{valentines day 2011}

I've got a lot to love around here: a beautiful daughter, a handsome husband, and a dang cute (but very lazy) cat.  Hope everyone has a great Valentines Day!

This Valentines template is from Florabella Designs. Check out their Facebook page HERE for lots of great (and FREE!) templates and photographer actions. 

{the paxton project, adoption fundraising raffle!}

I'm so excited to introduce you to the Miller family and let them tell you a little bit about their story, they're on a journey to adopt (again!) and need help from the blogging community. Read on for info on the family, and how you can support the cause (and get some great stuff in the process).

The Miller Family

The day they picked up Tysen

Here's their story in their own words:

"When I was 18, I had the chance to go to India on a mission trip.  The first thing that hit me upon my arrival was all the children there.  Not just children in general, but children who were homeless and living on the streets.  One encounter I had was with a little boy who had no arms and no legs.  According to my host, this little one had his arms and legs cut off by a "pimp" type individual.  Having the boy this way would manipulate compassion into people to give the little boy money for food to live.  His pimp however, would give the little boy just enough to eat and keep the rest of the money for himself.  As I picked this little boy up, my heart was broken and horrified at this situation.

 When I started dating my now husband Andy (15 years ago), I told him that it was in my heart to adopt all of my children.  I wanted to be a part of giving children who had no home, the opportunity to have a mommy and a daddy, and not have to live a life like the little boy in India.

 Since then it has always been our aim to adopt.  We always said our first child will be adopted and then we can proceed from there.  After Tysen, we felt God challange us if we would adopt all our children - we have gladly proceeded with a big YES!  We are passionate about this and we believe we will be a voice for others to encourage, challange, and inspire them to adopt.  

 In 2006, we adopted our son Tysen from South Korea.  The last 5 years have been life changing as he has changed our life forever.  The adoption process took 18 months at times it became exhausting.  The cost of it being $20,000 in itself stretched our faith in God well beyond what we had imagined, but in the end, after fund raisers, friends selling items on EBay, offerings, stock donations, etc...God provided every penny.

 About 5 months ago, we found ourselves in the ER at 1 am in the morning.  Tysen had a 106.7 degree temperature, which to my understanding is close to brain damage and even death.  By the grace of God we made it through the night as the doctors restored Ty's temp to normal.  The next day, I found out that I had just had a miscarriage.  It was a very exhausting and emotional fall season.

 We haven't aimed to prevent having our own children, but the miscarage and not getting pregnant was not the main reason for adoption - It is who we are and what we long passionately to do.   

 About a month ago, we had really been praying about pursuing a second adoption.  In the midst of this, Tysen began to appeal to us saying he wanted a sister that looked like him.  He said he wanted to take a van and go to Korea and get about 10 kids who needed a family and bring them back home to live with us.  After much family conversation, we applied again for adoption and received our acceptance package in early January 2011. 

 Things were going well until last week, when our agent (who is a wonderful lady that helped us with Ty's adoption), emailed me saying, “I wanted to mention that South Korea now requires you to have almost all the $30,000 for the adoption fees, in your bank account showing you can afford it.”  For Tysen, we had been allowed to gradually pay and raise the funds over an 18 month period.  But now we are targeting in on an April 30th target date of raising the $30,000.  Basically about 3 months.  This would not seem like such a desperate thing, but one additional piece of information from our agent is that Korea is looking to close their adoption program @ the end of 2011 (unless you are already in process), and that our agency is taking limited applicants.  Currently, we are one of those applicants.  But we need to keep our adoption moving forward and we look too passionately, with the hand of God do everything we can to raise this $30,000 and bring our little baby home.

 You may ask any questions you want.  We are an open book for the world.  Thanks again for your heart towards our lives and this adoption.  We are eternally grateful. Much Love - Andy, Rachel & Tysen Miller"

------------------------------

After hearing that they wanted to adopt again Alissa, from the blog/Etsy store Rags To Stitches Boutique decided to put a call out to the blogging community for help. Alissa has generously put together a raffle to raise money for the Miller's adoption. More about that to come!

 The Miller's have decided that whether they are blessed with a boy or a girl, they want to name their little one Paxton, and so The Paxton Project was born!

Along with my own contribution of items from my Etsy store to the raffle, I designed a button for The Miller Family and the cause. Here it is:

Do you want to get involved? Here's How:

Here are a couple sneak peaks of some I've heard are already involved in donating to the raffle, there's more to be added, and LOTS of great stuff to bid on:

31 Gifts

Love Stitched

Caroline G Bows

Pink Lemonade

Abstract Grace (!)

Phinnie & Pais

The Shumard Family

Fancie Fannies

Much Ado About You

62 Cards

Hope Abound

Well of Words

Made by Diane

Rags to Stitches Boutique

The raffle will be held from Monday, February 28 - Friday, March 4, 2011

This is where you all come in, dear friends.

If you'd like to participate - first of all, let me say a huge thank you. Please contact Alissa at ragstostitchesboutique@gmail.com and she will send you all the details for how to get involved.

Prayer Support - I truly believe God has His hand on this whole event, but any and all prayer support that God will provide for this family through this raffle would be so amazing.

Spread the word - Please email the link to this post to all your family and friends letting them know about this event, blog about this upcoming event, tweet about it, facebook about it, and I'd love it if you'd add The Paxton Project button on your blog (you can grab the button on the side of my blog page).

Ready to donate? - Alissa has added a "Donate Now" button to the upper right corner of her blog. If you feel led and want to donate money to help this family, please feel free to do so by clicking on the "Donate Now" button. Your financial support is so appreciated.

{baby mush, i mean food}

Ella is 8 months old! Wow, time really does fly. We waited until she was 6 months old to introduce any solids, but as soon as we did it seemed like she changed overnight from a tiny infant into a big girl baby (whatever that means) :)

I make all of Ella's food myself. I'm a little strict in the "it must be organic and freshly prepared" attitude. I mean, i'm not that strict, she does eat Earth's Best Organic jarred food from time to time, and i'm sure in a few years you'll see her with a Happy Meal every now and then, but I really want to stress the importance of eating healthy to her as a child and exposing her to different foods. I didn't have that growing up, and I think that overall being able to choose healthy choices on my own as an adult suffered.

yep, that's pureed peas, tofu, and pears, yum! 

The pros (besides being insanely healthy and preservative free) are that it's CHEAP! Buying organic veggies and fruits at the store (we shop at Trader Joe's) and cooking, pureeing, and freezing yourself really saves us money. I can get a few months worth of food for her on the budget for a few weeks of buying jarred food. The downside I suppose is that it's a little time consuming. I usually plan a few nights every month or so to make a few batches. It's not so bad, I promise. And it's EASY!

If you're thinking about making your own baby food, I suggest picking up the book Super Baby Food. It's the handbook for making your own, and every other piece of information you'd need to know about feeding an infant through toddlerhood. I highly recommend it!

{where the boys are}

My "Little Mr. Mustache Bib" was featured in another Etsy Treasury. It's a great mix of items for boys, and is titled "Where the Boys Are". Check it out!

Top row, last item on the right. :)

Here's a picture that a customer sent in with her son wearing the 

"Little Mr. Mustache Bib". He's adorable in it!

{red velvet!}

Doesn't this look yummy? Well, it was. :) Nothing beats a red velvet gourmet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. It was d.i.v.i.n.e. and EXPENSIVE(!) but oh so worth it. Just thought I'd share this sweet treat to get you through the rest of your week, and remind everyone that Monday is Valentines day!!

{moving, moving}

Proof I have a reason for not showing my face around here for a while...

 

I feel like it's been a whhhhiiiilllleee since I last blogged. It's been too long, but for good reason. We've moved, again. We moved to southern CA only 6 months ago from northern CA, and after certain events happened, we've moved back. In fact we decided to leave, found a new place to live, packed our condo, rented a truck, drove 400+ miles, and moved into our new place in only 3 weeks. Yep, it was a quick decision, and I have to say, it was sad leaving new friends, especially this one, but it feels so good to be "home". Everyone knows moving is a pain, so please forgive me for my lack of blogging. 

But there's good news! I'm back! Yay!

{find a friend friday!}

I'm so excited today. We're starting a weekly Linky Party over here! Read on for all the details...

Welcome to week 2 of Find a Friend Friday. Last week we had a great week. This week it's being hosted by myself, Abstract Grace and Alissa at Rags to Stitches Boutique, and we are spotlighting Elizabeth at Sew Chatty. 

What inspires you?

So many things really! My faith and my family are biggies. That's what keeps me going. I'm inspired by the fabric itself too! Sometimes I can just look at fabric and know what it needs to be made into! That's super for for me!

What made you start your business?

We were low on dollars during the 2009 holiday season. I knew spending money we didn't have on presents was not going to happen so I made everything! I was posting pics on my Facebook and so many of my friends and family began to tell me that I needed to sell on Etsy...so here I am!

What do you love most about what you do?

I love the selling part if I'm being totally honest. I get giddy seeing those Etsy transaction notices come through my email! The feeling of knowing someone really likes something I worked hard to create is such a blessing to me!

What's your favorite ice cream flavor?

OOOH. I love ice cream. My fave is cookies and cream. Especially the one from Trader Joe's.

What's your favorite color?

My favorite color changes constantly! Right now it's gray. I know...how boring right? It's my go to color. Wearing a gray top today actually! Did you know that Honeysuckle Pink is the color of the year for 2011? I am a wealth of information. That color will likely be showing up in the form of Sew Chatty cuteness very soon!

You can also check out her Blog, Store and follow her on Twitter.

Rules? There are no rules. We just ask that you check out the first 3 blogs in the linky party and follow us if you like what you see. We hope you do! Also, there is a sweet little "Find a Friend Friday" button on the sidebar. Please do come back and see us soon!

Next week we'll pick another fun blog to feature! Happy Linking!

{link up!}

I'm bad, really bad. At being a dedicated blogger that is. I am constantly with my head deep in a handful of projects, but it seems I always forget to take pictures along the way. Then, discouraged that i'm not keeping up I throw any effort to blog about it to the wayside. Shame on me.

I've also been telling myself that I'm going to be better at self promotion. Linking up with other blogs, and working on boosting my friend/follower count. If only I had an extra 2 hours in the day. Sigh...

Well, i'm going to start taking baby steps in the right direction (gotta start somewhere, right?). I'll start by sharing this. Its a Welcome Wednesday "link-up" party hosted by Take It From Me. I'm participating, and I hope you do too! Here's how to "link up"!!!


If you want to be a part of Welcome Wednesday, just follow these 5 simple steps:

1. Follow the Welcome Wednesday Host (Take It From Me) as well as the 2 Spotlighted Blogs of the Week. (These will make up the top three slots on the Linky)

2. Link up your blog name and URL with our Linky. (You only need to add your info once for it to be seen on all the blog hops)

3. Grab our Welcome Wednesday button and include it in a post about the event on your blog.

4. Go to as many blogs on the MckLinky as you want and Follow them. Be sure to tell them you are from Welcome Wednesday!

5. Be sure to Follow back any followers you have gained from our Welcome Wednesday event!

Head on over and join in!

{treasury!}

Just thought I'd share a recent Etsy treasury I was featured in...lots of my favorite things in this one...Anchors!

Second row, last item on the Right.

It's the Hello Sailor! Pink Striped Hair Clip! Yay!

{goodbye 2010, hello 2011}

Goodbye 2010, and HELLO 2011! Happy New Year to all! I hope everyone had a great end to 2010 and are now enjoying the beginnings of 2011. 2010 was the most memorable year to date for me. Lets review:

1. I graduated Grad school May 23rd.

 Having an MBA in Business/Marketing at 24 is a pretty cool thing if you ask me.

2. I had a baby girl! 

May 31, Memorial Day (Yes, only one week after graduation, we were pushing that deadline close eh?) our little Ella June was born, 

after 31 long hours...

3. We moved.

In fact we moved over 400 miles from Northern California to Southern California. Boy was that an adjustment...BUT I met some AWESOME ladies and have life long friends because of it.

4. I had my golden birthday!

 25 years old on July 25th!And what did I do you ask? Why I went to Renegade LA and ate Mexican food of course!

5. I participated in my first Boutique.

Boy was it fun. In fact I did several events on the "boutique circuit" this fall, and had a blast. My business really grew this year, and I LOVE doing it. 

6. I saw a Double Rainbow! Ohhhh, Ahhhhh!

7. And to end the year...ANOTHER move.

Yep, after only living in Southern California for 5 months some unfortunate news we got the day before New Years Eve is causing us to have to move back to northern California. Gosh, what a headache, moving all that way, sacrificing so much for only 5 months! But the friendships i've made while here make it all worth the trouble that moving is. (See #3). 

Now on to 2011. 

Here are some "resolutions" if you will, for the new year. Nah, lets just think of them as "to do's".

1. Love on my Husband and little Junebug, until the smothering is too much. And then i'll sneak in one more kiss and hug. 

2. Save money! Save money! Save money! Downsize from all the unnecessary things, well except Anthropologie items, you can never have enough of anything from that store. 

3. Grow my business. I need to be more consistent in my blogging, my creating, sewing and all around craftiness. 

4. Lose the baby weight!

5. Enjoy life. Plain and simple.