Moving Right Along

 

Things are falling into place for our adoption of K.

Once we decided to make the decision to not become licensed foster parents, and instead went with straight adoption through CPS...everything began to move more quickly. 

The fact is, the adoption caseworkers have a much smaller caseload, so they are able to make appointments and return emails and phone calls in a more timely fashion.

We have kept ourselves busy while we wait for his homecoming by preparing his bedroom. 

I took pictures of a football and had one of them printed as a canvas.

We have bought all of his furniture now which is a relief, and I have finished most of the decorating. It is very important to us that K come home to a place that is his. This is a child who has never had his own room, never had more personal possessions than could fit in a box, and never had a Mom and a Dad that thought the absolute world of him. 

We want him to feel loved, celebrated, anticipated, wanted, prayed for, planned for...all the things that children by birth in a family get automatically as a right of passage. I believe that whether a child enters a family as an infant or as a teen, they should always be welcomed with the same amount of excitement. 

I admit that yes, I am a bit neurotic when it comes to my kids...okay...fine!! I may or may not lie awake at night contemplating just where in the room would be the best place for a picture frame to go. I might have stalked Craigslist every hour for 3 days and sent my husband on hour away to pick up the perfect dresser to match his bed. 

But I am a mother. 

That is what I am supposed to do.

I will be fretting and fussing over this kid until the day he marries and beyond, so why not start now?

On that note:

 

On Friday, I purchased materials to make this letter K look like a football.

It turned out very cute and now sits on a bookshelf that Billy installed tonight.

  

On Friday, we also received our paperwork packet that included the checklist of all the things we needed copied and filled out:

I got it all done and put in an envelope that Billy took to the post office today. Our fingerprints are scheduled for next week and then the following week will be our home study barring any delays.

We are hoping that while we are on vacation for the 4th of July, our caseworker can be typing up and submitting our home study for approval. We really want K home by mid July and are praying towards that goal. After all, school will be here before we know it and we want him to be able to enjoy as many fun summer memories with us as he can.

This Is What Jasmine Has Been Up To Lately

Isn't she cute? 

(Insert sarcasm)

Yes...my baby is a full blown toddler.

She tantrums over just about everything...but in particular her hot buttons are:

Mommy takes her toothbrush away, Mommy won't pick her up while she is cooking dinner, Mommy is checking email and ignoring her antics, Mommy won't let her snatch her cell phone, Mommy gets upset when baby bites her shoulder, Mommy won't let baby in bathroom, Mommy gives her food she doesn't like, Mommy is too slow to give her food, Mommy is pouring her milk into her sippy cup, Mommy has the audacity to buckle her into a shopping cart, Mommy wants to share her raisins, and Mommy takes away dog dishes.

Notice the common denominator?

Others tell me she is a doll when I am not around.

Go figure.

I have nicknamed her The Beast.

She lives up to her name,

daily.

Pillow WINNER!!!

Because the children are all in VBS right now and the baby is napping, 

I chose the winner myself by going to Random.org and typing in the numbers 1-39 for the giveaway comments. 

The number it spit out was.....

DRUM ROLL.....

The winner is:

Becky!!!

Hooray! Congratulations, friend!

I know Eva or Simon will love their pillow so much that you will just have to go buy the sibling one for them too, right? ;)

Thanks to all of you for participating in this giveaway! Please go to Ted and Lucy and purchase pillows for your own little ones. 

Remember the coupon code ADOPT2012 for 15% off your order for the next 30 days only.

Feel free to message Kim and ask her about other fabric options other than what she has on her shop site. She may be able to work with you to match your child's decor! She is already making one for K's Dallas Cowboys room! Yeah!!!

Nesting~ Giveaway!!!

Well, I promised y'all another giveaway, didn't I?!

As you know I am nesting for our coming arrival. I published a blogpost about that but somehow it has disappeared from the face of the earth...or blogger atleast. Well...while I was putting together my Summer Fun Giveaways a couple weeks ago, the Etsy seller Ted and Lucy replied back that she would LOVE to offer a custom child pillow to one of my readers. I adored these and told her I wanted them to have their own blogpost, so we settled on this week!

These are just gorgeous with bright vibrant colors and large font.

Oh so sweet.

But beside the fact that she wants to give one of my readers a pillow, she also wants to offer ALL of my readers a discount for a pillow of your choice! 

You will get a 15% off discount if you type in the coupon code: ADOPT2012

These would make the PERFECT travel pillow for all those long car trips typical in the summer.

And who doesn't love their little one's name on their belongings.

But, there is one more catch...

FOR ME!

Kim at Ted and Lucy told me that she would love to give me a custom pillow for EACH order

received through my blog

 (that is where the coupon code comes in!) 

So this means if only FIVE of you order pillows for your kids, nieces and nephews, and birthday gifts...I will receive a pillow for each one of my kids for free! Woohoo!

What a great way for my followers to thank me for the great giveaways I host, right?

 

Just sayin. :)

 

Wouldn't the letter K look great on a football pillow?

I think so.

Leave a comment here to enter the pillow giveaway for yourself, and please go LIKE their Facebook page for an additional entry. Then on Friday when I reveal the winner, the rest of you can go on over to Ted and Lucy and order your pillows!!

 

Don't forget the coupon code ADOPT2012 for 15 % off.

Vacation Bible School

 

For the 4th summer in a row, my kids are involved with VBS.

They LOVE it at this church. 

The decorations and crafts they do up are SO cool.

This year's theme is "Look Up" and has a flight/travel feel to all the activities.

The foyer was covered in giant parachute packs.

The kids are always so excited to be there and often don't want to leave. It will be all week from 9-12. That gives Mommy lots of time to shop for K's homecoming and hang out with friends. Tomorrow it is a bagel breakfast out with some of my mom friends from church.