Natalie's First Slumber Party

Last week my dear friend, Kayla offered to keep Natalie so Brian and I could go on a date for my birthday. We gladly accepted her offer!  But that wasn't the best part=) She called later to offer to keep her over night and during church so we could work our Adoption Luncheon and not have to worry about Natalie running around.  I was a little hesitant because she has not ever slept away from us unless with family. Not that I didn't trust Kayla, but as a mommy it was hard. I knew she would have a blast with her 4 kiddos so we accepted that offer, too!
Here are a few fun photos from their slumber party.

The evening began at the church picnic so they got to be outside in the beautiful weather. Right up NJ's alley!

 

And dinner was pizza. Another hit with Nat!

How cute is this?!

 

 

They ended the evening back at the house playing kitchen. Again, one of Nat's favorite pasttimes.

And story time. Yep, she was just fine....

And now for the totally cute part! All of the kids had to sleep around her. Too sweet!

What sweet, sweet memories this girl will have to grow up so loved by more than just her family. We are so thankful to this family and many more for helping us all feel like family is here even when they are really miles and miles away. God is good.

Thanks to Kayla and fam and my husband's hard work we had dinner AND a movie (on his company might I add!). What a needed night out!

 

 

 

MOSAIC

CLICK HERE FOR POST ON GIVING TO OUR FUNDRAISER

 

 

Well, did you catch that title? That is our official new name for our Adoption Ministry! I love it! One of our team members came up with it and it just fits!  This is the flyer that will go out in info bags at our church's Trunk or Treat. I am so thankful for the timing of this for our ministry to get the word out!

 

 

Last Sunday was our Launch Day and it was a success! During the offertory we played a video from the Orphan Sunday website, and showed a slide as an announcement that we are a new ministry and have a table set up in the foyer with more information. The pastor even mentioned it from the pulpit so everyone heard!  Our friends, Robert and Susan, said 15 people signed the cards stating their interest and a lot of others stopping to ask questions and inquire more about it. This Sunday Brian and I and another couple are manning the table. After the final service we are serving sandwiches and ice cream to those interested in hearing and learning more. We will each (4 couples) share our testimony of adoption and let them know why we felt God's call and where we would like to see the ministry go. We have another form for those who come to fill out giving us more details about the families and where they are with adoption. One couple joined Sunday and are a waiting family! Odd timing? I think not!

 

Have I mentioned how amazing it is to be right smack in the middle of God's work? He is doing something mighty, folks! How will you be a part? Will you....

 

1. Pray for someone you know is adopting?

 

2. Pray for someone considering adoption or dealing with infertility?

 

3. Take a step of faith in adopting or fostering?

 

4. Financially support a couple or ministry?

 

5. Take food to a family that just brought a child home?

 

6. Host a special shower?

 

7. Read about adoption/fostering/orphan care so you will be educated and not fall into the pitfalls of "uneducated adoption comments"?

 

8. Pray for birthmoms to choose life, and VOTE for those in our government who support this choice!

 

9. Start a ministry in your church?

 

There are so many ways to be involved. One of the most powerful moments when Brian and I were at the beginning stages of adoption planning, was when a sweet family from our church called and asked if their family could come to our house and pray for and with us. Now that's power! I was moved. And so was their son who asked 2 years later about this moment he was involved in, and whether or not that couple got a baby. What a testimony from his mom and dad!

 

 







Birthday-Not mine, hers!

Last weekend we celebrated Natalie's 2nd birthday with our family while we were in Arkansas for the game. We had a tailgate birthday and this is how it went.......

After looking through all of our photos I decided we needed to create a "Many Faces of Natalie" montage. This girl is a hoot! Upon second look, I figured out where she gets it...............me! Good heavens the looks of mine that were caught on camera were just plain ridiculous. I saved the best for you though! Seriously?! How embarassing! Maybe if I get brave enough I will crop all of them into a nice little laughing board for ya.  Maybe.

I digress.

Natalie loved her little gifts. She got the cutest Rapunzel doll and necklace and backpack along with a bottle and stroller for her baby so she is set and ready to play!

 

Here is the queen on her throne. We celebrated with birthday cookies because she is not a cake eater. Mimi made some delicious iced and decorated sugar cookies. They were in the shape of a crown, dress, and one more I can't remember. The genius idea Mom had was putting them in a paper CD holder and writing Happy 2nd Birthday! That's Pinterest worthy!

It was a fun little mini party for the AR folks, but her big TANGLED themed party will be on her actual birthday. Look forward to those soon! No boys allowed! Here are some random other shots of the tailgate.

That's my friend, Kim and her family. Loved getting to see them as I guess it had been one year exactly! That's my handsome nephew at the bottom left! Love that boy. Now here are some with my beautiful niece!

 

That's my goofy girl! Happy 2nd Birthday, NJ!

 

Children's Museum

Last week Brian decided to take a day off and work on his application for his professional engineering license. Apparently this thing is quite a process so a full day still didin't get it done. But at least at this point he is finally started it. This has been hanging over his head for quite a few years now.  After this follows a huge test. Yuck!

So I tell you all of that because it meant we needed to get out of the house for as much of the day as possible. This lead us to the Children's Museum in Commerce. It takes shy of an hour to get there and a few hours to play with lunch sounded like a great plan. And it was! I invited our little friend, Lyla hoping that would encourage Natalie to play and not have me follow her around the entire time. That worked too! The girls never get much time just the two of them so it was nice to see them interact. I want them to grow up as close friends. Both being adopted and biracial, I like that Natalie will have someone else to relate to her exact situation.

As you can see they were both thrilled to be snapping these pictures=)

 

A little fishing was in order for the day.

 

This place was basically a very large room with different sections/play areas set up. There was anything from a grocery store to a kitchen to a pizza place and more! I loved this little hand print picture here talking about body heat.  Natalie really seemed to enjoy the bubble room. There were two large hoops you could stand in and bring up a bubble around you. Fun times! I could never get a good picture because I was trying to keep the girls from swimming in the bubbles. Natalie had already stepped one foot completely in it!

 

I love this one with the two girls!

 

 

  Randomly enough we ran into my friend, Susan and her 3 kiddos while  we were there! By about 11:30 or 12 we had the entire place to ourselves. I couldn't believe it! Another random note was that we had both packed picnic lunches so we gathered around a huge tree right outside the museum and had lunch. It was a beautiful day to enjoy a picnic. Susan asked the lady if we could come back after lunch and she was so generous to let us. So, the kids played about another hour before we decided to head on back. It was going to be perfect timing for my two littles to nap in the car so I was thrilled (turned out neither one fell asleep though)!

 

Of course we had to have a group shot before we left! This was the best one I took of about 5 shots. Susan's kids were perfect in every one. My two hoodlums were looking and pointing every which way but forward!

 

We had a great time and successfully killed 90% of the day so Brian could work=)

 

Updates

I looked back at my last post and didn't realize how long it had been. We have been really busy, and blogging just fell behind as usual.
First, an update on the Adoption Ministry.  We officially have a name! MOSAIC: Adoption & Waiting Children Care Ministries
We are currently working on a logo and mission statements. The last couple of weeks have been busy planning for our 'launch.' On October 14 and 21st we will have a table set out in the foyer of our church with pictures of each family starting the ministry. We will also have bookmarks with Adoption-related resources for individuals to take away, as well as some agency information. If people are interested enough they can fill out a card with their information so we can contact them with more information regarding upcoming events/plans.  On the 21st we will have a lunch after the service for all those interested. Our team will each share our personal adoption testimonies and how God called us to start this ministry.  Once we find out more about the interests and needs of the people, we will begin praying and deciding how God wants us to move from here.  This is exciting! Please be praying for God to move the hearts of the people in our church.  There is so much we can do as the hands and feet of Jesus with this ministry. It's not all about adopting, but simply taking care of the 'widows and orphans' as stated in James 1:27

Second, an update on our adoption journey round 2.  Nothing new. That was a killjoy, huh?! Ha! I tried to come up with something, but this is the hardest part of the journey. Waiting. Preparing our hearts, praying for our baby and birth mother, enjoying the time we have with a precious little 2 year old, and waiting.  We are very much looking forward to the annual fundraiser for our agency. This is where they get most of their money to do what they do so it is SO important! This year we finally get to attend since I don't have to worry about taking a day off from school to go. It is October 30th from 6:30-9:00 pm in Waco. It's a time to celebrate adoption, pray for waiting families, and raise money for the agency. Thanks to my dad being retired, and mom having a flexible job with time off, they are so gracious to come and keep Natalie for us that evening. If they couldn't come we would have had to take her with us (not a fun event for a 2 year old), and stay in a local hotel (that's not in the budget) because of the late evening! Thanks, mom and dad!

Third, an update on our fundraiser. We have had several more precious donors helping us piece together our puzzle. Many of you have asked me if it was too late, or if you could still donate and the answer is YES. Here is a link to the original post describing how to do that.

 

 

 (sorry this one is a little blurry but I was too lazy to get out the good camera, so I snapped with my camera)

 

This girl and her pictures. Either her eyes are closed, or she's looking at you not smiling, OR she's smiling and her eyes are looking off to the side at something else! Sheesh!

Sewing 101

The second reason for our week long trip to Arkansas is for my sewing lessons.  I never learned how to sew (I can barely do a button, and actually Brian is better than I am), but I also never really wanted to learn. Mom and Granny both tried to teach me. Granny was insistent on getting me a sewing machine for graduation. I tried to deter her but that's like telling a mule to stop and go.  I come from a line of stubborn, you see=)  The sewing machine sat for years until I handed it over to mom to use. 

Then Natalie came.  And she was in need of cute, crafty shirts.  With ribbons and bows. And her mother couldn't do it! Not good. This is when I decided I actually WANTED to know how to sew. I couldn't just let all my crafty friends take over.  Not that I will ever be as good as say, Kayla, but good enough to get done what I want for my own daughter. She might be my only girl, so I couldn't let this time of my life pass by.  Now that I'm not teaching, I have time to learn.

So the sewing begins...

My new simple beginners, all I'll ever need machine! Thanks mom!

After only two lessons I can thread my bobbin (yes, I know what that is now), and I can sew things like this:

Ok, ok it's just a scrap, but I was still excited.

Baby steps folks. I'll get there.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok about 3 weeks have passed since I started the first half of this post and never finished. Ugh! The good news is that now I can show you that I have sewn 2 shirts for Natalie!!

The one on the left is obviously for her birthday. A matching bow of some sort will soon follow! The one on the left will also have her name monogrammed at the top by my wonderful friend, Kayla! Now if she only read my blog she would feel so special that I not only gave her one shout out, but two! Her loss=)

 

Now I have a few more ideas for shirts and pillowcase dresses for this girl but my goodness I can't find the time for all my projects. I thought being home was supposed to magically cure that problem?! And what do I think I'm going to do when there are two kiddos......or three!