One year today

Well, I suppose it's come and gone. Today, we've officially been waiting for a baby for one year. I must say, when we first started the process, I had it in my head it would probably be just under a year. But then again, I knew it could take a long time. This is one of those times where it's really hard to accept God's timing and be patient, but I know there are other families that have waited even longer.

I just pray that she will be here soon. Goodness knows I'll be ready. I think the only big thing I still need is a car seat. I have a year's supply of diapers, I'm working on the wipes, I bought the crib, made the bedding and accessories, and that's about it. My sweet mom and sister bought me some baby clothes the other day. It's nice to have just a few just in case it happens quickly, I don't like feeling unprepared. AND, in case you missed my last post, my amazing dad just made a custom shelved closet, so her room is mostly set up and organized. I love it! So one year down, hopefully no more to go =)

My dad is cooler than your dad!

Some of you know my dad, and that he's, well, awesome! You should have seen him whip up--I mean, help me with my science projects that I forgot about until the night before. Once I had to create a lighthouse, and we made one that was so real looking, and then he took a flash light magnifying glass and rigged it up so that the lighthouse lit up. Needless to say, I got an A+ on that. I've never met anyone else quite like him, someone who can take scraps and a neat idea, and literally make something that would blow your mind. He can do anything!

And he's a carpenter! Now, I have to say that it is SO convenient to have a dad that can build anything! I take advantage--I mean, he's so nice to come do stuff for me! Some of you might have seen our garage that he turned into a playroom about three years ago.

 

Before. Look at how handsome he is!

After

The cabinet on the left side there is a pull down bed. Absolutely my favorite part, perfect for guests.

Well, after 10 months of nagging, uh, I mean, sweetly reminding, he came over on Saturday and made my dream closet for the baby's room. I am so excited about it. When I was getting the room ready, I ripped out all the wire rack shelves because I can't stand them. Check out the new closet!

I love it! He's not quite finished yet. He's going to add some shelves on the sides. But I just had to share. 

I also want to give a quick shout out to my sweet sister and her hubs, Alison and Gabe, for coming out and spending the day power washing my house. I am so blessed to have such a loving family! I honestly took that for granted as a kid, thinking all families loved each other, got along really great, were always willing to help each other out, and just genuinely enjoyed spending time together. But then I remember so many of my friends, who would spend time with us as a family, would always say, "Wow, your family is so great, and you guys are so close! I wish my family was like that." Just another one of God's blessings! 

So to my family, I love you all so much, and thank you guys for your unending love, support, encouragement, and reliability. You guys are the best!

Meet the Coalson's!

One of the really great things about this adoption journey is that we get to connect with other families who are in the process, or have adopted. It's really awesome to be able to connect, share their journeys, pray for them, encourage them, and just know that we are not alone in this. There are other families who have been weary, and frustrated, and have come out with a beautiful child, and will tell you that it is so worth it!

I know I can complain about the wait sometimes, but the other day I was connected with a sweet little family that has been waiting for 3 years! Yes, you heard me right, that's three times longer than we've been waiting! They are adopting from Ethiopia, and like many other families, their process has been held up be many different reasons. They were finally matched 6 months ago, went to meet her, and still, 6 months later are waiting for the paperwork so they can bring her home. I can't even imagine!

Feel free to check out their blog and follow their story, and even consider making a contribution to their adoption. Fees for adopting internationally are huge, but we know that God will provide when we are following His will. They are having an online auction, so check that out too! Help them FINALLY bring beautiful Ryah home!
Here is their blog:
www.coalsonadoption.blogspot.com

God calls us to care for the orphans and widows. That doesn't mean everyone is called to adopt, but doing what you can to help those that are can be your way of obeying God's command. But most importantly, pray, pray, pray! We need prayer more than anything else!

Giveaway!

First of all, be sure to check out my dress giveaway at ForBeautifulBaby! Click on the link below, share the photo on Facebook, and be entered into a drawing to win this dress, but hurry, the contest ends October 15th!

Here's the link:

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=609687325739406&id=601459736562165&set=a.609687319072740.1073741829.601459736562165&source=46&__user=722157885

I've been working really hard in my Etsy shop, and things are going pretty well. I'm still trying to spread the word about it. I got my business cards in the mail last week, and I'm excited to have those. I've been asked to participate in two vendor fairs. That's really exciting too! I'm hoping that will really expand my customer base and spread the word on my shop! It would be amazing to be able to fund all of our adoption expenses through this!

This week, Summit Church has been doing community service projects. I signed up to work at two different pregnancy crisis centers. I went to the first one yesterday, and it was really nice! All the services they provide are free, and it is completely funded by donors and churches. I got the tour, and how the program works. They teach the parents life skills, and with each accomplishment, they earn "mommy bucks" which can be used to purchase baby items that are in the baby boutique, which is all donations as well. I might have to donate some of my baby stuff. 

I encourage all of you to check into your local crisis centers and see how you can help. I really feel donating your gently used items there would fulfill a greater need than donating them to Goodwill. These people provide a wonderful service to those mothers in need, and they share the gospel message with them too! 

For Beautiful Baby

So many of you know that I love to paint. And you probably know that I love to sew too. I just love anything crafty. I love to make things. I blogged about the baby bedding that I made a little while ago, and that was the first thing I had sewn in probably 12 years. I decided to make some baby clothes, and, well, the idea exploded and now I'm making and selling baby and young children's clothes on Etsy. I also will be selling some of my paintings.

I came up with the name because I am making clothes to raise funds to help out with the adoption costs for our Beautiful Baby, and also because I'm making clothes for your beautiful baby. Cheesy? Maybe a little, but I never claimed to be a marketing genius.

This is what I spent all last week doing, and I usually tell my mom everything, but I was so busy sewing away, we barely talked all week, and I never told her what I was doing. Now, just to be clear, in the span of about a week, this went from a suggestion from a friend to look, I just opened a store. I sent her a quick email after I set up my store, with the link, and said, "I opened up an Etsy shop. It would be great if you could help me advertise." She responded with, "Is this real? Is this a joke?" I got a good chuckle out of that. She has no clue what Etsy is, and she probably was thinking I opened up like, a real store. But I know, even thought she didn't say so, she is supporting me. She is just so good like that, so supportive. She's my #1 fan. =)

I really love doing this. It is my passion. It is a talent that God gave me, and I love to be able to use it.
I am so excited about my shop, and I know that in order for it to do well, God has to bless it. I can sew my heart out, and make fabulous stuff, but unless God blesses it, it won't do any good. So I'm asking all my supporters and prayer warriors, please pray for me. Pray for my shop, and pray that God would bless my efforts, and that through this He would help us raise the money so we can bring our Beautiful Baby home!

Here are some of my outfits. To see them all, go to http://www.etsy.com/shop/ForBeautifulBaby

Great Wall of Diapers

I think I've mentioned before that I've been stocking up on diapers. At first I would just buy a big box every time I went to Walmart. Then I learned about people getting them super cheap, and now I'm trying to stock up on them when I can get a good price.  I just realized I've been doing this for a year now, and I've been putting most of them under our bed, so I couldn't see them, and really had no idea how many I had. I decided it was a good idea to get them out and see if I needed more, or had too many of a particular size, etcetera.

Behold: The Great Wall of Diapers! That's 1,724 diapers. I counted.

The sad thing is, according to most people and their estimates, That's about half of what I need. However, I think those people are the types of people that change the diaper every time it gets wet. I mean, let's be realistic people, I don't have all day to change diapers. I mean, I don't wait till it's sagging past their knees or anything, but they pee every 5 minutes, especially when they're little. It has been a few years since I had one in diapers, though, so maybe I'm remembering wrong. I think I've done a pretty good job getting a head start, and since I've worked tirelessly clipping coupons, researching sales, and running to 5 different stores to get all the deals, Cory has graciously agreed to change all the diapers. Or he will agree to it.  I forget which one. I'm sure I can convince him. 

I've had baby on my mind so much lately. The fist 6 months or so I couldn't think of anything else, and then for a few months I was able to distract myself with hobbies, and now I'm back to thinking about her. you know how a particular time rolls around, and you're like "Wow, was it really a whole year ago that that happened? Where did the year go to? It went by so fast!"  Well, looking back to last year, I'm more like, "Wow, was it really only a year ago? It feels more like 5 years, 3 months, and 21 days!" 

I've been thinking about how I've been making all these clothes for her, and making her bedding, and having fun decorating and preparing, I have never met this child, she's not even alive yet, and I already love her so much! It's like with God, He has always loved us, even before we existed, He loved us. Even when we were sinning against Him, and hated Him, he still loved us. I love how this process so far has been such a reminder of salvation, and how we are adopted by God. I guess that's sort of the purpose of it, to imitate Christ, and to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and caring for the orphans. It's a sweet reminder. 

It's funny though, because when I get where I'm thinking about her a lot, I dream about it all the time too. And I have some really crazy, vivid dreams. I dreamed about her the past two nights, and last night, I dreamed that we finally got the call, and it was a 1-year-old instead of a newborn, which is fine with us, but I was like, "Oh no! All these clothes I've made were size 0-3 months!" Then my mom dreamed that we went somewhere to pick out a baby, and they had all these babies laying around and they were all dolled up, and some of them had lipstick on, and she kept thinking "Why do they have lipstick on?!" You know I'm going to have to do a photo shoot just for her when I get our baby! =)

Sew happy!

I've been stockpiling fabric ever since I made the bedding and got hooked on sewing. It's something about making it yourself, it's so much better than shopping! I've been staring at my pile for a while, and everytime I sat down to make something, I'd browse the web for three hours trying to get an idea, then give up because it was past my bedtime. 

Well, I'm pleased to announce that I finally made something! I made a little dress. It is incredibly cute! I know it looks kind of orange in the picture, but its more like a coral/melon pink. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and just wanted to share. 

We still haven't heard anything, but I've been spending my time trying to learn how those crazy couponers get diapers for crazy low prices. The best I've managed is $4.50 for a small pack. Not a bad deal, but still not free. I think they get a coupon for, let's say, mustard that's on sale for $1, but the coupon says $2 off, and so the store actually pays them to take the mustard. So they get a billion mustard coupons, and buy a billion bottles of mustard, and the rest of their groceries end up being covered by that. I don't really have a need for a billion bottles of mustard, and I don't want to go around stealing newspapers out of driveways so I can get multiple coupons. I'll just have to be content with my $4 diapers!