Pondering...

I have been wondering if I should take the time and back track and share our story. The story of how Brett and I met, and how our desire to adopt from Africa came to be. I know my family probably knows the story, but do others? And someday I want to process this blog into a bound book for our African children...so I'm thinking it would be really neat to share our story! What do you think?

Wooohoooo!

Although it was yucky weather today...a friend and I sat in her garage all morning with a garage sale. My dear friend and her husband purged a bit. He went through his books, model airplanes, and things...she went through her clothes, home decorations, jeans, and shoes. Between the three of us and a few items from my mom...we filled her garage! It got colder as the went on, but we made $270.00!!!! And we didn't even have big items! We also sold $69 worth of Mothers Day Raffle tickets! So our grand total for the day was $319 (I had to subtract the cost to run an ad in the paper). I am so thrilled with that! Considering how many activities were going and the crummy weather...I think we did great! I want to say a huge thanks to my friend and her husband for contributing to our adoption. Your generousity is amazing and we appreciate both of you and your friendship so much. If you would like to contribute to our adoption, you can click on the chipin link on the right hand side and make a donation or you can buy a shirt or a Mothers Day Raffle ticket! Thanks!!!

Mothers Day Gift Basket Fundraiser!

We are selling raffle tickets for a Mothers Day Gift Basket. 100% of the profit will go towards our African Adoption expenses. Here are the contents.... -Image Maker Photography family portrait session (includes session, proofs and CD) -One hour professional therapeutic massage -Shaw hand knit by Shanan Strode and a homemade soap from her too -Victoria secrets mini perfume and a body lotion -$10 Daisylane gift card -A manicure or pedicure from First Impressions -Hair cut gift certificate from the Mangy Mousse -Necklace and matching earrings from "Beadtween you and me" and a bracelet -Tastefully Simple Margarita and Mojito drink mixers -A Close to my Heart scrapbooking stamp -Authentic African water bottle holder -$25 Gift Certificate to Georgie Boys -dressy scarf Approximately $500 value. Drawing with be May 1st. Tickets are $5.00 each or five for $20 Please contact me, Brett, Deb Drake or Tabitha Sill to purchase a ticket. PLEASE SHARE THIS ON YOUR FACEBOOK AND WITH YOUR FRIENDS!!! :)

Homestudy Homestudy how I will not miss you!

I don't mind paperwork...really. I kinda like to jump on it like flies on poop and devour it. lol...ok, well, u know what I mean. We are paperwork finished with our homestudy. We have done all we can do. We are waiting for our final piece of paper from the state to arrive at our caseworker's office and then she will do what she needs to do and then send it to the state to get a final signature and then its done. We no longer have to be licensed in Illinois since Ethiopia changed the way they do their adoptions. YES! This is good, b/c becoming licensed can take awhile...it was another step that we no longer have. Another blessing in disguise that we get for waiting the year we did. I can't say enough about our homestudy caseworker. I truly really like her. She came down for the final interview this past Saturday and she got such a great welcome from Eli. That little boy chatted her ear off. Basically he did most of the talking. He took her all over our house and showed her where everything was and each room. He asked her how old she was and her favorite color. It was soooo cute. I got so much enjoyment watching and hearing him interact with her and I really think she got blessed by him too. He even showed her some of his Karate moves! Since then our agency has asked why we hadn't included unrelated children in our homestudy. So our caseworker and I chatted about that today. We have changed things up a bit. Intially our homestudy was approved for "up to two children 0-3 yrs old, open to twins" Now it reads that, plus open to two children unrelated 0-3, but must be at least 12 months apart. Brett and I talked it over and we are happy with this. For us...these are children who need a loving forever family. Anyways....I'm excited. I feel like things are moving, but slow and I'm ok with that. E and Z are only 2 and 4, so if its another year before we get our African children, so be it...God's timing is perfect.

We Won!!!! We Won!!!!

We won the Ordinary Hero grant! Thank you to Angie Eskew, my sister Felicia, Aunt Lesa and Mom for making purchases to help us achieve this grant. Super thanks to Kelly Putty...founder of OH for offering this grant. We are stoked to learn that we won today...and today was our last homestudy appointment! It feels great to be making progress!!!! Brett is estatic that our picture is posted on OH's blog...he says we are famous now. LOL. www.ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com