Archives for June 2009

This is our last and final fundraiser and in my opinion it’s a good one.  My sweet, sweet sister-in-law Becky, worked at one of the Starbucks in Memphis before they moved back to Nashville and on our last visit down there to see them, she made me go by her work before we headed back to Nashville.  To my surprise, when I went in they had a big box of coffee that the employees had donated for our adoption.  They even wrote cute little comments on the bags.  One even says, “Kyle Loves Babies”.  I was so taken back by their generosity.  So this raffle is for 10 bags of Starbucks coffee.  When I went tonight to write down all the flavors I realized that there were 9 bags instead of 10 (no, we didn’t borrow a bag for breakfast).  So I went to our Starbucks to purchase one last bag to make it 10.  I talked to one of the employees and he said they have 3 brand new flavors coming out Tuesday, so instead of buying a flavor they already had, I am going to head back on Tuesday and get a brand new flavor to add to the raffle.  So here is the list of flavors:

* Ethiopia Sidoma Bold Africa/Arabia

* Breakfast Blend Mild Latin America

* Caffe Verona Bold Mulit-Region Blend (Three bags)

* Komodo Dragon Bold Asia/Pacific

* Gold Coast Extra Bold Multi-Region Blend

* Decaf Sumatra Extra Bold Asia/Pacific

* French Roast Extra Bold Dark Roast Blend

* NEW FLAVOR RELEASED ON TUESDAY

So there you go.  Tickets are $5 and as usual buy 2 tickets get a third free and so on and so on.  Use the donate button on the right side and please spread the word.  The raffle will end Friday, July 3rd at noon.  We will post the winner soon after that.  Thanks everyone and thanks Becky.  You really know how to rock your coffee.  Love you!

We just got word this afternoon that we need to be in Ethiopia July 9th!  Can everyone say WOW in unison?  Yes it is super short notice…in less than 2 weeks we will be leaving for Ethiopia to finally meet our little Sol in person.  If someone took my blood pressure right now it would not be good.  We will be leaving from Nashville on July 8th and returning home July 17th.  Please say a little prayer for us and we have TONS to do in less than 2 weeks to prepare for our travels.  Also for all those who have asked about donations for the orphanages here are some items we were told are needed:

• Clothing for older children ages 5-14
• Toys and puzzles (that do not require batteries)
• English learning supplies
• Walmart Parents Choice Formula with Iron

Financial donations for:

• Infant formula
• Weight scales (that show kilos) for infants and for toddlers and older children
• Medical exam materials

Also we will now be starting our last Starbucks coffee raffle this Saturday so check back then to get your tickets.  Thanks everyone.

I am officially drowning in orders, which is wonderful, but I will be taking NO NEW ORDERS FOR JULY. If I have already talked with you then you are currently on my order list and will have your order done before we leave for Ethiopia.  I have just got to get caught up, along with making some goodies for McKinley’s birthday, some special pieces for Sol, Hud’s scrapbook, Sol’s adoption announcements, some special items for Harper while we are away, planning our trip to Ethiopia, getting 7 vaccine shots (you read that right) and enjoying our last month as a family of 4.  Our travel dates are currently set for July 23rd-30th, but we are still waiting on confirmation from our agency.  Once we get the big okay then let the planning begin.  We are also going to start gathering donations to take to the orphanages and we will start our last raffle on Monday.  I will still be posting new orders that I am working on and keeping everyone in the loop about Sol.  Also once we get back from Ethiopia and get Sol all settled in, I will be back at it in no time.  You know I can’t stay away for long.  Thanks again for everyone’s support and for literally drowning me in orders…it feels oh so good.  And here are a few recent completed orders:

This order is headed to Florida to a family that is missing their good ole’ Tennessee.  Thanks Jess!

This little order is actually headed to Ireland.  How cool is that?  Thanks so much Kelly and I hope little Nathaniel and his family will love your thoughtfulness.

I am totally running out of good titles for my posts…seriously could use some help. So we are still waiting for word about our travel dates. Hopefully we will find out soon and then we will be able to start all the planning for Ethiopia. We will have our last raffle soon…my sweet sister-in-law Becky worked at Starbucks when they lived in Memphis and on our last trip down there, her store gave us a big box of 10 bags of Starbucks coffee. It was so sweet. We are going to be raffling off the entire box of coffee for $5 a ticket and as usual by two tickets get one free. We will post more details soon.

Also we are going to start gathering items together to take to the orphanages we will be visiting in Ethiopia.  I will hopefully have an exact list soon and if you would like to send some items with us, we would gladly pack them up and fly them over.  We are planning on taking extra luggage and filling them with tons of donations, so if you would like to help then by all means.

Onto some orders: This shirt was ordered by Jen in Texas for her little boy’s first birthday. Jen decided on a big polka dot circle with a #1 in it, since her little guy’s birthday plates were covered in circles as well with a large #1 also. And I do love the matching 1 on the sleeve. Thanks Jen for your order and I know Grady will just be a doll sporting this for his 1st birthday.

This is a 18×18 Names of Jesus piece I did for a Father’s Day gift. I won’t mention a name because it’s not Father’s Day yet, but thank you so much for you order…you know who.  Hope the dad loves it.

Hope everyone has a great Father’s Day weekend.

I really LOVE Etsy.com and if you have never checked it out, you should. I have been a huge fan of one shop called JUNKPOSSE and have been meaning to blog about it for a while. This super talented lady named Tracy makes the best adoption jewelry that I have always admired. Even better is that 30% of the proceeds goes directly to benefit adoption or orphans in some way. She has everything laid out on her site. So if you are in the market for some totally rockin’ jewelry that benefits such an amazing cause check her out. Below is by far my favorite piece–see details here. The tree is the shape of Africa on its side. The piece reads “There is no me without you” and then on the back she will personalize it however you want…adoptive child’s name, date, country, whatever you would like. Awesome! Please check our her shop here.

Wow.  What a day!  Just heard from our agency and low and behold they got word today that our court case was shown yesterday and WE PASSED!!! Our little guy is officially a Kelley.  I am just so blown away and just in total awe of our God.  So overwhelming.  The other amazing news, is that we might get to travel even earlier than our first travel dates.  We will get word about this next week.  One of my friends, Tracy, came by our house today, gave me a big hug and said “Congrats, Momma of 3!”  That will stick with me forever.  I really cannot explain what this child means to us.

So our agency advised still not to post pictures of him on my blog, so I will gladly abide, but I am tired of calling him baby boy, little guy, etc.  So what’s his name going to be?  Solomon “Sol” James Altaseb Kelley.  Josh and I like for all of our kids name’s to have an importance so Sol’s name was to be no different.  Solomon is actually an Ethiopian name meaning “wanted” “longed for” and “peaceful”.  We also choose a verse for each of our children.  Sol’s was so perfect…it was God’s response to Solomon when he asked for a discerning heart:

1 Kings 3:12 “I will do what you have asked.  I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.”

How perfect for our sweet little Sol.  As for James, we use family names for all our kids middle names and James is a family name on both sides of Josh’s family.  So there “he” is our little boy Sol Kelley.  I just cannot thank everyone enough for all the prayers and this has got to be one of the best blog posts I’ve had the priveledge of posting.  Thanks everyone and Ethiopia here we come!

we got word today that our court date did not take place along with some others.  Not sure why, but apparently it was not just cases specific to our agency.  We have been rescheduled for June 24th.  This may push back our travel dates, but nothing is for sure yet.  Are we a little bummed?  Of course!  But God is good and SO faithful.  We know that our little guy is meant to be ours, so we will pray and wait patiently.  I know it may only postpone us meeting him 2 or 3 weeks, maybe, but it’s just like not getting to be with Harper or Hud for another 2-3 weeks.  He is our son and if we could, we would hop a plane today to hold him in our arms and see his sweet little face in person.  Please pray with us that we pass court on June 24th and that this would not delay our travel plans.  We know full well that God is in control and we are just trusting and resting in Him.  Thanks everyone.

but here are some new shirt orders.  So I have decided to just keep busy while waiting to get word about our court date.  I have about a million things I need to be doing and two little ones to keep up with, so should be easy.  By the way, thanks for all the calls and emails.  I will let everyone know as soon as we know. Keep praying.

So onto some orders.  Here are two new kids Africa shirts that my friend Tracy ordered.  Tracy and her husband are also adopting from Ethiopia, so check out there site.  Thanks Tracy, you know you’re the best.

A friend of mine from college who I haven’t talked with in several years, contacted me about doing shirts for her little girl and her little boy.  It was so sweet to finally get back in touch with her.  Can I just say, how amazing it is all the people who have had a hand in bringing our little guy home.  Truly, truly amazing.  Thanks so much Ashley.

Next is a sweet little sock monkey shirt.  Amy ordered this for her little man’s 1st birthday and can you guess their theme?  I was delighted to make this little shirt for the birthday boy.  Thanks Amy!