Friday, December 31, 2010

our violet

yesterday my mother-in-law and I hosted a baby shower for my soon coming niece...to be named violet.  we are over the moon with excitement for jessica and stephen...and that we will have a cousin on pete's side of the family!  she is due march 2nd...so it won't be too long before we can see her beautiful face!  we couldn't help but use her name as a theme for the shower.  who doesn't like the color violet!?







eden made a special present for violet.  she drew her name on a cloth along with a violet flower, and then I embroidered it and added some fun buttons and cloth.  it turned out pretty sweet and cute.
 can't wait to meet our precious violet.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

chilly SNOWY days

here are a few pictures from the fun, COLD times we've had while home for Christmas!  we are loving being in Georgia with our family and can't believe we saw snowflakes and had a white Christmas!







can't stop thinking and hoping and praying we'll have our new little one home by this time next year.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

another great fundraiser!

just wanted to share with everyone about a great fundraiser that a fellow bloggy adoption mom is having.  the first weekend of february I am attending a retreat for mom's that are adopting/have adopted/love adoption...etc.  I can HARDLY wait.  I feel like it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to go and learn all I can about adoption from experienced, wonderful, Jesus loving people.  the fact that I am actually leaving my children over night means this is a BIG huge deal that I really feel will benefit our family.
to help cut costs for the retreat Andrea at babe of my heart is selling some wonderful "love makes a family" t-shirts.
go check them out...and see how to get one HERE!
I LOVE them.  andrea is the one who came up with this retreat and is organizing it all. some of the sessions that will be offered include: bonding and attachment, ethiopian culture, and HIV and adoption. 
can't wait to soak it all in and learn things with a bunch of strangers that I'm sure will instantly become friends.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

letters to santa

today the girls wrote their letters to santa.  eden wrote all of the letters by herself...and I told her how to spell the words. charlotte colored blue...because she wants a cookie monster for Christmas.  or, at least I think she does.  we mailed them off to the north pole today...in hopes that santa reads them and approves them as good girls for the year. 
 "dear santa, I want a rapunzel and dorothy and glinda. love, eden"







Sunday, December 12, 2010

our new number!

we are now number 34 on the wait list!  I hope the ornaments are sort of shaped that way! I think I will try to incorporate the season for every new number we receive.  that will be fun to look back on.
we're excited to be 3 steps closer to our son!

Thursday, December 09, 2010

the only thing...

that separates us from the animals...




is our ability to accessorize!
--steel magnolias

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

today

today our house still smells like a Christmas tree.  because of our REAL (pete prefers fake, boo) tree, and the spruce tree candle I have had burning for hours.

today we are looking at bunk beds for the girls.  just looking.
today we've stayed in our pj's all day.  our friend jonas came to play and he was already dressed at 8:30 a.m. whoa.
today I had to find our little people baby Jesus because charlotte always takes him and then I have to search for him in every room of the house.
today I watched eden cackle with delight at old tom and jerry cartoons...she LOVES them!
today I hope we get some more sweet Christmas cards in the mail.  love those.
on friday we should find out our new wait list number.  it might not be a huge difference from 37...but I'm ok with that.  I really know that God has a baby boy picked just for our family and we will meet him at a perfect time.
these pictures were taken the other day. not today.  but I had to share them anyway.



 those are their zoo pants that mawmaw sewed them.  and yes, we were at the zoo!  the afternoons here are still sunny and beautiful.
so there you have it.  today...friday...and a few days ago. 
off to think of Christmas presents for some family and friends!

Saturday, December 04, 2010

give warmth

if you didn't already know...our family, the texas petes, are missionaries to juarez, mexico with casas por cristo.  we live minutes from the border of texas and juarez, mexico.  we help teams build homes for people that live in houses made out of cardboard and wooden palettes.  we give them a free home and show them Jesus.
recently we have had freezing temperatures at night and horrible, gusty winds.  it's just plain cold.  and we can't help but think about and hurt for our neighbors that try to fall asleep feeling so cold at night.  and wake up the same way.
this Christmas as you are warm and toasty in your home...making cookies and enjoying this most wonderful time, maybe you'll consider helping someone else stay warm?
casas por cristo has a heater and electric blanket fund that you can donate to and help some of these families feel so much warmer if you would like to do so.
just click HERE and then hit the donate NOW button.  It will take you to a form where you can specify how much you would like to give...and then where it says program area hit the drop down arrow and click heat fund. you'll receive a receipt for this tax deductible gift.
$30 will provide a family with 2 electric blankets...but any amount will help.
our 4 year old, eden, has been spending the nights across the border helping build homes since she was weeks old.  she knows about how her mexican neighbors live.  she knows how blessed by God she is to have a home with heat and insulation.
the other day we emptied out her piggy bank and counted how much money she had.  $17 and some odd cents.  and she is giving it all to the heat fund. 


maybe you have some change sitting around?
you can also read about the the heat fund HERE.
thanks!

Monday, November 29, 2010

taking inventory

so we've had a little sickness floating around our house.  eden had a fever on saturday.  I felt flu-ish most of the weekend.  and even little char-char has a stuffy/runny nose, cough, and other ickiness that is super gross in cloth diapers. 
but I'm hoping it will all be gone soon.  I've washed the sheets and washed everyone's hands a million times.
I'm a little bummed that I don't have a new wait list number to share with you.  we've been on the list for over a  month and NO movement. I was fine up until yesterday.  now I am checking everything and anything I can that might indicate someone got a referral and that we've moved up the list.  I just need a little something that suggests progress, that's all.  ugh.
soon soon soon, I hope.
ALSO...today I took inventory on our adoption t-shirts.  here is what we have left for anyone that would still like one.
Adult sizes: S-1, M-6, L-14, XL-8, XXL-1
Kids sizes: XS-1, L-2, XL-3
So, hurry and get them while we have them!  and thanks to everyone who has already supported us!
and one more bit of miscellany.
we decorated for Christmas the day before Thanksgiving.  we are leaving before Christmas and won't be back til after the new year...so we decorated early so we could enjoy it for a bit.
every year I say I am going to put our names on our stockings...and then I never do.  SO, this year I am finally doing it.  I started with charlotte's because her name is the longest.  and I have "e" and "d" put on eden's...so I'm making progress!

we don't have a fireplace so our stocking are hung on an antique suitcase with care.
I can't wait to add another stocking to that line up.  I keep dreaming of holding him.  wondering what his hair will smell like when I kiss the top of his head.  mmmmm.

Monday, November 22, 2010

thanks give away!

a fellow adopting blogger is having a great give away and I think you should go check it out!  click HERE to see everything you could win from lara and her family. They are simply asking for a $10 donation for the chance to win all that stuff.  so go buy a slice of their pie by clicking HERE!!
help bring another sweet child home to a family that will love it for always.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

candy corn cookies

while we were in GA eden and her mimi made candy corn cookies.  and I documented the process.  it was an easy, fun activity for both of them.
here's how to make them.  you know, just in case you'd like to....or you need a fun last minute thanksgiving dessert idea.

start out with a tube of sugar cookie dough and mix in 1/2 cup of flour.  then separate the dough into 3 equal parts.  leave one of the parts alone...then use food coloring to dye one orange, and one yellow. 


then, roll them into long cylinder/rope shapes.  flour your surface and line them up together. then roll them together with a rolling pin so it looks like one long line of candy corn dough goodness.
slice them into triangle/candy corn shapes and bake them at 350 degrees until they are as done as you like them.  I prefer a softer cookie.  maybe 10 minutes?

then...enjoy! I think they are so cute.