The Light at the End of the Tunnel

There is a light shining bright at the end of the tunnel leading us to Ethiopia and Amente and Soresa!!  The U.S. Embassy cleared us on Tuesday and we have an appointment set for Wednesday, July 3rd.  We are so excited to be on our way tomorrow to DC and then on to Ethiopia.  Can’t wait to have those boys back in my arms again!

Trenton and Garrett are seeing the light at the end of their fundraising tunnel, too.  They have raised over $3,500 for their plane tickets to Ethiopia!  Who knew so much money was to be earned in chicken farming and necklace sales.  Seriously, a huge thank you to all our friends and family who gave donations well above what the eggs and necklaces are worth.  It is a priceless gift for Trenton and Garrett to be able to travel to Ethiopia to meet their new brothers.

On another note…we have been thinking about “American” names for Amente and Soresa ever since meeting them 3 months ago.  When we asked them if they wanted American names, Soresa answered “Yes” right away and Amente shrugged his shoulders like he didn’t care.  We were wanting to find strong, unique Biblical names like Titus.  However, it has been a struggle this time around to pinpoint what we wanted to name them.  Believe me, we have been through every genealogy in the Bible!  I think we have finally settled on names that just happen to be the same first initial of their Ethiopian names.  Amente will get to choose between his given name or Asher.  Asher means “happy” and is one of the twelve sons of Israel.   Soresa will be Silas.  He was a friend to Paul as was Titus.  I’m sure he will be our Titus’ friend, too.:)

Thanks for all of your prayers and words of encouragement while we travel this week.  We especially ask for prayers for safe travels and the beginning of a strong bond with Amente and Soresa (Asher and Silas).

Myrtle Beach Condo Auction Fundraiser Winner

Congratulations to Brigette Stapleton of Newport News, VA for winning our Myrtle Beach Condo Auction Fundraiser!  Brigette’s winning bid was $700.  We want to not only congratulate Brigette but also thank her for her generous donation to our adoption of Titus.

A huge thank you also goes out to our friends, Jeff & Karen Omer, for offering up their Myrtle Beach Condominium for this fundraiser.  Obviously, this would not have been possible were it not for their generous offer.

Last but not least, thanks to all of you that help spread the word throughout Facebook.  The fact that a friend of a friend that we have never met is now supporting us in our adoption process, is truly amazing and humbling! We sincerely appreciate all the support and prayers of all of our friends past and present that are joining us on this adoption journey!  THANK YOU!!

Myrtle Beach Condo Fundraiser Auction Bids

Below are the most recent bids received on the Myrtle Beach Condo Auction Fundraiser.  For more information on the auction or condo, please click here.

–  $700:  3/24/12 at 4:06pm

–  $650:  3/24/12 at 8:29am

–  $600:  3/23/12 at 10:54pm

–  $500:  3/23/12 at 8:00pm

–  $250:  3/23/12 at 11:20am

Spring Fever? Myrtle Beach Condo Fundraiser Email Auction

We continue to be blown away by the generosity of our friends and family during the fundraising portion of our adoption!  We feel so connected to all of you who have helped us through prayer, coaster sales, the Thirty-One party, and general donations.  This has been a humbling experience to say the least.  When we started this journey, we knew we would have financial obligations but didn’t begin to realize how blessed we would be to have friends walk this road with us by contributing to those obligations!  It means more than we can ever express in words to know that we have such a strong support group right now!

With that said, we have some very generous friends, the Omers, that have offered to put their condo in Myrtle Beach up for auction to help us with our fundraising!

The condo is available May 13 – 18, 2012 and is located in the Shore Crest Vacation Villa 1 located on the Atlantic Ocean in Myrtle Beach, SC.  The villa has a partial ocean view.  It can sleep up to 6 people with 2 bedrooms and a living room with a sleeper sofa. The villa also includes 2 baths, kitchen, and laundry.  Additionally, the resort includes a winding lazy river, outdoor heated pool, indoor pool, hot tub, fitness room, game room, and internet access. Anyone have Spring Fever?  To see more information on the resort, please click here.

We will hold an email auction for this property.  See instructions/information below on how it will work…

• Bidding starts Saturday, March 17th
• Bidding ends Saturday, March 24th at 6:00pm (based on email time stamp)
• All bids should be emailed to cassieborgman@att.net
• We will update our blog daily with the leading bid.  On Saturday, should we have several bids throughout the day, we will try to update the blog as often as possible.
• The winner will be contacted, at the latest, on Sunday, March 25th.  At that time, we will share the Omers’ contact information in order for the winner to finish the the final details with them.
• If anyone has any questions/concerns, please contact Cassie at cassieborgman@att.net.

Thirty-One Adoption Fundraiser

Brian and I have a friend from college that is a Thirty-One rep. For those of you that don’t know, Thirty-One is a faith-based company with a mission to help others. Our friend, Cindy Newland, has a heart for adoption and has offered to have a special catalog/online sale of Thirty-One products to help raise money for our adoption. 100% of the profits from this sale will go towards our adoption of Titus!!

Thank you for considering purchasing something from Thirty-One in order to help fund our adoption. Below is some additional information that Cindy asked us to share with you…

– To shop and order directly online, go to www.mythirtyone.com/CindyNewland. Click on “Place an Order” in the top menu; then choose “Shop Now” next to the Cassie and Brian Borgman Adoption Event.

– For questions or to order by email, contact Cindy at newlandcindy@hotmail.com.

– If you would like your order shipped directly to you, there is an additional $4 charge per order.

The new Thirty-One Spring catalog is now out! You’ll find lots of organizational helps and items you can personalize for yourself and for gifts. All personalization is a $7 flat fee per item.

February’s special is great…for every $31 you spend, you can choose any one item at 31% off; it can even be the most expensive item in the catalog! When selecting the item to receive the 31% discount, add an “S” to the end of the item number and the price will be reflected once the minimum $31 is reached.

P.S. Feel free to share this with any of your friends that may have an interest in ordering something from Thirty-One as well.