New Fundraiser ~ Valentine Earrings!!!!

Thanks to Nathan's sister, Heidi, we have a new fundraiser!!!!  Heidi loves to make jewelry and she has graciously given of her time to make some beautiful earrings for us to sell.

I love hearts, and I LOVE these earrings.  They would make a cute Valentine's day gift OR simply a fun accessory to a favorite outfit.

4 pairs available

Sold Out

4 pairs available

Aren't they adorable?!?!  Each set of earrings is approximately 2 inches long and they hang very nicely.  (My ear lobes aren't the greatest models, but oh well.)

We are asking for $10 per set of earrings OR you may purchase two sets for $16.  The proceeds from these earrings will be put towards our adoption travel expenses.

If you are interested in ordering, please contact me via e-mail (hearts1982@gmail.com), or leave a comment.  If you are ordering from out-of-state, we are asking for an additional $1 to help cover mailing expenses.  You can pay via check, cash, or PayPal (just let me know which payment method you will be using.)

Order yours NOW as supply is limited!!!!!  Happy Valentine's Day shopping!!!!

13 Months DTE

Here are the places we are in the top three categories............

Siblings 0-5 years

Child 4-years and older

Boy 19-47 months

We have not moved up the list in any of these three categories this past month, but we are confident in our God's perfect timing.  Will you join us in praying for the safety, protection, and comfort of our future child(ren)????

Fundraising Friday

I thought that it was about time to give you, my readers, an update as to our adoption finances :-).

We are "sitting" on the money we have saved to accept our referral.  I'm not a "spender".  However, I am READY to spend this money!!!!!

Our most recent adoption financial goal has been to save the estimated amount of money that we will need for our first trip to Ethiopia.  We have been working towards this goal for the past 9 months.  It's taking a while, but God has been good to help us save the money a little at a time.

Here is a quick reminder of how the estimated expenses break down for our first trip to Ethiopia.

Airfare (2 adults) ~ varies ~ $4,000 estimate
In-Country Travel Package (2 adults) ~ varies ~ $2,500 estimate (this will include our housing, transportation, food, etc. for the time we are in Ethiopia)
Visas (2 adults) ~ $40

Our thermometer (look to the sidebar) has been set to this total of $6,540.  We currently have just over $5,000 saved to put towards our first trip.  Praise the Lord!!!!!!!

We have not been actively fundraising over the past few months.  We still don't know when we will get our referral, so we haven't felt the "urgency" to push to raise the remaining amount we will need.  However, we do have a few on-going fundraising opportunities for our friends and family to help us in, if they feel so led.

Soda Cans/Bottles
We are continuing to collect soda cans/bottles and redeem them for the nickel deposit.  We love to have our family and friends tell us that they have a bag or two of cans for us to pick up :-).  A few of our church's college students (who we work with) have been collecting them in the dorms for us (which, btw, contain some of the disgusting things I have ever seen!!!!).  Our dentist office is saving them for us :-).  And more!!!!

If you live in central IA and would like to help with our adoption via giving us your empty soda cans/bottles, just leave a comment.  We would be happy to take them from  you!!!!!

Handmade Cards
We still have many beautiful handmade cards left.  You can click HERE to see photos of the birthday cards we have available.  We also have packets of a variety of special occasion cards.  (I need to take individual photos of the special occasion cards as well, but that just hasn't happened yet.)  We are selling the cards for $2.50 each OR five cards for $10.  If you are interested in purchasing some cards, please e-mail me at hearts1982 @ gmail.com (no spaces).

25 Christmas Memories

Memory #1 ~ Diamonds!!!  My loving husband surprised me with tiny diamond earrings and a certificate to get a second ear piercing.  Something that I have wanted to do for a long time but never took the time and money to go do it.  He also got me a beautiful heart "diamond accented" necklace (I LOVE hearts!!!!).  I got him a game w/expansion; which we promptly played as soon as we were done opening presents :-).

Memory #2 ~ ROAD TRIP!!!  We love taking road trips together.  Hours in the car together with no distractions, no one else around, just the two of us and hours to talk, laugh and just be together!!!!

Memory #3 ~ Spending the night in a motel with my sister and her family.  Getting to run around outside in the cold morning to help my nephews run off some of their energy.  Watching them find the one patch of ice in the parking lot and slide and fall down MANY times because they thought it was fun!!!

Memory #4 ~ Pulling into my parents driveway and seeing a car parked with an Arizona license plate.  Wait a minute!!!!  My brother and sister-in-law aren't supposed to have been able to make the trip!!!  Guess what???  They surprised everyone and drove through the night!!!!

Memory #5 ~ Seeing my dad stand in the living room with tears in his eyes (and some escaping down his cheeks) as he realizes that ALL of his children and grandchildren will be together for Christmas for the first time in SEVEN years!!!  My eyes tear up every time I think about how happy my dad was!!!  What a special moment!!!!

Memory #6 ~ Sitting around my parents table.  They bought a large table as an anniversary present to themselves several years ago with the future dream of having all their children w/spouses and grandchildren come visit and having room to all sit at the same table.  This is the first time that we have all been together at their house to sit around that table.  We enjoyed the wonderful meals my mom prepared over the weekend and we enjoyed the blessing of being together again!!!

Memory #7 ~ Sleeping on an air mattress that we "filled up" with a blow drier.  {btw.  I don't recommend the blow drier method.)  Waking up twice in the night to refill it.  Grateful for a room to sleep in :-).

Memory #8 ~ Christmas morning breakfast of my mom's Danish.  Yummy!!!!

Memory #9 ~ Playing Away in a Manger on the piano while my 3-year-old nephew, Ben, played the kazoo.  He learned to play it on Saturday night and was enthralled with it.  He's actually really good!!!!  (I have a video of this posted on my Facebook page, but because it's my sister's recording, I can't share it here.  Sorry!!)

Memory #10 ~ Attending my parents church and getting to meet many of the people they are now ministering with there.

Memory #11 ~ Getting to see some long-time family friends that I hadn't seen in probably over 8 years.

Memory #12 ~ Having a family picture taken.

Memory #13 ~ Taking TONS of pictures in front of the Christmas tree while my nephews Ben & Joseph try to patiently wait to open all the presents.

Memory #14 ~ Trying to get a nice picture with two squirmy 3-year-olds.

Memory #15 ~ Listening to my daddy read the Christmas story.

Memory #16 ~ Watching Ben and Joseph learn how to pop the bubbles on bubble wrap :-).

Memory #17 ~ Eating the Spritz cookies my mom made.  Double YUMMY!!!!

Memory #18 ~ Lying lazily around the house.

Memory #19 ~ Watching my husband and my dad play a baseball game together on the Wii.

Memory #20 ~ Sleeping in and then staying in my pjs for most of the morning (Dec. 26th)

Memory #21 ~ Driving to my in-laws house and having Nathan do the driving among those CRAZY Colorado drivers!!!!

Memory #22 ~ Playing Slamwich with my 10-year-old nephew Greg.  (He was better than I was!!!)

Memory #23 ~ Opening presents with Dad & Mom Maxwell.

Memory #24 ~ Watching my hubby cuddle with our nieces and hearing him say "If we get a girl, I think we're in trouble.  I'm going to be such a sucker!!!!" :-) :-) :-)

Memory #25 ~ Driving to my favorite place.  Home!!!!