Packing and such

I am almost finished packing, but NOTHING is lite!!!!   I'd hoped for just 3 checked bags and 1 carrying......but it's quickly turned into 4 checked with 2 carryon.   I am very nervous about how all this will work out tomorrow, but know it will work out.  :)

I am super excited to travel and this is my trial run with blogger on the iPad!!!


Off to set up the VPNs now!!!!   :):):):)

TRAVEL PREP TIME!!!!

Life is CRAZY here!!!

Yes, we are still about $5000 short (and $2000 of it pretty much due right now), but I am moving on --- I can't worry about that anymore..........too stressful when I know God's got it!

I spent several hours today in the van getting our oldest and myself to the dr for pre trip med's.   Got the other dr to call in ones for the new girls...........and then drove around to 3 different pharmacy's to try and get all the med's!!!   That was after I had PT, got the lawn mowed, picked up ds after pk, drove to another town to get a travel wisk for my shakes/puddings in C..........then rushed back to pick up the littles and the oldest from their schools before getting it all done!!!!

Flat Stanley will be going with us as well now, to help with a class project for Mrs. Peterson!!!  :)

And I got 2 large boxes of orphanage donations to take with us!!!!!   What a BUSY day!!!!!

God's got all of this!!!!!

We leave in 3 days!!!!!!   We have really packed the girls stuff, except clothes and med's............but need to repack and cull down!

Tomorrow, there is lots more to do, but fortunately dh is ALSO OFF!!!!  :):):)

Saturday I have a chiro apt, the bug man is coming, and all morning we'll be egg hunting!!!!!   Plus I need to have my van DETAILED!!!!!!  I may just get the detailing tomorrow --- I mean a thorough detail, scrubbing the seats that are usually under the kids car seats and the insides of the windows kind of detail............I don't want my new kids to come into FILTH!!!!!   The rest of the house looks pretty good, but I also want the fridge done too.............OMGOSH  I have SO MUCH to FINISH!!!!

Please pray!   LOL   I'm not that great a house wife type person..............but I'm kinda OCD about how I want our dd's 1st impressions to be at least..............and the person that is going to be here during the days taking care of the kids that are staying with daddy at home, so he can keep working.

So much to do, so little time!!!!  But I promise that I will be posting via C............pretty much every day as long as the internet allows!!!!  :):):)

If you feel lead, you can help give to the $2000 still needed by clinking on the Reece's Rainbow link to the right!  :)

T for the C's!

NEW FUNDRAISERS and more!!!!

NEW ONES plus some Continuing On!!!!

   We are 11 days today from travel and still just under $7000 from being fully funded.

So, our friends have stepped up to help us out with some fundraisers!!!

Please pray and help where you can.  :)  Lots of ways to show our family some love and help us bring them home!   :)    THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH!!!!!   :):):)

Enter any of these by donating at http://reecesrainbow.org/72894/sponsorcasebier

1.  Jamberry Nails Party --- It's going on RIGHT NOW until we travel!!!  :):):)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/casebier/721829607848053/?notif_t=group_activity

2.  Young Living Essential Oils Party --- It too is going on right now until we travel!
https://www.facebook.com/events/219875841540309/

3.  A $500 MATCHING GRANT!!!!!   Our FSP at Reece's Rainbow needs to read $5303 in order for us to receive this grant.       http://reecesrainbow.org/72894/sponsorcasebier

4.  Another friend offered these pens to the 1st 10 people to donate $10 to our FSP........:) the next 10 people who donate $10 or more to Terri Casebier 's fsp and messages Dawn Patrick their receipt she will mail you one of these ink pens with a beautiful scripture on it.

5.  Yet another friend offered this beautiful painting!!!!   For it, you just need to donate or share about it.  You can also be entered to win Rachel Biddlesome's painting at the same time.. if you want! Those that donate just need to let her know they want to be entered.. $5 for one ticket, $20 for 5, $40 for 15! it is (16"x20")! RV $500   Sharing also gets you 1 ticket.  :)

Then there are those fundraisers that have never ended.  :)

1. Envelope Fundraiser --- Pick an envelope that is not colored (as they are chosen, they will be colored in)............and contribute that much to either of our accounts to the right (reece's rainbow or youcaring) and let us know so we can color in your envelope.  :)   When it's totally filled, we will be fully funded.  :)

2.  Puzzle Piece Fundraiser for $5 each piece have your name permanently written for our girls to see who loved them enough to help them get home.  :)

3.  Greatest of These is Love  necklaces that my friend makes!   She is profitting NOTHING on them and I get $10 from the sale.  :)

http://jubileesjewels.com/greatest-of-these-is-love-hand-stamped-necklace

4.  If you purchase off of the ginger on a mission site and mention our name at checkout, we will get 50% of the purchase as well!!   :)  http://www.etsy.com/shop/GINGERONAMISSION 

CA and Tickets --- MOMMY IS TRAVELING 4/20-5/10!!!!!

We finally have received our requested CA for May 8th...................AFTER we got the 13th like we'd wanted, but found out that our 1st province is closed the last week of April!  UGH

I shopped around and finally found our tickets, just to have my niece tell me she can no longer go because her college professors that at one point were ok, were no longer ok with it.

So, thankfully I hadn't purchased the tickets yet..................   And I'm still holding out hope for finding another travel partner.

I've seen others do it, and it's possible................but having both or all 3 girls melt down at once in public will be my undoing.  :(      And though I'll have the little one in a stroller when we go places, the older one MIGHT be one that runs when she gets upset, esp with grief going on...............and how in the world would I deal with that while the baby and my oldest are just standing there by me?   At least with babies you can contain them in a stroller............lol

Anyway, so in doing all this planning we also now have our final costs.  I used the plane ticket monies to pay the orphanage donations due to the agency, still over 800 short for that................hehehehe.............and the rest...........well, I'm just trying to figure it all out.............but God's got this.

In total, our new FSP total needs to read $11500.  Which is a little less than 7000 more from now.............

We travel in 15 days (EASTER DAY 4/20)!!!!!   Please pray for funding, for a trip partner, and just sanity in general as I start the final phase before travel!  :)

Still waiting...............but maybe not! :)

Just a quick update to remind/let you know that we are still waiting on our TA, but we may just be waiting until our agency comes back on Monday (today is Thursday).  They are in China, so if we already have TA, we don't know it simply because there is no one there to check.  :)

I am SO SO SO excited about the possibilities for Monday and then for a quick turn around for our Consulate Appointment since we want it for the 13th of May!!!!   :):):)   Praying they still have CA's for the 13th!!!!

Then we get our final bill from the agency with all of our orphanage donations, etc!   THE BIG BILL!!!!!

I am TOTALLY nervous about this one!  We also get to purchase our plane tickets.   As it stands we are WELL BEHIND where we need to be to be able to pay this bill and purchase the tickets!!!   Please pray that we will be able to do so!  We have credit cards (Discover), but no visa/MC to put things on if they don't take the discover.  :(

Thanks for praying!  :)

Terri for the Casebier's

3/17 Article V Received!

Monday (3/17) we received our Article V and began the wait for travel approval (TA)!!!

This is the 2nd to last step we take before getting on that plane!   Times for getting it vary a lot, but it can go anywhere from 1 day to 4 weeks.................right now it's averaging a little over a week.  :)

That would be terrific news, the best I could hope for............but our agency has decided to ALL go to China for the next week and a half.  :)   It's great news for them and the other babies there.  What it translates out for our adoption though is that they won't be there to receive our TA when it comes in if it comes in before the 31st.  Well, that's not so horrible for me because that's exactly 2 weeks from the start of this wait.............:)   So, we definitely are waiting until AT LEAST the 31st to finish this step.  :)   It's like I have a specific timeline and know that until then I don't have to expect anything.

Once we have that, we will request our CA (consulate appointment) and within 48 hours we should have that locked into place.  Then we will TRAVEL!!!!!    This is pretty anticlimatic for me right now though as once we receive TA, we will wait 2 weeks to save $ on airlines (which is standard for us), but since the 2 weeks ends right BEFORE Easter, we will wait until after Easter to travel --- so that means about 3 weeks after TA.  The awesome thing about that is leaving then puts us in Guangzhou (GZ) for our CA right after the Spring trade fair has ended.............which is perfect timing because the trade fair drives up the costs all over GZ.
Obviously, God's got this all planned out!   I was hoping to leave the 15th, but that is before Easter.........that bummed me.  Now I'm finding out that the better time to go is right after Easter anyway to avoid that tradefair................it all works out!!!!  :)  

But that also translates into more wait after TA.   More time to get everything done here we need to, before I leave.  :)   This wait though (since starting the article V wait) has seemed to take a lot longer emotionally for me this time.  I am SO SO SO excited to begin the flights and that part of the journey that it's harder to just sit and wait.  :)   And right now, that wait is about 4 more weeks.................ugh in the happiest sense.  :)

Yes, I could fill my time better with fundraisers, but I realized yesterday just how much other stuff I needed to do before leaving (in about 4 weeks) besides fundraising that I know I need to focus more on it for the moment.   Things I have put off to try and raise funds --- which I DEFINITELY still need to do ---- but are just as important, like getting my power of attorneys and the post placement reports taken care of.

So please pray that I can take care of a bunch of things in the next few days, to get them off my plate........and that I can go to the chiropractor and physical therapist to get all the kinks out (so to speak) before getting on that long plane ride.  :)   I don't feel horrible and am mobile, but I already have stiffness and aches that could just get a lot worse with the sitting for 18 hours on a plane in 1 day.  :)    Just need to make sure I'm prepared better for it.  :)

Thank you for your prayers, and any help you can or have given.  :)  We appreciate it ALL.

You must be adopting

There is a saying in the adoption realm

"you must be adopting if"............. add what ever costly expense you can think of.

Well, in Feb '12 we were contemplating going back for a little girl.  And then our house flooded.  We were out of it for almost 2 months...............it was horrible.  And in the mean time, we didn't pursue the adoption........stressful was putting it mildly.

Tonight, when Gary went to put the boys in bed, we found their room's floor filled with water!   We have a broken pipe somewhere or somehow.  :(

Back to square one!

SO, we're not only 9100 short for the adoption still, but we also now have a flood to deal with AGAIN!!!!

Please pray!

Terri for the Casebier's