Don't Say the "R" Word

So, did any body catch my blog yesterday? I used the "R" word. It rhyms with "Baffle" which is exactly what I was: baffled...

But if you did see my blog, it was up long enough to have over 40 hits in less than 2 hours (yay!) until I killed it. And now, I'm about to keep it real. I thought I wouldn't do this because I was concerned that Ch*&a might read this; and find out that we aren't perfect. But, here goes...

Anyhow, apparently, the "R" word is illegal in South Carolina & online. I know people do it. I know there is a way. I know it happens; but now that I'm fully aware of it, I am responsible for the knowledge. (Insert a little bit of foot stamping. Sidebar: It's not fair!. Maybe: It's already hard enough to adopt, just let me run a stinking fundraiser!)

So, at first, I tried to read all the loop holes to the law online. I don't have a law degree so that was not fun. Then I try to figure out how to run this contest from a different state and bank account. Then there were massive tantrums: a certain oldest child of mine threw an epic tantrum over cleaning up toys. Then I threw a tantrum propelled by my child's tantrum. Then cried my eyes out from sheer exhaustion and feeling of defeat on our next goal. I'll tell y'all, $28,000 suddenly felt Enormous. And Heavy. And Suffocating.  And just plain Hard. Then I moved on to lying awake half the night from a back spasm courtesy of walking Gaylord Palms' massive property a dozen times followed by hiking all over Universal Studios.

 Oh, and to really keep it real, I'm all kinds of crazy in other places, too. Let's throw in the "re-entry" to normal life after leaving your kids. How many people know how that usually goes? And now we've got our fearless leader  down with the stomach bug from Satan, Justus' back molars visibly cutting up his swollen back gums, and an unidentified stench of something that must be dead in a wall coming from our sunroom and trying to creep it's scent into the main living area fumes.What am I doing about that you ask? Well, right now, I open windows and shut the door. Yup, that's what I'm doing.

In adoption world, Travis and I thought we only had 2 hours of online training left; and we found out it was 9 hours. We are urgently trying to figure out how to get this done to include it in our homestudy (this week), which is only waiting on FBI clearance and one referral letter. That is a silver lining! But, now we hadn't planned for an extra 9 hours.

So, all that to say, I've changed course on this "R"affle. Just go ahead and do a Give-A-Way for appreciation during our fundraising time. We will still set a goal and time for raising the funds and give-a-way for the American Girl Doll if we hit 2K in 4 weeks. But, if we hit 4K 4 weeks, we'll do a bigger give-a-way? I'm thinking other fun give-a-ways and awards too: Most Creative Fundraising, Most People Recruited to Give, Most Funds Raised, Most Social Media Posts, etc.

We will be asking for your flat out cash/paypal donations and your help spreading the word and asking for donations in $10 increments for us. We'll ask you to email us if you are recruiting off line. Or post comments on our blog as you recruit giving for us online? I'm going to work it out and make sure I don't do anything illegal or do a full on drawing based on "buying tickets".

But, what do you think? Would you go for it and still donate your time and your facebook and twitter status'. Would you help us raise the funds in $10 and $25 increments? Or ask people to support us monthly for the next 10 months? Can we maybe do points? Points for how much you help us raise? Points for social media? Points for donations? Or maybe commit to raise $100 for us? Maybe 20 people could help us raise $100? Or even better 40 people? Or should we just ask 400 people to donate $10?

It was a lot easier for me to run a "raffle" instead of sit here and flat out ask you to help us raise the next $2000-$4000 by straight up donations. But, I'm getting a massive nudge that as the "r" option slammed in my face, this was our correct direction.

Talk to me! Feedback appreciated! This is your chance to post on my blog or email me or facebook me!

I'm clinging to His promises and sovereignty today and a little Matt Redman "Never Once" did we ever walk alone. And I'm keeping it real. This is a rollercoaster summit climb, not a breezy ocean walk. We signed up for this and believe in all our hearts this is worth everything!