Auction update!

We've nailed down the week of June 20th - 27th, 2014 for our silent auction.  We have some amazing donations already and more coming in! 

We will use this blog to hold the auction. Every purchase will go through our Firstgiving website which will allow proceeds to be sent directly to our adoption agency and put towards our costs.  More details to come.

Meanwhile, a little preview...
 

Bend

Photo Session by Brandi Ahrendt

BEND Tile by Paul Samuelson

45-min Reiki Session

Juniper Springs Farm Tour

Visit with Naturopath - Kerie Raymond 

Visit with Naturopath - Joshua Phillips

SaltWorks Photography

Portland

Saunte Wellness Center

2hrs of Wonderland Tattoos by Alice Kendall

10 Pack Training - Animal Athletics 

60-minute Massage at Hosmer Chiropractic 

Available for Shipping

Gift Basket from Country Financial

Jewelry by Marina

Trendy Kid Boutique 12-24mo long sleeve romper

Trendy Kid Boutique 9mo body suit/blanket trio

Race Entry - Rainshadow Running 

6-pack Trail Butter Peanut Butter

the list goes on….

Fleet Feet of Bend is also putting on a family friendly race to help us raise money for little Haile! The date hasn't been nailed down yet, but it will likely be one of the first two weekends of July.  I will post more information as it comes available and we hope to see a bunch of you there!

We are trying to put together a small trail run in the Portland area as well. We have a friend (Thank you Jensen!) who will donate finisher’s T’s. If there is anyone in the Portland area who would like to help organize this event, we would LOVE the help and ideas you may have! Please reach out and we can start planning.  We’re planning to be in Portland the second weekend of August, so perhaps that would be a good weekend for a little run in Forest Park. :)

If you are donating, or planning to donate, please send me a photo or photos, description, and the retail value of the item you are donating. You can send them to bringinghailehome@gmail.com  I will be sure to include your website or facebook page on the auction page to help advertise for you too!

There is still time to donate! Please reach out to me here, via facebook or by the email address above and we can coordinate.

We want to send a heartfelt THANKS to all of you who continue to support us through this journey! It's life changing and truly magical.  The world becomes a much smaller and lovelier place as everyone comes together to support such a beautiful cause and soon to be beautiful little part of our family.

A few amazing pics from our recent sneak-away to CA..

The babymoon is over - therefore the baby should be on her way! ;)

Grass Lake

 

Wiskeytown Falls

 Mt. Shasta

~The Drakes xo 

Running the Numbers

It's all a subject we try to avoid, but in adoption, it's a necessary; an (almost) every day occurrence!

We sent off our BIG(gest) check along with the 3.5lbs of documents just over a week ago! Our agency double checked everything and over-nighted  them to Washington D.C. From there, they are on their way to Ethiopia to be translated and then registered in the system.  Once registered, we are ready for a match!  Our agency said the registration should be complete by about May 22nd!

So we spent the last few days celebrating this little accomplishment but it's time to get back on task!

Between generous givers and the income we've created from our vacation rental Drake's Place we are almost 20% to goal! I am amazed with the provisions He has blessed our family with! It's easy to go from amazement to uncertainty very quickly however, when you just get done sending off a large sum of money to turn around and see the next one staring you in the face.

We could be 3 weeks, 3 months or a year out from a match! Obviously we would like the former, but the latter would give us more time to raise and save more money. Double edge sword.

That said, and let me digress for a moment...I know MONEY is a difficult subject for some. Me included.  But I feel I owe it to everyone to be as translucent as possible being that you've chosen and by god's will, been appointed, to follow along with our journey in many supportive ways, money being one of them.

We have had great success with our vacation rental here in Bend.  January and February we were full in the mid 20 night range, March all but 2 nights and April all but 3! May and the coming summer months are already booking up quickly! This was a blessing we had no idea was coming. As this has been a learning process for us however, we failed to take start up costs, maintenance fees, utilities and taxes out of our first earnings. So what we thought we could apply to the adoption was actually about 25% less than our initial thought. Nothing to get down about as every bit helps and we feel very lucky for the opportunity and success we've had with it! 

So I was hoping to see higher numbers on the Firstgiving website because of the rental, but once it donned on us we need to subtract these operating expenses, the numbers went down a bit.

That said, we are looking at other ways to help raise money for both the allotment we will owe once we're matched, as well as travel expenses. Both will hit right around the same time!

Where you can help...

We are looking to hold a Silent Auction that includes donated goods/services from family and friends.  We already have some wonderful donations and I will be reaching out to friends and family individually as well to ask if anyone may have some type of merchandise or service they could donate to the auction.  Or if they know any one who may want to donate too!

The items can be very creative...from massages, to farm tours to babysitting hours. The only requirement is the ability to provide the item to me before the auction or a gift certificate (which could be a simple email stating the item/service with your contact info). We are very excited about this as both you and I can benefit from some auction fun!

Simultaneously, we need to start planning for travel.  It's my understanding that once we accept a match, we depart pretty quickly.  We have some miles saved and recently learned about adoption airfare options from a guest who adopted 8 years ago.  I need to do some research but it sounds like there may be some discounts since we don't have a lot of notice on when we travel and we likely won't know our return date, etc.  I'd love to have references or hear about others experiences if any of you have any experience with this.  We are also happy to accept donated miles as well, since these tickets can range up to $2500/per person.

Thank you ALL for your continued support in our journey; we are forever grateful!

If you'd like to help with any of the above, or have any ideas of your own, please reach out.
xo -Angela