New Fundraiser!!

So, a sweet lady who takes amazing pictures has offered up some prints to adopting families to help with fundraising.  These would be wonderful for framing to hang on your wall or to give as a gift.  You can choose any of the pictures for a set of 2 for $20.  They will be 5X7 and printed on mounting board.  I will be taking orders for a couple weeks and then getting them printed and then I will just keep it open as an ongoing fundraiser.  Payments can be made through the chipin button to the right and then email me at ss(dot)scrappers@gmail(dot)com with your pictures selections and mailing info.  

Also, this picture above, I am considering ordering note cards to sell in packs of 5.  Please EMAIL ME FIRST if you are interested in this!  I will let you know if they are available and the price :)

Thank you so much Courtney at http://www.storinguptreasures.com/ for offering these to adopting families!!!  Your pictures are amazing!

Thoughts on adoption and random stuff

Adoption.....

So, we have been talking adoption a bunch in our house lately and it's very exciting. First off, we are hoping that our agency will be soon changing their policy that required us to put our adoption on hold until Baby Sis is 6 months old. That is great news, and I'm very excited to actually get to DO something towards our adoption. Unfortunately, the reason that they may change the policy is that the total time it is taking to adopt in Ethiopia is getting longer. Right now, there are no hard time lines, international adoption is very unpredictable and it's just too early to tell. Ethiopia did start issuing 5 letters a day like we feared, but I'm hoping and praying that that number will start to increase and possibly resume to it's average of 30 a day soon.

With this possible slow down, we have been feeling God work in our hearts to expand our choices for our little boy. We are going to be considering an older child and watching the Waiting Child list and possibly some other things that I'm not going to share right now ;-) Don't you hate it when people in blogs do that?! Hehehe, sorry!

The big thing that God has really spoke to me in these changes is that we still are to go to Ethiopia. I was doubting that for a few days and just feeling confused on what we were supposed to do. I considered changing countries, looking at AA newborn domestic, but every time, God kept pulling me back to Ethiopia until I was on the same page as Him. I can't wait to tell all the details!

So, we are still in waiting mode, even though all this "movement" has been going on in our heads and hearts, we are waiting and resting in the Lord. We are about to start thinking about raising money. I think I am far enough from the I just had a baby stage, to realistically think about adoption fundraising. The great thing is that we will not be touching a single school book for the month of June, so it's a great time for me to plan. I did just have a dream last night that Oprah offered to pay for our adoption, that would be great (if any of her people happen to be reading this!), but I probably shouldn't hold my breath ;-)

Random Other Happenings....

Baby Sis is the best baby we have had to date.  It could be that we are 10 years older and wiser and more laid back, or it's because I have two big girl helpers....maybe a bit of both!

Big sisters have started swim team, mom is just about over it already and we are only in week 2 of 6. Pray for me, practice is five days a week!

We've had lots of family drama with the extended family. Surgeries, illnesses, ER trips and marriages falling apart at the seams... Honestly, I knew Jesus wasn't coming this past weekend, but I was longing for a his perfect healing more than I had in a while.

One of my favorite parts of having a baby again is a really strange one, so I thought I'd share.  Cloth Diapers!!!  They are so awesome and I can't believe I didn't do this with the other girls.  I am so excited that I don't have to spend tons of money on things that I just throw away (though I will confess that I do spend some, hem, hem, on these pretty fluff) and they are so so squish, comfy and cute on baby!

I suppose that's it for now, the laundry is piled and the dishes need to be done, but I'm off to play with baby and maybe sneak in some reading before I have to make dinner.  Life with three isn't so crazy, it's the fact that I can't get enough of snuggling baby that's the killer....nothing else gets done!

Still Sitting on the Waiting Train

Well, yes, we are still waiting and waiting.  It's funny, because on one hand I would love for little miss to stay exactly the same.  She is so precious of a baby, I can't get enough of holding her and taking care of her.  One the other hand, I love that she is growing and thriving, yesterday she squealed at me for the first time, music to my ears.  The icing on the cake.... the more she grows, the closer we get to 6 moths old!

That's right, 6 moths is the magic number that we can officially re-enter the Ethiopia program.

Today for a fleeting moment I thought we might squeeze in early.  There have been new developments in Ethiopia, since the 5 letter a day announcement, they have not been going by that, but putting out quite a few more than 5 letters a day.....until this week.  The 5 letter a day has started.  So, there was some rumors and speculation that the pregnancy policies might change since wait times could extend into the years instead of months :-(  So, I decided to call out agency and see what was up.  Right now, they are not sure if the 5 letter a day will continue or just be temporary to save face....if it does continue, they may change policies, but probably not soon enough to affect us.

So, we wait....September 11th, a day to remember for our country....but a new date in my mind of hope.  My sweet girl will be 6 months old and we can officially get this party started....again...2 months down, 4 to go.

Please be in prayer for the country of Ethiopia, this is a great program where orphans are being rescued and given forever families.  It will hurt the children most of all if this program slows down this much.  I don't want our son to wait any longer than humanly possible to come home.