Hooray the chipin is at $105!!! Just $20,895.00 to go!! Again I want to say thank you to all who have donated! This came up back in October & time just flew by quicker than I had thought.
To the girls I love, I am still praying for you every single day & for your country. I know God has a plan for you both even if I don't entirely see it yet. Your stockings are still hanging in my room with care in hopes that someday your family will be there. I debate back & forth of taking down my christmas decorations in my room as I don't want to knowing your stuck & your still not in a family 2 years later. I am trying to keep the faith & I feel peaceful but sometimes looking at your pictures hanging still on my tree makes me want to cry every single time.
Everywhere I look in my room I think about you. I think about what could be you in the bears portrait.
I think about you in my prayers while looking at your stocking.
I think about you as I think of your scrapbooks that need finishing.
I think about you on your Birthday month, & when I hear a song about orphans your little faces pop into my head picturing you. Or when I am in a store picturing you wearing this outfit or playing in the playhouse.
Yes, I do think about you all the time. How your eyes pierce the depths of my soul worrying me of if your in a good place.
Someday's I wish I could just shutoff all around me & not think about you all the time. But then again since my eyes have been opened to your plight I can't just look away & do nothing. So I keep going one day at a time cause I WON'T GIVE UP!
Thanks to my two friends who have already donated! Now just $20,937.00 away from the goal!
It means so much to me during this time of uncertainty & especially today as another was asking about Celine. It's so frustrating & a roll coaster for the families in process, & for the families wanting to commit to children in R.
PLEASE CAN YOU SAY A PRAYER FOR THIS COUNTRY TODAY?
Celine & Cora Lynne say thank you for donating!!!
If by some miracle we hit WAY BEYOND the goal of $21,000 I will add this special girl to benefit!
My sister thinks she looks like her. Don't you see it in this picture of my sister when she was younger?
Wanted to let you all know the event I am talking about is NOT what I am doing on this blog. Originally, I was set on not doing a chipin at all cause I wanted my focus to be on potential new donors outside the Reeces Rainbow community & more importantly local by holding a big fundraiser but then I had friends not in town asking to help & others so in order for both girls to get the proceeds I decided what the heck I will setup one just not put it on my blog & leave it on fb for whoever. Then my gut feeling changed as I begun to wonder if the event does not raise the whole amount then what? So I nervously put my Birthday wish & goal announcing it on my blog then doing the same putting the chipin on the blog. I stepped out in faith & now I am leaving it all up to God! Thanks everyone for donating, sharing, praying by being a part of a Birthday I will always cherish!
Stepping out in Faith is no easy task, but I have done it before which is why I am doing it again. God laid this on my heart for a reason & I feel he is about to do something big & mighty! First of all the day I started the chipin all day it did not work & I believe the devil is trying to stop me somehow. Secondly, just the other day I had set the chipin to end Feb 5th so that people have the whole day of Feb 4th if they wish to donate but somehow it changed to Feb 4th (back to my Birthday). I have kept the end date the same cause I feel like God is going to be doing something big. Maybe reach the goal before my Birthday? Who knows but I felt like God changed it for something so I am going with the plan! I would do it all over again in an instant for these girls. I am having faith & hope that God will provide. Trusting in him that he knows the plans he has for these girls.
My Birthday is now just 19 days away, February 4th. I'm exhausted just merely thinking of that goal & what it's going to take to get my event all organized & planned but again their lives are SO WORTH IT!!! THESE STARFISH MATTER TO ME!!!
Can I ask you to pray for my event to go as planned & that I can reach my goal?
3 weeks from today, I will turn 21 years old. Turning 21 is a special time for most people. For me it's memorable. I am not much into have HUGE parties or whatever. Last year I wanted to keep it low key as much as possible as it was not a huge milestone year like turning 18 or 21 is. This year I decided or rather had a plan laid on my heart to do something way more special than any other Birthday. The path set before me was HUGE, & SCARY but for these girls I would go to the moon & back for.
So the goal set on my heart made perfect sense. I made a goal $21,000 in honor of turning 21 & for the 21st chromosome. I am setting up a event locally which I hope will raise most or all of that amount. I know I am nuts but I know Nothing is Impossible with God! I'm also asking my friends instead of gifts to bring $21 for 21. If each of my friends did that could potentially bring the girls to the amount or halfway there! Stick along for the crazy journey that's about to start I will keep you all updated on my goal! I'm NEVER GOING TO GIVE UP for these girls!!! Here I am stepping out of Faith towards that goal even as things look bleak. My Birthday wish would be for them to find families so please keep praying for their country. I would also love to see their grants higher. I am choosing to not focus on the online community for this Birthday goal but if you still wish to donate I have a blue chipin to the right at the top. Proceeds go straight to Reece's Rainbow & will be split between Celine & Cora Lynne.
Love you both sweet girls with all my heart. Praying for you & your country.
Did you notice a certain girls grant at $29,004.80? To see that number still brings tears of Joy to my eyes! I will mention it a thousand times over that when I first noticed her/started fundraising her grant was only $3,033.00. Look what God has done in almost 3 years!!! AMAZING I TELL YA!!! AGAIN I DON'T TAKE THE CREDIT CAUSE GOD USED MANY PEOPLE WHO LOVE CELINE TO BRING HER TO THAT NUMBER!!
My tax reciepts from Reeces Rainbow all the way back to 2010 (I could not find all from that year) total:
$1,178.20
That's from all the Local fundraising I have done through yard sales, consignment sales, change drives, personal saving, gifts from Birthdays & Christmas,etc.
From online fundraising which I can't entirely track due to people just donating:
$925 on the chipin most of which from Celines Shoot for the Stars Giveaway I did awhile back, $20 from a friend.
The events I can't guesstimate are:
Lost Get Found Giveaway-$75 for celine at least that's known I know it was way more than that.
Celines auction-i can't remember what was raised.
So total estimate raised from any fundraising is $2,178.20! It may vary some with the numbers I don't know but still it's great!!! I wanted to show these numbers to you to show you I did not do this alone & I don't take credit for the other $26,826.60!
The $500 matching grant in October brought way over $1,000 to her grant between the Giveaway Patti hosted & just donations.
Over $1,000 was raised by another individual. This same person then raised over $2,000 for her grant.
About $200 was given by another person who dearly loves Celine & her daughter asked for donations instead of Birthday gifts.
For you see it takes a TEAM FOR THIS TO ALL HAPPEN!!! I want to thank all Celines Shooting Stars for making this happen!!!! God most importantly too! YOU ALL ROCK!
Okay so you could not get rid of me for that long but it's only cause I want to blog about good news!!
First of all you may recall the Angel Tree being over, well they brought it back for one day for Orthodox Christmas Jan 7th & at that point checks had come in & only 14 babes were left to reach their goal! I am happy to share the warriors did it again & they all reached their goal!!! During Angel Tree 2012 $300,000 was raised for these kids praise God!!! So about 4 months ago I had this vision put in my head & heart to do something special for my 21st Birthday here's what I wrote on my facebook group about it.
Some kids may say let's go out to party & get drunk for their 21st Birthday.
I want something different for my Birthday. As you know my sister, "Pink Princess" has Down Syndrome (the 21st chromosome) has changed my life for the better even though we do have our moments I would never change her for anything. Because of having her, in my life I found a whole passion called Reeces Rainbow which seeks to fundraise & advocate for special needs orphans internationally to be adopted.
I discovered that unlike the USA other countries had not changed their thinking of special needs kids. I found to my shocking horror that Mental Institutions still exist & that in some orphanages kids as old as 16 could be lying in a crib rotting away. My heart broke as I heard kids between 4-6 years old being taken from the "baby house", the only home they have ever known to adult mental institutions. God used the story of a little girl named Sofia to touch the depth of my heart that I felt acted to do something to help. The past almost 3 years I have fundraised & Prayed for two girls who captured my heart. No one to hold them, love them, & cherish them. They still need families & I am holding onto hope that someway they can each find a family to call their own whether that family is in CA or some other state in the USA, whether they are in Canada, or whether I get to meet these girls this side of Heaven or not. You might not get why I have this passion but my life is truly not the same since my heart & eyes were called to the plea of the orphans.
So as I was thinking in my mind & heart of something special & more meaningful then my previous Birthdays let alone my 21st I came up with this idea. International adoptions can cost $25,000-40,000 depending on country & other factors. I decided in honor of my 21st Birthday & the 21st chromosome I wanted to raise $21,000. Yes, you heard me right. I know you might think I am nuts but that's a good amount to an orphan or two. So instead of gifts, I am asking my friends for $21 for 21.
I am stepping out with faith that these girls WILL GET FAMILIES & I am TRUSTING God that someway he will make this path known to me. I am already panicked with 3 weeks before my Birthday & the date I have chosen for the event to try to raise money for these girls. I have no clue what I am doing or if I have help to do the idea that could raise thousands of dollars. Please pray for my idea to be a success!
