Covered in Grace (actually, I'm swimming in it!)

Our auction was a HUGE success!! When I say that there are not enough 'thank yous' to go around, I really mean it!

I don't have the final numbers yet because we still have to take out the fees for ebay, paypal, shipping etc, but I am confident is saying that we met our goal of raising the $5000 orphanage donation, and may even have a couple hundred left to put toward our travel fees!

When I think that less than 2 months ago I hadn't even seen a picture of Rita and now I'm within 8 weeks of bringing her home AND managed to raise over $5000 in just 6 weeks, I am in awe. To loosly paraphrase my dear friend Ana "When God wants something done fast, get out of His way!" Amen to that!

I knew when we started this auction that there would be glitches along the way. Surprisingly there have been few, but they have been there none the less. Today I had two "boo boos" that I had to work my way out of.

The first one is that I accidentally "double sold" a set of 4 Pirates Dinner Show tickets. I called my contact at Pirates to see if I could get a donation or buy some at cost. He was very nice and willing to try to help me, but there was some red tape involved and no guarantee. So, I went to the source of the original 4 Pirate tickets in hopes that I could purchase them at cost or find a way to earn them. Without batting an eye, I was granted 4 more Pirates tickets. I did not expect that at all!! What a relief!

The 2nd boo boo was that Chris posted a photo of an item that we didn't actually have! I had a small Vera Bradley jewelry holder to sell. Chris posted a larger jewelry case in a different fabric. I've been so busy that I didn't even notice. Until we sold an item we don't have to a person we don't know!! OOPS! How am I gonna get out of this one? I printed out a copy of the posted jewelry case and took it to my friend Debbie at Pink Chalet to see if she had anything similar that she would sell me at cost. Debbie had the EXACT same case in the EXACT same fabric, and she donated it to the auction!

Now do you understand the title of my post? I couldn't ask for anything more. Well...maybe one more thing.

We did not expect Referral Approval this fast. We still do not have our renewed I-171H. There were some complications with Chris this year that nearly kept us from proceeding with this adoption. Those things have been cleared up (hooray) but they complicated our immigration. He needs to send some additional documents to USCIS. We thought we had until August 14 to get this done. Surprise - we need immigration approval now!! I fedexed the document this morning and am now at the mercy of USCIS. I'm a teeny bit nervous about this, but mostly I think God will cover us on this one as well. If He wants us in China, we're going to China!

Did I say "thank you" to everyone who made this auction a success? I am so grateful. I am especially grateful to those of you who passed it along to friends and family. We sold a suprising number of items to friends of friends of friends that we've never even met! If you bought something, I promise we are working hard to get things mailed and delivered. I will get this all wrapped up on Saturday when I have more time to spend. Then on Sunday, the cookie baking begins! If you bought cookies on the auction, look for them on your doorstep early next week.

Anybody want to come to my house and paint a little girl's bedroom next weekend? Ha!

I'm beat. Going to bed!

Here she is!!!

Introducing the very beautiful Rita XingMin DeFelice!!

Also known as "Li'l Rita!"

Why am I able to post her photo?? Because we received Referral Approval today!!!!!

RA means that China has reviewed our dossier and given us full permission to become her family! We were expecting to get this phone call sometime in mid to late September. I was NOT expeting the call today! The call went something like this:

Ring Ring
Me: (Hmmm - why do I know that area code?) This is Teresa.
Caller: Hi Teresa, this is Leah.
Me: Oh Hi Leah. (Why is Leah from work calling me? Does she have a cell number with a weird area code? Am I missing a meeting?)
Caller: We received your RA today. We'll be sending the paper work out via FedEx tomorrow.
Me: (Who is this? What Leah? Just pretend like you know her.)
Caller: Your projected travel dates are late August to early September.
Me: (Travel dates? What? Ooooooooohhhh - this is my adoption agency!) Oh, Hi Leah! We got what? We got referral approval? We're traveling when? You are kidding me!

Now imagine a combination of laughing and crying. That was me.

Then I called Chris "Hi honey, are you sitting down..."


We are in total, elated shock! I was hoping to travel in November, but fully expecting to wait until January. I cannot believe that we are going to have our baby by September! We'll be in China in approximately 6 to 8 weeks. Unbelievable!! Ever since I got the phone call I've been making a little list in my head:

Rita will be with us for Christmas!
Rita will be with us for Thanksgiving!
Rita will be with us for Lucy's birthday!
Rita will be with us for Halloween. I wonder if she'll fit in Lucy's old bee costume?
Rita will be with us for the family celebration that I can't talk about yet because it is a surprise.
Rita will be with us VERY shortly after her 2nd birthday!!!


Rita turns 2 on August 20. It means so much to me that we are going to miss less of her "twos" than I thought. Wouldn't it be so cool if we were in China for her birthday? Now I'm just getting carried away.

This are the kind of miracles that happen in my life when I just trust and let God be in control. He is SO good!

Here's another photo of our girl. This is her "baby" picture.

























Since this is my blog, I get to talk about whatever I want, so I want to talk about something amazing that Lucy did last night as we were getting ready for bed.
We were talking about what it will be like when we go get Rita. My friend Heather recently sent me an excellent email talking about how they prepared their daughter to go back to China to bring home her little sister. I asked Lucy if she thought Rita would be scared. Then I asked her what things we could do to help Rita feel comfortable.
Lucy started to cry. "Mommy, I'm so sorry I cried when you held me in China. I didn't mean to. Can we change it? Can we change all the pictures so I'm not crying. I'm sorry I cried Mommy." My heart just about broke!!!
Lucy knows the story of how we met in China and how she was a total Daddy's-girl for the first week. She even likes to "role-play China" where she pretends like she doesn't like me. Then she gets a little closer. Then she puts one hand on my lap. Then the other. Then she crawls up. And I have to say "Oh look, Lucy is coming to me. Oh, she is putting her hand on my lap! Oh, I think she is going to give me a hug. Oh, I am so happy!!"
Last night was the first time she ever expressed remorse about the whole thing. I couldn't believe how sincere she was about it! Of course I held her and told her it was okay and that Mommy still loved her right away and that it is normal for baby's to cry. I hope that her little bits of understanding and the story telling we do about China will help her when we go get Rita.
(Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that my smarty husband figured out how to add our old Lucy-China blog to our current blog. If you have no life and want to check out our travel blog from 2005, there is a link posted along the right hand side of the blog under the auction Q&A. I don't expect anyone will read it, but Chris and I are feeling a little nostalgic over it so we posted it.)


I am going to China in 6 - 8 weeks. Holy Cow!! Every now and then I freak out for a second.


I'd love to write more, but I have to go write another harrassing email about the fundraiser. We've got to raise money faster than I thought. Holy Cow!

Bake Sales are NOT for Whimps!

What did I do Saturday? Thanks for asking! I baked:

9 mini quick breads

2 dozen double chocolate muffins

2 dozen blueberry muffins

1 dozen lemon poppyseed muffins

2 dozen chocolate chip cookies

2 dozen rice crispy treats

2 dozen oatmeal cookies

My fabulous friend Shannan also spent a good portion of her day baking. Thank you Shannon! She makes the most delicious carrot cake! AND she spent a good portion of her day in the hot sun helping us sell baked goods.

On Sunday we schelped all of it to church, with the help of my handsome husband, and set out to make some $$ for the Rita fund. We also had great help from Jade, the 18 year old daughter of my friend Ana, and "best friend" of Lucy! She did such a good job!

3 services and many wonderful people later we managed to make a profit for the Rita fund of $400. Thank you Family Christian Center! It was really wonderful to meet new people and experinece their generousity. What I loved most, as with last week, were the number of people who shared their adoption stories or their desire to adopt as well. I hope that we can inspire some other couple to follow their dreams of adoption.

I am glad that we did it, but I am glad that it is over. Definitely not for whimps! It has been a long and busy weekend. And, while Lucy has been a great trouper, I think she needs a little more quality time with Mom and Dad. We'll plan some good family time for next Saturday.

Thanks to everyone who has looked at our auction! I am so excited to see how it goes the next couple of days. I am hopeful that the bidding will pick up in the final 24 hours. We still have a number of really cool prizes (aqua foot detox, hydration station, baskets from Woodhouse Day Spa) that don't have bids on them yet. I am REALLY excited that some people have purchased my cookies. Okay, mostly my family, but still, I'm exicted that my cookies can help bring Rita home.

We are adding 4 items to the auction tonight. A $40 Darden certificate, dinner for 2 at Cracker Barrel, $30 Cantina Laredo Certificate and 4 Pirates Dinner Show tickets. Also adding a $35 gift card to Prime Outlets!

CHRIS IS POSTING THEM SO THEY GO ON SALE AT 7PM MONDAY NIGHT. THEY WILL END WITH EVERYTHING ELSE AT 7PM TUESDAY NIGHT. Get 'em while they're hot.!

I'm going to post some photos, then I'm off to bed!

5 More Bidding Days Left!

Our auction is up and running! We are very excited to have sold a couple of "buy it now" items and we have bids on several other items. We are hoping that things will start to pick up a little this weeeknd.
If you aren't the bidding type, please consider a "buy it now" item. We have several things that you can pay a set amount and and take it home today! For example:
Bergamo's $100 certificate for $90
Extra value meal (1 a month for a year) $50
Dinner for 2 at the Venetian Room $150
Gorgeous flower hair bows - 6 for $15
Gourmet Chocolate Chunk Cookies $40
At Your Service $100 certificate for $85 (You should really check out www.ays4u.com. It is a very cool business!)
ARABIAN NIGHTS TICKETS AT HALF PRICE
2 Aquatica tickets for $75
Discovery Toys basket for $60
and more.....

Sorry that I sound like a walking infomercial. I just need to get past this fundraiser so I can start blogging about what I really want to blog about - Rita!!

Thanks to everyone who has been helping me spread the word. There simply are not enough thank you's to go around!

Auction Starts TONIGHT!

Before I go any further, I have to give a big "shout out" to my handsome and hardworking husband. He has been (and is, at this moment!) working so hard to make this auction a reality. Apparently setting up 55 ebay auctions to launch at 1 time as an easily-identifiable ebay store is no easy task!! He is doing an amazing job.

Earlier I had mentioned how I had really prayed about what type of fundraiser I could do based on my talents and resources, and how this auction got dropped in my lap. What I failed to recognize at the time is that this is also the perfect use of Christopher's talents and resources. I could not be doing this without his patience, perserverance and general mastry of ebay. It has actually turned out to be the perfect project for us to do as a team.

The auction launches at 7:00 tonight. I am going back and forth between panic, and reminding myself that I am not the one in control! I know it is going to be okay (actually, better than okay) and I know it will have its share of glitches as well. I just need to keep the end goal in mind and remember that any money we add to the adoption account is more money than we had last week!

So...if you are reading this, please consider bidding on something and please tell a friend! We truly do have something for everyone. We recently added some awesome health and beauty items such as gift baskets from Woodhouse Day Spa, Aqua Foot Detox and Hydration Station from Hollywood Tans and even Laser Hair Removal! Did I mention teeth whitening? Okay, now I'm just starting to sound like a commercial!

I have added a DIRECT LINK from this blog to the EBAY STORE! You can click the link on the tip right of the blog page or click on this link.
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/rita-adoption-fund__W0QQ_armrsZ1
It will only show the Arabian Nights tickets and cookies until everything launches at 7 pm. Chris is working to make this as idiot proof (for my sake!) as possible. In the meantime, here is a list of Q and A that I put on our newsletter last night. I hope it is helpful.

A busy Sunday!

Whew! We had a busy but great day today. Our church, Family Christian Center in Clermont, let us set up tables during all the services today. There are four services, each being held in two locations simultaneously. In order to "man" both the tables, we got help from our dear, dear friends (and fellow adoptive parents) Nick and Ana. We could not have done it without them!

We set up tables with balloons and a sign with a picture of our beautiful Rita. In order to include our church family in our auction, we asked everyone to share their email address with us so we could include them on our Rita-adoption-fund newsletter. We were able to aquire another 100 email addresses. Hooray! Hopefully some of them will pass our newsletter/blog onto friends. We will be back for service again tomorrow night. Honestly, I don't know how Pastor Rick does this every weekend. We are exhausted!

We love our church! Everyone is so friendly and so "real." It was great to meet new people. We want to say a very extra special thank you to Larry Roberts, our care pastor, who arranged for us to have the tables and to put flyers in each of the bulletins. Also, thanks to Dennis who leads the Praise and Worship Team for giving us a "shout out." I know that it made a big difference for us. Here are some photos from our day.

I have the BEST FRIEND'S ever!!

Every time I turn around, some other wonderful friend is blessing me with an item donation, an offer to tell other people about us and occassionally a check that they won't let me refuse. Even better, people are being very encouraging and telling me what things they want to bid on. It has been an amazing week!
I have to share about a friend of mine who has gone above and beyond. He wrote a small article about us on his on-line magazine, AND he hooked me up with a woman who writes for http://www.examiner.com/. She interviewed me on Thursday and is going to post an article next week. Hopefully all of this unexpected publicity will help us with our auction, and continue to educate people about the joys of adoption.
Please take a moment to check out the article on my friend Sunil's site http://egruve.com/2009/07/fundraising-ideas/ You can also click on the eGruve link up to go straight to our article. He even posted a "donate now" link. I don't really expect miscellaneous strangers to donate, but you never know. Either way, it was a very generous thing for him to do. Thanks Sunil!

and speaking of amazing friends.... I have had a handful of people ask about making a donation. My intention has never been to ask for money - that is why we created the auction. However, one particular friend was gracious in explaining that it is a blessing to give, and that she really wanted to give. We have set up a "chip in " gadget to the right to make it easy for people. It goes through Paypal so it is secure, but you will need to set up a Paypal account. (the link will walk you though. It is pretty easy.)
But again, I would rather that you bid on something so you can get a great prize. If you don't want any of the tickets or dinners, bid on my amazing Chocolate Chunk Cookies!! I am making a bunch of them so there will be lots available on the auction.
4 more days until the auction starts. I am getting very excited!

We're getting closer every day!

I just want to take a moment to say how excited I am by all of the support we are getting! My friends, family and business associates continue to be ridiculously generous in the things that they are donating to this auction. Only 1 week to go before the auction starts, and we continue to add to an already amazing list. Here are a few new additions:

JUST ADDED: 4 tickets to Pirates Dinner Show! This is a great family show.

$100 certificate to At Your Service. This is an awesome service that everyone needs!!! I will post more details on the ebay listing

1 ZOOM! whitening treatment from Sand Lake Centre for Advanced Dentistry. Who doesn't need whiter teeth??

Laser hair removal - 6 treatments from Laser Skin Rejuvination! Ladies - you know you want this!!

2 more Universal Orlando tickets!

A golf foursome at Orange Lake Country Club! Great course!

3 nights at Sheraton Vistana Villages! Seriously - 3 nights of luxury!!

A health package including hydro-massage, foot aqua detox, body scan, VO2 max testing and more from Dr. Lee at The Institute for Hormonal Balance! His practice is amazing?


Please check out the full list to see if there is something that you would like to bid on. It is my sincere hope that my friends and family will be able to walk away with some great prizes while helping us get Rita home!


If you are NOT EBAY SAVVY - DON'T WORRY! We will post an ebay link on our site, along with some FAQs to help you figure it out. Or you can just call me/e-mail me and I'll walk you through it.


I am so excited! Please bid on something or tell someone you know! AUCTION BEGINS ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 15!

Did you find me via my "newsletter?"

If so, welcome!! Thank you for taking the time to read our e-mail and check out our blog! My genius husband figured out how to do a newsletter so I could get the word out to family and friends. Now I'm just waiting to see if people read it or delete it. We all get so bombarded by e-mail these days that I am a little skeptical about its effectiveness. We'll see!!

I am so excited about all the amazing things that have been donated to our auction! I never expected to have so many really cool things for people to bid on! If you see something you like, please bid. If not, please forward it to others who might want to bid. THANK YOU!

I wish I could say that I had more updates on baby Rita. Other than getting pre-approval from China, all we can do now is wait. We pray every night that the Lord keep her safe and healthy, and that He prepares her heart for her new family. We cannot wait to get the official approval (once our dossier is reviewed) so that we can start sending her packages and pictures. That is why we had the new photos taken. We want to be sure our little angel gets to see our faces before we meet her. Either way I think she is likely to be a bit frightend by us!

This fundraiser is an excellent way to make the wait go by quickly. Well, that and trying to figure out how to cram a 4th person and all their required "stuff" into our home! One thing is for sure, I won't need to go clothes shopping for Miss Rita. We're pretty well stocked up on girl clothes in my house. I wonder what size she will be???

It's July 4 and I've yet to go to a picnic, put on something red, white or blue or, for that matter, take a shower! I think I'll go do that right now. Just wanted to welcome and thank those of you who've found their way to our blog/auction site.

Special need? What special need?

As far as we're concerned, our daughter is flawless. However, if it wasn't for her "special need" we would not have this opportunity to become her parents.

Rita was born with a sacrococcygeal teratoma. I can't actually pronouce that, but as far as I can tell, it was a large benign tumor on her little bottom. She had it surgically removed when she was 8 months old. Based on her medical records, the surgery went well.

Some complications that can result from this are scoliosis, reoccurance of the tumor or impact on internal organs or bowels. Based on the translated medical records it does not appear that these things are issues. But if they are, we will deal with them as any parent deals with a child's illness or issues.

We've seen photos of her scaring both immediately following the surgery and more recently. (obviously we will not be sharing these photos) She will definitely need reconstructive surgery at some point. Again, we will not know the full extent of it until she comes home, but we are (we hope!) prepared to deal with it. In one of the e-mails that I received while reviewing her file she was described as "beautiful face, ugly bottom." I thought "So what? Me too!"

So, as far as we're concerned, she's not "special needs." But, in the world of China adoption, her tumor and scaring kept her off of the healthy baby list. This kept her from being automatically matched with a family the way that Lucy was matched with us. She was placed on the Waiting Child list which includes children who are older or have some kind of physical or mental challenge. Or sometimes children who have a corrected special need or some kind of imperfection. These children can still be adopted, but they need to be "selected" by a family. While we are sad that she had to endure this tumor and surgery at such a young age, but we understand that this tumor is the reason we were able to find her.

For anyone who wants more information on her specific condition, here is a link to wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrococcygeal_teratoma

Another thought

If you read my post on fundraising and thought "why should I help this chick build her family? She didn't help me pay my hospital bill when I had my kids," I completely understand!! It does feel a little ackward to ask for help with this. All I can say is:

• We are trying hard not to ask for money, but rather offer something of value to those who participate.
• I am justifying it because a) we don't have much choice and b) during times in my life that I have had money I have always been active in giving to charities, volunteering at church, mentoring children and generally trying to "give back" when I can.
• I am learning that a little humility, along with the realization that I cannot do everything myself is probably part of my spiritual growth.
• And finally, if it makes you feel uncomfortalbe, please opt out! Its okay! My feelings will not be hurt.

There. I feel better having said all that.