How we got here.....

Jason and I got married when we were both 19.  We had dated for a couple of years and had been engaged for almost a year.  So, we got married.  Jason was going to school to be a respiratory therapist, and I worked at a bank.  Jason finished school after we'd been married for about a year.  We bought our first house and talked about having kids.  After we'd been married a year and a half, we decided to start trying.  We got pregnant the first month.  My pregnancy was pretty normal.  Morning sickness for the first trimester.  I craved milk and eggs.  Jason was amazing.  He started vacuuming the house when I first got pregnant (and now--almost 13 years later--he's still vacuuming!).  He went to ALL of the doctor's appointments.  At 23 weeks, we had a special doctor's appointment.  We were going to have a sonogram!.  We were going to find out if the baby was a boy or a girl!  WhooHoo!!  How exciting!  But when they did the ultrasound, the technician saw things that shouldn’t be there.  We were sent to a neonatologist, who told us the baby had severe problems and could not live outside my body.  Our baby boy was stillborn a few days later.  We named him Jay and buried him.

The doctor said he didn’t know what had caused the problems, but statistically speaking, we should have no more problems.  He said to wait 3 months before trying to get pregnant again.  So, we waited the 3 months.  We tried again after 3 months and again got pregnant immediately.  This pregnancy also went well.  I wasn’t particularly worried.  Statistics were on my side!  However, when I was 24 weeks, I was at work, and realized that I hadn’t felt the baby move in several hours.  I called my doctor and spoke to the nurse.  She said to drink a coke, lay down, and concentrate on feeling the baby's kicks.  So, I did that.  But there was still no movement.  We went in to the doctor, and he found the baby’s heartbeat.  He said everything was fine and not to worry (I know he thought we were just overreacting).  But we were worried.  He finally sent us on to the same neonatologist that we had seen before with my first pregnancy.  The neonatologist saw us immediately--the same day.  He did a Level 2 sonogram to look at the baby.  This time the baby looked fine.  I was so relieved.  But the doctor still looked concerned.  Surely there couldn't possibly be anything wrong--the baby looked fine.  But the problem was with me this time--not the baby.  I was in labor and didn’t know it.  My body was pushing the baby out before it was time.  (I was later diagnosed with an incompetent cervix.)  The neonatologist's office was in a hospital, so they rushed me to labor and delivery.  I was thankful that Jason always came to the doctors appointments--so he was there.  They gave my baby steroids for his lungs, but there wasn’t enough time for them to work.  My doctor had to do an emergency c-section.  Jayden lived 10 hours.  Jason stayed with our son most of that time.  I slept--trying to block out this nightmare we were living for the second time.  We buried Jayden beside his brother.

The next days, months were a blur.  I looked around me in intense anger at THEM.  You know the ones.  The ones that pop babies out like crazy.  The ones that can't stand the children they have, and yet they're having more.  The ones that are on drugs--that leave their children to fend for themselves--or worse.  I felt so isolated and alone.  I'd be lying if I said that I was an amazing Christian during this time. That I completely trusted Him and His plan for my life.  I didn't.  I screamed in anger at God about the unfairness of it all.  It was a dark time.  After a while, we we found a support group for people who had lost babies.  We went to several meetings and found that being with others who have been through the same thing helps a lot.  We read books on grief and loss.  We prayed a lot and and lots of prayers were offered up on our behalf.  We tried again three months later and got pregnant with Madison.  We went to the same neonatologist weekly for the whole pregnancy this time.  I was scared to death the entire time.  My doctor put a cerclage in and our sweet Madison was born by c-section at 36 weeks.

Two years later, we decided to have another baby.  Precious Mason was born by c-section 5 weeks early but (thank God) had no health problems.

However, when the doctor was doing the c-section, he said we could not have any more children.  He said my uterus was "tissue paper thin" and after 3 c-sections (one of them an emergency c-section) would not withstand another pregnancy.  If I did get pregnant again, my uterus would split and kill the baby and me.  And honestly, having no more children was fine with us.  We had 2 precious children.  A girl and a boy.  That's the American dream, right?  And it was fine--for a while.  But after a couple of years went by, we knew we still had love in our hearts for more children.  But we couldn't have any more.  I was convinced (for a while) that God would miraculously heal my body and we'd have more children.  That was not His plan.  And I am so grateful it wasn't.
We decided to look into adoption.  I didn't really know anyone that had adopted.  Where/How do you start?  I started looking at agencies and was soon overwhelmed--by the burden of choosing the right one and by the cost.  How could we afford it?  Jason is an evangelist/church planter.  We don't have $20,000 to $40,000 just hanging out in the bank.  We didn't even have a tiny fraction of that!  We pretty much had NO money.  But I knew in my heart that God had called us to do this.  To adopt a precious child.  HE would make a way (not me).  After doing lots of research and getting pretty much nowhere, I was discouraged.  Then, at a wedding, a friend told me that her sister-in-law was adopting from a mission group in Taiwan.  Since it was a mission group, there were no agencies--so no agency fees.  I must admit that's the main thing that made us see about adopting from His Hands.  Less money (since we had no money to adopt).  I didn't know then what I know now--that if God gives you a heart to adopt, He WILL make a way.  So, we applied to adopt through His Hands Taiwan.  After nine long months of waiting, we saw our daughter's face.

Five months later, we traveled to Taiwan to get her.

We are truly blessed.
We knew even before we brought her home that we wanted to adopt again.  The amazing experiences we had in Taiwan and with the wonderful people at His Hands only affirmed what we already knew.  If they would allow us to, we would adopt from His Hands again.  They said we could, so we submitted our application in January 2011--before Mia was even a year old.  We knew that the adoption process is a long one, so we applied before we were really ready.  And now, we've been waiting a little over a year this second time.  Mia is 2 now.  I am ready to see our next son or daughter's face!!  Thanks for traveling along on this long, twisty, amazing journey with us!!

TWO {mia}

Our sweet Mia is two today!

It's hard to believe.

Time goes by so quickly.

Here's a little bit about what she's doing lately:

-18-24 months clothes

-Size 5 to 6 shoes

-loves Elmo

-sings along to music

-holds a pencil/pen correctly

-potty-trained {except for sleeping}

-still doesn't eat much--kinda picky

-ADORES her "Bubby" and "Sissy"

-asks "Where's Dad" a MILLION times a day

-calls dogs "Ruff-Ruffs"

-into EVERYTHING

-pretty sure she could scale Mt. Everest with ease

We love you, sweet girl!!

another mother

On this day two years ago {it's March 1st in Taiwan now}, a woman across the world chose LIFE for her daughter.  Well, she actually chose life for her much before that.  This amazing woman went against friends and family to give the most precious gift to her daughter.  She chose not to abort her.  Even though she could not raise this baby herself, she made the ultimate selfless decision to let her daughter live--even if it meant that she had to give her up.  I have so much respect for this amazing woman.  She loved her daughter so much that she chose what was best for this baby--even though I know it broke her heart.  I know she must think about Mia on this day.  I pray that she knows how much we love Mia.  I pray that she feels peace in knowing that she made the right decision.  We cannot imagine life without our sweet Mia.

How it all began...

In May of 2010, I made my first Scrabble tile necklaces.

It was really just a trial thing--to see how hard it was to make them.
I had ordered a little "kit".
There was enough to make 10 Scrabble tile pendants.
What to put on them?
We were in the process of adopting from Taiwan,
so why not do a map pendant?

They seemed easy enough, and I thought they were cute.

I thought maybe others that were adopting would be interested in them.

I sold ONE.

Then, at a church meeting, a good friend 
asked me to make a map necklace for her.
She wasn't adopting or anything.
She wanted it of the town she lived in.
She said she'd hang it on her rearview mirror.
Well, I may not be a genius or anything,
but I could tell she was just trying to help us out
{by purchasing something she really had no use for}. 
She's sweet.

Then I got to thinking about what else I could put on these Scrabble necklaces.

God gave me the idea to put Scripture on them.

So, I did.

And everyone loved them!

I sold more of them than I ever {in my wildest dreams} imagined that I would.

Soon, I started customizing them--putting names on them.

I did photos.

 I figured out that I could design these necklaces with pretty much anything on them!

At this time I had started an Etsy shop, but had photos of all the necklaces that I had available in a personal Facebook album.  I started getting friend requests from people I didn't know.  They wanted to see my necklaces.  I decided it was time to start a Facebook page specifically for

The Adopt Shoppe.

My brain seemed to always be thinking of more things that I could make.

More ways to raise money for our adoption.

I made some braided fabric bracelets with hand stamped tags.

Again, everyone loved them.

I never dreamed how much people would love them!

These turned out to be too hard on my sewing machine to make.

So, I redesigned them.

Now I sell these:

I sell a variety of things now.

Word/Number Art Prints.

Leather Bangles:

Stamped Leather Cuffs:

Uganda Bead Necklaces:
The beautiful beads in these necklaces are hand made by Ugandan women.  The women carefully roll strips of magazines by hand into lovely, unique and earthy looking beads. Prior to learning how to make these beads, most of the women "picked trash" or turned to prostitution to provide for their children.

I absolutely LOVE these His Eye is on the Sparrow Necklaces:

I recently started making some hand-stamped sterling silver jewelry:

 And, of course, I still make the Wooden Tile Necklaces:

Since I opened my Etsy Shop in May 2010,

I have sold 2,286 items through my little shop.
I have 1,000+ people following my
little Facebook page.
We paid for our first adoption and
we're now raising funds for our 2nd adoption.
How did I do this?
I didn't.
God did.

I've never done anything like this before.

I've never made jewelry.

I've never started or owned a business.

I'm simply a stay-at-home mom of 3

{soon to be 4},

who homeschools her kids,

has a never-ending pile of dirty laundry,

who struggles with doubts and failures

just like you.

But God loves me.

He loves you.

He sees my pathetic attempts

and He uses them for good.

Maybe you are on your own adoption journey

to your child.

Maybe you are discouraged.

It costs so much.

Satan hates adoption.

So he attacks you,

your marriage,

everything.

Your friends don't understand

why you're doing this.

They quietly drift away.

You have doubts and

wonder if you are really

supposed to be on this adoption journey at all.

You feel alone.

But you're not.

God is there.

He will stay by your side.

He will help.

He is there when it feels like no one else is.

God is big.

Bigger than you and I.

Bigger even than our perception of Him.

He will help you do things.

Big things.

Things you never imagined.

Just trust.

Little Peg People

Yesterday, the kids and I made these cute little peg people!

We made both sets of grandparents.

 And our little family of 5 {soon to be 6}!

And I made Elmo and Grover for Mia.

She LOVES them!  :)

I wasn't sure she'd recognize them.

So I considered it a success when I held up Elmo,

asked her who it was,

and she said "ELMO"!!

{my easy load}

So, I was kind of a whiny baby the other day.

I'm done with that {for now}.

I have MUCH to keep me busy
and to be thankful for!

I'm ecstatic for my friends
who have precious babies

waiting on the other side of the world for them!

------------------

I'm a music person.

Lyrics and music speak to me.

I can't get away from this song:

So, I'll just keep singing this song and think about
my "easy load".

------------------

His Hands {obviously} is still heavy on my heart.

 They need such a seemingly vast sum of money 

in such a short amount of time.

Did you know that His Hands has

processed 45 {FORTY-FIVE} adoptions

in less than 5 years?

FORTY-FIVE children

have gone to loving homes

where they'll learn about Jesus' love

and how He died for them!

And this doesn't include

the countless hurting, scared mothers

that they've taken in--

given them somewhere to live,

shown them the love of Jesus,

supported and counseled them in their decisions

to either keep their precious babies

or make the heartbreaking, selfless choice

to give them up for adoption

when they themselves couldn't care for them.

"So, what does this have to do with me?
 What can I do?"

--you might ask.

His Hands needs YOUR help to

keep ministering to these mothers
and the sweet babies.

They need to come up with a
large amount of money

in a short amount of time.

What can you do?

Well, do you see that new little Chip-In thing at the

top of my blog?

That's how you can help.  You can donate.

There's no set amount.  ANY little bit helps!

And tell your friends!  Spread the word!

People can't help if they don't know there's a need.

THANK YOU!!!

Here's the direct link to the His Hands Chip-In page.

His Hands Taiwan

Taken from His Hands Taiwan facebook page

Many of you {okay, ALL of you} know that we are in the process of adopting again.  We are adopting from a ministry called His Hands Taiwan, Inc.  We adopted our sweet Mia from them and they are simply AMAZING!  This SUPER SWEET photo was just taken of the babies that are there now.  In addition to finding these babies loving homes, His Hands also ministers to the birthmothers.  They give them a safe place to live and counseling to help them make these monumental, life changing choices that they must make.  Whether they choose to keep their baby or give it up for adoption, His Hands is right there with them every step of the way--loving these precious birthmommies and showing them Jesus' love as well.
 

What is my point in all of this?  Well, there's been some changes in the laws in Taiwan.  All of us in the adoption community know how that works.  Countries change laws concerning adoption ALL the time.  Well, now His Hands needs YOUR help.

Please read their latest newsletter HERE

and DONATE if you can.

ANY amount will help.

You can also help by sharing any of these links on your facebook page, twitter, blog, ANYWHERE!  The more people that know about the need is more people that can help.

God bless you!!