Fundraisers

I want to let everyone know that I will be placing an order for the t-shirts on Monday June 16th.  If you have already let me know that you want one but have not paid, please do that as soon as possible!  And if you would like one but haven't let us know yet then please order no later than Sunday June 15th!!!  Thank you so much to all who have participated in this fundraiser.  I will post a pic again just so you can see the shirt without having to go back through old posts looking for it:

Again, these shirt will be $20 each from toddler sizes-xl.  They are $22 each for 2xl or larger.   All proceeds go toward the adoption.

Our puzzle fundraiser continues as well!  We have now "sold"  88 pieces of the puzzle.  Some people have signed up on a form at our church in the last couple of days for t-shirts and puzzles and I haven't added those to the number or the picture yet.  You can donate through the paypal donate button right here on our blog if you would like to for the puzzle and type in the comment section how many you would like and what names you'd like on the pieces.  Here are some updated pics of the puzzle!  A friend of mine said the other day how she loves how as people buy the pieces, the picture comes together.  Sort of like how the whole process is..."one piece at a time":)

I love how you can see part of the child's face in this one!! 

And one last thing, don't forget we are hoping to have a HUGE YARD SALE in the coming months.  Donations are welcome at any time if you would like to help out with that.  We may wait until Sept when it's a little cooler to do that and give people some time to think about it and get things together. Let me know if you have any questions about that.

Thanks again for all the support and mostly for all of your prayers!!!!!!

Keepin it real!

I'm going to try and do my best to update this blog more often.  I usually just do adoption updates and since right now, we are just in the waiting period with that... I don't have a lot to post about.  We started this process September 23rd 2013.  So it's been a little over 8 mos now.   Wow!!  I can't believe it.  In some ways it seems like it's gone by really fast and in some ways it's dragging.  I will say that for some reason the past couple of weeks have been the hardest for me to wait since we started the process. I've just had a different feeling in my heart lately.  Many days, I feel like my heart literally aches.   I think it hit me most when I looked at our family pics from Easter.  As soon as I looked at them , I felt like something was missing.  In all reality.. it is!!  Our 3rd child.  Everyone told us in the beginning that this whole process would be a roller coaster of emotions.  Boy were they right.  Most of the time I just go about our daily life and try to just enjoy our family of 4 before we become a family of 5!  But there are times when I can't hardly stand the wait!!!!  Our family dealt with infertility before we had Jaxon so I know that feeling and that's the best way to describe it.  The only difference is that we DO know it will happen..just don't know when.  I told Bobby it's not even like a pregnancy because at least that way you know it will happen and pretty much know when. 

     On our adoption website there are adopting parent profiles for birthmoms to read and help give her an overview of each family.  Sometimes they choose a family just from that but sometimes they call the agency and mention a family that has caught their eye and want to see their entire profile (photo book, homestudy, etc).  I check the website pretty often to see if anyone has been matched or just new families added.  Since ours was added to the profile on April 1st, there have been 10 additional families added.  This is where some of the mixed emotions come in.  And just so you know these are REAL feelings here!!  Everytime I see a new family added; in this order I feel: 

(1) excited for them because they are beginning an awesome journey  

(2) I look over it and pretend I'm a birthmom and wonder if that family seems like a family I would choose if I were in their situation.

(3) I read ours again(everytime) and wonder if ours stands out among the others  (some of the families look amazing by the way and the profiles are great...

(4) Then I immediately feel a feeling of "man, more people added? How will anyone ever choose us if they keep adding other families?)  SELFISH I KNOW BUT I'M KEEPING IT REAL:(

(5)  But the amazing thing is that each time I have that feeling, I immediately have an overwhelming sense of peace come over me.  I have no doubt that God is just reminding me that it doesn't matter how many there are or how awesome I think they seem, but HE already has the perfect baby for our family. HE already knows who it is and when it will be.  So at that point I smile and go back to #1

See what I mean about a roller coaster!!!!!  Here are a couple of quotes I've run across recently when I was having one of "those days"

I love when God puts people and things in your life exactly when you need it most!  He's great at reminding us who's in control.  

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End of the school year!

I hardly ever do a post about anything other than the adoption but I wanted to document this mostly for myself so I will always have it!  Last week was Jaxon's last day of 5th grade.  Anyone that knows me well, knows what I'm doing as I type this:)  It's been very emotional for me but I did pretty good.  Jaxon's only request when we came to his honors assembly and his "moving up" ceremony was for me  NOT to cry!!  And guess what... I did it!!  I was pretty proud of myself.  Now don't get me wrong, I cried before and after the program and many other times but not  AT the program.  Go me!!!  We are very proud of Jaxon of the young man he is becoming!  He is a smart boy and I have no doubt he is ready for middle school.  I'm the one that isn't ready but we all have to go through it and we are looking forward to a fun summer and a great year next year.  Here are some pics from his last day.

               His last time walking into elementary school

Mr. Monell

                                             Mrs. Milner

          Jaxon receiving his "Certificate of Completion"

Camden had a great year as well and is now officially a "2nd grader"  He's pretty excited about that except he LOVED his teacher and is a little nervous about having to start over with a different one.  However, I'm not worried at all because for some reason Camden is a different child at school and NEVER gets in trouble and ALWAYS does the right thing the first time he's asked.  Yeah, I wonder how things can be so different at home and at school.  I'm glad though because he can be quite the handful for us:)  I guess the saying is true "If they are going to misbehave, I'd rather it be at home"  No seriously Camden is a sweet boy and really is a people pleaser.  He tries real hard to make the right decisions.  This will be his last year at the primary school before moving on to the elementary school for 3rd-5th grade.  Here are a few pics of his last day of school picnic with his friends.  I rounded the corner and found him her with some of his "friends that are girls":)  He seemed to be hanging around the little blond right next to him quite a bit.  Ladies man maybe???

Libby, Hope, Madison, Maggie, Faith and Camden

                                                       
                                  Mrs. Bramlett and Camden