Handmade in India Journal Fundraiser

These are the journals we are selling to raise funds for our adoption from India. All proceeds will go toward our adoption if you order from me.

The names of the designs from left to right are:

"Retro Lava"
"Monarch Moxie"
"A Little Bird Told Me"
"Vintage Debut in Blue" (bottom right)

Each journal is 5"x7" with 48 sheets (96 pages) per journal. The cost per journal is $15. They are handmade in India by women who would not otherwise have a way to support their families. To order, comment on this blog or send me a message and then pay via paypal or you can send me a check. I will post more designs soon. Thanks for your help!

Handmade-in-India Note Cards Fundraiser

These are the notecards we are selling to raise funds for our adoption from India.
The cards come ten to a box and are $10. They are handmade in India by women who would not otherwise have a way to support their families. To order, comment on this blog or send me a message and then pay via paypal or you can send me a check. I will post more designs soon. Thanks for your help!

the growing quilt

I am so thankful to have friends supporting us as we wait, pray and raise funds for our adoption. Adoption is such a long, complicated process. I'm not sure we could pull it off without these wonderful friends.

We are "selling" the quilt squares as a church to go toward an adoption fund assisting all adoptions within our church family. The quilt grew significantly last night at Fall Festival!

I have ordered note cards and journals made with handmade cotton paper in India, by women who would otherwise have no real means to support their families. We intended to sell these at the Fall Festival, but the order did not arrive in time. I will post photos of those as soon as I get them! They are beautifully made! Let me know if you're interested!

"a spirit of adoption"

"For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba ! Father !'" Romans 8:15

I wrote this Scripture on the poster I am making for our Fall Festival adoption fundraiser on Friday.

It took me awhile to choose which Scripture to use for the poster. I wonder how many people will connect to these words.

As wealthy Americans, I'm not sure we have any idea what it feels like to have a "spirit of slavery leading to fear," as those in biblical times would have. But the possibility of falling into slavery is very real for orphans around the world. Please pray for them. Pray that all of them would be rescued. Pray that our child will come safely home to us, to live in freedom and peace, knowing the love of her Heavenly Father.

Quilt Squares for Orphans

Ladies from my church gathered last night for fellowship and a crocheting lesson. We are making quilt squares to contribute to a quilts for children who will be adopted into our church family.

For our child's quilt, I am making a list of people who donate quilt squares or sponsor quilt squares with a donation of $5 or more! It would be great if donors included a note! This will be part of our child's "baby book," so he or she will see how many people supported us in bringing him or her home!

If you crochet, the yarn we're using is "worsted weight medium 4." I don't know much about crocheting yet, but I'm learning! I'm not sure if I should tell measurements of the quilt square or how many rows to include? Let me know what you need to know and I will find out the answer! Click on this link to read the instructions I was given for the granny squares.

There is now a working paypal donation button on this blog if you'd like to send donations! We still need about $1,100 for our home study, and then we can start applying for grants, which will cover most of the rest of the adoption costs, expected to total at least $25,000. We are excited to see how God will continue to provide, as He clearly has already begun to do so!

wicked witch temper tantrum

I threw a tantrum in the grocery store. A tantrum, like. a. child. No, there was no audible screaming or visible stomping.

It went something like this:

Kyle: "Your (cardigan) buttons are out of line. Let me fix that for you."

me: "No. I don't care. I'm angry."

Kyle: "Why are you angry?"

me: "I will not straighten my (cardigan) buttons until my child is safely home."

Kyle: "I can be your punching bag, if that's what you need."

And the wicked witch melted.

I'm thankful to have a husband who knows how to calm me down in my moments of insanity.

This tantrum came after a long, busy week followed by an action-packed weekend at a women's church conference, and a conversation about delays in our adoption process, such as the facts that we haven't yet officially settled on a country, and that it might take three months for Alabama to process our background checks. THREE months?!?

So yeh, I was feeling angry, but mostly I'm just tired, and fatigue can lead to all kinds of impatience and temper tantrums, in children and adults alike.

Through the sermons and the hymns and the talks and the booths at the women's conference this past weekend, I was reminded again and again of the orphans around the world. And among those orphans is MY child, who is NOT an orphan. She or he is MINE already...just not home yet.

The pastor this morning spoke about Romans 8. He said, "If you're in Christ, you're as adopted as you're ever gonna be. It's just not yet manifested." We're not waiting until Jesus returns to be part of His family. In the same way, our child is already as adopted as he or she will ever be. He or she doesn't have to wait until we get there to be part of our family. That child is already ours.

In speaking about waiting on the Lord, the pastor also said, "Waiting with patience is the opposite of freaking out. (We should be) living by faith, not by sight...(knowing that) this is what Jesus is going to do." Uh-huh. No freaking out here.

close to you

"Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near? Just like me, they long to be close to you."

Cheesy, yes, but I teared up when this song came on in my car this afternoon. I started picturing my child (I think she's a girl) in India, needing me. I think I know her name, but I need to run that by Kyle before I write about it here. :)

Our first home study visit went well. The social worker toured our house and pointed out the fact that we have no fire extinguisher and the batteries on our smoke detector are dead. Good to know!

He asked Kyle if we have guns in the house, like it would be perfectly normal if we did. We wonder if that was a trick question? Of course we don't guns in the house...but don't tell the bad guys.

We have a loooong to-do list now, including obtaining three official sets of our fingerprints from three separate agencies. Really? Three?

So much to do. But it must be done. Recently, a curious lady asked me why adoption is so expensive and complicated, and I said I wasn't sure, something about bureaucracy, but wouldn't she do everything it took to get to her child if her child were across the ocean, separated from her? Yes, of course she would. Any good parent would go through hell and high water to get to their children, if need be. So, please pray for us as we trudge through "hell and high water" (aka piles of paperwork) to get ours.

A friend is helping me work on fundraising ideas, so stay tuned! I know God will provide!