Vacationland Giveaway!!

Our move is coming up quickly (TWO AND A HALF WEEKS!!), and we want to have a bit of fun along the way.    We're driving almost 3000 miles from one side of the country (AZ) to the other (ME).   Now, with three kids and two dogs in the car with Mike and I, the idea of this kind of drive is a bit scary, I'll admit.   That's a LONG time to be crammed into a minivan with that many people (and canines!).  

So, we want to share the fun with you guys -- and in the process, help Peter come home!   Want to join in?   Of course you do!    Let's get started.

Close your eyes.

What do you picture when you hear the word "Maine?"

If you're like us, you probably picture:

Ahhh, rocky shore lines

Or maybe a few of these guys:

MOOSE!!

Or maybe a certain boot comes to mind:

We love our Bean's!

But my best guess for the image that popped into your mind?    One of these rascals:

Yummmm.....LOBSTAH!

How would you like to have a dinner of four of those yummy guys.......on us?!?!?

We're going to give away a dinner of 4 Maine lobsters, shipped fresh (and live) to your door....all for helping us have some fun on our drive back to Maine.    

Here's how it will work:

This giveaway is going to be part of our current puzzle fundraiser.   Your entry will not only get you a chance to receive our gift of a true Maine dinner, but will also get you into the running for the MacBook we're currently giving away!   It's a true two-for-one kind of thing, with every chance helping us bring Peter home.   

In addition, we still have this awesome hat, made by a friend of the family, that will find its way to one of you guys after 25 puzzle pieces are spoken for (we're sitting at 131 puzzle pieces right now).   

As an added incentive, we are asking everyone who donates for a puzzle piece to help us create a scavenger hunt for our three boys to complete on our way back to Maine.   We'll look for your item, take a picture of the boys with it, and update the blog with the pictures once we get out East.  (With any luck, we can update along the road, but I can't make any promises - we're not sure what our internet access will be like!).

Here are the official rules:

To enter our giveaway, you must do one of the following:

- Donate $10 to our Reece's Rainbow account (tax deductible), in exchange for a piece of Peter's puzzle.   The link can be found on the right hand side of our blog.  This will get you entered into the lobster giveaway as well as the Macbook giveaway.  Each $10 increment will get you one puzzle piece, and one entry into the lobster giveaway as well as an entry into the Macbook giveaway.

-  Donate $10 to our personal paypal account (not tax deductible), in exchange for a piece of Peter's puzzle.  The link can be found on the right hand side of our blog.  This will get you entered into the lobster giveaway as well as the Macbook giveaway.  Each $10 increment will get you one puzzle piece, and one entry into the lobster giveaway as well as an entry into the Macbook giveaway.

Doing either of these things will allow you the chance to add an item to our "Great American Road Trip Scavenger Hunt."  Simply leave a comment on this post with your name, the fact that you donated, and the item you'd like to add to our scavenger hunt.    (You can also add this item into the message part of your paypal donation, if you use the paypal link).   We will find the item along our 3000 mile road trip, take a picture, and make sure it goes on the blog.  Make these items creative and fun - we want this road trip to be as entertaining as possible!!

There is also a way to enter into the giveaway without donating any money.  To do this, you must:

- Share this blog post via some sort of social media.   Email it, share it on Facebook, or Twitter, or any similar site.   Comment below, making sure to leave your name and how you shared it.   Tagging us on Facebook will not count - you need to leave a comment below.  This will get you entered into the lobster giveaway and the Macbook giveaway.

There is a catch.

This is a time-sensitive giveaway.

In order for this to work, we must meet a very important goal:

The giveaway will end the day before we leave Arizona.   This means that at midnight (PST), on September 25th, we will stop accepting any entries or donations for this particular lobster giveaway.

Are you ready?   Let's start sharing!!   Get your name on a puzzle piece now, give us a fun item to look for on our drive, and give us the opportunity to treat you to a Maine lobster dinner!!

Let's get this show on the road!!

(FYI:   150 puzzle pieces spoken for will cover the entire cost of our homestudy update.   Can we get that accomplished by the time we get to Maine?  Let's try!!)

*******

Drumroll please......

We're finally all moved in, after a little bit of moving truck chaos (the truck couldn't make it down our new long, dirt driveway, so they ended up having to get a UHaul truck and shuttle it down said driveway.....all in the soaking rain!  Poor guys got a GOOD tip from us!).  

Now our house is starting to come back together, and we're trying to get things in order for our home study update visit, which is tomorrow morning.   It doesn't have to be perfect (the social worker knows we just moved), but it definitely has to give her an idea of our home, Peter's new environment, and our plans for once he comes home.   We've been working around the clock to make that happen!

In a bit of update news - we did finally receive our questions from Peter's country, and have answered them and they've been sent back already.   They were exactly what we expected, and were pretty easy to answer.  There wasn't anything that really surprised us in the list, which was good.

........and now the moment you've all been waiting for!

PICTURES!  (heehee, not really - that'll be another post.  I have our scavenger hunt pictures uploading now so we can let you all see how we did).

But in the real news......It's LOBSTER TIME!

All of the entries are in, and Random.org has popped out a number...

As a HUGE thank you for helping with the scavenger hunt and our move, a dinner of 4 fresh, Maine lobsters is getting sent to......

MAUREEN GRIFFIN!  Woot!   Maureen, if you could just send me your shipping address here , I will get those lobsters ordered and on their way!

Congrats, Maureen!!  I hope you enjoy your taste of Vacationland!  :-)

....

......

.........But wait!  There's more!

Thanks to the generosity of our wonderful friends, Johnny and Alison, and their matching funds, we've had a great flood of donations come into both our Paypal account and our Reece's Rainbow fund.   We've been brought to tears as we've seen Peter's puzzle jump from 140 puzzle pieces spoken for to 227!   (And this is BEFORE we add in the matching funds - amazing!).

Because of those puzzle pieces being spoken for.....we get to give away the Hello Kitty hat!

Remember this beauty?  

Random.org was put to work once more and the winner of this awesome handmade hat is....

CHARLES SMITH!  Woot!

Congrats, Charles!  :-)  Send me your new address here and I'll get it in the mail for you right away!

Thank you all for your generous and loving support - we definitely could tell you were all cheering us on as we drove from one corner of the country to the other!

Watch out for the scavenger hunt pictures.....and our next hat to giveaway!  It's football season - I'm pretty sure some of you will really like our next hat!  

********

Lobsterfest!

We don't really have much in the way of news, but wanted to share some pictures we saw last week.  Our lobster giveaway winner received her taste of Maine last weekend, and it looks like it was very much enjoyed!   So happy to see the smiles in the pictures and again, so very grateful for your support on our adoption journey!  

Who's ready for some lobster?

I can't help it.   Seeing lobster be cooked will forever make me think of Sebastian from The Little Mermaid

Preparing the feast

Yummmmm!!!

*******

A couple of non-Peter-related items of importance:

Remember Malcolm?   His parents are currently in-country AT.THIS.MOMENT meeting their little boy.  He's a gem - absolutely adorable and they are even more in love with him than before.  Please say a prayer for their safety and continued success of their trip.  Thanks!

And last, but definitely not least, please go visit our friend Kara's blog and check out her giveaway to bring Nico home.   I want to meet this rascal as soon as possible, so let's all rally around her and help to bring him home!   You could even win an iPad in the process - woot!