Benefit Dinner for Adoption

On Saturday April 20th, my husband and I are hosting a benefit dinner at our church to raise support to help bring Ivelina home!

We are selling tickets for the event starting THIS week!  Tickets are $10 each.  

We plan to start out with dinner catered by Town & Country Grille (yummy chicken pie with sides).  After dinner, we will present a short program of testimonies and information about adoption.  Our goal is to educate about the basic in's and out's of adoption but also inspire everyone to do something!  We know that everyone cannot adopt, but there is so much more that can be done to help the least of these in our world. 

After the program, we will be having a dessert auction.  This is sure to be fun and tasty!  I can't wait to see how it goes.  We will also have an area set up for anyone who would like to purchase one of our Adoption Bug T-shirts.  

Oh yeah, and there will be door prizes!!  

So make sure you bring your ticket to enter the drawing!

How Can You Get Involved?

• If you are a far away friend, you can pray for many tickets to be sold, many desserts to be donated and bid on, and for Jeremy and I as we share and speak at the event. 
• If you are a local family member or local friend, YOU CAN COME!  Yeah!  Please call, email, text, message, or see me at church to purchase your tickets.  Invite your family and friends too!  The more the merrier!  You can also bring your favorite dessert with you to be auctioned off.  Homemade or bakery made- - either is wonderful!
• If you just can't make it but wish you could, you can still be involved by praying, donating to our event through our Paypal button, by offering a dessert, or purchasing a t-shirt right off our blog.

What Specifically are the Proceeds Being Used For & What is the Goal?

• At the end of April, we will be ready to submit all of the rest of our paperwork to Bulgaria.  Proceeds from this event will help us pay the fees needed to submit these documents:  international fees & translation fees. Currently, we still need about $4,000. This is our most immediate need.
• As soon as we submit that stuff, we will be required to get "NBC approval" which involves electronic fingerprints and a hefty fee.  National Benefits Center approval makes it legal for Ivelina to immigrate to America.  Then, it will be time to accept our official referral for Ivelina which involves another hefty fee.  Any funds raised above the $4,000 mark will go toward our fees for NBC approval and referral.  
• We don't want to set a rigid goal for this fundraising event.  God knows our exact financial need and when those fees are due.  We don't want to set our hopes too high for this event and be disappointed, but we also do not want to limit what God can do through our benefit dinner.  If He wants to He'll fully fund us tomorrow!  We just want to lift the immediate need of $4,000 to Him, diligently work toward hosting this event, and see how He blesses!

Thanks for reading!  I hope you consider how you can get involved!
-Shelly