The Eiffel Tower has come and gone

Just a quick update on our dossier's itinerary--

That's right--our paperwork has touched down in and recently left Paris! Almost there, little papers, almost there! So excited I can hardly stand it!

In the mean time, we have been downsizing Lily's closet footprint to make room for a big sister! We've been taking out the clothes that are too small. (A dress sized 12 months?! How did that manage to stay in there?) This weekend we will start to paint. Once we can pick a color that is!

So many choices!! The girls will have matching bedding and I kind of wanted to start a theme from their adorable prints.

(No, the owl pillow is not an owl on a white background. I had to cut and paste one onto the picture of the bedding because it is so cute, I just had to have it included!)

Stay tuned for pictures of our decision and of course, hopefully another travel update on our paperwork's journey!

That baby is airborne!

Wooohooo!!! Someone tell them we're coming--our dossier is officially en route as of this morning!! After two months of pouring over paperwork, that baby is airborne!

Over 40 documents checked for wording, signatures, dates, name variations--our names, their names, notary names, clarity of stamps, middle initials, the right color ink, the acceptable time frames, passport numbers, copies, scans-- You name it, we've checked it..about four or five times at least! And it has never felt better to check something off of a checklist!

Let them know we are coming!!! Hear that, sweet Melissa, we are on our way to you? You have spent six years as a survivor, now hold on--we are within weeks of holding you as our own!

Yes, we are singing songs of joy and praise today!!!

So, I'm sure some, if not many, are wondering--what now? Now we wait. Patiently, impatiently, I'm sure those will both apply at times.

We had a packet of paperwork that we sent ahead of our dossier that will now get submitted for approval. While waiting for that to be approved, our dossier is being translated and being prepared to submit. After that is submitted and approved, we will get an appointment date with the State Department on Adoptions and Children's Rights (SDA).

In the mean time, we have plenty to prepare! We need to set up some kind of tentative game plan for Lily since she will not be making the trip with us. We have a little girl's room to get ready. We have some language learning to do (or attempt--Lily is doing far better at the words than I am!). All sorts of things. I can finally allow myself to nest! I am paper pregnant after all! :)

Thank YOU!

We would like to take a moment to thank everyone that has supported us in our adoption. We are so blessed to have friends and family like you. Whether you have supported us with donations, prayers, thoughts, blog/facebook posts, or spreading the word about these kids that need families. We appreciate all you do, and we are so excited to tell Melissa about everyone that has helped bring her home. Donations to our FSP (on the right) are now up to $625 as of tonight. We are amazed and humbled at the donations that are continually coming in. Thank YOU! Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and also the 143,000,000+ orphans in the world. It's a truly disturbing number, but we can all help make one less.

Don't worry we also have an update for you! We received the last of our forms back from being apostilled. Now we are triple checking them, kissing the envelope, and sending them 5,700+ miles away hopefully on Monday. Then we wait for our travel date. We are so close!

138 Reasons to be Happy Today

116 dollars added to our adoption fund!

19 more documents completed and in the process of being apostilled!

2 beautiful daughters!

1 step closer to bringing our family closer to being under one roof!

=138 reasons to be happy today!

Yes, today was a very happy and productive day around our household!
Yesterday, we got what will hopefully be the last of our notaries and today Lily and I took a field trip to the Capitol to get them apostilled.

I've always been a bit enamored with this big, beautiful building.

Lily sort of thought this press conference set up meant she had to perform a little song and dance, seeing as she already had the stage after all.

Clearly, this was her favorite part of our visit though--

~Sigh~ My little water baby. I love that little stance and the hands behind her back just make the picture for me!

Our documents should be back in our hands and approved by early next week. After that we check, re-check, re-re-check, re-re-re-check, ask everyone and their dog to check our documents and then we send them on over! Whisked away, on their 5,771 mile journey! Then begins a whole new waiting game...

Gift Card Re-do

We had a couple prizes go unclaimed from our last fundraiser! As promised, it's been a week, so we drew new tickets for the two prizes left standing.

The new PF Chang's $50 gift card winner is: 042035

And the new Saffron Valley $30 gift card winner is: 605343

Two tasty treats going to two new supporters!! Please claim your prizes by emailing me at sugarlilyscustomcakes@gmail.com within a week.

An Italian Quote for an Italian Family

As you may have guessed, I have a quote to dedicate to my Italian family.

First, a bit of a back story. We haven't been to our family reunion for the last couple years. Between work and how hard it was to transport Lily there for a bit, we haven't made the 120-mile trek to eat Ziti and meatballs in the park.
Not that we don't love it. The food is amazing, the people are better and we always have a lot of fun! Besides, how else would my husband have learned the meaning of "mangario" (to eat) and how it is more of a command than a request?

This year, we were able to finagle work schedules at the last minute and attend. It was great to see new and old faces again, to see the changing family and the kids that are growing up faster than you realize until you see it in person.

How does this relate to our adoption journey? Aside from the fact that Melissa will be able to join us at next year's reunion and learn "mangario" herself, we received a wonderful reminder of just how strong and supportive a family can be, whether you see them once a year, or sometimes even less.

With nothing more than our story, a picture and a couple jars of barbecue sauce, we received donations totaling $286!! Many of our relatives were eager to hear about our little girl a half a world away and everyone is excited to meet her next year!! Just thinking about that brings tears to my eyes!

So, to get to the quote. An Italian quote for an Italian family--
"La nostra famiglia è un cerchio di forza e amore, quando la famiglia cresce il cerchio si allarga, quando la famiglia è in difficoltà, il cerchio si rafforza."
Our family is a circle of strength and love with every birth and every union the circle grows - every crisis faced together makes the circle stronger.

And just to sneak in one more--from the Italian Saint Ambrose, “No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.”

Thank you to our extended family for opening their arms and hearts to yet another extension that has yet to join us!

Lily on her way to Helper, Utah:

Then there were two...

That's right---just TWO more documents to make minor corrections to and finish up! Then it is off to the Capitol. By next week, we will be giving everything to once-, twice-, three- and maybe even four-times over checks! Then those pretty little papers will be leaving on a jet plane and heading overseas!!!

Our little characters

Okay, so I'm not typically one to brag, but I'm going to now! Our daughters are so cute, they are making Disney characters of them!!

First, there were all the comparisons we used to get between Lily...

...and Boo, from Monsters, Inc.

Then, one of Robert's co-workers started saying he found us another look alike and that Melissa...

reminded him of Agnes, from Despicable Me...

What can we say? Our kids are so cute, you can put them in movies and sell them as dollies! I think we may have some lifelong favorite movies starring our little ladies' dopple-gangers!

On the progress front, our dossier is so close to being done we can taste it!!! We got more documents done and are now waiting to get them approved! Hopefully it's off to the Capitol with us and our papers very, very soon!

Full Speed Ahead!

Saturday was full of wonderful surprises!

We figured we were in for something good when Robert walked outside and this is what he was greeted with...

Our white Lily finally bloomed! We kind of joked with a smirk, 'That's got to be a good sign, right?' I think we were right!

As we were scrambling to get everything ready for the barbecue, Robert opened the letter that about stopped us both in our tracks. It was our Golden Ticket--our immigration approval from the USCIS!!! Though our Congressman got us a quick fingerprinting appointment, we were still expecting the typical 2 1/2 month wait for the application to actually be processed and approved. FIVE days after we got our fingerprints done, we had the approval in hand!

Robert was practically laughing as he told me over the phone because he was so excited. I had to stop what I was doing and ask him repeatedly if I'd heard him right! It was all I could do to focus on continuing our barbecue preparations!

As the night went on, we had a blast getting together with both old friends and new ones. We had a pretty good turnout and were very pleased and blessed by the turnout.

One experience from the night that still stands out in such a big way was such a fun surprise. I had a young cousin and a young niece with me when I hung one of our first signs for the night. After that, it was all they could focus on to make one more sign. It wasn't too long before they'd made their own sign and was eager to get it out in front of the house.
A longtime friend of ours headed out to the street corner armed with tiny, waving little girls. We had three cars stop and donate! We had $40 and every coin (and even some washers and a promo token) that a teenage young man had in his pockets donated at that stop sign! It was awesome to have people donate blindly to a family they didn't know to rescue a girl they didn't know existed! What an amazing thing to experience!

What's next? A whirlwhind of a week!
We have just about 6 documents left to go in our dossier!!! All of them are in progress and just need to get wrapped up and approved. By the end of the week, we should be able to take them all to get apostilled at the Capitol.
That means by early next week, we could be packaging them all up to send them over to Eastern Europe!! It feels so surreal to be able to say that!

After we send it, we plan on about 2 weeks to get our first set of documents approved in her country. During that time our dossier is being translated and prepared to submit. Then it is usually about 2 weeks after submittal for dossier approval, then it is usually about 3 weeks till travel!

If you are like us, you immediately start doing the math---SEVEN weeks! If everything goes smoothly, we are looking at about 7 weeks until we leave to go get Melissa! Incredible!! In early October, we ought to be boarding flights and crossing countries to unite our family! It seems so near and so far! So soon to have everything ready, so quick to learn a new language, and still not a second soon enough to hold our little girl!!

The Luck of the Draw!

Without further adieu, we have drawn the winners of the fundraiser prizes!! Get your tickets ready to match up!!

The winner of a One Hour Massage at Shirodhara Day Spa is...
Ticket 605328

The winner of the Byzantine Bracelet from JL Doodles is...
Ticket 042076

The winner of the $50 iTunes gift card is...
Ticket 605259

The winner of the $30 Saffron Valley gift card is...
Ticket 605369

The winner of the $50 PF Chang's gift card is...
Ticket 042012

The winner of the Family Fun Tote is...
Ticket 605100

The winner of the $50 Cost Plus World Market gift card is...
Ticket 605203

The winner of the 6 Handmade Zeep soaps is...
Ticket 605218

The winner of the Dinner and a Movie package is...
Ticket 605072

The winner of the Scentsy warmer and 3 scent bars from Rad Scents is...
Ticket 605102

The winner of the Wine Gift Basket is...
Ticket 605135

The winner of the Best of Sephora Gift Basket is...
Ticket 605015


If any of these are your ticket numbers, please email us at sugarlilyscustomcakes@gmail.com to claim your prize! If you entered online, we will check the tickets we pulled for you and contact you.
If we don't get a response from the winners within a week, we will draw again.

We were able to raise $1,511 last night!!!

Thank you to everyone who participated both in person and online. It was great to spend some time and share our story and Melissa's story with so many people. How amazing of an experience to witness the love and support all around us! From people who donated from across the country to the people who stopped at the street corner and donated money blindly to a family they didn't know! We are extremely touched by people's generosity and cannot wait to share with Melissa just how much she means to so many people.

In honor of fundraiser day...

Clearly this a much shortened version of 'because'! Happy Fundraiser Day! Wish us luck, love, wisdom, and hope.

Thanks as always to everyone who has followed along our journey and cheered us on along the way!

Just $1 to win!! A full prize list

Okay, everyone, here is the final prize lineup for this fundraiser! (We've added a couple really great ones, so be sure to look them over one more time!)

Byzantine Chain Bracelet from JL Doodles
What a GORGEOUS handmade bracelet! Craftsmanship like this never ceases to amaze me. Retail value $85. Be sure to stop by www.etsy.com/shop/JLDoodles and check out their other gorgeous items available for sale!

$50 iTunes Gift Card
Who doesn't love iTunes? Good for more than just music--download tv shows, movies, books, and more!

Best of Sephora Gift Basket

This basket offers a selection of Sephora's best! Contains: Philosophy Oxygen Peel Kit, Bulgari womens fragrance, Temptu temporary tattoos, Tan towels self tanner, Bliss fat girl scrub, Moschino cheap and chic shower gel, Clinique blush in travel brush, Anastasia lip gloss in color moi (pinky nude), Laura Mercier foundation primer, Philosophy Hope in a jar moisturizer, and Clinique redness solution powder. Retail value of $300!


One Hour Massage from Shirodhara Day Spa
A $65 value! Relaxing massage in a by some of the valley's best therapists. "Everyone there is great! Really comfortable atmosphere. I feel right at home...Never had a bad treatment from anyone, it doesn't matter who you go to they are all great. Can't say enough about it." -UtahCitySearch.com

Wine Gift Basket donated by the Utah Wine Club
What goes better with a glass of wine than a little sass? Presenting the Bitch Wine Basket! :) Basket contains one bottle of Bitch wine, two wine glasses, a glam crown ring, Bad Girl garter, Divine Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bar and set of six jewel wine glass charms.
The Utah Wine Club is a group of wine enthusiasts that host meet ups across the Salt Lake Valley. Find out more information at www.meetup.com/utahwineclub

$50 PF Chang’s gift card
*You can’t tell me your mouth doesn’t water at the mere mention of their Lettuce Wraps! Yum Yum! Mongolian Beef, mini desserts…need I say more? *

$50 Cost Plus World Market gift card
~A store that originated as an eclectic gathering of handmade and unique items sold off of a pier, Cost Plus World Market still boasts a wide variety of items from unusual to practical! The gift card can be used online or in over 260 stores across the U.S.~

Dinner and a Movie MegaPass
Valid at any participating MegaPass location, with 5 to choose from across Utah. A $75 retail value, gift cards are included for movie tickets as well as dinner to be redeemed at any MegaPass participating restaurant or concession stand! Megaplex Theaters have some great participating restaurants like Z Tejas, Joe’s Crab Shack and California Pizza Kitchen to name a few!

Family Outdoor Fun Gift Basket:
Now your whole family can gladly ‘take it outside’! A great gift basket for having fun in that summer sun!
A patchwork striped Insulated Market Tote, Set of 4 kids hopping sacks,
plastic sand toys, Pop N Bubbles, Rubber Horse Shoes game, Wild Sidewalk Chalk, and 2 micro-kites.
Retail value of over $60

6 Zeep handcrafted soap bars—Ginger, Lavendar Martini, The Sixties, Green Tea Garden, Luau, and Olive Blossom.
Zeep (Dutch for soap) is handmade in small batches using our personal formulas. Created using skin friendly oils combined with botanical, clay and mineral based colorants to produce as natural a soap as possible. If you are used to commercial detergent bars, you will appreciate its gentle fragrance and lather. Zeep looks lovely displayed in a soap dish but belongs in the shower to be used for daily cleansing.
Retail: $48

Scentsy Slate Mid-size warmer and three scent bars from Rad Scents—Erica Hatch, Independent Scentsy Representative
Erica says--“Scentsy is a passion of mine. I do believe in safe scents. So many of my friends and family members have young kids or dogs; Scentsy is the perfect, safe alternative to candles. There is no need about forgetting to blow out the candle before you leave. You can simply just plug in a warmer and you are good.”
*I am a big fan of Scentsy myself. I love how long they last and the fact that they melt with just a light bulb and there is no open flame was enough to get me on board with these great products.*
Visit rad.scentsy.us to view Erica's full catalog.
Retail: $25 for the warmer and 3 scent bars: $5 each. Total retail of $40.

$30 Saffron Valley gift card
Saffron Club gift cards invite upbeat foodies to choose from a range of culinary adventures from shopping our online culinary collection (www.eastindiapantry.com) to dining at Saffron Valley Bistro (www.saffronvalley.com) to taking a hands on culinary class.
*SUCH delicious Indian food and their spice mixes make authentic, fantastic cooking at home a snap!*

Tickets are just $1 each!!

If donating online, please use our ChipIn Page to donate (find the link on the top left of this blog) and then email us at sugarlilyscustomcakes@gmail.com or r_c_4@hotmail.com with which drawing you would like to enter your ticket(s) into. We will then email you back your ticket numbers and winners will be drawn and announced on this blog and on our Facebook page on August 14th.

*Don't forget to mention this blog at the Barbecue to claim one free ticket!*

Thanks again to everyone for their support! It is beyond thrilling the closer we get to being able to have Melissa in a home with a real family!

We've been printed!

So, when we were able to send in our application for our I600A to the USCIS, we'd also contacted our Congressman to see if he could help us with getting things moving a bit faster than typical since Melissa's age puts her at a high risk of being transferred to a mental institution. Much to our joy, he obliged and just 4 days later, we got our fingerprinting appointment letter in the mail!
Well, today we were able to walk in 11 days ahead of schedule and got our prints done!

No, that's not how we got to do it! If it had been, Lily probably would've gotten a set of her own done!

In hard to believe news--we are down to the last few documents needed for our dossier before we get our last apostilles done and send it off to Eastern Europe!!!! Our blood tests are in the lab right now, my TB test is sub-dermal on my arm as I write and Robert's will be tomorrow. We have to get our employment letters on the right letterhead and our rental agreement notarized. And then we wait for our 171H, which is our approval from the USCIS that we just got printed for! After that, our last documents get notarized and apostilled at the capitol and then it's off to another capitol city some 5,771 miles away!!

Please pray for us as we go into a really important weekend that funds will be raised and that people's hearts will be open to not only us and Melissa, but also to the many other special needs children barely surviving in mental institutions or going hungry in underfunded orphanages.

Just One Dollar to Win!

Alright, so this is a partial list of the Barbecue Fundraiser Prizes. We have a few more coming in, but I'll admit, I have a problem with patience. I just got over excited, so here is the beginning of the prize list!

Current Prizes:
$50 PF Chang’s gift card
*You can’t tell me your mouth doesn’t water at the mere mention of their Lettuce Wraps! Yum Yum! Mongolian Beef, mini desserts…need I say more? *

$50 Cost Plus World Market gift card
~A store that originated as an eclectic gathering of handmade and unique items sold off of a pier, Cost Plus World Market still boasts a wide variety of items from unusual to practical! The gift card can be used online or in over 260 stores across the U.S.~

Family Outdoor Fun Gift Basket:
Now your whole family can gladly ‘take it outside’! A great gift basket for having fun in that summer sun!
A patchwork striped Insulated Market Tote, Set of 4 kids hopping sacks,
plastic sand toys, Pop N Bubbles, Rubber Horse Shoes game, Wild Sidewalk Chalk, and 2 micro-kites.
Retail value of over $60

6 Zeep handcrafted soap bars—Ginger, Lavendar Martini, The Sixties, Green Tea Garden, Luau, and Olive Blossom.
Zeep (Dutch for soap) is handmade in small batches using our personal formulas. Created using skin friendly oils combined with botanical, clay and mineral based colorants to produce as natural a soap as possible. If you are used to commercial detergent bars, you will appreciate its gentle fragrance and lather. Zeep looks lovely displayed in a soap dish but belongs in the shower to be used for daily cleansing.
Retail: $48

Scentsy Slate Mid-size warmer and three scent bars from Rad Scents—Erica Hatch, Independent Scentsy Representative
Erica says--“Scentsy is a passion of mine. I do believe in safe scents. So many of my friends and family members have young kids or dogs; Scentsy is the perfect, safe alternative to candles. There is no need about forgetting to blow out the candle before you leave. You can simply just plug in a warmer and you are good.”
*I am a big fan of Scentsy myself. I love how long they last and the fact that they melt with just a light bulb and there is no open flame was enough to get me on board with these great products.*
Retail: $25 for the warmer and 3 scent bars: $5 each. Total retail of $40.

$30 Saffron Valley gift card
Saffron Club gift cards invite upbeat foodies to choose from a range of culinary adventures from shopping our online culinary collection (www.eastindiapantry.com) to dining at Saffron Valley Bistro (www.saffronvalley.com) to taking a hands on culinary class .
*SUCH delicious Indian food and their spice mixes make authentic, fantastic cooking at home a snap!*

Tickets are just $1 each!! Also, you can get a free ticket just by mentioning this blog if you are attending the fundraiser barbecue in person!

If donating online, please use our ChipIn Page to donate (find the link on the top left of this blog) and then email us at sugarlilyscustomcakes@gmail.com or r_c_4@hotmail.com with which drawing you would like to enter your ticket(s) into. We will then email you back your ticket numbers and winners will be drawn and announced on this blog and on our Facebook page on August 14th.

I will announce more of the prizes once we have them in hand and ready for their photo-op! :)

Thanks again to everyone for their support! It is beyond thrilling the closer we get to being able to have Melissa in a home with a real family!

August is off to a good start!

Yesterday was a great way to start the month! We had SO much great movement on the adoption front!
First, we got to do the Waking Up prize giveaway! It was fantastic to research the winner a bit and find out that the winners were another Reece's Rainbow family that are in the process of adopting a little girl whose sweet little face reminds me SO much of a friend's daughter that it gave me chills! She is about as adorable as they come!
Then came the phone call that reassured me I did not in fact mess up one of our documents and need to spend another $30 and an hour in the waiting room to get them re-done. We'd gotten our background checks/state police clearance done last Thursday but then realized we may have skipped a step! Every document that we attain for our dossier needs to be notarized and then apostilled by the state. We realized when we were home that this one didn't get notarized and it would have had to been done at the office and possibly redone altogether. Well yesterday we got a hold of the Secretary of State's office and got the okay to send it without the notary! One more document on it's way to the Capitol! That is definitely something that makes us REALLY happy!

Then, my great friend Brooke messaged me on Facebook that she had gotten a giveaway going with Roberts Arts & Crafts! She was able to secure a $50 gift card/gift code to use as a giveaway prize. It is a fun store and so awesome that they allowed the option of an online code so the giveaway is not limited to locals and everyone can get it on this super prize. (Be sure to visit her blog and get all 14 of your entries in! Including the ones for following this blog, liking our Facebook page and donating to help bring Melissa home)

Last and certainly not least, we got a wonderful email that we hope will be a big catalyst for our paperwork! When we received word that our I600-A immigration paperwork had reached the USCIS lock-box in Texas last Thursday we got very excited. After the excitement came the worry. Other families were being quoted waiting periods of 75-90 days. ~Gulp~ Because of her age and CP, Melissa could very well be transferred to a mental institution at any time. She does not deserve to be malnourished, neglected and worse, for any amount of time so we are in an extreme rush to go get her! We decided not to sit idly by and follow the lead of some other families who had enlisted help. On Thursday night we sent an email to the office of our Congressman and Monday afternoon received a response that we just needed to fax in an information release so he could speak to the USCIS and intercede on our behalf! We faxed it in this morning, so hopefully we will hear back on some movement soon!!!
That is a day that makes me as happy as a flower in the sunshine!

Another fantastic online giveaway!

We have been blessed by some really amazing people in our lives! Brooke is definitely one of them! She has helped us spread the word about Melissa in a huge way and she is at it again! She is not only a great friend, but a fantastic blogger and wonderful marketer. She has put together a $50 gift card (or online gift code) giveaway to one of our favorite craft stores, Roberts Arts and Crafts!
http://www.robertscrafts.com (sorry for the cut and paste job--links aren't cooperating right now!)

They have locations throughout Utah and Idaho, but also have a wonderful website to shop from as well!
Brooke has set up not just one but FOURTEEN ways to enter! All simple and all just a couple clicks away! You can visit her blog at Brookie's Baby Bargains for more details!
http://brookiesbabybargains.blogspot.com/2011/08/50-roberts-crafts-gift-cardcoupon-code.html

Links for entry details are also on our Facebook Page!
http://www.facebook.com/?sk=pages&ap=1#!/pages/A-Sibling-for-Silly-Lily-Help-us-bring-Melissa-home/255703754445349

Thanks again to Brooke and Robert's Arts and Crafts!

We have a winner!

The winner of the Wake Up Our Fundraising gift package is...

Derek Chirch!

Derek is another adoptive parent working through Reece's Rainbow to adopt one of the most beautiful little girls! Seriously, she is GORGEOUS! See for yourself at http://reecesrainbow.org/sponsorchirch.
One thing I love about the RR Family and the blog world is that I don't know the Chirch family. Never so much as a 'Hi' yet. But I can tell you what a devoted, loving family they are and how hard they are working to get their special daughter home with them! Please check out their blog at http://kayleeshope.blogspot.com/ or their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/derekchirch?ref=pb#!/Kayleeshope.
Derek, I will be contacting you about your prize!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated! It's amazing to us that people would take time out of their day to visit our blog or follow along with our Facebook page!

Stay tuned for more BBQ details soon!