Gazelle Intensity

If you have ever taken Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey, you are probably quite familiar with the term "Gazelle Intensity".  It basically means you dump all your debt with a crazy intensity only found in a gazelle.  (Click here for the full explanation of gazelle intensity.)

Well, I would like to say that we have been gazelle intense with our adoption fundraising, but I'm not sure that is totally accurate.

I have always looked at the financial aspect of this journey in three phases:

Phase 1~The Paperwork Phase {approximately $10,000}

Phase 2~The Referral Phase {$8,200 for one child, $11,500 for two children}

Phase 3~The Travel Phase {$8,000-$10,000 for both trips to Ethiopia}

I would love to say that as we get closer and closer to phase 2, we are there financially there, but the truth is that it's time for us to get "gazelle intense" about getting phase 1 paid off so that we can focus on phase 2 and then on phase 3.

How are we going to do it?  Well, we can't do it without the blessing of our Heavenly Father and the help of our friends and family!  We have always liked the idea of providing great items for people so that you get something you want and so that you have an item to remind you of your part in bringing our baby/babies home.  With that said, we have two major things going on to help us pay off phase 1:

1. Starting TODAY, we are the featured family for The Hannah James Project.

Hannah James' ETSY store features beautiful, feminine jewelry for all the ladies in your life.  AND, in June, we will receive 50% of the profits from every purchase!

Click here to start shopping.

Click here to read our feature.

2. Our second Adoption Auction starts at 12:01 a.m. on Friday morning! 

Can I be transparent here?  I am very nervous about this fundraiser.  We have some out-of-this-world amazing items that people have donated to this auction {currently 98 items!}.  I know that this fundraiser has the potential to help us reach the goal of paying off phase 1.  However, I have really struggled with when to run this auction.  Initially, it was scheduled to start last Friday, but after the horrible tragedy of our community, I put it off for a week.  The clean up and volunteering will need to go on much longer than just two weeks, obviously, but I really feel like now is the time for the auction. 

With that said, I REALLY covet your prayers regarding the success of this auction {and ask that you continue to pray for our community}.  Additionally, I'm just asking that you please consider helping me advertise the auction starting Friday by blogging about it, tweeting about it, E-mailing your friends, placing it on Facebook and anything else you can think of to spread the word.  If you'd like, you may copy/paste the following on your twitter/facebook account:

"Please check out our friends' online auction at http://www.teamchase4andcounting.blogspot.com/.  All proceeds go to their adoption fund to help them bring their child home from Ethiopia!"

Also, feel free to grab my auction button from my sidebar and post it anywhere you can think of!

Thank you so much, friends, for everything you've done for us already and for allowing God to continue to carry us on this journey through your prayers and encouragement.

With love,