Praise God...

Katelyn has a family!!!! I cannot say thank you enough to those of you who have prayed for and donated to miss Katelyn! I was reading last night and her name caught my eye. Someone had posted that Katelyn was on the my family found me page. I was in disbelief, thinking that there must be more than one Katelyn. I clicked on the link and there she was. It is true. Katelyn will not spend another year in that institution! She will have a mommy and a daddy to love her and tuck her in at night. Her birthdays will be celebrated and her life will be treasured. For 9 months, all we had was a picture of Quinton with a little pout on his face and I longed to see him smile. Now his smile lights up a room. The same will go for Katelyn's family. They have a picture of her looking so frightened, but soon they will see her smile. I just know it! Oh, I can't wait to see her home.

In the mean time, be on the lookout for new fundraisers. I don't have anything planned just yet, but her family will need to raise lots of money to bring her home, and I want to help as much as I can. Any ideas/suggestions would be fantastic! Thanks :)

Halloween and Thanksgiving~

I have been wanting to update for some time now, but I really felt like I needed to keep miss Katelyn at the top of my blog while I was fundraising for her. Great news! We exceeded our goal of $1000. So far the angel tree has brought in donations totaling $1188 and there is still a bit more trickling in.

So 2 major holidays have passed since I updated last and another one is just days away. Halloween was fun. When you wait until the day before halloween to buy a costume, you get Winnie the Pooh. I stood in Wal-Mart and had a conversation with myself that went something like this: "Carol, you are not buying you kid a Winnie the Pooh costume." "Why did you wait until the last minute to buy a costume anyway?" "Because I am a professional procrastinator, what else would you expect from me?" I scanned the costumes again and reluctantly decided that Winnie was better than a lady bug LOL. I have to say though, Quinton made quite a cute little Pooh bear, even if the hat made it look like Winnie was eating his head. The pictures are not great the they are definitely indicative of Quinton's opinion of the Pooh costume too. Note to self: DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE DAY BEFORE HALLOWEEN TO BUY YOUR KIDS HALLOWEEN COSTUME!

We did venture out to go trick or treating, but every time we went to a house, we were invited in, so we only made it to about 4 houses before it was time to go home.

I talked Brian into Brian and I were very excited to take Quinton to the local pumpkin farm. It turns out that Quinton was a little too young to enjoy the experience and it was freezing, but we got some cute pictures including one with him sitting on a pumpkin :)

This slide was always my favorite part of the pumpkin farm. I don't think Quinton agrees LOL ;)

Thanksgiving was awesome because what better to be thankful for than little Quinton himself? Last year we officially started our adoption the day after Thanksgiving. It is hard to believe that a year later, he is here with us-safe and loved like crazy. Last year Quinton was an ornament on our Christmas tree. This year we don't need any presents under the tree because we have the greatest gift of all-our little Q-ball :) Back to Thanksgiving. I had the privilege of meeting another Reece's Rainbow family that lives in the area and of course the food and time with family was priceless. I made Quinton a shirt that says my first turkey day, but he didn't care for the pictures (again). He did however LOVE pureed Thanksgiving food. I have never seen him so excited to eat from a spoon! That in itself is a major accomplishment.

 This is the leave me alone and let me go play with my toys look LOL

And because I can't leave you with a picture where my little guy is not smiling, here is a picture taken by my wonderful photographer, Alisa of Pumpkins and Pearls photography!

So, that is 2 holidays down and one to go. Christmas is just 2 days away and I can't wait to celebrate with my sweet baby boy. We hope you all have an incredible Christmas!

Winners, Winners, Winners!

There were 21 bidders in Katelyn's auction. Each person who bid was assigned a number and entered into a drawing for a $20 gift card to Target. The winner was chosen using random.org

Leah-1
Sharon-2
Katy A-3
Melissa-4
Joyce S-5
Debbie-6
Megan-7
Stephanie-8
Andrea-9
Rebecca-10
Lisa-11
Alicia-12
Laurie-13
Christina-14
Elizabeth-15
Carol-16
Beth-17
Michelle-18
Sydney-19
Kihm_mary-20
Katy B-21

The winner was #21 Katy Bastow! I will post the picture from random.org when I get home.

On to the winners of auction items:

DS awareness bracelet-Katy A($25)
Birdhouse-Joyce S ($23)
tutu-Debbie ($20)
Romper-Stephanie ($22)
Rose clip-Joyce ($7)
blue headband-Joyce ($8)
leg warmers-Lisa ($10)
elephant bows ($10)
bibs-Sharon($20)
Baby carrier-Rebecca ($22)
owl hat-Laurie ($15)
Reesee Tree-Rebecca ($15)
corn hole-Laurie ($90)
keychain-Christina ($6)
Necklace-Michelle ($5)
photo Christmas tree-Michelle ($25)
Mother Goose book-Katy B ($8)
scarf-Sharon ($50)

That is a grand total of $368 which means that we have met miss Katelyn's goal!!! Thank you to everyone who participated, prayed, and shared!

To pay for the items you won, please use the donation box at the top right hand side of my blog. Email me at millerdec804 at yahoo dot com (or I will email you if I have your email address) with a mailing address so I can ship out your prizes. Some prizes will be shipped directly from the donator and I can put you in touch with them. I am sure I have forgotten something, so if you have any questions, either email me or leave them in the comment box here. Thanks again. You guys are awesome!!!

Online Auction to Benefit Katelyn-How it works

Our goal as Christmas warriors is to raise the grant of our Reece's Rainbow Christmas angel by $1000. I can hardly believe it, but Katelyn's grant is at $667 plus another $110 that has not been added yet. That means we are only need to raise $223 with this auction. Please take a look at it and place a bid if you see something you like. Every bidder, whether you win or not will be entered for a chance to win a $20 gift card to Target :)

Here's how it works:

• Every item is listed as a separate post so that you can place your bid by typing it into the comment box
• Make sure you either leave me your name and email so that I can contact you if you win :)
• Winning bidders can pay for their items by making a donation to Katelyn's grant. The link to her account is in the top right-hand side of my blog. It is a box that says Katelyn's Adoption Grant
• Make sure to check out the older posts as there are several items up for bid that will not all show up on one page.
• Auction ends Monday 12/19 at 10 pm EST!

Raising Katelyn's grant will greatly improve her chances of having a forever family step forward to adopt her, as financial constraints are the number one reason that children are not adoption. She looks so frightened in this picture, but beneath that look of fright is a beautiful little girl who would be a priceless addition to someone's family. Please keep Katelyn in your prayers and thank you for helping make a difference in her precious little life!

Down Syndrome Awareness Bracelet

This bracelet was made and donated by my mom. It is adorned with blue and yellow beads in honor of all of our special kiddos with down syndrome and her first grandchild Quinton.

starting bid: $5

hand painted decorative birdhouse

This birdhouse was hand painted and donated by my aunt :)

Custom Sewn Tutu in your choice of color :)

Erika has donated a beautiful custom tutu for girls size NB to 6T and you get to choose the color. Choose from shocking pink, lavender, white, dark purple, light blue, black, very it yellow, it pink, mint, and orange. 

Retail Value: $25-$50 depending on the size

This Item is custom so needs to be made from measurements! :) 

Starting bid: $15