Sunday, March 25, 2012

Snapshot Sunday {DIY'ing}


Sunday Snapshot


This summer, the neighbors had a flood in their basement.
Before the entire neighborhood had flooding from Hurricane Irene, that is....

Anyhoo. I picked up this little piece by the side of the road.
Outside their house.
Alongside their massive dumpster.
It was free.
I HEART FREE!

It really needed some TLC.
The kind that Dr. D was happy to provide for a small fee.
That we are more than happy to pay.

Not all of it was real wood but all of it needed some
of life's grime sanded away.

(Heh. That's a sermon that'll preach, huh?)

The shiny laminate top stumped us for awhile.
But The Boss did some asking around.
Meanwhile, Dr. D did some more sanding.

And then the staining began.

The Boss figured out a really inexpensive solution for the laminate.
Voila! It's amazing, isn't it?!

Now, Baby BlueEyes has an amazing new desk for
what will soon be his amazing new room.

We have to move some rooms around to make room for Brynna.
So there's gonna be a heavy emphasis on the DIY projects around here
for quite a while. Hope you don't mind me sharing....

If you have any good DIY's to tell me about,
say so in the comments.
I love gleaning new ideas from my smart and crafty readers!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

God Made You Beautiful! ~ The Repost ~


**REPOST with corrected/repaired link. My apologies for the error.
I've been having problems with some links for a while now.


I have a sweet little gem of a book to share with you all today. Written by a fellow adoptive momma, it's a celebration of the unique beauty with which God has created each of us. Each page is a lively, fresh, and engaging picture of a pretty little girl with reddish blonde hair. (Yes, I'm partial. I love me a red-headed heroine!). This darling little girl is doing all the most favorite-est things that little girls do: playing princess,  dressing up, enjoying a spot of tea with teddy bear friends, swinging at the park with her friends, and thinking about her world. Each page is an encouragement to be proud of who she is, just the way she is. I love the pictures and the emphasis that each girl is made so differently and yet so similarly beautiful. But my favorite thing is that each page is summarized with a Scripture that speaks TRUTH over our girls. The TRUTH of their inherent beauty as they are made in the image and likeness of their Father above. The TRUTH that who they are is exactly how God created them to be and being His image bearer makes us special. This book is simple, sweet, and direct with its message: God Made YOU Beautiful. Just the way you are.

Stephanie Farley has recently become a personal friend, through connections made in an online adoptive moms group that has formed in our region. At the beginning of the month, I hosted a huge brunch for these moms here at The Gang's Headquarters and Stephanie graciously offered to share the ministry of this book with any of the moms who were working to bring home children via adoption.

I am VERY excited to tell you that for every purchase of this book with our family name designated in the on-line order form, Stephanie is donating $5 of that purchase to our "Adoption Jar."  How cool is that?

You can find the story, available for sale here, at Stephanie Farley's website. If you wish to order this book and you desire to support our efforts to raise the travel expenses for our current adoption, we would be so very grateful.

You will need to make sure that the order page (via Pay Pal) indicates that this is for The Whitney Gang's adoption, so that our efforts get the proper credit. Here's how:

You will see a note under the "Shipping Information" after you load all of your payment/contact information that looks like this: (only smaller!)

Personalize? How did you hear about it?  

Simply click the "Add" link (it's blue!) and enter "The Whitney Gang's adoption" or something similar to indicate to Stephanie that you intend for our adoption to benefit from your purchase.

You can also order the book by "snail mail" and pay by check. The address and information is on the website link above. Again, you will need to indicate "The Whitney Gang" in the memo portion of the check.

Whether or not you actually purchase the book with the intention of supporting our fundraising efforts, I highly recommend this book for the little girls in your life. We can't start pouring The TRUTH of the Word over them too early and this book is a sweet and engaging way to do just that. LadyBug and Li'l Empress are hooked and have read it together several times already. And in this culture of the lies that get thrown at our girls every day about what beautiful looks like, I am thrilled to have one more tool that points them to the source and the Creator of real beauty.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

God Made You Beautiful!

**REPOST with corrected/repaired link. My apologies for the error.
I've been having problems with some links for a while now.


I have a sweet little gem of a book to share with you all today. Written by a fellow adoptive momma, it's a celebration of the unique beauty with which God has created each of us. Each page is a lively, fresh, and engaging picture of a pretty little girl with reddish blonde hair. (Yes, I'm partial. I love me a red-headed heroine!). This darling little girl is doing all the most favorite-est things that little girls do: playing princess,  dressing up, enjoying a spot of tea with teddy bear friends, swinging at the park with her friends, and thinking about her world. Each page is an encouragement to be proud of who she is, just the way she is. I love the pictures and the emphasis that each girl is made so differently and yet so similarly beautiful. But my favorite thing is that each page is summarized with a Scripture that speaks TRUTH over our girls. The TRUTH of their inherent beauty as they are made in the image and likeness of their Father above. The TRUTH that who they are is exactly how God created them to be and being His image bearer makes us special. This book is simple, sweet, and direct with its message: God Made YOU Beautiful. Just the way you are.

Stephanie Farley has recently become a personal friend, through connections made in an online adoptive moms group that has formed in our region. At the beginning of the month, I hosted a huge brunch for these moms here at The Gang's Headquarters and Stephanie graciously offered to share the ministry of this book with any of the moms who were working to bring home children via adoption.

I am VERY excited to tell you that for every purchase of this book with our family name designated in the on-line order form, Stephanie is donating $5 of that purchase to our "Adoption Jar."  How cool is that?

You can find the story, available for sale here, at Stephanie Farley's website. If you wish to order this book and you desire to support our efforts to raise the travel expenses for our current adoption, we would be so very grateful.

You will need to make sure that the order page (via Pay Pal) indicates that this is for The Whitney Gang's adoption, so that our efforts get the proper credit. Here's how:

You will see a note under the "Shipping Information" after you load all of your payment/contact information that looks like this: (only smaller!)

Personalize? How did you hear about it?  

Simply click the "Add" link (it's blue!) and enter "The Whitney Gang's adoption" or something similar to indicate to Stephanie that you intend for our adoption to benefit from your purchase.

You can also order the book by "snail mail" and pay by check. The address and information is on the website link above. Again, you will need to indicate "The Whitney Gang" in the memo portion of the check.

Whether or not you actually purchase the book with the intention of supporting our fundraising efforts, I highly recommend this book for the little girls in your life. We can't start pouring The TRUTH of the Word over them too early and this book is a sweet and engaging way to do just that. LadyBug and Li'l Empress are hooked and have read it together several times already. And in this culture of the lies that get thrown at our girls every day about what beautiful looks like, I am thrilled to have one more tool that points them to the source and the Creator of real beauty.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Wow.

Last week I launched an on-line yard sale as a secondary means of raising funds for our journey to Brynna. OMIGOSH.

WOW. It's become a second part-time job. Complete with crazy hours, unreasonable demands, and plenty o' drama.

And while I have you here, can I just say? The drama over a used $5 thermal tote, a $1 book or an $8 ceramic pig? It. Is. Crazy. Wow.

Really, you never can tell what is gonna spark the crazy. Or just how crazy some of it will get. WOW. And that's all I'm gonna say about THAT.

In the week since I started the sale, I've made almost $200. I've met some really nice gals along the way. One, in particular, was so nice and so excited about our journey that she brought a trunk full of donations from her own home. She and her husband are also believers and attend a local church with lots of other adoptive families that have plugged in there. She has watched them all and seen what they experience in the process, so her heart was really tender toward our efforts. Turns out, she's moving and doesn't want to bring it with her and didn't really have time to list it all herself. So she gave it to us and agreed to pray with us for a big yield from it all. Wow. What a blessing!

In the meantime, we finalized our home study.  Can I get a WOOT WOOT?

Aint' it purty?

Oddly enough, one thing that was JUST NOT COMING TOGETHER nicely was the family shot for our dossier. It had to be all 7 of us, in front of our home, facing the camera. Seriously, it was the hardest thing in the last two weeks to make happen. Either it would rain when we were all home, or it was dark by the time we all got home. OR, we'd have 5 or 6 of us home but not all 7. WOW?! It was bordering on hilarious!!!! 

Miracle of miracles, Tuesday afternoon, between the teensy tinsy time slots of returning home from work (The Boss), coffee with a friend (Shaggy), track practice (LadyBug and Dr. D) and heading back out for prayer service (Shaggy), we actually had daylight. And 7 bodies. {Cue angels singing!}

Ain't we purty?

The finalized home study led to the finalization of the I800 form that The Boss has been working on behind the scenes, in anticipation of just such an event.

Ain't it purty?

And today, when the post office opened, Li'l Empress and I were there to send the forms and the money and all our private, most personal data winging on its way to the USCIS office in Dallas. Praying speedy delivery, safe transit, and quick processing over the whole envelope.

The bags under my eyes will not be traveling, sadly,
with the package. Not sure I could afford that postage.

WOW.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

The Elephant In The Room

Last week, Shaggy spent several hours with our youth pastor talking about the options he considering for life after graduation. {Ack, I can barely type that.} I haven't talked about it here but trust me when I say, it's been a long, long season in our life, working through the ideas of future plans, education, careers, and callings with this boy. He's such a thinker and processor and all the paths stretched out before him, all new to him and in many ways to us, have been overwhelming for him to tackle. We've been patient, trying to guide when asked and trying to stay silent when he's not asking. It was so good for him to talk with someone else, get another perspective, and hear his own thoughts echoed back to him. Frankly, it's been hard to strike the right balance with him, letting him seek out the information that he's most interested in and placing the right opportunities or conversation starters into the mix without overwhelming him further. The last thing we want to do is take advantage of his desire to please us, by guiding him toward what we want these first few years after high school to look like. (It's tempting but it's so wrong, oh so wrong. Right? Right?)

We know this kid, how he is wired. It's surprising him, actually, how well we know him. (He thought he was harder to peg! Heh...) We know he needs to research and gather information and weigh it out for himself. We know his struggle to take steps forward without knowing where those steps might lead. We know how hard it is for him to trust without seeing exactly what it is he is trusting. This boy of mine, he has a tendency toward suspicion (I'm not telling tales, he freely admits that about himself!) and that checking facts (and history and reputation and references and recommendations and word of mouth and, and, and.....) is a huge part of his decision-making process. Let me tell you, this boy is so far from impulsive and spontaneous it almost makes me giggle into fits to think about what sweet, lovely young lady God has waiting in the wings for my Shaggy. (Someday, a long, long, long, loooong while from now, are we clear about that?)

Early this past fall, we were talking about college planning. It occurred to me that Shaggy didn't know that while we certainly expect him to earn a four-year degree, we are open to other options in addition to heading straight to college. He had been so "in the mode" of seeking out some good four-year schools to which he could transfer from the local community college, that he was, literally, flabbergasted that we would offer the opportunity to take some time off and pursue a ministry experience before college. He has a friend who, at that time, was preparing for a 7 month stint with YWAM. When we offered that same kind of time away as perfectly acceptable, he just did not know what to do with that. It was kind of amusing, but that conversation made me realize how lightly we'd need to tread with this boy and his process of tracking down what it was God has for him this coming year. And lightly we've tread, for sure. In fact, we left the conversation alone for a while so that he could research and pray. But then we found that we had to give him some parameters for his incessant researching and fact-gathering process: we asked him to please have a community college application ready to submit, along with an application to his chosen ministry experience in process, by the end of February.

Last week's conversation with the youth pastor sparked some great thoughts and helped solidify what Shaggy has been sensing from the Lord. Focusing on ministry experiences has delayed the application to community college a wee bit, which is okay with us. We're not telling him, but the deadlines were pretty soft in our minds. So the ministry experience application is in process right now. He feels settled with his plans and is starting to think about the "when" of what is coming next. So much so, that after Tuesday's appointment, he came home and wrapped his arms around me. He just stood there hugging me for several minutes.

"What's up? What did I do to deserve this?" I asked him. (Man, this kid gives the best hugs. He is so like his  dad that way.)

"Nothing in particular. I was just wondering if you'd given any thought to what it's going to be like when I'm gone for 7 or 8 months."

And there it was.
The elephant that has been sitting
in every room of this house
since the day that senior year started.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I think about it all the time. ALL.THE. TIME. EVERY DAY. Not a day goes by that I don't think about what it will be like NOT to have you here every day!" I was rather proud of myself. I said all that, without crying. Small miracle.

And can I just tell you? I canNOT get away from that elephant, 
no matter where I go. It's not just in the rooms of the house anymore.
It's following me - to the grocery store, to the library, to church,
to the local K*hl's, everywhere I go.
It's there. Tiptoeing behind me,
shaking my very ground with its heavy tread.

"Really? You've already thought about it? Are you okay with it?" he sounded so surprised.

"Am I okay with it? Noooooo. I'm not okay with it. But it's not about me. This is about you. And what God is leading you to do. Cuz face it, Shaggy. If this was all about me and what I want?! You'd be home for two years at community college and then you'd transfer to XYZ college (literally in the next town over from us) and live here at home for that too! No, I'm not okay with it. But you aren't the only one trying to hear from God and follow His plan for you. This is me, trying to follow God's plan for you, too."

Yes, my friends, I was almost shouting at this point. And there might have been a tear or two. Or ten. Maybe.


I could almost hear the elephant's offended sniff. 
It's been outed. Acknowledged.
And it stinks.
I'm just sayin'....

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Mini Make-Over {The Big Reveal}

Okay, Okay. I've tortured you all long enough. But really, I needed you to know the back-story of the gift God gave me to really appreciate the final outcome. One thing I've learned over and over and over in my life is that God loves to give good gifts to His children. And in this season of utter-frugality and pruning of extra expenditures toward our mission to Brynna, He deserves the glory and the credit for loving me in this very tangible way. He knows me, He knows my heart, and I am humbled at His care.

When The Boss gifted me with the gorgeous comforter, my wheels immediately started turning. I knew that our current lamp set was the right style but that the color was all wrong. If you look back on the original post of our re-do four years ago, you'll see that they were a soft olive-y sage green with matching shades that were a bit "frou-frou" for me. But they had been purchased many years before at a massive clearance sale and I was more than content to live with the "frou-frou" for the sake of the deal I'd scored. But they were NOT working with the new bedding.

We brainstormed. We had some hammered bronze spray paint in the basement from a previous project (read: FREE!) that had to be abandoned, so The Boss set up a painting station one Saturday in January and I headed to a couple local discount stores to find simpler lampshades. VOILA! We have new lamps that make the light in our room much softer and, ahem, more mood-appropriate. {grin}


And without further ado, here are the pics of our beautiful, "new to us" Mini Make-Over. Just remember while you are peering in, this is the handiwork of God. His fingerprints are all over it and I feel so spoiled by His attention to detail.




Yes! It's orange! Officially, the accent color I've pulled out of the bedding is called "Warm Spice" and I love it. I scored the throw pillows on a big sale at K@hl's back in early January, with a coupon and K@hl's cash to drop the price even further. (Might I add, the K@hl's cash was also an unexpected gift! How cool is that?) And that darling table was a wedding gift from my aunt and uncle. I am super-protective of it and we took it out of the living room at Christmas because the cat had taken to sitting on only one side of it. It was starting to list to one side and I couldn't bear the thought of it being ruined. Bringing it into our room was just the perfect touch. The details of the legs echo the pattern of the comforter beautifully!


In this light, the colors look almost red.
But the close-up is to show you the beautiful pattern of the bedding.


I've had that candle holder for-EVAH and finally have the right place to use it. I'm still hunting for a better candle (proportion- and scent-wise) for it. And that silk orchid was another clearance find at my local R@ss. The flowerpot is almost identical to the new finish on the lamps. (Dude. Really. I know.)


And the piece d' resistance?! LOOK! The curtain rods that The Boss scored at W@lm@rt feature finials that repeat the pattern of the decorative trim that I spent months babysitting to earn money for, more than four years ago!!!! Seriously. NEITHER of us were even planning that. AT. ALL. I know. God is the coolest, isn't He?


Finally, here's one last shot of the big window. We're experiencing a couple little glitches accomplishing the final look we're trying to achieve. First, the sheers (also free, remember?) are a tad uneven and are peeking out from under the drapes in a couple spots. Second, between the texture of the drapes, the texture of the rod, and the width of the rod, the drapes are not staying open. I'm a huge fan of lots and lots of natural light, so I tend toward open drapery in pretty much every room of the house.

We think we've come up with a plan, and a back-up plan to boot, for letting light in through the sheers. But it might take us a while to implement it. As for the sheers? Well, if the first plan for the drapes works, we can just move the longer sheers around and the problem just kind of disappears. If that doesn't work, I'll have to save up some money to have the sheers hemmed from the top (so I don't lose the pretty scalloped bottom hem). I'm good with that. It's barely noticeable.

There you have it. The beautiful mini make-over of our master bedroom. The Boss worked extraordinarily hard on Saturday to hand the curtain rods (there were glitches galore and he overcame them all!) and to even lend a hand with the ironing. I'm so grateful for his handiwork. And the next time you wonder if God cares about your details and desires, remember how He pulled this room together to bless us like this!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Mini Make-Over For Momma

Noooooo, not the make-up and hair and clothing kind of make-over... A room make-over! Some of you might remember the re-do of our master bedroom that The Boss did while we were waiting for Li'l Empress to come home.  It was so necessary at the time (Lord, how did I live with all those white, bare walls for more than four years before we finally tackled it?), but we stopped just short of finishing it. It's not customary of us to do that at all, in fact, I have a rather strong "rule" about finishing things around here before we move on to other projects. I'm a little fanatical about that rule, actually.

I know, I know.
You are so surprised that I'm fanatical
about my rules.  heh.

But we never finished the room. Mostly because I was stumped by the search for curtains. Could.NOT.find. what I was looking for. Don't get me wrong. It was done enough. And beautiful. I still find myself stopping to admire The Boss's handiwork and the soothing, warm feel of the room. But I spent the last four years looking off and on for curtains. I knew they were out there. I just had spurts of time in which I went crazy trying to find "the perfect curtains." Just spurts, cuz that level of crazy can't be sustained for very long around here.

To be fair, I had a whole list of qualifiers that had to be met in the search for "the perfect curtains."
  • They had to be very energy-efficient, preferably thermal, to protect us from the drafts that pour in through the original, 1970's windows. And from the AC that pours out the windows in the summer months. (Seriously, when this current adoption is completed and paid for, that might just be my first call.)
  • They had to be lined, to buffer against the blinding sunlight that streams in that side of the house.
  • They had to be rich, warm, and inviting in both texture and appearance.
  • They had to be affordable. I have four windows to cover, if you count the bathroom.
  • They had to be solid. I just cannot get behind patterned wall treatments in this house. I have no idea why. Meh.
In December, I was surfing eb@y and found a comforter set that I had fallen in love with four years ago. The Boss got all sweet and generous and told me to buy it for Christmas. He didn't need to tell me twice. But the search for curtains began in earnest again. This time around, knowing that we have adoption expenses lurking in the background, I was much more focused on the "affordable" and "energy efficient" part of the qualifying list.

And wouldn't you know? God blew me away with His love. Through the hands of a generous and loving family friend, He blessed me with a gift to purchase curtains. And we found some last week that fit every single of my weird little criterion. Between the little nest egg I'd been saving up (thanks, FPU and the envelope system!!!) and the extraordinary gift that God sent my way, I was able to purchase curtains for the bedroom. With .07 change! And knowing how He cares for me and these little details of my life, I'm gonna wait on the bathroom curtains and trust Him for when that project comes along on our To Do list.

Here's our room BEFORE the mini-make-over.
As we've been living with it for most of the last
four years. With a couple exceptions that I'll tell ya about
later... Yes, that means this post is a teaser.
...heheheheheheheheheh...






 This is how our windows have been dressed
for four+ years now.
I like simplicity as much as the next gal.
But this very quickly became stark and cold feeling.
Not exactly how you want your master bedroom
to feel at the end of a long hard day.

Come back tomorrow
for The Big Reveal.

God is good. All the time.
All the time. God is good.
(Even for home improvement projects)

Thursday, March 1, 2012

You Got Dat, Momma?

This is a snippet of conversation that Li'l Empress had at me this morning. Yes, you read that right. She talked at me, and I barely got a word in edge-wise.

Running feet down the hall, calling me before she even could see me.... "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!"

"Ye...." I rarely get to finish my words when she's this adamant.

"I hab a kesschun to axe you!"

"Oka...."

"Umm, Ummm, I hab a fabor I need you to do foh me."

"Reallee......" I replied, trailing off as she jumped to explain.

"Uh, yeah. When we go down stays, can you please gib me my pink med ah cin? From da doctor?"

"Ye......"

"Cuz dat's a fabor I need you to do for me. Cuz da doctor said so," said with one hand on her hip while pointing at me in a very serious manner. "Okay?"

At this point, without giving me ample time to answer, she ran off back down the hall.  And turned right around, running back to me.

"You got dat Momma? You got that fabor I need you to do foh me? I need you to do me a fabor and gib me my pink med ah cin dat Daddy bringed home last nite," again with the hand on the hip and the other pointing at my nose.  She's gonna make a great Momma some day. Heh.  "Do you do dat fabor foh me?" she pressed.

Yeah. I think I've got it.