Please Read This!!!

If you don't do anything else today, read this.

Better yet, print it out and read it to your family for family devotions tonight. Want to really be blown away? This girl is 21 years old. 21. She is a beautiful, typical American girl who went on a short term missions trip one summer in high school. Basically, she never came back. She is 21, lives in Uganda, has adopted 13 kids and feeds hundreds of other... on her own.... by herself (she set up her own nonprofit to do this). If you don't get anything else done today, read this post!

FREE FLITTERBUG DRESS!!!!

Would you like a free custom made flitterbug dress??? I am giving away a FREE dress (fabric and size of your choice) with a FREE hairbow, and I will pay your shipping!!!! Just leave a comment on this post to enter. On Sept. 1 (Tues)at noon a winner will randomally be chosen. The winner will be notified via email. This is a no strings attatched freebie! Don't have a little one???? Win a dress to give as a Birthday or baby gift! Feel free to pass this info along to anyone you think may be interested! If you are new to my sight, check out the about page to learn about Flitterbug dresses!



Leave a comment to enter!
******* some of you have had trouble posting a comment, so I have added "Mr. Linky" and hopefully you can comment with that!Just type your name and URL (that can be your email address) Any comment received will go "in the hat" as will the names of those who have emailed me and asked to be put in the contest! Sorry to those of you who have had trouble leaving a comment!

Pizza Night!

Kenny surprised us and took us out for pizza tonight... since we don't eat out that often it was a big treat! When we do go out to eat, we try and use the time to teach our kids "restaurant manners", such as how to order and asking the waitress for a water refill (we have shy kiddos, so this is a big deal:) Here is a pictures of my boys (since Evangeline's picture is the only one that seems to end upon this blog!)

New Fabrics!

A few new fabrics arrived today....they are all really high quality fabrics I was able to get a deal on ... some of these fabrics alone at normal price would almost be worth more than the cost of a flitterbug dress ($25). I only have enough for to make on or two dresses out of each fabric, so if you see one you like, go ahead and reserve it! Once its gone, its gone!

Free Princess Hairbow

Tomorrow is my parents 31st anniversary. To celebrate, I am giving a freebie! Anyone who places an order for a dress today (tues, Aug.25) through midnight tomorrow (wed, Aug.26) will get a FREE princess hairbow with their order. Just email me with the fabric and dress size you want, and let me know whether you want me to make you a Cinderella or Ariel hairbow. I am only offering these hairbows through tomorrow, so order now!

Flitterbug Nightqowns

Evangeline loves sweet, girly nightgowns, and the flitterbug is her favorite. Check my fabrics page to see the new selection of knits for nightgowns, and I will make something special for your little one! (The price of the nightgown is the same as a dress...$25)

Do I Have Other Designs?

A few ladies have wondered if the are any other pattern choices available. For quite some time I have looked for the "perfect dress" to sell. My goal: find a pattern which uses limited material and does not require an extreme amount of time to construct. The purpose of this is to keep costs low for a customer! I want as many people as possible to be able to be a part of our adoption (if they want to be!). There are tons of unique, precious patterns to sew, but many of these require lots of material and loads of time which means... a cute, but pricy dress for you ladies. So, in the words of my wise friend Claire, I'm trying to "keep it simple". Years of sewing for people has taught me that too much choice can often make things complicated and frustrating. I aim to make beautiful dresses that little girls will love to wear, without letting my home, homeschooling and family run totally into the ground. And.... its all for the sake of a little one in Ethiopia!

That being said, I will be posting some ideas on "wintering" a flitterbug dress, and to give you a heads up... I will be rolling out a design for the boys in the next few weeks!

Our Little Flitterbug

Evangeline is such a girly-girl. Loves a "twirly dress" ..... flitterbug dresses are perfect for her!

The Girls are Laying!

Our Easter chicks are finally laying! Landis got to enjoy our first farm-fresh eggs!

Why?

Why? This is typically the first thing someone asks when I tell them we are adopting from Ethiopia. This question leaves me... speechless. "Really"? I want to ask. "REALLY"? I suppose I should not be so tough, and realize not everyone spent high school study hall reading over orphan statistics and searching adoption agencies. Yes, we have biological children. Yes, it costs a lot. Yes, we will half to be totally consumed over the next few months with fundraising and paperwork. Yes, we will have to leave our kids here as we both travel to Arfica to pick up our child. WHY? In Ethiopia alone, there are over 4.6 Million orphans. Less than 5% will ever be adopted. There is 1 Doctor to every 24,000 children. One in 10 kids will die before their 1st birthday. 1 in 6 will die before they turn 10. Only 24% of people have any access to safe drinking water. The average life expectancy is 37 years old. Famine, drought, AIDS, poverty and internal conflict have and are reaking all havock on this country. Why adopt? How can we not? For years we have felt the call to adopt, and we belive to time is now. Yes, in the midst of a recession, while Kenny is in seminary, with young kids... now is the time. Each day orphans children are dying, and we CAN fufill our call to Christ and help. You know what? We are all going to die one day. No amount of playing it safe, building up wealth or buying warrenties will extend our life of luxury here on earth. WE GET TO LIVE ONCE! I desire to live life to the full, expanding the kingdom the best of my ability. Does, this mean risk? Yes! But we are soliders of the cross, not cowards of it. We have choosen not to wait for "the perfect time when nothing is going on and we have a lot of money" to take on active part in giving a home to an orphan. (That "perfect" day will never come!) Forbid that we should stand before the throne one day and say, "I am sorry, it was too much effort. It just may have not been safe." Following Christ should push us out of our comfort zone to spread His hope to all of the nations. What if? What is you get sick in Ethiopia? What if the child you adopt has a parasite? (95% chance of that) What is they need counseling one day? What is people make comments about having a biracial family? What if?..... My questions.... What if we get they chance to love a child? What if God has specailly designed our family for this little one? What is we are the answer to a dying mothers plea? What if this child has a chance to be raised in a covenant home learning about Christ? What if this child grows up, has a family, and raises that family for Christ? What if generations come from this child who also choose to take part in the lives of "strangers in there distress" around the World? What is we sit back, relax and miss it all? What if this was your child hungry, sick and alone? What is you died, and no one came to the aid of your child? What is no one took it upon themselves to do good, but always waited for someone else to come along? What if?....

There are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia. With the help and joy of the Lord, we pray that by this time next year, there will be 4.6 million, minus one.

Sewing for Ethiopia

Just over 7 years ago, a few weeks after we got married, Kenny and I began to talk about adoption. We went to the DFACS office in the small Colorado town where we lived to think about foster care/ adoption through the state. We were 20, and needed to be 25 to adopt.........so we waited! Three kids and 7 years later, we are once again diving in, this time through internation adoption. Since learning about the orphan crisis in Ethiopia, our hearts are pulled to the children of that country! We have been pre-approved to adopt through All God's Children Internation (based in Portland, Oregan) and are beginning the long process. Along with a lot of paperwork, about $22,000 stands between us and a little one! So... the fundraising begin! Among other things, I will be sewing... a bunch! Please pray for us as we start this journey!

My Sewing Blog

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking of setting up a blog on which I can sell handmade kids clothes, smocking, hairbows and other "little fancies"...........over the past weekend, I tried my hand a creating a fabulous blog with digital scrapbook paper, a navigation bar and all sorts of other things that I had to look up the defination for. This totally goes against my love of all things Laura Ingles, and after four frustrating hours, I was left not much more than a bad attitude. I could feel my blood pressure up to my head and I sure my kids could hear it in my bark! So, I will humbly begin today with a plain blog, no link to a fabrics page, and definately not a paypal button. Hopefully, within the nest few weeks my blog will get a much needed cutsie facelift (with the help of someone who has a clue), but for now.........here it is!