Chore Charts and I Need Your Help

I am SOOOOOO excited because we finally got the kids chore charts up on the wall last night. I had ordered them a couple of months ago but things got crazy with sick kids, my Etsy shop, needing to paint the room they go in and more.

I found these chore charts a few months ago doing a review for Fisher Kids and I was totally blown away by the family that does this and the passion they have behind these. This is not only teaching kids responsibility with helping out around the house but also teaching them to save and to tithe. They also have an amazing website to give you wonderful support in teaching your kids to become responsible adults (honestly that is something this country really needs to work on).

If you click here you can see a video their local news did about them.

We have never really done "chores" with the kids before. We have had them help out around the house plenty but never really given them something that they are specifically responsible for.

Anyway, today I need to work on putting actual chores together. Can you help me and give me ideas you do for chores?

Thanks!

Crazy Love Challenge

My bloggy friend Linny (which I got to hug in person a year ago) has been having these wonderful Crazy Love Challenges. Pictured below is my birthday gift from my hubby that I got from her first challenge of supporting families that were doing things to raise money for their adoptions. I knew I had to have one of these as soon as I saw it. Just in case you just have to have one of these you can click here to find out how to get one.


A couple weeks ago Linny shared on her blog that her church is doing a big Crazy Love event and asked if anyone would like to join in on the fun and spread some Crazy Love this summer. Linny sent Chris and I some Crazy Love cards to pass out when we spread some Crazy Love.

Linny has asked people to blog today about how they spread Crazy Love so I will share with you what we did. We got our cards in the mail last week and Chris and I were going out on a date night. I handed Chris a Crazy Love card and told him we needed to use this on our date night. I really thought I would have to figure out something for us to do but no my wonderful, amazing, totally cute hubby had been thinking since the moment I gave it to him about what we should do. We went out for dinner at a place that wouldn't cost us much but would be fun for us to go to. As we were eating Chris said "I'm going to leave a crazy tip for our Crazy Love." Chris then left a tip that was double what our meal cost and made sure it was wrapped up very well in the Crazy Love card so they wouldn't miss it. I have to say I have never had so much fun leaving a tip in my life. Are we crazy for doing that when we are not overflowing in money by any means? You bet we are crazy....we are crazy for the God that gave us the money to give them. We are crazy about sharing God's love. We are crazy about making someone's day that chances are could really use that tip we left them.

One other way we are spreading Crazy Love is by helping adoptive families fundraise through my Etsy shop. God sent many, many people to give us Crazy Love 3 years ago by providing what we needed to bring Jaxson home and it feels so good to be able to spread that Crazy Love back by helping families raise money to bring their kiddos home. If your adopting and need help fundraising please, please leave me your email address and I would love to talk to you.

What are you waiting for? Go spread some Crazy Love today and then come back and leave me a comment letting me know what you did to spread some Crazy Love.

PS Did you know this Crazy Love is soooooooo much fun?

Sometimes It's A Blessing

You know sometimes it's so easy to whine about things even if you don't do it out loud. One thing I have been whining around about for a long time is that we didn't have the money to take a vacation and that my dear husband has to be at his job for 2 years before he gets a vacation. We have not been on a family vacation I don't think in about 3 years (maybe longer) and our last trip was 2 years ago to bring Jaxson home.

Chris and I have been working crazy hours but that's OK because God is blessing us through it and it's teaching our kids about hard work and helping. We have finally decided to not wait another year for him to get a paid vacation and just trust that God will bring some extra side work in for him and that my shop will continue to do well and we are running away on a vacation. We are only going to go for a few days but the picture below gives you an idea of what we will be doing on vacation.

All this time it has been so hard watching families take so many vacations when we didn't get one. Since we told the kids yesterday they are just soooooo excited because it is really the first vacation (that they will remember anyway) for them. I got thinking that if we had the money to do fun stuff all the time or go on vacation a few times a year then we would miss out on this special excitement they have.

So just like God has taught me wayyyyy too many times.........sometimes it's a blessing to have to wait.

Are You Against Abortion?

If you believe that abortion is wrong, will you please read this post of a blog I follow by clicking here.

95 Sold!!!

The Smith family sold 95 pendants yesterday to help bring home their precious little one!!!

I had so much fun yesterday helping them raise the money but I need a nap now so GOODNIGHT!

PS Thanks to my awesome readers that helped them out by purchasing a pendant!

Memorial Box Monday

OK, I have to be crazy to be doing this today of all days. If you read the post below you will understand why but it is also the reason I wanted to make sure I did this today. I will make this as short as possible but I have been reminded many, many times today of what God did for us.

Three years ago this month I saw a picture of the most beautiful little boy I had ever seen. We weren't looking to adopt a the time but I couldn't get this picture out of my head. As a family we started praying that this boy would find a good Christian family.

The end of July came and I was in love with this boy. I couldn't get myself to tell Chris that though because we didn't qualify for China and we have NO money at all. My friend Rett called from vacation asking me if we were going to proceed with the little boy and I told her she was crazy. God worked on me big time that day though and I finally admitted to Chris that I felt he was our son and Chris said he felt the same way. Chris told me that if God wanted him in our home he would make it happen.

About 7 or 8 weeks later God had finally (after much stress let me tell you) opened every door except the money part. Chris called the agency and said he was our son but we had no money and we were trusting God to provide. The agency said "that's great but you need $6,500 in one week."

It's a long story of how the miracle happened but God provided $18,000 in 1 week. God provided through family, friends and many, many strangers donating change, dollars and checks. God knew exactly how he was going to bring Jaxson home and it was by having TONS of people donated little, sometimes BIG amounts to give us exactly what we need. I am sooooo thankful that when God asked those people to empty out their change jars, write a check or bring us cash that they listened to him.

OK, gotta go I get to be part of paying it forward today and I am having sooooo much fun. Please if you haven't read the post below go read it.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Up For A Crazy Love Monday???

If you are a Linny fan you know what I'm talking about. If your not a Linny fan then you just don't know what your missing.

Anyway most of you know that 3 years ago God blessed our socks off (OK, it was wayyyy more than socks) by providing everything we needed to bring Jaxson home in 1 week. God let us know right then that it was our job to help others bring home kiddos by Paying It Forward. When God blessed me with my Etsy shop I knew right away just how I could do that.

God is letting Chris and I use my shop to help families fundraising for adoption to bring their kiddos HOME. I honestly think I get as excited as the families do even though I'm not really making any money. I get something soooo much bigger than money, Chris and I get to be God's hands and feet in helping a child come home.

Tomorrow is the Smith families day of fundraising in my shop. The family gets ONE day to sell as many pendants as they possibly can and in return $5 of every item sold gets put directly in their grant fund through RR to bring their precious one home.





The Smith family has a goal of selling 100 necklaces tomorrow but I believe God is much bigger than that and I'm praying God sells 200 for them. I will be working my tail off but that's OK with me.

Want to be God's hands and feet tomorrow? Want to spread some crazy love and help make this families daughter come home?

Starting at midnight tonight until midnight tomorrow night any purchase made in my shop that the buyer leaves me a message at checkout saying "ADOPTION FUNDRAISER" we will donate $5 to help bring this kiddo home. MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE THE COMMENT AT CHECKOUT!

You can click here to get to my shop.

Treasury

OK, I'm still new to all this Etsy shop stuff but someone put me in their treasury. This treasury is adoption themed and they put one of my pendants in it. You can click here to check it out if you want.

Two Questions

1. Does anyone still read my blog?


2. How many emails to you have in your inbox that you need to clean out? I just noticed I have 1100. Why is it so hard to just delete these silly things rather than leave them for later?


OK, have a wonderful day!

I Am Featured On A Review Blog!

Check it out by clicking here and get a chance to win one of my necklaces.

Fundraiser Success!!!

Praise God! Yesterday 50 pendants were sold from my shop through the families fundraiser to help bring that precious child home.

Let me know if your interested in having a fundraiser for your adoption if you have completed a homestudy.

Crazy Love Saturday

Almost 3 years ago Chris and I began the journey of faith in bringing Jaxson home. At the time we said "YES" we had no money to bring him home. God gave us a miracle and showed us how much Jaxson needed to be in our family by providing almost the entire amount of money in one week. The cool thing is that most of the money came from people we barely knew or didn't know and some wonderful people we do know.

At that moment we knew it was are responsibility to do whatever we could through life to help bring other children home. When God gave me this Etsy shop I knew right away that God would use it just for that purpose.

Today I am soooooo excited because a very special family is fundraising through my shop today. You can read their story below. For every purchase made in my shop today we will donate $5 towards bringing this precious child home. All you have to do is leave a message in "notes to seller" at checkout saying this is for the adoption fundraiser. This is for today ONLY so go shopping and help bring this angel home.

Click here to go shopping.

By the way if you or someone you know is in the adoption process and is homestudy approved I would love to talk to you about helping you fundraise too.

Please read their story:

VAUGHN for the Moses family--Red Bank, NJ


Seegal and Rich have been married for 12 years. After having 6 biological children, Seegal felt a very strong pull to adopt. After praying for a year that God would speak to Rich's heart too, both were led to Guatemala. They welcomed little Abigayle into their heart and home and thought their family was complete. After a year they were led to adopt again, but were met with heartache when their Azerbaijani 10 year old girl with Hepatitis C went missing.
It took some time to heal, but the pull was still there, they knew their children were out there, waiting for a forever family. Although they were set on adopting domestically, Seegal kept visiting the Reeces Rainbow site, looking into the eyes of the beautiful children, and was always drawn to the HIV+ angels.

One day, Seegal looked at the site after a friend pointed out one of the children and she fell in love instantly. She knew immediately that she was looking at her new child!

Facing high fees and long travel, they were not deterred and they have complete faith that God will help them bring their perfect little muffin home!

Any donations would be so helpful, every penny is one cent closer to helping Vaughn have a forever family!

5/3/10---HOME STUDY UPDATE IN PROGRESS

I have $0 in my FAMILY grant fund towards the cost of my adoption!

Follow the Moses family's adoption journey on their blog at http://positivelyloved.blogspot.com

Amaya's Last Day of Kindergarten

I can't believe Amaya is a first grader now. This picture was taken on her first day of school last August. Amaya seemed like such a little girl then.

Amaya has grown up so much and become such a little reader and writer. I constantly gets notes now telling me how much she loves me.

I'm so proud of this little cutie! Can you tell from the picture taken this afternoon that she was sooooo excited to officially be a first grader now?