Henan Kids International Fundraiser {spreading hope...transforming lives}

Three years ago this Sunday, marks the day that our world collided with a beautiful little girl from the Henan province. We received a call from our agency, completely unexpected, knowing that only weeks prior our dossier had been logged into China. Little did we know how quickly our hearts would be knit to this precious angel and broken for the children still in waiting.

November is National Adoption Month and this Sunday is Orphan Sunday. As believers, we are all called to do our part to defend the fatherless and be a voice of hope to those without a family.

"We can do no great things...only small things with great love." -Mother Teresa

It is with great love and joy that I share with you a wonderful opportunity to do your part to give hope to the orphan. I will be selling a limited amount of "born in my heart" China art to benefit Henan Kids International.

Henan Kids International is a group of adoptive families who have children from Henan.
 Their motto "love changes lives" falls right in line with their mission to transform the lives of the children living in the orphanages of Henan through acts of service and love.
 They sponsor surgeries, raise funds for orphanage supplies and volunteer their time.

Above are examples of the art that is available to purchase online using the paypal button at the top  of the blog.

The larger pieces are 6x6 painted on birch board with a 1 1/2 inch border that comes ready to hang.

The smaller mini canvas magnets are 3x3 in size.
I have a limited amount of each design ("forever", "so loved", and "hope-love").

Please specify the design you are ordering in the pull down menu.
(each piece is hand painted and may differ slightly from the photo above)
Please allow 1-2 weeks for delivery.  If you have additional questions please email me.

Shop with a purpose and give the gift of hope to children who continue to wait for their forever families.  These will go on a first come first serve basis...deadline to order is November 15th!

I will be giving 30% of all sales to HKI and the additional amount raised will go toward our family adoption. 
Thank you for spreading hope and transforming lives.

Favorite Photo Friday {family fun in SC}

I'm trying to catch up on the backlog of photos I have from this summer.  

These were taken from our family trip to SC in July to visit my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary.  

The beaches in SC are perfect for Spencer's love for skim boarding.
He was in his element body surfing and loving the big waves.  

Lily on the other hand was content playing in the sand and building sandcastles.  

She loved spending time with her Aunt Debbie and Uncle Jim as well as her cousins Marlee and Kelly.  

Lily adores the beach.  Even tonight as I was tucking her into bed she asked me when we were going back to the beach :))

One night we headed out to Murrells Inlet to take some family photos at sunset.
This is one of my all time favorites of them...I love the way they are walking hand in hand looking at each other.  

In true Spencer fashion he asked if he could jump over Lily.  She was a great sport as you can see her giving him big smiles and a round of applause for clearing his jump :))

The bond they share has been close from the day they met.
 Spencer is only with us every other week and tonight Lily spent about 30 minutes making him a card and asked if she could mail it to him.  Michael helped Lily address it and they walked it out to the mailbox tonight...now it's just waiting to be picked up tomorrow :))

They are the light and joy of our family and we look forward to seeing another little one running around in the photos with them in the days ahead.
{Some of you have asked about our paper chase...we are waiting to receive our approval from immigration and hoping that we are nearing the end of our 60-90 day wait.  Once we receive the approval all dossier paperwork will be authenticated and then translated by our agency to be sent to China...yay!!!}

When I look at Spencer it is hard for me to believe that he was Lily's age when I first met him.
How quickly time passes and how proud we are of the young man he is becoming.  

I love the innocence and wonder of these photos...wish I could freeze these moments in time.    

Together as family...not something I'm always able to capture behind the camera but thankful for this as a reminder of our time together.  

My sweet Mom and Dad on the night we celebrated their 50th anniversary.  

What a blessing it is to have parents who show love and commitment through the joys and valleys of life.  

So grateful for the gift of family and the blessing to all be together to celebrate my parent's milestone.
Even my grandmother surprised us by making the trip to be with us which was an added gift we will always remember.
These are a few i-phone candid photos from the week that capture more of the fun we had.
Thank you Mom and Dad for setting a great example for our family and leaving us a strong legacy of faith, hope and love.  We love you!

Back to School

This week Lily starts back to her regular schedule for preschool.  

She reminds me daily that she is "almost 4" and that she will soon be as tall as me :))  

One of my prayers for her during our adoption journey was that God would give her a bright mind that was eager to learn.  

She thrives on learning new things, loves to do her speech homework and she is persistent to keep trying even when it is hard.  We are humbled daily by God's provision and the way He has answered our prayers.  

 Lily has a fun sense of humor...most days there is a big smile on her face and a joy for life that is contagious.  

Other days she can be more serious and quiet but that is definitely an exception to the rule.  

Her favorite question lately is "what do we do next?" or "what do I do after nap?"  She is a girl on the go who loves structure.  With all the new things we have added to her week (violin, ballet, soccer and speech) I'm thinking a picture calendar with all her activities might be a good thing to make together to help her (and me) keep it all straight :)  

One thing we know for sure is that she LOVES ice cream and with eyes like this it's pretty hard to resist a sweet treat every now and then :)) 

We cashed in a free cup of yogurt at Sweet CeCe's after taking these pictures.  

We were supposed to share it but as you can see with her gigantic bites, I mainly got the leftovers.  

Even with chocolate lips... her smile always brightens up my day!

Orange Crush

Lily started several new things recently, one of which is soccer. Last Saturday was her first game. She was grinning ear to ear and so excited to be on a team (the Orange Crush) with her own jersey! When she saw her number was "3" she said, next year it will be "4" because I'll be four!

You teach your kids to share and not take things away from others so the concept of taking the ball away from the other team is still something she is figuring out. She mainly likes to run and dance around the ball at this point which is pretty cute but not so helpful for making goals for her team :)

Her coaches are SUPER patient and encouraging and she always comes away from practice saying "I did such a good job!" At her last practice I was talking and missed her kick the ball in a goal and she came running over to me saying "Mommy, why didn't you clap for me?"...busted...she doesn't miss anything!!

Even in the extreme heat of the day she was smiling and having a ball which is what it is all about. fun...experience...and working together.

I love her joy for life and willingness to try new things.

No soccer game this weekend...we are headed up to the lake to enjoy some family time on the water.

Have a great holiday weekend!!

i heart faces {jump}

This is one of my favorite pictures from our beach trip this summer to visit my parents.  

We headed out at sunset to take some family pictures and in true Spencer fashion he decided 

he wanted to see how high he could jump over Lily.  Love her expression as she watches him do his thing :))  

Hoping to post more pictures from our beach fun soon.  

This photo was submitted to the i heart faces photo challenge.  

Grapevine tea party for two

There is an old backstop that has a grapevine growing around it that I pass every time we go to church. I've been waiting for the right time to take some photos here and decided that my grandmother's birthday was the perfect day.

The chandelier was my original inspiration for these photos...my Mom made the fun rosettes to give it a vintage feel. She is like my Mimi...so gifted and always willing to share her talents with others.

I also took a tea set my grandmother gave me and the china plates she hand painted that just happened to have grapes on them...perfect for our setting!

Mimi would often write little notes on the bottom of things that she knew we loved. Lily is holding up the tea pot here with my grandmother's note..."for Amy...she loves it!"

My Mom was serving "tea" when Lily noticed the little note on the bottom of the tea pot. It makes me happy that three generations are represented in these photos. Even though my grandmother isn't here...her legacy of love for our family still remains. Oh how she would have loved Lily!

Lily loves my Mom and soaks up every minute of their play time together. Mom was a real sport going out on a hot muggy day to help me take these photos... even my Dad came along with us.
Little did we know some chiggers joined in on the fun that day.  

Lily had fun playing "telephone" and drinking "tea" with her Gaga.

The love they share together makes my heart full.  

LOVE +1

Since it has been three months since my last post 

(once you read maybe you will understand the reason for my "sabbatical"), 

I thought this would be a perfect way to get back into my blog groove...

From the moment Spencer held Lily in his arms, they have been smitten with each other.

Spencer is very patient and loving to Lily and she absolutely adores her big brother. 

 It is a bond that isn’t forced…it comes straight from the heart.

We have had the privilege of watching the transformation that takes place when there is one less broken heart…

one less child in need of the love a family can give.

And yet there are still millions of orphans who wait…. who have never experienced the love of a family.

I heard these words last November at a Show Hope event and I have been wrestling with them ever since. God has been stirring our hearts and showing up in ways that wasn’t on our radar, that wasn’t in our plans. Yet, how can I argue with a Sovereign God whose ways are higher than my ways, whose thoughts are not my own?

I have a choice to push it aside or choose to surrender.  

I will share more about the details of how God has been working in a later post but for now enjoy the excitement of one big and little person who have some fun news to share with you!

We are ready to love one more and look forward to seeing God’s plan unfold.

(our home study is now complete, dossier files are ready and paperwork is headed to USCIS!!)