Auction Preview

Since we are on WARP SPEED getting Payton and Yana home by July 1st (Payton's 14th birthday), we need to accelerate the pace of raising funds. We have already raised $2650 and we are SO THANKFUL for all the generous donors who have given! Thank you all!

To help with fundraising, we are putting together a Facebook auction. To gather items for the auction, we asked close friends and various businesses for donations. At first, we did not receive any responses from businesses, but then the gifts started trickling in!  I wanted to share this post to thank the donors and provide a preview for the auction, which will go from March 1st through March 8th at 5:00PM (PST).

Here are some of the great donations that we have received:

The Idea Box (http://theideaboxkids.com) donated six boxes for child-led, play-based activities and ideas. These boxes are applicable for toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners and elementary-aged children. I love how sturdy the wooden coins are and all the great suggestions they have!

The Alumni group at Liberty University (https://www.liberty.edu/) donated a really cool OGIO backpack, as well as a Liberty Alumni umbrella, scarf and journal:

Interstate Batteries (http://www.interstatebatteries.com/), who have in their mission statement that they exist "to glorify God," showed their support of the adoption by donating numerous items signed by Kyle Busch!:

Washington State University (www.wsu.edu) donated two tickets to the WSU vs. Colorado Game game on November 21st:

And the University of Washington (www.washington.edu) donated 2 tickets to a UW vs. Sacramento game on September 12th!

THANK YOU SO MUCH DONORS!!!

We have also had a number of anonymous donations and will have some gorgeous Bibles, gift certificates, handmade items, as well as a few things from some fancy name-brands like Coach and Oakley!

I will post a link for the auction next Sunday, March 1st. All funds from the auction will go directly towards our adoption expenses, which exceed $40,000.

Sooner than we thought...

Since the start of this adoption process, we have been moving pretty quickly with forms/paperwork. We knew that we needed to expedite things, since Payton was aging out of the adoption system, but we were unaware that we had to have the adoption finalized by his 14th birthday (July 1st)! I happened to ask our adoption agency about this today and they stated, yes, we must have everything FINALIZED before Payton turns 14. Now, we are in even more of a rush to get our customs forms approved, Dossier logged-in, and that all-important, Travel Approval!

Some may be wondering what happens if the adoption is not finalized by then. Well, from what I understand, Payton will be transferred to an adult mental institution, since he is not physically or emotionally capable of caring for himself. He will no longer be eligible for adoption. Sadly, many of these mental institutions in China lack resources, so children/adults often die from lack of care and nutrition. In Payton's case, he is only at about a first grade reading level, so he clearly would not be able to go out into the world and survive on his own at this time.

So, while we thought we had 8 months or more to raise the funds for Payton and Yana's adoptions, we now must get the funding together in about 4 months! To help bring in the finances, Bill worked with an awesome, veteran-owned t-shirt company to produce some shirts for the adoption. We will be taking pre-orders of the shirts in the next couple weeks, as samples come in and we are able to post pictures. We'll also be doing a Facebook auction soon...more details to come.

Please be in prayer for the adoption, and that things would be expedited at every level!

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Also, a contact via Facebook gave me a bunch of photos of Payton from when she met him two years ago. I thought I would share for those who want to get our little guy better!