Waiting to Adopt

While I was pregnant with Thing 2, my husband and I began to feel a strong calling to add to our family through adoption. We began talking about it, praying about it, and searching out what God's word says about adopting. We knew we felt like we should adopt, but once we began studying scriptures about it, we knew we were going to adopt.

We shared the news with a few people. Some were supportive and others were what some may call "realists", providing reminders that "adoption is expensive", "there's so much paper work involved", and my favorite "you don't know what your going to get" (yes we do....it's called a CHILD)! When God calls you to something, all of those things become irrelevant. We didn't (and still don't) have a plan perfectly written out, step by step, before us, but we had enough.

We knew that we were supposed to adopt, so we began to act on what we did know. We began searching out our options, which ultimately led us to domestic adoption (within the country) from a private agency. We prayed, researched, and received confirmation about a specific agency, made the call, and began the process. There was paperwork to complete, classes to take, books to read, questions to answer, and checks to be written. Amazingly, none of this was overwhelming. I think that it could have been, but knowing that God was in this, allowed us to see the big picture. It allowed us to see that little hand wrapping around our fingers instead of stack of papers to fill out. We saw a child being raised to fear the Lord, instead of bouncing in and out of foster homes and prison. We saw the promise of life, instead of money leaving our bank account. God showed us the eternal picture, and that was enough to act on.

Now we are just waiting and expecting. It's sort of like being pregnant....except we don't know the due date. What's a due date anyway! My first was a week early, and my second was two weeks late. Due dates don't really tell us much as we want them to. Psalms 68:6 tells us that "God places the lonely in families". Thing 3 will be added to our family when God sees fit. We don't need a due date. For now, we are just waiting. Waiting and praying for our baby and the courageous woman who chose to give him or her life.

Our ways are not His ways

I hear giggles coming out of my bedroom, and hear a little voice saying, "tail, tail". I know exactly what that means. Thing 1 is "playing" with the dog. By playing I mean squeezing, wrestling, and tail pulling. Our dog, Caesar, is a 9 pound, hairless Chinese Crested that scared of his own shadow. He will literally go flying across the room at the mere sight of a plastic, grocery bag.

While I know that Caesar is not very likely to bite or nip at the boys for playing rough, he is still a dog. So, I go into my room, and get Caesar, and let Thing 1 continue playing. Thing 1 was a little upset about this. (on a side note: he "used his words" instead of throwing a fit. this is something that we have really been working on lately). He didn't understand why I took his wrestling partner from him.

This got me thinking. How much are we (grown ups) like this when it comes to our own lives. Sometimes God keeps something (or takes something) from us for our own good. We become like whiney little toddlers, fussing and complaining, when God was doing this because He loves us. Isaiah 55:8 tells us, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways", declares the Lord".

Our thoughts and our ways are so different from God's thoughts and ways. We don't know what He is up too. We always know what He is protecting us from, or preparing us for. So, next time God keeps something from me that I really want, I will try think about this, and realize that He has something better for me. Hopefully, I'll "use my words" instead of throwing a tantrum, and trust God to work in my life.

Getting Crayon out of Clothing

PLUS

EQUALS....

a

great

big

mess

If you have kids, or just really like to color, you have probably done this or will do this in the future. You know...wash and DRY something with a crayon in the pocket, leaving a very colorful surprise for you when you open the dryer door.

It has recently happened to me...TWICE. you would think I would have learned the first time. But who REALLY has time to check all of the pockets when they are doing the laundry. I'm doing good to DO laundry period!

The good news is that you don't have to turn all of those clothes into rags for dusting. You can get it out with simple combination of things you probably have around your house already.

1 cup of white distilled vinegar

1 cup of borax

Laundry detergent (i just used the correct amount for the load size I was doing).

I let the washer fill up and let it soak for several hours, and then let it finish its wash cycle. All of the crayon came out!!! If you are wondering, there was no vinegar smell left behind either.

And....borax is like the superman of house hold cleaners. You can do just about anything that with stuff....it even removes urine smells fabric {great during the potty training phase}!!!

not forgotten

Dear Blog,

I know that its been awhile...but I have not forgotten you! I've just gotten a little one track minded. I seem to be having some problems multi-tasking. I'm preparing for my first craft show this weekend, and have pushed you to the side. I'm sorry.

Ha Ha...but in all seriousness I really do have an issue with get everything done when I get a little busy in one area. It seems like if the house is clean, I can't find time to do my monogramming. If I'm busy with monogramming orders, then house seems to suffer. Especially the dreaded (dun dun dun) LAUNDRY!!! But I am getting a handle on things. And one area that I am proud to say does not suffer is my little ones! No matter what the state of the house is...or how busy I am with other things, reading, tickling, cuddling, swinging, and playing are always on the top of the list, because those are the things that are going to be important 20 years from now.

And...thanks to my very wonderful, very type A husband, I am learning to be more efficient! He even took off from work for a day to help me catch up on some things. (He also made me a great breakfast, hung pictures, cleaned, and made me crab cakes for dinner). love him.

so...how do you manage the various areas of your life?? kids, cleaning, work, spouse, friends?? it seems like there are never enough hours in the day.

who knows...who cares

you know you're a mom when...

you look down at the wet spot on your pants and you don't know if its water, or spilled milk, or something from the baby's diaper, or spit up, or part of your toddler's potty training accident, or clorox, or part of the lunch that you fixed earlier,....and you're not even that concerned about figuring out which one it is.

Strawberry Shortcake

Fresh strawberries are one of my favorite things about the spring! When I found this recipe for strawberry shortcake, I couldn't wait for a reason to try it!

It turned out GREAT!!!! {even if I did make it myself}

Using the real whipped cream is what really makes this cake so good. There is a huge difference between the real thing and store bought whipped cream, and its so easy to make. I just poured it in here....

and turned it on. { I added tbsp of powdered sugar just to sweeten things up}

In about 5 minutes I had fluffy, yummy, homemade whipped cream!

The shortcake was for a Thirty One party that I was hosting. If you don't know what Thirty One is check it out here

They have super cute and functional gifts like this....

this....

and all of this...

front door decor

Since it's spring now, I decided that it was time to put away my fall wreath {which i put BACK up after I took my Christmas wreath down}! Then I realized that I didn't HAVE a spring wreath! So you KNOW what that means.....

Time to make one!!!!!

So, I made this...not super "springy", I know.

But it has a big bow {finally got to use that Bowdabra my mom got me for Christmas}, with polka dots {love them}, tule {to bring out my inner ballerina??}, and a hint of zebra ribbon.

It also has a polka dot monogram {essential in the south}.

And it matches this.....

and this.