**BIDDING CLOSED**
Bedtime is a good time to sew. (That is, after the kids go to bed.) It’s that special, grab-the-bull-by-the-horns couple of hours in the day that you know is your chance to do what you want to do (even if it’s not sewing) without interruption.
Wednesday night was for sewing. Ryan had some work to do for a presentation which happened to involve spray glue, presentation boards and lots of x-acto-ing. I gave him some space in my sewing room to work and got giddy about the idea of sewing and enjoying Ryan’s company all at the same time!
But, I didn’t have any open projects. No outstanding orders. This rarely happens, so I got to pick what I wanted to do. I sat down in front of my file cabinet and fingered through my folders of patterns.
I found an oldie but a goodie (and by oldie, I mean it’s maybe 2 years old) and without a real distinct vision, set to work pulling fabrics and cutting out pieces.
The pattern was my friend Nicole Owens’ Softie Doll Tutorial. I used it a couple of Christmases ago to make dolls for my nieces and a friend and hadn’t really used it at all since.
I got to thinking about Nikki as I chose my fabrics and instead of pulling my usual light brown felt, I somehow decided to grab the dark brown instead. And instead of yellow or brown for the hair – I chose the darkest black I had.
Nikki and her family are in the exciting final stages of adopting a little boy from Ethiopia. They have four biological children and they are longing for this sweet boy to bless their home and join their family hopefully very soon.
I also have two sweet girlfriends who, with their families, are in the very early stages of Ethiopian adoption. The Goulds and the Elliots are raising funds, notarizing papers, being fingerprinted, and praying for their children whose faces they have yet to see.
I guess I just have adoption on my mind because as I assembled this little doll without any clear aim it became more and more evident that he or she did not have a Mama yet. I don’t know who I made it for, but it was definitely for somebody. As I stitched the hair lines on it’s head and the little heart on it’s bottom, I realized that this doll was sort of an orphan too.
It needs a home.
I honestly didn’t even know where I was going with this post when I began it, but as I write I wonder if you all could help me find a home for him/her? I know the Owens family has a flight to Ethiopia for their court date coming up in May and I also know from walking with my sister through the adoption process that there are just so many expenses, especially near the end.
I would like to auction Rosie here to raise money – even just a little – for the Owens family. (I have been calling her Rosie because that’s what Oliver and I decided we could call her last night, but to be honest, you can see that the doll really could be a boy or a girl, so you can choose. Maybe he’s a Ruben!)
I’d like to begin the bidding at $5.
(Oh goodness, I haven’t even cleared this with Nikki. I hope she doesn’t mind!)
This will be pretty informal and I’m not picky about the increments in which you increase your bids, but just be sure that when you leave a comment to bid that it’s higher than the bid before it.
The auction will close on Sunday evening at 5pm and the winning bidder will be able to PayPal the money straight to the Owens family. (pending their approval!) And Rosie (or whatever you name him/her) will be shipped lovingly and directly from my home to yours.
Stepping out on faith here in the name of the One who has adopted us all as His sons and daughters.
Let’s see what we can do!
{Also: the doll is 21″ tall from the top if it’s blue gnomey hat to the bottom of it’s red squishy socks!}
**and also, please be sure that I have a way to reach you! Sanks!
**Update**
Praise the Lord and silly me for not asking first, but I contacted Nicole shortly after hitting “publish” and she and her family are”pretty close to having all the estimated expenses covered… though we can’t be all the way sure until we know exact travel costs. i’ve been asking people not to donate anything else to us… since we’re close enough that i’m really not worried about an overwhelming deficit, and i definitely wouldn’t want to end up with anything left over.”
Nikki has asked if it would be possible for us to instead give the money raised through the auctioning of this doll to another adopting family and since I mentioned earlier the two families in my church that are in the early stages of the process (the Goulds and the Elliots), let’s donate the money to the two of them!
{Also, I have contacted the current high bidder and have received approval from her to go ahead with this plan} :)
>What an adorable doll. I bid $5!
>Love it! I will bid $10!
>She is adorable. I bid 15.00
>lovely. lovely. we'd provide her with an abundance of canadian cuddles here. i bid $20!
>$20. still amazed at that hair-stitching!
>… or maybe $25 :)
>$30… she is precious! Hattie Grace would love Rosie!!!
>I'm going to up the ante here… I'm raising the bar to $100. :)
>I am unable to bid but I wanted to comment. The fact that someone was willing to up the ante to $100 from $30 just astounds me. This is the most selfless and incredible thing I think I have ever seen. Congrats to the lucky family who gets this precious doll and good job Raechel for helping a family in need!!!
>This just made me cry a little. Rosie is beautiful. Love you. :)
>I love you, Raechel!
>so sweet, raechel. you touch me with your heart for others and i hope i can be like you when i grow up and become a mother. and that's not something i say lightly. :)
>Rosie is adorable. Since you have a lull in projects for the moment, I would love a little softie doll for my little doll…if you are up for it. She would be so cute sitting in an Easter basket!
>I will bid $150 – love what you are doing!!!!!! Have had friends that have gone through the adoption process and know it is a long one…….
>Jennilyn – WOW!!!! thank you! do you have an email address for me in case you win (you can just emil it to me – my email link is on my sidebar).
Speechless.
>I am not able to contribute more than $150 (which is awesome, by the way)however, as I was sitting in mass today I was thinking about how I could contribute as well. I would like to mail you/them a check for them to use at their discretion. My true goal: that others will follow suit and make a contribution. It would be nice to double that $150 and give the family $300. Let's do it! (with your permission, of course)
>Mr. Nordmann – this is a fantastic and generous offer! Both the Gould and Elliot families have PayPal or ChipIn buttons on their blogs. Feel free to pledge money here and you can give it directly to them (I think you can include a note with your donation if you like).
Yes! Anyone and everyone! Please feel free to join this effort to raise money for these families and this cause! Even if you can't beat the top bid – any amount you can give is great!
>I've never been MORE excited to lose an auction!!!