A Few Christmas Pictures :)

Our Week and a Sneak Peak at New Designs!!!

(Kenny says I never post any pictures of him, so here's a sweet one he and Samuel took today :)

We have been doing a bit of baking and crafting this week for Christmas. The kiddos love to celebrate and the anticipation and excitement in their eyes is contagious. On Wednesday, we made up about 17 pints of a bean soup mix to give as gifts this year. It is a yummy, healthy recipe, and frugal! Evangeline diligently helped me with the ribbon, while the beans played (er, scattered all over the house!) the extra beans.
I have been looking at/ pricing advent candles for awhile, but pretty much am refusing to buy anything right now. Adoption fundraising has given me a motivation like never before to NOT BUY! Soo, we came up with a way to make our own advent candle with supplies on hand. (I did have to buy 4 candles. They were like 20 cents each :)

I cut four small holes and one large hole in an inverted pie pan (a foil one), and stuck the candles in. Next we glue gunned trimming all around to cover up the pie plate. I'm paranoid about fire, So I used fake trimmings. It turned out great! The 3 purple candles represent the prophecies about Christ, and the red candle represents the sacrifice of Christ. We light one small candle each week preceding Christmas (starting with the 3 purple candles and then on to the red. ) Then on Christmas eve we light the large white (pure and spotless!) candle in the middle. The light of the World has come! It is exciting the watch each candle be lit, leading closer and closer to Christmas day!

Here are a few Flitterbug orders from this week...thank you to everyone who has purchased a dress....they are our baby's ticket home!

And....here is a sneak peak at some new patterns! The first week of January I will be adding LOTS of new fabric and patterns. Rompers, reversible sunsuits new dress patterns and ........ much requested DESIGNS FOR BOYS!

You will be able to mix, match and coordinate your kiddos....and each pattern will have a multi-season, "grow with me" appeal. I love outfits my kids can get more than one year out of, so I have found/ made up with patterns that do just that!

Happy Saturday to you all!!

SALE!!!!

I have a few new dresses left over from a recent show.... these are long sleeved Flitterbug dresses. The regular price is $38 plus shipping. I am trying to give our adoption fund a little boost before Christmas, so I am offering these dresses to you for:

$18 and that includes shipping!!!!

(from left to right)

Size 6 to 12 months: Fall Paisley

Size 24 months: It's A Circus!

Size 2: Paper Doll Cut Outs

Size 3: Blossom Blur (brown, pink and turquoise)

Size 4: Happy Paisley

Size 5: Ornaments on Blue

Size 6: Periwinkle Dots on Black

How To Order:

*Email me (jubug231@aol.com) and tell me which dress you like

*I will confirm that dress is still available (first come first serve!)

*Then you can click on the "chip in" button on my sidebar and donate $18. Your dress will ship TODAY and arrive to you in about 3 to 4 days!

Our Little One's Name

For years now we have "known" our little one's name. Over the past few months we have had many conversations with adoptive parents...."do you keep your child's given name as their first name, or give them a first name?" We have choosen to give our baby girl a first name, and keep her Ethiopian name (or, if she was not named by her birth mother, to keep the name the orphanage gave her) as her middle name. The kids and I had a cute way planned to announce her name, but seeing as I have misplaced my camera (again!), our cutsie idea will have to wait.

Her name will be "Eliana", which means, "God has heard and answered our prayers."

How could we name her anything else, this precious child who has been, is, and will be covered in so much prayer! (Evangeline and Eliana can both share the joys of repeating, spelling, pronuncing and explaining their names to everyone :)

Please pray for Eliana, as we journey on through the cliffs and caverns of fundraising!

We are coming, Eliana!

A Flitterbugs Giveaway!!!

Would you like to win a flitterbug dress or skirt? Energizer Bunny's Mommy is doing a product review and giveaway of my flitterbugs! Hop on over to the below link and just leave a comment for your chance to win..... actually, you can leave comments and enter as many times as you would like!

Discouragment

Have you noticed I have not posted anything of substance over the past couple of weeks? My heart has been full and heavy, and I have not blogged about it because...well....I do not want to offend anyone (not that many people read this blog!) However, because this blog is our "adoption journal", because this IS an important part of our adoption journey, and mostly because I COVET your prayers and encouragment, I decided to share with you my heart.
Adoption is expensive. Why? There are a lot of real, legitiamate cost. Homestudy, medical checkup and tests, plane tickets...on and on the list goes. Two of the "biggie" costs are the agency fee and the country fees. Half of the agency fees are used to run the orphanage/transitional home (Hannah's Hope) in Ethiopia. Now, the counrty fees. Think about a counrty (Ethiopia) in which a large majority of your population are children. Adults are dying of aids... few have a job, few have food, poverty abounds. There are 4.6 MILLION orphans. Hum...who do you tax to gain revenue to get these kids off of the street and into an orphanage. THAT is what counrty fees go to...to meargly feed, house and clothe a large majority of the population. That keeps them somewhat alive, it does not provide them with a family and a future.
A month ago we sent out about 60 support letters. Let me say these letters are NOT the sole way we plan to fund our adoption, yet we have for months prayed that the Lord will use the generosity of His people to bring our little one home. I know many famililes do not feel comfortable sending or receiving adoption support letters. We have received them before and have been happy to be a part of giving an orphan a home. I see them as no different than a missions trip support letter. I realize in these letters we ask for a donation...it is a generous gift which we do not EXPECT the recipients of these letters to give, but did anticipate some friends and family wanting to be a part. What we did not expect, is over 4 weeks time of sending the letters, is to receive not a penny, not so much as a word of encouragment or support. We are on a timelime of when fees are due, we are 30 days into a 90 day timeline of our whole adoption process being stopped if fees are not paid. I realize that some of you reading this also received a support letter......I AM NOT REBUKING YOU, I am only trying to be honest in sharing the discouragment in our hearts. I realize we do NOT live in a town that has a culture of adoption. Churches here have not "caught the vision" of being "a father to the fatherless". I realize we live in the south, and anyone over about the age of 35 seems to be fine with a prejudice attitide. We have been SHOCKED at the comments we have received concearning our adoption. I am not even talking about race/skin color comments...... I am talking about adoption in general. I had thought about posting some of my most asked question/ comments...most of them made by Christians....... but I won't. They just are not worth repeating.
Through it all, I realize that my trust in the provision of the Lord is not as it should be. I KNOW that He will provide, but I do not rest at peace in that. I find myself walking around the house, thinking of what I could sell on ebay......thinking of crazy fundraising ideas. (Anyone want to join Kenny and go get paid to donate plasma? Yea, crazy fundraiser ideas.) I do not rest at peace in the will, the timing and the provision of His ways.
Oh, we beg for your prayers. I know this is the hard, difficult journey the Lord has called us on. We long for your prayers!

Today, Kenny stopped by for a quick lunch. I went to get the mail as he left....in it lay our first support check. The sweet family who sent this knows who they are...know that you have encouraged us in a way you will never fully realize. We love you (and are doing a little happy dance because of you!) I realize that very well could be the only support check we receive. We will press on, trusting the Lord and waiting on Him. Please pray that we will trust in His provision!

Great Giveaway!

Wanna be a part of a great freebie? Go here and enter to win some great stuff! Love this adoptive family!

Our Favorite Pizza

Today, the kids and I did a lot of baking. I felt they need a break from all of my sewing, so after we finished up school and a bit of cleaning, they helped me out in the kitchen. Since I am always misplacing our favorite recipes, I thought I'd post them here. At least then I know where they are :) Here we have our new favorite:

Jam Twists

For the dough mix: 3 C. flour (I grind our wheat, but white flour will make the dough lighter)

4t. powder

1 T. sugar (or sucanat)

1 t. salt

3/4 t. cream of tarter

Then cut in: 3/4 c. butter

Add: 1 C. milk

Stir just until mixed. Turn out onto floured surface. Roll into a large rectangle (about 1/4 inch thick). Brush with melted butter and then spread about 1/2 jam over dough. ( We like our homemade jam from last summer's blackberries...yum!) Fold rectangle in half. Cut into 1" strips. Twist and place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 for about 10 minutes. Frost with glaze (powdered sugar plus a little milk and vanilla) when out of the oven. YUM!

And, our favorite pizza. I did not use fresh ground wheat in this one, nor did I let the dough rise, as I did not start dinner until 30 minutes before we ate. Yup..... this is a quick meal! (yea.... I added a few peppers from the garden :)

Pizza Dough

1TB. yeast
1 C. warm water
1 t. sugar
1 t. salt
2 TB oil
2 1/2 C. flour

Mix, knead and let rise. Roll out and make your pizza! (I double the batch and make bread sticks as well) Bake at 400 for 10 to 15 minutes.

Yummy breadsticks..... nothing but nutritionless white flour and clog your heart up cheese :)

Samuel helped me out with the laundry tonight. Yup..... that big pile is a small portion of the clean clothes needing to be folded. About 30 seconds after I took this picture, Samuel reminded me why it is not a good idea to let your diaper rash baby "air out" for more than about 10 seconds. And wouldn't you know, his target was the one item I needed washed and clean for in the morning. Love that kid:)

Happy Tuesday to you all!

Drop and Shop Sale

I just got in a few new fabrics... I was able to get a great deal on some beautiful fabrics...yea! Click on the fabrics page to check them out. I have limited amounts of these fabrics. Tomorrow, from 10 to 12 noon, I will have a Flitterbugs table at a "Drop and Shop" sale. I have a few smocked garments for sale as well. It will be held at Northside Pediatrics (in the back room). Other vendors are: Stella and Dot jewelry, Mary Kay, It's All About You Monogramming and many more. Stop buy...oh and no need for a babysitter...bring the littles!