And the Fundraising Continues........

We are so close to bringing our little girl home, we just cannot give up! We are still fundraising. You can view our fundraising activities at http://www.heartforadoption.net
One of our fundraisers was set up for us by another adoptive mom. She is so generous and set up a E-Show for us through USborne Books & More.
Here is the flier she made for us:

Usborne Books & More
Adoption Fundraiser
For Elizabeth and Don Murray

June 10-July 19, 2009

Usborne Books has educational and entertaining books for all ages. Browse the website and get some great books for your family.

Shop online at www.ubah.com/HOS145809 and your purchase will help to bring the Murrays’ little girl home from Russia. Your order can be shipped to your home right away or can be shipped as a gift to another address.

Please contact Heather at heatherb@kidsbooks365.com if you have any questions about any of the books or products. She will also be glad to make recommendations of books for any children in your life.

Thanks for making a difference in the life of an orphan!

PLEASE consider buying some books to support us in bringing home our Angel. Our book fundraiser ends Sunday, July 19 - Order today so you don't miss out!

We have another fundraiser this weekend. We will have a booth at the Mango Mania. This is supposed to be a great venue for bringing in money. We will let you know how it goes.

PLEASE pray for us that our weekend is successful and we can raise the final funds needed to return to Russia. Our fundraising thermometer has been inching up, we now need it to jump up!

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. Matthew 21:22

We believe!

God Bless,

Elizabeth and Don

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Our Documents are in NN!

Woo Hoo! We are very happy today because we heard our paperwork made it to NN and in the hands of our facilitator. Yipee!

We will be on pins and needles the next week waiting to hear about a court date. Thank goodness we have a lot going on.

We will keep you posted.

God Bless,

Elizabeth

Desperate Times Require Desperate Measures!

We have not heard yet how our package is doing as it travels across the world but we are continuing in prayer that it will make it on time.

We continue to fundraise! You are probably tired of reading about it but it is what it is! We are still a bit short - we may have to have medicals in Moscow which will cost about $860 each and require us to spend an extra night in Moscow. Sooooo, we continue to fundraise pray that when it is time to leave we have all the money we need as well as a little bit of a buffer.

I have decided to sell a ring that I have had for about 26 years.

I had it made when I graduated from nursing school. Here are several photos of the ring.

The ring is 14KT yellow gold with royal jade cabochon and diamonds. Twelve prong set baguettes total weight of 0.76ct.

Eight round brilliant cut diamonds total weight .40ct.

I recently had the ring appraised by a well-known and reputable

jeweler in Fort Myers, FL. My ring was appraised at $2,910.00.
I would like to sell it for a reasonable amount and plan to put it on E-bay but thought I would post it here first. If anyone is interested in making an offer on my ring, please email me at murrayadoption@yahoo.com

We have several other fundraisers coming up as well as our online fundraiser store. You can visit it at http://www.heartforadoption.net/ We will be updating our webstore with new items frequently so please check back often.

Thanks for following our journey,
Elizabeth

The Package Arrived!

Just a quick update here - our package arrived on time! Yeah! Our family coordinator was able to get it to the DHL office and send it on its way to Russia. Now we are praying our documents make it to Russia next week in time to be translated and submitted by Friday, July 10. If, and that is a big IF, our documents are submitted by Friday, we could get a court date for August.

We are on our knees praising and praying:

• Praise that our documents arrived in Virginia and that they are on the way to Russia;
• that our documents arrive in Nizhny by Wednesday, July 8;
• that our facilitator is able to translate everything in time to submit our documents to the court by Friday, July 10;
• and that we receive a court date for early August.

We will continue to be faithful on our adoption journey.


O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago. Isaiah 25:1

Blessings,
Elizabeth

Another Blue Streak Day!

For those not familiar with the Blue Streak Roller Coaster, it is by far the best roller coaster I have ever been on! It is at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio on Lake Erie. I grew up near there and spent many summers with my friends riding the Blue Streak. It's one of those old fashion types made with wood and it makes that great clickity clackity sound as it climbs toward the first drop. Once at the top, you hang for a brief moment with a breathtaking view of the lake and the anticipation of teetering over the top - fear, excitement, exhilaration - then you begin to slowly roll over the crest feeling yourself come up off the seat and you briefly think to yourself, "will my seatbelt hold" as you scream your head off! Then on you go, up and down, over and under, twisting and turning, screaming and laughing, until it finally slows down, and clickity clackity comes to an end. And when you climb out of the car, your legs are shaking, you're still laughing, and your throat feels raw. You think to yourself, "that wasn't so bad" and you decide to do it again!

We spent most of our day trying to get our documents apostilled at the State. Finally, after many phone calls and emails, they were able to apostille all of our documents. Our courier picked them up and dropped them in the FEDEX box. The package was picked up by FEDEX at 5:46pm and is on track to be in Virginia by 10:30am tomorrow morning. We are not quite breathing easily and won't until we know those documents are in our family coordinator's hands. I'll be tracking that package all night!

Yes, today was a Blue Streak Day! (except for the "do it again part").

Praying our package is delivered on time,
Elizabeth