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!!

{dead end job}

I hesitate to post this, but I'm pretty sure not many people read my blog anyway.  And I try to be honest.  So, here goes.....

Sometimes this adoption waiting thing feels like
a dead-end job.

Imagine this:

You work at this job that you don't really like.  You have others that you work with.  You DO like them.  You all suffer through it together.  The job is no fun, but it's bearable because they are there doing the same "no fun" job with you.  You work with these people for months.  You laugh and cry together.

 But then something happens.
One day, several of your co-workers are promoted!!!  To a FABULOUS job--the best job ever!!  You are ecstatic for your friends!  Overjoyed for these that you are so close to that have this
fabulous new position.

But suddenly your job seems even more unbearable.  You feel very alone.  It's unbelievable how a promotion can change things so quickly--in minutes.  Your friends are suddenly far above you--moving forward-- and you feel stuck back in time.  You know that someday you will receive this same position.  Someday--you will be promoted to this amazing job too.  But for now, you're left behind.

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

I've done this adoption thing before.

And adoption is AMAZING!!!

Don't get me wrong.

I wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING!

But {for today} I'm stuck back here in this dead end job.

Referrals!!!

No, not mine.

But 3 other wonderful His Hands families got their referrals today!!!  WhooHoo!  Praising God for matching these precious babies to these amazing families!!!

biometrics

We received our completed Home Study on January 13th.  We overnighted our i-600a to USCIS on the 17th.  We received our fingerprinting appointment on January 31st.  The problem is that our appointment wasn't until FEBRUARY 24th!  Almost a MONTH away!!  Well, I'm not always as patient as I probably should be.  Especially when it comes to this adoption process.  I've heard of LOTS of people "walking in" to USCIS to get their fingerprints taken BEFORE their actual appointment {as long as you have your appointment letter}.  We decided to risk it.  Kansas City is only about an hour away.  So, we tried it.  We were done in 15 minutes!  No problems!  The girl that did Jason's was a little snippy and mentioned to him that we were VERY early for our appointment.  But all in all we no problems at all!  Praise God!!!