In the midst of all this unknown, we continue to trust our Big, Big, GOD.  Zoe’s adoption fund is getting larger every week (sometimes every day).  We’ve received disheartening news from Ethiopia but I’m firmly standing on the fact that God can change it all in an instant.  Please pray with us that the Ethiopian government will loosen the restrictions they have just put in place and a normal, acceptable wait time for Ethiopian adoptions will resume quickly.

In the mean time, I’m heading to the library to get my absolute favorite cookbook signed by The Pioneer Woman!!

~audrey

When Nana (my mom) is coming to visit, I usually start cleaning a few days before hand.  If my house isn’t clean when she gets here, she’ll do it….not because she doesn’t think I clean my house, but just to be a blessing.  However, I’d much rather her sit down and enjoy the boys than feel like she has to clean my bathroom or fold my laundry so I work pretty hard to get the house clean before she arrives.

Last night, a friend had a big cup of love Starbucks waiting for me when I got to church (thank you V, it was SO good!).  It was so yummy and I hadn’t had one in quite a while.  I did not, however, think to ask if it was decaf (because who analyzes a free Starbucks??).  Therefore, I was wide awake, cleaning bathrooms at 12:00 last night.  It was really nice to wake up to clean bathrooms this morning.  It’s yucky and rainy outside so it should be a perfect day to mark another room off of my Spring Cleaning list.

Time for school!

~audrey

~audrey

We’re already nine days into March and it’s feeling more and more like spring outside.  This week we’re making a few important to-do lists and evaluating what needs to be changed as we wrap up our CC school year in three weeks and move into a different school mode for the summer.  Every summer looks different for us.  This summer we’ll probably do more school work than we have in any past summer.  The boys are getting older and there is great need in our house to stick with some sort of normal routine that doesn’t just involve waking up and spending the day at the pool.

We will take bi-weekly trips to the library to keep our reading choices limitless, and will continue throughout the summer with Saxon math, Language Lessons, and Sequential Spelling.  Two subjects we fell slightly behind in with our classical memory work were geography and timeline so we will review that often as well.  I’m excited about the changes and look forward to our “summer break”.

My house is in need of a good spring cleaning and purging.  Slowly but surely I’m going to make my way through each room in the house and clean it from top to bottom while also going through every drawer, closet, and cubby, getting rid of things we do not use or need.  If I can just spend thirty minutes to an hour a day in one room I can be done in no time.  Here is the order I intend to use.  I will try to take some before and afters.  🙂

Kitchen

Office

Living Room/Foyer

School Room

Master Bedroom/Bathroom

Boys’ Bathroom

Dining Room

Boys’ Bedroom

Garage  (We will probably work in the garage every weekend…it’s going to be quite a task!)

Fly Lady has a great tool to help with Spring Cleaning and then maintain it year round with relative ease.  It’s called Zone Cleaning.  If you’ve never checked out her site and are in need of help getting your house in order, I’d recommend it.

For some reason it feels like it should be Thursday or Friday already.

Oh well, happy Wednesday!

~audrey

First off I’d like to say, I am not discouraged.

God set our feet to this journey and He alone will be faithful to complete it.  Even in the last 24 hours I have been showered with more encouragement and blessings.

I have filled over $100 in Bows for Life orders, today two dear friends made over $60 in donations to Zoe’s adoption (thank you H and A!!), and best of all:  our friends got travel dates to pick up their little girl from China!!

I can’t even imagine what that must feel like to finally get that phone call.  They’ve been laboring through this paper pregnancy for 15 months now and are so elated to finally hold their daughter in their arms.  I cannot wait to meet her!

We only have three weeks of co-op left before we let out for the summer.  I can hardly believe it!  I look forward to ordering our new materials and am in a bit of denial that I will have a second and third grader in the fall.  Technically Owen will be in “pre-k” but that doesn’t mean much when you’re homeschooling.  He already knows all the basics and we’ll wait and see if he’s interested in learning to read next year.  He doesn’t even turn four until the end of June so I certainly won’t be pushing it if he’s not ready.  We’ll work on writing his name and practice lots of tracing, basic phonics flashcards, and Bible memory.  It was amazing today in class to hear how many of the younger siblings (three and four year olds) have memorized every single thing their older siblings had to learn this year.  We’re talking 160 timeline events/people, the entire sixth chapter of Ephesians, and lots of great stuff in history, science, geography, Latin, math, and grammar.  Classical Conversations parents joke around about how their youngest children will definitely end up being the smartest.  They will hear the material day in and day out, year after year long before they’re sitting in their own little class room.  It is really such a treasure.  We have fallen in love with the classical model.

Well, it’s nap time so I really need to clean up around the house.  Floors to vacuum, dishes to wash, clothes to fold; you know the drill!

~audrey

I received an email containing an article about big changes to inter country adoptions from Ethiopia.

Effective March 10, 2011: Ethiopia will cut inter country adoptions by as much as 90%

This could change everything.  I read the article a few times and tried to find more info online but realized it’s all a gray area right now.  No one knows any details and no one knows how drastically the laws will change….until they do.

I received a phone call from our agency and she recommended that we not put our paperwork (and money) in the mail until we hear back from them in a few weeks regarding the future of the Ethiopia program.  So, I took our envelope out of the mailbox.

Now we wait.

It’s strange how quickly things change.

My mind has been racing with where we’ll go from here if Ethiopia ends up a closed door.  But I have to remind myself that I only need to know the very next step.  And for now, the next step is wait and pray.  I will resist the urge to think any farther ahead.  We will continue to raise money for our adoption through our puzzle and Bows for Life.

“And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us.”

1 John 5:14

~audrey

Since beginning our journey to Africa I’ve been telling everyone how much peace I have about the whole process and how we’re totally trusting the Lord to provide every step of the way.

In the past week, three separate people have asked me some version of this question:

So, what is the next step in the process?

My response has been, “Well, we’re waiting until we have at least $5,000 before we submit all of our official paperwork, and we’re almost half way there.”

Let me backtrack a little first.  On Friday, we had already raised $1,895; in two weeks.  I was so excited to see the two thousand dollar mark, I prayed we’d make it there by the end of the weekend.  Right now, it is Sunday morning and our adoption thermometer says $2,027!!  We were over the $2,000 mark by Saturday morning.

A friend who is adopting from China (next month!) wanted to contribute to Zoe’s adoption by paying me to help her clean her house before family comes to stay with her boys.  I love cleaning and I enjoy spending time with her, so I was all over it!  However, she was the third person to ask me that question:  What is the next step; what are you waiting on?

She must have seen the unrecognizable look of conviction on my face as I confessed what I didn’t realize I was saying:

By not submitting our paperwork now (or two weeks ago), I’m actually saying, we are going to raise the first $5,000, THEN we’ll trust God for the rest.

Ouch.

God has already provided the first $2,000 in two weeks.  Am I really walking in faith if I’m in complete control of the situation and playing it safe until I feel comfortable?  I feel I’m doing it again….hearing God call me to something, seeing the end result in the distant future and saying, “Okay Lord, that sounds great! I’m in….but I’ll take it from here!”

In the end, Josh and I finished signing all of the paperwork, wrote our first check,  and it is now sitting in our mailbox waiting on Mr.Postman to take it away tomorrow morning.

Let the real journey of faith begin.

~audrey

Adoption is the gift of life.  Each and every child that has ever been adopted or is available for adoption is alive because their birth mother chose life.  I am so grateful to those women who make a selfless choice and give their child a chance at life.  My husband chose our daughter’s first name and it happens to mean LIFE as well.  Zoe Ameris means “Life, Promised by God.”

As a result, we’ve named this fundraiser Bows for Life.  All of these bows are made with grosgrain ribbon.  I use alligator clips lined with 3/8″ coordinating grosgrain ribbon.  Most of the clips are only partially lined; meaning the top half of the clip, where the bow attaches to the clip is lined, but the bottom half (the part that goes into the hair) is unlined.  I am more than happy to make your bow exactly how you prefer.

We will be selling these a few different ways.  You can host a Bows for Life party at your home or church and I can come and share our story and have all of my bows available for immediate purchase.  You can contact me with your order and address, add $2 for shipping and pay through the donate button on the right; your bows would arrive to your door in about a week (depending on your order).  And lastly, for my local people, you’re more than welcome to schedule a time to come by and shop right out of my home.  All I ask is that you give me 24 hours notice so I can vacuum and light a scented candle before you arrive!  If you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to contact me.  If you don’t see a color you’re looking for, just let me know and I can probably get it within a few days.

Most of the mini clips are about one inch in diameter.

Fabric Applique Options:

Sequin Heart:  hot pink, light pink, red, white

Sequin Flower: fuscia, red, white, blue, purple

Butterfly: yellow, light pink, hot pink, blue, green

Scottie Dog: light pink, light blue, cream

Denim Daisy

Strawberry

Small Bow Ribbon Options:

White, Yellow, Light Pink, Hot Pink, Orange, Red, Light Purple, Dark Purple, Light Green, Kelly Green, Sky Blue, Turquoise Blue, Light Brown, Dark Brown, Black, Zebra, Giraffe, Light Blue with Brown Polka Dots, Multi Stripes

Medium Bow Ribbon Options:

Hot Pink with Polka Dots, Ivory with Earth Tone Polka Dots, Ivory with Green and Turquoise Polka Dots, Brown with Multi Polka Dots, White, Ivory With Multi Paisley/Patterned, Zebra, Giraffe, Light Pink, Hot Pink, Pastel Polka Dots, Black with Green and Purple Floral, Light Turquoise, Deep Turquoise, Red/Blue/Green Retro Floral, Lime Green/Pink/Brown Floral, Lime Green/Pink/Brown Paisley (not all of the ribbon is shown in the picture)

I can add any of the fabric appliques from the mini clips or the resin appliques seen below to any medium bow.

These hand-sewn fabric flowers are attached to an alligator clip. I can use just about any fabric. You can even provide the fabric if you’d like. I’d need about 12″x4″ of fabric for each flower.

Please share this link with all of your friends who have daughters, granddaughters, and nieces.  100% of the proceeds will go directly to Zoe’s adoption fund.

**All of the ribbon and appliques are subject to change if I run out at any time and/or am unable to reorder.  I will try to update this page as soon as possible if this ever happens.**

Bless you,

audrey

.

“And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us.”

1 John 5:14

I always want to add an exclamation point after verses like this!  What an honor to serve a God who hears and cares for even little ole’ me!  I love you Lord!!

~audrey

For the past three months the ladies in our Sunday School class have had secret sisters.  I’ve never participated n secret sisters before and it was so much fun.  My secret sister showered me with sweet, personal gifts like a monogrammed travel cup, dark chocolate, Starbucks gift cards, a precious picture frame that says, “My Boys”, and socks at Christmas that say, “Santa’s Favorite Blonde”.  I was looking so forward to reveal day when I could finally give her a big hug and thank her face-to-face for her kindness and generosity.

Yesterday our entire class had lunch together, where we not only drew new names for the next quarter of secret sisters, but we also revealed ourselves to our former secret sisters.  I was completely surprised with who my secret sister was.  She did such a great job being sneaky.  At the reveal she gave me one last gift bag.  In the bag was a hanging name plate that read:

Zoe’s Room

and also a sweet card of encouragement for our journey to Africa and a check for $100 for Zoe’s adoption!  Once again I am completely overwhelmed with God’s goodness and the generosity of His saints.  What a blessing she is to me and my family.

By the time I got home from church and lunch, I had over $200 to add to Zoe’s adoption fund.  Once again the boys were so excited to help me count the money and fill out another deposit slip for Zoe’s account.  Through this adoption, my boys will see God’s never-failing hand of provision in our lives and I pray that it will affect them for a lifetime, always knowing that He will meet their every need according to His riches and glory.

Happy Monday!

~audrey