A Week of Thanksgiving and Fund Update

It is this time of year that truly makes me take a huge step back and think about how incredibly lucky I am.  I have an amazing husband, three precious, healthy children and I am surrounded by incredibly suppportive family and friends.  The last three months I have been blessed with the creation of Altynai's fund and serendipitously surprised by the joy it has brought me.  They always say, "it is better to give than receive" and I agree but what needs to be added to the end of the statement is " .... and the more you give, the more joy you will receive in return."   The irony of it, is that it is not the size or cost of the gift that is important, but the unexpected nature of the gift and the need involved.  Those features are paramount to it's impact.

Over the last week, I had the opportunity to "give" a great deal.  I bought eggs for a stranger in the grocery store check out line on Thanksgiving Day.   I gave out $900 worth of jewelry to three amazing women, one of which re-gifted it, so four ladies were blessed.  And.... $4800 in grants was given out to the first four families that have been approved by Lifesong for Orphans and Altynai's fund!   After months of fundraising, the first of the funds are finally being distributed and by the end of the month, ten more families should be approved!  I want you all to know that other than the eggs, none of the other "gifts" would have been possible if it was not for your incredible generosity.  Isn't that amazing!!!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Whether you participated in one of the first two fundraisers or gave a direct donation, you are making Altynai's Fund a reality and it is already impacting the life of an orphan and their adoptive family.  In fact, here is a fun way to think about it in tangible terms, the $4800 that was "gifted" last week will buy each of the four orphans a one way plane ticket to their new home here in America.  I love that!

To date, the fund has raised a little over $16,000 and as mentioned above, there are14 waiting families that the fund that the fund anticipates assisting.  The initial $16,000 will be divided evenly amongst the applicants so $1200 per family which is a wonderful start. Additional monies donated from this date forward will be distributed based on need.  As you may remember, the anticipated cost to complete the adoptions will be at least another $20,000 per child which is why I set the fundraising goal for the fund at $40,000-45,000.

In an attempt to reach that lofty goal, I have several "events" planned for December.  Starting Dec 1st, I will launch the fund's first online silent auction and there are some amazing items that have been donated.  The Thirty One sale ( www.mythirtyone.com/70174 ) is ongoing through Dec. 8th and just like the recent Silpada sale, the representative is donating her earnings to Altynai's fund ( Thanks Heather!) and of course, the Zazzle  store is up and running at ( http://www.zazzle.com/bringhomethekyrgyz65 ).  The grand finale for this month will start Dec 10th and we will be raffling off a Kindle Fire that has been donated by one of the waiting families!  It should be a lot of fun and hopefully a good deal of money will be raised.  And of course, I have several more children and waiting families to introduce you too!