Win an iPad!!! Enter Here!!!!

Yes dear readers, you told us you wanted it and now you have it.  The iPad giveaway is back!  We are SO close to being able to bring our sweet Kylie home!  And now, you can help us...

You can enter to win an Apple iPad with Wi-Fi right here on my blog!!

We did this last year and it was a big hit.  A few weeks ago, I polled my readers to see what kind of fundraiser they prefer and hands down, the iPad won!

This time it's going to be a little different...there will be more chances to win.  These giveaways are the best because your chances to win are way higher than anywhere else.  I'm really excited about this so let's get right to the details.

I have a brand new, never-been-opened Apple iPad for one lucky person. You may purchase a ticket (or 2 or 10!) to be entered into the drawing to win this fabulous prize.

How Much are Tickets? Tickets are $10 each or 3 for $25. You get one entry for every ticket you purchase. If you purchase 10 tickets ($100), you will get 10 entries and there's no limit on how many tickets each person may purchase. Ticket purchases are not tax-deductible.

How do I Purchase? To purchase, you can click on the Paypal "donate" button to the right under the heading "Bring Our Little Girl Home". Even if you don't have a Paypal account, you can use any of the major credit cards to pay. Once your payment is made, you will get a confirmation from Paypal and your name will go into the drawing. If you are local, I am accepting cash or check. If for some reason you are unable to use Paypal and don't live in my area, but want to enter, email me and we'll make alternative arrangements.

Who can Enter? Anyone! You do not have to know us to enter. You also do not have to live in the state of Tennessee. If you enter from another state and win, I will ship the iPad (insured) to you.

When is the Drawing? The drawing will be the morning of Saturday, December 17, 2011. What a nice Christmas present this will be for someone! I will video the drawing and have a friend or two there to help me. I'll have the winner posted on my blog by 12 noon on the 17th.  This is a very exciting day and I can't wait to draw the winner!!!!

What's the Catch? There is really no catch. This is simply a quick, easy and hopefully fun way to raise money for our adoption. The only rule to this contest is that I won't draw for a winner until I sell at least 100 tickets. To make sure the drawing happens, you need to a) buy MULTIPLE tickets :) and b) tell EVERYONE you know about this. There will be frequent updates on my Facebook so be sure and repost. Send the link to my blog to everyone you know.

More Ways To Enter!  This time, there are more ways to enter!  You will get 1 additional FREE entry into the drawing for each of the following:

• Post a link to this giveaway on your blog.  Leave your blog link in the comments or email me at the email address below.
• Tweet about the giveaway.  Remember, include @sandysignr in your tweet so I can ensure you receive your additionl entry.
• Paste my blog link in your Facebook status.  Leave a comment on this post or email me to let me know you've done so.
• TELL YOUR FRIENDS!  This one can really add up...for every friend you refer to my giveaway who buys a ticket, I will enter your name in the drawing again.  For example, if my friend Elizabeth tells her friend Jill about the giveaway and Jill buys a ticket, then Elizabeth will get an additional entry.  So if Elizabeth tells 5 friends and they all buy a ticket, that's 5 additional entries!!!!  Your friend MUST tell me when they purchase a ticket that you sent them or else I won't know who to give credit to.  Also, you must have bought at least one ticket yourself to get the friend referral bonus entry!

What Do I Do Now?  ENTER! TELL YOUR FRIENDS! POST ON YOUR BLOG!  FACEBOOK! TWEET! And then ENTER AGAIN! And of course, leave a comment or email me if you have any questions.   My email is sandysignr(AT)charter(DOT)net (replace parens with appropriate punctuation). This is exciting! I can't wait to make someone's Christmas special with a new iPad!

And thank you in advance for your help in bringing our little girl home!

**Note: Purchase is not required for entry.  Tickets are by donation only.  If you wish to enter and do not want to purchase a ticket, put your request in writing to the email address above.  Limit 1.

Fundraising...Poll Results

The results are in...

Most of you would like to see me do another iPad raffle.  Whether we can take that leap (does anyone want to DONATE the iPad???), is yet to be decided, but I really wanted to take a moment to tell you,

THANKS!!!!  for voting!  Whatever we decide, I'm grateful for friends who will support our efforts.  I'm excited to see what God will do and how He will show up.

What Do You Think??? Poll -------->

I am pleased to announce, thanks to some very generous donations lately, we now have enough money to complete our adoption!!!  Praise the Lord!

Now comes the hard part.  We have to actually GET to China!  It's going to take about $7,000 to get the three (and then four) of us airline tickets, hotel rooms, food etc.  We have about $2,000 of that saved.  We have t-shirts that if we sell all of (more to come on that), we'd net about $2,300.  That leaves us a mere $4,300 from our goal.

So we are trying to think of ways we could fundraise the remainder of the money.  We have several ideas that I'd love your input on.

Which fundraiser activity would you rather participate in?  Would you rather pay $5 per chance to win a Kindle or Nook?  What about $10 per chance to win an iPad?  Would you take advantage of a Christmas present wrapping service one day in December?  You'd bring your gift to a location where I'd wrap them and you could pick them up later?  The fee could be a donation, flat fee or per box.  O would you rather just send finanial support and not participate in any of the above?

If you have additional thoughts or comments or ideas, feel free to leave those in the comments.  If by chance you would not participate in anything or don't support the fundraising idea, that's great.  But your snarky comments aren't helpful and won't be published, so don't bother.

Would you please take a minute to answer my poll over there to the right? I'd really appreciate your help.

iPad Giveaway!

No, it isn't time quite yet, but it is certainly close!  We are currently a little over halfway to our goal of 350 tickets.  Thanksgiving week was a very slow week for ticket sales but this week and last has certainly picked up.   

Just to remind you, I'm going to be drawing the winner the morning of December 18...that's NEXT SATURDAY!  I am SO excited!  Next Saturday I'm going to be videoing the drawing of the winner and then I'll post that video to my blog by 12 noon central time.  I've lined up a special guest to help me video and draw and it's going to be super exciting!

With all that said, here are a few things you need to know:

*I am cutting off the drawing at midnight on the 17th.  Whatever is in Paypal or my hand (for those who want to enter in person) when I get out of bed on Saturday morning is it. 

*Also, if the winner is someone for whom I have a phone number, you might get a surprise phone call from me, so if you entered, be sure and keep that phone handy! 

*If you have told me you want to be entered but have not yet given me your money, remind me of this no later than next Friday night so I can enter you.  To date, I have only entered people who have given me money or used Paypal.

*My goal is to reach 350 tickets before drawing.  However, I have decided I will draw on Saturday no matter what number we land at.  Every dime over the purchase price of the iPad (no it wasn't donated...I bought it with my money) is a blessing and so we have felt led to draw regardless.

A special thanks to those of you who entered already.  So many of you have purchased and I can't tell you how humbled I am at the number of people...some total strangers...who have entered to show their support.  A bunch of you don't even care about winning the iPad...you just want to support us.  YOU are playing a part in us bringing Kylie home.  You should feel amazing about that.  I totally think you are amazing.  Each and every single one of you.  Seriously.

To those of you who have not purchased yet:  STOP RIGHT NOW and click on the Paypal link to the right and do it now.  If you don't, you will forget and miss out on the opportunity to win.

Whether you have purchased or not, would you consider doing the following: 

*Posting this on your blog to remind your readers to visit for their chance to win.
*Sharing this link on your Facebook status so your friends can enter.
*Tweeting about this so your followers will come and purchase a ticket.
*Email our blog address out to all your email contacts...

Just think, if you have 300 FB friends and only 1/2 of them purchased just ONE ticket, I would surpass my 350 ticket goal.  Please, it only takes a minute to share the news.

Thanks so much!  I can't wait for next Saturday!!!!

Book Review: Blind Hope

I'm a tiny bit behind on this book review because I had saved it to go with me on vacation, but it was worth the wait!

Blind Hope, written by Kim Meeder and Laurie Sacher, is wonderful book about Laurie and her journey through her broken dreams and the healing that came from rescuing a dog in need.

Without revealing too much of the plot, Laurie's life dreams are shattered when she comes to work for Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch where broken horses and broken children come to find healing.  Laurie ends up rescuing a dog in need but soon realizes that her dog, even though blind,  is rescuing HER.

"As Laurie and her dog, Mia, both learned to follow the lead of a master they couldn't see, Laurie discovered the transforming power of God's grace even for imperfect and selfish people - and she experienced a greater love than she had ever known."

This is the sweetest story and especially touching if you are an animal lover and this book is a TRUE STORY.  It is an easy read.  I started the book when we were leaving the beach and had it finished before we stopped for lunch.

As with all my book reviews, I have a copy to share.  If you are interested, just leave a comment below.  First one to comment gets the book.

If you want to purchase the book, please go here and order...

Another giveaway (not mine)

If you blog, you want to enter this giveaway...