Laura's Heart

I wanted to take a few minutes to tell you about my friend Laura, owner of Pitter Patter Art. I met Laura, well, forever ago. You see, I grew up with her brother Chris and Chris married my best friend, Kim, so Laura's been around for, a while. Laura is married to her wonderful hubby Josh and they have two kids. She contacted me a while ago about how her family felt called to adopt. After checking with agencies and lots of prayer, she and Josh decided to adopt from Ethiopia. She also decided to help raise funds, everything she sold off her site would go into their adoption fund. Now, here's the cool part. Laura has a HUGE heart. Since several of her friends (including us) are adopting, she decided to donate items for her friends to raffle off.

Our friends Tracy and Clay raffled off this piece that Laura made. At $10 per ticket, they raised $1500 for their adoption from Ethiopia. How cool is that!

I bought 5 tickets...one in my name and one in each of the kids' names. And guess what? I won. It is now framed and in my powder room. It can be in your powder room too! Go to Laura's site and for $100 you can have one too. Trust me, it's gorgeous!

Then, Laura donated this piece you have seen me blogging about the last week. All proceeds from it go to our adoption fund. Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased by donating through our paypal button. We are drawing the winning ticket this Thursday so don't wait.


Now, here's the best part. Laura made this next AMAZING mixed media piece for our auction we had a few weeks ago. It is 11 x 13.

I had planned to raffle it off to raise more money for our adoption fund, BUT then it hit me. Laura has helped so many...it's time to help her. So, here's what we are going to do. Starting this Thursday, Jan. 15, Laura is going to be doing a raffle for a stay in a chalet in Gatlinburg. On her site, you will see examples of all the wonderful artwork she creates. She makes beautiful canvas pictures, shirts, you name it...this chic is super created. So, starting right now through Sunday at 6pm, I am going to ask that you leave a comment and you will automatically be registered to win this gorgeous piece for free. All you have to do in your comment is leave your name and your favorite piece off Laura's site Can't wait to read your comments and more importantly, I can't wait for Laura and Josh's first raffle to be a huge success. Please feel free to put a link to this post so many people can see Laura's heart. Please only register one time per person and thanks Laura! YOU ROCK!

P.S. I will ship this piece so feel free to leave a comment even if you are overseas or in another state!

$50

That's what we have raised so far in our raffle. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for every PENNY that people choose to donate, but a little sad for Laura that her beautiful piece hasn't raised more money.

Here it is again:


Right now you've got a 1 in 4 shot of winning (one person bought two tickets). We are drawing on the 15th, so click on that little paypal button to the right and buy you a ticket for $10. All money raised goes towards our next adoption. THANKS!

Costs of Adoption

I've had a few people ask, so I thought I would share "averages" for what adoption costs.

Adopting through the state AKA "foster to adopt"- FREE, birthparents typically have one year to prove themselves before parental rights are terminated

Adopting through an agency AKA "domestic infant adoption or DIA"-based on income in most cases. typically 15-20% of gross income. typically the base you will pay is $4K on up to $22K, although some agencies have set fees which can go upwards of $30K. This placement fee does not include costs of home study, travel costs, etc. associated with the adoption

Adopting internationally-typically $20-$40K

So far we have raised $9K. M.E.'s adoption was about $18K total. Hope that helps!

Our Beautiful Raffle Piece

We are so blessed to show you this beautiful piece of artwork that starting right now we are raffling off for our adoption fund.

Laura Kelly created this amazing piece and donated it to us to raffle off for our fund. Here are the details:
It is on a 16x20 canvas with a 20 1/2x24 1/2 frame.
It is a mixed media using paper, ink, thread, acrylic paint, charcoal and a medium matte glaze. Laura will add the child's name to the piece for whoever wins. She will paint it or ink it in the left hand corner following the curve of the flower petals...you can see the blank space I left for it.



Now, how do you win it? Well, tickets are $10 each and if you buy 5 tickets, you get a 6th one free. You can either pay for them through our paypal link to the right OR you can email me at cheapbrea@gmail.com to get our mailing address to mail a check. Feel free to post about this on your blogs, facebook, etc. We will draw the winner on January 15th at 6pm so be sure to buy your tickets!

I will blog more about this after the raffle ends, but please keep in mind that Laura and her family are adopting from Ethiopia. Any orders from her site go to help with costs for their adoption. Check out her beautiful work!

Unspoken Prayer Request

I REALLY don't like unspoken prayer requests. I really don't. I feel like if you don't know what the reality of the situation is, how can you really pray for that person the way they need to be prayed for. But I find myself in a predicament tonight as we need your prayer, and yet I can't go into great detail. Just pray that God's will be done in a situation in our life. Pray that our hearts and heads don't get in the way of HIS will. I promise I will update you when/if I can.

Did you know?

That I love to scrapbook? I don't talk about it on here that often, but I do love to do it. I started scrapbooking in 2000. Actually, that's a lie. I started scrapbooking in middle and high school, but I didn't know it had a name. I used to save my allowance and then buy the scrapbook style books at Hallmark. I would use scotch tape to tape down pictures, movie stubs, anything really and then I would write dates and the events that went along with the pictures/stubs, etc. I put them in a hope chest and forgot about them until my mother in law, Barbara, asked me to go to a scrapbooking party in 2000. Honestly, I really didn't want to go. I was partied out. I had just had a Pampered Chef party and with Anna underfoot, I didn't have time to scrapbook so why even go? But I went. It was in the basement at Ebenezer Baptist Church. A lady Barbara went to church with, Mindy, was the consultant. She went through the "spill" and showed off cutters, corner rounders, papers, a tape runner (basically the scrapbook version of scotch tape) and then we sat around and made our first page. As the night went on, I fell in love. This is what I had done in middle/high school. There were actually REAL tools I could use to cut circles in my pictures. There were actually scrapbooks that were gauranteed not to fall apart (I forgot to tell you that my beloved Hallmark albums that I had saved for were in shambles in the hope chest, they were total crap).

I must stop here and remind you I am cheap.

When the event was over and it was time to order, I wanted EVERYTHING and they even had a kit that had everything. But it was $300. And I am cheap. So, Barbara and I decided we would split it. We would scrapbook together at her house and split everything. HA!

I think about a week later I was a Creative Memories consultant. Not only could I not stand not having it all, but once I learned that a consultant got a discount, I couldn't sign on the dotted line fast enough. That was almost 9 years ago, and although I am no longer a consultant (although I loved being a consultant), I still LOVE to scrapbook. I love to see my kids' faces as I bring them their school albums that I just done a few pages in. I love to write stories in my books. My style of scrapbooking is not fancy. Pretty plain actually. I really enjoy paper and writing and being able to use all of that in to albums is really great. Plus, when you get together and scrapbook (called a crop), you get to hang out with friends and you eat. What could be better than that?

Anyway, the reason I am telling you all this is because I am having a crop at my house this Friday, Jan. 2 from 6pm-midnight. If you've never scrapbooked before, don't worry, you can come and there will be a consultant here to teach you. AND TRUST ME, no strings attached. You don't have to spend $300, you don't have to sign up to be a consultant, but you just might fall in love with something that your family will love looking at. Come crop, eat and have fun with new and old friends!

Silver and Gold

Well, it's already December 27th and I haven't even updated the blog with Christmas pictures, details on our festivities, etc. There is a GOOD reason why. I have, and have had, the stomach virus since Christmas mid-morning. I just got back from the doctor who confirmed it was indeed the virus and not food poisoning. I have felt so bad that today is the first time I have turned on my computer since Christmas Eve, I believe. What was just the 12-24 hour bug has turned into a 3-4 day virus and since I am officially half way through, I got a nice shot of phenegran in my bootie and instructions to go back to bed with clear liquids only. So much for post holiday shopping and hitting Crescent furniture. It will all have to wait. Jonathan just left to take the kids (and hopefully NOT the virus) to his parents. I decided to check email (all 153 of them) and do a quick update. Here are a few stories of our Christmas:

1. The other night the boys and I made a last minute pre-Christmas trip to the hateful CVS in Hendersonville. On our way, the boys began telling me how excited they were to open presents. "Aren't you excited too mommy?" they asked. "I am," I replied, "but even more excited about the real meaning of Christmas!" We then began discussing the birth of Jesus which then led into the wise men visiting the baby. "Do you remember what gifts they brought," I asked. At the same time, in perfect pitch they both sang out "Silver and Gold" and then Luke added, "and Purr" Well, there you go. Thank goodness it was dark, as I was dying in the front seat.

2. The boys got a McDonalds kitchen from Santa. They would DIE if they knew I had posted this on the blog, as they are very nervous about their friends finding out they have a play kitchen. Yes, they fear it is a baby toy. But, they love it and even though I was very sick, I went upstairs and placed my first order last night for a cheeseburger, fries and shake. It just so happened that Luke was the cook at that moment. He wanted to know if I wanted his "special" fries. I later found out the "special" fries are fries with cheese and mustard. I'm thinking being a cook is not in his future.

3. Anna announced yesterday she would like to be a nurse when she grows up. Or a rock star. Hmmm. Do you think we watch a little too much Hannah Montana around here?

4. Speak of HM. Anna is now sporting the UGLIEST pair of crocs made. Yes, I know all cros are ugly, but trust me when I say these make the normal, ugly ones look like ruby slippers. She is the proud new owner of purple with black fur Hannah Montana crocs. They come complete with silver guitars on the front and a big label proudly stitched to the front that says HANNAH MONTANA. That way all other children her age will know that Hannah herself designed these hideous things. Anna promises me though that they are warm and super cool. I'm pumped.

5. I had really planned (in my super grand vision scheme of things) to pull down all our Christmas decor today. I'm thinking it might take a while since we decked a bunch of our halls this year. I guess this too will have to wait. Why is it everyone begs me to put all the Christmas decor up but everyone groans when I mention taking it down. I plan to go through all my decor when we do take it down and donate all the crap I haven't used in a few years. There are lights in there that we haven't touched in at least 3 houses and it's time to let that go.

6. Mary Elizabeth is offficially walking. Not just her past two months "I think I can" walking. The girl can now WALK. Granted, you could run a small train through her legs while she is trucking it across the house, but it is adorable all the same. We are so blessed that our tiny little peanut whom we were told at birth would have CP is walking around, talking up a storm, and the perfect bill of health.

Hope all of you had a Merry Christmas!