One Sought Me

Over the past several months fundraisers have been my part time job.  Asking for money is not something that we like to do, or want to do, but when two of your children born of your heart are waiting for you across the ocean, we will do whatever it takes in order to reach them!  Thank you for understanding that we aren't trying to overwhelm you with pleas for money, but we are trying to thank you for your donations by giving you the benefits of enjoying the products and services offered by the fundraisers.  A win-win we'll call it.  Great deals, goods, and services for you and finances for us to get one step closer to bringing our children home to their forever family.  Most importantly, a wonderful opportunity for you to join along side of us in helping us to reach these children and bring them home!  And we deeply thank you!!! Here are the blessings that we have received thus far by way of fundraisers and givings.  We also hope that this report c...

(listing a post here to use in another post about our fundraisers reports-sorry for the 'old' news) My 9 year old daughter came up with this fundraiser idea for our family adoption funds.  My daughter, Quinn, has two precious little rabbits that she cares for.  One is a big white fella and the other is a tan dwarf rabbit named Cinnamon.  Quinn had the idea to do a photo shoot over Easter time and to use Cinnamon in the photos. It just happened to be that two friends of mine are very talented and professional on-site photographers.  I asked them if they would be willing to do a shoot for us for a fundraiser and they both generously donated their time and talents to this day! We advertised on our face book and by word of mouth to have a total of 15 people for an all day shoot on a Saturday.  The kids and I cleared our dinning room out and made a set-up for the photos.  That is our best location for natural lighting coming in from the French doors. O...

This week I put a lot of pressure on myself as I was feeling a tug of the spirit that it was time to move on, and well, things weren't moving on.  We have completed our home study requirements since Feb. 9th and have been waiting on the agency to complete the write-up.  Waiting, waiting..... and meanwhile we've been busy collecting other papers and documents for the next step. I made a few contacts this week to check on our progress and basically to share my mama's heart that weeks are turning into months and from my perspective, this is all the more time that our children can't be home with us.  Praying daily and hoping that the papers would get through to us this week, well it's Friday morning, April 26th, and YIPEE!  Our home study was in my e-mail inbox ready for us to review before the final draft is notarized and mailed to us!!  Ahhh, I was literally clapping at the computer screen and then held back the tears of joy.  Praise to God that there was ...

Inspired by the scripture in Matthew 10:21 that says, "You are more valuable to Him then many sparrows."  And after putting together odds and ends of creative ideas from friends and on-line crafters, my daughters and I have come up with a team effort fundraiser!  Mama's Nest Necklaces. NEW 3/2014: Visit our Etsy Shop to see  many more options and styles!    https://www.etsy.com/shop/Mamasnestjewelryart These necklaces are handmade by the Vogtman girls.  Each nest is unique with minor differences than what you may see from these sample photos.  Yours will be lovely! These nests are approximately 3/4" wide and contain 3 eggs, but you can specify if you'd like more (up to 5 with no additional charge) or less based on how many 'little ones' you care for in your Mama's nest.  The chain is a 16" adjustable length chain with a clasp closure.  The silver metals are sliver plated, and the bronze are antiqued bronze.  The ...

Our seven year old boy is just that...seven young years of boy energy and adventure all wrapped up in one strong body including a strong spirit!  The energy that he burns each day should be bottled and marketed as a stimulant.  Calories melting away like that would get rid of those last few pounds we'd all like to lose.  Roosky is an inspiration to the family to keep going and keep up the pace! Our biggest adventure with with this well-hearted, spunky, ball of energy boy is to teach him to self-control and moderation. When is enough enough?  "Don't over-do-it" is a commonly repeated phrase in our house. No matter what the sun dial reads, this boy goes 100%.  Bedtime is 99% of the time a struggle to get him to settle down.  After the bedtime family routine of singing songs and praying together, Roosky goes to his room with a timer set for 'quiet time' before he hits the covers.  Hoping that this gives him a chance to wind-down, that timer will ring...

                                          Over the last month we have been having family discussions and debates over the names of the children.  Names are very special to us as our biological children all carry names that tell a story and have a unique meaning to who they are. We wanted to choose names that were true to Ethiopia, true to the children's heritage, but names that had an "American" sound to them too (basically so we could pronounce it).  It will be a process enough for the children to be different by race and origin let alone different with a name that would constantly get the response of "What? How do you say that again?"  I understand there are different opinions on this, but this is our choice to re-name the children and open their new chapter of life with us. We will treasure their birth names and have intentions of using their birth name as the...

These two funny kids grabbed some of my old books and decided to 'read' to each other!  They had the best stories!  The littlest one started and said, "Once upon a time far far away..." then the older one took over and said ...."there were two friends who lived far far away..and there were many games... far far away. "  Then our daughter said, "and Jesus will be with them...." I know the children over hear many conversations about the adoption and the process that we are in.  We are guarded with our words knowing that little ears are near and little minds are active to take even minor information and turn it into something major just because it is unfamiliar to them.  In times like these when the kids are playing or story telling about adoption are times when I know they are understanding and internalizing what they hear talk of.  It comforts my heart to know that their little hearts are being moved and stretched to understand what adoption me...