Summer Fun ~ Sunday Snapshot ~

ahhh, the lazy days of summer.....they are slowly winding down for us~

I know it's just now the end of July, but our big girl starts back to school August 15 and our girl Gracie, she has major surgery on August 24 and if all goes well, we will have our home study finished very soon....

 

But, in the meantime, we just hang around the house and try to stay cool.

 Which means lots of kiddie pools, slip n slides and watermelon.

And weedingour overgrown garden. Which I might add, we thought would never grow. These plants that are

 taking over were all started by tiny seeds the little's and I started way back in May.

We have had fried green tomatos for the past three Sundays in a row. There are now 20 tomatos sitting on  my kitchen shelf waiting to turn red.

They will make yummy salsa and sauce for the upcoming fall and winter months.

 And did i mention my sugar pumpkins?? They are starting to come in to...and that means many jars of pumpkin filling....for muffins and pies!!

More Fundraising Efforts!!

We are now having an online Thirty One party!!

Now if you haven't seen a catalog, I don't know where you've been hiding out...LOL
Thirty One has amazing backpacks, organizing bags, diaper bags, purses, you get the idea, right?!?

You can even  personalize them!! How cool is that?? Are you ready for the best news??

Everything is 15% off for the month of August and you guessed it, our fundraiser starts now and runs through August!!

Here are the details:

ONLINE SHOPPING OPEN NOW through Aug. 28. 100% of the commission from all purchases goes to the Christopher family to help with adoption expenses. They are adopting a precious 5 year old little boy from China. He has been waiting a very long time for a family! Visit the Christopher family blog at ourhappilyeverafterstory.com Fundraiser closes on Aug 28, 6:00pm EST.

Here is the link to our sale:

http://www.mythirtyone.com/AnneLittle/

Remember to click on "EVENTS" and then "Desiree Christopher"

These make wonderful Teacher's gifts, Christmas gifts, hostess gifts....and the list goes on.

As always thank you all for your support.

Nothing New...

Still sewing....and still slowly completing our dossier....

I am a bit frustrated by how much Ohio law requires you to do, considering this is our fourth adoption....
If we were still in VA we would have been waiting for LOA already and now, now our sweet boy is waiting and waiting...

But anyhow, we are slowly moving forward.

Eating lots of ice cream and chocolate to take our minds off of the wait ~

And visiting this week with great friends who drove up from AL to see us. Which was very fun...for the kids and for me who really needed a couple days of "girlfriend talk".

The fundraisers are still going on....the Wild Olive tees and the sewing. Although I am sad to say we did not meet our 100 tags goal. Only 31 were sold. But thank you to all who bought them and I will be getting them shipped out in the next week or two.

If you do happen to wander over to the t shirt fudraiser don't forget to put our code in the comments box. (christopher0722)  Thanks!!

Another Fundraising challenge!!

We are now selling Wild Olive tees to raise additional funds for our adoption.



If you haven't seen these tees, you need to, they are awesome!! I wear them, my daughter wears them and they even have them for your little ones!!


This is my favorite of the fundraising tees.

I just love that verse!!

You can see more here:

Just click on the picture and it will take you to the site.


If you purchase a shirt be sure to put the following code in the coupon section in additon to the comments section.


"CHRISTOPHER0722"


That helps the lady's over at Wild Olive keep track of what we sell.


And not only will you be helping us bring our son home, you will also be rocking out God's word!!

Now how cool is that?!?!

Our Tag Challenge

Is in full swing and we have 26 orders in two days!! We are a 1/4 of the way there!! We need only 74 more tags sold to reach our goal and have 6 days left.

Robin of Red Thread Stitches has  kindly offered to give $1.00 for every tag sold.

And another friend Kathy (who is in China now getting her beautiful daughter Alivia) has also kindlyy offered to match $1.00 per tag sold!!

 I am constantly amazed with how the adoption community rallies together. We are all a tight knit group and I love my friends dearly. Lets not disappoint them and sell the rest of the tags we need to reach our goal!!

Just click on Josh's pictures below to go directly to our fundraising site.

Thank you all so much!!

Are you up for a challenge??

We are finishing up our home study, one meeting to go. The process for this adoption is a bit different than our other adoptions. We live in a different state, don't have to redo all the authentications because we are re-using our previous dossier and well, we know what we are doing this go round since this is our fourth adoption. (meaning, hopefully no mistakes)


Next step, submitting our I 800A application.
That will cost $890. In order to submit that I need to sell 100 luggage tags in the next week.

That is 100 tags in seven days. And it is possible!! I just need your help.

I need you all to spread the word and pray. Or visit Josh's blog and grab the button and add it to your blog. Sound spretty simple, right?

That's because it is.

We are undertaking a journey that God has planned out, He alone knows the outcome, we are merely following His will.

Joshua from the start has a been a struggle for us. We both thought we were finished building our family.

Kerry and I were content to plan and do other things, but God, He kept nudging us and sending signs that were impossible to ignore. So finally we gave up and just said "ok, God we here you and we're in!!

And we haven't looked back since. And this little guy, he will have a family, OURS!! and with God's and your help he will come home to his forever family soon!!



Just click on the link below to order your set of tags or to add our button to your blog.





Robin of Red Thread Stitches has genorously offered to contribute a $1.00 for every tag sold up to $100.00!!!  Let's not disapoint her, come on we can do this!!!

 We thank you and Josh thanks you!!

Surprise ~ Sunday Snapshot

Yes, we have news.....

It wasn't expected and actually has a red thread connection for us~ This little guy here, well I advocated for him about two or three years ago.....

And he was still waiting back in June....when we received his file.

And well, we weren't thinking about adopting again. We have much going on right now, Rachel's surgery which went well. Gracie's surgery coming up and Hannah is having oral surgery....so our lives were full.

But, I showed the picture and file to Kerry thinking we could help him out, find a family.

And we did, find him a family that is.....

Ours!!! 

We are very excited about adding Joshua to our family. The kids are excited and Jake, he can not wait to have a new brother!!!

So here he is:

And an updated picture we received about a week or so ago....

Joshua is in Sichuan, China. His orphanage has never completed an international adoption. So please say a prayer for us and him.

And if you are in the market for custom luggage tags or passport holders, visit Joshua's new website here.

Guess What??

 This is actually a two parter but....my baby's eyes are finally straight and she can see!!

 

We had our first post op since her surgery and her eyes are perfectly aligned and she has normal sight .

They are still a bit swollen but she seems to be doing well. This was a special need we were not aware of, as in not in her file. But, we didn't care, she was our girl and she was coming home. And really, doesn't everyone now a days have a little eye surgery?!?!  Kidding. All jokes aside she is doing wonderful.

And didn't let the surgery keep her down for long, well in Rachel's case at all. Once we came home from the hospital, we had a hard time keeping up with her.

She is all energy.

And I wouldn't have it any other way!! Our girl keeps us hopping and young!!!!

(and extremely tired!! LOL)

And the other thing...my music is back.....and it has a theme.

A Favorite Spot ~ Revisited...

We just can't seem to stay away. All the kids love it and we get to eat yummy snacks from the farm then walk it off on the trail. Now who wouldn't like that?!?

                                           It's very rare that my big guy will sit for a picture.

                     And Hope, she is my poser, she will always stop and ask me to take a picture of her~

                                      Especially when they get to climb into a giant wheel!!

                                                The boys idea of a great picture....

                          And with beautiful scenery like this, we would loved to have stayed all day.

 Just had to include this picture, if you look closely...the basket is filled to the brim with....

the lady's dog!! I don't think I have ever thought to take my dog for a bike ride!!

Hope you all enjoyed your Sunday.

The Red, White and Blue ~ Sunday Snapshot ~

The little's receieved a package in the mail on Friday. I knew it was coming but they were surprised. They rarely get mail so I knew they would be super excited.

I brought them all in the living room, where they proceeded to tear into the package. My very sweet friend Robin, whom I love deaarly had sent them some outfits. Not just any outfits but three matching outfits all ready to go for out big July 4th party with family. And since I am hosting this year, I knew they had to look extra fabulous!!

And Robin, she did it. She managed to get the girls' personality just right in matching their outfits. Not to mention the sizes. (because I was terrible at giving her measurements)

As you can see Hope is all over the dress with her intial on it. Just perfect for her and her "look at me now" personality!!

She is loving it.

Can you tell??

She couldn't wait to try it on and break it in. Even before the party. (which is tomrrow)

Rachel also loved her outfit. She has much the same personality as Hope, just louder. Everythign with Rachel is L O U D !!!

And she loved her twirl skirt. And the saying on her shirt....well that basicly is Rachel.

                                                                 And she loves it.

My girl Grace...she is the queit one. The little miss that is all about girly things.

You know, ruffles, painted nails, shiny glass slippers. That's our Gracie.

Gracie is quietly contemplating things, Rachel is the loud outrageous one and Hopey, she just wants to be seen and heard.

And me, I just  like to sit back and take it all in and thank God above that he allowed me to be the proud mama to these beauty's.

        Because, He could have chosen anyone, but he chose me and I am forever thankfull~


To see more Sunday Snapshots visit:

To order your own beautiful dresses visit :

Red Thread Stitches :