Home Study

We had our first of two home study visits last night and I think it went well. It wasn't nearly as nerve wracking as I thought it would be. Our second visit will be in about three weeks. I need to do some major spring cleaning between now and then. :-)

Goat Milk Soap For Adoption

We've been given the opportunity to use our favorite soaps to raise money for our adoptions! A few years ago we started looking for a more natural alternative to store bought soaps due to a skin allergy that one of our girls had. We found Goat Milk Stuff, a company owned and run by a family of 10 that produced home made goat milk soap, free of the nasty chemicals that are normally found in store bought soap. They own and run a goat farm  in Southern Indiana and we have been able to visit them in the past when we went to pick up an order. The girls even got to pet the goats! The owners and their eight children, ages 3-14, are all involved in the business.  They are allowing us to use their ten most popular soaps for the fundraiser. Each bar of soap is hand cut to weigh 5-6 ounces and is cured for a minimum of six weeks. The way the fundraiser works is that people can buy soap through us at the normal cost ($6 each), and Goat Milk Stuff donates half of that directly toward our adoption costs. We are very excited to be able to raise funds for our adoption and support one of our favorite small businesses at the same time!
The scents we are offering are:
Black Raspberry- "The sweet raspberry scent is softened by a hint of vanilla. This is an across the board favorite, delighting little girls, ladies and grown men alike."
Clean Cotton- "Yes, this really does smell like freshly laundered cotton and people just love it! It is a very fresh and clean scent."
Honeysuckle - "Remember walking outside during the summer and catching the scent of a nearby honeysuckle vine?" This soap smells just like that. It is a truly beautiful honeysuckle scent with a hint of jasmine."
Lavender- "The scent of lavender is a perennial favorite and one of our best sellers. It is made with lavender essential oil."
Luv Spell- "This is a lovely, feminine scent that smells of citrus and florals. It is a very pretty, scent for the ladies."
Nautical - "This is a masculine scent (that the women love).  It's perfect for all those men out there that want a soap just for them.
Oatmeal, Milk and Honey- " It is hard to resist the wonderful fragrance of oatmeal, milk and honey. It is a very clean and warm fragrance that pulls you in with that sweetness of honey."
Ocean- "This is a beautiful bar that is swirled with different shades of blue and white. This is an amazingly clean scent that appeals to both men and women."
Pink Sugary- "It is so hard to resist the scent of Pink Sugary. A wonderful sweetness, the hints of vanilla actually turn the bar a deep shade of brown instead of pink."
Purity- "The soap has no added fragrance for those with dry sensitive skin. It's just plain, good for your skin, goat milk soap! Lots of people use this soap on babies or people with eczema."

Ingredients: Raw goat milk; Saponified natural fats, coconut oil, soybean oil; Natural color, Fragrance

Little Stuff

There are two bits of news...One is that we will hopefully have our first home study meeting in two weeks. Yay!
The other is that, though we had been told we would have to pay for another physical for our youngest and would have to take our oldest in for another physical, the doctor's office called today and told us that if we just dropped off the forms, they would fill them out for us. We don't have to take the kids in again or pay for another physical. Praise the Lord! We plan to drop off the paperwork first thing tomorrow. :-)

For those of you who aren't on facebook, here's a taste of our home life:

We really like the album, "Awesome God" from Sovereign Grace. It is my favorite children's music cd. (And that is saying something, because I am not a huge fan of most kid's music!) Anyways, D-our oldest- just told me, "Mommy, I like this music. It tells us what God says in the Bible!" :-)

Last night I had the following conversation with our youngest, "I". She was coloring a boy dinosaur picture for me.
I: "He's beautiful, Mom?"
Me: "Yep, he's handsome."
I: "What?"
Me: "He's handsome."
I: "No, he not have pants on. He a dinosaur."
Me: "No, he's HANDSOME."
I: "I don't know how. You draw pants on, please?"
After a few rounds of this, I just let her draw some pants on him. LOL

About a week ago, I was talking to "I" about us adopting from Africa. She wanted to know why we couldn't just go get our babies right now. I tried to explain that it cost a lot of money and we had to get that money together  before we could go get them. I didn't know how much of this conversation she really understood. (She's three years old. )
A few days later, she came walking out of her bedroom with her little change purse and told me, "Here, Mama. You have all my money so we can get our babies from Africa faster and faster." I cried, and helped her empty her purse into our change can. "D" decided she wanted to do the same and also emptied her change purse into the change can. "D" later wanted to go to the store and spend her money on a snack. "I" reminded her, "We gave Mommy all, all our money for our babies. But it's okay. Mommy and Daddy will buy us a snack." :-) I love the way they think.

Also, if we get boys, "D" and "I" would like to name them Rocky and Bullwinkle. Oh boy.

Almost Ready for the Home Study!

We are in the paper chase part of the adoption process. Birth certificates, criminal background checks, medical clearances, references, financial forms, and the list goes on and on. It has been giving us such a sense of accomplishment to check items off that list! We are almost ready for our home study to begin! (Can you sense the excitement????)
The last few items we need are medical clearances. We did just have our Foster Care health clearances done in January, I think. Why can't we just use the same health clearance we used for foster care, you may ask? Well...the foster care clearance basically had the doctor check and see if we were still breathing. Not much more than that. International adoption requires a bit more from the doctor, so off we go to our second round of physicals. We will also have to pay for a physical for our youngest daughter because she is not eligible for another well child check up until August and we aren't going to put our adoption on hold till then if we can help it.
So, all of you who have already donated to our adoption fund, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Much of what you sent will be going towards our physicals...the last step before our home study. Thank you!
We have been overwhelmed and blessed again and again as people we do not even know have prayed for us and supported us in our journey to bring our babies home. We thank God for you!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!