A Very Fairy Birthday Party

Vivi went to a Tinkerbell party.
All the girls were given purple tutus and wings!

The girls made pixie dust

And bottlecap necklaces.

the party favors

fruit kabobs!

They also decorated "Fairy Cottages" to take home.

Jasmine was in party colors too!

Here is Vivi with the birthday girl holding the gift we gave her.
Ya'll know how much I love a well done party!

My Super Formula Sweep

When Jasmine was born, I had several people send me formula coupons for Similac. They were from the newspaper and came as a set of two on the page, one for $5 off any size and one for $3 off any size. They were to expire May 31st. Well, I have been using the $5 ones on the cans of powder formula each week, which takes a $21 box of formula down to $16. But there was no way I would be able to use all the coupons at purchasing only one container a week, and we couldn't afford to buy multiple containers with our grocery budget as it is. I was sad to have to throw out so many great coupons in a week when they expire.

Well....
A few days ago I was in Target and noticed that they had Quart sized Ready Feed formula on sale. The green bottles (sensitive-spitting up) were marked down to $3.86 from $6.99 each. There is nothing wrong with them. They do not expire until next year. The orange bottles (sensitive-gas) were on sale for $5.49 from $6.99. This may mean not much...except I had those coupons that said any size Similac formula! So today I took them up on their offer!

As I said, with a $5 coupon, I usually spend $16 for the powder container on the left. It makes 41 4 oz. bottles for a value of about 40 cents a bottle. I used 7 coupons to purchase the ready feed formula bottles on the right for a total of $4.91. That's right! They will make my baby 56 bottles at the cost of 8 cents a bottle!

Now that is a savings!

**Side note for those wondering...you can switch your baby's formula up from bottle to bottle as long as it is within the same brand and it should not affect their digestion of it. Jasmine does not have a sensitive tummy, but it costs exactly the same as the regular formula so we go with it to avoid tummy issues...so far it is working great!

Giveaway Winner....Day 5!!!

With 64 comments, I couldn't pull off a fun contest game. And this was such a popular item, as I knew it would be that I needed to be very fair. Plus, there was just no way I was going to write 1-64 on anything! :) So I did random.org. You can't see the answer it generated...but it was lucky number....

Thirteen!!!

Congratulations "Just Believing"!!!

Moving to Austin, I am sure this will come in mighty handy!
Please email me your address, the thread color and monogram you want (I thought MOM would be cute...but that is just me!) and I will pass it on to Jans n stitches so they can mail you your super cute tote!!

So that wraps up my 5 Days of Blog Giveaways!
Phew!! *wiping the sweat off my forehead*
What a time we had! I hope ya'll had fun too!
We will do this again in the Fall, I promise. :)

Giveaway Winner....Day 4!

We might just have a winner of the jewelry set!! ;)
Have ya'll been refreshing the page all day in anticipation?
Sorry!! Busy, busy day...

This drawings all week have been done by one of the kids.
You didn't think Jasmine would be left out, did you?

Oh thank you Mommy!! Hi everybody! I can't wait. I am so glad I was chosen to do the jewelery giveway. Bling is my thing! But there is a problem. I can't walk, or pick up stuff, or throw water balls. How will I do the contest?

Maybe my big brother should help!!

Oh good, there he is now! What is he doing, Mommy? Oh he is laying out numbers and he is going to walk on them as you play music?

Oh, that is a good idea. This will be so much fun!!!

There he goes! Walking....walking....music is playing....

The suspense is killing me!! Shut the music off mommy!!!

Oh hurry!

What did you land on, brother?

The winner is #4!!!!

Congratulations to "The Corey Family"!!!!

Woohoo!!

Email me your address and this will be mailed out on Monday or Tuesday!

Infertility Grief Revisited

I want to say to those who read my words on the below blog and feel inspired to maybe leave the rollercoaster of infertility treatments....or who so desperately desire to let go of the grief of barrenness that has plagued you for so long, I thought I would share with you the words I wrote two years ago.

Infertility Grief

And the words from my old blog:

Adopted With Love

God was doing a work in me even then. And in just two short (or long however you look at it) years, He has brought me out of despair for what could have been that never was, and has brought me to the place of understanding, acceptance, and true peace. Hear this though- adoption does not heal those wounds on its own or automatically. It is a journey. For me, it was a journey of 7 years coming to a place of peace after having adopted 4 beautiful children. But, like any and all losses...no they do not ever go away. I have seen firsthand though how the Lord redeems grief and brings about true and immense JOY.

I pray this for every mom and mom-to-be out there reading my blog whose own story is that parenthood did not come easy for you. May you too experience peace on the journey our Lord had planned for you from before the beginning of time.

Daughters

Once upon a time I had a different brown skinned baby girl. She and Isaac were just 18 months apart. CPS gave her to us as an adoptive placement-parental rights had been terminated. We named her Olivia and brought her home. We had a party for her, we sent out birth announcements. Long story short, CPS took her away from us abruptly, gave her to another foster mother, and the drama that ensued left me scarred and traumatized for a long, long time.

I wondered why God had brought her at all if he was going to just take her away. I wondered why we had to struggle so hard to be parents when others were gifted with it so effortlessly.
6 months later, I understood why. Our real daughter had already been conceived.
Had Olivia not come and been taken in such a horrific way, we would have not left foster care adoption to pursue domestic infant adoption.

And our Vivianna would not be ours.

But this was not to be God's plan. His plan was for us to be in the room when our daughter entered this world. His plan was for me to be the first one to hold her.
His plan was that this daughter would stay.
And she did.

All of my children have redeemed part of our journey for me.
This certainly was not their job to do as they came into our family, but it happened nonetheless.

Isaac redeemed my ache to be a mother. An ache that started from the time I was old enough to know that women had babies of their very own. He wasn't really a baby anymore, but he needed a mother very very much. And I so desperately needed a son. A perfect fit.

Vivianna redeemed my deep desire to have a baby that was mine from birth. A baby whose very life began in our heart and home. A sweet bundle of pink baby girl that I thought I had had to say goodbye to. She had such spark and life to her. She still does.

J redeemed in many ways my barrenness. In his homecoming I came to terms with God that this was the way our family was to be. Our cup runneth over in beautiful colors of children that I could have never given birth to. That deep desire to be pregnant that I thought would always be a part of me quickly and surprisingly left as our family has grown. We now have quite too many children for a pregnancy to be the blessing it once would have been. :)

And Jasmine. Jasmine has redeemed my loss. Billy pointed out that Jasmine has dragged up "Olivia anxiety" in a way that Vivi did not. I suppose it is because Jasmine is a brown skinned baby girl. I suppose I had given up the thought that would ever happen again. I know I worry more about this baby. Is she breathing? Will she survive the SIDS window? Will I make all the right decisions for her care all the time? Will she love me? Olivia cried a lot. I was not her mother. She missed her foster mother she had been with since birth. And she was not going to so quickly be replaced. But Jasmine lights up when she sees me. She smiles at me even if I am just shifting her from the changing table to the swing. If she is in a rage she stops crying the second I pick her up. She nuzzles into me and relaxes. She is mine. And I am hers. Beautiful redemption.

And despite the worry and fear that threatens to creep up...I am putting my trust in the Lord that He has given us this baby girl to keep for all the days of her life.