Yard Sale Mania

        We are getting there slowly but surely. We have had 8 yard sales so far (although it feels like 20). A lot of stuff has passed through our garage and yard in the past month! Thank you again to all of those who have donated to our sale. We do have one more item I wanted to tell ya'll about. It is a brand new king size bed frame. It originally costs around $900 and we are selling it for $400. It is from the Wilshire collection by Lifestyle Solutions. It has three minor "dings" from being shipped, but they would not be that noticeable once it was set up (and one could be easily repaired). Check out the LINK to get a better idea about it.  Hope to post more on how we are moving through the process soon :)

NEW King Size Bed for sale - Wilshire Collection

Time to Study and Sell

  This is a busy week for us. We are going to have our yard sale Thursday, Friday, & Saturday! This is the first time we have done 3 days in a row. Wish us luck! And pray for no rain. We would really like to sell about 70% of what we have, so come on by we might make you a great deal :) Also, this week we are having our first home study visit. I had forgotten how crazy this all gets when you are trying to do paperwork, home study, and fund raise at the same time :) But it's exciting too and for some reason I do kinda like organizing it all :) Thank you to all my sister's church family (esp you Fancy's mom:) who donated so many items to us!! You all have been great. Well just wanted to catch you all up on the progress. We're moving on towards application completion! And don't forget to check out the previous post on some of the items we have for sale. We are all about moving some stuff so if you are at all interested please leave me a comment :)

I'm starting to have deja vu !

   Well the adoption yard sale collection is officially off and running! We just picked up our first non-family load, and it was AWESOME! It kinda felt like Christmas looking through it all. So first I want to thank my friend Ashley SOOO much! She is awesome for helping connect us with her very generous friend who happened to be moving (I hope your move goes great! And thank you!!). So because it's late and my little man will get up early regardless of when I go to bed, I am gonna post some quick snap shots of some of the things we have for sale (I'll try to update it as I go with prices, sizes, etc). If you are at all interested in anything please contact me and I will be glad to answer any questions. If we have a buyer we will go ahead and sell it. If we don't, it will be available at the next yard sale. This time we will probably have many decent sized sales instead of a few gigantic sales. As I look out onto my garage tonight I can't help but have flashbacks! It's kinda chaotic and a little overwhelming, but it is so awesome! Jon and I were saying how both adoptions have shown us just how caring people still are and how generous people can be. It really is humbling and encouraging :) Some without further ado here are some of our awesome items!

Three piece office desk & shelf ($300 without chair))

Shelf that matches. All shelves are adjustable.

another angle of desk

Nice Leather office chair- can be sold with desk set or seperately- SOLD

Large Framed Art

More nice decor

Large Framed Canvas

Decorative clock

,. -*

Belleville 690V Military Boots size 10.5 - they don't appear to have ever been worn
Check out the link http://belleville-boots.com/airforce.htm - asking $75 obo

Beautiful Indiana Scout guitar with Terrapin case- $75 obo

Shop Vac/ leaf blower in great shape. If there wasn't some dirt in it I wouldn't know it was used :) Lots of attachments.- SOLD!
http://shopvac.com/wet-dry-vacs/vac-details.aspx?vacId=223&vacSKU=931-17-11

Comfy couch for the man cave! - $50

Large Box Frame Decor

Vanity Bar light still in the box

Remodeling a bathroom? We have everything you need! TP holder, robe hook, towel rod, drain stopper, and vanity light- All in original boxes, never opened

Foyer Bench with storage under seat- Top of armrest is missing on one side

 
   If you have any questions about any of the items, please ask! You can do so in the comments section or text me if you have my number. I will do my best to get back to you quickly. Please share our blog if you know someone who may be interested in anything or who may have a goodwill stash sitting around that they would want to donate :) Thanks!

The Second Time Around

   This time around the paperwork has been so much easier! There is still a fair amount to do, but we probably have 75% of it in to our placement agency. Of course we still have the hard stuff like our autobiographies and our photo album, but we are not starting from scratch this time. This is one time I really love technology :) I got our flash drive in the mail today (which I almost don't need anymore since it's been somewhere in the mail for about 20 days) and it is so cute! Made it feel like a very high tech process. We did have our first fundraiser last weekend. We had a yard sale and sold items from our spring cleaning at home and stuff from each of our parents and a couple good friends (Thank you Brown's & Smith's). It was pretty successful and got the ball rolling. I have been saying it is fine if it takes a while this time around, but after holding a sweet little one week old today and seeing pictures of our little guy as a newborn Jonathan & I are both really looking forward to a tiny baby again. Although I am all for baby Hall #1 to be walking before that happens :) We are hoping to get our application in to our home study agency next week, so who knows we may have a visit in the books two weeks from now! So that's the news for now. Nothing earth shattering, but forward progress all the same. We should be able to pick up yard sale items next week so if you have any goodwill piles give us a call :)

Number 2....?

     It's hard to know when is "the right" time to take the leap, but we feel ready to start working towards bringing home our next little bundle of joy. If it happened quickly we feel like we could handle it, at this point (no more bottles and full nights of sleep!). If it takes awhile, for once I actually feel like there is time for that too. But more than ever I feel like it will all happen All In God Time. I could not have picked a better child for our family than the one the Lord blessed us with. So I'm completely letting go and saying Lord, please do it again (when doesn't matter so much).
    We just started the paperwork last week, but let me tell ya, the paperwork is so much easier the second time around (plus it helps when you haven't changed jobs or moved). Now that being said we haven't done the super time consuming areas like our autobiographies, photo albums, or home study. I feel much more comfortable this time around. All the great folks that helped us through our first adoption now feel like old friends. I have kept communication open with most of them since our first adoption, so it's not changed that much except I'm emailing them more frequently :) 
     This time around I think we will focus most of our fundraising on having yard sales. That helped us a lot last time and it does not put anyone under pressure to help. However, we are still so thankful for those of you who did help last time! I have thought before if so many people hadn't of helped us raise the money so fast, we might not have been to the point of matching when G was born! That kinda gives me palpitations. But anyways, back to the topic, if anyone does any spring cleaning or moving and is planning on hauling a load off to goodwill we would be glad to come pick it up for our yard sales. We do ask that you only give us stuff that you do not want back (stuff, containers, etc.) When you collect that much junk  treasures, it's hard to remember what went back where in those situations. Plus, we will probably do this ongoing through the summer. Our first one will be this weekend!
    Well I just wanted to send out the great news :) It's not major news, but it's pretty exciting to us.

My Oh My! How Time Does Fly!

   I CANNOT believe how fast the past year has gone by! Our little man had his first birthday in February. However, it does not seem possible that he could be any older than 6 months :) He has grown and changed so much, and we have cheered and swelled with pride at every single milestone he has met. I didn't know I could get so excited about such simple things, but the first times he covered his ears to play peek-a-boo, figured out how to clap, or said biii-ble I'm pretty sure I thought, "my child is a genius". Motherhood is everything I thought it would be. Grocery shopping (or any shopping) is not quite how it used to be, but that's nothing compared to the love and joy he has brought us. 
   When I think about all the fundraising we did I cannot get over that all that was almost two years ago! It was a lot of work but looking back it really was so much fun. I didn't think I would feel that way at the time because it was so chaotic, but it was so worth it all. I still am amazed at all the support we got from our friends and family. If I ever need to see how blessed I am, I will just look back to that time. So a little over one year later, I want to say THANK YOU again :)

The Moment We've All Been Waiting For !!

   

     Well this post is VERY late, but we have been EXTREMELY busy! It all started in January.... We received a call the of January and were told that we had been selected by a birth mother. Finally, the call we had been waiting for! They presented us with all the information of the birth family and the last thing they told us was...and she's due the end of February! I'm sorry...when? Did you say February!? As in one month from now? We couldn't believe it was finally happening, and so fast! Our minds were racing with all the things we would have to do before HE got here, if we went on to match. We made plans to drive to Texas to meet the birth mother that weekend. One week from the initial phone call we had met and were officially matched! Our son would be arriving in less than one month, and we had a lot to get ready. That week we started painting the nursery and registering for gifts. Shower planning was in full speed, and pinterest was being overwhelmed with pins of baby planning and shower ideas by our friends and family. We were given three showers in a two week period :) It was awesome, but still hard to believe it was happening. Before we knew it the month was gone and we were headed back to Texas to meet our little guy. 
   We stood in the hallway nervous, scared, and overwhelmed. Then we heard it. The most precious little cry I've ever heard! All we could do is cry and hug as we waited to meet the sweet little guy that had just made our hearts leap. Minutes later that's just what we did. He was so beautiful and tiny and innocent. He was handed to me and all I could do was look at him and think "Is this really happening?" This is something we have waited for years to have, almost six to be exact. We have wanted to be parents for so long and at times wondered if it would ever happen for us. Yet here we were holding this beautiful baby boy ready to be loved and cared for. We were able to watch his first bath, change his diaper, give him a bottle, and take care of him the first night of his life. It was wonderful and we were already in love! We spent the next week doing the same thing in a hotel room in Texas. We got to have our time together as a family of three, but we did miss our family too. On his 1 week old birthday we got the call we had been waiting for. We were told we could go home! We started packing immediately and headed towards Tennessee. Little man did great in the car, and it all seemed real as we headed home together. Once we got home we got to share him with all his grandparents, aunts, and cousins :) We have been getting used to being parents and loving every minute of it. He is the most awesome, beautiful baby that we love to hold, cuddle, and kiss. Our journey has been amazing and God definitely picked this little guy for us. We love him so much and are so happy to have our little family. 
     We want to thank everyone that helped to get him here! We have talked about the yard sale, pancake breakfast, and everything all of you have done a lot since his arrival. You will never know how much your love and support has done for us and our family. 
    I want to take this opportunity to help everyone see into the world of adoption a little better. For some reason everyone wants to think the birth mother just doesn't want her baby. So many times I've heard "so does she just not want him or what? I just don't understand how people could give up their child". This may occasionally be the case, but I dare say it rarely is. A birth mother is a person who truly loves her baby. Someone that is willing to choose a very difficult path because she feels it is in the best interest of her baby. She is putting the baby's needs above her own desires. She is willing to put her body through nearly ten months of pregnancy knowing she will not get to raise her baby the way she wants. But she loves him so much that she seeks out adoptive parents that can give him what she wants him to have. This is a hard choice to make and definitely not the choice for someone who doesn't care about her baby. So please be careful with your words or preconceived notions about birth parents:) They are such special people and deserve to be supported for their decision. We have been so blessed because of our birth mothers choice. Our baby is loved by so many!