JUST LOVE COFFEE!!!

Soooo recently Ricky and I have been sponsoring a little girl in Ethiopia and are excited to add another addition to that sponsorship. We would like to send a little extra something and are hoping that you all will participate with us.... if you buy a bag of coffee from Just Love Coffee (all fair-trade coffee from Africa) from our page and we reach a goal of 15 bags of coffee in the month of June, we will send an extra $100.00 to our little Miss in June which we will be able to designate for much needed medical supplies.

It would be great if you planned on buying coffee this month, if you bought it from our store....
http://www.justlovecoffee.com/Search4Grace

Can we add another loop to our roller coaster...?

I feel like I am on a roller coaster ride that is never ending. Waiting over 200 days since our paperwork was in Ethiopia to get "The Call" is hard enough but over that same amount of time we have been looking and praying about buying another house. We love our house now, our first house.

We brought our babies home from the hospital to this house.
We (I) turned it from a bachelor pad to a home.
We laid our own hardwood floors.
We have had broken bones and broken noses here.
It has been a great home.

It is also feeling about as big as a shoe box right now....

So anyway, we do things a little different around here. My man, he loves to "run the numbers" and "weigh the options"... this can, and he know this, drive me crazy!! 
I am more of a run with your gut kinda girl. We now, after 5 years of marriage are a good balance for each other. He is the reason we have a savings account and have been able to pay for our adoption (PRAISE GOD) without needing a loan or fund raising (I AM NOT GOOD AT THAT!!). I am thankful for him daily and his ability to be level headed. 
With that all being said, the idea of buying a new house scares the you know what out of him! LOL! 
We have been looking on our local realtor's listing website for well over a year.. more like 18 months. We have put 1 offer on a house that he really loved, and have looked at several. 
Here is how it plays out... 
We look at it 10 times online.
I get excited. 
I call our agent, he gets us into it.
We look around, I love it or hate it.
I get excited!!!! I want to put an offer in...
My man, wants to think and pray about it.. we don't normally put the offer in
Then the ride starts all over...

Now today we looked at two house... the first one, well it was great. And as an added benefit, it is right next door to some pretty amazing people that we love dearly! 5 bed rooms with an optional 6th! Talk about more room!!
Then the second one we looked at, we both really really really loved! Not as good of neighbors FOR SURE, but we loved the lay out of the house and with the little "granny house" on it, we could have one of our favorite college students (A.H.) come live with us!! Sooo... I get Ricky on board with my OVER the top excitement and we decide to get a little more info and make an offer. Then we get more info, and it is not the kind we were hoping for! Blah =( Anyway, long story short, I don't think this one will work out either, but man I was really hoping for an end to at least one of these roller coaster rides. 
More to come as we pray for a space that will allow us to continue down a path God is calling our family and I love for ETHIOPIAN BABIES!!! 

No Referral for my Birthday.. but a lovely celebration anyway!

Thanks to all my family and friends who made my birthday weekend so special! I loved spending time with each of you and was so blessed by each of you taking time out of your day to celebrate with us!
Here are some very fun pictures from the last few days.... I am so blessed! 

 Carter and his Future Wife Mariah!

 My Parents... lounging at the park

 Big Man J on his board

 C and N going for a ride

 Showing us his swing... I see MLB in the future

 Plus, have you seen these muscles?! Sheeesh!

 My Buddy Heidi celebrating my Birthday at the Lake

 J on his class trip to the Lake, with his while class sitting there =)

Silly Noah... I think that is a water balloon...

Monday's.... a little different now...

This was me.....


Now into the WAITING WAITING WAITING I am actually excited for Monday's! I think every Monday for the last 4 months I have rolled over and said "Maybe this week??" to Ricky. And every time, he replies with a confident and sweet "I bet you it will be this week!"

Wishing.... Wishing.... Birthday Wishing!!!

Sooo.... It is almost my birthday and I can't help but think... "Wouldn't it be AMAZING to get a referral on my Birthday!!!" It falls on a Thursday so Bethany will be open!! I know it is out there, but man, if I could scratch all the other wishes I have ever made in my life and combined them all into this one...

I AM WISING FOR NEWS ON A SWEET BABY GIRL WHO NEEDS A MOMMA!!!! PLEASE LET THAT NEWS COME TODAY!!! 

World AIDS Orphans Day!!

Did you know that World AIDS Orphans Day is just two days away!

Nearly 20 million children worldwide have lost one or both parents to AIDS – equivalent to the number of people living in New York, Paris and Rome combined. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, over 12 million children have been orphaned by the pandemic. Experts believe that millions more orphans remain unaccounted for in India, China and Russia.

.Would you join me in praying for these orphans? That God would move in the hearts of people all over this nation to bring HIV+ children into their homes to love and care for! Would you educate yourselves on what HIV is and how is can be a manageable disease here in the United States but is a death sentence across the globe!!!

Read more here:http://www.worldaidsorphans.org/

Looking for a way to get involved?? Consider AHOPE in Ethiopia!!! 

Once your eyes have been opened, you can not pretend to not know.....

Love for Anika

I am so excited to be participating in the Love for Anika project hosted by an amazing Adoptive Momma.

I know many of my beautiful friends and family are talented in ways I am not... so I am looking for a few things... someone to help me decorate, someone to help me get the word out, and a few people to co-host the food with me!! 

Then we need 9 people/families to come!!! Please read the original blog post here!!!

Comment or email me if you are interested!!!