Crafty Business

Since we have no dossier to be working on or suitcases to be packing, I've been keeping myself busy with some craft projects.  I usually have about 6 or 7 different ones going at any point, so I've really tried to finish some up before I start new ones.  We'll see how long that lasts. . .

As you may have noticed, I'm quite *ahem* thrifty.  I pretty much refuse to pay full price for something.  This is rooted in several things.  We are a single income family with three children, so I can't just run out and buy something every time I feel like it - I have to be more intentional about my purchases.  And trust me when I say this did not come naturally to me.  My thriftiness started out of necessity.  Now, it's almost a game for me.  If I see something for our home that I like at, for example, Pottery Barn or Ballard Designs, I will try to duplicate it instead of buying it.  Most of the time, I'm very satisfied with my version.  Which I promise cost significantly less than the original item.  So the first thing I recently finished was some storage for Katie's room.

I started with this.  For real.

It was 99 cents on half price day at Goodwill.

Now seriously, buying that and knowing I could make it look good is some real vision.  Or crazy business, because this was some airbrushing at its finest.

This cute pink bucket is what it looks like now.

I sanded the heck out of it, use a spray primer, and spray painted it with some leftover pink I had.  Total project cost?  99 cents.

This was my next project.  It was also a half price GW find.  It had some chickens and eggs hot glued to the front.  Cute, right?  I yanked those suckers off.  It was $1.99, so I really wasn't going to be too heartbroken if I ruined it by pulling off the crazy chickens.  Next, I used some leftover sample paint I had from when I couldn't decide what color to paint Katie's room, so that part of the project was free.  I used a foam brush and painted a few coats over the brick red.  Now it's a perfect storage basket on her bookshelf, and it cost $1.99 and about an hour of my time.  I'm going to find a small K and glue it to the front.  By that point the project will probably be about $5.00.

I love the framed saying on the top of her bookshelf - it says "There's no place like home."  I think I'm going to paint that bookend tangerine, which would match her curtains and some pillows I've already made.  That bookend is part of a set that I got as a gift about 7 years ago.  I already have the paint, so that project will be a freebie.

Do you remember in my post about her Christmas stocking I showed you an etsy print that I wanted to try to make?

It looks like this.  

I liked that version, but I didn't love it.  

And I certainly didn't love it for $75.00 plus shipping.

So I got a canvas for $5.00 (two for $10.00 - Henry got one of them for Christmas) and got started.  I painted the canvas tangerine, my current color obsession.  ($2.49 for the craft paint.)  I bought some scrapbook paper at Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off, and I just picked random patterns that I liked together, some skin tones, and some colors for hair.  I ended up spending $6.00 on the paper and got WAY more than I needed.  I probably used $2.00 worth of the paper I got, and I will use some of the other pieces for mats for some frames in her room or elsewhere in the house.  (So my total cost for this project was about $10.00.  Not $75 plus shipping!)  The prints on the papers I got match other rooms in our home as well.  

I used the same template from the Christmas stocking and just eyeballed it to make it bigger for the largest doll.  I used the largest one to make them incrementally smaller and just eyeballed it again each time.  For the faces, I just found things that were round and were the size I wanted the faces to be, traced them, and used that as a guide.

And I L.O.V.E. it.  Henry is working on something that will go on either side of it, and I can't wait to show you that.  And yes, I realize the mantle needs something else other than a Tyler candle (my favorite!), some bare wood people begging to be painted, and a candy cane pen.  Baby steps.  That mantle's been empty for a year and a half!

They still need some faces, but I had maxed out my *artistic* abilities for the day.  And really, I'm a little scared that my lack of creativity will ruin this when I put their faces on....I promise they'll be faceless for a while!

No News Is Good News

Well this blog has turned quite boring since there's not any news ...... I did hear from our coordinator that our dossier is with the translators now.  Most of Katie's country is closed until after January 10th for a big Christmas celebration, so hopefully once things reopen we'll hear something.  Until then, we wait!

To Quote the Wise Tom Petty....

The waiting is the hardest part.

You take it on faith.

You take it to heart.

The waiting is the hardest part.

Up to this point, we have lots to do for our adoption.  You hear a lot about the paper chasing.  The fundraising.  The applications that have to be filled out.  The medical exams to have performed.  The tax information to collect.  The fundraising.  The notarizing that needs to be done.  The background checks and the fingerprinting.  The USCIS clearance to obtain.  The fundraising.  The photographs to assemble.  The apostilling to be done.  The fundraising.  We've done all of it for the last seven months.  And I think we've done it pretty well.  Now?  Now we wait.  And Tom Petty was right.  (Or in this video, Eddie Vedder and Tom Petty......what?  The 90s were some of my best years.)  The waiting is the hardest part.  

When I was busy compiling all of that information and scheduling all of the appointments, I didn't have time to worry.  Time to worry about E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.  I'm not a worrier by nature - not at all.  I'm the person who takes care of things so someone else doesn't have to worry about it.  I'm a fixer.  I spend the vast majority of my day telling people not to worry - not to worry about their divorce, their cheating spouse, the children being passed back and forth between two bickering parents, their child support that isn't being paid or their child support that they can't afford anymore, their pending criminal charges or their violation of probation, their trial that they have next week, or how to explain to their spouse that they want a divorce.  I cannot tell you how many times a day I tell someone, "Don't worry about it right now.  I will take care of it."  And I do take care of it.  And then I come home from work and tell people not to worry - not to worry about the dog peeing on the floor, not to worry about dinner needing to be cooked.  Not to worry about the laundry that needs to be taken care of, or the dishwasher that needs to be unloaded.  Not to worry about the bikes that need to be put away or the Legos that need to be cleaned up.  Don't worry about your brother crying - he's just tired.  Don't worry about your milk spilling - we can clean it up.  Don't worry about the leaky roof.  I'll call someone to fix it.  And please don't think that my husband sits around eating ice cream and watching television all day - he does not.  All of the day to day things that I have listed at home are just part of having a family and having things to do all of the time.  There is always something that needs to be taken care of.  Always.  And I like being the reliable person or the person people know they can count on.

But now, with no paper chasing to do, not forms to fill out, no plans to make, I have time to worry.  And that's pretty much all I'm doing.  I alternate between being worried that we won't be approved to adopt her to being worried that we're not the right parents for her.  I worry about her being in her orphanage still, and how hard that must be for her.  I worry about her health and about the medical care she is missing out on right now while we wait.  I worry about her "non-accute" heart condition.  I worry about her cognitive development and how every day that passes is another missed day for therapies and attention and stimulation and love that she's not getting.  I worry about how that will affect her.  I worry about all of the medical information we do not have, but I know is probably there.  I worry that she's going to start getting therapies when she's at least five, instead of when she was a baby.  I worry about whether she's warm enough or if her belly is full enough.  I worry about her banging her head against a wall or rocking back and forth or pulling her hair out to try to soothe herself, because she doesn't have someone to do that for her.  I worry when Jack comes downstairs after he had a bad dream and I snuggle him up in a cuddly blanket and rock him back to sleep while I quietly hum "You are My Sunshine" to his hot sweaty baby self, because I know when she wakes up with a bad dream she has nobody.  I worry about when we will travel.  I worry about my children while we will be gone.  I worry about David, who snuggled me close at bedtime last week and said, "I won't be able to take it while you are visiting Katie.  You've never been away from me for that long and I will be so sad."  And I worry because I know that's true.  I worry about Henry being upset while we're gone but not talking to anyone about it and being sad.  I worry about when we bring Katie home, and I worry that we won't bring her home.  I worry about court in her country, and how scary that will be for us.  I worry that my husband, who is so much less comfortable talking to people than me, will have to do the talking for us in court.  I worry because I know he will be nervous.  I worry that there won't be hot water in our hotel and I'll be so irritated the whole time.  I worry about what my husband will eat in her country because he is a fairly selective eater.  I worry that we're making a big mistake and that our family will be forever changed by this experience, no matter the outcome, and what if I want to go back to how we were before?  I worry that she will hate us.  I worry that she will not bond with us and will be miserable here.  I worry about her parents, and whether they will come back for her when they learn that new parents want to take her home.  I worry that her parents didn't give her up because they wanted to, but because they felt like they didn't have a choice.  I worry that I won't be enough for her - patient enough, smart enough, loving enough, strong enough, kind enough, understanding enough, warm enough, or enough of a mama to make up for five years without one.  I worry that she'll hate our dogs or our food or her new clothes or her sheets or the color of the walls in her room or the shampoo we use or the way our house smells........you can see how ridiculous some of these fears and worries are.  

Clearly my still hands have given way to a wildly active mind.  I wake up in the middle of the night worrying about these things, convincing myself in the dark quiet middle of the night that these worries are bigger than bringing her home.  And while I know rationally that this is not the case, I can convince myself of anything in the middle of the night.  And I am not a pessimistic person - really I'm not.  I am usually able to look at the situation and work my way through it.  That's the problem.  There is no situation right now.  There's no to-do list to work on.  No checklist to check.  Nothing.  Nothing but waiting.  I know our family is forever changed by this experience, no matter the outcome.  And I know that we are all better for it.  I know that we will have challenges with Katie:  challenges with her eating, and her self-soothing, challenges with her behavior and her communication, challenges with her therapies and her adjustment, challenges wither her diagnoses and the best way to handle them, challenges with her being sad and with teaching her how to be part of a family.  Nothing about this process is easy, and we don't expect it to be.  Really?  If I'm being honest, we expect bringing her home to be hard as hell.  Sort of like being a parent has been so far.  

So until something changes, we wait.  Our dossier is with the translators and they are back from their holiday January 10th.  And we'll keep waiting.  And hopefully I'll stop worrying so much!

2011, The Year in Review

Happy New Year!

Can you believe 2011 is almost over?

I thought I'd recap what a crazy, incredible, eye opening year this has been for our family.

I didn't start this blog until July, when I officially announced that we were working to adopt a little girl.  I introduced our family, and the sweet face we are working so hard to bring home.

This is us!

This is her!

We started collecting things for our yard sale, had our home study, and started planning our Run for Katie.  I met my sweet friend Misty through that planning, and she has become one of my favorite people and one of Katie's biggest supporters.  This child, from the moment we put her in our hearts, has brought amazing people into our lives.  

If you'd like to read about January through June for our family, hop on over to The Real Housewife of Bedford County.  I've posted about it there.

In August, we painted our guest room, which will be Katie's room.

We took all of our house photos for our dossier.

And we got some great donations.

(Please remember, when we started this process in June, we started at zero dollars.  We had some money in our savings that we used, but Katie only had a family sponsorship grant of $87.49)

We also had our first fundraiser - a big old yard sale!

August was obviously a busy month for us, because we also kicked off Coins for Katie, which has been an astounding success for us.

In September, we sent ninety Coins for Katie cups to Erin and her first grade class in Massachusetts.

We also got lots of photos of Coins for Katie cups all over North America.

We had our biometric finger printing done, and our sweet friend Jenny and her family had a generous party where the gifts were for Katie.

In October, we learned that Sarah and Joyce have a Coins for Katie cup in their store!  I was so excited, and so proud of Sarah for wanting to help us bring Katie home.  She and her mom do some amazing things for people with Down syndrome.

We were in the newspaper and we had our Run for Katie.

I also worked on some projects in Katie's room.

We also mailed our dossier package to our placing agency!  This is a HUGE step in the process, and one that felt so good to complete.

In November, we got an amazing donation from strangers.

And if that wasn't enough, the same people blessed us again with donations they collected on our behalf from their friends and associates.

We also had our Coins for Katie pancake breakfast.

This was an incredible day for us and for Katie, and it is one I will never forget.  We raised nearly $7,000 that morning, which we could not have done without the help of our incredible friends and family.  It was an awesome day.

We also put up our Christmas trees, including one in Katie's room.

And I told you about my uncle Clayton, who is part of the reason we are adopting a special needs child.

In December, we tried to pay some of the generosity we've received forward by participating in Operation Christmas Child.

Next, our dossier package was received in Katie's country for translation!

I made Katie a Christmas stocking.

And the girls in my office and I gave the gift of hope to four special needs children instead of giving gifts to four attorneys.  And, because they are all great guys, they loved their Angel Tree Christmas ornaments!  (And now two of our Angel Tree babies have families!)

We were gifted an incredible doll house for Jack Katie.

And I finished a high chair for Jack's Katie's babies.

And finally, we were given an incredible gift.  Someone very close to us offered to cover whatever adoption expenses we are unable to cover.  The sense of relief such a gift brings, and the incredible amount of emotions it makes me feel is indescribable.  That does not mean that our fundraising will be done - we have several Coins for Katie cups out still that we would love to get back.  It just means that the stress of worrying about how we will raise the rest of the money is gone.  And that there is virtually nothing standing between us and that sweet girl.

What will 2012 bring for us?

I hope it will bring Chris and me to Katie's country.

And I hope it will bring her home to us.

I hope it will bring us opportunities as a family to help others, the way we have been helped by so many of you.

I hope it will bring us the chance to continue to be amazed by this process and how much it has changed our family - every one of us.

I hope it will bring love to a little girl who has quite possibly never felt that, even though we have felt so much of it for her.

I hope it will bring peace and clarity as we look toward the end of this process.

For you, I hope 2012 brings what you have brought to us:  generosity, love, acceptance, friendship, support, and purpose.

I hope 2012 will bring us our girl.

Happy New Year.

High Chair Re-Do

Remember this little beauty that I found at Goodwill?

It's a nice, sturdy, wooden doll high chair that was $9.99.

The closest thing I can find that's similar is one on ebay, which is $79.

Well I got it home and promptly ripped off the disgusting 30 year old fabric.

I brought it out in the yard and spray painted it my favorite Rustoleum Heirloom White.

(And can someone please tell me why I always feel mildly guilty for painting real wood?  Even if I don't like it the way it is, I still feel a little guilt about it.)

I finally got around to covering it this week when I was off on Monday.

I used a fat quarter of fabric that I already had but hadn't used.

Instead of making a pleated skirt, I just hot glued some ribbon around the edge, and I like it just as well.

Here's a close up of the fabric - I really like it.

I'm very pleased with how it came out.

I hope Katie likes it - Jack certainly has!

I'm linking to Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After party.

We Love Hand-Me-Downs!

Katie Ruth has been so blessed to get some great hand-me-downs already from our friends.  Remember her Pottery Barn Kitchen from my friend Brandi and her little girl?  Well Ms. Brandi and Emma have again gifted us with a fabulous hand-me-down - a Fisher Price Loving Family House.  It's so fun!

Jack was SO excited to see it, and he started playing with it as soon as I brought it in the house last night.

We will get some more people for it, because as Jack pointed out, five babies can't live there all alone.  

And five babies are the only current occupants!

Jack said to me as soon as he got up this morning, 

"PLEASE come play babies with me!"

And just to show you how quickly Jack moves - all.the.time.- I thought 

I'd share these photos of him playing.

Thank you Brandi and Emma!

We love the dollhouse and will take good care of it!

Thank You 1st Grade Friends!

Do you remember when I posted this post about my friend Erin's school collecting Coins for Katie?

Well we sent out our cups - LOTS of them.

And the kids loved them.  I wrote here about how excited they were to collect Coins for Katie, and about some of the things they said.

Erin sent them on their way with their cups.

We have been writing back and forth with her class and even sent Flat Stanley to visit.

I have saved their letters for Katie in her scrapbook.

We were even in the newspaper!

Well this weekend, on Christmas Eve, we got a letter from Erin.

Inside her letter she included the money her first graders collected.

They've been working since the end of September to collect money to help us bring Katie home.

What do you think they've raised?

Are you ready?

$1,167.51!!!!

Can you believe that?

In less than three months, a group of six year olds and their generous families helped to raise over $1,100 to help bring a little girl they have never met home.  It is amazing to me how much Katie's journey has touched people and inspired them.  

Thank you so much!!

You get what you give.  

I hope that Erin and her first graders have gotten as much out of this journey as we have.