A little quiet time

Today my boys are out hunting, I have one girl asleep and another enjoying her own coveted tv time. In this quiet time I am reflecting on all the things I am thankful for and am just amazed at all I have. We really have so much in America and sometimes we forget how much we really do have. I have jumped on the facebook bandwagon and writing things that I am thankful for and I know I am not even skimming the surface.  How do you encompass an entire life and everything in it into 30 days? I am at a loss...

This moring was the Christmas parade in Lebanon. I was able to enjoy it with a gppd friend and lots of little children. It made me think about this Christmas and all the shopping that is to come But. this year I am choosing to focus on how I can incorporate fair trade products in my shopping and my ability to give to others. (So friends and family- be prepared because you may get some not-so traditional gift this year!)

In my midst of seeking for fare trade I have found many different shopping sites. Here are a few:

The Brave Collection sells beautiful jewelry that helps support survivors of the sex trade in Cambodia. www.thebravecollection.com




  You can help African children get shoes, and help people create jobs for themselves through learning how to make shoes. www.solehope.com/

Buy the Change USA sells goods created by women in the developing world who were victims. Their mission is to encourage consumers to buy goods that support undervalued women.
www.buythechangeusa.com



  We create opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn income by bringing their products and stories to our markets through long-term, fair trading relationships.http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/

Umoja Women’s Shop sells traditional, glass-beaded jewelry made by women from Umoja, Kenya who have escaped abusive lives in favor of a violence-free community in Umoja. All the color combinations are preserved from their ceremonial jewelry.
www.umojawomen.net


Connecting shoppers with products that support causes.
                                           http://shopwithmeaning.org/

Bajalia sells authentic handmade products war-torn countries. All products -- women’s accessories, shawls, wall art, handmade paper, baskets, and more --  are fair trade.
www.bajalia.com


Or you can go to one of my fellow adoptive momma's boards and check out over 200 stores! http://pinterest.com/abeautiful_mess/shopping-with-a-purpose/

And, if you (and by you I mean I) really can't say goodbye to Target, GAP or Sephora then there is an amazing website called Pure Charity that you can go throught ot purchase items straight for the store and a percentage of each of your purchases goes to charity and the amazing part is- YOU get to pick the Charity! How cool is that! www.purecharity.com


So....Happy Christmas Shopping!!!

DTE Update and some Fall Fun

So I completely missed our 6 months DTE update and we are almost to our 7th. I think I was wallowing in a little in denial over not being matched with our new child(ren) yet and I thought somehow if I didn't post then we may get "The Call".

A few months ago Gene and I really felt even more at peace about raising our age range and together decided if we had not received our referral by 6 months then we would feel comfortable increasing our age range to 0-7. So a few weeks ago we sent in an e-mail to our coordinator and up-ed the age (again). Now, you may be thinking "You started off this journey requesting 0-2 and now your 0-7, in a Joey from Blossom voice: Whoaw- big jump! " 
And yes, you would be correct! For those of you that know me really well, you know I love babies and would love to have like a million of them another one. However, God gave me this amazing husband that has really had his fill of the baby days. In the amazing way that God does things, he has helped both of us acknowledge that He has a plan for us better than our own...

So, trusting in him, we know that we continue to leave our age range open, knowing that he will give us the child (or children) that are for us. So with that, here are the numbers, knowing that God is the ultimate mathematician...


  For an Infant Boy

    For an Toddler boy

   For Siblings (still hard to predict given the variety of  
                                                  ages and gender)

                 For a boy child age 4 or older.

(Want to know where we get these numbers- see the post DTE month 4)

So we continue to pray, study, prepare and celebrate with each referral that creates a forever family! (More to post on a specific family soon!)



While we wait, we decided to take some nice fall family pictures. Enjoy!

We heart Ethiopia!

Can you believe we got the two big ones to hold our hands!

Love this man!

Wherever you go...I will follow

Our three home grown

Off on an adventure