SUNDAY SNAPSHOT - WILLA VIRGINIA

All of my life, I have been extremely close with my grandmother. I call her Ma Ma (Yes, I am in the South. Thankyouverymuch.) My sweet Ma Ma has had a hard life.  She has had multiple brain aneurysms and had to have a craniotomy each time (though thankfully, they were always caught in time). She has had three miscarriages. When her youngest son was 29, he was fatally shot in the head. A year later, she lost her beloved husband of 45 years. Now, bless her precious heart, now, she has Alzheimer's and has to live in a nursing home.

When I got married, 10 years ago, we moved away. She would send me letters with $5.00 in them. When she knew I was coming home for a visit, she would walk to the drugstore on the corner near her house to buy me a Mountain Dew, so it would be waiting for me. It *kills* me to go see her now. She has no idea who I am. You know what though? She still treats me like she does. That is just her way. She has never met a stranger. I am thankful for the visits with her like I had this weekend. I took my kids to see her. She enjoyed them so much. Not because she knew they were her great grandchildren, but because she just loves children. She just smiled and giggled the whole time.

I am so grateful that my mom and her siblings can go everyday and visit her. They take care of her, even if she has to live in the nursing home. I so wish that I lived closer so I could go every week to see her.  You can't tell in these photos, but my Ma Ma, my mom, me, and my daughter all have the same blue eyes. 

One day, my precious Ma Ma will no longer have to endure the pain of this world. One day, she will meet her sweet Savior in Heaven. She will be reunited with her love and her baby. One day she will be whole in mind and will have a new body. I know one thing, even though she will have a new body, I will recognize her instantly when I meet her in Heaven as well - her heart will be unmistakeable. As much as my flesh doesn't want to think of her leaving Earth, my heart longs for the day when she finally has Peace.  

I love you, Willa Virginia. I am proud to call you grandmother. Thank you for all you are to me. You have touched my heart like no other. I can't wait to name my daughter Willa. I only wish I could share my journey to her with you. 

**edited to add: Gracious! LOOK at my roots! WOW! They didn't look that bad in person, just so you know!

TRANSPARENCY

I was reading over my old blog today. The blog that I kept on our journey to Han Xiao.  It was painful to read those words - to hear the excitement in my post. I remember those posts like they were yesterday. I remember the joy and excitement. It is hard to think that I will ever feel that again.

There are some posts there that really shared how Jesus provided and guided on our journey. I began to think that by taking that blog down, people were missing all the wonderful things He has done for us. I decided to merge the blogs. There are still a few posts that I have not published here, because it is still too painful. Not for me or my circumstance, but for her and her little life. I hate how it worked out for Xiao. I hate that I told her I was her mommy and then I left her there. 

I do know that Jesus had a plan all along. He knew the way it would turn out. He knew that Xiao was not intended to be my daughter. I can happily report now that Xiao has indeed found her family, so she will get her happy ending. Thank God. It's still hard though. 

Over time, I will publish more posts from the old blog. My journey is not complete without them. My journey to Willa would not be complete if I didn't include those posts too. Because of those painful things, I will eventually find the daughter Jesus intended for us. 

Anyway, so there are new posts buried in the archives. I do ask that if you read them and feel the need to comment, please, please be kind. I do not need judgement. I answer to only ONE Judge. I sharing these in hopes that they help someone. I am not asking for thoughts and opinions. Thank you.

NEW BUTTON

Loot at my cool new button to the right!! My sweet friend, Kelly, made it for me! Isn't it cool? She did a great job! And better yet, you can copy and post it on your blog too! I know y'all are dying to do that! LOL!

Thanks Kelly! I love it!!!!

EXCITING!

I am excited to announce our new fundraiser! We recently applied for a grant from Show Hope. During that process, we discovered they also help with fundraising by selling t-shirts!

I feel very passionately about these t-shirts. Not just because they will help us raise funds to bring Willa home, but because of the message on the shirts. The shirt's advocate for the orphan. They help spread the message that we, as Christians, are God's plan for the orphan. They also spread the word about Show Hope. Show Hope is a wonderful foundation that helps families in their journey to bring their adopted children home. So, the CAUSE is way more important than the fundraising. The fundraising helps my family, specifically, in our journey.  Please buy a t-shirt and be a part of God's plan for Willa, and orphans worldwide.  We are not all called to adopt, but we are called to do something.

So here they are! There are 8 different designs. They can be ordered in multiple sizes!

T-Shirt 1

Unisex - S, M, L, XL, 2X

T-Shirt 2

Long Sleeve Womens - S, M, L, XL, 2X

T-Shirt 3

Violet Shirt in Women

Women - S, M, L, XL  

T-Shirt 4

I Dig Army Green - Women and Youth

Women - S, M, L, XL, 2XL

Youth - YXS, YS, YM, Yl, YXL

T-Shirt 5

I SHOW HOPE

Unisex - S, M, L, XL, 2X, 3X

T-Shirt 6

I SHOW HOPE 

Unisex - S, M, L, XL, 2X, 3X

T-Shirt 7

I SHOP HOPE

Unisex - S, M, L, XL, 2X, 3X

T-Shirt 8

I SHOW HOPE

Unisex - S, M, L, XL, 2X, 3X

All of the I SHOW HOPE shirts are also printed on the back as shown in the image below.

How cute are they?? I love all of them! Please support our fundraiser by purchasing a t-shirt! Buy one for your whole family! The shirts are $30.00 each. Our family will receive 50% of the proceeds to bring sweet Willa home! 

Please help! I have included a Paypal link on the sidebar. Feel free to use that - please use the drop down menu to include what number shirt you want, and what size. If you prefer to place an order and mail a check, that will be fine also! You can send me an email jackjujam @ yahoo.com with your order and your mailing  address. I will send you my address to mail a check. 

One more thing, I can not place the order until I have at least 24 orders in. Just an FYI, if you are worried about it. As soon as I can, I will place the order. It will come in a couple of weeks later. I will then promptly get your shirt to you! 

Thank you all so very much! It's been a long, difficult journey. We could not do it without you guys!

ONCE A GROUPIE, ALWAYS A GROUPIE?

It seems that way. LOL! Ok, so most of you know that back in the day, I was a New Kids on the Block groupie. Sad, I know. I mean, couldn't I have followed a cooler group? I guess back then, NKOTB was a cool group. They were to me anyway. I still have a fondness in my heart for Donnie Wahlberg. HAHAHA. Anywho... It turns out, I am still a groupie. Only the group I am following around now does not have smooth moves, or mullets, or earrings.  Instead, they actually have musical talent. HA!

My husband is in a quartet called One Hope. Four middle aged young guys, singing for Jesus. See they actually have a purpose, unlike a certain boy band from the 90's.  Yesterday, the old new boy band I'm following around sang at a car show in town.

If I were to compare One Hope to a boy band you may know, my hubby would be the Justin Timberlake of the group. The cute one. The talent. HAHAHA. Sorry that just cracks me up.  Anyway, I am just so relieved I don't have to tease my hair for this group. Or fight away the other girls. 

Seriously cracks me up. I just can't help it. Let me know if you want a One Hope poster or pillow case for your room! 

WINNER!

It's Sunday night! It's winner time! WOOT, WOOT!

We were going to use random.org to choose the winner, but I thought, what fun is that? We did it the old fashion way. Little pieces of paper, a bowl, and a kid. We decided it would be fun to photograph the steps.

So here is Julianna mixing up the names:

Of course, she was giggling the whole time. That's just how she rolls. Anyway, so she drew a name out of the bowl:

And with that, we have a winner!

Stacie!!!

Congrats Stacie! Enjoy shopping! I will share your email with Caitlin, and she will email you the gift card code. 

Thanks everyone for participating! It was tons of fun. I am sorry everyone couldn't win something!

MY VERY OWN GIVEAWAY!

We are giving away a $35 gift certificate to CSN Stores! No strings attached! CSN is comprised of over 200 online stores! They sell everything from children's backpacks to cookware! I can not say enough great things about CSN Stores. Their costumer service is awesome!

 How cute is this back pack? Love it!

Can I tell you how much my husband would love this?

 

Seriously, over 200 online stores! They sell everything!! Maybe you could do a little Christmas shopping. Or, maybe you could buy yourself something!

Here are the "rules":

1. Take a look around CSN Stores yourself.
2. Come back to my blog and leave a comment about what you would order if you won the gift certificate.
3. Make sure in your comment that you leave me your email address, in case you win! No worries, no one will see it but me!

On Sunday night, I will announce the wiener  winner!

Yay! It's fun being on the giving end!

OH HOW HE LOVES US!

If you ever think to yourself, "I would really love to adopt, but I just can't afford it.", this post is for you. I have said time and time again that when we started our adoption journey over a year ago, we had $0, zero, zilch, nothing saved up for it. We didn't even have the $250 for the application fee. However, we really felt lead by Jesus to begin our journey, and put our faith in Him.  So we did and you know what? The money was there. Miraculously. Seriously, every single time we had to write a check, it was there. Sometimes it came literally hours before the check was to be mailed. But it was there.  You think God's heart is for the orphan? You better believe it. You think He will provide for you, for them, in the same way as He did for us? There is no doubt in my mind.

So fast forward to now. God provided for us for our journey to Xiao, but will he provide for us again? Did we blow our chances at adopting already (Thanks for that one Satan.)? Would He work in the miraculous ways He did before, for us again? We asked ourselves those questions a thousand times. I have to be completely honest here, we really doubted it. He provided already, He used His people, our loved ones, already. Surely we can't expect Him to do that again.

Brad came to me a couple of weeks ago. He said that he is really worried about the money. He said that he would be comfortable moving forward if we could save $6500 first. That would be half of the money needed for me to travel. I felt that was pretty reasonable. I agree that it would certainly make things easier once we were matched and things moved quickly.  I did ask him what if we happened to have $6500 by the next shared list release - he said fine. LOL. Considering that will be in just a couple of weeks, I am doubting that, but you know I had to ask! HAHA!

So this past weekend, he calls me (I was out of town) and tells me he has good news and bad news. The bad news was he went to Hardee's for lunch (yuck). The good news? Oh the good news - was that someone in our church... gosh, I am crying now writing this... someone gave us $1000.00. We have no clue who it was. A thousand dollars. Do you have any idea how BIG that is? I can not even begin to express my gratitude. Maybe we can't thank the person ourselves, but I have prayed many times since that call that Jesus would bless them and I will continue to do so. If you are the sweet spirited, generous person that gave... gave to bring my baby home, thank you. Thank you from the very bottom of my heart.

Also, we got a check in the mail from the health department for $135. It was a refund from JUNE.  On top of that, we have saved $425. So we only have $4940 to go.

So, will God provide again? He sure will! Can God move the same financial mountains in your path? He can and He WILL. My motto this whole time has been "When God gives you a vision, He will follow it through with His provision." I stand by that, and I am adding a new one, "God funds what he favors." Does He want His children in families? YES! Does He favor adoption? YES!

Even when it felt like He had turned His back on me. Even when I was in a darkness like never before, He was there. He is there. He is working. He is moving. He is providing. And soon, when He says she is ready, and we are ready, He will bring my baby girl home.

30 DAYS OF GIVEAWAYS

Oh, how I love giveaways. Oh, how I love NiHao Y'all. So what happens when the two come together? Bliss, I tell you, pure bliss!

Stefanie, at NiHao Y'all is having a gigantic giveaway! You have to go check it out! My sweet friend, Ashley, will even be featured with her awesome stuff from Baby Bobo  - twice! Isn't that cool? Great timing too, with Christmas just around the corner (how can that be, by the way?)!

Check out NiHao Y'all, not just for the giveaway, but just because. It's inspiring. It's funny. I think you will love it!