begin gathering some clothes for when he comes home.  Today we also woke to an email from Miss Zhong at the orphanage and it said, "Yong received the photos of his family, he was very happy.  He also told his friend, this is my family, Mom and Dad will come to China to pick me up.  On Children's Day Yong participated in our theatrical performances. He jumped Latin dance, cube performance, he is a great child."  She also sent us some pictures.  She is so thoughtful and kind and really love these children; I cannot wait to meet her!