family01Background:

Kids are waiting. Waiting for permanent families to adopt them. They are in foster care. They are nervous. Scared. Family hasn’t always meant something good or permanent to them. They may even still have family in their lives that they love and don’t want to lose those connections. This is a stressful time.

Let’s share with waiting children what family means to us. What does it mean to you???

Your Mission should you choose to accept it:

I challenge you to say why a permanent family is important TO YOU.  If you are a parent, you can say why you wanted a family. If you are kid who was adopted, tell kids who are waiting what the good parts of being adopted is. Even if you have not adopted or are not adopted, tell me: Why do you love your family? You can show this in a million ways and I expect to see a million different results. CREATIVITY IS KEY.

How to enter:

Draw it. Write it. Craft it. Whatever makes you happy. I want more than comments, though. You will need to email, oh yeah, baby, EMAIL, me your submission(s). Then come back here and comment that you emailed me.

  • If you post your entry to your blog or website, you get another entry.
  • If you post a link back to this contest, you get another entry.
  • If you get everyone in your whole stinking family to enter, all of those people get entries too (and the prize is for the whole fam).
  • If you are waiting to adopt an older child from foster care and you enter, you automatically get FIVE entries. Cause, seriously, the process sucks and you should be able to get something out of waiting.
  • You can do a group project. GET CREATIVE. And get an entry for every member of your group.
  • If you twitter a link to the contest, you will get another entry. Make sure you you include “@tubaville” in your twitter so it shows up in my Tweetdeck.
  • If you post a link on your Facebook wall, you will get another entry. Make sure you comment here so I can keep track of that and you get your entry.

tubaville@gmail.com

The Results:

All of your responses will be put into a scrapbook for kids who are waiting. Kids who are nervous. Kids who are scared of their unknown futures. This book, I hope, will make it so they are a little less scared, a little less nervous, and a lot more hopeful. The scrapbook will show them what family means to other people, whether they are adopted, have adopted, or just simply love their family.

Like I said, write it, craft it, paint it, graffiti it, video it (I can make e-scrapbooks and put them on CDs for kids), GET CREATIVE. I want pictures. I want links.

I LOVE kids art. I love dog art. I love people art. And so will these kids. Art is just the last three letters of heART.

Show them your heart.

tubaville@gmail.com

The Prize:

Quilted Totebag, made by moi ESPECIALLY for the mom(s) of the fam, filled with a family fun pack: a variety of stuff to keep your kids and YOU entertained for at least 2.5 minutes like book(s), coffee!!!, games, and some delightful surprises.

Also, all entries will soon be FAMOUS because you will be IN A BOOK for a wonderful cause. Help kids find some comfort in their unknown futures. That is a reward in itself.

tubaville@gmail.com

Deadline:

You have two weeks.  Monday, July 13 is the deadline. I will take that week to review all the entries and figure out how many, etc. Winner(s) will be picked on Friday, July 17th.

tubaville@gmail.com

Let’s recap:

You can enter.

You can enter your kids (please don’t let them read my blog, I like swearing occasionally, it is good for my soul).

If your dog wants to enter, I will allow that as well. Dogs like families.

Your whole family can do a project together (document your project, I will give bonus entries for that).

Every one who responds gets an entry. Since the prize is a family prize, this is one contest where a big family will certainly be a bonus and, no, since you are asking, I do not judge. I admire. A lot.

Also, if you have been waiting to add a waiting child to your family, just to make things fair, you will get an automatic bonus because you shouldn’t be punished for a slow and laborsome system.

This is open to EVERYONE. I need EVERYONE to respond even if you don’t have anything to do with adoption or foster care. I honestly don’t care if you do or don’t. This is important. This is a good thing. A very good thing. Let’s rally together, people. Let’s give this gift of your family to Minnesota’s waiting foster children so that they will see what they are waiting for.

Ready…

Set…

GO!!!!!