Clean for a cause

Hey everyone!  Sorry it has been a while since I have updated my blog.  This is hard for me....I'll be honest.  We are trying to do the right thing by bringing Orphans here for Christmas and give them something they won't otherwise have but we can not do it alone.  We just do not have the funds to bring them here.  So, I do the hardest thing I can do and that is to ask for money.

I know what it is like when people call my home and try to sell me something.  I usually half listen to what they have to say, politely interrupt them and say, "No thanks".  I know what it is like when someone knocks on my door and wants to "cure my lawn".... I look out at my half brown, half mushroom infested, overgrown lawn and say, "No thanks!"  I know what it is like when my husband's work van sits in the driveway and Sears knocks on my door offering "home services"......I nonchalantly (hear the sarcasm?) look over at my husband's van and politely say, "No thanks".  But I also know what it's like when a teen girl comes to my door, oh so shyly asking if I will help support her school band.  Oh how I wish I could buy their $22 frozen pizza but I am trying to raise $10,000 to bring orphans here for Christmas...just breaks my heart to turn her away!

So, now I sit here wondering what else can we do to help raise the money?  The iPad giveaway is just not happening.  As a matter of fact, we haven't even gotten enough donations to even buy the iPad to give a away yet!  So, for those that gave, I hope you understand that we will not be able to raffle off an iPad.  Your donation will go to a good cause, though!

Which brings me to my next fundraising opportunity.  I am calling this one "Clean for a Cause".  For a donation, I will come do a one time cleaning for you. Or you can donate as a gift for someone else and I will clean their home.  Or, if you are a current client and would like to get in on this special donation opportunity, just allow me to do an extra cleaning for you, in addition to what I am already doing.  For $160 donation, I will provide you up to 5 man-hours of labor* to clean your home.  Or for $200 donation, I will provide you up to 8 man-hours of labor* to clean your home.  I will bring all my own cleaning supplies (except you must provide the vacuum).  I am paying someone to help me, so after I pay her and make sure I have enough cleaning supplies, the rest of the money will 100% go towards orphan care!

Please pass this on to everyone you know!  I know I ask that a lot but I really, truly need your help!!  Please post this on your Facebook....I have asked that before and I am lucky if one or two people post it.  We really have a lot of work ahead of us and I want to do everything I can to get these kids here for Christmas.  The worst feeling in the world would be to know that they can't come because I didn't try hard enough to get them here.  

A father to the fatherless...is God in His holy dwelling...

God sets the lonely in families...Psalm 68:5-6

*If you choose the 5 man-hour option, please understand that I will not be able to clean your entire home.  In some instances, 8 man-hours of labor may not be enough to clean your entire home.


I am only opening this opportunity to homes in Holly Springs, Cary, Apex and Fuquay.  I may be open to parts of Raleigh, also. 

 Me and Lidiya when I got to see her in the Ukraine on my birthday, in Sept!

 Lidiya and her younger brother, Andre

 Lidiya and her older brother, Vlad

For my thoughts are not your thoughts....

I am nervous, excited and scared!!  When I asked if we could host Lidiya again, I was then asked, "She has 2 brothers, do you want them, also?"  "Whaaaaaat!?!"  That was the last thing I expected to be asked!!!  Quick...do the math...$2950 times three!!  Well, I can't multiply that number that fast so let's round up...$3,000 times three = $9,000!!  Plus about $1,000 in additional fees and costs associated with having them here.  YIKES!!!  I did all that compilation in about 30 seconds and quickly realized there is no way we could do it.  Of course I said, "Let us pray about it, I'll talk to Danny and then we'll decide".  But I just knew the answer was "no".  We could never afford that, so we would have to raise every dollar and who in the world can raise $10,000 in 2 months?

Well....over the next week or two, we tossed the idea around but reality says we can't do it.  So, we decided that we are just going to host Lidiya.  Then, if the Lord prompted us to adopt, we would.  Ummmm...we can't adopt either!!!!  Helloooo!?!  That costs about $40,000!  But Danny kept saying, "We just have to rely on God.  We can't put him in a box".  Ugh...I know that but we also have to use our brain to realize we can't afford to adopt three kids.  So then it hit me........if we have to rely on God and we can't put him in a box (regarding adoption).....why can't we 'host' three kids for Christmas?  I asked Danny, "What is the reason we aren't hosting all three?  Is it because we can't afford it?"  "Yep...that's it".  "Well....then, let's host all three and let God handle the money!"  Oh crap....did I just say that?  Out loud?  Yep....I sure did.  Sooooo....here we are...planning on hosting all three kids for Christmas.  New Horizon's For Children has to get permission from the director of the orphanage to host all three but they were the ones that asked if we wanted to....so it shouldn't be a problem.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.  Isaiah 55:9

So, here goes my first attempt at fundraising.  This one is HUGE because we need HUGE money.  So, will you please help?  We do not have a lot of time....three precious lives are counting on this.

Drumroll please.........................

drumroll again...........................

one more time..........................

We are raffling off an iPad!!!  For a $25 donation, you will be entered into the drawing once, for $100 donation, you will be entered into the drawing 5 times and for a $300 donation, you will be entered into the drawing 20 times.  Anyone can donate........even if you live in another state.  We will just purchase the iPad and have you pick it up locally.  I'm not quite sure yet exactly which iPad we will be raffling off but more than likely it will be the 16gb wifi model.

Our goal is to sell a minimum of 100 tickets.  If we get enough donations for 100 tickets, then that will be $2,000 towards our $10,000 goal.  If we sell 500 tickets, we will be able to bring all three kids here for Christmas.  Here is how you can help:

1. Pray.  Pray for God's Will, our patience and for the money to be raised to bring these kids here.
2. Donate.  Every bit helps.  You don't have to donate $25, if you don't have it.  
3. Share.  Post our blog on your Facebook.  Email your friends.  Please.  Yes...I am begging.  :)

In as much as you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto ME.  Matthew 25:40.

Family photo taken by Kim Sharp while Lidiya was here this summer

Lidiya and her younger brother, Andre

Lidiya and her older brother, Vlad

Lord, we hosted Lidiya as "Host Only" for a reason...don't you remember that?

I must rewind about a year in order to explain the title of the blog.  I'll make it brief but for those of you who don't know or don't remember...this is an important detail.

Danny and I had talked about adopting for quite some time.  In October of last year, I went to a Women's Retreat with our church that I did not buy a ticket to attend.  I wanted to but money was tight and I just didn't feel that it was something I should spend the money on.  Well, someone in our Sunday School class had sent an email out saying that she bought a ticket but could no longer go and asked if anyone wanted to go, in her place, for free.  I wasn't even supposed to get that email but just 4 days earlier, I had written a little note on our class' sign in sheet that I wasn't getting emails and asked to be added.  I was added to the class email list on October 12 and she sent the email out on the 13th!  Soooo....I ended up going on this retreat and that is where I met Nicole Dewberry.  She was sharing with the group about New Horizon's For Children and how she planned on hosting a child from the Ukraine with plans to adopt him.  I looked through the list of available children and found a sweet boy from Estonia named Kirill.

I immediately emailed Danny his picture and asked him to pray about it.  When I got home, I went onto New Horizon's website only to find Kirill was gone.  Estonia had been pulled from the hosting program because of some kind of processing issues.  A couple of weeks later, Danny decided to check the photo listing again and found another precious boy from Russia named Sasha.

Well, we went ahead and paid the fees for hosting him (after receiving the financial support) and expected him to arrive for the Christmas 2010 hosting.  We also were highly considering adopted this precious boy.  About a week before he was set to arrive, I received a phone call stating that he was not coming.  Russia decided to pull the hosting because of some issues regarding adoption.  I don't really recall all of the details but really, the details don't matter.

After all of this (and some other details that I won't go into), we really felt the Lord telling us to "wait" regarding adoption.  So, when the new photo listing came out for the summer 2011 hosting, we purposely picked a "host only" girl...meaning she could not even be considered for adoption.  Perfect!  Now we won't even be tempted to try and adopt because "we always know better than the Lord"!

Well...that is when we met Lidiya.  A 13 year old teenage orphan from the Ukraine.  Did I mention that she is 13?  We hosted her this past summer........and did I mention that she is 13?  Haha!  She was definitely all a teenage girl is expected to be!  But nevertheless, we fell in love with her.  We knew that she had 2 brothers, Andre who is 11 and Vlad who was getting ready to turn 15 in August.  So, then I went on this mission trip and I got to see Lidiya again and meet her brothers!!  Oh and guess what I found out while I was there?!?!  She IS eligible for adoption WITH both of her brothers!!!  WHAT?!?!?  Well....that sure puts a new spin on things.  Do we hear the Lord saying, "OK...........now?"  Well, we aren't quite sure exactly what He is saying yet but what we do know is that we are going to try and host all three children this Christmas (so long as their director approves it).  Our initial reaction to that was "no, we can't afford it" but "We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength" Phil 4:13.  We surely can't turn away three orphans simply because "we can't afford it"....we are giving the Lord no room to work.  Sooooo...we are going to do what seems completely and utterly impossible........we are going to host three orphans for Christmas and with that we need to raise approximately $10,000.  Ummmm....yeah....that is not a typo.  There is not an extra zero on the end of that.  The comma IS in the correct place.....$10,000!!!  So we definitely have a lot of work.

I absolutely hate asking for money.  Despise it.  It makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it.  But that is prideful.  There is nothing more humbling than asking for money and receiving it.  When I was asking for money to support my mission trip, I had people that I had never met deposit money into my Paypal account.  I had friends who were in another country trying to adopt with money they had to raise themselves, deposit money into my Paypal account!  I also had people that I had never met, who are on a long term overseas mission trip deposit money into my Paypal account.  Those people are living on monthly support themselves, yet they felt the need to help me!  Talk about humbling.  Humbling yet very encouraging.  So, thank you to those that have supported us in the past with hosting and missions and thank you to those that will support us during this hosting.

Will we end up adopting these three children?  I don't know.  The Lord knows and all I can say is that we will do whatever He asks of us.  If He asks us to adopt, we'll adopt.  If He asks us to let them go for someone else to host/adopt, then we'll let them go.  We are just on a journey to serve the Lord Jesus and we aren't sure what that looks like beyond right now.  However, I can't wait to see where He takes us!!

The day we picked Lidiya up at the Charlotte Airport

The day we had to say goodbye to Lidiya...very tough day!

Even Danny was emotional!!

Lidiya actually broke down and cried a bit, too.

This is when I saw her in Ukraine on my birthday!

Lidiya and her younger brother, Andre.

Lidiya and her older brother, Vlad.