Sending Hugs

matched and mismatched

2012-02-25T12:56:00.000-06:00

I have been asked a lot lately (well, not a lot, but more than usual) if we are certain that we're definitely matched with Gia. My answer: yes!

And then I ran across this blog today.

This family is hurting because their daughter (from Korea) is now being adopted by her foster mother after they've waited 18 months to get her. Now, this family is using a different placing agency, so I'm praying this isn't even an option for us. Plus, Gia's foster mom is a little older, so I doubt it's even a thought for her. Regardless, I'm so shocked and curious.

I just emailed our social worker to find out the scoop on that particular topic, so hopefully my nerves will be eased this week.

Please pray for that sweet family. I just cannot imagine...

In other news, there is no others news. :)
We are still hanging out waiting on a green light to get our hopes up for something. With each passing day, I know we are closer to bringing her home, and I take a lot of comfort in that. It's crazy to think that in less than a year we will be a family of three! I'll be honest though, sometimes I wonder if it won't be longer than a year. Either way, we are trusting that God has given her to us and that we will be able to love on her in the coming future.

Oh, I did call our credit card company yesterday to check on our travel points because we've been paying every single bill with that card in hopes of racking up some major travel rewards. Turns out, not so much luck with that. It seems we have about $500 of "money" to use for travel with our points, which is not even one ticket to Korea. Kevin was quick to remind me that it's $500 less than what we'll have to pay. True! If any of you out there have flyer points of some sort that you want to give to a good home, just let me know. :)

Sending Hugs

legals and art collecting

2012-02-14T23:25:00.002-06:00

I feel like my blogging updates have been skimpy at best lately. Oopsie.

The good news is that I do have an update to share. Yay!

Kevin and I got a really cool surprise last week when our agency sent us an updated pic of Gia. My favorite part of the picture was that her sleeves and pants legs were rolled up. A lot. It was precious. In a way, it makes me happy to think she is still so little, regardless that she's now 13 months old. I've learned that her foster mom will send us a new picture whenever we send gifts. So, naturally, I was about to be on mission to send a gift every week. This time we got the picture without having to send anything. Not to worry, there's another gift for her sitting on the kitchen table right now. I just need to pack it up this week and mail it off.

And then today, we got another surprise... Holt emailed to say that her legals will be here this week. Legals....what is that? Hard to answer that one. I'm assuming it's just a set of paperwork to help us fill out the remaining paperwork for Korea, the I600. We sent off the I600a several weeks ago, and now it's time for the last form to be filed.

The last form.

Amen!

Hallelujah!

I think I really can hear the angels singing with me.

From my understanding, there are a couple other smaller things we'll need to do before travel call, but this is the last piece of paperwork. This is a huge milestone!

Unfortunately, it still sounds as if we are still waiting for EPs to begin being processed, so our timeframe is unknown. We are still praying for this summer, and I would be humbled if you all would join us in that prayer.

Prayer. I feel like God's been teaching me a lot about prayer lately. Maybe it's because I just read Heaven is For Real.

Whatever the reason, God is slowly showing me my unbelief. I pray, yes, but do I truly believe that God hears my requests? No, not all the time. I have to admit that most of the time my prayers are out of obedience than actual belief that my Father is listening and anxious to hear from me. My prayer for myself these days is that God will show me His hand in the things I'm lifting up to Him.

Pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. ~Psalm 62:8

Through this mini-revelation, I've realized that I rarely pray for Gia to come home. I know that we are still waiting for a lot of things to fall into place before she can come home, so that's prevented me from fully telling God how badly I want her home. It's prevented me from begging Him to intervene supernaturally. Not anymore! :)

So, as I said before, I'd love for you to join us in praying that we will see God move in a big way to get her home. Not only in time but in finances as well.

Speaking of finances...

I mentioned in a previous blog that our good friend Brooke is donating her talents to help us in fundraising. She has a great Etsy shop that is set up to fund her family's mission trip to India, but she has a couple of pieces completely designated to Gia.

If collegiate art is not your thing, well then shame on you.

But seriously, Brooke has lots of really great pieces. Check this one out. Love it!

Any art purchased at her Etsy shop will send a percentage to our adoption. Just let Brooke know that I sent you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sending Hugs

it's here

2012-02-04T19:59:00.003-06:00

Just a friendly reminder to get your slot booked with the amazing Page Dollar for some really sweet pictures! Here's her latest shoot.

Only $100 for memories forever documented that will also bring home a precious baby girl that I'm dying to meet. :)

Feb 8 1:00-2:00
Feb 8 2:00-3:00
Feb 8 3:00-4:00

Feb 10 1:00-2:00
Feb 10 2:00-3:00
Feb 10 3:00-4:00--booked (Barnettes)

Feb 11 1:00-2:00--booked (McKay)
Feb 11 2:00-3:00--booked (Webster)
Feb 11 3:00-4:00--booked (Wilson)

Feb 12 TBA--booked (James)

Sending Hugs

alabama gives day

2012-02-01T18:59:00.002-06:00

A dear friend of mine (and her hubby too, ha ha!) run the non-profit Sound of Hope. This is an amazing organization that cares for orphans around the world. It's humbling to know people that have given their life to such a huge task. It's not glamorous. It's not what many of us would choose. It's not lucrative in the worldly sense. But it's God's work, and it's life changing. I get told all the time how amazing Kevin and I are for faithfully and obediently following the call to adopt. Can I just be honest for a second? That is easy compared to what the Jacksons are doing with Sound of Hope. We are blessed to think that God is using us to be His instruments to rid the world of one more orphan, but Rusty and Ericka are providing hope and protection and love for thousands of orphans!

But they cannot do this alone. Please consider donating to Sound of Hope tomorrow for Alabama Gives. For every $10 donated, you will be entered to win a prize. Rest assured that your money is going to God's Kingdom work when you do click that donate button.

Below is a blog Ericka wrote about Sound of Hope. Enjoy reading and remember to donate!

Sending Hugs

“How did a girl from Oxford, AL end up here?” – It’s a question I often ask myself, whether speaking Thai in a Chiang Mai market, greeting women at a carepoint in Swaziland, or putting on my traditional punjabi suit before riding through Delhi traffic. My life looks very different than I ever could have dreamed it would, growing up in small town Alabama. Sometimes I still find it hard to believe that my husband and I are running our own international non-profit. When we aren’t working in our office in Maylene, AL, you can find us living and working in Thailand, India, or Africa.

Back when I was a student at Oxford High School, if you’d told me I would be comfortable half a world away in Africa I would have thought you’d lost your mind. A few years later, when I was struggling in Spanish classes at Auburn University, I would have laughed at the idea of learning Thai! But sometimes, things don’t go as we plan – and I am grateful for that! Every day that I get a chance to rescue innocent children from horrors like drug trafficking, sex trafficking, genocide and abuse, I am in awe that this is my job.

Through our work in third world countries, we are making a real difference. Little girls, who suffer in extreme poverty in Africa, are getting an opportunity for an education. Little boys, who would otherwise be forced to fight as child soldiers in Burma, are learning sustainable life-skills like gardening and raising livestock. Forgotten children, orphaned and abandoned in India, are being welcomed into loving homes. And it’s all happening because someone gave a few dollars to show they care.

If you’re reading this and wondering, “What does this have to do with me?” - well, I’m getting there. You see, tomorrow, February 2^nd, is the very first Alabama Gives Day. This is a day that is dedicated to the hundreds of participating non-profits in our wonderful state. Organizations like the Alabama Broadcasters Association are hoping to increase awareness and funding for non-profit organizations in Alabama. They’re also hoping to show their fellow Alabamians just how much good we can do if we all give a little!

I’m here to tell you that The Sound of Hope wouldn’t exist without a multitude of intelligent, compassionate, generous people from my Sweet Home Alabama. You see, I am who I am today because of the incredible people in this state who have impacted me throughout my whole life. It was my teachers at DeArmanville Jr. High School, Oxford High School, and Auburn University who equipped me with the knowledge and leadership abilities I needed to start my own non-profit organization. It’s the traits of integrity, honesty, compassion, and generosity that I learned from my family and my church that help the work we do succeed. It’s the poise and confidence that I gained from the Miss Alabama Program that makes me comfortable speaking to audiences of thousands about the children we serve. I could go on, listing all the organizations, jobs, and friends that have been apart of my life, but the bottom line is this - each and every person I have met along my journey has made me who I am today.

But Alabamians don’t just stop there - they are far too generous for that! I can’t even count the number of people around the state that have helped us get The Sound of Hope off the ground. My former first grade teacher used to donate $100 a month back when we were first getting started. Every time we get a donation in the mail from Alabama, I look at the name on the check and smile…because there is something special about people from my home state supporting what we do.

When people ask us how we’re so successful, my husband is quick to say, “We are only as successful as our donors are generous.” It’s the truth. That’s why on February 2^nd – Alabama Gives Day – I’m hoping you’ll give a tax-deductible donation to The Sound of Hope. We may just be from small town Alabama, but together, we can change the world!

gloriART

2012-01-23T21:47:00.001-06:00

I am a big fan of really pretty art pieces, and an even bigger fan of art that is created to serve the Kingdom. I love to see people use their gifts to glorify God, which makes me wonder sometimes what my gift is! But seriously, my friend Brooke is working hard to raise money for a mission trip to India. This is a precious family that loves Jesus and is excited to see the Gospel spread to the nations. It's a beautiful picture.

The funds earned through Brooke's Etsy shop will help them get to India, BUT she has offered to a deal to get Gia home too! Seriously, I get blown away on a weekly basis when I think about all the people who love Gia already and are doing everything in their power to help. I cannot thank you all enough!

So here's a taste of what you can find on Brooke's shop...

She will also make custom pieces, so get in touch with her fast and get your order in. 10% of all orders/purchases through February will help bring Gia home, just make sure you tell her you heard about it through my blog or my Facebook. The rest will send this sweet family to India. It's a win win!

Brooke is letting this AUsome piece be 100% Gia profit. :) There's also an Alabama one coming too. Go to gloriART and buy it now!

Sending Hugs

and she certainly is

2012-01-20T17:00:00.000-06:00

This was such a good follow up to Kevin's text yesterday. It was like God saying, "Yes, she is beautiful, and I want you to enjoy it."

We are so giddy today!

Sending Hugs

just a text

2012-01-19T17:10:00.000-06:00

to me, from Kevin

Make me melt.

Sending Hugs

what is love?

2012-01-18T19:20:00.001-06:00

My husband is so smart. Beyond his years wise. I love listening to him preach and teach, and when he writes it never ceases to amaze me. Here's an article being featured in CCM magazine (this month?). This blog is dedicated to our adoption, so the only reason this makes the cut is because he talks about Gia. ;)

"What is Love? (Baby, don't hurt me..)"

Well, one thing is for sure... Love is definitely NOT the oh-so-popular SNL "Night at the Roxbury" piece. It's much more. But as silly as that Will Ferrel bit may be, some of our own views of love might be equally as silly.

Think about it. In the US, it's impossible to cognitively reflect on the day February 14 without seeing the color pink, smelling roses and thinking about the taste of those little candy hearts with (for the most part) lame statements on them. By the way, who really says the things those hearts say? If you're a DUDE reading this and you talk like that, c'mon down to Alabamer and lemme take you fishin' after we go four wheeler riding through the woods. (My attempt at trying to sound redneck.)

Don't read me wrong. I'm not one of those that wants to virtually ignore all 'secular' holidays. In fact, it is rather sad that even in our own faith, Valentine's Day is rather necessary because many of our own grown men within the Church are so pathetic at romanticizing their brides that this is the one REAL date of the year she will actually get, so God forbid my little voice robs her of that. And on that note, husbands, take this from a guy who's not remotely close to being the husband he wants to be, but nonetheless trying: Love. Your. Bride. Woo her. Tell her she's beautiful. Pray for her and over. Thank God daily for her. She ought to be the most precious and valuable asset of your existence outside of Jesus. And do me a favor while you're at it. Read (better yet, memorize) Ephesians 5:25-33 about ten times through and ask God to give you the grace to live that out for the rest of the days He gives you.

I do want to answer the question, though, because I think we can. "What is love?" Well, it is the greatest Cirque du Soleil Vegas show of all time, honoring my favorite band, The Beatles. While that's technically true, I'm really just making sure you're still paying attention. Read on.

Love is the story of the gospel. Love, in fact, IS the gospel. But not in a philosophical or metaphorical way, so that we can all get along and feel good about ourselves. Love is the fulfillment of God's plan to reconcile to Himself all things, so that He might display Himself in the very way that he chose to do so. That is, infinitely glorious. Holy. Set apart. God ordained and set into motion love through the hero of the story, Jesus. Jesus changed everything, and still today, is continually changing everything. He lived the life we could only dream to live, loved the way we could at best wish for, died a death we could never remotely imagine, and conquered Satan, sin and death by raising Himself from the grave three days after hanging on a tree. The cross is love.

I'm writing this piece around the time of something very special for me, and I pray that as the years go on I will understand this love I'm writing about all the more. You see, as I write these closing thoughts, it is actually my little girl's first birthday, and I haven't even held her once, but I love her to death. I have yet to even meet her, but I cherish her like there's no tomorrow. Confused? Well, our daughter still lives where she was born, in South Korea. Malerie and I, as two excited adoptive parents, are begging God to get us to her ASAP, but trusting that He knows best at this whole 'being in control' thing. And I think He's letting us learn love in a whole new way through this journey.

You can't convince me that we're able to have such deep love and affection for our baby outside of the love of Jesus. Adoption is God's idea in the first place. There can be an argument made that it is as close to the heart of God (or closer) as natural childbirth. After all, what does He call us, His most prized in creation? He calls us adopted. Adoption is first a vertical love that puts into motion a horizontal love, and we consider ourselves blessed to be called to answer the charge of James 1:27 in such a real and tangible way:

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

While not of all us will be called to adopt, all of us as believers are indeed called to something ABOUT adoption. I challenge you to ask God how you are to be apart of the adoption world. It will bless your life.

So love this month. Love away. Love God. Love your spouse. Love your family and your friends and your neighbors. And love those little candy hearts. Just remember, you love Him because He first loved you.

~Kevin

Sending Hugs

valentine photo shoot

2012-01-15T00:31:00.012-06:00

Did you know Gia's middle name will be Love? It's only appropriate that we celebrate the holiday of Love with a Gia fundraiser.

I know you've heard me talk about the wonderful work of Page Dollar before, right? Well, she's volunteering her services again for the sake of bringing Gia home. Here are a couple of my favorite pics from a shoot we did with her back in October.

Snag a time FAST and get your own personal photoshoot scheduled.

Want some awesome family pics? Or maybe a lovebird shoot with your sweetie? What about baby pictures? Sign up for a one hour photoshoot for only $100. Every penny will help bring home sweet baby Gia Love! Dates are listed below....first come, first served!

Jan 28 3:00-4:00--booked (Hickman)

Feb 1 1:00-2:00--booked (Ferrill)

Feb 3 1:00-2:00
Feb 3 2:00-3:00
Feb 3 3:00-4:00--booked (Hammond)

Feb 4 1:00-2:00
Feb 4 2:00-3:00
Feb 4 3:00-4:00

Feb 8 1:00-2:00
Feb 8 2:00-3:00
Feb 8 3:00-4:00

Feb 10 1:00-2:00
Feb 10 2:00-3:00
Feb 10 3:00-4:00--booked (Barnettes)

Feb 11 1:00-2:00--booked (McKay)
Feb 11 2:00-3:00--booked (Webster)
Feb 11 3:00-4:00--booked (Wilson)

Feb 12 TBA--booked (James)

Sending Hugs

happy birthday

2012-01-10T21:08:00.000-06:00

Today is Gia's first birthday!

I had big plans for today, but, as God does sometimes, those are on the back burner for while. My dream was (and maybe still is) to have family enjoy a Korean meal with us so we can document this milestone, even though she isn't with us. I also wanted to have her room ready this month as part of her birthday celebration.

Instead, we have new plans.

We recently got word that our best case scenario for her coming home is this summer, but that we should plan to travel January 2013. Now, I know I made a big deal out of us praying to travel in April and I still plan to have that kind of faith! If God wants her to come home this year, He'll make it happen. But I have to say that I'm eerily at peace with waiting another year. If you ask me about it tomorrow I might have a different answer, but God's been nice enough to grace me with peace for now.

Whenever I have to wait a long time for something to happen, I try to plan little events leading up to it. For example, when Kevin used to travel for weeks upon weeks at a time, I would plan small home projects to pass the time. As a kid, I would make construction paper chains to tear each day leading to Christmas. I'm telling you, I have to engage my brain in something or I'll go nuts! This is no different. Gia potentially not being home this year is a bummer, but I'm already thinking of things to do each month to make the time pass. I haven't gotten far in my planning, and Kevin isn't 100% aware of this little adventure of mine, but I think it will be very fun, not to mention productive.

For this month I'd say our goal is to get the 5K underway. Next month we may decide to get her closet cleaned out and painted. We'll just take it one month at a time.

Another thing I thought about was our house selling. With a new baby, it will be near impossible to prepare a house to sell, so I'm thinking we take the next few months and get serious about any home improvement projects that need to happen prior to her arrival.

And let's not forget the fundraising. Oh, the fundraising. Seriously, might be the death of me.

So, Happy Birthday, Gia! A friend posted on FB today that Gia will never have to celebrate a birthday as an orphan, even if she doesn't know us as parents yet. I just love that. Gia never had a birthday where she wasn't loved and wanted and prayed for.

Kevin's tweet today summed up our thoughts for this sweet baby. We pray her life makes much of Jesus. Her story of being an orphan rescued is a good place to start, since that's what we all are as believers.

Sending Hugs

bogo

2012-01-04T17:36:00.000-06:00

Buy an adoption shirt and get one free! I'm not sure how long we will do this sale, so act now!

Let's get Gia home.

poems

2012-01-03T20:24:00.004-06:00

I found these on American Adoption's website tonight, and they melted me.

Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call mother.
Two different lives, shaped to make your one...
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.
The first gave you life and the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love, and the second was there to give it.
One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name.
One gave you a seed of talent, the other gave you an aim.
One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears.
One gave you up ... that's all she could do.
The other prayed for a child and God led her straight to you.
And now you ask me, through your fears,
the age old question unanswered throughout the years...
Heredity or environment, which are you the product of?
Neither, my darling … neither.
Just two different kinds of love.

~ Author Unknown ~

Dear Birth Mother

You gave a gift,
A brand-new life,
Tiny and sweet,
A blessing indeed.
A baby girl,
Precious and small,
An answer to prayer,
No joy can compare.
No more empty arms,
I'm thrilled like no other.
You chose life and
Made me a mother.
Thank you so much
For this precious gift,
For being God's answer
to my prayers and tears.

A Special Bond of Love

A poem of thanks to a birth mother.
Once strangers, not knowing of each other,
God brought us together
To share a special bond of love
With a sweet little girl named Sarah.
You may never understand the pain
Or know the tears I cried.
My heart's desire was for a child
To nurture, love, and guide.
I may never understand the pain
Or know the tears you cried.
You said good-bye to this precious child,
Entrusting me to nurture, love, and guide.
I see your face in her pretty smile,
And love in her sparkling eyes.
She's the answer to countless prayers,
A blessing to many lives.
No longer strangers,
We share a special bond of love
With a very precious gift
From our God above.

I also found a money tracker thingy that I added to the blog tonight. I started it from what we have left to raise, which is why it only shows $200 progress right now. We are actually about $8000 deep so far. Anyway, it's a fun way for you all to keep up with us and for us to be inspired as the money grows.

Sending Hugs

registry and timeline update

2011-12-31T14:58:00.001-06:00

Greetings everyone!
We are just a few hours away from 2012, hallelujah! Back in 2010 I secretly declared that to be the year of a baby. Obviously that didn't happen, but I have a good feeling for 2012. Gia will prayerfully be coming home in the next few months! How do I know? Well, just look at the fortune cookie message I got last night.

See? You can't ignore the power of the fortune cookie.

In order for me to get a good feel of our timeline, I emailed our agency to see what paperwork we were waiting on. I learned...
1. our daughter's legals will be the next step
2. I600
3. I600 approval
4. wait for Korea to finalize her paperwork in Korea so she can travel

Sounds simple, huh? Here's hoping.

With her potentially coming home soon, we are anxious to get her room ready. Call it nesting, if you will. Some dear friends of ours are hosting an Ikea shower for us next month, so our first step in this nesting stage was to make a little registry of our Ikea likes. We found the most precious bed that we cannot wait to get set up! We did buy one thing while we were there.

Kevin found this sweet purpley-pink rug on sale. We had to get it for fear it would be gone by next month! Plus, our shower is in Atlanta and we were at the Ohio Ikea, so we didn't even know if ATL would have it.
Side note: We were in Ohio visiting our new little niece, Florence. PRECIOUS! Out of respect for my sister and BIL, I won't post her pic unless they give me permission. Trust me though, Italian beauty. :)

With all this shower talk, my sister encouraged me to finish our scrawny little registry that we started a few weeks ago. I literally think we had 10 things on the registry, ha! So, Kevin and I spent about 3 hours yesterday beefing it up. It was....fun. Actually, it was overwhelming and stressful, but fun sounds better. Regardless, the registry is finished. I have no plans to add to it, though we may need to edit it a little in the next couple weeks.

This is me picking out about 183 Baby Einstein books, DVDs, and CDs. I know she won't be a baby when we get her but she will be Korean. Thus, she will need to learn English starting with the basics. This was my favorite part of the registry adventure. Kevin caught me in a very pensive moment, which explains why I'm lipless.

We found diaper bags. That was fun. And expensive.

And then Kevin found a Beatles stroller and the world almost came to an end. Our daughter will not be getting this, but I did think it was cute to take a picture with him enjoying the moment.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable New Year's Eve tonight. Be safe and have fun!

Sending Hugs

tis the season

2011-12-24T14:23:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone!

At this time of year I cannot say that without thinking about Aunt Bethany when she arrives at the Griswald's in all her glory.

"Aunt Bethany, why don't you go into the living room and say hello to everyone."

"Hello everyone? I should say it?"

Yes, please.

So today is Christmas Eve and Santa is on his way tonight for most of the world, but he has already visited the Huguley home. Two days ago Kevin and I received a great present.

Something, real nice, Clark. Sorry, had to. :)

We have an updated picture of Gia!

Did you see that she's holding our photo album and the Frosty book? Sweet! Kevin quickly noted that she has "her daddy's haircut." Ha!

If that wasn't enough, Gia has gotten Christmas presents from family too. I was completely not expecting that, but it was sweet that she was being thought of even though she wasn't with us this Christmas. It warms my soul to know next Christmas that child will be tearing through boxes and wrapping paper with us.

Gia will be 1 year old next month, so Kevin and I wanted to send her another care package. This time we are sending some snacks for her, inspired from a blog I saw a couple weeks ago.

Kevin has named this outfit "going out for coffee." Apparently it's very hipster.

I have some things I'd like you to join us in praying for...

EP approval

Since being matched with Gia in October, the number one question we've gotten is When is she coming home? We have gladly answered this to the best of our ability, but the answer has always been the same: We don't know. I am happy to say that starting in January the EP (emigration permits) will reset and children will be released to their families again! From my understanding, the EP quota was met in March or April of this year, so the EPs will resume with the April families. We are a November matched family. This doesn't necessarily move in chronological, but it does seem we will be pretty far down the EP list. I'm not discouraged by that because I know that eventually she WILL come home. I just want that travel call/EP approval to come before summertime.

Money

We still have $16,000 left to raise before we can bring her home. I know that God has even in His hands too, but I can feel myself getting more and more stressed about it.

We are still planning a 5K race for March, but the progress is slower than I'd like.
We also applied for a grant through Steven Curtis Chapman's ShowHope organization. We will know January 15th if they are giving any money to us. I've been praying for $5,000.

If the 5K does well and we are granted the ShowHope money, I will feel so much better. Regardless, we still have a long way to go.

Speaking of raising money...

Our dear friend Andrea has offered to sell burp cloths and bibs for Gia. They are $20 for a set. Please consider buy some for a little one in your life. Just let me know if you're interested and I'll make sure you get in touch with Andrea.

Transition

Please please please pray for Gia's transitioning time. When we saw the updated picture of her holding our gifts, we couldn't help but think that she loves her foster mom and will not want to leave. I know we will face attachment issues and bumps in the transitioning process, but we are praying that God would start to soften her heart to this big move. We are ready, and I want her to be too!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Sending Hugs

well baby checkup

2011-12-12T22:16:00.002-06:00

Tonight we received the December well baby checkup (WBC) for Gia. She's doing so well! When we first "met" her, she was at a 6 month developmental level even though she was 9 months old. That isn't so terrible, but it's still a delay that we knew we'd probably have to deal with once she was home. I'm happy to say that she's now at a 10 month level and she's 11 months old. Saturday was her "birthday" and we anxiously awaited info on her WBC. I've learned that we get these reports about the same time each month, and they typically come after her "birthday." Unfortunately, we still haven't gotten an updated picture, so this Momma is holding strong to this sweet face...

I just can't get enough of those perfect lips! And those ears are screaming to be pinched. Come on home, girl!

Ok, so in the last post I mentioned that we sent her a video in her care package. I debated on sharing it or not, but I think I'd like to. Enjoy.

Now that I have access to my camera cord, I can share more pictures from the care package we sent.

This is the outfit Kevin calls her "going out" outfit. So funny!

I love this precious little onesie. Kevin named this one her "relaxing around the house" outfit.

Here's the whole kit and kaboodle. Hope she gets it soon!

Sending Hugs

care package #1

2011-12-01T21:43:00.001-06:00

My apologies for no pictures....yet. You see, my camera hooker-upper cord (probably known as a USB cable to you) is MIA. I have searched high and low and sideways. I think I have an idea of where it's hiding, but I can't access that spot for another few days. Regardless, I didn't want that to stop me from sharing with you all.

We bought Gia's gifts the day after we were matched, Oct 21. So we've had these items for over a month. How in the world I've kept them here without sending them sooner is beyond me! Clearly, I've been busy, to say the least. Busy. You have no idea. I finally found a spare minute to search through my emails and retrieve her mailing address. Well, it isn't her address, but the Holt office in Korea. Off the package went on Tuesday, yay!

We sent her...
1. a voice recordable Frosty the Snowman book with us reading it
2. a onesie that had a cute little "peas in a pod" graphic
3. a pink super soft sleeper outfit that said "daddy's girl"
4. a black matching pants and top outfit with neon flowers. Kevin calls this her "going out" outfit. Cracks me up!
5. a photobook with lots of pics of me, Kevin, and Belle
6. pink teddy bear
7. and my favorite....a DVD of us sending our love, playing with Belle, and a picture slideshow with Rush of Fools' "No Other Love" playing in the background

My prayer is that the book with our voices plus the DVD will get her acquainted with how we look and sound so that we aren't complete strangers when we meet for the first time.

It was so fun getting it all together. I wish I had access to her likes and dislikes so we could send her more personal stuff, but for now we will send things that let her get to know us. I read on another blog that a family sent those puff snacks for toddlers. What a good idea for introducing more American-type foods. Or do they have those in Korea too? Oh me, I'm too naive.

I promise to post pictures once I can get them. Until then...

Sending Hugs

happy black friday

2011-11-25T16:38:00.000-06:00

Today we are hosting our own Black Friday sale.

Get the Sending Hugs tee for only $15! Pass the word along and let's get closer to getting this chick home.

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Sending Hugs

orphan awareness month

2011-11-21T22:39:00.001-06:00

When I was growing up, no one really talked about orphans and adoption. I don't think it was out of fear as much as ignorance. I don't know of anyone I went to school or church with that was adopted or in foster care or orphaned. Though I never had a negative image of fatherless kids, it's hard to care for what you don't know much about. In the midst of all that, God gave me a heart for adoption. I'll be honest, it was probably spurred by lots of people thinking I was Chinese. I still get that, too, believe it or not.

Anyway, I became interested in the idea of adopting an Asian baby at some point in my life.
Looking back, I wish we had known more about orphans. I wish my church had walked us through the realities of James 1:27. I wish I had known an adoptee. Maybe I did, and I just never knew it. I wish it would have been a more open topic.

Being at Auburn exposed me to a more international community, but orphan care was still never addressed by the church. At least not that I recall, which means it wasn't addressed well. It wasn't until about two years ago that I knew an orphan awareness month existed! And boy are we a church of awareness! Not only do we celebrate orphan education, pray for the orphans, and care for them through various ministries, but we are an adopting church. I guess what I'm saying is we put our money where our mouth is (literally when you're looking at $18K!). I have absolutely loved watching our new friends walk through the adoption journey.

Now that we are adopting, Orphan Awareness month has a deeper meaning. Our orphan has a face and a name now!

November is Orphan Awareness month. Kevin and I wanted to take November 6, which is Orphan Awareness Sunday, to do a little something for our orphan. Our church hosted a potato bar for lunch with the money going towards orphan care. I was anxious to head this up.

I spent a couple hours at Sams' Club buying 150 lbs of potatoes, 7 lbs of butter, 10 lbs of sour cream, 15 lbs of cheese, and many other items. People stared. A lot. Especially because I was alone with two buggies. I can't lie, for a brief moment I thought How will I get all this in the car by myself? Slightly overwhelming.

So with the help of lots of sweet CCC people, we set up the orphan potato bar, and I really think it was a hit. Praise God!

We were also blessed this month to have a sweet friend do a baked goods fundraiser for us.

Maggie's family is adopting from Ethiopia, but she still wanted to help us out. Tell me that is not precious! Her heart is sold out for doing good for the Kingdom of God. She has started her own ministry, Children of God, where she wants to do monthly fundraisers for people in ministry. Seriously, it's convicting. The most amazing part of this is that she and her family were praying the sale made $250 for us. God delivered that and then some! I love watching His hand provide over and over again. I was absolutely blown away that she had us in mind for her first step into ministry, and I'm praying that God will continue to use her obedient and willing heart to serve His purposes further. Faith like a child...

On a slightly different note, Kevin and I are headed to downtown B'ham tomorrow to get our biometrics measured, whatever that means. I honestly cannot wait to get back home and tell you all about it. I've been telling people lately that if every parent had to go through all the paperwork and tests we've had to, we'd have less crime. :)

While I'm thinking about it... I know we aren't getting Gia for several more months, but I'd love for y'all to join us in praying for her transition once we do get her. We know we've been matched, but she doesn't know that. She doesn't know that her forever family is anxiously waiting and praying for her. She's happy where she is right now. She doesn't want to leave. I definitely don't want to be the person that ruins that for her, but I know I will. So, please pray that God will start preparing her heart for the huge change she will soon face.

Sending Hugs

facebook yardsale

2011-11-13T17:29:00.000-06:00

At the suggestion of my sweet friend Grace, I am holding a Facebook yardsale. There are movies, exercise DVDs, clothes, and Playstation games. Enjoy!

10 month b'day

2011-11-10T19:58:00.000-06:00

Happy 10 month Birthday, Gia!!

Today has been bittersweet.
Knowing that Gia is ours and today is a special day for her but not being able to share it is heart-breaking. I'm sure we will miss her 1 year birthday too. We knew this was part of the journey, but just because you know something in your head doesn't mean your heart is on board.

I say this all the time, and I'll say it again: I just don't know how people do something like this without faith in God. During our years of infertility I clung for dear life to this verse...
"I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait on the Lord."
~Psalm 27:13-14

We have seen the goodness of the Lord through this adoption, and now we are in the waiting stage. Everyone's #1 question (including mine!) is When do you go get her? I always respond with We are in that 6-9 month waiting period. What exactly are we waiting on? The "right" answer is that we need EP quotas to reset and her papers to be processed. The real answer is we are waiting on God. His timing has NEVER been on target with mine. I didn't get married when I thought I would, I didn't get a job when I thought I would, Kevin's job wasn't what we planned, our biological clocks didn't work like we thought, and so on... I promise, we are living proof that God has bigger and better plans.

So, I rest in Psalm 27 through this adoption as well. How can you live having no faith when everything around you seems to be spinning out of control? I pray that God uses our journey and this blog to prick the hearts of some of the people reading. I want our journey to be so much more than just "yeah, they got that cute little baby." This is about GOD. Yes, He loves adoption, but I need our story to tell the truth of His life, death, and resurrection too. I need people to see that we absolutely cannot do this without Him. I'm not speaking strictly in terms of finances, though we are relying on Him for that too, but about the emotional side that has no black and white answers. This road is hard. It's not fun. There are glimmers of hope that we hold on to, and those glimmers are from the Lord. I'm convinced He lets us see those moments so we know He is still with us. More than that, He's in the dark and sad spots of this journey too. How could we worship a God that wasn't involved in the bad stuff? I need Him in those times more desperately! God knew that today would be bittersweet. In fact, He made it bittersweet for me. He didn't do it to be mean and hateful, but to show me His peace and love. He gave me this bittersweet day to remind me to rest in Him, not Gia. HE is my salvation, not a baby. HE is my priority, not a family. I say those truths as a reminder, because Lord knows it's not easy to live out.

So, happy birthday Gia. And praise be to GOD for blessing us with a precious child that He picked just for us that we haven't met yet. I cannot wait to be her mommy. Until then, I'll trust in God that He's making me the Mom that Gia needs.

Sending Hugs

extra, extra, read all about it

2011-11-06T22:19:00.001-06:00

I ran across this blog today after a friend posted a link. Here is an excerpt. This is information that I've been wanting to sit and compile for you for a while, but I've been lazy and/or overwhelmed with the task. I'm grateful for this sweet blogger for posting it, and I'm excited to pass it along to you.

If you are family or close friends with us, know that this information will directly effect you. Please soak in every word.

Supporting Families Before the Airport

Your friends are adopting. They’re in the middle of dossiers and home studies, and most of them are somewhere in the middle of Waiting Purgatory. Please let me explain something about WP: It sucks in every way. Oh sure, we try to make it sound better than it feels by using phrases like “We’re trusting in God’s plan” and “God is refining me” and “Sovereignty trumps my feelings” and crazy bidness like that. But we are crying and aching and getting angry and going bonkers when you’re not watching. It’s hard. It hurts. It feels like an eternity even though you can see that it is not. It is harder for us to see that, because many of us have pictures on our refrigerators of these beautiful darlings stuck in an orphanage somewhere while we’re bogged down in bureaucracy and delays.

How can you help? By not saying or doing these things:

1. “God’s timing is perfect!” (Could also insert: “This is all God’s plan!” “God is in charge!”) As exactly true as this may be, when you say it to a waiting parent, we want to scratch your eyebrows off and make you eat them with a spoon. Any trite answer that minimizes the struggle is as welcomed as a sack of dirty diapers. You are voicing something we probably already believe while not acknowledging that we are hurting and that somewhere a child is going to bed without a mother again. Please never say this again. Thank you.

2. “Are you going to have your own kids?” (Also in this category: “You’ll probably get pregnant the minute your adoption clears!” “Since this is so hard, why don’t you just try to have your own kids?” “Well, at least you have your own kids.”) The subtle message here is: You can always have legitimate biological kids if this thing tanks. It places adoption in the Back-up Plan Category, where it does not belong for us. When we flew to Ethiopia with our first travel group from our agency, out of 8 couples, we were the only parents with biological kids. The other 7 couples chose adoption first. Several of them were on birth control. Adoption counts as real parenting, and if you believe stuff Jesus said, it might even be closer to the heart of God than regular old procreation. (Not to mention the couples that grieved through infertility already. So when you say, “Are you going to have your own kids?” to a woman who tried for eight years, then don’t be surprised if she pulls your beating heart out like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.)

3. For those of you in Christian community, it is extremely frustrating to hear: “Don’t give up on God!” or “Don’t lose faith!” It implies that we are one nanosecond away from tossing our entire belief system in the compost pile because we are acting sad or discouraged. It’s condescending and misses the crux of our emotions. I can assure you, at no point in our story did we think about kicking Jesus to the curb, but we still get to cry tears and feel our feelings, folks. Jesus did. And I’m pretty sure he went to heaven when he died.

4. We’re happy to field your questions about becoming a transracial family or adopting a child of another race, but please don’t use this moment to trot out your bigotry. (Cluelessness is a different thing, and we try to shrug that off. Like when someone asked about our Ethiopian kids, “Will they be black?” Aw, sweet little dum-dum.) The most hurtful thing we heard during our wait was from a black pastor who said, “Whatever you do, don’t change their last name to Hatmaker, because they are NOT Hatmakers. They’ll never be Hatmakers. They are African.” What the??? I wonder if he’d launch the same grenade if we adopted white kids from Russia? If you’d like to know what we’re learning about raising children of another race or ask respectful, legitimate questions, by all means, do so. We care about this and take it seriously, and we realize we will traverse racial landmines with our family. You don’t need to point out that we are adopting black kids and we are, in fact, white. We’ve actually already thought of that.

5. Saying nothing is the opposite bad. I realize with blogs like this one, you can get skittish on how to talk to a crazed adopting Mama without getting under her paper-thin skin or inadvertently offending her. I get it. (We try hard not to act so hypersensitive. Just imagine that we are paper-pregnant with similar hormones surging through our bodies making us cry at Subaru commercials just like the 7-month preggo sitting next to us. And look at all this weight we’ve gained. See?) But acting like we’re not adopting or struggling or waiting or hoping or grieving is not helpful either. If I was pregnant with a baby in my belly, and no one ever asked how I was feeling or how much longer or is his nursery ready or can we plan a shower, I would have to audition new friend candidates immediately.

Here’s what we would love to hear Before the Airport:

1. Just kind, normal words of encouragement. Not the kind that assume we are one breath away from atheism. Not the kind that attempt to minimize the difficulties and tidy it all up with catchphrases. We don’t actually need for you to fix our wait. We just want you to be our friend and acknowledge that the process is hard and you care about us while we’re hurting. That is GOLD. I was once having lunch with my friend Lynde when AWAA called with more bad news about Ben’s case, and I laid my head down on the table in the middle of Galaxy Café and bawled. Having no idea what to do with such a hot mess, she just cried with me. Thank you for being perfect that day, Lynde.

2. Your questions are welcomed! We don’t mind telling you about the court system in Ethiopia or the in-country requirements in Nicaragua or the rules of the foster system. We’re glad to talk about adoption, and we’re thankful you care. I assure you we didn’t enter adoption lightly, so sharing details of this HUGE PIECE OF OUR LIVES is cathartic. Plus, we want you to know more because we’re all secretly hoping you’ll adopt later. (This is not true.) (Yes it is.)

3. When you say you’re praying for us and our waiting children, and you actually really are, not only does that soothe our troubled souls, but according to Scripture, it activates the heavens. So pray on, dear friends. Pray on. That is always the right thing to say. And please actually do it. We need people to stand in the gap for us when we are too tired and discouraged to keep praying the same words another day.

4. If you can, please become telepathic to determine which days we want to talk about adoption and which days we’d rather you just show up on our doorstep with fresh figs from the Farmer’s Market (thanks, Katie) or kidnap us away in the middle of the day to go see Bridesmaids. Sometimes we need you to make us laugh and remember what it feels like to be carefree for a few hours. If you’re not sure which day we’re having, just pre-buy movie tickets and show up with the figs, and when we answer the door, hold them all up and ask, “Would you like to talk for an hour uninterrupted about waiting for a court date?” We’ll respond to whichever one fits.

Supporting Families After the Airport

You went to the airport. The baby came down the escalator to cheers and balloons. The long adoption journey is over and your friends are home with their new baby / toddler / twins / siblings / teenager. Everyone is happy. Maybe Fox News even came out and filmed the big moment and “your friend” babbled like an idiot and didn’t say one constructive word about adoption and also she looked really sweaty during her interview. (Really? That happened to me too. Weird.)

How can you help? By not saying or doing these things:

1. I mean this nicely, but don’t come over for awhile. Most of us are going to hole up in our homes with our little tribe and attempt to create a stable routine without a lot of moving parts. This is not because we hate you; it’s because we are trying to establish the concept of “home” with our newbies, and lots of strangers coming and going makes them super nervous and unsure, especially strangers who are talking crazy language to them and trying to touch their hair.

2. Please do not touch, hug, kiss, or use physical affection with our kids for a few months. We absolutely know your intentions are good, but attachment is super tricky with abandoned kids, and they have had many caregivers, so when multiple adults (including extended family) continue to touch and hold them in their new environment, they become confused about who to bond with. This actually delays healthy attachment egregiously. It also teaches them that any adult or stranger can touch them without their permission, and believe me, many adoptive families are working HARD to undo the damage already done by this position. Thank you so much for respecting these physical boundaries.

3. For the next few months, do not assume the transition is easy. For 95% of us, it so is not. And this isn’t because our family is dysfunctional or our kids are lemons, but because this phase is so very hard on everyone. I can’t tell you how difficult it was to constantly hear: “You must be so happy!” and “Is life just so awesome now that they’re here??” and “Your family seems just perfect now!” I wanted that to be true so deeply, but I had no idea how to tell you that our home was actually a Trauma Center. (I did this in a passive aggressive way by writing this blog, which was more like “An Open Letter to Everyone Who Knows Us and Keeps Asking Us How Happy We Are.”) Starting with the right posture with your friends – this is hard right now – will totally help you become a safe friend to confide in / break down in front of / draw strength from.

4. Do not act shocked if we tell you how hard the early stages are. Do not assume adoption was a mistake. Do not worry we have ruined our lives. Do not talk behind our backs about how terribly we’re doing and how you’re worried that we are suicidal. Do not ask thinly veiled questions implying that we are obviously doing something very, very wrong. Do not say things like, “I was so afraid it was going to be like this” or “Our other friends didn’t seem to have these issues at all.” Just let us struggle. Be our friends in the mess of it. We’ll get better.

6. Please do not disappear. If I thought the waiting stage was hard, it does not even hold the barest candle to what comes after the airport. Not. The. Barest. Candle. Never have I felt so isolated and petrified. Never have I been so overwhelmed and exhausted. We need you after the airport way more than we ever needed you before. I know you’re scared of us, what with our dirty hair and wild eyes and mystery children we’re keeping behind closed doors so they don’t freak out more than they already have, but please find ways to stick around. Call. Email. Check in. Post on our Facebook walls. Send us funny cards. Keep this behavior up for longer than six days.

Here’s what we would love to hear or experience After the Airport:

1. Cook for your friends. Put together a meal calendar and recruit every person who even remotely cares about them. We didn’t cook dinners for one solid month, and folks, that may have single handedly saved my sanity. There simply are not words to describe how exhausting and overwhelming those first few weeks are, not to mention the lovely jetlag everyone came home with. And if your friends adopted domestically right up the street, this is all still true, minus the jetlag.

2. If we have them, offer to take our biological kids for an adventure or sleepover. Please believe me: their lives just got WHACKED OUT, and they need a break, but their parents can’t give them one because they are 1.) cleaning up pee and poop all day, 2.) holding screaming children, 3.) spending all their time at doctors’ offices, and 4.) falling asleep in their clothes at 8:15pm. Plus, they are in lockdown mode with the recently adopted, trying to shield them from the trauma that is Walmart.

3. Thank you for getting excited with us over our little victories. I realize it sounds like a very small deal when we tell you our kindergartener is now staying in the same room as the dog, but if you could’ve seen the epic level of freakoutedness this dog caused her for three weeks, you would understand that this is really something. When you encourage us over our incremental progress, it helps. You remind us that we ARE moving forward and these little moments are worth celebrating. If we come to you spazzing out, please remind us where we were a month ago. Force us to acknowledge their gains. Be a cheerleader for the healing process.

4. Come over one night after our kids are asleep and sit with us on our porch. Let me tell you: we are all lonely in those early weeks. We are home, home, home, home, home. Good-bye, date nights. Good-bye, GNO’s. Good-bye, spontaneous anything. Good-bye, church. Good-bye, big public outings. Good-bye, community group. Good-bye, nightlife. So please bring some community to our doorstep. Bring friendship back into our lives. Bring adult conversation and laughter. And bring an expensive bottle of wine.

5. If the shoe fits, tell adopting families how their story is affecting yours. If God has moved in you over the course of our adoption, whether before the airport or after, if you’ve made a change or a decision, if somewhere deep inside a fire was lit, tell us, because it is spiritual water on dry souls. There is nothing more encouraging than finding out God is using our families for greater kingdom work, beautiful things we would never know or see. We gather the holy moments in our hands every day, praying for eyes to see God’s presence, his purposes realized in our story. When you put more holy moments in our hands to meditate on, we are drawn deeper into the Jesus who led us here.

Here’s one last thing: As you watch us struggle and celebrate and cry and flail, we also want you to know that adoption is beautiful, and a thousand times we’ve looked at each other and said, “What if we would’ve said no?” God invited us into something monumental and lovely, and we would’ve missed endless moments of glory had we walked away. We need you during these difficult months of waiting and transitioning, but we also hope you see that we serve a faithful God who heals and actually sets the lonely in families, just like He said He would. And even through the tears and tantrums (ours), we look at our children and marvel that God counted us worthy to raise them. We are humbled. We’ve been gifted with a very holy task, and when you help us rise to the occasion, you have an inheritance in their story; your name will be counted in their legacy.

Sending Hugs

last call

2011-11-03T19:14:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to check out our Scentsy fundraiser. Every single dime will go into Gia's "get me home now" fund.

We are thankful for those of you that have supported it.

Pass the word on! I think it's ending in just a couple of days.

Doesn't this one make you think of Asian things? Like Gia? :)

I love snowmen so much.

Sending Hugs

business as usual

2011-11-02T20:11:00.000-05:00

I promised an update on the business end, and I shall deliver.

A few weeks ago we filled out our i600a forms to mail off. Those were sent to Dallas, TX and somehow made it to the Department of Homeland Security. Is that in TX? Probably, because they have all the guns, right? No jokes, got it. It never occurred to me to make copies of all those documents, but that would have been a very smart thing. Lesson learned in case we adopt again. Well, after that was mailed off we were matched with Gia (yay!) and then promptly sent a mess load of more documents to fill out. Let me see if I can remember them all...

864
864a
tax documents (all, not just the top copy) from the past 3 years
travel form
affidavit for EP
statement of adoption
travel release
placement agreement
transmittal form
marriage license
birth certificates
my favorite BBQ recipe from my mother
burned cd of my last itunes purchase
essay on why Gilmore Girls is the best written show ever

Ok, those last three may be made up, but WOW it felt like we were sending anything and everything about our lives.

It took us about a week to gather everything, notarize a lot of the papers, and get Kevin back in town to sign them. And then I read it. I scanned through the instructions on the Holt email again and I saw where it said the primary parent was the one who had to fill out the 864 forms. Who is that exactly? Well, the primary parent is the same one who filled out the aforementioned i600a. You know, the one we sealed up weeks ago never to be looked at again. That very one! So a new set of anxieties set it.

If I fill it out incorrectly, will it delay our travel?

If so, how long will we have to wait?

Can't I just call and ask the people who the primary parent is?

If they can't/won't tell us, should we just sent two copies filled out by each of us?

These, and many other, questions swam around my brain for about three days. I finally sat on my bed and asked God to please give me a peace about who's name we put on the i600a so that I could get this other paperwork sent off. And He did. Hallelujah. I took my peaceful God-given confidence and filled the 864 out as me being the primary parent. As it turns out, that was exactly right, so we at least know those papers were correct.

Side note: I did call the TX people several times but they kept telling me I'd have to wait for a confirmation in the mail before they could tell me.

After a stressful week of paperwork, we overnighted the papers ($79 by the way) Monday. Korea will *prayerfully* be getting our papers next week, and we will officially be on the waiting list for an EP (emigration permit). Only a certain amount of EPs are released each year. The quota will reset in January, so we are praying that we will be in one of the first groups. Once Gia's EP is approved we will travel to get her!

Again, we are praying for April travel. We have had many kind and educated people explain to us how unlikely this is. We are fine with that. I've said it several times in the past two weeks and I'll say it again: We serve a big God. He can make it happen if it's in His will. We are soberly aware that this is a long shot, but we simply don't care. :) God is going to do mighty things through our prayers, even if it's only to change our hearts and teach us patience.

I want to take just a minute to brag on God. We were matched with Gia on a Thursday. Friday is when we received all the acceptance paperwork. Part of that paperwork was an invoice for $18,500. I immediately emailed Holt back and asked when the money was due. Their response: upon acceptance. What?! We ended up agreeing on a monthly payment plan, but they were clear that they needed money asap in order to process the paperwork. Saturday morning I woke up to a $500 check in the mail from some very sweet college friends of ours. They had no idea how God-ordained their timing was. And then, we went to visit some other friends who gave us a precious card with a $1000 gift. Seriously! Another God timing thing. I don't think any of these people desire recognition, but they know who they are. THANK YOU!! Y'all have shown us how wonderful God is through His people. We only hope to be able to do the same for others in the future. Those couples are not the only generous people that have helped us, but they are the most recent. We are completely grateful to every single one of you that have donated or bought shirts. We love you and can't wait for Gia to meet you!

Sending Hugs

just call me Hannah

2011-10-26T21:43:00.001-05:00

Just call me Hannah...

The situation might be different, but the heart's desire is the same. Thank you, God, for answering our prayer! We cannot wait to be parents to this precious little girl.

And she said, "Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the LORD. For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives, he is lent to the LORD."

I have several business/paperwork updates, but I've been too excited to talk business. Maybe soon. :)

Sending Hugs

scentsy ending soon....buy now!

2011-10-24T22:47:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to order some Scentsy gifts! ALL money will help bring Gia home. Yes, Gia, who now has a face to the name. Praise the Lord!

The invoice we received Friday was a HUGE number, but a sweet friend quickly reminded me that it's pocket change to our God. I love that. We are trusting that the fundraisers we are working on, including Scentsy, are honoring to Him and His call for our Gia's adoption.

Sending Hugs

tricks and treats

2011-10-20T22:13:00.003-05:00

Disclaimer: My head is full tonight, so I might ramble. I promise I'll try to make it make sense.

I'll start with the treats...

Today Kevin and I got a very fun phone call. As I sat at lunch with my teacher friends in a loud, adolescent filled cafeteria my phone rang. We had all been glued to it, waiting for the news. Side note here: I love love love working at my school. There is just so much support. So when it finally rang at 12:42 pm I practically ran into the hallway. J from Holt greeted me and I asked if I could call Kevin to 3-way him in. Once he was on the phone, she said something like, "I'm glad you're both on the phone for this because I have some great news. You've been selected!" We both thanked her profusely. Why did we thank her? She didn't do anything. Maybe it was our natural southern instinct to just express our appreciation. Regardless, she was thrown at least six thank yous between the two of us. And that was it. The whole call lasted about 3 minutes.
Everyone has the same two questions now: When will we get her? What are the next steps?
I know you're shocked to hear this answer, but we don't know. We have read the wait time is anywhere between 3-9 months. My guess is we'll be on the latter end of that. Kevin and I have agreed to pray for travel in April. As far as what's next, I am waiting on an email that tells me those steps. All I know is that Korea will be informed of the match and we'll go from there.
When I walked back into the lunchroom after taking the phone call, the ENTIRE cafeteria was cheering and clapping, teachers and students. I'm not sure the students knew why they were cheering, but they were completely sold out for it!
In fact, one kid told me later, "So I thought something big happened."
To which I responded, "Well, that was kinda big for me."
And he said, "No, I mean, like, to America."

Gotcha.

Lots of hugs, tears, and high-fives (I don't hug my male students) were exchanged and it was a grand 2 minute celebration. Ahhhh....

I had TONS, absolutely tons of texts and emails coming in immediately, and they were all precious and warmed my soul. The one that really made the news real was from my friend Liz. Her email was only two sentences.
Just saw this on the photo listing site. We are so blessed to know her family.
With this picture attached.

Oh. My. Word. I was speechless.

So here's the colorful picture because I know you'd rather see that. :)

My students also left me these little messages on my board after lunch.

And now for the tricks...

Upon hearing my news, my students went into full Q&A mode. This can be dangerous when you teach unfiltered teenagers. These are some of the lovely conversations I was involved in today.

Student: Why are you adopting? Can't you just make one?
Me: Well, God told us to adopt so we did.
Student: Whatever.

Student #1: What are you gonna name her?
Me: Probably Gia.
Student #2: What? What kind of name is Gia?
Me: Seriously? You don't think that was kind of rude the way you asked that?
Student #2: I just think it's a stupid name.

Student: When she comes home, she'll just speak Korean for the rest of her life, huh?
Me: Yep, they come pre-programmed like that.

Student: Are you adopting from Korea so she can do your nails?
Me: I had no comment for this one. And it was wise that I held my tongue. I'm sure my face said it all.

Despite those pearls of wisdom, today was really great.

Sending Hugs

14 hours and counting...

2011-10-19T22:34:00.000-05:00

How can I describe how I'm feeling right now?

I think Jessie Spano said it best.

"I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so....scared."

:)

Sending Hugs

interview today, committee Thursday

2011-10-17T16:41:00.000-05:00

Our interview for Baby Girl is TODAY at 5:00 our time. That's 20 minutes!
Committee will meet Thursday to pick a family (between us and one other family). We will know something Thursday afternoon, probably.

Pray for us for clarity and peace. Pray for Baby Girl that God would start preparing her heart to leave the only place she knows as home. This process will be far worse for her than the family getting her.

Sending Hugs

new friends and new referrals

2011-10-13T22:46:00.000-05:00

First of all, I cannot figure out why my own blog won't let me comment on it anymore, so I want to take a moment to say THANKS to the nize07 for your very sweet comment. I got it in my email this morning as I arrived at school and it blessed my day! It was precious to read, and I will absolutely send a shirt to Australia!!! That's so cool. Just tell me how to get it there, ha!
Also, a big THANKS to the Gronewold family and Eunice (The Korean). It was fun to hear from you guys and I'm happy you found the blog! I'd love to keep in touch and hear more about your stories.

Now on to some very exciting news...

Over the past 10 days we have received three or four Korean referrals. This is such a refreshing blessing because I've been a little bummed about just doing the business side of the adoption and missing out on the babies' faces! Our patience has been answered with two precious girls that we want to pursue. Each referral is $350 to have reviewed by the clinic we are using, and we knew we couldn't send both files over because that would be $700 that we didn't have. So, we prayed about it and felt a draw to one specific girl, and we sent her file over yesterday.

Let me tell you how cool God is right now. Not only did we not have $700, but truly we weren't sure where the $350 would come from. I remembered we had had a lot of tshirt orders lately, so I checked my PayPal where I found $200. Yay! Transfer to bank, done. Plus we had $80 from RoF's release show last week where a few people bought shirts. Another yay! So $280 is definitely better than none. We pulled the remaining $70 from our own little checking account and sent the baby's file over.

The doctor called today to give us a run down of her current and potential medical needs. We liked what she said, and we felt comfortable with her explanations.

Much like before, we now enter a waiting game. There are two other families that are looking at her file, I know. I'm not sure if they will decide to move forward with her, but we have put in our "yes." So now we wait. If we are the only "yes" family, then she will be ours! We are both hesitant to even discuss how this will turn out because we know all too well that it could be in another family's favor. We are praying for this girl to find the family God has for her, whether it's us or not. Please join us in that prayer. We'd love love love to parent her, but we know that God's ways are higher than our own and we want to be obedient to His will for our lives (and that baby's) instead of our own selfish will.

Updates to follow soon, I hope!!

Sending Hugs

i am adopted

2011-10-07T19:20:00.002-05:00

I just finished filling out the last of our Show Hope application. One question asked for a statement of faith from each parent, and as I typed mine I realized I hadn't shared it with you. How does this relate to adoption, you ask? Because I'm adopted. If you are a child of God, you are adopted too. God has picked us to be his children. We were once strangers and rebels, and he brought us into his Kingdom home to be his children. Wow. Seriously, let that sink in.

There is nothing, not one thing, that we can do to earn God's love and favor. We cannot work our way into his heart or into Heaven. We can't pray enough or read the Bible enough or be good enough to be His. 1 John 4:19: “We love Him because He first loved us.” If it were up to me to initiate this relationship, I never would have done it. I'm human, made to crave the things of this world. God is holy. Why would I want that if the world offers things to tantalize my figurative taste buds? Why have broccoli when there's cookies? The things of God are not a natural craving; God places that desire in us.

Ok, so here's my story in a nutshell...

I became aware of my salvation in 7th grade at a Disciple Now weekend my church hosted. I say I became aware because in Jeremiah 1:5 the bible teaches, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." I believe I’ve been saved and set apart from before I was born but I came to fully understand that at the age of 12ish.

However, I have known since I was young that there’s a God, that’s He’s real, and that I’m something to Him. I didn’t know how I fit into all that, but I did have a basic understanding of it. I remember being 7 or 8 and trying to sit still enough in my house so that I could audibly hear God because someone told me that God talks to us.
God used my youth minister a lot leading up to my “salvation experience.” He constantly shared with us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God” (Romans 3:10-18). The truth of the matter was that I thought being a good person was all I needed in my Christian walk and my pride kept telling me that I wasn’t as bad as those other people. The fact is that I AM that bad, and WORSE! God gave me a clear view of who I really am, not who America tried to tell me I was. At that moment I knew I needed a Savior. Someone perfect that would take the wrap for me. Enter, Jesus. My life verse has become “Since my youth, oh God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds," Psalm 71:17.

I still struggle with anger, pride, selfishness, greed, just to name a few, but the good news is that God is showing me my sin and refining me through the sanctification process. I’m no longer blind to my sin, no longer think I’ve got it all figured out. I’m a sinner and God is telling me that on a daily basis. Thank God for Jesus!

Let me tell you that NOTHING you have done or can ever do is too bad for God. He takes the worst of the worst into his arms and makes us his children. I may not have been saved from drug addiction or prostitution, but I was saved from myself. I can tell you that that is a miracle!

Sending Hugs

hi new friends!

2011-10-04T20:55:00.000-05:00

Kevin's been out and about doing his thang with the new album release, and I learned that he's been sharing our adoption story from stage. How exciting! We are such open people (sometime too open and honest), so we love having new friends hopping in on our journey. I'd like to take this moment to say hello to those new people that may be finding this blog for the first time.

Hey, y'all! That's southern for "hello all of you." :)

Please stop by regularly and pray with us and for us. We also have A LOT of friends adopting, so please check out their sites and pray for them too.

Sending Hugs

I600a

2011-09-25T20:13:00.001-05:00

We have officially encountered Paperwork Mountain #2.

A couple of weeks ago I started our Show Hope application; part of the application is getting reference a letter from Holt stating that we have completed our home study. So Holt sent us a letter in the mail that week and I put it in my Show Hope folder. (I know, I'm a nerd. I love any reason to have a notebook.) Then, a few days later, another letter from Holt came in the mail. I put that one in the Show Hope notebook too. Not sure why, though. I guess in the midst of my busy busy schedule I assumed it was the reference letter we were waiting on. Anyway, last week I sat down to finally organize the notebook and when I opened the two Holt letters I learned that only one was the reference; the other was instructions on how to send our I600a to Korea.

WHAT?!

As it turns out, we are now moving forward with Korea, at least on the business end. We still don't have a referral, but the paperwork keeps moving. Korea has our homestudy and we are now only working with the Korea department at Holt. I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds official, right?

What is an I600a? The easiest way I know to explain it is it's the pre-approval application for our baby's visa. Once we're matched we will send off the I600, which is the formal visa application. This little 3 page form is very expensive too. $890 expensive. Oh me...
But it is very exciting to know that we are really requesting permission to bring home a baby! I just wish we knew who she was! According to the letter from Holt, once the I600a is submitted we only wait 3-6 months to travel when we're matched. Yay!

Lately I've been a little bummed about the whole process. This summer we had lots of referrals to look at (two of which we pursued), so it kept my mind constantly thinking about our future baby. We've had no progress on the referral front for several weeks, which has made me apathetic. Not good. I hate admitting that because I'm afraid it sounds like I don't want to adopt. I do! I cannot wait to get this going again. It's just that right now everything is so business oriented that I don't get time to think about the actual child.

On a separate note, we are still full force with fundraising. Here is a list of things that are potentially on our to-do list.
1. baked potato or chili lunch at church
2. 5K in March (this one is for sure!)
3. Malerie does your Christmas shopping for you! (this one is also for sure)
4. a dinner and silent auction (with items from Diamond's Direct and such...) in February
5. Scentsy fundraiser
6. t-shirts

If you can or want to help with any of these, just let me know. And if you know someone that has big ticket items they can donate to the dinner-auction send them my way.

Hopefully we will have a baby update soon!

Sending Hugs

new smelly fundraiser

2011-09-24T13:47:00.000-05:00

Are you a Scentsy fan? You know, the wickless candles? Well we have a new friend who has volunteered to give 100% of all money to our adoption. I cannot tell you how humbled I am, seriously. This is from a woman that has never met us (we have a mutual friend), but God has put in on her heart to help in our adoption.

Scentsy is such a great idea for gifts. Now is the time to start thinking about those Christmas gifts!

Go to this website and buy your little hearts out! Pass the word!

Sending Hugs

join the korean cuties club

2011-09-18T15:19:00.001-05:00

I was going to be cute and title this blog "korea kuties klub" until I realized its initials...
I decided to go conventional on y'all instead. :)

A few days ago I read that my friend Sonia and her family would be on their way to pick up their Korean daughter Daria. They left Friday and will be getting Daria Monday night. Wow!! Their wait has been almost a year, and while I'm sure it's been difficult and heart-breaking, the next few days will make it all worth it. Please follow their journey and pray for them with us.

We can't wait to keep expanding our little B'ham Korean Cutie Club. :)

EP

2011-09-12T23:18:00.001-05:00

Lately, I have heard whispers of Korea taking longer and longer to release EPs (exit permits) for their adopted children. What does that mean for us? Well, it means that once we do get a referral it will take longer for us to go get her. We planned for our wait time to be about 6 months from the time our referral was official, but it's looking more like closer to 10-12 months. I cannot tell you how sad that makes me. There isn't anything we can do except wait and use that time to study up on toddler adoption, because she will more than likely be close to 2 years old when we get her. It just breaks my heart. Anyway, I'm not much of a questioner, but this has gotten the best of my curiosity. I ran across this blog that offered an easy to understand explanation for the slow EPs. Read and pray with us that these babies will be able to come home soon.

Explanation for the Slow Exit Permits from Korea
I made phone calls last night to talk with an agency and the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) representative to find out why there has been noticeable delays in the Exit Permit (EP) granted recently. Normally once an adoption agency files an EP request with MOHW, it usually takes a month or so to get MOHW to clear it. As of today, there are EPs that were submitted in May of this year that have not been approved yet. This has brought a lot of anxiety among the waiting families whether their children will come home or not.

For those of you who are not too familiar with the intercountry adoption (ICA) process, EP is like the last hurdle in the long process where the Korean Government (or MOHW) finally approves that a child may exit the country to be placed overseas. Once an EP has been granted, the parents are notified by an agency when the child will arrive home. The EP requests are made by the agencies when the number of adoption placements by the agency falls within the allotted quota limitation assigned by MOHW. If an assignment of a child is beyond that quota, then the family must wait until the next year to get the child home.

In talking with MOHW, the delays are a deliberate attempt by them to make the adoption agencies comply with their agreement to provide documents related to post adoption placements. To elaborate on this the domestic adoption agencies in Korea (Holt, Eastern, SWS, & KSS) have an agreement to provide post adoption placement reports back to MOHW, and for many years this part of the adoption process has been ignored by both the adoption agencies and MOHW. I say both because the adoption agencies have not been compliant on this agreement and MOHW for not having requested this until this year. So for over 50 years of ICA, MOHW has finally found a clause in the agreement that this portion of the agreement was not being faithfully followed by the agencies. According to MOHW, the post placement service agreement requires the agencies to report on a child until he/she is issued a US citizenship.

This all came about when a question was raised by a government representative in Korea on how they are to know how well the adopted children are coping with their new environment overseas. At this MOHW could not answer, so they turned to the agencies to provide them with an answer on post placement reports of children and whether they knew what percentage of children they have placed have the US citizenship. The agencies didn't know either. So the MOHW has requested the agencies to provide the post placement reports and a data on the number of children that have been issued the US citizenship. In the mean time all the EP requests filed with MOHW would be put on hold until the agencies comply.

I tried to reason with MOHW that granting EPs to the waiting children and the domestic agencies complying with the post placement clause seem to be two separate issues, thus EPs should be allowed so that children will go to their homes. But MOHW stated that they would not be able to release the EPs without the agencies' cooperation on providing post placement reports. They reasoned that for many years the agencies only cared about sending children abroad, but showed no interest in how children are adjusting to their new environment, thus there is no way to substantiate to those questioning on how the adopted children are doing.
MOHW maintained that this is one area that must be cleared by the agencies for them to get the waiting children released for adoption.

After much wrangling between the MOHW and the agencies, I am happy to report that today (as of 7/19/11 blog) that all four agencies have agreed to sit down with the MOHW to show that they do indeed can provide the post placement reports in the hope of getting the EPs cleared. I don't know what will come out of this meeting, most likely a determination by MOHW on requesting additional data until they are satisfied. MOHW has however given some relaxation to agencies as they seem to understand that to gather so may post placement reports at one time is impossible for the agencies. So the MOHW has asked the agencies to provide the post placement service reports on those children that were placed January and February of this year. And that the post placement reports must be provided from now on. Based on MOHW's review of the reports, they may or may not grant EPs, but I am sure the agencies will do all they can to cooperate to resolve this matter as soon as possible.

Please keep on praying for all those involved in the process, that God's wisdom that always advocates for the best interest of children will prevail and that they will all come home soon.

Sending Hugs

home study 101

2011-09-01T23:41:00.000-05:00

What exactly is a home study??

Before our adoption journey began I assumed it was a really scary home visit where the mean and overly critical social worker walked around with a white glove inspecting my baseboards and ceiling fans. Can I just say that, WOW, we would have failed. Also, I'm happy to say that Social Worker Kelly was neither mean nor overly critical. She wasn't the least bit intimidating! Ahhh, Malerie's fears relieved.

I learned that a home study is actually a document written by the social worker after many meetings/interviews with the family, stating his or her recommendation of the couple for adoption.

The interviews are quite in-depth, mostly about your personal life, such as schooling, discipline, childhood memories, family values, strengths and weaknesses as a couple, etc. The questions were not difficult, but very detailed.

Before our first interview I was nervous to get Gia's bedroom started. I just knew that would jinx us. Turns out, we passed!

All our friends assured us that we'd be fine, but until this Type A control freak experienced it, I found those words empty.

Now that our home study is officially complete, we have been moved to the Korea program in Holt. I'm not 100% sure about what that means right now. I'm getting emails only from the Korea coordinators, so that's a change. From what I can gather, we are now working with the people at Holt that are in direct contact with Korea's Holt office. Cool! I'm learning of fee changes and travel expectations....scary and overwhelming, by the way. We also now have access to the Families in Process site. When I have a day where I can sit and breath again (b-u-s-y) I'll check it out more. It seems to be a resource where other adoptive families are networking with one another. Maybe I'll learn some fundraising techniques, Lord knows I need them.

Speaking of, we had to move the first annual Orphan Run 5K (sponsored by Christ City Church) to March 24. Be on the lookout for more information.
I'm thinking of having another yard sale too. The other one was so successful, even if it did almost send us to the looney bin. That won't be until the spring, if we decide to do it.

I'm about to start organizing a Christmas fundraiser that will be awesome. I'm offering my Christmas shopping services for anyone who doesn't like getting out in the holiday traffic. Kevin and I always finish our shopping before December, but we still drive out to the mall late at night just to be part of the hustle and bustle. (Don't you just love using hustle and bustle when referring to Christmas?? It just fits!) I haven't nailed down all the details, but I'll probably be charging 15% of the total receipt. Let me know if you're interested or know someone else that may be.

Oh, and we have ordered more smalls and mediums in our adoption shirts. Let the ordering begin!

Sending Hugs

just sayin'

2011-08-31T22:38:00.000-05:00

I have absolutely nothing to say tonight that is earth-shattering. Nothing that will make your jaw drop. Nothing that will require you to immediately text your friend to say You've GOT to read this blog tonight. Nothing of importance, truly. But I promise to stay on the topic of adoption since that's what this blog is about.

Don't say I didn't warn you... :)

We have some sweet friends, Johnny and Courtney Grimes, that are in the beginning phase of adoption. Check their site out and pray for them as they start this fun yet emotionally draining adventure. Their latest blog is about Ethiopia facts. It got me interested in facts about Korea. Plus, I've been telling a lot of people about Korea lately. The funny thing is, I don't really know that much. So, I did a little googling!

The flag...

The Korean flag is called Taegeukgi. Its design symbolizes the principles of the yin and yang in Asian philosophy. The circle in the center of the flag is divided into two equal parts. The upper red section represents the proactive cosmic forces of the yang. Conversely, the lower blue section represents the responsive cosmic forces of the yin. The two forces embody the concepts of continual movement, balance, and harmony that characterize the sphere of infinity. The circle is surrounded by four trigrams, one in each corner. Each trigram symbolizes one of the four universal elements: heaven, earth, fire, and water.

the national flower...

It's so cute!

the music...enjoy!

This is Miss Korea 2011 and WOW she's beautiful. Maybe my daughter will one day fill these shoes. And then I'll be a Toddlers and Tiaras mommy. :)

My new goal is to study more about Korea's history. I know so little about it, only that South Korea is very much westernized and looks a lot like America in many ways. North Korea is still a mystery to me. And I haven't fully grasped what caused the separation. If you're a history buff, feel free to shoot me some info.

Sending Hugs

back to the waiting game

2011-08-21T00:19:00.000-05:00

Several months ago, maybe in January, I was helping my parents clean out my grandaddy's storage house and I ran across some old picture frames. I made them into chalkboard frames--one for Gia's room and one for our dining room. We are using it to write down verses to memorize.

By the time I finally got around to actually hanging it up, Kevin and I were reading through James. We were really drawn to James 3:17.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

This was one of those verses that took a while to sink in with me. And then we began pursuing Baby #2 and James 3:17 started making sense. God also had me reading Proverbs 8-9 at that time. Wisdom, wisdom, wisdom, wisdom... When I wrote the last post and asked for pray for wisdom, I honestly didn't know why that was on my mind. God knew. He knew we would need a heavy dose of heavenly wisdom.

Ok, so how does this tie in with the adoption?

Baby #2, as I wrote about in the last post, potentially had FAS. Kevin and I were in serious study mode to learn as much as we could about her and FAS, but it just wasn't clearing anything up for us. I mean, we had the head knowledge, but our hearts were just not lining up. I know it sounds cliche, but we didn't have a peace about this baby. As much as we really wanted her, there was nothing we could do or say to force it. So, after several hours of difficult conversation we decided to turn her down. Though we are sad to let her go, I already know of a family going after her and I know how thrilled they are. Yay! It's cool to see how God has lined it all up.

Where do we go from here?

Now that our home study is complete, we move to the call list for referrals. When Holt gets new referrals in they will call us first before emailing them out to the other families. I cannot tell you how excited that makes me! It will open up many other referrals for us that we otherwise wouldn't have seen.

Please keep praying for us as we start the waiting game again. :)

Sending Hugs

FUNdraiser and letters to Gia

2011-08-08T21:34:00.000-05:00

This Thursday, as in just a few more days, my school is hosting a city wide "pep rally" called Meet the Panthers. My FABULOUS boss, along with my equally as great athletic director, approved me to have an adoption fundraiser table. So, the wheels began turning.
What to do?? What to do??
Then I remembered an idea a friend gave me to do a silent auction. YES!
I tossed the idea around with my sister and we thought organizing it as a raffle might bring in more money. So, my plan is to have the table set up at the rally, but I'd also like to include you guys in on this too. Because it's TOO GOOD to not share with you. Trust me!

Be sure and read all the way down so you can know how to participate in this raffle.

These are the goods...

Now, let me break down each basket for you.

This is the Dinner and a Movie basket. It comes with...
two movie tickets (Alabaster theater)
a Cracker Barrell gift card which includes two entrees, two drinks, and two desserts (apprx value $45-$50)
five Moe's entree cards (apprx value $30)
one gift card to Helena's Home Cooked Meals (apprx value $20)
and a bag of microwave popcorn, because, well, why not?

Next up is the Pamper Me basket

This includes a pedicure gift certificate, one tanning session, and flipflops!
(apprx value $$35)

And here we have the jewelry basket, which includes a beautiful pair of purple earrings and a heart necklace. (apprx value $35)

And let's not forget this very cool piece of art. (apprx value $40)

This is a super cute door hanger. (apprx value $30)

And now for the biggie. :)

Are you ready?

I'm so in love with this basket. Drum roll.....

The AUBURN basket!

This includes a signed football by Coach Chizik, a signed football by Michael Dyer, and an autographed picture of THE Cam Newton. (apprx value: priceless) :)

So, here's how it works. Anyone interested in winning a basket will pay $5 for a raffle ticket. The more tickets one purchases, the more chances for winning. Names will be drawn Thursday night after the event and winners will be called/emailed Friday. If you are interested in winning a basket, all you have to do is donate $5 (or more, if you so desire) via the PayPal link on the blog. I'll fill out a raffle ticket for you and throw it into the box for whichever basket you like. Oh, it's so fun!

............

Now, off to another fun thing.
Several weeks ago my dear dear friend Amber challenged me to keep a journal for Gia. I loved the idea, but I couldn't seem to get started. I mean, how do you write to someone you've never seen or met? It just seemed impossible to me. Well, I took the leap this weekend and decided to just try it.

So, I bought an owl journal (cute!) and wrote the first entry to her. It was just a "get to know your parents" journal, but it was a start.

I'm totally sold into the idea now. It's so sweet to write to her, knowing she'll have this forever and ever. I think it will be hilarious when she looks back at it in 15 years and sees how ridiculous we look. There are things called Lifebooks in the adoption world. They are basically scrapbooks with adoption memorabilia: medical stuff, info on birthparents, pictures of foster parents, pictures from home country, etc. This journal is a variation of a lifebook. It's kind of like a look from the opposite side of adoption, the parent's view. This will be a precious addition to the Lifebook I'm sure we'll be making soon.

Sending Hugs

home study, part 2

2011-08-05T22:57:00.000-05:00

Let me first apologize for the 'cut and dry' nature of the last post. I just re-read it and thought Gosh, that is boring writing. In my defense, if you'll allow it, I feel like I've fallen into the rhythm so heavily that our current status seems stagnant and pale to our initial updates. But, I shall break through that mental barrier to provide you with a good readin'. :)

From the beginning...
Months ago when Kevin and I received our first set of referrals, there were two little girls listed. We quickly decided to pick one and see what would happen. What happened was another family was chosen to parent that adorable little girl. Difficult to hear, but God was still in control. He still is, too, in case you were confused for a brief momento.

The very same day that we got the 'no' phone call from Holt, Kevin said to me, "So what about Little Red Riding Hood?" Maybe I should explain that Baby #2 was wearing red in her referral picture. I naturally was gun-shy that day. What if we were told no to all babies? Is adoption really what we've been called to do? What if we wait 3 years before finding a baby? These are the questions that crammed my brain. I was in no condition to consider another baby that day. Or the day after. Or the day after that. If I'm honest, had it not been for Kevin, I don't think I would have ever picked another baby. I really had convinced myself that it was just too hard and not meant to be. Plus, Little Red had more significant medical needs that the first baby didn't, and I wasn't sure we were ready for that.

Even in the midst of all my doubt, I knew that it couldn't hurt to send her files to the IAC (International Adoption Clinic) to get an assessment. So we did. What we learned was that her needs are very manageable, maybe even nonexistent, except for the potential FAS. That one piece of news kept my guard up, but thankfully not Kevin's. He was so excited to know more about this baby that I couldn't help jumping on board with him. After all, learning about her didn't commit us to anything.

Last Saturday, almost a week ago, we finally got to the point of realizing that we can't say God is sovereign and then only live it out when it's convenient. This was a time that we simply had to trust. So, Saturday night we sent our "yes" to Holt about Baby #2.

Holt sent us another questionnaire to fill out, which we did last night. Today we get an email saying that a phone interview is probably not necessary since we had one last time. All we had to do is answer 3-4 more questions, mainly about FAS, via email and send them back. Kevin answered those today and we emailed them in to Holt.

At this point, we are waiting for the committee to meet to decide which family is chosen for her. There is only one other family besides us. We trust that God will place this precious little one (and WOW is she tiny) with the right family. I'm still scared. FAS is a huge unknown to me, and the spectrum of potential effects is overwhelming. I'm having to heavily trust that God will not place anything on us that He won't equip us to handle well.

I know all that may sound all doom-and-gloom, but I just want to be transparent in this process. We are excited about the potential match and being her parents!

In the meantime, Kevin had his homestudy interviews with Social Worker Kelly (sounds like a Barbie, right?). She came over last night and spent 4 hours with us talking about Kevin's life experiences, family, job, expectations, and other stuff. We both were interviewed about our marriage, discipline methods, childcare, time off from work, expectations, and general education on adoption. It's so hard to update on the homestudy interviews. I know it sounds like I'm hiding something, but it really is just a bunch of questions about us. I don't know how to update that, sorry.

So, what's next?

Social Worker Kelly sent us the homestudy draft today (WOW, fast!).
Side note: the homestudy, though it sounds very house and couple oriented, is actually a paper document that is sent to the placing agency and country of adoption.
Kevin and I will look over the homestudy and check for mistakes. Then it will be sent to Villa Hope so they can check for mistakes. Then it will be sent to Holt. If it passes Holt's requirements, it will then be sent to Korea. Yay! I don't know what Korea does with it. I'll have to do more research there.
So, we are technically done with Villa Hope and the homestudy. That was a big hurdle to cross and now we are focused on finding the right referral and making it past committee. We haven't heard when committee will meet for this baby. I know they meet every Thursday, so I'm hoping we can get in next week.

And now you're up to speed.

What to pray for?
- patience as we wait for committee to meet
- resilience as we prepare for the committee's decision
- wisdom as we continue studying FAS
- finances--the 5K is slow getting planned and we need to get that going like last week
- perseverance as we keep walking down this loooong path of adoption with all the emotions that go with it

As always, please let us know how to pray for you too!

Sending Hugs

home study, part 1

2011-07-28T19:03:00.000-05:00

Life has gotten back to almost normal in the past couple weeks, so I apologize for not updating the blog.

There hasn't been too much happening except the homestudy. Our lovely social worker Kelly (who is Korean!) came by Monday night for my portion of the study. She basically took the life story I wrote and asked more in depth questions about my background, family, job, and marriage. Kevin's portion is next week, and I'm pretty sure we'll be done at that point.

So, what happens after the homestudy?
Well, nothing will really change on our part. The homestudy just makes the adoption move faster once we choose a referral. If we choose a baby before the homestudy is completed, we are on hold until it's finished. Make sense? I was anxious to get the study completed when we started this process, so I'm naturally looking forward to getting it behind us.

It hasn't been as major as I thought. The thing that is consuming our time and energy is the referral emails. We have gotten several emails with sweet babies, but none that we feel led to pursue. Well, that isn't completely true. There is one baby we might move forward with, but we still aren't sure yet. The deadline for submitting our "yes" is next week. If we decide to go forward, I'll be sure and blog all the details for you. I will say this: Her special need might be fetal alcohol syndrome so we are trying to learn as much as we can about FAS in order to prepare. I'm torn. I love the idea of going after her, though 4 other families have said yes too, but I'm scared of the potential medical risks. The last thing I want to do is make a decision like this off of my own selfishness, but I also don't want to jump into something we aren't prepared for. It's a tough line to walk. You can definitely be praying that get some clarification in the next few days.

Alrighty, well next week will be busy with updates so stay tuned!

Sending Hugs

His mercies are, in fact, new

2011-07-15T23:20:00.003-05:00

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
-Lamentations 3:22-23

Yesterday we received the much anticipated call from Holt about Baby. There were three families interested in her, and we knew the other families were just as, if not more, qualified as us. And the committee's decision was to place the sweet baby with one of the other families. That was a crushing phone call to get. Kevin said earlier that day that if we were denied it would feel as though she died. And it did. And it felt like a part of us died too. Once we were alone we pulled over to the side of the road and just cried. We're all about the honesty here. :) We had a ton of people praying for us and we quickly updated them all via text or email about the result. Neither of us was in any kind of good shape to talk to other people. I had to turn my phone on vibrate to avoid all the responses. I was definitely grateful to know people were on our side and immediately offering comfort and support, but honestly all I wanted was to hear someone say Man, that stinks. Of course, our friends and family are too good for that and instead we were fed truth. I cannot thank you all enough for not falling into my selfish little pity party. I always need truth spoken into my life, even when it hurts to hear it.

So where does that leave us today? Well, I can't really speak for Kevin (he's out camping, not with me) but I am about a million times better. I knew I'd bounce back, just didn't know it would be within a few hours. Today was going to be a day out on the town with my sister and I seriously went to bed last night wondering if I'd even be a good hang out person. Turns out, I was! A friend of mine emailed first thing today and asked how I was doing and the Lord immediately brought to mind the Lamentations verse. His mercies are truly new every morning.

I know what we went through is so minor when compared to other situations we know of. Please know that I'm not trying to water those down in any way. For us, this was hard. In a year from now, we may go through something completely devastating and laugh at this. But right now for us, this was the benchmark. Thank you for recognizing that with us. I must say, God did not give me a huge dose of compassion, so it always amazes me when I meet people that are really in tune with how to comfort and read other people. Thank you for comforting us. I think if I had been in your shoes, I would have thought Oh, well they didn't get this kid. No big deal, there's always next time! Thank you for not doing that.

My dad asked me what our next step was. I don't know. We obviously are still walking down the adoption road and have every intention to find another little baby to love on. Maybe that will be this week, maybe not. I said in a previous post that I'd always imagined myself as one to share a pregnancy from the start and I'm going to continue doing that. Once we have another baby to seek out, I'll let ya know. :)

My focus is now on the Christ City Church first annual 5K Orphan Run coming in November. Be on the lookout for more info. It's gonna be great!

Sending Hugs

blossoms of hope

2011-07-12T19:26:00.000-05:00

First, a story from the book of Numbers.

Aaron’s Staff Buds

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers’ house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff, and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers’ house. Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you. And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you."

Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs. And Moses deposited the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.

On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.

Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the LORD to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff. And the LORD said to Moses, "Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die." Thus did Moses; as the LORD commanded him, so he did.

And the people of Israel said to Moses, "Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, shall die. Are we all to perish?

That was my quiet time yesterday and I was floored by the beauty of the text. Is that weird?
I know there is probably some deep and really spiritual meaning to this text that only super smart and overly pedantic people know, but for me it was a picture of God bringing life as only He can. From a piece of wood. Dead wood. From dead wood He brought blossoms and fruit! I immediately thought of the cherry blossom tree.

I'm no tree expert, but I'm fairly certain a cherry blossom didn't bloom from Aaron's rod that day. Could be because I've had Asia on the brain and I love Bath & Body Work's cherry blossom lotion (which I wore yesterday) so the cherry blossom tree was on default in this girl's mind.

It was nice to read that passage, which was a new text for me by the way, the day before our Holt interview. It made me think about God not only as the creator of life but also as the Guy that determines where that life lives. And that's what today was about, finding a home for a little baby.

The interview went really well. Basically, she asked questions about our likes, hobbies, plans for childcare, experience with kids, and jobs. There wasn't a right or wrong way to answer her. She explained that her job is to interview all the families and present each family before a committee of 5ish social workers who will then decide which family is best suited for Baby.

I was nervous before the interview. I am flat out anxious now. The next 40 some-odd hours will be excruciating as we wait on an answer.

Our prayer is that Baby will get the home she needs, not the one we want for her (though we'd take that!).

Sending Hugs

only 21 hours to help

2011-07-10T20:58:00.000-05:00

Do you like Thomas Kinkade's artwork? Do you like Christmas? Then I have a deal for you! Please go visit this site and help us bring home our daughter.

Sending Hugs

song of the waiting mother

2011-07-08T16:55:00.000-05:00

This is dedicated to all the adopting moms out there. You are a source of encouragement for me!

This poem is from the book Toddler Adoption and it made me teary-eyed when I read it. Though I don't believe all the ideas in the poem apply to me and Kevin, I do empathize with a lot of it. Enjoy!

Song of the Waiting Mother

I'm pregnant, but my tummy isn't growing,
And no one ever calls me "Little Mom."
The public simply isn't overflowing
With questions that I'd handle with aplomb.

There are no special clothes to mark my waiting.
Nobody stops and smiles as I pass by.
The absence of a due date is frustrating
And looking at the nursery makes me cry.

When I'm overdue no one will worry.
The phone won't ring and ring as friends check in.
I can't induce my labor in a hurry,
My new life as a parent to begin.

Adoption is a worrisome endeavor,
And waiting all alone is not much fun.
To be "with child" a year seems like forever.
Dear God, we're ready! Please send us our son!

Sending Hugs

it's erin, from the waiting child program...

2011-07-08T16:20:00.002-05:00

Last week I received an email saying that committee was tentatively scheduled for July 14 and we should be expecting a call to schedule our phone interview. Needless to say, my phone has been glued to me all week.

Today was our last day in North Carolina so I was hanging out at a Farmer's Market, waiting on the band's van to be fixed, and my phone rang. This was a surprise for two reasons.
1. Today is Friday. For some reason I assumed that since we had not heard anything up to this point, we would have to wait until Monday before getting a phone call.
2. Yesterday I got a call from an Oregon area code (same as our placing agency) but when I answered it, it was some recording about my last chance to buy insurance.

So my phone rang, and I answer it fully expecting to launch into my "please remove me from your list" speech until I heard, "Hi Malerie, it's Erin from the waiting child program."

YES!!

We are scheduled for a phone interview Tuesday at 1:30. Thursday is committee and we should know that day if we are the chosen parents. We obviously would love your prayers.

I sat down two days ago and wrote a lengthy blog about fear. It was a great soul bearing moment, but I just couldn't bring myself to post it. Not because I'm trying to hide anything, I just didn't get around to finishing it to share. I tell you this to let you know that we (at least I) need prayer in the area of believing that God will provide for this child. We have a long way to go with fundraising, and we are definitely trying to use all ideas and talents to meet the goal. God called us here, and he will provide. It's just much easier to say that than to believe it most days. Maybe I'll get around to finishing that blog and share it with you later. Until then, please pray with us for needs to be met.

I want to leave you with something fun. While in NC, Kevin took me to Black Mountain where there are super cute shops.

The first store we went into was a kids store and I found the cutest addition for Baby's room.

Thank you all! I am so nervous as I type this just thinking about what a life-changing week next week could be. Smiles.... :)

Sending Hugs

one strong cloud

2011-07-03T01:08:00.000-05:00

Do you know about Cloud 9? It's the strongest cloud ever here at the Huguley home!

We are still riding high off of the referral we received a couple weeks ago. As of today, we have gotten Baby's medical files reviewed (which was GREAT...more on that later hopefully), confirmed our interest to Holt, and filled out a lengthy questionnaire. We received an email from Holt just a couple days ago saying two other families are pursuing Baby as well and they've scheduled committee for July 14.

What's committee and what does that mean for us? Holt will schedule a phone interview with all three families, take that information before a committee of some sort, and decide which family is best suited for Baby. I've been told we should find out if we are the lucky parents the same day as the committee meets. So....that means we could be parents in just 11 days. Wow!

Now I guess you can see why we're still on cloud 9, huh?

It really should go without saying, but we know other families are interested. In the coming week, we plan to read more books (just got 4 more today to read actually), continue watching videos from the International Adoption Agency, and reflecting on our questionnaire answers in preparation for our phone interview.

Pray with us that this sweet (and TOO CUTE) baby finds the perfect home for her. Pray also that we will be as prepared as possible for our interview. That's all we can do on our part; we know God has it all in His hands.

Sending Hugs

the greatest (potential) gift

2011-06-19T22:06:00.000-05:00

I'm not pregnant.

I have always imagined that I would be the type of girl to, once I was pregnant, climb on my roof, megaphone in hand (can't neglect my cheer background), and scream the good news to anyone in a five mile radius. I know lots of people don't subscribe to that mindset because they want to make it through the first trimester knowing everything is okay before making the big announcement. After all, if you miscarry after telling the world you're pregnant, you then have to face the world and talk about the miscarriage. I get it. But still, I've always pictured myself wanting to tell anyone and everyone. That feeling only intensified the longer Kevin and I tried to get pregnant. I mean, there comes a point in the land of infertility that you will celebrate just about any form of good news, especially the ultimate gift of a pregnancy.

With that said, I now give you our news. And I give it to you knowing that we very well may have to retract this statement and face you all with bad news later. I'm willing to take that risk.

We have picked a baby to adopt!!

She is so adorable that words just can't describe her. And I'm sure it's illegal for me to show you her picture, so you'll just have to trust me on this.

We got a referral email Tuesday, the first email from Holt with Korean babies. I cautiously opened it, having convinced myself that either 1) there were no girls listed or 2) the medical needs would be so severe that we wouldn't be able to take her.

Not true. God is so funny when He proves me wrong time and time again.

There were four babies listed, 3 girls and 1 boy. Of the three baby girls, we chose two that we were interested in, requested their files, reviewed them, and picked one to pursue.

I feel full with joy. I think I've told every human that would listen to me about our potential match. I guess this is what it feels like to be pregnant, huh? I have these crazy emotions of happiness, fear, anxiety, thankfulness, and about 26 others too.

So what's next?

From what I understand, if we're the only family that requested her, which is doubtful, she's ours. As long as we pass our homestudy, of course. If there are other families that want her, we have to go to committee and have the agency match which family is best for the baby.

We selfishly ask that you join us in praying for favor, but more importantly that this baby girl finds the best home for her. We just want it to be with us. :)

Sending Hugs (maybe sooner than we thought!)

watermelon thoughts

2011-06-14T19:39:00.000-05:00

beach, grill outs, tanning (or burning), lemonade, sleeping in and then staying up late, windows down, AC breaking down, sun dresses, flip flops, family time, pedicures, and WATERMELON

These are summer necessities for me. I actually have watermelon growing in my garden this year! I've heard watermelon needs a lot of room to grow and my little garden is definitely not ready for that. We'll see what happens. :)

I also have some watermelon FOR YOU in my guest room!

Remember Kelly, the lady that makes the Dorkie Doors? I mentioned her in a previous post about us ordering a custom owl decoration from her.

Well, you may recall me saying Kelly was donating a piece for the auction.

This is a precious watermelon slice door hanger. It's just in time to display for summer and your 4th of July celebration. Kelly does such great work and I know you will love this item. Bid away!

We are still gathering items for our auction in preparation for the next bill headed our way, which I hear is a whopping $13,000. Wowzers. Anyway, I have a couple of good ideas for big fundraisers, but we will still have items here to bring in a little money until the biggies. My Facebook has an adoption auction photo album that displays all the items left.

So, where are we in the process? I've gotten that question a lot lately. We have submitted all the homestudy papers and are waiting on interviews. My guess is it will take until the end of the summer to complete that part. After homestudy, we go to Holt (our placing agency) and get ready to go get Baby Huguley. Who is she? We still don't know. We are getting emails with pictures and info on some kids, but none have been Korean girls. In fact, I'm not sure any have even been Korean. We get an email about once a month, but none of them have had our baby listed. And the waiting continues.

The good news is we still have plenty to do in preparation so the waiting doesn't feel stagnant. We have both been busy with adoption stuff and normal life stuff. Just call me The Energizer Bunny because I haven't stopped moving YET. School might be out for the summer but dance team and grad school are in full force. So, my time has been consumed with homework and attempts at cleaning. Oh, and P90X. My grad school buddies have been so sweet to ask about our adoption and buy t-shirts from us. I have learned that not a lot of people know anything about adoption, and I've found myself answering the same questions over and over again. With that in mind, I thought I'd take some time to answer those questions here for anyone else that's interested.

1. Why are you adopting?
This is kind of a two fold answer. First, we are called to adopt. Since before we were married, we knew we would adopt. What we didn't know what WHEN we would do it; naturally, we assumed it would be after biological children. That brings me to the second reason: we haven't been able to have children and God has confirmed to us that physically birthing a child is not the only way to become a parent. Our adoption dreams are happening sooner than we had ever hoped!

2. Why aren't you adopting from the US? We have homeless babies here.
Yes, that has been said to me. I was slightly in shock when I heard it, but it is a valid question.
In order to answer this, I have to start with this scripture, which has become SUCH a recurring truth in my life.
The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. -Proverbs 16:9

When Kevin and I first talked about adoption, which was while we were dating, I was pulled toward China and Kevin was pulled toward Africa. As God would have it, refer to above scripture, once we started researching companies to use we started to feel the domestic pull. That only confused us more. Here we had thought international adoption for years, and now, all of the sudden, domestic was on our hearts. There were several things we liked about domestic, but for whatever reason we could not get a peace about it. At all. Period. And I mean we tried to be blind and deaf to what God was telling us but, as you know, ignoring Him is impossible. I would love to go into more detail about how God spoke to use but I'm not sure I could write it and do it justice. I'll just say that we had about 7 families, unknown to each other, come to us over the course of about 3-5 weeks to caution us or tell us other countries/companies to consider. Some of those families didn't even know we were adopting. 'Nuf said.
Which leads to the next question...

3. Why South Korea?
As I said before, Kevin and I both had our own draws, China and Africa. Obviously, we landed on neither of those. In the land of international adoption, and a lot of people told us this, you have to research each country's requirements. Without going into all the boring detail, the basic requirements are age, salary/money, weight (sometimes), marriage length, and children in the home. Once you navigate through all that, you're only left with a few options to pick from. For us, it was Korea that won the battle, and we could not be more thrilled.

4. How much is it?
From my understanding, about $15-20K.

5. Why is it so expensive?
I have no idea, honestly. The money we've paid so far makes sense. Once we get to Holt with the big bucks I'll need more education. I'm sure some of it is court/attorney costs, but other than that I have no idea. In fact, I think travel expenses are separate from the $13K we will owe. Oh, me.

6. When will you get her?
I can only base our experience off of what our friends did, and their process was a year. That means, if the timeline is the same for us, we will be getting her around March or April 2012. :)

7. Do you know who she is yet?
Nope.

8. When will you know?
Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a year. It all depends on when the referral email comes to us with the picture and info of the girl we want to pursue. It's all in God's hands.

9. Will you adopt more babies while you're over there?
Ha! Oh, you're serious. I'm gonna say no. If you've seen my house, you know that's a wise answer.

10. Will she ever be able to speak English?
I'm kidding. I haven't gotten that question. He he he!

If you have any questions for us about this journey, I'd be glad to answer them. This really has been on-the-job-training for us and we once asked the very questions we're being asked. I'm still trying to answer some of them.

Please keep us in your prayers, but also keep Baby H in your prayers. I've been especially convicted about praying for her mom and family and their safety and protection.

Sending Hugs

christmas in...may?

2011-05-31T20:50:00.000-05:00

It sure felt like Christmas at the Huguley home this month! Our house literally had every corner filled with donation goodies, not to mention all the people that volunteered their time to help price and organize. Let me take this moment to send a BIG thank you to...
Terry and Peggy
my mommy and daddy
the Howell crew
the Akins bunch
sweet Collin and his wonderful mommy Amelia
the lovely Miss Gail
the precious Liz and handsome Jason
the cutest couple ever Taylor and Kelsie
the Bice crew
and the beautiful Brooke

I know we are forgetting someone, but please know we appreciate everyone's help. You all are more amazing than I can say in words. And let me say, too, that Christ City Church really showed up and showed out. Thank you for your kindness...you know who you are. :)

The yard sale was a HUGE success! We came out with $2300 which is almost to the dollar of what we needed. Praise God!
We woke up at 5:00am Saturday and started organizing the yard. I am still, yes still, learning to use this fancy camera (we've had it about 9 months now....) so unfortunately some of the pics I attempted didn't come out, but here are the ones that did. Enjoy!

More Christmas!!
My mother must love you guys because she is donating some really great items to this auction. The first is a set of Thomas Kinkade ornaments. They are breathtaking. Everything he paints is, but with it being Christmas oriented it makes it even more pretty. Take a little look-so for yourself.

And, Merry Christmas, here is the other amazing item my sweet mumsy is donating. This piece is super special. My parents have a little country house (waaaaay out in the country) that they venture off to every weekend now that they are childless. It's so peaceful and perfect out there. Anyway, my mom is a photographer at heart and she has taken a million pictures of their land. She picked a few of those pictures to take to a local artist who paints from snapshots. This is one of the paintings he's done for her.

So, Merry Christmas everyone. Start the bidding! :)

I'll leave you with some pictures of items still up for the taking.

Sending Hugs

yard sale teaser #3

2011-05-26T21:25:00.000-05:00

Yard Sale Countdown = 2 days!

We are well on our way to the greatest yard sale ever. Our house has been invaded (read that in a positive way) with our wonderfully sweet friends and family who have given up hours out of their day to help sort and price. Kevin and I were seriously on the verge of insanity last night. Ya see, our lil' house is, well, lil'. When you bring three Uhaul loads of goodies into a lil' house, it makes for a big ole potential crisis. Luckily, we were able to persevere and keep our eyes on the "prize" of Saturday's sale. Tonight we were able to get everything moved to its designated department of the house and priced. My parents are coming into town tomorrow with another load and we have more friends bringing some big items over too. After that, we are ready to pull the trigger. So, what are some of the items you'll see? Well, we have a pool, kiddie 4-wheeler, kiddie motorcycle/scooter, Marshall head, keyboard, lots of printers and computery stuff, tons of clothes, bedding/linens, a recliner, a kitchen table, books, movies, CDs, coffee table, bed, pinball machine, and much much more. Wow, I know. We have been BLESSED with donations and now it's time for you to show up and get the goods! Here is what may be the last teaser before the actual sale.

*Disclaimer: Apparently I still need lessons with the fancy camera, so please forgive the dark pictures. I didn't know my house was a cave!*

Our shirts finally came in!!

If you've ordered one, get ready to see it in the mail. They look so good!

Can't wait to see you all at the yard sale. Just look for our sweet banner. :)

Sending Hugs

yard sale teaser #2

2011-05-25T00:08:00.000-05:00

Tonight it's all about the clothes. And maybe more shoes. :)
Kevin is making about 6 pick ups tomorrow, of mostly furniture. Stay tuned!

Just for credit's sake, this is Kevin who is still up to publish Mal's post.
But uploading pics and typing these two sentences don't say a whole lot..
Regardless, at 12:47AM, that girl is long gone uh-SLEEP! Haha..
Goodnight.

yard sale teaser #1 AND new auction items!

2011-05-22T18:35:00.001-05:00

I feel like I should apologize for the pictures you've been forced to look at in the previous few posts. My iPhone isn't quite the Nikon that Kevin owns. I'm happy to say we're back to good pictures! Thanks, Kevin. :)

Apparently we are on a jewelry kick! I've had so many lovely ladies donate amazing items to us. This is a picture of all the jewelry--some you've seen before, some new-- that is currently available in the auction.

The purple earrings and green ring are still available, created by Julie Hand. Julie also just sent me the beautiful heart necklace. The pendant can come off to be worn with a ribbon if you like. I am in love with that necklace!

Also new for the auction is the pick stone bracelet. I saw these at Buck Creek Festival and bought an orange and blue one. :) This cute little number was donated by Teresa. She doesn't have a store or Etsy, so if you'd like more from her just let me know and I can send you her email.

The last new piece is one donated by one of my student's parents. Every week this young lady--the student, not the mom--would come to class wearing the most unique and creative, almost funky, jewelry. Necklaces, rings, bracelets, you name it. After complementing her about 723 times, I decided to take the leap and ask if her mom would donate to our cause. And she did! The chunky metal ring is from her. It's beyond words so cute. Seriously. This sweet lady makes and sells this jewelry in boutique shops in Homewood and Mountain Brook for almost $60 a pop. Get you a deal today! Name your price and it's yours, no need to pay $60, although it's worth it.

As promised, here are some of the nifty things you can get Saturday, May 28. 6 days and counting! Come out and support us!

kitchen chalkboard and frame

men's AE jacket....excellent condition

a sampling of the jewelry that will be available

movies

a sampling of the shoes

great stroller...I'm secretly hoping it doesn't sell so I can use it. :)

perfect working condition

I almost didn't change our living room decor because of this vase. Love it!

Sending Hugs

jewels, owls, and a yardsale

2011-05-13T22:04:00.000-05:00

Your adornment must not be merely external--braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.
1 Peter 3:3-4

Sorry I've been slow to blog lately. We've hit a nasty case of stagnancy. Kevin's background check came back fast so we were waiting on mine to clear before moving forward with anything else. At this point, nothing can be done until those checks are completed. I was enjoying the time "off" from organizing and filling out forms and then it happened. One fateful day I checked the mail to find an unusual envelope, something out of the ordinary to be in our mailbox. Because school is wrapping up and I'm busy grading papers and planning for final exams, I haven't been as mail-happy lately. I'm too focused on other things, sadly. So the curious little envelope was given a new home on the kitchen counter for about 3 days. Then, once I had time to breath, I came back to my senses, realized my mail obsession was back full force, and I opened all the goodies that had piled up. In said envelope I found this.

I am officially cleared for take-off, well, for adoption anyways. Those checks came back so much faster than I had expected! So, now we're working diligently to get the final packet of work sent back to Villa Hope. One of those items being our employment standings. Looks like we're in good standing and we get paid in real dollars. Whew! I've actually sent Kevin's band letter already, but we needed his church letter and my school info.

The second half of the homestudy is the interview process. Should be fun! I am really excited to get that started. To quote Angela from The Office, "I really enjoy being judged. I believe I hold up very well to even severe scrutiny." Ok, so I'm not that pumped about it, but I do think we'll make it out alive. The only thing that worries me is Kevin's busy busy travel schedule this summer. I want to get the interviews out of the way before he's MIA all summer long. Pray with me for good timing!

Now, I'd like to introduce you to a new friend of mine named Kelly Coppinger.

Kelly is a local artist that makes Dorkie Doors! Please check her out on Facebook under "dorkie doors" in Helena. I ran into her booth at Helena's monthly Trade Days and I fell in looooove with some decorative owls she made. Unfortunately, I didn't buy it at the time because I was convinced I would curse our homestudy if I bought something for the baby's room. Silly girl. I'm over that now so tonight Kevin and I went to Helena's annual Buck Creek Festival, found her booth, and ordered a custom owl. Oh, it's adorable! I cannot wait to get it so I can show you! And....are you ready for this?? She's agreed to donate a piece to our auction! The piece she's donating is a watermelon slice, just in time for summer. There is a picture on her FB page, and I'll post it here once she gets it made and delivered to me. You will love it, I know!

There's more!

The same day I discovered Kelly, I also found Julie Hand from Jewels Wired Up. She's another local artist who makes really cool jewelry. I have two pieces that I'm auctioning off and I'm hoping to hear from her soon about one more potential piece. Here's the goods you can bid on.

I love these so much! Purple is my go-to color these days so I was naturally drawn to them. I like the length.

They are simple enough to wear all the time but can be dressy too. Perfect!

I have found myself branching off into rings lately, which is probably why this caught my eye. It's cute! And the color is gorgeous.

My guess is it's a 6.5 or 7, but Julie said she could make it a smidge bigger, if needed. The way these rings are made will not allow her to tighten them.

If you aren't a jewelry person, remember these are great gift ideas!

I'll leave you with a teaser for our upcoming yard sale. This is just one load and it's not organized. TONS more stuff is coming and I'll post more detailed teasers as we get closer. Mark those calendars...May 28!

Sending Hugs

mother's day "sending hugs" flowers

2011-05-07T18:15:00.000-05:00

Friends are one of the greatest and sweetest gifts the Lord gives us. We are too blessed to have so many friends with us during this adoption journey. One such dear friend is Melissa. She is a master artiste with flowers and she has designed some breath-taking arrangements for you! And just in time for Mother's Day! Here is a picture she sent me from today. Already, three have been sold, but there are 10 more so claim them now!

If you are interested, message me with your email and I'll send you her info.

Sending Hugs

shirt for sale!

2011-05-05T22:43:00.000-05:00

We are placing the first order this week for these ADORABLE adoption shirts. Special thanks to Jak for designing this for us. Love it!

We are hoping to get kids sizes ordered too, but for now, just adult sizes are available.

Check out the "buy now" button to place an order.

Sending Hugs

clearances and fundraising

2011-04-29T21:19:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Belle had to get poked and prodded and stuck at the vet. Poor thing, but she is such a trooper! She was scheduled for her annual booster, but we had to add a couple more exams to it to get her cleared for a sister...of human kind, not canine kind. She did a great job too. I was so concerned about shielding her from the three pitbulls in the waiting room that I forgot to get my phone ready for pictures. I'm a bad mom. I promise pictures will be taken of my actual child!

Thanks to her clearance we were able to send off round 2 of paperwork yesterday. We have five more documents to turn in before being DONE with paperwork at this level. I'm sure more paperwork is to come when the homestudy is complete and we are moved to Holt, but for now we can see the light! The remaining paperwork is a beast though. Apparently we saved the more detailed stuff for last, ugh. Part of that decision is needing Kevin home to help me fill it all out. In the next week we need to write out a budget and our life story. As you know from my previous blog, I DO NOT do money/budgets so it's a must for Kevin to be home for that. So, those are the biggies left to do.

Belle isn't the only one cleared for take-off; I got an email today from Villa Hope that Kevin's background check is back and he's clean! Whew, we were worried about that. This was huge news to get because until our background checks are completed we can't move forward with the actual homestudy meetings. Now we're just waiting for mine. I wonder why it's taking so long... Kidding! We also can't move forward until we pay our first bill. We still have about $500 left on this bill to pay before we can move forward. May 28th is our scheduled yardsale and we're praying we can raise at least that. Of course, when this bill is paid, we're faced with the second (and I think final) bill which is about $1500. Oh, money.

Speaking of money and fundraising, I've been making phone calls about scheduling a 5K race. We'd like to have it in November since that is orphan awareness month. The only hindrance with the 5K is event insurance. Renting the place is doable. Paying the officials is doable. Discovering how to get event insurance does not seem doable. If we can pull this off it will be such a blessing so I'm praying God opens doors quickly.
Kevin has been working on designing a t-shirt. We haven't ordered them yet but here's a sneak peak! Let me know if you're interested. :)

Continuing our auction...
Tonight's auction is from my dear friend Angelyn. She has an Etsy shop set up for her own fundraising for her trip to Africa this summer. She's a blessing to us and has kindly donated her talents to our adoption. Please check out her shop and buy something to help her get to Africa! If you like what you see post a bid in the comments.

One last thing. Our precious friends, The Bices, are having their adoption yardsale tomorrow in Hoover. Message me for the address if you are interested. They have some GREAT stuff. Check their blog for some teasers. I will be there bright and early to make sure no one gets the stuff I want!

Sending Hugs

korean culture

2011-04-21T22:07:00.000-05:00

I'm on a mission to learn more about Korean culture. I figure that would be helpful, seeing as we will be traveling there in about a year or so. I realize that my seemingly new obsession will seem contrived to some. Trust me, it's genuine.

It all started with my gateway drug, Memoirs of a Geisha. (Read it. It's fabulous.)

And then I found Thousand Splendid Suns and Kite Runner. Wow. Those were actually so good that Kevin read them. If you don't know, he's strictly a non-fiction reader.

And then I was all about southern culture books, my favorite being a recently read The Help.

I attribute my love for cultural literature to my friend Kristy, whom I taught with at Homewood a few years ago. She is a multi-culture genius! Some seriously good reads came from her.

So now I'm going in the direction of Korea. It is an obvious choice, but I promise the roots were planted long ago. My eye is on Please Look After Mom. It's about a mom going missing in a train station and is told in four perspectives, all family members. I was in Barnes & Noble tonight and saw it on the New Arrivals table...for $24.99. No, thanks. Amazon will give it to me for about $14, used. I'm cool with that. Maybe I will order it this weekend. Or maybe the Easter Bunny will bring it. If I can get my hands on it, I promise a book review. Bookworms unite!

To go with my Korean research, I'll leave you with a lovely Gilmore Girls clip AND a great blog I found authored by Korean-American sisters. Winning!

Sending Hugs

money lessons, faith, and the first send off

2011-04-20T18:19:00.000-05:00

And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19

Do any of you remember Blue's Clues? It was this cute kid's cartoon featuring a blue dog named, what else, Blue, and his oh-so-jolly owner Steve. Blue and Steve would go on a little mission each episode, finding Blue's clues that would lead them to the final prize. The show was after my time, but I used to watch it while baby-sitting. Anyway, there was a mailbox song they would sing every show in celebration of the fan mail coming in.
Here's the mail, it never fails! It makes me want to wag my tail. When it comes I wanna wail MAAAAIL!
I should confess now that I often sing that song in my head as I check the mail. Getting mail is a delightful thing and I really do look forward to it every day. Even the bills. Just kidding.

We have been getting some cool mail in recently, along with bills. Two of our sweet friends, Sarah and Mrs. Laura (and hubby Mr. Bruce) graciously sent us surprise donations. These are people that Kevin has gotten to know while traveling the country. So they were able to catch him on the road a week or so ago and offered some adoption money they felt led to give us. Kevin, being the sweet husband he is, requested that they send their gift to us via snail mail because I love getting mail. Truly, that was his reason. My wife loves getting mail, can you send it to us that way? And they did! It was fun! I am so grateful to the people who have felt called to help us and donate to this cause. I will never ever be able to repay the kindness.
I mentioned bills too. Yep, those have been coming in with the fun mail. Contamination! Villa Hope and Holt have both sent bills to us in the last week. The good part of adoption bills, at least at this stage, is you don't have to pay them right away. Villa Hope will proceed with our home study whenever we decide to pay them. Simple as that. Well, you know me, we're doing this as quickly as possible! I'm like Monica on Friends. When a bill comes in, I do not wait to pay it. If the money is there, send it. In this case the money was very much NOT there. The Villa Hope bill was rocking out at $1150. Not $11.50. Good news is that we do have a savings account set aside for adoption so any donations we get go straight into that. Bad news is that it isn't a big account. Definitely not $1150 big.
But the Lord is big and I'm having to remind myself of that daily. I paced the kitchen for two days (not the whole two days, I'm not crazy) after that bill came in.
How in the world are we gonna pay this?
What else can I do to fundraise? Should I take a second job this summer?
Are we saving enough out of our paychecks each month?
This bill is small compared to what we'll be facing in about 9-12 months. How will we ever pay that?

I'm a money fretter, ask Kevin. If you asked me to budget $20 I'd find a way to stress about it. So you can imagine what this was doing to me. During those two days of me pacing and questioning I kept being reminded that this journey we are on is not ours. It's the LORD's path. I cannot control how fast it moves or how it gets paid for. I can be responsible and plan and do my part, but I can only do so much. My prayer life needed a spark, apparently, so God is starting to show me how huge this adoption thing is, financially. All I can do is pray about how to be a good steward through it all.

Now on to the fun updates!

With all that mail coming in, it was time for me to send some back.

We are finally getting things checked off our list. Did you notice on the list that Belle will need to send her updated records? She's so lazy, who knows when that will happen! Ha! :) I'm taking her to the vet next week to get her all caught up.

I checked the status of our fingerprints and they have safely made it to Virginia. Now the long wait begins to get the background check completed.

The first of many mailbox send-offs. :)

time with a police officer

2011-04-11T21:01:00.000-05:00

This past week was something new for us. Yup-- time at the Helena Police Department. Though we weren't there for trouble we had caused, it still felt a little funny walking in the door. So.. We decided it would be enjoyable to snapshot our journey in getting our fingerprint cards filled out. Pictures below are for your viewing pleasure.

-Kevin

Sending Hugs

yard sale

2011-04-09T12:59:00.000-05:00

Next month, probably May 28th, we are having a yard sale to raise some money to bring home Baby Huguley. Let me know if you are interested in donating items. I'll gladly come pick them up, if needed. Thanks!

Sending Hugs

home study update/wreath winner

2011-04-05T23:18:00.000-05:00

Today's meeting with Villa Hope was very productive. We were given lots of info to think through and tons of paperwork to read over and sign. Paperwork is no obstacle for me. Bring it! In the next week my goal is for us to get our "life story" written and get fingerprints done. I would like, too, to get Belle's vaccination records in hand. I didn't think she would have work to do! Ha ha! I was encouraged to hear that our entire home study could be completed within 2-3 months.

Getting this work done along with grad school and my teaching job is a lot. My prayer is that I'll stay steady and not get overwhelmed and shut down. I'm pumped about finally getting everything rolling, but I'm also seeing how much work is involved. Planning and organizing are the keys here. I might purchase new cutesy binders that will inspire me to organize all our new goodies. :)

Kevin has posted the sunglasses on eBay. Search under hugulkd so check them out.

Congrats, Deedra, for winning the book wreath! My sister asked me if there were two winners for that like there was for the other wreaths. I'll check on that and let you know. Deedra, I'll pass Michelle's email to you soon and let y'all get the detailed figured out. Don't forget to plug your donation into the paypal button. Thanks so much for supporting us!

Sending Hugs

ebay item and prayers

2011-04-04T21:09:00.001-05:00

If you are interested in the neat-o book wreath, remember to bid in the next 24 hours. Kevin says if the wreath bid gets up to $50, he'll personally find an antique book to use next time he's on the road. Right now my sweet sister has the bid at $20.

The photography package by Page is still open at a great price. Only $100 for a pretty amazing session.

Tonight Kevin and I will be putting some sunglasses on eBay. Look 'em up! We have Costa Del Mar, Ray Ban, Maui Jim, and Kaenon. These are some high quality sunglasses that you could get for a lot cheaper than retail. I think eBay keeps their items up for a week.

Keep us in your prayers tomorrow as we have our first home study meeting. Apparently it will be a lot of paperwork, but that isn't a problem for me. I seriously think I'd be a content young lady if I could do secretarial work all day. Except filing. I do hate filing. But organizing and filling out papers...done.

Here's me getting all the preliminary paperwork ready to go for our meeting. Exciting!

Sending Hugs

winner winner, chicken dinner

2011-03-31T20:44:00.000-05:00

That quote makes me think of the movie 21. Have you seen it? It's fabulous. Genius even. Kind of like Beautiful Mind, except with cards and the people are actually there.

Moving on.

Tiffany and Michelle are the lovely winners of Lindsey's wreaths. I cannot wait to see pictures of those custom creations. I know Lindsey will do a great job on them. Since the frames weren't bid on, I'll keep them going for a while longer.

One person has already signed up for the photo session with Page and there are still plenty of spots let if you are interested. Go to her blog and check out the magic she can make.

This blog is not intended to be solely for fundraising, but I do appreciate the outlet it is giving me in doing just that. For me, blogging needed a purpose. Right now that purpose is to share our adoption story with whoever wants to hear it and pray with us along the way. So pray for my heart to be completely focused on God. Not what God can give me. It's funny that when you're dealing with infertility, your whole world becomes about babies. Who has one. Who doesn't. How many that person has. How you don't have one. In the midst of that, you forget that GOD is still there. Sure, you pray, but you ask for a baby. After all, he will give you the desires of your heart, right? What's wrong with praying for a baby? Well, a lot if your heart is in the wrong place. I had finally gotten to a place where I was okay (not great, but okay) with the idea of not having my own child because we were free to pursue another avenue that we were passionate about-adoption. Now that a biological baby isn't weighing on my heart and sticking to my every thought like day old gum, I'm noticing that adoption is doing that very thing. God does promise to give us the desires of our heart, sure. And babies, biological and adopted, are great biblical things. We are supposed to count children as a blessing from the Lord. However, we are not to make that an idol. Last night at bible study this very scripture was brought up and we briefly discussed how often it is misinterpreted to say that if our wants line up with the Bible we will be granted those things. What I have been learning for a long time now is that it's not enough for my wants to line up with the Bible. My wants have to be molded after my desire for God. GOD should be my want. I have to confess that isn't the case most of the time. I say it's true, and I really want it to be, but all too often I'm loving what God can give me. So pray for me as we continue down this long path that I will seek God daily and be satisfied in Him alone.

Pray for the Bice Family , too, as they adopt. In fact, I think they are having a yard sale Saturday so go and buy!

Also pray for my dear friend Angelyn, who will be serving in Africa this summer in a street kid ministry. She is also fundraising but her timline is significanly shorter than mine. Talk about stress! She is super talented and has created an Etsy shop where you can see all the talent God has given her. I love hearing her describe how she started painting because she had never ever painted before until this fundraiser and God seriously just gave the talent to her. See for yourself. It's amazing. Buy something for you. And then buy something for a friend.

We have an update!!
Villa Hope called today to schedule our first home study meeting for next week. Yay!
I would like to take this time to tell you how amazing our God is. Kevin's been recording for what seems like 17 years now. In reality it's only been about 8 weeks, but who's counting? Well, the band was scheduled to stay in the studio for another week or so to finish up. Recently Kevin got word that next week they would be coming home because their engineer would not be available to work. Good for me, bad for recording. Needless to say, Kevin was bummed to pause the recording because it means they will have to go back at the end of April to finish. Fast forward to this morning. Villa Hope wants to schedule our first meeting with both me and Kevin next week. Guess who will be in town next week? Yup, one Kevin Huguley. Now if we had had our way, that man would be in the studio finishing up some cool tunes, but God had greater plans. For that, I am so grateful! Praise HIM!

Sending Hugs

more to auction off

2011-03-29T22:23:00.000-05:00

I've had some requests to speed the auctions up. Tighten those seatbelts! :)

There are several people that are still donating items but haven't actually gotten the items (or pictures) to me. I obviously can't post those, but they're coming. Soon.

I will, however, honor the requests of my loyal followers and post the goods that I have.

The wreaths and pictures frames that I posted last week will end this Thursday. FYI.

Tonight's post will end...April 5. Let's go!

First up, a lovely photography package from the uber-talented Page Dollar. Check out her blog to see more pics, but here's a small taste. She took these for us for our 5 year anniversary last May. Beautiful! Obviously this is a local thing, since Page does live in the B'ham area.

Page has offered to photograph as many people that want to sign up as possible! Everyone's a winner! There will be a $100 sitting fee with $75 going to our adoption fund. She's phenomenal, seriously. Catch her now before she's big time! I'm not kidding. Post in the comments if you are interested, drop in your $75 to the donate button, and I'll direct you to Page.

Next up is a very cool piece of decor. I have never seen anything like it and I'm so impressed. Kevin saw this picture and dropped his jaw! Our good friend Michelle is putting her creative juices on the table to offer you this...

How awesome is that! A book wreath! I just love it.

In the past two days I've gotten even MORE donations. Coming soon: handmade AWESOME jewelry, Thomas Kinkade items, and lots of paintings. Also, some bigger-ticket items will be put on EBay too, but I'll let you know before so you'll have a heads-up.

Sending Hugs

just checking in

2011-03-27T22:22:00.000-05:00

Hey, guys!
The last few days have been "perspective days" for me. I have had lots of people ask me for updates and it's as if I'm having an out of body experience every time I'm telling them. I hear me telling them and I'm wanting to scream Malerie, just be patient! It will happen in God's timing. Even the little stuff! Patience is such a difficult virtue for me, and it always has been. Being in a position of no control only makes it worse. Oh, me....

The only update we have right now is "hurry up and wait." Holt has our info. Villa Hope has our info. Just waiting at this point. I assume we'll be doing a lot of that in the coming months.

I am thrilled to announce that our friends, Jason and Liz, brought home Hannah last week. Adorable! I'm so happy for them and their new family. I can't wait to get more updates from our other friends adopting.

Don't forget about our auctions! There are two going on right now--wreaths and picture frames. There has been one bidder so far on the wreaths so jump on that if you are interested.

Be on the lookout for some cool stuff coming to the blog auction. I'll give you a little teaser: Coach Chizk signed football, Thomas Kinkade goodies, and more handmade crafty jewels! Stay tuned and pass the word to friends.

May 14 is our tentative yard sale date. Mark your calendars; we've had people promise to donate some great stuff!

Kevin is working on a t-shirt design that we will post soon too.

Sending Hugs

auction time part 2--picture frames

2011-03-24T21:03:00.000-05:00

This week we'll do two auctions at one time. Here are some picture frames that the great and wonderful Lindsey will make for you if you are the luck TWO highest bidders. You will get two frames and will be directed to Lindsey via email to figure out sizes and colors.

And go! This one will close March 31 too.

auction time--wreaths

2011-03-24T20:28:00.000-05:00

I was completely wrong when I labeled the previous post "the not so fun stuff." I have been giddy today with all the ideas given to me for fundraising. Some ideas will take longer to put in place than others; others can start now! So.... here we go!

Auction rules:
1. the item will stay "open" for one week
2. you can bid in the comments section of this blog or send me a message on Facebook
3. the winner(s) will be contacted...somehow :) and will pay through the PayPal link on this site
4. remember all money goes toward our adoption

Disclaimer: This is my first time doing anything like this so we will learn together. If we run into a hiccup, we shall persevere! I think it will run smoothly, though.

Now for what you really care about.

This week's auction is for the lovers of all things cute and crafty. My good friend Lindsey has agreed to amaze you with her Martha Stewartness (my words, not hers). We are auctioning WREATHS. The two highest bidders will be directed to Lindsey via email to discuss colors and materials (mesh or feathers) so that your wreath is more personalized to your liking. Here are some pictures to show off her skills.

And...let the bidding begin! It will end March 31.

the not so fun part

2011-03-23T21:57:00.000-05:00

5K races, snack stands, selling goodies at work, walking door to door, designing t-shirts, wishing Belle could talk....
These are all ideas that have been swirling in my brain for the last week about how to raise the funds we need. I realized that I'm jumping the gun, go figure, on the timing, but I say it's better to start early with a task this big. With that said, I have been given this idea from a couple of friends so I'm trying it out. If it works, great; if not, we'll try something else.

Ready for it?? Ok!

There are two people (so far) that have agreed to use their creative juices for the glory of God with our adoption. These lovely women are incredibly talented. Far more so than I can ever aspire to be! They will be donating an item (or items) to me to post here on the blog for y'all to bid on. That's right, it's our own Ebay! I'll post the item, along with the designer and how you can contact the designer if you desire more cute stuff from her, and you will bid for the item in the comment section of the post. The highest bid wins. Once you submit your payment via the PayPal link, I'll mail you the item. Easy, right? You are really going to love this stuff.

On a related note, if you are super talented, or not, and want to donate your gifts to our cause, please let me know and I'll gladly add your piece to our little auction. The more, the merrier!

Sending Hugs to Korea

don't worry, be happy

2011-03-21T19:47:00.000-05:00

Today was a work day at school (that means no students). As I was sitting at my desk I saw my phone ring, and it was an Oregon number. Our agency, Holt, is based in Oregon so I knew it was some kind of news about the adoption. When I finally got around to checking the message, I learned that Holt sent us a very important email...yay! Basically we now have all the inside access to Holt's site, including the waiting children. I learned that we actually do not have to have our home study complete to be matched with a sweet little one. Wow, such a blessing! We are still pressing through with the home study, obviously, but now we can pursue a child at the same time. I cannot wait to start looking at some files!

Thank you for all the sweet emails, texts, phone calls, and Facebook messages regarding our adoption journey. It really means a lot to us knowing that we have a lot of support. Love you all!

anxious already

2011-03-20T22:55:00.000-05:00

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."
Philippians 4:6

Kevin made a surprise visit home today! And while that meant good hang time and grass cutting, it was also a prime opportunity for us to fill out home study forms. We sent off the Holt forms last week (they are being processed), but the home study will be done through a different company called Villa Hope. As soon as I figured out that VH would conduct our home study, I contacted them to basically say How do I get things moving? I didn't even wait for Holt to tell me what to do. VH emailed me their packet/application with directions, but I've been waiting on Kevin since I can't really forge his signature. Tonight was Villa Hope night at the Huguleys! I have a large envelope here ready to be mailed first thing tomorrow morning with our initial check. One of many, I'm sure. I'm so anxious to get everything going that I'm afraid I'm moving out of order. Does Holt have to contact VH and tell them about us? Do we have to wait for VH to call us after talking to Holt? Who knows!
After getting all the paperwork together, I immediately emailed Villa Hope to ask if our home study could possibly be finished by the end of May. WOW! Talk about shooting for the stars. In the midst of all this, I was gently reminded that God commands us to be anxious for nothing. Nothing. Even when it's something as dear as adoption. The Greek word for anxious means, from my little research, "to promote one's interests" or "troubled with cares." I was taken aback by the first definition. Am I promoting my own interests in all of this? Yes. I am so excited about being obedient to God's call of adoption, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited about having my own child. And the sooner the better. I have been encouraged with stories of one year (or shorter) adoption, and I'm spoiled. In my head our adoption is one of those fast ones. God might have another plan that will drag it out longer than what I want, but that's just it...what I want is not always best.

I am to be anxious for nothing, but pray for everything.

the starting point

2011-03-15T22:38:00.000-05:00

James 1:27
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

I'm sitting in Sweet Tea Studios in Oxford, MS as I type this, in awe of everything God has done in the last couple years.
"The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps," says Proverbs 16:9. That has never been truer for me than right now in my life. Kevin and I are coming up on our 6 year wedding anniversary, and we always thought little kiddos would be with us by now. Wow, how God laughs at our plans sometimes. We learned a little over three years ago that infertility was in our life in a big way. I'm still not 100% sure what that means for us, but I do know that God is sovereign over that and we are trusting Him with the desires of our heart. While praying and crying and losing sleep over this massive boulder in our road, God showed me that the heart I had for adoption prior to getting married needed cultivating. This was about 18 months ago. I started listening closer to the ones around me who were adopting or had adopted. Their stories were amazing and all had the distinct fingerprint of God. For me, adoption has never been something you do if you can't have your own kids, but it was something to do after having our own kids. I knew I would adopt; I just thought it would be after little Huguleys were here. God's thoughts are bigger and higher than my own and I'm learning that one day at a time. After almost a year of talking with Kevin and praying about when to get started, we finally felt the green light. That is the quick version of the story that brings you up to speed to today. Kevin and I have spent the last several weeks sifting through adoption agencies, trying to find the "right" one. I'll spare you all the tiny little details of how we made our decision, and I'm happy to say that we have started the process of adoption. Holt International is our agency of choice, South Korea is the country. Where are we exactly in the process? We have submitted our application to Holt and by the end of the week we'll have our home study application finished. Then the fun will start!

As heavy as my heart has been for biological children, God has graciously turned that energy into an excitement for adopting from South Korea. I cannot wait to share this journey with you! Please, please, please keep us in your prayers during this process. From our very limited knowledge, we are understanding this to be at least a year's long adventure with a lot of ups and downs. We have a huge support system of people that have adopted and are still in the process, and they have been honest about the good, bad, and ugly. We are mentally prepared for it....we think. :)

The first big hurdle that we will face is fundraising. You'll notice that there is a donate button on my blog where you can give whatever amount you feel is appropriate. I'd love for you to pass the blog address along to your friends and family so we can gather support from all areas. Know that we are in need of your prayers first; anything above that is icing on the cake.

Love!