Happy Thanksgiving!

What a blessed year we have had as a family. Today was a great day spent with family. We cooked, laughed and had a great time. 

I am so excited for next year when our Wetherby will be home with us as well. We took a little time to reflect on what we are thankful for and said a lovely grave before chowing down. 

We hosted a turkey coloring contest and finally chose our winner. Congratulations to Jack from Nevada!!! We can't wait to get your prize out to you. 

Love is Greater

Immigration Approval

Holy Mackerel!! When I first submitted our USCIS application I was so worried about the time frame. I did not submit right away like I was supposed... Just slipped my mind. I submitted our application in September 19th and didn't expect to hear anything until December and I anticipated them asking for several additional items. Call me paranoid, :)

Well folks, it's November 9th and we received our approval today. APPROVAL!!   In less then 2 months we received approval from Immigration to bring this little boy into our wonderful country. 

We are still plugging away with our fundraising. We need between 6-7,000 more at minimum. If you have any good ideas please let me know. We are still taking orders for Santa Letters as well! 

Did I mention already that we have USCIS approval? 

I managed to get a really awesome picture of my kiddos while at Hobby Lobby recently. 

We love you from every mile between us, sweet, sweet Wetherby! 

Angel Tree Fundraiser

Each year, the wonderful people from Reece's Rainbow do a fundraiser called, The Angel Tree. Warm hearted folks pick a child (or five!) to warrior for. The hope is to raise as much funding as possible to be held in a grant for this child which will in turn be given to their adoptive family while in process. These grants are so so important. They are there to help the adoptive families and the funds are used to pay orphanage fee's or visa's or whatever they need to get them home. 

This is tough work! The goal is $1,000 but really anything is appreciated and goes a long way. There are a few kiddo's I want to bring attention to. Please keep in mind there are SEVERAL children listed with RR; These are only a few! 

My family has signed up to be a warrior for Zeke. Look at this kid! Sweet, handsome, active... He has waited for a family for 6 years. Let's help make this his last. 

http://reecesrainbow.org/38452/zeke-l

I have heard Marv is smart, sweet and wants a family. His grant has grown and will continue to grow until his family arrives. He has an entourage of followers and you can check him out here! 

https://m.facebook.com/comment/replies/?ctoken=10206879022627465_10206881353725741&ft_ent_identifier=10206879022627465&gfid=AQAE_Xcf9VQzzK-j&ref=m_notif&notif_t=feed_comment_reply&actorid=1034170099

This last little boy has stolen so much of my heart. I wish, wish, wish I could bring him home. He is in the same orphanage as my W. From what I have heard he is very much the big brother to my little boy. My heart melts every time I look at. Those big eyes and that beautiful smile. I will do cart wheels the day I see he has been brought home. 

http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=Charlie

I am begging each and everyone of you who read this to please consider a dollar to each of these boys. The cost of one day's coffee. That is it, $3. Think about it and DO it! :) 

Buddy Walk DeLand and more!

It has been a super busy few days and I am whooped! :) 

We were honored to be present for our very first Buddy Walk and represented Reece's Rainbow while we were there. I had no idea what to expect but I was able to speak with several people about the foundations mission and it was awesome! 

We have begun work on our beautiful Festive Blocks and are going strong at about 20 orders! Shooting for shipping them all by the second of November. 

We are only waiting on our USCIS a approval and then we are on to our Country submission! 

Humbled

As everyone knows, I have had a few periods of utter stress during our process of adopting W. I know this is very normal. I know there will be days that I will question every tiny decision that gets made because in essence, each of them will effect this process in some fashion. I've had days where I just thought I was absolutely crazy and some days where I felt... Is this how Mother Teresa felt? (No, I am not comparing myself to her.. no where near that!)

The last few days however, I have felt wonderful. I feel good about things. The time is coming closer and closer. I am mailing off our last document needed for USCIS and that will likely be resolved and done in the next 2-3 weeks and then it will be time to submit our dossier to Ukraine and wait for a court date. This could move quickly or it could drag out. I don't know and it is out of my control and I have accepted that. 

I was very humbled this week during church service. I feel the Lord just laid it out for me that I am a lucky woman. I have an amazing husband whom would clearly do anything for me. I have two beautiful, healthy and intelligent children who may drive me crazy sometimes, but they are mine and they are here. Last week a church family had a SIX year old daughter die. Suddenly. To my knowledge she was not sick from anything. She was a happy and gorgeous SIX year old. I didn't ask for details, maybe I don't want to know or maybe I don't need to know. But I do know a family had to bury their daughter. I can only pray I don't ever have to do this in my lifetime. I have Parents (we butt heads about a lot, but they would do anything for me), Sister's and niece's that I care for so much. I have a lot of love that surrounds me and I am grateful for this. I have Angels in Heaven who I know fly down I-4 with me to protect me from all the crazy Florida drivers. 

I went to service last week with a Hard heart. I was upset that the church wouldn't let me use their dining hall for a spaghetti dinner fundraiser. I spoke with the office director and even though I felt her answer was a little snide, I can understand they have to be fair to everyone. If they let me use it then they have to let everyone use it. I was so angry they wouldn't give me the opportunity. Sunday morning I went back and forth, "Do I really wanna go today? I'm tired. I could use the sleep.", but I mustard it up and went. I enjoyed this week's service and so I went to my Pastor and told him. He began speaking with me a little about W and that he was sorry, but he did welcome me to print fliers and let everyone know the date and time. That was encouraging for me. He then said, "Let's Pray Together" and so he prayed with me right there in the front of the alter under the large Rose Window. I felt so blessed in that moment. He said to me, "The money will come. If it is God's will for you to be this boys Mother then it will happen". It is hard to feel so positive all the time because there is so much fighting against you. I know I am working hard. My family knows, and my friends. More importantly, God knows. 

This is what I have to trust in. I have to put my Faith out there and let the world know I am fighting for this boy. If someone feels led to help me then so be it and it will be appreciated far more then I could ever say. I believe in this boy and our decision. I believe we are meant to be his parents and his siblings and this is what is important. 

Blessings! 

Farmer's Market

This weekend the Hubster and I tried our hand at the farmer's market downtown. This was our first attempt and I had no idea what to expect. So Friday night I asked my Momma to take my two kiddos so I could prep and they wound up spending the night with her (say whaaaat? WHOOP WHOOP). Around 8 that night I began baking. Now I'll be honest... I can not cook worth a diddle, a few things, sure but for the most part Im terrible, BUT I can bake the crap outta some cookies and muffins! 

While I was slaving away in the kitchen my husband was in the garage with some last touches on his beautiful flags... Just wait to see them! We finally laid down to rest around 1 AM. Saturday we were up bright and early and headed downtown! 

We got all set up and say and waited for our first customer!!! .... And waited and waited. 

Things picked up around 11 and we sold some Banana Nut and Pumpkin muffins and a few other things. No sales on his flags which did honestly surprise me. He worked so hard on this and I know he would have been so proud if they would have sold. All in due time! 

I was so proud of him and the way he kept saying, "our son". He went on and on to people about Wetherby and how he was ours. I'm not sure I've heard him actually say it out loud to people and it just made me melt. So even though we didn't sell a lot we got to spend some much needed time together! Here are a few photos of other items. Feel free to message me with any interest!