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.

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.

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.

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"

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!

the only thing...

that separates us from the animals...

is our ability to accessorize!
--steel magnolias

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!

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!