We're Approved!!!!

Tonight, AGCI called to let us know we have officially been approved for the adoption!!!! Our application took quite a bit longer than usual due to an insurance glitch, but finally, the journey has begun. On Tuesday afternoon Kenny and I have our joint conference call with AGCI and then move onto the contract (read: FEES!) My mind is running with more fundraising ideas. After I got off of the phone with AGCI and explained to the kids what the approval meant, Evangeline came to me with her little Hello Kitty wallet. She has been working hard to earn and save money to buy some bitty baby items from the American Girl catalog. "Here Momma," she said, "you can have this money for our child. I don't need it. You can use it for her." Somewhere in Ethiopia sits a little girl who has a big sister who loves her very much!! Praising the Lord for the good news tonight!!

Skirts are Here!!!

Introducing the Flitterbug Skirt! Fun to twirl in and can be worn year round. Skirts come in sizes 1 to 8 and are $25 a piece. Choose one fabric or a variety of fabrics. I will update my pages and skirts will be ready to order!

Book Worms

If you have ever been to our home, you have probably noticed something. Books. Everywhere. We love 'em. We spend an insane amount of time with 'em. Even wild child Samuel pulls himself, plus a stack of books up onto the couch and "reads" mulitple times a day. I took this picture a few hours before Samuel discovered he, at 19 months, can climb out of his crib. Not gracefully however; he crashed onto his head. Samuel gives me about a heart attack a day.

This week has been an occasion in our family...Evangeline seemed to "get it" with her phonics and is beginning to read a bit on her own. Today, she read her first book, all the way through!!! (I did help a bit.)

The kids had fun taking their quiet time today.... we have 2 big containers to "house" our baby chicks and heat lamps (don't worry, theses are new, clean containers), and the kids rested in them. Twenty five baby chicks should be arrive in the mail tomorrow!

No real adoption news this week.... our insurance application is in for the kids, and once we have a confimation on it, we can finally move onto the next step!

SALE! SALE! SALE!

I have a few "model" dresses marked down to sale! These are new dresses which will ship within 24 hours of placing order. If you are interested, email me (jubug231@ aol.com) and let me know which garment you would like. First come first serve!

Turkey Day!

Turkey Day- Size 3 long sleeved Flitterbug Dress with hairbow- Regular price ($43)

Sale Price: $25

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Polka Dot Christmas

Polka Dot Christmas- Size 2T short sleeve dress and hairbow- Regular Price ($30)

Sale price: $20

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Little Pilgrims

Little Pilgrims- Short sleeve size 5- Regular price ($25)

Sale Price: $18

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Pizzaz

Pizzaz- Short sleeve size 8- Regular price ($30)

Sale price: $20

Email me with any questions....and watch for more sale items this week! Happy Monday to you all!

Good Adoption News!!!

Yea! We turned in our "official" AGCI application and application fee a little over 2 weeks ago. Normally, it takes 1 to 3 days for social services to review your application (AGCI social services) and give you an official acceptance/ denial. (Then you come up with big contract money and start the homestudy:) We had a glitch..... our health insurance isn't technically insurance; we are part of a Christian share group, which we LOVE. Technically, it HAS to be insurance which will cover any preexisting condition; in case we get our child home and discover a major medical problem. Share groups must be becoming popular, because AGCI had 3 other families submit an app this week with the same health insurance problem. We have been really anxious the past few weeks, waiting to hear our "fate". Megan at AGCI called last night (I LOVE that girl!). Here's the plan. We will purchase a very basic, high deductible policy just for Kenny, one that we can add our child onto (and that covers preexisting conditions). I'll email AGCI our receipt of sale, and on we move to the next step!!!!! We are thrilled! Now I just have to search and find that policy :)

Fall Festival

Yesterday after church, we went to my parents for lunch. I got some good lovin' on our nephew, baby Pearce. Such a cute fella! Here he is, being a frog. (Katie, I hope it's ok I grabbed this from your blog!)

We then headed out to the fall festival at our church. It was a lot of fun and the kids were all smiles!

I had planned on doing a study with the kids this past week on Martin Luther and the Reformation, but like so many of my plans, it got lost in the busyness of the week. I hope to retry the plan this week...... no need to wait until next year's Reformation Anniversary to teach the kiddos some church history!!

Happy Monday to you all!

Pumpkin Patch

A few days ago we headed out to the pumpkin patch. Each kiddo picked out a pumpkin to "represent" themselves, plus one for me and Kenny...and we picked one out "for the child we are gonna adopt". I'm kind of frugal... rather than carve the pumpkins, the kids drew faces (or something :) on the pumpkins. We will enjoy them for a few weeks and them I will bake them, mash and freeze for pies and muffins! Pumpkins are sweetest if you let them "season" for a month or so...just leave them sitting in your house.... hope no kid plays too rough with them...then you are set to make fresh pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. Today, Kenny ha to get the power shut off while he worked on the siding. The kid found my camera and passed the time taking pictures. They must have been pretty proud of the job they did making up the beds, for they took pictures of them :) Here are their pictures:

So, I'm pretty much computer illiterate.... up until this site, about 2 months ago, I could email. Yup, that and buy fabric online and print out coupons. I'm not even on facebook. How did I graduate from high school in this decade and not have any computer skills? I am trying to learn, and am becoming pretty interested in web design, etc....I think one could train them self to do surgery by googling enough question. I'm stumped in one arena and, for the sake of my rising blood pressure, I'm gonna quit searching blogger tricks and see if any of you more learned ladies could help. On my home page I have a few collages of pictures. I would love it if one could click on the collage and enlarge it to a full screen (to see better details of the dress, etc). Apparently blogger used to have that feature, but doesn't anymore. ANY tips or advice you can give me would be helpful!!!

Another Appliance Goes Down!

I had thought that every major appliance we own had given out in the last few weeks..... I had forgotten that the dryer was still running faithful..

WAS..

It is no more. I am trying to do a better job of coming up with solutions and just making it work, rather than call Kenny and unload how "woe is me" that something is on the blink or someone is having a rough day. "Buck up and deal..it isn't so bad"... I am trying to remind myself of this!
So, no dryer? No big deal. I tied up a clothes line in the backyard on Monday; then followed a full 38 hours of trenching rain. We were totally out of clean clothes at this point; Landis informed me that he didn't have any "good" underwear, so he wasn't wearing any. Love my boy :) Yesterday, I loaded up the kids, the school books and the 185 loads of dirty laundry we had sittin' and headed to my favorite laundry mat- my moms:) I love my moma... she sent me home with lots of yummy leftovers, so I didn't have to cook last night...which was good, seeing as we were at the "laundry mat" all day.

I finally bought the kids some warm pj's....they love "feet pajamas"! Evangeline wanted to take a Christmas picture...she has already caught on that matching pajamas mean Christmas card! I suppose I could go ahead and check that off my list!

Landis...way overdue for a haircut!

I was soo tempted to buy a matching size 2 girl's pj's.... a bit early for that, I know!

Happy Wednesday to you all!

Market Day Sale

On Saturday we had a booth at Junior League's Market Day Sale. We didn't sale as much as I had hoped we would, however I had no idea what to expect, so I did not have any real expectations. I guess anyone who has gone through fundraising for an adoption knows the feeling of wanting the funds to happen immediately so as to get their little one home. Fundraising is a lot of work, I am learning! We did hand out a lot of cards and am thankful for the all of the sales we did make. This was my first time doing any type of craft fair, and it was a good experience. Here are a few pictures from the sale....

My favorite part of the day was when my mom brought the kiddos up to see us! They were excited about bowl of free candy I was handing out! :)

So, what will happen to the leftover dresses?!? I am thinking of putting some on ebay or etsy, and over the next few days I will be posting garments on this blog at sale prices. Check back over the next few days to see what comes up.