Thanksgiving 2012

This year was Thanksgiving with my side of the family so we headed to Arkansas to celebrate.

 

My mom always does it up big and fun. Something I hope to follow in her footsteps on.  This was the kids' table, fit with their own turkey boxes filled with fun crafts to keep them busy!

 

I loved my time with these folks:

 

Our time Friday and Saturday was spent shopping, the boys went to the game, riding "the big red truck", playing in the playhouse, and eating s'mores by the fire!

 

Somehow I did not get a picture of Brian or Poppi on these rides but I assure you they were there! Poppi was our truck driver!

 

 

Well for some reason I am not able to upload the rest so I guess I will do that on another post!

 

 

 

God's Protection

Often times there are details about our adoption journey that we choose not to share for a variety of reasons. There are just some aspects that the whole world doesn't need to know, sometimes not even family until we are ready. But this detail I choose to share to show God's hand in our journey......

About 3-4 weeks ago we received an email from our agency.  This email gave us details about a birthmom and her situation.  Most of the details of the situation we were open to, but there were some they were uncertain of so they wanted to know whether or not to show our profile.  After praying and talking it through we decided we wanted our profile shown. 

A couple of weeks passed and we had not heard anything from the agency.  As Brian and I talked neither one of us felt excited or anxious.  We kind of felt indifferent. Odd. I told Brian I just didn't feel like this was our birthmom.  We both felt that if it was, we would have a stirring in our hearts, which just didn't seem to be there.

It took another week or so before we finally heard from the agency.  The birth mom chose another family.  Many times after hearing this news, waiting families are left feeling unwanted, confused, hurt, angry, and so much more. But we didn't. We were completely at peace with it.  All along we knew it wasn't right.  That's God's protection.  You see, it's very easy when you are waiting for a child, that you jump head first and with full force when you know you are being shown.*  God protected our hearts.  In what seems like such a small way, God was there again.  But I assure you that was no 'small way.' Adoption is a journey.  An emotional journey. Sometimes a long journey.  But God is near if we let him be.  He showed His GLORY and MIGHTY power with our first adoption, and I have no doubts He will again!



*Disclaimer: We typically do not know when or if we are being shown to a birth mother.  Makes it easier not knowing when we aren't chosen.

Adoption Tax Credit

We have had a few more donations come in, and the puzzle is closing in on the big picture!

If you still wish to donate, please click HERE for more info.

It has been so exciting to see all the support, and how many lives have been touched through our family's story of infertility and adoption.  Once the puzzle is complete, we will have raised $5,000! That is incredible.  But that is not the full cost of adoption. We still have over $10,000 to raise on our own. However, thanks to the adoption tax credit set for by the Bush administration, we were able to get a refund last year from Natalie's adoption.  But this may not be the case for this adoption.  And this brings me to my next point......

 

Adoption Tax Credit

Right now the tax credit is set to expire this year.  If families struggle with expenses now, knowing there is a refund to come, imagine how these numbers will drop when there is no other support.  We have got to stand up and SAVE THE ADOPTION TAX CREDIT.

Please take a minute and visit this site to find out more on how you can help support this bill.

http://adoptiontaxcredit.org/

You can also visit https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/support-hr-4373-and-s-3616-help-make-adoption-affordable-keep-tax-credit-and-make-it-refundable/GknZZR2H

to sign a petition that supports the tax credit. Please help us and others bring home babies that need families.

 

Just another way you can be a part of supporting adoptive families now and in the future.

 

 

Holiday Kick-Off

This year I have been completely ready for the holiday season. Mostly Christmas, but Thanksgiving is lumped in there too since it is a time to gather with family to make memories. I plan on doing everything holiday this year since Nat is old enough to get into it a little more. I am more than thrilled to be old enough (and now have children) to be SANTA.  It gives me great joy to anticipate the reaction from Natalie when she sees her new kitchen! She is going to go nuts (or be bashful and shut down completely as she so often does).

So to kick off our holiday fun I discovered that Santa would be riding in on a boat to the Bass Pro Shop's Winter Wonderland tonight. I of couse put that on our calendar and dragged Brian along. I suited Natalie up in her cool Christmas attire thanks to my friend, Kayla.

How cute is she?!

We got there around 4:30 for some free cookies and hot chocolate (even if it was 75 degrees outside still) and waited for Santa's arrival. Natalie kept asking where he was.

You can't see the boat he was riding it, but it was pretty cute.

Natalie didn't mind seeing Mrs. Claus up close, but Santa......

didn't get the same greeting. She immediately turned her head away from him. She didn't cry or get scared, per say, but she was not about to show herf face!

I figured this was a little preview of the meltdown that might occur when we asked her to sit on his lap. So, we decided to do prepare her a little bit by explaining that she was going to smile, say hi, sit on his lap, say cheese, ask him for a kitchen (that she may or may not get), and walk away.  She actually rehashed this to us a couple of times before we actually got up there! She's a hoot!

We waiting 45 minutes so we killed some time with other cute photos. Unfortunately it didn't even cross my mind to take the nice camera so all I have are phone pics. *Now it should be noted here that Brian actually DID think of bringing the nice camera and then decided we probably wouldn't use it anyway. WHAT?! He didn't bother to run that by ME! Ugh. Boys.

Coloring a Santa Stocking

 

Her smiles just crack us up. She almost looks pained.



and finally the grand prize photo where she did not meltdown and did exactly as instructed (including asking for a kitchen!).......

a photo of the photo with Santa!

She was only mildly fearful!

I just love this Santa. Legit. And how sweet is that little one?! My goodness.

 

 

As stated in the heading, this is just the kick off. The following includes our other must-do holiday festivities:

1. Holiday Train in local town

2. Christmas Parade and Tree lighting in local town

3. Christmas light looking with milk and cookies (stealing the milk and cookie thing from you, Susan)

4. Possibly riding The Polar Express (money might spoil this one)

5. Christmas crafts at home including a felt tree on the wall with ornaments (Liz, that's you)

6. Maybe a family campout under the tree (this one is from my friend, Sarah)

7.  Baking and decorating Thanksgiving and Christmas cookies

8. Annual day of baking with my friends Ally and Stephanie

9. Christmas dinner and get-together with close friends

AND

10. Anything else that pops up that makes me say, "heck yeah!"

 

 



 

My New Ventures

Since I am staying home now I have SO much more time to do things. NOPE! That's a big lie. I have a highly active 2 year old, remember?! However, I do have a little more time than before and have taken up new hobbies.  Some of you may remember my FB post stating that I needed a hobby that pays.  My only problem was/is I quit the only thing I was good at and passionate about as well.   Teaching!  But anything involved with that would require a babysitter for NJ which negates my money.  So my friend reminded me about a website called TeachersPayTeachers.  This site allows teachers to sell their created resources for other teachers at a low price!  So all these ideas and activities I made over the years (or wish I had the time to make so I never did) I can recreate and sell!  Genius.  Although right now it has only paid me $7! Hopefully, that number will have at least 1 zero behind it eventually. 

It took me awhile to read all about it and figure things out, but I have a good handle on it now and have about 7 products posted. I am very proud of them and think they are very helpful to teachers in the Pre-K-2nd grades.  I'm having to be selective in what graphics I use because I am trying not to purchase any until I make more. It's been tough.  If you are a teacher, or know teachers please share this link with them and have them BECOME A FOLLOWER. Becoming a follower means you will receive an email each time I post a new product! And it helps get my name out there.  I'm not looking for this to be a part time job, but I would like to make enough for some date night money that includes paying a babysitter!  That's not too much to ask is it? I mean even if that were once a month I need to make at least $50 or more!


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Whitney-Weir


My second new venture I have discussed before but I'm making progress! Sewing. Mom came and helped me use a pattern (never done that before and not sure I can do it correctly yet by myself) to make NJ a pillowcase dress. It turned out pretty cute though. I just need to add some material to the bottom to finish it out.  A sense of accomplishment if nothing else! Next week I have booked some time with my friend, Kayla to refine my skills=)

This venture is just for fun, not to make money.

Wish I Could Say More

As I mentioned before, there is not always much to share when you ask, "so have you heard anything?" The answer has been no with not much else to say. Sometimes people stare back at me like they are waiting for more. Seriously, that's all I have to share. That's the journey of adoption right there.
 The most recent update we received wasn't anything new really. We are 1 of 16 waiting families, and they are working with 7 birth moms who haven't chosen a family yet. Their due dates range from now until May.  With our agency we never know if our profile has been shown or not.  The only exception is if there is something within the situation that they are unsure about whether or not it matches what we are open to. They will then present us with the situation and let  us decide whether or not to show our profile.  I love how they do this. I don't think it is good to know when or how often you are shown. I just want the phone call!

So until that call comes, I'll be enjoying this...

Tangled Up in Fun!

Natalie's Official 2nd birthday was a Tangled party, and it was a success! She loved her decorations and had so much fun at the party with all her friends.  Below is a montage of all her gifts. She got some of the coolest presents, but the biggest hit was her doctor kit. I knew she would like it, but oh my goodness she has not stopped playing with it. Poor Murphy has been a pretty good patient to get all his shots, medicine, and band-aids!

Thanks to Pinterest, I had a lot of cool ideas for the party and I was pleased with the way it all came together.

This was Flynn Rider's table complete with a WANTED poster, Snuggly Duckling sandwiches and a mini frying pan.

The main Tangled Table

 

Natalie is not a fan of cake right now so we had birthday cookies instead. So I made and decorated princess gowns and crowns. We also had Pascal tongues and the party favors in the cutest Rapunzel cups. I loved those things!

And this was Maximus' table. He was guarding the mix of apples and peanut butter with apples and caramel.

 

As the girls were getting there they had a variety of Rapunzel coloring pages to decorate. Then we proceeded outside to play 'Pin the hair on Rapunzel.' We let the big girls go first so the little would know how to play. Since Natalie wanted nothing to do with the game I put a sweet little picture of her friend, Jori in the mix! Precious!

A huge shout out to my mom for all the help preparing the party but especially for the cute little game and hair pieces they could take home. The big girls liked that!

 

 

I really had a lot of fun planning and preparing for her party, but I was also glad it was over! I had thought about it way too long!

I am so thankful for 2 wonderful years with this precious little one! What a blessing!