We recently have had several donations to Ellery's orphanage and we have now reached over $3500.00!!

Special thanks to :

A. Lindler
R. Williams
S. McClung
N. Sumner
T. Jackson
K. Burkett
Uncle Brian and Brenda

Thank you for being a special part of Ellery's life!!!

Since our last post we received our LOA, that means we are done with the longest stretch of the wait and hope to travel in December (before Christmas hopefully). We have been so busy preparing for Ellery and having Fundraisers. Johns good friend B. Klick and his family donated 100.00, we are so grateful for yet another 100 dollar donation.

We had a Matilda Jane clothing fundraiser and a Salsarita's fundraiser. We don't know yet what the proceeds are from those events. Thanks to them for allowing us to fundraise in creative ways.

Yay! we reached over $3000.00 for Ellery's adoption! Just about 250 pieces left. Honestly I didn't know if we would be able to sell all the pieces. I have total hope that now we will. How special for Ellery to be able to look at her puzzle someday and see all the names of the people who lovingly donated to her adoption.


Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Brace for their sweet donation to Ellery's adoption, the parents of our good friend Papa Aaron.

Thank you Jim and Carol for your generous gift to Ellery's adoption. We look forward to meeting you in September!

We are almost to the $3000.00 mark, I am so happy about that. Today I am going to try very hard to work on that puzzle so we can see all those pieces put together. Just wish the puzzle wasn't so hard. ;0)

Once in a while you find that special friend who you know will be a part of your life forever. I met Lynne a few years ago but we became close buds when we started doing a Bible Study together and then started working our together at our church gym this past year. We have grown very close to their family and they are quite possibly the only family brave enough to host our crew for dinner or take us on a boat ride. Thank you so much Lynne and Family for you donation to Ellery's orphanage, so generous and I know given in love!

Thank you to N. Cupps, my sweet, sweet co-worker and her husband for donating very generously to Ellery's orphanage. You guys have the biggest most generous hearts, how can we ever say thank you enough???

This week I am going to try and find time to actually write on the pieces of the puzzle and start once again to try and put it together.

We still have a lot of pieces to go, help us help them.

A special thanks to my special adoption friend Sharon. Another selfless family working hard to bring home their third blessing from China, John Wesley. And yet she donated to Miss Ellery's adoption.
Thank you my friend! Check out Sharon's business on Facebook named Child Bloom Child for the cutest things!! Kids Brick Oven Tees, bookbags, lunch boxes and more!

Thank you to Reggie E. for another donation. His family recently moved and John showed up to help them unpack after asking for help. When he wanted to pay John and John refused ( we are supposed to help our neighbor) he said take it and put it towards the adoption. What a kind thing to do!
Thank you!

No news...sigh. I am trying hard not to let the longing to go to China and bring Ellery home consume too many of my thoughts. We have now been waiting for our LOA 64 days. After talking with our agency today I am fully expecting it to take about 30 more days. That will put us traveling possible in December, I cannot tell you how that stresses me out.  I still have a lot of hope for November though at this point. We have raised a little more money towards the adoption donation. We are cleaning out and having some fun selling things on ebay. We still plan on having a huge garage sale and we have two surprise fundraisers possibly!

Thank you to my Uncle Jim and Aunt Sue for their donation to Ellery's orphanage.
I am so blessed to have family that understands and supports our decision to adopt.
We are 2 pieces closer! Thank you!

Thank you to Tiffiney G. for donating to our fund. Tiffiney and I go way back meeting in High School and becoming good friends. Thanks Tiffiney, it means a lot to me that you donated!

Thank you to Suzanne H. for her donation. Suzanne and I connected because her daughter (waiting in China) and Lily were very good friends in China at there orphanage. She is in the process of bringing her daughter home as well and made a thoughtful donation, Thank you Suzanne!

Does my heart good to change the thermometer so much in one week!!

Thank you to Tammi O'Cain, the best sister in law and aunt!!

Lily and I spent a few hours the other night working on the puzzle. We have about 150 pieces we needed to find, write the name of the generous person who donated and then put the pieces together. This proved to be a little more difficult than I thought. If I ever do a puzzle fundraiser again I will try to pick a puzzle that is a little easier. We did however find 100 pieces that went together for Rocky Grove Baptist CHurch. We left them on the dining room table to work on later. BIG MISTAKE! Let's just say we will be starting over. This time we are going to do it upstairs where it will not be messed with again (hopefully)!!

We had another generous donation of $100.00 by Christy Humason. Thank you Christy so much!!
You're selfless gift will go directly to the Desheng Orphanage  in China to help those children still in their care!

God is Good! We had two donations today totalling $175.00!!

This process has taught me so much. One is to not be afraid to ask people to donate and also how giving people are. I am continually amazed at people that do not even know us but want to be a part of making a huge difference in the life of a child of God, our daughter!!!

Thank you to The  Elledge Family ( a dear friend  of John's who got us through John's unemployment last yr with some work for John) and the Macdonalds from our Sunday School class!

Update

We received an update on Ellery on the 8th. Sometimes things are quite funny to read after translation. Apparently she knows the organs of her face, such as nose and eye. Very funny. We learned she is potty trained, yay for us. Very excited about not having to go back to diapers for a while. She also can count to two (funny too). She has grown a little and we got the most awesome picture of her smiling. So far she was not smiling in any of her photos. The photo from her update shows she has the cutest little dimples on her cheeks. We also noted in her new photo that her hair is shorter. I do not know why they do this in China. Apparently it is not for everyone because in one of the photos there are three other little girls in the photo and they all have pigtails. Hopefully they will not shave her head again before we get to China. I am dying to stick a bow on her head!

We also received the proceeds from the fundraiser at Rocky Grove Baptist Church. They were very generous and we are so thankful for all that they have done! What a giving bunch of folks!

So now I need to find the next 110 pieces of the puzzle and put it together. I will post picks when I get it done.

Thanks to everyone so far for your contribution to Ellery's orphanage!

Thank you to the Enlow family. They bought 10 pieces!! I would love to show them to you but I will need to pick through the 500+ pieces and find them, we will do an update soon!! Also, we had two donations $75 and $50 given to us personally, I do not know how to put it on the Chip in so it doesn't reflect that. All together we now  have  27 pieces of the puzzle!!

We thank you so much!!

Four Pieces is great but when I think about the fact that their are still 546 to go that seems so overwhelming BUT I know God will provide one way or another. I have seen family after family remain faithful and God provided the funds they needed for their adoption. I know that will happen to us, I have complete Faith!!

Through our Tastefully Simple Fundraiser we raised some money and John's parents church are having VBS this week and they have chosen our adoption as their Mission Project, we are so Blessed!! They have a church full of the most loving people. We are so excited they chose our adoption for their mission!!!

Thank You!

Thank you so much to

B. Barnes
S. Smithson
S. Kutyla

Our first contributors!!!

Here are our first 4 pieces.....

This is going to be so much fun, I cannot wait to put more pieces together!!!

Be a Piece of the Puzzle to Bring Ellery Home

Ellery Grace has been waiting for a family for over two years.

Soon we will meet our daughter and bring her home

to her forever family.

$13,000 is what we need to bring Ellery home at this time.

You can help by being a piece of the puzzle to bring Ellery home.

Buy pieces of the puzzle and help us raise the orphanage donation of $5500.00 we are required to make as a way to reimburse the orphanage for the care they have given our daughter and to give the children left behind a better life.

1 piece= $10.00

3 pieces= $30.00 and receive a postcard from us while we are in China meeting Ellery

5 pieces=$50.00 and entered in to win a Authentic Pearl Necklace and Earring Set from the famous Pearl Markets in China and recieve a postcard from China.

10 pieces= $100.00 Receive a special gift handpicked by us while in China, be entered into the Pearl Necklace drawing and receive a Postcard from China.

Post this link to your Facebook page or Blog and receive an entry into a drawing for
a Starbucks gift Certificate!!! Help us spread the word. Just leave me a comment letting me know you have done it!

Your name will be written on each piece you buy as a reminder to Ellery of all the special people who helped to give her the family and life she deserves. The puzzle will be framed and kept as a keepsake for her to always remember those who helped to bring her home.

All you have to do is click on the Chip In! on the right sidebar to be taken to a secure site to donate.
Please email me at theocaincrew@aol.com to let me know what you have donated so I can keep good records and put your name on the piece(s) of puzzle.

Can't wait to see the puzzle coming together!

Thank you for your support!!

Coming Soon.......Our Biggest Fundraiser to help raise the 5500.00 we need to donate to our daughters orphanage.