I have officially been balded, and after a fair amount of irritation with youtube, the video has been edited and uploaded! The first time I tried to upload it, my 18 year old brother decided to 'fix' the internet when it was about 50% done... needless to say, he didn't 'fix' anything, more like broke it, and interrupted my (hours long) upload! Grr! So a couple days later I tried again (while he was not home) and a good three, four hours later, success!
I should note that the video is small because we shot it with my iPhone vertical instead of horizontal - I need to remember not to do that anymore... but here it is - thanks to everyone - donors, friends, Reece's Rainbow, etc. for helping me get to this point!
And I'm still enjoying it, crazy as it may be. Here's a picture I took the other night, about 10 days post-balding - I have a fuzzy head now, haha!
Pardon how red I look in this picture, not sure what was going on with that. I think it was the camera, because that shirt is not red, it's hot pink.
I still have to order cards from Vistaprint to explain why I did this (waiting on my first paycheck at my new job!), but for now a friend gave me some Reece's Rainbow magnets to carry around and give to people who ask. This is honestly the part I was most excited about - continuing to advocate for 'our' kids by being a walking advertisement! Every person who asks will be one more person made aware of the orphan crisis!
And, true to my word, I'll continue to be crazy (it is in the name of both my blogs) until they ALL come home!
If you haven't yet, please go back and readthis post so you'll understand this one!
There. Now that that's done and you know the reason for my hair's sudden disappearance, I shall post the rest of this update.
So apparently my college-learned Windows Movie Maker skills are a little rusty and videos over thirty seconds take a good bit to come off an iPhone, not to mention how slow youtube has been lately, so I'm still working on the final product head shaving video, planning to put some serious time into it tonight that I haven't been able to devote until now because I've been busy at my awesome new job!
But as not to deprive you of amusement at my expense (really not at my expense at all, this was actually really fun and I love having an opportunity to talk about the orphan crisis), until that time I'll post a picture of me just after the shaving, which was by the way, definitely hilarious.
According to my friend's three year old, I am now "a bald" (we were previously unaware of this demographic - thank goodness she enlightened us to my new status!). I've also managed to freak out a couple other friends' kids, and strike up a few conversations about orphans, so I'm considering this project a success! When I have the money I've got some cards designed on vistaprint to order and share with anyone who asks, about why I did it and who these kids are and how you can help. I hope to have an impact that goes on far longer than the two months of angel tree.
Please feel free to share for the amusement of others - and hopefully awareness too! And if you read something and want to know more, I'll just leave this handy link right here...
Elden and Brett have both reached their goals! WE DID IT! Elden is at $1,000 and Brett is holding steady at $1,607.50, which means my boys have a total of $2,607.50! Yay!
I'll be balded soon - as soon as my dear friend shaves me, and then there'll be video and fun 'after' pictures!
As for tonight - I let my mom give me bangs and straighten my hair just for fun... I'm going to try out various eyebrows throughout the night, so I'll post again later or in the morning with a collection of eyebrow arrangements - four more for each $100 past $600 raised for Elden! For now, here's me with bangs! I like them!
Another post with my crazy brows will be up soon! Thanks to everyone who has has helped us get to this point! Now let's get the rest of those babes over the wall on Angel Tree!
And we have just under $400 to raise for Elden! We hit $600 raised through Angel Tree early this morning, and as promised, I am sharing a fun surprise...
These are my new eyebrows. I will be wearing them until we hit $700. At that point, a new (similarly fun) set will be drawn on. I have plenty of fun ideas.
And I have to go to the store today. It's up to you all what kind of eyebrows I'm wearing when I do it...
You know what to do. No amount is too small! We will chip away at that last $400 and reach our goal yet!
I'd have had this up sooner if I hadn't slept for the larger part of the last 24 hours, but alas, here it is - I am now an eyebrowless woman!
Thanks to Sevenly, Brett (one of 'my' boys), received $1,000 in his grant account late on Christmas day. When added to what had already been raised for him during Angel Tree, it amounted to $1,607.30! Hooray, Brett!
Elden's grant has been sitting at a pretty steady $529.50 for a few days - and I have been racking my brain trying to think of ways to raise it, but for the most part coming up empty handed - and some complications I will mention later in this post are not helping either.
Regardless, the boys are now WELL over a combined $1,500 - actually at a combined $2,136.80! However - since Elden is still not over the $1,000 wall yet, thus not at HIS goal, this only means one less eyebrow for this girl... in another $470.50, I get to shave my head!
But without further adieu, let me share the final de-eyebrowing with you all.
Here's a picture taken before, me and my one-eyebrowed glory:
And then here's me after The Shaving, no eyebrows left to speak of:
Yes. It is weird.
Now for the HAIR! Come on guys, we are so close and we only have five days left to raise that money! Let's complete the effect and baldify me! Once bald, I'm going to order cards from Vistaprint explaining why I'm bald with a link to Reece's Rainbow - so that every time someone asks, I'm spreading awareness!
Actually, that has started already. Eyebrows aren't usually enough for perfect strangers to ask what happened, but I did get to have an excellent conversation with some family members about orphans and Reece's Rainbow at family Christmas (which I attended one-eyebrowed).
Today, after posting the second eyebrow shaving video (will be seen below), I received two 'follows' on you tube and a private message informing me that I'm crazy, but for a good cause! Why yes, that's the point!
I've never been happier to have no eyebrows.
Wait. Pretty sure I've never done this before.
Now, here's some fun - the video of the second eyebrow's disappearance. In case you're noticing the theme here, yes, I am wearing footie pajamas again, only leopard this time. That's right. I have the most epic footie pajama collection in the world. Be. Jealous. ;)
Let me remind you all that WHEN the final money is raised and Elden is over his goal, the head shaving will be videotaped as well. I promise hilarity.
Now, despite the mostly upbeat and fun nature of this post, I'm feeling compelled to share something a little more serious with you all tonight. If you keep up with international news, you might know that the Russian parliament has passed an act that would ban all adoptions by U.S. citizens. The only obstacle left between this legislation and a legal decree that would essentially be a death sentence to many, many orphans, is President Putin, who can either sign or veto it. He has hinted at support for the legislation, even though it will have serious ramifications not only for the children, but for the Russian economy and US/Russian relations, as there is currently a treaty allowing such adoptions in place which this legislation would essentially be breaking.
For those of us who advocate for adoption, this whole thing is terrifying. Russia is a big country, obviously, and it has literally thousands upon thousands of orphans and not enough families to adopt them. Thousands are adopted by US families every year. Some of our dear sweet Reece's Rainbow babes - indeed, some of our Angel Tree babes - are in Russia - though I can't tell you which ones for their protection - and if this passes... well, think of what could happen to them!
Some of you might recall the post I wrote earlier this year about transfer. About how children are often transferred to adult mental institutions between the ages of 4 and 6. About how few special needs children survive this transfer, and how bleak their future is even if they do - unless they are adopted. Entire lives spent behind the walls of an institution. Do me a favor, go check out my other blog, the post about mental health in America, and imagine sending a five year old with down syndrome to live in a place like that - no - ten, twenty times WORSE than that - for the rest of his life.
Yes, there are other countries, but the vast majority of Russian children who are internationally adopted are adopted by American families. Without adoption to save them, how many more will be forced to live out their lives in bleak, horrible places? Even if the legislation were later revoked, it would be too late for many of them.
It is because of this that I ask you to pray. Pray with everything you have that something will soften Putin's heart and cause him to deny this legislation. Only God can intervene now. Share the plight of these children. Ask your friends to pray. Do not allow governments to use children as pawns in their political agendas without being held accountable for their actions.
It is also because of this that I again beg you to donate. Again, I can't tell you which children are in Russia, or which ones will be available to Canadian families even if the legislation passes, but those children are going to need our help even more. International adoption is even more costly in Canada than it is in the US. Awareness will need to be spread. Comfortable grants will need to be available for children to encourage families to take a leap of faith. And since I can't discuss exactly where kids are, if this moves you to donate, donate to any child. Many of them are in Russia. Many of them are not, and they need funding too. You can do no harm by giving to a child who has nothing.
Might I suggest a certain little boy with down syndrome, whose advocate wants to go bald just like he will?
Donate to Elden here.
Please help me get him over $1,000. Please. I don't really have anything to offer (except, you know, my amusing hair removal on video), but if I'm feeling discouraged right now I can only imagine how he would feel if he were transferred to one of those awful institutions - and he will be six in February - it is a very real danger. Together we can do this.
After the next $100 is raised, I'll post again with a little surprise... ;)
That's a fun word. Even though it's not a word. It's still fun. I have a habit of inventing words, you know (see other blog) :P
So, I have been sans eyebrow since Monday night.
I've only been out of the house once. I went to McDonald's last night. I didn't even remember my lack of eyebrow until I was home and looking at angel tree. No one said anything. LOL.
Elden's grant is currently at $529.50 raised during Angel Tree.
Brett's grant is currently at $577.30 raised during Angel Tree.
So in total the boys have $1,106.80. When $393.20 more is raised, and they are at a total of at least $1,500, I get to shave the other eyebrow and be symmetrical again!
I miss symmetry. I was always fond of it.
I must confess, I've been feeling a little guilty that more of the things I wanted to do for Angel Tree never came to fruition. I really feel like I haven't done anything but beg, yell and holler, and I meant to do so much more. This has just been such a complicated and difficult year that there never seemed to be time or money to get much of anything started. A friend commented one day that she felt like her Angel Tree child got the 'short straw' because she didn't feel she had much to offer as his Christmas Warrior, and I have to admit that this thought has entered my head more than a few times lately. Yes, Elden is over the $500 wall, which is wonderful, but it was all you guys. All your generosity, your kindness, your love for him and the other kids just like him.
We have just under another $500 left to raise by New Year's. I wish I could say I'd been sitting on some sort of fabulous fundraiser all this time, but I have nothing that I can get off the ground quickly enough to make a difference in Angel Tree, so I suppose, as I've done up until this point, I'll continue to beg, plead, and cry out on his behalf. Over the next year I'm planning to do a lot of legwork on some other fundraising ideas I had so that the kids can still benefit from them - but it would really make my year to see Elden reach his $1,000 goal by New Year's, and he's already over halfway there thanks to you generous people. I'm at a loss. If there is anything I can do for you, anything you can think of, please let me know, obviously I'm willing to go to pretty much any extreme for these little guys, but this fundraising thing doesn't exactly come with an instruction manual, and it being the holiday season during a tough economic climate is certainly no help.
I want to say too that I know there are a lot of other Christmas Warriors out there in the same boat. If you feel a pull to support them and their 'angels', please don't hesitate to do so. There are a lot of kids on the angel tree, and ultimately the Reece's Rainbow community wants to see them ALL meet their goals.
That in mind, I want to share another unique opportunity (which I had nothing to do with, but nevertheless benefits Brett, one of 'my' boys) that you should ALL get in on in the next four days.
An organization called Sevenly has chosen Reece's Rainbow as this week's charity to support. This organization designs awesome clothing and each week, the profits go toward a different charity. From now until December 24, that charity is Reece's Rainbow! As each $1,000 is raised through the shirt sales, another RR child has $1,000 added to their grant. The 15th child on the list is 'our' Brett! Already, $11,522 has been raised - in three days! Isn't that amazing? But our ultimate goal is $25,000 and we want to get ALL THE WAY there.
There is no down side to this opportunity. The Sevenly shirts are *awesome*. Check these out for yourself or someone in your life - the style of these is meant to appeal to teens, young adults, and the young at heart - as well as those of us who just LOVE Reece's Rainbow.
This is just one of the beautiful designs - you can see the rest at sevenly.org! Orders will not arrive by the 25th, but these are perfect as a late Christmas gift, a birthday gift for the upcoming year, or just a random act of awesomeness (kindness is to mild a word - getting someone an awesome gift AND helping orphans with special needs? That's just pure awesome).
Because we are trying to reach out beyond the existing Reece's Rainbow/Down Syndrome community, please share the sevenly link with your friends and family - everyone can love these awesome designs! This is a fun and unique opportunity and we want to make the most of it.
So here ends my longish mish-mash of thoughts, which I thought was going to just be a couple of sentences and a picture to update my blog, but apparently, in case you haven't caught on yet, I'm long-winded and it turned into much more ;) Please keep Reece's Rainbow and Elden and Brett in your thoughts and prayers this holiday!
Well, I said in this post that I'd be losing some hair for angel tree this year, starting with my first eyebrow when Brett and Elden hit a combined $1,000. As of today, Brett has $533.12 raised during Angel Tree, and Elden has $507 , for a combined $1,040.12. That means we're over our first goal, and my eyebrow is no longer over my eye! Video of its removal was kindly taken by my young friend M, as well as before and after photos, so without further adieu... enjoy my ridiculously asymmetrical countenance!
Oh, and yes, I AM wearing my fabulous and famed skull and crossbones footie pajamas.
Before...
After.....
I think it looks like the left side of my face has gained weight. ,:-P
Here's the video. We couldn't stop laughing!
Now, for the sake of all things symmetrical, can we PLEASE raise this next $460 FAST? $1,500 combined for both boys and the other one goes with it!
