Thirty-One Gifts Continues

I had SOOO much fun Friday night!  We had more than 10 lovely ladies over for the Thirty-One Gifts fundraiser to bring Kindu home.

Our fabulous Thirty-One sales rep, Cathleen, gives us the run-down

Some of our guests and Thirty-One fashion models-in-training

Some more of our lovely bag-lovin' ladies

Oh yes, there was chocolate - Salted Caramel Pretzel Brownies
There was also some other delicious treats...apple cake,
pumpkin ganache cake, and spinach dip...you missed it!

Raffle Winner ---> Ruby Cordova was our first raffle winner on Friday night at the party.

Ruby's prize, the Party Thermal

There are still 3 bags to raffle off on Friday (see which bags are being raffled HERE), so get your tickets directly from me or purchase them using the PayPal link at the top of the right-hand column--->

Be sure to tell me in the "notes" section of your PayPal transaction that your donation is for the raffle (tickets are $10 each).  We will receive 100% of your donation to bring Kindu home.

The party is still open, so you can email me to place an order or go to Cathleen's Thirty-One site under "My Parties" to shop. 

Thank you all for all your love and support in bringing Kindu home.  If he only knew, he'd say, "thank you," too...
A little update: we are still waiting on an important document so America World can submit us to Embassy to get Kindu's visa.  Please keep praying for this document and our submission and a speedy clearance.

Isn't he so handsome?
Oh how we miss him...let's get him HOME!
PS, big thanks to the Bice family for this pic
and delivering that care package

Thirty-One Gifts for the Rogers Family Adoption

Here it is & Just in time for some Christmas shopping!  We are hosting a Thirty-One Gifts party to raise funds for the remainder of our adoption expenses.  Would you believe we are *almost* funded?  We have about $9000 to go for final travel and post adoption expenses.  I see the light!

Thirty-One Party Details:

When:  Friday October 4th
What time:  7pm
Where: My House!  (Please email talesoftherogi@gmail.com to request the address)

Fundraiser:

The fundraiser items are the listed October Specials.  Purchased at full price, we will receive the difference for our adoption fund.  This works best if you order from me directly instead of through the website, paying with check or cash (we can work out those details, just email me).

See the listed items here:
http://assets.thirtyonetoday.com.s3.amazonaws.com/monthy-specials/2013/October/october-special-flier.pdf

**If you're unable to attend, but would like to shop, go to

https://www.mythirtyone.com/ckellar/, 

click the "My Parties" tab, 

then select "Shop Now" next to 

"Michelle's FUNdraiser Party."**

Raffle $10 donation: 

Our wonderful Thirty-One consultant has donated 4 items for the raffle.  We will receive 100% proceeds from the raffle.  If you're local, you can buy your raffle tickets directly from me.  For online raffle ticket donations, use the BRING KINDU HOME Paypal button at the top of the sidebar.  Please indicate that your donation is for the raffle and how many raffle tickets you are buying.  I will email you with your ticket numbers.

Here's what's up for raffle (*actual items may not be color/pattern shown):

Large Utility Tote

Medium Utility Tote

Easy Breezy Tote

Party Thermal

This is our gracious Thirty-One consultant, Cathleen.  

cathleens31gifts@gmail.com

Please contact her in the future to host your Thirty-One Gifts party! 

If you'd simply like to donate directly to our adoption fund, use the BRING KINDU HOME Paypal button at the top of the sidebar.

Please continue to pray for us as we await submission to embassy and clearance to bring Kindu home!  Thanks so much!

6+ Weeks Post Court + Coming soon: Thirty-One Gifts Party

Just a little update... we were hoping to be submitted to embassy 8/28, but it looked like our documents were not quite ready.  Then our hope was that we would be submitted to embassy on Sept. 4.  Here we are almost 4 weeks after that and no submission.  Between the Ethiopian New Year holiday on the 18th and now US Embassy asking for additional documentation (for something that is all over his file :-/ ), we have yet to be submitted for the final wait.

We're not quite sure how long it will take for our family to clear embassy once we are submitted.  We've seen a family clear in as little as two weeks.  We've also seen much, MUCH longer.  Would you pray with us that we would get this document and be submitted this week, AND that we clear and can travel back to get Kindu as quickly as possible?  Thanks so much!

While we wait, I'm planning a Thirty-One Gifts fundraiser.  If you are in the area, you are welcome to come!  If you are NOT in the area, and would like to support us by shopping through this fundraiser, look for an opportunity to shop online very soon!

Thanks so much for all the love, prayers and support for our family...  We are so grateful for each one of you!

Blessings in Him,

Michelle

Court

Wow!  I really need to post more!  When we heard about our MOWCYA court date being July 29th, we were merely hoping for our actual court date when we would travel to Ethiopia.  We didn't realize it would become a flurry of activity to get us there on very. short. notice.

July 17:  MOWCYA court date scheduled

July 29:  MOWCYA court date - we recieved our positive MOWCYA letter and birth parent consent to adopt "Little Rogi #4" (AKA LittleK)

July 31:  Court date scheduled for August 13th!

August 1:  Flights booked for trip to Ethiopia!

August 7:  Departing Columbus, through JFK then Dubai.

August 8:  Arrive in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!

August 8:  Meet LittleK

 

August 9:  Judge decides that since we were already in Addis Ababa, she called us in for court early.
WE PASSED!

Meet Kindu Rogers!

August 9-15:  Hang out with Kindu every day!

August 14:  First family outing - we got to take Kindu out to lunch

Yes, we are quite smitten <3

August 16:  We flew home...A.L.L. day and we have been back to life as usual (mostly) ever since.

Now we await our embassy submission - hopefully August 28 or September 4 - then clearing embassy within a few weeks of submission.  Our hope is to have Kindu home by the end of October although SOONER would be nice!

Thank you all who have contributed... You are ALL part of the Rogers Family Adoption Story.  

We will continue to fund-raise to finish our international fees and purchase our flights back to get Kindu to bring him home.  If you feel led, any amount is significant and can be given by using the DONATE button at the top right column.  I plan to have a Thirty-One Gifts fundraiser in the next few weeks too - FUN!

Thanks again and blessings to you all!

Update: MOWCYA

UPDATE! 

We have our MOWCYA court date!  

The court in Ethiopia has subpoenaed MOWCYA for a positive recommendation letter for our family and the birth parent is requested to appear to give consent for the adoption.  All this is to happen on July 29th.  I asked if there was any chance we could get a court date and have to travel later that week and our coordinator said, "YES!"  We could potentially travel with only a one day notice.

Although there is also the chance that we will NOT travel, we want to be prepared, so bring those donations for the Transition Home and the Orphanages!

Like I said yesterday, we will place a box to collect donations in the church lobby or we will receive them at our house.  For drop-off details and a list of needed donations see yesterday's post.

We are also still raising funds for our travel.  If you feel led to donate financially for our travel to Ethiopia to make "K" ours, please click the DONATE button on the top right side of this page.

Update #3: Funded for Referral!

I almost can not believe that we raised almost $5000 in less than 3 days!

How did this happen?  This is simply the Body of Christ in action.

All we did was ask.  God's people responded by Praying. They responded by Sharing.  And they responded by Giving.

Not only were there those who gave from their abundance, but there was "Widow's Mite" giving as well.  As on example, a 14 year old boy wiped out his savings and gave so we could be that much closer to bringing K home.

Every dollar is significant.  We are grateful.
And we are slack-jawed-in-awe of our Mountain-Moving God!

He has a heart for the fatherless,

and His people respond.

God has revealed Himself in a BIG way, not only through this fundraising, but also as we grieve our beloved Pastor Dave's passing.  The Body of Christ has rallied around our family like no other time before.

The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the Name of the LORD.  Job 1:21 (NASB)

I know you're thinking, 
"Now you are accepting your referral, so what's next?"

Travel.  America World is working diligently behind the scenes to expedite our referral and get us submitted to court before the rainy season closures on August 6.

"But you didn't have all of your referral funding, 
how will you fund travel?"

Funny you should ask...  First off, we are applying for some adoption grants through Lifesong for Orphans, Gift of Adoption, and possibly ShowHope.

On top of that, my friend Christie of Satisfaction Through Christ has a HUGE HEART for adoption.  She's adopted two little girls herself and has seen God move in a big way when she had 10 days to come up with $10,000 for her most recent adoption.  Check it out below:

Operation {Adoption} 10:10:1
{10 Days, $10, 1 Baby}

Knowing full-well how God can move, Christie and her BIG HEART are graciously featuring our family today on Satisfaction Through Christ in order to continue our fundraising so we can travel.  I told her I was trying to come up with the most eloquent, meaningful, gracious response to this.  I had no words aside from
"Glory to God!"  #thisistheBodyofChrist 

So head on over there and check it out:

Operation #Adoption - Help Bring K Home

Again, Thank you all for being the Hands and Feet of Christ this week.  Please keep Praying and Sharing so the Lord can use more of His people to bring one precious little boy home to his forever family.

God sets the lonely in families... Psalm 68:6 (NIV)

Update #2: A Call to Action

First of all....

THANK YOU! 

To all who have donated to our adoption fund!

Day 2 wasn't as busy as day 1, BUT the Lord is stirring hearts and the funds are trickling in.  As of 11:30 this morning, we are just over $2000.

We are rejoicing in the Lord!  

We are so grateful for all YOU are doing to pray, share and give to bring home our Little K.

Here's the link to the blog post for you share again:

A CALL TO ACTION

Please continue to PRAY, SHARE & GIVE as you feel led.  

Blessings ~Michelle

A Father to the fatherless, a Defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.  

Psalm 68:5 (NIV)

Update: A Call to Action

We are overwhelmed by the love and support of our friends, family and church family!

In 1 day, you supported us for over $1800!

ONE DAY!

Our goal was between $4-5K.  We REALLY want to accept this referral for Little K as soon as possible - before July 1 if we can - so please keep praying for God's provision.

Also, please keep sharing yesterday's blog post via email, facebook, twitter, your blog, whatever!  Just share!

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!  ~Michelle

God sets the lonely in families...

Psalm 86:6 (NIV)

A Call to Action

Well ladies and gentlemen, it's GO time.  After the events of the last 2 weeks, the passing of our beloved pastor and friend, we thought we might be settling back down.   The Lord thinks otherwise...

We received a phone call last night from America World - they have matched us with a child!  Praise Him!  God is good, and though the timing has us reeling, we are trusting in Him.

Now here's the thing:  in order to accept this referral (and we REALLY want to  do that), we need the funds to do so.  Also, in light of the recent changes in Ethiopian adoption we have less than a week (before July 1 to be exact).

There are three things you can do: Pray. Give. Share.

Pray for the Lord's provision.  God is already on the move.  He has provided every penny we have needed through this adoption as we have needed it and we trust that He will use many on behalf of our orphan-no-more.

Give  Use the PayPal link at the top of the sidebar to donate directly to our adoption fund.  We need $4,000-5,000 more to accept our referral.  Any amount helps and we are eternally grateful.

Share On top of praying and giving, would you direct your family and friends to help too?  Share this blog post on your facebook wall, on your twitter feed, link this post up on your blog... get the word out!  Many hands make light work.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  May God bless you. ~Khris

Puzzling Update #2

I'm linking up over at #SpreadtheLove today to share our adoption story.  The idea is that this Valentine's Day, the challenge is to do the following:

• Pray for orphans around the world and the families that God has called to adopt them
• Read the stories on the link-up page and pray for those families
• Share the link to this post on FaceBook, Twittter, any social media, encouraging people to pray for orphans and their families
• Donate $14 on Feb. 14.  You can donate to us by clicking the AdoptTogether link at the top of the sidebar, or choose another adoption to bless on the link-up page, or another orphan ministry.

Puzzling Update #2

Here we are almost a year DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia).  We've changed our original request from Boy 0-18mos.  Now our request is for a Boy 0-7yrs.  In the list that the parents of our adoption program keep, we're hovering around #9 for a child 4+, but everyone we see in front of us in line is requesting either a girl or any gender 0-5, so we could potentially be the parents of the next healthy 6 or 7 year old available.

We pray for him often. Our prayer usually is that he has been fed and cared for each day, as well as asking the Holy Spirit to reveal His love to our little guy.

My kids and I just began praying daily for each member of our family, including our son in Ethiopia.  You can read my post about it on my other blog, My MommaLogues.  Prayer time with my kids has been a beautiful development in my children's discipleship.

Remember our End of the Summer Puzzler fundraiser?  It's been cruising right along.  We have the whole outline sponsored which ends up being 177 pieces of our adoption puzzle.  That was in the middle of January.

Completed the outline - 177 pieces - on January 19, 2013

Now in the middle of February, we have 205 pieces of the puzzle sponsored!

You can keep up on the puzzle progress over on the FaceBook event page.  AND if you'd like to be a part of the Rogers Family Adoption Puzzle, just click the AdoptTogther link at the top of the sidebar to take you to our fundraising page.  Be sure to comment with how many pieces you are sponsoring and what names you'd like on the back.  Thanks so much!!!

End-of-the-Summer Puzzler

Do you remember THIS POST?  We had just sent off our dossier with a big fat check that YOU helped us write. We were fully funded for the second step of the adoption process -- sending in our completed dossier.

So, what's next?  Aside from waiting for our referral (when a child's file is referred to us), we also need to raise $10,000 - 15,000 in order to be able to accept our referral when it comes, as well as purchase our flights and travel package for our first trip to Ethiopia.  This first trip will be to go to court for our adoption proceedings.

With some recent changes to our adoption request, this could be sooner rather than later.  We just confirmed with our agency that we are changing our request from a boy age 0-2, to a boy 0-7.  On the (*unofficial) waiting list here is where we are now:

Infant boy, 0-18 months:  #67

Toddler boy, 19-47 months: #27

Child (either gender) 4 years & older: #12

*disclaimer: this unofficial list is kept by the Ethiopia adoptive parents on our Yahoo group, not by our agency (they don't publish a waiting list).*

Now, in that either-gender-4+years column, there are only 3 people in front of us NOT requesting a girl, which means we are (*unofficially)

#4 for a boy!  

Like I said, this could happen sooner rather than later!

Yikes!

In light of this step in our adoption process...

I have a question...

Do you like giraffes?  

I personally LOVE giraffes.  I'm fascinated by them.  They are my most favorite wild animal - see?

I almost planted a big kiss on this one.  She was too fast (=

Well, it's been some time since we've had an active fundraiser.  We've had this Puzzle Fundraiser waiting in the wings all summer for just the right time.

African Spots by Lori Schory
A 700+ piece shaped jigsaw puzzle

Here's how the fundraiser works:

• You sponsor a piece of the puzzle for $10 each piece (or 2, or 7, or 10 *wink)
• We write your name on the back of the puzzle piece and email you a picture of your sponsored piece(s).
• Once all the pieces are sponsored (there are over 700!) we'll glue and frame the puzzle in two-sided glass frame so we can just turn that baby over and see all of your names and know who helped bring home our Little Rogi #4.

Here's how YOU can become a piece of our adoption puzzle:

• Click the AdoptTogether.org button below 

or at the top of the side bar to the right ---------> 

• This will take you to a secure site where you can donate through **AdoptTogether.org   $10/piece of the puzzle you sponsor.
• Please note how many pieces you would like to sponsor in the comments box.
• Not too keen on online transactions?  You can also write a check, put our names (Khris and Michelle Rogers) in the memo line of your check, and mail it directly to:

AdoptTogether

251 West Central Ave., #278

Springboro, OH 45066

Be sure to leave a comment below so we can put you name on the back of your puzzle piece(s)

• We promise to use all donations soley for the purpose of our adoption.

Let's bring Little Rogi #4 home!
Click the picture to be directed to  our AdoptTogether profile.

**Check out the How It Works page at AdoptTogether.org to see how this organization handles our donations (we receive 100%!)

BIG Thanks & MUCH Love to you all 

~Khris & Michelle

P.S. Please feel free to share this post on your blog, twitter or facebook page ~Thank you!
P.P.S. We like comments too ~ Let us know you are a Tales of the Rogi reader!

March Madness - Help bring us closer!

It is time to announce our newest fundraiser.  I am a HUGE college basketball fan and have run a bracket pool for the last 15 years.  This year we decided to use the pool as a fundraiser to help bring our baby home.  

Go Bucks!

We would love it if you would like to join us.  We are asking for a $10 entry fee and you can use the Paypal button in the right column to pay.  There are great prizes for 1st-3rd place (1st prize valued at $100!) that have been donated by friends (Thank you!)


Here is the link to join the league:


http://matt2819.mayhem.cbssports.com/e


On CBS sports you need to have a profile.  Once you have that, then you can join the league.  The pool password is: Ethiopia


Feel free to invite family and friends to play too.  We can have up to 400 players.  Thanks in advance for blessing us in this.  We are truly grateful.


~Khris

DTE Soon!!!! {with a little help}

Well, Christmas came and went and we still didn't have our fingerprints and documentation done for USCIS (US immigration).   BUT, we NOW have our ENTIRE DOSSIER assembled and ready to go...

...accept for the funding.

So, for the rest of February, I'm hosting a
Pampered Chef catalogue party.

http://www.pamperedchef.biz/druckskitchen

Who doesn't LOVE Pampered Chef?

Would you help us with the rest of the amount so we can move on to the next phase of our adoption journey? 

WAITING

1. Click the Pampered Chef logo above to go directly to my friend Carmen's Pampered Chef site.  

(She's an adoptive mom of Ethiopian children too!)

2. Click SHOP ONLINE

3. Type ROGERS as the host and select 

Rogers Adoption Fundraiser

4. Shop til you drop!

This month's guest special is 20% off 

all unglazed stoneware and metal bakeware.  

What a deal!

What a blessing to count you as part of our adoption journey!

Thank you for joining us in this mission to...

...learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, 

plead the widow's cause.  Isaiah 1:17

MONGO Success!

We would like to thank each one of you that came out for our Going MONGO fundraiser last night!  And BIG thanks to the BD's Arena crew for a great night!

Gettin' my grill on!

Khris is really good at this!

Our friends, the C family came all the way from the Cleveland area...  what a blessing!  The shirts we wore were from their adoption fundraiser.  You can check out their adoption journey HERE.

MA & J from church

The L's and the B's

Newlyweds A & C

My parents, affectionately known as Grammy & Poppy

My sister's family, the W's

The T's also drove over an hour to bless this event - Thanks!

The S family

Khris' sister and her hubby & BIL

The L's

PH and her crew

He liked this way too much... 

I think with his new skills-on-the-grill he's always got employment options ;-)

Look out, I have "swords!"

Cheesin' with my friend J

The V's and the H's

Two of my 3 running the raffle & ornament table...  so much fun (=

There were many more not captured on film too!

We raffled off a basket containing Just Love Coffee with the Fa, La, La, La, La Christmas CD, travel mugs and a box of Cheryl's Cookies.

The winning raffle ticket was drawn around 8:30.  Congrats to BG our winner - Enjoy those goodies! 

Over $800 was raised from ticket sales, raffle drawing, ornament sales and donations.  We are more than blessed by this generous outpouring on behalf of The Rogi and bringing our newest member home from Ethiopia.

The Christmas ornaments that we made were a hit, so if you'd like to purchase one, they are $5 each (+$1 shipping unless I hand it to you) and we can make them with plain or patterned felt.  Here's some samples:

 

Check out the Active Adoption Fundraisers page for color & pattern options.

Thank you again for partaking in the Rogers Family Adoption Journey and have a Merry Christmas!