Can't Believe it!

Our friends had a fundraiser tonight and we were in shock and awe at the generosity of SO many people! I just got a call from one of the organizers, and she told me that the unofficial total is almost TO THE PENNY what we need to send to Russia this round!

1. Prayer works
2. Don’t doubt prayer, because prayer works
3. Sometimes humbling yourself to ask for help isn’t such a bad thing
4. did I mention prayer works?
   

friends helping Friends BRING ANYA HOME

friends helping Friends BRING ANYA HOME

Dear friends,

As you probably know, for the last two years, Kathy & Marty Friend have been on a rollercoaster adventure to adopt this precious little girl, Anya, from an orphanage in Irkutsk, Russian. The good news is that they are getting closer and closer to their dream of bringing little Anya home.

The bad news is that the Friends just learned that they need to send a fairly large amount of money to Russia the first week of September to keep the momentum going and not delay the proceedings any further.

To help our friends, the Friends, bring their little girl home, Kelly Miller has graciously offered the use of Lucy's Rhythm Room for a fundraiser this Wednesday night, August 30, from 5:30 - 9:00 p.m.

Kelly's vendors have donated wine and appetizers and we'll have all kinds of opportunities for you to make contributions to help our friends, Kathy & Marty Friend Bring Anya Home
Cash donations of any size will be gratefully accepted. In addition, we will have silent auctions, raffles and other ways for you to have fun while contributing to this very worthwhile cause.

We look forward to seeing you on the 30th!
Kathy Strukel Pam Homan & Kelly Miller
___________________________________

Please join us for an evening of wine, appetizers and fun as "friends helping Friends" help Kathy & Marty Friend realize their goal of bringing Anya home.

There are lots of ways to participateWe're asking everyone to make a cash donation in any amount they wish. Whatever you can contribute will bring the Friends one step closer to bringing Anya home In addition to a donation, you will have the opportunity to purchase raffle tickets for a variety of cool stuff, bid on some great silent auction items or buy tickets for a 50/50 drawing.

There will be something for everyone in our Silent Auction and raffle items including a Julie Manfredi painting, a Flytrap's gift certificate, lots of fun items like jewelry, purses, tickets and bottles of alcohol and wine.

In addition, we'll have other surprises and opportunities for you to have fun while helping the Friends bring Anya home

friends helping Friends...BRING ANYA HOME
Lucy's Rhythm Room
505 South Main
(Next to Flytraps)
Elkhart
Wednesday, August 30
5:30 P.M. - 9:00 P.M.

Come for a few minutes or the whole evening!

Please let us know if you can join us by emailing Kathy S. (see link below) or calling 574-575-0079

Can you donate something for a raffle or silent auction?
Please let us know!
Help us help the FriendsBring Anya Home
kathy@theperfectsolutions.com

If you aren't able to attend, but would like to help, please call Kathy S. at 574-575-0079 or email us and we'll make arrangements to get your contribution to Kathy & Marty.

Humbled and with much gratitude...

Last Friday, I was at one of my Trunk Shows for CAbi. As I was setting up, one of the guests (who is also a great pal) walks in...1/2 hour early! She proceeds to ask me "hey, what are you doing Wednesday night?" I really didn't think much of it, since she is always telling me about network opportunities and business gatherings. My friend, Kathy Strukel, goes on to tell me that she and 2 other friends (Pam and Kelly) have decided to have a fund raiser for us! Can you even believe it?

We are awestruck at their generosity.

update...

Hello All,

So many of you have been so wonderful in praying for us through the past 2 years, and I am sure you’ve been wondering what is going on with the adoption. So, I thought I would send a quick update.

We received some pictures today from the director of the orphanage in Shelechov (Irkutsk, Russia). Anya is holding some photos that we sent to her a few weeks ago. OK, I don’t understand the boy clothing, that is why we send girl clothes to her! Ugh! For those of you who know me, you know this is a HUGE UGH!

In the past 2 days, we’ve gotten several email notes from the director (actually, from her daughter). I can’t tell you how much this has meant to us! To those of you who’ve written recommendation letters for us – THIS IS WHY (see photos below)!! If you haven’t written a recommendation letter for us, and you want to – there is still time! We’re going to Indy on Tuesday to have everything apostilled and mail to Russia.

Things have been stressful this week in trying to get all the recommendations redone, our medical information redone from our doctors, and the Indiana Law with regard to child placing agencies figured out. Thankfully, most of this has been relatively painless. We need to send a pretty big chunk of change over to Russia here soon, and that is a chunk we simply don’t have. So please pray that God will work it all out for us – He always does! We’re considering a fund raiser, but not sure 1-week is enough time to get something together!

We hope to hear something official the first part of September. Our lawyer will be presenting our documents to the Judge (we hope) sometime the first week of September. Please keep us and Anya in your thoughts and prayers – it’s going to be one heck-of-a next few weeks!

Love,
Kathy and Marty

laws

Hello All,

We got several notes from Russia today. Nothing huge to report other than things are still moving along. My challenge is trying to figure out the Indiana law train on how our home study agency got a license, and what they had to do to get the license. We have the law stating that Agency X has the power to give a license, but nothing on what in required by law to get the license. Ugh! I will figure it out!