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Some business…and then some sweet fluff:)

Alrighty dear blog readers–first…I have 2 orders of business:). Very important stuff I might add:) Do you ever number your important things to cover in emails like me? Some times it helps this scatterbrained momma get ‘er done…and keep my brain organized.

1. FIRST, one of my sweet blog readers is a SINGLE mom—yet the Lord has called her to bring home ANOTHER child. Sarah Elliot is in the midst of brining home a little one from Ethiopia–and being a single momma she has had to get a little creative in meeting the financial deadlines for her adoption. She just sent off her dossier–which means for her agency…she’s got another big deadline around the corner. Sweet Sarah emailed me and shared how she has been working after hours making custom coasters to raise money for her adoption. {Oh, how I know this just makes our Father in heaven smile!} Sarah is a full time nurse, mommy to her son Noah and also does photography on the side. BUT she says her mommy job is her most important of all!! Noah has dreamed of a brother–and when the Lord led Sarah to adopt…they began this journey together. She is selling coasters on her BLOG HERE to help bring home her son from Ethiopia. 4 come in a set for $15 (+$5 shipping). You can get 4 seperate ones in the set–but I’m going to ask Sarah to just send me 4 the same…my favorite is this one:

2. SECOND, did you hear about the AMAZING Created for Care retreat we hosted this past February?! You really don’t want to miss future gatherings/retreats with Created for Care. It will ROCK your world…in a really amazing way…so whether you have already adopted, you have a heart for orphan care, you are considering adoption or just know you want to adopt ONE day….go ahead and sign up for coorespondance from us now! You can SIGN UP for the…

Quarterly e-newsletter by clicking HERE. Nothing other than an email newletter in your email every quarter when you fill that out. Trust me–I’m too crazy busy to be organized enough to send out anything more:) BUT what does come will be full of good stuff:)

Created for Care Facebook page HERE. Okay–so if you miss the e-newsletter because it gets lost in cyberspace–then here’s your double whammy. I’ll always repost the newsletter to the Facebook page…plus you will get the fun C4C banter talk on FB:). Alright–so there’s no banter talk there YET…but there will be:).

AND if you didn’t go to the retreat and you just signed up for the newsletter after the May 2011 already came out–then you can see the Spring Created for Care newsletter HERE.

Okay…so some of you just read that and thought, “Well…I’d love to know what’s going on–BUT I’m not adopting and haven’t adopted.” WELL…if you thought you’d love to know what is going on with C4C…just SIGN UP to get the newsletter. Ya NEVER know why you are curious about adoption stuff;). JUST sayin’;).

3. SOME SWEET FLUFF Today…marked Frankie baby’s LAST day of preschool for the school year. I was sad to say goodbye to his OH SO SWEET teachers–but honestly, now that ITY is out of PT–I’m super excited to have my Frankie baby 100% all back to myself! He had a little pool party at the end of year party WHICH I forgot my camera for. BUT Parker and Laney suggested after noon carpool pick-up (YES–they go to a sweet little school that gets out at NOON…LOVE IT! Don’t you know you can really get all ya need by noon!) at their school…that we move the “pool” party to our backyard. ITY asked for a nap in his “almost 2” kind of way…and we put baby boy down for a nappy-nap and the rest of us headed out to turn on the hose…a daily ritual of most Southerners…

YES, Laney is standing in a 20 gallon bucket. BUT I like to tell my kids it’s a pool. Hey, when you have 4 kids 6 and under—safety has to come first;). Bless their hearts, right? Hey–but they are safe!

I LOOOOVE how having them home in the afternoons leads to some spontaneous brotherly love. I just love watching how the older ones lead and guide the younger ones…

Don’t you know our neighbors have got to hate us? Golf balls always ending up in their backyard. Either they hate us or love us…depending on if they play the game.

And EVERY golfer needs a reliable caddy. I was cracking up how Parker naturally got to be the golfer–while Frank took the position as his caddy…

Frankie baby caddy cracked me up for other reasons too. Truly…he is a one-of-a-kind caddy…don’t ya think;)?!

NOW–the real excitement in the game happened when one of P’s golf balls ended up in a neighbors yard. It went RIGHT over their fence. Slight problem–Rosie got a little carried away and some how DETERMINED to get that ball ended up over the fence with the ball…and for the life of us we couldn’t figure out how she got on the other side OR how to get her back. Because it was just after lunch and we knew these neighbors wouldn’t be home until after 5ish–AND we had a baby upstairs sleeping–we bid her well and cheered for her to come back however in the world-of-a-way that she got over there in the first place!

I called the children in for milk and cookies–but not even milk and cookies could let Rosie’s keeper be distracted from helping her. P found a way for her to return and all was well…just in time for milk and cookies…

And to THINK of all the action the neighbors missed today;)

Thank you Mama Judy for sending the kids these yummy straws that make for some delish chocolate and strawberry milk! It was the perfect thing with our cookies today!!!!!!

Here’s what the package of the straws look like–you know you want some! AND you can read about them HERE.

And all was well–until the 2 year old…you know–

BUT life is TOO short to fuss over spilled milk. SO, we clean up our mess–move to a safer spot…and filler back up. All’s well and ends well…

SMOOCHES from our family to yours! {Question for you guys…HOW in the world do y’all get those rub on tatoos off your kids??? Frank has been wearing Mater from Lightning McQueen for over a week now! Can NOT get that sucker off!}

XOXO! AND…on a YAY adoption note. We’d like to thank the state of Kentucky (where I was born) and the state of Georgia (where Rico Suave was born) for promptly mailing our certified birth certificate copies. SHOULD have gotten two of those suckers last time…but who knew! Another thing off our checklist…YAY!

Y’all have a great weekend…and I have GOT to post my fruit tea recipe for ya’ll soon b/c the weather is warming up and it’s that time!

Andrea:)

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Elle J - May 19, 2011 - 1:22 am

I am scrambling this evening – but saw you posted and had to check it out. Only had time to scroll through pictures – will come back tomorrow to read. =) But wanted to say that the coaster is my FAVORITE verse as it was the blessing my Pastor spoke to me when I was baptized. LOVE IT!! Rings so true to me. I will be jumping over to purchase. =) Thanks for the link!!!

Traci - May 19, 2011 - 2:03 am

A little olive oil will take those tattoos right off! Been following your blog for a while now. Your babies are gorgeous! Thank you for always being so encouraging and positive!
God bless!

Becca - May 19, 2011 - 2:39 am

I’ve just started reading your blog, and I love hearing about your kiddos (and your “paper” pregnancy, with one on the way). Thanks for sharing your heart.

On a practical note, fingernail polish remover should take off the wretched tattoo. My kids love them, and grandma loves to help them out, but they drive me absolutely crazy. If you wait for the tattoo to wear off, Frank may be starting kindergarten with Mater on his hand…

Shelly Roberts - May 19, 2011 - 8:09 am

Soooo fun getting to see a snapshot of your afternoon! Didn’t know they made such straws. Wow. My boys would have been all over those when they were little. 🙂

Loved hearing about the fund raising idea! I can SO appreciate this mom’s efforts. We did massive assembly lines during our 2nd daughter’s adoption with card making. Thousands upon thousands of cards were made and we ended up raising about $10,000 that way over the year. It was an INSANE amount of work and sooooooooo worth it for our precious wee-one to have a family.

kim zawodzinski - May 19, 2011 - 8:36 am

Baby oil is another way to take off temporary tatoos.

Joy Kinard - May 19, 2011 - 8:43 am

Use rubbing alcohol on the tattoo. It will come right off. I love your little family! I read your blog all the time, but rarely leave you a comment. I hate when people don’t leave me comments, so sorry about that! I was thinking about your sweet family just the other day. We have a sweet foster baby girl that we are praying God allows us to adopt. She is African American and we are white. I was getting myself in a tizzy about if she will fit in with her african-american peers, who she will marry, etc…. And then it occured to me that I could PRAY that God will surround her with other children just like her! Black babies with white parents! So… I got busy with the praying. I can not wait to see what God does about it!

Debb - May 19, 2011 - 1:09 pm

Oh, your kiddos just make me smile! You could be my neighbor any day! 😉

Alison - May 19, 2011 - 1:56 pm

Love the cute pics! And I was looking for some coasters the other day…will go order some from Sarah!!!

Sandi - May 20, 2011 - 2:31 pm

Thank you for letting us know about Sarah! Hoping one day it will be us. Until then it just makes my heart happy to support other families who are giving one more child a loving family!!!! I’m thinkin’ those coaster sets will make some lovely presents. I love gifts with “a conscience”, makes them that much more special!

Erin Crenshaw - May 22, 2011 - 9:37 pm

Andrea!!!! I just caught up on the last couple of months!!!! I am SO EXCITED for you guys! What a sweet story about how God led you to your baby girl in China!! Praying for you guys!!

Brittany - May 26, 2011 - 11:22 pm

I’m from KY too!! Your family is beautiful and I LOVE your blog! We are praying through an adoption and can’t wait to take the first step:)

Brittany