FUNdraising!!!

So I know it may be a little early to be worrying about fundraising for our adoption, but when you're looking at a big picture of around $25,000...well, you start thinking about it pretty early!

Researching all of our options is not a problem--I love to research this stuff. My biggest issue (and I THINK The Husband's too) is openly asking for financial assistance. We're working from this idea in the back of our heads that it's our family and if we want to add to our family then, financially, it's our issue to work out. It's difficult to break free from that line of thinking. The funny thing is, we were totally happy to contribute financially to friends' adoptions because we truly see it as biblical and something the church needs to take part of and support. But when it comes to us, it's almost embarrassing to say, "Hey, we can't do this............can you help? For me personally, I see myself taking charge of this area of the adoption in the most candy-coated, roundabout way possible because I'm just not comfortable asking for help!! There's this little brat inside of me stomping her foot and saying, "Don't even post this, I can do it mySELF!"

The idea of fundraising for adoption, I think, is kind of new age-y. I mean, when we talked with family members about how much it cost them to adopt 30 years ago, they told us it cost them something like $2,000. Generally now, it IS much less expensive if you foster first and then adopt or adopt a waiting child in foster care (which we looked at). But adopting a newborn from someone you don't know...well, is just much more expensive now. Also, I think fundraising for adoption is accepted by the Christian community because we see taking care of the "orphan" as something God commands us to do.

But it's still out of my comfort zone.

Anyway, here are some ideas I've found so far (and I'm also wondering if the grants I'm finding on the internet are actually worth my while to apply for):

1) Grants
2) Sell tshirts (Adoptionbug.com is what we're looking at because there is no upfront cost to us)
3) Garage/Bake/Jewelry Sale
4) Asking people outright for some dough (not gonna happen with me!)

So...ideas for fundraising are welcomed. Also, I could use some help wading through all the grant stuff. I don't want to waste my time filling out grant applications if they're not worth it. :(

Oh, I also don't want to leave you with nothing fun from my day so:
Bubba didn't nap today. Instead, he pooped on the floor and then REALLY tried hard to clean it up...with lotion, cream, and a cd.

Revamp

There are some new things going on in our life so The Husband and I have decided to revamp our blog to keep our friends and family updated on our growing and transforming family. The biggest two changes are:
1) I am currently in school to get my master's degree in social work. When I am finished my goal is to fight for "the least of these," the kids in the adoption and foster care world. I have my first (unpaid-boo!) internship this summer with a foster care agency. I'm so excited-the agency and people there seem so great, working toward a better life for the kids.
2) We have decided that 2013 is our year to adopt! We are starting the process now! We have our first consultation with our agency this Thursday. We are incredibly excited, determined, and scared. But we are ready.......we think. :). Oh, there's that little matter of it costing more than double what we paid for our car...

A large portion of this blog is going to be dedicated to our process of adopting. We believe that the process of adopting is not just about the child we will be bringing into our home; it is about every member of our family. It is a life change that affects our family as a whole which is why this "revamp" is not to change our blog to be about the adoption only. We would like this blog to be an updated account of what's happening in our family, how God is working in us and how we are just trying our best to be a loving example of God's devotion in this broken world. Also, we cannot accomplish this adoption without the love, support and encouragement of our family and friends. So we want to keep everyone informed!

You will also be hearing a lot about The Husband's adventures as a stay at home dad this summer while I intern and go to school!

And the adventure of our family continues on...

So I thought it would be fun to document everything I do in a day as a Mom.  At 1:30 PM, I gave up.  Here it is:

7:12 AM: My morning begins. I am startled awake by a door slamming and my 10 month old letting out a cry. My 2 ½ year old has learned how to open doors. He lets himself out of his room and nonchalantly waltzes into his sister's room to say good morning. If he's awake, she MUST be awake too, right?? I roll out of bed. The day begins.

Tell Bubba not to wake up his sister anymore.

Give good morning kisses.

Ask Sean to bring me up wipes—there are 0 upstairs.

Change Sissy's poopy diaper.

Change Sissy's clothes.

Switch the laundry.

Put a new load in the washer.

Finish putting Sissy's skirt on.

Fold the 2 loads of laundry I have been ignoring.

Skip shower---wash my face and spray some dry shapmoo on my hair while Sean gets Bubba milk and puts on Dinosaur Train

Remember that Bubba is downstairs alone and sprint to the front door to lock the chain lock.

Sprint back upstairs before Bubba realizes I'm down there.

Clean the sink and toilet—decide to leave the shower for another day.

Pick up a crying Sissy—bring her downstairs

Pick up our mess from last night

Give Sissy a bottle on the floor while I...

Put Bubba on the Potty

Get Bubba more milk

Put Bubba on the potty again.

He has already had 2 M&M's. It's 7:59 AM.

Dinosaur Train is over—must stop ignoring my kids and get them breakfast.

Put toast in the toaster

Put Bubba on the potty

Tell Bubba he cannot, in fact, have another M&M because he didn't go potty

Put toast on the table. Bubba  doesn't want it now.

Put Bubba in time out for telling me no

Get myself some toast—undercook the first piece, burn the second piece

Feed breakfast to the kids

Go upstairs to switch laundry

Get Bubba's shoes on

Get Sissy in her carseat

Go upstairs to get Bubba's trunks

Put Sissy in the car

Put Bubba in the car

Have play date

Interfere 37 times over hitting, pushing or screaming

Fight with Bubba to put his clothes on

Fight with Bubba to get in the car

Make sure there is money in the checking account

Pay utility bill

Fight with Bubba about which way to turn the car on the way home

Fight with Bubba about taking a nap

Put Sissy down for her nap while Bubba screams at the bottom of the stairs

Make up with Bubba

Put Bubba down for a nap

Realize my work hard drive does not work

Try to scan some paper work—realize my printer also does not work

Do some other work.

Give up and paint my side tables that have been in the garage for about 4 months.

It's 1:30 PM.

Well don't I just suck at updating our blog?  I promise (though I don't know who really cares!) that I am going to update this blog more over the summer.  Today is The Husband's last day at JTHS for the year.  This year has flown by--when he started the school year we only had 1 child.  Now Sissy is almost 9 months old!  I cannot believe how quickly she has grown and that we are going to be celebrating her first birthday soon!  I also cannot believe how much my little boy has grown up.  He is physically so much bigger, he talks in full sentences (we can actually have conversations now...weird!!!), and he has blossomed into such an AWESOME big brother.  He is so protective of Sissy and loves to give her kisses.  The three of us were dancing in Bubba's room the other day and Sissy was smiling and giggling and I thought it was because Mommy was holding her, dancing with her.  Then I looked closely at her.  Her eyes were LOCKED on Bubba and she was finding so much joy in watching HIM dance.  Mommy had nothing to do with it!  It actually gave me great joy :)

Bubba's newest accomplishments:
1) Talking in full sentences!
2) Going pee pee on the potty (not regularly)--go ahead.  Ask me how I feel about bribing your child to pee on the potty.  Hint: I FULLY support it!!!
3) Really getting those temper tantrums in full swing

Sissy's newest accomplishments:
1) Rolling from her belly to her back (finally!)
2) Saying "mama" and "dada" and other various babbles :)
3) Being even cuter now than a couple months ago--I know, I know!  You must be asking how that's possible!  See pictures for detail :)

In May, I started my Social Work Master's program (sort of).  I have 1 prerequisite course that I never took in undergrad (Human Biology) so I'm getting that out of the way this summer and I'll start my Master's classes in late August.  I'll be taking 2 classes at a time so it's going to take me a while to finish but I'm in no real hurry.  I'm very excited to begin this journey!

The Husband is still teaching at Joliet West and loves it.  He is also still teaching as an adjunct professor at Joliet Junior College one night a week and it really loving that as well.  We are going to be visiting my brother, Nick, in Seattle in a couple of weeks without the kids so we are a little nervous but very excited to have some time away from the kids.  Will write again soon!

I haven't written in HOW long?!!

I'm going to save all the talking hubub and just apologize for not blogging in so long. It's really hard to get a spare moment with TWO KIDS!!! Bubba just celebrated his 2nd birthday and Sissy is already 4 months old! I cannot believe how quickly time has flown by and how many time I have thought, "I should really update our blog" only to be thwarted by a laughing, screaming, or fussy child!

Bubba's highlights:
Turning 2! Learning his name (he calls himself Memmett), Speaking in sentences (No, Memmett do! or Mommy do it, Mommy go, or Mommy sit down!), and loving his baby sister!

Sissy's highlights:
Um, being born is probably her biggest one. She LOVES her big brother. She will literally just belly laugh when he looks at her. She can see farther now and loves to grab on to pretty much anything. She is constantly smiling, giggling and sticking out her tongue. The girl loves to eat too! I'm pretty sure she's the happiest baby around.

The Husband and I are doing well too. He is now teaching a class at Joliet Junior College one night a week and loving it. I'm currently in the midst of filling out applications to go back to school for my Master's in Social Work. I will hopefully start in the summer but most likely this coming fall and will be done in about 3 years. It's gonna be ROUGH but rewarding!

Here are some pictures and hopefully a video soon :)

Updates

So we are now in the full swing of summer and having a great time with Daddy!! We have gone to the zoo, the splash pad, lots of parks, the children's museum and lots of other places to fill our time. We are now almost 30 weeks into pregnancy #2 and aside from one short stint on bedrest, we are doing well! Here is a video from late May to brighten your day :)

Belly Shot!

20 Weeks! We are halfway there, folks! We have our 20-week ultrasound next week and, if we are as strong as we think we are, we will NOT be finding out the gender!!