What I Love Wednesday.... YEAH I'm back!

The Holidays are here and with that I am loving all things Christmas and Holiday Cheer!

First up, a fire in the fireplace with the Christmas tree lit, that view is from my favorite spot on the couch :)

Next up, my holiday music, which I have been playing in my car and at my desk since before Thanksgiving but my husband wouldn't let me listen to it at home or with him in the car until after Thanksgiving. Now Lydia and I dance to #2 on this cd every morning on our way to drop her off for the day. I love her little wiggle she does in her car seat to dance along.

Now go visit and see what others are loving on this Wednesday, maybe you will find some inspiration for the day.

Sneak Peek

Full reveal to come soon. I have a couple finishing touches that need to be done and then I will share our "new to us" kitchen.

Tis the Season

While decorating last year and while decorating this year, the difference one year makes.

How does this happen so quickly?!?! Love the fun and wonder she brings to the holiday season, it's almost like I'm a kid again but way better watching it through her eyes. 

Final November Guest Post

For my final guest post of National Adoption Month, I have the super sweet and super talented Lauren here to tell you their story, it's a good one!! I promise you will want to jump through the screen and hug Lauren ... you might want to kiss her sons cheeks too, they are yummy!

Enjoy and I hope you were as inspired as I was by these women and their stories this month, thank you for sharing ladies and thank you for your hearts and inspiration you provide me everyday!!

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Hi, I’m Lauren from Love Makes a Family. It’s such an honor to be asked to share the story God is writing for us - thank you Allison!

 

Rewind to the summer of 2009. John (my wonderful husband) and I had just taken the biggest leap of faith God had asked of us to date. We had left a cozy mountain home, a stable government position, a thriving ministry, and all of our friends to follow his call to seminary. We were living with parents while we waited to see if John’s interviews with a local church were going to turn into a full time youth pastor position and I had just started working full time at the seminary after being a stay at home wife for 4 years. John did get the job as a youth pastor and after several weeks we weren’t homeless anymore but were unpacking boxes in our new home - the parsonage. By September John had started class and we were knee deep in figuring out a brand new ministry. It was easily the most high stress, messy, and disorganized time in our lives. Just when we thought life couldn’t get any crazier God threw a curve ball into our lives...

That September I started feeling a nudge toward adoption. This wasn’t the first time in our marriage I felt that way, but every time in the past we would talk it over, do some research ,and then not feel right about it... so it would go on the back burner. I expected this time to be the same so I ignored the nudge for a few days until that little nudge turned into a full on aching in my soul. I was having trouble concentrating at work and sleeping at night. It just wouldn’t go away! I finally brought it up to John and given the craziness of our lives at the time his response was not surprising - no way! So I agreed that it was not a good time and worked on ignoring the feeling. It only increased. I built up the courage to talk to my husband again and this time he was open to listening. God had been working on his heart and showing him that this was His plan. The funny thing is that we had never considered international adoption in the past. Any time we would talk about it we were talking about domestic adoption with a specific agency in mind. But this time I somehow felt drawn toward Africa... Ethiopia more specifically. As we sat in a Mexican restaurant having this conversation about adoption on my lunch break I finally let John know what I was feeling. The moment the word “Ethiopia” came out of my mouth I saw a transformation come over John’s face. I asked what he was feeling and he said, “peace.” It was very clear to us that we were supposed to adopt from Ethiopia. After praying about it for the rest of the week we jumped in!

It wasn’t always the easiest journey. Did some people think we had lost our minds? Yes! Did we have the $30K in savings to pay for the adoption? No, but by God’s grace we raised every cent! Did we always have the support of every single family member or friend? No. But we always had God by our side helping us through and on January 15, 2011 we walked through the gates of the transition home and held my son in my arms for the first time and knew that it was worth every moment of heartache.

Something else happened in our weeks spent in Ethiopia... we knew we would be back again someday. We knew that there were more children meant for our family. That brings us to this September and a new journey. This decision wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the last, but every bit as special. It was just a conversation on our couch. I was feeling that now familiar tug for a few weeks. I sat down to tell John and with tears in his eyes he said he had been feeling it too. So we’re off again! We’re back on the roller coaster ride of fundraising, paperwork, prayer, and waiting. Is it the most convenient time in our lives for another adoption? No! Do we magically have the $30K to pay for this journey? Nope! Do some people think we’re crazy? I’m sure they do! But we have learned that God can do anything. We have learned that we don’t have to have it all together, be the most talented, the richest, or the best. We just have to be willing. God can do amazing things through those who are willing to be used. 

We can’t wait to see who this next little one will be. We can’t wait to welcome him or her into our arms and our home. We can’t wait to be back in Ethiopia and we can’t wait to see where this journey will take us. 

*A note about our son’s name. Remember when I said that John’s face changed the moment I mentioned Ethiopia and he said he felt peace? We had the opportunity to ask our son’s birth mother what his name means and we nearly burst into tears when she said, “peace.” So we have chosen to keep his Ethiopian name... our Mareto... our peace.

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P.S. Lauren is the one who did my amazing blog redesign and she is using this talent to raise money for their adoption so check out her place HERE and leave her some love HERE. 

Happy almost Thanksgiving everyone, don't forget your stretchy pants tomorrow!

Friendsgiving 2011

For those of you who are new around here, I am super blessed that I have a group of friends who have been with me since high school and we all still get together a few times a year to celebrate holidays and catch up. In 2009 I posted {HERE} about our "friendsgiving" and how blessed we were to be there and expecting our first child.

2009

We weren't able to make it in 2010 but this year we returned with our bundle of joy, ok so she's not much of a bundle anymore but a spunky, crazy, toddler! She made sure to talk everyones ear off, play with the doggie Bayden, and eat lots of chocolate that my friends kept sneaking her while I wasn't watching.

I cannot imagine my life without these boys and the beautiful women in their lives. It was so fun to see them with their wives/girlfriends/fiances/baby bumps, new jobs, homes and lots to catch up on. My heart is so happy after an evening with these great people. God blessed me with these boys as my big brothers growing up and I love watching them now with my daughter. What a blessing they are! Can't wait to keep adding to this group. Happy Friendsgiving :)

2011

Fall, before it is over

I've been a slacker on posting new Lydia pictures, so enjoy some of our fun Fall day. Thought it would be fun to post a few pictures with leaves and green grass before snow is falling. Have a fabulous weekend loves!

November Guest Post #3

Next up in my guests posts for Adoption Awareness month is Amy at Filled With Praise, she is so sweet and has such a heart for adoption and other adopting families. She actually features fundraising families on her blog and that was where this idea blossomed. Thank you Amy for sharing your heart and your story. ENJOY!

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To Allison, thank you so much for sharing our story!  {A big Southern} Hey Ya'll!  to all of Allison's readers.  My name is Amy and I blog at Filled With Praise.

In July 2009, my husband and I had three children; our youngest being only six months old.  We were living life, unaware of how drastically God was about to change all that we knew.  In an instant, our eyes were completely opened to the orphans of the world.  Not only did He open our eyes, but He placed an urgent calling on our hearts to adopt.  After late night conversations and a lot of prayer, we began the adoption process on complete faith that He would provide every dollar needed and that He would lead us to our child. 

Were we scared?  YES!  Were we afraid others would think we had lost our minds?  Quite honestly, many did think we had lost our minds.  We were met with many rude and hurtful comments when we made our announcement and throughout our process, but we knew in our hearts that adoption was absolutely something that God had placed upon us.  We followed Him and it turned out to be the journey of our lives.  At every twist and turn in the road and during every time of wait or delay, we felt His presence. 

Our walk to our son ended in Ethiopia in July 2010, exactly one year to the day that we started the process.  There we were handed our son, Elijah, and we were met with confirmation after confirmation that this was indeed the child that God had chosen for our family.  We also ended our walk through the adoption process completely paid in full through God’s works. 

After being home for over a year, I can tell you that there is not a day that goes by that we do not thank God for the day that He “wrecked” our world and opened our eyes to adoption.  It was in no way an easy walk, but it was oh so worth it!  We have a deeper understanding of God’s love for each of us and the sacrifice that was made through Jesus.  

Elijah is filled with beauty and is a blessing to our family.  I cannot imagine missing the blessing of being his mommy.  He brings joy and laughter to our home and he is adored by his siblings.  I can tell you that we are far from perfect parents, our children are not always angels, our life is often crazy and sometimes hard, but life is so good.  When his name is broken down by meaning, it perfectly summarizes how we feel: Elijah (God is Lord) and Mihretu (God’s grace).  God is Lord and through His grace we will forever be a family.  It does not get any better than that!

My Adoption/Orphan Care Page

Hey everyone!! So I finally got around to building the page in my navigation bar "Adoption & Orphan Care" with resources, links, and videos for you to learn a little more about some of the fantastic organizations that are all about serving the orphans and helping families with the resources they need to complete an adoption.

This will be a fluid and ever changing space on my blog so check back often and I'm always open to suggestions of videos and resources that should be added.

Happy Tuesday!

Operation Christmas Child: National Collection Week

I looove everything about Operation Christmas Child, I think it is one of the easiest ways to make a difference this Holiday season. I started participating in Operation Christmas Child last year as adoption was starting to take a hold on my heart but I had not idea what to do with all the information all of the weight it left on my heart and the longing to make a difference and touch a child's life without knowing what our future held.

Operation Christmas Child made a difference in my life last November. I made two boxes, one for a boy, one for a girl. I plan on doing the same this week. It is National Collection week (November 14- 21) so it's not too late to get involved.

Here are some resources to help you get started!!

Here is a link regarding How to Pack a Shoe Box

Here is the link to find a Drop-off Location

InstaFriday

Jeanette over at Life Rearranged has taken the week off from InstaFriday for a fun little project she is working on, so still go check her out! It's called the The Happy Day Project.

However, over here we are still having some resemblance of an InstaFriday post even if it is rather small. It's been a busy busy busy week for this mamma and my phone actually didn't make an appearance much during what little family time we had.

My shipment from Light Gives Heat, 2 weeks left in my campaign, please consider helping provide food for those who need it in Uganda this Thanksgiving!!

This girl loves her juice and her dog "B"

This is Layla, she doesn't come around the camera often because she's the independent one but had a snuggly evening this week.

I vote, I count!

Have a wonderful Friday everyone and a safe and fun-filled weekend.

November Guest Post #2

I am thrilled to have Danielle join me here today. She has such a big heart and a beautiful family! Here is a little bit more about her and their adoption journey!

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hello, my name is danielle and i blog at take heart. thank you so much for having me today, allison!

my husband and i had prayed over adoption for a long time. even before we were married i remember talking about one day building our family through birth and adoption, if the Lord allowed. when we made the decision to take the next step and start pursuing agencies and praying over what route we wanted to take, it was an easy one. not because we knew exactly which way to go, not because we have the money for it, and not because we had no questions, but because Christ commanded it of us.

i love this quote from katie davis' book, kisses from katie:

"My family, adopting these children, it is not optional. It is not my good deed for the day; it is not what I am doing to 'help out these poor kids.' I adopt because God commands me to care for the orphans and the widows in their distress. I adopt because Jesus says that to whom much has been given, much will be demanded (see Luke 12:48)…"

we are adopting domestically through new york state. our home study was completed in september and we are now a waiting family. we know our wait may be long but we have hope and trust in the Lord that He will grow our family through adoption in His perfect timing. 

i would ask for your prayers for us as we wait for our baby to come home... thank you so much!

Thanks Danielle and please visit her at Take Heart and follow their journey, she always such inspiration.

Winner

Matilda Joyce, you are the winner as announced on Sunday. Please email me with your information so I can send you the beautiful necklace!

A new winner will be announced if I do not hear back by Friday.


* Thought for the day, make sure your water bottle lid is tightly closed before sticking it in your purse. I had standing water in my purse before leaving to go home last night, made for a BIG mess.*

Happy Wednesday

I Count

I vote, I count! Now that I am out on my own, I have a family, I have a job, a home and pay bills. I truly believe in making your voice, your vote count. It matters it really does and I am thankful for a country that allows me to have a voice.

You won't see me get too political here, I save that for conversation with my husband (he gets really passionate, I love it) but I do hope you take the time to make your vote count. 

Orphan Sunday

November 6, 2011. Today marks Orphan Sunday, a day to bring awareness, prayer, and to stir hearts to move for the orphan.

I am thankful that this year I even know there is such thing as Orphan Sunday. I hope that next year even more of my friends and family and others in our communities will know what it is as well.

So take a minute today and pray for the orphans, pray about how you might be able to get involved in some way, pray about adoption for your family, pray about supporting an adopting family, simply pray and remember the fatherless today.

Check out more information on Orphan Sunday HERE.

And as promised the winner of the Light Gives Heat necklace is:  Matilda Joyce (email me with your info)

Thanks for playing along with me and stay tuned for more to come in November, more guest posts, holiday fun, hopefully a kitchen reveal (fingers crossed, holding my breath!)

InstaFriday

Our sweet puggy girl, 7 years old

my new purchase for our bedroom!

our project right now, what a mess but will be so worth it

Trick-or-Treat

made it to the first Butler game of the season, fun and great seats!



Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway HERE!! Ends Saturday night, winner announced on Sunday November 6, Orphan Sunday!!

November Guest Post #1

Today marks the first guest post for the month of November. Once a week throughout the month a family will share their adoption story, I am so excited to have these women sharing with you! They have been such an inspiration to me and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

First up, Alison sharing about their journey to Caroline Faith!

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I love November. I love that November is National Adoption Awareness Month. I love that two years ago this very month God began to stir my heart to international adoption. I love that at that time I had no idea that November was National Adoption Month! I love how God works!!!

Here is a little bit of our story...

Our family is on a journey. It is a faith journey with our heavenly Father that is going to change our lives and the life of a child…forever. This all began with a God-given season of "holy discontentment". I was no longer content to live a life of complacency, and I began to feel that God was about to call us to do something BIG! However, I was unsure of what His calling would be. During this time, God led me to the blog of a Tennessee family who had adopted a baby girl from Ethiopia. My first thought was, “They are so sweet to adopt, but we could never do that.”

Then I heard God ask, "Why not? What if I asked you to? Do you trust Me? Do you trust MY plan for your family?" And I sat at my computer and wept. He was breaking my heart for orphans, and I knew His calling was beginning to unfold.

In November of 2009, exactly 2 years ago, God revealed His plan for our family...to adopt a baby girl from Ethiopia! God had already chosen our fourth child...and she would have beautiful brown eyes, brown hair, and brown skin. But were we willing to take that big step of faith and trust His perfect plan?

At first, I was scared! I knew absolutely no one in our community, church, or the entire state of Mississippi that had adopted from Ethiopia! As I began to pray, I felt very alone and the doubts and uncertainties continued to creep in.

But God soon revealed something profound; we were supposed to be obedient to His calling to adopt from Ethiopia, no matter what! Whether or not our parents approved, our community accepted, our finances allowed, or another local family ever adopted an Ethiopian child...it really did not matter! God was leading us to this child, this was His will for our life, and that was the only thing that mattered!

As we continued praying, God began to blow us away. It was truly one of the most amazing times in our life. Confirmations from Him began to pour in, one right after another. As we started to move forward in obedience, all the fears and uncertainties were replaced with joy and excitement! With every step forward in the adoption process, we grew more confident in His calling. We claimed the following verse from Hebrews over our adoption journey: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see."

We started off on our agency's (All God's Children International) Ethiopia waitlist at #93 for our baby girl, our Caroline Faith. Now, 13 months later, we are currently at #22 and hoping and praying to see her sweet face in the next few months! The wait has been long, but God has used it so much! We have grown so much in our faith, and we are learning how to wait patiently on the Lord and His perfect timing! We know that our daughter will be so worth the wait!!!

We are putting all our faith in God, believing that adoption is a beautiful picture of His love and redemption. He sacrificed His only Son, so we could become His adopted sons and daughters. Psalm 68:6 says, “God sets the lonely in families”, and we know He will one day set our baby girl into our arms…and into her forever family. This baby changes everything. Our lives will never be the same, and we would not want it any other way!

We are so THANKFUL to be on this journey to bring Caroline Faith home from Ethiopia! But we do not believe our journey ends when she is home. We know that God wants us to encourage others to seek His will in adoption and caring for orphans.

It has been so amazing to see how God has already been moving so much in our church and in our community by calling families to adopt! We now have a local adoption fellowship group that gets together monthly, and it's such an encouragement to have such wonderful families to walk this journey with! My prayer is that God would continue to call Christian families to adoption and orphan care.

I don't know when our daughter will be home, but I am choosing to trust the One who has all the answers. I am confident of this: God has a plan that is greater than ours, and it will bring Him glory! We are putting all our faith in Him and trusting His perfect timing to complete the adoption journey that He has called us on. And we can't wait to see the precious little face our Caroline Faith!

"...once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12

Thanks for sharing Alison, you can visit her blog here!

NEW BLOG DESIGN & NAME

So my dear friend Lauren just created my oh so new and fabulous space on the web :) Didn't she do a great job???? I am so thrilled with it and so thrilled that I am helping her get one step closer to Mareto's baby brother or sister. They are adopting AGAIN from Ethiopia!

So behind the new name:

As most of you know by now, we plan on adopting, we are saving for this adoption already, we also recently had a miscarriage. Our life will always be a "Life With Lydia" but it is so much more now. I want this to be a platform for loving others, loving the fatherless, moments of inspiration, moments of fear and overcoming, a place to share my heart as a mom to beautiful babies. I hope this will be a place to do just that and so much more.

So take note of the new name, delurk yourself and become a follower because I think good things are about to happen here.

Lydia's Halloween

 I was short handed on Halloween with a sick husband at home. So Lydia dressed up in her costume to go see her Mama and Papa, they had a little gift bag ready for her (pics from my camera have not been downloaded, mom fail) We also went to see Aunt Sarah and Uncle Tony, they also had a gift bag and my Aunt took some pics for me on her camera while we were there.

Lydia dressed in a pink and black witch costume, complete with hat that barely stayed on her head. (Yes I was worried what I might be starting by dressing my 18 month old in a witch costume when every other 18 month old was wearing a fluffy puppy or duck costume) BUT it was $7.50 at Menards and we have no hand me downs yet, so we went with it and she looked pretty darn cute! She even twirled and modeled for us!

Cheese

mid twirl



she got an Olivia in her gift bag


We then went home and answered the door for our trick or treaters. Lydia stayed in her costume and loved seeing everyone come to the door, she never got scared which I thought she might, but she would close the door and say bye when they left and soon run to the kitchen window asking for "more". I think it was a good plan to stay home and let her experience costumes for her first time in the comfort of her own home.

Halloween has passed which means Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner, I love this time of year :)

Welcome November & a Giveaway

 How crazy that October has come and gone and Holiday season is upon us! Better yet November is here, this means Adoption Awareness Month. This month marks exactly one year since Matt and I decided we would grow our family by adoption. We researched adoption agencies, countries, and sent in our pre-application to see where we were at regarding guidelines and options. What a joy it has been since then to get to know other adopting families, to share our desire for adoption with friends and family and to just simply open our eyes and our hearts to the world of adoption and orphan care.

Since November 2010 a piece of my heart has been in Africa, I have watched families travel to do short term mission trips, travel to meet their children and travel back to pick them up. I have dreamed of what our sweet one will look like and what their story might be. What their birth-mom is going through what their family is going through. I pray for them all the time and hope they trust in God's plan for their child and that he will place them with a family who will love and keep them safe.

With that I have learned about a lot of organizations that do great work in trying to stimulate the economy in African countries, they provide a skill and platform to make an income for these families. To feed, to provide education and health care. One of those organizations is Light Gives Heat. You have probably seen my posts regarding my Spread Campaign Store. This store is a way to promote and help the great people of Uganda who so desperately need food, education and health care. I set a goal, I spread the word, and I receive NO compensation (just to make that clear) it is simply a way to get involved from right here in Indianapolis, in my home and at my computer.

So with their 24 hour sale yesterday I bought a little something special that I am going to be giving away to one lucky reader to KICK OFF Adoption Awareness Month!

You can win this necklace!

Each SUUBI® product is 100% unique - hand-crafted by the Suubi women in Uganda and made of recycled paper.

To Enter you must do the following:

1. Leave a comment, yup that is it... pretty easy :) But of course delurk yourself and become a follower if you want to see all the fun I have planned for November :)



Giveaway will end Saturday November 5th and the winner will be announced on Orphan Sunday November 6th!