an adoption update

Hi peeps!

I know, I haven't done a good job of keeping you updated. I was recently completing an online survey which asked, "Do you blog?" and I honestly felt bad answering "yes", because I do it so infrequently! I want to do better; really I do!

I have had several people ask me how the adoption process is going. Here's where we stand now:

• We have finished all of the paperwork. {I think we have; there is so much, we may have missed something. :-) }
• I've been working on our adoption profile, which is basically a snapshot of our lives. I'm doing it as a photobook, which is how we did our first one. It's almost finished; we are just getting a couple of updated photos to include, and then we'll be able to order a few copies to send to the agency to show to potential birth mothers. If you'd like to see our photobook, click here. {I think you may have to sign in with a Walmart.com account, so I apologize if it's too much hassle. And please let me know if that link doesn't work! :-) }
• Our fundraisers are going SO WELL, thanks to all you generous people! Honestly, we are so astounded at how giving everyone is! We have had a lot of people give us donations, and Baron has had several orders for his sports figures. I don't know right now how many Wild Olive Tees we have sold, but I hope it's going well! They are such cute t-shirts, and I love that they have this adoption fundraiser as an option.
• I hesitate to announce this, because I'm almost embarrassed, but I'm so excited that I just can't hide it: we had one super awesome individual donate ALL of the rest of the money we needed for our agency fees!!! People, that is a huge chunk o' change. When this person emailed me to tell me, I was completely shocked. I have known a lot of generous people in my life, but I have never been the recipient of such an amazing monetary gift. We are SO blessed!!! The individual asked to not be named, so I will respect their privacy. But I couldn't help but share the news!! We will still need to save up money for travel expenses and legal fees for the finalization, and that is where the rest of the fundraising money will go. But it is such a relief to not have to worry about the rest of the agency fees. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!
• We are also still in the process of making room in the house for baby #2. I know once we send our first payment & our profile to the agency, I will start to get the nesting fever, as I did when we were waiting for Natalie. When we get to that point, we will have no idea how long we'll be waiting for a baby, so my OCD-ness will begin to kick in, and I'll want that space ready, like, yesterday. :-)

Thank you so much for all of your prayers! We truly feel that adopting is God's calling for us. There's no other way to explain the generosity of everyone, and the way everything just "falls into place". It seems like an impossible task in the beginning, the whole process. Then when you get into it, and everything starts to work out, you just know that it's what God wants. It really is a God thing, and He knows what He is doing!! Please continue to pray for our adoption journey; the prayers really are felt!

{ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him; who have been called according to His purpose. ~Romans 8:28 }

{ Religion that God the Father accepts as pure and without fault is this: caring for orphans or widows who need help, and keeping yourself free from the world's evil influence. ~James 1:27 }

breakfast smoothies

{disclaimer: this is not a photo of our smoothie. it looks similar, but ours isn't this pretty. nor do we have a pile of fruit lying around to use as props.}

The hubs & I have been drinking smoothies for breakfast most mornings for at least 6 years now. {Which was before they were all the rage...so I'm pretty sure we're the trendsetters. Kidding, kidding.} We got our recipe from his sister, and I'm not sure where she got it. We've tweaked it a little for our own taste {and wallets, as smoothies can be a little expensive}. We also added spinach since spinach is a super food, and you can't taste it when blended into a smoothie. So, without further ado, our smoothie recipe.

Breakfast Smoothies (makes 2 servings, about 30oz each)

1 1/2 c. frozen fruit (whatever kind you like; the big bag of strawberries, pineapple, etc at Walmart is the cheapest; but the berry mix is yummier)

1 banana

1/2 c. plain (or vanilla) lowfat yogurt

1 c. milk

1 scoop vanilla flavored protein powder

1 scoop unflavored fiber powder

1 1/2 c. grape juice {lately we have been using the frozen blueberry pomegranate mixed from concentrate instead}

Spinach leaves

free printable :: adoption thank you cards

We have had so many people who are generous enough to contribute to our adoption fund! We truly are blessed! I wanted to send individual thank you notes to each of our financial angels, so I came up with a little something to use as my "adoption fund thank you card". :-) It has the adoption symbol in the middle, and would be great for any kind of adoption-related thank you note. Click on the image below to download the 4x6 pdf version for yourself!

adopted.

My dad sent me this today & I wanted to share. :-)

Happy Monday!

our most budget-friendly desk. EVER.

Hi y'all!

It's been awhile since I posted an update on our home office makeover. That would be because it's a very slooowwww process. See, when you don't have money to spend on a project, it tends to take its time completing. :-) We are far from finishing this room, but I couldn't WAIT to show y'all the desk! We were blessed to acquire an old desk from my employer that was once property of the State of Alabama, sold at auction. It was one of those that you piece together, ya know? I don't have a before picture, but it looked something like that would belong in this collection:

Picture an administrative assistant at a bank, or something of the like. :-) Which is fine, for an office, but I didn't want that fake-cherry-wood-super-gloss look in my house. So, we decided to paint it. Which sent up a red flag in my own head. Can you paint formica? Or whatever this stuff was? It's not real wood, that's for sure. And no, you can't paint it, for future reference. ;-) Actually, it probably is completely doable with the right primer, but obviously we didn't have that. So, we flipped the desk top over & painted the underneath side, which was just the particle board, or MDF, or whatever. {Clearly I know LOTS about these materials.} And, voila! Here it is!! It's not dressed yet, obviously, but I will get around to situating everything to make it all pretty. We are so happy with it!!

{why yes, that is an exercise ball chair. merry christmas to me! :-)}