let's have some fun

Ok, to celebrate my little visitor counter reaching 10,000 hits on my humble little blog, I have decided to do a giveaway! Here's how it will work:

1. You have two ways to enter:

a) leave a comment on this blog post and ask me a question...any question you want...random, silly, serious, about me, about my kiddos, about whatever topic you want (just keep it clean, please!). :) You can comment up to 5 times (so, 5 questions) and each question will equal one entry!

b) become a follower of my blog (scroll down and look on the right and click on "follow"...right above the counter) and leave me a comment letting me know you did so.

2. You have until next Wednesday at 8pm to enter. Wednesday night I will randomly draw a winner...and try to answer some of your questions.

Oh yeah. What will you win?? You will win your choice of any one item from my etsy shop! This means, even if you're a guy, you can still enter! Think Christmas presents... :) If you choose a card set, I will work with you on designing a set just for you. (or whoever you might want to give it to...)

You can find the link to my etsy shop to the right --------> ish. (Ok, scroll down just a tiny bit...) It's called Creative Glory.

So...comment away! This is a perfect opportunity to comment for the first time if you have been "stalking" my blog for a while but have never said hi! ;) Oh...and you don't have to leave your name if that makes you nervous...but sign your question in some way that will let me know who you are! :)

update

I know some of you are waiting for a camp update from the past two weeks...and don't worry, I haven't forgotten! :) I'll get to that soon. But for now I needed to give an update!

Remember these?

And remember how Hannah and Danielle picked out the colors of their tutu so that I can have it in my etsy shop with 50% of each sale going towards their family's adoption fund?

Well, I have been checking Rachel's blog and found out that as of last Friday, they were officially put on the "waiting families" list! That in itself was exciting. Then I checked again on Wednesday and found out that they already have their referral!!! They have accepted a referral for a little girl who is four years old and who they will name Abigail. You'll have to click on the link to their blog to find out more details, but the next step is raising the money needed for the $8,300 referral fee - by next Friday! So, from now until next Friday, August 6th, I will be giving 100% of any sales of the Hannah and Danielle tutus to their family. So if you know a little girl who would love a fun tutu, pass along the word - it's going towards bringing one little girl home to her forever family! :)

chickabug

Just a quick little post. :) Check out this cute cute blog called chickabug! Heather has such cute ideas. I especially love the ones in for the bug garden theme! How fun and happy and spring/summer ish are all these ideas??? Makes me want to do a just because party. Just because. :} Go explore her blog - and watch for a familiar tutu mixed in with all the other cute garden theme ideas! ;)

fire of my heart

I was recently reading through a couple old journals from back in high school and college (heavens, that makes me feel old!)...you know, when I actually would sit down and write with a pen on paper.... :-p Some of the entries cracked me up - everything is a drama in high school! Some entries still resonate with me today. One in particular, from 2002, caught my eye. Max Lucado is one of my favorite authors. God has given him an incredible gift of being able to make the smallest details of His word come alive. I had found a quote of his that I evidently wanted to remember and now I'm glad I wrote it down. Here it is:

The Fire of Your Heart

"My God, I want to do what You want. Your teachings are in my heart." Psalm 40:8

Want to know God's will for your life? Then answer this question: What ignites your heart? Forgotten orphans? Untouched nations? The inner city? The outer limits?

Heed the fire within!

Do you have a passion to sing? Then sing! Are you stirred to manage? Then manage! Do you ache for the ill? Then treat them! Do you hurt for the lost? Then teach them!

As a young man I felt the call to preach. Unsure if I was correct in my reading of God's will for me I sought the counsel of a minister I admired. His counsel still rings true. "Don't preach," he said, "unless you have to."

As I pondered his words I found my answer: "I have to. If I don't, the fire will consume me."

What is the fire that consumes you?

~ from The Great House of God

I love this. I have a few friends, some "real" and some "bloggy" who, like me, are becoming ever more passionate about the orphans in our world. I know there are other people who are becoming ever more convinced that we're crazy for talking about this all the time but this quote from Lucado reminded me that this is the fire that is in me - in us. Not only that, but it is a fire that He is stirring. So even though all this adoption/orphan stuff may get a little old at times, it is something that I have to keep coming back to. It is too important not to share about.

Now, of course, you knew there was more coming, right? :) There is. When I started my etsy shop last September, I had no idea how God would end up using it...and I'm still figuring that out today.

I knew I wanted to set aside some money to help my friend, Rebekah, with her adoption fund. After she God provided everything she needed, I started looking around for another family to help. There are SO. MANY. families who need financial help with the crazy high cost of an adoption - domestic or overseas. I have come across so many blogs telling their family's story of their own adoption journey. They all are trusting God to provide for their needs. And I wish I could do something to help every single one of them!

I have prayed often for God to show me the next family I could help through my etsy shop. I would pray as I read each blog, "Is this the family?" I knew I would just know when I found them. I had plenty of families to click on through the comments on one of my favorite blogs. This mom has several adopted children - 10 children in all - so lots of other adoptive families read her blog because she "gets it". I figured I would find a family through her blog most likely. I didn't. :) I was reading my other favorite blog - the colorful, happy, cheerful one that i just love. On Meg's blog she has a "happy things" list on the left side of her page. Everything on that list is worth clicking on! :) Mostly it's just-for-fun stuff. But one day I saw "great post on Africa", so I clicked on it. It took me to the blog of the Walser family in FL. After reading the post Meg had linked to and reading through their "background" section - who they are, what they do, why they are adopting, etc., I knew. It was them. I don't know how or why, but they were the next family.

So let me very briefly introduce them to you. (You'll have to go to their blog, Love with Abandon, to learn more about them!...and please do!) Joe and Rachel Walser have four biological children - twin boys, Nathan and Josh, 12; Hannah, 11; and Danielle, 9. Joe is a church planter, Rachel is a homeschool mom. They have lived several places - including Nebraska (and now my dad approves of them...! lol He grew up there and is a Huskers fan.) They are in the process of adopting a child age 0-4 (they don't know yet if it will be a boy or a girl) from Ethiopia.

How am I getting to help? Well, my original idea for my etsy shop was to design handmade cards. It's like a tiny scrapbook page - gives you a "scrapbooking fix" without having to get out everything! :) As an afterthought, I stuck up a few tutus that I had made for Little MIss Giggles' birthday photo shoot last September. I had them lying around and thought why not? Well. I have sold no cards and almost all tutus! God obviously had different plans for my shop and I love it! :) SO! I asked Hannah and Danielle to each design the colors for a tutu for me to list in my shop and 50% of all sales of those two tutus, plus 25% of all other sales will go directly to the Walser family and their adoption fund. And here is what they came up with:

the Danielle Tutu:

the Hannah Tutu:

I think they chose great colors and turned out so cute, don't you?? :) These tutus will be up in my shop with the money going to their family until God provides all their funds. After that they will remain in my shop with money being set aside to help another family with an adoption. So if you hear of anyone needing/wanting a fun tutu that will also be going towards bringing one small orphan home to a waiting mommy and daddy and four siblings who will smother them with love, spread the word about these tutus and Hannah and Danielle and their family!

I have more on the adoption topic...but I'll stop for tonight.... :)

mommyluvs2save blog

Just real quick. I got an email from a mommy of twin girls this week who has a blog and she is having two giveaways this week! Both are from etsy shops. The first one is a lady who makes ADORABLE little crochet baby shoes - eeps! if only I had a tiny little girl to put them on! :) The second give away is, well, just go check it out! :)

a tutu named calla

I have had a busy week! It was so good to have Emily and Lauren with me for most of the week. But I finally have a minute to catch up on a couple things. First, we did several fun Valentine crafts this week. I shared one earlier. Here is another one we did. They were supposed to look like this. They ended up more like this:

Ha! Ok, so not quite perfect...but everyone had a blast doing it...so that's all that matters, right?

So, I keep finding new blogs that I love to read. I need to update my blog list over to the right there! I want to share about two of them. The first one is here:

I found this sweet family through her blog. These two ladies go to the same church out in Kansas. Jess, from The Macs, and her husband Joel, had an adorable little girl named Cora (isn't that a pretty name??). Last January, when Cora was 11 months old, she was diagnosed with cancer and went home to be with Jesus 17 short days later. This past year has been obviously so so hard for Jess and Joel. But they have allowed this terrible situation to draw them closer to each other - and closer to Him. Jess is so brave to keep up her blog and share both the good days and the bad days. Just in the past month, Jess and Joel welcomed a new baby boy named Levi. His name means "joined" and is a reminder that they will be joined again with Cora in heaven one day. To read more of Cora's story, click here:

Even in the midst of mixed emotions - loving every second of baby Levi while still missing sweet Cora every day - Jess is reaching out to help another friend and sister in Christ.

This is Calla and her mommy Julie

Calla was born at 26 weeks and is busy growing in the NICU right now. I know at least one of my readers knows what this is like. :) Calla also has a daddy - and a big brother named Ori (all these cute names!!) :) Having a baby in the NICU is tiring in a lot of ways. It puts a strain on everything - work, home, siblings, gas money, etc. So Jess from the Macs blog had the idea to do a raffle every week until Calla comes home. All the money raised from the raffles will go directly to Calla's family to help with all the extra expenses. And all the items in the raffles are so beautiful! To find out more about how it works, click here: (wow, I'm just full of things to click on today!) :)

Jess asked her blog readers and etsy friends to send anything they could to add to the raffles. It was such a simple thing to do to help someone out. I created a new tutu just for the raffle (it will be in the weekly raffle sometime between now and when Calla goes home.) and have added it to my etsy shop (link on the right side of this blog...). I am calling it the Calla Tutu. Wanna see it?

I just love these colors together. So fun and happy. And even brighter and happier in person. :)

From now until Calla goes home (hopefully sometime in March), I will be sending a portion of the money from each Calla Tutu sold to help out her family.

So click on the links to read about two great families and pray that Calla will grow strong and be home with her family soon - and that Jess and Joel's hearts will continue to heal as they trust in God's perfect plan for their family.

quik pik

I still have a few blog posts to catch up on...the past seven days have just been a blur! I will get around to it soon, I hope. In the meantime, here is one quick picture. I have more colors of tutus in my little shop and will be adding a few more in the near future. So, if you know any little girl who would like to be a ballerina, fairy, princess, etc. for Halloween, or just dress up in general, send them here: www.cre8tiveglory.etsy.com :)

my project :)

A couple of weeks ago, while my kiddos were in the middle of the flu, I mentioned that I was working on a project and that I would write about it when it was ready. Well, it's ready! :)

I have loved my friend, Rebekah's idea of an online store on a website called Etsy, for selling handmade items, and while I most definitely do NOT sew (why bother when both my mother and Rebekah can do it for me! ha!), I do enjoy making cards. However, a lot of people make hand-stamped cards, so I added a twist. I added a photo to each card. But there's more! Instead of a photo of a random person you do not know on your set of cards, if you email me your own picture, I will put your picture on your card for a unique and personlized touch! :)

I have several cards on my website tonight and will be adding lots more variety in the days ahead. I already have plans for another type of card entirely that I am very excited about! And I may add a few more crafty things eventually.

Here is a sample of one of my cards:

However, before I give you the link to my site, there is another side to my little shop that you need to know about. Something that only a couple of my friends know I have been praying about. :}

There is a Bible verse that has been popping up in more and more places in my life lately.

"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

I am becoming more and more aware of just how many children in our world have no one to call "mommy" or "daddy", no forever family who will love them unconditionally and teach them that they are a child of the King Who created them so uniquely and loves them oh-so-much. This breaks and touches my heart at a special place. If you don't know my story already, by the grace of God, I was adopted as a baby and was not for a single moment an orphan myself, but the thought that it could have been a possibility had God not led my birthmother to choose adoption always makes me thankful for my own "forever family" and makes me long to provide a forever family to just a few of the 147 million orphans! (Did you get that number?? MILLIONS. Not just one. 147 of them.)

We have a responsibility to care for these precious children and I think that can take on many different forms. One of the most obvious ways is through adoption and while this is not something I personally can do in my life at this point (although hopefully someday??), I want to help wherever i can. Since the idea of doing an online store came to my mind, I knew in my heart that I couldn't just do it for myself. I wanted to use the creativity that God has given me for His glory and in a way that would benefit at least one child that needs a home.

I have prayed over this quite a lot in the past month or so, asking God to show me ever so clearly who I was to help through whatever items I might sell - whether just one or many. One name came to mind right away but then was clearly taken away the very next day. So I continued praying. However, now, with the timing of a certain item I needed for my cards and the timing of things happening with this certain adoption...it has turned out that I confidently believe I know who I am supposed to donate to. :-D

So! If you read my blog regularly, you may have already guessed, but I am very excited to say that 25% of every sale on my Etsy store will go directly towards my friends Rebekah and Nathaniel's adoption fund. (I haven't even told them this yet...so when Rebekah reads this will be when she finds out my plan...) :) They had raised all the money they thought they needed, but it is turning out that they feel God calling them to explore more venues that might bring their baby home...which translates to a need for more funds. (It is amazingly frustrating how expensive an adoption can be!)

If you don't know Rebekah and Nathaniel's story yet, you can go here to read my post about them, here to read her blog, or here to visit her Etsy shop.

It seems like a such a small thing to do - trying to do what I can for one baby out of 147 million - but I will trust that God will use my little store for His glory and that I will soon be able to write the post indroducing the newest member of Rebekah's family!

So, with all that being said, here is the link to my store! If you or anyone you know would like a set of hand made cards that will help bring one baby home to it's forever family, I would be honored to make them for you! :)

www.cre8tiveglory.etsy.com