a call to arms!

What a rollercoaster ride!
We just heard from our facilitator that she has spoken to the officials about Emerson's urgent medical needs and .....
she thinks she'll have a travel date for us soon!! o_O

I think I had completely convinced myself that we had a couple more months of waiting ahead of us because I am absolutely elated at even the possibility of traveling soon - perhaps the last week of October? Even the first week of November seems so close now! ^_^ So... after the initial thrill of joy, just a teensy bit of panic has set in heh! We do still have a little bit of fundraising to do, not just for our costs in-country but also for my crazy idea of making a positive change in the lives of the other children in the orphanage.

And with that, we are holding one final (really, I mean it this time!) raffle to support these two causes.

It's 11:11 and I'm making a wish! ... okay, okay, so it's not quite 11:11 - I couldn't wait to share the excitement! :)
11 has always been a special number for us for many reasons and I always smile when I glance up at the clock and see that time. So here is our wish!

Our goal is lofty - $1111 - but it will bring us very close to what we need and would also allow us to bring some tools and toys to help the children with DS with oral motor skills, special spoons and bottles to help with feeding skills (our facilitator said this is a big problem for children with DS in Emerson's orphanage) and some special bottles for the children with cleft lip/palate that would help them get the nourishment they need. They have no such tools right now and they have a lot of trouble feeding those sweeties.

[EDITED]
The prizes are a $100 Target gift card and a $50 Target gift card and the raffle ends Oct 11t (of course!) :)

Please click the chip-in widget above or to the right!

If gift cards don't catch your fancy but you still want to help we are grateful for any tax-deductible donations made through Reece's Rainbow - just click Em's picture up there on the right. We appreciate this last bit of help for Emerson and for all of the other children waiting for families in her orphanage! ^_^

Also, if anyone has any used items in good condition that you would like to donate for the orphanage, please email me (chris@weelilmonsters.com) as we would love to bring them with us! (We are looking for: chewy tubes, grabbers, jigglers or other vibrating toys, bristle buddies, maroon spoons (the shallow kind for side-feeding) and Haberman bottles.) We have already obtained some generous donations from some wonderful people and companies to help on our little mission, I will post more about that later. ^_~

Thank you so much for your help in this final stretch - I can't believe we're almost there!!! :)