Canvas #1

Our friends at SOHO Office Governor's Towne Square have donated 2 medium canvases ( 16" X 20"). The canvas can be printed of a photo that the winner of the auction submits to SOHO. Each canvas is valued at $65.00. This auction is for 1 canvas. The other canvas will be listed separately. 

Bidding will start at $15.00. To bid on the canvas, just comment on THIS blog entry with your name and the amount that you are bidding. The highest bidder at the end of the auction will win the canvas. The auction will end Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 11:00 am. 

For more information about SOHO visit their website: 

http://acworth.sohooffice.com/

Embroidery by Janet Stover

My good friend Janet Stover has an embroidery business. She has donated a $50.00 gift card for our auction to help us raise money towards our adoption. The gift card can be used for embroidery, appliques, and baby gifts. Below are some samples of Janet's work:

Bidding for this auction will start at $20.00. All you have to do is comment on THIS blog entry with your name and the amount you are bidding. The highest bidder at the end of the auction wins. The auction will end Thursday, March 14th at 11:00 am. 

Girls of American History - Homeschool Curriculum

A sweet friend of mine writes homeschool curriculum. She has generously donated an entire set of her curriculum. It has a $45.00 retail value. At the conclusion of the auction, she will email you the curriculum pdf. To find out more information on the curriculum, go to: 

http://www.girlsofamericanhistory.com/

Bidding will start at $15.00. The auction will end on Thursday, March 14th at 11:00 am.

To bid on the curriculum, comment on THIS blog post and the highest bidder will win! 

Vera Bradley Bags!

Today for the auction we have a beautiful Vera Bradley bag which was donated by Love Street at Cedarcrest. The pattern is Laura Provencal and I absolutely LOVE it!! The colors and design remind me of an Ecuadorian piece of art. I will have a hard time parting with these!!! There are three bags. The large bag is a three-o-tote. Then there are two small bags. One is a coin purse and the other is a little larger. It would be perfect to hold a cell phone, keys, or makeup. Retail value is $96.00.

This auction will run the auction for a couple of days. It will end Thursday, March 14th at 11:00 am. To bid, you just comment on THIS blog entry with your name and the amount that you are bidding. I am going to post other auctions as well so make sure that you comment on the correct blog post. The winner will be the person with the highest bid. If you are need it shipped, I will add the actual shipping costs after the auction ends. Bidding starts at $35.00. :))

Adoption Fundraisers

We have made great strides in our adoption process. Our homestudy is complete!! Our social worker told us that in her 20 years of writing homestudies, she has never completed one as quickly as ours. We were all determined!! We are working hard to get our little guy home soon. Jason's dad is hoping and praying that we get to see M take his first steps. That would be so awesome! We are now completing our dossier. Hopefully, this part of the process will go just as quick. Also, we are at the part of our adoption process where large amounts of money are needed to make large payments to the adoption agency! We have applied for grants but won't know anything for a couple months so while waiting we are going to try and fundraise. I had an idea to have an online auction and asked for donations. We have received so many awesome items to auction!!! We are so excited and so thankful for the generosity of all who donated items. I was going to list all the auction items on ebay at one time but then I began looking at the fees (they are high) and decided I would try another idea first and see if it works. We decided to add an item a day or every couple of days to our blog and let bidders comment with a bid. The highest bidder at the end of the time allotted will win the item listed. We will see if this works. Hopefully it will and we will not have to pay fees to ebay. :)

Our first item is an until there are NO MORE ORPHANS necklace from The Adopt Shoppe.  Perfect....don't ya think?

The bidding starts at $10.00. The auction will end at 10:00 am, Thursday, March 7th. All you have to do is comment on this blog post with your name and amount that you bid. The highest bidder wins the necklace. 

For more information about The Adopt Shoppe and to see all the other beautiful jewelry that she makes visit: 
www.TheAdoptShoppe.etsy.com
www.facebook.com/ShoppeAdopt
Instagram: @theadoptshoppe & @k8cl8n

Thank you all so much for your support!

With Love,
Jennifer

Last night was our third and final home study visit. Hopefully, our home study will be complete within the week. Yahoo!!!! That is a huge step in the adoption process complete.

The kids had a great evening with our social worker, Joyce. I sat in the office while she sat at the table and "interviewed" each of my kids. I could hear their responses to each of her questions. I enjoyed listening to what my kids had to say. I was so proud of them. They are growing so much, not just physically but in wisdom.  I also loved hearing how excited the kids are to adopt their new brother. He can't get here soon enough! Noah did claim that he would be busy making baby food and changing diapers when "M" gets home. I think I might have to hold him to that! :))

Wonderfully Made

I just want to take a minute and reflect on what a miracle this child is. He came to us missing one eye because the other was removed due to a tumor. He also had a facial cleft which caused him to have a congenital missing right nostril. After being home a short while, doctors found a benign brain tumor that needed to be removed as it was growing and bleeding in his brain. He has been sedated in the OR 21 times for major and minor surgeries, and exams under anesthesia. On top of this, he had significant developmental delays and the surgeries and anesthesia caused even more regression. Delays are common with children who begin life in an orphanage and his were compounded because of his medical issues.  He has endured so much, yet you would not know it to look at him. He takes on each day with a huge smile on his face. He loves life!! He is a miracle!! 

Noah has had an IEP to address his developmental delays since he was 3. He has done so well that the past two years the IEP was for consult only. He had an IEP meeting yesterday and it was determined by the team that he no longer needed an IEP at all!!! He is academically and developmentally on target....another miracle!! 

This life has defied the odds! He is a miracle and he was wonderfully made by a Loving Creator who has a very special plan for his life!

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be."

Psalm 139: 13-16