Update on my life.

Well, it's been a while since my last post...and by a while, I mean months.

I don't think I realized the commitment it took when I started this blog. But, I will not give up on this thing. I will keep on blogging.

For starters,  I will just come on out and say that change is upon us once again. This time around, I do believe and I am doing much better. (Last year prepared me).

The Hubs and I moved to a new town. We have moved to the hopping metropolis of Fort Wayne. The Hubs can't convince me to move out of Indiana, as much as he would like to move home to Chicago.

In addition to the move, the Hubs is now a freelancing artist.

SHAMELESS PLUG, if you are needing any artwork- wedding paper goods (i.e. save the dates, invitations, programs), web design, logo design, t-shirt design, business cards, letterhead, or a really cool one-of-a-kind art piece, contact me now, for I am his unofficial secretary.

Back to the update of my life.

I was a little nervous about moving to a new town. I know no one, here. But, I am loving the city none the less. I have met exactly one friend (I have met other people, but no one I would call a friend. I have had a coffee date with her so I can now officially call her a friend.) The opportunities to meet people have always just been thrown at me, and now that I have to make an effort, I am finding myself energized at the thought of working at it.

I am still trying to decide how to put myself out there. I love to work out so I thought maybe at a gym I could meet some people, however, the budget around here is very tight these days. Then, I thought well maybe I will find myself a Cheers (which for this girl is a coffee house, not a bar), and I still might do this, but again, this girl is on a budget and how would coffee houses like it if I just used their space to hang out and not buy anything. The idea that seems to be the best for me is to volunteer. I know that a quick Google search could show me a ton of volunteer options in Fort Wayne, but if anyone has any suggestions, send them my way.

In addition to moving, I am training for a marathon. Right now, I will say, I am having fun, but I definitely haven't caught the bug and it seems like this marathon might be my first and last. However, I will do an update on this later in the summer when I have more mileage under my belt.

I will leave you with a recent pic of the Hubs and I on a mini vaca to Chicago. Gotta love that city.

it's april?

At the beginning of January, I had all these wonderful of blogging more. But, as we can see that hasn't happened.

I'm realizing that life is busy because I am actually getting out and living a life outside of the four walls of my house.

I am loving my life. I love my husband. I love my job. I love that I get to see my family every week (sometimes multiple times a week). I love my church. I love that I have been able to meet new people.

I have so much to be thankful for in my life. Yet, I don't give enough thanks. I don't let the people in my life know just how grateful I am for them. I don't encourage enough. I don't love enough.

I have been so selfish lately. I have been thinking about me, and then, I think about me more. And more. (Notice how many times I have used "I"?)

This realization about selfishness hit me so many times a day, and I've had to tackle this issue. I've had to look deep into myself. I've had to confront some really tough issues in my life. I've had to realize just how ugly I am on the inside.

The thought hits me again and again, just how thankful I am that God is so much bigger than me. And how deep His love is for me...a selfish, sinner.

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I also have been able to do some crafting, which helps me to relax. Below is my latest craft. I am LOVING the boho look right now, which explains the latest craft.

Materials
Leather (found at Hobby Lobby)
Flowers- individual stems (Hobby Lobby)
Hot Glue Gun

I braided the leather and then secured it on both ends with hot clue.

The flowers were plucked off the stem and then hot glued to the leather.

And voila! Boho headband

you say it's your birthday....it's not mine though...it's my sisters.

So yes, today, is my baby sister's birthday.

It is only a little ironic that I call her my baby sister, for while, yes, she is in fact younger than me, it is only by 22 months.

However, today my younger sister turns 21!

This is her....isn't she beautiful!

Gail and I shared a room from since she was born up until I was 17 and she was 16. 

Oh the memories we have from that shared bedroom. I cannot count the times we would sit up and talk about what would go on at school that day or the boys we had crushes on and so on. 

I admit we often didn't get along growing up. Up we always had each other's back. When we got to high school, our sisterness turned more into friendship.

To this day, I know that Gail is one person I can go to when I am hurting. And even though, she might give me the brutally honest truth and tell me to snap out of it. I appreciate that about her. 

Gail, you are beautiful, lovely,  and honest (or blunt, whichever one you prefer). I am honored to be your sister and friend.

I love you! And have a happy birthday! 

This better describes our relationship. 

Adoption Blogger Interview 2013

So I was randomly reading blogs in October when I came across this blog call Open Adoption Bloggers. I saw that they were having an interview day (Adoption Blogger Interview Project 2013), where you can connect with other bloggers who blog about adoption. Without even thinking, I signed up.

Best. Decision.

Basically, what I found I signed up for to be partnered up with another blogger and we interviewed each other over the intrawebs. I had a great time! I got paired up with Lori of Lavender Luz.com. I am so glad that I did this year, and look forward to continue doing it in the future. If you want to read all of the interviews from this project, then go here.

To keep things easier to read, my questions are in bold.

Meet Lori...she's the one on the right...in lavender =)

When did you start blogging and why?

In the Spring of 2007 I read a book by Peggy Orenstein called Waiting for Daisy. I was so enthralled with it that I did what any self-respecting bookworm does: I googled it. I landed on a blog (what's a blog?? I'd heard of them but never read one) in which a really nice-sounding lady said she was hosting a Waiting for Daisy book tour and all I needed to participate was the book and a blog.

A book and a blog? I already had the former. I saw in the upper corner of that lady's post the words, "Create Blog."

So I did. For a month I wrote posts that received no comments, and then the book tour happened. All of a sudden I had a tribe, an ALI tribe (Adoption/neonatal Loss/Infertility. It was a beautiful thing.

What is your favorite post and why?

That a toughie! I've got nearly 1000 posts.

I'll cheat and offer three posts. I love Birthday Presence as a general post. And I like Adding a Dimension as an adoption-related post. And this one as a vlogging post, about the day I felt like a "real" mom.

When did you know that you needed to take a larger role of advocacy for open adoption?

Several posts about adoption adoption conversations I had with my children and how my daughter's birth mom and I interact went small-scale viral. That was a clue that maybe Crystal and I were on to something.

Somehow she and I had figured out how to have a respectful and child-centered relationship, and others were asking us how. So we had to figure it out together by deconstructing what we did in those early days to start off so well.

And in those conversations with my children, my main strategy was to simply slow down and be mindful, intuitive and open. I began to think that maybe I could help people use mindfulness to deal with stressful moments in adoptive parenting. Along the way I also learned from people in other corners of the adoption triad (thanks, Open Adoption Bloggers!) and at some point I decided to put it all together as a guide for people trying to make open adoption work. People had begun to accept that we should "do" open adoption. Crystal and I wanted to share how.

When you adopted your daughter, what did adoption mean to you? How have your views changed since adopting?

One thing that came from the closed adoption era was the notion that adoption had no ill-effects on anyone. In spite of the shame and secrecy, everyone would move on without a hitch. The adopting parents would never hurt over infertility again, the birth parents would move on and never look back, the baby would grow up as if born to his new family.

At the time we set out to adopt, I was unaware of the deeper layers, of the complexities. It’s true that many people (some I know in real life) say they suffered no ill-effects of the closed era, but the Internet has made it possible for those who did experience grief at losing a child or losing a biological parent to congregate and have their voices heard.

A far as what open adoption meant at the beginning of our journey, I thought it meant just contact. I have since added the spirit of openness as a critical component of building and sustaining a healthy and child-centered adoption.

What are your passions, hobbies, favorite things to do in your past time?

I enjoy practicing yoga. For an hour I try to bring my awareness to the confines of my mat. It’s a practice of focusing attention, of taming the wild-child that is my mind. It yokes my mind to my body and helps me remember to be more present even when I'm off my mat. Through yoga, I’m beginning to “get” that life is a journey and not a destination and shed the “I’ll be happy whens.” It’s a process. In yoga, everything is a process and no pose is ever perfected.

I also love to read  and write and do cool things with my kids like paint pottery. My daughter, 12, plays volleyball and my son plays whatever sport it’s the season for, so Husband and I spend a lot of time cheering them from the sidelines.

Tell us about your book!

My new book, which includes passages from my daughter’s birth mom, Crystal, is called The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole.

 It flows from the premise that adoption creates a split between a person’s biology and biography, and openness is an effective way to heal that split. Hence the focus on the child becoming whole through the openness of the adults who love him or her.

Openness means not just contact, but also the way in which the grownups in the adoption constellation comport themselves. We are open to co-creating a relationship together–power is not used by one party against another. We are open to being clear and honest with ourselves so that we can be clear an honest with the others in our adoption relationships. We are open to having tough conversations as our child grows and develops cognitively. We are open and vulnerable and authentic, for it is from this openness that we can best give our child the space to wonder, to develop, and to integrate his identity that come from all of his parts.

Our book was written for people involved in infant adoption, in international adoption, in foster adoption and even in donor sperm/egg/embryo situations — in any circumstance in which the result is a person whose biology and biography come from different sets of parents. Several adoption agencies across the country have made our book required reading for their current clients and a resource for their past clients, as it covers not just the initial stages of an adoption, but also the parenting stages we face over the long haul.

I hope you enjoyed reading today's interview. Lori interviewed me, so my interview is over at her blog today. Check it out, to see my interview at lavenderluz.com.

Have a great day!

thoughts.

Today, I just want to share some thoughts that have been rolling around in my head.

Lately, I have been overwhelmed with all the change that has occurred in my life these past 6 months. Many of these changes have been AMAZING (i.e. graduating college and marrying the love of my life). Other changes have been a little bit more difficult (i.e. my close friends moving all over the country and being in the stage of your life where you have to put in a ton of effort to meet and make new friends).

I think that I have shared this before, but I'll say it again. I have never been very successful at dealing with change in my life.

In order to deal with all this change, I told myself that I was going to take a break from blogging and interviewing families. I was overwhelmed with all that was going on in my life, so I made excuses for myself.

I have to tell you, this month has been learning experience for me. I have found that life lost some of its sparkle because I knew that I was not doing what God has told me was His will for my life.

Yet, this month has made me realize that I need to be doing more. I have found some blogs that encourage people to start orphan care ministries in their church. I am certain that God has placed these blogs in my life and He is using them in AMAZING ways. I know that I will no longer take a month off from telling the stories of families who have or are adopting.

In addition to doing more in my church, I want to help families who are adopting with their fundraising. So if you are adopting and have decided to fundraise, please contact me. I want to help you with whatever you need help with in your fundraising endeavors.
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As I sign off for the evening, I leave you a pic of my #mcm.

nostaglia...the warm fuzzy feelings.

The best description that I have ever heard for nostalgia was from one of my high school teachers. He described nostalgia as "those warm fuzzy feelings." 

This post is all about nostalgia. It makes sense to me because this is #tbt after all.

Oh me oh my. This is me, playing dress up and dancing.
Basically, I still do this, but it's not as cute anymore.

This week I've had lots of different things remind me of my childhood. Some of them have made me smile, some have made me cry, some create those warm fuzzy feelings.

Here we go. This is what has come up in my week.

At work with the kids, I read them the I Love You, Forever. The kids only half listened to me reading to them, because if they were truly paying attention they would have asked me why I was crying. As I sat there reading to them, I remember my mom reading that book to me at night. It is one of my favorite memories.

One of my favorite radio stations to listen to on my way to work is a 90s/early 2000s station. When I got into my car this morning, The Macarena came on. Oh my goodness!! This song will ALWAYS take me back to 1996. I distinctly remember doing the dance with my cousins on a summer night at a family members house. My cousin had the tape playing in her car with all the doors open and the volume all the way up. Good times, good times.

Also at work this week, the kids watched The Aristocats. This movie was often played in my house, and to this day my mom quotes the dogs, Napolean and Lafayette. The whole movie just makes me feel like a child again. 

My sister gave me this black eye. I've always said purple was my color.

All in all, it's been a great week, and I am loving all the nostalgia.

To keep the nostalgia coming, tomorrow, my mom and sisters and I are going on our annual trip to the Apple Orchard. LOVE IT.

my seester....the one that is a tidbit older than i am.

So, yesterday was my sister's birthday. (Sorry Lynn, I meant to do this yesterday).

In honor of her, I thought I would share about my big sister and what she means to me.

Since, I was a little girl, my sister has been one of my role models. I remember us playing school as little girls, and she would always be the teacher and boss me around. I remember during junior high, when she was in high school, she was my only true and best friend. I remember that we would go shopping together, do our hair together, and just hang out.

When Lynn left for college, I visited her at school and would spend the night with her. I thought I was so cool because my sister loved me enough, a high schooler, to let me come visit her every week, multiple times a week.

Since we were little, she has been my play mate, my shopping buddy, my workout partner, and so much more....my best friend.

I love you beautiful sister! Happy belated birthday!!

The Street Family

Walking in to the home of Brian and Rebecca Street, there is love in the air. It is almost palpable how much love is in the home.

The Streets love God, love each other, and love their children.

Because love is the common thread in their lives, Brian and Rebecca are eager to share their story.

Through their church and opening their home to a teenager, God worked in the hearts of Brian and Rebecca. This was a difficult thing to do for the couple, but through the process God opened their eyes to fostering children.

In very little time, the Streets had gotten all the licenses they needed and were hoping to foster a little girl. They came shy of licensing to be considered for this little girl’s placement.

They were very discouraged and thought that God had called them to open their home to this little girl. All the steps that they needed to go through were done in a very short time, yet they weren’t able to be a part of this little girl’s life.

Little did they know that they were in for a huge change in their lives.

Brian and Rebecca received a profile for three brothers. They were thrilled at this and thought this was it. They went to a group interview then interviewed individually. They were very encouraged and waited in anticipation to get the call that they could pick up the boys.

When the Streets didn’t hear from DCS after a week, they called and asked what was up. They found out that another family was chosen.

They were heartbroken.

Then, God moved in amazing ways.

The family that was chosen had been with the boys for a weekend then said that they needed time to think about bringing the boys into their home. Brian and Rebecca were then contacted to foster the boys in the meantime. 

Once the boys were in their home, Brian and Rebecca knew that they were never leaving.  After six months of fostering the boys, Brian and Rebecca were able to adopt them and the three brothers became their beloved sons.

In addition to having their sons, the Streets are continuing to foster other children. They love it! They know that no matter how long or short a child is in their home, God will use the experience in amazing ways for that child.

The Streets have become advocates for fostering. This is their calling and they are obeying God’s call in their life.

“There is a huge need in the U.S. for the children in the foster system,” says Rebecca. “It is a calling and if people hear the call to become foster parents then they need to listen and act.”

Adopting through the fostering is very inexpensive and helps the need that is here in United States.

Rebecca remembers that she was scared to foster because of how daunting it is and was afraid of the issues that the children might have coming from such horrific backgrounds, but God takes care of it and is always on her side.

The Streets are very passionate about fostering and want to encourage others to consider fostering because there is such a need for loving families to be advocates for the children in the foster system.

“I can’t imagine not fostering for the rest of our lives,” comments Rebecca with a smile on her face.

Brian, then, says, “It is the most rewarding, challenging, frustrating...awesome experience.”

wedding pics...part 2.

As promised, I am back with more pics. I may not have captions for all of them because I am a little bit tired.

Most of them are my favorite ceremony pics...with the exception of this first one.

I admit that this picture makes me cry. I love my Daddy so much!

This is one of my favorite pictures.

We had our parents and grandparents come up on stage and pray over us during the ceremony.

This might legitimately be favorite picture.

Hope you enjoyed the pics.

Have a restful Sunday!

wedding pics....part 1.

This is my entire family, grandparents, in-laws, sisters, parents, brother....they are pretty much the best.

So, in case you couldn't tell, I got married this past June. 

Annnnnddddd, the wedding pics are in. There are so many that I like that I am doing this in 2 parts.

Today's are the getting ready pics, wedding party pics, and family pics....with commentary...duh!

This is a picture of my beautiful mother helping me into my wedding dress. This is my favorite picture of her. Isn't she a babe?

This is me getting my dress buttoned up. In case you were wondering there were LOTS of buttons, but I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED my dress.

This is girls getting ready...


















....and this is the boys getting ready.

These four beauties stood up with me on the most important day of my life. My two maids of honor...the two closest to me are my older sister, and younger sister. The two beside them (the brunettes) are my bestest friends from college.

These are the guys. There's a lot of them, but three of them are our ushers. So here it goes, The super handsome guy in front with the black tie is my hubby. LOVE HIM!! The one next to him is his best friend from college and roommate all 4 years. The next two are friends and housemates from college. The fifth guy, is my older brother. The next three are the ushers...two of which are his cousins and one is mine.

These are my siblings. I love them! We are a super close family so naturally they are my best friends. Also, this pic rocks! I'm just saying...we are looking good. The pic below is my hubs and his dad and grandpa. They're super classy.

memories. family. shop?

Hello, friends.

This weekend has been a bundle of emotions for me.

Why? You ask.

Because this weekend is move-in weekend for my alma mater. I miss not being on campus and seeing all my friends this weekend. My best friends from college did not move back to school and we cannot hang out all weekend long to catch up. Instead, they are at their home and I am at my home and we have to plan weeks in advance when we can get together.

So while that is bitter, there is some sweetness to this weekend. I have gotten to spend tons of time with my family. I LOVE IT!! I got to go to my first high school football game in three years. That, my friends, is way too long. I vow to never go three years without seeing a high school football game ever again. I had a blast cheering my high school team on Friday. Unfortunately, they lost. But, there's always next week!

So, I got to see my family on Friday because of the football game. Then, Saturday, I helped my parents move some of their belongings to the new house. So we had more family time on Saturday. Woot woot!

And, today, I am going to see the family for my mom's birthday party. I feel so incredibly blessed to live so close to family. I love that they are close enough for me to see them any time I want to see them.

This weekend has been a great weekend, for sure.

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Also, this weekend, my husband, cousin, and I have been working on getting our Etsy shop up online. It finally happened. If you want to get to our shop, then click on the shop page under the banner. More items are planning on being added, shortly.

This is just one of the items that we are selling in our shop. Check out the "Shop" page to see more!

Have a great Labor day!

where did august go?

Friends, my august has been ca-RAY-zy!

Who knew.

So let's see, what has been up in my life?

Both my parents and parents-in-law are moving. So I've been helping them clean and pack and move.

My husband's company took us on a weekend vacation this past weekend to Syracuse, Indiana. Loved it! It was fun to meet the peeps he works with and just have a good time.

Thirdly, I HAVE A JOB!

This has been the most time consuming in the month of August, but I love it! I am a nanny for 3 kids. They're great. I love hanging out with them. Such a great job. I'm super excited for the future with these 3 chitlins.

Sorry for the short post, but I'm exhausted. Have a great night ya'll!

Technically this pic was taken in July, but It was so close to August that I put it in. My husband, sisters and I (plus my sister's boyfriend) went to the Michigan Dunes. It wasn't the best day, but we had fun

the happs in my life.

Well, I am still looking for job. I have faith that God will provide.

Meanwhile, I have had lots of time to do some baking. I am finding that it helps me to relieve some stress and keep me distracted.

I am going to have two recipes that I have baked recently, and a little too often (unfortunately. this means that I have had to add some extra running to keep up with the baking.)

One recipe is for chocolate chip cookies and the other is for Red Velvet cupcakes.

Now, I do not claim to be fabulous baker, but I believe that I can hold my own. And I don't like when people put up pictures of food then don't put up the recipes. So I'll put up the recipe. If you do not like my additions, then you do not have to use them. I will add notes/disclaimers to each step as to what I found to work for my preference for cookies or through some experimentation.

Chocolate Chip Cookies are my fave comfort food. My recipe is literally the one found on the back of the chocolate chip package, but with a little twist.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 sugar

3/4 packed brown sugar

2 sticks butter, room temperature

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp almond flavor (this is my addition)

1/2 tsp butter flavor (my addition)

1 package chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees 

       Note: My oven is a gas oven, so it burns a little hotter. I prefer my cookies to be gooey, so I preheat my oven to 350. Do what you would prefer.

2. Sift flour, salt, and baking soda together in a separate bowl. 

        Note: for the the longest time I would skip this step because I was being lazy. However, since I have done this I can tell a different consistency in my baked cookies. They are smoother and bake nicely.

3. Mix together butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, almond flavor, and butter flavor until creamy.

          Note: I always forget to take the butter out early so that it is at room temperature. I always melt my butter. Now I have done some experimenting and reading up on some foodie blogs and know that room temperature butter will produce better baked cookies, while melted butter will make the cookies very gooey and little doughy. I happen to prefer my cookies like this so I am ok with melting my butter. If you like crisper cookies be sure to have room temperature butter.

          Note: Most recipes only call for vanilla, however, I love the flavor of almond and butter. I think it gives the cookies a little something extra when baked. If you would prefer to just use the vanilla then I understand.

4. Add eggs (one at a time).

          Note: I don't really have anything to say here.

5. Add in flour mixture a little at a time.

          Note: Over mixing at this step will make the cookies have a fluffy texture, this, too, will make the cookies bake up crisper.

6. Mix in the chocolate chips.

          Note: I love chocolate, thus naturally i will want to add the entire bag. If you do not like that much chocolate in your cookies then add the amount that you would prefer.

7. Scoop cookies onto the cookie sheet with a regular spoon. 

         Note: If you have a cookie scoop you can use that, I don't have one of those so I just use a spoon. It does the trick.

8. Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes

         Note: As I have mentioned many times before, I like my cookies gooey. So I only bake the cookies for 9ish minutes, sometimes a little less. Basically, I just keep an eye on the cookies until I see what I like.

9. Enjoy your efforts :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 package Red Velvet cake mix

Buttermilk (instead of water)

Eggs

Butter (instead of vegetable oil)

Instructions

Follow the instructions on the back of the box, except instead of using water, use buttermilk and instead of vegetable oil use butter. Sorry I don't have the exact amounts needed of each because I don't have a cake mix box in the house at the moment.

      Note: If you over mix the ingredients the texture of the batter will become too airy, thus when the cupcakes are baked they will be too fluffy and crumble to the touch. I unfortunately have experienced this

      Note: Just substituting buttermilk and butter will make the cupcakes taste more like a homemade cake instead of a box cake. However, nothing beats a homemade cake.

I iced these cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting that I found in a cookbook somewhere. I don't have it on hand, but if you google Cream Cheese frosting, you'll find one instantly. Just so you know making your own frosting is super easy. 

If you have any questions just email me or get a hold of me. 

Have a great day!!

weekend fun.

Hello friends!

This weekend, my sister and I took three of our younger cousins to Conner Prairie. We had so much fun!

Instead of telling you what we did, I decided to just show you.

Enjoy.

                 

I'm loving this summer!

The Aldridge Family

The call to adopt came to McCall Aldridge several years ago.

After viewing a Youtube video about adoption, she knew that she had to adopt from Africa. However, the timing wasn't right. She had just found out she was pregnant, and thoughts of adoption had to be pushed away as she prepared for her little one.

Instead she started getting heavily involved in raising support for individuals going to Africa or support for organizations that help Africa in various sorts of ways.

McCall's heart had a huge soft spot for Africa.

Two years later, McCall and her husband Lee had the opportunity to go to Uganda on a missions trip. By the time they had to leave, they knew it wasn't enough. They knew the time was coming that they needed to adopt.

In the midst of this, McCall quit her job as a teacher and started working for a non-profit organization that helps Africa.

McCall and Lee felt that they needed to adopt a little girl from Africa and from there choosing the country seemed to be easy. They knew they had to adopt a little girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Girls living in Congo have a very hard life. Many are not given the chance to live life as a free woman.

McCall and Lee knew that God was calling them to adopt their little girl from Congo.

Right now, the Aldridge family just finished their first home study visit. They are very excited about the process, but also very much anticipating the day they get to meet their little girl.

McCall has been able to connect with my many adopting mothers through blogging and Facebook. This connection with other mothers has helped her in many ways. Having others who understand her heart has been so important. This is the biggest thing going on in her life right now, and having others who understand the time consumption of adoption walking beside her helps make the process easier.

Now that McCall is going through the adoption process, she has some words of advice. She would like all people out there to know that you don't have to have it all together to adopt.

Before the adoption process, she thought that all people adopting were super parents and had it all figured out. She herself thought she had to be supermom first before she could begin adopting.

However, God has shown her that adopting a child doesn't require a person to have it all together. It takes a willing heart and reliance on God.

McCall wisely says, "I would hate to have someone with a huge heart feel God's call to get scared off because they are playing the comparison game. I was so guilty of this."

Yet the way the Aldridge's see adoption is that God has created their daughter for the purpose of her being adopted. They must be willing to accept that call and take action.

"We are just answering God's cal of adopting the girl that God has made for us," explains McCall.

The Aldridge's just finished a fundraiser on McCall's blog. They have been successful in raising funds, but they know they have a long way to go. They are trusting God and know that He will work it all out- even if it is not in their time frame. The key for them is to take it one step at a time.

"I would hate  to think that people would say no to adoption because of money. God is so much bigger!"

The Aldridge family has been selling t-shirts and are continuing to sell t-shirts to help raise money for their adoption. Check out this video that McCall made for the t-shirt fundraiser!

To keep update with the Aldridge family adoption, McCall's blog is leemeandthegirls.blogspot.com.

The Aldridge's are an amazing family filled with love and a huge heart for God.

Please lift them up in prayer as they adopt their little girl from the Congo. When their next fundraiser comes up, I will be posting about it to keep you all updated.

fundraising.

Hello friends.

McCall over at Finding Our Way (http://leemeandthegirls.blogspot.com/2013/07/grow-your-blog-giveaway-adoption.html) has this great fundraiser going on for her family's adoption.

If you are a blogger and you're looking for a way to grow your blog, this is a great opportunity! Today is that last day for the fundraiser to go to it today.

They are a great family who is following God's call in their life to adopt.

The Aldridge family (McCall, Lee, and their two girls) are my July family, so stayed tuned for their story.

Now, I know that fundraising can be a bit of a touchy subject, but I do want to say a few things.

We are all called, as God's children, to orphan care. We must help the needs of the widows and orphans. Jesus tells us this time and time again. We may not all here the call to adopt. But we must all take action to take care of the least of these.

This fundraiser is only donating $5. Just $5 can help a family go through the process of adopting. Please think about helping this family. They are so amazing!

simply love.

routine.

I'm sure that I am not the only one who has such an established routine that at times I wake up and think "Oh, goodie! Another day doing the same thing."

Everyday, I wake up make breakfast, do the dishes, do the laundry, make lunch, run errands, make supper, etc, etc.

Boring. Boring. Boring.

To be honest, I am not a fan of boring.

This morning, when going through my routine, I had time to think and had a realization.

For many months, I have been desperate for a normal routine without stress and deadlines. Finally, I have such routine.
Yet, I'm not satisfied.

I realized that while I am enjoying this time of no stress, I have become so accustomed to a busy life of stress that now I don't know how to enjoy a simpler life.

I was raised to live a simple life, to enjoy the small things, to literally stop and smell the roses.

When I say literally, I mean literally, my mom and to this day will be walking on the sidewalk and pass by flowers and we will stop walking, stop talking and just smell the flowers.

Yet, in four short years, my upbringing of living a simpler has become slanted. The fast-paced day-to-day activities of an undergraduate had consumed my life for four years, has affected me more than I realized...until today.

While, my routine does need some shaking up and I need to get more time with people.

I also need to be thankful for the simpler things in life.

The small things.

A regular routine.

the happenings.

life has been one big pile of change after another around here.

first, i graduate from college. yay! it's done!

then, i get married. woot! woot!

now, i am trying figure out this whole being a wife thing.

don't get me wrong, i love it!

it is just that change and i don't have a great past, so i am working my way through things.

on the other hand, i am loving life! this summer has been AMAZING!

i love seeing my best friend everyday!

i've been able to hang out with one of the best buds from college twice in the past month, which is great because she's from chicago and i live in the middle of a cornfield in indiana.

i have been able to catch up on many tv shows and find new faves...currently obsessed with downton abbey and bunheads. if you love gilmore girls, then you should be watching bunheads. the writer/producer/director for gilmore girls is the writer/producer/director for bunheads. love it!!

i have also gotten a haircut. i finally made a life goal of donating hair to locks of love. i sent in my 13 in. ponytail this week. i am now sporting a pixie. i love it! short hair is the best!

that's an update on my life right now. thanks blair at wild and precious for the link up!