Autumn Moon Festival

I took more pictures, but being dark, they didn't really show up. We had fun all the same.

Adoption fundraiser AND Pizza Party

A friend pointed out the the CHIPIN title was confusing. So we renamed it "adoption fundraiser" as that is what it is there for. Our fundraiser right now is a virtual bake sale. If you give $10 towards our adoption we deliver cupcakes to a local group home for orphaned children. If you give $50 we deliver pizza. If you just want to give towards our adoption, that's much appreciated too, just put in the memo on paypal that you want it all to go towards the adoption. Thank you so much in helping us invest in the life of an orphan and stepping up to be his family. I'm also so excited to be able to bring some cheer to some local orphans in the process.

Thank you my friends.

Pizza Parties!

I delivered my first two pizza parties to two group homes tonight.

   In Arizona alone, 9,900 children are in the foster care system. Of these, 4,583 are placed in group homes, each home housing up to 10 children and youth ages 6-18. The majority of these homes are in Maricopa County or the Phoenix Area. These homes do not have house parents or foster parents, they have staff that rotate through in shifts to care for the needs of the children. They simply don't have time to make connections or play with the kids.

    I thought it would be fun to have a vitual bake sale to provide some treats for these kids and raise funds for our adoption at the same time.

   The first home I went to was mostly elementary age kids. They were SO excited to see me. I brought in Pizza and they all screamed PIZZA! I also had some donations of some toys and coloring books. When I had gone to the home the week before, they just had a plastic 3 door bin with some old toys, that was it. When they saw the toys they gasped, "Is that toys?? TOYS!!" They all thanked me and I was a teary mess by the time I left.

  Thank you for your donations to the bake sale/adoption fundraiser, know that you have made some kids very happy. It's a rare treat for them and not something that is in the budget to care for these kids.
  If you would like to help, I'd love to deliver more happiness. $10 and I deliver some cupcakes to a group home. A $50 donation on my CHIPIN on the right of my blog and I deliver a pizza party to a group home and a part of the proceeds go towards bringing our son home.
 Thank you!!

A heart for Orphans

So a little announcement here... We are adopting again! We've been working on our papers all summer. We've been looking at some files on a few children. This week our agency called us and told us that one of the little boys had just a few days left before his file was returned to China. I had seen his file go out to families several times and be returned again as the families were not pursuing his adoption and now his time was up. We said, "he's ours". Actually I said that before I had a chance to ask Brent so (eyeroll) they made me check with Brent first. :-) I can't post his picture yet. But he's 2 years old, cute as a bug and I suspect he will be Lucy's mischevious  partner in crime


 Why adopt, and why again? We're not collecting kids, we're happy with the family God has blessed with us. We advocate for orphans and help however we can, it's just that we feel we can still do more. We still have an extra bed, room at the table, another seat belt in the car; and out there there are so many children needing just one family to say "you're mine."
 

 "We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19

 Because his time is short, the adoption is going much faster than I expected and we have expenses due now that we don't have and we need some help. I love to give back and help the orphans whenever  I can. I thought it would be fun to do a virtual bake sale for the group foster homes in Phoenix. There's a CHIPIN on our blog. $10 and we will deliver cupcakes to an entire group home. $50 in our CHIPIN and we will deliver pizza to a group home. This would be a rare treat for these kids. It would be so fun to bless them with a Pizza Party. There are many many group homes in Phoenix, so I think we can stay busy.
  Just put in the memo on the CHIPIN cupcakes or Pizza.
 Thank you!!!

and I quote...

I just find this humorous:

 "So many of the landmarks across Europe are holy religious sites. I've passed through quite a few shrines and temples on this trip so far, and I've noticed they all tend to say the same thing: 'Look how much we love God!' I can't say I'm all that impressed at this point. I'm not sure God is either.
 Hey, wow, Sistine Chapel. That's fantastic guys. No, really. I'm speechless-totally flattered. Tell me something though... Have you seen the Grand Canyon? 'Cause I made that. How about Wadi Rum? Ngorongoro Crater? Uh-huh. That was me too... Boy, love the tile work. And those frescos. Man, that must've taken forever. This is definately going on the fridge."

 - Matt Harding

Thrift Shop Finds

I got a book from the library recently called Bazaar Style.  I think I finally found a name for my decorating style. I collect stull I like and decorate with it. Sounds simple, but I have a lot of stuff I like. My house is definately not the vogue minimalist look but I like it.

I found this cute little chair at a thrift shop for $29.99. I talked them down to $7. Yeah! It's very small, it looks great in the kids play room.

I bought this bag of toys just for the little boy with the pot on his head. We used to call him Frowny when my sisters and I were kids. A+ for creativity.

I love old things, especially old toys, I found this great old Fisher Price Shoe at the same store.

Found this one too, same store. My toy collection thanks me. :-)

This howerver I did NOT buy, a pair of jeans for some reason they thought were very valueable.

I also didn't buy this. Looks like I missed the good deal when it was still at Walmart. Drat.

First Day of First Grade

... was Monday but I'm just getting around to posting their picture. The girls have had a fun week with lots of getting lost and me trying to figure out when is the best time to get their in the car line. Can't wait until the heat turns a bit so we can start walking to school again. They love these new programs added this year called P.E. and Lunch! Whoo Hoo!

Orphan Alert

I just need to share another link. I'm been seeing more stories come out of this country lately of children with Downs Syndrome being left in cribs and starved. I really don't have the right words to describe what is being done. It's horrific. I saw another story this morning that I just have to share. This precious child is 11 years old and weighs 10lbs. I don't even understand how she is still alive, she's a fighter and God is keeping her alive, to stir our hearts to action perhaps? She needs a family, she needs to know love. There is a grassroots effort to raise the money for her adoption in hopes that a family will step forward. Please help her, because as the blogger says at the link, It IS our problem. God put us on this world to be a shining light, to be known by our DEEDS and LOVE.
 Please go to the link here, it's so hard to read and see the pictures but we must read and do something!

I Pad giveaway

My friend is doing an I PAD giveaway to raise the rest of the funds they need for their adoption.

take a look and enter here

I have a newfound fear of my children...

The kids were playing quietly. I saw Karianne walk over to their little toy kitchen and open the toy fridge and stuff something in it, close it again and walk away. They continued to play quietly. But what was that? I heard muffled cries coming from somewhere. I followed the sound and went to the little play kitchen and opened the fridge. I saw a tiny family with wide terrorized eyes staring at me, and shivering. I looked back at my kids nervously, they continued to play quietly over near the dollhouse...