Hope for the Orphan Fundraiser

I'm going to dream really big right now and imagine that I have hundreds of readers. No, thousands! And I'm going to imagine that most of you live in central Illinois. Now please do me the biggest favor in the world and go to this fundraiser! :)

My dear friends Ross and Amy are in the process of adopting an orphan from Russia and this special event at New Life Christian Church in Morton, tomorrow night at 6 pm, is to help raise money for that process. 

Here are some photos of them that I stole from her Facebook profile... LOL! (If you will remember, Amy is my lovely friend who did Raine's 6 month portraits. She will be ALSO be using proceeds in July from Amy Mulder Photography to raise funds! Hmmm...Need some photos done...??)

Running For Orphans also will use races to raise funds for the adoption & baby Mulder's orphanage in Russia! 

Hotties!

It goes to show how much I LOVE THEM that I will use this photo because it is super cute and shows how adorable they are even though they are Packers fans. Ugh.

They have been waiting to be parents since they were married three years ago and their path to parenthood has not gone smoothly. I'm just going to be honest here: It has SUCKED. Seriously. As Amy and I swapped sad stories as we tried to start our families over the past several years, she swapped more than her fair share. As her friend who loves her greatly, it has made me so sad to see them disappointed over and over again. While Dan and I finally successfully conceived and now have Raine, Ross and Amy are still waiting. I think they have waited long enough!!! However, they are patient little pookers! :) They are currently waiting for approval by the state of Illinois of their adoption home study and related reports, and then they will wait for approval by Russia. The earliest they could possibly get a referral for a child is August, and if by some great miracle that happens right away, I believe that they shouldn't have to keep waiting because of funding.

If I could hop on a plane and fly back for this fundraiser tomorrow, you better believe that I would! I would also purchase ALL OF THE BAKE SALE ITEMS IN ONE FELL SWOOP. ~Ha! I would love to be there even if I had no money to offer just as a supportive friend and cheerleader. (I like to send her texts: GO TEAM MULDER!) I would also love to hear Ross perform because he is so talented and the only time I have had the pleasure was at their wedding.

Anyway, they are not only patient, they are creative and ambitious so they are coming up with lots of ways to raise money for the adoption, but this fundraiser TOMORROW NIGHT is key. So I really wanted to help get the word out even though it is last minute! (And I also say ambitious because not only are they raising money to fund the adoption, they hope to raise a surplus that can be donated to the orphanage from where they will *hopefully someday soon* get their son or daughter.)

So if you are in the greater Peoria area and have the ability to stop by tomorrow night, please go! I will be jealous but forever grateful.