Our [sweet] Adoption T-shirts...AND...A Fun Giveaway!

Hi Friends!  To the end of raising funds toward our final financial goal so that we'll be prepared to bring our baby home.... I designed this t-shirt at Teespring.com that we are selling (for the next 21 days only!):

(We will be holding a giveaway here on this blog in order to help us get the word out about these shirts.  2 winners will receive Amazon.com gift cards!  Scroll down for more info....)

Want to purchase a shirt?  Here's how it works:

1. Go to our personal page on teespring.com to see our campaign.
   (if you can't get the link above to work, try this:  http://teespring.com/stanaadoptionshirts)
  
2. Reserve your t-shirt using your credit card or your paypal account. 

     *****YOUR CARD WILL NOT BE CHARGED TILL WE REACH 65 SHIRTS.*****

3. 65 shirts is our "tipping point."  At this point, the shirts will definitely print and your card will be charged for the shirt(s) that you have reserved.  

     *****IF WE DON'T REACH 65, YOUR CARD WILL NOT BE CHARGED AND THE SHIRTS WILL NOT PRINT.*****

4. Your shirt(s) will ship (assuming we sell 65 or more) between July 25th and 29th.  You can choose to either pay shipping and have them shipped directly to you, or (if you live in the KC area) to NOT pay shipping and have the shirts shipped to me, and then pick them up from our house.

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY RULES:

(drum roll please......)

When you enter the giveaway, you will receive a number(s) via email.  At the end of the 21 day campaign (on July 16th), we will use Random.org to choose 2 winners to receive $20 Amazon.com gift cards.

There are possible 4 ways to enter, and you can enter up to 4 times.  Help us promote our t-shirts by:

1. Tweeting the link to this blog post.
2. Posting the link in your Facebook status.
3. Blogging about our t-shirts (possibly including why adoption is meaningful to you?) and including the link.
4. Sending out an email to your friends about the t-shirts and including the link to this post.

**After you've done one or more of these things, leave me a comment on this blog post letting me know which thing(s) you've done, AS WELL AS YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS so I can send you your numbers.**

ANNNNNND, here's the link, free for your copying and pasting:  

http://kcbutlersatimetolaugh.blogspot.com/2012/06/our-sweet-adoption-t-shirtsanda-fun.html

Now... ready?  Let's........

GO GO GO GO GO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Let's blow that 65 shirt mark outa the water.  Boo-yah.

Thank you so much for your support of our adoption process.

Be blessed. [and leave me a comment if you have questions.] 

Trying to Get Our Heads Around Goal #3...

So the Lord has totally blown our minds with His extravagant, QUICK provision for our financial goals up to this point.  Check out the first and second fundraising thermometers to the right...Wow!  He is so committed to adoption and we've been blown away by how evident His hand on our process has been.

Now, as we are tying up all the final loose ends, preparing to go "live" or "active" within the next several weeks, (This means we will soon be "home study ready," and that birth moms will be able to view our profile to consider our family as a possible adoptive family for their babies), we are trying to get our heads around this final financial goal and are encountering difficulty in doing so.  The reason?  EVERYTHING from here on out, expense-wise, is completely unpredictable.  Will there be medical fees that we'll end up covering for birth mom and/or baby?  Will we adopt across state lines, requiring more fees and paperwork?  What will court costs be?  Attorney fees?  How many post-placement visits from our social worker will be required (this depends on which state we adopt from - KS or MO)?  

Anyway, as you can see, we have no way of knowing at this point what our financial goals should be from here on out.  At this point, my best guess is that we'll need another.....somewhere between 6 and 12 thousand.... in order to complete our process.  Could be more... or could (very miraculously) be less.

Soooo... just going to go ahead and create another $10,000 goal thermometer and we'll adjust that as more information becomes available to us down the road.

Onward!  Trusting you, Jesus, to continue to do what you do.  You are our abundant provider!  Above and beyond all that we can ask, think, or imagine!

:)