Want $10.00?

Awhile back, I wrote about a website I found called Ebates where you can get a percentage of your online purchases back as cash when you start your online transaction for hundreds of retailers on the Ebates website. Usually, when you sign up, you get a $5.00 bonus, but right now, they are giving away $10.00 when you sign up. It's really a very easy way to earn some cash back for online purchases you are going to make anyway. I always check Ebates to see if the retailer I am purchasing from is on their website, and if it is, I just continue my transaction through Ebates to get my cash back--easy as pie! If you shop online, you really owe it to yourself to check it out! Who couldn't use a few extra bucks? Click here to find out more!

My Sister

My youngest sister and her husband are currently in Haiti spending time with their two newest sons. Haitian adoption is quite unpredictable these days, so they have no idea when they will be seeing their sons again and finalizing the adoption. You can read about their time in Haiti, and see darling photos of my newest nephews at my sister's adoption blog. I hope you check it out and leave her an encouraging comment. I know that it will be very hard for them to leave their boys next week...please pray for them!

Just for Fun...

Some of you know I love to enter giveaways in the blogosphere, and I have won quite a few fun prizes along the way. I also love purses, so when I saw this giveaway, I thought I should let you all in on it. Handbag Planet is a new website launch that will be selling designer-inspired handbags at a fraction of the cost. Their handbags will cost between $30 and $80 when they launch. To get the word out, they are having a 24 hour giveaway on October 15, their launch date. You can sign up for free here and choose the handbag you would like to try and win. It's as simple as that! So if you like handbags, and are feeling a bit lucky, check it out!

Prayer Works...Keep Praying!

For those of you who read my last entry, I hope you have gone back to revisit Susannah via her mother's blog...she is a darling little girl who will soon be home in the US, thanks to a miraculous recovery and change of Chinese official hearts...prayer works!

So...let's keep on praying! This time, I would like to ask you to pray for my sister and brother-in-law, Stephanie and Pedro Garcia, who leave at 2:30 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday) morning for Haiti to visit for 10 days with their two little soon-to-be-adopted sons. You can read all about their experiences (provided they have some connectivity in Haiti!) on my sister's blog, www.iansadoption.blogspot.com. Pray for safety, good health, and a wonderful time with their sons. Thanks!

Finally, read this to see how God is working to provide for our adoption expenses, one need at a time. God is faithful!

Urgent Prayer Request

Please pray for this family in China! They need a miracle...many miracles...to bring their little daughter Susannah home. They traveled to China to adopt their daughter, not knowing that she was very sick and near death in an antiquated hospital. You can read their blog here...let's pray them all home!

Adoption Holiday Gift Fundraiser Updated Below...

"Good Fortune" Ornament

9/12/08 Update: You can now order much more than these ornaments and support our adoption efforts at the same time! All items for sale are so unique and would make one-of-a-kind gifts for family and friends. There is jewelry, tableware, art work, and so much more...visit

http://holidayadoptionfundraiser.blogspot.com/

and check out the links on the top right hand side for two slideshows full of gift ideas! As always, when you order, remember to reference our family so that we get the profit for your purchase. Thanks for supporting us, and other adoptive families, in this way!

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Chinese artisans are world renown for their intricate artwork. The ornament shown above is one of several ornaments you can purchase to help us in our quest to adopt from China. These ornaments are painted on the inside, a technique that has been perfected in Chinese handiwork. In addition to "good fortune", you can choose ornaments containing the Chinese characters for "peace", "love", and "double happiness". Click here to check them all out! The way this works is you place an order from the website, and designate "The Fisher Family" as the beneficiary of your order. At the end of the sale, we will receive the profit from all sales where we have been designated, as well as a portion of the proceeds that may not have been specifically designated to any one family. There are many families participating in this fundraiser--you can read all about it on the website. These ornaments would make very unique and beautiful Christmas gifts, but you want to order early, as they do come directly from China and last year we sold out. There are a couple of specials running in September which you can also read about on the website. Thanks for taking the time to check this out and for helping us on our journey to Sophia in China!

Thousand Words

Making beautiful (?) music together!

My 100th Post...A Wonderful Day of Non-Labor

Today is Labor Day in the USA...the unofficial end to summer, set aside to honor the hard-working citizens of our country (at least I think so!) Typically, school starts after Labor Day, but in today's society, many children, including my own, were back in school last week, so today was a school holiday...already! We enjoyed the quintessential Labor Day picnic with friends, including the impromptu softball game with the insatiable male egos that diminished into moans and groans as the bodies reminded the minds of their real ages...you know how that goes! Dave limped home with a sore calf muscle that he hopes he can walk on tomorrow to go back to work...and I know he wasn't the only one! Jonathan and Sabastian kept up with the "big guys" (or "old guys" depending on how you look at it!) and were non-the-worse-for-wear it seemed, after the big game. Benjamin was the picture of youthful boyhood, dirty and sweaty, chasing two puppies around the park and playing on the swings and merry-go-round, as happy as a lark. Nathaniel faired pretty well, except for missed naps which resulted in a pretty grumpy fellow come 5 p.m. when we departed! All in all we had a great day of non-laboring with our dear friends and their family. Who could ask for more?