A Few Spring Colors

Getting new fabric to make new bracelets is so fun!  I've never been a big fan of fabric stores before now...mainly because I never knew what to do with the fabric.  Not that I really do now either.  But I can make one thing so I guess that's better than before. 

These four I'm posting today were actually found by Konnette and given to me.  They are darker colors but still remind me of spring.  I think they go well together and of course, look good by themselves as well.  Maybe you have a new Easter dress that one will match.  And if not, check back!  I've got lots more spring colors coming...including a sparkly one with bunnies that would be great for a little girl's Easter basket.  

This is a special one.  I absolutely love the colors.  They are beautiful and vibrant...just like who it's named after.  Audra is one of the biggest reasons that Ethiopia is our country of choice for our adoption.  Audra was born Ethiopian and was adopted a little over a year ago.  She is a sweet light in our world.  

I don't know how your computer shows these colors, but on mine, this almost looks like camouflage.  It's not.  The background is a swirled chocolate brown and the green is a bright-almost-lime shade.  It looks much prettier in person, but probably could pass for camo if you're into that print.  :)  I called it Sprouts because it reminds me of the first green sprouts that come up at the beginning of spring. 

This one is a darker purple background with some vine-like green running through it.  It's got some bright spots that remind me of the colors of a sunset. 

A bright pink with little green and white circles.  

Hope you find something you like!  Thanks for stopping by!!

Baby Room

This past Saturday I went to The Woodlands to do a little shopping with a friend.  One of our many stops was to Joanne's Fabrics.  This particular store was moving and so everything they had was on sale at least 33%.  I went in to look for some fabric for bracelets and I found several that I liked and that you will see here soon.  

But I also found the cutest material for a baby boy's room!  Since it was such a good price, I went ahead and got it and some matching fabrics to go with it.  I had no idea how much to get since I don't even know yet what all I'm going to do with it.  And there's the small detail that I don't even know how to make anything with it.  But apparently this bracelet making has given me courage to try.  

I love that I made a quick decision about this.  Normally I would have looked at hundreds of prints and stressed over which one was cuter and worried about how much money they all cost.  And in the end, I would have painted the walls blue and used some sort of boy colored blanket we already had laying around here.  Not that there's anything wrong with that; it's certainly the cheapest choice.  And it's pretty much what I did with my girls before they got here.  (We didn't find out beforehand what we were having so the room was done in neutrals.)  We had no real "theme" for the room, and of course it stayed the same for daughter #2.  Honestly I hadn't even thought yet about what I would do for his room, so I was happy to find something I liked, happy the decision was made, happy that I can try and make something for this special boy.  

Want to see what it looks like??

Sorry that the picture is sideways.  I don't know what was going on, but I couldn't get it to turn like it should have, but you get the point.  I love the animals and the colors and the matching fabrics.  

Now, let's just hope that I can turn it into something cute.  :)

Special thanks to Konnette for finding the print and slyly showing me all the matching ones and silently encouraging me to get it and subtlely implying she would help me!!

It's In The Mail!

I'm so relieved.  All of our home study paperwork is finally completed!  I'm sure there will be something I missed or something additional to fill out, but the long list of items to do to complete the home study is finished.  It's so nice to sit down and not think of all the paperwork that I should be doing.  I don't like having things hanging over my head. 

I put it in the mail yesterday, so the next steps (that I'm aware of) are: home study paperwork has to be gone through, making sure everything is correct and included.  Home study finalized and sent to Lifeline (our adoption agency).  Once our home study is complete, we can fill out the immigration paperwork and get our appointment to have our fingerprints done. Not sure what's after that exactly, but that's okay.  Just getting through the next few steps is enough for me right now.  :)

I finally finished a book I've been reading but haven't had a lot of time for.  It's called There Is No Me Without You and I highly recommend it for anyone adopting from Ethiopia... or even if you're not.  It's got so much information on the history of Ethiopia, HIV, orphan, etc.  

That's all I've got to update on right now.  Hope ya'll have a good weekend!

Striped Citrus

Spring time is almost here and I think some bright colors are needed!  This new one, Striped Citrus, will look great with some of the others already available.  

More spring colors to come very soon!   Thanks for all your support!!

This Is What God Has Been Showing Me

Tears streaming down my face.  I found this video on another adoption blog, Joining The Journey, and knew I had to post it here.  It says so much about how I feel about why we are on this journey.  God has given me so much and it's not for my comfort...it's for me to give to others.  If I know there are hurting people out there, why would I sit back and do nothing?  How will my little one (and others!) learn about the love of Jesus if I never act as His hands and feet?  Those are just some of the things that God has lain on my heart.  I pray that if He is speaking to you about such things, that you will be open to hear it and willing to obey.

40 Bags in 40 Days

So here's what I'm doing for the next 40 days!  As with most of you, my house has plenty of clutter and plenty of stuff that can be purged.  So, each day I'm going through my house and filling a bag of stuff to give away.  I have a feeling it won't be hard.  At all. 

Then, after I've gone through my whole house, we will be having a huge yard sale.  Some of the ladies at church are going to be having a yard sale to raise money for orphans.  We will donate the proceeds of the garage sale to HELP, and help rescue kids in places like Haiti, Zimbabwe and Uganda.  


It's a win-win situation: I de-clutter my house and help others in the process!  I'm off to fill my first bag!  Anyone want to join me??

Animal Prints!

You asked for 'em.  Now you got 'em.  Animal prints are here!  Wish I could have had more animal print options for you to choose from, but they're hard to come by around here.  Hope you like them!  

Things are moving along nicely in the adoption realm.  We are thisclose to having all our paperwork done!!  I can't wait to have that off my to-do list.  I don't like having things hanging over my head.  

Ya'll have a great week!

NEW!

NEW!

NEW!

Auction News!

I have some great news!  My sweet friend, Kristan, called me the other day to tell me about a friend of hers who owns a business.  A few times a year this friend, Brittni, has an auction to raise money for people in the adoption process.  Even though this gracious lady does not know me, she is going to help organize an auction (with Kristan) and give us the proceeds!  I am beyond amazed!!  There is a lot I don't know yet, but as details emerge, I'll let you know.  

One thing I do know is that they ask vendors to donate items to the auction.  (It's so amazing that people help strangers out in this way!!)  So, some of you reading this might be one of those vendors, sent here to check out the blog and read up on our story.  So I'd thought I'd summarize our story for you here.  

We started this journey a year or so ago when the Lord started laying on my heart the idea of adoption.  I figured I had just lost my mind until I said something to my husband about it and found out he was having the same thoughts.  It was so surprising to us because we have two girls and were finished having children...or so we thought.  But we decided we should at least be praying about it, so for the next several months that's what we did.  Then God brought a dear family into our lives; a family who had just adopted a little girl from Ethiopia. Then a close friend of mine revealed they were thinking of doing the same thing...something they had never considered before either.  As much as I didn't think these things were coincidences, I needed to know for sure that this was what God was asking of us.  I kept praying and hoped God would just write the answer in the sky or something but apparently He doesn't do that.  ;)  I tried putting it out of my mind, but He never let me forget it.  Finally, I "gave in" and realized that this was not some crazy idea, but something that the Lord was asking us to do.  Was I going to ignore it?  Not hardly.  


We are adopting a baby boy.  A sweet little thing from the beautiful country of Ethiopia.  Right now we are in the process of completing the paperwork to finish our dossier.  Thankfully, we are almost finished with that part of the process and then we will wait for our referral, where they tell us who our son is.  I don't know how long this whole thing will end up taking, but I know that God is in the middle of it and that's exciting.  Our girls are so happy about their "baby boy", as they call him, and can't wait for him to get home. 

I thank you so much for visiting my blog, reading our story, and considering donating to the auction.  God bless you!!

The Bracelets Are Not Contaminated

Hey Ya'll!

Thanks to all of you that have placed orders for bracelets!  I'm super busy and super happy about it.  But have I mentioned how un-crafty I am?  It's a good thing you can't seem me trying to type this post.  I can only use four fingers on my left hand and it makes for lots of backspacing.  I can't type well right now because I managed to roll the fabric cutter over one of my fingers.  Smooth, I know.  I won't give you the gory details, but you can rest easy that no blood got on the fabric.  

We are still chopping away at the paperwork.  It's mostly done, but I discovered another online training we have to do that will take 8 or more hours.  Once that is done, we have all our part done and will just be waiting on paperwork (like birth certificates) to get here so we can send it off.  

I've got three more bracelet designs to add to the selection!  Check 'em out!

Bracelets

Months ago, while shopping online for Christmas, I came across some beautiful bracelets for sale.  I fell in love with them and ordered several for Christmas presents.  They were being sold by a family in the process of adopting a baby girl from China.  The bracelets were being made to help them raise money for the adoption and they called it the 3,000 Bracelet Campaign.

I knew that the idea had been given to them after another family had used it to raise money, so on impulse, I asked this lovely lady to keep me in mind if she needed someone to pass it on to when they were finished.  As you can see, she agreed.  They have the money they need so she has graciously passed not only the idea along to me, but her leftover materials as well...including all the pictures I posted!  Thank you so much!  

The bracelets are $12 each for adult sizes and $10 for child sizes.  There are three adult sizes to choose from: Regular, Large, and Extra Large; and two child sizes: 2-4 and 5-9.  If you purchase more than one the price per bracelet goes down.  Please check the drop down menu on the right for your options. When you place your order, please specify by name which bracelet(s) you would like. If there isn't enough space there, you can leave the bracelet info when you check out in the section titled "instructions to seller".

In the tabs above, you will find four pages of bracelets available.  Hopefully you will find one you like, and if not, check back soon.  I have three more designs not posted yet and I'm sure more will follow.  

Please feel free to leave a comment here if you have any questions. 

Thank you SO MUCH for your willingness to help us out in this way!

Fundraising Announcement!!

Some of you have seen me wearing one of these.  Now you can have one too!  I will be making these in order to help raise money to bring our little boy home.  Details, pictures, prices coming soon!!

Not Much To Update

I realize that it's been awhile since I've posted.  It's mostly because there hasn't been much to write about.  We are really busy, but it's with all the little details that the adoption paperwork requires.  

Finally got our medical releases done.  We had to take a notary to the doctor's office with us; that was fun.  The girls go tomorrow to get their immunizations up to date and get the doctor to sign off on their good health.  They realized the other day that that meant shots.  And AJ is already crying.  Bret was going to go with me because I fear she is going to have a meltdown.  (She wouldn't even stay in the room when Bret and I were getting our TB tests.) Turns out he can't go so I'm planning on offering ice cream or some other treat as incentive to just get it done.  Yes, that's called bribery.  And yes, I'm perfectly fine with it in this situation.  Although, truthfully I think a better word is "reward" for getting through the shots.  

The girls and I went to the courthouse yesterday to request a copy of our marriage certificate.  Thankfully, I had been told to bypass the long line and go to the Clerks office.  The other line was incredibly long and the clerks office had no one in it.  Paid my $7 and they will mail it to me in a few days.  Check that off the list!

We are still reading our assigned book and I'm working on the online training.  Our internet is so slow out here that it takes longer than it should.  But I'm more than halfway done!  

Between adoption stuff, homeschooling, daily household duties, errands, bible study preparation, and other miscellaneous stuff, I feel like I have NO time for anything else.  Occasionally I get time to play a word on Words With Friends!  But as far as reading a good book, watching a show, or catching up with friends...none of that is happening.  I miss my friends.  But once the paperwork is sent, hopefully some of that will slow down some.  Until he gets home...and that's a whole other story.  :)