Girly Girl Bowtique

Redirection

2011-03-21T13:41:00.004-04:00

This blog was redirected months ago, but I thought I'd provide the updated new links again.

Our family blog...
www.growinggirlygirls.blogspot.com

Our fund raising bog selling wristlet key fobs
www.KeysToChina.blogspot.com

The Bowtique
www.GirlyGirlBowtique.com

Girly Girl Bowtique on Fabcebook
www.facebook.com/mygirlygirl

A new "home"

2010-08-20T10:29:00.003-04:00

I first started blogging in 2007...

with a single post in all of a year's time.

And I set it up as a promotional blog for my website, Girly Girl Bowtique.

Blogging for self promotion never caught on with me. I'm not that type.

When I first began researching adoption and discovered the world of adoption blogs in 2008 and started to post and needed a blog of my own I just used what I had already set up.

Now it's feeling a little funny to tell people who ask about how our adoption is going that they can follow us on, well, a blog with a bowtique url.

So I have spent the past hour or so exporting and importing my blog contents to a new address. Unfortunately I have to move over all the elements one at a time. I've done most of them, but switching over the blogs I like to follow will take time. That will have to come later.

I have very few followers at this addy anyway, but if you are one of them...

change me out!!

You can now find me at www.GrowingGirlyGirls.blogspot.com
(corrected, Thanks Valerie!!)

In the past week...

2010-08-04T11:06:00.003-04:00

I've managed to be extremely productive.

That feels good.

I stumbled upon a new forum where I can market my bows and have gotten many orders. I've been actively posting to gain credibility amongst the membership and have sewn over 250 bows and sent out about 18 packages. Whew!

I'm actually ahead of the game for the local consignment sale this year. Usually I am hanging the clothes and entering the info online to print the bar code tags at the last minute. This time I already have 56 items all ready for drop off and I have photographed about 100 other items I am going to try sell on e bay first (it's all top notch name brand stuff and will typically go for much more there than I can ask as consignment). Whatever doesn't sell online in the next two weeks I can tag to take to the consignment sale at the end of the month. Feels good to have a plan. Especially a plan that generates income!

The girlies are at their 3rd Vacation Bible School of the summer. My friend and I are trading driving and child care duties so we each get some free time to work. I sent them off at 8:20 yesterday and they didn't come home until almost 6!!! I'm meeting them at the movie theater this afternoon to all see the new Ramona movie together. The girlies earned $5 each cat sitting for a neighbor and this is what they want to spend it on.

Also about 90% completed with back to school supply shopping, and many of the items I already had, or my mom or my friend had in their stashes. Not too bad! They are long lists!

I have two more hours of no kid time. Got to make the most of it!

One in a million (or maybe make that seventeen)

2010-07-26T12:51:00.003-04:00

I'm always inspired, motivated, challenged and a whole other host of stuff when I visit Linny's blog. After being away from any computer access for 8 days, I was catching up Saturday afternoon when I read her post that her blog was about to have it's 1,000,000 viewer. It was about 400 away when I visited. I went about my business and kept checking back in every 15 minutes or so. Around 2 PM EST it was really close and I decided I had a chance to be the millionth viewer. I got my camera ready, Linny requested a photograph and a screen shot. I also figured that there was no way I'd be it.

Guess what....

I was one of 17 folks who somehow saw 1,000,000 on the site meter!

I took a pic and a screen shot and sent them along with a requested pic of me to Linny.

He he he (that's me feeling giddy)

Look!!

Home

2010-07-24T15:02:00.002-04:00

Back from vacation. I'll have lots of pictures to post, but they are still on my camera.

My mom took the girlies and I on a "Girl's Getaway." We used a trade in from their time share. My dad put in for the trade only a few months ago, so there wasn't a lot to select from, especially since the big parameter was that it was in driving distance for me since I'd be the one to do all the driving.

So where did we go??

We went from VA, through West Va, Maryland and into Pennsylvania. Followed 81 North up and down some mountains and go off on 80 East into the Pocono Mountains to a little resort. It was OK. The time together was great. And so were the temperatures.

It was only in the 80's and most of the time there was a breeze. I also really liked that there were not mosquitos, as I get bit all the time at home. We took many day trips to girlie places like grocery stores and outlet malls and small unique ribbon stores and a quaint small town. We rode a 1920's train through a river valley, toured a turn of the century mansion, hiked (OK, so that's a bit of a stretch) in a State Park on a boulder field, swam in two lakes, went to the Crayola Factory (SO cool!!) and a bunch of other adventures.

It took 14 hours to get home to Nana's house Thursday, just before midnight. We made several brief shopping pit stops and two meals. It was an exhausting drive and it took me most of Friday to recover before I could make the final hour drive back from Nana's to our home.

Pics to follow!!

Play Ball!

2010-07-13T16:06:00.005-04:00

The girlies have not ever played a team sport. Dance has been their only activity. So when we got the call that a friend was forming an all girls T-ball team and they were in need of players to make it a go, we signed the girlies up. It's a very realaxed summer league. No score is kept. Everybody bats every inning. The last batter clears the bases (home run!) so everybody will get a turn to bat last.

They have been having fun at the practices, especially since they end with Popsicles and a play date. Our first game Saturday morning was rained out and rescheduled for Sunday at 6:30. The lighting was beautiful and the evening comfortable.

I think they had a good time!!

We'll be gone (the girlies and I are taking a trip with my mom) and will be back next week.

Silly Band lesson

2010-07-12T13:40:00.002-04:00

I really can't stand those silly band things. The girlies have been given a few here and there- birthday party favors, end of the school year party trinkets. They have about two dozen each and enjoy trading them with the neighborhood girlies.

A few nights ago we were headed up to get the girls ready for bed when Piper "freaked out" (her terminology). Her favorite tie dye band was not on her wrist. It was a bit looser than the others so she surmised that it must have fallen off.

She panicked.

And wailed.

And cried.

She had been all over playing in the past few hours. It was about 9pm and what little daylight that was left was quickly fading. I sent her outside to check the backyard while I looked over the sidewalk.

Admittedly, I was not so nice about it at first. She had already come close to losing it earlier that afternoon. She "accidentally" traded it at T-ball practice and the girl she traded it to then traded it on. She wanted to get it back. Thankfully the coach organized the complex trade back. I told her as we drove home, that if it was so special, she should put it in her room and keep it safe. She didn't agree.

So here she was completely hysterical and I was in a "told you so" mood. I was not doing well with all the screaming over a piece of rubber, but I helped her search the street and three neighbors lawns, all to no avail. We looked around the house and then got ready for bed. I hated seeing my girly so upset and hated the impatience I was feeling in myself.

As I tucked her in we prayed that God would help her to find her band in the morning. That He would make it obvious where it was. We talked about how God cares about even the little things, and that this was a little thing, but that it was meaningful to her and that made it meaningful to God.

I had completely forgotten about the darn thing as I stumbled downstairs for coffee in the morning. Piper hadn't asked about it yet. I paused at the bottom of the stairs in the family room and there in plain sight on the floor was, you guessed it- the tie dye band!

I yelled, "Piper look by the rocking horse!"

Her smile was ear to ear!

I can't imagine how we had missed that brightly colored thing right there on the floor. God had answered that specific prayer and made it obvious. How cool to be able to talk to my daughter about God hearing our prayers and answering them on a level she could completely understand and take to heart.

If I could, I'd place that band in my Memorial box (safely stored, not be be lost again) but I know that won't happen. Maybe a picture?

Celebrating

2010-07-10T21:46:00.001-04:00

Nice lazy day at home with the family.
Another year older...

Fairy Friends

2010-06-30T13:29:00.006-04:00

Piper had her fairy friends come over to play last week to celebrate her birthday. She turned 7 last month, but it was so hectic with the end of school that we postponed her party. That and the tutus we needed to order for her fairy friends were on back order. She had decided that she wanted to have a fairy themed party so we ordered tutus, wings and halo streamers from the wholesale company I get some of my supplies from for my craft shows. Everything is priced perfectly and we ended up spending about $4 per guest and they each got to take home their dress-up ensemble.

We needed to do her party on the cheap and it was just as perfect as could be. We made a homemade cake and cupcakes, hid some $1 store shiny star stones around the yard (fairy stones) for the girls to seek and find, and offered markers and gems to decorate the wings. I also glued some foam hearts to skewers with a bit of $1 store bag filler tinsel to make wands for each fairy to decorate.

They played in the backyard and danced to music.

To take a break from the heat we strung beads inside and made bracelets.

It was so much fun! I've already had three moms call to tell me that their fairies have loved their tutus and not wanted to take them off.

It's "live"

2010-06-23T10:32:00.002-04:00

I've officially announced that my fundraising blog is up and running. I do still have about ten more fabric fobs photographed that I need to edit and get up on the site, but I have a busy next few days and not sure when I can get free hours so I figured the 75 options I already have up were a good start!

I have posted about it on my yahoo groups and my co-op ribbon buying group. I know I have very limited readership here and thank you all for your offers to post my button. I'm trusting God to do great things!

Making progress

2010-06-21T17:23:00.003-04:00

I have put in about six hours of photo editing and copy writing and blogger uploading today and have made tremendous progress on my fundraising website. I have about ten more pictures to edit and add to the site and then I'll be ready to begin my advertising. I just want to get the final fobs up so I can relax and spread the word. Wish I could just punt I another hour and be done, but I have to go get ready. I have an outing tonight. It's the first meeting of my Summer Sisters women's group from church. I don' know most of the women in my group and I'd make an awful first impression in my present state of attire.

Thanks to Valerie and Tara for their extra pairs of eyes and fine tuning suggestions!!

It's been a lot of work to get this going and I'm hopeful that I'll sell a few. I know I can't live without mine.

Click the picture below to visit and let me know what you think!

Tomorrow's it

2010-06-17T16:36:00.002-04:00

The last day of school, that is.

I've had this week off work, so a few days to be at home without kids. I'd like to think that I made the most of my valuable 'free' time. Can't really say that I did though. I was up at the school 5 times in two days for various end of year activities. Visited the doctor twice for my physical and back again the next morning for my fasting blood draw. Filled 6 bow orders and got completely caught up. I worked on building my fundraising blog site this morning and it's looking good (if I do say so myself). Not nearly enough time. Today was early release, so they got home at noon.

Tomorrow I'll be picking the girlies up from school. There is a tradition I thankfully learned about just in the nick of time last year where our neighborhood parents attack the kids as they get off the bus with water hoses, water balloons, water guns (you get the idea). Not such a fun thing for my girlies. I intercepted Piper last year as I knew she'd freak out, and oh my... when she witnessed the ambush from the safety of our car let's just say it was a good thing I ran and got her from school. A few weeks ago she stared asking if I was going to be able to come get her this year. The all out ring leader parents aren't there this year, so it might be more tame, but I'll still be driving them home to be on the safe side.
Then both girlies are off to a birthday party at a kids salon where they'll get all glammed up. Lookin' pretty in their up do's, glitter hairspray, sparkle nail polish and the like, we'll head out to our Sunday school class picnic and red neck theater.
Quite the day. I'm tired already just thinking about it.

Isn't summer supposed to be relaxing?

Whew, that's hot!

2010-06-14T15:34:00.005-04:00

Heat index of 110 degrees.

Yeah, I think that counts for HOT!

We ventured down to Williamsburg for the weekend. The girlies and I have had season passes for Busch G@rdens for several years thanks to my folks. Back in March they sent us a post card advertising the Christian music artists who'd be playing in the summer at Glory at the G@rdens. We were thrilled to see Steven Curtis Ch@pman listed. The concerts are free with park admission. So we marked it on our calendar, got Daddy a pass too and headed off to the gardens.

Saturday was nice. We did a few hours in the late afternoon. It was hot, but we had the water park in Elmo land and an hour of a/c at the Irish dancing show. Spent the night at Nana and Grandpa's house and headed back Sunday afternoon.

Sunday was a completely different story. By 4pm it was 97 degrees with a heat index of 110. And that's good old Virginia humidity heat!

The music venues is out in a field. An open field. Man, was it hot!!

We first saw Francesca Batiste!li and then Bui!ding 429. About 10 minutes before SCC was to take the stage they tracked a fast moving thunderstorm headed right our way. So the entire field of thousands of people had to be cleared. We took refuge in the FestHause in Germany and got dinner while we waited. Then back out with the masses to the soggy field for an amazing concert.

The girlies had a great time at their first concert. They were excited to recognize a lot of the songs and the highlight of their evening was hearing Cinderella live. So cool!!

The concert ended about an hour later than anticipated due to the storm delay. That had us leaving the park right before 9 and after a pit stop home just before midnight. Gave the girlies a quick bath 'cause oh my, were they stinky! Amazed that they got up and out the door for school by 8 this morning.

Learning

2010-06-02T16:25:00.006-04:00

We have just gotten started, and already the lessons have begun. In the past two years of waiting and praying for the open door to begin the adoption process, I have been grown like a plant- watered and weeded. I have learned to give up so much of my desires to be in control. I so very clearly understand that the only one in control is God, and His plans and time frame are perfect. So much better than my own. That has been hard to learn. The waiting to wait more has been hard. But oh the growth! I wouldn't have it any other way. And I know I'll be able to say that in reflection after all the struggles we are bound to go through on this adoption journey.

I had done all the research. I had a binder full of information and had contacted references, collected agency information, prayed over each decision we'd have to make... I knew exactly what steps we needed to take to begin. Just waiting to hear GO.

Two days before our yard sale I became anxious. What if I had heard God wrong and this wasn't His timing? It was asking a lot to raise $500 from the odds and ends we had to sell. Maybe this wasn't possible after all. But my loving Father reassured me, speaking to my heart that through Him all things were possible. I needn't fear. So for what will assuredly be the first of many times I laid this adoption down at His feet and said, "God, you are in control. Not me. May your will be done."

Two days later we had $500 in hand. This was His timing. So I gathered the initial paperwork we needed. Emailed the agency coordinator our family info sheet. Opened a new bank account. Sent off for some official documents. And froze.

The next step would cost $2100. I could wrap my brain around $500. But $2100 when I was just about to have my last day of work for the summer, and last paycheck? If I didn't send the agency the next set of papers I still had something to do other than wait and wonder how we would be able to do the home study. We needed a family picture, something we hadn't taken since Christmas. I found silly reasons to keep putting it off. I was afraid to move forward because it was the last step I had complete control over. Silly. I was doubting God and His ability to provide what we need for the next step. How could I have forgotten His provision just a week prior? I was placing God's ability in a box. Thankfully He found little ways of opening my eyes and setting me straight. I love how He does that!

So with renewed awareness that every aspect of this journey is completely in His more than capable hands, I once again laid it all down at His feet. The time frame that He reveals to provide the next chunk-o-change will be perfect. It might not be when I would like for it to be, but His timing will be perfect. It's my job to be ready and move forward with faith. So we posed for our picture. Gathered the last of the paperwork and tucked it nicely into a priority mail envelope and sent it off yesterday. I have a few minor things I can do at this point to move the ball forward, but for the most part we're seeking His will, beginning fundraising, and praying for $2100.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

I did it!!

2010-05-28T13:42:00.003-04:00

I have just completed my first school year teaching since I stopped working when the girlies were born.

Yesterday was the last day of school. We had a wonderful field trip, complete with parent escorts and a picnic. Then last night was the Pre K graduation. It was so sweet. Pretty emotional too. The parents gave us a standing ovation at the end and I was hugged by more parents and grandparents (and kids!!) than I can count. I also think I had my picture taken about 50 times (good thing I wore a pretty blouse!). It was so special to have so many parents take me aside to tell me what an impact I have had on their child this year. It was a special night. My amazing assistant and I went out to a cute cafe after for a glass of wine. It's owned by the family of one of our kids, and the father was there. He thanked us again for all we did for his son and had some gourmet cookies delivered to our table.

This morning we had an end of year staff meeting, completed packing up our rooms, and then several teachers went out to lunch. I have one week off and then I'm back for teaching a week of summer camp. The following week is my girlies last week of school. The year has flown by!

Memorial Box Monday- The Time is Now

2010-05-24T18:02:00.004-04:00

This post is my first official contribution to Memorial Box Monday.

I have been following Linny's blog for almost 18 months, and have set aside a few items for our own family memorial box, but have never posted an official Memorial Box Monday post before. I have also been on the hunt for a 'box' and haven't found anything yet. Today Linny posted that she had a starter box to giveaway- you just had to post a Memorial Box Monday story telling of God's faithfulness.

Seems like the time is perfect for me to jump in.

The short background is that almost exactly two years ago I felt the Lord tell me at a church service where a family was sharing about their recent adoption of two beautiful children that our family was to adopt a child from China. Took me many months to get up the courage to even share that with Paul. I felt sure he'd be closed to the idea. In the meantime I researched adoption, became aware of special needs children and began sponsoring a child. About seven months later I finally felt it was time to share my heart. He agreed that we were being called to adopt- just not anytime soon. We, in fact, didn't even qualify at the time.

Fast forward a full year later, to January 2010. As we discussed the new year at hand Paul said that this seemed like it would be the year we'd get started, just a lot later into the year. But still, what progress!! I had been praying without ceasing that his heart would soften. A huge concern- we don't have any savings to pay for an adoption. We'd have to rely completely on God's provision. I'd seen so many blog testimonies of families who had trusted in Him and seen miraculous provision. I knew I could count on God if we were willing to step out in faith. Still, easier said than done.

Several weeks ago I had continual overwhelming feelings that we needed to start...now! The sermons at church were about stepping out in faith. Blogs I regularly follow were talking about the responsibility we have as Christians to take care of orphans and there were so many links to families who had depended fully on God to provide. So I prayed, God- if this is your timing please provide the money we need to apply to the agency we had selected and get the ball rolling.

We were scheduled to participate in a neighborhood wide yard sale. We worked hard cleaning out closets and gathering items to sell. The girlies were on board, agreeing to sell some of their outgrown 'treasures' to help go get their sister in China. The weatherman was calling for rain, but it held off. Turnout was steady, and at the end of the day we had exactly what we needed to cover the agency application!

God provided just what we needed and He confirmed to us that this is indeed His perfect timing to start the journey to adopt.

I'm not sure exactly what item I'll put in our Memorial Box. I'll have to think about that (any suggestions??).

It has been difficult to wait two full years to start the process, but it's so exciting to know that THIS is the exact time that HE has planned.

Let the fundraising begin!!

HE did it!

2010-05-22T16:45:00.004-04:00

We worked until late in the evening gathering stuff from around the house and pricing and sorting and staging it in the garage.

Paul and I went to bed right before midnight and woke up a little before 6 AM to drag it all outside for the big yard sale. Folks started arriving just before 7!! We had many customers from 45 minutes to an hour away. Three neighborhood all do their sale on the same morning, making it a bargain shoppers playground.

It was steady throughout the morning. We were bargained down on most of our offerings, but the goal was to SELL!! The girlies sold a little bit of lemonade, but probably drank just as much and handed it out to their friends who came by. They also went two houses over and shopped, bring home 'new' build-@-bear animals and outfits bargain priced at $1.

Our goal was $500- the initial fee at our selected agency. We attempted to keep a running tally, but a few things here and there didn't get accounted for when it was busy. With an hour left it looked like we were $100 short. We had a few last minute sales and our tally had the total at $440. When we counted all the cash (and one check from a friend) and the seed money we put in for change we had $635 in bills and another $15 in quarters!

Quarters going in our China piggy bank. It's getting heavy!

To say that we are excited about His provision is an understatement!

Our neighborhood yard sale coordinator had arranged for a charity van to be at the pool to collect donations, so we packed up several boxes of odds and ends that we didn't want to try to sell again. If felt great to clear out. We still have quite a bit of really good stuff left too. The sale is advertised tomorrow afternoon as well, but we are expecting rain. If it's clear after church, we'll see if we can move anything else. I took pictures of everything while it was spread out so I can list it on cr@igsl!st and try to sell it that way.

We are exhausted. Tomorrow afternoon we'll fill out the family info form. We need some family and passport pictures, and we are going to open a separate checking account next week. Looks like the ball is officially rolling!

Praise God!

Seven years ago tonight

2010-05-21T14:35:00.009-04:00

I became a mommy.

Today we celebrate Piper's seventh birthday.

How did that happen? Boy, they grow too fast.

My brother called this morning to wish her a happy birthday and she was quick to tell him that she isn't exactly seven until just after 9 tonight. She was born during the final reveal of Americ@n Id0l between Clay and Reuben. My water broke while I was watching the finals. We got to the hospital a little before midnight, and after five long months of bed rest and a cerclage to keep her in, my little girl didn't want to come out! I ended up having to have an emergency c-section the next evening after 22 hours of labour.

Piper is a beautiful little girl, inside and out! She is a fabulous dancer and artist and student. She loves cats, Barbies, reading, and anything art/craft related. We are having her party in a few weeks. Daddy took in treats and had lunch with her at school today. Tonight we'll eat cake, have the take home pizza she requested and play the new board game we gave her for part of her gift.

Love you, Piper-girl!!!!!

Newborn

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Happy 7th Birthday!

Goodness me...

2010-05-20T15:29:00.002-04:00

I've been home for just over 30 minutes and it's been crazy!

I laid out a fleece last week involving money to be raised at our yard sale this Saturday. We have a neighborhood wide, very well publicised and usually very well attended yard sale twice a year. We have sold a few odds and ends, but never put forth much effort. We are trying this year. The "fleece" is regarding the timing of starting our adoption process. I've been having a very strong feeling for the past several weeks that we need to begin...now. But there is this pesky thing called money. I have one week left of work before summer vacation and 2 solid months of no income. Not really the best time to get the ball rolling when we'll be fundraising the whole shebang anyway. So I have prayed that if this is His prompting and not my heart saying now, that He would provide the funds we need to get started. We have prayed that if this is His will, that we would raise the initial agency fee and hopefully the initial home study fee this weekend.

I put a few 'bigger ticket' items on cr@igslist last weekend. We sold an old love seat in a day. $60 down. Had a lot of bites on the other items, but nothing came to fruition. I had really hoped that all the stuff would go over the week and we'd be well on our way. As I was driving home today I was a bit down. In my mind we would have sold a lot more by now. Maybe this really was just my mind wishfully thinking. I got home, and opened my email. There was a post on our neighborhood yahoo group asking if anybody was selling a treadmill before the yard sale. Why, yes! I have emailed her the specifics of our excellent condition treadmill and anxiously await a reply. My asking price would cover the home study application fee. The next message in my inbox... a receipt for a headband purchase from my website for $50- and it's for items I have already created sitting in my inventory tubs in the garage. OK, God. I'm not doubting. If this is your time frame, you'll provide. If your time frame is later, you'll provide. I'm just going to keep my focus on You.

So I'm feeling a bit of a high as I head to the bus stop. My girly runs off the bus and asks me to get her to the car immediately. She has been physically hurt by another child on the bus. A girl who has an assigned seat next to her on the bus pinched her chest. She has two red marks and is on the verge of tears. We drive home and I ask for the story a second and third time to make sure she and I both understand exactly what transpired. Then I call the school. The principal is out and the assistant is in a meeting that the secretary interrupts. We have had a run in with this child a few months back- it was verbal abuse and the principal handled it. The assistant asked the secretary to get all sorts of information from me, and assures me that she will deal swiftly with this in the morning. Please let Piper know that she will be called to the office, but she is not in trouble. Tomorrow just happens to be her 7th birthday. And daddy is already planning on going in to deliver treats and have lunch with her. Now he'll have a conversation with the principal too.

What a wild 30 minutes.

Gabon

2010-05-12T16:16:00.000-04:00

Working on her info sheet

The packed box

The girlies with their gift boxes

Back in November we sent in our Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes and filled out the tracking labels so we could know what country they ended up in. The girlies were really hoping for China, but were excited to learn that they had gone to Africa, to Gabon. We included a self addressed envelope in each box (it's suggested, as some recipient's may write back) and hoped that we might hear something. Teagan selected a girl age 2-4 and Piper a girl age 5-7 to receive their gifts.

Today Teagan received her envelope. Inside was a picture of a beautiful little four year old girl smiling in front of some flowers and two post cards from Gabon and a small map with her city highlighted in purple. The cards have a letter written in French, the girl's name, her address (just numbers and the city?) and phone number and a yahoo.fr email that says it's for papa. She lives in the capital city of Libreville. I used an online translator and we got the main idea of the letter. It's written in cursive, so I'm not sure of some of the letters and I don't know any French to aid in guessing. I'm hopeful we can find a French speaker to translate for us and help us craft a letter back. Teagan is so darn excited to hear back from "her girl"!

That time of year

2010-05-04T16:15:00.001-04:00

It's dance recital time!!!

We have dress rehearsal tonight for cast A, rehearsal Thursday for cast B, shows Friday night and Saturday afternoon for cast A and Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon for cast B.

Can you say busy week???

And yes, by "we" I mean all three Girly Girls.

Teagan has two numbers, tap and ballet in cast A.

I have a tap number in cast A.

Piper has three numbers, ballet, jazz and Irish in cast B.

This is my third year as an adult dancer. When we switched dance schools three years ago they asked me at registration if I had considered adult classes. Hmmmm? I danced for 13 years as a child. I signed up for tap (my favorite) and was quickly moved up to the advanced class. It's gotten more complicated and faster and the class size has gotten smaller each year. There are only 5 of us this year. (No where to hide!!)

I'm looking forward to it.

Not so much the costume part, though this year's costume is the most flattering yet.

Better run.... I have hair and make-up to do and need to be out the door in 30 minutes. Wish us luck!

A God lesson

2010-04-24T11:16:00.000-04:00

Paul is gone all day helping out at a men's ministry conference, Iron Sharpens Iron. The girlies and I were having a lazy morning. I had some bows to sew and they broke out a puzzle and some baby dolls and we put some Christian CDs on the player. I love how they ask me about the lyrics and we have some fabulous discussions. At first we listened to Mark Schultz and then they asked to hear Steven Curtis Chapman's Beauty Will Rise. I went and got the CD out of my car. We played the entire CD, which they have heard at least 30 times, and talked about the songs, about God, about His faithfulness. We had some really great conversations.

All the while I was wondering where Simon was. Simon is one of our cats. Schuster is our other guy. They used to be best friends until about three years ago when we had an incident when a neighbor's cat came up on our deck and attempted to attack Simon through our screen door. Simon freaked out. He began stalking Schuster. It's a very long story but let's just say Simon was on kitty prozac for a bit and I had a phone consultation with a cat psychologist in Maryland (yes, I know- there is such a thing). That came about when I reached out for help from the rescue organization I adopted the boys from. They set it all up. Learned some good tips, but Simon's little cat psyche was scared stiff and he associated the panic with another cat, any other cat. Even his best buddy of seven years. Schuster now has a deformed ear from a hematoma resulting from a whack Simon delivered. They co-exist much better now, but Simon will still corner poor Schuster and hiss at him. I give him 'the eye' and tell him to knock it off and he'll walk away. I know he understands (and yes, I am a big cat person).

Anyway...

It was just the girls and me and Schuster. He was reveling in all the attention. But it was really strange not to see Simon, especially for breakfast. By 10:30 I was concerned and we started to search the house. We checked all his usual places and no Simon. He's a big dude, they both are. So there are not a lot of hiding places he could jam his body. Turned the house upside down and no Simon. We began to panic. They are completely indoor cats, and he doesn't wear a collar. I couldn't remember seeing him last night and he usually wakes me up around 4am for a snuggle and he didn't last night. I tried to call Paul to see if he had seen him before he left at the crack of dawn, but I just got his voice mail. We quickly got dressed so we could begin the search outside. We gathered to pray that Simon was OK and that we would find him quickly.

Schuster on the left, Simon on the right. This is back when they got along. Told you they are big!

We started in the back yard. It rained last night and I though he might be under the deck. No Simon. We went around the house and looked in the front bushes. No Simon. Walked to our neighbor's back yard and called for him. Still no Simon. The girls were getting worried. Me too. We went to the back yard again and called for him when I saw movement up the deck stairs. We ran to the deck and he darted behind the grill. He came out as soon as he saw me. He had bits of stuff in his whiskers and fur and was slightly damp, but was safely in my arms. Whew! Found in under 20 minutes of outside searching. Thank you God!!

We took him inside and he rushed the food bowl. The girlies and I gathered to say a thank you prayer. It struck me that just an hour earlier we had been talking about how we can always trust God and pray to Him. We discussed what faith is and how we need to depend on God. Just an hour later the girlies saw that we were frightened when our cat was missing, but we prayed. God protected Simon and brought him back quickly and safely to us. What a great lesson they tangibly learned!

Paul got my message and called back. He hadn't seen Simon in the morning. Only one boy came to breakfast (these guys don't ever miss a meal). No way he got out when Paul left. Simon had to have been out all night, in the rain.

Thank you, God. For bring my first baby home safely, but more importantly for showing my girls in a very real way that they are to come to You when they are worried, concerned, frightened. That you hear their prayers.

Great causes

2010-04-21T17:25:00.000-04:00

Feelin' better today. Not 100% yet, but on the mend for sure. Went back to work today and sent Teagan back to school. My Pre K kids missed me (it was a nice welcome back) but whoa... Let's just say 2 days with a substitute left me with 16 overly rambunctious 5 year olds to re-tame. I had a headache in a matter of minutes from their decibel level. Enough about me.

And I know I'm predominantly preachin' to the choir since my bloggy friends who stop by are all running in the same circles, but on the off chance that I have a visitor...

Please go and visit Tanya's fundraising blog to bring Khloe home!!

I just got my donation together and photographed and sent to Tanya a few days ago and she has added it to the group of fabulous prizes. I know that the Lord will continue to richly bless this family as they prepare to finally go and get that sweet, little blessing!

Only one day left before the Love Without Boundaries 2010 Art Auction goes live!! Can't wait to see all of the donations this year and do some shopping. Last year I was more on the ball and I put together a large assortment of bows that brought in a nice chunk-o-change for LWB. I had great intentions this year, but having gone back to teaching plus still running the bow business has left me running on empty and time almost completely got away. Then I saw one of Valerie's planned donations and had an idea involving a collaboration and my sweet friend not only agreed to let me jump on her bandwagon, but she whipped up an amazing skirt and got it to me in record time so I could complete the set. It was so much fun to do and I'll post all about it in the next few days. I'm almost giddy to see how God uses the fruits of the talents he has blessed all of the artisans with to raise funds to bless others.

And, if you have not yet had the great fortune to visit the blog of my dear friend Adeye, please do so. She needs our prayers tomorrow, more than ever, as she faces the judge in the Ukraine to adopt two miracles who desperately need out...now. There is a 10 day waiting period that comes after this court appointment and prayers are being lifetd to our Lord on high that this 10 day period be waived.

Under the weather

2010-04-20T13:29:00.001-04:00

Ugh.

That word about sums it all up.

We are hardly ever sick around here, but have been struggling this past week. The beautiful arrival of spring has brought about the worst pollen the area has seen in over 100 years. Everything is a not so lovely shade of yellow. We have to hose down the cars daily so we don't get the darn stuff all over our hands just opening and closing the doors. Needless to say, sinus pressure, runny noses and watery eyes abound and have hit our househould hard.

Then this weekend it hit. Teagan has what the pediatrician is calling "the plague."

Lovely

Basically it's the flu, only it's not. No muscle or body aches, but everything else. And it's apparently running rampant around here. Great. {Sarcasm fully intended}She's back to her crazy self today, but still has absolutely no appetite. And that's far from normal for this kid.

I, on the other hand, have strep throat. I thought I had caught whatever delightful bug Teaggie had when I started feeling awful late Sunday. But a visit to our respective doctors (which took a majority of the day Monday) revealed that I have strep and she has "the plague." I'm about to hit the 24 hours on antibiotics point and hope that I'll be feeling much better soon. I'm not a good sick person. I'm not sure anybody really is, but I really am not.

Off to drink more fluids and offer Teagan another popsicle.

The push up pop adventure

2010-04-01T21:37:00.000-04:00

Once upon a fine spring day, there was a little curly locked girl of almost seven. She was having another delightful day of school, when to her surprise, a push up pop frozen treat was presented to her in the lunch room.

Another fair haired child was having a birthday and the push up pop was the celebratory treat. The curly haired child was, as is her typical style, very slow to eat. So slow, in fact, that she hadn't time to eat the frozen pop.

So what did this dear girl decided to do??

Put it in her lunch box to take home and eat later... hours later.

But, alas, that was not meant to be. For when she stepped off the bus and ran into the waiting arms of her mother she was strangely sticky.

And a red gooey mess was plastered down the side of her leg and atop her new, white shoes. Upon closer inspection, the reddish orange foul smelling goo was oozing out of her backpack.

So home they went. Carefully. Where it was discovered that "somehow" something got into her backpack. No, make that "somehow" something got into her lunch box. Oh!!! The odor was simply awful as the ever so patient mother gingerly opened the backpack and lunch box fully. Then she emptied out several dozen doodads found in various pockets of the backpack before giving it a good washing.

At least it was a warm and sunny day so the offending containers could be placed outside to dry after being scrubbed down.

After further discussion the curly haired girl's memory returned. Seems that she had just wanted to eat a frozen treat at a later time and it hadn't crossed her mind that her lunch box would not keep it ready for her.

Innocent mistake, albeit a VERY stinky and messy one. As the little girl was tucked into bed and the day was reviewed the lesson learned was discussed one more time... Don't put a push up pop in your lunch box for later. Please.

Crack of dawn

2010-03-26T21:25:00.000-04:00

OK, so maybe not exactly the crack of dawn, but I do have to be up and out very early tomorrow morning. Tickets for our dance studio's May recital go on sale at 9am and folks will be lining up starting around 5AM to be at the front of the line to purchase the best choice of seats. Not that there is a bad seat in the house (the local High School auditorium, or that I particularly care exactly where my seats are)...but my girl friends all want to get there at 6:30AM with lawn chairs, do a coffee and donut run and hang out. So I'm game. Darn that it's been beautiful and in the upper 70's this past week, but a cold front blew in today dropping the temps by 40 degrees. The weatherman is calling for a lovely high of 35 degrees at 7AM tomorrow. Yikes! Early and cold- not a good mix for this always freezing night owl. Should be a fun time, and I will hopefully get an aisle seat.

(There are 4 performances- cast A and cast B each doing 2 shows Mother's Day weekend. Teagan( 2 numbers) and I ( 1 number) dance in cast A. Piper (3 numbers)dances in cast B. We get comped 2 seats because they couldn't get our entire family in 1 show. It's going to be a bit crazy, but I love recital time!!))

Another recap of weeks gone by

2010-03-22T14:36:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to keep up with the blog, but I'm obviously just not so good at it.

Ahhh, at least there is intention. That means that there is a possibility of fruition? I'm holding onto that thought.

So the recap...

On March 10 we celebrated two special birthdays. The two little girls who we have had the honor of sponsoring share a birthday. Gracie turned 2 and Melody turned 1. We bought a cake, sang "Happy Birthday" and blew horns and said prayers for our special birthday girls half a world away.

Then, that weekend I went to my big expo event. It was a very big success! Traffic was decent and sales were slow but steady. Not my best show, but I cleared the income figure I had set for myself. I average $400 a show, and since this was a 2 day event I mentally wanted to walk away with $800. After the booth rental and the credit card fees, I just cleared that figure. God provides!! It was my first show accepting credit cards on site and that was a good decision as 2/3 of my sales were paid for in that manner. I had tweaked my set up this time too and was very pleased with my results. My two new banners had just come in as well. I love the more professional appearance they give. My next show is May 1 at a local church.

This past weekend Paul was gone Fri/Sat helping run a Men's ministry conference an hour north. It was a glorious first day of spring and managed to hit 70 degrees. The girlies and I ran a few errands and found new sneakers (that glitter!!) on sale at O!d N@vy and used my coupon for an additional 30% off making them $7 a pair!! We then were headed to Rit@'s for icees and saw a huge crowd. Yikes!! Decided to brave the masses and was so excited to find that it was FREE icee day in honor of the first day of spring. Can't beat that! I had mango and the girlies had a (strange) blend of mango and Peeps (yes, the marshmallow coated in sugar chick concoction made into a flavored ice). Turned their teeth bright yellow! Wish I had my camera on hand for that.

Yesterday after church we headed downtown to the 25th annual Irish Festival. Piper really wanted to see the Irish dancers.

We also liked the pipers.

It was crazy crowded and Paul had to drop us off and continue to drive around looking for a place to park. We saw some dancers (but not the fancy ones we saw last year that she was hoping for) and enjoyed walking around. What a cast of characters we saw!! I don't believe that the girlies had ever seen so many tattoos in their lives.

On the way home we went to McD's for ice cream.

The girlies rocked out in the car on the way home to some worship music. Here they are playing air drums to Michael W. Smith's Prepare Ye The Way.

Oh how I'm going to try to stay more on top of posting!!

Heading on the road...

2010-03-11T14:36:00.000-05:00

I have a 2 day event in Williamsburg, VA Friday/Saturday. It's a consignment sale and baby/ kid expo. I have a booth to sell my creations. I have been working around the clock (or so it seems) for the past month to create inventory. I have more items than I have ever had for a show before (I have also not done a two day show before). I took the day off tomorrow, prepared the girlies stuff so Dad can handle them this weekend, and have sewed until my fingers are raw.

I'm getting ready to head out. Have to see if I can squeeze the last of my stuff in my car. Times like these I wish I had considered a minivan! I'll be staying with my parents and my mom will be able to help me a bit at the booth. That will be great! I'll take lots of pictures and post when I get back Sunday evening.

Please keep me in your prayers. We really need for this to be a financial success for me. I was hopeful that this would be a homestudy fundraising event when I signed on in January, but it is not yet God's prefect timing. I have a goal in my mind and I know that God is fully capable of meeting that amount.

Gotta run...the road is calling!

a request

2010-03-02T19:57:00.000-05:00

for prayer

Friends, we have had a lot on our plates, yet again, struggling with the burdens of a 100% commission job in this economy. Circumstances are dark and Paul is quite down on himself. February came and went with way too many snowy days of lost work. I am trying my best to point him to scripture and encourage the leader of our family. I have faith in our Savior's ability to provide and know that He is using this, and all situations, to grow us and mold us more in His image. Would you please pray for His provision, for the right words to pass my lips to encourage my husband, and for him to grasp firmly to His truth and not allow Satan to have the foothold he currently has.

Thank you.

Random ramblings

2010-02-12T15:53:00.001-05:00

(I know this is worthless without pictures, but they will have to wait...)

A catch up post

In the last week I have...

1) Gone to work 2 full and 1 half days thanks to all this snow and ice.

2) Made over 600 bows and clips for upcoming craft shows and cut all the fabric for some headbands and belts. The house is a giant mess of ribbon and clips and fabric in way too many places.

3) Refereed about as many squabbles between sisters stuck inside way too long.

4) Watched (that's the key word) the girlies run 2 and 2.5 miles at running club after school. They still had way too much energy!

5) Made some way cool (if I do say so myself) girly baby gifts for my college little little sister who's having her first child (a girl!!) in April and baby shower tomorrow (hope she can be dug out of the 4.5 feet of show she received to make the trip back to our college town for the shower!).

6) Went to Piper's school for the 1st grade Valentine's concert and watched her sing and say that what she loved most was having friends that came over and played with her and snuggling with her mommy!

7) Received a lot of chocolate and cute, heartfelt Valentine's Day cards from my preschool kiddos.

8)Read what I could and searched for info on the new C2A2 policy of no longer having agency SN individual lists. Saw mention of it on CAdoptTalk last night and then got an email from the China coordinator of the agency we'll most likely use today confirming the new policy. Wondering what this will mean?

We're off to a pizza party nighttime play date in a few minutes. Then I hope to sew a tutu onto a onesie as one last gift tonight. I bought the organza and the onesie and I have a vision in my head, but no real sewing expertise in this area, so we'll see what happens.

I also can't wait for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics tonight. We have antenna TV reception and NBC is hit or miss, so I'm really hopeful that it will come in clear for the events I want to be able to watch. I'm an Olympics nut. In 1988 I was really sick for a few days and my mom moved the 7 inch TV into my room and I watched the Calgary games non-stop. I became so addicted I feigned continued illness so I could miss more school and keep watching. I also go to spend 8 glorious days at the 1996 games in Atlanta. It was amazing and I really hope to be able to take the kids to an Olympics one day. Truly was an uplifting international camaraderie experience.

Snow!

2010-02-01T13:00:00.000-05:00

The backyard.

We were the bulls eye of the weekend storm. Official total for our area of the county was 13 inches. My parents only ended up with 7 inches about an hour south of us. The Beach got 9-13. We're all dug out thanks to Paul. I stayed inside. I'm so totally not a cold weather kind of girl.

Paul grilling hamburgers.

Making snow angels.

Sledding.

I enjoyed the beautiful snow from inside at first. I put the zoom lens on my camera and got a few pictures. Then we were home another day, and another and it warmed up a bit and I ventured outside with the grilies and got some better pictures.

Piper in the snow.

Teagan's ice pop.

Working on our snowman.

It's stacked with help from our neighbor.

Girlies don't make snowmen- has to be a snow princess!

We are home again today. Just too many back roads and sidewalks and schools to be plowed to get the county operational again. We had sleet last night and a good dose of black ice this morning. We have done tons of crafts, baked cookies played games, read books. They are starting to get on each other's nerves at this point. And it looks like another dose of measurable snow is headed our was Friday and Saturday. Whoo Hoo!!

Baby, it's cold outside!

2010-01-29T16:07:00.000-05:00

Waiting for a doozy here. A MAJOR winter storm!

We are expecting the snow to begin after sunset tonight and deliver a major snowstorm. Central and Southern Virginia typically doesn't get big storms. For us, this will be huge. Current predictions are for 12+ inches (some medels show 16" could be likely) and what they are calling "New England storm temperatures." Translation- high temp of 20 in the morning and then falling. That's something that hasn't happened in a Central VA snow in many years. Quite likely that temps will stay constant between 16 and 18 degrees most of Saturday. ((What???)). The VA Beach area and Norfolk which hardly gets any accumulation is trending for 12-14 inches. My parent's in Williamsburg could be a 'direct hit" at 15+. Don't believe Williamsburg has had more than 6 inches in the past 20 years. Insane!

I went shopping over the past few days for necessary food (and technically unnecessary but much desired foods too). We have sleds and snowpants and gloves procured just prior to our unprecedented December snow. Hit the library yesterday for a bunch of books and DVDs. I think we're good to go.

The nerd in me has had a blast learning about meteorology, looking at all the weather charts and NAM and GFS models and following the local weather blogs where super nerdy weather buffs and novice meteorologists have been posting in real time about reading the models and tracking fronts. I have learned a bunch!

So now I'm doing some laundry, and mentally planning what I can do on my days off (because we have to get a few days off of school). It will take a good while for our county to dig the neighborhoods out so school can resume. Just hope we don't lose power.

Bring it on!!!

Confessions

2010-01-26T17:30:00.000-05:00

I've been feeling like I have been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster over the past few weeks. I want to just turn all my fears and doubts over to God, but I am finding myself hanging on to them. Why? Why, when it is so counterproductive and I know that He wants me to lay my burdens down is it so. darn. hard? Life has been pretty good on the whole and knowing that Paul is on board with this year being the year should have me feeling pretty up. And many times I am, but then the fear and doubt creep in and I let them, which angers me that I let them when I know it's just Satan messing with me. Ugh!

As many know we first sponsored Gracie from Nov 2008 until she was adopted in May of 2009. In those seven months I fell completely in love with her. Her photos were around the house, one in my purse as well. The girlies and I prayed over her daily. I made her a doll, we threw her a birthday party (y'all know I love any excuse for cake!), we sent many gifts and our old bumbo seat. I was invested. I dreamed that we might adopt her. Some mountains were starting to move, but when she was adopted very quickly in country she was suddenly, from my perspective, gone. I at least desired to know of her family via the blog world. I was happy for her, but it was hard. I had to grieve and it felt silly to have to do so, but it was a loss. We were given a little boy to sponsor next with a note that we could change if we had a different child in mind. Paul said stick with a boy- I had become very emotionally invested with a girl. But then a few weeks later Melody arrived at ND and there were some pretty neat red threads that tied me to her. So I sent my email request in and had my sponsorship switched to Melody. But I have had a hard time investing in her the way I did with Gracie. I've been making it about me. Sure, her picture is up on the credenza along with the girlies. And she is constantly on my mind and in my prayers and I have a gift that's been in my closet waiting to be sent for several months, but honestly I have been afraid to give all of myself to her in the manner I did before. Why? Irrational fear that I'll fall completely in love (I already have) and have my heart broken again. How utterly selfish. Could it be that she'll be made paper ready when we are ready? My mind wanders and I plan. Then I snap myself back into reality. It's a rough inner struggle.

Then there are the doubts of will this ever even financially happen. I have so many blog posts bookmarked of families telling about how God provided- and in my heart I know He will. It's just that dang doubt and fear again. But I am encouraged- and this is pretty cool.

Monday morning I had the day off- teacher workday for the public schools so a day home for me. I was in a daydreaming then doubting roller coaster mind play. I had finally turned it all over to God and said something along the lines of "You know the desires of my heart, and that this is all consuming me. I just need to know if this is in my sooner than later future so I can move forward, because I just need to let go if it's later." I checked my yahoo groups and saw a praise from a woman who had just received a grant, thankful for God's provision. I looked up the grant provider and was completely drawn in to their story. A couple had adopted a beautiful little girl, a heart baby. Her need was uncorrected. Upon returning home, she had a procedure, which she so sadly did not survive. My heart just ached as I read about sweet Anna . This God serving family made the decision in their pain to honor their daughter and bring glory to God by offering adoption assistance grants. Simply amazing! As I devoured every page of their site I felt God speaking to my heart. They concluded the telling of Anna's story with "We pray Anna’s story gives you hope that with Christ you can do anything (Phil. 4:13)." I was speechless. Then I had a little "Wow, God!" moment. I looked at the list of families who had received grants and saw my sweet friend Adeye's name at the top. In this wonderful blog world I have been so blessed to have found some amazing mentors and friends. Adeye has encouraged me through comments and emails, and by her example so many times. I had my answer, God was there saying "Child, don't let go, just trust me." And it gets even better.

I just had to write the family and tell them basically what I have written here, but much wordier. I was quite emotional! I had to share with them what an encouragement they were to me, how the Lord had led me to them in my time of questioning, and to thank them. Yesterday I got back the sweetest email from Jo sharing some struggles and doubts she had been going through when my email had arrived, and how God used my words to encouraged her. My words? Isn't God great! I look forward to getting to know Jo better and praying for her continued healing and for resources to fill their coffers so they can continue to provide grants and spread Anna's love.

So the doubts and fears will continue to come. But here is one more moment I can reflect back on showing God's greatness. When I turn it over to God who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20) He grows me in ways I hadn't imagined and my burden is lightened.

And my faith is renewed.

And I make a new friend.

(And I am finally going to gather my present for Melody and get it off to China and give her all of my heart).

Praise be to God!

Great Mema's stuff

2010-01-18T11:34:00.000-05:00

We just received the latest item I've inherited from my grandmother Mattie May, aka Mema to me and Great Mema to the girlies. She passed away in September of 2008, but it has taken my dad a while (for physical and emotional reasons) to go through the jam packed storage facility that housed all of her belongings. He and I moved everything, and I mean everything, to the storage facility many years ago when she went into an assisted living facility. She didn't want anything sold, or even touched and though she would never have any idea Dad followed her wishes and packed it all in and let it sit. Several months ago we borrowed a neighbors truck and my Dad and Paul met up at the unit and I picked from memory what items I wanted. They loaded them up and now they grace our home. Nothing is of much monetary value, she had working class stuff and it was well used and old. But I have many memories and am thrilled to have her things in our house. I most love her china cabinet that fits perfectly between our unusually narrow dining room windows and her upholstered rocking chair and drum top table that are now in our master bedroom and match perfectly.

Dad went back last week to have an auction house come take a look at what remained and to gather a few more things for me. Her old Singer sewing machine and cabinet needs to be rewired, but will be mine. He also set aside a drop side table that my grandmothers uncle made for her, likely in the 1930's. It's solid pine and beat up, but I plan on painting it and placing it in the playroom. Plans may change once I see it, but I think it's cool to have a piece so old and handmade.

Th girlies are in heaven over the new piece from Great Mema they got this weekend. My Mom's friend had a luncheon a few miles away from us, so mom came along for the drive and we hung out together while her friend had her party. She brought with her our newest treasure....

A baby stroller, likely from the 1930's. I remember riding in it as a child with my brother. I need to clean it up a bit. The fabric tag is just hanging on and says "since 1839". Love it! We have no dining room furniture so the front of our home is wide open for strolling around baby dolls and stuffed animals. They are even taking each other on rides. Dad says there are two more, but this one is in the best shape. Makes me smile seeing the girlies play with it. I know Mema is smiling down from heaven too!

Let them eat cake

2010-01-15T16:29:00.000-05:00

Warning- this is a completely self-centered post.

I'm in a good mood.

The girlies started off their day on a good foot (I've said before that we are not morning people, so good mornings are, unfortunately, not the norm).

I had a good day teaching with a few kids absent so the teacher:kid ratio was wonderful and my dinosaur skeleton/macaroni project had fabulous success.

It's above 40 degrees so we got to go outside for recess and the girlies are playing in the cul de sac right now with friends getting fresh air and hopefully tired out a bit.

I browsed my blog roll and was greeted with some uplifting testaments of God's provision and was encouraged to see the body of Christ uplifting one another.

I'm having a good hair day- Piper did it for me today in her style (sidesweept and a clip) and I had a few compliments at school.

I just got a few bow orders from my website and a custom order off the gymbo chat boards that will be a lot of fun to make for Thing 1 Thing 2 onesies for a gift for a set of twins.

Did I mention it's above 40 degrees? I can't stand being cold!

It's Friday and we are having breakfast for dinner, we are going to play some new board games (probably my new fav Blokus) and watch a DVD together (joined netflix for a Christmas gift... we have a documentary called Ballerina for tonight about some Russian ballerinas and their rehearsal and performance time picked out- Paul will have to deal) AND...

Our local grocery chain was recently sold and the news reported last night that the change over will happen very soon. That means no more of their simply amazing pound cakes. So I had to stop by the bakery while I still can and get a cake. I think I'll go get another when this one is gone in a few days. I'll miss it terribly. It's THAT good. Tonight I'll get to cap my really good day with some yummy cake.

I'm in a good mood.

And there's a cake waiting.

Out loud

2010-01-14T14:07:00.000-05:00

He said the words out loud that I have been waiting to hear. Let me back up a bit...

It was 13 months ago that I poured out my heart about adopting a waiting child to Paul and he agreed that we would do so- one day, not any time soon.

A few weeks ago in talking about the new year he mentioned that he was thinking that we'd likely get the process started sometime in 2010. Still a lot of unresolved issues regarding finances in his head.

Last night we began taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University course at our church. We were instructed to go around the room and introduce ourselves saying why we were there and what we hoped to get out of the course. Several people spoke about how they wanted to be able to fund missions trips and be better gifters to causes that were dear to their hearts. When it was our turn he said it- publicly- for the first time in my presence. We were there to learn to get in control of our finances the way that God intends and we want to adopt a little girl from China and hope to start the process this year. He said it out loud, not only to my ears, but to a room full of casual acquaintances and strangers. This year. I know he's likely thinking Nov/Dec (ha!). I know that the Lord has the perfect time already planned. It has been difficult to wait this long already just to start the process and wait a whole lot more. But I feel like I have received my first of the much anticipated "A's". Audible conformation that adding an orphan to our family is on the agenda. Praise God!

Eighteen pounds of love

2010-01-09T18:46:00.000-05:00

I'm a cat person. Always have been as long as I can remember. Right now I have two boys. They are mine. Paul can't stand cats. He let me get them after we were married, but they have had some "issues"- OK, still have "issues" (long stories) and that makes them fullymy cats. Simon and Schuster. Those are my boys. My BIG boys. My eighteen pound boys.

Simon is a very possessive lap cat. When he wants my affection he gets right in my lap, in my face, on my pillow at 4am... He demands and commands affection. He's so soft and snuggly and I love it for a bit. But he wants his mamma all the time. It can be annoying. And heavy. But right now when I am constantly freezing, I have been enjoying having my own personal radiator take his spot up in my face as soon as I sit down. I was listening the the Kutless It Is Well CD I just got tonight while the girlies were watching their third (perhaps fourth) movie of the day. Paul is out for the night riding along with our friend/Sunday school teacher/mentor Mike, who is giving a presentation on Fathering at a church a few hours away this evening. So it's just the girlies, a frozen pizza, my new CD and an eighteen pound purring lap warmer hanging out for the night.

(picture taken by my budding photographer Teagan with my new Christmas present)

Last day of vacation

2010-01-03T15:12:00.000-05:00

Here it is the afternoon of the last day of Winter break and I have neglected to post all the fabulous, insightful posts that I have composed in my mind. Where did the time go?

For starters there were several chock full days of last minute Christmas preparations and 14 dozen cookies to be made for our family and my brothers and dad for part of their Christmas gifts. Then we had a few days of travel and a surprise visit from the other set of grandparents up from Florida for a few days. We spent an afternoon helping Paul move to a new office location within the general office and get somewhat organized. Now here I am, at a loss of time with a huge agenda I thought I'd have accomplished days ago. I just got all of my thank you notes done (still need to get the girlies done) and I spent the majority of yesterday planning my January teaching curriculum and reserving library books that go with my units of study. I have 3 bow orders I need to wrap up tonight and get postmarked tomorrow and we have to get to the store so we have lunch items on hand and a few other essentials that mysteriously are running on empty. Notice posting that eloquent blog post didn't even make the list. Ahhhh.

I do have many goals for 2010, one of which is to be much better about keeping a family record of our lives and my thoughts. I love how so many of you, my bloggy friends, manage to keep up your blogs so well. I got a new camera from Paul for Christmas, a small pocket sized Kodak since my big Nikon is, well, big. Maybe I'll at the very least get up an end of 2009 pictorial summary....after I cross a few more things of of my list.

E L E V E N

2009-12-20T12:07:00.000-05:00

Eleven years ago today at 5pm in a 100+ year old historic little church just outside our Nation's Capital I wed my sweetheart. It was a beautiful, crisp, December day (thankfully without all of this crazy snow we have today!!).

Each year for our annversary I get an engraved pewter or silver-plated ornament with the date and what anniversary we are celebrating. It is a neat tradition and so special to hang them all on the tree each year and then add the new one.

Eleventh anniversary ornament

First anniversary ornament

The girlies have a sleepover at a friend's house tonight so Paul and I can go out (and come home!) alone :)

Happy eleventh anniversary, babe!!

Found!

2009-12-17T15:22:00.000-05:00

Yep... I found it. I just love how God cares about the little things that matter to us. Not only did I find it once, buy actually twice- and it's still impossible to find.

I still hadn't received another "back in stock" message, but decided to check the company webstore. It was available (what??) so I quickly added it to my cart and checked out. As soon as I was done it was back to being listed as backordered. And on what day did I find it- (Monday) the last day for shipping to get it here by the 24th. I was still nervous that the order might not be processed or it might not arrive in time, but I felt pretty good. The next morning I had a Dr. appt on the otherside of town by the big box toy store. I decide to check just in case. Guess what- the delivery truck had just unloaded two and I got one. Perefct timing the sales clerk said. People have been after that pyramid for the past month. Boy, do I know! So now I have one in my closet. I'll return it should the other arrive in time. It's a silly thing, but I'm giddy that I'll have the present I wanted to give under the tree for my girlies and it was so much fun seeing how He provided.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-12-16T15:48:00.001-05:00

The Hunt is ON

2009-12-13T17:54:00.000-05:00

I do usually enjoy the thrill of the chase when it comes to Christmas gifts. A few years ago when B@rbie was one of 12 dancing princesses that the girlies completely loved (it is a great movie for girlies) I had a blast hunting down all 12 dolls. I searched every store for almost a month and was still short Ashlyn. Three of the 12 were next to impossible to find. I was so lucky to get two of them, but I was still one short. I ended up connecting with a woman on one of the mommy chat boards I was then active on that worked as a stocker in a toy store for extra seasonal money. She volunteered to look as she unpacked the boxes for me. That dear woman found the impossibly hard to find doll, bought it for me and then I paid her and she shipped it in time for Christmas. That same doll was so in demand that it was selling for $80+ on eB@y- and she knew it and still picked it up for me for $12.99.

I haven't been that crazy since, but it's still fun to search for the perfect gift I know they will love. This year I thought I had it easy. Their lists are very vague, so I have picked the specifics. It was supposed to be easy. None of the craziness this year... or so I thought.

The girlies have become enthralled with Playmobil. My brother had a bunch of boy sets (cowboys and Indians mainly) that they play with when we visit Nana and Grandpa's house. So they requested Playmobil. Back in October at conference time it was suggested that we engage Pip in more non fiction reading. After a library trip to the non-fiction section, she decided to learn all about ancient Egypt. I loved learning about Egypt as a child, and my mom had saved tons of neat books she had purchased for me and my brothers over the years. So how cool was it to discover that Playmobil made an ancient Egypt collection!! I looked at it in stores a few times. Read reviews on line (glowing- the best set ever made). That would be the big gift from the big guy, if you know what I mean. Ready to make the purchase back in mid November, I was shocked to find it sold out, everywhere. I have been on the waiting list (first in line- Whoo Hoo) for the Pyramid set at a local specialty toy store. They ordered 4 back in late October. I got on the list right before Thanksgiving. If they get one in, it's mine (oops- the girlies) but they have no idea if their order will be filled. I was able to get a few of the side sets (the Sphinx and the Pharaoh's temple, an extra Pharaoh and an Egyptian family) from playmobil dot com before they all sold out too. I'm on email alert directly from the company and I was hopeful for a moment. This morning I awoke to an email from overnight that they were back in stock and available for direct order. I logged in and added to my cart for a few seconds before it was again back ordered. Darn!! Still hopeful that the store will get it in for me before Christmas.

I can't wait for years of fun, should we be able to get our hands on the darn thing. At least I'm not hunting for one of those impossible to find hamsters that are all the rage.

Anything you are searching for???

Princess snow angels

2009-12-10T14:47:00.000-05:00

Can you tell the girly girls wished all of this rain had been some snow??

Pip remarked at breakfast this morning "Look, the princess is making a snow angel" as she swooshed her princess gummy vitamin back and forth in the pile of powdered sugar on her breakfast waffle plate.

(note- picture was recreated by Tea. Pip ate her princess before I had a chance to take a picture)

Reminds me of the time when they were 1 and 2 1/2 and Pip climbed on the cat food container in the pantry to get the 5 pound bag of sugar out which she dumped all over the kitchen floor. She then had her partner in crime lay down with her in the newly white floor and make snow angels in the kitchen. And I was only in the laundry room 2 minutes to switch loads!! Wish I had taken a picture, but I was so freaked out that at the time I didn't appreciate what "out of the box" thinking had taken place. I just saw sugar e v e r y w h e r e. Oh what fun that mess was to clean up! If they have to make snow angels in sugar, I much prefer the vitamin on the plate variety!

Ralph is back

2009-12-02T17:24:00.000-05:00

Who??

Ralph. He's our elf. He came out last night to rejoin our family. Have you ever seen The Elf on the Shelf? I came across the gift set last year at a book store. It's a book and this elf figure dude. You get to name your family elf. We chose Ralph. It's my standard "funny" name. (Apologies to anybody named Ralph, but it's a name that just cracks me up and makes me giggle.) The cute story says something to the effect that Santa needs elf helpers to check on all the kids so our elf watches the girls each day and reports back to Santa each night and reappears in a different place in our home in the morning. They LOVE finding him each morning and it helps make getting up go much easier (we are NOT morning people). The story also says he can't be touched, and tells Santa of good deeds as well as mishaps. A gentle reminder when they start to bicker that Ralph is watching or a word of praise for a job well done noted that Ralph will be sure to let Santa know boosts behavior. It's a cleverly written story and since the girly girls still solidly believe in Santa, Ralph works for us.

Now I just have to make sure that I remember to find a new hiding space for him each night before I go to bed.

Mmmmmmm Mmmmmm Good!

2009-11-25T09:05:00.000-05:00

I really intended to post this earlier than the day before Thanksgiving but never got around to it. I wanted to share a favorite, simple, kid pleaser recipe that graces our Thanksgiving table every year. They are a southern delight, and are served hot from the oven at a tavern in Colonial Williamsburg. I'll be baking a batch today....

Sweet Potato Muffins

Christiana Campbell’s Tavern
Sweet Potato Muffins
(6 dozen)
1⁄2 cup butter
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1 1⁄4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1⁄4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1⁄4 cups sweet potatoes, baked and mashed
1 cup milk
1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
1⁄4 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
2 teaspoons baking powder
1⁄2 cup raisins, chopped
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease 1 1⁄2-inch (mini) muffin tins. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and mix well. Blend in the sweet potatoes. Sift the flour with the baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add alternately with the milk. Do not overmix. Fold in the nuts and raisins. Fill the greased muffin tins 2⁄3 full. Bake at 400°F for 25 minutes.
Note: Sweet potato muffins can be frozen and reheated.

The girly girls do not like nuts or raisins, so I put some batter in the muffin tin for them first, and then add the raisins and nuts to the rest of the batter for everybody else. They also like to sprinkle a bit of cinnamon/sugar mix on the muffin tops before baking.

They are easy, and so yummy and are a great addition to a bread basket!

The encounter

2009-11-24T15:42:00.000-05:00

I didn't know what to call it. I knew it wasn't a coincidence. I knew that God had clearly sent somebody across my path at a time I was doubting as a sign to remember that all my hope is in Him. Some might say that it's a small world. And while it certainly can be, God orchestrated the events- not chance.

What am I talking about? Divine confirmation is what my bloggy friend Adeye calls it and I really like that! Her story is great, so go check out her post.

But here is what transpired with me...

I know deep in my heart that God has called us to adopt a waiting child. It is a desire that He has put there. There are so many obstacles, but I hold firm to the truth that He has called us and that it is His will that we care for orphans. I know someday, in His perfect timing, it will come to pass. But it has already been 18 months since this was first laid on my heart and there is no starting time on the horizon. I often get discouraged and then something happens out of the blue that puts orphans or adoption or China smack dab in front of me and I know that it's God telling me to keep my focus on Him.

A few weeks ago we went to Texas. It was an award business trip. It was paid in full for Paul, if I were to attend we'd have to pay airfare and other expenses and that wasn't in the budget and nearly impossible. I prayed for a month that if God wanted me on that trip, that he would provide the finances. A bonus came about that I had no idea was even a possibility right before the deadline to sign me up, and so God said "Go" and I did!! As we were sitting at the airport I saw a Caucasian dad with his Chinese infant. They were on our flight. She was adorable, the dad was very hands on and obviously smitten. I couldn't take my eyes of the pair and Paul noticed them too. I had just been reflecting on how this trip didn't seem possible, but God had provided and here I was. That was just about the time I noticed the father and daughter. I felt Him saying to me "Look what else is possible, too."

Fast forward to this past Saturday. I had a craft show at a middle school in the town where my Mom and Dad live about 1 1/2 hours from me. The show was slow, but my mom and I were having a great time just hanging out together. I looked up and saw a man I thought looked familiar. Then the stroller he was pushing came into view. It was the dad and daughter from the airport, along with his wife and their 8 year old Chinese daughter. They walked right into my booth space! I asked him if he was on a flight to Texas a few weeks ago. He thought for a moment and then his wife said "Yes you were, the first leg of your flight to Omaha." I told him that we sponsored a Chinese orphan and had noticed his daughter. He remembered our brief conversation on the gangway when Paul told him how great his daughter had been on the flight. And then we talked for almost 30 minutes. Their older daughter was 8 and was adopted 7 years ago. They had just brought home Sophia in September and she had turned 1 last week. They had waited almost 5 years in the NSN track for her with a lousy non Hague agency. We talked about China and adoption. And all the while Sophia was blowing bubbles and smiling at me and bouncing all over her stroller. Her full head of hair bouncing right along with her and she sang and cooed and giggled endlessly at me and my mom. (They got quite a few bows for all that hair!!). They left my space, only to return about 30 minutes later for even more bows and more conversation. Their presence sparked conversation between my mom and me that went on for hours after they left. They waited 5 years from application to "gotcha"??? I realized that my journey had begun. It's just not measured (yet)in documents or check lists or payments due. It's a journey in my heart in mind. In the past eighteen months my heart's been broken for the orphan. I've learned about special needs and realized that's the path I want to travel. I've begun to teach my daughters about compassion and orphans on a level that can completely understand by getting them involved with sponsorship and New Day. And I remember to trust that the official journey will one day begin.

What were the chances I'd travel 1.5 hours to a very small, poorly attended craft show and have an opportunity to meet and talk about China and adoption with the same father/daughter pair that crossed my path at 5 AM a few weeks prior and who God used to speak to my heart??? It wasn't chance at all. It was divine confirmation.

Craft show season

2009-11-10T16:16:00.001-05:00

And I'm Busy. Busy. Busy.

I had my second show of the Fall season last Saturday. It was outdoors. I usually stay away from outdoor shows after October, but the vendor price was right so I thought it was worth the chance. I opted out of a show three weekends ago due to weather and lost my booth fee. But this time it turned out to be a simply beautiful day- although I set up bundled up in my winter coat, hat, scarf and gloves. My mom was able to help out, and that was great. I have been doing shows for almost 5 years and this was my first time not doing it solo. I have shows the next two Saturdays, then I get a break and then I have two more. This Saturday's show has typically been my highest grossing, so I have great expectations. Now I just need to work on creating more inventory in the next, oh, 3 days!!!

He knew I'd need tissues

2009-11-08T16:34:00.000-05:00

Back from Texas. Yee Haw!! We had a really nice time. Paul's company put on quite the event and San Antonio was a great city to visit. The Girly Girls had a fantastic time with Nana and Grandpa. I'll put together a post about all that later. We just got back last night, so I still have to upload pictures.

But about those tissues. Whew. Seems like I have been sniffling all day. I'm not sick. I'm an emotional mess over the fact that there are so many orphans without a mommy and a daddy. As I was gathering the girls church bags this morning I had one foot out of the car and I felt compelled to reach back in and grab a few tissues. No real need. Noses are all good- everybody is healthy- and I had forgotten that it was orphan Sunday. But He knew I'd need the tissues. Our church only briefly touched on the subject. A father who has adopted from China a few years ago and just brought home their second daughter 6 weeks ago spoke very briefly and then a ShowHope video was played.

And.I.needed.the.tissues.

My heart has been so heavy, burdened for going on 18 months. I cling to the fact that I know that He has called us to adopt and in His perfect timing we'll begin the process of bringing our daughter home. Until then I pray for softened hearts, for His provision and that He'll continue to show me how I can make a difference in this fallen world. I know He is faithful. I cling to that truth. And in fifteen minutes I'll be watching the Cry of the Orphan broadcast. I have an entire box of tissues right here.

Dad gets the dead fish

2009-10-21T16:33:00.000-04:00

So that's what I heard as I rounded to corner into the kitchen. The girls were sitting at the kitchen table getting ready for craft time. Tea had received some shrinky dinks for her 5th birthday from a friend and they were about to start coloring. For some (very strange reason) one of the shrinky dinks was of fish bones. They had carefully sorted them out, Tea being gracious and sharing them with her sister. Apparently there was an odd number and the one left after they had taken turns picking their stash was the fish bones. And Dad was to be the lucky fellow to get the remaining one.. the "dead fish." Lucky duck! [ it's very small and hard to see, but Pip is holding it at her eye level ]

~~~~~~

The flu is almost an epidemic here. We have managed to avoid it so far, but hundreds of kids are out of each of the local schools. Only 1 out from my class, but four (out of 12) are gone across the hall. They are giving immunization shots for free at all the schools, but I have decided not to vaccinate for this one after a lot of research and prayer. So we are eating well, taking vitamins, and hand washing like crazy. I have a sinus infection so am running at 80% and hope to stay well for at least the next few days. I leave Friday afternoon for Virginia Beach for my church's women's retreat. I'm excited for a few days of companionship in Christ and spiritual renewal.

I'm back

2009-10-06T14:20:00.001-04:00

I've composed so many posts in my mind, but just haven't had the time to come and post anything. I'm finally feeling that I have both feet underneath of me, so I'm hopeful that I can get back on track.

Highlights (for now- maybe full posts will be forthcoming)
- After several weeks, Paul is fully credentialed again and able to resume work.
- Teaching is going well. There is no doubt that God clearly placed me in this position. It has been difficult to find a balance of work/home. I have had an overwhelming amount of responsibilities to get the school year off to the right start and I have been going non-stop for many 12 hour days of family/work/errands/family/bow business. It's exhausting. I believe that I'm now in a groove with school and the girls are as well, so I might free up a bit of time for simply being.
- We received 4 free tickets to the local berry farm and had a wonderful weekend at the farm seeing animals, running the corn maze, riding the tractors to the pumpkin patch and SO much more. I took almost 300 pictures on a glorious Sunday afternoon last week.
-Tea (I'll be using nicknames now) turned 5 and I put together a craft themed party at home. We had 10 little girls as guests and her kindergarten teacher came too (love her!). The weather didn't cooperate, so I had to move it all inside (yikes!) but it went so smoothly.
- Pip lost 3 teeth in less than a week including the top front two. Tea has her first two loose so we bought the material to sew her tooth fairy pillow so we'll be ready. That project has been on the back burner, so hopefully I have another weekend.
- Spent all Saturday sewing. Made super soft fleece robes for the girls now that mornings are starting to have a chill. I love making stuff from scratch. Pip told me this morning it was like I was giving her a hug all the time she was wearing her robe.
-We had a church picnic and I got the chance to catch up with some ladies from our former ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship) class. We switched almost a year ago because Paul wasn't getting anything out of the lessons and needed a different teaching method. Our new class is taught by a wonderful man who runs a full time Men's Ministry and teaches in a way women can learn from too, but really challenges men. It's where we need to be, but I miss some of the women from my former class I never get to see anymore. Several of us have all had similar challenges/struggles in the past 4 months and it was refreshing to talk with them about their walks and faith.
- Paul won a trip to San Antonio for his work performance. We couldn't afford to add me to the trip since the hotel was covered, but airfare and a meal/activity fee were not. My prayer for the past few weeks was that if God wanted me to take this trip, He would provide the money. Guess what... I'm going to Texas the first week on Nov!(this will for sure be an in depth post).

I had about 30 minutes of free time before the bus this afternoon. See...things are getting better!! Off to get my girlies.

Setback

2009-09-16T16:05:00.000-04:00

Friends, would you please keep our family in your prayers? Without divulging too much detail- the gist of life right now is that we'll have no income except my new part time preschool teaching wages for about 3 weeks. There was an issue with my husbands work where he fell through the cracks. It will be resolved, but there will be a hefty fee to be paid to get everything back on track. Things were super tight to begin with and we have no idea how bills will be paid or groceries purchased, nevermiind the fee. Just when I thought things were getting better.... But I know none of this was a surprise to God and that He has us firmly in his hand. I'm much calmer and collected than I imagined I'd be (and he is doing OK too). The situation lends itself to stress all around and I'm back at work for the first time in 6 years plus 2 kids in school with new transitions and needs, so I'm completely drained and already running low on fuel. I'm asking that God will show us clearly what He wants us to learn through this experience and that He will provide a way for us to get through. Thanks!!

Twins?

2009-09-10T14:10:00.000-04:00

"No. They are 16 months apart."

I find myself saying that, no joke, at least 5 times a week when we are out in public. The girly girls just had their back to school physicals and only 1/2 of a pound separates them in weight (younger good eater having older finicky sister beat there)> as for height, older P still has 1.5" inches on younger T, but it's not that noticeable. Their hair is now the exact same color after a summer of sun has lightened up T a bit. The only difference is one is curly and the other straight. They both wear size 11 shoes and size 5-6 clothes. And since they have identical styles and interests, they both have the exact same shoes, sweaters, rain coats... You get the picture.

They now know the stock response. I've even caught an eye roll followed by the under the breath muttering "16 months apart" on several occasions. After a grocery trip last week P remarked, "Hey, nobody asked if we are twins." It's that common of an occurrence.

I used to wish I had a twin. Anybody else? Even just a sister would have done.

I have a favorite blog I like to follow. They have twins from China and the pictures and stories are so darn cute. The mom, M3, started doing product reviews last month and I sent her a box of bows for her girls to put to the twin test and review. They opened the box yesterday. M3 posted a bunch of pictures of the girls with them. Too cute. The review will come out in a week or so after they are well tested. Can't wait to hear what they think and hopefully get some good press!!

BTS mussings

2009-09-02T13:44:00.000-04:00

I love back to school. All of it. Shopping for school supplies has always been pure joy. I was always excited to start a new year. I'm an academic nut who just loves learning. As a teacher the end of summer never bothered me. I couldn't wait to get back, set up my classroom and unpack boxes of newly arrived supplies. I had ordered everything back in the spring and often forgot exactly what I had ordered (art supplies for 700 kids for 9 months worth of projects= about 25 large cardboard boxes to unpack) so it was kind of like Christmas morning present opening. In a word...FUN! There is still a lot of work to be done in my new classrrom, but that will have to wait until I'm officially in my work week next week. My mom even took me BTS shopping for some new work clothes when we visited last week.

The girly girls are all excited too. Thankfully T doesn't appear apprehensive at all about starting kindergarten. She'll ride the bus with her sister, get to walk in hand and hand and go to the same class with her dear friend who lives across the street and has been a preschool classmate for the past two years, and she has Mrs. M!!! A wonderfully kind, loving, all around awesome (and a Christian!) teacher she got to know well last year since she was P's teacher. We even found out last night two friends we adore, one from church and one from dance, are also in her class. Don't know much about P's new 1st grade teacher, but when I talked on the phone yesterday afternoon with Mrs. M and she asked who P got, she told me that the new teacher was fabulous and that her personality and style would be a wonderful fit for P. Cool!! P doesn't have any of her best friends in her class but I'm not surprised that that isn't phasing her a bit. She was Miss popularity last year, so I have no concerns that she'll have a new wide circle of friends in no time. Wish I had been that way.

I have my class list of the 16 recently turned five and almost five year olds that will make up my class. I have brief notes about them and can't wait to put faces to names next week.

About the only thing I'm not looking forward to is our mornings. You see, I'm a night owl. If I'm in bed before midnight, well, that's early. I start the majority of my bow sewing after the girls go to bed, so I'm most productive between 9 and 12AM. We have been rolling out of bed 8ish most of the summer. Now we'll have to be out the door by 7:55. And I'll be ushering two through the morning routine. Last year P and I always made it with less than 2 minutes to spare to the bus stop and T was still soundly asleep. I hate to admit, but there were many mornings we were pulling up to the stop (about 1/4 mile away) as the bus was arriving from the opposite direction. We never did actually miss it though! So in a nutshell, I'm dreading getting all of us up and out on time. The grand plan was to start moving back bedtime and waking up early in preparation. Not happening. In fact we pulled in the driveway Monday night at 9:30 from a play date gone long. But we all had a lot of fun and it is still summer. OK, so we have a few more days to get adjusting going...

This school year will mark a lot of change. First year with both girls in elementary school. First school year back to work for me after six years at home. I know it is going to be a great year! I can clearly see God's hand in placing me in my teaching position and the girly girls in their classes. I'm so excited to get going and see what He has in store for us. That is if I can get us all out the door.

Just REALLY busy

2009-09-01T20:34:00.000-04:00

Haven't posted in a while. Haven't posted to the blogs I love to follow in a while (thought I have quickly scanned a few). Just been REALLY busy!!

There has been a lot to do to get ready for the new job. I've spent a few days in training and prep and a ton of hours at home. We have made two more trips to grandma and grandpa's (and plan one last hoorah for this Fri/Sat). T has had a severe double ear infection and we are on round two of meds and P has a sinus infection and is on meds as well. Then we had the back to school physicals and I had to have one as well. I gathered, prepped, tagged and delivered 90 items to a consignment sale. I donate a Girly Girl Bowtique gift card to the volunteer prizes, so I get to shop early with the volunteers. We went this afternoon and found a few fall dresses and some really neat king, queen, prince and princess puppets. Also was tickled to find a Language Learners Mandarin speaking doll for $5. She's way cool!!

Girls were expecting postcards from their teachers today. P's came but T's did not. She was so sad. We had been hanging out in the cul de sac for over an hour with friends waiting for the mailman. Thankfully the little girl across the street's didn't come too, so we weren't the only one. Still, she was sad all day. Around 4pm I remembered that I had P's last years teachers cell phone number in my phone- the same teacher we really wanted T to have this year (and she requested that T be in her class as well.) I debated if I'd seem a neurotic Mom to call, but decided to go ahead give her a ring and am so pleased I did. She has T in her class and also has little A across the street in her class as well!! Thrilled!!!

Somebody get me a rooftop...

2009-08-13T19:03:00.000-04:00

Because I'm shoutin' praises to my King!!!!!

Just got home from taking the girly girls to the pool and there was a message from a number I didn't know. I dialed in to listen the message and could hardly remain standing. The director of the preschool I loved who did not hire me in favor of their current employee was calling to tell me that her pre kindergarten teacher of 13 years had just let her know that she was leaving. She said she had been upset to not have been able to offer me the 4 day position earlier, but had thought I was a superstar and would be pleased if I would accept an offer to come on board as a five day lead teacher!!! I had just finnished listening to the message when she called back. I switched over and after giving her a resounding YES said, "Let me tell you about my day and my faith journey..." It was an awesome conversation. I go in Wed. for some prelim training (and she said to bring the girls and we'll let them play in an adjoining classroom if I can't find care). The schedule fits perfectly in with my kids. I'll be able to put them on and off the bus and the preschool is closed all the same days as the public schools, but I still get paid!! I'm still shaking. I haven't been able to reach my husband, but I called my parents and told them to get on the speaker phone- were they ready to hear a miracle!! I've never felt like I have had much of a testimony, but wow, can I now personally proclaim God's faithfulness in a major way!

Thank you, dear bloggy friends who have followed me on this journey for all of your encouragement. I can't begin to let you all know how blessed I have been to have such amazing women of God lifting me up and offering biblically based support. You are all priceless. Thank you.

Wow! God is good!!

The ride continues

2009-08-13T13:42:00.000-04:00

I'm not one for roller coasters. I remember the last time I was at Disney World, 1984, to be exact. My dad and brother picked me up and carried me into the line for Space Mountain. I'm willing to bet there was a lot of kicking and screaming, but I think I have blocked out those specifics. I was a skinny little thing who just completed the 4th grade and it was easy for them to commandeer me onto the ride. What I do remember is hating every moment of it. I don't like anything about the feeling you get in you stomach on roller coasters, and I especially didn't like anything about being in the darkness. My college friends got me on one years later in much the same fashion. They are not my thing.

I'm feeling like I'm on a roller coaster right now. This has been one darn summer. I've had a lot of downs, quite a few twists and turns, and when I recount my blessings, well, there has been a peak or two. The difference between this wild ride and a real roller coaster is that it's not just a thrill that has a start and finish and no lasting ramifications. This is life and I've got God firmly holding me in his grip. As I sense that I'm tumbling and spinning out of my human control I'm reaching out to grasp his extended hand. It's still a ride I'm not all that pleased to be on, but the security of knowing that I'm not alone and that my Father will see me through this experience helps me to face my fears. I'm learning a lot about myself, growing in my walk with Christ, and gaining confidence.

I remember being a bit more self confident when Space Mountain ended. I had made it through. I would not go as far as admitting it was fun, but I had survived the experience. I hope that at the end of this wild ride I can look back and see how I have grown and be more confident to face the challenges that are ahead.

I really struggled last night and this morning. I finally fell asleep at 3AM and was wide awake by 5AM. I need an income. Was this what He had set forth for me to do? Nothing about it felt right. I was starting to feel physically ill about the decision. I prayed- a lot! Was in His word- a lot! Sought counsel and ultimately decided to hopefully not completely burn the bridge, but tell the owner that I couldn't accept her offer at this point in time. I feel so much more peace now. This situation also brought on a tough conversation that needed to be had- and continue. I'm sensing that was perhaps the ultimate purpose behind this.

I found out about a new church based preschool/child care that is still under construction about 15 minutes away. They should open Sept. 8. I talked to the director and she said she is staffing, but only as enrollment comes in and it has been slow since the building still appears to be a construction site. She gave me the email address to their application (5 pages- very thorough- essay questions!!)and asked me to mail it to her P.O. box. That made me hesitate. I inquired about her time frame and she said she hoped that enrollment would jump as soon as they were open and she'd hire as needed. So I have spent a while completing the application and I still have a bit more to go and will get it out tomorrow morning. Maybe this could be a better fit? In the meantime I'm going to focus on my bow business and see what other things I could make and sell. I'm entering my high season and I have had a decent pick up in sales the past week. I'm crafty. It's an area where He has gifted me and I enjoy. Maybe with the girls in school I'd finally have time to turn it from a hobby into more of a business??

So, I'm still on the ride. Hopefully I'm nearing the end because, honestly, I'm really sick to my stomach at this point! But I'm not alone, He is firmly with me, and I know I'll make it through.

Confusion

2009-08-12T20:44:00.000-04:00

I had the interview today. Nothing about it felt right. No obviously red flags, but noting really positive besides it being a job. Poorly conducted interview, no substantitive questions asked. It was obvious they are looking for a body. They offered it to me on the spot. At that point she knew nothing about me other than I had experience. A lot of pressure to sign the contract on the spot (um, no.) She wants me to let her know by noon tomorrow and start training Friday. More of an impact to the Girly Girls than I am happy with and a low salary (expected- it's a chain day care facility). In my heart I feel that this can't be what He has planned for me. A lot to pray about.

An open window?

2009-08-11T11:58:00.000-04:00

I had just had a pretty emotional prayer time by myself and the evidence of tears was still present on my face as I asked the girly girls to climb into my lap for some good night "rockey" in the rocking chair. They asked why I had been crying and I was able to have a wonderful teachable moment about prayer and not just thanking God in the roll call type of prayers they most often pray (Thank you God, for mommy, daddy, puppets...) but in how I was lifting my needs and concerns up to Him. We had a great conversation. Little Girly Girl was fully focused and, wow, she had some neat almost 5 year old insights.

After I put them to bed I sat down on the sofa by myself, turned on a praise and worship CD and grabbed my Bible. I didn't know where to turn and asked Him to direct me to a passage. I felt pulled to open Esther. I have been wanting to do the Beth Moore sudy, but haven't had an opportunity, and don't think I have ever read Esther in full before. As I read through the chapter and made my notes I was able to see many teachable moments. My summarizing note (I use a post it I stick in my Bible on the last page of the chapter) I wrote this: No matter how desperate our situation seems, God is in controll. He has used our circumstances and placed us where we are "for such a time as this." Never give up, even when all seems lost. Fast and pray. Seek God. Trust in Him for the deliverance we need. Take risks, be active. Allow God to use us. Know that God will step in when it will do the most good. Have faith, and when He is faithful act to remember His faithfulness and share testimony of His goodness.

This morning as I awoke I realized that I was not being active. I was waiting for the phone to ring, for God to have created a vacancy that I could interview for. I needed to continue to put myself out there, even to places whose doors appeared closed. So I wrote cover letter emails and sent the off with my resume to three preschools I was told were not hiring, just in case. Then I thought about a new child care facility not too far away. I looked up their website and it said they were hiring for two positions, one of which I'd be interested in. I wrote my letter and sent my resume and, just like before, in a matter of minutes the phone rang and they want me to come in for an interview immediately. I'm still pretty weak from the heat and fasting yesterday, so I said tomorrow would be best. I'm trying to contact my babysitter so I can call the assistant director back and set a specific time. My concern with day care was the hours because the facility is open 6:30-6:30 and the job posting didn't specify the job's hours. I inquired on the phone and she said that they were extremely flexible and could work around my schedule so that I could see the girly girls on and off the bus. Is this my open window, God?

Spending a day in His presence

2009-08-10T18:40:00.000-04:00

I decided a few days ago to fast today. I need to seek His guidance, listen for his teaching, and ask for a mountain to be moved. When I woke up this morning I had the following email from the mom of a child in my daughter's preschool class two years ago whom I have seen in passing once in the last year.

"Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

May you know of God's love for you today!

Blessings,
Melissa ;-)

It might have been a forward, there was a decent amount of recipients. But I claimed it as a word spoken directly to me. I have "met" two new bloggy friends today who have offered encouragement and a favorite blog once again spoke His truth to my heart through the message posted. I've confessed, I've sought guidance, I've made my pleas known. I've been in His word, I've been on my knees. My kids have even been incredibly cooperative (not that common around here).

But that pesky Satan continues to strike. I've just had one huge downer of a phone call. There is some major tension in the air.

Yet I will continue to stand firm in my faith. I know nothing is impossible for my God! He is faithful and will see me through. I am drawing close and I will not give up!

We watched Facing the Giants The Giants with the girls last week. I keep remembering the overriding message- NOTHING is impossible for God.

Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Joshua 1:9
...Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Psalm 37:4,7
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass ... Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him

Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Isaiah 58:11
The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.

Pressing in

2009-08-07T00:40:00.000-04:00

It's way too late for me to still be up, but I've been having a good night of blog reading that has ministered to me. Several of my favorite blogs (and a few new ones) so eloquently taught lessons I needed to learn or be reminded of tonight. We got home yesterday evening, back to the reality that I'm still burdened and stressed about not having a teaching job for the school year that starts in a few weeks. I never thought when I first applied to our then new county three years ago that teaching vacancies would be so rare. I know that He has something planned for me and our needs will be met and I'm trying to press into Him and His word instead of letting my emotional fears consume me. It's a constant choice to be made. It's far too easy to be anxious or worried or depressed. I'm writing down and trying to memorize scriptures that give me comfort and assurances to turn to when the fear creeps back. His plans are not mine, and I'm so glad about that! For now, I'll continue to wait, dig out my old teaching files and prepare so I'm ready if an opening does materialize, and be more and more in His word. I'm pressing in.

Away for a bit

2009-08-02T20:47:00.000-04:00

The girlies and I are on a house/dog sitting adventure at my folk's house. Been here for a few days and we have a few more left to go. They live in a tourist destination town, so we have had a lot to do. They have mostly enjoyed late nights of sister talk instead of going to bed, what they call "Giggle girls." I have enjoyed having cable TV to flip through. Just wanted to check in :)

The decision

2009-07-28T11:52:00.000-04:00

I just got the call I have been waiting for- and the answer was 'no'. I know that He closed this door for a reason and has something else in store for me.

The director said that I was amazing and she never expected somebody of my caliber to walk through her door. I had answered every question perfectly. But she and the board ultimately gave the job to a woman who has worked there for several years as an assistant. She told me that they were creating another class, a junior kindergarten, in a year's time and if I was available in a year, she'd like to hire me on the spot- no interview. I thanked her and said to please hold onto my information and keep in touch. I told her I understood her decision, though it was not what I had hoped to hear. I thanked her again, hung up, and burst into tears.

Thank you God for growing me through this experience. I ask that you heal my hurting heart and take away my fear and anxiety about providing income for my family. Thank you Lord for drawing me nearer to you. I know the plans you have for me are so much better than my own.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Prayer request

2009-07-22T10:21:00.000-04:00

I have a job interview tonight- 6:45 EST.

I have been a SAHM for the past 6 years and loved every minute of it. Pre kids I was an art teacher for 7 years, first middle school and then elementary. I loved that too. Always said that I'd go back to the classroom when the Girly Girls were both in school. I started three years ago seeking a part time position in the new county we relocated to after the Girly Girls were born (a few days a week is usually available as a resource teacher), was hired after my first interview, and then the projected student enrollment did not materialize and the position was dissolved. Darn. So I have tried the past two years and there has not been anything. One school had an opening last year, but God made it clear that it was not a position I should accept. There are no openings for this coming school year. But we could use some additional income (who couldn't in these economic times?) and the Girlies will both be in elementary school the full day come September. I need to put my days to good use.

I decided that a preschool teaching position could be the perfect answer. Not a big income, but an income. And most importantly teaching pre K would be something I'd love and be really good at, and my girls would never miss me since I'd get to put them on the bus and be there to get them off. It would be a great transition back to the working world. I heard about a school that might have an opening. I emailed the director and in a matter of minutes she called. Resume and references were sent and she said she'd call to schedule an interview in a few days. When she called she was concerned that I'd not stick around, that my qualifications would have me jumping ship to a higher paying public school job. I assured her that I would never leave mid year, and there were not any public school jobs regardless. My interview was set for tonight for a 4 day pre K lead teacher vacancy. I called the head of Art for my county to see if there were any updates. Still no openings or anticipated retirements, moves, long term sub slots... Nada. Nothing. But please keep in touch.

So here I am, praying that this is the door God has opened for me. That I am a good fit for this church based preschool and them for me. I am at ease right now, supremely confident in my abilities to teach and love on the kids who would be in my class. I'm sure I'll get nervous as the interview time approaches. Would you keep me in your prayers today? I'd appreciate it!!

A new sweetie

2009-07-21T10:30:00.000-04:00

Our family had the honor of sponsoring a dear child living at New Day for eight months. In that time, we contributed $35 a month to go toward her care, sent gifts, celebrated her milestones, but most importantly prayed for her by name and lifted her up to the Almighty. To put it mildly, we fell in love with her. Last month, fifteen month old Gracie was adopted into a forever family in country. A local Chinese family now will forever call her daughter. I had pictures of Gracie around our home as a daily reminder for myself and for the girly girls to pray for this sweet orphan. Now that she has a family, we still pray for her. Our prayer is that she and her family will know the saving grace of Jesus.

Gracie with bows and the bear we sent her

Melody

This is Melody in what I believe is our blue Bumbo seat we sent for Gracie in January

Our little T in the Bumbo at the same age. Notice she was sporting two little pigtails like Melody's one above

It's time to pick out our next sweetie to sponsor. When I saw the picture of Melody, a new arrival at New Day, I was captivated. To me, she has quite a resemblance to our younger girly girl at the same age of 4 months. All that hair- she fits right in!! Her given name of Melody is a name the girls have picked out for some of their dolls, so I hear it daily. As I read the brief information about her I was struck by one more thing- her birthday is the same as Gracie's. So that sealed it- we should sponsor Melody. I emailed Rita and she put us in the database for Melody. She won't be a long term resident, she is there for surgery and then will return to her home orphanage. But she'll forever be in our hearts as our second sponsor child. Her picture has gone up in our home alongside Gracie. We have begun to pray for her by name, lifting her up to our Lord. We are asking for His healing hand when she undergoes surgery. For her family to quickly find her. And for her to know the love of her savior.

It is an honor to sponsor. There are many organizations and you can email me if you'd like suggestions. Won't you consider? It truly is a blessing.

There is still time

2009-07-21T10:11:00.001-04:00

Yes, friends, there is still time to place your order for key fobs, hair bows, clippies, headbands, ponytrailers-- basically anything girly hair related- to benefit this family in their fundraising needs to bring home Hailee. If you haven't been by and seen what I'm up to before, I'm donating 100% of profits from sales off my website to the Salem adoption fund. They need $24,000, fast, to bring home Hailee from Eastern Europe. The fundraiser has been going for a few days and ends tomorrow, Wednesday, at midnight. So please spread the word, post on your blog, grab the button from my left sidebar, link to this post, email any friends who buy bows- there is no code or anything- every sale that comes in goes to this family. Keep me busy!!! Get those orders in!!

Thankful Thursday

2009-07-16T16:45:00.000-04:00

I have enjoyed reading Thankful Thursday posts on others' blogs. It just so happens that I have a chance to write a post on a Thursday and there is something in particular I am quite thankful for today, so here is my first (hopefully of many) Thankful Thursday posts...

The girly girls have long been timid around water. OK, timid is a bit, well, weak. They have been down right terrified. Last summer we spent the majority of our time at the community pool in the baby pool alongside the infants and toddlers because 8 inches of water was where they were comfortable. I could, on occasion, get them to the steps in the main pool, or in an inner tube, but they would still cry and have a death grip on me. No. Fun.

I had heard wonderful things about a swim school in the area and quite a few friends had taken lessons with amazing results. I looked into it last year, but it is expensive and for us, times two. Early in the spring a friend whose daughter had gone last year mentioned that the family run school was Christian and offered scholarships, that they viewed their business also as a ministry. I contacted them and we were given a partial scholarship, a true blessing because we could not afford to send both girls.

They began their 8 days of lessons a week ago Monday. There were LOTS of tears. Nightmares for several nights and elaborate plans to avoid going back.

"OK, how about this. We get Mom to go to the grocery store first. You go one way, I'll go another and we'll get lost and miss the lesson!"

By the third lesson we were seeing progress as they were still scared stiff, but the crying was lessening and they were learning- lots!

The lessons are 1 child to 1 instructor and the teachers have been amazing, giving each of my girls the exact dose of gentleness and encouragement and in P's case- 'you'll do it because you are the child and I am the teacher and I said so'. Man, that kid can try to talk her way out of any situation!

So today was their last lesson. As far as they are concerned that's reason enough to celebrate. It was a tough one with a water safety test fully clothed. I'm celebrating because they have asked me to take them to the pool everyday for the past week, and I have obliged for hours and hours. They have been in the big pool, jumping in, swimming underwater to see who can go farther, splashing and playing like the majority of all the other kids their ages. Did you catch that- BIG pool!!!There is still some fear about some of the skills and not wanting to practice some of the trickier things they learned, but the growth is simply amazing.

I can't begin to thank Morgan Swim School enough. I'm extremely thankful!

Bows for Hailee

2009-07-14T10:19:00.000-04:00

I hope that you made it to the end of my last post. The quick re-cap is that I feel led to help raise funds to donate toward a friend's adoption of a downs syndrome child currently living in Eastern Europe. (Fun fact about me- I was enthralled with Eastern European history in college and took so many courses from an amazing professor that I ended up with a degree in Govenrment with a concentration in Russian Politics.)

So here is how this is going to work...

I will be donating 100% of the proceedes from sales of my products off my website from today until July 22 to Hailee's adoption fund. I have been in the 'bow business' for a little over 5 years and have been online for 3.5 years. It's a nice hobby income and has been able to cover almost all of my girls' expenses from preschool tuition, dance classes, to wardrobe. But it's nothing huge, and July is typically a slow month. I want to be able to donate HUGE. That's where I need help.

Please spread the word about this fundraiser. Now is the prefect time to start thinkng about back to school accessories. All of the bows, headbands, ponytrailers, etc. on the website are only the beginning. I can make anything to match anything! Local customers stop by my house with outfits in hand, and my web customers email me pictures of clothes. I automatically match all Gymboree lines and Gap lines, so I know those colors already. I do school uniform bows, cheerleading team bows... Have a style you like but don't see on my site. Send me a picture and I'll recreate it. Remember, 100% will go to help bring Hailee home!!

Here in the South monogramming is HUGE. My best sellers are my 3 inch and 4 inch single intitial flat fold bows. Pick your color ribbon and color embroidery thread for a custom creation.

Headed to D!sney? Look at my Magical Mouse bows.

Don't have any girls in the house? I have several adult/mom items. Once you use my wristlet key fob you'll wonder how you lived without it!!

It's great to keep your keys easily at hand and still hold little hands or packages. They are one of my biggest sellers at craft fairs. Customers tell me in addition to everyday use, they love theirs for walking the dog, running quick errands and not wanting a purse, great for H.S. and college kids (stylish and trendy too!) to safely have their keys accessable. I like not fumbling for my keys in the parking lot. When I put them in my purse they have a slim profile that doesn't take up much space, but are easy to find. Need to keep your husband from snaging your keys- get an ultra girly style- that will do it!!! I'll be adding many more to the website. I have a ton made, but not yet uploaded. And like the bows, I can custom make your fob in a variety of colors. I have many colors of the webbing and a large fabric and ribbon stash on hand.

Another great adult option is the fabric covered headband. I wear one almost every day. It's quick and easy to be stylish with a designer fabric headband!

No girly girls in your home? I know you must know somebody!! Please pass this information on!

My normal turnaround time is 7-14 days. I'm filling current orders within 7-10 days, but hope to be swamped for Hailee. Need something quick for a portrait or vacation. Just let me know.

There are so many possibilities! Please stop by the website, send this message all over, help bring in the orders to raise funds for Hailee!

The Rich Family

2009-07-13T10:28:00.000-04:00

This is long, but please stick with me...

Yesterday in Bible Fellowship class we studied Matthew 5: 1-12, the Beatitudes. We were asked to reflect on how we could better be living in line with the characteristics that Jesus called blessed. Our teacher, Mike, shared with us a story by Eddie Ogan known as The Rich Family. After reading her story, Mike told how he had searched for more info on Eddie and read how she and her husband and their children (biological and adopted)lived to this day giving to the church and to missions. I'll let you read the story and then I'll share it's impact.

~*~

“I’ll never forget the summer of 1946. I was 14, my little sister, Ocy was 12, and my older sister Darlene was 16. We lived at home with our mother and the four of us knew what it was to do without many things. My dad had died years before, leaving Mom with seven school kids to rear and no money. By 1946 my older sisters were married, and my brothers had left home.

A month before Easter, the pastor of our church announced that a special Easter offer would be taken to help a poor family. He asked everyone to save and give sacrificially. When we got home, we talked about what we could do. We decided to buy 50 pounds of potatoes and live on them for a month. That would allow us to save $20 off our grocery money for the offering. Then we thought that if we kept our electric lights turned out as much as possible and didn’t listen to the radio, we’d save money of that month’s electric bill. Darlene got as many house and yard cleaning jobs as possible, and both of us babysat for everyone we could. For 15 cents, we could buy enough cotton loops to make three potholders to sell for $1.00. We made $20 on potholders. That month was one of the best of our lives. Every day we counted the money to see how much we had saved. At night we’d sit in the dark and talk about how the poor family was going to enjoy having the money the church would give them. We had about 80 people in the church, so we figured that whatever amount of money we had to give the offering would surely be 20 times that much. After all, every Sunday the Pastor had reminded everyone to save for the sacrificial offering. The day before Easter, Ocy and I walked to the grocery store and got the manager to give us three crisp $20 bills and one $10 bill for all our change. We ran all the way home to show Mom and Darlene. We had never had so much money before. That night we were so excited we could hardly sleep. We didn’t care that we wouldn’t have new clothes for Easter; we had $70 for the sacrificial offering. We could hardly wait to get to church. On Easter morning rain was pouring. We didn’t own an umbrella, and the church was over a mile from our home, but it didn’t seem to matter how wet we got. Darlene had cardboard in her shoes to fill the holes. The cardboard came apart, and her feet got wet. But we sat in church proudly. I heard some teenagers talking about the Smith girls having on their old dresses. I looked at them in new clothes and I felt so rich. When the sacrificial offering was taken, we were sitting in the second row. From the front, Mom put in the $10 bill, each of us girls put in a $20.As we walked home after church, we sang all the way. At lunch, Mom had a surprise for us. She had bought a dozen eggs, and we boiled Easter eggs with our fried potatoes!

Late that afternoon, the minister drove up in his car. Mom went to the door, talked with him for a moment, and then came back with an envelope in her hand. We asked her what it was, but she didn’t say a word. She opened the envelope and out fell a bunch of money. There were three crisp $20 bills, one $10, and seventeen $1s. Mom put the money back in the envelope. We didn’t talk, just sat and stared at the floor. We had gone from feeling millionaires to feeling like poor people. We kids had such a happy life that we felt sorry for anyone who didn’t have our mom and dad for parents and a house full of brothers and sisters and other kids visiting constantly. I know we didn’t have a lot of things that other people had, but I never thought we were poor. That Easter Day I found out we were. The minister had brought us the money for the poor family, so we must be poor. I didn’t like feeling poor. I looked at my dress and worn-out shoes and felt so ashamed that I didn’t want to go back to church. Everyone there probably knew we were poor! I thought about my school friends and felt terribly embarrassed to be thought of as “poor.” We sat in silence for a long time. Then it got dark, and we went to bed. All that week, we girls went to school and came home, and no one talked much. Finally on Saturday, Mom asked us what we wanted to do with the money. What did poor people do with money? We didn’t know. We’d never known we were poor. We didn’t want to go to church on Sunday, but Mom said we had to. The joy of what we had done, of sacrificing and saving had been taken away from us. Although it was a sunny day, we didn’t talk on our way to church as we usually did.

At church that Sunday, we had a missionary speaker. He talked about how churches in Africa made buildings out of sun-dried bricks, but they needed money to buy roofs. He said $100 would put a roof on a church. The minister said,“Can’t we all sacrifice to help these poor people?” We looked at each other and smiled for the first time in a week. Mom reached into her purse and pulled out the envelope. She passed it to Ocy, who gave it to me. And I dropped it into the offering. When the offering was counted, the minister announced it was a little over $100. The missionary was excited. He wasn’t expecting such a large offering from our small congregation. He said “you must have some rich people in this church.” Suddenly it struck us! We had given $87 of that “little over $100.” We were the rich family in the church! From that day on, I’ve never been poor again. We had been given back the joy of sacrificial giving.

~*~

So I'm sitting there, listening to the story and thinking. While not poor like Eddie, we live dollar for dollar. I can't just cut a check and donate to all the causes that I believe in. Yet I have a desire to give, to give sacrificially. I want to live as one of those Jesus called blessed in Matthew 5:3-10.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

I'm a SAHM, I don't have much of an income except what I get from selling my hair bows. Eddie and her sisters looked for ways to save and for what they could sell so that they could raise funds to give. I have donated my items on many occasions for fundraisers. A basket is being picked up today, in fact, to go to a charity auction this weekend to raise funds for the National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasias at the 5th annual Rally for Ally who has Ectodermal Dysplasias. I enjoy knowing that my handiwork can help raise funds. My mind immediately turned to a family needing funds to save a life. My bloggy friend Adeye . She and her husband, Anthony, are adopting precious Hailee from Eastern Europe. Time is of the esscence to get Hailee home is an understatement. You can read about her on Adeye's blog and click the button below for additional information and sponsorship.

What did I feel in my heart I am called to do? Use the talent God has given me to create and sell my hair bows and donate all profits toward Hailee's adoption expenses. I'll post specifics with details about my products and pictures and links and a button to grab to spread the word in my next post. I've got some work to do to get this ready to go!!

My gift

2009-07-10T10:17:00.000-04:00

Now that I've had a bit of caffeine I am starting to function. Per my last post, I wasn't woken up that early (7:15), but for my summer standard for a morning without any definite have to be somewhere plan- it was early. I think the girls and I could have easily slept until 9. But since I was up, I began to charge up my gift.

Paul had been dutifully asking for about a month what I wanted. And in all honesty, nothing came to mind. I don't need anything and there wasn't even anything I really had been wanting. Then two nights ago he had an idea. He asked me if I'd want an MP3 player. That sounded cool (we are very technologically unadvanced, just not into all the hype and media bombardment). So he went to the store yesterday and got me this little (like 2 inch little!) do-dad.

I was all excited to download my first podcast and I knew exactly what I wanted to be able to listen to-
sermons from our former church McLean Bible Church
We moved away from the chaos that is Northern Virginia 4 1/2 years ago without looking back, despite having lived there my entire life, sans 4 years in Williamsburg for college. It was too crowded, too expensive, and the materialistic values that permeated the area was not the environment in which we wanted our kids to grow up. The one thing we do miss is the excellent Bible teaching of Lon Solomon at McLean Bible. It averaged 5000 adults weekly when we began attending in 1996 in a normal sized building that grew into a very big church that the Lord blessed with an amazing property and facility just outside the beltway. When we were back in the area one Sunday morning last summer and had the chance to attend worship, it was amazing to see the construction that had taken place and the growth. I'd easily call it a mega church now- so cool to see! Lon always said that a goal of the church was to reach the world through reaching secular Washington with the message of Jesus Christ.

I was always touched by MBC's commitment to families with disabled children. Now that I have been touched by special needs adoption and have bloggy friends with children with all sorts of special needs, I view this ministry with greater appreciation. I though I'd link MBC's Access Ministry as it may provide some information or insight.

I'm excited to use my birthday gift to reconnect to MBC. Lon is a gifted teacher and I encourage you to check out the sermons I'm sure you all are far more technologically advanced and know all about how to do that. Paul and I really like Lon’s famous “So What?” question he often asks during his sermons that leads to a practical application of the message. I'm off to listen :)

Happy Birthday...

2009-07-10T08:31:00.000-04:00

to me!

I'm 35 today. Paul woke the girls up early and brought them into bed with me so they could say Happy Birthday with him before he left for work. We three girls are *not* morning people. It was a sweet gesture. Now I'm groggy and have two grumpy kids, but it was a sweet gesture.

Delaware, Nevada, Vermont, oh my!

2009-07-06T17:54:00.001-04:00

I'm down to my final three states. I just received an order from Alaska that I'm working on right now, so one more state got crossed off the list and I'm down to the final three. In 3 years and 4 months of selling my hair bows on line I have shipped to wonderful customers in 47 states, Guam and 5 countries. I love making bows, headbands, and clips and it excites me to imagine the girls who wear them and the destinations they travel to. I love maps and you'll often find me with my atlas before I ship out orders looking up exactly where my handiwork will end up. I've sent quite a few bows to the New Day Foster Home in China and never cease to smile when I visit their website and see pictures of the darling little girls wearing my bows, poofs, flowers, and korkers!

Know anybody in my final three states of Delaware, Nevada or Vermont? I'm offering buy one get one free to the first cutomer I get from those states. I'm sure I can offer an appropriate finders fee if you send someone from the final three my way!

I needed a little boost...

2009-06-24T14:26:00.000-04:00

and I had a message from my bloggy friend Adeye, to check out her blog (I always do anyway!). She was given an award and has selected me to be one of her pass it on recipients!! How sweet!! Thank you, dear friend! That gesture gave me a smile on a day when one was most needed.

I'm to pass it on to 15 bloggy friends. It will probably take me a few days to do so. I have a full plate that will likely occupy me and my time for a bit. And in that regard, would you please pray for us as we work through a burden we knew was eventually comming, but befell us out of the blue last night. Nothing serious, but it is a big burden we are praying over. We need God to open some doors and close tightly ones we should not be going through. We need to make some wise decisions that will have to happen in a short timeframe. Not adoption related, just some day- to-day stuff. We have laid this burden at His feet, yet it's still so stressful. So I really appreciate this little award and how it made me smile and reminded me that I have made some wonderful blogy friends, and how many lovely bloggers 'speak to me' through their writings that have no idea I even exist! How I have found a community in the blogsphere who put Christ first in their lives and through their willingness to be transparent and share their joys and struggles have taught me much. I am thankful!

Happy Graduation

2009-06-24T14:15:00.001-04:00

I've got a few catch up postings to do. We have been very busy! Saturday took us out of town for a mini family reunion. My little brother graduated from High School. Tim really is the baby of the family. My other brother and I were in high school ourselves when our parents discovered that God intended on them having three kids! He was only 2 when I left for college. Hard to believe he is now 18 and off to college himself in a few months. Congrats, little bro!! Can't wait to see where the Lord will lead you and your music.

My brothers and my girly girls

Can you guess in what historic town my brother lives- where the fife and drum corps would be the flag bearers at the ceremony?

IRL (In Real Life)

2009-06-18T10:05:00.000-04:00

I first began connecting with strangers on the Internet about seven years ago. We had decided it was time to begin adding a child to our family. Ever the planner, I wanted to have our first child born in May. The perfect month to maximize my leave as a teacher. I'd have the entire summer plus I'd take off a full year, have another summer and then go back when our child was 15 months old. So I set out to find information on natural family planning and discovered a website and forum called fertility friend. I joined a TTC (trying to conceive) group and was amazed to become the first in the group with a BFP (big fat positive)!! My new friend Shel was just a few weeks behind me. We were due in June. Success!!! Shel and I also joined a due date group and we went through all the ups and downs of pregnancy together. That was a group of 8. The TTC group gained and lost a few members, but averaged about 15 women. I ended up almost losing the baby early on, was defined as high risk, had a surgery to sustain my ability to carry her and was on bed rest for 5 long months. My borrowed lap top and my friends got me through. And seven years later we are all still in touch! The groups changed venues several times as boards added fees or drama or allowed public access and we needed a private space. Instead of checking in several times a day, it's now more like monthly. But these women have been with me, and I with them, through many births and losses and IVF treatments and just the ups and downs of parenthood. We have celebrated together the gift of each child and being called a mother. We have talked about a get together, but we completely span the country from coast to coast and Canada. I was so excited to get a message that my longest running pal, Shel, would be passing through my town on her way home from vacation. We arranged to meet at the Children's museum yesterday.

It was SO good to finally get that hug! Our kids all hit it off and had grand adventures around the museum for three hours. We'll get together again later this summer. We have decided to make a trip down south to their turf and check out their kids museums together!

**note- I got my May baby, born 3 weeks early. But I never did go back to work. God had a BIG surprise for us and by that planned return date I was the mom of 2!

Giveaway

2009-06-15T20:27:00.000-04:00

A customer of mine, Sara, has a coupon and deal alert blog www.sarathesavvyshopper.blogspot.com She asked me if I'd be willing to run a coupon code and offer a giveaway on her site of some of my hair accessory products. I always oblige such invitations when I can, and finally got around to getting Sara all the information and pictures for the giveaway. I just sent them to her tonight, so I'm not sure when she'll have it up and running, so here is a sneak peak... and be sure to check out her blog for deal alerts, coupon information, and of course a chance to win one of my 3 great give away packages and see the voucher code for 20% off your purchase until July 1.

Infant/Toddler

School aged Girl

Adult

Ambush?

2009-06-12T12:36:00.000-04:00

Ok. So I'm at the bus stop this morning, Last day of school. A mom takes me aside and asks if I have any water ballons or water guns. Um, no. We are a Girly Girl house, like totally girly. Why do you ask? Seems that the parents ambush the kids as they get off the bus on the last day. Supplied with this new knowledge I start to panic. If little miss Girly Girl P gets sprayed she'll have a fit, or more likely a melt down. So. Not. Good. I can see the total fun in this. Just not for my child. What to do?

I don't have to wait long to come up with an answer. The phone rings and I'm needed to come up to school with a pizza cutter and be the mom in charge of the pizza party in P's classroom. The mom on duty can't make it. Whew! The little Girly Girl can ride home with me.

So Girly Girl T and I get our pizza wheel and head off to school. I'm so glad I was called in, not just for the easy avoidance of the bus situation, but it's a fun time! I'm the only mom there so little T gets asked to be a helper, gets pizza and a cupcake too, grabs a seat and is a kindergartner herself for an hour- a role she totally delights in.

We get hugs from Mrs. M, say good-byes to the Spanish and Art teachers and get a hug from the principal as we walk down the sidewalk toward our car. Then we get stuck behind all the buses leaving and try to get back to our stop so we can see the action from the safety of our car. Drats! We get stuck behind another bus one block from our stop, but we get to see their attack. And WOW! I'm now so glad P is safe in the car with me. Can we say a mob of about 30 parents armed with hundreds of water balloons, super soakers and big plastic tubs of water, cans of silly string... Each kid is thoroughly soaked as they get off the bus. Nobody is spared. It's insane. And it's all totally in good fun, but I know my child and this experience would have been disastrous for her. Here eyes were wide as saucers as she watched what was transpiring out her car window. The crowd cleared. The bus moved and we were able to turn onto our street and see the remnants of the ambush that took place at our stop moments earlier. Just as involved and crazy. Whew, crisis averted. So when did this tradition start???

Approaching the end of another school year

2009-06-11T10:33:00.000-04:00

Two days left to go. Actually two very short partial days. Why they do that is beyond me. P is only in school until 12 yesterday thru Friday. Report card grades were due last week so it's just fun (better make that chaos). The teacher asked each family to write her a letter about the growth and change we have seen in our child over the course of the kindergarten year. I have yet to write mine, I'm sure it will be an emotional letter to compose. P has undergone tremendous growth, socially, emotionally and academically. This has been an amazing year for her and God blessed us with a truly special teacher (who says she'll see to it that T is in her class next year!!).

We attended a royal ball!

2009-06-05T18:06:00.000-04:00

Kindergarten style!!! It was so cool. P brouught home a formal invitation last week, just like a wedding invite complete with a reply card in a separate envelope and all that tissue paper. Our presence was requested at the royal gathering of princes and princesses at the Word Wall Ball. Word wall words are the 32 sight words all kindergartners are expected to master by the end of the year. In order to receive their invitation, they had to read all the words to the royal messenger. The morning of the ball, P picked out her pink silk and tulle dress (it's a special occasion dress that Gymbo mis-marked on line for sale for a few hours almost 2 years ago and I got for $14 and it still fits!!). T has one too and would be in attendance as a royal guest, so I decided I should match as well and dug out an old bridesmaid dress that had never been worn again. We took our seats around the dance floor, one class of parents and siblings on each side of the room. The Queen (Principal) welcomed all of us and introduced the children as they walked through a giant balloon arch in their finest attire and foam crowns and tiaras. The teachers were in their ball gowns too!! Each teacher called up their kids one at a time for a certificate recognizing their ability to read all the word wall words. I took two pictures of P getting hers and one is blurry and the other is a few seconds too late (darn!). Then the dancing began!! They had partnered up the kids and taught then a "waltz". It was too stikin' cute! P and her partner were on the other side of the room, so a still picture was out of the question, so I just video taped the entire event. The waltz was followed by the Cha Cha slide, Macarena and one other group dance whose name I didn't catch. Priceless. Simply priceless.

Milestones

2009-05-26T10:28:00.000-04:00

What a past few days we have had!! I was hopeful that I could have posted already, but it was simply chaotic.

Our darling first Girly Girl celebrated her 6th birthday on May 21. It is so hard to believe that six years have passed. I was watching the finals of American Idol between Clay and Ruben when my water broke back in 2003. 26 hours later she was born via an emergency c-section. My pregnancy was high risk and I had five long months of bedrest to try to contain this child, and then when it was finally time, she wouldn't come out. She has been a strong child since the moment God first began knitting her together in my womb, and she continues to be so to this day. We had a wonderful, jam packed day that included me getting to volunteer in her class, deliver cupcakes to school,
head to the pottery painting studio (a favorite destination) immediately after getting off the bus,
a visit to the book store to pick out a few more chapter books for her library, her favorite pizza for dinner, a visit to the local ice cream parlor
and then cake at home.
Happy Birthday, Princess!!

The next day was just as eventful. Girly Girl two graduated from preschool. That too seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye. We were so blessed to have been able to attend a wonderful church based preschool.

making thank you cards for her teachers

Both Girly Girls had fabulous experiences with Godly teachers who taught them much and thuroughly prepared them for kindergarten. Girly Girl 2 has some wonderful memories and dear friends.

It was bittersweet driving up the carpool lane that last day. We were told about this school soon after we moved to the area and that it was difficult to get into. I got in line at 3am my first year to get a spot when registration opened at 7:30 am. It just got crazier every year. To get GG2 into the 4 day class I wanted her to be a part of I knew I needed to be their early since space was severely limited. I was planning on midnight, but when my friend drove by at 9 and said somebody was already in line I grabbed my supplies (chair, sleeping bag, book, boots- yes it was January and about 20 degrees) and headed over to camp out in line. I got there at 9:30 pm and was number 4 in line. I have never camped out for concert tickets, but I was one of at least 20+ crazy parents that cold night in line for a preschool spot. And let me tell you, it was well worth it! Both girls blossomed and grew there. I'm a bit sad to see that phase end, but was quite happy this past January to NOT have been in line to register!!

I'm getting a makeover!

2009-05-20T12:53:00.000-04:00

A while back I won a blog makeover. Actually I was the runner-up. The original winner was not able to claim the prize so it went to ultra lucky me!!! I began this blog with the start up template, made a post and then never came back for a year. Now that I am regularly following some bloggy friends and their adoption jorneys and supporting adoption and orphan aid causes I became inspired to attempt to blog more myself. But I had no time to figure out how to spiffy it up. I did all the html coding for my bowtique website, but that took about 9 months of taking online tutorials and a lot of trial and error. Now I get to leave it to a trusted professional...
April of April Showers Blog Design. She donated a re-do to a Mifan Mommy. That's where we 'met'. We both are Mifan Mommies- we donate $9 monthly to supply rice to feed orphans in Anhui. It was started by Kay Bratt. Please go Here and read all about the Mommies and consider joining. And be on the lookout for my new design. I'll be incorporating more of my bowtique and having some bow giveaways. April said it will be ready to go soon!!!

It's recital time!!

2009-05-08T17:14:00.000-04:00

We have had a busy week of dress rehearsals and the real deal begins tonight.
I'm in the 6pm show tonight and the 2pm Saturday show. Then we all head back out as all of us are in the Saturday 6pm show (Girly Girl #1 is psyched that her kindergarten teacher will be in the audience!!) and then we are back Sunday at 2 for our final performances that Nana and Grandpa will get to attend. Whew!!!

You won't catch any pictures of me in my costumes here, but I'll share my cute girlies and the new haircut worked out really cute.

Pictures

2009-05-04T21:13:00.000-04:00

Well, in the end all is well. She loves her new 'do. That's what matters. It will take me some time, I'm sure, to get use to it. I can't even do a ponytail anymore. But she likes it. Could have been worse.

The cut from the back- it was as long as the edge of the picture

Holding some of the hair

At the salon, waiting her turn.

Damage done

Correction in progress

The new 'do!

At home, with a bow

Could you hear me scream?

2009-05-04T17:42:00.000-04:00

Yep, that loud wail at roughly 5 PM EST was me shrieking from the fact that the elder Girly Girl just cut (and not all that well) 11 ( E L E V E N ) inches of hair off the younger Girly Girl. The Girly Girl of long flowing, had real pigtais at 4months of age, has always had long- amazingly long for her age, she was know for her hair kind of hair.

I called my dear friend to help calm me down...11 inches!! Then I called several local salons to try to get an appointment for tonight. I have one for a salon that's supposed to be good and with a senior stylist at 6:45. It's at least 30 minutes away, so we better get going. My blood pressure is returning back to normal. I think I can drive. I did say 11 inches, didn't I???

Update with pictures will follow. I took a bunch already. Not sure she get's that this is for real and it won't be that long again until she's, like, 10!

Spring Carnival

2009-05-01T12:12:00.000-04:00

We had beautiful weather last weekend. It was perfect, although a bit hot, for our annual neighborhood Spring Carnival.

The girls got to play some carnival style games and win assorted doo-dads as prizes.

We got cotton candy. I think it is their all time favorite treat!!

We took a walk through the park and stopped at the playground bubble station. There was face painting too, but the Girly Girls have never been into that. We ventured a bit farther to the inflatable obstacle course and jumped around for a bit. Had a photo op by the gazebo with daddy. Then it was time for a few trips on the train that made a small loop around a neighborhood street.

Daddy talked to the train operator for a bit, so I took the girls down the hill and they dead headed the flower garden around the flag pole and I got another photo opportunity.

We ended the afternoon taking a few more pictures on the mini-golf course. It was late and the course was closing for the day so we'll have to go back and actually play golf another time.

LWB auction update

2009-05-01T11:12:00.000-04:00

I couldn't wait to hear the grand total that was raised. I watched the bids come in, and in the end, after 26 bids, I am thrilled to report that my bag of bows brought in $101.99 for Love Without Boundaries!!! The winner got a deal as the retail value was a bit higher were they to have bought all those bows directly from my website. I'm so excited that I was able to help raise funds for such a worthy and necessary cause.

Bragging on my bro

2009-05-01T10:45:00.000-04:00

Just have to brag on my kid brother Tim. OK, so he's 18 and about to graduate from HS, so I guess not kid anymore. Anyway, he is an amazing self taught guitarist and is on fire for God. He plays in the praise band at his church and has an internship with the sound tech guy (that's the best I can unjustifiably describe it- I know I'm way lacking as this is a big church with a bigger music ministry and the sound guy was a professional concert set up guy and Tim is learning a lot). He has been a big fan of Hillsong for quite some time, and through the amazing capability of technology has been able to contact a Hillsong guitarist and learn some tips and tricks.

Tim was excited to learn that Hillsong would be playing a concert about an hour away. Even more excited to find out his sound tech mentor would be doing the set up. Even better that he was asked to come along and help. So imagine how cool it got when the band asked him to come backstage and hang out. Then Darlene Zschech asked him to go out for dinner with them and come back the next day (he was allowed to skip school for this!). Pretty neat!!

Dancing Memories

2009-04-22T17:19:00.000-04:00

We only have one week of dance classes left before recital. By 'we' I mean all three girly girls in the family. Yep, I'll be on stage too, alongside my girls. As I thought back on my childhood dancing days, I wondered what had become of the old barn where I took classes in the late 70's and early-mid 80's. It really was an old barn on a dairy farm in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. We parked in the gravel lot, saw the cows over the fence and went inside to the classrooms for lessons. There was a hall with a small stage, that's where we had our recitals until I was in about 4th grade. Best I can remember that is when we moved to the local middle school auditorium for recitals. I googled for the George C. Coomber School of Music and Dance and it does still exist but, alas, they don't have a website. I did find some pictures though... on a couple's wedding website. Turns out they spiffed up the old barn and you can rent it out for your event!

The front door where I went in to class. It was far more rundown back then.

The recital hall. I don't remember any chandeliers, but it otherwise looks the same.

Pre-Civil War barn

Very different from the studio in the stip-mall we go to now!

Born in My Heart Auction starts tomorrow

2009-04-22T11:55:00.000-04:00

This text is from an email from Love Without Boundaries. I have donated a basket of bows to the auction. Please be sure to check out all the items over the next several days and encourage everybody you know to do the same. All proceedes will save lives by providing critically needed heart surgeries.

Born In My Heart Art Auction
April 23rd through April 28th!

In nearly every orphanage in China, children in need of heart surgery wait to be healed. In an effort to help as many of these orphaned children as possible, Love Without Boundaries began the "Born In My Heart" art auction six years ago. This is an annual event that serves as our special tribute to the miracle of adoption, and also as a fundraiser to help us provide these essential operations to children who need emergency heart surgery.

Beginning Thursday, April 23 through Tuesday, April 28, you will have the opportunity to bid on some amazing items and forever change the lives of children with heart defects. As always, 100% of the proceeds go to fund heart surgeries.

Auction items will begin to launch at 9am (Pacific) on Thursday, April 23th. Over 300 items will be added throughout the day, and the auction will close Tuesday, April 28th (again, with items closing throughout the course of the day). We have some absolutely incredible items this year, all donated by LWB's fabulous supporters! Here are some items you won't want to miss: art from Caroline Young, Judith Stein, Darsan' Nitti, and some truly gifted "amateur" artists. Glorious quilts in many sizes and themes. Books by Grace Lin, Lisa See, Sherry Eldridge, Carol Peacock and more. Stunning lifebook layouts in both hardcopy and digital formats that will inspire anyone to get busy on that lifebook! Language series designed for age groups from elementary to high school. Chinese Cookbooks, a Sushi Basket and another Mother/Daughter apron set so popular last year. Darling "cottage boutique" clothes for little girls. Diaper Dude diaper bags for "cool" dads! Beautifully designed custom announcements. Care Packages from Blessed Kids. A gorgeous Asian design crib bedding set. A "must see" selection of dolls including "Going Home" Barbies and Corolle baby dolls. Tooth Fairy pillows, hand knit "Panda" sweaters, toys, home décor, 2008 Olympics items, embroidery, charm, jewelry, and so much more!

You will be able to access our auction from the Love Without Boundaries website homepage at: www.lovewithoutboundaries.com, or by visiting our eBay store where the items will be auctioned beginning April 23th (auction items are not available for preview).

You can also play a part in healing hearts by posting about the auction! If you have a personal blog, family website, Facebook or Twitter page, we would be so grateful if you would mention this event, as so many children are counting on us for surgery. Help spread the news that lives can be saved!

Thank you in advance for helping to make this year's auction our best ever!

Love Without Boundaries
Art Auction Committee

A wonderful night of worship

2009-04-16T14:04:00.000-04:00

This took place almost 2 weeks ago, but my computer has been acting up and I haven't had access to pictures as easy as I'd like, coupled with Spring break (read: kids home).

We left the Girly Girls with a dear friend who offered to keep them for their first non-Nana sleepover while we had some adult time driving two hours each way to go to the Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith United tour concert. It was amazing!! We had great seats and it was awesome to be surrounded by so many people singing along, praising our God. I brought my camera after seeing many pictures on line that other concert goers had taken and took a few before the usher told me that my kind of camera(??) wasn't allowed. We didn't get home until almost 1 AM, and were exhausted. But it was a great evening, and the girls had a blast at their first slumber party.

Change is good

2009-04-03T11:31:00.001-04:00

Ripping out embroidery is a big pain. But I am joyfully doing so this morning with a huge smile on my face despite having worked on undoing the threads for at least 30 minutes and still having a long way to go. Why the change and why the joy??? I have to change a name.

Olivia is now Victoria. She has been matched with a family.

Awesome!

I'm feeling Giddy!

2009-04-02T12:07:00.000-04:00

Yep. Giddy is just about the right word. I'm in my zone. You know, the one where you are doing something you love to do and even better-it has a purpose. One that will bring happiness and joy to somebody else.

So what am I up to? Well, first of all what makes me so happy is creating. I'm an artsy type. Ever since I was a child I could spend hours coloring, painting, sculpting, creating from scraps of nothing. I just love using my imagination and my hands. I spent years doing 'serious' art. I studied art. I was six credits shy of a second masters degree in pottery and painting that didn't get completed thanks to five long months of bedrest with a high risk pregnancy. That's well on the back burner of life now and I haven't touched my potters wheel in several years. Now my creating has become more crafting. Materials that are easy to have around children (turpentine and kids should not mix!) are my resources now. I have many thousands of yards of ribbon thanks to the bow business, a fully stocked cabinet of paper, stickers, glue, markers, crayons and assorted do-dads is always at the ready. Recently I've added a stash of fabric and have taught myself how to sew (basic stuff for now, but the ambition is big!). It makes me happy seeing all the bright colors of all my art stuff and I just love having busy hands. My girls do too! But back to the giddiness at hand (literally!).

This post on the New Day Foster Home blog last week really got to me. I felt in my core that I neede to do something. I had to act, but I felt so small. What could I do in this situation? After a few days of prayer and reflection it dawned on me that I could send more bows to the older girls. I new that they had enjoyed the first delivery in January. Something to help make them all feel pretty and special. I emailed Carrie and requested favorite colors so I could tailor the gifts to each girl. Info received and the mission has begun! I decided to create girly tote bag purses for each of them. I couldn't send bows without pretty packaging! That's my giddy fun! I'm embroidering them with their names and sewing ribbons on the bags. I'll stuff them with bows and a few other assorted girly items and off to China they'll go. I know the gifts will be warmly received. But I also know that it is a blessing to be a blessing and my girls and I will be richly rewarded with a joy of having done something for someone else. That alone, even minus the craft supplies, is reason to be giddy!!!

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It's 8 o'clock, and where are my kids?

2009-04-01T20:15:00.000-04:00

It warmed up to 54 degrees today, and so, after dinner when the girls asked to go outside and swing I ushered them outside for some fresh air. It wasn't long before four other girls where in our backyard. I opened the windows so I could hear them play. I had to clean up after dinner and ready backpacks for tomorrow. I listened to their squeals as they played some imagination game about knights, dragons and princesses, always hearing the cacophony of girly giggles as I fluttered about the downstairs doing my chores. Then it got quiet(er). They had all moved to the front yard. I checked on them every few minutes and remembered my childhood days of running all over the neighborhood, trudging through many a neighbor's yard playing cops and robbers with the neighboorhood crew. We'd be gone for hours. Now here I was feeling like I couldn't let my kids be out of my earshot for a more than a few minutes. I wish I could just turn them loose and tell them to be home when it got dark. Those days are gone. Then I heard giggles, endless giggles. It had started to rain. A soft gentle rain that was extremely fun to play in. So it was getting dark, three of the older girls were called in, but I let my two continue to play with the next door neighbor. I ran upstairs and drew a bath after giving them a three minute warning. It was after 8, on a school night, and I had two soaking wet girlies still playing outside. I came downstairs three minutes later, as promised. They said goodbye to their friend and came inside, straight to the mudroom to strip.

"Thanks Mom for letting us play in the rain."

"yeah, and in the dark!"

"That was so cool! Can we do that again?"

Sure. It's only the beginning of spring (finally!)

Need Bows for your Easter egg hunt?

2009-03-26T11:42:00.000-04:00

Why did this not occur to me earlier? A customer asked for a dozen Bitty Bows and said she intended on placing them in the plastic Easter eggs to hide for her daughter. What a great idea! While the Girly Girls are big candy filled egg fans (who's not?) I grew up getting pennies and the occasional nickle, dime or whoo hoo...quarter in my eggs. Bows make a nice change of pace and a pretty surprise. Bitty Bows and clippies fit perfectly into the standard size eggs and the larger basic bows work in the larger eggs available. I put up a deal on the website- any 12 solid color Bitty Bows of your choice for $30 (eggs not included).

Gracie turned 1 !!

2009-03-11T12:07:00.001-04:00

Our special little sponsor child, Gracie turned the big O-N-E yesterday. We got a few pictures of her with her doll that we sent. They were a gift to us. I also decided that we needed to celebrate with a cake in her honor. I picked up a pound cake from my favorite bakery, U*krops, and we lit a candle and sang to her. The girly girls wondered how we'd get the cake to China. I had to explain several times that we were not, we were just going to eat it and celebrate while thinking about her. So sweet of them to want to share a piece with her, half a world away. After all, it was her cake!

Signs of SPRING

2009-03-09T09:03:00.000-04:00

Beautiful weekend here in central VA. Hard to believe a week ago it was 11 degrees and snowing and here it is 82 and simply delightful. I played around with my camera a bit and enjoyed the backyard with the Girly Girls.

Daffodils starting to come up

My Mother's Day tree is beginning to bloom

The Girly Girls on the swingset

Modeling a new set of Micky Mouse with bunny ears Easter bows headed to Ebay. (Had to pay modeling fees of $1 for cooperation on the job. But it went into the piggy bank!)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-04T15:12:00.001-05:00

Snow Day!

2009-03-03T12:06:00.000-05:00

Whoo Hoo!!
We had our first real snow of the season Sunday night. Even though it was dark, we all headed out with about 15 kids from the cul de sac for the building of snow forts and sledding. We came in at 8:30 just in time to hear that schools would be closed Monday. We heard the older kids still out until almost 11pm! The Girly Girls found that their shopping cart was efficient to transport snow for their pile, um, castle.

Woke up Monday to about 6 inches and then we got another 2-3 during the day. Ever the Girly Girls, the kiddos were insistant that they needed to wear dresses (Um, no!) and that all their layers needed to macth. I reasoned that it was OK to not match (just this once, lol!) because their tops would be covered by their coats.

So they were bundled up best we could. Luckily the $1 consignment sale boots I picked up just in case still fit (we hardly ever get snow that amounts to anything) and they headed out. I'm not one for cold so I took pictures out the open window with the zoom lense. I did get bundled up and joined them for round three (or was it four?) after a reminder email from the teacher that we had build a snowman homework.

It all iced over last night and school is closed again. But the forecast says it will be in the low 70's on Sunday.

Feeling a bit intellectual

2009-02-24T11:25:00.000-05:00

I guess it really has been years, in all likelyhood pre-kids, so that would be almost 6 years, that I really read book after book after book. But the bug has bit and I'm going through at leat one a week. Subject matter- China, non fiction. I'm in the mood to learn as much as I can about this complex and fascinating country; it's history, it's people, it's culture- and it's future. The last time I felt this way was in college when I took an intro to Russian Political Systems course, fell in love with the subject and was in awe of the professor so took every course she taught and 4 years later ended up with a degree in Government with a concentration in Russian Politics. Now the China bug has bit, so to speak, and I can't learn enough. In the past two months I have read the following:

The Lost Daughters of China by Karin Evans
~moving adoption journey

China Road: A journey into the future of a rising power by Rob Gifford

~adventures following the "Silk Road" - great writing and much insight

The Last Days of Old Beijing by Michael Meyer

~really interesting look at life living in a hutong in Beijing

Where the Pavement Ends by Erika Warmbrunn
~not as much on China as I'd have liked, but great stories of her time in Mongolia

Silent Tears: A journey of hope in a Chinese orphanage by Kay Bratt

~couldn't put it down, literally read it cover to cover

Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost

~hilarious writing on his months of travel through China

Mr. China by Tim Clissold

~a memoir of a foreign investor in China in the early 90s, witty and insightful

I'm working on these right now:

The rape of Nanking by Iris Chang

The Search for Modern China by Jonathan D. Spence

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin

The Long March: The true story of communist China's founding myth by Sun Shuyun

Mao, the unknown story by Jung Chang

I'll be busy for a while- do you see the size of the bottom two in the picture!! But do you have
any suggestions for further reading?

Guess what's going to Gracie??

2009-02-24T10:35:00.001-05:00

Can't keep it in! Sweet Gracie, the little one we sponsor is turning 1 in March. The Girlies and I brainstormed what we thought she would like. My girlies are B*rbie and doll crazy, so it wasn't a surprise that they thought Gracie needed a dolly. Whodathunk that you couldn't easily find Asian dolls. That setteled it- I'd have to make her one. Far more special that way anyhow. Thing is... I can sew a mean bow, but I'm only a dabbler at sewing much else. I have made some nifty Halloween costumes, but a doll? So I grabbed my tissue paper and set off to make a pattern. I'm thrilled with how she turned out. I drew the face on paper and used my design software to create an embroidery pattern. The doll is just about 16 inches and made out of muslin and cotton. I used this soft 'fur' for the hair and made pigtails I pictutred Gracie being able to grab onto. The dolly has this verse embroidered on her belly- "The Lord will command His Angels to take good care of you." Luke 4:10 . I then had to make her a dress. I found the sweetest birthday present fabric and made the dress reversible with a pink polkadot fabric for two looks! Thie picture is of her still in progress- I'll update with all done pictures. I just have some velcro to sew onto the back of the dress and she'll ship off Wednesday. I hope she loves it. It was certainly made with love!

Bows made it to New Day

2009-02-06T12:10:00.000-05:00

Ok, so this happened a few weeks ago but I'm lousy at finding time to do much online besides business and reading all the blogs that I love and that minister to my heart. I have decided that I really need to post more and I have to share (though nobody read at this point) some of the pictures I received.

Though I had hoped to get the box mailed off before the end of the year, that didn't happen. But it arrived on perfect time for the Jiaozi party and our boys and toy cars made perfect party favors! Karen at New Day directly sent me some wonderful pictures of the kids and some dearly special ones of Gracie. We included our old Bumbo seat in the care packages and some clothes and toys for Gracie. My favorite picture os of her in the Bumbo in a sleeper both Girly Girls had worn as babies crewing on the book the girls picked out for her wearing two!! of my headbands. The cuteness was unbearable!

I love the group picture too!

You can see the scrapbook of the Jiaozi party (dumplimg making) here and see all the darling bow heads! I love how they all put in several at the same time.