And the winner is.........

   I don't have that much time to write so this is going to be short and sweet.

Thank you to all who entered my giveaway. This was really a lot of fun. I had hubby draw a name from the bowl and the winner is.......... DRUM ROLL PLEASE...........

                                SUSAN PERRY!!!!!

YAY!! Susan. Thank you all again. Susan I will send you an email letting you know that you won. Just let me know which necklace you would prefer.

To everyone else. You can still buy these beautiful necklaces. They are fair trade and from Africa. All of the proceeds go towards our adoption.

Thank you all again and have a wonderful Memorial Day!!! Thank you  also to all the men and women who give/gave their lives serving our country!

FREE STUFF!!!

Who doesn't love trying to win free stuff and who doesn't love actually winning them!?! There are so many fun giveaways going on in blog land.


My sweet friend Erica is giving away one of her awesome shirts! I absolutely LOVE my Simply Love shirts. Go HERE To enter!

Another great giveaway is this family who is doing a Pay it forward kind of giveaway. 26 families will get money towards thier adoption fees (we are #6) and those that donate $5 will also win something. So amazing. Melts my heart. Go HERE to check it out and enter

Then my other sweet friend Rachel is giving away this incrediable book. I read it in 3 days. This truly is a must read for everyone. You can go HERE  to enter.

Then there is another amazing give away for these beautiful handmade Haiti bracelets. You can go HERE to enter.

Then you thought I was done, BUT I am not!! haha We still have our give away going on. You can win a necklace of your choice!! So fun! You can read my OTHER POST to see how easy it is to enter.

You may not want any of these, but what a great gift you could give someone. Good luck with all the fun Giveaways and let me know if you won!!

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!

I have never gotten to do a give away before so I am really excited. Since I am impatient and we really need to get our funds in, we have decided to permanently lower the prices of our jewelry. (see last post) The bead necklace is $20 or two for $35. The coin necklace is $35. If you are local and you do not want to use paypal please contact me. Now on to the giveaway!!!!

We will run it now until noon May31. There will be three ways to enter. Please leave a comment on here as to what you have done so we can put your name in a bowl. At the end of the giveaway we will draw one name from the bowl and you will win a necklace of your choice!!! So exciting. Here's how it works.

- Post this on your FaceBook for 1 entry
-Post this on your blog for 1 entry
-Make any size donation (to the right) for 2 entries.

That's 4 chances to win!! Good luck and please don't forget to leave me a comment so I can enter you!!

It's here!!!!!

Our sweet friend has worked very hard on making jewelry for us to sell. Not just any jewelry, but necklaces inspired by our adoption. She is very talented and has blessed us tremendously by doing this for our son. We are so excited about our two beautiful and amazing necklaces, we hope you love them too! Please check them out and buy! Send to anyone you know. Remember when you wear one (or two) of these necklaces it should remind you that you helped bring a child to his forever home, that you helped in a BIG way to bring our sweet son into our arms. All proceeds (minus the costs to make them) go towards our adoption costs.

This necklace features an authentic Ethiopian twenty five cent piece set in a silver toned bezel on a braided, genuine leather cord. One side of the coin bears the Lion of Judah symbol, which dates to the visit of Queen Sheba to Solomon (960 b.c.). The other side features a man and woman in a celebratory pose with the numbers 2 & 5 on either side of them. The leather cord is 18" long and the pendant is approximately 1" in diameter.
You can purchase these to the right.

This necklace is made of glass trade beads accented with metal beads from Africa. The Ethiopian flag is green, red, and yellow. I added in the blue after seeing it in so much of the traditional jewelry. Both the metal and glass beads are fair trade. The necklace measure approximately 442” in circumference and can easily be doubled up.
You can purchase these to the right.



Jon and I are so in love with both of these necklaces. To be honest the pictures are amazing, but it does not do them justice. For those of you who are local and just want to buy from me, please email me and you don't have to do pay pal.
REMEMBER by buying these you will be helping to bring our son home!!!!

Happy Anniversary

Today my hubby and I are celebrating 8 years of marriage.

We both worked at Sports Authority when we were in college. We use to pass notes back and forth and joke around all the time. We hung out every day. He proposed to me two months after we "officially" started dating. A month after that I had surgery on both my feet and could not walk for four months (can you say weight gain?) He came over to my parents house everyday and helped take care of me. Even washing my hair in the sink (can you say keeper?) A year after that we got married. We never had a honeymoon , because two days after our wedding he went to the Police Academy. So I would just like to say to the whole world that HE OWES ME ONE! :D

                        We met when I was 18 and he was 20 (the date is wrong)

                                                             

                 We bonded over fishing . (and other things) We use to go every day!

                 

      We got married when I was 20 and he was 22 .I cried the whole way down the aisle.

                  
                 

        The pastor forgot to say "kiss the bride." I didn't forget and I jumped on him.

                                                            
                                         I am so thankful for him!

We have been through so much in our short marriage. I am so thankful that everything we have gone through has brought us closer together and closer to the Lord. I love that in a way we have grown up together.
I am so honored that God would call me to be his wife and the mother of his children. He truly is a man after God's own heart.

Jonathan~  I am so madly, deeply, compassionately in love with you. Thank you for always loving on me and for always putting up with me. You are such an amazing father and leader in our home. Can't wait to grow old with you. I am so excited to see what God has us do next!
                               
 
                                                         2010

Asking to much?

            Today more then a billion people in the world live and die in desperate poverty. They attempt to survive on less then a dollar a day. Close to two billion others live on less than two dollars a day. That is nearly half the world struggling to find food, water, and shelter with the same amount of money I use to buy a cup of coffee. How can I sit here and not be ashamed of wasting all that the Lord has given me. This is not my money that I am wasting, it's His! We in America are so rich, yes even living paycheck to paycheck counts as being rich. It kills me to sit here and think about all that is wasted, that I've wasted. It's a good thing we have a Starbucks on every corner because I just don't think we could survive.






            I remember when some dear friends of ours were raising money to become missionaires in another country. They literally opened up there home and sold everything. I remember coming home and looking at all my stuff and asked myself if I could do that. Could I sell all this stuff that we worked so hard to get. And then I fell to my knees in tears. We worked hard for all this stuff!! Did that really just come out of my mouth. Is that where my hope lies.... in stuff? Is that what really matters?

          How come we only take certain scriptures out of the bible and that is what we base our faith on? Scriptures that don't require us to do anything but to maybe attend church on Sunday and still have our comfortable lives. We either take the whole bible or none at all. The bible (Jesus) tells us we are suppose to go and make disciples of ALL nations, Jesus tells us we are suppose to take care of the widows and orphans. The bible does  not say to sit comfortably in our air conditioned house. Now I'm not saying to open your doors and sell everything (unless Jesus tells you too) what I am saying is that I want to suffer for my King. I don't want to be comfortable, I don't want to be able to spend money on my coffee or whatever and not be able to give to someone in need. I want to give first and then whatever is left over I want to give some more.I don't want to just say I am going to do all these things, I want to actually do them and with the Lord's help I can. I honestly can not wait for the day that Lord tells our family to go and we can open up our home and sell everything. Yes, I truly mean it. I know that we are not meant to stay in Clearwater Florida for ever. How do I know that? Because the Lord has laid it on our hearts a long time ago that we would be called away. We are patiently and prayfully waiting.

           As I have heard someone say before. "Praying that Jesus will break my heart for what breaks His." He is doing it! I said in the very beginning of this adoption that I felt so honored that He would allow me to experience Him in this way. I have to rely on the Lord in a way that I never have before. Everyday He is continuing to wreck my heart even more for Him and for His will on my life. That alone is something to be praised.

          I can all ready see that our son is changing our lives more then we will ever change his. I am not perfect, I am a sinner so I am extremely grateful for Jesus never ending grace. So absolutely thankful that we get to be on this journey. So absolutely grateful that the Lord loves me enough to want to make me more like Him.

Walking along this narrow road desperately trying to live my life completely dependent on the Lord.

$5 is all it takes!

  We have been praying of a way to reach our dossier goal and a way to also meet some people who are adopting or people who will/have adopted. So the Lord has provided a way that we can do both.

So here it is. We just need 875 people to donate $5. That's it, so easy right!?! or is it? Would you be willing to give up one really good cup of coffee, or one fast food meal, or one milkshake, or whatever else you can think of? Would you be willing to give just $5 to help us bring our son home? We have our donate button to the right. It's that simple. Also would you please pass around our blog? The more people that know the better, plus I could meet some really great people.

We really need to reach this goal so that we can get our dossier in. Once we do that, then we are waiting on our referral to see who our son is. Do you see why we really need to get this moving along? We will have more fees and hurdles after that, but one thing at a time. Please don't wait and think you have time to give. If everyone did that, then we would never reach our goals. We need all you. Or right now just 875 of you :) We can do this, actually God can do this. Be apart of this journey with us and watch (with us) how the Lord will provide.

A little bit of this... a little bit of that.....

My Mother's Day was awesome! We actually had nothing to do. It's seems like those days are few and far between so I love when we have them so we can just soak each other up. I am truly blessed with an amazing family and I can never thank the Lord enough for entrusting me with my four, soon to be five beautiful children. THANK YOU JESUS!!

Last week my hubby and I went to an Ethiopian restaurant. We were so excited to try the food. I wish I could have walked away from the meal craving more, but that wasn't the case. It was good, just different. It honestly is going to have to be something that we get use to. I love how they eat. They do not use utensils they use a bread called injera. You break off a piece of the injera and you pick up your food with it. I also love how  their food is used as friendship. It's called goorsha which means an act of friendship.  During a meal with friends, a person will strip off a piece of injera, roll it in the sauce, and then put the injera into a friend's mouth. This is called a goorsha, and the larger the goorsha, the stronger the friendship  We actually saw this at the restaurant. They had a huge bowl of food and as the waitresses would walk by  this women sitting their would serve them. Really neat to see. I'm so excited to incorporate our son's culture into ours. We as a family are learning so much. Our kids are dying for us to take them next, which we will very soon.



We are a little slow going in our fundraising process. Praying that people will just feel led to give. I hate that you have to sell stuff for people to donate. My sweet friend is finishing up some jewelery for us to sell. I really love it! Praying that people will buy it. Not only do we need to get some funds in, but I also don't want my friend to have wasted her time. So thankful for her talent and her kind heart to do this for us. Sometimes I do feel alone in this process, not knowing what to do next, not sure how to get the funds in, but I know that's not the case. We have been praying for the Lord to guide us and to show us what  He wants us to do next. Hearing the kids pray for their little brother just melts my heart. I can't wait to hold our little one and tell him how we ALL have been praying for him.  I have been reading in 1Kings18:41-46.  where The Lord tells Elijah that the rains will come, they kept waiting and looking for the rain and on the seventh time of looking and seeing nothing, they saw a cloud shaped like a man's hand rising from the sea. The rains came! Not just a little rain, but the bible says a GREAT rain. No prayer goes unanswered, the Lord said He will bring in the money to get our son in our arms and He will. I have to keep reminding myself that it's God's timing, not mine. I just need to keep working hard and staying focus on Jesus.He HAS been providing and it has been a joy to watch. Every day we get one step closer to our son. 




Please watch this video. It truly wrecked me. I know that even after we bring home our son. We are not done! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjudwy9Ebvc



Thank you for all your support and Love. Thank you for wanting to be apart of our adoption. We could not do any of this without you. Please keep us in your prayers.