Shirts Are In!

I'm so excited that our shirts have arrived and they look great! I will be sorting them out and getting them ready to mail tonight!
Yippee!
Thanks to all of you that supported us through this fundraiser!

LIMBO... not the fun party kind either!

My sweet BFF sent this to me this morning. It was from her daily devotional today. It was speaking directly to me. I needed to hear this today. Clint and I got a call from Gladney yesterday that rocked our world. Our "case" is on hold right now. I'm not the best at being in limbo! Just praying.


My plan for your life is unfolding before you. Sometimes the road you are traveling seems blocked, or it opens up so painfully slowly that you must hold yourself back. Then, when time is right, the way before you suddenly clears-though no effort of your own. What you have longed for and worked for I present to you freely, as pure gift. You feel awed by the ease with which I operate in the world, and you glimpse My Power and My Glory.

Do not fear your weakness, for it is the stage on which My Power and Glory perform most brilliantly. As you persevere along the path I have prepared for you, depending on My strength to sustain you, expect to see miracles-and you will. Miracles are not always visible to the naked eye, but those who live by faith can see them clearly. Living by faith, rather than sight, enables you to see My Glory.

Lots of Reading to do!

I recently purchased a few books from Amazon. I have heard of most of these through the blogging community....so i'm sure they will be very good! Clint just got me "Black Baby, White Hands". I can't wait to dive into that one. Maybe I'll have some down time this week that I can get some good reading done!

Oh, and I can't wait to read these childrens books to my sweet baby (babies).

:)

Christmas Time

We have been SO busy lately. I wish that Christmas wasn't so hectic....that it was just laid back and relaxing. HA

We love spending time with our friends and family though! A couple of weeks ago we got to have a nice Christmas party with our new adoptive friends. We are blessed to have these wonderful friends in our lives to share the journey with. I love that we all know exactly what infertility feels like, and now what this adoption journey is like! It's nice to have that special connection!


The boys posing for a pic. Matt, Jason, Clint and John


The girls turn. Joely, me, Jennifer and Sarah. I look like I have a neck brace on...crazy scarf!


Jennifer got each of us girls these two books. One Special Me and The Boy of Color. Both so sweet and I can't wait to read them to my sweet little baby!

This past weekend we celebrated Christmas with Clint's family. We did a TON of baby holding (we are the proud new Aunt, Uncle, Cousins to two very sweet little twin boys, Jackson and Brooks)

Clint with Brooks!

Laynie with Jackson....so peaceful.

Then it was time for gifts! Our kids got so much this year from everyone. It made me think of all the kids around the world that wont get anything. It breaks my heart that I can't fix that for all of them! I just try and do my part...however I can.

Here's Laynie...totally in love with her NF jacket.

And Blake with his new tennis shoes.

I did a LOT of sewing. Many dolls were made over the past week and 1/2.

Here is my first boy doll that I've made. He turned out pretty cute!

So now it's the week of Christmas. Clint and I are excited to just relax for a few days. We are not going anywhere (except the Thunder game) on Christmas day and we are very happy about that.

I have been patiently waiting the call from our home study worker. She emailed me saying she needed to talk to both Clint and I before she could wrap up our home study. Not sure what that means, but we'll find out at 5:30pm. Eeeek.

We are still so excited about being parents to an Ethiopian baby (or babies). It's a long road...but we are comforted knowing there is an end.

God has blessed us over and over again and it's wonderful to see how things work out when you are really listening to God and trying to follow the path that he's showing you!

Homestudy Update

So excited to have talked with our homestudy case worker today. She said that she is finishing up our homestudy this weekend and will email us a copy to look over on Monday or Tuesday! We are so excited! One step closer to the CIS part of this journey!! YIPPEEEEEEEEE

UPdates

I guess I forgot to blog about Thanksgiving! Woopsies!
This year we hosted. My sister's family and my Mom came up from San Antonio for a week long visit. It was great to see the kids and enjoy some sister time. My Grandparents surprised us a day early and spent the night....so it was a fun week ;)

Clint was head chef for the week. He was always in the kitchen cooking something. What a wonderful hubby!

My cute Grandmother...aka Bobbie. She's so full of life and is such a spunky lady! We love her SO much!

The crew. Not sure what Clint's face is saying. Maybe he's having a family overload! I don't blame him!!

The kid table. Laynie, Izzy, Blake, Luke and Matthias.

On the adoption front: We are still waiting on our home study to be finished so we can review it. With Thanksgiving right in the middle of it, I'm sure that puts us back a week :(

In the meantime Ive been working on our dossier. I have most everything done except for a few little things. I'm still a little fuzzy as to when we get on the wait list. Is it after we are "Gladney approved" or is it after the dossier is sent to Ethiopia and "approved"? Anyone want to shed some light on that?

Other then that we are just in limbo. I'm guessing that's the way we will stay for the next year really.

Last night we went to my sister in-laws to hold our 1 month old twin nephews. They are so tiny and sweet. It just made me wish we had our little one here now! God has perfect timing though.

Clint starts a new job on Monday! Yippee. He will be doing commercial (and residential) roofing for Red River Roofing here in Edmond. We are excited about this blessing because we know God had His hand in it and hopefully we will be able to just be a one income family by the time we bring our baby (or babies) home.

This weekend we are looking forward to a fun Christmas get together with some other couples in the adoption world. We are really happy to have made some new friends that are adopting from Ethiopia too!

Oh Yes I did!

Yip....I did.....
I bought this ADorable outfit for our lil'miss Ethiopia from Gap the other day. I couldn't resist.
(It was all on sale honey!)

This wont be a regular thing (until we get our referral of course).... but I had to have these precious ruffles!

Seeing Double!

Ok, it's official...I have emailed our case worker and our home study lady to make sure they add that we would accept a set of twins under 18 months.

So, whichever comes first.... the single baby girl under 12 months...or twins under 18 months.

God is good and whatever He has in store for us is GOOD too!

:)

Added to my Etsy Shop: STOCKINGS!

I'm finally done with my Christmas stockings for my Etsy Shop! If you would like to purchase one (or more!), they are $25. You can either email me or just purchase them from my Etsy Shop. If there is another fabric that you have in mind, just let me know...the sky's the limit!

The fabric choices are:

Home Study? Check!

I never really realized, in the short time we have been doing the paperwork shuffle, just how important the home study is! Everything I'm doing now seems to be waiting on the home study!

Good news though....Last Monday was THE day!

Andrea arrived around 2:00 and we dug right in. I felt like it went by fast because before we knew it, it was 6:30! It was very similar to our foster care home study, so there weren't any surprises.
Lots of questions about our feelings on adoption and the birth Mom. I felt comfortable with our answers.

There was no rummaging through our things. We took her on a tour of the house and that was about it.
Our kids had their "interviews" and they thought that was cool.

Now we wait....story of our lives right now..right?

I have been working hard on the Dossier. Most of it is complete, just a few things left to add.
What I am looking forward to now is to be able to submit the I-600A (CIS approval). That seems to be the last BIG thing we are waiting to complete.

We are excited and ready to keep moving forward and get on that WAITlist!!!!!! :)

Money is Evil!

I have decided that money is the root of all evil (well, maybe not ALL evil, but a lot of evil).

Racking our brains trying to come up with avenues to raise money, or people we have yet to talk to about buying a t-shirt, buying an item from my Etsy shop, donating money.....it's all very exhausting!

I knew this would be the hardest part. That and waiting... but this is for sure the hardest part right now.

We are faithful in the Lord and we know God will bless our efforts and He will provide. The hard part is the in-between. The parts between the next t-shirt order or crayon roll order, it's the not knowing...that's what gets me.

I know, I know...that's where FaITh comes in, but that's easier said then done sometimes!

I guess this is the REAL part of our journey....the hard working, penny-pinching, budget setting part!

We will make it....to our next $3900...and then the next $7000 and then the next $10,000. I know we will, and when we do....glory to God! He has brought us this far and has shown us that this is exactly what we need to be doing!

She's Crafty.....

Yes, that "she" is ME! I'm getting crafty like no one's business! I have been posting the "fruits of my labor" on Craigslist and Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/craftycreations2). I have spread the word through my sister, my BFF, and other close, precious friends.

I am thankful for my sister who purchased t-shirts and headbands & has passed on the info to her good friend, Lindsay... who seems to be the "mayor" of mommyville in San Antonio! Thanks Ang!

I'm blessed to have a very precious BFF who's support has been unwavering! She has purchased headbands, baby gifts, t-shirts, etc! Kerri...your support has been such a gift to us!

I also have a sweet friend, Stephanie, who has offered to take some of my "craftiness" with her to craft shows and sell it. What a WONDERFUL gift that has been!

I am just amazed every day in the greatness of God...and truly believe that God will provide!

We are still trucking along with our t-shirt sales. I think we are about 40 short of our goal, but we will get there...one shirt at a time!!! The design is on the sidebar of our blog.

If you know of someone that may enjoy a crayon roll, maybe a cute headband or a sweet dolly....just email me! I love to sew and really have enjoyed sewing for our adoption!

You can check out most of my things on my Etsy site, www.etsy.com/shop/craftycreations2 , and if you see something you like, just email me. Especially if you are local...I can always deliver! :0)

Tonight We Dine With the Queen!

Ok, maybe not WITH the Queen, but more like AT the Queen.....Queen of Sheba Restaurant that is! We are excited to be attending our first Gladney Family Association get together. Families from the area (OKC, Edmond, Norman, etc) gather on the second Tuesday of every month at the Queen of Sheba, an Ethiopian restaurant in Oklahoma City.

We will only know people from reading their blogs, so it will be fun to meet a lot of them!

On to an UPDATE:
I have submitted all 3 groups of paperwork to Gladney! That was a big accomplishment...but the Ethiopian Dossier will be an even bigger one!! I've started on it already.
I submitted our I-600A to Gladney, which they will hold on to until our home study is complete...and then it will get submitted as well.
Our home study is scheduled for Nov. 22nd at 2pm. I am very excited about this, because once that is done it feels like we will be SO much closer to getting on the wait list! WOW, just saying that is a bit unreal!
We are 1/2 way done with FBI fingerprints and background checks. Clint went today and got his done, so I'll go tomorrow for mine. We will also do fingerprints for our I-600A, but that will be after it's submitted.
As for fund raising... we have been taking orders for our shirts and doing well with that. I love getting orders from people I don't know!
We have been blessed with contributions from friends...and have been shown time and time again just how RIGHT this is. God seems to YELL that at us every day! Thank you God!
Ive been selling things from my Etsy store (http://www.etsy.com/shop/craftycreations2) and from Craigslist.... my sewing machine even needed a little oil the other day. It made me happy that I was having to use it enough for it to need a little tune-up!!!!

We are just excited and thankful to God for blessing our lives over and over again!

Fingerprints!

There are many parts to this application. If it wasn't for Kathleen, I'd never get all of this done. She keeps me on track, task-to-task.

Every bit makes a difference!

Any adoption domestic or international is expensive to say the least. We love our supporters! Buying a t-shirt, donation, or kind words of support, they all help make this possible. The best part, a child will move from a life of poverty to our home...you can be a part of it, too.

---

Jeff and Keri Due
Garrick Shreck
Madeline Roberts
Kate Roberts
The Roberts Family
Chris and Shandy Belford
Randy and Shalayn Miller
Scott and Melissa Hinman
Gus and Angie Ray
Messena Howze
Ricky & Stephanie Brady
John & Jennifer Linck
Amy Huhnke
Jewel McKenzie
Cherrise Ducharme
Carlie Wellington
Tiffany Wise
Shirley Beckman
Rebecca Wright
Lori Owens

HOMESTUDY Scheduled!!!

I am SO excited that our home-study has been officially scheduled!!! It kindof came out of nowhere because I didn't know we were up to that point with our paperwork. YIPPEE!

It's scheduled for November 22nd at 2pm!

Adoption Shirts!!!!!

YIPPEE! We have finally decided on a design for our adoption t-shirts! They will be gray with this design on them.

They are $15.00 and hopefully we will be flooded with orders! I have to get all the orders in before I can officially order them....so let me know ASAP, how many & what size!I can't wait to get this going!!!! SO excited.

Hopefully I will start to see these around town.....

Fundraising and Halloween!

Halloween was good...Laynie was a nerd and Blake was a "Bad News Bear" baseball player.

They were cute.

Clint and I stayed in...I sewed and he watched the World Series. We took turns handing out candy.

We have been busy working on the design for our adoption t-shirts. I hope to get them done this week and start selling them!

I have been working on new things to add to my Etsy store. I'm excited to be working on some cute Christmas stockings too!

My craft room has spilled out onto my dining room table!! Thank goodness Clint is so patient when my sewing takes over! I know he knows it's for a great cause! That helps!! ;)

We are still covered in paperwork. I wish it was all done and we were already on the waiting list! All things are in God's timing. I know this.
In the meantime, I will keep sewing and trying to raise money to bring our sweet girl home.

xoxo

Creative, Giving Children!

This past weekend Laynie, along with our neighbors (BFFs) Lydia and Grace, decided they wanted to bake and sell some cookies. When I asked what they are going to do with the money they quickly said it was for our adoption fund! I was blown away by their willingness to help and give! They are all such beautiful children of God and we are so proud of their efforts! They made over $70 that day! Can you believe that?!
We are so excited to see the kids get involved and really get excited about adopting.

Lydia, Laynie and Grace making their poster!

Laynie getting the cookies ready. Pardon my messy kitchen, it's under construction!

Blake and Laynie showing off the poster... "Cookie Donations 4 Adoption".

All Wrapped Up in a Bow!

Today I am sending the first group of our paperwork (application included) to Gladney! Along with our first chunk of payment. I'm excited to have completed that first bit and am already moved on to the second group (much easier than the first)! We are really excited and I know those feelings will just get stronger!

We told the kids (Laynie who is 14 and Blake who is 10) on Tuesday night. They have always been such open and accepting kids. They don't mind change and LOVE kids, so they were excited. I'm not sure if they grasp that their little sister will be coming from Africa...but when we asked how they felt about it they said, "That's great with us". So cute.

Laynie and I have been talking about baby names and all Blake cares about is if he gets to go with us to get her. ;) He said, "well, ya know...I have never been on a plane before". I thought...oh gosh, not sure if a 16 hour flight would be good for a first time!! We'll see.

So on to group 2 of our paperwork....pictures of our house, of us, of the kids, etc.

I Love My Hair!

I have seen this video around blog land and thought it was so cute! I can't wait to share it with my little Ethiopian girl someday!

The Final Pieces

Running around town.

Reality at it’s finest!

Unfortunately we have to be realistic…face reality, day in and day out! I never expected my reality to involve bone density scans, talks about osteoporosis, hormone replacement therapy…all at the age of 31. But here I am, trying to make the best of it and laugh my way through it.

Today I went to the Womans Center at Mercy Hospital for a bone density scan. First of all, I was the only one under the age of 60 there. Those little old women just looked at me like, “oh that poor, poor girl”. I wish I had a t-shirt on that said, “Premature menopause – Ovarian Failure, that’s my story”. Oh well.

Each nurse that I came in contact with said, “Now why is a girl your age here today”? Again…wish I had the shirt.

I will know the results of the scan next week.

On the adoption front, we had a wonderful evening of chatting with the Andrews family last night…

They were so welcoming and sweet…and full of lots of great information! We were so happy that they invited us over to talk! It’s going to be great to get to know them more and more as we continue moving forward. Thank you Andrews family for having us!!!!!

I stopped by Barnes and Noble on my way back from the hospital. I thought I would be good to look at some adoption-related books. Wouldn’t ya know it….there are VERY few at good’ol B&N!? I was like, ”really, it’s 2010..and your selection of adoption books consists of 3?”! Get with it B&N!!!!!!

I did stumble upon this sweet “baby book”. I couldn’t resist!

So I guess I will leave it up to good’ol Amazon to provide me with some adoption reading material!

It’s Decided!

I believe it’s officially decided…we will be adopting a GIRL from Ethiopia. After a lot of thinking, we just decided that it would be the best fit for our family! I cannot tell you how excited I am. Bows and dresses and pink galore!!!!!!!! I am going to have to read up on how to fix her hair for sure!! I can’t wait though!!! So exciting.

Now to figure out a name. Clint doesn’t seem to like any of my suggestions. Maybe one of the ones I like will just “grow” on him. Unfortunately we have a while to decide

Busy, busy, busy!

Where have I been? Between paperwork and projects for fund raising…I have been writing a letter to send out to friends and family for donations.

Its hard, when you are not a person who asks for help with much of anything, to ask for something like money….to be able to bring home your baby! It just seems so hard for me, but I know that it’s something I have to do in order to see our family complete.

We are excited to be meeting up with another couple this Thursday to talk about their journey and have a little Q&A session! It was so sweet of them to open their home and invite us over! We are really looking forward to hearing their story.

Copier is working overtime!

Yes, this is a copier…. the copier at my office. The copier that is currently printing all 70 pages of our Gladney Adoption Application! Yippee!

Setting the Groundwork

I have been brainstorming like there is no tomorrow!!!!!!! Brainstorming why?….well let me just tell ya!

Clint and I have made the decision to adopt. I hope to sit down in the next few days and write about our journey thus far…but for now I’m going to hit the ground running with FUNDRAISING for our Ethiopian adoption! I can’t even believe it as I type it! A beautiful baby chosen by God to be OUR baby…a member of OUR family! WOW…what a blessing.

In order for us to avoid going into some serious debt….we will be raising funds for our adoption. We believe that God has placed it on our hearts to adopt, and He will continue to bless this journey we are on!

I have always thought of myself as “crafty”. I LOVE sewing, crafting, painting…the works! I have an Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/craftycreations2 and a website www.sewcuteandcrafty.com. ALL proceeds from any sells I make will go toward our adoption! I can’t wait to see how God will bless my little “business”!

Here are a few things that I have been working on to add to my website and Etsy store.

These sweet “lovie” blankets are 14×14 and SUPER cuddly.

I have made many of these crayon rolls. This is just a quick phone pic, but I have a few on my etsy shop. I even personalize them! Very popular!

I have made a few dresses for my precious friends little girl. This is just one of them. I am still working on getting some good pics of the others I have made!

And diaper cakes! I started my little “business” making these a few years ago. Little did I know then that one day the funds would be put to some amazing use!

Like I said I love to be crafty! This is a cute wooded sign I made for a friend of mine. I am working on more of these as well! Halloween, Christmas, Names, Birthday….etc!

So if you are interested in anything you have seen so far, just shoot me an email! kathleenellis79 @ gmail

Can’t wait to add some adoption t-shirts, necklaces and key chains to this list too!! More to come!!!!!