Thursday, October 31, 2013

Wayne's recap and more pictures of Felicity!

Trip One to Bulgaria
Day One: 
The 11 hour flight to Istanbul from Houston went well.  The food was pretty good for airline food.  I was able to sleep off and on for most of the flight.  I had a 3 hour layover before I boarded the 1 1/2 hour flight to Sofia.  This flight went well also.  My translator/guide was at the airport to pick me up.  I arrived at the Budapest Hotel in Sofia at around 10 pm.
Day 2:
Sunday morning, I relaxed at the Hotel drinking coffee while waiting for my translator to come pick me up to start the 6 hour car ride from Sofia to Felicity’s city.  Needless to say, I dozed off a few times while gazing at the Bulgarian countryside reminiscing about how much the rolling hills and farmland reminded me of North-central Pennsylvania where I grew up.  We arrived in Felicity’s city about 7 o'clock had dinner and tried to get some sleep before meeting Felicity for the first time Monday morning.
Day 3:
Monday morning came and we went to meet Felicity for the first time.  Felicity was brought out of her room clutching a stuffed bunny, so I was pretty hopeful that she would accept the "My First Doll" that was brought as a gift for her to keep until the return visit.  As expected, she was not to certain about who this strange man was that came to see her.  Felicity was pretty happy, laughing with the orphanage workers.  Because it is unseasonable warm she was dressed in a coat and hat and we went outside.  We sat and swung on the swing most of that first visit, trying to get over being nervous meeting for the first time and learning to trust this strange man.  We found that making mouth noises was a great way to break the ice and started a string of different noises to determine which ones Felicity would/could mimic.
For the afternoon visit, I opened the travel case of toys that we brought for her to play.  It was easy to determine that she enjoyed the rattles and other toys that see could hold in one hand.  I introduced her to a little electronic laptop toy that had animals and their sounds.  She was very interested in the toy but needed help figuring out how to use it.  Felicity also quickly found that there was a pen and paper in the folder I was carrying.  She very much acted like she wanted to scribble on the paper, but lost interest when I tried to show her how to use the pen.
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

We met our Matching Grant!!!

We met our Matching Grant!!!

Thank you so much!!!

We still have 1500 more to raise for our payments due when Wayne returns next week.

To Make a Tax Deductible Donation Click Here
 
 
Take a deep breath and get ready for a cuteness overload!

I have more pictures to share - but am quite disorganized - LOL

Look for a big post with lots of pictures and details of Wayne's trip later tonight or tomorrow!
 






 



 

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Felicity and Matching Grant

Thank you, friends! 
 
We raised a portion of our grant yesterday, but still have a ways to go.
 
Here is a sneak peak of what is to come!
 
 
 
 
 
 
We have been given a VERY GENEROUS

matching grant of $1000.00!!!  

This matching grant doubles all donations up to $1000.00!



Donations are tax deductible!  

 
 
 
This church is near her orphanage
 
 
As well as this statue.
 
 

Monday, October 28, 2013

We Are Blessed!!! Felicity is Precious and we have a $1000 Matching Grant

Wayne made it to Felicity's city.  The area is very
pretty and reminds me a little of
Pennsylvania.




Wayne had two precious visits with Felicity today.

 
She is understandably shy, but did warm up to him.
During their morning visit, they played outside on the swing
and for their afternoon visit, they played inside the orphanage. 
She picked toys out of the bag that Wayne brought to play
with. She really seemed to like a Baby Einstein Giraffe Rattle.
 
 
We can't wait for you to see how precious she is!!!!!!
 
 
 
We have been given a VERY GENEROUS
matching grant of $1000.00!!!  
This matching grant doubles all donations up to $1000.00!



Donations are tax deductible! 

 
We have $3600 in fees that are payable in November. 
We really need to meet this grant.  Can you help us?
 
We  have so many pictures to share! 
When the grant reaches the first
$500.00 in donations, we will remove the heart
and add additional pictures to this post. 
 
Our AdoptTogether account needs to reach $2549 for the pictures to be
posted and $3049 to meet the entire grant amount.
 
Every single donation will help!
 
Friends, she is just precious ... wait until you see her. 
Until then, you can look at my handsome hubby ;)
 





Donations are tax deductible!
 

 

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Bulgaria!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wayne made it safely and without delay to Bulgaria!

He spent his first night in Sofia and today, he travels to Felicity's region and will get to meet her tomorrow!


 
The inside of his hotel room.  He said it was small, but well kept.
 
 
The outside of the hotel.

 
 
Views of the area from his room.




 

Friday, October 25, 2013

Amazon Gift Card Winner!





Grace K -- you won!!!!!
 
 
Thank you all for your donations!!!!

$100 MATCHING GRANT!!!!!!!!

In honor of Wayne leaving today, a very sweet friend has offered a

$100 MATCHING GRANT!!!!!!!!


Matching grants are the best because they double your money!!! 

Ten $10 donations would get us there. 

Our AdoptTogether account needs to read $1924 for us to reach the grant. 

Every bit helps!!!  A $5.00 donation will pay for lunch!
 
 

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

TWO DAYS!!!!

Until Wayne is in the air!!!!!!!!
 
Going to see these precious ones.

Please pray for him!
 
 
 
 
We are still short just under 4K for our payments due when he returns  --- you can see the tab at the top of the blog - Adoption Expenses and Fundraising ---- to see where we are as it relates to $$$.

We have received ONE $20.00 donation to this  ... I'd hate to lose money!

 
We have a $50.00 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!
 
For a $5.00 donation you receive one entry to win the gift card
For a $10.00 donation you receive a three entries to win the gift card.
 
Chances to earn extra entries
Blog about us - 2 entries
Share on FB - 1 entry
Tweet - 1 entry
 
 
 
 
Leave your name and email in the comment section to be entered into the drawing!  Let us know if you donated or how you shared.
 
 
 
 
Donations to our Adopt Together account are Tax Deductible.
https://www.adopttogether.org/johnsons


Monday, October 21, 2013

FOUR DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
 
It's getting real!!!!
 
 
Well!!!!!!!  Wayne is packed!!!!!
 
It's hard to believe how quickly Friday will be here!
 
 
 
Toys!!! I'm not sure how much they girls will play with
them, but I packed a lot of toys.  In the videos we saw,
neither girl seemed to really play with toys.
 
 
They are trying to figure out a way to get to got with
Daddy!
 
 
 
 
Ready to head out the door! 
 
We don't have a scale, so I am praying it is
not over the weight limit.
 

Sunday, October 20, 2013

FIVE Days and $50.00 Amazon Giftcard

In five days, Wayne leaves to go meet Trinity and Felicity!!!!!!!
 
We are so excited!  BUT - we are not near being funded.  We have travel expenses, but need to raise some funds for agency and immigration fees.  We need about $4K more - this money is due when Wayne returns from this first trip.
 
In honor of him leaving in 5 days, we are having a five day fundraiser.  Winner will be drawn on Friday night ... after the kids are in bed.
 
We have a $50.00 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!
 
For a $5.00 donation you receive one entry to win the gift card
For a $10.00 donation you receive a three entries to win the gift card.
 
Chances to earn extra entries
Blog about us - 2 entries
Share on FB - 1 entry
Tweet - 1 entry
 
 
 
 
Leave your name and email in the comment section to be entered into the drawing!  Let us know if you donated or how you shared.
 
 
 
 
Donations to our Adopt Together account are Tax Deductible.
https://www.adopttogether.org/johnsons

Serving Others!!!

Today we co-hosted the widows luncheon at church with another couple and my sweet friend and her kids.
  
Our kids do  not have grandparents that they get to spend time with.  My parents are both dead, Wayne's mom is dead too and his dad lives 1200 miles away.  So  ... they are missing a whole generation of blessings from their lives.  There is a certain richness and wisdom that you can only glean from the older generations.  We were blessed with a whole room full of ladies and gentleman today. 


Nathanial asked the blessing and he thanked the Lord for allowing us to serve the way Jesus served His disciples. 
 
What an absolute blessing!!!!  We can't wait to do it again!!!!
 
 
Rolling silverware and napkins
 
 
Serving drinks
 
 
Salads!
 
 
Serving
 
 
Taking drink orders
 
 
Waiting to serve
 
 
 
Preparing plates
 
 
 Joy wrote name tags as the ladies and gentlemen came in the room
 
 
My sweet friend
 
 
More name tags
 
 
Gracie made a sweet friend!
 
 
Faith made a friend too!