Be the change...

                                                        ...you want to see!


I love this quote and felt is was a good title considering ALL the changes going on in my world these days.

To name a few, I'm just going to list them and tell you about it.


Ready???


Set.....


GO!!!

BLOG MAKEOVER:

As you can see, there are many physical changes in the look of my blog (thanks to Nikki at Blogs for a Cause).  This girl is amazing!   She has travelled the world doing amazing humanitarian work, all through the proceeds of Blogs for a Cause.  She has a gift and a huge heart!  Keep up your amazing work Nikki (and sorry for any misunderstanding with the email communication)!!! :) 

BLOG BADGE:

Nikki also created for me my very own Blog Badge, can ya tell that I'm ubberly excited!!!  I've been trying to figure this one out for sometime now and no luck!!!  THANKS Nikki! 

Now, YOU can share in my 'at home' missions by posting my blog badge on YOUR blog (and possibly say a few kind words about my mission - this would be good too) to help spread the word!!!

For now, the html code is below.  Nikki is working on trying to get it set up so the code will be directly below the badge (for now, this should work). Let me know if you have any issues posting.

BLOG MISSION:

The mission of this blog has changed slightly (like I've said in previous posts).  To start, this blog was created to document my journey of travelling on my first mission trip to Haiti in December of this year, 2010.  Then my trip got cancelled.

I was lost and confused over my 2nd missions trip being cancelled or not happening.

I opened up to God and asked him "WHERE do you want me to go?", "How do you want to use the talents of mine?", "Show me the direction he wanted me to go (booking another missions trip or what??" and "WHAT I was supposed to be doing to fulfill the purpose He has for me."

Then a strange, and I mean really strange thing happened.

In March, I saw a 6 day old baby in the doctor's office and began crying.  Weird thing is, I didn't even know I was crying until the tear hit my hand that was placed in my lap.  Then, I didn't even know WHAT I was crying for.

Later that night, I told Jacques about what had happens and explained I had no idea what I was crying for. We talked a bit and I thought 'that, was that'. Then.....God took a grip of our hearts and planted a HUGE seed, a seed that we should possibly consider adopting again. But I had SO many reasons why it wasn't true, that we couldn't be. We played tug-a-war for sometime with the idea, it kinda went like this:

  

I mean, really? A baby? It can't be. Are you kidding me? A baby? Are you sure you have the right family? I mean, life has resumed to normal and relatively stress free after our first attempt at adopting a 12 year old girl (that sadly ended in a breakdown). And I thought that adopting was not ever going to happen in our family again.  I thought this wasn't my mission anymore. What about our home schooling adventure that starts this year? Don't ya think this is going to be too much to accomplish? Ha, a baby!   It can't be. There was NO way. Are you sure? What about our ages? We're both approaching 40 and Noah's approaching double digits. Life is comfortable now. A baby?  It can't be. What about the financial side of an adoption. We don't have an $30,000 just lying around in a bank account, waiting to be spent on an adoption. How are we going to come up with THAT kinda money? Really, a baby?  It just can't be. And what about our upcoming move next year? What happens if these two big events happen at the same time?  A baby?  It just can't be, God, it can't be.  

 

Guilt (over questioning God and what He is asking us to do), followed by a bunch of scripture and parts of Dangerous Surrender, by Kay Warren came rushing over.

"I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants" Luke 1:38           If you love me, you will obey what I command. John 14:15           "What is a litmus test of your surrender and obedience to God is how you treat the least among us." Kay Warren           'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40           "For you to become a seriously disturbed, surrendered person of faith, you will have to be willing to say yes in advance - to give God your answer before you've heard the question." Kay Warren            The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 2 Corinthians 2:9           If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land. Isaiah 1:19           Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, Titus 3:1           As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 1 Peter 1:14           If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:23           To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

It was like a merry go round, going faster and faster and faster and faster and faster when we finally just came to a screeching halt.      Okay, okay....yes, yes, yes....we will, we will adopt.

So YES my dear friends and family, you read correctly. We are adopting! We have begun an international adoption from Vietnam.   By the grace of God, we will welcome home a baby girl, under 12 months old with minor correctable special needs (like cleft palate, club feet, premature, low birth rate, etc).  It is a very LONG process that could take between 2-3 years, possibly less for a special needs.

An exciting day:  mailing our application!

It was an exuberant feeling when we finally stopped fighting the call that God has so clearly asked of us.   And we are all very excited.   Noah (for the most part) is absolutely thrilled to be adopting a baby sister in a few years, especially after he got to spend some time with my friend's daughter (who is adopted from Vietnam) this summer when their family visited (and we visited theirs).  Every now and then he stops me to say 'will she be this small?' while holding his hand up to his waist. 

Then once, he actually gave me the list of his demands (so cute!) on whether we 'would' adopt or not!!!

In order, they were:

1.  She will NOT be allowed in his room. (fair enough, I get that)
2. She will have to pick up all her toys and not leave them lying around the way the cat and dog leave there's around the living room! (LOL, so cute)
3. He will NOT be changing ANY diapers! (surprised this was not his #1 demand)

So BIG gulp...here we go.   We have a couple years living on the BARE minimums to afford the cost of our adoption. We are saving, scrimping and doing as much as we can to save all of our money for our adoption.  We are absolutely willing to do what ever it takes to make this happen.

"In what ways are you allowing God to rearrange your schedule, your finances, your affections, so that you can regularly interact with those he loves?” Kay Warren

I 'get' that some people may not get our intentions or desire to adopt, or may just plain out disagree with our decision. You have every right to your own opinions.  But please respect that we live by God's rules and not yours.   God doesn't always ask us to choose the route that is most popular, or do things that are easy and we want to follow Him, not the crowd.   Heck, if we always fit into the status quo and didn't turn heads or had people talking, wouldn't that get boring after a while?  Would we really grow or just be stuck in the same boring place in our lives?  

“It really isn't any of my business - or your business - what God does in someone else's life. My only business is to follow him" Kay Warren

"Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd,” Exodus 23:2

So...with all that said, part of our plan to save money for our adoption was to come out with a new line of jewelry.  New pieces that are JUST for fundraising efforts for our adoption.

Let me make one point clear:

• All earrings I make (and any that have already been made), will still be sold to raise money for rice in Haiti.
• All solidarity necklaces I make, will still be sold to raise money for income for women in Kenya.
• And...all new pieces will be sold to raise money for our adoption

Once our adoption is complete, my vision is to continue to use any money raised through the sale of my jewelry in 'pay it forward' ways.    A few ideas I have in my head are to help others who are adopting internationally, to help the orphanage that our little girl comes from or helping our agency, etc. 

Go BIG, or go home, right?

With these changes, I felt a new name was appropriate as well. 

So here it is *drum roll please*................ OK, so a drum roll wasn't 'really' needed, but come on.  Have some fun with me, people!!!

NAMES AND CARDS:

I have been 'busting my butt' working on getting lots of new designs to raise money for our adoption.  With all these new pieces, the response has been HUGE at our local farmer's market each weekend.


So far, we have raised close to $400 towards our adoption in only 3 weeks!  

Once the markets are finished (after Christmas), I am going to start selling them online.  Right now, I just don't have time to take photos and upload...plus, we are doing very well at the markets!

CHRISTMAS AT THE COLISEUM:


Feeling confident about the success we're having at the markets, I started looking around at different Christmas craft shows in our area that I could attend to make a few extra sales at.


As I searched, I kept coming back to the Christmas at the Coliseum (in Moncton).  This is THE largest craft show in all Atlantic Canada in November.  It's the 23rd annual show, with over 400 exhibitors and over 30,000 expected to be in attendance. 


When I first talked to Jacques about it, his immediate response was 'Go for it'!  Naturally, I was a little scared and thinking I was a little crazy, but many prayers later I have decided to go for it!  It is a little bit of a risk, but without risk, how can one grow.  Go BIG, or go HOME!!!

So here I am ready to mail my application for the Christmas at the Coliseum - another proud and VERY exciting moment in our house! 


CHIP IN:

You'll notice that I've added a "Chip In" on my side bar. To date, I have sold enough jewellery to raise close to $400 (but have not figure out how to 'start' the chip in with an amount, rather than at zero (if you know, can you please let me know).

If you would like to help in any way, please let me know. Any help is MOST appreciated.

So that's ALL my new news....lots going on, huh!

 I can breath now.... *breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out*

I have everything organized in our adoption, fundraising, home schooling world - just in time for our home schooling adventure to begin in one week.  Now it's time to do some fun Mom and Me activities with my boy this week!!!

Keep an eye on my blog, become a follower (so I know you are reading), send some kind words of encouragement and keep in touch.   It'll be a long journey, are you in for the ride with us?

Thanks for all your support...

Many Blessings,

Tara