End of the Month Celebration Give Away

I arrived home today to this:

We opened them to find this:

Oh...the fun of it!

The shirts look awesome!

The onesies are adorable!

Some new and different key fobs that are so chic!

And Tervis tumblers leaving, even me, speechless!

(Note: $6.95 glasses)

So...I am refreshed and excited. I can't wait to package some of this gear up and get it mailed out to you! Fundraising really can be fun!

Thanks to all of you who found us on facebook or left me an encouraging comment.

Christy K. ,you are the winner of our new (-1) shirt. (white, unisex cut)

Orphans

minus 1.

Minus 1 Project, your family's or mine, the goal and result are the same.

Millions wait.

Imagine if Minus 1 Projects caught on.

minus 1

minus another 1

and on and on...

Minus 1 Project...

support.

share.

encourage.

(American Apparel: 3/4 sleeve burnout fabric, vintage worn-in feel, AwEsOmE!)

(Guildan 100% cotton unisex cut)

SALE IS ON.

And not only until our Project is complete

but for as long as there are families willing to journey through a Project of their own.

www.gotloveadopt.com

Lessons

Child's lesson: never leave your belongings (esp. your beloved bike helmet) on the ground, in the drive way, behind the car.

Parent's lesson: always walk behind the car to check for child's belongings before backing out.

Celebration GiVeAwAy!!!

What's to celebrate?

See the post below...I'm grumpy. I'm weary. I'm tired of waiting.

I really try not to wish away the days. I know that they go by all too quickly.

One look at my almost teen son and I'm reminded.

But at the same time in adoption wait land it is great when the months pass quickly.

And so here we are at the end of September.

That is reason to celebrate!!

Here's my thought:

Let's celebrate each passing month with a give away until our littlest one is home. (I know many of you out there are waiting, too.) On the last day of the month, we'll give something away.

I'll try to be creative in your eligibility requirements,

but this week...I got nothing,

so

if you are on facebook, go find and like our store page..you're entered.

Minus 1 Project (-1)

(has the car decal picture)

And to not discriminate...if you are not a facebook user, just leave me a comment or email telling me you like our store and you're entered!

I really, really hope we have our new design this week and can give that shirt away.

The Wait

"God can use the waiting time to mold us into the parents He needs us to be for the children He is sending our way."

~D. Gray

I'm tired of waiting.

In racing, they refer to it as hitting the wall.

I've hit the wall in this adoption wait before and bounced back.

I'm sure I'll do it again, but today I'm just tired of waiting.

Baby, oh, babies...

There are some families out there whose littlest one has been left out...

but not any longer!

By request/suggestions "got love? adopt." onesies are HERE.

And to add to the cuteness...the colors are the same as the adult shirts.

I cannot wait to see some mother/daughter and father/son pictures!!

Available in 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and 2T (24 months).

Don't forget our baby bibs, too.

This is one of the sweetest pictures I've been sent. Drawn by a waiting sister (cleft lip and all)...

Miscellaneous Monday

Monday, Monday....

My random thoughts and happenings over the past week.

1. Our school is up and running--Ethan (7th), Benjamin (5th), Lindsey (PreK), Lucille (PreK)

I had to use their proper names since our school is extremely formal. Note how I didn't post a picture of them in their jammies on the couch doing school because that wouldn't be acceptable here at our academy. :)

2. Having your child come upstairs from the play room to tell you that her socks are wet is never a good thing. After 2 days with no running water and a large plumbing bill, we have this:

Thankfully we did get some reimbursement from our home owners insurance.

3. I'm placing the order for the long and short sleeve brown/pink shirts today. I'll be ordering extra to stock our store (closet) shelves. If you have already ordered-thank you-your shirt should be on its way to you next Monday.

4. Speaking of the store shelves, have you seen these?

I may or may not have been spotted at church yesterday wearing this one. Really--I didn't wear it but I was tempted. It is so pretty--see the small footprint charm?

5. I am determined that this is the week we'll be adding our Minus 1 shirts--We'll post the pictures here. Two designs-one great message! :) Be sure to find our store on Facebook. Look up Minus 1 Project (-1) (should see the car decal picture). We'll be choosing a winner from those who like us. :)

6. We have a new furry friend. Smokey, and how he came to be in our house, will be getting his own post one day soon.

7. Lindsey is famous for hijacking our camera. Here are some shots of Lucy taken by her at the boys' last track meet.

8. My $6.95 glasses are scheduled to arrive today!

9. I have a Scentsy fundraiser going right now to raise money for Henan Kids International--a foster home in China. If you have thought of trying Scentsy, now would be a great time!

10. I'll leave you with two assignments this week. It is school hours after all.

--If you are on Facebook, go like our store.

--Visit our store, www.gotloveadopt.com. Pick out one thing to purchase now or later to give as a gift...only 97 days until Christmas (just had to throw that in there).

--and one more thing: have a great week!

mruretlebistv unscrambled =

TERVIS TUMBLER

New to our store shelves!

"got love? adopt." 16oz. Tervis tumblers

-guaranteed for life

-reduces condensation and rings

-keeps hot beverages hot and cold beverages cold

-microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe

~to learn more visit the Tervis tumbler site HERE.

$18.95

The tumblers are ready to order today from our Yahoo store:

www.gotloveadopt.com.

These are in print at the Tervis tumbler factory right now...unfortunately they won't be ready to mail out to you for about 4-5 weeks. (Custom made tumblers take a while.)

There is a limited number of these. We are hoping that they will be HUGE sellers. If we sell enough in the next month we will be able to put in another order that would be delivered just in time for the holiday season. Don't you think this would be a perfect stocking stuffer?

Start your shopping now--we have no guarantee that we will order again.

Oh, and by the way, Julie M.--you're the winner! I thought I would just sneak that in here!

(A huge thank you to all who played and guessed. There were 11 correct guessers. We had a whole lot of fun reading them--you all were very creative and inventive! And aren't you glad that it ISN'T a thermal vest, slumber trivet, rivet stumbler or a lumber trivet????)

When you are shopping our STORE, if you purchase another item with your Tervis tumbler, we won't hold it until the tumblers come in...we will happily mail out all other items within a week of ordering, just say'n!

Charades...

for the last two letters:

13 letters

2 words

**All guesses must be emailed, takva73@gmail.com or messaged (Facebook) by 10:00AM tomorrow.

The correct answer (picture) and winner will be posted Friday (9-16) @ noon.

See last Sunday's post for complete rules.

Get in the game!

Uninvited

The other evening, while Tim and Ben were gone, I set out in the back yard to tame thiS:

not the Boy, just his hair.

When we finished, I called the girls inside to get cleaned up for bed. It wasn't until later that I glanced out the kitchen door to find this:

Apparently, I missed my invitation to the pizza, applesauce, soy milk party that went on at the sIde of the house!

**The capital mixed-in letters are not my new glasses, but clues to a guessing game. If you missed Sunday's post, go read it and get in the game!! A wonderful mystery prize awaits.

What could be...

finer than,

lunch with a panda, monkEy, dog, snake, turtLe and your besT friend?

**give away game in progress, scroll down 2 post to see rules and regulations.

The ultimate toy box!

I'm usually not one to post everyday but due to the game rules (see post below), I am foRced to do a post each day this week.

I decided to share with you what my family coUld have won at breakfast this morning.

According to the mini-wheats box we "could have instantly won one of the hottest toys from the ultimate toy box":

1. 55" flat screen tv

2. mp3 player

3. kinect for the xbox 360

4. mountain bike

5. disney xbox game bundle

6. e-tablets

I'm not sure what was more disheartening:

1. we didn't win any prizEs

2. they consider a flat screen tv and mp3 player toys

3. I don't even know what an e-tablet is!

--Remember to read the post below! You don't want to miss your chance to possibly win our newest fundraising item....it rocks!! :)

New item = New game

We have a new item to add to our fundraising.

Friday I received the artwork.

I immediately approved the image because it is gReat!!

So great, that I am hesitant to give one away because I think they are going to be a big hit and there are a limited number.

But, I really like doing the gaMes and I think it is fun to give away a prize to those who endure my silly antics.

So.....here goes the game instructions:

1. Each day, starting today (see above), there will be several letters in each post that pop out from the others.

2. By Thursday's post all the letters will have been given. Your job is to unscramble them to spell the name of our newest item.

3. You may guess as many times as you would like to but guesses need to be sent via email, takva73@gmail.com or messaged through Facebook NOT left in the comment section for all to see!

4. On Friday, around noon, we'll post the winning name and the picture of our newest item. (Guesses need to be in to me by 10:00 AM Friday so we can put all the correct guessers in a pot and draw the winner.)

I hope you all have a great week. I'll try to concentrate on our school and not obsess with checking email for your responses.

I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Happy Unscrambling!

**Remember to find our Minus 1 Project (-1) page on Facebook. We will be giving away one of our new t-shirts--with the new (-1) design soon--be sure to "like" our project!

New glasses

It all began the weekend I spent with my sister. She was sporting some very fashionable looking glasses. My glasses, however, are from the 90's, not so fashionable and broken. I haven't even searched for new ones because I only wear them at night and early morning--the rest of the day I wear my contacts.

Even if we weren't in the throws of don't-even-think-of-buying-nonessentials, I don't think I could justify spending $75 plus for a new pair since I wear them so little.

But WAIT...$6.95, maybe!

Yes...her cute, thick, rectangular glasses were only $6.95, lenses included.

Can you guess what we did next?

We uploaded my picture in Zennioptical.com, narrowed the search to only the $6.95 pairs and started trying them on.

I placed my order. (I had just recently been to the eye doctor to renew my contacts and had my glasses prescription and pd #--both needed.)

Confession: I splurged on two pairs. One black, one red for a grand total of $18.34.

Now, if my next post looks like this:

fkdlaierUISNDRI7873078o7866%&&^*(&fjlstuldl;lksdjeioaNLZNLJIO EIROAEE9838293%##%AWE%$

you'll know it wasn't such a great deal after all!

I'll let you know.

Larger project, same small production

If you haven't heard by now, Minus 1 Project just got bigger!! So big that we needed a domain name to contain it...actually two. You can now shop the Minus 1 Project store at

www.gotloveadopt.com

and

www.minus1project.com

All this occurred for several reasons.

The main one being that you all like our "got love? adopt." gear. Thank you! The support and encouragement we have received with each new added item has been phenomenal! More than we ever expected. We found that the blog space (sidebar) was getting a bit crowded and hard to follow--what a great problem to have, huh? :)

We have several new items (not sure how much to share...might jeaprodize future guessing games) and designs in the works. We are hoping to continue to add products from other more-crafty-than-I fundraising families, like the key rings, key fobs and necklaces.

And maybe the REAL reason: We want to raise the money needed for an international adoption. We want other families to be encouraged and inspired to start their own Minus 1 Project. To decide up front, we will do everything it takes to bring our child home, to let there be minus 1 orphan in the world, to show a child they are worth the sacrifice and work it takes to pay their ransom...you get the idea.

So you will start to see some changes here at the Minus 1 Project blog. Eventually over the next few weeks we will remove all of our paypal buttons from the blog. You'll just be left with our family adventures and an occasional emotional/inspirational post written straight from my heart. :) And, of course, I'll share when we are adding new stuff or having a sale or giveaway.

The Yahoo store is certainly a larger project, but we are keeping the same small, personal feel.

~Our workers and production line will remain the same.

Here are two of our devoted workers, in pajamas sill, working on our thank you notes that are included in every order. Starting in about a week all orders placed from the store site will include our personally, no-two-are-alike designed "thank you"s and a small gift.

~Our store room will remain as crowded and messy as ever!

(wish those license plates were legal in Va.--isn't that over the top fun?!)

~Shipping will continue to give the store manager a much needed solo outing to the post office and occasionally a Diet Coke fountain soda.

So with all these changes going on...I hope that my followers and friends will remain the same!

(side note: if you are a Facebooker...go and "like" our Minus 1 Project (-1) page. You'll be ahead of the others for the next give away!!)

Key chain/ fob, jewelry, and a domain name, oh my!

Key Chain

Key Fobs

Jewelry

Domain Name

www.gotloveadopt.com

Minus 1 Project store is open.

(Still under construction..but couldn't wait to share!)

We will be adding two new t-shirt designs soon.

Oh, yea!

The correct color combo guess...

BROWN and PINK

The newest addition to our Minus 1 Project fundraising.

Chesnut colored Guildan soft-style 100% ring spun cotton (preshrunk) t-shirt.

One of the softest shirts around!!

I spotted this pink fade on a different shirt and loved it. It is very soft, feminine and eye catching. We had it designed on the softest, pretty brown shirt we could find--thank you Advertising Authorities! Can you tell I am just a bit excited about it??

Available to order today. We will place the order in the next few weeks and all shirts will be ready to mail out by the end of the month--but I think sooner.

Short sleeve, soft-style chestnut and pink "got love? adopt." t-shirt---$20

Long sleeve, soft-style chestnut and pink "got love? adopt." t-shirt--$25

Price includes shipping.

THIS WEEKEND ONLY (until midnight Sunday) ORDERS OVER $35 WILL INCLUDE A FREE BLACK "GOT LOVE? ADOPT. 147 MILLION ORPHANS" TOTE!!!

I enjoyed reading all the guesses and filed away some great color combo ideas! (loved the camo idea, Heather!) I'm so glad to have blogging friends who like to play guessing games--it is really fun for me.

THE WINNERS:

Barb E.-had the first correct guess and took home a free "got love?" t-shirt.

Faith E.-took the gamble and changed her answer after reviewing a spread sheet with color combos--truthfully, I saw it!-her name was picked (out of the two) to win the new design.

Return here Sunday for a sneak peek at some other new fundraising items, complete new design and a new way to shop!