fundraiser thanks

we're fundraising to help cover the costs of all of the application and processing fees of our second adoption.  fundraising isn't easy and sometimes feels like a second job.  however, it's a necessary for us this time around since we didn't do it the first time and the tax refund laws have changed.  some of the things we've been doing are selling our "searching for bliss" t-shirts, selling my book "mommy's freckles", raising money through our amazon link, and selling other hand crafted items in the etsy store.  

recently a sweet online friend messaged me and offered to conduct a jamberry fundraiser for us.  we took her up on her gracious offer and she kicked off our fundraiser in the middle of the month.  the fundraiser raised $200 for our adoption fees!  we were very impressed!

we're just so thankful to everyone who purchased, prayed, and participated in these efforts.  we're so grateful to our sweet friend ashley for doing this for us.  what a sweet heart!  she and her beautiful family were also built by adoption and they're also in the waiting stage for their second adoption.  please help me to pray for this sweet family in hopes that they find their next sweet child soon!  also, if you need any jamberry nails, please be sure to check out ashley's page!  she has tons of great options and all of the new spring designs!  if you've never checked them out - you totally should!

we're done with all of our paperwork and medical forms and recently we've been working on our profile book.  so, coming up shortly we'll have the cost of ordering four copies of our book and our homestudy process that's soon to begin.  the homestudy payment is one of the largest fees until the final payment.  all of this fundraising is certainly help us stay on track in our Search for Bliss!

sincerest thanks!

ear tubes part deux

this past friday we took dax in to have his second set of ear tubes put in.  since the first pair fell out around november he'd had basically constant ear infections since.  we had him on antibiotics the entire time, they just kept bumping up the prescriptions to be stronger, and stronger, and stronger.  all of this ear infection messola was causing him to slide backwards on his speech progress and we were just really confident that more tubes was the only way to go.  so, in the bitter cold we woke dax up and got him into the car and over to the surgery center.

he was a really good patient (once he woke up) and the nurses all thought he must have been given versed/midasolam.  we assured them that he was just his normal happy little self.  we were very glad there'd be no versed this time considering that his last two times with it didn't go so smoothly.  thankfully this procedure was so quick that it wasn't necessary.  

he quietly played with daddy while awaiting his turn.  he really enjoyed the medical equipment he had at his disposal.  the dr. joked that this was probably the most expensive toy he'd ever played with.  he made fast friends with all of the nurses and staff.  everyone was falling in love with sweet dax.  many people came by to tell him how handsome he was and ask him his name.  he was quite fond of all of the attention.  he only asked about food once and told us he "was reawey hungwee".  luckily we kept keeping him distracted with those pricey toys.  before we knew it they were coming to wheel him back into the operating room.  it wasn't until they came to take him away that we got the giant crocodile tears.  thankfully the nurse was very friendly and assured dax that he could take raffie with him into the operation room.  everyone was falling for those sweet tears and the quiver lip.  the dr. confirmed that dax could probably have gotten a pony with that show.

after he'd been taken back will and i headed out to the lobby to wait for the good word.  will found us some hot chocolate from a nespresso machine and before we could finish both cups the dr. was out to tell us that everything went well and that we could go back to recovery with him.  the dr. confirmed that one of dax's ears was still completely full of fluid, even though just one day prior he'd finished his last antibiotic.  good call.  we tossed out our cocoa and headed back to see sweet boy.  he was wrapped in a blanket and quietly sleeping.  the nurse stayed with us until we got him rousted and sampling some apple juice and crackers.  he was super drowsy, but sweet boy will pretty much do anything for crackers.  within half an hour he was ready to go and we loaded him up into the car.

when we asked dax what he wanted for breakfast he said he wanted a biscuit.  boy loves some carbs and you'd think he'd take the opportunity to get a doughnut or something, but no he insisted on a biscuit.  however, by the time we got to the restaurant he decided he was eating pancakes - and he was in luck since their pancakes were bigger than the plate!  dax did a pretty good job eating his breakfast and was happy and feeling good for the rest of the day.  while the antibiotic ear drops are not fun (i hate ear drops too, so i can sympathize), we explained to him they are important and he'll only have to do them for a little while.

we can already notice that he feels better, can hear better, and is back to his old normal self.  hoping these tubes will last as long as the last pair and hopefully be the last pair he needs!

winner!

drumroll please!  and, we have a winner!  the book goes to: 

plumrotn13

we'll be mailing your book this week!

sincerest thanks to all who participated!  we really appreciate your continued support as we're Searching for Bliss!

mommy's freckles - give away!

***give away!***

last year i worked with a very talented illustrator to give life to a story i wrote about the relationship my son and i share.  we're a family built by transracial adoption and every day people clearly notice that this mommy and son just don't match on the outside.  however, it's not the skin tone that matters.  the love runs deep and we've got a lot in common.  we're a family built by God and we've shared our story about that connection in our book.

this little children's book was written to help us fundraise for our next transracial adoption.  our book is available for purchase on blurb.com at:  PURCHASE MOMMY'S FRECKLES

-OR-

simply enter to win your own copy now!

i know what you're thinking:

i never win anything.  

nothing's free.  

there's always a catch.

well, not this time.

that's right - we are doing a #GIVEAWAY for one signed copy of #mommysfreckles!  to enter here's all you have to do:

OPTION 1:

1.  follow @searchingforblissnow on instagram

OPTION 2:
 
2.  tag a friend who shares a heart for adoption or transracial families to make them aware of this awesome freebie by shouting out to them in a comment on our instagram post!

BONUS!

3.  bonus entry - go to our blog and leave a comment on the blog post - "mommy's freckles - give away!"  [www.willandadrifindbabies.blogspot.com]

we'll be sure to draw a winner on wednesday 2/4/15 at 9pm edt.