Bringing Dariya home I PAD & more GIVEAWAY!!!!

Many of you have asked how you can help us bring Dariya home.  Our first answer is prayer.  We are asking everyone to cover us and this adoption in prayer.  

If you have read the sidebar you know it costs roughly $25,000 to bring an orphan home from the region in Eastern Europe where Dariya lives.  Also, if you know us you know we don't have $25,000.   We personally will have paid in about $6000 by the time we file our dossier and have $3000 in Dariya's grant from Lorraine & all those who donated to her Christmas angel tree.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’  and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth-    
Isaiah 43:5-6

We know that God has called us to gather this sweet girl and we know that in this calling he will prepare us for it and provide for it.  She already lives in our hearts we just need help raising the money so that she can live in our home too.

That is where you come in.

How this giveaway works:

For every $10 donated, you will be entered into the drawing ($30 = 3 entries). Also, if after donating, you advertise this giveaway on your blog or facebook, you will get an additional entry.  Simply leave a comment with your name and the link to your post.

What you can win: 

1.  New 16 GB WiFi I Pad. (Value $500)
We are thankful for an anonymous donation via a friend of our friend, Patti, and for Lisa who also has a heart to save orphans and shared $300 with us to help purchase this I Pad.

2. $150 Amazon.com gift voucher.  (Thanks Aunt Elise)

3.  $50 WalMart gift card.  (Thanks Grandma)

4.  L & C Monroe Inc, Handmade necklace with leaf and matching earring set (value $40)

(Thanks Candy)

5.  L & C Monroe Inc., Handmade necklace and matching earring set (value $40)  (Thanks Candy)

How you can donate: 

~Tax deductible contribution through our Reece's Rainbow Family Sponsorship page.  Click on the donate button below or at the top right of our blog...same thing.

~Cash or personal check donations can be given to us personally or for it to be tax deductible send directly to Reece's Rainbow at:

Reece's Rainbow
PO Box 4024
Gaithersburg, MD 20885

***Make sure you put "Jason & Rochelle Cannon - Dariya" in the memo section so it gets to our account. (the memo is only for people paying by check, if you use the link it automatically goes into our account!)


 Giveaway runs through Friday March 4, 2011 at midnight, all winners will be announced here Monday March 7, 2011.

Winners will be chosen at random by random.org.

Pray, donate & spread the word, Dariya's family is having an I Pad giveaway, we want our little girl home!!!! 

If you have a blog you can help us spread the word by grabbing Dariya's button, it links directly to our Family Sponsorship Page at Reece's Rainbow!  Thanks!

Thankful Thursday

Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.

-- Eileen Caddy

~97 years with my grandmother and a beautiful tribute to her life.

~Our sweet Charity found her forever family! 

~A fabulous social worker who is amazingly flexible and helping us expedite our homestudy asap! 

~Notary friends, who notarize then renotarized documents to be sent to EE just to make sure they are perfect!

~My passport arrived today!  WOO HOO!

~Our first documents made it safely to EE!  What can brown do for us?  LOL

~Friends and acquaintances who are fundraising for us to bring Dariya home. 

~An anonymous donation that will partially help us buy an I Pad to giveaway! (Watch for our giveaway starting next week & we hope you bloggy friends will blog about it for us=)

~Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that are worn more than eaten =)

Hope you have had a great week.  Don't forget to leave us a comment for what you are thankful for....

Truly beautiful sights

For those of you who have gone through or are in the process of int'l adoption these papers are a beautiful sight.  For those of you who have no idea what they are let me explain.  These are the first of our dossier documents that have been notarized and apostilled (that is that beautiful bronze seal that you have to have on all our documents before they are accepted in EE) and right now they are on that magic brown UPS airplane to EE!  It really is a "paper pregnancy".

One step closer to our sweet Dariya !!!

Here are some more beautiful moments we have experienced in the last day or so... Alayna is so excited her Grandma and Pop Pop are here!  Pop Pop bought her a teddy bear for Valentine's Day....I guess you could say she LOVED it.

My last beautiful sight was my dad teaching Alayna to hand jive.  So cute!

As we say goodbye for now after 97 years

Edna Lydia Alft

November 9, 1913 - February 13, 2011

My grandmother died peacefully a little after midnight this morning.  My head is joyful that she is in heaven with our Savior but, our hearts are sad.  My parents were able to make it up on Friday, so thankful they were able to spend time with her.

I am thankful that after more than 20 years she will be reunited with my grandfather. 

She had a very strong bond with Aidan & Alayna.  Alayna could make her smile even on Grandma's hard days (that magical chromosome, you know!). 

I am sad for my father to have to say goodbye to his mother for now, I am sad that I have no grandparents living here on Earth (joyful that they were all believers!), I am sad to see the tears in Aidan's eyes as he talks about her, I am so very sad that she won't be here to see us bring Dariya home. 

We love you Grandma, we will miss you, we are so thankful for all the time we were able to be with you and be close to you.

Until we meet again.....

Thankful Thursday

If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.

-- Rabbi Harold Kushner

So grateful for all I have been given. This week I am very thankful for...

~Jason hearing, responding and his excitement with God's call for us to adopt Dariya.   As I told Jason if God had laid it on my heart, I would have spent my lifetime trying to convince him that we are supposed to adopt but, now he is onboard it is full steam ahead.

~That God has entrusted another sweet child into our family.  Oh we can't wait to pick her up.

~Jason began his new route this week, which is only minutes from our house.  He is happy and enjoying the new adventure.

~Our social worker blessed us by meeting with us on a Saturday instead of during the week, without us even asking.  Total answered prayer!  This saved Jason from having to take off work (unpaid), especially under a new boss and we know we need all his vacation days to travel to pick up Dariya!

~Aidan continues to soar in all he is doing.  His reading level has jumped up several grade levels in the past few months.  He continues to love piano and even chose on his own to take the spring off of soccer to focus on piano!

~ Sibling love - Last night Alayna said, "more hug" to Aidan which melted my heart.  He of course hugged her and she kept requesting "more hug"!  Sweetness.   I love how they are bonded.

~Potty training continues to be a huge success!  Alayna is in big girl panties all day besides naptime!  However, our dogs were a little confused when she pulled their bowl over to make a potty out of it.  LOL!

What are you thankful for this week?  Please share...



Answering God's call to EXPAND our family

Over a year ago, I read  A Hole in our Gospel and prayed to God for him to break my heart for what breaks his.  I never thought that I would be where we are today.  If ever I was thankful for anything it is for God guiding our lives and being our center point and navigator.

Before Christmas, our eyes were forever opened by the plight of the orphans with down syndrome in Eastern Europe.  Just because they were born with an extra chromosome, like Alayna, they are given up at birth to live in an orphanage.  At 4 or 5 years old these children, if not adopted, are sent to live in an institution for the remainder of their lives.  A cold, dank, dismal place without a family, without knowing love, where their limbs become stiff from atrophy and their ribs stick out from malnutrition.

Once our eyes were opened , it began to gnaw at our hearts.  Each day as we continued to look at Alayna our hearts would break a little more with the idea that she or someone else like her would ever know life in an institution just because she sports "designer genes".

At the beginning of January, God laid it on Jason's heart that we should look into adopting from Reece's Rainbow.  We had talked of adoption before but, Jason was never ready to move further in the process, he always cited that it was way too much money.

We have been praying daily and seeking God's path for our family. We are so thankful for our prayer warriors who have surrounded us with prayer to help us discern God's call.



Dariya

 We are thrilled to announce that we are stepping out in faith to follow God's call to add another sweet little girl with down syndrome to our mix.  She is 2 months older than Alayna and currently resides in Eastern Europe but, totally lives in our hearts. 

As Aidan continues to say, "Can't we just go pick her up today?!"

We are very thankful to the many that have donated to her fund already. We have seen God's hand guiding us each step of the way and know we are following His will.

We have begun the process of completing all the necessary paperwork to bring her home and can't wait to go and pick her up.  I have started an adoption link at the top of the blog for our timeline and expenditures.

This is a huge, life changing event for us and we couldn't do it without your help. 

Here is how you can help:

1.  Pray for our family and this process.

2.  Donate to our adoption fund:  (skip a couple starbucks and donate to Dariya's homecoming =) we have about $16,000 to raise.

• You can give us cash or check, for a tax deductible donation please click Dariya's picture to go to our Reece's Rainbow sponsor page and pay online via credit/debit card. 

3.  Share our story with all your friends, blog it, FB it, twitter it, talk about it at the water cooler...however you can get the word out, we need your help to raise this money get our daughter home. 

Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me (Matthew 18:5)

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…defend the rights of the needy. (Proverbs 31:8,9)

Thankful Thursday

~My heart is heavy as I visited with my 97 year old grandmother this morning for what could be our last visit here on Earth.  She has stopped eating and isn't doing well.  However, I am thankful that she is a believer and that we are assured that she will be dancing with Jesus when that time comes.

~Thankful Aidan had another snow day so that he & Alayna could visit my grandmother with me.  Alayna holds a dear spot in my gma's heart and was the only one who could get her to smile today.

~Thankful for God's continued presence and guidance in our lives.   We feel his hand ALL over the path we are on and can't wait to share it with you soon.

~Thankful to Lacey, Molly & Alicia who have answered my zillions of questions this week!

~Finally, I am thankful for the prayer warrior friends, prayer team and family that have lifted us up in the past month.

Alayna is loving working on opposites...has nothing to do with my thankful post but, I love this girl to pieces so thought I would include a couple pictures of her.
Here is her SAD face...

Oh don't worry she has the HAPPY face down too!

Now if that doesn't give me a warm heart on a snowy day I don't know what would.  =)

What are you thankful for this week?

Don't miss this Pure Love giveaway

Our friend Patti over at A Perfect Lily is having another HUGE giveaway to raise money and awareness for children on Reece's Rainbow.  
Please go over and check it out, who knows you might win the I Pad or the Nikon camera or one of the other great items she has had donated.
Great news that Olga has a family.


*  Note - be sure to be watching our blog for some HUGE news coming up soon!  =)