And the Winner is....

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in our American Girl doll giveaway!

We are thrilled to report that we had 364 tickets sold or given out, and the profit for our adoption grant was $1,651!

That is awesome!

THANK YOU to each person who donated or shared the information about the contest on Facebook, for helping us to bring Camden home!  So many people gave so generously!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...

The winner is... Becky M.!  Becky will get to pick the American Girl doll of her choice.  Congratulations!

And thanks again for my dear friend who let me use her little girl's picture all over my blog and Facebook!  :)



 

Time to (Try To) Wait Patiently!

On Thursday we got our USCIS approval.  On Friday we drove to the state capital to get apostilles for it and a few other final documents.  Then we walked to the nearest post office an MAILED that dossier!  What a GREAT feeling!

That envelope you see me holding is precious and priceless!  We sent it to another couple who is traveling to Camden's country on Sunday (today).  Once they hand it to the team there, they will translate it and submit it to the adoption authorities.  Then we wait for them to tell us when we can travel!  Wait patiently... maybe patiently....  I am SO SUPER EXCITED to get to Camden's country and meet him!  We're thinking it will be possibly in February, but we're not sure how the holidays will affect the processing time.

In other news, Lydia and I had a big morning yesterday.  I ran in my first 5K race, and then Lydia got to dance in our town's Holiday Parade with her dance class!

I think I placed 155th or something like that, but it was fun to be in a race.  Here's Lydia's group:

 

Lydia did great in the parade!  She loved it too.  Maybe partly because she got to wear eye shadow and lip stick!  :)  Here's a clip of her group dancing.  It's hard to spot Lydia, but Aaron zoomed in on her back when he realized where she was in the group.
 

We're Approved

Today our USCIS approval came in the mail!  This was the last piece that we needed for our dossier!  So... tomorrow we will be driving to our state capital (thankfully not too far away for us), getting apostilles for the last documents, and sending everything off to someone else who can carry them to Camden's country this weekend!  I am SO excited!!!

Only 4 days left in our American Girl doll giveaway.  Check out the details here, and help us bring our little guy home!

 

Seeing the End!

We are getting SO excited to get over to Eastern Europe and meet our Camden!

And the end of this process is in sight!  Earlier this week we got our fingerprints done for USCIS approval (US Citizenship and Immigration Services).  Yesterday we talked with the USCIS officer assigned to our case, and she said she thinks we'll get our approval next week!  Please pray with us that it will be early in the week, because we would then be able to send our dossier over to Camden's country with another adoptive family that is traveling over the weekend.

After our dossier gets in the country, the team can translate it and submit it to the adoption authorities there.  Then we wait for them to tell us to come!  Can you imagine what it will be like for us to meet this sweet boy in person?

We pray that God is preparing him for our family, and us for him.  When I typed the title of this blog, I felt a little bit like it was the wrong thing to say, because the END of this adoption process is really an amazing BEGINNING!  The beginning of a huge adjustment for Camden (and us) and a new life in a loving family.  The beginning of new struggles and challenges, but also hope and healing.  Bring it on!

We think we will probably travel to Camden's country sometime in February.  We are getting close to our financial goal to make it possible.  Can you help?  Now is a great time to donate and also get a chance to win an American Girl doll!  See our previous post for details!

Win an American Girl Doll!

November is orphan awareness month!  It's also the month of Camden's birthday!  So... it's a great time to do a new GIVEAWAY, as a fundraiser to help us bring Camden home!

We're giving away an American Girl Doll!

 (Above:  A sweet friend of ours with her doll)

 



There are two ways to enter the contest.  Here's how:

• Donate to our sponsorship site on Reece's Rainbow (www.reecesrainbow.org/sponsorminer)  Each $5 donated will give you one ticket!  Please let me know if you donate, because I can't find out immediately who donated.  Email me your receipt to home4camden@gmail.com, or send me a message on Facebook.

• Share this blog post on Facebook, your blog, or other social networking site.  You can earn one ticket this way!  You must let me know if you do this, too; otherwise I might not notice it.  Please send me the link to the site where you shared this post, either in the comments here, or at home4camden@gmail.com.

Only 1,000 tickets will be given out!

 

All contestants will be entered into a spreadsheet, and the drawing will be done through RandomPicker (www.randompicker.com).  We end the contest whenever we reach 1,000 tickets, or on November 25 (The Monday before Thanksgiving).  Please make sure I have contact info for you, so I can let you know if you win!  If you are the winner, you can choose your American Girl doll (up to $110), or Bitty Baby Twins (up to $115).