Thirty-One fundraiser for Faith

WE HAVE TA!!!!  Yippeee!!!  We got the call yesterday morning.   We are still fundraising as we still need all our travel expense fees and province fees.  Our Thirty-One fundraiser will be ending soon and we hope and pray we get more orders as we're currently at $450 in total sales and we were really trying to get to over $1000 in sales.  Anne is giving us all her commission from the sales.  Please take a look at all the cool stuff that's available.  The link is  http://www.mythirtyone.com/AnneLittle/   Once there click on "events" to the right and then you'll see the Vantrease name.  Click next to our name and you can begin your order.  We appreciate everyone stopping by our little blog!!!  And we certainly appreciate your support to help bring our daughter home. 


We are down to the final countdown to go get our daughter.  It seems like forever ago when I first saw her picture, two years ago this month as I just happened to go visit Rainbowkids.com  It was very random and not planned.  There she was, in her dance costume very poised.  She was listed as having CP, sequalea from a brain injury.  Oh how I was scared to death.  And she was listed with a different agency. And she was an older child, 10 at the time.  Oh my!! God certainly had it all planned out from the beginning, as I would have clicked off that sight and went on with what I was doing.   This adoption is all in His hands and He has been there by my side the entire time.  There's a peace that I can't explain, except that I know everything will work out just fine.  God's in control, not me.  It's been a hard lesson to learn (don't we all like to be in control), but it's been a good one.

So, as we are on our final countdown to TA, we are having yet another fundraiser to get Faith home.  We still lack "all" travel fees as well as the in-province fees.
I'm so excited about this Thirty-One fundraiser!!   A sweet friend, Anne Little, is hosting it for us to help with the adoption expenses to bring Faith home.    The Thirty-One website just updated this month with all the new product.  There's sooooo many cute items!!  I know there is something that will catch your eye.  And, the special for Feb. is great!!!  There are cute items for kids, teachers, friends, and family members.  One of my very favorites is the "lil expressions" items.  I purchased a couple for my m-i-l and mom as gifts for their birthdays.    All the kids' pictures are on their via "lil expressions" and it's so amazing to see Faith on there too. 

The link to see all the great product is http://www.mythirtyone.com/AnneLittle/  Once there, click on "events" to the right.  Then you will see our name "Vantrease" with a link to shop.   Here's how the
Feb. special works: 

"To take advantage of the customer special, enter at least $31 in product, then choose the item you would like at 31% off that has an "S" at the end of the item number. This let's Thirty-One know which item you want the special on. The item with the "S" on the product number will show up in your cart at the discounted price".

I added some pictures of some of the bags and baskets that are available and ideas on how they can be used for gift giving:

                                                    "All in one organizer" as shower gift

                                                                      Gift basket

                                                  "little carry all's" as Easter baskets

                                                                  Cupcake gift bags






Oh, and Anne is giving away a purse this month on her blog at http://www.morekids4me.blogspot.com/
Just visit her blog and leave a comment on the current post to get entered!   She is awesome!!
Thank you Anne!!!!

Goat Milk Soap fundraiser (pt. 3) - Valentine's Day

Thank you so much for supporting our third GMS fundraiser.  We sold a total of  49 soaps and are grateful for each and every one sold!!!


GMS fundrasier Ends Jan. 30th

Here we go once again!!!  Thanks so much to the Jonas family for offering their soaps to families to help
fundraise.  We are now waiting on our Article 5, which is the step right before travel approval.  We are
getting ever so close.  However, we still have adoption expenses to pay including all of the inter-country travel fees as well as getting there and back, approximately $7500.   Our goal for this GMS fundraiser is to sell 300 soaps.  We sold 100 with the first GMS fundraiser, 200 with GMS pt 2.  We know with your help of supporting and sharing our fundaiser, that it's possible.   This fundraiser runs through January 30th.

There are some great soaps just for Valentine's day too (Chocolate, Luv Spell,  and  Pink Sugary, just to name a few . . see the rest of the scents listed below.

   Remember, Valentine's day is just a few short weeks away.  These would make great gifts for Valentines day, Mother's day, end of year teachers gifts, etc.  Here are the scents that are available:


Chocolate -  This is a special soap just for Valentine's day and isn't sold throughout the year.  And yes these do smell like chocolate.  This one is a must for Valentine's day!!

Luv Spell - This one has a fragrance of citrus and florals (one of my favorite scents) Another great gift idea!!!

Pink Sugary - Hints of vanilla with a wonderful sweetness. 

Oatmeal Milk and Honey - This fragrance is very clean and warm (like the sweetness of honey)!!! Great for the Holidays!

Clean Cotton - This is a very fresh and clean scent smelling like freshly laundered cotton. A must have for everyone!!!!

Purity - (unscented) Great for those with dry and sensitive skin. Lots of people use this soap on babies or people with eczema.

Black Raspberry - Scent of raspberry with a hint of vanilla. A favorite of all ages.

Honeysuckle - Smells just like a summer day with honeysuckle in your back yard. Honeysuckle with a hint of jasmine.

Nautical - Masculine scent - perfect for the man that wants a soap for him.

Lavendar - Made with lavendar essential oils, it's a favorite.


ALL SOAPS ARE $6 EACH!!!

Email me with your order here  Please include with your order your name and address.

*How to Pay: Please don't pay until you receive confirmation that your emailed order has been received(see above). I except Paypal (through our "donate" button on the right) and check.


All orders will be shipped USPS priority mail

Shipping charges: 

1 - 5 soaps (shipping is $6.00) *includes delivery confirmation


6 -11 soaps (shipping was $12.00 but offering $6.00) *includes delivery confirmation

12 - 20+ soaps (Free Shipping) That's right!!! You get free shipping!! Flat rate shippings USPS PriorityMail is $10.95 plus delivery confirmation of around $1. I'm offering free shipping again with orders of 12 or more soaps. It worked great with the previous GMS fundraiser.

For those who order 22+ bars of GMS, you will receive a free soap dish (valued at $8) .  We are offering this incentive in hopes that we receive some large orders which is really easy to do by sharing with friends and family who I'm sure would love this soap too!  If only 10 people ordered 22 soap, we would raise right at $500 once we take out shipping and the soap dish.  This is huge!!  Would you consider getting an order up from family and friends of 22 soaps or more? 





soap tray




These bars of goat milk soap are handmade. The goat milk soap bars are hand cut to weigh between 5 and 6 ounces and are cured for a minimum 6 weeks. Your soap will come in a 4" x 6" cotton bag that is hand-stamped with the scent. You will love these sweet smelling, long lasting, bubbly bars of soap.


Ingredients: Raw goat milk; Saponified natural fats, coconut oil, soy bean oil; Natural color, Fragrance.


 We hope you can help us with this part of our journey to our daughter Faith. She's 12 years and I can't believe that we are so close to bringing her home.

Again, please know, this isn't easy!!! It takes a lot of work to seperate the soap, box up the orders, double/triple check the orders, package with tape, address the labels, make numerous trips to the post office, take the time to send the e-mails letting everyone know their soap is on it's way. The best part is meeting and making new friends along the way. It's been well worth the time and the kids have loved it.   You all are wonderful. We thank you for your order!!

 Thank you again for supporting our journey to our daughter Faith!!! We appreciate each and every one of you and are so grateful to you for helping us bring our daughter home.

I hope everyone . . .

had a Very Merry Christmas!!!  It's been so nice having the kids home and not having to run here and there with school activities.   We received our NVC letter last Tuesday and now just wait to be cabled (I think?).  This new process keeps me guessing.  But I think that's right.  Anyway, as we wait for the next step, I've thought about Faith, waiting for us in China, and how our family is changing and growing.  Never would I have dreamed that we would have four children.  God has certainly blessed us through adoption.   It's hard to believe that I first saw Faith (aka Tammy, Camp Ox 1) last Feb., 2010.  She certainly caught not only my eye, but my heart.  Just something about this sweet little girl tugged at my heart.  For 7 months I prayed and thought about Faith morning, noon, and night.  It wasn't that I was reluctant to add another child to our family, it was all about the finances or lack there of.   After three back to back adoptions, we seriously needed to turn our attention to our house as it needed some much needed maintenance.   I soon realized that the maintenance could wait, but Faith couldn't.  How in the world could we pass over this sweet child?  We couldn't.  So here we are almost to the homestretch!!  Thankfully, so many of you have supported our fundraisers (and we've had several) as well as just plain donating and sharing our fundraisers on your blogs and FB.  Thank you so very, very much!!!! 

As we move forward, we now need to focus on our travel expenses.  For those who have btdt, you know how expensive this can be.  Not only do we need to pay to get to China and back, but we also need the funds for the inter-country travel, hotels, food, etc.  So we are starting the new year with another
Goat Milk Soap fundraiser.   This will be our third GMS fundraiser.  We've actually done really well with these.  The first GMS fundraiser goal was 100 soaps and you came through for us.  The second GMS fundrasier was 200 soaps, and again you supported us and we met our goal.  So with the third GMS fundraiser, our goal is 300 soaps.  I know that's big, but I also know that it can be done.  We will be offering the same soaps, however, we will be adding a special scent just for Valentine's day, CHOCOLATE!!!  When I told my 12 yo daughter, Emmi, that Chocolate was the scent for Valentine's day, her eyes lit up.  She's my chocolate lover.  So as she hates to take a shower, maybe this sweet smelling soap will make it a little easier.  We will also offer the same rates for shipping this time as well as an added surprise that I will
announce when I post our GMS fundraiser.  It will be a free gift with the purchase of 20 or more soaps.  I think this will work, we'll see!!!  

Thank you so much again for your support!!  Please start spreading the word about our GMS fundrasier.  If you've purchased and used the soap, tell your family and friends.  These will make great gifts for Valentines day!!!  I ordered just a few extra soaps with the last fundraiser, so each one of the kids chose one of those soaps.  They love 'em too . . kid approved!!!

Happy New Year!!!!

A Christmas present for Faith!

An art set for our artist!

  As I pondered on what to send our sweet Faith, I just couldn't decide.  We sent a bracelet through
http://www.ladybugsnlove.com/ for her birthday last month.  Btw, Angela and Kelly are wonderful to work with and I highly recommend them.  So it came to me out of nowhere, an artist set.  We received a sweet letter from Faith a few weeks ago, previous post, and with it she sent two pieces of artwork.  I'm hoping that she really does love to draw and paint.   So an art set it is.  The picture above shows what Angela picked out and mailed to Faith.  She should receive it in China on Friday, which is actually today in China with the time change.    She's in foster care so I'm really hoping she will get it by Christmas.  We sent a Christmas card with a sweet message in it too. 
  Now as for next Christmas, how awesome that Faith will know the real reason for the season, the birth of Jesus Christ our savior.