A HUGE thank you!

Ella's Puzzle Fundraiser is complete!

Ella's complete puzzle!

Ella's puzzle was finished yesterday (January 5).  It was almost a little bittersweet to finish it!  It has been such a fun project to work on this puzzle and see people's excitement as it got closer and closer to being complete.  It just exploded over the weekend.  It went from 41 pieces left on Thursday to two left on Saturday night.

The back of the puzzle.  It looks SO COOL.

The most exciting part of this puzzle has been seeing where all the pieces have come from.  I started this journey a little (okay, a lot) nervous about IF I would be supported.  I have received nothing but support.  I received donations from as far away as Togo, West Africa (Hi Kelly!) and as close as my family.  I received donations from my best friends and from people I don't even know.  There are people on this puzzle I've known my entire life and that I've known for a year (or less).  It's just incredible.  There were 115 donors total for Ella's puzzle, but I wanted to see what "categories" the supporters fell into.  The breakdown is as such (a couple people were counted in two categories):

Family: 12

Friends: 43

Friends/Family of Family/Friends: 20

Co-Workers: 19

Church Family: 8

Former Students/Families: 3

Adoptive Families/Adoptees: 12

Every single name I wrote on the back of that puzzle (and yes, I wrote every single name, I am a bit obsessive about handwriting and it all had to match!) was special, but there was something extra special about writing an adoptee's name on the back of a puzzle piece.  Six of them are not home yet.    

I started this puzzle with the goal of raising enough money to pay my first agency fee.  With the help of some other donations that came in and my savings, I was able to pay the fee in mid-December.  The remaining funds from the puzzle are going toward paying my home study fee and my USCIS filing and fingerprinting fee (which equals immigration approval to bring a foreign-born child into the country).  I have been so blessed by the financial support - I am not going to pretend that wasn't part of the goal!  But the overwhelming joy and expressions of excitement and love for Ella (and me!) have been what really have made this so fun.  There are so many neat stories that have come from participating in this puzzle. Each family represented has a connection to Ella and there is a neat story involved with each piece.

So thank you SO much to each of you who participated.  I am just so grateful for people who are so kind and generous and who want to help bring Ella home.  I could not be on this journey without your support.

I wish I could pinpoint a certain date for everyone for when I will travel to China/Ella will come home, although it is looking pretty on track to be October as of right now.  (I am okay with that.  Or as okay with that as one can be.  It is just part of it.)  I will be doing a couple of other fundraisers in the future (one I mentioned is my niece selling scarves to raise money for Ella's adoption, and I will post about that soon as it seems a lot of people like and want scarves!).  I will post about the fundraisers in the future, but for now, allow me to say it one more time.

THANK YOU.  :)