Saturday, August 29, 2009

College...

Sorry for not posting - Our fund-raiser with STEVE Pennington went well - we had a small group - but a fun and lively group. Steve was awesome! We have almost $1400. toward our $2000. matching grant. Terry had a week-end assignment with the Army and has another two week-end assignments coming up. We are so thankful for the extra work! We may get our Travel Approval any day now... and then that means we'll travel 2 - 3 weeks after getting our TA.

Matthew is now at college - he went on the 21st for a week of "choir retreat." We went down this Thursday afternoon & Friday for the opening week-end and parent events. Palm Beach Atlantic is a three hour drive for us. He's settled into his dorm room, has made some good friends, and has a cold! oh dear. Classes start on Monday - and we miss him around here.

We took a Saturday early evening dinner/movie break here at home - watched "Nemo" with Andrew, which is really a sad movie, especially in view of just moving Matthew out to college. But, OH! it does end well! One moving out... soon, one moving in.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

LifeSong for Orphans approved us for a matching grant!

Great news! We were approved for a matching grant from Lifesong for Orphans. Donation checks to: "Lifesong for Orphans" will be matched up to $2000. Also, now donations can be tax-deductible :) If you feel led to help with this, we do thank you very much. We are still gathering the orphanage donation fee, and of course, travel expenses. If you want to mail a check:

Lifesong for Orphans
Att: Langford #961 Adoption
PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St
Gridley, IL 61744

Make sure you put in a note with: Langford Adoption #961

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

2 days until the fun night - fund-raiser with Steve!

Two more days until our evening with Steve Pennington of Pro-Kids. So much is going on - we're hoping the storms will stay away. In the mean time Terry got an assignment with the Army for 5 days, so he'll be leaving on Thursday... missing the fund-raiser, but earning, so we're happy for that. And guess where he'll be - St. Croix, Virgin Islands. HA! can you believe it... so hope he gets a minute or two of sun while he's there, and not just tropical storms.

Matthew's barbershop quartet sang at two churches on Sunday and were scheduled to record tonight, but the technician got sick. He's available to record with them on (can you guess?), yup- Thursday night. With Matthew leaving for college on Friday it's gotta be a go. Maybe it'll work out differently so they can be at Steve's show. They are recording Christmas songs - an album for a fund-raiser to help bring Jie home. Check out their Facebook "Fourth Dimension." Fabulous 4 guys! We are so proud of them.

That all said... I certainly hope to see some of you this Thursday night! Bring some friends with you to enjoy the show. Steve is unbelievably talented and all ages enjoy his entertainment.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Visa applications

We were suppose to apply for our Visas a couple of weeks ago... all the other paperwork was done. Then we went to the beach, have been busy with work, and oops - forgot!! So, finally we figured out how to fill out the applications and how to find a courier service in Houston. Cost for each Visa is $130. When I called one of the courier services they said it was $159. I was pretty discouraged thinking they meant this amount in addition to the Visa fee. After checking their website I realized their fee was $29. per application. Then it dawned on me that I should count the money we've been collecting in our "adoption fund" jar and our "Fu Jie" can from Aunt Susan from last Christmas. We need $477. for the three Visas, including courier fees. Wow - what a blessing! I counted quarters, dimes, nickels (put all the pennies in a separate jar- still have them) and the $$bills from our last garage sale. It totals $474.35! What a blessing - now, tomorrow morning off to the bank for the money order. They will LOVE me coming in with all that change! Then we'll FedEx these applications off and be one more step on our way to bringing Jie home.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Family fun night - Adoption fund-raiser with Steve Pennington: Pro-Kids

You are ALL invited to a fun evening for the whole family with entertainer Steve Pennington. Steve created Pro-Kids and has dedicated his life to making people laugh - using puppets, magic, stories, music, and of course, his corny jokes! You will enjoy the evening. Thursday, August 20, 7:00 - 8:30 pm in the Fellowship Hall at St. Luke's United Methodist Church, 4851 S. Apopka-Vineland Road, Orlando 32819. This is a fund-raiser for our adoption of Jie, hoping to help gather the funds for the $5100. orphanage donation fee. Please tell your friends, and bring them with you. Donations at the door (suggested minimum $10. but any and all donations are appreciated.) It will be a fun time and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.