Well, I think we all know who the BIG winner of the week is....our FAVORITE boy, Alex! If you missed the news on the facebook page, ALEX HAS A FAMILY!!!! I am BEYOND excited and know that you guys are too. This is an answer to prayer and to all of the hard work you guys did sharing about him and praying for him and donating to his funds. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! This boy has a special place in my heart and I know in the hearts of many of you as well!


I put all the names of all of the commenters in a bowl and had my kids draw the names. I DID have to redraw for one of the prizes though when someone won the item they donated :). Other than that, this was a completely random drawing! There are a few instances that one person won more than one prize. This is because their name was entered for each item on the list as I stated in the post. There were also a few times that people commented on fbook that they had donated, and not on my blog, but I counted those entries too and put those names in the drawing.


Best buy gift card: ktmae
Walmart Gift card: Courtney
Wild Olive gift cert: Hannah homemade
Mary Kay set: Sarah
Mary Kay set: Sharon
Hand knit hats: Kristen
Headbands (knit): Sarah
Ribbon headbands set 1: Slow me down
Ribbon headbands set 2: Katie
Pillowcases: Hannah homemade
Doll and necklace: Tricia
Earring and necklace set: Erin
Blog makeover: Catherine 
Photography tutorial: Natalie




Congrats! 

Thank you SOOO much to all who donated! Comments are now closed for the giveaway. Some of you commented on the fbook page instead of on the blog and I will add your names to the giveaway too. Winners announced SOON! 


Happy, happy birthday sweet Alex! You are five and celebrating without your family, but there are SO many people here who love you and are praying for you. Hoping so badly that this will be the LAST birthday you will celebrate alone! We love you!

Only 50 minutes left in the giveaway! Can we raise $80 more??!!

It is amazing to read about this family's journey to get their son. Their son has CP like Alex. He was transferred just 3 months ago to an institution....here is their experience


http://bringinghomeonelittleboy.blogspot.com/2011/09/what-difference-week-makes.html


Someone please rescue little A!

My heart is very heavy for Alex today. Many tears have flowed at the thought of this boy. You see, on his Reece's Rainbow page, it no longer says that Alex is facing transfer to an institution, it says that he has been transferred. In his country an institution typically refers to a mental institution, a place where children and adults from 5- 60 or older are placed. Until now Alex has been at the baby house orphanage- where he likely gets more attention and love and care. On his RR page it says that once Alex is transferred he will likely be bedridden for the remainder of his life. And now, he has been transferred. Now, there are exceptions, and I'm sure there are some nicer institutions, but I think chances of that are slim. Though I pray this is the case for him. 


Alex's need for a family is more urgent than ever. The need to raise funds and awareness is greater than ever. Is God asking you to do something radical? Is He asking you to donate more than you thought possible to his adoption fund so that his family can step forward? Are YOU his family? Have you been thinking and praying about adopting him? I believe with all of my heart that this little boy has a family out there. He is so special and so loved by many around the world. He just needs a family to come forward to rescue him from this life in an institution and to give him love, attention, support, and hope. I believe that God has great things planned for this little guy!


Claiming this verse for Alex:






Please consider helping Alex today! Don't forget to enter the giveaway in the previous post!

It is September, Alex's birth month and he is still waiting in the orphanage for a family :( . He lives in Eastern Europe and has cerebral palsy. Because Alex turns 5 this month, he is at risk for being transferred to an institution where he will be bedridden for the rest of his life. He needs to be starting Kindergarten soon, playing outside, learning and loving. Not lying in a bed! But fellow Alex fan Joanna and I want to make this birthday the best ever...by showering him with prayers and funds for his adoption, and HOPEFULLY a family! 

Hey everyone! So sorry for the long delay between posts. We were in the process of moving from Japan back to the United States. We have finally arrived in our destination, and so has our computer which had all of the flea marked pics on it. Hopefully you all stayed informed via Alex's facebook page and saw that the flea market was a HUGE success!!! The morning sale raised over $450 and we were unexpectedly blessed with another load of stuff and went to an afternoon sale that brought in over $200 more! So I immediately was able to deposit over $700 into Alex's fund!!! Praise God! 


The flea market took place on Mother's day, and I awoke to the sweetest note from my husband. It read "We are proud of you for sacrificing your mother's day so that someday Alex can say 'Happy Mother's Day' too". Yeah, I definitely cried when I read that! My awesome friend Courtney sacrificed her Mother's day too and helped out at the sale. I'm SOOO glad she was there. Not only did we have a ton of fun, but it was crazy and we needed to have two people to manage all of the buyers. 


Here are some photos of the day: (Disclaimer: Courtney and I are normally cuter than this, but we woke up at 5am and didn't shower before the sale...plus it was a HOT day and we were dressed too warm for it!)

Congrats to Carla D!!! I used Random.org to generate a random number and number 8 was selected!! You have won a $35 gift certificate to Amazon!!! Yahoo!!! I will email you and arrange for delivery of your gift certificate!


Stay tuned folks as I and other fans of Alex try to coordinate to fundraise. The 5/5/5 Warrior campaign has officially begun to raise money and awareness for Alex. Our challenge is to raise $5000 for his funds! If you have any ideas let me know!


One of my ideas is happening tomorrow: 












Check out the pile of goods for my yard sale...and this is only about 1/2 of it! We are moving in less than two weeks from overseas back to the U.S., so we have plenty of stuff to purge. I've also gotten some donations from friends and Courtney is going to help me at the sale. Pray for some good weather and that we raise money for Alex. I'll let you know how much we raise!!! 

Hi everyone! I'm so glad to see so much interest in sweet little Alex. It does my heart so good to know that there are others out there who care about him and are trying to find him a family. So far his adoption funds are up to $508.50! This is over $80 from where his funds were at when we started advocating for him. Awesome job everyone! There are still a couple of days to share and donate in order to qualify for the giveway! 


This Saturday I'm having a garage sale to raise money for his adoption fund. We are moving soon and so I have a lot of stuff to purge and am also asking for donations from friends. Pray that the sale is successful! I'll keep you posted. :)


Blessings!

Well friends, it is time for a GIVEAWAY to raise awareness and funds for sweet little Alex! Here are the details....


The prize: A $35 gift certificate for Amazon.com! SEE, I told you that you'd want it! :) 


How to enter: Leave a comment on this post EVERY time you do one of the following things:


- Join/Like Alex's facebook page
- Share Alex's facebook page on your wall
- Link to Alex's Reece's Rainbow site or to this post on your blog
- Tell at least 5 people in person about Alex
- Donate to Alex's fund on the Reece's Rainbow website (ANY amount will help!!!). His funds are currently at $428.50. It will help SO much for him to have more funds. Adoption is EXPENSIVE and I want to bless the family that commits to him! Donations are tax deductible.


That means you can enter to win this gift certificate up to five different times. (If you have already joined/liked his facebook page go ahead and comment on this post already.) 


For example: Jane Doe wants to be entered for this giveaway...she decides to "like" the facebook page. She does that and then also shares about his page on her wall. She will come back to this blog post and leave TWO separate comments telling me what she did to advocate for Alex. Comment one may say: "I liked the fb page", and a SEPARATE comment may say "I shared his page on my wall". 


I know some people may be uncomfortable sharing if they donated or not, but I can't think of any other way to easily track the donations as counting for the giveaway. So, do NOT tell me the amount you donated, it could be $1 or $100, just leave a comment saying "donated". 


The giveaway will be CLOSED on May 5 at 9am EST! Drawing will be soon to follow!


Thank you all for helping this sweet boy find his family! I know of at least one family who is very interested in him. Join me in praying for them and direction as to if they are his family or not!! 




COMMENTS NOW CLOSED. Winner announced SOON!!! Thank you SOOO much for all of your donations and for sharing about Alex!

I have recently become the 555 Warrior for Alex, the little boy in Eastern Europe that I told you about in the previous post. Alex is almost 5 and when he turns 5 he will be transferred to an institution where he will be BEDRIDDEN. I can't even imagine this precious boy, so full of hope and life, confined to a bed. No one deserves that!! Just think, if his family finds him, his life will be full of love and joy, therapies to HELP his mobility instead of hinder it. I pray every day for him. Are YOU his family??


I have started a facebook page for Alex. Please "like" the page and recommend the page to your friends. The more people who see him, the more chances there are that his family will see him! The page is called Adoption and Awareness for Alex. 


In the next few days I hope to have a giveaway on this blog. It should be a great prize that everyone will love, so spread the word about that too!!! Let's find this little boy a home!

Sigh, I am in love with a little boy in Eastern Europe that I have never met. I read a ton of adoption blogs and occasionally peruse the adoption websites with waiting children. I know, I know, with three kids ages 5 and under I hardly need to be doing that. But, it is in my heart and so I look. There is an amazing website/ministry called Reece's Rainbow that lists children, mainly from Russia and Eastern Europe, with special needs who may be more difficult to find families for. Many of the children have Down Syndrome, some are HIV +, and others have other various conditions. While looking I saw this one boy, named "Alex" and for some reason I instantly fell in love. I mean, look at that SMILE! He has cerebral palsy and cannot currently walk. The site says he is very smart and that when he turns five (in September) he will be transferred to an institution where he will be bedridden. Just like that, no hope of walking unless a family, HIS family comes to get him. I asked God if we were his family (thinking that God REALLY had a sense of humor if we were---if you know me in real life you KNOW how crazy our life is at the moment), but I still had to ask. And the answer was clearly, 100%, "no". So, what I want to know is...are YOU his family??? Look at him! Isn't he cute?! If you click on the Easter Warrior link underneath his bio it will take you to another person's blog that has a few additional pics of him on it. I'd love for him to find his family!

I know, I never really write on here, but thought I'd share this with you today. My hubby cleaned out my car and unbeknownst to me kept a list of what he found in there so that I could embarrass myself  share the list on my blog. 


Contents of my car:
1 lego
2 bags of trash
1 winter hat
4 socks (all different)
7 spoons
8 books
1 box of crackers
1 box of cheezits
1 box of Scooby snacks
1 empty cinnamon spice bottle
1 feminine product
2 umbrellas
4 empty water bottles
1 full water bottle
2 coffee cups
1 purell dispenser
1 bottle of kids ibuprofen
1 bag of kids chapsticks (6 tubes)
2 matchbox cars
1 plastic pear
2 magnadoodles
5 used wet wipes (not used for diaper changes...)
1 pencil
1pen
1 comb
7 letters
6 unused diapers
2 raisin boxes
2 maps
1 speech pathology book
1 sleeping child :)