Well folks, we are knee deepchest deep over our head in adoption paperwork. As we get closer to completing another phase of paperwork we come closer to another fee payment. Ethan and I walked into this adoption knowing that we would have to raise the funds for some of the expenses. So below you will find some of the things we are selling. Each item is 20 dollars. I plan to make a order on Thursday so lets get those orders in, You know you want one or 100!! If you are not able to purchase then there are still ways you can help.
Pass on to all of your freinds (post a link to the blog or on your fb or the good ole fashion way by calling a few freinds on the phone)
Pray that God will continue to provide for our family as we pursue this adoption
First up on our fundraising tour is this lovely Ugandan beaded necklace hand made from recycled paper. This purchase helps a women make a sustainable income for her family and helps bring home our child.
You can wear them several different ways.
I love these and wear them a lot. I also will wrap them around my wrist about 5 times for a bracelet.
Second is a Navy t-shirt. It is great for guys and gals. I love that you get to spread the message of the orphan crisis while staying comfrotable. I think it is most awesome.
Last but certainly not least is a ladies t-shirt. I heart this one too and while I was trying it on for the picture I decided this is what I will be wearing tomorrow. So don't be surprised when you see me in this outfit. (Unless I spill coffee on it or get kid crazy on it).
So since I know you want one let me tell you how to make one of these pretties yours. Just send me an e-mail @ karablankenship@hotmail.com with the subject "Adoption Fundraiser" then let me know your order and your plan of payment. I hope in the next few days I will post some buttons on the side so that you can make your purchases there.
Some of my readers might find this as old news and some might find it new but either way it is time to post that Ethan and I are expecting.
I realize that this is not the ultrasound you were expecting but we are not your typical expecting. We are adopting!!!!
When I was only 9 years old my mother decided to open up our home to foster children. Ever since those sweet babies were in my home I have been forever changed. That experience opened up my heart for adoption and I have often made comments to Ethan, "that I wanted to adopt". After Elaina was born I started researchining adoption knowing Ethan was not thinking adoption was in our future. I tucked those thoughts away in my heart and continued on with the life that we had been blessed with. Over the next few months and years we discovered, our oldest daughter had a nerodevolpmental disorder called Rett Syndrome, we were blessed with two more children and struggled through job changes. During this time I did not know if adoption was in our future but I kept praying.
After our fourth child, Leila was born I started praying more fervently about adoption and asked God that if this was not His will then please take this desire away from me. Instead, God fueled my passion for adoption and the orphans and widows. God changed my mind set about adoption and started molding my heart to see the orphans the way He sees them not the way Kara sees them. I started to see my own adoption in God through Christ. God worked on my heart, molding me and growing me closer to Him. This also grew my passion for adoption for our family. Still not knowing where Ethan was I knew that God would have to work in his heart as well. I prayed and God answered again in ways that only God can. I saw Ethan starting to struggle and wrestle with God over adoption for our family. After praying together and asking close friends to pray for us Ethan also felt that adoption was God's call to our family. We are stepping out in faith to follow God what we believe is God's will for our life.
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27
Over the past year we have come to realize that we were being prepared and asked to live a radical life. Though God doesn't ask everyone to adopt He does command us to take care of those less fortunate and in trying to live an obedient life we prayed and said how does God want us to respond to the widows and orphans in this world? It was this question that led us to start seeing adoption as a perfect picture of how our heavenly father adopted us into His eternal family through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus. We "want our very lives...to serve as His signature to all mandkind so that all may know His work," Job 37:7. Adoption is providing a way for us to spread the gospel, minister to the less fortunate and show the love of Christ. We have decided to follow our Heavenly Father through growing our family through adoption as well as journeying through an experience and trusting that we will grow in our relationship with Christ and bring Him all the glory.
You know how God has a way of redirecting you? The days that followed the last post was just that, a total redirection, reprioritizing, moving, scolding and changing of my heart. You see when I posted last I was in a little bit of of a complaining mood. I had spent many days in very small exam room with all 4 children. This family had 2 cases of strep, 1 REALLY bad year infection, a horrible cold, a check up with a gastrointerologist, 4 OT, 6 communication therapy, and 2 PT appointments and numerous other appointments, activities and responsibilites that I decided and scheduled for this family. I was tired, cranky and selfish. To add to the chaos of the month on April 15 just 10 houses down there was a tornado that came through it was small compared to the damage of recent storms but it was really close and a little concerning to me. My friend and fellow blogger MK had some damage and you can check out her posts about here. All to say I wasn't in the most relaxed state of mind. Then that "redirection" I spoke about happened.
You see just 2 days later on April 27th I woke up at approximatly 5:12 a.m to tornado sirens. I jumped up litteraly jerked kids out of bed and threw them in the hallway. E was not at home and my heart was pounding and my mind was in the same state as the weather, a tornado. I kept a calm exterior and just kept trying to reassure the kids over, and over again. By 5:45 we were okay but a neighborhood about 15 minutes from here had been hit and there were several people injured, and lost homes. Someone from my church lives in that neighborhood and has started picking up the pieces. We then began the wait. You see we were scheduled for more tornados that afternoon. I was a nervous wreck. My heart never stopped pounding as the local weather men and women became very serious and our state decided to go into a state of emergency BEFORE the weather came. All of the information we were given was preparing us for conditions that were favorable for "Extreme Devestastion". But what "Extreme Devestation" meant was completely left up for your interpretation. Schools and business were closed and very little activity was going on around town even though it was a beautiful day. Breakfast came and went....Beautiful. Lunch came and went....Beautiful. I attempted to get the kids down for a nap since we had been awake since the break of dawn but it was hard with the air being filled madness and mayhem tension. Shortly after lunch we WATCHED a tornado rip through the small town Cullman. I decided at that time it would be best for us to weather out the storm in the basement of a sweet neighbor and fellow church family. Josiah does not like storms to begin with and I could tell he was having a rough time dealing with the situation. Well, to be transparent I was too. I was a wreck inside. I had even seriously thought about driving south and trying to miss all of the storms but I feard that E would think I was a nut job so I stayed and waited. Since E was still not home and was in lots of meetings in another state he was oblivious to what we were dealing with.
Our town was scheduled to start seeing things at approximatly 4:30 p.m. At 4:00 p.m. I packed up a bag of snacks, toys and other things to occupy the kids and headed down the street. Approximatly 12 hours after being awakened by the tornado sirens I sit in the basement watching images from a tower camera. I couldn't believe my eyes. A tornado, a BIG TORNADO. It was unreal. I was amazed, shocked and somewhat disbelieve. I tried to text Ethan but was unable. I watched it come down 15 street (approximatly 2 miles from my home) and then we lost power. We moved to the safest place in the basement putting the kids under a table, trying to remain calm. We listened in on a battery powered radio but due to the basements structure we were struggling to get a signal. After 15 to 30 minutes my phone starts going off. Txt message after text message.
Jamie: Were are You?
Hanna: Are you okay?
Madison: Are you okay?
Mom: Are you okay?
Kevin: Were are you are you okay?
Kelsey: Are you okay?
Lisa
Stacey
On and on
Then the missed calls,
Mom
Nana (MIL)
Hannah
Jamie
Casey
I tried desperatly to return calls and texts but couldn't. What was going on? I had no communication and had no idea what those people were seeing but they were freaking out. Shortly after that first band of text messages and missed calls another wave came through, except this time the seriousness and tension had increased. I couldn't get out any information to anyone. Finally after about 45 minutes I decided to leave the basement and head to my home quietly praying, PLEASE don't let there be any damage. I tried the first and quickest way but was blocked by a tree and as I was backing out I noticed the the sounds. There was only a faint sound of ambulances. That's IT!!! I turned around and headed out and around my neighborhood and noticed a few more down trees. I then got to my house and found not even a limb, pinecone or leaf. I walked in and started trying to feed the kids it was past 6:30 and I needed to start coming up with a plan.
1st : Are the kids and I safe.
2nd: I need to contact these people and let them know I am okay the number of people looking for me is now in the 20's
3rd: Are we gonna stay here and where do we go.
No more than I get these thoughts together when my cell phone rings. I jumped because I am amazed that it is even working. I look down and see "E". It is then I fall apart. I answer and give him a very quick run down. I also ask him to call everybody and let them know I am okay. I can tell from his voice that there is part of him that thinks I am blowing this out of proportion. He is up north and he does not have any information about the goings on here. Well, over the next few minutes as I wait in my now dark house with 4 kids who-know-something-has-happened-but-are-unaware-to-the-magnitude run around playing with flashlights, E discovers the distruction. TUSCALOOSA IS LEVELED. With every call he makes he is given more info. One of his calls was with his boss who has a daughter at the University. They were not able to get in touch with her and did not know if she was okay. E informed him that I was having horrible problems with communication and tried to comfort them. When he called me back he told me he was glad that we were finding a way to communicate because his boss had not been able to communicate to there daughter. I quickly said, "She is fine she was able to get me a text after the storm asking me if I was ok." E replied with a little passion, "Are you sure it was after." After I confirmed it was after he pretty much hung up on me to call his boss.
These are the moments that culminated after the devestating tornados ripped through Tuscaloosa.
What is left of my church. (1.5 miles from my home)
looking at the church from a couple of blocks away (usually block by homes and business)
The Hobby Lobby (2.25 miles from my home)
Twenty three families from my church lost everything they owned another 2 dozen had severe damage to there homes. This is our new life: Rubble. It has been 41 days since the tornado and much about my life and daily routine has changed. I don't even know how to explain it. The first couple of weeks the kids bombarded me with questions.
"Mom did Chuckie Cheese get hurt by the tornado?"
"Mom did our church get built yet?"
"Mom can we go to Taco Casa?"
"Did (insert a friends name here) house get hit by the tornado?'
"Mom are there gonna be another tornado?"
"Mom why did God send the tornado?"
"Mom what do you mean God allowed the tornado?"
Oh so many questions!!!
This is hard. This is redirection. There are many needs that need to be met and my church family and I are in for the long haul trying to literally sift though the rubble and pick up the pieces while asking God to to guide us and show us what he wants us to do. So I ask you two questions.
What are you gonna do?
Do you know Him?
I thought I would share Josiah's birthday party and what we did on his birthday on today's blog. I know I am a little late but we have had a very Adventerous April and well let's just say the that April has come in like a lion and I am hoping it will go out like a lamb. It still seems like we are roaring a little to much for my taste.
SO, we decided to have Josiah's birthday party on Saturday the 19th. I think this was the first BIG birthday party we have had for Josiah. That doesn't mean he has had a crappy birthday party by any means in fact the last 2 parties were full of fun and lots of laughter. This one we chose to have at our house and let him invite all of his friends from Rise and any of other friends from church. Then we started thinking. Okay, well "I" started thinking. When you have a big party like that you don't always get to spend quality time with your family. What to do? What to do? Well this is what you do, Josiah had his party from 2-4 and then we had family from 5 til. I realize it seems a little over board and a little to much but I knew I could do it and it would totally rock. So I started compiling my to-do list and 2 pages later I started working, planning and checking things off.
I made the invites from left over cards, scrapbook stuff and my computer. I must admit that they looked smashing. Unfortunatly I can't seem to find a picture of one so you will just have to trust me.
So you will quickly noticed I Josiah chose a superhero theme. I had seen were my friend Lisa did a superhero party for her little boy and it was the inspiration of Josiah's. We did a Batcave under the playset, a Vanquishing the Villans with silly string and pictures of villans through out the backyard . I had my friend MK make the letters for my signs. She has one of those supercool, awesome, amazing Cricut's. I went over there one day and she cut my letters while I enjoyed two of her sweet girls. Rin went with me but found a cozy spot in MK's husbands bean bag and took a snooze. I think taking care of her kiddos while she did that was a perfect trade off. I wish I could say I had a picture of all of the signs she made but I suck and I don't. This one was on the mailbox along with some balloons.
I made the cupcakes and the cupcake toppers. I made 46 cupcakes and when the last person left Saturday night I had 7. The next morning I had 3. Someone I think had a hankering for some cupcakes in the middle of the night.
A funny side story. We thought we might rent a bouncy thing for the day but when we checked into them we had a little sticker shock and decided that we just couldn't do it. So, what do you replace it with. Well a case of silly string of course. Now we did give the kids a couple of rules.
No silly string on the patio. It is a safe zone.
If someone says stop you have to stop
Those kids had a blast and so did the grown ups. In fact, ummm, E and I kinda got into a little duel. I will admit here on this blog that "He WON". I think he unloaded a whole container of silly string in my hair. It was HORRIBLE. (MK if you have that pick you should totally upload it).
I decorated with primary colors and grounded it in black. I also used a lot of Josiah's superhero figurines. I first had the idea that I would make capes for everyone but after watching the movie "Incredibles" for the hundredth time I was reminded of the dangers of capes. So, "No Capes!" (I hope when you read that you said it the same way the character Edna Mode did )I then totally scored when I found these superhero books at the Dollar Store.
It was a an awesome party if I do say so myself. Not because I totally rocked the do-it-yourself decorating thing but because I couldn't have imagened spending it with anyone else. Family and good friend some old and some new. It was perfect. So to make you totally sick lets look at the pictures from the party and of my sweet boy.
In honor of my little boy who is celebrating the big number 5 today, I thought I would tell you about the day he was born. It had been 6 days since my due date and the middle of spring break and I was BIG. I don't mean pregnant big, I mean my belly looked like a missile, I had stretch marks that were weeping. I. WAS. AT. FULL. CAPACITY. Now don't think I went around moaning about it, that is just not my way. I enjoyed being pregnant. I took this picture three days before I delivered. I was just amazed by the shape of my belly. I had just gone to the doctor and had an ultrasound to make sure everybody was doing well. The tech told me that he was probably around 9 pounds. I figured as much but quickly forgot that they can be off by 2 pounds either way.
Okay, now that you have picked your chin up off of the floor lets move on to 4 a.m. March 22, 2006. I woke up not knowing why I was awake. After a few minutes I realized that I was having contractions. Those contractions were only 10 minutes apart so no one jumped up and packed the car. Instead, we were keenly aware that today just might be the day. I sent E to work and tried to enjoy the day with the girls. We played and hung out. We even went to Milo's for lunch. All of the normal day occurances continued we just enjoyed them at 10 minute intervals. E came home early just in case we needed to make a mad dash to Birmingham. It was at this point that I was starting to get frustrated at the lack of change. I called a sweet friend to discuss my options because E was getting anxious. Sometime after that call I had a change and they started to become VERY intense. I gave the okay to call his mom which is an hour away to go on an come over. I then started organizing the girls evening for Nana and packing my bag when all of a sudden I had a contraction. Now, let me stop here and remind you guys that this was my third baby and third natural unmedicated birth so I am a little more aware of my body and the signals they are giving me. SO, like I said I had this contraction that changed everything. I will never forget that moment. I was getting dinner ready for the girls standing at the fridge and I had a contraction and I just knew that I had past 4 cm. I then started thinking, "I'm gonna just go to Birmingham by myself and have this baby by myself and E doesn't have to be there and I don't want him there and... and... and...ummm, I think this is an emotional sign post. I think I need to be thinking about leaving NOW. Of course, I didn't share these thoughts with E I just walked down the hall. OKAY fine I will be real, I stomped down the hall and informed E that I was calling Jamie (family friend) to come over now. E was thrown and quickly followed me , "What do you mean, what is different now as opposed to 15 minutes ago." Well,, let's just say I wasn't really NICE.
Moving on... I decided to wait in the car so I told the kiddos goodbye and loaded up in the car. Jamie came waved at me and we were off. By this time contractions were every 5 minutes but very intense. We had a 45 minute drive minimum and were possibly going to get caught in rush hour traffic but luckily God was on E's side. ( He is not someone who wants to tell people that his wife delivered on the side of the road in ALABAMA.) Then it happend again that contraction that reveals tons on information in about 60 seconds. I knew the moment it happened that I had past 7 cm. I again kept that to myself. I mean, I feared for my safety. E would have totally panicked and I didn't want him doing that behind the wheel of a car. I knew I was fine and kinda excited. We made it to the hospital and I told E to park in the "women in labor" parking. That was a clue to E that things were farther along then I had let on. The other 2 deliveries I made him park in a regular parking deck and then walk (on one of them we even took stairs). I tried to lightened the mood by making a joke as I got out of the car. I don't think it worked because today he does not remember that moment. In the building, up the elevator and to the nurses station we go. It is somewhere between 5 and 6 p.m. so they put me in a room to make sure that I was in labor. FYI, when they did this I laughed in my head. The nurse quickly came to the conclusion that I was 8 cm and about to have the baby. I was over the moon with excitement and looked at Ethan for the same reaction. WHICH, I didn't get. I got the look that says, " This isn't the time or place but when it is, we will have a long discussion." The nurse also didn't seem as excited. In fact, her comment was, "You natural childbirth girls are always stressing me out". She tried to find a heartbeat but was struggling and seemed a little bit overwhelmed. Another moment that is burned in my memory of her rolling me down the hall spouting off things, "Okay, I need you to just do your thing. It is going to be a little crazy because you are about to have a baby and you are not even in the computer system. Plus, your doctor is in one c-section and has another right behind her." I can still see her blowing her bangs out of her eyes as she opened the door with her backside.
She was right it was a little crazy. There were lots of people coming and going and I just sat in the bed "doing my thing". As soon as my dr. was available they pulled her to deliver. I spent a long time working on Josiah. I at one point looked at E with tear filled eyes saying, "Why isn't he here?" It didn't make sense. It was my third child and it had only been 19 months since my last birth it should be quicker. RIGHT? Well after another 30 minutes my little boy was received into my arms. I could tell he was longer that the girls but that was it. Another 30 minutes passed as I nursed, loved and cuddled my sweet son.
I was aware that my doctor was still standing around and I thought she would have split quickly to go to her next c-section. I even asked. Her reply was, "I gotta see how much this baby weighs!". So, I decided I would go on and let them weigh him which I'm amazed that it still didn't register in my head that he was big or that something was abnormal with his birth.
The nurse put him on the scale and the numbers started climbing. They seemed quite excited. There were lots of "Oh MY" and gasps. Now let me interrupt here to say that when they weigh your baby at our birthing hospital the weight is metric first and the converted. So E and I were oblivious to what those numbers that were flashing by meant but they did. When they hit the conversion button it read 10 9.6 well E turned around and said, "9 pounds 6 ounces WOW". The nurse sweetly corrected him with a giggle. TEN POUNDS and 9.6 ounces and we will round that up to 10 ounces." I looked at the Dr. and said. "Why did you let me deliver him?" She says, "I didn't know"
So that my freinds is the story of Josiah's Entrance into this world. Larger than Life is the way he came in and that is the theme of his life. Such joy is found in this child. He takes me to my knees every morning. I momma's boy, energetic, loving, funny little boy. He is amazing and perfect for this family. I have enjoyed watching him grow these past five years and can't wait to see how God moves in his life.
We have been crafting for the past month and I have to say that we have made some cute and EASY things. I have to also need to confess that I have gotten obsessed with crafting blogs. I have been staying up all hours of the night reading. I MUST STOP. I want to make them ALL! Okay back to my own crafts. We will start with a trip to Hobby Lobby.
I picked up some letters to go over my fireplace, though I can't figure out how to hang them. E will not let me drill holes into the mortar or brick and I tried the Command stripes but they won't stick. Does anybody have an idea? The X and O's are from the 90 percent of Christmas ornaments. This was my inspiration. Due to the need of ease, and the thought that I can always do it cheaper I ended up with this.
I started off with 4 frames from the dollar store, some red and pink paint, scrapbook paper that the kids picked out and then my letters.
Each kid picked their paint and painted their letters. I then realized that my O's were two big for the frames. I quickly pulled out a couple of square canvases and glued them on those. If you didn't notice I also painted my frames. My mantel is really dark I a try to keep light colored items around it to bright it up.
Then while looking at craft blogs late one night I found a lady making kissing balls from crepe paper streamers. I loved it but I was not going to go out and buy crepe paper. I just problem solved and used. Some tissue paper that I had and cut into strips to make my rosettes.
TA DA
I had some rosettes left over so I threw them into a my sconces into my kitchen.
I then made a wreath for the door and my I just say I love using felt. It is cheep and it is cute. I cut the felt into strips and then glued them down. It turned out really cute and took just a few minutes to put it together.
Last but not least I got this idea over at babeofmyheart and I think you should go here. I did these and think they turned out totally cute. The kids love them as well and don't they look cute next to my heart shaped marshmallows and our "I heart Missions" containers.
It's been a month I know but thought I would share some of our Christmas crafts. First was our advent calender I got it from the Family Fun. I then found a free printable for the days of the week here (thanks to MK for sharing this find). I then printed out the Christmas story cute it up into 24 strips and put one strip and 3 Hershey Kisses (one for each big kid) into each cone. FYI the tiny trees will not hold 3 kisses so I just stashed them away and when we opened that day up we pulled out their portion. Our kids LOVED this and looked forward to every day. They were wonderful about keeping up with the day and what was going on. I think I would probably do this again next year. The only thing I would do different is have a piece of foam board out for us to put the strips of paper on so that we could glue them on after we read them and then we could refer back as we progress through the story/month.
Next we made two little trees for the mantel. They were just cardboard trees we picked up @ Michael's for like a dollar. I then let the Josiah and Elaina paint one and then put Korinna in charge of glitter. I think they turned out super cute and I might even try to add another next year.
Next we made a wreath for the Kitchen. I have dreams that when I build my "dream house" I am going to have a candy theme in my kitchen along with a tree full of Smore's ornaments. Do you ever do that "when I build my dream house"? My parents always played (still do) that game. It was something that they just loved to pretend, dream, wish, plan. Whatever you want to call it, so I do it because...it's just what I know. I found this on tater tots and jello and forgive me for not linking it but I just got tired of trying to find it. But I know it is from there. We took two bags of large marshmallows, one bag of gumdrops, a box of toothpicks, and a round foam wreath form and this was our finished product.
I then took the left over gumdrops and put them in the sconces next to the window. I loved this wreath. FYI it did not hold the kids attention very long and I wish I would have put a HUGE red ribbon and red bow. Anybody got any ideas on how to store this wreath?
On a serious note I wanted to share something with you guys from my homeschool meeting last Thursday night. When we started our meeting we were given a post it note, we were then instructed to write down 5 things that we wanted to teach our children before we die. We were also instructed that we had to be specific so we couldn't put "Christ" we had to put what we would want them to know about Christ. After filling out our sticky notes we were asked, "How many of you taught your children that today." WOW! I was amazed and humbled. I will admit that I tried to teach one of the 5 things but not everyday. We were then challenged to put those in our lesson plan. Whether you homeschool or not I challenge you to go get you a sticky note and write down what you want to teach your children before you die and then DO IT!
